Jean Moss Interview, Great Little Gifts to Knit Giveaway

I was recently asked to join the blog tour for Great Little Gifts to Knit, by Jean Moss. It’s a wonderful collection of knitted items that are designed to be knit up quickly, and with the holiday season only 4 months away, it doesn’t hurt to start thinking about our gift knitting! Here are my top faves from the 29-pattern collection:

This Shower Set is an absolutely perfect trio of super fast knits:

And these classic yet cool cushion covers are awesome, they would be awesome on my couch (and probably yours, too!):

I love these zebra mittens, they are so cool and (I think) pretty unisex in their appeal:

And this Toran is gorgeous, what a fun way to celebrate good news, parties, holidays!

Check out the full project gallery here, to see all the amazing patterns included in this lovely book. (warning: the page background colour is a little hard on the eyes!)

Jean was kind enough to take some time for a mini interview, which was lots of fun:

According to your bio,
you are a self-taught knitter. How did you come to be interested in knitting,
and how did you learn? As you have been a prolific designer since before the
age of the internet, I’m interested to know how you sorted out the challenges
of learning new techniques or problem solving when there were no YouTube videos
or Ravelry forums to offer help.

JM: In my family all the women were knitters, so I don’t remember a time
when I couldn’t knit. When I was about
five my lovely grandmother taught me how to knit drop stitch scarves from
recycled yarn. I had no concept of where yarn might come from other than from
other people’s old sweaters! You can imagine my delight when years later I discovered
yarn stores. My design skills were learnt on the job. In the eighties when I was
working with Ralph Lauren and other international US designers, there was a lot
of pressure to produce accurate patterns fast. It was certainly an amazing
learning curve for me.

I have to confess I’ve rarely learnt a technique from a YouTube video.
I’m quite impatient and much prefer doing to watching – I seem to have tunnel
vision when I need to learn something, channeling all my energies into it for a
short period. Before the internet I would just experiment until I got it right,
or consult Montse Stanley’s Knitter’s
Handbook to help me along. She was an amazing knitter – it’s very sad that she died so
prematurely.

Your newest book, Great Little Gifts to Knit, has
wonderful projects for babies, women, men, and the home. Looking back over your
amazing patterns in the Ravelry pattern database, you’ve designed plenty of
beautiful knits in very diverse yarns, and in very diverse styles. Do you have
a particular favourite item that you most enjoy designing (i.e., shawls or
hats)? What is your favourite pattern out of this new collection?

JM: My favourite pattern is always the one I’m working on. I love designing
for me, and couldn’t imagine publishing anything I don’t actually like (I’m not
saying here that I like every design I do, but those I don’t like go straight
in the rubbish bin). Similarly I can’t say I’d wear everything I design, as
some designs have a strict brief which may or may not be my style, but I like
to think that my handwriting shines through in every piece. To answer your question I wear a lot of sweater dresses, shawls and scarves
(a passion that inspired my last book, Sweet
Shawlettes) and adore knitted hats, so if pressed I’d say these are my fav
items.

The design I had most fun working on in Great Little Gifts is the Welcome Toran. In my opinion every home
needs one, both to welcome guests and celebrate the meaningful moments of our
lives, such as births and weddings etc. I love the idea that knitters can adapt
the concept to fit their own skills, lives and interiors. It’s based on a traditional Hindu/Buddhist
door-hanging, said to bless all who walk beneath it.

I think all knitters
and crocheters have made something to give as a gift, but either the recipient
wasn’t a good match for the item, or it didn’t fit, or they just didn’t
appreciate it. Tell me about a time when you knitted a gift that just didn’t
work out, and how you avoid those sorts of knitted gift missteps now.

JM: My friends and family generally seem delighted to receive my knitted
gifts. I hope and trust they’re not just being polite. Personally I’d be delighted if someone made a
gift especially for me and would cherish it. However, a couple of Christmasses
ago I knit lots of necklaces and
bracelets, each with its own unique colour and style to compliment the
recipient . I wondered why my fairly new daughter-in-law didn’t seem overly
pleased with hers and I never saw her wear it. I only found out a month or two
ago that she has a thing about jewelry and wouldn’t even wear a watch. I like
gifts to be exciting to open and hope there’ll be a nice surprise in each
parcel. I just cross my fingers and hope that on the whole those surprises
don’t turn out to be shocks!

I’m curious to know
what’s on your knitting needles. What are you working on now?

JM: I’m afraid knitting was put on hold for me nearly seven weeks ago when I
broke my wrist teaching the grandchildren how to ride a unicycle! I know – you
couldn’t make it up! The cast came off last week and I’ve picked up my needles
once or twice since, but I still can’t do very much as my hand is still
painfully weak and swells up like a sausage when I try to use it. I’m finding
playing guitar is the easiest therapy at the moment. All very frustrating, but
it gives me lots of time to dream up new designs to try out once I get going
again.

Thank you Jean, for taking the time to thoughtfully answer all my questions!

Interested in winning a copy of this lovely book? Then it’s your lucky day! Please leave me a comment (include your email or ravelry ID) telling me which person in your life really needs for you to knit them a gift. The winner will be announced Thursday, September 12th! And should you not win, take heart- the book is available for sale on Amazon.com here, Amazon.co.uk here, and there is even a blog tour for this amazing book, be sure to check out the other blogs for more chances to win!