Fiona Goble, Claire Garland and Sachiyo Ishii Knitting Q&A

In the last few months, Let’s Knit Together members have been spoilt with exclusive Knitting Clinics from some of their favourite designers! We’ve had an array of Guest Stars join the community for one week only, including Fiona Goble, Claire Garland and Sachiyo Ishii, providing members with exclusive patterns, book extracts and finishing with an invite-only Q&A session over on our secret Facebook group! We just couldn’t keep this to ourselves, so we wanted to share with everyone some of the fantastic answers to our members’ questions. Love the sound of this? We regularly host Guest Star weeks on Let’s Knit Together, and you could be part of our next one by signing up today for just £1*! We’d love to welcome you into our community. 

Claire Garland
Do you have a favourite design from your latest book, Magical Woodland Knits?
I love my wolf pattern best;  I’ve seen some knitted up since the book publication and I’m really happy to see that the pattern works for everyone. My favourite photos are the little yellow necked mouse (that was taken here at my home, the photographer came over in November to take some shots… the front cover was taken here, too), and the blue tit – that’s a lovely page.

What inspired you to produce these wonderful designs and what is next?
I used to work for a company called Country Artists; they produce hand painted, resin, lifelike animal models. I was one of their artists and as I painted I would dream and think up how I too could reproduce them as soft sculpture, knitting wise. It was a good few years before I put my plan into action! Next up, more cats – I’ve a Siamese on the go at the moment.

When did you start knitting and who taught you?
School was the first knitting lesson but I didn’t really get into it until I was about 30 and after a refresher course from my Mum we just learned the basics. It’s a really valuable lesson and I think it’s something all schools should teach

What would you say to knitters who look at the designs and think they may be complicated? After all, knitters can achieve anything!
Yes, knitters are the best! To be honest, I’d say all the patterns are absolutely achievable for all levels and I’m always more than happy to email a screenshot of a couple of pages to show what to expect, I also help out with online advice. With my more recent patterns, I’ve started to make how-to videos to accompany the written pattern – I’m getting the impression that these are well received

Sachiyo Ishii
What is the secret to knitting tiny? It is so fiddly!
I didn’t always knit tiny. I practice with larger stuff and It helps if you use fine needles, 3mm-3.5mm. Pull the yarn firmly when you turn at the end of every row and if you have loose side edges, the finish is not too neat.

Fiona Goble
Do you have a project that you’ve got a particular sweet spot for?
What I really love is knitting small things with lots of detail – so I love knitting tiny animals and dolls. This is a tiny polar bear and there are others where he came from!

We think a mini knits book would be perfect - have you got any plans for upcoming releases?
No, not on the printed book front - though this little fellow and his friends will be part of an ebook I’m working on at the moment. I would welcome everyone’s ideas for good things to write patterns on!

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