Fiona Ellis Unleashes the Power of Inspiration

Fiona Ellis Unleashes the Power of Inspiration and the only place that can handle that excitement is Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird. We think so anyway.

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Fiona Ellis’s career is certainly one about escapism. After pursuing a sensible career in laboratory work for textile production and colour cosmetic formulation, Fiona escaped from career-captivity in the early 1990’s to pursue fashion design at De Montfort University. She graduated with a degree specializing in Knitwear design. Fiona then founded founded her independent design business, selling designs to major fashion houses in New York, Paris and London. Her contacts in New York helped her to add design for the independent knitter to her repertoire. This led to her published patterns in major print and on-line magazines, and two successful books published by Random House. She is also an instructor at Craftsy. Fiona helps people escape from the mundane and bring creative design sensibilities to their knitting. 

The Adelaide & Spadina sweater is the pattern she’s sharing with Yarn Thing listeners this visit. The description in Ravelry is intriguing: My design ideas always take twists and turns in many directions, and sometimes they intersect. Welcome to the junction of Adelaide and Spadina! This asymmetric striped V- neck cardigan featuring a dropped stitch & embroidery detail on the Right Front, Back & Left Sleeve. Each piece is worked in a different stripe sequence to make it fun to knit. My love for asymmetry design is a road I have been down many times. The non-identical sleeves are a nod to Camper shoes “Twins” collection where each shoe in a pair is slightly different to its partner. Experimenting with new ideas makes me curious about what is ‘round the next corner. So the “embroidery” technique used here is a new variation of an idea I have been developing for a while – knitters who have tried it say that it’s simple to work. The pattern includes a photo tutorial to make it super easy. I love the way that when placed in colour block stripes it adds texture along with the simple stripes. The colour story comes from a different street – a wonderful scene in the movie “The Danish Girl”, where the chalky ochre of the buildings became a stunning backdrop for Lilli’s lace collared deep blue dress.

Check out all of Fiona’s offerings on Craftsy here! 

You can find out what she is currently doing at www.fionaellisonline.com — check out her blog post on the 9^th of each month. Follow her in Twitter, also in Ravelry, follow her adventures in Instagram, her inspiration in Pinterest. Books authored by Fiona can be purchased at Amazon with Marly‘s #affiliate code. You can also hear the first visit Fiona Ellis made to the Yarn Thing podcast.

Just for Yarn Thing podcast listeners, until April 30th, go to Fiona Ellis’ Ravelry store and receive 15% off any of her patterns by using the code YarnThing.

If you missed “Fiona Ellis Unleashes the Power of Inspiration”, the video is still available at Marly’s Facebook page and embedded in this post below.