Well, I’ve done it.

I have officially recorded the first episode of The Next Row, a podcast for knitters and crocheters who know the basics, have developed a slight yarn hyperfixation, and would quite like to understand what is going on beyond the actual stitches.

For my first guest, I talked with Katrina Robinson from Purl Foundry, an independent knitting-pattern designer here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her background is in sewing patterns, and you can see that influence in the way she thinks about construction, shape and the fabric we create as we knit.

I wanted Katrina as my first guest because we stock a lot of her printed patterns at The Wool Shop. We know them, we recommend them, and several of us have knitted them.

I also really like the way she thinks.

Her patterns are not designed to be another version of the same sweater we have already seen twelve times. She wants each one to include something interesting. A construction detail, a sleeve, a technique or a small moment where the knitter thinks, “Oh, that’s clever.”

We talked about where those ideas come from, and what happens when the brilliant sleeve she has imagined does not actually work once she knits it.

Sometimes she spends months trying something, gets to the end, and realises it is not right.

I found this deeply comforting.

Pattern design involves a lot more maths than I’d like

I have recently started writing down some of the things I make.

I am using the term “pattern writing” generously here. Mine are currently beginner-friendly notes created by someone who is very likely to change the pattern halfway through.

Katrina is doing something quite different.

She begins by making a garment for herself so she can understand the fit, the drape and what the construction is doing. From there, she uses industry sizing charts, spreadsheets, technical editing and testing to turn that original garment into a pattern across a broad size range.

We talked about why grading a pattern for a larger body is not simply a matter of adding the same number of centimetres everywhere.

Our arms do not become dramatically longer just because our bust measurement increases. Our shoulders do not continue expanding at the same rate either. Bodies change in different places and in different proportions.

Katrina takes that seriously. She also listens closely when larger-bodied knitters give her feedback because they know things about wearing those sizes that she cannot know from her own body.

That willingness to keep learning came through across our whole conversation.

Any technique you don’t know is just something you haven’t learned yet

One of my favourite moments was when Katrina talked about people looking at a garment and saying:

“I could never do that.”

Her response was that any technique you do not know is simply a technique you do not know yet.

You can look it up. You can try it. You can learn it.

We do not have to complete some secret knitting apprenticeship before we are allowed to use circular needles, knit a garment from the top down or attempt short rows.

This is one of the reasons I wanted to make The Next Row.

Experienced knitters sometimes take knowledge for granted. They have forgotten that terms such as positive ease, meterage, Japanese short rows and saddle shoulders once sounded completely foreign to them too.

I want us to pull those things apart without making anyone feel stupid for asking.

The expensive yarn is lovely. It is not compulsory.

We also talked about something I feel strongly about at The Wool Shop: knitting needs to remain accessible.

I love beautiful yarn. Give me the soft, locally made, hand-dyed, slightly bougie yarn and I will happily rub it against my face.

But not every garment has to cost hundreds of dollars to make.

Katrina is completely comfortable with knitters substituting yarn to suit their budget, their skin and the way they want the garment to feel. Sometimes you may choose the luxury option. Sometimes your goal is to make a whole sweater for under $100.

Both are knitting.

The important part is understanding what the replacement yarn will do, rather than believing you must use the exact brand shown in the pattern.

We also got into meterage, why three balls of one yarn are not automatically equivalent to three balls of another, and why cotton can behave so differently from wool.

Naturally, I became extremely excited about yarn substitution. This surprised absolutely nobody.

There is beauty in taking three years

Katrina came to knitting after working in sewing, and she talked about appreciating its slower pace.

Sewing can create a garment relatively quickly. Knitting asks you to make the fabric and the garment at the same time, one stitch after another.

I tend to knit quite quickly, although I also choose fairly straightforward projects. People sometimes tell me they wish they could make things as fast as I do.

But during this conversation, I remembered a woman I met at a knitting group who had made an incredible cardigan.

It took her three years.

There is something quite magnificent about that. We are so accustomed to treating speed as the achievement that we can miss the beauty of staying with one object over a long period of our lives.

A handmade garment can hold the television programme that tightened your tension, the person you were thinking about while you knitted, the mistake you chose not to fix and the version of yourself who first cast it on.

You are allowed to learn differently

Katrina works on one project at a time.

I need approximately five projects at different stages or I start feeling uneasy.

She finds multiple projects mentally fragmenting. I like having something simple for meetings, something exciting to cast on and something nearly finished when I need the satisfaction of getting one over the line.

Neither method is the proper method.

That became one of the quiet themes of this first conversation. There are many ways to make, learn, plan and follow a pattern.

You may want every row written out clearly.

You may prefer a short explanation of what you are trying to achieve so you can work more independently.

You may swatch diligently every time.

You may know a familiar yarn so well that you cast on and hope for the best.

Although, officially, both Katrina and I would like to state that you should swatch.

Do as we say.

About this first episode

This is the first proper row of The Next Row, so it may not be perfect.

In fact, I accidentally paused my first attempt at the introduction and had to do it again. I am fairly sure that is exactly the right beginning for a podcast built around learning as we go.

In this episode, Katrina and I talk about:

* moving from sewing into knitting-pattern design

* where her design ideas begin

* size-inclusive grading and listening to testers

* yarn substitutions at different budgets

* why meterage matters more than the number of balls

* writing patterns for different types of brains

* swatching, tension and the thriller that left a permanent line in my sweater

* learning new techniques without waiting for permission

* why slow making still matters

You can find Katrina’s downloadable patterns through Purl Foundry and Ravelry. Printed Purl Foundry patterns are also available through selected yarn shops, including The Wool Shop.

Thank you for being here at the beginning.

Let’s see what happens in the next row.

You can buy her printed patterns here

http://thewoolshop.co.nz/pages/purl-foundr

and her downloadable patterns here

https://www.purlfoundry.com/