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! 

The Rest of the Great Little Gifts to Knit Blog Tour 

Wed 11 Sep    Black Bunny Fibers Carol Sulcoski

Thur 12 Sep    Rhythm of the Needles Joanne Conklin

Fri 13 Sep       Tiny Owls Knits Stephanie Dosen

Mon 16 Sep    Just Call Me Ruby Susan Crawford

Tues 17 Sep   Zeneedle Margene Smith

Wed 18 Sep    Redshirt Knitting Erika Barcott

Thur 19 Sep    A Friend to Knit With Leslie Friend

Fri 20 Sep        Craft Sanity Jennifer Ackerman Haywood

Mon 23 Sep     Connieleneknits Connie Lene

Tues 24 Sep    Knitsofacto Annie Cholewa

Wed 25 Sep     Ulla Bella Anita Tormoen

Thur 26 Sep     A Really Good Yarn Julie Schilthuis

Fri 27 Sep        Urban Yarns Alexa Ludeman

Sat 28 Sep       Linda Marveng  Linda Marveng

Mon 30 Sep     Yarnings Jen

Tues 1 Oct       Tentenknits  Margaux Hufnagel