One of the big reasons we have our Knitter’s Profiles here at JP is so we can learn more about the people who love the craft and Jordana Paige’s bags. I have a confession though. I also love the profiles because I get a chance to ask quirky questions and most times I get an answer.
When we chatted with Susan of With Pointed Sticks, her answer to the question about how she likes her eggs cooked was just brilliant. I’ve been asking that question a long time (as a waitress and journalist) and this is the best answer, hands down. Read on and enjoy our latest Knitter’s Profile.
Susan and her brand new L.J. Kaelms
When do you enjoying knitting most?
I do 90 percent of my knitting on the train to and from work. I have a two-hour commute each way, so I put on a podcast and settle in with the uninterrupted knitting time. It makes complicated projects easier, because I can’t get distracted.
How did you find out about JP?
I’ve known about her as long as I’ve known about knitting. I can’t remember the very first place I saw her bags and patterns, but one of my first knitting memories is seeing the Starsky cardigan in Knitty. It looked so cozy and so out of my realm of doing. Knitty was the first place I saw patterns I might actually want to knit, rather than the sweaters I saw in my grandmother’s old knitting pamphlets, and Starsky was one of them. I also seem to remember seeing an ad in Interweave for JP bags, and thinking they were gorgeous, but at that point I didn’t think I’d ever be good enough at knitting to warrant a purse designed specifically for carrying projects.
If you could eat or drink anything with no consequences, what would it be?
I really. Like. Eating. All things. It’s so hard to think about this. Most recently, my fiance and I took on a Bloomin’ Onion from the Outback, and it was so disgustingly perfect, but goodness gracious I never wanted to eat again after that!
What project are you working on right now?
Oof. Still Christmas knitting. After that, I’m planning on some complicated lace shawls, since I was on a stockinette kick for a long time. I’m ready for a change.
What’s the one knitting project you’ve always wanted to try?
I’d love to try beading, but it seems so fiddly that it makes me nervous. I also don’t know if it’s something I’d actually wear. I might try a lace-weight, long cowl with beading at some point, because cowls are fairly non-committal.
How do you like your eggs cooked?
In cake.
You just got your first JP bag … congrats! Tell us a little about that.
Ahhhh! I know! I’m so excited about it! I made a decision a few years ago to only buy cheap purses so that I could replace them as soon as I got sick of them without feeling bad. But after a particularly awful Target purse, I was ready for something that would hold up for awhile. L.J. Kaelms was the first bag I thought of, because I’ve been drooling over it forever!
Susan reviews her L.J. on her blog
Coffee or tea?
Coffee. Always coffee.
What inspires you?
As far as knitting goes, I’m most inspired by Fall. My mental queue starts at the end of August, and I’m always so inspired by the upcoming Fall that I come up with enough projects for the entire year.
Most recently, I was inspired by a woman I saw knitting on the subway. She was blind, and came in with a seeing eye dog. She sat down, pulled out her knitting, and started knitting faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. She had a huge smile on her face the whole time she was working.
How did you learn to knit?
It wasn’t one of my finer moments actually. For my thirteenth birthday, my grandmother wanted to get me a “Teach-Yourself-To…” kit, but didn’t know which one. My grandfather decided I should learn how to knit. It had plastic needles and acrylic yarn, and I was SO BAD at it. Which shouldn’t be a big deal, but when I was in middle school, I couldn’t handle being bad at anything.
I ended up throwing the needles and deciding never to knit again. Both of my grandmothers teamed up to teach me how to knit and purl after that. I stopped for a few years, then when I was 17, I got a random urge to start knitting again, and I haven’t stopped since.
What was your first knitting project?
Aside from the standard garter stitch rectangle everyone’s supposed to knit, my first real project was the Alexi scarf from Berroco. It was made of Caron Simply Soft, and took me six months because there were so much cabling and seed stitch. It’s not especially functional, because it’s not long enough to wrap around my neck, just drape over my shoulders, but I was so proud of it that I wore it to school all the time just so I could look at it periodically during the day.
When I went to a real yarn store (that is, not Michael’s) for the first time, I was wearing my scarf, and I told the store owner that I was scared of knitting a sweater because I didn’t think I could handle sleeves. She looked at my scarf and said, “well, if you can knit that, you can knit anything!”
Forget knitting ... she's on to designing these days.
Have you ever knit a JP pattern?
Currently I haven’t, mostly because I love her sweater patterns, but up until recently I’ve knit maybe three sweaters my entire knitting career. I just finished college, so dropping a sweater’s worth of money all in one go was overwhelming. After calculating the time and money I spend on small projects, though, sweater knitting might just be more economical, in which case Starsky is on my list. It’s one of the first patterns I remember seeing in Knitty, and there’s a bit of nostalgia for me in those patterns. It’s nice to remember the things that initially inspired you!
What’s one of the strangest things you’ve put in your JP bag so far?
It’s so new that so far there hasn’t been anything out-of-the-ordinary in it. I have, however, been able to fit a strange amount of things in it. I was at my LYS the other day (Windsor Button in downtown Boston), and the woman asked me if I needed a bag for my *many* skeins of yarn.
I looked at the yarn, then down at my new Jordana Paige bag, and said I thought I could handle it. I put my bag on the counter, and she said, “ooh, is that a Jordana Paige? I’ve never seen one in the wild!” I stuffed yarn in it, on top of the several projects that were already in there, and I said, “YES! I love it! I can fit so much crap in it!”
What’s one of your favorite outdoor activities?
I went to Cape Cod with a few friends two summers ago, and we went kayaking in the ocean. It was the first time I ever did it, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. We also spent a good chunk of time screaming songs from the early 2000s, so that could be why I enjoyed it so much.
Do you have a favorite type of knitting project?
It changes all the time, depending on the season and what’s in my yarn cabinet at the moment, but currently I’m in a fingering-weight shawl place. I tend to run hot, and they’re the perfect layering option when cardigans are too warm.
Do you do any other sorts of crafty stuff?
I sew a little, crochet a little, make jewelry now and again, and I had a brief stint with collages. I have a lot of things I try out, but knitting is the only thing that sticks. I just started spinning a few weeks ago, and I’m hoping that takes. It very well could because it goes with knitting so well. I’ve also always wanted to make mosaic tables, which is a weird one, but I’ve had an urge to do it for several years now.
Do you prefer to knit alone or with friends?
I’m almost certain I would prefer knitting with friends, and I’ve tried to teach a whole bunch of mine, but none of them liked it as much as I do. I started a podcast last week, in the hopes that it will give me the opportunity to talk about what I love, and talk to other knitters as well.
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Thanks so much Susan! You can read more by Susan at her blog, hear her brand new podcast, find her on Ravelry, follow her on Twitter and like her on Facebook.
If you’d like to be featured in our knitter’s profile, we’d love to hear from you! Email or leave your info in the comments and we’ll make it happen! Don’t worry, you don’t have to submit photos of yourself if you’re not into that (but we do want to see your knitting and your bags for sure!).
