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Amanda Stevenson Lupkę

Above: Border on the Extravagant, Knits Spring 2005. Right: Diamonds in Relief, Knits Holiday Gifts 2008.

a knitters world

texture. Some have a firm and others a soft hand.

I like to match knitters with projects both skill-wise and temperamentally.”

Deborah enjoys interacting with her knitters, and they love working with her. “Shes an incred-ible designer and person,” says Lucinda Heller.

“l’ve worked with Deb for several years and always look forward to knitting her designs. I really appreciate her attention to detail, as this makes each project flow easily, regardless of whether the design is simple or intricate. Her instructions are written with the knitter in mind; theyre very easy to follow. My all-time favorite design of hers is a kimono jacket in Designing Knitwear.”

Pat Yankee has worked with Deh for twenty-five years, longer than any other knitter. “The projects we have done have always been fun and informative,” says Pat. “There are two projects that 1 will always rememher—a Shetland shawl that people still admire and knit and a hridal gown with beads knitted in. Both were learning experiences for me."

Pat especially admires Deborahs finishing techniques, which she describes as meticulous, but the designer herself always does the actual finishing. Deborah takes tremendous pleasure in all the finał details. “I love finishing. I love putting things together,” she says. “I love seams. 1 love doing huttonbands and picking out huttons and pockets and collars. I cant hear to let anyone else do that.”

Deborah also can’t hear to rip anything out, preferring to figurę out Solutions to any problems that might crop up. “Believe me, theres always a way,” she says. “Things dont have to be ripped, they can be fixed, I can make adjustments. 1 have to be practical, but 1 will not be precious.”

In addition to her a 1 ways-in-progress list of new knitting projects and another book—Cabled Designs, due out this fali—Deborah is hoping to start a blog about knit design and fashion. “In the old days, I would go into New York City and look at a good magazine rack to see new styles,” she says. “Now with the Internet it’s impos-sible not to know what s happening. You can go to Ravelry.com and see what interests people. Pm hoping my blog will allow me to enter the craft in another way, not as a job but morę as a gift to the knitting community and a way for me to explore without being profes-sionally oriented all the time.”

Looking back over her career, which includes a number of other books and work with many magazines, Deborah sees patterns in her work life just as clearly as she sees the patterns she designs. “Being a professional designer does have limits,” she says. “I dont think the limits make the work less or morę creative; I just work with different parameters. I dont design for myself—I design for a specific audience, or a new yarn, or a specific editor. Theres a joy that comes from solving problems and meeting people’s needs. When someone calls me last minutę and says, ‘I need something in this yarn,’ and can I do that in two weeks, it’s an adventure. I like thinking on my feet.”

In addition to meeting deadlines, Deborah likes multitasking and is happy to have several ideas working at once. It s not unusual for her to take a project from inspiration to completion in less than three weeks, which is undoubtedly how shes been able to come up with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of patterns over the years—even she has lost count.

Always moving from one project to the next, Deborah never suffers postpartum depression upon birthing a completed sweater and sending it into the world. “When one project is completed, Pm already thinking about the next one,” she says. “The next one is always morę fun. Knitters know that. You fali in love with a certain yarn, and youre working on a project you love. But you want to fali in love again, so youre always looking for the next project.”

These little love affairs that Deborah perpetually ignites feed her bigger love affair with the craft of knitting, a love that first swept her away in childhood and, she’s confident, will last the rest of her life.

Deborah sees knitting as a vehicle for exploring new ideas. “Knitting allows me to play with geometry, dressmaking, color. Everything is there—numbers, colors, textures, warmth, comfort, philosophy, exactitude, and freedom. Humor, too. The craft has a level of complexity that draws people in. It did so for me and it has never stopped rewarding me—every day it reveals something I haven’t seen before. Knitting itself has no parameters. It’s a giant universe.” □

SPIKE GILLESPIE is a freelance writer, public speaker, and avid knitter. She is the author of five books, the most recent: Ouilting Art (Voyageur Press, Fali 2009). Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Real Simple, Smithsonian, Fiberarts, and elsewhere. She lives in Austin, Texas.

24 Summer 2009 INTERWEAN/E KNITS interweaveknits.com