1. What does your workspace/design/creative space look like?
My workspace is in the House of Design, Food and Music in the harbor of Reykjavik. It is part of an Icelandic collective of artists and designers and a very creative place to be. I'm on the top floor with an absolutely insane view over the sea and the mountains. It is very inspiring. I moved there recently and I'm still arranging it, so I don't have any great pictures of the inside yet... but I couldn't help but show this one of the view: did I mention the view was amazing?
2. Do you save your mistakes/or designs you don't love right away -or ditch them?
I never throw away anything. Often a mistake will eventually turn into something interesting - as it is, as a start to something else, or sometimes just as a reminder of what not to do (which is just as important).
I try very hard to work only from Icelandic knitting traditions and folklore: although I'm pleased with most of my designs because they fit into this frame, I don't necessary like all of them. I have favorites :-)
3. What's on your "next to try" list?
I want to try to take my truck driving licence! And also use a Shetland belt.
5. Do you ever work with recycled materials?
Not so much anymore. I used to knit with plastic bags that I melted and sprayed gold to make lace jewelry and corselets. Although the end project was technically made from recycled material, the process was not particularly environmental friendly. Today I'd rather be more self conscious about the whole process. My Love Story yarns are a good example of that.. and it shows in the softness of the yarn.
6. What music do you listen to when designing?
I'm not a multitasking type of person and I never listen to music when I work. I'd rather wear earplugs! I may be inspired by music though. If I listen to music, I don't do anything else. Except dancing, maybe, or knitting, but that doesn't count!
7. How long does a design take you to create?
They can take from a few years to a few days!
8. How do you organize your supplies?
I have shelves full of books, a big storage shelf with boxes of wool, sorted out by type or filled out with knitting projects sorted out by books or collections. I keep all my needles in a project bag and I have a little pouch with everything I need in it that I carry everywhere with me. I'm not a gadget freak and my supplies are kept to a minimum. I don't have any fancy needles because I tend to lose them. I do have many projects bags with all sorts of prints. My main organizational problems today are my 3 daughters: they are all knitters and start many projects at once that take them ages to finish; of course they use all my needles, my wool, etc...
9. What books/magazines do you read?
I like knitting books about history, traditions, special techniques, or coffee table books with outstanding scenery and amazing pictures. Or different, even weird books! I don't read magazines on a regular basis, only from time to time or when there's something in it that I'm interested in.
At home, we read a lot for the children, in Icelandic, English and French.
10. How would you describe your personal style?
All my designs are inspired by Icelandic traditions and nature with a modern flair and a French touch of elegance.
11. How do you determine what a design is going to be made with?
The material is just as much part of the design as the form, the pattern, and the stitches. I can't recall having designed something and then looked after for a yarn to knit it with. The only exception to this is the book on Old Icelandic lace dresses I'm currently working on: the yarn I needed didn't exist any more, so I made one myself - and this is more or less how my Love Story yarns label all started! Of course being in a niche, I'm working mostly with Icelandic yarns or alike.
12. Do you have a collection of anything?
I don't consciously collect anything, but I do have many little figures in traditional Icelandic costumes or related to Icelandic folklore, lots of papercuts and popup children books and a healthy amount of printed projects bags.
13. How did your book come to be made?
I had been publishing patterns for Voyageur Press before, all with Icelandic styles. So when they proposed for me to work on Icelandic Handknits, I was thrilled. It is part of a collection of books exploring the Nordic knits in the museums. I'm the one who proposed to work from the artifacts in the Textile Museum in Iceland. I'm truly happy they embraced the idea and hope it will bring more attention to this amazing museum. Ten years before, while I was studying at the Icelandic Academy of the arts, I had paid a visit with the school to the Textile Museum and I had taken pictures of all the knitted artifacts - without knowing at all they would serve as a basis for a whole book some 10 years later!
14. The all important question (from Ravelry) what is your favorite swear word?
Icelandic is very soft in the matter I think, my favourite one is: Andskotinn hafi þig (would the devil take you).
I don't swear that much anymore because my daughters have installed a system at home where each time you swear you have to pay them a small amount of money. It works and I'm afraid they are slowly, but surely running out of business...
1. Knitting an aran sweater in a disco during the Duran Duran times (my teenage rebellion years...)
2. Knitting a sweater while walking over the Fimmvörðurháls mountain pass during my hiking and knitting tour between Fire and Ice : I had a deadline you see... I had no choice
3. In the same tour, knitting with a bunch of knitters at the top of a fuming born new mountain, still so hot that we melted the plastic of our walking sticks.
4. Teaching a steeking course in a deep narrow valley surrounded by giant trolls - and not being even slightly scared.
5. Knitting in a wild hot geothermal river during a tempest with freezing tempetature and the wind blowing at 120km/hour (74 mph), all that with a bunch of crazy knitters who for some of them have already registered to another knitting tour with me!
6. Knitting a pair of mittens while dancing: it was a superhero-theme party and I was a super knitting hero, I had to show off my knitting power and finished the damned mittens for the next morning because my daughter had lost hers again!
7. Knitting in a geothermal blue lagoon while holding the skein on the top of my head and dropping it in the hot water only once
8. Knitting inside a volcano, at the bottom of a 120m/400 feet deep crater
9. Eating 10 chocolate éclairs (hypothetically to put myself off them) and still having appetite for dinner (and still craving for éclairs...)
10. Sitting in front of the gateway for 3 hours, knitting a complicated lace pattern and being really absorbed by it, and ... missing the plane!
11. Standing in a snow blizzard on the glacier Skeiðarárjökull and refusing to move until I had put my red lipstick on
12. Smuggling 2 extra circular knitting needles through air security and trying not to giggle at the security agent who had only found one - and confiscated it
And here is some news about Helene's upcoming events:
This summer, the annual Textile Museum summer exhibition will be about the book and will show my new designs with the artifacts that have inspired them.
One of my knitting tours revolves around the book: Icelandic knitting traditions: Textile Museum and North Iceland, July 31- August 6, 2013
Here are pictures of the previous tours in the North:
More about the Voyager Press Book:
Icelandic Handknits:
25 Heirloom Techniques and Projects
by
Foreword by:
Icelandic Handknits: 25 Heirloom Techniques and Projects is a rich and varied collection of patterns for folk mittens, socks, scarves, hats, wrist warmers, sweaters, shoe inserts, and more, all inspired by traditional handknitted artifacts from the Textile Museum in Blönduós, Iceland. Iceland boasts a rich heritage of knitting; thanks in equal parts to the island’s special wool, the harsh climate, and the need to battle the elements, Icelandic knitters have developed unique traditions of needlework techniques and handknit styles. In the pages of this book, renowned Icelandic knitwear designer Hélène Magnùsson delivers an array of beautiful patterns that reflect the depth of the country’sknitting traditions. You’ll appreciate the fully illustrated techniques section, the ample color photographs, and the detailed list of resources for Icelandic and Scandinavian knitting. More than just a book of knitting, this book is infused with bits of Icelandic folklore and culture, vintage photographs, and classic Icelandic recipes. Magnùsson believes that the best way to preserve traditions is to continue using them, giving them new life. And with this definitive collection of patterns, she has done just that.
Hélène Magnússon is a leading knit designer in Iceland, the author of many books about traditional Icelandic knitting and the editor of The Icelandic Knitter (icelandicknitter.com), an online publication with knitting patterns inspired by tradition with a modern twist. She began her professional life as a lawyer in Paris before she made a complete life change and moved to Iceland, where she studied textile and fashion at Iceland Academy of the Arts and worked as a hired girl in a sheep farm and a mountain guide. The varied skills she learned in those early years richly inform the amazing hiking and knitting tours she passionately guides in Iceland.
More info on:
www.icelandicknitter.com
