Interview with Emily Ringelman

I've seen Emily around Ravelry quite a bit, but a couple weeks ago, I discovered her blog. Her writing style is so funny and interesting to read. I knew I wanted to interview her as a part of the GAL!

Northern Lights Mittens

Over the Fence

Gather Ye Rosebuds Hat

All pictures © Emily Ringelman

Introduce Yourself! 
I’m Emily Ringelman, and I live in Baton Rouge, which is one of the more ridiculous places for a knitting designer to live, but there we are. My husband is a professor at LSU so we live the Tigers lifestyle, complete with tailgating and hating on the Crimson Tide. I’m mom to the fluffiest cat I’ve ever seen, and I make some seriously good cupcakes. Oh, and I’m a conservation geneticist. That too.

How would you describe your style? 
I think that I have more than a bit of whimsy in my style. See: knitted duck hat, knitted sword, baby unicorn hoodie. When I try to keep it sophisticated I almost always go with cables, so I guess I’ve got a whimsical cable-y thing going on.

What inspires you? 
I get a lot from stitch dictionaries, especially old 1970s ones with goofy sweater patterns.

What is your favorite item to design? 
I love, love, love top-down raglan sweaters. I would design those all day, every day if I could. They’re so fun to knit! Plus, there’s really nothing I hate more than joining sleeves to a body, so I get to skip that entirely. Let me design a top-down raglan with cables, and I’m happy as a clam.

What is your favorite aspect of designing? 
I think my favorite thing is seeing other people’s reactions to my designs. There’s nothing better than a bunch of knitters going bonkers over a new mitten design. I also love it when yarn for a new design shows up at my house because it usually comes in big boxes and it feels like Christmas.

Is there a design of yours that you are particularly proud of? 
I really love my new Niffler’s Delight Mittens. I struggled with how to keep the mittens snug around the wrist without compromising the cable pattern on the back for AGES, then one day, a light bulb went off, and people said I was clever. Doesn’t happen that often; I’ll take it.

Describe your experience participating in the Gift-A-Long. 
It’s been kind of like a non-stop flurry of activity. I suspect that this is because I’ve also been testing/have released 4 new patterns in the last week, so it’s just been Ravelry all the time for me.

What is your favorite part of it? 
I love how many new-to-me designers and patterns I’ve found! There are so many great things out there in the giftalong. I’ve already started making a pair of socks for hubs because I liked a pattern someone posted about on the KAL boards. I’m trying to limit my forum stalking so that I don’t end up with an out-of-control queue- I know, good luck with that. It’s gonna happen anyway.

Were there any specific patterns that did really well in the GAL that you didn’t expect? 
My baby viking hat pattern has taken off in the last couple of days, so that’s been fun. Vistoire, a top-down raglan (shocking! I know) has been pretty popular, too, even though I’m sure no one is making it for a gift. Well, I’m not sure, but I suspect.

Any new projects you would like to share with us? 
I actually just published a three-pattern ebook! It’s called Autumn in North Dakota and I really love it. The sweater pattern in that book is possibly my favorite sweater that I’ve ever designed. I wear it all the time, which is a weird thing for me to do because yesterday, it was 75 outside. In my head we live somewhere cold.