Designer Feature: Jen Lucas

The final designer who helped bring the 2022 Knitter’s Planner to life is Jen Lucas! Jen served as a pattern designer for us this year, as well as technical editor for the Orsina Hat pattern.

She is a knit & crochet designer living in Northern Illinois. She is the author of several knitting books, as well as the Managing Editor of the The Knitting Circle and a Contributing Editor for Creative Crochet Corner. When she is not knitting or crocheting, you can find Jen reading, biking, or working on one of her many cross stitch projects.

You can find her online at Jen Lucas Designs, on Ravelry or Instagram @jenlucasdesigns

The Quiet Waves Shawl

The Quiet Waves shawl is a simple two-color shawl with a striking stitch pattern worked from the top-down. Beginning with a garter tab cast on, the triangle shawl shape is established in one color before moving on to the gentle stripes of the garter stitch and lace pattern. Easy to adjust in size, it is perfect for long, peaceful walks on the beach or dining seaside on a chilly evening.

Our Interview with Jen

Thank you so much for designing such a beautiful project for our 2022 Knitter’s Planner! Can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind it?

I love to design shawls, especially those of the top-down variety. I love classic shawl shapes with simple stitch patterns and this shawl combines both those things.

Tell us a little about the yarns you worked with for your project.

Valley Yarns Granville is a beautiful cotton/wool blend that I’ve used for other shawl designs in the past. It has beautiful drape and is wonderful to knit with. I find that wool shawls are often too itchy for me, but this shawl has mostly cotton with a hint of wool. The shawl is so soft and great to wear!

How do you go about designing knitwear? What is your design process?

Typically, I’ll have a rough idea of what I want (top-down triangle with stripes, for example) and then I’ll hit up my stitch dictionaries. Sometimes I’ll work through a few different ideas and stitch patterns until I settle on the design. Once I’m set on the design and its details, I will write up the complete pattern and make small edits along the way.

What type of yarns are you drawn to? Would you say you have a distinctive style?

Can I say I’m drawn to all the yarns? But really, fingering weight yarn is always my favorite to knit with. I love to knit everything from shawls, socks, hats, and even sweaters with it.

Tell us a bit about your knitting space. Do you have a dedicated space just for knitting?

Currently I have a room in my home that is my dedicated workspace. It’s full of yarn and craft supplies and its where I spend most of the day working. Unfortunately, it’s too small to have a comfy chair for knitting so usually during the day I knit at my desk and in the evenings, I move to my comfy chair in the living room and knit while watching TV.

What techniques do you really enjoy?

I love so many knitting techniques, but lace truly is my first love in knitting. I could knit all lace all the time and be perfectly happy.

What is your favorite feature of the Knitter’s Planner?

I love the project planning sections! I love using pen and paper to track my crafting projects, and I never really found the perfect way to track and plan my knitting projects. Problem solved!

Do you have a favorite Knitter’s Planner accessory?

The clip-in to-do lists are amazing. I am someone that can’t function without a to do list written out and the clip-in ones for the Knitter’s Planner sure beat the tiny sticky notes I’m usually using!

What is the one thing you can’t live without?

A planner. I’ve been a planner person for as long as I can remember. I love trying out new planners and organizational notebooks. I love using technology to track work and life events, but I really am a pen and paper person. And don’t get me started on all the cute planner stickers.

What do you want to do more of in 2022? We’d love to know!

Travel! My husband and I are always planning a road trip or other vacation, and we’re hoping to get back to road tripping in 2022.

Thank you, Jen, for taking the time to share a little more with us about the designing Quiet Waves shawl and your knitting life! We will be doing a giveaway of one of Jen’s books this week on our Instagram account.

Jen was the final designer in our Designer Feature series for the 2022 Knitter’s Planner. Thanks for joining us as we got to know our designers a little better. If you still need to order your 2022 Knitter’s Planner, you can visit our shop now.