Meghan Jones: A Collector of Knitting Techniques

Knitwear designer Meghan Jones, at left, is a self-described knitting technique collector.

And when you look at any of her patterns, you can tell that there’s something special about Meghan’s knitting vision. Whether it’s a unique stitch pattern, a great color combo, or an interesting construction, there’s always a little pop in her designs.

One of my favorite of Meghan’s designs is Sivia, a gorgeous, beaded lace shawl. Sivia combines Meghan’s love of lace with her innate ability to add special details. In this pattern, it’s a cabled lace border that results in a curved edge. Fabulous!

Knit Sivia with Palouse Yarn Company Merino Fine.

Meghan’s history with fiber first manifested itself in college with her studies in fiber and textiles and a graduate project was in weaving.

She began knitting when she was pregnant with her first child. Meghan’s husband was deployed to Iraq, and she was living with her parents, who didn’t have room for a loom, so she took up knitting, and hasn’t looked back since!

Her husband, Seth, came back from the service with challenges, including PTSD, and Meghan used knitting as her way of getting focused time to herself, immersing her mind in the intricacies of yarn and needles and what she could do with them.

Meghan’s first published project, the Jellyfish Bag in Interweave Knits, was a design that sprung from her obsession with pleating. She thought the technique would make a cool bag, and she submitted it for publication. What the heck, she thought? And soon her first design was in print.

Sibling Revelry, at left, is one of Meghan's most popular patterns. It's sized from 3 months to 12 years, and it shows her adeptness with cables and colorwork design. Meghan suggests you knit this project with Malabrigo Rios.

 Putting Art Into Practice

Knitting has given Meghan a medium for her artistic practice.

She studied painting, sculpture, and drawing, but nothing really clicked until she discovered knitting. The combination of art, surface design, texture, color, and application all came together for her in knitting, with the last piece, application, completing the puzzle.
Application governs what she designs now; things must work—they need to fit properly, and that marriage of form and function really excites her.

To that end, her patterns are sized from 36” bust to 62” bust. She believes that all her designs should be knittable for everyone, and I love this about her!

When I asked Meghan what her favorite design was, she didn’t hesitate: Ivory Spires, which she calls her Magnum Opus. When designing this magnificent lace shawl, she proved to herself that she could really develop and manipulate lace and cable charts. This is a challenging knit, but Meghan says it’s totally knittable, it just takes a bit of concentration.

Ivory Spires knitted shawl pattern. This project would be
gorgeous in MacKenzie, from Imperial Yarns. 

I love her outlook on "difficult" knits, because I believe that knitters shouldn’t be intimidated by any pattern; each knitted item is created stitch by stitch, and every project builds skills.

Design Inspiration

Lace, cables, and color are Meghan’s favorite design “tools” and she’s inspired by designers who use these tools in interesting ways.

For color, the master is Kaffe Fasset, and Norah Gaughan is a favorite of both of us, for her amazing patterning and cable work. She also appreciates Carol Feller’s designs for their simplicity with just the right amount of texture to enhance the garment perfectly.

It's all About the Gauge Swatch

Meghan’s advice to knitters is to swatch, swatch, swatch! You want your finished object to fit, right? Swatching is the answer, and not only for garments. Swatching shows you how your yarn is going to work with your pattern, so you get a peek of the finished project. A couple hours of swatching is nothing compared to two months of knitting a sweater that doesn’t fit, or a shawl with the wrong yarn.

Meghan is one of the most prolific knitters I've ever met, and one of the reasons she can crank out so many projects is because she is FAST! Seriously. Check her out in this video, which was filmed in real time. 

Meghan has been published in Knitty (Norma, a gorgeous blanket), Interweave Knits, Knitscene,and Creative Knitting, among other publications. She also writes a monthly newsletter for Creative Knitting. Her company is Little Nutmeg Productions, and you can find all of her designs on Ravelry.

I hope you'll try one of Meghan's patterns. You won't regret it!

Cheers,