Meet Deborah Newton, Author of Finishing School + A Giveaway

Deborah Newton knitting and smiling!

Today I have a very special interview with Deborah Newton, a long-time knitting friend of mine..... Deborah is a legend in knitwear designer circles. Her work is meticulous and inspired, finished impeccably and so well thought out that it that each sweater she designs belongs in a class all its own.

I first met Deborah when I began my job as Creative Director at the yarn company back in the early 80's. I called her up (on the telephone - no email then - I still have her # memorized in my head - scary) and was struck by her strong Rhode Island accent. Deborah submitted a few design ideas to one of my first pattern collections and I commissioned one of them. She was a joy to work with, delivered her project on time, and wrote impeccable instructions. 

Deborah and I then went on a long journey of collaborating on projects for each handknitting pattern collection I developed. Our friendship grew, through knitting. I moved on to my freelance career and we have kept in touch by telephone and email. 

I am so excited that Deborah has authored a new book. It is with my great pleasure that I introduce it here on my blog and offer you a very personal glimpse into the very intelligent, talented and kind and generous designer and author Deborah Newton's life.

KN: You’ve just written a new book called Finishing School: A Master Class for Knitters, which I just heard is on Amazon's Top 10 Craft Books List! Wow - how exciting for you! I know for a fact that you are one of the most amazing finishers on the planet. Your attention to detail (in both your pattern writing and your actual garments) always impressed me beyond words when I would open one of your beautifully wrapped boxes when I was the Creative Director at The Yarn Company. Tell us how you learned to finish your knitwear so meticulously.

DN: FINISHING SCHOOL is a very personal book.  It is the story of my own journey through finishing, the telling of what works for me.

I was never trained to finish knitting in a traditional way -- whatever that is!  I might have read snippets about finishing in my early years, but I disagreed with a lot of it.  I just figured things out for myself depending on the needs of the project in my hands.  If I wanted things to look a certain way, and I experimented -- often on my initial swatches -- to get the effect I wanted. 

I always tell students that a knitter’s eye always goes automatically to a flaw in a garment.  Think about it -- when you see a sweater, your eye scans the piece and –unfortunately!-- it is always an area of awkwardness that jumps out.  That wiggly buttonband, the scrunched up seam, the neckline rib that is too tight…  I never wanted glitches like that to be apparent in my garments.   So I worked hard at refining the details at the end of a project.  

I just love the moment of perfection when a sweater is DONE, and I know my yarn company and magazine clients appreciate that too!

KN: I know you are a fanatic about perfection when it comes to your books. Your first book “Designing Knitwear” is still in print after how many years? How long did it take to create your latest book? And are you thinking about Book No. 3?

DN:  My book DESIGNING KNITWEAR has been in print for 21 years.  I am amazed!   It took a LONG time to write that book, a few years, and it would not have been except for the guidance of my editor Christine Timmons who encouraged me to get my process down on paper.  It was so challenging, but I learned so much.  I was an inexperienced writer, my mother was very ill at the time, and I found it to be an excruciatingly difficult project.  But somehow it got done.

On the other hand I found FINISHING SCHOOL to be a much more enjoyable project, despite the many challenges!  No book is easy to do: it is a juggling act to integrate projects with text and technique, but I am a little more experienced writer and designer these days.  It took about a year, working at pretty much breakneck speed.  Two unforeseen challenges were the fact that Paul and I moved during the process (after living in one place for over 30 years!) AND I broke my elbow. 

I have also done a few pattern books for Leisure Arts Publishing that I am proud of: DEBORAH NEWTON’S CABLE COLLECTION, and WARM WEATHER KNITS.  Leisure Arts will be publishing my book of baby knitwear in 2012 -- I am very excited about this!  Cute stuff, I think....

I do have a strong idea for one more personal-style “reference-type” book.  I am taking a little break now from books -- well-deserved, I think! --  but I am looking forward to stepping into that project in the future. 

KN: Deborah, I’ve known you and your partner Paul for over 20 years now. I know he is a science fiction writer. How does he contribute to your books? Being an author myself, I know that you need the support of your family to help out.

Deborah and Paul at one of his Sci-Fi Book Events

DN: Paul and I started freelancing together at the same time, each in our own fields.  Paul writes fiction (his short story collection STEAMPUNK TRILOGY pretty much kickstarted the steampunk movement) and he does a regular book review column for the Barnes and Noble website, called THE SPECULATOR.  I would not do my design work if not for Paul: he is much more organized than I am, and holds our busy life together.   Paul ‘s orderly and calm “yin” balances my rather scatterbrained and messy “yan”.   Also, when you lead a busy freelance life, it is almost essential to share it with someone who understands the notion of DEADLINE..

Paul sees and reads everything I design and write and I read everything he composes: we comment and suggest to each other. We are both totally in sync with each other: we get our jobs done with the help of each other. Our life is very efficient, and those who know us can tell you we do not waste much time. We do enjoy our work, and the life together that makes it possible.

KN: I love all the beautifully photographed swatches in Finishing School. You, like I, live and breathe by the swatch. But I constantly hear from knitters, oh, I never swatch. What are your best “words of wisdom” for getting my readers to swatch?

DN: Since the moment I saw the completed book I said that Diane Lamphron, my art director, deserves more credit -- she made me look good!  The design of the book is gorgeous! 

I agree that the swatch is the essential element of my work, and your work too Kristin!  Sure, I think you can get away without swatching if you don’t mind ripping and making errors, and if you are not concerned about time! 

Some of the many swatches presented in Finishing School

But you and I have no time to make mistakes.   As a professional, the swatch helps me to explore and solidify ideas, and test my finishing.  And it allows my clients to see my work ahead of time -- and they trust the idea that I am presenting. 

I think you will agree, Kristin: I always say that the swatch never lies!  It tells the story of a project long before the project is begun!  Then the knitting can proceed smoothly. 

KN: Oh how I agree with you on the Diane Lamphron Art Director Love. She is fabulous! She did the Art Direction on my book Color By Kristin. 

I love all the detail shots in Finishing School showing how to actually do finishing. Are those your hands? Were you there at the shoot for the how to? 

One of the excellent how-to photos

 DN: It was a lot of fun setting up those shots, and my editor Michelle Bredeson and my art director Diane Lamphron were very creative.  Due to the nature of finishing, the photography for the book had to be done in two stages.  Before I could complete the sweaters we shot the pieces and the “process” how-to shots in NYC.  Those ARE my hands, and I was present for all of those shots.  

Deborah's Knitting Studio in Providence

Then I went home to Providence and completed all the sweaters.  Then I sent the completed sweaters back to Sixth and Spring and the model shots were taken.  I did all the finishing on all the sweaters, except I remember my friend Barbara Khouri, who helped with the technical end of the book, helped me embroider the plaid lines on the collars and cuffs!  I worked down to the wire…

KN: For years, you didn’t teach much on the road but recently I have seen your name popping up on teacher rosters. Where will you be teaching next and what is the subject of the classes?

DN: I am not able do much teaching because of my second less-visible life!  I also work part time in my family’s map business:  MAPS FOR THE CLASSROOM.  We design and publish educational maps for kids.   So I am  there every morning/early afternoon, for several hours.  These are our websites: 

Maps For The Classroom

Cartocraze

 

But lately I have been finding time to do some teaching and enjoying it very much.   I was at VK LIVE this year: January in NYC, and September in LA.  It was a blast: I enjoyed it very much.  I will be at VK LIVE as well as TNNA in January 2012 as well.  It is hard for me to get away, but I have been able to do a little on-the-road stuff.

KN: Wow - Deborah - you are one very busy woman. I looked at the website for Maps for the Classroom and recognized your illustrations. It is so nice to see you having success in another area different than knitting. 

But back to the knitting..... Do you have a favorite knitting book that you turn to again and again?

DN: I have all my dog-eared Barbara Walker PATTERN TREASURIES close at hand at all times.  The spines are all broken and the pages littered with post-it notes and scribbles.  I have been fortunate to get to know Barbara since I interviewed her by phone for an article I did about her for Interweave Knits.  But finally I had the extreme pleasure of meeting The Goddess of Knitting herself face-to-face: I introduced her at the annual luncheon of the Greater Boston Knitting Guild last May.  It was a huge moment for me—to meet with someone whose work I admired and who has been such an inspiration to me.  AND she signed my broken-down copy of the First Treasury!  

Deborah and Barbara Walker

KN: When you are not knitting, designing and writing, what else do you like to do? And how does knitting inform it?

DN:   Paul and I are very involved with our families and family life: we have no children but lots of nieces and nephews, and many of our family members are here in RI where both Paul and I were born and have always lived.

I am a long-time Iyengar-style yoga practioner.  I do yoga every evening while Paul reads many newspapers.  We love music of all kinds and listen to a new CD every day at that time: we call it the Yoga/Music Hour.  Yoga has helped me focus more effectively on my work and maintain the energy my active schedule requires.  For someone who has to sit for long periods, yoga has helped me physically very much as well. 

Deborah and Paul's Cocker Spaniel Brownie

I adore living in Providence, which is a very young colorful vital city.  I also love to garden, both flowers and vegetables.  Paul and I have been members of a Community Garden at the Urban Environmental Lab at Brown University for over 25 years.  At our new digs, I recently became interested in growing roses. 

Paul and I LOVE old movies and we watch one every night at 10 PM.  I take inspiration from the clothes of the 1930s and ‘40s.  We share our busy lives with our beloved chocolate cocker spaniel Brownie.  We also keep company with a bad biting cat named Penny Century, whose name is a tribute to my favorite comics artists, the Hernandez Brothers, Jaime and Gilbert, of LOVE AND ROCKETS fame.

My life is very full, and as challenging as the freelance life can be, I have been privileged to do the work I love, as well as share vital work with my family at the map business.  I have made many wonderful friends over the years thanks to my knitting and designing -- definitely one of the great perks of working in this field.  My brother says I will never retire!  Maybe he is right....

KN: Okay all - put this book on your Christmas list. You will not be disappointed. But lucky for one of you, Sixth and Spring Books has kindly donated a copy of Deborah’s new Finishing School: A Master Class for Knitters to one of my lucky readers. To enter, please leave the answer to the following question from Deborah Newton in the Comments section of this post.

This question is from Deborah to all of you….

"What is the book that is missing from your knitting library?-- perhaps one that has not been written yet...."

As always, please leave an easy way to get a hold of you. Contest ends Sunday evening November 20th at 11:59 p.m.