Nancy Eiseman must have creativity to spare. By day, she designs jacquard-woven fabrics that are used for upholstery. By night (or really, whenever she’s off the clock) she designs with her needles and yarn.
Eiseman has been knitting since she was nine, but she says she’s become more focused in the last few years. She’s even had several of her designs featured in popular knitting magazines.
More recently, Nancy designed the Centre-Ville Dress. While she was in the process, she decided to make the matching Centre-Ville Cardigan, too. Both pieces are knit top-down using Berroco Ultra Alpaca. They also have a two-tone brick stitch border for added texture.
Read more about Nancy Eiseman and her designs:
How did you come up with this design?
I don’t like knit dresses that are too tight, so I designed the Centre-Ville Dress to follow the shape of the body, but to have some ease. I don’t usually like wool directly against my skin, so I wanted a style that would look nice with a long sleeve T-shirt under it. Because I am always knitting swatches to see how different stitches look, I had a beautiful swatch of the brick stitch and thought that it would make a lovely border.
I tend to like designs that are simple, but have a lot of details that make them special. I am also always looking at fashion trends so that the garment shapes and styles in my designs feel current.
How did you decide on the yarn?
Berocco Ultra Alpaca is one of my favorite yarns. It is soft, but not quick to pill. It has a nice drape and nice weight when knitted up. It comes in so many beautiful colors, so it is easy to find two colors that work well together.
Any funny knitting stories?
Once on a trip to Mexico, my husband accused me of being anti-social because I just wanted to sit on the beach and knit. When he came back from his scuba diving lesson he was shocked that I knew so many people staying at our hotel because they had stopped to ask about my knitting.
I’ve met people by knitting on trains in Italy and the subway in New York. When knitters meet other knitters there seems to be an instant bond.
What’s your favorite thing about knitting?
There are so many things I love about knitting. I like the meditative, calming act of knitting stitch after stitch in a rhythm. I love the creative process of thinking about yarns, colors, stitches, and garment shapes, and putting it together in a unique and beautiful way. I love texture, color and form. And I love having the finished project to wear or use.
Do you have a cool design you want to share? Or did you recently finish a project with Berroco yarn? You can email Ashley: apalumbo@berroco.com or post it to the Berroco Lovers forum in Ravelry.