In Profile: Becky Schaeffer and Her Amazing Handknit Bathmat

I knit every day. I would probably knit all day if I had nothing else to do. I took a bit of a hiatus from knitting every free second when [my son] Jack was born because he was an especially difficult baby, and my free time went from minimal to non-existent. He’s getting better though, older, so I would say I knit when I can. Not nearly as much as I’d like to, but still pretty much every free second I get. Part of why I started the Etsy shop is because I knew I’d be knitting every free second anyway, so I figured I might try to see if people wanted to buy some of the things I make. Plus, selling things encourages me to try new things – sort of gives me an excuse to actually.

I learned how when I was 11-12ish. Mom was taking a knitting class and I watched her all the time, so she taught me how. I knit in high school – I remember sitting and making hats in all-school meeting all the time. I wasn’t any good though – the first scarf I made (for my grandmother) curled up at the edges so it looked like a long snake, and I couldn’t figure out why. The first hat I made, I just gathered all the stitches together at the top and tied them off (not how its done) so there was a hole at the top the size of a penny. Not good. I tried to teach myself to be a bit better in college. My friend Annie and I would knit on weekends to get away from schoolwork. We learned how to make mittens together on a trip to Halifax (lots of idle time in the car). Other friends in college would ask us to teach them how to knit.  Teaching something, I think, always forces you to really know what you’re doing. You can’t teach someone how to do something and then tell them, “Ummmmm, yeah, I have no idea about that.”

For Christmas, junior year of college, Mom got me the yarn and the pattern to make my first sweater. Talk about itchy. Terrible. I can’t get rid of it because it was my first one, and it looks fine, but it’s unwearable. After college, when my husband John and I were living in Chicago, I went to a craft night with some friends every Monday, and started making more difficult projects. I made Christmas stockings for John’s family to mimic those that his father had from 1930s Switzerland (actual stockings – thigh high, were held up by buttoning them to one’s undergarments).  It was like knitting on toothpicks with dental floss. That was a challenge. So it evolved, I guess.

Mostly I start with a pattern. The cowl, fingerless mittens, garter stitch scarf, organic cardigan – those are my own. The bathmat I have done many different ways.  I just made one for someone that was 12″ by 48″ to fit his bathroom; it’s the same knitting style but obviously completely different than the original pattern. As I go on I tend to just go off of an original design. If I had a bunch of time and a bunch of great yarn lying around and I didn’t have to spend anything on new yarn, I’m sure I would make more that wasn’t from a pattern. I could sit around all day dreaming up things and trying them out.

Francis has a freakishly long torso, and I had the benefit of having him close by to measure exactly. That was very helpful. Its great to have an actual body around to hold up what you’re working on, to measure before you do something, so that you know as you go along that what you’re doing is going to be EXACTLY the right size. Usually when you make or buy a sweater it’s going to fit, but unless it stretches and is therefore completely fitted and tight, chances are its only going to be SORT of the right size. I have to admit that this particular sweater came out especially well.  It could not fit him better.

I do not currently, but I could easily make one. For a woman’s fit, I would ask for measurements – waist, bust, some different lengths, and then just compare those measurements to my own so I could measure up the garment as I knit it. This particular pattern could be easily tailored to fit a woman’s shape – all of the shaping is actually done into the sides, not the front, so that great cabled pattern stays the same all the way up, regardless of shaping.

It’s actually not scratchy, I’m happy to say. I am particularly sensitive to itchy materials, and this is a very soft wool. It’s a superwash merino wool – Francis is wearing it with a turtleneck in the photo but I actually think it would be just fine if one were to wear a crew neck t-shirt under it. Made from the wool that the pattern requests (I substituted, as I usually do), it would have been intolerable.

I call it Nordic because the original pattern is from this great website I frequent with many many patterns for all genders, ages, etc – their patterns are unbelievable – and the website is Norwegian.  Also it just so happened that the website on which I found the pattern was, in fact, Scandinavian. So. It sounded right. On the website they call it a men’s “jumper” which in this country makes me think of a dress for a 6 year old girl so…I was not going to go with that.

The neckline is like that because the parts of the sweater are sewn together after they are completed – front, back, sleeves, and they create right angles in the neckline area. So, when you pick up the stitches to create a collar, they sort of fall into that right-angled pattern. That makes little sense I realize but there’s no other rhyme or reason to it, really.

Anything I make is available in an array of different colors. I don’t have any of it MADE yet but anyone who wants something custom color or size or whatever needs only to ask and I’m sure I can get it done. I made the bathmat in “Island blues” [pictured] for one woman. The bathmat is made in a style called “log cabin” knitting, where the center square is knit and then you bind off all the stitches at the top, then pick up stitches down the side. You knit out in that direction for a bit, then bind off those stitches and pick up stitches along the side of the new panel, and the bottom of the original square. Sounds tricky but if you look closely at the picture of the bathmat you can tell that its knit in sort of a spiral of panels. You could keep going forever and make it as big as you wanted – you also could bind off all the stitches and pick up new ones on a completely arbitrary side – making an asymmetrical system of blocks instead of a spiral outward. The bathmat, as with most of the items, comes originally from a pattern in a book I have, and is actually the example of a great way to knit in the “log cabin” style. I so love it though, that I think I’m going to start making dishcloths and dishtowels out of the same yarn – although I may crochet them. I think the bathmat would also make a great rug for in front of the kitchen sink – to stand on while you do the dishes. In that case you could match it to the forthcoming dishcloths and towels.

I don’t usually email the patterns, but only because I usually have a picture up of the finished item and emailing a pattern isn’t going to help anyone get a better idea of what it might look like. As far as yarn colors, I send a PDF of available colors in whatever yarn something is made from.  Frequently if the color desired isn’t pictured, I can make the item from a different yarn that does have the right color.

Right now I’m working on the headband, which was originally a custom order for a friend.  They are so quick to knit up I’m enjoying just making tons of them and experimenting with the crocheted flowers. I had to teach myself how to crochet to make them. In the winter I like doing stuff that knits up quickly so I can produce more, because demand is higher for stuff that keeps you warm. In the summer I can do things like make lace shawls, that take a while and aren’t hot to knit and people still might want to wear for dress-up.

I knit a headband for [my daughter] Lucy yesterday because she’s been watching me make them and she demanded one. Other than that, not really. Not for myself. I actually have a sweater that’s really beautiful – long, fitted, great big collar – that I knit for myself.  I am going to list because I’ve never worn it and someone should. What with the 2 teeny children I am routinely covered in bodily fluids, so knitting nice things for myself isn’t really where I’m at. I’m pretty much in sweatpants almost all the time these days.