Elizabeth Doherty - Blue Bees and Tiny Boats ...
Elizabeth’s home turf of Sierra Nevada, California.
Where are you in the world?
I live in Truckee, California, a smallish town just east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
What do you love about living there?
I’m not sure why it is—maybe an innate claustrophobia?—but I am happiest when I can be outdoors, on top of a mountain or anywhere else that there is a vista. Getting up high is quite literally how I get perspective on life.
I love living in a place where I’m in daily contact with the natural, unbuilt world, where I can hike and climb and ski and kayak, and above all, ride my bike up steep and challenging hills.
Elizabeth: “I am happiest when I can be outdoors, on top of a mountain or anywhere else that there is a vista.”
What was your pathway to knitwear design?
I’ve always been a maker. I learned to sew when I was 8 or 9, and for years sewed a lot of my wardrobe. When I learned to knit, I took what I knew about making garments and just carried on.
As a graphic designer I used Adobe Illustrator every day, so when I started designing knitted garments for myself I plotted all the stitches in Illustrator just like a flat sewing pattern.
Quite soon though I realised you could do much more with knitted fabric. Because you create the fabric at the same time as the garment, you can use increases and decreases to shape it and build 3-dimensional forms that follow the human body.
Elizabeth: “My favorite place to work through design ideas is out on my road bike, grinding up a hill.”
What inspires you?
Sometimes it’s a stitch pattern, sometimes it’s a shape I want to create. Often it’s a problem I want to solve. In the last few years I’ve designed several circular yoke pullovers with the aim of making them sit better on the body.
My favourite place to work through ideas is on my road bike climbing a hill. When you’re grinding up a steep climb it helps to have something to take your mind off your screaming legs!
Elizabeth getting up close with one of the Calanish stones, Isle of Lewis.
You seem to have a thing for the Scottish Hebrides, why is that?
I’ve always felt drawn to landscapes shaped by weather and time. My first visit to the Outer Hebrides was when I was 19 and travelling around Great Britain on my own.
The wide open landscapes, the sea, the stone structures and standing stones, the colours, the people and the sheep all became imprinted on me.
Tell us about your Tiny Boats project…
When I visited Berneray in 2019 I was captivated by stories of seafaring sheep and Viking history. I had been experimenting with slip-stitch patterns and discovered one that formed a small boat shape that looked just like the Viking-inspired Birlinn.
The pairing of the yarn and stitch pattern was just meant to be.
You can find Elizabeth’s Tiny Boats pattern set and Birlinn Yarn kit: HERE
Elizabeth Doherty: www.bluebeestudio.com
