A chat with Emily of Tin Can Knits

We chatted with Emily Wessel of Tin Can Knits about her design work, collaborating with us on a yarn shade, and her VMOW session (available on our YouTube channel).

 Tell us a bit about your journey into knitting and your background?

I’m from Vancouver Island, a beautiful place on the west coast of Canada and I’ve always loved learning to make things, and experimenting in many kinds of media. I studied architecture in university and worked in the field for a few years; so I come to pattern design and app design with experience in design and also the importance of clear communication and documentation. I met my design partner, Alexa, in Vancouver, and after moving to Edinburgh, Scotland, our business Tin Can Knits started to come together – one pattern collection at a time! We have now designed and published 12 knitting pattern collections together.

What do you like to get up to in your time that you’re not working?
I love learning languages! My first language is English, but I’ve learned Spanish, French, and I’m embarking upon Italian right now! I’ve got a little German stuffed in the back of my brain too, and hope to pull that out and polish it off in the future. I’m also a runner – my goal this year is to run every day and I’m up to 157 today (but never fear, plenty of my runs are very short, I’m not harming myself). I also love to snowboard, spin, listen to cheesy fantasy audiobooks, bake bread, and read to my kids. My work on the Tin Can Knits app often feels like play – it’s an extension of my practice in design, language learning (I’ve learned several programming languages), and making cool (useful) things for people.

How did you find the process of designing your own shade for the Mill Open Weekend?

It was SUPER fun having Sonja teach me to blend shades, and then doing a bunch of experimentation! I love learning new techniques and experimenting, and diving a bit deeper into how things are actually made! As a spinner, and a colour lover, I enjoyed all parts of this process!  Editor’s note: You can learn more about the process of designing a shade in our YouTube video below.

Tell us a bit more about your shade, what inspired the colours you chose?

I wanted to make something deep, saturated, but with some complexity. I love teals, blues, and yellows and so I experimented with where I could go by combining those shades. I love the finished result, and I’m very curious to see how it’ll look in a handspun yarn – I hope I’ll see flecks of yellow, red, black in the finished yarn.

Have you used Yarnadelic before? What do you think of it?

I have LOVED Yarnadelic since you came out with it! I actually bought 100g of each of the colours in the range when it launched, and spun myself a whole rainbow! It’s a DREAM to spin (like all John Arbon tops), and the heathered colours are just absolutely exquisite. As for the yarn, I designed the Starflower blanket with a rainbow of Yarnadelic… and what a beautiful result!

I can’t say enough good things!

Could you tell us a little bit about your talk you did for our Virtual Mill Open Weekend? We’re thrilled you’re involved with our shenanigans!
My talk and Q&A focused on our new free-to-download knitting pattern app – why we made it, the direction we’re planning to take this technology in the coming years, and why you might love it (even if you don’t think you need a knitting app, because you’re already an expert!). We are crafting this app ourselves, from scratch, with a commitment to simplicity and quality. It’s a fun to use and helpful tool to help make your knitting just a little bit more joyful. The Tin Can Knits app includes 10 free patterns (plus more available for in-app purchase) – download and try it today from the App Store or Google Play, then sign up for the talk and bring your questions!

Where are the best places to find you?

First, hop over to the App Store or Google Play and try our free Tin Can Knits app! But if the pattern you want to knit isn’t included on the app (yet!), you can browse our full catalogue of over 200 patterns on our website. The very best way to stay in touch is by receiving our thoughtful and inspiring emails – sign up today.