Her Crayon Box Jacket is probably the one she's instantly recognized for, with the distinctive drop-stitch in her Ladder Scarf and Ladder Shawl also generating a share of fans.

Her mantra, from her Web site, is that, in knitting, "the process and the end product should both be a joy," and she designs with that in mind. She "encourages knitters to 'color outside the lines' where it's more fun, and to 'think outside the box' (she has occasionally been accused of actually not having a box."

Mini Crayon Box Jacket

Her entrance into the knitting design world came after she "retired from a career in marketing communications and advertising to pursue her artistic passion - knitting and textureplay. She teaches workshops coast to coast for guilds, TNNA, conferences and shops and in her hometown, Madison, Wis. In addition, she has her own line of knitting patterns available through retail yarn stores. "

Chris will be at the Yarn Garden March 29-30 to teach the tricks to her color work, dropped stitches and finishing techniques. (For details on her workshops, go to Yarn Garden's Web site or our posting on March 4.

In preparation for her Portland visit, Chris chatted with us by email about her knitting, her patterns and Norway.

Read on for our interview.

How and when did you learn to knit? Do you remember your first project?
I probably learned by osmosis as my grandmother, mother and two older sisters all knit . I have a photo of me sitting next to my mother when I was 3 years old. She was knitting and I was holding the ball of yarn. I was probably about 7 when I became a "serious" knitter although I have no memory of it, or of not knitting! I knit at summer camp when cabin mates were sanding canoe paddles, I traded riding lessons for sweaters for the stable owners, and I knit my way through college finals. In the corporate world I knitted my own "St. John knits for the financially challenged."

How did you get into being a knitwear designer?
Accidentally! I was working part time in a local yarn shop "feeding my habit" after I retired from the corporate world. The shop owner invited me to attend TNNA, The National NeedleArts Association, trade show. I wore my Crayon Box Jacket and discovered I was very "politically correct" -- every yarn manufacturer noticed their own yarn in the jacket instantly as if I were wearing a photo of their grandchild! It made quite a stir and I was invited to teach the jacket at the next TNNA trade show. In fact, I met Linda Carter, owner of the Yarn Garden in Portland, in the very first workshop I taught and we have been great friends since. That's when the business was born.

What was your first published pattern?
The Crayon Box Jacket.

Do you have one that is the most popular? Or a personal favorite?
The Crayon Box Jacket is still the most popular because it gives everyone an excuse to play with all the fun yarns they have always wanted to try and no two jackets are ever alike. I would have to say it's my sentimental favorite.

We know this isn't the case, but you've sort of made your mark in designs that, er, share a look with some of our mistakes: dropped stitches, had an itch to knit late at night but not enough of one yarn so put something together with a bunch of odds and ends ... Were any of your designs born of things like that?
Of course!! Necessity is the mother of invention! But those aren't odds and ends, those are treasures, morsels, and great friends just waiting to create great things. And drop stitches are not only great fun but require less yarn and less knitting in a project and have SO many fun uses! That's one of the workshops I will be doing when I'm in Portland. In fact, I just counted my patterns on my site and realize that 16 of the designs use dropped stitches -- can you find them all?

Key West Jacket

Can you give us a small peek into your design process? Do you find you have a certain way your projects go together, like color comes first than shape or vice versa?
Wish I could tell you I sit down, sketch a fabulous design and throw it on the needles. Doesn't happen. I have no design background, although my older sister says I used to make my own clothes for my cutout dolls. :-) For me, it's often a more practical beginning, such as "what do I need in my wardrobe"? (Most of my designs are simply my wardrobe, by the way.) My goal is to create items that are classic, timeless and wearable for many years.
It will usually start with a shape, or function -- "I need an all purpose winter suit jackety thing that goes with everything". That is how the Twenty-Four/Seven Jacket came about, for instance, which I do wear everywhere with everything. The color part is purely choosing something I will wear and enjoy knitting. Since the Twenty-Four/Seven Jacket is a simple seed stitch it gave me the opportunity to play with color and texture by combining two yarns for added interest, and it gives each knitter an opportunity to play as well and come up with a new combination.
Or, a project may start with a pile of yarn itching to be something, such as the Symphony Jacket, which is a very basic shape knitted with 15 different summer weight cottons and ribbons all combined at random. It's a great bind-mending way of working with yarns, casserole style.
I also do a LOT of swatching for yarn weight, fiber, gauge, pattern stitch, shaping options, details such as armhole shaping, cuffs, pockets, collars, etc. to work out all the components before beginning the actual garment or item. It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. I probably knit the equivalent of two garments before I'm done! I'm a stickler for finishing, by the way, so a garment is truly wearable and does justice to the knitting. I will be sharing some of my favorite techniques, which are really EASY, when I am at the Yarn Garden in Portland.

I have to ask just because of the name of the jacket: Do you use crayons to sketch out design ideas?
No. In fact, I always joke that I have to knit since I can't draw. The name Crayon Box Jacket refers to that big box of brand new crayons when you start school in fall. What crayons (colors) you use and how is completely up to you. (As the youngest in my family, my crayons were just stubs in a cigar box so the thought of a fresh box of crayons is pretty enticing to me.)

That trip to Norway on your site looks pretty fabulous. How'd that come about? Is this an annual thing or have you done trips like that before?
Wanna join us??? Such serendipity! I was invited to lead a knitter's trip to Ireland last September that was just fabulous. We met with local knitters wherever we went, stayed in wonderful hotels with marvelous meals, great sights, an incredible guide, perfect! The wonderful woman who arranged that trip is an independent travel agent and also a yarn rep (Dale of Norway), a knitter, and a fluent Norwegian. Since I am part Norwegian myself we decided to join forces and put together a similar "dream trip" to Bergen, Norway, the fjord country, and Copenhagen, Denmark, for knitters (and also non-knitters, like my husband) from Sept. 18-28. We will go to Dale of Norway, of course, and knit and eat and shop our way through Scandinavia! All the details have been taken care of with round trip air on SAS, hotels, meals, trip insurance, the works. There are a few spots left so clear your calendars! Details are on my site.

What are you working on these days? Do you have a book in the offing?
I'm swatching! Working out new pattern ideas, hopefully. I am having fun designing patterns and traveling around doing workshops so there is no time, or thought, of doing a book. The "people part" is more enjoyable to me.

The following are a few questions we like to ask all our interviews:
What's on your needles these days?
Swatches at this point. Ask me again next week when it may be "something."

Are you a one-at-a-time knitter or do you have multiple projects going?
I usually am working on one project "on the needles" but other ideas may be bubbling in my head.

What was your favorite thing you ever knit?
Unfair question! It's like asking who is my favorite child!

Do you have a knitting tip you'd like to share?
Yes. RELAX! It's just knitting, and in the grand scheme of life knitting is friendly, non-threatening and flexible. If you make a mistake consider it "research". Give yourself permission to explore and play with yarn. See what happens and enjoy the journey.

Twenty-Four Seven jacket