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Shel Designs

Renewal and growth are part of life. Renewal ties us to the past: we need to know where we came from. In knitting, we have a rich heritage of techniques and methods, with designs deeply rooted in storytelling and tradition.  

As styles evolve, we bring those lessons and cherished motifs into the present. The evolution of knitting, like that of the nautilus, is about growing, learning – adapting, but always carrying the past with us.

One of the reasons the nautilus appeals to me is its elegant, mathematical precision. Its shape is a Fibonacci sequence, a perfect and predictable mathematical curve so often found in what can seem like the randomness of nature.

 

 

I carry this over into my knitwear designs. As we so often like to forget, knitting is math. Knitwear designs are based on sets of ratios, which allows us to update styles by changing proportions and make any pattern scalable from petite to plus.

It is important to me that knitwear designs capture this double nature of the nautilus, the elegance and the detail. Every pattern should help a knitter elevate their knitting skills, either through a new technique, construction method, or finishing method. It gives me a thrill to help knitters at every skill level achieve this. My patterns provide all the information necessary for you to create a piece you will be proud to wear or share.

With Shel Designs, I invite you to explore the shores of knitting with me, combining the familiar with the new to connect, create, regenerate.

 
 
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Shellie Anderson

Knitting is in my DNA.

Since the day my grandmother put needles and yarn in my little seven year old hands, knitting has been a constant, comforting companion; with me through the wonderful moments in my life and there to help me navigate through the difficult ones. 

One spring day in about 2011, I was out for a walk and was feeling pretty guilty about all the time I was spending knitting. You know, “I should be _____ instead of knitting.” As I was walking, I had a very strong thought: “Why don’t you learn to design so you could make some money so you won’t feel so guilty? And maybe you could work for a cool yarn company (as an afterthought).” I couldn’t get home fast enough to jump on the internet and figure out how to do just that. Well, it wasn’t quite that easy, but I did start my design journey that day. 

Fast forward a couple years and out of the blue I get a call from Shibui Knits wanting to know if I could help them out temporarily with their bookkeeping. I have been a bookkeeper for over 25 years and they knew that from the time I spent shopping and hanging out at Knit Purl. I did help them out, which turned into a permanent bookkeeping job. They found out I was doing some designing and I was given the opportunity to design a few pieces for them. As time went on, the bookkeeping phased out and I was hired as the full-time in-house designer. I still sometimes have a hard time believing that actually happened. Remember my afterthought on that fateful spring day??? My time at Shibui Knits was truly amazing. I learned so much and was able to help create and work with some incredible yarns. I will always be grateful for my time there.

After a few years, I felt that it was time for me to pass the torch and start my own design business. After working with a stringent design aesthetic, I was ready to experiment and see who I am as a designer. I was also ready to play with other yarns, especially ones created by some extremely talented hand dyeing artists. So in March of 2018, Shel Designs by Shellie Anderson was born. The freedom to design whatever I want, whenever I want has been so freeing and has brought me so much joy. I didn’t realize it at the time, but there was something missing.

I had created a few designs in Sew Happy Jane’s gorgeous hand-dyed yarns and had become friends with Heather. In February of 2022, she offered a yarn dyeing class using Kool-Aid. She held the class over Zoom and I dyed the yarn in my kitchen. As it turns out, dyeing yarn was the thing that was missing. Something opened up in me that day and I knew right then and there that I HAD TO DO THIS. I immediately ordered acid dyes, pots, gloves, set up a wholesale account with a yarn supplier, etc. Playing with yarn and color brings me so much JOY, equally as much as designing does. But being able to combine the two - well I don’t really have the words. Thank you, Heather, for generously sharing your passion and expertise with me. 

So here I am, dyeing yarn and creating designs with them. My burning desire is to create modern, classic designs, using the best finishing techniques, that will help you create wardrobe pieces you will be proud to wear and proud to give to those you love, using carefully curated yarns that highlight the design elements of the piece.

I live in the beautiful Pacific NW, about 20 miles west of Portland, OR with my two crazy corgis, Bentley and Buckley. 

Thank you so much for being here and for supporting this grand passion of mine. I truly appreciate you.

Shellie


 
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