AN EXCITING young designer with a growing portfolio of innovative, contemporary knits, Chloé Elizabeth Birch has created patterns for The Knitter and Simply Knitting, along with yarn companies West Yorkshire Spinners and Scheepjes. We caught up with Chloé to find out about her design career and knitting inspirations.
When did you learn to knit?
“My wonderful mum taught me when I was around 17. I was studying my Textiles A-Level at the time, and really wanted to add a knitted piece to my final piece - not that I had ever knitted anything before! I came home from school and asked her to teach me. That evening I learnt the knit stitch, cast-on and cast-off, and I was ready to go. The next day, I came home with a big bag full of bra elastics along with wire and decided these were going to be my yarn! As you can imagine, they were not the easiest to knit with, especially for a one-day-old knitter… But I managed it, somehow, and it worked with my final
