You may have heard of Ambah already since she is quite active in the knit design world and she designed the Venatian Shawl with Koigu and of course the newly released Kentia Wrap. We love working with Ambah.
Photo from https://www.instagram.com/ambahobrien/
Ambah lives in Australia and has a background in painting, so you can see why her designs are always full of gorgeous texture & colour! She loves to make practical items with intentional slow knitting, with her passion for designing coming from her not being able to find patterns that matched her visions.
What are some general facts about you? (where you live, some history about you etc)
“My first career for around 15 years was as a Face and Body painter. I had many fun adventures with this including painting models as live performance, painting performers for events and teaching workshops in body art. It involved a lot of travel, across Australia and internationally. As someone who has always loved working with colour and crafting, knitting with gorgeous hand-dyed yarn really satisfies my love of an inspirational colour palette.
Just before the pandemic hit, early 2020 I relocated to live by the coast with my family; partner Andy and our son Felix. It has been so refreshing to enjoy the coastal life after living in a dry area, although I do miss the vibrant community of my old area, I know this will grow in our new coastal home but with many months of lockdowna nd restrictions we haven't had many opportunities to explore just yet. There is a wonderful eco-village establishing itself and we will be building a sustainable home for ourselves there in 2021, which is very exciting. Andy is an Architect and while we have worked on and lived in many projects together over the years, we hope this will be our loved home for many years to come.”
When did you start knitting? Who taught you?
“My mum taught me garter stitch at around 6 years of age. I would get her to cast on and off and made some very wonky blankets for my toys. Purl stitch was a great mystery to me. Over the years I watched my mother and grandmother create stunning garments but didn’t pursue it further.
Years later I was resigned to the fact that I would never become a knitter although I always loved and appreciated hand-knits. In 2011 a friend of mine opened her LYS with stunning hand-dyed yarns that were a revelation to me. I purchased some and admired them for awhile. She told me about Ravelry and I joined as a very rudimentary crocheter.
A year later in 2012, my son was attending a Waldorf School and had learnt to knit among other crafts, and I asked him to show me how. He was nine and made an excellent teacher, regularly inspecting my work and making me rip it out if there were any mistakes. I discovered the wonderful Baktus scarf pattern and made four in quick succession, using the gorgeous yarn I had purchased a year earlier. That was it. I was obsessed and started to make myself garments and scarves and a fast rate”
How has knitting or crocheting affected your life?
“It's been such a wonderful journey for me. From being a soothing pastime as I felt burnt out from too much travel with my body art business, it quickly became an obsession and then my new career. It's been seven years now, which have gone in a flash and I still pinch myself that I get to do this for my work. THere's always still much to learn and while I have come so far, I have so many ideas in mind that I want to explore. It is exciting to feel so continually inspired by a medium.”
What is your favourite stitch?
“I'm a garter stitch comfort girl at heart, I love cruising knitting and feel very strange if a (rare) day passes without knitting a few soothing stitches.”
Who is your designing idol?
“I'm in awe of Kaffe Fasset and long to knit one of his amazing sweater designs.”
Who do you make for most?
“Me! I generally knit and design items that I know I want to wear and enjoy. Then my immediate family, generally accessories and occasional garments.”
What is your ideal knitting environment?
“Comfy armchair anywhere; at home, with friends, with knitting strangers, I don't mind. I also love the online knitting communities, hanging out virtually on instagram and in my Ravelry group is a wonderful part of my knitting environment.”
Are there any forms of crafting you would like to try?
“I'd really like to try weaving and embroidery. I've started dreaming of a large scale textile pice to hang in our new home, so I'm planning to slowly work on it over the next year - although I haven't quite decided what it is yet!”
What are you making right now? Do you have any upcoming projects we should keep an eye out for?
“I'm knitting a second Radvent Cowl sample, a design that will be out later this year.
I've just finished designing my 5th new Radvent pattern for my annual Ambah X advent KAL. It is such a heartwarming experience that brings me so much joy each year. You can find out more about it on Ravelry here.”
