Meet Elizabeth

Today I want to introduce you to one the wonderful people I've gotten to work with at Cooperative Press.  

 

 

 

Elizabeth Green Musselman is one of the most talented, sweet, generous, and all around kick-ass women I've had the pleasure of meeting.  She is a pattern designer, a graphic designer, and an editor, and in her previous life she was a history teacher at a small liberal arts college.  She blogs and podcasts at Dark Matter Knits.

I first met her after I had turned the materials for Hat Couture.  What I handed in was text and photos.  What she created is a gorgeous book!  I actually cried with joy when I got my first look at the layout.  The fonts, the borders, the layout on the page - it was all her.  

 

In her own words, "The most fun aspect of designing knitting books to me is thinking about how to translate the designer's vision for their knitwear into graphic design language."

 

And now she's written her own book Kung Fu Knits.

This clever book is part comic book and part pattern book, and all fantastic!  It's also a love letter to her son who is the inspiration and the star of the book.  

 

In Kung Fu Knits she has taken up the challenge of creating knits that boys will actually want to wear.  As she points out in the introduction, boys tend to run hot, like to be comfortable, and can be very picky about style.  

 

 

I do believe she hit the nail squarely on the head with these fun, comfortable, and way cool patterns.  I'm seriously considering knitting this Gi Jacket for Sam who also practises Kung Fu.  

 

After three plus years at Cooperative Press, Elizabeth is now branching out on her own.  She recently started a business with Anne Podlesak of Wooly Wonka Fibers (and frequent contributor to Cooperative Press books) called Stitch Definition.  They offer photography, graphic design, and editing services to independent designers, dyers, and others in the fiber industry. They officially launching in May at TNNA, but have already started taking clients on a case-by-case basis.

Thank-you Elizabeth and I wish you only the best of luck in your new venture!