Rosemary Hill, aka Designs by Romi, is a Northern California native. She splits her time between designing knitwear and shawl pins. Originally from Terra Linda (a suburb of San Rafael), she now lives in Sonoma County where she has two sons, three rabbits, a cat and several fish. Romi learned to crochet in preschool and has been knitting nearly as long.
On a lifelong fascination: “Color and texture have always entranced me. I remember my mother telling me that, as a baby, I would trace the grain patterns in the wood with my finger and “talk” to them as she held me in her old rocking chair.”
Romi’s earliest designs were lovely knitted jewelry pieces, and she transitioned to lace knitting with Muir from Knitty Fall 2007, followed by Ice Queen in Knitty Winter 2007. (Both are shown above.)
While Ice Queen has the most projects on Ravelry, it is Romi’s Brandywine Shawl for Haiti Relief (pictured at left) that has sold the most patterns. Designed with the goal of raising $50,000 after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, Brandywine was released in January 2010 and $5 of every sale goes to Doctors Without Borders. As of this writing, it has raised over $19,000 and has more than 1000 projects on Ravelry.
Romi’s most recent design is Live Oak, a lace shawlette from Knitscene Fall 2011. Live Oak is shown at right (image copyright Interweave Press)She is also currently working on year two of her 7 Small Shawls to Knit project; this year’s theme is The Muses (Year 1 was The Pleiades).
We are thrilled to debut Romi’s next pattern, knitted in The Fibre Company’s Road To China Light. Look for it in our booth at Vogue Knitting Live!
Wondering what this is all about? Check out our blog post about our booth at Vogue Knitting Live and the amazing designs we’ll be debuting at the show.
Tags: brandywine, designs by romi, ice queen, kelbourne woolens, live oak shawlette, muir, road to china light, romi hill, rosemary hill, the fibre company, vkl, vogue knitting live, vogue knitting live los angeles
