Style Insider - Cathie Hutchins

For Cathie Hutchins, knitting was sort of an accident. When an injury forced her out of competitive cycling, Hutchins decided to learn the craft to keep her mind busy while she healed. With some guidance from the Internet, it wasn't long before she'd picked up the basics. Now, just two short years later, Hutchins is the proud owner of Austin Yarn Company, selling chic hats, hip handbags, adorable baby accessories and cool fashions from her website. Styleshaker sat down with spunky brunette to learn more about AYC and her passion for wool.

You learned to knit to keep yourself busy, when did you realize it could become a business?
Everything that I made, I sold. Before knitting, I was making meditation mazes out of copper. It seems like an odd leap, I know. The first thing I sold was a bucket hat. I wouldn't be finished knitting things and people would be trying to buy them. I think I am not the only one who is nostalgic for felted wool.

This is your second collection. How is this fall's line different from last year's?
This year's line is based more on remnant work. The bags themselves are, in a way, an accident. Last year I had some leftovers yardage from shawls and stuff. I cut them apart and made bags out of them. I realized that I needed to figure out how to line the bags and how to get the shapes to be shapes that speak of my sensibility.

Is everything you make wool?
Most of my stuff is 100% Peruvian wool. The hats are a mohair and wool blend. I like the fluff that mohair adds. We use kid mohair--it is so soft and very luscious. I love the texture of felted wool. Everything I do is felted. It is very nostalgic for me. It is very comforting.

The wool you use is fair trade, why is that important to you?
Our wool is produced fair trade. The people involved--the ranchers, the company that dyes the wool--are paid what they are worth. We all need to earn what we're worth. I would rather pay more for the yarn, because I believe in it. Profit is lovely, but the pleasure of what I am doing is my bottom line. I think it goes back to that idea of a global community. I don't think we can keep it separated.

Tell me about your creative process.
My work is very sculptural. I take sheets of paper and cut them apart. If I like the shape, I build on that. I rough it out on paper, but I find that very seldom do the finished products look like those sketches because when I see it three-dimensionally I realize what is needs or doesn't need. When we start creating the actual piece, we have to knit the yardage and then felt it. Once it's dry we interface it. We steam the felt lining to it and assemble. The longest part of the process is the hand assembly. The market bag, for example, takes five hours to make from start to finish.


Right now you can buy AYC products on your website. www.austinyarncompany.com, any plans to sell in stores?
Our goal this year is to get a full-time product rep. I am in the process of finding that person right now. I'd like AYC to be in upscale boutiques--San Francisco, Chicago, New York, London, Paris, Munich. I can see us being easily successful in those places.

Where are AYC product made?
I have a studio on South Lamar. I'd like to see my studio grow to the level where I can have a dozen or so people who want to knit and a couple people who like to assemble and other people who want to be in charge of felting the wool. I'd like to keep it local.

What next for AYC?
I'm thinking there will be a lot of elimination. I probably won't do Baby AYC next year, or the wraps and capes. The designs for the hats and the bags come about easiest. I think that's sort of the point of all this, that it shouldn't be a struggle. It should be--take your God-given talent and run with it. That's the thing that is so fun about this. Someone asked me the other day, "What is it about fashion that you don't like?" I thought, 'Oh, you've got to be kidding me?' I wake up everyday doing something I love. If I don't like what I'm doing, why would I bother?

What would you tell other people who have the itch to do their own thing?
I would encourage anyone with a spark of creativity who thinks they can start a business, whatever it is, to do it. Sure, it's a crazy idea--run with it. The joy I have every single day...I almost feel guilty about it.

http://www.austinyarncompany.com

(editorial by Eliana Martin)

designer insider
posted - beth / 9:03 PM / 10.02.07