I’m a quirky world traveller, avid knitter, unashamed hooker, pattern maker, and all around nerd! I spend a lot of time clowning around, and I often have the goofiest smile on my face. This website is the landing place for my new patterns, random thoughts, and general craziness. I hope you enjoy my randomness and my yarnie goodness!

I’m a USA native, but I’ve lived most of my adult life outside of my home country! When I finished college, bright eyed and bushy tailed, I moved directly to Japan to start my adventures as an English teacher. After living there for 7 years and meeting my wonderful British husband, we ended up moving back to the US for a short period of time. But, we didn’t stay long! My husband pretty quickly got a job in Canada and dragged me along for the ride.

Presently, we live in the great city of Montreal! I’m still struggling with learning French, but we’re making a good go of it!

Now, it gives me a lot more time to plot my yarn empire and create as much as I want! I hope you can enjoy the fruits of my labor and come to love my creations as much as I do!

My passion started while I was teaching in Japan, and my (now) husband was offered his dream job in another town 4 hours away. We decided I'd stay in Tokyo and finish working up to September. He would go ahead and move to Osaka to see how the job went. When he left, I was at loose ends and decided I needed a hobby. At the same time, I was reading a book series I adored that had a lot of knitting in it. I thought, “that seems like a good time!” So, the little balls of yarn and giant plastic knitting needles at the 100 yen store looked like a good bet for hobby material. I’d never even thought of knitting up to that point; it was a total whim. But, I bought up a couple skeins, jumped on YouTube, and hoped for the best.

Four and a half years later and I’ve never made a better decision!

So, where did I get the name Ravin Sekai Designs? Well, truth be told, my husband is the main driving force behind everything I do here. He is my support, my cheerleader, my champion. His advice is crutial and, without him, none of this would have been possible. My husband’s name is Vincent. So, combine our names (I know cheesy, right?), and you get Ravin! It doesn’t hurt that Ravens are some of the most awesome animals around, either!

Then there’s Sekai. What’s that? Well, sekai (世界) means “world” in Japanese. So, bringing some of my roots and a little homage to the country that helped start it all, I wanted something in my brand name to represent that! So, Ravin’s World = Ravin Sekai Designs! Fun, right!?

I get a lot of inspiration from everyday things, such as the bricks of a sidewalk or the pane of a window. So, I love working what I see in everyday life into a new trendy pattern.

I have a real passion for designing new knitted or crocheted garments, and I love sharing them with the world. I usually provide those patterns for free, because I want everyone to have easy access to something they love. However, creating patterns also takes a lot of work! So, along with the free pattern, I provide a link for where you can find a more detailed ad-free version for purchase. These ad free versions will also come with more pictures and often times a detailed chart. Please, if at all possible, feed the yarn monster in me so I can keep creating the patterns I so very much love!