Recovering attorney and emigree from 7th Avenue, I now combine my technical and creative passions to design knitwear. My design viewpoint is all about making simple, attractive garments and accessories, using a bit of interesting construction or an intriguing detail.
I do love Malabrigo yarns, and I have bins and bins of stash to prove it. FOs too; last October Amy asked me to whip up a banner for the Malabrigo Junkies on Ravelry during the October Stockpile event. No problem; pile of sweaters on the deck – check.
The banner pretty much said it all.
Anyway, thanks to Alex for letting me talk about my favorite yarn and my designs. And now you know what that new headshot was all about!
I’ve been thinking for a while that I really need a decent head shot for published things and various avatars. My other half has recently been linking himself in and got all motivated to take a new self portrait – which lead to the discussion in which he expressed the opinion that my previous default picture was a hair shot, not a head shot. He has a point.
So in a synergistic moment, the spousal ridicule, acknowledgement that I need to stop changing my Ravelry ravatar all the time, and my continuing exploration of Lightroom all came together in this.
Maybe the hair’s not as good, but the overall is nice PLUS I got to practice my photo editing mad skillz with my new Lightroom software. Ever since Picnik announced they would be shutting down, I’ve been stressing out about how to do my editing; not that I do tons of it, but a little bit of tone curving for lights and darks, some airbrush and color correction can make a huge difference. One of my being a serious designer goals is to improve my photography, which means not only staging and styling the pictures, but also the digital editing. Recently an art teacher friend told me she didn’t like digital pictures because it was like cheating on the artistry of taking photos; however, I think it makes more opportunity for creativity. Not that one can make a silk purse from a sow’s ear, of course; the initial picture has to be good at least. But then the possibility exists for it to become great, in so many ways.
Anyway, the abyss of Photoshop is something I prefer to avoid unless I need it for certain specific things; all that functionality is great (hey, I just painted out a distracting background on something yesterday), but for general editing and managing of photos, Lightroom is fabulous. It does everything I need to make publishable pictures AND its management and catalog features mean I never have to use iPhoto again, just sayin’.
So I like my software, and I like my new headshot, and now I know how to use vignette and split toning. I can have a headshot library.
An elongated, asymmetrical wrap that combines the warmth and style of a shawl with the wearability of a scarf, Sundry means various or diverse, and this wrap features two colors, two stitch patterns and endless styling options. Cast on at the long, pointed end, Sundry has shaping at each end of rows that grow ever wider. Two colors contrast yet harmonize in solid garter stitch and houndstooth slipstitch sections; the slipstitch is easily worked using just one color per row. A simple picot bind off finishes the long straight end.
Techniques & Skills Used: cable CO, knit, increasing/decreasing, slipstitch colorwork, picot BO; the slipstitch pattern is both written and charted, with a link to my video tutorial included for the picot BO.
Size: 112” length and 24” depth, customizable.
Yarn: String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn Selku (50% Silk, 50% Merino; 375 yards/113g); 1 skein MC & 1 skein CC, shown in Pewter (MC) & Alexandrite (CC). Any amount of yarn in two colors may be used. As written, the sample required almost every bit of yarn; see Designer’s Notes for suggestions on easily adjusting for different yardage.
Other Materials: US 7 (4.5mm) 40” circular needle; Yarn needle.
Gauge: 15 st and 30 rows/4” in garter stitch, after blocking. Gauge is not critical for this project, however a different gauge may result in a smaller or larger finished wrap, and different yardage requirements.
See it on Ravelry or on Payhip, to read more or purchase the pattern.
I’m a knitter, and I dont see that changing much anytime soon. I can crochet, if it’s simple, like chaining, or even sc or dc if I brush up with a quick tutorial. But for me, knitting is the main craft mode, and simple crochet is something I see as a technique available to enhance the knitted object, much like I-cord or grafting.
I’m a project, as opposed to a process knitter; I want the FO. For me, knitting offers more possibilities in what can be made; you can shape garments, make intricate colorwork, employ endlessly variable textures. I’ve done a few crochet beanies, and even a shrug, but my indispensable hook is most often used to pick up stitches or place beads on my knitting.
That being said, I love making these beaded crochet necklaces – so easy, and they look like chain if you use metallic thread. It’s enough to make me consider myself poly-craftual
Are you a knitter or a crocheter, or are you a bit of both? If you are monogamous in your yarn-based crafting, is it because you do not enjoy the other craft or have you simply never given yourself the push to learn it? Is it because the items that you best enjoy crafting are more suited to the needles or the hook? Do you plan on ever trying to take up and fully learn the other craft? If you are equally comfortable knitting as you are crocheting, how do you balance both crafts? Do you always have projects of each on the go, or do you go through periods of favouring one over the other? How did you come to learn and love your craft(s)?
Random ThoughtsComments Off on Improving Your Skillset 3KCBWDAY6
Apr282012
Although the sign is really just an example of Chinglish – the misuse of “steek” for “shut” in this case – the advice would be well suited for knitting. I’ve done alot of techniques, including short rows, fair isle, mosaic knitting, all kinds of sweater construction, and knitting back backwards.But steeking makes me nervous. Scissors? To cut my knitting? I’ve read plenty of tutorials, including Eunny Jang’s great Steeking Chronicles, but . . . yeah. It keeps coming back to: cutting my knitting?! My nervousness is abetted by the fact that I dont do much colorwork, for which steeking is ideal. But one day, I will make a fair isle cardi, probably with a round yoke, and use this technique. You betcha.
How far down the road to learning your craft do you believe yourself to be? Are you comfortable with what you know or are you always striving to learn new skills and add to your knowledge base? Take a look at a few knitting or crochet books and have a look at some of the skills mentioned in the patterns. Can you start your amigurumi pieces with a magic circle, have you ever tried double knitting, how’s your intarsia? If you are feeling brave, make a list of some of the skills which you have not yet tried but would like to have a go at, and perhaps even set yourself a deadline of when you’d like to have tried them by.
Random ThoughtsComments Off on Something A Bit Different 3KCBWDAY5
Apr272012
Yarn Haiku
This is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create.There are no rules of a topic to blog about but this post should look at a different way to present content on your blog.
Random ThoughtsComments Off on A Knitter or Crocheter For All Seasons? 3KCBWDAY4
Apr262012
As spring is in the air in the northern hemisphere and those in the southern hemisphere start setting their sights for the arrival of winter, a lot of crocheters and knitters find that their crafting changes along with their wardrobe. Have a look through your finished projects and explain the seasonality of your craft to your readers. Do you make warm woollens the whole year through in preparation for the colder months, or do you live somewhere that never feels the chill and so invest your time in beautiful homewares and delicate lace items. How does your local seasonal weather affect your craft?
Where I live it’s the beginning of real spring, meaning no longer in the bare-branches-and-daffodils phase, but light green leaves and buds everywhere. Knitwise, that’s bittersweet, because I’m really a sweater knitter and this year my design goal is more garments and less distraction with accessories. HOWEVER, the urge to put away thick & heavy things also leads to reinvestigation of all those light & lovely yarns like single skeins of sock, and silk blend lace.
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So my strategy for spring-into-summer knitting is to begin some new shawls out of lightweight yarns, while also keeping up garments by making a few spring sweaters. Preferably outdoors enjoying the garden.
Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it’s really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don’t forget to show them off.
Elizabeth Zimmerman, knitterly godmother to us all, was described by one of my friends as “the Julia Child of knitting.” She made knitting more accessible by encouraging thought outside the box, which to me is what creativity is all about. Not afraid of unusual techniques or shapes, EZ was an advocate of trying new ideas, and a proponent of self confidence and discovery.
I own many of her books, of which the seminal Knitting Without Tears is my favorite. Her self described pithy style suits me, particularly because I read her for inspiration and solace, more so than for patterns per se. I like to think that my current textural exploration of tucks and shaping with short rows owes itself to her admonitions to knit fearlessly.
Random ThoughtsComments Off on Photography Challenge 3KCBWDAY2
Apr242012
Photography Challenge Day! Today challenges you to be creative with your photography, and get yourself in with the chance to win the photography prize. Taking interesting photographs in this instance isn’t about flashy cameras or a great deal of technical know-how, it’s about setting up a story or scene in a photograph and capturing something imaginative. Your photograph(s) should feature something related to your craft, so that might be either a knitted or crocheted item, yarn, or one of your craft tools.
Worked sideways in one flat piece from right to left sleeve cuff, Blue Honey is a long, open front cardigan with honeycomb stitch at the shoulders and a wide garter band finishing the collar and front edges. With just two sideseams, it’s a sweater that is easy to knit and flattering to wear, featuring long, lean lines and pretty textured stitch details that show off a beautiful variegated yarn.
Construction: Blue Honey is cast on at the right sleeve cuff, then the right sleeve, front and back are worked flat to the center front/center back of the garment. Stitches are bound off for the right front opening edge, the back is continued, then stitches are cast on again for the left front, and the left front, back and sleeve are worked to the left sleeve cuff. Two long continuous seams from the undersleeve to the hem finish the sweater. In this sideways knit, row gauge determines body circumference, while stitch gauge determines length.
Size: 30.75 (33.5, 36, 37.75, 40, 42.5, 45.25, 49.5, 52.25, 55)” bust. This long cardigan is designed to be worn open and thus can fit a wide range of body types; for a good fit, choose a size close to your actual bust measurement.
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Rios (100% superwash merino; 210 yards/192m/ 100g), shown in Azules; 4 (4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8) skeins. Sample shown in second size, worn with 1.5” of negative ease.
Other Materials: US 8 (5mm) 40” circular needle; US 6 (4mm) 40” circular needle for picking up stitches.; Stitch markers (4); Yarn needle.
Gauge: 17 st and 24 rows/4” in stockinette stitch; 17 st and 34 rows/4” in garter stitch, after blocking.
See it on Ravelry or on Payhip, to read more or purchase the pattern.
I do love Malabrigo yarns, and I have bins and bins of stash to prove it. FOs too; last October Amy asked me to whip up a banner for the Malabrigo Junkies on Ravelry during the October Stockpile event. No problem; pile of sweaters on the deck – check.
