ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

Come and let your imagination fly.

Throw your inhibitions to the wind & have fun doing it.
Together we will create a knitted square or two using free form intarsia techniques. The resulting piece(s) can be used to create a bag or cushion cover. The workshop will be an introduction to intarsia knitting and techniques, as well as an encouragement to explore using freeform techniques and of course playing with colour and fibres.

You will be encouraged / challenged to knit in a free form way with many colours.

Workshop pack:

• Yarn (at least 12 colours) in sufficient quantities to knit a freeform design square or rectangle.
• 4 page Booklet – Basic Intarsia Information – Instructions & Hints
• Knitting terms translation sheet English to Dutch
• Graphed free form design to start your own free form piece. Each participant will have a different design.
• Instructions of how to use the resulting piece as a section on a cushion cover or bag.

There will be additional yarns available should they be required.

I will bring completed examples of a cushion and bag so that you can see how your unique and freeform intarsia knitted piece can be used.

I will also bring examples of free form intarsia from simple – a waistcoat, to dramatic – my “Great New Zealand Cloak – Island” and I hope that I will inspire participants to add freeform knitting to their knitting repetoire.

Participants should bring their own 4mm needles, sewing needle and scissors.

ConnieLene Knit Biography

I have been a knitter since I was a child and am most passionate about colour. I began to create with many yarns and colours in the 1970’s and my first exhibition and the fashion parade which included 3 of my pieces was in 1989 in Auckland, New Zealand. A second followed in Hawaii in the same year. I have continued to participate in exhibitions wherever possible.
I most often create garments using the freeform intarsia method – using many, many yarns and colours to create each piece and thereby guarantee that each piece is unique. Generally, I do not work from a graph or even a picture, just from an idea. I consider the shape of the garment to be the canvas, and the freeform design I knit inside the framework or canvas is the art of knitting.

I love having the opportunity to encourage people to knit with many colours so my patterns often include simple intarsia information just in case a knitter might want to try the intarsia technique.

I am a member of Ravelry & The Knitting Guild of America. My TKGA membership is as Teacher / Designer.

Exhibitions include the following:

• WoolOn Creative Fashion Event, Alexandra, New Zealand – October 2010
• WoolOn Creative Fashion Event, Alexandra, New Zealand – October 2009
• Alpaca Exposition 2009 – Fielding, New Zealand – September 2009
• Colour Play Exhibition at the Randolph St Gallery – Whitecliffe School of Fine Arts & Design. September 2007. My unique knit designs on the gallery walls alongside the work of BFA Fashion design students from Whitecliffe. The Vogue Knitting Tour of Australia and New Zealand 2007, hosted by Nicky Epstein attended.
• “Gumbo Ya-Ya” 2002 – This was an exciting multi-media exhibition of paintings, sculpture and knit garments, held at the Yvonne Rust Gallery, The Quarry, in Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand.
• New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society Exhibition held at Victoria University, Wellington
• The Great New Zealand Cloak -1992 Certificate of Merit: Judged by Lucy Goffin, Textile Artist, Great Britain
• Leather and Wool to Wear – 1992
• Wool to Wear – 1991
• N.Z. Wool Capital Fashion Design – 1990 Nominated: The Peter Dunkerly / Woolrest Knitwear in Fashion Award Exhibition at the Century Theatre, Napier
• The Wearable Art Collection
• The Fashion Parade – 1989 – My work was included in an exhibition and parade in Orewa, New Zealand, followed by a parade in Honolulu. All the artists and designers were from Rodney District, north of Auckland.

Published:

• HotHive Textiles Warming the Cold Balls of Haarlem January 2010
• Expatica Newsletter 2010
• GrownUps Article “A Knitting Nutter ” March 2010
• Textile Fibre Forum Vol. 13, issue 1 No.39, 1994

Recent Interviews:

• Podcast – Interview with Grannyg on crafternoon tea – September 2010
• The English Breakfast Radio, Amsterdam, with Leandra Julien – January 2010