ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

Refined sophistication – buttoned up collars
Military / aviation
Lingerie as outerwear
leather clothing
the cut out / cutaway – with the cut out pieces worked directly on top of skin or ‘filled in’ with sheer fabrics, detailing can be subtle to sexy
Knee high socks or over the knee socks, or even thigh high socks
White tights
Women’s camel coat
Velvet clothing
Neo double breasted jackets
Sheer clothing /cut outs – mixed with fine laces, the sheer trend mixing elegance with sex appeal
Capes
Thigh high boots
Shoes with socks
Socks under heels
Fur boots & mukluks

I know fashion is fun, I absolutely love fashion, but I don’t wear fashion. How bizarre is that. I guess it is that fashion clothing like all clothing should be fit for purpose, and is not the purpose to keep warm in colder times?

I want wool, mohair, alpaca, knitting, crochet, weaving, colour, color, yarn, garn, woll, felt, filt, layers, and I want warmth, pleasure, comfort, and a little usefulness. I am going to create something for WoolOn that will be fit for purpose, created mainly of wool, and in many colours, and a style or shape or design which is edgy and out there. It must also be in Vogue – Somehow.

The competiton was held by the Compendium Gallery in Devonport, New Zealand in 1992,
The Brief – To Create the Great New Zealand Cloak, My Piece – “Island” When I planned the cloak – I did want to include reference to Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, who created wonderful cloaks mostly of a rectangular shape with a woven tie at the shoulders or neck. Their cloaks were woven, usually of a flax fibre. The best and most valuable Maori cloaks included bird feathers, the most striking for me being those created with kiwi feathers. Some were all over feathers attached to the base woven flax cloak. The flax is dyed in a specific mud to get the very dark almost black colour in the work. The flax was woven in intricate geometric designs using the dyed black with the creamy natural fibre and their stories are woven into the designs in the cloaks.

My cloak was created in one piece from the bottom edge to the shoulders. It is an island from the sea to the sky with mountains, sea shore, surf, farm land etc, as best as I could represent a land from the sea. I considered adding a component relating to my own Viking heritage of the sea – but had decided that will be the basis of another cloak in the future.

The black stripe down the sides from the shoulders have linen tassels is to provide that link back to New Zealand Maori whose cloaks were the natural flax creamy colour with black tassels. A feathered cloak would not have tassels. My reference is in reverse – creamy linen tassels on black yarn strip. I called my piece “Island”, because New Zealand is made up a group of islands.

I feel that I created an art piece in the form of a cloak, an absolutely wearable cloak. It sits well and floats from the shoulders. It is light and warm and envelopes one in luxury. When you are wearing it and walk along the shape of it moves in light waves and ripples like the shallows on the sea shore. I am still delighted when I wear the cloak and am always delighted when it is borrowed as it has been many times. This cloak has attended an opera, music festivals, celebratory dinners, and graduations. A perfect piece.

This the link to my earlier story of The Great New Zealand Cloak” competition / exhibition – http://www.connielene.com/the-great-new-zealand-cloak-exhibition

When I created this cloak I decided that I was possibly an artist who knits.

We were wandering about town last evening making a decision about where we should eat to celebrate our 42nd wedding anniversary.

We wandered about the square, checked the menus of all the places we have eaten at before, and those that we haven’t yet, and in the end we decided to try the new restaurant “Sumo” – and it was a great meal, great restaurant, great staff, even great wallpaper if you please. But this little story is not about our meal where we celebrated our 42nd wedding anniversary.

It is about the balls of Haarlem. You know the ones – The Great Balls of Haarlem”

I know I have spoken of these often, or should I say that “I have written about these often”. I have been photographing these balls of Haarlem for more than 1 and 1/2 years now – and I will have to post a gallery later.

But now it seems they really will not be back.

We have been watching as they rebuilt the road, reinstalled some of the balls, removed some of the balls, reinstalled more of the balls, and have had others balls nestled next to the St Bavo Church waiting to be reinstalled.

The square looked very very forlorn last evening. It wasn’t celebrating with us, it was cold and unyielding. It was crisp and sharp and defined, and missing the ambience that we have grown to know and love.

The balls, the great Balls of Haarlem have been replaced with cylindrical stainless steel posts and the balls are all thrown into the corner. They are surplus to requirements here in Haarlem, and the square looks so so wrong.

I simply cannot say anymore just now, I am gutted, I am sick to the core, I feel very very sad.

I must go to the square now, and see what it is like in the day time, and to take photos in case the balls are still there in the pile waiting to be removed. Believe it or not – we didn’t take the camera last evening.

I am passionate about those balls and I am going to miss them very much.

I was wandering about the internet – which is remarkably easy to do – and I happened upon a blog I have not read before and there in was the challenge. Knit Sisters Blog – A year of knitting dangerously

Excerpt from the blog: and do follow the link above and read the rest. It is good reading.

Item 1 on the list is – Learn something new

…… However, there are a couple of techniques that I’d like to tackle this year: entrelac and twined knitting. These seem worthy goals. (Please do not unkindly point out that I have not included intarsia in this list; I feel that intarsia should not be asked of anyone.)

I will not be unkind regarding the exclusion of Intarsia.

I will however take umbrage at the vague suggestion that taking up intarsia as a challenge could be somehow “unworthy”

Now I really am in a state of distress, my heart is going crazy. How could any form of knitting be considered unworthy? If you had remained silent, I would never have know of your view with regard to Intarsia.

Below are some points for Intarsia knitting which I personally regard as an important item in the arsenal of any knitter – especially the freeform colour work.

It encourages freedom that other knitting experiences cannot match

It is a stash buster

It teaches one about colour

It reduces stress

It teaches one about yarns and how they work together

It teaches one that there is freedom in knitting

It is beautiful

It always creates a unique piece

And I do have to say it again – I really want everyone to play with intarsia.

I do have to confess, even though I have done so many times before – I do have other knitting skills to be learnt on my list as well, such as the knitting of socks – (still on my to do list for 2010, and they were there in 2009 as well, and I am sad to say I have 2 IOU’s for 2 pairs of hand knitted red socks, for Best Beloved and Son) – and if you take up the challenge to knit a piece of freeform intarsia, I will add Entrelac and twined knitting to my list for 2010.

So to Knit Sister – Sarah

Take up the challenge – Knit dangerously with Intarsia please

Vogue Trend report for Autumn – Winter 2010 – 2011

from A-Z my own comments are in italics

A-Line – easy to knit

Beehives – hard to create knitted or crocheted hats for. Me, I remember the Beehive, I will not be going there again.

Camel – Colour, fabric or animal. I love the colour, I love the fabric. Camels spit.

The trend for C that I found was for capes or cloaks. Capes began to be fashionable again, or were still fashionable and in Vogue, in 2002. The hits on the Vogue Website to fashion shows which included capes showed 85 results over the 9 years (2002 to 2010). This year – there are 6 hits for summer trends and 8 for winter 2010 – 2011 so the average is under 9 a year, and this year there are 14 shows or designers with Capes in their shows so I am calling the C trend

CAPES – okay with you? I design and knit capes and cloaks.

Dryclean only please – knits are embroidered or feature colourful prints. It is good advice, but I think the trend should be

Delicate Knits to be drycleaned only please.

Expensive Simplicity – I like that statement but what does it mean for me – expensive yarn, one colour, great design – okay

Fur – If you don’t say it with fur next season then say it with feathers – knitters can knit both and I like to play with both faux fur and feathered yarns. [according to Vogue - fake or real, it’s too big to be a trend, on and off the catwalk it was more of a deluge]

Grunge Glamour – when you’re not dressing up, dress down in high quality – I not sure I understand this one, maybe it is an age thing, not understanding Grunge and Glamour together

Hairbands – I had a pattern for a knitted plaited headband from my mother-in-law. Perhaps I need to resurrect it especially as I am riding a bike often here in the Netherlands

Intricate details – beading, pleating, twisting, draping, embroidery. For me and my knitting – I love twisting (moebius), plaited (cables), Pleats with colour hidden in them and lots of colour. I have been playing a little with a bit of beading in my knitting and I am not in love yet. I have also knitted silver wire with beads. I really enjoy the challenge of that – but my results are not interesting enough as yet.

Jewellery stories – big necklaces still an outfit make – they could well be knitted or crocheted by other wonderful knitters and crocheters. like the Bloomin Neck Gardens by ScarfitUp.

Knits top-to-toe – the perfect trend for me, although socks have still escaped my needles. I have those IOU’s to complete for red socks. Leg, arm and neck warmers and dresses and even skirts and of course sweaters, jackets, vests you name it I have probably created it somewhere sometime.

I like the letter “K”, what a great trend “Knits top to toe” is

Lace – Forget the cold, it looks beautiful over goose bumps. And if you don’t like lace, buy a leather dress, possibly with pockets. Knitted or crocheted Lace is beautiful – I can, and have created shawls and scarves in lace, in simple lace that is, I do not call myself a lace knitter

Mad Men Secretaries – I do not know what this trend is really

Navy – Wear it with everything. Wear it with black. It is the new black – well all knitters and crocheters and yarn creators and dyers – I hope you are ready for the new black. Navy looks great with purples, turquoises and Red and ……..

Orange – Colour trend – Orange also will go extremely well with the new black – Navy or be bold and knit orange with actual black.

Polo Neck – great knitters style

Quantum Leap (futuristic) – knit futuristic is real

Retro hair – with a net I presume to keep it sitting soo still – great to show off the knitted and crocheted hats see Constance Willems marvellous Hats

Shearling – ……. Just about everywhere – include with your knits if you can afford it or knit loopy to fake it as faking is always an in trend

Teddy Bear fur – Faking it in true style and apparently it was everywhere – WHY?

Understated – supremely good quality but passive in colour and shape. It’s the new way to show off. My trend here would be

Unique Knits and we all understand that.

Victoria’s Secret models – Curves are back, ladies. Where did the curves go? I think this trend should be called

Vogue and Vintage knits, knitted for the real woman or it could be called Vogue Knitting.

Weather – was on display at many of the fashion shows. Me, I think of weather and knitting as

WOW, the Winter Wonderland of Opportunity to create wonderful, sexy, in Vogue, trendy, fitting, colourful and creative knits

X – was a band at the shows – Is that a fashion Trend? I think not, so lets stick with

XRX Books – The Knitting Universe

Yeti – You could knit in the Yeti Look if you wish – not for me.

ZigZags – herringbone tweeds, chevron furs – tesselations to be knitted sometime. It is on my knit radar.

The two Big Trends

1. A celebration of womanliness that will allow us to use traditional wiles and graceful curves to ….. You need to go and read it yourself.

2. Is for absolute, supreme, take-your-breath-away quality…….. I like that.

So that is my “in Vogue” trendy news for knitters.

I may change the information as I find new reports or items of interest.

Meantime remember that Capes are in – okay!

This creation is no long available – BUT the style can be re created.

It is a unique piece due to the way the colours and yarns are used, therefore it cannot ever be repeated exactly.

It was created with many many different vibrant and gorgeous pinks in many many different yarns. The yarns have been knitted using short lengths, in simple intarsia and stripes. I carefully weave in the ends as I go, to reduce the finishing required once the knitting is completed.

The Jacket was knitted from the bottom to the shoulders in one piece including the lapels.

A pattern for the Sleeveless Jacket will become available soonish. It will not include the specifics of how this was created – the yarns and colours, line by line, it will include information on playing with simple freeform intarsia on a pattern.

I Love Colour
I Love Colour Work
I love Intarsia
I love playing with colour in my creations

So you are not sure about how to proceed with adding colour to your work?

Cheat a little

Don’t knit a picture in intarisa
Don’t knit with a design in mind

Do knit with a colour theme
Do knit with an abstract free form kind of freedom

go with the flow of the yarns you have to hand and this is especially easy if you have variegated, self striping or oddments of various thickness, colour or texture in your yarn stash. This is stash busting 101.

You can add colour to your knitting with the help of those yarns – whatever they are – be they variegated, self-striping, or two or more different colours of yarn knitted together. Let the yarns do the work and take away some of the guesswork and planning to add the colour to your knitting. Simple intarsia or stripes with these yarns adds excitement and drama to whatever you are creating. Whatever you create this way cannot be repeated ever. You will create a unique piece.

Self-Striping Yarn:

Creating with a self-striping yarn is an easy way to add colour and drama to your knitting as the yarn changes colours for you. These are great for knitters who want to add colour to their work, but are not yet confident about choosing and knitting with many yarns as in intarsia, or on deciding on a colour range.

When I am creating with self striping or variegated yarns I often use a solid for my bands. But I may change to a range of solids – one colour each for the two wristbands and the bottom edge as well as another colour for the neck edge. Or I will use black or brown for every band or edge but I will cast on with the coloured yarn. Either way it produce a unique piece and the effect is wonderful.

The garment or piece created with a self striping yarn will most likely have colour changes that line up more or less in stripes along the piece. The stripes will be deeper on a narrower section of knitting such as the sleeves and thinner on the body or wider section of the knitting.

But you can still play – You could choose two or more self striping yarns or one complimentary solid along with the one or more complimentary self striping yarns and create a unique piece by doing free form intarsia with only two or three yarns.

Self-striping yarn can be used with any stitch, but depending on your design wish, the stripes can display more clearly with a Stocking Stitch (Stockinette Stitch), or reverse Stocking Stitch project. But this is colour work – and any stitch or pattern that that you like and enjoy is perfect. There are simply no rules in this. Just Play.

Working with Multiple Strands:

Knitting with two or more strands of yarn together is another way to add colour, drama, magic, individuality, uniqueness and texture to a project.

There may be some technical management issues for you when knitting two or more strands together – that is the yarn will tend to twist and tangle – NOTE that it does not adversely affect the finished knitting and there are ways to reduce the problem should it drive you crazy.

You can wind the yarns together in a ball, or feed the individual yarns from a separate ziploc bag. Or you could go with the flow of the knitting – you are playing with colour after all, and you are creating a unique piece – SO be brave – Break the yarn, add another colour and continue knitting. Wind the tangled yarn back to the ball it came from and add it to the knitting again later.

Variegated or Multi coloured yarn:

I love variegated yarns – and I love the surprises one gets as the knitting progresses.

Variegated or Multi coloured yarn can create colour pooling which may be an issue depending on your view of it. You could also call it a design feature and just take advantage of it.

Colour pooling is a bit unpredictable. Manage it by changing the yarn when you can see that you are developing a pool – for example: The colour red has a couple of sections/rows together – so break the yarn when you are back at the red section. Reattach at the red point on the yarn to be knitted so that the Red pool becomes bigger – and a design feature. You will have a short section of yarn of other colours – keep it and you will find somewhere else to add this into your knitting. Weave in the yarn ends as you go.

Add Swiss darning over your knitted stitches, when you have completed the piece – to alter the way the colour looks either by making the pool of colour larger or by adding another colour to distract from the pool if you do not like the effect.

Include slip stitches to break up a block of colour – the slipped stitch colour then shows in the next row – breaking the colour section of the new row.

Add a Stripe where you do not want the colour to pool, or insert a two row stripe of another colour every 4 or 6 rows of the varigated yarn knitting.

You can also work from the centre and the outside of the same yarn ball to knit two rows with from the inside and two from the outside.

or do what I do – call it a design feature whatever happens.

It is your project, do what feels right for you.

Trust your own instincts

and Play with Colour

Just now it is not easy to find something to tell you about.

Maybe this is called Writer’s Block
Maybe it is called Designer’s Block
Maybe it is called Knitter’s Block
Maybe it is Ball Withdrawal Block
Maybe it is just called Blockety Block

Whatever it should be called in my case – I do believe I have a big case of whatever it is just now.

I am knitting – slowly.
I am thinking about new designs all the time – but slowly.
I am quietly frustrated trying to slowly complete those creations that I told you I was knitting.

So yet another to do list

1. mohair shell sample
2. 100% wool shell sample
3. finish and photograph the carbon footprint bag
4. publish the carbon footprint shadow knitting graph
5. complete and publish the pattern for the sleeveless jacket in English
6. translate the pattern for the sleeveless jacket into Danish
7. maybe translate the pattern for the sleeveless jacket into Norwegian maybe
8. finish black ball cover
9. decide where and when to install black and white ball covers
10. Intarsia E-book or print book planning
11. I may be thinking about knit kits (thank you Constance for bringing that up)
12. I may also be thinking about cloaks again (thank you Constance for bringing that up as well)
13. I may be thinking about the Alexandra Blossom Festival committee invitation to participate in the WoolOn Creative Fashion Event of the 2010
14. I may be thinking about the Fibre and Fleece Exhibition
15. I am NOT thinking about creating for either event while I am in New Zealand
16. I may be thinking about “King of the Mountain” run/walk in NZ on the first Sunday in July

And I am planning a trip to New Zealand to see our very special small person (grandson), our daughter, my courageous Mother In law, and family and friends – and that seems more important than everything and anything else just now.

Maybe that is the cause of the blockety block.

Because this a state of Blockety block – or is that Blankety Blank – if I have forgotten anything then please please remind me, thanks.

And in case it occurred to you, the Constance mentioned above is not me, myself and I. My name is really Connie Lene and not not Constance.

Oh, and did you pick up that my Norwegian is not as good as my Danish, which is certainly not as good as my English.

I hope that after looking through the site you will choose to be a fan of my Facebook Page or as it is now on facebook I hope you will choose to like ConnieLeneKnits

You can find me in many places on the net –

My Etsy Shop Unique Boutique Knits for patterns and garments

Crazy but this is my other Etsy Shop Connielene Capes and my unique and unrepeatable knits Capes because I adore cloaks and capes, the others because I cannot tell you exactly how I created them other than the pattern for the style but not the intarsia on them.

And because I managed to create and install a Ball Warmer and really enjoyed the experience and the story World Urban Art – a site still in development – Installation art in the urban environment including Knit Art Graffiti or Yarn bombing.

Our travels in Europe – two oldies from New Zealand exploring the Netherlands, Denmark and Europe as time, money and energy allows.

You can find me on Ravelry here and believe it or not I am also on Twitter here as Connieleneknits

I am a Freelance designer, knitter, lover of colour; lots of colour, Intarsia lover, pattern writer, fashion knit trend follower, Colour and yarn trend follower.

They tell me that I am also artist, graffiti knit artist. I know I am a storyteller, writer, blogger, mother, wife, sister, grandmother, teacher, friend, photographer, and speaker.

My loves are colour, texture, shape, flow, drape, drama, magic, passion and yarn and I hope you enjoy the results.

When I can I do participate in fibre exhibitions, and I have curated two exhibitions with a wonderful artist friend. In 2009 I had a felted jacket in WoolOn at the Alexandra Blossom Festival, and a dress with intarsia of course in the Alpaca Festival in New Zealand.

My Mission is to excite and challenge all knitters, designers and wearers of hand created pieces – to experience more colour in their own knitted pieces and to enjoy the freedom and the magic of wearing such a unique piece because it is created with many colours, passion and with magical yarns

My Major Project with delivery in 2011 is My Intarsia Knitting – Book as yet with no name.

I hope you will be a fan of my Facebook Page or as it is now I hope you will choose to like ConnieLeneKnits on Facebook.

I keep looking at “The Great New Zealand” cloak because it reminds me there can be art as well as patterns in my life. The Great New Zealand Cloak

And then there are new beret patterns, with technical information about knitting in the round and simple intarsia. There are 3 patterns, all knit in the round, one colour, stripes, and striped with simple intarsia.

Etsy Shop Link if you would like to check it out Etsy Shop pattern link if you like the patterns. The set includes 3 beret pattern options, all knitted in the round. Plain, striped, and simple intarsia with stripes and a variety of yarns. The intarsia one will create a unique beret. I have also included simple basic intarsia knitting instructions.

Enjoy