Tag: color
Jacket pattern brewing
by connie on Jun.13, 2010, under Blog
This sleeveless jacket pattern will be a doddle in English but a real challenge for me in Danish as my written Danish is very very average, and then my Norwegian is, well it is really nonexistant. That is I do not really know any Norwegian. I will be bribing the requesters for the help I need with the testing and checking of the pattern.
Fortunately I know one very well (my Danish cousin) and the other I am getting to know (lovely Trine from Norway). I hope they read this – which is why I have written the words down – they will need to be my testers.
But of course I am digressing – the real purpose of this post is to tell you that I will also create the pattern for lighter weight yarns as well, as the style is classic and interesting, as you can see in the version below with long fitted sleeves and shaped peplum and without the shawl collar.
I think this jacket will work well in a double knitting (8 ply / worsted weight yarn), making it a great in between seasons jacket.
I am not committing to writing the pattern in any other languages however. I shall get the sleeveless one completed in the three languages and then see how well I survived the process and then decide.
Both versions of this jacket were included in the Colour Play exhibition held in the Randolph St Gallery, at Whitecliffe School of Fine Arts and Design campus in 2007. A Vogue Knitters Tour Group from USA hosted by Nicky Epstein and Carla Scott attended the opening.
Peplum
Curiously Peplum has two distinct and almost separate definitions. Its early origins are Greek, and peplum was simply the word for tunic. The peplum, a term dating back to the 19th century, is also a short overskirt that is usually attached to a fitted jacket. My jacket is certainly a fitted jacket with a short skirt.
Intarsia – colour & yarn
by connie on Jun.08, 2010, under Blog, Intarsia
Many many years ago – I attended my first Kaffe session on colour and knitting in New Zealand. I purchased a Kaffe videotape at that time, I do not have it with me here in the Netherlands & cannot recall the title – the subject was knitting with colour, as in many many colours, and viewing your world for ideas to create new knitted pieces using many colours and shapes.
When Kaffe came to New Zealand then I had already been knitting & crocheting using many colours in freeform intarsia since the early 1970′s. I found as everyone does great inspiration in listening to him then & I continued to knit with many colours and yarns even though I was informed by others that my knitting was not normal, nor was my passion for playing with colour. I do however feel quite quite normal.
I have searched the Kaffe Fassett listings in Youtube and cannot see my video tape there. But the concepts in this new video apply to knitting as well as quilting, mosaics and other art and textile art forms.
A-Z of the Vogue winter trends 2010-2011 – A,O,K,E,P
by connie on May.28, 2010, under Blog
Burnt Orange Chunky Basic Roll Neck Dress, by Stella McCartney.
A-Line, Orange, Knitted, Elegant Simplicity
My Knitterly view continued
A-line dress, Beehive hair can be arranged
Camel colour with the burnt Orange and Navy in a Knitted, flowing, elegant, dramatic, and full length Cloak
Delicate Knit – Dryclean only, Expensive and Elegant simplicity – yes
Faux Fur or Feather yarns in the Cloak
Grunge glamour – I think we might have that, HairBand – knitted or Leather, Intricate details – in the Hairband or the Lace arm warmers, Jewellery – chunky knitted or crocheted Jewellery to wear over the the Camel or Orange or Navy Lace arm warmers, Knits from top to toe – we certainly have that, Lace arm warmers and/or Leather – soft Leather boots to the knee or even over the knee, Mad men secretaries (hope someone explains that to me)
Navy – in the Cloak
Orange – the dress is Orange, Polo Neck – on the dress, Quantam Leap – okay, Retro hair – Beehive hair is fairly retro
Shearling – trim around the edges of the Cloak including at the neck line so the Orange Polo of the dress can be framed by the creamy Shearling
Teddy bear fur – maybe the model can carry a little Teddy bear with a purse hidden inside it?, maybe? I really cannot envisage Teddy Bear Fur anywhere. Understated or Unique Knit – this dress is, Vogue and Vintage Knit – this dress is, Vogue Knitting – this dress is, and the dress is simply WOW.
X – cloak design to be included in the XRX “Knitters Magazine” – now that would be really great, Yeti – maybe the faux fur yarn can be a bit Yeti like, ZigZag – knitted design in the cloak
So this dress by Stella McCartney does represent the Vogue winter fashion trends for 2010-2011 from A to Z – once you add the flowing, elegant, full length, dramatic, knitted with a zigazg design Cloak,the chunky big jewellery, hairstyle change, hairband, lace arm warmers, and leather high boots
Now that would be a stunner and I just happen to know a designer who could create that cloak.
NOTES: A-Z of the Vogue winter trends 2010-2011
A for A-Line, O for Orange, K for Knitted top to toe, E for Expensive and/or Elegant Simplicity, P for Polo neck – Just in case my ramblings did not make it clear. The dress scores A,O,K,E,P or 5/26 – not bad.
working with colour by taking advantage of the yarn
by connie on May.09, 2010, under Blog, Design Process
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.
Free form design on Beret
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
The Purples Batwing Sweater
by connie on Jul.02, 2008, under Blog, Intarsia
This piece was created for my Colour Play Exhibition held in Auckland at the Randolph Street Gallery, at Whitecliffe School of Fine Arts and Design in 2007.
There were, and still are many purple yarns in my stash. I created this sweater using mohair, and many other yarns that knitted at a similar tension. I do not have a pattern for the sweater or for the intarsia design on it – it is knitted in free form. 
It was created from the waistband which I knitted in the round. I then knitted the front and the back at the same time up to the shoulders – (back and forth not circularly).
This enabled me to continue the colours at the sides so that when stitched together the design wrapped around and it reduced the effect of the side seam. The shoulders were bound off with a 3 needle cast off. The neck band was originally a rib knitted in the round. I ripped that out and knitted a semi cowl collar in stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch. I liked it so much I ripped out the waist band and knitted the new waistband down using the same yarns and stitches as at the neck. The cuffs were knitted down from the sleeve in rib.
I have knitted many sweaters in this way, with free form intarsia on a knitted shape. This is the first where I have removed the original neckline and waistline ribs and replaced them with stocking stich and reverse stocking stitch finish.
The owner of it loves it.
-
Connielene - Unique Designs & Knits
The Gallery
From March 10th 2010
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