ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

The voluminous result is interesting and the piece still has to have crochet neck edge and beads added. The whole piece was knitted using Touch yarns mohair. The cast off (bind off) row was the only one where I used the faux fur fibre.

The Fibonacci Sequence requires some more thought. It was interesting doing the increases to match the numbering scheme. Will create another sometime, probably when I am back in New Zealand to see if I can use this with my knitted silver wire and beads idea.

Later on.

and of course there is always the more manageable hyperbolic plane increases as I know very well how they work.

and over the years she did knit and crochet hundreds of wash cloths, hand towels, dish washing cloths, floor cleaning cloths as well as baby booties, crocheted and knitted collars for us as children, knitted swim suits (believe it or not), cardigans, sweaters (jumpers, jerseys) and so on and on.

We all longed to be given a parcel of her cotton hand knitted or crocheted cloths as a birthday or christmas gift and we were all delighted if we visited and her pile was too large and we went home with some wonderful knitted cloths to add to our own collection.

My mother passed away 6 years ago. I no longer think of her every day, or miss her as absolutely as I did for some years after her death as so much has happened in those intervening years. My grandson started school, my father also passed away a year later, we moved to the Netherlands, my sister has a cancer that cannot be treated, I had an exhibition of my work in Auckland and so on and on.

But everytime I use one of her cloths for wiping the kitchen bench, or drying my hands I am reminded of her and I wish she was still here with us.

After her passing, we gathered and sorted her belongings and there was an enormous pile of cotton cloths she had been knitting and crocheted for Christmas and we shared them amongst the family. My mother had 7 children, 20 grand children and many great grand children. I have no idea how many cloths there were, but I do know they are in New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands. And for all of us who use these precious cloths we are reminded of where we came from, who we are and what is important.

I do have an old grainy black and white photo of myself in one of her very dreadful knitted swimsuits – it is in New Zealand and I will post it some time so you can see. It was dreadful not because it was bad knitting but because as soon as you were wet the crutch was at the knees and it was an impossible thing to wear with any degree of style or aplomb. Not that style was an issue back then, but the thing was bloody uncomfortable.

How is that you think you know a lot about lots of things. But you never do. Today I read about a clothing item called a gaiter. I looked at the photographs and then I looked up the word (gaiter(s)) – and they simply do not relate.

Wikipedia states:
Gaiters are garments worn over the shoe and lower pant leg, and used primarily as personal protective equipment; similar garments used primarily for display are spats. Originally, gaiters were made of leather. Today, gaiters for walking are commonly made of plasticized synthetic cloth such as polyester. Gaiters for use on horseback continue to be made of leather.

Now I understand that, but it seems that neck warmers, circular scarves, pieces that wrap the neck, cowls etc are also called gaiters. And they are not created with plasticized synthetic cloth – they are knitted or crocheted in delicious, warm, sumptuous, and colourful yarns.

When did that happen?

Where have I been!

I have been callng my cowls, my “not Isadora Duncan Scarves”, my neck and shoulder warmers, and other versions of fashionable scarves etc all of which are designed to wrap and keep the neck warm – I have been calling them anything and everything but gaiter.

Rib & Cable neck / shoulder warmer

How does a leg protector become a neck warmer?

Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus:
gait n Manner of walking

gaiters pl n cloth or leather coverings for the legs or ankles [French Guêtre]

I kept looking and there seems to be a trend towards the gaiter being a practical item of clothing for skiers and motorbike riders and there are no photographs of the delicious, fashionable, hand knit designer gaiters that started me looking on google images for Gaiter

So someone out there, decided that while a wrap for the neck is also a piece of protective clothing (hence, Gaiter), there is no reason at all why that protective clothing should not also be a fashionable piece.

Hence the hand knit designer gaiter.

Right now I am working on a vest for myself. It is so unusual for me to create a piece for me, but I am. I am deciding just how I shall include the intarsia. I have all the yarn (many colours). I am already knitting a k2 p2 rib band and constantly looking at the yarns out of the corner of my eyes, wondering how will I use it.

That started me thinking about my very first intarsia knit. It was a sweater for my son. It was so cute, it was in two colours, chocolate brown and cream. The intarsia (a word I had never heard of) was so simple and it started me on the wild wild world of free form knit intarsia. Prior to that my intarsia work had all been in crochet.

I crocheted shawls and vests in the main. And I created all sorts of weird and unusual shapes with the yarn that I had available to me.

My very first crochet commission was for 3 crocheted shawls and a poncho. They were many coloured, but formal – that is no free form work at all. The patterns if I remember correctly, might have been from the Mon Tricot magazine which I just adored. Yes, I created for sale shawls from someone elses patterns, and I was even paid to do it.

Shock, horror now.

That was in the very early 70′s. I knew nothing of copyright at that time.

BUT back to the first knit intarsia.

It was a bought pattern and it may have been a Shepherd pattern, I simply can’t remember. But it was a straight forward sweater (jersey or jumper). The cuffs and a band of about 10 or 12 stitches straight up the front were in cream and the remainder of the sweater was chocolate brown.

I had to learn how to twist the yarn so there were no holes at the join of the two colours. It was knitted in pieces – back, front, 2 sleeves, something I rarely do today. But it started me exploring knitting and the excitement was probably not immediate but it slowly simmered and very soon I was creating wild, wonderful and wacky intarsia sweaters, jackets, vests and cardigans.

I still love my wild and wacky knits.

And now I am going to knit a wild and wacky vest for me. I still haven’t decided in what way I shall incorporate the intarsia but I will.

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.