ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

I have spoken at times of the cloak that I created back in 1992 – very nearly 20 years ago. This cloak has been in exhibitions, it has been tried on by many people, it has been photographed on many people. Sadly it is showing its age.

I am attending the knit retreat “Knitting in Nature beginning tomorrow, and I am taking my “Island” The Great New Zealand cloak with me to show to the other knitters there. Why? Well I am teaching a workshop on Intarsia Knitting and this is one of the best examples I still own of my intarsia creations. I hope that seeing it will still inspire someone of the group to try freeform intarsia knitting after they complete the workshop.

In late 1992 or early 1993 the cloak was in an exhibition at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. The judges there decided that it was not suitable to be sold due to the fragile nature of the creation. I think 20 years of display and wearing is not bad for a creation of a fragile nature, using around 90 or so different yarns from wool, mohair to linen and a variety of fancy fibres. I actually think it has done rather well. And I am so glad it was not listed for sale as my family and I have loved it and worn it, as well as exhibited it.

I think “Knitting in Nature” may well be its last journey because it is rather thin and frail in some sections now, and we will store it away gently on our return to New Zealand and hope that we can still bring it from time to time and say “we remember this piece very well” and put it away again.

I am feeling rather sad that this piece that has been such a big part of my life is not going to be worn again BUT that does mean that it is time for another creation.

30th March. Tidy mind, tidy stitches.

Yarns waiting

Just how do I keep my yarn and other crafty things organised? It seems like this should be a very easy question to answer. BUT I am living in the Netherlands, in a house, so called, of three floors.

Floor 1 – Kitchen, dining space, bathroom & laundry, entrance door and steps up
Floor 2 – Lounge and steps up
Floor 3 – attic bedroom

So what do I do with my stash and other crafty components in this house, so called?

Well I do have 2 plastic filing cabinets with yarn in the lounge, and in the bedroom I have a window seat under the eaves with plastic containers of yarns, knitting needles, fabrics, crepe paper, crochet hooks, plastic tubes, buttons, beads and WIP’s and UFO’s and so on and on. Generally I sort my yarns by type so that all the dk yarns are together, as are the mohairs, fun faux furs, 12 ply yarns, cottons and so on.

Freeform Intarsia snippet

The BIG trouble is if I am creating:

then that Best Beloved knows that chaos (from his point of view will ensue).

Especially if the creation will be using the freeform intarsia technique.

Because then it is only the colour that matters – more or less.

I remove from all the cubby holes, bags, boxes and containers all the colours that I could require and I spread them on the coffee table, across the 2 couches and on the chair in front of my knitting chair and even on our bed, the only real bed in this house, so called. The yarn weight or type has become irrelevant – it is now all about the colour. And I play with all those colours, move them about, change the order, take them outside and see how they look in sunlight and so on.

Then I have to manage the yarns I am not going to use and I just put them into the nearest container or three, or move them all to one couch or anything to get them out of the way so that Best Beloved will survive the event and so that I can now knit.

Which means all of my yarn stash order is now lost.

But creativity rules even in this house, so called.

Does that mean that being a free form intarsia knitter/designer means an untidy mind? Hope not.

I will not contemplate it meaning Untidy stitches though. That would never do.

Miriam at Cologne

Miriam Tegels is the Guinness World Record Holder Speed Knitter 2006.

She is speed knitter extraordinaire and a teacher of many knitting skills from lace, double knitting, knitting with beads, illusion knitting and more as well as convenor of this wonderful knit retreat which is held in a gorgeous woodland setting with accommodation at the Groenewoud Countryhouse. The Finnish style Lodge is situated in the wooded area of Swalmen (Mid Limburg), right on the banks of the river Swalm.

Groenewoud Lodge, Swalmen

Link to the “Knitting in Nature” knit retreat. Do check out the workshops included as well as the wonderful activities available in this gorgeous location.

Further Information including links to photos from previous retreats here

I am delighted that I am able to teach my workshop “Freeform Intarsia” at Miriams wonderful knit retreat. Come and let your knit inhibitions fly away.

Purples Freeform Intarsia Batwing Sweater

Where to start?

Well we are relocating back to New Zealand. Why?

That permanent position that Best Beloved took on here in the Netherlands suddenly had an unexpected end date. Why is that? It seems that the company has a rule that you cannot work for this company after the age of 65 and Best Beloved is 65. Not only that, you must leave at the end of the month previous to the month in which you do turn 65. As it happens Best Beloved was 65 on the 15th of August last year (2010). There was some negotiation from November 2009 (when some bright spark in the HR department discovered that OMG – he will be 65 next year and must be told he has to go) and a contract was finally agreed some time in June (7 months later) and signed in August I think, just as he was racing to the finishing post. His contract gave him up to 31st July this year being the month before he turns 66. What an enlightened company.

So we are going back to New Zealand a little earlier than planned because much as we love living here we simply could not afford to live here as retirees. And of course there is a huge plus to returning to New Zealand – we will be back with family and friends, back with daughter and grandson, back with my sister who is ill, and back to a house with a garden, back to a new chapter of our life together with Best Beloved as a retiree.

Sadly we will also be back to requiring a car – but that is another story.

Also sadly for us, our son and his family will still be living in Switzerland, we will not have access to live music as we have here, museums, Europe, Denmark, Danish family specifically and then of course there is the cycling etc etc etc….. We do not cycle in New Zealand as the bike lanes are few and far between.

To get our fill of cycling our return journey will begin with us cycling from here in Haarlem, the Netherlands to Untersiggenthal in Switzerland, approximately 900k’s. That story will be recorded on our personal blog. You know the kind of stuff – two crazy oldies last seen cycling into the sunset…… We are planning the route so we are not too far from railway travel options should it prove a journey too difficult on bad days – like asthma days, or falling off the bikes, you know the kind of stuff.

And for me this year brings new experiences with my work – I have 3 workshops booked and 2 more in January 2012.

The first is “Freeform Intarsia”and will be here in the Netherlands at a Knit Retreat in Swalmen, in North Limburg region. I will post the details when I have them. It will be in the week 11-15th of July. Thank you to Miriam Tegels whom I met at a workshop with Nicky Epstein last year. Miriam holds the Guinness World Record for Speed Knitting. She is also a talented knitter in all areas who will be taking 4 workshops during the retreat.

The New Zealand workshops will be held in Ellerslie at Mishi Yarns in November and then again in January 2012. Thank you Michele. Michele is Mishi Yarns in Ellerslie and has sourced as many New Zealand made yarns as possible including Naturally Yarns, Zealana, Rare Yarns, Supreme Possum Merino, Touch Yarns, Knitsch Sock Yarns, Vintage Purls and Forever Green Elan. So if you want New Zealand yarns contact Michele.

The Freeform Intarsia workshop detail is here. I will post a link to the Colour Play workshop when have that ready.

The list could be longer, but it is all I can handle today.

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