ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

There you are Nicky and Miriam. Thanks to Miriam Tegels who taught me to knit entrelac, and to Nicky Epstein for creating “Knitting in Circles” with a circle knitted in Entrelac.

I wasn’t sure I would get to the centre of this circle and had made an entirely wrong assumption before I started – which was that it was knitted from the centre out, and of course it wasn’t knitted that way at all.

It doesn’t look perfect in the centre – and that may be the finishing or my lack of skill as this is my first ever entrelac piece after my initial 3 hour workshop. I don’t know, and I don’t even mind. It is done, and now I shall have to create something using this piece of circular entrelac.

Of course it does scream beret, but maybe it could become a tea cosy.

I could take out the not so perfect centre and rework it so it could be used for my Best Beloveds tea pot.

Maybe

or

Maybe not

Random Number Generator selected comment number 8 – Carolien. I have emailed Carolien to let her know and I know she will enjoy working on fair isle circles and I am certain once she receives her book there will be other challenges that she will take up.

Congratulations Carolien

Thank you to all those who took the time to comment on this lovely book.

BUT there is another matter to hand

my entrelac.

Sadly I have not completed my circle entrelac piece yet, as have been ill these past 10 days or so. But I have begun. I have completed the base row of triangles and the first 2 rows of rectangles.

The yarn I am using is Schachenmayr nomotta Azua, (44% Cotton, 26% Polyester, 8% Acrylic, 22% Polyamide). I am knitting on 4.5mm needles. All I have of the yarn is 50gms and that is only 87m so it will not be enough to complete the circle so I will have to do a rummage to find yarn to complete the circle.

I will add further photos as I complete my circle and then of course the Tick Tock Clock, baby vests, cot blanket, baby jacket, cotton cloths etc for our grandbaby due in 4 weeks.

This is my first piece of entrelac, other than as part of the Knitting in Nature retreat in July 2011.

If you are not going to Ally Pally then read on to find out a little about Nicky and to have the opportunity to win a copy of her latest book “Knitting in Circles”.

Questions I asked of Nicky

CJ: Knitting in circles is logical after block by block – but where did you get the ideas for the individual pieces – blossoms are easy to see, but what made you decide to use circles in a pullover for instance? What was the most difficult part of the design process in creating a pullover with circles.

Nicky: I cut circles out of paper, move them around, and tape them together to give me an idea of what the finished project will look like. The idea of using circles in a pullover appealed to me because of its uniqueness. The most difficult process was the sizing of the circles.

CJ: There is a wide range of garment designs in the book – which was the most difficult from concept to the finished piece?

Nicky: I’d love to say that they are all easy, but some are challenging, but worth it — The Crystal Lace Jacket was the toughest to create from scratch, but now with my written instructions (even though they may look intimidating), it’s exciting to make. I like to think I work hard to make knitting easy for others.

CJ: Which is your favourite piece and why?

Nicky: Once again, the Crystal Lace Jacket.. It makes one feel regal wearing it and gives the knitter, a great feeling of accomplishment.

CJ: What will you be working on next? It is hard to guess the direction you might take after blocks, circles, edges, felting, flowers, embellishments etc.

Nicky: At the moment I am finishing two books of fashions for 18 inch dolls (1 knit…1 crochet). But I have bigger plans for my next book that has never been done before.

CJ: I can’t wait to see the creations in that new book Nicky.

Nicky will be on the GMC stand F5 at the Knitting & Stitching Show from tomorrow to the 14th October. Do go and meet her there.

If you cannot make it to Alexandra Palace you can visit Nicky’s website and sign up for her newsletter whilst there.

Knitting in Circles can be purchased from GMC online and for readers in New Zealand and Australia

I am lucky that I am able to give away a copy of Knitting in Circles. All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me if you have created a knit circle and which technique you have used and if you have a photo we would love to see it.

If you have not yet created a knitted circle then please tell me which technique you would love to be able to use to create your knitted circle. There are so many in this lovely book including Fair Isle, Intarsia, Cable, beaded cable, entrelac, bobbles, brioche, domino, short row knitting, lace, star medallions, points and scallops, stripes, motifs, duplicate stitch – so you have many many choices.

The winning comment will be randomly picked.

Closing date for the commenting is Saturday 20th October at midnight GMT.

Knitting in Circles

Nicky has done it again. Another innovative knitting reference. Knitting in Circles explores circular shapes that can be easily joined to create innovative and striking knitted pieces. There are 5 technique chapters, including basic circle shaping, where texture & technique, Lace & points, Colourwork to eclectic. Doesn’t that sound great?

There is something here for every skill level and if these techniques are new to you you can build your skills by working from simple to quite difficult. Each circle pattern comes with full instructions, a full-colour photograph and a chart. Once you have mastered knitting in circles in any one of the 100 examples in this book you can create anything from a bag, scarf or afghan to a dress or jacket or shawl. So from rectangles created with circles to garments created from circles.

What will Nicky do next I wonder.

What am I going to make from this beautiful book. Well in July 20011 I attended a Knit retreat “Knitting in Nature” and there I made my first attempt ever of entrelac under the tutelage of Miriam Tegels – so I have to test my entrelac skills and will post a photo of my circular entrelac at whatever stage it is at on Monday 21st October when I publish the winner of the book.

Miriam is also one of Nicky’s test knitters so that seems rather fitting.

Then for fun I shall knit the TICK TOCK CLOCK. I have a new grandchild on the way and the Tick tock clock could become the face of a real clock. I will have to keep you posted on that.

I have been asked about a better photo of the sweater – sadly it was created way back in 1978 or 1979 and the photograph on the post was scanned into my computer a few years ago. The original photo is in New Zealand “somewhere” and I am living in the Netherlands so a better scan is not possible right now.

It is possible that there are other photos and maybe I will recreate the sweater as it was quite lovely and a fairly simple intarsia design. It would be reasonably easy to chart for someone else to recreate as well. It will not be high on my “To Do” list though as we are working hard on planning our relocation to New Zealand.

This week I have managed to have new passport photos taken, and I do have to go to The Hague to submit my application to the Danish consulate there in person – so I will do that soon. My passport will expire in July and we leave the Netherlands in the first week of August.

I have made arrangements with several relocation companies and to come and cost the removal of our belongings to New Zealand and I have a a couple of days in Maastricht as Best Beloved will be working there – it will be lovely to be there in the Spring.

In this next week I shall be sorting out stuff that we will not take home, and be placing them to one side so they are not included in the costings to get our stuff home. These will go to de Schalm later for them to onsell. De Schalm is a local “not for profit” business. Their function is to offer opportunity for unemployed people to learn skills that may assist them into work. The mainly youngsters learn to handle cash, take care of the shop, create pieces to sell either sewing, woodwork, bike repair, all sorts of practical skills. We have purchased odd chairs, dining room table etc from there to set ourselves with bits we didn’t bring from New Zealand.

I will have a very busy week.

Will I also knit in this next week? Yes, I will be working on my two knitted houses for the Stephanie Rhode installation and delivering those to her in the next couple of weeks.

Anything else – well maybe, we’ll see.

This weekend, WELL we had planned to go to Nieuwegein to the Breidag and Haakdag: the hottest event of the Netherlands! . There seems to be no train from Haarlem to Amsterdam where we can head to Utrecht and then to Nieuwegein and it has become a rather convoluted journey with several buses, trains, and even a tram. It would take us about 2 hours from here in Haarlem. And that Best Beloved has a heavy cold and has now pulled out of this days planned travel. We had wanted to take our bikes, but because there is no train from here to make connections from Amsterdam and we cannot take bikes on the bus and it is too far for us to ride yet, especially in the time we have today – we have decided not to go.

Such a pity as I had hoped to meet with Miriam Tegels, and maybe @PickledTreats would also have been there.

So I will wander in Haarlem instead – it is a great place to wander.

Best Beloved will rest.

Switzerland – June 19th 2011 – Stein. Freeform Intarsia Knitting, 3 hrs. 2pm to 5pm

Netherlands – July 10-15 2011 , Knitting in Nature, Swalmen – Knitting in Nature Knitting in Nature – Miriam Tegels FreeForm Intarsia Knitting

New Zealand – November 2011 (date to be advised) – Auckland – 2 workshops Mishi Yarns

New Zealand – February 2012 (date to be advised) – Auckland – 2 workshops Mishi Yarns