ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

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

I have been cogitating over which words to use for this neck warmer / shoulder warmer / gaiter / cowl etc etc. I have decided to stick with “Cowl”. Why, because in this case it has a nice ring to it and the word rolls off the tongue so well.

I am quite certain; that is I am cocksure that the name of this piece should be ……

what am I talking about?

Well the “Connie Colourscape Cowl of course

And I think it is codswallop to call it a gaiter.

Anyway – it is knitted in the round. It is similar to Sean Sheep Armytage cowl. In the original cowl I started my increases close to the neck edge, in this one I knitted it without any shaping for about 14cm before beginning the increases.

It has been created with one hank of Colourscape chunky, knitted on circular needles. I am still not absolutely certain which colour it is as I left the label on the train, but still think it could be Jungle #447.

Rowan Colourscape Chunky is a roving type yarn with an artisan look and rustic appeal which is spun and made in Britain. Designed by renowned textile artist, Kaffe Fassett each hank gives a single repeat rainbow like effect. 100% Lambswool.

So you too could create a cowl like this one with only 160 m or 175 yards of a chunky yarn.

I did start it a while back, a long while back. It is now about 6 feet or 2 metres along the 2 sides of the triangle. Soon I shall start to reduce one side of it to create a rectangle of some ridiculous proportion.

Circular needles are a wonderful thing as they enable me to create this throw in one piece. The knitting sits in my lap and is not heavy on the arms. There will be some ends to sew in but no seams. Perfect.

I am glad it is not summer though – it helps to keep me warm while I knit now that it flows down over my legs – could not create such a piece in the summer.

I am also glad to be able to use up all sorts of odd pieces of yarn as they (the young couple) who have seen my orange / silver / black /brown / reds rug and are happy to have their rug created with many yarns and shades of the chosen red / black / silver/grey. When completed it will look and feel great.

Original post here.

It is knitted in garter stitch on the diagonal – increasing 1 stitch at the beginning of every row using Yarn Over 2 stitches in from the edge. When I am happy with the length of one side I will begin the decreases.

We were in Switzerland for Christmas and Best Beloved and I slept under the bed spread / rug I created for our son and his partner for Christmas 2010. It was wonderfuly light and so warm – so think this one will be the same.

Mohair & faux fur throw - for king size bed

In winter 2008 I had very little yarn here with me in the Netherlands. I had purchased some odd yarns at a fleamarket and had bought some bits and pieces at local shops here in Haarlem and in Amsterdam and Maastricht.

The yarns really were just a bit odd, and I didn’t have anything in mind to make/create.

BUT I was cold.

So I played with a design and created a neck warmer for myself out of these odd yarns. I wore it on my journey to Switzerland for our sons 40th birthday in Dec 2008 and I was very grateful for this very warm item of clothing that I had created. Sadly there are no photos of it as a neck warmer though.

In Switzerland there was an Angelica.

She saw the thing (the neck warmer / my neck warmer) and became rather excited. Now Angelica speaks Spanish, German and some English so it was said with a great deal of excitement and in halting English and dramatic Spanish that she wanted to try it on. We (Best Beloved and I) speak English, a hint of Dutch, me, almost reasonable Danish and no German and NO Spanish.

Fortunately our son who speak excellent German, English and understands some dramatic Spanish – translated.

And she did try it on – only not around her neck but around her body. She was adamant this was a perfect tunic dress.

My Neck Warmer as a dress! WOW

Angelica is a very tiny lady, maybe 4’10″ in her high heels. I said I would knit some straps and send neck warmer and straps to her to attact at the correct position. Which is what I did do.

And this last Christmas 2010 I saw the result for the first time.

I am staggered that my waistcoat which I am knitting in one piece to the under arms – is working out as a striped one. That is the colour changes are almost so correct that each set of the 4 rows of Feather and Fan (Shale) stitch pattern is in an individual colour. Now that isn’t a problem, I just didn’t expect it to be quite so distinct.

The problem I have now is what to do when I divide for the armholes. Do I cut the yarn and maintain the stripes more or less, or do I cut the yarns and use a different colour more or less for each front and for the back? I am having trouble visualising the end result and it is unusual for me to have a problem visualising colour on a piece I am creating, but this is such a surprising result that I am having a minor conniption.

I know! I carried on knitting, not believing my eyes – but now I must believe the camera.

Has anyone created a waistcoat using Kureyon Sock Yarn and made some decisions on where to go to from here? Please.

I found on the internet that there are 2 Noro Kureyon yarns and one is described as a gorgeous self striping 100% wool yarn, and mine being Kureyon Sock yarn contains 30% nylon yarn. It is also described as having long, subtle color changes, which is not happening on my waistcoat – where the stripes are clear not subtle – but that is to do with the width I have chosen to knit, not the yarn.