ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

I have been looking at autumn / fall fashion trends 2011 instead of knitting; and I’m not really feeling like writing a report just because I would rather be knitting, so a list will have to suffice this time.

SO:
Capes are still in – and still my favourite

Frills and flounces – they are also in, I play with frills and flounces sometimes, but not too often.

Poncho – are warm and they also cool – that is why I like Ponchos

Cowls – I am glad that all my cowls are still in

Fur – fun fur and I guess other fur if you have it or want it.

Fingerless gloves – and as you know I love funky fingerless gloves.

Cables –

Split sleeves

See through sections

Obi style belts

AND

and Hot Pink
and Black, Grey, White and Red.

I am seriously procrastinating.

Here are the Connie Colourscape Cowls as well as the original cowl in Sean Sheep Armytage. The pattern is sooo close now, but I have no model. She went to Ireland in October and fell in love and disappeared. I/we, Best Beloved and I had worked quite hard to arrange for her to be my model and she was so extraordinarily photogenic.

It does make it rather difficult to add a beautiful photograph of the cowl for the pattern. When I am back in New Zealand later this year that will no longer be a problem for me.

The smaller cowl I am keeping for moi – it is to be mine as it matches perfectly one hat I purchased 2 winters ago here in the Netherlands.

Connie Colourscape Cowl

80gm, 100gm, 120gm Rowan Colourscape Cowls

Cowl / little Poncho or Wimple

Cowl

What do you do when there just is too much stuff to deal with?

It seems that I knit cowls and capelets.

The colourscape cowls : The smallest cowl took approx 80grams or about 130 metres, My middle cowl took 100grams or approx 160 metres, and my 120gram cowl took approx 195 metres.

Sean Sheep Armytage Cowl in the colour Sticky Date took 6 x 50gram balls.

Colourscape 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 which is why I love the yarn. Rowan have said the Colourscape Chunky yarn is probably the most unique yarn in their range. As it is blended by hand it can mean that the yarn varies from hank to hank both in colour and thickness. The weight specified on the ball band may not be exact and there can be a variance of 4-5 grams.

Cowl

The cowl is knitted from the neck down, on 7mm circular needles. As it is knitted in the round it can be tried on to view progress and make decisions about the length very easily and because it is knitted with a chunkier yarn it is a quick knit and there will be time to complete one for a Christmas gift if you are in wintery climes that is.

Dutch Homespun - for Cowl

I am finishing another using a Dutch homespun that I purchased at the mediaeval market here in Haarlem last year. It still has that lovely hint of sheep in it when you smell the yarn.

The cowls may be photographed on my mannequin only for the pattern as I am without a model still.

If you are considering “knitting in the round” these are the advantages as I see them.

Knitted in the round from bottom up.

Advantages:

1. No purling – you are always knitting on the right side, so unless you are ribbing or creating a pattern which requires purl stitches on the right side then you do not need to purl.

2. Little or no seaming / finishing

3. May use less yarn if the pattern is altered from a flat or pieced pattern. When altering a flat or pieced pattern one can reduce a stitch at each side of the body front and back – reducing the yarn required but not the finished size.

4. Speed – knit stitch is faster and your knitting rhythm works to your advantage.

5. Great knitting for watching a favourite TV program.

6. Less seaming is better for a knitted piece – it will rest better on the body without stresses and strains of a seam.

7. You can design as you knit. You can adjust length and shape as as you go.

8. You do not need to check that front and back pieces match exactly. Place a marker at the begining of the first row and you will always know exactly where you are and where to measure.

9. Using circular needles means that a large garment rests in your lap and not on the needles and your arms.

10. A garment can be altered – lengthened or shortened for another wearer later by unravelling and knitting down as required.

Disadvantage:

1. Boring knitting – Sweater done in knit stitch in the round can be boring.

2. Pieced or flat knitting is easier to create if starting with a sewing pattern.

Folk knitting was originally created circularly and seaming was very minimal so Knitting in the Round has been the “norm” in many cultures.

think tubes

Socks, arm warmers, body warmers, leg warmers, corsets, skirts, ponchos, cowls, hoods, boob tubes, etc and the leap to knitting a whole garment in the round occurs when one joins the knitted or crocheted tubes to create the desired garment.

Gallery of Examples of My “Knitting in the Round”

In New Zealand in my early knitting and designing days I was totally unaware of the movement toward knitting in the round as reintroduced to the US by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I was a busy young mother and wanted to finish my garment when I had completed the knitting whereever possible and so I worked on achieving that.

Fashion shaping may have been the impetus for creating flat pieces and joining them. I have worked on shaping my pieces when knitting in the round. The other area I have worked on is knitting a waistcoat, cardigan or jacket or sweater in one piece to the underarm or from cuff to cuff – again to reduce seaming requirements but that will have to be another post.

And then of course there is also top down knitting and steeks and ……

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.