ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

I love knitting skirts and this one was delivered to Angelica in Switzerland last week and has already travelled to Prague to be photographed.

The yarn is Bombay from Katia and is lovely to work with and the colours are gorgeous. This pattern will become available – probably after we return to New Zealand as there is too much to manage right now. It will available in 3 lengths.

Bombay is 100% Mercerized Cotton.
100 grs. – 3 oz 1/2 | 230 mts. – 251 yds.
Size of needles: 3 – 3 1/2 USA 4 – 5
Number of shades: 12

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 ……

So the Magic of yarn and colour and shape continues.

My cowl is gorgeous – and today I thought this is so great it could be a ….. a ….. skirt. Oh damn, now I have said it, but it truely could. I am finishing the cowl as a cowl, and the pattern for a cowl and then I will create it as a skirt.

As you can see funny things are always happening in my brain.

And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff, oh
And brought her yarn and and knitting pins and other fancy stuff, oh

For those who do not know just what Twitter is.

Mainly from Wikipedia :

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., that enables its users to send and read other user’s messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s page. Tweets are publicly visible by default.

From Moi:

I realised that my twitter when used around a specific project such as my “Lake Hawea Skirt / Outfit” actually makes its own story. And because I write my stories here on the website – I thought I could use my twitter for this one – and so I have.

Just in case you thought this – NO – Twitter does not pay me, I am not advertising twitter.

I am saving writing time by using my twitter this way for this project. I need to talk to and hear from people in support of my all round craziness and doubt around this project. Twitter is doing that for me because everyone in New Zealand is asleep when I am awake here in The Netherlands. I am just adding my thoughts as I would if there was someone here for me to talk to, but in 140 characters – and that is hard for me.

Maybe the world would be a better place if we could all restrict our sentences to a coherent (nearly) 140 characters, minus full stops and spaces if necessary.

Hear that all ye politicians and all ye all round nutters. See if you could do that – you might be real and honest. WOW

Aug 17, 10:51pm

Will I dream the skirt stitch counts? k1 – 25, slip 1, k1, PSSO, k1-25, slip 1, k1, PSSO, k1, will it work like counting sheep? snore bizzzz

Aug 18, 10:42am

Skirt is still in progress – think about the lace, not sure yet if I will add it. Maybe the lack of time will influence the decision.

12:31pm

Brain dead in the knit dept today. Skirt is at crisis point – what to do?????? stop or go on ???

12:35pm

should I be tweeting, kweeting, kneeting, knieting, knitting? I think I should, I think I could, I think I will, I think I am KNITTING now!!

2:30pm

Skirt at 200 stitches, casting off, then I will check my brain & decide what next. Brain is a little strung out just now, need colour & drama!

7:40pm

Skirt is sitting on chair saying go on, do something, do something else, go on. So I did do something. I bought yarn at De Afstap in Amsterdam

10:19pm

Thinking of top part of this outfit. Is it really called that today? I don’t know. I am to create full deal – top to toe for the parade.

10.25pm

Top design loses, bed wins. Brain is shutting down. I was skyping NZ at 1.30am my time (NL) to talk with sister at 11.30am her time (NZ)

Aug 19, 9:19am

Pile of mags, internet, knit books, ideas file, friend Meredith in Adelaide, We have to design the perfect top to go with the perfect skirt.

From Connielene – NOT A TWEET: There will be no more pictures – as I do have to keep the lid on what I am creating. I will still tweet a little of course so there may be a further chapter in the story of Lake Hawea.

Tweets for the uninitiated – can be no more than 140 characters. If you take the trouble to count the tweet characters you will see that mine here are 140 or 141 or 142. What that means is that I have added a full stop, or a space when I added them to my blog – which I ignored when I tweeted to keep the piece within the 140 characters.