ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

2010 Woolon entry 1

Some of you may have followed my Woolon entry story a little. I kept making mistakes in my knitting; I had problems getting it to New Zealand on time and I didn’t write the patterns properly as I went and so on.

The ensemble was entered in the Out there / Streetwear category. It looks great on the model, the first time I have seen it together as I sent the various pieces to New Zealand in 2 parcels as the top wasn’t completed in time for the first parcel and post from the Netherlands takes an age. WoolOn may have had a topless ensemble. But as you can see I got there in the end.

I am a little sad that the arm warmers were not worn from over the hand to above the elbow as I had intended – in the rush to send the parcel I probably didn’t describe it well enough for WoolOn to work out just what I meant. It would have looked much more funky then.

WoolOn entry 2010

WoolOn Here I come

Sometime Twitter a story makes

Skirt and top were created with Touch Yarns, Magic Merino Sock yarn. Various yarns were used for the Beret / Slouchy hat and the Moebius Scarf/Cowl. And then those funky feather & fan, fingerless gloves / gauntlets – they were in a variegated yarn.

The top does have a dramatic keyhole centre front and is sleeveless, knitted in k2 p2 rib.

The skirt increases were done using the hyperbolic plane method – that is every # of stitches increase 1. now I am writing it I cannot remember how many stitches were between the increases) I do have it in my notes, but I was just excited to get up to these photos this morning. Thank you Karin.

Gosh now I am checking there were many references to the WoolOn event, I won’t add them all here though. WoolOn link

Well there you go – I have gone and done it, posted the work at last. TNT post say it will take 6 to 8 days for my parcel to get to Alexandra. So I hope it will be seven days as it is due on the 15th September.

Last Saturday they said, it won’t go till Monday even if you post it today, and when it does go it will take 4 to 10 days. Is the post shop taking an unusual middle ground saying 6 to 8 days. I just so hope they are right and it takes 7 days.

Why didn’t I post it yesterday, well I discovered that when I undid the creation and reknitted, I didn’t knit the fronts and back at the same time, and then I found that the rows for the front were more than those on the back. Which meant my armhole band had 14 more stitches than it needed. So what did I do?

I went for a bike ride to the beach on Sunday and relaxed and enjoyed myself. A very good thing for Best Beloved and I to do together. Then I started sorting out my problem by knitting something else.

Crazy woman it seems. But that is what stress can do, and I do not like quite this much stress.

Anyway it has gone.

No photos of the finished pieces yet and there won’t be as it seems they are to be judged anonymously. Now that I don’t quite get. I understood they were being judged as a composite – you know, on a person in the fashion parade. Seeing the pieces individually will never show the effect of them all together on a living body.

How will they know that these pieces worn by a young model on stage will be so out there, and so spunky, and just so perfect? Just how will they know that a pile of hand knits could become this organic, moving, flowing, dramatic piece of art on the body?

Wish I had realised earlier.

It may have reduced the pain.

It would seem on checking that gauntlet is not the correct word for my knitted pair. Best Beloved did hint that it was a stretch to call my knitted pieces Gauntlets, so I checked a bit.

Wikipedia says “Gauntlet is a name for several different styles of glove, particularly those with an extended cuff covering part of the forearm. Gauntlets exist in many forms, ranging from flexible fabric and leather gloves, to chainmail and fully-articulated plate armour.” And some can have knuckle dusters included in them, some do not cover the whole hand just the top – good protection in battle.

Well mine cover the hand and arm and protect from the cold, and do look ever so cool – even if I do it say it myself. They do not contain knuckle dusters and they are warm as well.

I will not add a photo yet as they are going to New Zealand for WoolOn in Alexandra, and my hands are not good model hands being of the aged and not so elegant type. I have no one here to ask if they would provide hands and arms for photographic purposes. So you will just have to trust that they are cool and they will be a pattern.

You probably think I have forgotten to write up what I have been creating. I haven’t forgotten, I have just had too many things to do. SO this is a tidbit – a bit of a gauntlet that will become a pattern. The colour in the photo is not as bright as it should be, but that is okay as it will be taken again when completed. I just thought you should know that there is work in progress, in fact there is a lot of work in progress.

When my WoolOn pieces are in the post, I might list those WIP – we’ll see. It depends on just how embarrassed I could feel.

WoolOn™ Creative Fashion Event Oct 2010 is the creative fashion event of Central Otago, New Zealand. All the garments or outfits must be there by 15 September 2010. Yikes!

So I must go knit and knit and then knit some more as stuff posted from the Netherlands can take a long time to reach the New Zealand destination.

So you can see how they do Creative Fashion at WoolOn™ and if you are in New Zealand and intend attending then please take some photographs for me.

Do consider celebrating the arrival of spring as they do in the south at the Alexandra Blossom Festival, in Alexandra, Central Otago 24th September to 9th October 2010.

Laurel Judd was Supreme Award winner in 2009 at WoolOn.