I need to make a decision about which colour to wear .. and that got me thinking: any rich colours I haven't used for a shawl? Any recs?
Mended
I caught my Alva shawl in a zip about a month ago. Being in a bit of a hurry, I accidentally tore a hole in the edging at the worst possible point: the tip of the edging. So, I put the shawl into time-out whilst I tried to decide what to do. Today, I decided to mend Alva and this is what I did:
- I cut off the entire edging. The hole was so big it ran across four rows and the centre stitch had unravelled.
- I then picked up along the cut edge. Rowan Kidsilk is thankfully a very sticky yarn which made picking up stitches easier than if I had to watch out for accidental laddering.
- I then knitted back an entire row to make sure I had picked up evenly and that I was not left with any fraying yarn.
- Looking at the colours in my Alva shawl (which was knitted out of one ball of Rowan Kidsilk Stripes), I picked up a matching solid-colour ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze (I love the Jelly colourway, nom. My Picycle is knitted in that colour) and I knitted two rows.
- I then used a crochet cast-off to make lovely little fluffy loops along the edge and decided to add some extra crochet loveliness by extending the edge with fan stitches.
And there you have it. How to mend a shawl Karie-style if you have been silly enough to get it caught in a zipper. It's as good as new.
Here's to the Future: Changes, Chances & Occasional Sheep
I have recently made some much-needed changes to my working life. For the past year I have been juggling an awful lot of balls and pulling some very long hours. I couldn't carry on doing that and so I had to make some tough decisions - though I tried putting off my decision for as long as I could. My hand was finally forced earlier this month when I received a very kind permanent job offer for something I had been doing on a freelance basis for a very long time. The job offer came as a bit of a surprise, but it was also a wake-up call in terms of what I wanted to do.
And so the decision was made and this week I will be waving a fond farewell to my years of working for Rowan Yarns. I have been putting out proverbial fires for them for 4.5 years and I will be saying goodbye to a lot of creative, inspiring people. I have learned a lot through my work as a consultant - both creatively and on the business side of things. I will miss a lot of people (you know who you are), but I thought it was time to hand over the reins to someone else.
For the time being I will be focusing on my own work - the designing, the writing, the editing, and the teaching. I am excited about the future (plans are afoot well into 2015!) but the excitement is tempered by fear too. Did I make the right decision? What will the future bring? It's scary and exhilarating.
I have sought equilibrium by trying out some not-so-new crafts. I tried my hand at cross-stitching and embroidery back when I was a teenager, but I was never very good at it. The Anchor Thread Mill Museum has been offering classes on a range of stitching topics in connection with Paisley hosting the Great Tapestry of Scotland - and I went along to two of these classes.
The first class was on cross-stitching and I found the rhythm quite soothing. I have tried finding some interesting cross-stitch kits online, but either they are too ambitious or insanely ambitious. The second class was on crewel work and we used the same linen and wool they had used on the Great Tapestry (Peter Greig Linen and Appleton's Crewel Wool, in case you are wondering). I was defeated by French knots but I enjoyed the freedom of expression you get with crewel work.
I am not a natural stitcher, but I have bought myself a hoop and I am slowly working on the Paisley sampler we were given as part of the class. It is nice to be making stuff and not needing to consider it as part of work. Although, knowing me, I'll probably incorporate free-hand embroidery at some point.
(Once I've made peace with French knots.)
Speaking of the Great Tapestry of Scotland, I am currently posting a small detail from panels on Twitter - one tiny detail per day. Most of these details are knitterly impressions but occasionally it will just be something that caught my eye. The first detail I posted was this amazing Shetland sheep just lurking in the corner of one of the early panels.
Here's to the future.
The Proserpine Shawl and the Arts & Crafts Movement
Yesterday I had a long conversation with my friend Natalie about life, work, and the whole big thing. I mentioned a long-term project that is slowly coming together, and Natalie laughed: Art history, storytelling and knitting. That is so very you, Karie. It is nice when others can see what I try to do. Still, I suppose it is rather obvious when you look at my latest collaboration with Knit Now magazine. This is a bit of a first for Knit Now. I collaborated with a host of talented designers on a mini-collection inspired by a 19th century design movement, Arts and Crafts. I was also asked to write an article about the Arts and Crafts Movement. It was one of those pitches where I was on board from the very first sentence. You can read more about the design movement in my article for Knit Now - I wanted to explain why so many designers continue to be inspired by it, how core ideas spread throughout the design world and - crucially - why it continues to influence knitters throughout the world (whether you know it or not).
The Proserpine Shawl is my contribution to the mini-collection. It is a semi-circular shawl knitted in a stunning custom dye merino/silk 4ply yarn from Triskelion Yarn in Wales. Caerthan was inspired by 19th century tiles at the V&A and came up with this stunning teal especially for my shawl.
It was very important to me that the yarn should be something special as I was designing the shawl with the Arts & Crafts idea of truth to material in my head. Truth to material simply means that you take the material that is best suited to your project and you showcase it honestly. The long stretches of stocking stitch are designed with a stunning yarn in mind. I am a big fan of basic stitches (like stocking stitch and garter stitch) precisely because they let your materials take centre stage.
Still, you do get lace sections in the shawl. Proserpine was named after a painting by 19th century painter, poet and all-round bohemian, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I read a lot of his poetry when I was an impressionable teen and it remains absolutely lovely. Quite apart from wanting to capture the drape of Proserpine's gown and sighing over DGR's the dragon-fly / Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky, I also took inspiration from the Roman myths of Proserpine. She was the Roman equivalent of the Greek Persephone: a goddess abducted to the underworld but restored to the world where her arrival heralds spring. So if you look closely you can see some leaves sprinkled into the shawl.
I am really quite in love with the entire project. It combines so many of my core beliefs about design - many of which I have inherited from the Arts and Crafts Movement.
I have been asked the following by a lot of people: if you are outside the UK you can buy a digital copy here, though most UK shops should also stock the magazine.
All photos are © Practical Publishing.
(PS. the shawl edge looks a bit wonky. I was trying to block the shawl not long after I injured my knee in a serious accident. That was interesting)
Dispatches from KnittingLand
I have disappeared under a pile of deadlines. When you work on publications, you tend to work between 5 months to a full year ahead of actual releases - so obviously I am busy editing, grading and designing a lot of things that will appear in the autumn and winter. It is a bit strange when the bluebells are in full bloom, but you do get used to it. But things are happening right now that you can enjoy.
It is Yarn Shop Day this Saturday in the UK. The British magazine Let's Knit has launch a campaign for people to show their local yarn shops some love. I love visiting LYSs - each has its own distinct personality - and the very best LYSs become an indispensable part of a knitter's life. We have some great ones in the UK but I think we should have even more. Go forth & shower your local with love.
This has a deadline of today, but I do love the enthusiasm of LoveKnitting's Britain's Next Top Knitwear Designer competition. Again, it is about supporting what's local, what's is happening on the UK knitting scene and I love how they are offering a fashion slant to an industry which is far too often equated with dowdiness and homeliness. Nothing is wrong with wearing a comfy jumper (I am right now, in fact) but what about making it a stylish comfy jumper? Indeed. As I said, the deadline is today so if you have a fab design sitting around, why not pop it in the post?
Finally, The University of Glasgow has announced plans for a Knitter-in-Residence in October. You may remember I have been involved in the "Knitting in the Round" workshops that Glasgow University has held - including that very wonderful Open Day at Glasgow's Lighthouse design Centre - and the residency is part of that whole project. It is a great opportunity to be working alongside Prof Lynn Abrams and Dr Marina Moskowitz (among others) and I know further events are in the works.
I will pop up later in the week to write about an article I have in the latest issue of Knit Now - not the first time I have been published, but certainly one of the nicest - as well as a brand-new shawl pattern. For now, I'll slink back into my pattern-writing dungeon. Have a lovely day x
Revisited & Loved: Florence & Fyberspates Cumulus
There are a few things I cannot resist: lemon meringue pie, puppies, red lipstick, and fine alpaca yarns. If you put either of those in front of me, I am helpless. So, when I was asked if I wanted to have a look at Cumulus, a new alpaca/silk lace yarn from Fyberspates, I jumped at the chance. And Cumulus is indeed the yarn equivalent of a lemon meringue pie; it's impossible to just have a tiny bit. Then I was asked if I would mind of a few knitters had the chance to play with Cumulus using my Florence pattern - and I got terribly nostalgic. I'll tell you why in just a second but first look at this photo I was sent yesterday.
Isn't that just pretty? One of my favourite colour is red but it's so gosh darn it difficult to photograph that I don't use red yarn as often as I'd like. Thank you, Jan, for taking such a great photo!
Florence was one of the first patterns I ever wrote down. I remember being asked for a sweet, pretty scarf pattern by a yarn shop and I came up with Florence. The yarn shop handed out more than 1,500 patterns over the next three months and I was floored. Florence turned out to be one of those patterns that take on a life of its own: it has been downloaded more than 7,000 times on Ravelry and I know several yarn shops have used it for teaching classes. It's one of my few freebies on Ravelry and I took the opportunity to revise/update the pattern now that people were using it to try out Cumulus. The revised version has a couple of changes. I've cleaned it up (I like to think I'm a better pattern writer these days than when I first designed it) and - much more importantly - I have added beading instructions.
(You know what? I think Florence looks just perfect in Cumulus. Rawr. )
A lot of people have used beads on Florence and I have had many emails over the years asking if I could add beading instructions to the pattern. I have made sure the beading is still optional, but I do love how beads add weight to the scarf. It's really great to see that both Jan and Amanda chose to add beads. For my beading instructions, I wanted to emphasise the vertical lines in a pattern that has a lot of things going on horizontally - and also to keep the beading relatively simple and clean.
A big thank you to Team Fyberspates who brought the Florence love (you guys rock) and especially to Jeni who just knows colour.
(Fun fact: Jeni hosted the first ever luxury yarn trunk show I ever visited; I have never spent as much money on a simple skein of yarn as I did at that trunk show. Hey, it was green cashmere/alpaca/silk. It's still in my stash six years on. I told you I was weak in the presence of fine alpaca yarn)