Not a Fashionista

Back in the Netherlands, my friends would always shake their heads and lament over my clothing. More than once they would beg me to please please please get a bra that actually fits. And I vividly remember how one of my friends forbade me to buy T-shirts, because I had too many in my wardrobe.

I simply couldn’t care less… But that was then.

Then came knitting

I have never been interested in making clothing. Come to think of it, I have never been really interested in fashion at all and certainly not haute couture. And then came knitting…

Knitting made me look at clothing in a whole different way. And it all began when I made my choli without a pattern. A whole new world opened up to me! The engineering of the choli pulled me into the world of knitting engineering and I have been totally hooked ever since.

Most of all I am interested in getting techniques down. Once you realize how increases and decreases work, oh boy, the whole shaping thing is at your feet!

One self designed garment let to another one, and then another one….

Lately, I have taken an interest in garments and especially garment construction. Night after night I am browsing the internet for websites that interest me and I have found several blogs that I frequent every single day now.

Some interesting links…

A dress a day : This blog is mainly about vintage dresses and a lot of times the writer gives out so many wonderful links to other blogs.

Zuburbia : I found this blog through “A dress a day”, and I am very taken by the beautiful vintage desinger pieces. Through this site I found a lot of designers that I had never heard of and I very much like their style. One of the designers I find very interesting is Azzedine Alaia.

Designers Block : While googling the net for Azzedine Alaia, I stumbled upon this blog. It is simply wonderful. It touches style, fashion, furniture and also yarn at times. Beautiful pictures and a lot so it may take a while to download but totally worth it in my opinion.

The Sartorialist: The photographer and writer of this blog captures people on the street with their own personal style. It is often times very inspiring to me.

Finding my own “style”

Lately I have been asking myself the question what my “style” is. If I am to put out a pattern, what would I like it to be? What yarn am I attracted to? What garments do I like best? What type of garment am I most drawn to?

More and more I am very taken by minimalist design. The less whistles and bells it has, the more I tend to like it.

How about you?

Thanks for reading and untill the next entry!

Browsing Magazines and Books

For the past few days, I have been browsing all kinds of knitting magazines and knitting books.

For hours and hours on end I am flipping page after page, absorbing all the visuals and interesting information on knitwear, patterns, schematics and knitwear design. It is a very nice break from knitting, really, and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

Magazines

Don’t you just love flipping through all kinds of magazines and get some inspiration?

This picture is a design from the magazine Linea Rossa #3 by the european yarn company Lana Grossa:

Very classy, if you ask me. I have been drawn more and more to Lana Grossa’s knitwear designs lately.

I also find it very nice to browse the fasion magazines for knitwear. According to Instyle Fall 2008, chunky knits are going to be hot during autumn:

These sweaters are all very very expensive! $ 425 and $750, ooffff!!!

Oooh, I am having way too much fun!

Knitwear design books

On the books front I have been flipping through Vogue Knitting The ultimate knitting book, Designing Knitwear by Deborah Newton, Reader’s Digest Knitter’s Handbook and the knitter’s handy book of sweater patterns by Ann Budd…. to name a few.

But the one book I am most taken with is Sweater Design in Plain English by Maggie Righetti:

I adore Righetti’s style of writing, her thoroughness and clearness in which she explains knitwear design is simply excellent. I am especially taken by what Righetti writes on page 85:

“Never accept the WORD of any expert without first checking it out yourself. Your experience may be different from mine, and that is okay. If you don’t check out the WORD of experts, you will be stuck with their foibles and fallacies.”

Also, more than once, Righetti’s style of writing makes this knitter chuckle. In a chapter on measurements and body types, she writes on page 53:

“You must learn to eyeball the figure. Ask yourself, are the breasts lemon-, orange-, grapefruit-, or cantaloupe-sized?”

If you are ever thinking about getting into sweater design, Sweater Design in Plain English is a must have. It is chockfull of information and written in a very easy to follow style. I like this book very much!

Thank you for reading and untill the next entry! Oh, and also thank you for all the nice compliments on Mata Hari… I so appreciate that!

Finished: Mata Hari

Pattern: Wrote it myself
Yarn: 4 skeins of Lace Merino Silk by Karabella, color 7211
Needles: Addi’s circ 24″ US 3
Cast on date: Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Cast off date: Monday, July 21, 2008

Minimalistic desgin, Maximum effect

I did it… I freaking did it… And I am very very happy with the result of my boatneck kimono top:

My friend Mary, who taught me how to knit, named the top Mata Hari. History teaches us that Mata Hari was a dutch female spy, and since this top is a knock of from Souchi Design’s “Batwing”, I thought the name Mata Hari was very appropriate!

I am in love with Mata Hari. I have never been so content about a project like this one.

It’s minimalistic design yields maximum result in my opinion and I am simply elated. If I am ever to bring out a knitwear line in the future, this style is what I aspire to design! For reals…

Let’s get down to the knitty gritty

I would like to share with you how I concocted this utterly simple knit. Will you believe me that there is absolutely no shaping in this design? Very easy knit, simple and minimum seaming! Oh yeah, my kind of knit.

First of all I knitted a rectangle with a giant opening in the middle. My plan was to pick up stitches all around this opening but first I needed to block the rectangle.

I washed it, squeezed out the water gently, rolled in a towel, walked over the towel with my full weight so that most of the excess water would go in to the towel:

Then I place the rectangle ever so gently on the table, making sure that I have my dimensions down and leave it to dry:

After it dried, I simply folded it over and evenly picked up 180 stitches all around the opening. I joined in the round, knitted for like 7 inches and voila this was the result:

Next, I blocked the last part I knitted and calculated exactly where and how wide I wanted my neck opening to be.

I simply seamed 3 inches on either side of my neck opening, weaved in the ends and ah…. mission accomplished.

I like the open split sleeves very much!

All the borders in this design are in seed stitch, the rest is all done in simple stockinette stitch. So boring to knit, but the result is very beautiful.

Knitting with light weight yarn and what’s next?

I am so into knitting with light weight yarn now. I mean, the result is so beautiful and so incredibly light to wear. It is as if I am wearing nothing… and the light softness of merino and silk on my skin…delicious!

What’s next you might wonder..? I think I deserve a little break now. I have completed 5 projects in a row and methinks I am just going to browse magazines and patternbooks for the next week just to get some inspiration!

If you are interested to read all entries about Mata Hari, click here and all entries will appear, just keep scrolling down.

Thank you for reading and untill the next entry!

A Happier Summer

How lazy and hot my days are lately… More than once I have to tell myself to slow it down otherwise I won’t last in heat. So it goes, slow, lazy and ever so contently.

As I am enjoying the hot and sunny days, I am reminded of my very first summer in Portland. How lonely my days were then… I hardly knew anybody and often times my heart longed for my family and friends back in the Netherlands.

This summer however, is a much happier one! Friends, often time knitters, call me to see what I am up to. A summer party here, a summer party there, a walk in the woods, some wine at a restaurant… ah, life is good.

It takes time to start a new life in a different country and build up a new circle of friends. So many have been incredibly friendly to me and so many have reached out. I am so very thankful for that!

At times, my heart still longs for my family and friends in the Netherlands. The difference now however, is that it does not hurt as much any more.

As for knitting

After I finished the giant rectangle with an opening in the middle, it is time to fold it over and pick up stitches all around that middle opening:

All in all, I have to pick up 180 stitches around. These stitches have to be evenly spaced and in order to divide them all evenly, I chop the big opening up in little pieces with markers. This way I am sure to divide 180 stitches evenly!

Picking up stitches can be somewhat tedious. The only advice I can give is: don’t forget to breath!

Now the last part of my Kimono top commences. I expect to finish at the end of this coming week.

Almost forgot…

I got a new “do”.

Before:

And after:

Love it!

Thanks for reading and untill the next entry!

In which my patience is tested

My patience is tested. Severely tested.

Lace weight to light fingering yarn and needle size US #3 can make you go completely crazy, I tell ya. More than once did I have to calm myself down, take a deep breath and restrain myself not to abandon my latest project.

It is a humbling experience in which I learn that sometimes things will not go at a speed that I want them to go. So I just have to flow with it and accept that in order to achieve an utterly beautiful finely knitted garment, one has to suffer.

So fine…

Soon enough, I find myself at peace with the slow pace my project is progressing. More over, I am so incredibly pleased with how fine and thin my garment is turning out! I am so in love with this weight in stockinette stitch and I find myself staring at it in pure amazement.

It is worth it… it is totally worth it. The project is not near completion yet, but I can already tell you that this is one of my project I am going to be most proud of. Its sheerness simply takes my breath away…

Within a week I have come from this:

to this:

And tonight, I have finished this rectangle with an opening in the middle:

Two thirds of my project is finished. Now all I have to do is complete the last part…
The construction may seem a bit odd to you, but just wait untill I show you the final part. And no, the opening in the middle of the rectangle is not to pull over my head! Keep on guessing.

Just the other day when was chilling outside in front of my house it struck me how much the color of my neighbour’s car resembles the red of my kimono top! It is just the perfectestest red ever!

Thank you for reading and untill the next entry!

Kimono Silhouette

In my last post, I talked about how enamored I am by Souchi’s knitwear design and in particular by this top called “Batwing”.

This top has in my opinion, a classic kimono silhouette although it is called “batwing”. For the past few days I have pondered upon the knit construction of this piece I want to make. You see there are so many ways how I could write up the pattern and the challenge for me is to choose the least complicated way!

I want the pattern to be simple, easy to follow, clear and crisp. No fuzz… I deteste fuzz in a pattern.

What do you seek in a knitting pattern

While I was cooking up my Kimono pattern, I realized that at the same time I was defining what would be a good pattern in my eyes. What do I look for in a pattern? What makes me want to knit it? What makes me not want to knit a pattern? Am I put off by the way it is written? Am I so attracted by the endpiece that I do not care how it is written?

I came to the conclusion that first and foremost I of course must fall in love with the piece. Secondly, I scan a pattern and when I see there is too much fuzz, and unclearness, I am very much put off and I have to think twice about starting the project.

Boring knitting pattern?

Some knitting patterns can be extremely boring. How about endless rows of stockinette stitch, hmm? Yikes. Boring. However, when I am excited by the endpiece, I will endure endless stockinette. I will even endure endles ribbing.

Having this said, I can already tell that my kimono pattern will be extremely boring. But that will not stop me from making it!

Biting the bullet

Endless rows of stockinette stitch, lace weight to light fingering weight yarn and US #3 needles. Oi…

Luckily, the yarn, Karabella’s Lace Merino Silk, is wonderful to work with and I simply cannot wait to see how the finished piece will look like.

I got to keep my eyes on the prize and that will keep me going. I hope..!

So, I am curious to know what kind of pattern is appealing to you? What makes you want to knit a pattern and why? Will you endure “boring” patterns? Will you concur patterns that are kind off intricately written? Or are you so put off then that you won’t choose that particular pattern?

I am curious what your take on this is!

Thanks for reading and untill the next entry!

ps: thank you all so much for your compliments on my bamboo summer tops!!!!

Finished: Bamboo Summer Shell

Pattern: My own design.
Yarn: 2 skeins of Farmhouse Bonnie’s Bamboo
Needles: Addi’s circ 32″ US 7
Cast on date: Thursday, July 03, 2008
Cast off date: Sunday, July 06, 2008

I can’t help myself

Really… I cannot help myself… all I am doing is knitting, knitting, knitting. Don’t ask me how my house looks like. Don’t ask me about the piles of laundry. Cooking? What is that?

All I want to do is knit.

Pattern stitch Open Double Wing

I very much like lace pattern “Open Double Wing” from one of Barbara Walker’s pattern books. It is a 8 row repeat lace pattern and it is so incredibly easy to follow! So I made a swatch and decided to use it in my Bamboo Summer Shell.

The shell pattern? Easy Peasy!

Question for you all: What is exactly the difference between a shell/tank/camisole? I really don’t know… I just called mine “shell”.

My shell looks kind of fitted, but really, there is absolutely no shaping applied in this pattern. I Just casted on 170 stitches, did 4 repeats of the Open Double Wing pattern and then changed to stockinette stitch.

After 70 rounds, I just shaped the armholes. The neckline I just casted off in a straight line. That’s it. No finishing folks. Love easy patterns like that; simple and straight forward.

Am I loving the outcome? Eh… it’s cute… it’s a little something something. I really did not put much effort in it. I mean, you see tops like this one all over the place…

What’s next?

I am very excited about my next project. I am going to work with a lace weight yarn and US #2 or #3 needles. I want to make a light summery little sweater with batwings. My “inspiration” I got from a knitwear designer based here in Portland. Her business is called “Souchi” and she makes very stylish knitwear with an equally “stylish” pricetag.

I cannot afford her stuff, but I can certainly try to knit this cute sweater of her’s called Batwing myself!

I very much LOVE Souchi’s designs… If I had a lot of money, I would totally buy her stuff!

Loads of money I have not. Just give me a pair of needles and some strand and I’ll figure something out.

Thanks for reading and untill the next entry!

Finished: Bamboo Vine Lace Tunic

Pattern: My own design.
Yarn: 3 skeins of Farmhouse Bonnie’s Bamboo
Needles: Addi’s circ 32″ US 7
Cast on date: Friday, June 27, 2008
Cast off date: Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Bamboo, what a wonderful fiber!

I am in love with bamboo… and I am in love with my bamboo tunic! It shines so beautifully and its heavy drape I heart. I am so incredibly inspired by this strong yet elegant and feminine fiber.

Inspiration for this tunic I found in a book called Knitting Lingerie Style. While browsing through the patterns, I found this:

I was especially taken by the little bit of Vine Lace used by the designer in the neckline and bottomline. So I took that idea and incorporated it into my own design:

Bamboo is so incredibly drapey. It is the drapiest yarn I have ever worked with. You can see in these pictures what it does:

But honestly, the photos do not do it justice. You should see how it hangs elegantly around the body and how it flows and moves while you walk. I am so taken by this fiber. More than I have ever been by any other fiber.

Bamboo grows considerably after washing!

Please keep in mind that bamboo’s gauge changes considerably after washing. It grows in length as well as in width so please do yourself a favour and make a gauge swatch and then WASH it before you measure your gauge! That way you will not face unpleasant surprises when you wash your finished garment for the first time!

Also I have come to the conclusion that bamboo has a very strong will of its own. It is not only heavy, but it has a heavy drape. So forget about very fitted garments in this fiber!

Very content with the outcome

At first I was not so taken by the outcome of my project. This however, changed once I washed it and blocked it! I am so content!

Thanks for reading and untill the next entry!