What do Hypercolor t-shirts, the Gutenberg Bible and heckling all have in common? Find out in this Earth Day episode of Ria + June!
CR
Monthly Archives: April 2015
Fringe Association L’Arbre KAL
Greetings! If you are a fan of Karen Templer’s wonderful Fringe Association blog you may have seen today’s Hat KAL announcement. I’m pleased to say that Karen has chosen the L’Arbre Hat which first appeared in my debut book Magpies, Homebodies and Nomads: A Modern Knitter’s Guide to Discovering and Exploring Style [STC Craft | Melanie Falick Books].
The good news is, my publishers have graciously provided the hat pattern as a PDF download. The bad news is, the original yarn used is being discontinued! No matter, I always welcome the chance to do a little stash diving…
Karen asked what I thought might be a good alternative and my first instinct was Zealana Artisan Heron, a wooly single-ply with a rustic charm. I think I might have been thinking of the Heron Hats blog post when I said that because I completely forgot about Zealana Performa Kauri! It has a touch of silk, which the original yarn had as well, and that lends a jewel-like glow to the finished fabric. The round plied yarn works up very quickly and is adaptable to many gauges. I worked it quite tightly to make a firm, felt-like fabric for another hat in the book, the Karin Fascinator.
I love the Kauri color selections, too. They’re bright but still grounded in nature, which fits right in with the scheme I came up with for the Magpies chapter that contains both of these hats.
I remember being worried about selecting trendy colors that may be out of fashion by the time the book was printed, but I ended up just following my gut, choosing shades that would work in the rainforest setting I selected for the shoot (Discovery Park in Seattle, WA). Deep watery blues and teals, chartreuse leaf greens and vibrant magentas looked right at home among all that greenery.
One note before casting on–I’m not sure why I didn’t go down a needle size or two before I knit the brim. Why, Past Me, why?! Good thing I can fix that now as I cast on a second L’Arbre. Oh, and if my needles look a bit long, well, well spotted! I can never find my 16″ circulars, so I’ll make do with Magic Loop.
Knitting, always a process, eh? Will you be joining the KAL?
CR
Ria + June #5 | Knitting Methods Part II
Hi everyone! Time for another installment of Ria + June. The first post about knitting methods covered in Principles of Knitting discussed all the right hand holds for knitting and purling. You can find that video and blog post here. In this episode I share the left hand holds, along with some interesting variations and thoughts on left-handed, combined and bidirectional knitting. By the way, I’m knitting with one of my favorite shades of Zealana Heron, H12 Honey.
You might think, “I already know how to knit and purl, why should I read any of this?!” Well, I agree with June’s thinking that it is always worthwhile to look at alternate methods, for a few reasons. You can potentially increase your speed or reduce risk of injury, and you can become much faster at two-handed stranded knitting.
In the video above I mentioned stitch mount, which refers to how a stitch is mounted on the knitting needle. It’s a very subtle thing but it makes a huge difference with how your finished fabric looks and how you work certain stitches. I recommend this fantastic blog post for a closer understanding of stitch orientation, or mount.
I also mentioned that the reigning queen of combination knitting is Annie Modesitt. Her book Confessions of a Knitting Heretic is considered canon for knitters who are always being told they don’t knit the “right” way.
Over and out for now,
CR
Maree MacLean + Intarsia Tips
Last year the very same fibers used to make Zealana Air Lace and Air Chunky made their runway debut. Footwear designer Maree MacLean debuted a collaboration with Paris-based designer Angela Gallard to create The Noble Savage. With a focus on maintaining indigenous fiber traditions, she found her way to the Perino line of apparel yarns (made by Woolyarns, the same New Zealand mill that manufactures Zealana yarns).
A standout piece from their first collection features bold Māori motifs worked in three incredible shades, also available in the Air range. In the Lace range, look to A01 Charcoal, A04 Natural and A12 Bright Gold. For chunkier projects, choose L01 Natural, L03 Black and L07 Gold.
If you’re feeling inspired to design your own graphic knits, remember that designing on knitter’s graph paper will yield the best results. Knitted stitches are WIDER than they are TALL, meaning they’re rectangular, not square. Apologies for the math class flashbacks! To ensure that your knit pieces looks like your sketch, print a page of knitter’s graph paper online, or spring for the Knitters Graph Paper Journal from Rowan Morrison Books. As a bonus, the journal comes stocked with informational endpapers, full of symbols, abbreviations and terms.
Have fun designing with Air!
CR