Today I'm enjoying this section of Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English:
"Preventing Knitwear Disasters: A Quick Quiz". For example:
Outerwear - what kind of color or style of winter coat can I wear over this sweater? (Only a cape will fit over dolman sleeves!) Great - that dolman and cape combo I've been working on will be just the thing!
Did you take accurate measurements of the body at the places that will be covered by the sweater? Why does this sound so weird?
Have I placed all color changes and highlighting in the most flattering places? Have I avoided placing designs or color patches or pockets over the breasts so that they won't look like pasties on a striptease dancer? Um - Maggie, have you ever seen pasties?
Have I designed the most flattering bustline for the wearer? Will the design spread over the breasts, making them appear vulgar? Well, we certainly don't want vulgar breasts!

Seriously, Maggie has helped us tremendously in our various endeavors here at KnitWit, so I shouldn't poke fun...but I'm procrastinating on getting my class schedule done and needed a diversion.

The finished sweater. I think the sleeve cap tops may need adjusting - I did a decent job of setting them in but they seem a tad poochy at the top. Not sure how to adjust to make this not happen, but maybe making the tops narrower?

Ribs are tricky...

Here's what I'm up to. I'll post a pic of the actual sweater as soon as I get sleeves set in. My wrists have a bad case of one-by-one-rib-itis, and my ass feels like it has become one with this chair, but I'm pleased with its progress thus far. If I had more time (I have a deadline) I'd short-row the shoulders (I think....you can do shortrowing on ribs, right?) so the shoulder seams weren't stairstepped and bulky when sewed...as with most of my projects, I realize how much I don't know. If anyone out there has a good way of knitting on a horizontally-ribbed collar to a vertically-ribbed sweater, please let me know..I just sewed it on in the interest of saving time and simplicity, but it would have been much slicker to attach it as I went.

We had our last class of the season Tuesday night, and now the spring and summer evenings stretch before me, unencumbered...ah. I know, I know - classes get people in the store, maintain the sense of community, all that good stuff - but I love to have this time to regroup and get ready for fall and work out some ideas I've had in the back of my mind for a long time...and we do have a nice bunch of stalwarts coming in on Saturdays, which makes me happy because I like their company!

The fashion show was a week ago, and I'm still marvelling over how well it went. We figured 80 - 100 people came, despite the horrid weather, and I think a good time was had by all. You can see more pictures at the link on 'fashion show' on our main page. Apparently in this picture of me, Josh and Judy, I'm so relieved that it's over that I'm falling asleep. Really, though, one of the things that amazed me the most was that we put it out there and people responded with such enthusiasm. We had a great collection of knitted, sewn, crocheted, felted, woven thing, worn by a bunch of gorgeous models. My dress came out all right, but it was sort of subtle color-wise and paled in comparison to the overall blast of color that came down our little runway. It's definitely a prototype (in other words it fits my sister perfectly and I have to make another for myself!) The other thing that impressed me was the magic that happened behind the scenes - the team back there somehow managed to send everybody out in order, looking fabulous, very much on the fly!

So, next year - start thinking about your entry, because it's going to be bigger and better.

The Fashion Show is taking shape! In case you don't know about it - it's happening soon. March 1, 7 pm, Zero Station Gallery, 222 Anderson St., here in Portland. Come and see. We (KnitWit, Purl Diva) asked for original designs, knit, sewn, crocheted, woven - and some interesting things are rolling in! I'm getting excited and nervous at the same time. The gallery is the perfect space for this event...a long narrow space but wider than the shop, and unencumbered by shelves of yarn.

As for my entry...I'm knitting a dress, and am making it my size...theoretically. It's pretty roomy. I think I may need to sneak a little elastic into the line just under the bust part. And I've done that thing that I try to caution customers against - I ran out of yarn. Ordered more but there's no way the lots will match. Waah! Photos above. It looks sort of weirdly truncated because it's not its full length yet - I've been knitting, sewing together, trying on and knitting some more - and it gets long sleeves, a hood, and a sizeable chunk of ribbed edge on the crossover parts of the top and up and around the hood. I'm having fun knitting it though - procrastinated for an eternity, then finally realized I had to clear my slate completely and sit down with scratch paper and calculator. Once that happened, it wasn't a chore, it was my pet project.

I'm making it out of Rowan Summer Tweed, and because I'm a fairly tight knitter I'm doing it on 9's, which makes it go fast. One of the best things about being relatively new to this biz is that I can slowly knit my way through classic yarns with great enjoyment. Summer Tweed just feels nice. It releases little slublets of cotton as I knit, but that doesn't bother me. And best of all, seaming it is so easy - it's just textury enough that you can seam messily but it looks very neat. Every time I slip it on I like how it feels on my skin. (But oh, that biscuity color on my wintery skin...not to mention my shape...I think before wearing it I might need one of those contraptions on the infomercial that magically compresses vast swathes of middle-blubber into smooth, hard planes. How do they do it?)

We're having a workshop and book signing!

Here at the shop, 247 Congress St., Sat. Dec. 1, 12 - 2:00.

Lynne Barr is the knitter extraordinaire who has just come out with Knitting New Scarves, and she's going to demonstrate some of the unconventional ways she knits with double-pointed needles, combining and recombining stitches to make shaped scarves. (Have to confess that I borrowed that nifty description from the press release.) Come by and learn something new, and pick up a copy of the book if you haven't got one already.

The projects in Knitting New Scarves are manageable in scope, yet challenging enough to keep your interest - these aren't your average scarves. It seems like too often I decide to make a scarf for someone and by the time I'm halfway through it I'm bored witless. I also like the size of the book and the way it feels in my hands; there's something friendly and portable about it. It's photographed in a way that reminds you that one gorgeous, thoughtfully-made item can make you feel very chic.

On the yarn front, I just opened a box of O-Wool, and it's lovely stuff. It's organic merino from Vermont. Good colors, good yardage, nice company. I also got a stack of Son of Stitch n Bitch and there was Josh's Racing Stripe Sweater! It was rather exciting to see it in print.

On the knitting front...I'm stalled. We've got this fashion show coming up Mar. 1 (if you want to participate, go back to our home page and scroll down - we want lots of entries!) I've put so much pressure on myself to make something amazing that I've rendered myself immobile. So I'm just going to start some swatches and see what happens.

Wait - I've got an idea. Ooh! Now I want to run home and start. But actually I'm going to go make some tiles in my studio. I have a space in Sawyer St. Studios, which I'm not getting to as often as I'd like this time of year...but anyway, I made some molds out of plaster to cast knitted tile-swatches, and I tried the first ones yesterday morning...it worked really well! I've got two cable-y ones, one viney one, a basketweave, and tonight I'm going to make a dropped stitch one.

Then I'll decorate them with slip and stains, fire, glaze, and fire again. And lest you think I know what I'm doing...I don't, firing-wise. Fortunately the kind people who are members of Sawyer St. are generous with their tips. The tiles are strictly decorative and I plan to hang them in the shop if they come out well in the long run...

I'm off.

There are worse places to work.

There's a fabulous breeze blowing in the door, and I'm catching little whiffs of the ocean as I type. I'm feeling very proud of myself - I, the technologically challenged, have finally figured out how to put pictures on the blog myself. Yes, I know this is pathetic...but I've been very lazy about learning such things when Josh has been available to do them. Now that he's back at his job, I have to fend for myself and I'm astonished at how helpless (lazy) I've been. So this is good for me!

So, knitting...I'm actually down to one knitting project! Baby cardigan and matching hat, Rowan Wool Cotton, totally impractical in white but so what. It's going to be a shop sample, and will therefore probably not be drooled on by a real baby. Here's the hat:

Argh!! I got the picture, but it's up top there and I can't move it. Must consult with the expert...but I can't harass him at work any more today. He's a very patient man, but I'm pushing the envelope. He's so funny - how many guys do you know who would say, "When I get paid for my Bag Style pattern, I'm putting it toward a new bandsaw." That's what I call well-rounded.

Anyway, it's kind of a relief to have just one project to focus on. And it's forcing me, though it's tiny, to really think about things like how the pattern is going to come together neatly on the sides, and shoulders, etc. Child's play for some, but it's the first cabley project I've made from scratch.

I'm also keeping my project lineup simple because I've rented space in a clay studio. Plunging back into making art! Although calling it art is a stretch at this point. I've made some real clunkers thus far. If I come up with something that I deem presentable, I'll post it. Don't hold your breath.

I have to tell you about a project we're cooking up. It's a fashion show, knitwear mostly, but we're allowing sewing too. And if you're reading this and you live near enough to attend, YOU should submit a design! It's going to be juried by a very interesting panel of designers and knitterati, whose names will remain secret for the moment because they're so excellent that I don't want to overwhelm you. We're hoping to get some beautiful, interesting goodies. The date is March 1, 2008; location, Zero Station Gallery, here in Portland. Deadline for submissions is Feb. 1, 2008. So get cracking! Josh is working on a notice and application form which will soon be posted on this site. But in the meantime, if you have questions, feel free to email me or call. Why are we hosting this extravaganza? Because we're delighted that we have so many talented designers in the area, famous or not, and we want to get them all under one roof for an evening of visual decadence.

Ciao for now!