Knititude

Cover Girl

Well, not me; but it appears that one of my two patterns included in the upcoming book Expectant Little Knits will grace the cover!  (At left:  the Cover Girl pre-blocking.)  That's a first for print media for me, although I did go three for three in my patterns for Magknits last year.  (Unfortunately, my pattern for a child's wrap sweater in the upcoming Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts did not make the cover, and alas, perhaps did not even find a flesh-and-blood model).

Allora, non io; pero', sembra che uno di' miei due modelli inclusi nel libro Expectant Little Knits sara' sulla copertina!  (A sinistra:  la Cover Girl prima era bloccato.)  Ecco un primo per pubblicazione sulla carta, benche ho fatto "tre per tre" nei miei modelli per Magknits l'anno scorso.  (Purtroppo, il mio modello per un golf per bambini nel Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007 non e' sulla copertina, e (che peccato!) forse non ha nemmeno trovato un' indossatore con corpo humano.)

P.S.  Go Red Sox!!

Forza Red Sox!

And now for something completely different

Sorelle is finished, but the last couple of days have been gray and rainy, and I'm waiting for better weather to take some photos.  And I've decided to give myself a break--a short one--on writing up the pattern, and instead have been playing with some...COLOR!

Sorelle e finita, ma il scorso paio di giorni erano grigio e piovoso, e sto aspettando a migliore tempo per scattare delle fotografie.  E ho deciso a darmi una tregua--una breve--per scrivere il modello, e invece stavo giocando con del...COLORE!

I suppose I could have gotten out the Prismacolors and matched my yarn shades more precisely, but I didn't; I used my Stitch and Motif Maker and got as close as I could with their custom colors function, and then clicked away with my mouse for an hour or two.  It will be interesting to see how the swatch(es) turn out....

Immagino che potrei usato i pastelli Prismacolor e uguagliato i colori dei miei filati piu precisamente, ma invece usavo il mio Stitch and Motif Maker ed ho fatto del proprio meglio con questo.  Sara'  interessante vedere come va il campione/vanno i campioni....

And her name is "Sorelle"*

E si chiama "Sorelle."

I apologize for the exposed bra strap, but then this is Sorelle ("sisters" in Italian) pre-neckband.  I wanted to see the fit after I had blocked the body and sleeves and then sewn the raglan seams. (Just ignore the roll of TP in the background, please!)

Scusatemi per l'esposta spallina del reggipetto, pero' ecco "Sorelle" prima il colletto.  Volevo vederla dopo ho bloccato il corpo e le maniche, ed ho cucito le cuciture "raglan."  (Trascurate la carta igienica nel sfondo, per piacere!) 

Here I've tried to show more of the Four Sisters detail on the sleeve. 

Qui ho provato farvedere piu del dettaglio "Quattro Sorelle" sulla manica.

*"Sorelle" has three syllables.

Backstory

The blog takes on a life of its own, true?  I first started blogging because I had an idea for a book of knitting patterns--a series of books, actually--several years ago, but I decided that no editor would take me seriously; I had never published a pattern at the time.  So I decided to start a blog/website and try to sell some designs online, to build up some knitwear design ceredentials. 

Il blog si fa una vita da solo, non e' vero?   Ho cominciato blogging  (bloggando?) perche avevo un' idee per un libro di modelli di lavorare a maglia--veramente una serie dei libri--alcuni anni fa, ma ho deciso che nessun redattore potrebbe accettare qualcuno come mei; non ho mai pubblicato nessun modello in quello periodo.  Quindi ho deciso a cominciare un blog/sito e provare vendere dei modelli online, per accumularmi dei credenziali di una disegnatrice.

Well, after several months of little or no web traffic, I decided that I should try to publish some patterns in online or print knitting magazines, and raise my profile.  A couple of years later, patterns have been published, and my original book idea?  I still think it has merit, but I'm not sure I can muster up the time and energy right now to put together a proposal and send it off--much less write the book.

Allora, dopo alcune mesi con pochi traffico al sito, ho deciso che dovrei provare pubblicare dei modelli  nelle riviste online o normale.  Un paio d' anni piu tardi, i modelli sono pubblicato, e il mio idee di libro originale?  Penso ancora che ha merito, ma non sono sicura che ho il tempo o l'energia di fare la proposta--sopratutto scrivere il libro.

And the photos--a couple of my first original designs, never before seen because earmarked for "the book."  Don't tell anyone, but the model is my younger son (!); the husband heartily disapproved, and now that the boy is older, I couldn't put him in barrettes again.

E le fotografie--un paio dei miei primi modelli originali, non visti mai perche destinati per "il libro."  Non dire nessuno, ma l'indossatore e' il mio figlio piu piccolo(!); il marito ha disapprovato tanto, ed adesso, quando il bambino ha piu anni, non potrei fare ancora i fermagli per capelli.

I just hope there's no ripping ahead.

Well, I didn't do any knitting on the red-eye from Boston to Europe (are you kidding?!--I was trying to get a few hours of sleep), but somewhere, somehow over the last few weeks, while packing and moving the family back to Italy for the school year, I've managed to finish the sleeves of my Four Sisters pullover.  The lace panel runs up the outside of the sleeves, and I've decided to try raglan sleeves and a wide, scooped neck opening, with a neckband of Bead Stitch knitted on after seaming the body and sleeves.

In the second photo the sleeve vent is visible; placing this took some thought, because I realized that my first idea, to put the vent on the outside (opposite where the sleeve seam would be, if the sleeve had not been worked in the round), would have messed up that nice segue from Bead Stitch to Four Sisters.  Instead, I put the vent further to the back of the arm; although after I knit the first sleeve, I looked at all of the sleeve vents on all of the jackets hanging in our closet, and saw that almost all of them are just slightly behind the point opposite the underarm seam.  (I wish there was a less cumbersome way of describing this, but I can't think of one.)  Anyway, although this seemed too minor a detail to require re-knitting the entire sleeve (unlike my earlier sleeve wars), I may put the vent there when I write up the pattern.  If I like how the vents look after blocking, that is. 

Six years

Today, Tuesday, is a perfect day in Como:  blue sky, light breeze.  The kind of day that makes you happy just to be walking around.  This morning at 9:45 a.m., I looked down at the receipt I had just signed, and realized it was September 11th.  I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing on that sunny Tuesday morning, 6 years ago.  Do you?

Putting the "Isle" before the "Fair"

It's been a long time--years--since I've done any stranded knitting, and since last fall the urge to try it again has been waxing and waning--but mostly the former.  Late last fall, I paid a visit to the Educational Silk Museum of Como (Museo didattico della Seta); Como was a major center of silk fabric production, from the early 1800s until just a few decades ago.  Although the silk throwing machines ("throwing" is the process which combines individual silk filaments into usable thread) and the damask weaving looms, with their punch-card controlled jacquard mechanisms (the cards reminded me of the punch cards for an old player-piano), were fascinating, my imagination was fired by the printing blocks and rollers on display.

And then there were the paintings I saw on the interior walls of a church we visited in Budapest, with gorgeous combinations of colors and simple- to-complex repeating motifs.  So over a period of several months I worked up a few stranded designs; although I want to stick to the Fair Isle custom of only using two colors per row, and will probably follow some of the traditional Fair Isle principles for using color, it probably wouldn't be accurate to call them true Fair Isle designs.  And then they sat on my computer for more months while I worked on other projects.

Finally, over the summer, I noticed that WEBS had put Classic Elite Skye Tweed on sale, and I remembered that I had four balls of that yarn which I had purchased with a design in mind, but never used--the orange, burgundy, brown, and deep green balls in the center of the photo.  So, with the idea of using Skye Tweed for a stranded tunic-to-boot-length vest (buttoned?  zipped?  belted?--  haven't got there yet), I bought a bunch more discounted Skye Tweed, just picking colors I liked on the WEBS website, and purchasing fairly random amounts of each.  Was this putting the "Isle" before the "Fair"?  Should I have used colored sketches and worked out which colors I might want to use, and then how much of each I would need, before whipping out the ol' credit card?  Should I have paused to think that I find most wools itchy, and chosen a superfine merino like Louet Gems instead?  It does come in a slew of tasty colors, after all, and I even have the color card.

Ah well.  I have what I have, and as long as Italian customs doesn't confiscate my Skye Tweed (I shipped it from the U.S. to Italy),  I'll be swatching with what I have, and seeing how it goes.

Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel

Over the last few months I've purchased a number of knitting books, including all three of the Vogue Knitting Stitchionaries; The Best of Vogue Knitting Magazine; the Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie Wiseman; Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas; and Lace Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd.  (And then there are the two Japanese stitch dictionaries, but those deserve their own blog entry.)  While all of the above are worthy purchases to one extent or another, for one reason or another (I listed them from my most to least favorite--excluding the Japanese titles), I HIGHLY recommend Fitted Knits.  I haven't made anything from the book yet, so I can't comment on the quality of the instructions, but I think the designs are out-of-the-ordinary enough to make them interesting, yet not so far out that you wouldn't wear them.  Plus, the fit of the samples on the models is extraordinary--not an easy task!  (Look at just about any issue of Interweave Knits, if you doubt this.)  I think Glampyre/Stefanie has really done a great job.

Where's "Four Sisters?"

Here is the body of my Four Sisters pullover, and as you can see, there is no Four Sisters to be seen.  What happened was that, once I had decided to use the columns of twist stitches to help with shaping (they weren't enough to do the job by themselves; if you look closely you will also see shaping decreases and increases along the sides), I looked at putting the Four Sisters panel either up the center back or along the sides, and decided it just looked too busy.  I decided this with great regret, because I love the pattern, but sometimes too much of a good thing can be, well, you know.  But fear not, Four Sisters will make its appearance on the sleeves.

Along the split (visible on one side) hem, in unblocked crunchy form, you see Bead Stitch; I liked the edge of my Bead Stitch swatch, so I decided to use a split hem for both the body and the sleeves. 

Does the shape look a little boxy to you?  It does to me; I'm hoping that when blocked, the stockinette stitches will open more than the twisted stitches, and yield a shape with a little more narrowing at the waist.

I leave you with a couple of photos from our last sailing trip of the season (Cuttyhunk; Newport).  Have you ever seen a double rainbow?