I have a pattern in the new Summer 2012 issue of interweave Knits: the Menemsha Pullover. The lace cable pattern I used for the yoke is one of my all-time favorites. It was created by Norah Gaughan for the "Open Rib Cable Pullover," first published in VK Summer 2005. I loved this pullover's vertical lines, and when I spotted the lace cable stitch pattern again, in the VK Stitchionary 5, I knew that if I were to include it in a design, I would have to come up with a very different way of utilizing it. So I played with several ways of using it sideways as a sweater yoke, and while swatching, discovered that openings could be gracefully incorporated into the stitch pattern.
(photo courtesy of interweave Press)
I was lucky enough to meet Norah Gaughan in person at the last VK Live, and told her I had incorporated her original stitch pattern into one of my designs. I wasn't sure how she would respond, but she told me that she feels that once a garment pattern has been published, stitch patterns used in that garment may be utilized in other designs. Good to know, for any Norah Gaughan fans like me!
I also was lucky enough to meet Stacy Charles at VK Live-- yes, that Stacy Charles, of Tahki Stacy Charles and S. Charles Collezione yarns (producers of Solaris, the lovely linen/rayon blend yarn used in Menemsha). Unfortunately when I mentioned to him that I had just used one of his yarns for a design for Interweave Knits, he asked me which yarn it was, and I couldn't remember. Duh.
Anyway. I noticed that in the IK photos, the neck opening looks extremely wide. I think it was photographed like that so that the edges of the neck opening are straight. But as you can see in the above photo, the sweater also looks very nice with the neckline draped slightly, and in fact the sweater sits more naturally this way-- and then the ends of the neck opening are not so close to slipping off the shoulders.
By the way, Menemsha is a fishing village on Martha's Vineyard; the interwoven cables and netlike panels within Menemsha's yoke reminded me of a fisherman's nets and lines, heaped on a dock and bleaching in the sun.
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