As the workers create the foundations of our home, I get to the foundations of the sweater to wear there! The foundation for my designs is excel. I start with a template I created in Jill Wolcot’s “A System of Grading” course and go from there.
Proportional Design
To the bat cave, batman! The next step is to take the data mined from swatching and plug it into excel and illustrator. One of the design elements that is very important to the brand of “Knit Eco Chic” is proportional design elements. So, I sketch out the Medium first (since that’s my base size) and then the small and large. I use a 10% scale and then do a locked ratio size increase to blow it up (or rather, I just zoom in, but that’s not so easy for you all to do reading this). For this design it’s the back center panel that is the main design element. Analyzing the sketch – 2 things pop out. I’ll have …
To Cross or Not To Cross
Fitting in with “Hems and Ends” – when working two color brioche in the round, do you cross your yarns at the color transition or do you not cross your yarns? As I was knitting Aspen Travels, this question kept egging in the back of my mind.
Aspen Travels
Aspen Travels ~ new pattern release
Aspen Travels invites you to stitch the textures of mountain travel into a must-knit piece for hikers and skiers. Mix textured brioche with smooth double knitting to create a piece designed to match the elements of Fall and Winter.
Mixing Techniques
What do you do when you can’t decide whether you like the right side or the wrong side of your cowl better? Transform the pattern from a right side/ wrong side design to a fully reversible one!
Interview and Review
A quick blog this week for International Dog Day and news on “Take the Plunge.”
Meanwhile in Maine…
A site photo from the ground clearing company was sent to me this week and I was so excited to see where my future first nest is going! It made me reflect upon the joy of the process and not just the end result so I decided to try something a little different with my next design. Puddles and I invite you to join along in the process of designing a sweater worthy of Maine’s forecasted winters!
Terran MKAL
Terran MKAL beckons you forth armed with brioche stitches and stunning yarn into a deep exploration of the subterrain and terrain structures. This shawl is designed for brioche knitting loving terrans – an adventure to knit and thrill to wear! The pattern is live (on presale!) on Payhip, Ravelry, and Lovecrafts. The knitting starts October 7th. The fun happens in the Knit Eco Chic group on Slack!
Plunge Take Two
The photographic “vision” for “Take the Plunge” came early in the design process… unusually early! I hadn’t even finished designing some of the items when I knew exactly how I wanted to shoot the book. As the months rolled on and the samples were knit, washed, blocked, and ready to shoot – COVID, a gas shortage, and health issues (for both camera mom and me) kept hitting the snooze on our plans. I debated strongly about “just getting it done” locally as my Aunt and Uncle live 8 hours away (round trip). But that idea God gave me just wouldn’t shake free.
Race the Sun
New Release ~ Race the Sun