Posts Tagged ‘Canopy Fingering’

An Interview with: Cecily + Melissa!

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

We, like many of you, are super excited about the release (TODAY!) of Melissa LaBarre +  Cecily Glowik MacDonald’s new book with Interweave Press, New England Knits! (For a complete list of the projects on Ravelry, click here).  We have a few special connections to the book — firstly, we adore Cecily + Melissa and have been waiting (not so patiently) for the release, secondly, Kate has a pretty strong affinity for New England (in fact, she is in the car driving there right now for her annual family vacation) and thirdly, there are two really stellar projects in the book featuring Fibre Company yarns, Kate’s Whale Watch Hat (blogged here) + the  Mystic Pullover by Melissa -  so we are doubly excited to be able to do an interview + contest with them celebrating the release!

Here goes!

Kelbourne Woolens: Let’s get back to basics.  When did you start knitting and what led you to start blogging?  Did you know each other prior to starting your blogs, or did you meet via the online knitting community - either Craftster, Ravelry or reading each other’s blogs?

Melissa LaBarre: I learned very basic knitting in the mid-90’s, while working in a nursing home. I picked it up again 6 years ago and never put it down again. Cecily and I met a long time ago through mutual friends, but we lived in different states. We reconnected once we found each other on Ravelry and realized we had a lot in common.

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Montpelier Jacket by Cecily Glowik MacDonald

Cecily Glowik MacDonald: I have a BFA with a concentration in painting and moved to NYC after college where I soon found it impossible to find space and enough ventilation to use oil paints in our tiny apartment. I had mentioned that I would like to learn how to knit to a non-knitter friend and she gave me a copy of the Stitch-n-Bitch book as a Christmas present.  I quickly became addicted. And, yes, thanks to Rav Melissa and I got to really get to know one another.  I feel like I am still very new to blogging and don’t quite have it all down yet.

KW: Did you find yourself designing your own original patterns from the start of your knitting experience, or did you evolve into a designer as time went by?  What led you to become designers if the process was an evolution from ‘casual’ knitting?

ML: I accidentally made patterns by just making things up for myself. I never thought that I’d be writing them down for others.

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Hampton Cardigan by Cecily Glowick MacDonald

CGM: I immediately began adjusting and adding to the patterns that I was knitting for myself or for gifts.  Once I found out that anyone could submit designs to most knitting magazines, I started submitting.  I think because I started so early after learning how to knit, I had no fear of rejection.  I just had a lot of hope that someday one of my designs would get published!

KW: Can you talk specifically about your book, New England Knits?  What was the inspiration behind the book — (besides how awesome New England is!), and why did you want to work together on your first book?  Did you find the process for the book was different than your process when knitting an individual garment for a magazine or other publication?

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Providence Hoodie by Melissa LaBarre.

ML: I think New England is kind of notorious for being both awesome and then unpredictable, weather-wise. Really, that crazy weather was major inspiration for the book, and why it’s loaded with cardigans, which are great pieces over several seasons here.

CGM: The wonderful and intense temperature changes through the seasons and even within the same day in New England makes for great inspiration for hand knits that are versatile.  I wanted to work with Melissa because she is one of the most wonderful, interesting, talented, kind and thoughtful women I know. Because I had a job in the knitting/yarn industry, I had experience needing to have a bunch of designs brought to completion at the same time. I just had to remember to balance my knitting time with my pattern writing/ grading time.

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Mystic Pullover by Melissa LaBarre (featuring Organik in Atoll + Aquatic Forest)

KW: What is your favorite item in the book and why?

ML: Oh boy, of Cecily’s patterns, my favorite is the Hampton Cardigan.  It’s in my house right now and i might not give it back! Of my own sweaters, I’d have to say the Providence Hoodie. I know I’ll wear it lots after the trunk shows.

CGM: Melissa’s Salem Hooded Jacket! Pockets, a hood, and the beautiful ribbon detail = love.  From my projects, it would have to be my silliest one, the Montpelier Jacket.

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Salem Hooded Jacket by Melissa LaBarre

KW: You asked 4 other designers, including Kate - lucky her! - to design an item for the book.  Why did you choose Kate, Kristen, Carrie + Cirilia to participate?

ML: Well, New England Knits started out as an idea for a multi-designer book, but evolved into our own book after talking with Interweave. We were still hooked on the idea of having some of our talented friends participate, so we got to keep 4 guest designers.

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Whale Watch Hat by Kate Gagnon Osborn. (you can read about this design here).

CGM: All 4 of these wonderful and talented ladies have New England connections and are incredible people with amazing design skills!

{Kate takes a moment to blush/pat self on back}

KW: You both have a very impressive portfolio of published designs.  All demonstrate a wide variety of items - sweaters, accessories, even some skirts.  Do you have a particular item you like designing best, or technique that you are most drawn to, or are you more “equal opportunity” designers?

ML: I enjoy knitting hats and sweaters the most, so that’s what I tend to stick to design-wise.

CGM: I definitely enjoy designing garments the most, cardigans and skirts are my favorite items. I think that I might actually enjoy grading patterns more than I would like to admit to myself.

KW: If time - or possible practicality - was not an issue, what would you most love to knit/design?

ML: If time was never an issue I’d design only fingering and sport-weight sweaters. unfortunately time is always an issue.

CGM: Oooo, more dresses!

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Chelsea Skirt by Cecily Glowik MacDonald

KW: As designers, you have published your patterns in a wide variety of formats, including Interweave and Vogue magazines, your own book, New England Knits, for yarn companies (including our own!), and also self-published patterns.  Did this just ‘happen’ as a natural result of your designing or did you make a conscious choice to not limit yourself to one variety of publishing media?

ML: What I most enjoy about designing is working with a variety of yarns and working with and meeting new people through each opportunity. I’ve learned a lot this way.

CGM: Yes, I am just so thrilled to now be able to design with any yarn that I want to.  I feel like each new yarn I get to knit with brings new ideas for designs.  There are so many amazing people in the knitting world that getting the chance to work with many people and many venues provides tons of new chances to learn more about designing.

KW: When designing, do you have a project in mind and then choose the yarn to go with it, or do you first swatch and then design a project specific to the yarn’s properties? Do you find that your methods change depending on the project or do you have one way you always work?

ML: For self-published designs, I’m often inspired by yarns (I work at Webs, it happens a lot), for other publishing routes, I have to submit the design without knowing what yarn I’ll use, so I often pull design ideas from the notebooks I have around the house.

CGM: My methods definitely change.  When submitting for magazines or books, you need to have the design ready to go and keep the details true to your accepted submission.  When designing for self -publishing, the idea that I begin with often transforms as I work on it.

KW: Is there anything else you would like to add?

ML: Your yarns are dreamy.

CGM: I second that!

KW: Thanks, guys!  We think you’re pretty dreamy, too.

But wait, there’s more! As a little added bonus, we wanted to give you, dear readers, an opportunity to win a copy of their fabulous book, New England Knits, AND the yarn to make Kate’s Whale Watch Hat (rav link here, blog post with more details here).  That is 4 (count ‘em, FOUR!) skeins of Canopy Fingering, one each of Orchid (white), Macaw (navy), Blue Quandons (bright blue) and Fern (mint green) AND a brand spankin’ new copy of New England Knits!  Woot!

How does such an amazing thing happen, you ask?  Just post a comment here answering this question:

What project from New England Knits is at the top of your Ravelry queue and why?

The contest is open from now until July 11th, 12 midnight EST.  Once all comments are in, we will randomly choose a winner!  (Please be sure to include contact info - an email will suffice - in your comment).

(Unless specified, all images © Interweave Knits and used with permission from the authors)

**comments are now closed!  We will announce the winner this evening, July 12th.  Thanks SO much to everyone who participated!**

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Whale Watch Hat, aka Kate’s ode to New England

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

When Kate was asked by Melissa LaBarre last year to design a hat using Canopy Fingering (two of her most favorite things ever) for her and Cecily Glowik MacDonald’s book, New England Knits, she didn’t hesitate for one second. (And now that the book is on the precipice of coming out — and is AWESOME — she is even more excited to be involved!)

Using New England as inspiration - especially the (ridiculous) uber preppy whale themed summer beachwear of her polo shirt and khaki filled youth  - Kate designed a Fair Isle beret, the Whale Watch Hat, (rav link) in rich blues, sea green + white with whales as the main focus.

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© Interweave Press. Photo by Sadie Dayton

The beret starts with a contrast color cast on and solid ribbing that turns into gradating chevron Fair Isle stripes that simulate the waves on the ocean.

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© Interweave Press. Photo by Sadie Dayton

Then, in a certifiable whale-explosion, there are three stripes of the aquatic mammals, with the third proudly spouting water at the top.

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The beret is finished with a repeat of the waves at the top and symmetrical decreases.

Sizes 18″ brim circumference, un-stretched, 10.25″ diameter at widest point

Yarn The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering (50% baby alpaca, 30% merino, 20% viscose from bamboo; 200 yd/50 g): orchid (white), macaw (navy), blue quandons (bright blue), fern (mint green), 1 skein each.

Gauge 28 stitches and 32 rows = 4 inches in whale pattern on larger needles

Tools
• Size 0 (2.0 mm) needles
• Size 2 (2.75 mm) needles
• Markers (m)

Ravel It!

Be sure to check out the many other fabulous patterns included in the book, including the gorgeous Mystic Pullover designed in Organik by Melissa LaBarre!

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Next up, an interview with the lovely ladies of New England Knits - and a surprise you will NOT want to miss!

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Posted in Uncategorized, patterns | 2 Comments »

An Interview with: Anne Kuo Lukito

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

This post is a long time coming, and we’re so glad to have found the time to finally put it up!

We met Anne, of Crafty Diversions and the Handicraft Cafe at our first TNNA in January of 2009.  She has always been a huge fan and supporter of the Fibre Company and our yarns.  Last fall, she contacted us about using Canopy Fingering in a new and exciting project she was working on, her Liberation pattern collection of six hats.  Since we love hats — and the idea in general, read more about it here — we were delighted to provide yarn support for not one, but two, of her designs.

The first design, Septima Clark, features Canopy Fingering in Yerba Mate.

anne-septima-clarkphotograph courtesy of Anne Kuo Lukito

The second, Alice Paul, features Canopy Fingering in Paw Paw (pictured below) and Cat’s Claw

alicepaul-1479photograph courtesy of Anne Kuo Lukito

We were lucky enough to have both hats in our both at TNNA in January, and everyone who saw them — including us! — was really impressed with the attention to detail and craftsmanship in design.  Both hats have been on our “must knit” list for some time.

Okay, onto the interview!

Kelbourne Woolens: Let’s get back to basics.  When did you start knitting and what led you to open both the Crafty Diversions pattern shop and Handicraft Cafe yarn store?  What came first the patterns or the store?

Anne Kuo Lukito: Good question! I think the patterns came first, but I didn’t think to do it seriously at first and Crafty Diversions just started out as a blog to show off my stuff since at that time, I didn’t know anyone else that knit.  I only started knitting about 5 years ago and taught myself first from a terrible book that told me that left-handed people can knit like left-handed crocheters by using a mirror. I quickly found out the limitations of that method!

The store came later. I always had a dream of opening some sort of artsy-fartsy boutique / hippie coffeehouse. So, I began thinking more seriously about it and decided to try it.  Well, we were slow getting started but now we have and sell through our website. However, the economy, as you know, has not been very good and we’ve postponed opening a brick and mortar store for now. Once the economy is in a more stable upswing, plans to open a physical store is something that we’ll definitely be re-visiting.

KW: You have a large variety of techniques covered in your knitting patterns, and all types of designs — accessories, sweaters, home decor, etc.  Do you have a particular item you like designing best, or technique that you are most drawn to, or are you a more “equal opportunity” designer?

AKL: I do love accessory projects because they are so versatile and can be worn almost any time of the year, especially hats.  With sweaters and garments, I personally tend to gravitate towards a more fitted look that may have 1-2 key elements without being too fussy. As far as techniques that I’m drawn to…that’s a harder question. Generally, I am really drawn to alternative construction and techniques and I also like to challenge myself into doing things that I wouldn’t normally think to do, if that makes any sense.

KW: We’re so happy you use the Canopy Fingering for 2 of the hats in your Liberation collection.  What about the yarns do you think made them great for knitting your hats?

AKL: What’s not to love about Canopy?!? Seriously, Canopy Fingering was one of the first yarns I thought of to include. The colors are fantastic and it’s one of those yarns that I’d like to sleep with everyday. (Road to China ranks pretty high on my sleeping list too.)

KW: Let’s talk about your design process. For these two designs, Alice Paul and Septima Clark, did you have a project in mind and then choose our yarns, or did you first swatch and then design a project specific to the yarn’s properties? Do you find that your methods change depending on the project or do you have one way you always work? If the design came first, what made you chose our yarns for each design? If the yarn came first, in what way did the yarn “inform” the designs?  More specifically, what about the fiber content, gauge, drape, or colors helped you in your design process?

AKL: My design process started with 2 rough sketches: Amelia Earhart and Septima Clark. The moment I envisioned Septima Clark, I knew that I wanted to use Canopy Fingering (CF)  - it was a very easy decision for me and I did not even swatch ahead of time to see if it’d work, because I really didn’t need to. I had been fondling the CF in the shop for some time and had been dying to use it for a project. I knew that the sheen, texture and drape of the merino/alpaca blend in CF would lend itself beautifully to a beret, especially knit at a slightly looser gauge. The hardest part of choosing the yarn for Septima Clark was choosing the color! I wanted a deeper, earthy color and finally settled on Yerba Mate for the subtle melange colors.

The design and yarn decision for Alice Paul was a little more challenging. Alice Paul was one of the last designs in the collection. I sketched out the idea, but I hemmed and hawed for some time because I was not sure how it would work. What I did know was that for it to really work, selecting just the right yarn was imperative. Initially, I thought that I would also use CF for Eleanor Roosevelt, a slouchy hat with 2 shirred panels and a visor. While that would have worked out well, I really did not want to use CF for the 2 slouchy beret-type hats in the Liberation Collection. I then thought about Alice Paul again and how structured and rigid the hat itself could appear, which was not what I wanted. I wanted the hat to have a sense of structure with a nice balance of softness, so I turned to CF. My main concern with the hat’s construction was to make sure that the visor added additional interest without looking hard and busy, so I swatched and worked a prototype test piece of the visor with CF. The result was more amazing than I had hoped or imagined! The fiber content of CF gives any fabric created from the yarn a nice soft drape and a light halo, which was exactly what Alice Paul needed to juxtapose the more structured look of the shirred panel and shirred visor.

KW: You have been a stockist of the Fibre Company yarns for a long time.  What about The Fibre Co yarns appeal to you and how do you think they contribute to your designs?

AKL: What attracted me to The Fibre Company initially was how refreshing, earthy and colorful all the yarns within each line seemed. After I met and talked to Daphne and got a sense of her wonderful character and passion for her company (which was fairly new at the time), I fell in love with the company even more.

Shortly after stocking the Fibre Company yarns, Savannah DK and Bulky quickly became one of my favorites. (Canopy was not out yet at the time).  At that same time, I was starting to submit designs to publications. I used Savannah in 2 designs that I submitted, and to my delightful surprise, both were selected for publication. One was Morgan, which uses Savannah DK and was published in Knitty, Fall 2008. The second was Mermaid, which uses Savannah Bulky and was published in 101 Luxury One-Skein Wonders.

KW: For each project, you picked different colors from the Fibre Co palette.  With a yarn shop full of beautiful yarn, you must have many many options to choose from.  How does color inform your design process or do you just pick based off of what colors you like on that particular day?   More specifically, why did you choose the Cat’s Claw (buttery orangey/greeny yellow) and yerba mate (deep rich greeny-brown) for the hats?


AKL: As I mentioned earlier, choosing the yarn was easier than choosing the color! No kidding, I really love all the Canopy colors. Generally when choosing colors for samples, I cannot always choose my favorite colors, because first of all, that means many of my patterns will all have the same colors. Another consideration in choosing colors for the samples is making sure that the colors will photograph well. As much as I love deep, dark colors, like chocolate brown, burgundy and red, those colors do not photograph well, especially with finer and more intricate details.

I chose Yerba Mate for it’s depth and richness and for the fact that the color would lend a nice sophistication to Septima Clark, but it was very hard to photograph. Even though the details of Septima Clark as less intricate than that of Alice Paul, I spent twice as much time photographing the hat. For Alice Paul, I really wanted a lighter color so that the textures of the hat would photograph well relatively easily. So for Alice Paul, I chose to work samples in both Paw-Paw and Cat’s Claw.  I wasn’t going for an animal theme - that was pure coincidence.

If photography was not an issue, I may have chosen some of the darker colors in the collection. Honestly, if I find some time later, I would love to work another sample of Alice Paul or Septima Clark in Macaw or Acai for myself.  I almost chose Macaw for Alice Paul, but I was afraid the darker blue would not photograph well enough to show all the details, but in person, I know that it would be fantastic.

KW: Is there anything else you would like to add?

AKL: I think I’ve said enough already and may have been to verbose! Thank you so much for your support of my work and my designs!

Again, thanks so much Anne, for taking the time to do this little interview with us and sharing a little about your design process!

***
Are you a LYSO, LYSW or designer - new or veteran - who has knit a project or designed something using Fibre Company Yarns? If so, shoot us an email at info {at} kelbournewoolens {dot} com and we would love to feature you on our blog!

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Fiddlehead Pullover on The Purl Bee!

Friday, November 20th, 2009

We are very excited to share a Purl Bee exclusive, the Fiddlehead Pullover with you!  Courtney designed this sweet pullover for infants 0-6 or 6-12 months and it was featured last week on the Purl Bee website in conjunction with The Fibre Company being the featured sponsor for the month of November!  (Be sure to click the “Featured Sponsor” link — you can enter to win some amazing free prizes!

The Fiddlehead Pullover uses Canopy Fingering, just 2 or 3 skeins, which was coincidentally our featured yarn spotlight last week– talk about perfect timing!

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The sweater is knit in pieces and seamed together, and both shoulders have a buttoned closure to make it easier to fit it over baby’s head.  Courtney knows from experience how difficult dressing a floppy little bundle o’ baby can be, and promised she would never knit a pullover for babies ever again unless there were buttons on the shoulders.

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It is shown in our favorite color of Canopy Fingering, Fern.  It’s a perfect baby green–not too blue and not too yellow and perfectly gender neutral!

Don’t have a little one to knit for?  Some readers commented on The Purl Bee that they would like to have an adult sized version of the pattern for themselves and we couldn’t agree more.  We thought a blog tutorial and knit-a-long was in order.  So, over the coming weeks we will be knitting the prototype and talking about how to adapt the pattern for your size and specifications.  The tutorial is designed for you to take charge of your knitting, like a choose your own adventure.  At the end of it all, we will format a traditional pattern you will be able to download from Kelbourne Woolens.  Those of you who just can’t wait, and like a little adventure, grab your needles, visit one of our Canopy Worsted stockists, read on and cast on!

Courtney ran some numbers and knit some swatches last night and here’s what she found: if you follow the 0-6 month size and cast on 86 stitches at a gauge of 5 sts per inch using Canopy Worsted the finished bust circumference is 33.6, which is a women’s small (or perfect for the hard-to-knit-for ‘tween’ in your life).  The 6-12 month size, with a cast on of 94, will give you a 37.6″ circumference.  The difference in stitches for the two sizes is 8 stitches so let’s assume that if we keep increasing our cast on by 8 sts or 1.6″ we’ll be good to go.  (Cast on 102 for a 40.8″ bust, 110 for a 44″ bust, 118 for a 47.2″ bust, 126 sts for a 50.4″ bust, etc). Keep adding 8 to the cast on number, divide that by 5 (the number of stitches per inch) and multiply by 2 (once for the front and once for the back) and you’ll have your finished circumference.

Courtney cast on for the 38″ bust and her bust measures 39″.  She wants the sweater to be fitted, and plans on adding some waist shaping to give it a better fit as well.  (She has already imagined wearing the sweater with a nice tailored pair of slacks and little heels at TNNA).  Ultimately, the fit you choose is up to you — you can go for a comfy oversized fit, or a more tailored tighter fit.  A good “average fit” would be about 2″ positive ease, or, if your bust is a 42″ and you cast on 110 for a finished measurement of 44″ you would have a comfortable, well fitting sweater.

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For the adult sweater, work in a k1, p1 rib for about 3″, but the length of the ribbing is up to you in the end.  In a more fitted sweater we think a slightly longer ribbing looks best, and for larger sizes, a longer ribbing is good as well for better proportioning.  For a looser fitted sweater you could get away with ribbing for just a couple of inches.  After you have worked your ribbing for the desired length, you will begin the body panel.   The center panel pattern is a multiple of 7 sts+4, which is NOT the same thing as a multiple of 11.  Why?  Well, this particular panel is 18 sts, which is 7 repeats 2 times (14 sts) plus 4 sts.  There is 4 seed sts on either side of each mock cable.  4 seed, 3 cable, 4 seed, 3 cable, 4 seed.  Here’s a hint, though.  If you are making a larger size you may want to add another mock cable to the body panel.  Now, symmetrically you have to add two, one on either side.  So you could work a center panel of 18 sts as written (which amounts to 3.6″ panel) or you could work 32 sts of the center panel, which is 6.4″ wide.  If we were making a 50″ sweater we would want the wider center panel to balance out the stockinette on either side.  When you start working the center panel — which will be either 18 or 32 sts depending on what you decide is best for you –  you have to center it.  For the first two sizes and an 18 st panel, the numbers are the same as in the original pattern.  For the other  sizes, you will have to subtract the center panel sts–again, 18 OR 32–from your cast on number.  Cast on 126?  Want a wider 32 st center panel?  126-32=94.  Now, divide the answer by 2: 94/2=47.  So you would work k47, [work center panel], k47.  One more time.  Did you cast on 118 sts?  Want to work a narrower 18 st center panel?  118-18=100/2=50.  So, k50, [work center panel], k50.  Great!

So, go cast on!  What are you waiting for?  Stay tuned for waist shaping…

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Spotlight on: Canopy Fingering

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Whew.  Sorry for the radio silence there.

Where were we?  Ah, yes.  Yarn Spotlights.  We have had Canopy Fingering next on the list to feature, and it turns out to be perfect timing!

While we usually are particularly in love with whichever yarn we are knitting with at that moment (and as this is being typed, Kate has a sweater in Canopy Worsted, a sweater in Terra, a hat in Road to China Light and a hat in Organik on the needles, and Courtney has a hat in Canopy Worsted, a sweater in Organik, and just finished a sweater in Road to China Worsted, so you can see there is a lot of love to go around) Canopy Fingering continues to be a constant favorite here at Kelbourne Woolens.  It is a newer yarn in the line, but quickly has become popular with shawl, sock, accessory — and even sweater — knitters alike.

Canopy Fingering is a wonderful blend of 50% Baby Alpaca, 30% Merino and 20% Bamboo. It has a smooth texture and is a 3 ply yarn with a medium-twist which provides great stitch definition.  In its first incarnation, the yarn was called “Canopy Sport” but has a recommended gauge of 32-36 sts/4 inches.  One of the first things we did was re-name the yarn “Fingering”, but didn’t actually change anything about it.  Some of you may come across skeins or have some with the old labels stashed — have no fear, it is the exact same yarn as today and an be worked with the patterns support and new colors!  The combination of the fiber content and construction, even in a finer weight, make Canopy Fingering a really versatile yarn.  We think it works well knit as loosely as 6 sts/inch all the way to a tight 9 sts/inch.

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Like all of the Fibre Company Yarns, Canopy Fingering has a decent alpaca content, which, as we have said before, adds a ton of softness, drape and warmth.  The merino adds warmth and softness as well, but also has a little more “memory”, so depending on the application, the final fabric can have a lot of structure.  The bamboo, unique to the Canopy lines, ads a wonderful sheen and drape to the yarn, and produces a unique subtle heathery dye effect due to the application and type of dyes used.

One pattern that shows off the versatility of Canopy Fingering is Kate’s popular Selbu Modern beret. With its wonderful stitch definition, perfect amount of drape and subtly shaded colors, the beret works up beautifully in two colors.  Because of the stacked Fair Isle pattern, it looks great in a more traditional subtle colorway, shown below, or in a funkier one such as acai and mint.

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Another pattern that is a wonderful use of Canopy Fingering is the Lucille baby sweater and bonnet.  The lace pattern blocks out beautifully and because of its next-to-skin softness, it is perfect for use on the sometimes sensitive skin of new babes, and the subtle colors evoke a wonderfully vintage feel.

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We absolutely love the versatility of Canopy fingering — it was extremely hard picking just two patterns that highlight the properties of this great yarn! Luckily, we didn’t have to, as it is also featured pretty heavily in the new Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts magazine, on newsstands now!

The three patterns in the magazine really beautifully highlight the versatility of Canopy Fingering.  First, the Family of Hats, by Catherine Shields, is actually a set of patterns in three different shapes and color possibilities.  We, to be expected, are partial to the center, ‘beret’ version, but also love the earflaps and longer, slouchy look of the other two!

family-of-hats

The next pattern is the Nuneh Mittens by our very own Courtney!  These mittens utilize the Armenian Knitting technique and produce a wonderfully soft and warm yet light fabric.  The mittens feature a wintery motif of a tree next to a quaint cabin with a smokestack that evolves into falling snowflakes.

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And last but not least, there is a beautiful Herrigbone Kimono by the queen of vintage baby knits, Kristen Rengren.  We love the stitch structure and wrap around construction of this beautiful baby cardigan.  The addition of the red buttons ads just the right amount of whimsy — we cannot wait to see the color and button combinations people come up with!

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As you can see, Canopy Fingering is a great versatile yarn — if you haven’t yet we highly recommend you give it a try!  We know you will fall in love.

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An Interview with: Anne Hanson

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

We are happy to interrupt our yarn spotlight postings with an interview with Anne Hanson, the talented and lovely designer!

We meet Anne at our very first TNNA in January and were delighted to be able to put a few skeins of yarn into her hands.  As the time went by and we became busier and busier, every once and a while we would think to ourselves “hmmm, I wonder if Anne liked the yarn?”  Luckily enough, we soon found out not only did she like it, she designed two gorgeous patterns featuring Canopy Fingering and Road to China Light and recently debuted them on her website.

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Dovecote is a triangular shawl designed in two sizes knit out of Canopy Fingering.  The shawl is knit top-down with a sawtooth knit on edging. The large sample modeled by Anne is knit out of Cat’s Claw, a buttery yellow with subtle hits of peach and green, and the smaller out of Macaw, a deep rich blue with hints of purple.  You can read more about her lovely description of the shawl here.

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The Birnum Wood Wrap is a rectangular stole knit in Road to China Light based off of similar motifs and named after Shakespeare’s Birnam Wood.

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It is constructed from either end and grafted in the center.  You can read more about her lovely description of the wrap here.

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(all images from Anne Hanson. Thanks, Anne!)

In conjunction with the release of her patterns, we asked Anne if we could interview her a little bit about her design process.  Read on + Enjoy!

KW: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk about your work with us!  Your shawls are really beautiful and we’re so happy you chose to design them using Fibre Co. yarns.

AH: thank you so much; it was a real compliment to me when, at TNNA you flagged me down to say hello and introduce yourselves; i was completely seduced by the yarns you showed me at the time!

KW: Let’s get back to basics.  You currently have over 150 (!) designs to your name.  When did you start knitting and what led you to become such a prolific designer?

AH: i started knitting as a small child; my grandma taught at around the age of four years. i was attracted to the stitch patterns in the items she knit and wanted to make them myself.

i also began to sew and embroider in the same year and worked at all of those needlecrafts while growing up; during my teens i became interested in creating garments from my own designs. i worked in the fashion business during my 20s and 30s and was encouraged by various designers to “do something with my knitting”. but i was shy and lacked the confidence to really put it out there.

i’ve always had lot of ideas in any creative thing that i took up; more than i can ever work on at one time. inspiration has never been a problem for me. in fact, if anything, my biggest challenge was editing and focusing my thoughts and training myself to turn them into good final designs.

it wasn’t until my mid-30s that i started  seriously designing my own sweaters and shawls and several more years before i actually wrote knitting patterns to sell. even then, i sold them only on a small scale through local yarn stores at first.

then i started blogging and it all came together; readers encouraged me to sell patterns for my designs online and i tried it. one thing led to another and before long, i was selling enough to make it a full-time endeavor, which lead to lots more designs.

KW: We think it is safe to say the bulk of your designs incorporate lace.  What about knitting lace – and more specifically shawls – appeals to you?

AH: funny thing about that; it’s true that the bulk of what the online community has seen of my work is lace. however, i have a deep background designing sweaters and knitting other types of fabrics as well, but i often forget that the general knitting public has not seen as much of that!

i’ve always enjoyed rather lengthy forays into specific types of knitting, working for 6 months or a year with aran patterns, for instance, then doing color work for a while, then working through various techniques or construction problems; sometimes this work manifested itself in garments and sometimes just a series of swatches. i rotated between different types of knitting and back again as my interest dictated.

i like lace because it is so architecturally interesting; it has rhythm and cadence and the patterns allow deeply-relaxed focus for me. but honestly, that is true of any patterned knitting.

i started a “conversation” around lace on my blog with my first shawl design, and have built on that geometrically over the last three years, incorporating all aspects of what affects the results, from needles, to yarn, to fiber, to the garment itself. i think the curiosity of readers has contributed to keeping this particular investigation going for so long.

shawls are a very special type of garment to knit; they have a romantic, narrative quality which is not reliant on the body that fills them. i enjoy “composing” stitches on the canvas of a shawl. they are also structurally interesting to knit; something is always going on to keep the knitter involved, especially in the shaped ones.

i’m making room again now for sweater knitting, which is a real passion of mine; i’ve missed it way too much and i have many designs that i want to publish. i like creating functional, everyday garments as much as shawls; it pleases me to make items that are useful and will receive hard wear on a constant basis. designing functional items that are visually attractive and interesting to look at is very satisfying.

KW: We’re so happy you enjoyed knitting with Canopy Fingering and Road to China Light.  What about the yarns do you think made them great for knitting shawls?

AH: both of these yarns are extremely pleasant to knit with! i just love a yarn that feels delicious as it runs through my fingers and both of these yarns fit the bill. then there is the fabric; i can’t describe in words how soft and luxurious they are knitted up and how much i appreciated having the chance to work with them. these are important qualities in a yarn that you are using for a big project like a shawl; you’ll want to pick it up and work on it every chance you get when the yarn is this lovely.

structurally too, these yarns are perfect for lace and shawls; the fiber content and relaxed twist contribute to fluid stitches and even fabric that blocks and drapes beautifully. the slightly-iridescent shading of differently-colored fibers used in the yarn, accents and highlights the folds of the fabric as it falls or catches the light.

KW: Let’s talk about your design process. For these two designs, did you have a project in mind and then choose our yarns, or did you first swatch and then design a project specific to each yarn’s properties? Do you find that your methods change depending on the project or do you have one way you always work?

AH: having had the opportunity to touch the yarn in person and take a skein home from TNNA, i knew i wanted to make something soft and luscious with it! at first i thought it would be a small, accessory item. i wasn’t necessarily thinking of a shawl design to begin with. later, i came up with a design that i knew would be enhanced by using these yarns.

i would say i have two muses: stitch patterns and yarn.

sometimes yarn inspires me to look for a pattern and sometimes stitch patterns call to me first and i have to find a yarn to go with them.

KW: If the design came first, what made you chose our yarns for each design?

AH: i began putting stitches together for a wrap design in laceweight yarn and realized that the heavier, slightly fuzzy fibre company yarns were even better suited to i had in mind. i wanted yarn that would enhance the “soft” qualities of the stitch patterns. i love how the fuzz of these yarns fills in the holes of the motifs with just a haze of color. conversely, the softness of these yarns take the edge off what are basically hard-edged geometric motifs of lines and diamonds.

i actually have a birnam wood wrap knit up in a laceweight alpaca/silk yarn as well, but i think the motifs translate MUCH better in the fibre company fingering and sport yarns. i like the scale of the motifs in the heavier yarn; they are bolder and have more impact.

KW: If the yarn came first, in what way did the yarn “inform” the designs?  More specifically, what about the fiber content, gauge, drape, or colors helped you in your design process?

AH: though the yarn did not inspire the design necessarily, i DO think i would always search for motifs that play well with the gauge, fiber, and tactile qualities of this yarn to enhance the things i like about it.

KW: You use a lot of hand-dyed yarns in your designs, but seem to stick to subtly shaded colors, or multis that stick to a cohesive palette.   Is it safe to say you prefer these types of yarns over commercially dyed ones?  If so, what about hand-dyed yarn (and specifically, The Fibre Co yarns!) appeal to you and how do you think they contribute to your designs?

AH: yes, i have to say that i’ve become somewhat addicted to hand-dyed yarns, or at least, those from smaller produces. first and foremost, i find there is a huge difference in the quality of the yarn itself from small producers; it’s brighter, bouncier, softer, and more “alive” than 95% of commercial yarn. the overall quality and performance of the yarn is just better.

most small producers are hand-picking their bases and/or having them milled to their own specifications and the quality control really shows in the behavior of the resulting fabric.

hand-dyed yarns are the work of artists; i love the variations between batches and working with the unique hand of the dyer. every dyer has a style and no two handle the process quite the same way. even dyers whose sensibilities i would say are very similar, end up with vastly-different stock.

and i just LOVE having personal contact with the yarn makers; i can’t say enough how these relationships have influenced my work. those of us that have been working together for a while agree, that we have not only reached new levels of artistic expression through collaboration, but have helped each other build viable businesses as well. it’s very exciting!

KW: For each project, you picked pretty disparate colors from the Fibre Co palette.  Do your color choices reflect a particular “mood” you want to get across in your designs?   More specifically, why did you choose the Cat’s Claw (buttery orangey yellow) and Macaw (deep rich blue) for the Dovecote shawl, and the Grey Pearl (mid tone grey) and Ruby (red-orange) for the Birnum wood stole?

AH: well, color choices are probably an area that i am most likely to go with my “gut”, at least at first, then figure out why later on, hahaha! in the case of the cat’s claw, i just fell in love with it when i saw it hanging in your booth and it stuck with me all through the spring as a great color for a soft triangle shawl. once i had a design composed, i chose a stronger second color (the blue) and for the wrap, another neutral (gray) and a bright color (red) pretty much just by instinct. now that they are all knit up i love every one of them; the strong colors really accentuate the myriad patterns of holes, or negative space, in the work.  and the softer, neutral colors highlight the cushy solid areas.

KW: Is there anything else you would like to add?

AH: thank you again so much for inviting me to work with your yarns; it was a wonderful experience to knit with them and bring them to the attention of my readers. i hope we can work together again in the future!

We really loved working with Anne and hope you enjoy her patterns!

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Vogue Knitting Fall 2009 - #13 Lace Beret

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Kate was delighted when Tanis Gray approached her to submit a hat design for this Fall’s issue of Vogue Knitting. Not only was Tanis wonderful to work with, but it is a well-known fact that Kate loves designing slightly slouchy hats.

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For her inspiration, Kate thought about late summer and early fall knitting and what projects she loves to take with her on weekend car trips, what quantity of yarn she can tolerate in her lap while knitting in the summer heat and a quick gift knit she could actually imagine finishing for friends and family.  Armed with just one skein of Canopy Fingering, a plethora of vintage and contemporary lace patterns as inspiration and the strict determination to include both integrated ribbing and crown shaping into the original design, she began to swatch!

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The end result is a slightly slouchy lace beret designed is two sizes, (the smaller shown modeled in the magazine and on Kate in a slightly different style below).  The smaller size takes exactly one skein of Canopy Fingering — she recently re-knit the beret and it took 48 grams!  So, worthy of note if you do a gauge swatch — which you should — you will need every last bit of your one skein.  If you’re interested in more slouch, the larger size incorporates an additional repeat of the pattern and takes 2 skeins.

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(Vogue Model)

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(Kate)

Vogue Knitting Fall 2009 is available at your LYS, so grab a copy, pick out your favorite color of Canopy Fingering, and knit away!

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