Hi there. Happy New Years! I'm kicking off the New Year with a knitting technique share. I had heard of knit-weave (the three images below) but not of embroidery knitting. Embroidery knitting is defined as contrast thread woven into the knitted yardage vertically rather than horizontally as in knit-weave. See how a card is used to hold the contrast yarn? See further below for some great pattern designs and the pages that show how to wrap and manipulate the vertical card weaving. I can see using this for accessories and jewellery as well along edges of garments. This was found in an Empisal pattern book from the 1950's.

       I've also got some new work in my store here. You can enter 10OFF during january for a 10% discount.  Another new development is my studio wiki page and  a knitting wiki update. I decided that it is better to organize technical information in one place to benefit users. 

          I also wanted to say thank you to blog readers, customers and store owners for supporting my work. It has been a fantastic year for me and it is only possible because of your support!

     Hi there! This is a follow up post on vintage patterns...as well as a store update.  I wanted to add pieces more typical of the work I have at shows. I love playing with colour and texture so I often have unique colourways which are one offs.  In other news I've acquired some more Estate magazines (published by Dubied) from 1953-55.  Right now I'm researching summer knitwear design and I just love some of the finishing and detail work on these garments.  

     It always amazes me how contemporary some vintage pieces can look. The adjacent photo reminds me of something Celine or Chloe might offer. And what about those swimsuits below? I could see them with updated bikini lines or converted into a dress to update them completely.

    Aren't they lovely? 
    My Dubied and Santagostino machines don't have the same type of patterning capability as home machines. Instead needles are slipped or tucked depending on how you place them in the needle beds. Sometimes I feel frustrated by that limitation and I wanted to share some of the great summer lace needle layouts for those that read for more technical information.

     Below are four layouts with Italian descriptions. Its not too hard to use google translate and see how the lace is formed. They are great places to start if you are interested in sampling for summer appropriate knits.

Here's a few phrases:
fare 1 giro= knit 1 row
riprendere = repeat   
                                                                                                                                                          leve tutte alzate= all levers raised
                                                                                                                                                          spostare di 1 ago verso sinistra= rack 1 needle
                                                                                                                                                          to the left

      Tomorrow and Saturday I'll be at Craftmart, a nicely curated show here in Hamilton, Ontario that co-oincides with Artcrawl.  In case you aren't familiar with Hamilton and the bi monthly Artcrawl, James St N is closed to motorized traffic and is transformed into a street fair full of food trucks, installations and pop-up shops. Its kind of fantastic. Craftmart is at The Inc at the intersection of James and Cannon St's and it features vendors such as Krystal Speck, Heidi Van Veen, Nightjar Books, Lee Meszaros and others.  I'm pretty excited about the show and the calibre of work shown by my co-vendors. 

       In other news, I've managed to get hold of some more vintage Estate magazines. I'll be blogging about them shortly as well as posting more double bed pattern diagrams.  As well, I can't say its for sure but there may be some more vintage machines in the near future, these are super fine gauge circular knitting     
                                                                                                                                        machines that make permutations of tubes. They are 
                                                                                                                                        meant for making socks but its far more fun to re-
                                                                                                                                        appropriate such machines.  Here's a great example of
                                                                                                                                        machine re-appropriation, although I should say the
                                                                                                                                        machines I'm interested in are not this big or modern.  

                                                                                                                                               Fall so far has been fantastic, the colours, the 
                                                                                                                                        weather and the cold weather food is something I  
                                                                                                                                        really look forward to.  I hope you are enjoying this
                                                                                                                                        season too.

       Its been a really busy time in the studio recently. I've been getting into the studio around 8am and then taking a break for dinner and errands..then back into the studio after dinner to wrap up the days work. With the long days it really helps to like what you do and to make your workspace comfortable and inviting. I tend to follow the sun during the day by working at one machine then moving around the room. In the evening the sun blazes through the rear window and lights up my cutting tables. I find a cup of coffee in the morning and some good music gets me started. 

    I've been sending stock out such as these infinity scarves to alot of stores. I am making them with a stripe of alpaca or cashmere sparkle yarn which is fun to do on the knitting machine but it also adds subtle visual interest around the face when one wears it. They also come in a beige with a brown sparkle stripe and a marled medium grey with a grey sparkle stripe. 

    I'm also doing these checked infinity scarves which are slightly skinnier than the ribbed ones. You can wrap them around your neck twice for extra warmth. I love how the check is raised (because it is a tuck stitch).

   The texture of the backs of these scarves makes both sides visually appealing. I think there is some potential for developing garments that incorporate this reversibility.

    Here's another rear view of a scarf. The thick/ thin yarn combination here exaggerates the texture. I picture this as an allover texture on a loose cardigan:)

       I also have some more photos from my vintage knitting magazines. This is a great polo neck in a fine rib structure made of 2/30nm on a 10 gauge machine. I love the sleeve edges and the little pocket.

      Fine lingerie and under things such as slips feature prominently in the magazines. There is a detail in the corner of the photo of the racked rib structure used for the slip. This could be used for summer tees and dresses.

     Rib knit classic cardigans are so fantastic. This one is made up in cotton but I find cotton can become limp after a short while. I prefer  linen and wool blends. They are crisper while being slightly more elastic. There is also something so 1920's about this cardigan, don't you think?

   I'm really feeling the graphic lace eyelets on this little girls short sleeve sweater. 

    Here are a few images of jacquard double bed structures. I love the diagonal wave pattern that has formed. And in the photo below the combination of eyelets and a kind of ribbed cable is really intriguing. 

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      This is a great example of the jacquard patterns available for the MUT and SUPER-OTTO pattern systems for Dubied machines. I picture these in super acidic colours for summer.

   And last but not least are some root photos from last weeks daffodil and tulip planting. I was out digging and taking these photos for several hours in the bright sun. I love how the roots have grown in multiple directions. That's all for now:)

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     Hi there. I have some more vintage knitting images for you. These have a very 1960's flavour to them which is a bit different from the 1940's focused patterns I've been into for a while.  In terms of fit and finish they are very similar however the aesthetic is quite different. I am drawn to the simple textures and colour blocked elements. Wha

     Here we go again with some more vintage patterns:) These were a wind fall from a retired professional hand knitter. There are some very charming surface textures as well as novel crochet/ knit mixing. As well as some great sideways knitted garments in the baby clothes photos below. There is just too much content to present in one post so I will add more in the coming weeks.

     Its hard to express how I feel about these acquisitions. I seem to collect books and equipment which 
are of course technically interesting but which represent the passing of a craft technology skill that should not be disappearing.  In fact the majority of my more interesting equipment/ materials have been acquired from individuals over 70 years of age. At some point I'd like to talk about where these people worked and came from and how craft technology was something they built a career around, but I think this post is great as an inspirational one.

     I took the opportunity to shoot some photos of my workspace and knitting machines and felt like sharing them. I borrowed a full frame camera and set it on a tripod to properly record my studio with its varying light conditions. Check out Simone's recent visit to my space here. This is a busy time for me with production orders (to White Elephant, Bespoke Truckee, Workshop, Flock and Distill). These are filling up my time, so this is as much procrastination as anything! 
       I work in a space I partially renovated over the summer (it originally looked quite terrifying),  but slowly as I paint and organize it is transforming into quite a nice studio. I think it's pretty obvious one day I will need a bigger space. One whole side of the space is a jungle of tables, additional knitting machines, piles of orders  and misc. equipment, so that still needs to be sorted. As well I am restoring another old machine (which I love to do).  If you count there are four separate machines in these photos. Each one is set up for a different task and each machine is lit with a mixture of natural light and imitation daylight. I hope you like these photos...

      I have a giveaway contest running for September until the 30th. Enter to win here. The giveaway is a random pair of mens or womens mittlets in a cashmere, viscose and wool mix.  The contest is not restricted geographically, these mittlets will travel! Good luck:)

      Thanks to TPL as well as Ashley and Simone for this interview, in this article I show Simone my studio and talk about the evolution of my work from more sewing based to more knitwear based work.  I'm always interested in receiving and reflecting upon feedback from customers and users in terms of how they fit into everyday life and situations.  It helps me create more relevant, satisfying work.

      I have a new listing in my store, it is inspired by requests from customers who have animal fibre allergies. You can buy test swatches made of the yarn I use in my collection for $1.00 and your purchase counts as  credit towards an actual item.  I'm working on expanding my range of sparkle stripe mittlets, I'm loving the graphic stripe with tiny hints of sparkle:)