Knitting Inspiration: Etro Resort 2020 Sweater

I am crazy about this Etro sweater! This will definitely be the inspiration for a sweater, wrap or poncho at some point.

Photo credit to Vogue: Link

Knitting Inspiration: Heart Stitch Pattern

Back Again...

I am not going to even comment on how long it has been since I last posted, but am giving this another go. I do have something new in the works, but probably won't be revealing it until sometime in the fall. In the meantime, here is a stitch pattern I found which inspired me this week:

I think this would be a cute stitch pattern to use in a design at some point.
The source for this photo is: here. However, as I not infrequently find on Pinterest, while it does lead to a page of knitting stitch patterns, I do not see this one on the page. The website is pikde.com.

Knitting Inspiration of the Week

I find inspiration for my knitting in many places. Thought I would start posting something which inspires me each week, and maybe other people will get their creative juices flowing as well. This week's is a bit unusual for me--I am generally more inspired by colorwork, however I find this stitch pattern interesting and yet quite easy to do. Not sure what it will become, but I will definitely find a use for it.

(Source: craftcookie.com)

For more of what inspires me, see my Pinterest board 

Knitting Inspiration.

Classic Elite Shawls, Wraps & Scarves

Three of my designs were published in the book Classic Elite Shawls Wraps & Scarves in January 2013. The designs are all based on variations of Half Linen Stitch.

The first is called Solid Color Scarf, which was knit in Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo:

 

The second design is Three-Color Scarf (I honestly did not come up with these 

"creative" names ;-), knit in Classic Elite Ariosa: 

Variegated Scarf is the third look,using the Classic Elite yarn Liberty Wool Light:

 

(All Photo: Sixth&Spring Books)

Florida Vacation & Other Knitting News

It has been quite a while since I posted--over a year!!! Geez. I am really going to make an effort to blog more frequently. And probably not just about knitting.

For example, my most recent endeavor was a trip to Florida with my husband to visit his dad and celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. It was a lovely week off and I must confess the only knitting related activity was reading a bit of Yarn Market News. Did not even take any knitting with me! Here is a pic of us at our anniversary dinner by the beach:

I have been on a bit of a knitting hiatus. I have four designs coming out in the next few months (more about that in a moment) and was knitting every spare moment I was not working or otherwise doing things I absolutely must. Housecleaning was nonexistent (not that I am the best at that to begin with--which is probably why it is the 1st thing to go down the tubes when I am super busy). So I have not knitted a thing since I finished those projects.

But this weekend I will get back to it. I have a throw for my younger daughter, which I had planned on finishing before she started college, but that didn't happen. The new plan is to finish it before we go visit her for parents weekend in two weeks. I only have about 6 inches left, plus the fringe, so it seems doable, even with the pesky full time job. I will post pics when it is completed.

As mentioned above, I do have 3 designs in the book Classic Elite Shawls, Wraps & Scarves: 60 Gorgeous Designs, which should be coming out before the end of the year. And a sweater in the Holiday Issue of Vogue Knitting magazine. I'll post pics of those when they are published.

Snowfall Cardigan

My design for the Fall 2011 collection for the Classic Elite Yarn Company is a cardigan called Snowfall. It is in the Snow Angels pattern book. The sweater is knit in Classic Elite Fresno yarn.

This is another design which highlights my obsession with half linen stitch.

Feather & Fan L-Shaped Scarf/Wrap

Feather & Fan L-Shaped Scarf/Wrap can be found in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of Vogue Knitting magazine. This issue should be hitting newstands any day now. It is pattern #31, which can be found on page 72.

Two colors of Zealana Kiwi are alternated to create this feather & fan wrap with a twist, or a bend, to be exact. When worn, the L-shape of the wrap creates horizontal waves on one side and vertical on the other. The L-shape also helps to better keep the wrap on at the shoulders.

[Unfortunately, I was incorrectly credited for the design in the magazine, reading: "Jill Gutman", leaving off the "Schoenfuss".]

Photos of Designs Uploaded on Facebook

Finally got around to uploading photos of my designs on Facebook. So if you would like a place to see all my designs a bit more easily, here is the link. I made it viewable to everyone, so I think you should be able to see it even if you are not a "friend" on Facebook.

Diamond Halter Top on knitty.com

I am very happy to have my design, Diamond, up on knitty.com now. This is knit in Nashua Handknits Cilantro.
I won't reiterate what is already posted with the design on the website, as far as inspiration goes, because you can just click on the link and read it there. But I will say that people who know me might recognize my model! :-)

Knitty

Am very excited to recently find out I will have a design in the upcoming Summer edition of Knitty. My understanding is it will be up on the website June 1st-ish. Wish I could give you a sneak preview, but it is not allowed. Stay tuned for updates and a link to the pattern when it goes live on the website!

Cropped V-Neck Vest

My Cropped V-Neck Vest appears in the inaugural issue of Nashua Handknits Magazine which came out in Fall 2008. The inspiration for this design was the vine and bobble pattern stitch used and also the yarn, Nashua Handknits Natural Focus Ecologie Wool. My daughters liked this design so much they asked me to knit one for them, which I did. Susan Mills, the Creative Director for Nashua Handknits also liked it enough to knit one (in a different yarn) for her daughter!

Quick Cowled Tunic

The Quick Cowled Tunic can be found in the January 2009 issue of "Creative Knitting" on pages 54-55. It is knit in Caron Simply Soft Shadows and is quite easy to knit. It is a flattering oversized tunic, knit from side-to-side. The cowl is worked separately and may be kept detachable or sewn on. As with many of my designs, it does not require much finishing. Just the side seams, and if you care to sew on the cowl, then that as well.

This was a bit of a surprise to me, as I had done this design for Caron quite some time ago (I would say over a year) and was never quite sure what became of it. It was only by happenstance that I ran across it online.

L-Shaped Designs

Like many knitters, I do not like to do finishing. I am embarrassed to admit how many UFOs (unfinished objects) I have sitting around just waiting to have a few seams sewn! Because of this, often when I design I like to come up with a concept that requires little or no finishing.

The two shawls shown here were born out of this concept. I thought an L-shape would make a nice wrap which would stay well on the shoulders, but I did not want to knit it in two pieces. Both garments start with a large number of stitches knit flat on circular needles and then decrease down to the more narrow side of the "L". The self striping yarn used in both create different directionality when the the shawl is draped over the shoulders--that is one side has horizontal stripes and the other vertical (not necessarily evident in the styling shown in the pictures here). Also, the stripes on the long side are narrower than the stripes on the short side.

The "Self-Striping Shawl" is the easier of the two. It has a seed stitch border which is knit as you go along. It is knit in Artful Yarns Broadway and the pattern can be found in the book Vogue Knitting on the Go: Shawls.

The "Wooly Stripes Wrap" is only slightly more complicated (depending on whether you think intarsia is complicated :-) It is knit in a similar method to the other shawl, however the seed stitch border is applied with the intarsia method. This makes the colors in the self striping yarn creep slowly along the edge, in contrast to the thinner stripes on the interior. It is knit in Nashua Handknits Wooly Stipes yarn. The pattern is available in Nashua Handknits North American Lifestyles: Stripes.

Mock Fair Isle Vest

Believe it or not, this is also half linen stitch. When you alternate colors every 2 rows you get a pattern that looks very much like fair isle. The nice thing about this technique is you only use one color at a time across each row, so there is no need to carry along more than one color as in fair isle. The only downside is the look of the color pattern is limited. But if you like the look of fair isle knitting, and have difficulty carrying colors, aka stranding, across the back or have tension problems, this technique could work for you.

The "Mock Fair Isle Vest" appeared in Knit Simple Magazine, Fall 2006. It is knit in South West Trading Company Karaoke in one main color and three contrasting colors. Confession: This was meant to be a woman's vest, but the magazine decided to make it a man's vest. So I would say it is really unisex.

Half Linen Stitch Purse

The next design is a cousin of the last sweater. The "Lipstick Bag" is so named because it is meant to be a small dressy bag just big enough for a lipstick and a few other essentials. It is knitted with Nashua Handknits Grand Opera along with Creative Focus Ribbon. The same half linen stitch ribbing used in the sweater is at the top of the bag, with an extension of the middle ribs on one side forming a flap closure. The closure ends with a large bead the weight of which keeps the bag closed. The body of the bag is a variation of half linen stitch with Grand Opera and the ribbon yarn alternated every 2 rows.

This pattern is available in the Nashua Handknits North American Designer Bags pattern book.

Half Linen Stitch Sweater

This sweater design was inspired by a ribbing I discovered that incorporates half linen stitch. The "Ruffled V-Neck Pullover" starts with a ruffle, then changes to half linen stitch to the waist, then the nifty half linen ribbing to define the waist, and finally stockinette stitch up to the neck and shoulders. The sleeves start with the half linen ribbing, change to half linen stitch and then to stockinette stitch. Stitches are then picked up at one neck edge for the ruffle.

This sweater has some nice features, I believe, from a knitter's point of view. The body shaping is simple. Because of the ribbing at the waist, there are no increases or decreases required in the body to attain the defined waist of the sweater. Also, stitch patterns frequently change through out the body and sleeves, making it a more interesting sweater to knit than just plain stockinette stitch.

The "Ruffled V-Neck Pullover" is knit in Nashua Handknits Grand Opera. The pattern is in the Nashua Handknits Theater pattern book.

Half Linen Stitch

Some might say I have an unnatural obsession with half linen stitch. While I was aware of half linen stitch, it 1st caught my fancy after a class I took with Sally Melville. The topic was colorwork, half linen stitch was only a small section of the class, but afterward I started playing with it.

There are a number of things which appeal to me about this stitch. I like the somewhat woven appearance, the texture and that it is flatter than stockinette stitch. It looks different if you do it all with one color vs. alternating colors every 2 rows. If you use a larger knitting needle than required for a yarn, it can also look lacy.

My 1st professional design which featured half linen stitch was for Artful Yarns. It is a poncho knitted as one rectangle, folded in half and then seamed along one shoulder. Both ends of the knitted piece start with a furry yarn, so when it is folded the fur ends up on only one side of the poncho. The body of the poncho is knit in Artful Yarns Cinema and the fur yarn is Galaxy. I think ribbon yarns are well suited to half linen stitch because you get a nice flat float across the front, which is why I used Cinema for this design.

Basketweave Intarsia Halter Top

This is the last (for the moment) of the basketweave intarsia garments. I particularly love this one because I think the design is ingenious (if I do say so myself). I developed it because I thought the squares could lend themselves to a halter top shape and by noodling I figured out a configuration that would work.

Like the original scarf, this top is knit on the bias, starting in this case with two squares and then adding and subtracting squares as needed to obtain the shape. However, like the preceding wraps, I used two different yarns for the garter and stockinette squares, in this case Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Ribbon (alas discontinued) and Cilantro. These yarns give it a nice drape.

This pattern can be found in the Nashua Handknits North American Lifestyles: Seashore pattern book.

Basketweave Intarsia Wraps

The next two designs I will group together since they are similar. The concept is the same as the scarf from the previous post except I used two different yarns for the intarsia squares: a mohair blend for the garter squares and a ribbon yarn for the stockinette squares.

The 1st wrap, called the "Stairstep Wrap" appeared in Knit Simple Magazine Winter 2005 and was knit from two Kertzer yarns, Overture and Sari. One edge of the caplet is straight, while the other edge has a stepped effect. This design also starts with one square and builds from there.

The "Step Lively Shawl" is the 2nd wrap and was knit with two Classic Elite yarns, La Gran Mohair and Potpourri. This shawl also starts with one square and builds out, but is symmetrical and has ribbon fringe at the corners of the edge squares. This pattern is available for purchase from the iKnitiative pattern line.

Basketweave Intarsia

The next knitting design theme I will present is what I call "Basketweave Intarsia". Now I know some people say that nothing in knitting is really ever new, but I do have to say I came up with this on my own, and I have never seen anyone else with a design incorporating this technique. This being said, I am sure people will come up with many references--but I welcome that if it's the case!

What I did was take the basketweave stitch and turn it into intarsia. There are a number of stitches I have seen which can make knitting look woven, but what I am talking about here is alternating a series of knit and purl stitches on one side and all knit stitch on the other side (the all knit side turns out to be the front or right side with this stitch pattern). So on the right side, some squares are stockinette stitch and the other squares are garter stitch. Then I used one yarn or colorway for the garter squares and a different one for the stockinette squares, so each square is an intarsia block.

This first design is the "other" scarf design I submitted to Vogue Knitting Magazine along with the one that appeared on the cover. It is called the "Diamond Scarf" and is in VK Winter 2003/04 and also in the book "Vogue Knitting Accessorize". The scarf is knit in Noro Kureyon (okay so I had a little Kureyon obsession--I promise the next design won't use any...) working off two different skeins, with bobbins made and used in the order they came off the skeins. Each skein was used exclusively either for garter or stockinette squares. So that added to the woven look. For extra complication, it was also started with one square, knit on the bias, adding and subtracting squares as needed to achieve the jagged edges.

Just as an aside, after the magazine came out, my mom went to a friend's house and found someone there she knew making this scarf. The woman, who knew my mom, had no idea that I was the designer. Small world!