Twist Collective Blog

Skalva

Details

Published on Tuesday, 04 January 2011 00:00

Gudrun Johnston, designer of Vaila, Audrey in Unst, and Tanit's Jacket,  tells us a bit about her latest design, Skalva, in today's blog post. This post is also found on Gudrun's own blog. 

"Skalva"-snow falling in large flakes

We're not quite there yet with the weather (at least not in Masachusetts) but Twist's Winter 2010 issue is now live, packed with wonderful knitwear patterns to keep you warm as the temps drop ( and yes, I have a new pattern in it)! Kate asked a few designers to come up with a garment that reflected something they enjoy to wear during this season. So while anticipating those flakes of snow I decided on a long sweater/tunic, something to be worn over jeans or leggings, a simple piece with shaping and a few girly touches. Part of the deal was that we would do our own modeling in the backdrop of our work spaces. Having been behind the camera a lot more this past year I've become reluctant to have photos taken of me but David did a good job. Unfortunately my corner of the living room is pretty dark so we ended up needing to shoot mostly outdoors.

Here you see me with some of my inspiration, the original Shetland Trader poster (from the days in which my mum ran her business), her original swatches and also the sketches that my grandmother did of the designs.

Some of the little details: Slightly bouffant sleeves with pleats and an I cord bind off, little inset pockets, folded hem…………..

Seamless set in short row sleeves (still pretty addicted to that one)…….

Folded neckline and more pleats.

Here's my original sketch. I had planned on pleats at the shoulders but wasn't comfortable with how that looked on me so I scrapped that part. The neck area changed a little too and I went with a neater neck/collar as opposed to the cowl like look in the sketch.

The yarn is Woobu from Blue Moon Fiber Arts and it was such a delight to knit with. As you can see the stitches are well defined with a lovely even look to them and the bamboo adds the perfect amount of drape. I highly recommend it!

Once again it is such a pleasure to be part of this publication and in such good company!