Twist Collective Blog

A Twist on Style Friday

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Published on Friday, 04 October 2013 10:11

Every Friday we feature one of the garments from the magazine in a post about styling. We suggest different ways to wear the garment in question using mock-ups from Polyvore. We encourage readers to tell us what they think about these outfits via our Facebook page or Twitter, and if folks want to make their own outfits, please tweet them at us with the hashtag #twiststyle. You can find all of the Style Friday posts here.

Happy Friday twistfans!! This week we are doing something a little bit different with Style Friday. The idea of these posts was always to help you, readers, to imagine the garments from the magazine in your own wardrobe. This week, instead of seeing one garment in many circumstances, you'll see several garments, on different humans! Fiona (of the perpetually gorgeous cable designs) is our guest style columnist this week! Enjoy. I'm also going to show you what I wore that night, because it's a Twist project- my Pont Neuf made her debut (not pictured: 14 hole puple Doc Martens). After that, it's all Fiona.

Hi there- Fiona here today!

Style Friday is usually about showing you different ways we imagine wearing the garments from the latest issue. This week we are going to show you something different: beautiful women wearing the garments in understated classic wardrobe looks.

A few weeks ago Twist Collective took the garments from both the Spring/ Summer 2012 & Fall 2012 issues on the road for a fashion show at the Toronto knitting guild- Downtown Knit Collective. It was a super fun evening with Kate & Carly in attendance along with local designers Glenna C, Elizabeth McCarten, Laura Chau & Barbara Gregory…and I acted as host. Glenna is not only a great designer but also a photographer- she took the pics (note- clicking on the pics will take you to the pattern page).

I put a call-out to the guild members to see who would be willing to model for the evening and got a ton of eager beavers- everybody wanted an even closer look at all those beautiful Twist projects it seems.

I asked the ladies to wear a neutral wardrobe so that it would go with all the different styles we would be showing. I suggested black pants or skirt and a black or white camisole top. But I also asked them to wear funky shoes if they had them – if it’s not about then knits then it’s always all about the shoes isn’t it?

They turned up in lovely wardrobe basics with fun accents, which showed off the garments so so well. I’m pretty sure that most of us have these types of items in our wardrobes already so it’s an easy look to pull together. But basics don’t have to be boring. As these photos show a beautiful classic look with a gorgeous knit can be stunning!

By the way the photo of Svanhild captures the moment when I made the comment about how cool Manon’s (the model) sparkly boots are - I love both Kate’s (who is also in funky boots) & Manon’s reaction in this one.

Here is the link to a flicker page (courtesy of Kim Hume) of behind the scenes shots - I think the models had the most fun of everybody that evening (clicking highly recommended).

Many thanks to Manon, Julia, Karen, Krys, Susan, Vivien, Margaret, Kim, Yun, Jennifer, Juddi, Marie, Kellie, Yvonne, Karen W, Tamara & Suzie!

Huge thanks to Glenna C for the photos!

Five Questions with Susanna IC

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Published on Wednesday, 02 October 2013 23:44

Susanna IC has contributed 13 wonderful patterns to our pages. She is our featured designer in our Five for Five interview series, which you can follow all of here. Susanna is known for her gorgeous scarves and shawls, in many different shapes, fibers, and patterns. You can see even more of her instricate, knitterly work on her website.

(top: Cascata, Hawthorne, Abrazo, bottom: Eadon, Vesna)

1. Why are you a designer?

I design because I just can’t help myself.  I’ve been making art and designing things as far back as I can remember; besides painting and drawing, my favorite playtime was creating clothes for my dolls.  Later on, I started university as a pre-med major because I love science, but I really missed the creativity and I switched to fine arts and art history.

My grandma taught me how to crochet when I was five, but because she was left-handed I could not learn knitting from her; it all looked backwards and too complicated.  Then, about ten years ago, I wanted to make cabled sweaters for my sons and crochet did not give me the look I was after, so I finally taught myself how to knit from a book. 

I am obsessed with lace and cables; the more complicated the better.  Complex beaded lace combined with intricate cables – that’s my bliss. 

(Cerris (two versions), Derwen)

I worked as a reference desk clerk in a university library, as an office manager for a large communications company, and as a medical assistant in a pediatric clinic.

...the world would be a lot friendlier place.
 

 (top: Giardina, Geada, Stellaria, bottom: Tendrils (two versions))

Designer Post: Hardanger

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Published on Monday, 30 September 2013 13:06

Today's post is brought to you by Arndis Osk Arnalds, a first-time Twist designer! She created the wonderful, elegant Hardanger cardigan that appears in our latest issue. You can find out more about her work on her website, here.

Wow I cant believe I can finally tell you about my design in Twist Collective!

The jacket is inspired by my mother.  I wanted to make a piece that characterized her; very precise, natural (she´s a professor in environmental science), witty and of course beautiful.   I originally made the sweater for her in unspun lopi and did the pattern in cross stitch.  Below you can see a picture of the sweater modeled by my friend Erla.  

Sjónabók/ Ornaments and Patterns found in Iceland is an amazing book on patterns from the 17th, 18th and 19th century in Iceland. The pattern is inspired by one of the many beautiful patterns in the book.

I've been designing for a few years now but never had the nerve to publish before and thanks to my talented, wonderful and very precipitant friend Ragga from Knitting Iceland I finally got the nerve to submit.... and they accepted!

The process has but challenging, educational and extremely fun.  The Twist Collective team as been so patient and wonderful.  I had no idea how much work goes into a published design: from getting the yarn through customs, making swatches, writing, sizing, laying out, photographing, tech editing, etc.  I am so thankful for this experience, the help and the opportunity.

The jacket is perfect for first time steekers because you are only steeking a small portion 4” and 8” and the entire sweater is not comprised if a mistake is made.  But don't worry, steeking is very easy.  You can find many good steeking videos on youtube. If the color work intimidates you as there are more then 4 stitches between color changes here is a little trick;  when you reach 4 stitches wrap the alternate color around the yarn you are knitting with.

I'm hoping to make another jacket for my self, in either blue or black.  I think I'll use yarn from Halcyon. I've been looking for a good substitute for lopi that isn't as scratchy and I think I finally found it.

To buy the pattern or see more information about it please visit the Hardanger pattern page!

Twist Style Friday: Hawser

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Published on Friday, 27 September 2013 11:55

Every Friday we feature one of the garments from the magazine in a post about styling. We suggest different ways to wear the garment in question using mock-ups from Polyvore. We encourage readers to tell us what they think about these outfits via our Facebook page or Twitter, and if folks want to make their own outfits, please tweet them at us with the hashtag #twiststyle. You can find all of the Style Friday posts here.

Happy Friday folks!! Welcome to your weekly dose of of knitporn for the sartorially inclined. This week I'm thinking about apple based desserts, leather boots, and how happy I am that it is finally scarf weather. 

It might even be cool enough to wear this.

Hawser is an amazing sweater. She's luxurious, simply shaped, elegant, and cleverly constructed. You want to make this sweater (if you want to make it for me, I'll take it in a gold-y mustard hue in the 40" size. You can shorten the body and sleeves by a few inches to save on yarn - merino-silk blend please - and because I am short in stature).  I think this sweater willl look super on lots of body shapes and types, and the detailing at the top brings attention to your beautiful face. You can dress it tough, or sweet, or rugged. Go forth and be fabulous!

Some of us (on some of the days) plan out what we wear. It's all on purpose. Other times, it's just all the things that were clean (or at least smell that way). What is great about an accessory or two, is that they can make your accidental clothes look like they are totally on purpose. Something about a great ring, or the perfect belt; it's like tying a ribbon around a wrapped present. It just makes it look more complete, even though the way the present was wrapped before was totally fine. Nice, even. In the summertime I can't really wear rings. My skin reacts to most metals, especially if its sticky out, and my hands swell when it's hot so my rings don't even fit. September is the time to reintroduce rings.

There are some great ones in this outfit photo. Oh, and some velvet shoes. Y'know. Because.

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Pretty much anyplace you want to go, Hawser can take you there. Test out my theory; put on a chunky ring and see if it's the bow your outfit needed.

How will you wear Hawser?