Twist Collective Blog

Designer Process: Lingonberry

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Published on Monday, 28 May 2012 00:49

Today's post is brought to you by squares! Sounds like a Sesame Street intro, right? Truly, this post was written by talented designer Lorilee Beltman, and is cross-posted from her blog. She shares how Lingonberry, a truly innovative and beautiful sock design, came from lots and lots of tinkering with knitted squares! Follow your fascinations, knitters.

My first published pattern resulted from waiting for two skeins of stashed Noro Iro to speak to me. Thinking this self-striper would look nifty knit as concentric squares, I set out to make simple squares in garter stitch, worked from the outside inward. The darn thing was only about three feet long! By a happy accident I could not find more of that colorway, and was forced to come up with a creative solution.  I reknit a few squares of two different sizes, recalculating for a five-foot scarf, which was still too skimpy. I figured I’d have a more lengthy scarf if I left out the centers. What I ended up with was something that garnered far more compliments that my original plan would have. I eventually submitted it to Interweave Knits, and it was included in a lighter weight and a summer yarn for the spring 2008 issue as Chameleon Scarf. Since then I have released it on Ravelry with instructions for fingering, worsted, and bulky yarns, and with it’s original title- Holey Squares Scarf. (photo below- Sandi Gunnett)

Meanwhile, I kept playing with squares. For instance, when seamed, a simple hand-warmer could be made from one of these squares.

When Judy Becker’s Magic Cast On came on the scene in the spring of 2006 via Knitty.com, the lights went on for me. That simple handwarmer could be made more difficult, but seamless, by using a combination of long tail and magic cast ons. Aha!

The same handwarmer, using magic cast on on steroids, could be used for a mitered square mitten, again, without seams and all worked in the round. Now it was getting fun for me because I believed I was in a new territory of knitting geometry. I mean, I don’t think there’s another pattern out there where you cast on provisionally, work six directions from there, and join twice on the first round. The resulting Bobsled Mittens are found in Judy Becker’s book Beyond Toes, which is a collection of designs from folks similarly turned on by the magic. When I teach, I try to work JMCO into as many classes as possible.

The next self-imposed challenge was to work the bobsled architecture into a sock by turning the thumb into a heel. In spite of my worries over its wacky construction, I submitted it to Twist Collective where it appears in the current Spring/Summer 2012 issue. A few Lingonberry socks have now been showing up on Ravelry, and so far, I am relieved no one has had a heart attack. Some pretty, well-fitted socks have been made.

For the curious, here is a link to the support video on Youtube.

Squares, who knew they could be so entertaining?

Twist Style Friday: Regent

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Published on Friday, 25 May 2012 00:00

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.

Carly here again for your weekly dose of fashion frolic. This time, I played with Marnie MacLean's gorgeous wrap cardigan, Regent. Especially in this delicious eggplant color, and sumptuous merino-silk blend, this sweater just drips luxury and elegance. Now, me, I am not exactly the elegant sort; I mostly like clothes that make me laugh. So my first impulse was to pair this piece with things that were a little off-kilter, like pink pants or a bubble-skirt.

I love these outfits- I feel like me and elegance reached a quirky compromise. Plus that rich color really goes with eveything! I also wanted to show you how pretty Regent can look open- all ruffles and drape. So here are a few more ideas-

Unbelted, this sweater takes on a new flavour, a sort of "I'm not trying very hard, I just happen to be fabulous" feel. I might just have to make one for myself. I asked Marnie if she might like to offer some ideas too, and she sent me these lovely options- a little more sophisticated, perhaps. 

I love the idea of pairing a cozy handknit with a spangled gown! Layers of luxe. You can find these outfits and more on our Polyvore page- and we would love to see you play around with them too! It's really a lot of fun- kind of like playing with paper dolls, but you have all the doll clothes in the whole world at your fingertips. Tweet your creations at us (@twistcollective, #twiststyle), or post them on our Facebook page. We want to know- how would you wear your Regent?

Where do you Twist?

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Published on Thursday, 24 May 2012 00:00

Fiona Ellis is a regular contributor to Twist Collective.This issue, she designed the lovely Paisley, and authored the companion article about the fascinating history of paisley. Today, she shares her tips for knitting on the road, something she does a lot of! All of us at Twist are also inviting you to share your knitting adventures and travel tales with us.

One of the aspects of my work is that I get to travel quite a lot, but this spring I have been accompanying my husband while he is on a cross North America extravaganza with his company. As this is mostly a driving tour I have had gobs of time to knit. I have several projects on the go, including a new design for the fall issue of Twist, so I have not been at all bored spending these long hours in the car.

There are logistics to be considered to be able to work on the road like this though. Shipping yarn to hotels has not been a problem thanks to excellent courier services. The wide availability of the Internet means I can work remotely just as I usually do. Five to seven un-interrupted hours to knit means I can get several inches done -- but also requires that I have already precisely figured out the pattern and shaping. Roadside stops to eat and answer the call of nature provide me with the opportunity to check my work, measure the piece and grab more yarn from the trunk.

From many previous trips on planes I already have a small project grab bag that contains my essential tools, including a small package of dental floss, which has multiple applications: it can be used for life-lines, as a stitch holder and also has an airplane friendly cutter. My knitting bag of choice has been the Twist Tote; boy does that thing hold a lot of yarn! I love the outer pockets for bottles of water and snacks (note from the bloglady- these totes are not currently available- but we have lots of cute lil Twist tape measures. They come in handy, whatever sort of bag you carry your projects in).

I thought I would share with you the most spectacular spot that I have taken it to so far: Hoosier Pass in Colorado. On the Continental Divide and an elevation of 11,539 feet, I think this is the highest I have been on knitting, excluding on an airplane of course.

The knitting peeking out is the new project for the fall issue and you can’t quite see it here but I am working on a pair of 4mm Signature Needles.

So the question for you is: Where in the world do you Twist? Whether it's your own backyard or a place you travelled to, we want to know where you take your Twist projects, and where they take you!

Tweet your photos of your latest projects (and/or totes and tape measures) out in the world @twistcollective, or post them on our Facebook page. Happy knitting, and happy travelling!

Design Process: Caeles

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Published on Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:01

Today's post comes to us from Hilary Smith Callis, designer of Caeles, a fitted summertime sweater with a beautiful scoop neck and detailed collar. She shares how this design went from idea to final product! You can also find this post (and much more) on her blog.

The idea for Caeles started, as many of my knits do, when I saw something pretty at Anthropologie. The item in question, I believe, was a slouchy jersey tank top with a knitted collar. I say "I believe" because I don't have a photo of it and, as many of my knits go, once the design seed is planted by the pretty thing at Anthropologie, it starts to take on a life of its own. Because after thinking it might be fun to try and knit a collar onto a tank top, I started thinking about how a similar collar would look on a knitted something, what shape that something would have, how it would fit, and suddenly I had a new summer top.

Here's my original sketch (this is kind of embarrassing -- my sketches and handwriting are awful):

Unlike the Anthro tank top, I wanted my top to be fitted through the waist and flare at the hips, which I thought would be nicely executed with body darts. Because my sketches are so much better in yarn, I didn't think about adding little sleeves until the prototype was finished.

I thought the collar had a little bit of a retro-modern, Judy Jetson-ish vibe and that the top could use one more dose of that quality. (By the way, that's where the name 'caeles' came from. It's Latin for 'heavenly' or 'celestial' and comes from the word for 'sky' -- I picked it to reflect the original space-y feel of those sleeves and collar.)

The prototype (modeled above with completely the wrong undergarment -- my apologies) was knit in Tess' Designer Yarns Linguini (the same yarn I used for Aurelia), which had been staring at me from my stash basket for quite some time. I like the drapiness of the silk in this top, but I really like how the Valley Yarns Goshen gives it more structure, especially the collar and sleeves.