Mother of Purl (14 page)

I can’t wait to see how knitting continues to evolve. In fact, one of the most exciting aspects of the current knitting renaissance is witnessing how knitters who have learned from me are melding classic techniques and sophisticated stylings with their own creativity.

If there is anything I hope that people take away from learning to knit with me, is that once you have a solid knowledge of the basic techniques, you have the power to explore a whole world of design and style.

All trends wax and wane in popularity, and knitting is no different. Twenty years ago needlepoint was all the rage, and everybody did it because it was the fashionable thing to do. A lot of those novelty needle–pointers stopped, and many members of this new generation of knitters will stop as well, but the people who love knitting will stay with it.

I hope that you will become a knitter for whom knitting is more than just a passing whim. You may discover that knitting provides you with a meaningful form of self–expression, allows your creative juices to run wild, and benefits the people around you, while creating a legacy that conveys a little of who you are for your children and your children’s children.

Like the meditative qualities of yoga, I hope that you’ll find knitting to be a calming force as you navigate life’s bumps and grinds, ups and downs, and that your new hobby will bring you a quiet space that is all your own—even if you are sitting on a commuter bus or surrounded by noisy children.

Most of all, I hope you will be inspired to pass on the art of knitting to your friends and family, and that you are always motivated to keep learning and developing your own skills. In this chapter I suggest ways in which you can keep your love of knitting alive. I haven’t necessarily included patterns for the skills taught here, but they are easy to incorporate into existing designs or to experiment with in your own pattern writing.

One of the greatest benefits about the knitting circle at my shop is being exposed to the ideas and imaginations of dozens of men and women. As a shop owner, my role also includes teaching, but it’s surprising how often I learn as well. Recently, a young knitter proudly came in to show me an item that she had knitted out of long strips of fabric she had cut herself. She was inspired by a jacket that I had made out of silk rippings, and I was equally impressed with the skirt she created. It’s knitters like her that give me hope that knitting will remain an innovative and exciting craft, even when it’s no longer as red hot as it is now.

Here are some advanced techniques that you should experiment with and consider using in your knitting. I picked these particular skills because they add shape, texture, style, and sophistication to your work. Two of these skills—short rows and updating vintage patterns—are tricky, but if you can master these concepts, they can unleash your creativity. You will become further inspired to customize your knitting and create truly personalized garments.

Have fun with these, and practice before you try to incorporate them into your knitting.

Short Rows
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The shaping technique known as short rows can be quite intimidating to beginners, and it does seem complex in theory. Essentially, it is a way of adding room to a knitted item by knitting backward and forward over the central stitches on a needle, while leaving the stitches at the beginning and end of the needle unknit. For instance,
a woman with a large bust might use short rows to add extra ease over her chest, and prevent the sweater from appearing shorter in the front than in the back. Once she has added enough room to make the sweater comfortable, she would knit to the end of the row, turn, and continue working her sweater as normal. She will still have the same number of stitches on her needles, and she will still be at the same point on her sweater (if she began the short row at 12 inches, her sweater will still be 12 inches long), but there will be “ease” across her chest where the extra rows are, and these extra rows will add another inch or so of depth to prevent the unattractive effect of the front being shorter than the back. If you want to add short rows to a simple sweater shape, knit to your bust, and add short rows over the middle, leaving about a fifth of your stitches untouched on either side. Use an existing sweater to help you calculate how many inches of depth you need to add.

Adding Texture to Your Knitting
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One technique to add a fun visual element to your knitting is the use of bobbles. Depending on how many stitches you work with, bobbles can be pea–size accents or bold golf ball–size design features. The former might enhance the border of a sweater, while the latter could be incorporated into a scarf design. Determine where in your pattern you would like to place the bobble. When you reach that stitch, knit into it five times. To do this, knit your stitch, but do not pull it off of your left–hand needle; instead keep bringing your needle forward and around to knit into the stitch again. When you have created five stitches out of one, turn your work and purl those five stitches, then turn again and knit and purl them again. Turn your work, knit two stitches together two times, pass it over, knit one stitch and pass it over, one stitch remains. Bobble is made.

Updating Vintage Sweaters
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With the rise in knitting’s popularity, vintage knitting pattern books from the 1920s on have resurfaced at flea markets, on the Internet, at garage sales, and even hidden in your grandmother’s attic. While these patterns are still beautiful and continue to pass the test of time, the fit of these sweaters is outdated. With the vast selection of yarns now available, you can recreate a more modern and sophisticated version of the pattern you select. The tendency in those time periods was to knit with very small needles using yarns now considered medium gauge. The first step is to increase the size of your needles and to use a yarn of your choosing.

At some point in their knitting lives most of my clients have come into the store clutching a picture ripped from the pages of the latest high fashion magazine. “Edith,” they say, “I have to have this. Can’t afford it, but have to have it.” Though it might seem intimidating at first, it’s quite easy to break down the essential design elements of an existing sweater and incorporate them into your work.

Try to find a few different photos of the same garment. If it’s a signature piece by a designer, it will probably be photographed by more than one magazine and from multiple angles. If you see it in a store, so much the better.


Figure out what it is that you
love
about the sweater—the shape or the color, the stitch work or the style. You may well find that once you have isolated the things you like most about the sweater, you can leave off other design elements you don’t care for as much.


If you don’t have the ability to recreate it on your own or your local knitting store doesn’t offer that help and you don’t happen to live near my shop, try this. Find an existing pattern that has a similar shape to the one you are copying and use that pattern as a launch pad for your own design. Use the techniques I described in chapter four to take your measurements and refine the pattern.


Now, start knitting swatches, experiment with your design, and have fun with it. When you achieve a look that you like, work out your stitch and row gauge. If necessary, recalculate the pattern.