Fashion: Yarn Style

The Best Yarn Prize in the World!

 

Its a Wonderful Life is a classic Christmas movie starring Jimmy Stewart that explores the theme of healing. The character, filled with despair at his failures in life, must experience a dark night of the soul, only to be saved at the last moment by an inspiring experience that fills him with hope and teaches him the true meaning of the holidays. 

 

I always felt that genre of movie was a bit old fashioned, but now that I have had my own little yarn epiphany I suppose I have to admit that it is relevant for me after all. I came down with a severe case of food poisoning in November and had to take two months’ unpaid leave from work. The month of January I will still be working on an extremely part time basis until I get better, which I hope will be very soon! It has been rather depressing to be confined to home, and unable in many respects to do the things I love. What makes severe fatigue challenging is that  all the time you are doing something, a voice in the back of your mind warns you not to enjoy it too much lest you overexert yourself and have a relapse. And relapse I have once or twice. However, at the moment of my greatest despondency came an astonishing gift which reminded me of how unexpectedly life can change for the good!

 

Do you remember the contest that Rowan yarns hosted on their facebook page back in November? Love Knitting offered to give away £250 worth of yarn to one lucky winner who was a Rowan member and who signed up for their mailing list:

 

 

I have never won anything in my life but I had free time on my hands during my illness, so I took the plunge and entered in my email address. I had forgotten all about it when I received an email from Carly at loveknitting right before Christmas!

 

 I could not believe my eyes when I received this email. Miracles do happen after all! How did I get so lucky? Apart from the other stress going along with my illness has been the realization that my yarn budget for 2014 would be severely curtailed. So this prize from loveknitting really was like a dispensation from above!

 

I can still hardly believe it. £250 translates to over $400 american dollars. And when I first logged onto the Loveknitting website, vibrating with excitement, I also discovered that they offer discounted prices on many Rowan yarns, so in the end I was able to get a staggering 53 balls of Rowan yarn! It was not easy to choose, and I spent so long making and remaking my yarn list that I had to take a nap in the middle of my order because I had exhausted myself. Anyway, I’ve been taking a fair number of naps. But in the end I pushed the order button and committed myself. The package arrived in a surprisingly short amount of time. Can you imagine my excitement when the package arrived?

 

 Here is my amazing yarn hoard:

 

 The yarn just arrived a day ago and I still don't know if I'm on my head or on my heels. But one thing is certain, there will be some wonderful Rowan sweaters to be made in 2014! Here are the details of this delectable treasure trove:

 

     A)  10 balls of Rowan Kid Classic in Royal, a gorgeous smoky purple color:

 

 

 

     B)  10 balls of Rowan kidsilk eclipse in Virgo, a shimmery gold color:

 

 

     C)  11 balls of Rowan felted tweed in Hedgerow, a heathery meadow green:

 

 

     D) 5 balls of Rowan felted tweed in Seafarer

 

 

     E) 11 balls of Rowan fine lace in Bellbusk

 

 

     F)  A few odd balls of Rowan kidsilk haze in different colors and some essential knitting tools. If you like to seam sweaters using the mattress stitch, these curve-ended Chibi needles are the best! And I use the stitch markers to separate out sections whenever I do lace knitting.

 

 

 

As you can see, the kittens are just as excited about the yarn win as I am!

 

 

 

The yarn came very quickly and the whole process was seamless. Once I am back up and working again I will definitely consider ordering yarn from loveknitting, I had such a good experience. I had thought they were a British yarn company, but they have an American site as well here and shipping is often free:

http://www.loveknitting.com

 

I will have to post again soon once I figure out how to put this yarn win to good use! It is time for New Years Resolutions, and this will clearly be the year for me to knit from stash. And what a stash it is!

 

Success with Beaded Glamour

 

 

Here it is! My beaded cardigan! I am so excited about this one! None of my other beading projects have turned out to be so wearable, so I am very happy with this result! The branch pattern which I used for the beads was taken from Martin Storey’s Brigitte pattern. His branch chart was meant to be knitted in eyelet lace, but I decided to use beads instead and I think the result has created the 1950s glamour look I was hoping for.

 

I used size 8 copper-colored glass beads (Japanese seed beads) with angora haze yarn. The copper-colored buttons are glass as well. I purchased them in Britex, the marvelous fabric and notions store in San Francisco’s Union Square.

 

My husband took the photos in El Granada harbour, where we were vacationing this weekend:

 

 

El Granada is often called “The Banana Belt” of the North California Coast because the harbour shelters the inland area from the fog. And this weekend it was amazing--sunny and warm with the light literally dancing on the waves. Early this morning we went to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, which is one of my favorite beaches to visit when the tide is in. The tidepools are fun of course but since my father’s home when I was a child was just over on the cliffs I visited the tidepools a million times. And tourists swarm across the sands to explore the tidepools, scaring away the seals. I like the Marine Reserve better when the waves are surging all the way up to the cliffs, and all of the reefs create whitewater eddies. The seals swim close to shore when the tide is in, so I was able to see a seal’s head bobbing above the waves. And a bold black seaduck went fishing in the surf right beneath where I sat on the bench on the cliff, its red bill glinting in the sun. I am almost certain I saw the three little bodies of otters for a moment on the waves before they disappeared into the foaming water. Too bad I didn’t bring my camera! Here instead is a photo from the top of the cliffs on another day where you can see all the seals sunning themselves on the sand:

 

We had lunch at the wonderful little deli at the San Benito house. Their bread is all baked in-house and nothing is more delicious!

 

What a perfect end to a lovely weekend by the beach.

 

 

 

Beaded Glamour: New Knitting Inspirations

 

I have completed my first beaded front piece and am starting on the second one. It has been an interesting learning experience attempting to bead a continuous pattern like these branches. There are some definite pros and cons to the slip stitch technique. By slipping the stitch containing the bead in front of the others, the bead is kept prominent and it stands out in contrast to the knitted surface. This is important when beading on a textured background such as a thick fuzzy angora fabric. However, a slipped stitch allows for wiggle room for the bead to move to the right and left, unlike a purl stitch which would hold the bead more firmly in place. The unfortunate outcome of this is that, much like a googly eye, each bead wobbles back and forth which prevents the branch stems from sustaining a clean vertical line up along the edge. Of course, with my fingertips I can nudge the beads into place but I cannot imagine myself doing this while actually wearing the cardigan—I would go mad fiddling with it!

 

In order to eliminate this problem, I did try purl stitches instead to anchor the beads in a straighter line. Unfortunately, the purls draw the beads into the fabric making them close to invisible. In the end I decided that branches are organic shapes which permit of some irregularity so I am just going to accept the movement of the beads.

 

Sorry for the photo quality! It is so difficult to capture black knits!

I am hoping to finish my second front piece by this weekend and then I will start assembling it. There is a fiddly bit with the ribbed button bands that need to be knitted separately and then sewed on, so that will take some time. And then, once I add the collar I will have to decide whether I want to continue the beaded edging into that area. I left the beading off of the bottom 3/4 inch of the cardigan so that I would have some symmetry in case I decide not to bead the collar area.

 

In the meantime, I have been keeping myself inspired by looking at some other amazing beaded knitting patterns. “Mystic” by Kim Hargreaves is a favorite for me. It has a haunting, ethereal quality:

http://www.kimhargreaves.co.uk/acatalog/MYSTIC.html

 

 

And I love Kim Hargreaves “Agnes” with the peplum, which can be found in her book; Vintage Designs to Knit:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=kim+hargreaves+vintage+designs+to+knit&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

I would just counsel anyone who is thinking of knitting one of those patterns to build several inches of positive ease into the sweaters. These patterns have the same all-over beading that I encountered in Kim Hargreaves Glisten pattern, which shrank and lengthened on me considerably because of the weight of the beads.

It did not compute until I assembled the vest how much the beads had distorted the fabric because every time I measured it flat, the measurements were perfect. But once the garment is allowed to hang, the weight of the beads  were a force to be reckoned with.  For this reason, I would  advise the use of a dress form and/or basting the pieces together to try on as an additional step before assembling the garment.

 

Jennie Atkinson is an amazing virtuoso with beads, and I am interested in knitting several of her beaded patterns. She sprinkles beads more judiciously which I think may also prevent some of the distortion problems I encountered in Glisten. On my short list is her Hippolyta:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hippolyta

 

 

Jennie Atkinson's flapper-inspired Beaded Top from the gorgeous book, A Handknit Romance is also an amazing choice:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/beaded-top-2

 

 

And if you want a smaller project, you can try the beaded wristlets or purse:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/beaded-bag-9

 

 

Someday I would also like to try the Beatrice beaded gloves from the Stitch’n Bitch Superstar Knitting book:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/beatrice-9

 

 

In the meantime, I will be “googling” on with my beaded cardigan and hoping the beads don't roll back and forth too much. I hope to have some finished pictures to post next week.

Inspired by Beaded Knits

 

 Michelle Obama wearing J Crew

 

 

Do you remember this cardigan of Michelle Obama’s that I raved about on my blog a few years ago? This is a J Crew cardigan which sold out within a few hours of Michelle Obama’s photo appearing on the news. Beaded cardigans are a classic look, elegant enough for even a first lady to wear!

 

The beaded sweater was popularized in the 1950s and 1960s which was the true era of sweater glamour. Check out this still from the show, "Where the Boys are:"

 

The dress and cardigan set were as standard then as a suit is today. So figure flattering and feminine!  Sweaters were body conscious, which is why Marilyn Monroe was able to use simple knits to establish herself as a sex symbol:

 

And here is Dorothy Lamour looking super glamorous in a beaded knit from that era:

 

 

Although we no longer wear sweaters with so much style and verve, we can learn some lessons from the past. For a sexy, feminine look, pair form-fitting sweaters  with  dresses or skirts that also emphasize the waist. And beading is a timeless way to glamorize knitwear. Just add a sprinkle of beads to the edge or collar of any cardigan, and you have elevated its style. 

 

However, in my opinion, a little beading can go a long way. First of all, too much beading can look tacky. Second of all, beading can change the shape and drape of your fabric if you use too much.

 

I learned this to my dismay when I knitted the pattern, Glisten by Kim Hargreaves. Here is a closeup of the beaded detail on this cotton vest:

 

 

Too many beads, knitted in at regular intervals across the fabric, changed the dimensions of the textile. The weight of all the beading pulled the vest down, making it two inches longer and three inches narrower than its actual dimensions when measured on a flat surface. This is why the vest, which was knitted to my exact dimensions, is too small for me to close. Even worse, unless you are looking closely at the knit you don't see the beads anyway, so all my hard work was wasted! This project was a failure because of my lack of knowledge of how the addition of beading can change the dimensions of a knitted piece. And clearly even more beading would have been needed to make those fabric distortions worth the cost!

 

My sad experience with Glisten steered me away from knitting with beads for some time. But I was unable to resist the beauty of the design, Brigitte from Martin Storey’s Angora Haze collection.

 

 

What I love about the Angora Haze collection is the classic 1950s sweater glamour that is revived in this collection of knits. Ruby is another one of my favorites:

 

Doesn’t it remind you of the sweater Marilyn Monroe wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?

 

And Eva is another  design which I love:

 

 

I knitted Eva to match my 1950s polkadot dress and I wear them together all the time.

 

But Brigitte incorporates the elusive beading that I have been wanting to tackle again. Its branch pattern which is made by the eyelet holes of the lace reminds me of 1950s beading patterns and has a wonderful retro touch. However, I am a little skeptical of all of the elements that are operating in this design simultaneously. Between the furry angora texture, the eyelets and the beads not to mention the reverse straight-stitch purl background I worry there are too many design elements jostling for attention.

In particular, the eyelet lace pattern executed in what is a hairy-textured yarn does not work for me. In the dark green angora haze, the little holes appear like algae or moss. Also, I worry that an all-over beaded texture will yield the same dimension distorting problems that I experienced when I knitted glisten. So I have decided to confine my beading to the edges of the cardigan. Instead of using the branch pattern to knit eyelet lace, I am using the branch pattern to knit a beaded border on each side of the button band for the front of the cardigan.  Here is what I have done so far:

 

I think the copper colored beads I am using have a wonderful, subtle sheen against the background of the black angora.

We will see how the weight of the beads on the edging affects the knitted fabric. I have taken the precaution of knitting this in a larger size so that I can still wear it if the weight of the beads detracts from its width.