Traditions Today : Color Knitting

Step into History with Sockupied

Abbi Byrd — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:00:00 GMT

The newest issue of the eMag Sockupied is now available, and as always, it’s teeming with stunning patterns and fresh takes on sock-knitting techniques. From delicate leafy lace to colorful bobbles, there’s plenty of knitting to keep your needles clicking all through the warmer months and into fall.

What I particularly love about this issue, though, is that beneath its modern exterior are techniques and designs with an unexpected and rich cultural history. Lisa Stichweh designed the Schwäbische Socks, featuring an intricately woven pattern of traveling twisted stitches inspired by a knitting tradition from Austria and Germany. Reminiscent of Gothic architecture, the stitch patterns were used on socks in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and were later seen adorning sweaters in the early twentieth century.


Lisa Stichweh's Schwäbische Socks		Heatherly Walker's Provenance Socks

The bold colorwork patterns of Heatherly Walker’s elegant Provenance Socks were derived from French embroidery from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The scrolls, floral motifs, and fine stripes translate perfectly into a pair of everyday wearable socks.

Tracing her Hungarian roots, Laura Fazekas Halfpenny came across a knitting tradition that she effortlessly interpreted into funky modern footwear: brightly bobbled stockings worn as part of folk costumes in the small village of Sióagárd, Hungary. The costumes are heavily decorated and riotous with color. Peeking out from beneath a flurry of bright skirts are knitted neon-colored stockings with columns of tiny bobbles, worked much like the distinctive nupps of Estonian knitting. Although her interpretation doesn’t follow the traditional Hungarian folk colors, the varied color scheme reflects the multicolored nature of the costume.


Laura Halfpenny's Zokni kötés stockings.		The ladies of Sióagárd, Hungary, complete their elaborate folk costumes with unique bobbled and embroidered stockings. Photo courtesy of Művelődési Ház Sióagárd.

Whether classic or contemporary, you’re sure to find a pair of socks to suit your style in the Summer 2013 issue of Sockupied. In addition to beautiful patterns, there also are features on knitting two socks at once (including one inside the other known as the War & Peace method), cast-ons for two-color cuffs, and much more! Download your copy today and take your sock knitting to the next level.

Enjoy,

Abbi

Practical or Pretty? Socks for All

Anne Merrow — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:00:00 GMT

Whether your style is elegant or rustic, thrifty or decadent, everyone gets cold feet in the winter months.

Even though the days are getting longer, our coldest months may still be ahead of us. To chase away the last of the winter chills, there are five knitted sock patterns in the Spring 2013 issue of Sockupied that will keep your needles and toes happy. One design makes perfect handknitted socks for the daintiest of fancy feet, and another is the epitome of handsome yet sensible socks.


Claire Ellen's Uloborus Socks

Dark, Silky, and Sumptuous

Claire Ellen’s Uloborus Socks are the epitome of luxurious knitted stockings. Looking for a subtly creepy spider motif, Claire actually derived the main design element from a floral pattern. Unlike the cartoonish designs she’d found, her adaptation is an exquisite and slightly macabre sock pattern with elements of delicate spider webs.

The Tencel-blend sock yarn gives a silvery sheen to the surface, inspiring the design’s name: Uloboridae are a genus of venomless spiders known for their feathery, fuzzy fine silk. They are known for lovely web decorations—motifs created by nature.

Fun and Functional


	Rachel Coopey's Bockleton Socks

Of course, socks are also practical. Rachel Coopey’s Bockleton Socks, named after a village near her Worcestershire home, are designed to use small amounts of yarn in the stranded-colorwork cuffs. The waffle texture of the garter-rib instep adds a little extra warmth. The simple four-ply yarn includes a dose of nylon with the superwash wool, which makes these socks durable—another must for the practical sock knitter. The simple geometric motifs in the knitted design are perfect for men’s socks, too.

There are three other all-new patterns as well as ideas for customizing your socks for a better fit and having more fun while knitting them. Check out the latest Sockupied for socks that will keep your feet cozy until the last winter breezes are chased away.

Cheers,

Knit Scottish Color

Karen Brock — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 12:00:00 GMT


Tay Tartan Cardigan


	Cromarty Coat

Riding a train from Edinburgh, Scotland, to points farther north many years ago, it seems like I spent hours gazing out the window at nothing but vibrant yellow flower clusters lining the hillsides. It was May, and the gorse plant was making its presence known, everywhere. It’s always surprised me a little that among my memories of a stellar trip to Scotland (like sampling several single-malt scotches at different distilleries, admiring herds of adorable hairy little cows, driving through the hushed greens of the Spey valley, or tasting my first bite of haggis), what emerges first is the yellow gorse plant blooming across the country like some kind of madness.


Gorse on the hillside

When I picked up a copy of renowned knitwear designer Martin Storey’s latest collection, Scottish Knits, I was gratified to see a lovely photograph of gorse growing on a rocky outcrop as one of the very first images in the book. The photo is inspiration for the first project, Tay Tartan Cardigan, where the yellow from the flowers translate directly into the colorway of the cardigan. Storey employs this process throughout, trusting the colors and beauty of the Scottish landscape as his allies in creating 24 gorgeous designs.


	The rocky coastline of Scotland inspired the triangular-shaped Cromarty Coat.

In addition to the gorse-inspired cardigan, you’ll discover gentle streams, fields of heather, and dramatic coastlines all of which serve to inspire extraordinary colorwork and cable designs using traditional stitch patterns and techniques handed down through generations of Scottish knitters. It’s elegant. It’s fun. It’s a must-have collection for your knitting library.

Knit your own journey through Scotland with Scottish Knits.

Enjoy,

Stitching Heirlooms

Karen Brock — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:00:00 GMT


	Karen's knitted heirloom Christmas stocking

My dear friend and neighbor Erin tore across the street last week, clutching the beloved Christmas stocking that her grandmother had knit for her almost forty years ago. Knowing I’m a knitter, Erin hoped I was also a knitting mender. Somehow several stitches of Grandma’s stocking had worked their way loose, creating a little hole at the top that brought Erin to a bit of a panic. Fortunately for me, the repair was super easy as I simply worked the dangling strand of yarn through those old loops with a crochet hook and wove in the yarn end. Stitches re-created; disaster averted, family tradition maintained.

I have some knitted heirloom stockings of my own hanging in front of my fireplace. One is a striking, very long red-and-white affair with a Santa knit into the center of it with angora. [And while mine is pretty long, it doesn’t come close to the Guinness World Record’s largest Christmas stocking, which apparently measured over 168 feet in length and almost 71 feet in width (heel to toe), knit by an emergency services organization in Tuscany, Italy, last year.] My father hung up my long fuzzy stocking as a child himself, and it’s been part of his family’s Christmas tradition for so long no one remembers its history. My sister hangs the matching green-and-white one at her house. I have another one with my name knit into it by my mother’s best friend and that stocking is older than my friend Erin’s! A dozen years ago, the same dear knitter made one for my son that matches mine. It’s sweet to hang our stockings up together that were made for us by the loving hands of the same woman decades apart.


Counterpane and Lace Stocking by Susan Strawn

It seems that when we hang our stockings up each year, it preserves a connection to our families, even if they have long since left us or live a thousand miles away. I’m thinking not only of my friend Erin and myself, but of many friends’ stories I’ve heard, and in particular a beautiful article by Barbara Bentley in PieceWork’s November/December 2003 issue, “My World War II Christmas Stocking.” This story details the life of Barbara’s grandmother who knit Christmas stockings for all eleven of her grandchildren and a special one for Barbara at the start of the second World War.


	Linda Ligon's Sock Monkey Stocking

If you’d like to knit an heirloom for someone special in your life, you’ll surely be able to find a pattern during Interweave’s December sale. Whether you’re searching for a whimsical sock monkey stocking, a Celtic Fair Isle stocking, or something elegant and lacy, you’ll be able to find a design in the Christmas Stocking eBook.

Search the Interweave store and you’ll find other Christmas stocking patterns and fabulous handmade needlework gift ideas aplenty.

And remember with that Christmas stockings, you only have to knit one!

Enjoy,

The Lure of Folklore

Jeane Hutchins — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Over the years, Interweave has published several knitting books with the word “folk” in the title—Folk Hats, Folk Style, Folk Socks, Folk Shawls—8 in all. But looking through them for inspiration the other day, I discovered that I really didn’t know the exact meaning of the word “folk.”


Prince of Wales Slipover from Folk Vests.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines the word “folk” as: “a group . . . that tends to preserve its characteristic form of civilization and its customs, arts and crafts, legends, traditions, and superstitions from generation to generation.” The word has been in use since about 900. Of course!

Each of these books is filled with terrific patterns. Even better, each includes historical context, and you know that always makes me a happy camper! Here are just a few examples:

—England’s Edward VIII put Fair Isle knitting on the front burner (seriously!) while he was still the Prince of Wales. A portrait of him wearing a Fair Isle sweater made by the painter John St Helier Lander in 1925 fueled the flames. Cheryl Oberle used the pattern in her Prince of Wales Slipover in Folk Vests (2002).


	Appalachian Gathering Basket from Folk Style.

—Nancy Bush used a 19th-century woman’s sock made on the Estonian island of Kihnu as her inspiration for one project in Folk Socks (updated edition, 2011).


Knitted Ruana from Folk Shawls.

—Gina Wilde’s Appalachian Gathering Basket in Folk Style (2007) pays tribute to traditional basketweaving and incorporates motifs from Pima Native Americans.

—In South America, the ruana is a centuries-old wrap. Cheryl Oberle styled her knitted version after the traditional woven garment in her Folk Shawls (2000).

—In 1642, Andover, Massachusetts, decreed “that those in the field watching cattle or sheep must spin or knit.” Most people in Colonial America had learned to knit when they were children; many were so skilled that they could knit the alphabet, a poem, or a biblical verse into their mittens. Marcia Lewandowski’s Mittens from Colonial New England incorporate the latter in Folk Mittens (1997).

If you are looking for knitting books filled with inspiring projects and a historical connection, look no further. I know our Folk series books will delight!

Enjoy,

Discover Knitting Connections

Jeane Hutchins — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:00:00 GMT

It seems that knitting traditions and connections are everywhere, sometimes in the most unlikely places. The newest edition of PieceWork’s Knitting Traditions offers a number of these. I especially love “Jeune Fille d’Aibling en Bavière.” Donna Druchunas explains:


	Donna Druchunas's Bavarian leg warmers and her treasured drawing of a young Bavarian girl in knitted leg warmers that she discovered in an antiquarian book shop. Photo by Joe Coca.

The best surprises lurk in dark corners in the back of used-book stores. Last year, when the cruise ship on which I was teaching knitting put in at Portland, Maine, I went ashore and soon found myself in Carlson Turner Antiquarian Books on Congress Street.

My most interesting discovery, hanging on a nail on the end of a shelf in the very back of the store, was a cheap frame holding a colored illustration of a young girl wearing a knee-length dress, a hat with a feather in it, and leg warmers. The price was $25. Because I didn’t think that it would fit in my luggage, I reluctantly left the picture hanging in the shop. I had, however, taken a snapshot of it with my phone, and a few days after returning home, I was emailing the shop to order the picture. Googling the caption, Jeune Fille d’Aibling en Bavière [Young Girl from Aibling in Bavaria], revealed that my picture was just one of many included in a book published in France in the early decades of the 19th century by the writer and engraver Georges-Jacques Gatine and the painter and illustrator Louis-Marie Lanté. Examining the girl’s clothing, I decided that the leg warmers must have been knitted. The patterning reminded me of stitches I’d seen on knitted counterpanes. I envisioned the horizontal lines as being worked in garter stitch, the vertical lines knitted in a textured Ears of Wheat pattern, and the band of swirling shapes at the calf as lace-leaf motifs.


Magnus Colvin, younger son of Jeremina Colvin, and his wife, Berthe. Magnus is wearing the last sweater that his mother knitted. Circa 1976. Collection of the Cowichan Valley Museum and Archives, Duncan, British Columbia. (1997.103.1zz). Photo © the Cowichan Valley Museum and Archives.

Needless to say, we are so glad Donna found this treasure, re-created the leg warmers, and shared all with us. They are a perfect example of fashion transcending centuries!

Other connections you’ll find in Knitting Traditions Fall 2012 include the lifelong bond formed between Jeremina Colvin and Mary Edwards. Jeremina emigrated from the Shetland Islands to British Columbia where she met Mary, a Cowichan. Together, they established a new knitting tradition combining the heritage of Fair Isle and Cowichan knitting.

Welcome to this installment of PieceWork’s Knitting Traditions. It’s packed with historical context on the craft’s rich history, stories about extraordinary knitters, and projects for new and lifelong knitters.

Enjoy!

Traditional Knits for Modern Times

Karen Brock — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:00:00 GMT

PieceWork’s most popular special issue, Knitting Traditions, is here!


Carol Rhoades’s bead- and lace-knitted half gloves inspired by traditional German folk costume. Photo by Joe Coca.

For the fifth time, we’ve brought together the most amazing range of stories, projects, and techniques that you could imagine. As you’ve come to expect in Knitting Traditions, we’ve journeyed around the world seeking out fascinating knitters and their inspiring stories to profile, and we’ve explored the evolution of knitting techniques and traditions along the way. And, you’ll be thrilled at the 30+ projects we’ve designed for you to try out on your own.


	Ann Budd’s reproduction of the sock pattern from Weldon’s Practical Needlework. Photo by Joe Coca.

Some things I love about this Fall 2012 edition: Six really fun sweaters knit from the original vintage patterns; elegant and lacy bead-knitted half gloves inspired by traditional German folk costumes—and wait until you see the inspiration for the design! And there’s the spot-on reproduction of a lap blanket based on one owned by English poet William Wordsworth and lace, lots of lace, including a Faroe-inspired shawl, an Orenburg shawl and scarf, and gorgeous detached sleeves. And on the oh-so-practical side, Ann Budd knits up, and includes contemporary instructions for, a Weldon’s sock pattern with replaceable heels and toes!


The Lady Betty Sweater knit from the original 1924 Needlework magazine instructions. Photo by Joe Coca.

There’s so much more that makes this Knitting Traditions really special. We’ve included several articles about the pluck and brilliance of women knitters who have overcome hardship and grief and used their love of knitting to forge new lives, new friendships, and to influence generations of knitters. Meet English knitting entrepreneur and writer Cornelia Mee and Virginia Bellamy, the knitter (and poet) who patented her own knitting technique in the 1940s, and then sit near the fire with Fair Isle knitter Jeremina Colvin and her dear friend, Cowichan knitter Mary Edwards.

I just know you’re going to love the beauty and breadth of this fabulous new issue of PieceWork’s Knitting Traditions!

P.S. PieceWork’s Knitting Traditions wants you! We’d love to receive your article and project proposals for future editions. Visit our website to learn how you can be a part of the next Knitting Traditions.

Entrelac with Eunny

Eunny Jang — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 11:00:00 GMT


	River and Woods Afghan, Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2008

Editors' Note: We've invited Eunny Jang, editor of PieceWork's sister publication Interweave Knits to talk about a traditional knitting technique that has been gaining in popularity.

Entrelac, one of my favorite knitting techniques, is a powerful demonstration of how ingenious knitters can be. At first glance, entrelac knitting looks like strips of fabric woven over and under each other or perhaps individual squares that have been painstakingly pieced together. Take a closer look, though, and you’ll see that entrelac is actually worked all in one piece, without a single seam: instead, you work one block at a time, joining it to its surrounding blocks as you go with simple decreases. So nifty!


Entrelac Socks, Interweave Knits Spring 2007

“Entrelac” is French for “interlaced,” but the oldest examples of this technique come from Scandinavia, where it was sometimes called “basketweave” or “patchwork” knitting, often around the tops of stockings. It’s a marvelously flexible technique—you can knit it flat in two colors for the traditional checkerboard look or in the round to create tubes. You can use as many colors as you dare. Because the stitch uses yarn in such an unusual way, it’s a great way to show off long-stripe yarns. And you can use entrelac as a sculptural tool to shape your knitting even as you adorn it: By introducing shaping into the entrelac squares and thinking carefully about where a new square should join, you can create circular sweater yokes, hats, and all kinds of three-dimensional forms.


	Little Entrelac Bags, Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2009

Getting started with entrelac can be a little tricky, so sit down with a cup of coffee (or a glass of wine—but just one! You’ll need all your concentration), your yarn and needles, and an adventurous spirit, and cast on. You’ll see your fabric grow stitch by stitch and block by block. Just watch out—entrelac can be addictive.

For a step-by-step look at the entrelac technique, from beginner basics to shaping garments, check out Knitting Daily's new workshop, Entrelac Knitting, Basics and Beyond. I'll help you to get started and develop your entrelac skills with lace, colorwork, and other fun techniques.

Enjoy!

Eunny

Color In Between

Karen Brock — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:00:00 GMT

We hear intarsia and we think color knitting. But intarsia is also an ancient technique of inlaying pictorial mosaics into wood—a technique that was highly developed during the Italian Renaissance. We take our term intarsia from the Latin interserere, to insert or to place in between, and whether you’re woodworking or knitting, that’s what intarsia is: inserting. It helps me to understand the tricks of intarsia knitting more easily when I think of ancient woodworkers creating individual pieces of wood and laying them into a grounding piece to create a design. Intarsia knitting employs a similar technique by knitting the color motifs individually, so carrying the yarn isn’t necessary.


Anne Berk’s re-created Gordon Highlander intarsia sock from PieceWork January/Feburary 2011.

That’s appealing to me because sometimes I’m still traumatized by the memory of those wretched tight bunches of color the first time I tried stranded colorwork in the intricate design of a sweater I knit years ago. The motif was a chain of little birds, but mine looked as if they’d been strangled rather than flying effortlessly through the sky of my sweater.

As I’ve learned to overcome my colorwork challenges, Anne Berk has been a helpful guide. In her first DVD Inside Intarsia, she taught the basics, including single-strand splicing, the difference between knitting flat or in the round (yes it’s possible!), and how to read charts.

Anne also wrote an article for PieceWork’s January/February 2011 historical knitting issue about creating a pattern for a pair of Gordon Highland regiment tartan socks based on an 1846 photograph. It was a fascinating article, and the bonus was her cool argyle sock pattern that included some useful tips about knitting intarsia.

So now I’m particularly excited about her most recent DVD, Intarsia InDepth, Advanced Techniques because it takes us a few levels deeper into the world of inserting colorwork. Anne is a great teacher, and her passion and delight for intarsia infuse each chapter of this video.


	Learn how to successfully knit intarsia in the round with Anne's thorough instructions.

Yarn management is critical to intarsia knitting, and Anne deftly provides the info you need about how to manage large amounts of yarn, including useful tips for calculating how much yarn you’ll need for the various sections of any given project.

The video includes printable patterns for two projects: An iPad case that allows you to practice working a single motif and a more challenging traditional argyle sock knit entirely in the round.

Another fun segment of the video is learning to create your own motifs, where Anne offers practical suggestions and inspires your creativity.

Take inspiration from those Renaissance masters and Anne Berk and try your hand at intarsia.

Enjoy,

Collecting Traditions

Karen Brock — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:00:00 GMT

The fourth edition of PieceWork’s super-popular special issue Knitting Traditions is just about to hit the newsstands, and we’re currently at work on the fifth edition due out this fall. Fifth edition already? How did that happen?


Nancy Bush knitted these Norwegian gloves using intricate two-color patterning. Knitting Traditions Winter 2011. Photograph by Joe Coca.


	Chris Laning’s re-creation Islamic stockings. Knitting Traditions Winter 2011. Photograph by Joe Coca.

One of the fun things about creating each new issue of Knitting Traditions is reviewing previous issues to see how we organized the projects, arranged the stories. In the premier Winter 2010 issue, we arranged the contents by type—socks, sweaters, gloves and mittens, shawls and scarves; for the following Winter 2011 issue, we organized the projects and stories by technique: colorwork, texture, and lace. For the third issue in Fall 2011, we took readers on a knitting journey around the world.

The quantity and diversity of the projects from these first three issues is remarkable, from ancient Islamic socks to a new tradition of charity knitting in Texas; from the lacework of Utah pioneers and Orenburg, knitters to Portuguese and Peruvian knitting techniques; from knitted silk bags of the European renaissance to Bohus knitting and the colorwork of Norway and the Yorkshire Dales.


Galina Khmeleva used traditional Orenburg lace-knitted elements in this luxurious cashmere lace scarf. Knitting Traditions Fall 2011. Photograph by Joe Coca.


	Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’s Peruvian maquitos knitted in the round using a zigzag intarsia method. Knitting Traditions Winter 2010. Photograph by Joe Coca.

Looking through those first few issues is like visiting old friends, especially when I remember learning from and being inspired by some of today’s best knitting designers and historians who are making significant advances into broadening our understanding about techniques, tools, and the culture of knitting throughout centuries and around the world.

And now lucky for me—and for you—for the first time, I’m able to explore the first three issues of Knitting Traditions all in one convenient place. All 2010–2011 issues are available on CD or through a single digital download!

See what all your knitting friends are talking about and get your Knitting Traditions 2010–2011 Collection now. It will keep you busy until the fourth and fifth issues are available.

Enjoy,

Interpreting Traditions Today: Knitscene

LisaShroyer — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Editors' Note: We invited Lisa Shroyer, editor of Knitscene, one of PieceWork's sister magazines, to tell us what's new in her world.


	Melissa Lemmons's Ramona Cowl

As editor of Knitscene magazine, I review a lot of knitting design submissions. When choosing projects for the magazine, I have a lot of objectives—the design must be smart, well thought-out, appealing to a wide audience, and contemporary in style, while still hinging on the legacy of knitting itself.


Ruth Garcia-Alcantud's Montview Cardigan

Designers who interpret old techniques and make them startlingly new to the eye have a special talent. Sometimes all it takes to get this effect is to update the silhouette of a project while incorporating familiar elements into the surface design. Ruth Garcia-Alcantud's Montview Cardigan uses common cables and a shawl collar, but the shape of the garment is utterly modern, with an hourglass waist and sideways-knit garter bands that flare more than pull in, as traditional ribbing would.

Surface design is all-important in Melissa Lemmons's Ramona Cowl, which uses a solid and a self-striping yarn in two-color stranded Fair Isle. The end result is luminous, just like Fair Isle colorwork but almost unrecognizable as such otherwise—the stitch pattern here is large, meandering, and doesn't feature cross-motif symmetry. And sometimes, we can reference tradition with the silhouette itself. Amy Herzog's Hester Pullover features gently puffed sleeves in a nod to "sweater-girl" looks. With spare detailing and a lush metallic/mohair blend, this sweater has contemporary style with retro soul.

Amy Herzog's Hester Pullover

Tweaking the traditional is what Knitscene's all about. We strive for simpler patterns that are fun to make and knit up quickly. We look for projects that utilize the knitter's skills and favorite techniques but that create a fresh and flattering space for them.

Simple, stylish knitting for the free spirit. Check out our CD collections for back issues, including the complete 2011 set, which includes some of the projects I've discussed here.

Happy knitting,

Lisa

Socks Rule

Anne Merrow — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Editors' Note: We invited Anne Merrow, editor of Yarn and Specialty Fiber eMags, to tell us what's new in the world of eMags.

When it comes to historical textiles, socks usually get short shrift. Lace-edged tablecloths, gowns, uniforms, dolls, and other special occasion pieces are saved and put away, but socks are worn and used until they’re worn out and used up.


Albanian double socks, such as the pair shown here, paired a highly embellished outer sock with a simple inner sock. Photo by Dominic Cotignola, courtesy of Bankfield Museum.

It takes a special collector to visit a foreign country and come back with something as pedestrian as socks as souvenirs. Edith Durham was such a collector. On her travels through Albania and other Balkan countries in the early twentieth century, Durham collected all kinds of traditional clothing. Among the many garments and textiles she brought back to England and donated to the Bankfield Museum in Halifax, Yorkshire, are a treasure trove of beautifully embellished socks and slippers. Sock knitter, teacher, and designer Donna Druchunas visited the museum and was enthralled by the footwear on display.


	Donna Druchunas's Kilmeni Socks, inspired by the "inner socks" found in the Edith Durham Collection. Photo by Harper Point Photography.

In the areas Durham visited, the shoes were thin leather (Durham referred to them as sandals), so two pairs of socks were needed to keep out the chill. Providing an extra layer of warmth inside shoes, the outer socks served as slippers when shoes were removed indoors. Embellished with crochet, embroidery, and stranded knitting, the outer socks were a riot of color. The plainer inner socks had longer cuffs and unadorned feet. “The foot of the inner sock is worked in plain stockinette,” writes Donna, “with decorative ribbing or lace on the cuff.”


Worked in a sport-weight wool yarn, these over-the-knee stockings by Deborah Newton are intricate yet rustic, and are sure to keep you warm. Photo by Harper Point Photography.

In the Spring 2012 issue of Sockupied, Donna writes about her visit to the museum and shares photographs of some of its most exquisite socks. She also reimagines a pair of inner socks from the collection with a twist for contemporary knitters. Like the Albanian socks that inspired them, the Kilmeni Socks are worked from the toe up with an unusual swirl toe and an afterthought heel. Donna omitted the traditional Bosnian crochet technique to close the heel, and she extended the lace pattern down the instep.

This issue of Sockupied has plenty of modern classics, too, with techniques for spectacular socks. Deborah Newton imagined the kind of stockings a bride might wear on a chilly morning and designed lacy Frost Feather Stockings. Debbie O’Neill thought of a children’s game and designed the pool-busting Leapfrog Socks. With six designs and seven techniques, this issue of Sockupied will keep your fingers flying on your own sock journey and your feet warm.

Best,

Discovering Inspiration with Alice Starmore

Karin Strom — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT


	Linda Ligon and Alice Starmore having fun after Interweave's very first Knitting Lab.


Interweave held its very first Knitting Event in San Mateo, California, in November 2011.

Editor's note: We invited Karin Strom, Editorial Director of Interweave's Yarn group to tell us about her recent adventure at Interweave's premier knitting event, the Knitting Lab.

Pinch me—I just spent three days with Alice Starmore. Yes, that Alice Starmore. The knitting legend joined us in San Mateo, California, for the recent Interweave Knitting Lab, where she presented a thoroughly inspiring keynote address. It was her first trip to the States in thirteen years. Alice traveled all the way from her home on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, to be our guest at the first-ever Interweave knitting event. After the event ended, I was lucky enough to be able to spend a few days exploring the Northern California coast with Alice and Linda Ligon, Interweave’s founder and PieceWork’s creative director.

Alice’s presentation at the lab was full of lush images from her island home, a rugged place where generations of her family have lived and where she learned to knit in the traditional style of the island. Everything about that environment, from the surrounding sea to rock outcroppings and native wildflowers, serves as a source of inspiration for her color and design work and her own yarn line. In addition to the traditional Fair Isle colorwork and Aran knitting most American knitters think of when they hear the name Alice Starmore, she has in recent years been pursuing photography, tapestry, and painting, as well as conservation of the island habitat that is so dear to her.


The beautiful California coastline where Karin Strom traveled with Alice Starmore, exploring the natural world as creative inspiration.

On our road trip up the California coast north of San Francisco, I got to witness firsthand just how Alice looks at things in nature. We made a special stop at Shell Beach in order to see the very beautiful blue schist that a geologist and knitter had told Alice about at the event. She deftly climbed onto a rocky ledge to study the very beautiful indigo rocks, which I would probably have walked right by. The next day we examined the teeming rainbow of aquatic activity in a tidal pool: beautifully textured bright green sea urchins and golden tentacled anemones paired with delicate pink kelp. By the end of those couple of days, I had an understanding of just how much nature informs Alice’s color combinations in her design work and yarn development. I know I’ll be thinking about my own color choices differently after that adventure!

I just wish I could have spent an extra couple of days with each of the instructors at Knitting Lab, many of them contributors to PieceWork: Nancy Bush, ethnic knitting expert extraordinaire; Robin Hansen, knitting folklorist and mitten maven; Carol Rhoades, expert on all knits Nordic and British; Susan Strawn, historian and raconteur. Just to name a few. Maybe next year . . .

Cheers,

P. S. SAVE THE DATES!

Knitting Lab New England

October 4-7, 2012 at the Radisson Hotel Manchester, NH

Knitting Lab San Mateo, CA

November 1-4, 2012 back at the Marriott San Mateo, CA

Fair Isle at Your Fingertips

Linda Ligon — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:00:00 GMT


	An actual-size photo and four different charts are included for each of the 200 motifs.

I love knitting motif dictionaries in much the same way that I love my big fat Webster’s Third International. It’s as if all the riches in the world—be it knitting motifs or words—are right


This sweater, made using an analogous palette, follows the steps laid out in this book.

there at your fingertips. You never look up all the words in the dictionary, and you probably never even begin to use all the motifs, but what a feeling of potential they give you!

For years I depended on an old copy of Sheila McGregor’s Traditional Fair Isle Knitting when I wanted to add a patterned border to a sock or cap or Alice Starmore’s splendid Charts For Colour Knitting (which, for better or worse, is all black and white). These are both great resources to skim through, looking for motifs that will fit your stitch count, your yarn-carrying limit, and your attention span for tracking rows. As you might expect, once you filter out all the patterns that simply won’t work, there might not be that many left to choose from.

That’s why I was especially excited to see Mary Jane Mucklestone’s new book, 200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitter’s Directory. There’s some excellent general information on sweater design and execution, including a well-illustrated and encouraging section on The Dread Steek. But then the fun begins. The directory of 200 patterns starts with a clever Motif Selector, which presents the simplest single-row possibilities through much more elaborate multi-row charts. From these, you’re referred to pages in the next section that show these motifs in different colorways and different pattern combinations. You can actually choose small motifs and combine them to build your own original large motifs, or repeat a motif in an all-over scheme, and see examples of how these might look.


Formulate ideas for using Fair Isle motifs in your own projects.

Much of the magic of true Fair Isle design is the color sequencing. How you choose to arrange your darks and lights can make a simple chart almost unrecognizable. You’ll see that illustrated in this book, and it will just make you want to knit a hundred samples to see that magic happen. And speaking of samples—the author advocates a couple of simple ways of knitting flat samples that are worked only on the front side. That might not satisfy the stickler for ultra-precise gauge, but it sure does make it easy to test color combinations in a hurry.

Then there’s the question of the title. Just what IS Fair Isle knitting? How is it different from Scandinavian color-pattern knitting, or for that matter, any kind of color stranding? Whatever you call it, this book is a nifty resource.

Cheers,

Color Your Knitting World

Anne Merrow — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Editors' note: We invited eMag Editor Anne Merrow to tell us about the debut of her newest eMag, ColorKnits, which focuses on the worldwide knitting tradition of colorwork.


	Janine Bajus shows how color value gives Fair Isle knitting a sense of depth and movement.

Given a pair of knitting needles and a limited supply of yarn, how many ways could you invent to create intricate color designs? The number of techniques that knitters around the world incorporate and use to manage color in their projects is pretty astonishing. The first issue of ColorKnits takes a detailed look at two very different traditional ways of creating colorful knitting, one from Estonia and one from the North Sea.


The Faded Splendor Tam combines a Turkish-inspired color palette with Fair Isle techniques.

Fair Isle

On a small island far off the coast of Scotland, the knitters of Fair Isle (and other Shetland Islands) developed a style of knitting that became so popular that it has become synonymous with stranded-color knitting. As Janine Bajus explains, color use and Fair Isle knitting are inextricably linked: the progressions and combinations of colors are as important to Fair Isle knitting as the methods of stranding colors and working in the round. Value—a term that might sound offputtingly like a lesson from color-theory class—comes to life in Fair Isle knitting. The background and foreground colors in a motif shift gradually between lighter and darker, creating the appearance of movement and depth. In her Faded Splendor Tam, Janine brings this idea to life, creating a three-dimensional appearance that draws your eye in irresistibly.

Roositud


	Nancy Bush designed the Forest Flower Mitts with roositud for a fresh pop of color.

Estonian knitters developed an ingenious way of adding color in knitting: roositud, an inlay technique that combines elements of stranded knitting, satin-stitch embroidery, and weaving. Using short lengths of contrasting yarn, roositud doesn't require any knitting with the supplementary colors; to add color designs, the knitter simply moves the yarn back and forth from right side to wrong side. Estonian knitting expert Nancy Bush explains the method, which can be challenging to envision but is strikingly simple to work; it requires no extra needle, avoids the possibility of splitting stitches, and anchors the contrasting colors firmly in the fabric. Nancy's Forest Flower Mitts design is a lovely way to practice the technique.

ColorKnits includes so many ways of knitting with color, from planned pooling (the technique of coaxing a regular pattern from skeins of handpainted or variegated yarns) to Anne Berk's seamless intarsia in the round method, and offers a variety of designs—a perfect way to brighten your knitting.

Best,