Kay's Korner - A Knitters Notes

Next time you flip through a pattern book and choose a fabulous project to hand knit, please give the pattern designer a moment of love. When I refer to someone as a designer, I do not mean the courageous knitter who either substitutes a different yarn or adds a few rows to make sleeves a bit longer. I am referring to the person who begins a design with a blank sheet of paper and an idea. Although I have both altered many sweater patterns and designed throws and accessories, sweater designs are a relatively new skill for me. So that you may appreciate the effort behind the stunning abundance of sweater patterns available to today's knitters, I thought I would take you through some of the ups and downs of designing Slip Into Spring, my latest pattern.

The inspiration for this comfy, cotton blend top was the yarn, Amerino by Laines du Nord. The two plies of differing textures blend color as well as interest, with the yarn available in seven lovely, warm weather colorways. As I handled the yarn, an image of a fairly loose fitting, casual top came to mind, something suitable for active spring/summer days. I knew the yarn could produce a fairly firm fabric with enough body for a gentle tenting from a softly empire waist and also for a structured squared neckline. As I began to swatch, I was inspired to add slipped stitches to stockinette to add a subtle striping. This became stitch pattern 2. The slipped stockinette was lovely, but the skirt portion of the top begged for a greater definition of the slipped stitches and also more texture, so another stitch pattern was developed and swatched, which became stitch pattern 1. I must tell you, swatching has to be a designer's best friend.

The nature of the second slipped stitch pattern was a firmer more narrow fabric, which I used to slightly nip in the empire waist, without decreasing the number of stitches. It also would encase the bustline, but I found it did not lay properly when I bound off for the neckline. I could have solved this with a crochet finishing, but wanted the pattern workable for a novice knitter with no crochet skills. So, I tried binding off on both right and wrong sides, both knitwise and purlwise, but was not pleased with the effect. Had I been knitting with a more elastic fiber, such as wool, blocking would have solved much of the problem with the neckline, but Amerino is a cotton/acrylic blend, not as forgiving as properly blocked animal fibers. Finally, I decided to use ribbing for the neckline and shoulder sections, maintaining my line of slipped stitches. It was necessary to go down from the #10 ½ US needles, to a #9 US in order for the modified 1 x 1 ribbing, stitch pattern 3, to maintain my working gauge. All I had left to do was to decide on the length I wanted my loose fitting, short sleeves and write the instructions so that the sleeve cap would correlate with my armhole shaping. Then the design was complete.

Now, my pattern and sample sweater were customized to fit me. My 41" bust puts me in the size large range, but patterns need to fit a variety of sizes. As "Slip into Spring" is not close fitting, I decided that if I made it to fit small, medium, large, and extra large, it would fit women with busts from 33 inches to 46 inches. Using simple math and basic design concepts, I could determine the changes in the number of stitches and rows throughout the pattern to allow the desired range of sizes.

With my pattern completed, the all important sample knit got underway. With any pattern, it is best to have the sample worked up by someone other than the designer, in fact many publishers require it. This insures that the instructions are clear and that consumers will attain satisfactory results when they follow the pattern. "Slip into Spring" will be available as a Rare Purls Original kit later this summer.

On Kay's Needles

The fringe is being added to a new throw I worked up using a 100% wool tweed from Valley Yarns, striped with rows of Plymouth's Oakmont. The throws full length was cast on, so much of the fringe was in place simply by leaving long tails at each tie on and tie off when changing yarns. I love the design element of the raised rows of Oakmont. The neutral palette will make this throw at home in a wide variety of settings.

Copyright 2008 Karen Mather