Vote For Us....

Wow, our entry for these very prestigious Melbourne Design Awards have been accepted. This award entry is a reflection of the integrity and originality that has been injected into our Construction Knitting Project. The complete project is profiled on the link, which explains the process of how the product was conceived. The public's vote plays a big part in the award - so please vote for us here.

The Handknitter's Yarn Guide

I remember in my interview with the Design Files I really pondered over the "what's your dream job" question. And I replied that I'd like to travel the world to examine all the rare fibres available, and work out what to knit with them. Well; it came true!!!!

I was actually approached by a publisher to author this particular book: "The Handknitter's Yarn Guide";and I didn't actually travel the world to find the knitting yarn, but I was given a budget to source them, so I trawled the internet (hey - same thing, sort of!) And so for the last year I've had parcels landing on my doorstep from all corners of the world of every type of hand knitting yarn imaginable, made from every fibre possible; animal, vegetable and synthetic. So, I've had time to play, work, and review, and compile all this into a book.













The most amazing I discovered is Vicuna, a rare South American animal; so rare it's US$300 for a 50g ball. 50g's enough to make half a mitten. The most under-rated fibre; Camel - just as fine, soft, warm and beautiful as Cashmere; but you don't see any model/actress come fashion designer releasing a new 'camel knitwear range do you'. I have a list of the most surprising and the most delightful; Seacell (made out of seaweed), Kenaf (from the bark of a bamboo/like plant), Milk (yep; solidified then spun into a yarn), Corn & Nettle. And there's more, my God there's so much more!!!! You will have to wait for the book to come out to discover the rest: March 2012, from St Martin's Press in the US, and Search Press in the UK.

WORKSHOPS

What a week - phew!! The highlights for me was the actual pitching of the tent , and setting up the ambience for the space/ once the LIGHTLY lamps and pom poms were up I was satisfied it was going to be a productive and beautiful space to share and work for the week at Harvest Workroom. The other highlight of course was the really diverse range of people who attended; one lady brought her elderly mother who has been an accomplished knitter all her life, but can't make the complex and demanding garments she used to make, and can now only knit squares, and so was inspired by the end of the workshop; and then a guy who wanted to learn to knit so he can make something for his girlfried - hoowww sweeeet!! I enjoyed the conversations with all the hospitality workers who had days and afternoons off to knit/ a couple of lawyers, a few designers, artists & fashion students & many textile appreciators. And of course the yummy food / my morning trips to QV Market kept the table filled with pots of tea and fruit, cake, bread, cheese.

Knitting Tent

Tent is now set up for Knitting Workshops at Harvest Workroom.
There are still some places available for the afternoon sessions - or just pop in to have a look and see the new range of WOOLI yarn, Tools & Construction No 3 knitting patterns.

CONSTRUCTION NO.3

NO. 3 now ON WEBSHOP

Construction No.3 knitting patterns & made garments are now available on the WEBSHOP.

Design Files Guest Blog

See an interview about the knitting workshops by GUEST BLOGGERS on Design Files; and more on the Harvest Textiles Blog.

CONSTRUCTION NO.3

This is a snippet of Construction No3. This pattern has 3 projects, above is PROJECT ONE > A to C. The pattern includes a further 5 garment formations; that's a total of 7 designs made from squares. The WORKSHOP KIT includes the pattern that makes all 7 garment formations. CONSTRUCTION NO.3C below in WOOLI black.

KNITTING TENT COMING TO MELBOURNE

I will be installing the Knitting Tent in Melbourne this time for Construction Knitting Workshops at Harvest Workroom
from 26 - 28 July during STATE OF DESIGN FESTIVAL. I will also be making a guest appearance for a day of workshops at Cottage Industry on Sunday 31st July. Will also be launching new products during this week; which I will be posting details of soon....

CONSTRUCTION NO.3A

Construction No 3 is based on 1 knitted shape: a SQUARE. At Cottage Industry now is a jumbo WOOLI ball that comes with a free knitted pattern that starts off Construction No 3 ; NO.3A is a SHRUG made up of 3 squares.







The rest of No3 pattern shows how to construct a further 6 garments; its easy - just keep knitting squares.

New Tools

Working with RECYCLED New Zealand RIMU, these knitting needles have been hand-turned and carved from old railway sleepers, then ebonised for this beautiful blackened finish. Each pair is unique. Essential tools for Construction Knitting. Available in Sydney from Shelf Life and The Society Inc , in Melbourne at Cottage Industry, Craft Victoria and Pop Craft.

WOOLI

My new bespoke yarn arriving into stores very soon - next week in fact. Ahhh boy, its taken months to develop this yarn, nothing's ever easy! It is a very clever yarn if I must say so myself; it's made from recycled fibres from factory remnants - but this is no rubbish; it's CASHMERE, SILK, ALPACA, WOOL, & being New Zealand, a bit of POSSUM. I was beside myself when I spied a rainbow of waste yarn sitting there at the spinning mill, I have no idea where it would have ended up otherwise, but I'd like to think that I've rescued it from being landfill or becoming a removalist blanket (although I think these are pretty cool).






These beautiful fibres have been mixed together and spun into a bulky roving style yarn. It's a bit tweedy where its got these little specs of multicolour dotted through a heathered GREIGE colour, which is all the colours mixed together. This WOOLI yarn has all the beautiful characteristics of each natural fibre; the luxurious softness of CASHMERE, the lustre of SILK, the warmth of ALPACA, the spring of WOOL, and the lightness of POSSUM. I have dyed colours too; black, grey, & burgundy; the multicolour specs are still prominent in these colours. Now here I know I'm revealing myself to be a yarn nerd, but I am so &*^#@$#% excited about this yarn, I hope you are too.







This is a bulky yarn for chunky knitting and you can knit CONSTRUCTION NO1 & CONSTRUCTION NO2 with it, but I have designed also a Construction No 3 for WOOLI, so I will unveil this shortly too. The yarn will come in Jumbo balls for CONSTRUCTION NO3.

New Knitting Construction

Construction No 3. Knitting Pattern and a new Bespoke Yarn UNVEILED SOON......

Knitted Joanie Lamp

Great Design Files post on Lightly, including pics of our recent collaboration on the knitted Joanie lamp.

Knitting Symposium

Made a presentation at Auckland University Knitting Symposium ; keynote speaker was the eponymous author Sandy Black. Sandy is from the London College of Arts; amazing woman, she has a wealth of knowledge of knitting and was a true inspiration to meet. So at the symposium many issues were discussed, about industry, innovation and education; and how these can be improved for the future. With representatives from all of these, there were some really interesting insights. There were discussions that went round and round the issues of technology advancing beyond the innovation applied to it, which leaves a big gap in creativity meeting industry; and why?!
In my opinion one of the key points that was raised was "why do we not train our knitwear designers to program the machines, and shouldn't it be part of the curriculum?" True; I mean to get a graphic design degree, one has to know the design programs, right!? I hope, truly hope; that whatever changes are implemented over time, that the perception of knitting is changed too, and for it to be considered as a valid design discipline that takes just as much enquiry as any design process.

Portman's Window

If you're on a Melbourne city tram one of these rainy days (sigh! I miss you Melbourne) and you think you just spotted in the corner of your eye a lot of cozy looking fluff hanging in the Portman's window; you weren't imagining it. I've made them plenty of wooli pom-poms, braids and tassels to drape their windows for the launch of their knitwear collections this week.