Three Fates Design Challenge Part I: Swatching

What ho, friends! Is it time for another Design Challenge with the lovely Stariel, knitter, designer, and sock knitter extraordinaire? I do believe it is!

A while ago, we chatted about the idea of doing a similar design project to our Rastita Design Challenge, and although it got waylaid by ballgowns and the usual life stuff, we connected recently and made a game plan for the new challenge.

I really enjoy Ariel's work as a designer, and she's such a fun, inspiring and engaging collaborator! It was really interesting to see our processes in parallel throughout the Rastita challenge; although we both started with similar materials, our creative brains and resulting workflows are very different, which takes us each down different and wonderful paths. I'm really excited to start working on this new project!

 

For this challenge, we'll be working with Aquae Fingering, a luminous single-ply with amazing yardage, dyed by Stephania of Three Fates Yarns - who is not only a talented fiber artist, but also an Oberlin alum and friend. I'm using the colorways Netarts (turquoise) and Mt St Helens (coral), a bright and summery combination that cheers me up every time I look at it.

So for the first post of the new challenge, we wanted to change it up a bit from last time. I've already covered my conceptualization process - which includes both concept development and sketching - so instead I wanted to talk a little bit about swatching and its role in my design process.

(I can practically hear the chorus of groans and sighs from here, but it will be fun, I swear!)

It's a funny thing, because as a knitter, I'm not much of a swatcher. I've come to realize that I am a lazy, lazy maker, which often makes me resistant to swatching for my usual projects; however, this is an advantage as a designer, as I'm always looking for simple, elegant solutions to complex problems - and I'd rather do it on a tiny swatch than on a whole project, because, y'know, lazy.

As a homeschooled kid, I learned how to be fastidious in this kind of process from my mom, a mathematician and teacher; from my dad the engineer, I learned how to make an educated guess, then glue stuff to other stuff and see what stuck. Both practices are extremely useful in swatching (and design in general): through fastidiousness, I'm able to focus on and change small details that can really kick a design up a notch; through educated guesses coupled with seat-of-the-pants experimentation, I'm able to create a yarn 'sketch', then let the materials express themselves as I work.

Because of this, sometimes my swatches end up... well... really, really ugly. And that's something I've had to work very hard to embrace. As a perfectionist, it's easy to become paralyzed by imperfections right at the beginning of your process, and to judge work before it's fully realized. And so, I've had to learn how to not only push through the imperfect part of the process, but also to really sit with it: to reach through the anxiety and discomfort of creating something objectively bad, to listen instead for the things that the work is trying to teach me.

It's a constant challenge, and one that I'm only just starting to get a firm hold on.

 

So what of this design? Well, this swatch was actually surprisingly easy to execute, and done a pretty long time ago. I was originally planning to have this piece - a lace-edged, striped cowl - be completely reversible, with different stripe combinations on the right and wrong sides of the cowl. The lace edge pattern is almost perfectly reversible by virtue of its construction, and I thought it was a cool element to take advantage of.

And although I still love this idea and might explore it later, I realized after working this swatch that the doubled fabric would not give the piece the lightness and fluidity that I wanted so much - even though it does look cool. It's a prime example of swatching as a rich source of information, as well as the importance of understanding the character of your materials.

And so, with slightly less muttering and cursing under my breath than usual, I swatch on.

For Ariel's take on swatching, take a gander at her post on the subject over here. And stay tuned: we will be posting about this challenge again in a few weeks, and there is the sweet, sweet promise of a giveaway at the end.

Happy Monday, friends... and happy swatching!
<3
Cory

Design Notebook: Talus Hat

  

I picked up just a few special skeins at Knit Fit this year, including this gorgeous skein of YOTH Big Sister in the colorway Oyster. I had been on the search for a light neutral dk weight for a hat design that has been kicking around my head for a bit, and this misted grey hit all the right notes.

So the other day, I pulled out my stitch dictionaries, fired up my Excel charts, and grabbed a few leftovers to swatch.

My first swatch - the blue - was in leftover Hazel Knits Lively DK, and I started off with the Christmas Trees motif from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (page 202-03, in case you want to take a peek). The stitch pattern as I charted it was huge, the ribbing didn't flow into the pattern, and I wasn't happy with the proportions of the center tree to the little trees. But the swatch gave me enough information to see what I wanted to change.

So, I tinkered with the chart, moved the trees together, shifted the ribbing, and voila! The second swatch - the pinkish purple - was done in a bit of Anzula Cricket, and as I saw the pattern emerging, it just made sense. Which, as weird as it is, is even more gratifying than making something that looks pretty: making a thing that, when you look at it, appears to have overturned something essential and correct in our dimensional space, simply by existing. It is the greatest feeling.

And it will be a good hat, I think.

Happy Wednesday.
<3
Cory

Brainstorming: Rambouillet Garter + Lace Mini Collection

  

The last few days, I've been tinkering around with designs for my little Rambouillet stashette. I came up with three different neck accessories: a long cowl, a triangular scarflette, and a semi-circular shawl. All three designs have garter stitch and lace motifs, but each has a different construction method and overall shape.

The first two swatches were relatively easy, since I'd already had the ideas for those a while ago. The third swatch (the violet one) was a little trickier; I had a vision of what it looked like in my head, but was having a hard time finding the right stitch pattern for it. In the end, using Estonian lace as inspiration, I charted out a new motif using building blocks from the stitch patterns in the back of Knitted Lace of Estonia.

These swatches aren't blocked yet - and I expect them to grow a bit, and soften into a more cohesive fabric - but I'm already really happy with them. It's funny, because in my usual knitting life, I hate swatching, but when it's for design, I sort of love it. It takes a fair bit of planning, but it's a really nice way of seeing how the yarn plays with the pattern, and often gives me insight into the construction methods and techniques needed for the design.

Plus, swatches are super little and cute, and can tell so much of a story in just a small piece of fabric!

Happenings

  

The last week has been quietly eventful: I've been working on my presentation, tailored jacket, and some swatching for Ariel's and my next Design Challenge (hooray!) - and on top of it, I got dental surgery last Thursday. It's been on my to-do list for about five years, and I was pretty anxious about getting it done - the last time I had dental surgery was my wisdom teeth, when I got a dry socket and had to wobble through chemistry class loopy on painkillers for two weeks. Luckily, the recovery has been a lot less painful than I thought it would be. I spent three days on the couch sleeping, watching old episodes of House, and knitting, with the occasional rat snuggle thrown in. My face is still recovering, which means I still get to wear my temporary mouth guard that makes me talk like a 12-year-old with headgear - but on the plus side, I can eat all the ice cream I want!

  

WIP: Secret Swatching

 

So although our personal lives have been obnoxiously unstable for the last two weeks (more on that later), I've still managed to do some swatching for a design project I'm working on with a friend.  I found a stitch pattern I really liked while browsing sweaters on Etsy, sketched it out and charted it based on the photos, and swatched a little bit the other day.  It reminded me that even though I'm not a big fan of swatching while I'm doing it, it really does give me a lot of information - especially when designing.

The stitch pattern originally had yarnovers as the method of increasing, and while I love the idea for a women's blouse with a lighter yarn, the fabric was just too airy for the garment I'm making.  So I played with lifted increases, and lo and behold, I really like it.  It just goes to show how the best laid plans are sometimes not the right ones!

Winter Outfits: January

I got back to Oberlin a little more than a week ago.  To get here, my friend and I took Amtrak from Seattle to Chicago, then to Elyria, which is the closest train station to Oberlin.  It ended up being a more exciting trip than we had bargained for: we missed our first train and rescheduled for a second, then I got pinkeye and we had to skip our layover in Chicago.  When we got to Elyria, it was 5 am and there were six inches of snow on the ground and counting.  The train station itself is a platform in the middle of nowhere, and every taxi company in the area either charged a buttload extra money to come to Lorain County, or the proprietor was asleep and did not sound happy to hear from us.  We thankfully ended up getting a ride from one of my friends.

Luckily, since then, I've been able to move into my new room, get settled, and start to work on my winter term project.  On Monday, Ratsy's was having a sale, so I popped in to see what she had gotten in since I left.

I usually don't like polyester so much, but I couldn't resist the shape and color of this little dress!  It was really freaking cold when I got these pictures.  You can't see my giant cashmere coat draped over the railing, but it was definitely needed.

Dress: Thrifted '70s 

White long-sleeved tee: Nordstrom BP

Belt: Thrifted

Necklace: Costume jewelry from my grandmother

Boots: Miz Mooz

I wore this to work yesterday.  I've been working a lot of hours, which trips up the translation work a little since I'm incapable of getting actual schoolwork done while I'm on the job.  We're allowed to do homework, but I'm really particular about where I work on things that require my brain.

It hasn't snowed in probably four days, which means that I get to wear whatever shoes I want!  Usually in the winter, I'm confined to a gigantic pair of hiking boots that go with approximately nothing in my wardrobe.

Pants: Liz Claiborne, thrifted

Turquoise pumps: also Liz Claiborne, thrifted

Purple Belt: thrifted

Hat: from Japanese department store

Blazer: New York & Company

Pink bow socks: Tutuanna, in Japan

Tunic: Jude

I've also started swatching something new.  My knitting mojo has been a little lackluster as of late, but I'm hoping to start a bunch of projects soon so that I always have something to work on.  This is Silky Wool to make the Honeycomb Vest from Knitty, which I've been pining to make ever since I saw Mintyfresh's gorgeous version.

I swatched on US 4s, but I think I'm going to have to go down a needle size.  Not looking forward to purling through the back loop on US 3s, but luckily the honeycomb pattern is easy on both sides, and comprises most of the vest patterning.  I also cast on for a new Miralda in delicious hyacinth-colored Jade Sapphire silk/cashmere to replace the one I lost in Japan. Pictures of that to come!