Knitcircus

Wendy Knits Lace Interview and Book Giveaway

Hope everyone had a good (and safe) weekend. Knitcircus tech-editor Stephannie and I had a great time at Stitches Midwest.

Handwerks Winner:

The winner of the Little Braided Cbale socks kit from Handwerks is:

Wordlily from the comments! 

Author Interview: Wendy Johnson of Wendy Knits 

Read on for a chance to win her  new book, Wendy Knits Lace!

Beloved blogger Wendy Johnson's books Socks from the Toe Up and Toe-Up Socks for Every Body helped fuel the huge surge of interest in constructing socks from the tip, and now she's turned to another of have favorite topics, with her new book, Wendy Knits Lace, a collection of lace patterns meant to be worn everywhere the knitter goes.  Wendy's mind easily unravels knitting challenges, and her friendly, approachable style, filled with tips to make knitting more fun, makes this book a must-have for any lace-inclined knitter. 

The Knitcircus Contributing Editor talked to us about her Everyday Lace collection and love of all things lace; check out her current article, Design Your Own Cowl, for a chance to try your hand at creating a unique and wearable lace cowl !

KC: What draws you to lace?

WJ: For me, lace has a high “entertainment factor.” You can create stunning results with surprisingly little effort and at relatively low cost. A completed lace project looks impressive and makes a great gift for non-knitters: they usually think you must be a genius to be able to create lace!

KC: Why should knitters not fear charts and possibly making a mistake in the lace pattern? 

WJ: In my experience, charted lace has fewer errors than lace patterns written out line-by-line. When creating a chart, it is much easier to catch errors because a chart is a much more visual representation of a pattern than a string of knitting abbreviations. 

If a knitter is used to knitting from written instructions then, yes, there will be a bit of a learning curve when switching to charts. I started knitting before charts were popular and knit everything from written-out instructions. But after learning to use charts, I would never go back.

KC: What tips in the book made lace much easier to navigate for you?

WJ: Use stitchmarkers, and lots of them! There is no shame in marking out each repeat of your lace pattern with markers. If you are a relatively new knitter you will have far better success seeing each lace repeat separated. You can much more easily troubleshoot errors if you check each repeat after knitting to ensure you have the proper number of stitches and all increases and decreases are in the right places. If you are an experienced lace knitter, markers in your knitting can be a reminder of where you are: you’ve completed a repeat and it’s time to start over.

KC"What’s next? 

WJ: Who knows? At the moment I’m still enchanted by all things lacy and by different shapes in lace, but I am a fickle knitter and could change my focus at any time

 To win a copy of Wendy Knits Lace, please leave a comment here, a comment in teh Knitcircus Ravelry Group or Twitter #kcwendyknits including an email or rav name and your favorite: Wendy Knits pattern OR way to knit socks (toe-up, top-down) OR lace pattern in the fall Knitcircus. Winners will be picked Wednesday, August 31st, sometime before noon.

 

Knitcircus Podcast Live!

We've been bursting with excitement to share this:  the first Knitcircus Podcast!

We're very lucky to have Amy Detjen--nationally-known knitting teacher, one of the coordinators of Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp, technical editor and designer--co-hosting the podcast. She knows way more about knitting than I do! 

Big thanks Webmistress Cindy, for jumping all the techno-hoops to getting it on the air.

Listen on Libsyn

Itunes coming soon...

Podcast Links:

Events:

TNNA

Sock Summit

Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp 

Vogue Knitting Live: New York

Books:

Knit One, Knit All: Elizabeth Zimmerman Garter Stitch Collection, Edited by Cully Swansen

Little Red in the City, by Ysolda Teague

Knit, Swirl, by Sandra McIverson 

Yarnmakers:

Briar Rose

Anzula Fibers

Designers/Authors:

Cookie A, Cat Bordhi, Anne Kuo Lukito, Annie Modesitt, Shannon Okey, Anna Dalvi, Michelle Miller, JC Briar, Ysolda Teague, Barbara Walker, Miriam Felton, Susan B. Anderson; Clara Parkes, Amy Singer

Knitting ideas:

What constitutes a beginner? What skills are advanced? 

Knitting to Stay Sane

CYC Skill Standards

 

Watch for more Knitcircus podcasts coming up; we're hoping to bring you one every couple of weeks.

 

Designer Spotlight: Jenny Snedeker

Hope everyone Stateside enjoyed the long weekend; we went camping at my parents', which was the perfect blend of sleeping in a tent and washing dishes in a real sink. The weekend included lots of s'mores, fishing, exploring, meeting new neighbors and their friendly goats. The fishing was perfect because we helped friends stock their tiny lake, so fish from the big lake got caught and none had to be cleaned and/or eaten.  Some small people among us like to fish but are generally vegetarians. Except when it comes to sausage.

We're gearing up for the Fall and Gift issue at Knitcircus HQ and I'm so excited, the Fall issue really promises to offer the most patterns ever and so many fun articles!  Just a hint; we would love to see one more shawlette for the Gifts issue, so if you've got a pattern proposal, shoot me an email! ([email protected]).

One of our designers featured in the Summer Issue has a pattern in our fall issue, too; just wait until you see the cuteness! She specializes in patterns for babies and children, and Knitcircus has been proud to feature a number of her designs.

Today's Designer Spotlight---Jenny Snedeker of Cutie Pie Designs!

Which design do you have in the current issue? Please tell us a little about this pattern and what makes it exciting for you as a designer. 

The current Knit Circus includes my Flower Power sundress:

 

We live less than 20 miles from the original site of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, which was sort of my inspiration for the design, and this one was a lot of fun.  The bright colors and the fun tiered skirt make it playful, and the I-cord flowers just add to the 60’s look. 

 I’ve had designs in a number of previous issues, beginning with the Spring Daisy Cardigan in Issue 6,

 

the Eyelet Lace Dress and Bolero in Issue 7,

Mossflower in Issue 8,

Kayla in Issue 9

and now the Flower Power dress in the current issue.

How’d you get started designing?

 I began Cutie Pie Fashions shortly after my daughter was born as a way to bring in a little extra money, as I am a stay at home Mom.  It started out as a sewing business, making children's clothing.  I was forced to set it aside for a time so that I could home school my two children.  When I revived the business it was by using knitting instead of sewing.  I was frustrated that I couldn’t find patterns that I could use to make and sell finished garments.  It then occurred to me that since I know how clothing goes together, I’m familiar with children’s sizing and fit, and I am a rather experienced knitter, I have the tools that I needed to design my own patterns.

What’s your favorite part of designing?  

My absolute favorite part of designing is sitting with my sketchbook and pencil and dreaming up the designs. Second would be playing with different yarns to get the look I want for the design.

Least favorite?  The least favorite part is the actual pattern writing!  I really would ignore this part if it were possible!  :o)

Which pattern have you made that surprised you; harder or easier to write than anticipated, more popular than you guessed?  That is hard to say.  Pattern writing doesn’t come easy to me and I am constantly working to improve my design and pattern writing skills.  The Mossflower sweater could be one of the easiest patterns that I’ve written considering all the different stitches I used.  I guess I’d say that one was the most surprising one to write.

Which kinds of patterns attract you as a knitter and as a designer? Are they different?  As a knitter, I always enjoyed delicate designs, both in stitch work and in yarn choices.  I always gravitated toward small needles and weights of yarn, usually working with size 5 and smaller.  Most of what I knit was baby designs, and lots of preemie things.  As a designer, I am interested in designing the same kinds of things.  I believe that small people need pretty designs also, not just plain easy to knit garments. After all, when knitted with love, these garments will become heirlooms.  What a better way to welcome a new life into the world than with a beautifully made sweater?

Favorite kind(s) of yarn? I love working with acrylic blends, mostly for their ease of handling afterwards.   In knitting for children it is essential to have the fabric be easy care and long wearing, especially for every-day clothing.

Favorite needle sizes or kinds of needles?  I find myself mostly using needles between sizes 5 and 7 and I love bamboo needles.

What’s your all-time favorite design you’ve created?  I think that, so far, my all time favorite is the Daisy cardigan. 

 
There are endless ways to customize this sweater, so that no two ever need be alike.  I’m always finding new yarns and colors that would look wonderful with this sweater that I’ll never tire of making it!

Designer(s) who inspire(s) you and why? I gain a lot of inspiration from Debbie Bliss.  As a matter of fact, years ago I bought one of her books on children’s knits that I just pull out and look at occasionally.  I’ve never knit one thing from it, but I just like to look!  Her designs are timeless, and that is what I try and achieve with mine; something that mothers will want to save and pass down to their grandchildren.

Where can people find your designs?  My designs can be found on Ravelry, my website and of course in the KnitCircus site.

What’s next for your designs?  I’m working on upsizing some of my designs to be able to offer them to a larger size range of children.  I’ve even had requests for a few of them to be made in adult sizes, so that is a definite possibility in the future.

Thanks so much, Jenny! It's been a real pleasure working with you and your designs for Knitcircus and we look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.