June 20, 2009

Father's Day Tees

A little while ago I picked up a copy of Lena Corwin's Printing by Hand. It's a great book, full of beautiful and inspiring projects and how-to's for many different types of hand-printing. The most interesting for me are freezer-paper stenciling and block-printing. I block-printed in high school, but never tried freezer paper stenciling until now:

These are father's day gifts for my dad, Moxie, and, of course, Griffin. We call Griffin Little Dude around here, so the theme started with him and radiated out. I think it's pretty darn cute. Moxie pointed out that although he loves the idea of the shirts, worn in isolation, his was a little too flamboyant with the flames and "big dude" combo. Apparently the v-neck didn't help. So I went back to the drawing board and made a crew-neck shirt for him, sans flames. I'm thinking I may need to do the same for the grand dude. He doesn't exactly have a flaming personality, either. The little dude looks adorable in the original version, however, and I have a new obsession. I may end up stenciling everything we own! And the two big flaming T-shirts won't go to waste - they make excellent night shirts. I don't mind a little fire.

June 10, 2009

Knitting in the Sun: Blog Tour!

As I'm sure all you peeps know, I had the pleasure of being included as a contributor in Kristi Porter's new book, Knitting in the Sun (rav link to see all the patterns). I have a lot more blabbing that I hope to do about the two pieces I contributed, but for the blog tour I thought that I would give someone else a chance to talk a bit, and who better than Kristi? One of the things that I love most about working on a book with someone is the opportunity to see a lot of the pieces in person. There are always things that are special about the projects that can be hard to capture in photographs. So I asked Kristi to pick a few pieces from the book and talk about the special features that you might miss just paging through. Here is what she had to say.

Cover shot featuring Kendra Nitta's Anacapa Wrap.

"You're right when you say that seeing pieces in person is inevitably different from seeing them in print. Not just because you see them flat on the page, but because you don't see them move; you don't see how they behave on a body. I hope that at least some of their vitality comes through in the pictures! Both the photographer and I shared an aesthetic of showing the designs on real women in natural settings. We weren't running around pinning or cinching and telling the models not to move, it was much the reverse, crossing my fingers that he'd get a good picture before a wave crashed and soaked something! So I think the photographs give a pretty authentic glimpse at how the knits really will look.

Coronado. One of my personal favorites.One of the things that delights me most about this collection is how wearable the designs are. Like you could put something on in the morning and wear it all day and not think about it. A lot of things I've knit in the past, I love, but the fit is weird or I end up tugging at it all day, or something about it just takes effort to wear. I'm sure every knitter has these. As the one person who has tried all these things on a dozen times (when they arrived, to try to figure out what other clothes to pair them with, to figure out what model they'd fit best...), and coerced many others to try them on too, I can say that the designs look great on a variety of women of different ages and body types. Obviously, different styles will appeal to different people; not everyone is comfortable in a midriff-baring swimsuit, or even in a sleeveless tank, and that's why I was sure to include knits that were comfortable in warmer weather that still provide plenty of coverage.

Taos. Modeled by Kristi.To speak about a couple of designs specifically as to what isn't shown, my cardigan called Coronado features two symmetrical overlapping fronts with a very broad collar. If it were a pullover, it'd be a big slouchy cowl. In the book, it's shown open and draped and also pinned somewhat asymmetrically. You can also pin it so it's more like a double-breasted middy collar, or even more asymmetrically. Pair those options with a variety of yarn and color choices and it's a tremendously fun, flexible garment. Also, Stefanie Japel's design, Taos, is modeled as a long vest, but it's designed to be worn buttoned up the front or back, either as a tunic, or, if you add some length before the waist shaping it'll make a great little dress. And, although I'm pretty sure it wasn't your intention, it ends up that the top from the Vernazza sleep set has caught on as a fabulous maternity top! (Julia finished the piece very shortly before giving birth and snapped her own photos in her beautifully gravid state!) Even though it's billed as loungewear, I think it's clear that this makes a great top for daytime too, with or without a bun in the oven.

Of course, in a book, you can't show the same piece on a dozen people, or with a dozen different outfits, or in lots of different colors. I'd love to be able to do that, to show knitters the huge potential of each design. I suppose we'll have to wait for people to cast on and get knitting so we can see what they've come up with on Ravelry for that!"

All photographs copyright Wiley Publishing, except photos of the Vernazza Sleep Set, copyright Julia Trice and Kristi Porter.

May 25, 2009

The Manolo, He Would Approve

It is never too early to learn the love of the fabulous shoe.