This Thing of Paper

I'm sure by now many of you will be familiar with Karie Westermann's fascinating Kickstarter project, This Thing of Paper. Before the blog tour to support the project even started, the kickstarter was fully funded and the amount pledged continues to climb, and that's testament to the amazing support of knitters for this intriguing project. The fundraiser is open for two more weeks, finishing June 22nd, and every penny raised will be appreciated and put to very good use in bringing this book to print.

Karie's project will be a beautiful book of knitting patterns inspired by the age of Gutenberg.

Text and textiles are inexplicably linked. They both tell stories, fact or fiction, and it only seems fitting then that Karie should bring these subjects together again in this way. The knitting patterns will be accompanied by essays, and the book will be divided into 3 main areas:

Story 1: Manuscript. The story of handmade manuscripts and the people who worked on making them. This story features one garment and two accessories.

Story 2: Invention. The story of the period in which Johannes Gutenberg transformed book production. This story features one garment and three accessories.

Story 3: Printed. The story of when printed matter became more commonplace and helped spread information across Europe. This story features one garment and two accessories.

It goes without saying that I'm curious about the Hat projects that will be part of the 10 patterns! Naturally Karie wants to keep details under wraps, so as to not spoil the big reveal upon publication. She was though happy to talk about one of the Hats in the collection (there will be two) and her inspiration behind it.

“This Hat is part of a Hat & glove set inspired by type setting. I’m playing around with the idea of a pattern scaled in different ways across the Hat & the gloves. Construction-wise, it will be worked from the brim up.”

Stitches as words, as characters. Mixing and matching them to create different expressions, different pieces of code, each combination resulting in a different outcome. Something that's always fascinated me from a design perspective is how changing one thing, one simple component of a design can result in an entirely different new design. By switching the direction of a twisted stitch, or it's occurrence, you change the narrative. I'm absolutely fascinated to see what Karie does with this Hat design!

As we talked, Karie explained a little about her design process. She tells me she works heavily on paper, starting with the story and concept before any swatching occurs. This is rather different to my process, whereby yes, I'll have a concept, usually structural, but I'll generally work on the needles and let the story develop organically, and it got me thinking again about not only how we tell our stories as designers/artists/writers/creators, but the value in knowing and understanding our different voices. Karie's voice is strong in this project; the concept is undoubtedly hers.

This Thing of Paper is due to be published in spring 2017, and it will be an interesting journey to watch. I do hope Karie keeps us all updated through her blog as she explores bringing this book together and working through the many challenges a project like this will present! In the meantime, the next stop on the tour is Tom of Holland. You can catch the full list of blog tour participants here, and it's a wonderful collection of different voices, each offering their own perspective into the project - very much worth a read.

Another special guest post for the 10th Anniversary tour

The last guest post for the 10th anniversary tour is from Silvia. Many of you will recognise Silvia - and for a long time I think many people thought I was Silvia, as she was a consistent face on my patterns! She was the first model I started working with when I moved to doing the photography myself on people (rather than polystyrene heads) and in many ways, my photography grew with her.

She no longer lives on the Yard but I managed to catch her when she popped by for a visit, and asked her to write something to share here today.

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Prima di conoscere Woolly Wormhead non mi piaceva apparire in foto, poi mi ha chiesto di posare per lei .... e ho vinto la timidezza! E 'stato molto divertente indossare i suoi cappelli e interpretare ogni volta una " Silvia "diversa, perché ognuno dei suoi modelli ha un'anima propria.

Ancora più divertente è stato scoprire l'armonia tra i suoi cappelli e mio colore di capelli (che cambia spesso!).

Auguri Woolly!

Before knowing Woolly Wormhead I wasn't keen to have my photograph taken or appear in photos, then she asked me to pose for her .... and I beat the shyness! It was a very funny to wear her Hats and interpret a different "Silvia" every time.

What was even more fun was finding the harmony between the Hats and my hair colour (which often changed!). Best wishes Woolly!

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Thank you Silvia!

One aspect of my photography which I haven't really spoken about much is the way I manage to record many of the people who come through the Yard, mostly women. Not all of my photos are shot in Italy, I do quite a few here in the UK too, most often with family. But when I shoot in Italy, I work with whoever is there and willing to help. Quite often it will be a friend of the Yard or guest who could use a little extra income, or more regular Yardies such as Silvia or Alyx. Each in their own way has moved on to new adventures in life, and as much as it can be frustrating to lose a good model, I appreciate the work we've done together and have come to understand how it has formed part of what is almost a visual documentary of the Yard and it's many faces.

The photos aren't just of the Hats or even the environment and the artistic influences; they're memories. Moments of a particular day and point in time, of progress and relationships, all captured through the lens.

A special guest post for the 10th Anniversary tour

Louise, from KnitBritish, is here to welcome a guest poster on the blog today.

As you may know this year is Woolly's 10^th Anniversary and some of her closest comrades, collaborators and best muckers have been helping celebrate with a blog tour. Rachel Coopey, Katya Frankel, Clare Devine, Carol Feller and The Knitting Goddess have written posts so far, with more to come before Christmas.

In addition to these stops on the tour there are other people who are keen to share their friendship with Woolly and what her ten years of Hatterly exploration has meant to them.

Today we welcome Patricia, Cottonon on Ravelry, who is one of the group moderators over in the Woolly Wormhead Hats group on Ravelry, test knitter of all WW hats and great friend too!

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I first discovered Woolly Wormhead seven years ago in November 2008 when I knitted her Meret Mystery Knitalong that I’d stumbled across on Ravelry.

Round about the same time she put out a request for someone to knit Dylan's Beanie as she'd given her own sample away without taking a photograph. My fascination with her work quickly grew from there.

Knitting Woolly's hats is inspiring because of the variety of styles and techniques which stretch my range of skills with each project. Her patterns are so easy to follow and there is great support on her forum.  

Serendipitously, Tucked, the recent Hat-a-long, happens to be the hundredth Woolly pattern I have knitted.  If I count the number of repeats, I've probably knitted a gross of Woolly hats! Many of my repeats have been what we term 'fusions' where I have combined features from different Woolly patterns. My favourites feature the brim from Ruislip and the Pleated Beret body pattern, and the brim from Encircle with the body from QL Slouch.  I have also been known to add the peak from Camden Cap to other designs, my favourite of these being Wickery.

I first met Woolly in person at the Ravelry Day 2009 event in Coventry and it was like meeting a friend I'd known for years…..

We met again in September that same year at I Knit in London when Woolly asked me to join her team of test knitters. I was delighted, and a little nervous, at being asked but I've carried out and enjoyed that role ever since, my first test knit being Alveare (October 2009)

Comparing our Nupkins at Purl City in Manchester 2011

Our meetings ‘in real life’ have been comparatively few, but I feel that we have developed a genuine ‘real life’ friendship.

Congratulations, Woolly, on your 10th anniversary and I hope to be knitting and wearing your Hats for many more years to come.

Cottonon

Dovestone Hills and a sideways knit Hat

Carol Feller's recent new collection, Dovestone Hills features designs all knit in Baa Ram Ewe's Dovestone DK. Carol describes it as a "soft, durable yarn with a delicate palette of earthy tones" and it is just that. I was lucky enough to gain a skein or two at TNNA this year, and I've a cable design on the needles for it.

When chatting to Carol about her book I said I'd love to review it, from my usual Hat perspective, so she sent along a digital copy.

And you all know I like my sideways knit Hats!

Palatino doesn't disappoint lovers of sideways knit Hats, or any Hat lovers for that matter.

Getting straight to the meat of it here - the crown. The crown is the most important part of a Hat in my opinion (and just like you know I like my sideways knit Hats, I also like my intricate crown details) and it's the part I consider first when I design a Hat. The crown of Palatino doesn't disappoint - look at that wonderful star detail, created as the cables circle around the top of the Hat.

What I love most about sideways knit Hats is that the relationship between the different sections of the Hat is much more apparent. Because you are knitting a series of panels consecutively, you are always knitting a part of the crown and a part of the body and a part of the brim. Always. You knit a bit of each in every row, and it's rather magical to see it come together on the needles.

The other magic of sideways knitting, any sideways knitting for that matter, is cables. Knitting horizontal cables is a tricky business and you never quite get the same effect - it's far more fun to turn your knitting through 90 degrees. Palatino really makes good use of this magic, with intricate cables twisting and turning their way around the Hat. It's beautiful! Carol's done an amazing job working the cables all the way through every part of this Hat.

Palatino comes in 2 sizes - 21 (23.5)” / 53.5 (59.5) cm - and comes with fully charted and written instructions. There's also a full grafting directive written into the pattern, to help you finish the Hat seamlessly. The Hat isn't available as a single pattern, you'll want to buy the whole collection to get it, but I don't think you'll be disappointed with anything in this collection - there's something in there for everyone. Carol's elegant style comes through in each of the pieces.

Dovestone Hills is available on Ravelry and on Carol's website, where you'll also find the print options (you can buy the print+digital bundle, which I know many knitters appreciate).

It's a bit of a sideways Hat mutual appreciation week this week - Carol wrote a lovely blog post for the Woolly Wormhead 10th Anniveray tour!

all images Copyright © Carol Feller, reproduced with kind permission.

A remarkable Shetland beret

Unless you've been offline or hiding under a rock these last few weeks, you'd have heard about Susan Crawford's brilliant new book project the 'The Vintage Shetland Project' that's being crowd-funded through Pubslush. To support the project further and whet everyone's appetites, Susan has organised a blog tour to highlight some of the garments and offer more insight into why this project is so remarkable.

When we visited the farm last summer Susan asked for my thoughts on not only how this beret was constructed (or, when you see the piece, in what order) but how to recreate it. Between us we discussed methods and possible constructions and whether it was even possible to recreate it in a set of instructions. So when Susan emailed and asked if I'd like to talk about this piece on the blog tour, I wasn't going to say no!

Karie Westermann introduced this beret a few days ago and revealed a little behind the mystery and it's history, and why it's an important piece within the collection. I'd like to follow on from there and highlight a few of the aspects to the beret's construction.

From the first photo above, you can see that the crown shaping is the part of the Hat that brings all the other elements together (and you'll know this mantra if you've ever been on my Hat design workshop or asked me about Hat designs ;). Looking closer at the crown, we can see that at least for the final part of the crown is fairly standard in it's shaping - unstacked left leaning decreases on every other round. And that's about as 'standard' as this beret gets.

Looking at the Hat from the inside reveals yet more of it's unusual construction - those wonderful stripes of fairisle that run from the brim up the crown are in fact strips of knitting, and they're knitted at 90 degrees to the rest of the Hat! What's even more fascinating about this is how the pieces of knitting are joined or worked from each other. I haven't seen a sample of the reconstruction or the final pattern and I'm just as curious as everyone else as to how the pattern has been developed.

From this angle, we learn even more about those strips and the shaping of the fabric around them - and we can see that the Hat has been created on the bias, or rather, there are strategically placed increases and decreases to bias the strips. (you can see now why so many of us on the blog tour have have shown an interest in this piece)

Looking at the beret flat from the underside we can see more of the panels between those strips, and also see more of the brim. To me, the brim looks like it's been knitted on afterwards, but I can't remember what we determined about the brim - guess that's another thing we'll have to wait for to be revealed!

If you haven't already, do go and and check out the Pubslush campaign for the book. Although it might be funded (which is no mean feat and bloomin' brilliant news!) every additional penny raised will be put into the project and Susan's keeping everyone up to date with that. 

You can also read much more about the project, the reasons as to why and how, by following along with the blog tour and keeping up with Susan on her blog, Twitter or Instagram - she's been sharing daily photos as a teaser.

Thursday 9th July	KnitBritish
Saturday 12th July	By Gum By Golly
Monday 13th July	Hazel Tindall
Wednesday 15th July	Ella Gordon
Friday 17th July	Jess James
Saturday 18th July	Jen Arnall-Culliford
Sunday 19th July	Maja Karlson
Monday 20th July	Karie Westermann
Tuesday 21st July	Rachel Atkinson
Wednesday 22nd July	Woolly Wormhead
Friday 24th July	Deb Robson
Saturday 25th July	Julia Billings
Sunday 26th July	Helene Magnusson
Monday 27th July	Tom Van Deijnen
Wednesday 29th July	Kate Atherley
Friday 31st July	Jamieson & Smith
Sunday 2nd August	Donna Druchunas
Monday 3rd August	Felix Ford aka knitsonik
Tuesday 4th August	Ysolda Teague
Wednesday 5th Aug	TBC
Thursday 6th August	Donna Smith
Friday 7th August	Susan Crawford

All images are copyrighted to Susan Crawford and are reproduced with kind permission.