I am honoured to be a stopping off point in the blog tour for ‘Contemporary Irish Knits’, a wonderful book by my fellow designer and friend, Carol Feller.
I first met Carol last summer at an infamous knitting event in Scotland where the European contingent of tutors enjoyed some, um, ‘downtime’ together between classes and in the evenings. (If you wish to interpret ‘downtime’ as indicating drinking parties then that would not be far from the truth!) Then this summer it was my pleasure yet again to spend much time in Carol and Woollywormhead’s company when we shared a room together at TNNA. I checked with Carol then if it was ok for me to enrol in her classes at Knit Nation in London this July. She was teaching classes in short rows and in seamless knits, both of which were things I wished to work on for my own designs (watch this space!). Happily she was flattered rather than distressed by this request, and so I got to work on these techniques under the guidance of a great teacher. If you ever get the chance to do these classes with Carol yourself then I can highly recommend them.
Having had these classes with Carol, and knowing that Contemporary Irish Knits is a collection of seamless designs (Carol’s preferred style) I immediately knew when Carol invited me to participate in her blog tour that I wanted to focus on the subject of seamless knitting in my post. Now the book is not especially about seamless knitting, rather it is about knitting in Ireland, both in the past and now, with a wonderful focus on Irish yarns. It is a gorgeously presented book, as you can see from the images in this post that appear in the book, all of which were taken by Carol’s husband, Joseph Feller. Nevertheless, the book would be a great purchase for anybody with a particular interest in seamless knitting, and indeed for anybody interested in the Irish knitting scene, and for anyone who loves great handknit designs.
And so, here is what Carol had to say in answer to my questions about the book:
I love the very Irish-sounding names of the designs in CIK. How did you choose them?
Each mill or hand-dyer has a collection of patterns using yarn that they produce. I liked the idea of naming the patterns in the collection after the towns and villages in the counties the mills and dyers were located in. This made naming a large group of patterns much easier; it is normally a surprisingly difficult part of the job!
Which of the names is your favourite, and why?
Probably my favourite names would be Ardara and Killybegs. Last summer when we went to visit Donegal and Donegal Yarns the whole family came with us. Ardara and Killybegs were two of the villages that we spent a lot of time in, and it brings back happy memories of our few days in Donegal.
There’s a wonderful variety of knitwear in the book. How did you determine what to design?
Starting out I knew I wanted this book to be more than just women’s designs. It actually felt a little ‘retro’ to me as most pattern books now seem to have a very narrow focus so I just wanted to go and break the mould. Beyond this initial decision, I just let the yarn and stitch patterns do the talking. I usually started by swatching different stitches and built my ideas from there. The interplay of increases and decreases within a stitch pattern can dramatically change how it behaves and can change a well known stitch into something entirely new. Many of the finished pieces (such as the Rathcooney set and Killybegs) grew from the stitches.
I love the seamless construction of the designs in CIK. What led you to design for seamless knitting?
I started working most of my designs seamlessly in the last few years. It was not a deliberate decision, it happened quite organically and before I noticed it most of my designs were seamless. The huge advantage to handknitting is that you are not constrained by a machine and seamless designs allow you to take full advantage of the flexibility of the knitted fabric.
What are the advantages of seamless constructions?
As a designer (and a knitter) you can redesign and perfect the fit much more easily if you work seamlessly. There are no last minute surprises and you can make adjustments as you knit. A seamless garment is almost finished when you cast off the final stitch so you won’t have unfinished pieces sitting in your knitting basket for months waiting to be seamed! They fit very comfortably as well, as they have no seams to irritate. This is especially useful when knitting baby and child garments, as it takes very little for them to find clothing uncomfortable.
Many designers only create seamed designs. Why do you think this is?
There are many, many reasons that designers work garments in pieces. One may be that this is how they have learned to design. Seamed garments have a focus on tailoring and they treat the knitted fabric the same as if it has been cut from material and sewn together. If you learn knitting within a design school then this approach fits much more comfortably within the curriculum.
Pattern writing is also easier for pieced knitting. Decreases and increases can be worked at the seam line so it isn’t always necessary to give the same level of detail.
Finally a lot of designers prefer the way seamed garments work, as you are only ever working on a single smaller piece at a time. Plus, many designers like the stability and structure provided by seams.
What knitting techniques do you think are most essential for seamless knitting?
Well the first is to be able to use circular needles and knit in the round! After that, you should know a variety of mirrored increases and decreases. Without seams to hide them these usually become a more important feature of the design.
Short rows are useful but not essential for raising the back of the neck and bust shaping if you need it. If you are working set-in sleeves from the top down you will also use short rows to shape the sleeve cap.
There are no seams to hide ends in with seamless knitting so learning some good yarn joining techniques make for a better finish in your work.
Finally, flexible cast off methods are essential to know. I didn’t realise this the first time I finished a seamless design from the top down and it made life really hard putting that top on and getting it off!
When you design a seamless garment what elements need the most careful consideration and why?
When designing a seamless garment you have to view it as a whole and pay close attention to how each transition fits together. Changes in the shape (shoulders, sleeve caps and waist shaping) all need to be thought through in the context of the design so that the entire pattern makes sense as a whole.
A good example of this would be in a seamless raglan design. If it is worked from the top down, the size of the neck and the depth of the armhole have a direct impact on the size of the bust and sleeve. As a designer to get all of these different measurements to work together requires a large amount of number crunching but this means that the knitter ends up with a better fitting garment and a more enjoyable knitting experience.
What (if any) particular difficulties do seamless knits present for pattern-writing?
Pattern writing for a seamless design often takes more time and requires more detailed instructions. I find that to write a pattern for a seamless design I also need to knit it, as what you initially write on paper doesn’t always translate correctly to the knitting.
I begin by swatching, writing a rough pattern and then knit from this pattern. A huge amount of rewriting happens at this point until I feel that the pattern is as straightforward for the knitter as possible.
Finally, what resources would you most recommend for knitters who wish to convert patterns for seamed knits to a seamless construction?
With all garment knitting, but especially seamless knitting, finishing is very important. A good finishing book (Nancie Wiseman ‘The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques’ is a good one) can really help you get the most out of seamless knitting.
For knitters who want to read a bit more about construction Barbara Walker’s ‘Knitting From the Top’ is excellent and many of Elizabeth Zimmerman’s books use seamless construction and give great details on how they are put together.
Not all garments work as well when converted to seamless, sometimes the yarn used works better with seams or different techniques can only be achieved by working in pieces. So always examine the garment as a whole to see if you would gain anything by converting it to a seamless design.
Thank you Carol!
I’m going to end this post with an image of one of my favourite designs in the book. Straboy is a wonderful cabled hoodie for men. I must make this for my Dave!
