Context, texture, photo shoots

Now that part of my job is to design knitting patterns and take pictures of the pieces, I have found myself increasingly drawn to different all-over textures, both in the stitch patterns that I am settling on for the garments, or out in the world. I am attracted to richly textured stitches, dense, "nubbly" fabric in luxurious yarn, in mostly muted colors. I also am interested in the look of lumpy, bumpy, person-made surfaces, for instance in walkways, roads and walls.
Above is some melting snow on my stamped concrete walkway. It's pretty neat that concrete can be trucked to my yard, poured, and stamped with a rubber mold to resemble natural rock.

This is cobblestone in front of my house. Beautiful and functional, and put there by human workers. I think I like the orderliness of it. Brick next to brick, placed carefully (I imagine) like a consciously formed row upon row of knit stitches.
I'm glad I saved this basket, I love the look and the contrast with the washed, uncombed wool and the corner of a new knitted piece, done in The Fibre Company's Terra in one of my favorite colors, Butternut. The pattern will be debuted at an event March 6 at "...Have You Any Wool?" in Berkley, MI, then will be available at your LYS, along with the Jul Pedestal Buttons and closures, which give you the ability to transform your work for fit, look, and functionality.
Here is a little piece of a larger wrap that reminded me of cobblestone. There are so many options for how to wear it with the closures. This pattern is being test knit as we speak, by one of my new Pittsburgh area Ravelry friends.
This is a picture of the hand rivet press at Laura's Savage MD studio. I think this is from my first visit to the Jul studio, in March 2010. I thought it was a beautiful image and I surreptitiously took the picture with my phone. Did you know that each piece that comes from Jul, whether a shawl pin, a bag handle, or the new closures (jewelry for your knitting or crocheted work) passes through Laura's hands? EVERYTHING in her line is made by people, and she makes sure it leaves her studio as beautiful as it can be. I have been "apprenticing" with her a little to learn how to fill orders, so that she will be able to make a trip to Indonesia this summer. It is great, but challenging, to make something by hand and to send it out so that people can enjoy its beauty and usefulness.
Above is a picture of the lovely Jade, a friend of my friend Marilyn, who did a great photo shoot for us yesterday. My husband, Keith, took all of the pictures, and he got some exceptional shots. This is a new slouchy hat shown with two large, one medium, and one small Pedestal Button in patent leather. The pattern and buttons will also be available at a LYS near you! Such a simple pattern that knits up so quickly in The Alpaca Yarn Company's Snuggle, an alpaca/wool blend in a bulky weight. Jade said she liked wearing the pieces because they were both functional (warm) and beautiful, and the feel of the yarn and the creative styling ability of the closures made it more special, and unique. We took the photos within half a block of where Jade and Marilyn work, which makes me happy. I think it is cool that there is so much visual interest right in our own backyards, and all around us where we live, work, and hang out. Also, I had worked at the same place 20 years ago (that's where I met Marilyn,) which is getting me started thinking about context. More on that later...

There are two walls that I have had my eye on that I will photograph later today, and another model shoot is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

sneak peek at new project

Here is a delicious view of a new Barely a Pattern design, done in The Fibre Company's Organik in the color River Delta.

Too bad you can't feel it, but maybe you can get a sense from this picture of why it is one of my new favorite yarns. Other yarn is going into a test knitter's hands tomorrow. And the piece will be blocking starting as soon as I get up to take it out of its bath!

A Dream Within a Dream

This feels so weird. My day today consisted of taking a test knitter/new knitting friend--for one of my new designs...that's the weird part--out to lunch to give her the yarn and draft of the pattern. Then more knitting on a new piece, then some pattern writing, some wrangling of my attractive friends to model for me and scouting locations for a photo shoot, and communicating with other Pittsburgh knitters who are willing to help me with test knitting. Sure doesn't feel like work!

Apparently I am in charge of pattern support for the Jul Silver Pedestal Buttons and Closures. Our pattern line is called Barely a Pattern. There's not a whole lot of hard-core designing going on, and it's hard for me to think with a straight face that I am a designer. I guess I am afraid that if I am not sufficiently humble about these simple designs, I might make Real Designers crabby. I guess, to my credit, it has been more work than I thought it would be. Lots of swatching, a little measuring and very little math (so far!) Still I have the issue that I think something will be totally awesome in my head, and that somehow does not translate into real life. I was gratified to hear Kate and Courtney say on a recent Never Not Knitting podcast that they still have that experience--and they are for sure Real Designers. I mean, they have a gorgeous book!

So, what will it take for me to feel like I can call myself a designer? The patterns are selling. Better than I had imagined. So far the Barely a Pattern Infinity Scarf (above) is the best seller. Laura (my Jul partner) tells me people are calling her studio asking where can they buy this pattern. Really? Cool, kinda famous people who have a lot of followers took pictures of me and put them on their blogs! And I am spending quite a bit of time and effort working on this stuff. That counts for something, doesn't it?