At the beginning of this year I met Anna Cohen, internationally recognized sustainable designer and creative director of Imperial Yarns. She had paired with Imperial Stock Ranch to create her first in-house hand knitwear collection of patterns called The Imperial Yarn Knit Collection. At the time I met her, she was looking for hand knitwear designers to work as a technical designer/interpreter for her collection of hand knit patterns for Fall 2011.
This was my very first time to work with a fashion designer; and I was very excited about the opportunity. Anna had built and led successful apparel company from 2005 - 2008, making sustainability her priority in her designs. Working with Anna has been a great experience for me. The process of bringing her designs to life was slightly different from what I have done in the past; and it had taught me a lot. To work on this collection for Anna, among other things, had taught me about sustainability in the US; something I really have not thought about much before. Moreover, Anna's designs are beautiful, fresh with nice silhouettes and she's a pleasure to work with. All the designs in the collection are worked in yarns of Imperial Yarn that are unique, soft and very comfortable to knit with. The yarn is produced by Imperial Stock Ranch, a 140-year-old, family-owned ranch based in Shaniko in central Oregon, that is known for its mindful and sustainable ranching and land-management practices.
I have worked on three designs for the Fall 2011 The Imperial Yarn Knit collection and two designs for the Spring 2012 collection (pictured below). These designs are available in knit-it-yourself kits that are made 100% in the USA including the pattern and Imperial Stock Ranch's wool.
This Imperial Yarn Knit Collection was presented at the Portland Fashion Week 2011 this month. You can see the whole collection on the runway below.
Vogue Knitting Live was a three-day event offering classes, lectures, demonstrations, fashion shows and shopping for knitters, crocheters and yarn lovers from all over the country. This event was hosted by Vogue Knitting magazine; and it was done in style and sophistication.
The event took place in Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel, where all these Ferraris were parked at the front of it. The hotel was in a walking distance to Century City Mall with stores like Channel, Luise Vuitton, Coach, Rolex, housing great restaurants including the most amazing food court I've ever seen! It was very modern and clean, and I could get a very healthy meal choices for lunch or dinner.
I have seen friends - designers, yarn companies and publishers. It just so happened that I ran into Grace Akhrem, the designer of Peace Street Hat featured with my Ashbury Mitts on the cover of Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts. What a coincidence! I have never met her before and we were standing right next to each other both talking to Anne Kuo Lukito. We must have taken a picture together, of course.
Me with Grace Akhrem at Vogue Knitting Live in LA.
I was very happy to see Faina Goberstein, since I have not seen her since January. We always have fun together. Since I had my mom with me, who does not speak English, we had communicated in Russian and Czech among each other, so my Mom could participate in the conversation without me having to translate all the time. I was amazed that I understood almost everything what Faina was saying!! It's been nearly 20 years I had a conversation in Russian! I guess what you learn as a kid will stay with you for life. :)
Me with Faina Goberstein at Vogue Knitting Live in LA.
I enjoyed an evening with Carl and Eileen Kooper, owners of Bijou Basin Ranch, and of course with one and only Marly Bird.
Of course, Vogue Knitting Live is above all about the knitter and crocheters. I could see knitters and crocheters everywhere I looked. They had taken over the Hyatt hotel lobby enjoying the craft and time spend with friends, ready to learn more, meet their favorite designers and taking break between classes and before walking the market to get great deals on yarn and accessories. I had encountered also one knitter who I just met in front of the hotel who was wearing my Lace Cardigan design from Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2008 issue.
A knitter I met in my Lace Cardigan
from Vogue Knitting (Spring/Summer 2008)
Last week I have received the new issues of Interweave Crochet and Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2011 and my patterns are on the cover! Oh my, how exciting! In addition, my first pattern for Classic Elite Yarns is also on the cover of the new booklet 9154 Atelier featuring four patterns in Inca Alpaca yarn .
On the cover of Interweave Crochet Fall 2011 is featured my Lace Canopy Cardi Wrap. This is a combination of a cardigan and shawl in one garment, which can be worn open with shawl fronts, closed with a big belt, or with one or both shawl ends tossed over your shoulders for extra warmth. Elegant lace edges the shawl fronts. It is worked in The Fibre Company Canopy fingering (50% baby alpaca, 30% merino, 20% bamboo; 200 yd [183 m]/1¾ oz [50 g]): gray. This yarn is so beautiful to work with and becomes even softer after blocking. I'm looking forward to using this yarn again. I wrote the pattern in generous 8 sizes in a range of 30 1/2 - 59 1/2" chest circumference.
On the cover of Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts my Ashbury Mitts are featured with Grace Ahkrem's Peace Street Hat. The Ashbury Mitts are worked in Bijou Basin Ranch Lhasa Wilderness (75% yak, 25% bamboo; 180 yd [165 m]/56 g): natural cream - lovely, lovely yarn, my favorite from Bijou Basin. The mitts are worked top down in a round with center Hearts stitch studded with miniature bobbles. The pattern is written in 3 sizes.
Included in the issue is also my Forever Scarf worked in Classic Elite Princess (40% merino, 28% viscose, 10% cashmere, 15% nylon, 7% angora; 150 yd [137 m]/50 g): inc charcoal (MC), and keepsake pink (CC) colors.
Lastly, the Belle Epoque is worked in Classic Elite Yarns Inca Alpaca . It is a simply shaped cardigan knitted in a drop stitch pattern, worked sideways in two identical halves from sleeve cuffs to center front/back. Right and left halves are sewn at center back. Stitches are picked up and worked down for bottom rib.Pattern is written in 5 sizes.
A few days ago, I have finally arrived from the trip to the Czech Republic. It was nice, as always, and this summer in particular I have done more traveling than ever before. I had spent some fun times with friends and family; but now when the summer is almost over and the school has started, I am glad I am finally getting back to my regular schedule of routines and work. And that's a good thing since I have quite a bit of work lined up in front of me for the upcoming season.
I have 2 big projects I am working on at the moment. One is due at the end of September and the another, even larger one, is due at end of November. I'm very excited about both of them and you will learn more later in the upcoming months.
Moreover, if you are following the knit and crochet world a bit closer, you might already know that I've had several new patterns come out already for this Fall in couple of magazines, books and with some of my favorite yarn companies. I will also share those with you as I settle in and get a bit more organized here.... :)
As I mentioned my travels, I had seen some beautiful places in my native country of the Czech Republic, and I also visited Slovakia, Hungary and Austria with my family and some good friends of mine. I have pictures to share; again I will need to get organized first.
So lots to do... I'd better get started!
Here's just a peek... my view from the balcony I got to enjoy almost every day.
I first saw this book Little Crochet about 6 months ago at TNNA in Long Beach, where the author and my friend Linda Permann showed me a brief preview. As soon as you see the cute little booties on the cover, you know that the book will be filled with fresh, modern and wearable outfits all of us want to make for babies and toddlers in our lives. Being able only to flip quickly through the pages, I knew I liked the book and wanted it in my library!
Besides the obvious, offering beautiful designs, the book is very well organized and thought out. It offers not only garments, accessories and toys for babies, girls and boys, but with most projects there is also a suggestion for yarn and color substitutions to personalize. As any good crochet book, the patterns are written in written-out instructions with symbol diagrams, which I love.
If you are a beginner, this book is also a great resource to get you started. Linda explains the crochet basics, illustrates how to do all the stitches, including finishing techniques. In addition, she helps you with choosing the right yarn, choosing the right size, measuring your gauge correctly, and much more.
Even though deadlines are fast approaching, this weekend was one I took a break from knitting and crocheting to spend time with my family. I really needed the break since this past couple of months had been little crazy. This is what we were up to.
My youngest daughter and I baked babovka, a Czech sweet bread. I used a recipe found in a magazine called Apetit, a magazine I bought in the Czech Republic a few years ago. The recipe we used is called Grandma's babovka (a type of bunt cake) and indeed it was the same as my Grandma used to make when I was little. We used to make it pretty much every Sunday, so I got some practice in this. To make this one takes several steps and it's rather time consuming; but it was worth the effort. It was sooo good. I do not bake sweets very much these days because I can't stop eating them; but it was nice to share this experience with my daughter.
Later in a day my daughters and I decorated eggs. We used bee's wax that we warmed up and pin head pinned into a pencil to draw designs on the eggs. It is an old Czech technique used mainly in South Bohemia, a part of the Czech Republic. We used simple 2-color technique; but it can be done multicolored. I learned this technique when I was little at the folklore ensemble I belong to. Again, it felt really good to share these skills and techniques with my daughters and they really enjoyed the process and results.
I hope you all enjoyed your Easter weekend. Happy spring!
Robyn Chachula's new book Simply Crochet was revealed on the Interweave Press website. I have contributed a couple of projects to this book; and I absolutely love the way they were photographed. And, as always, the whole style of the book is really lovely.
The book features projects that can be made on a budget, with a few balls of yarn. It offers tips and tricks on how to crochet economically.
The weather is still playing games with us. The calendar says it's spring and we are couple days away from April but the temperatures linger around freezing point out here. Brr. By now we usually have temps at least in the 50s.What's going on? I AM ready for spring! At least we can warm up with some spring knit or crochet projects while we wait for the warmer weather to arrive and be ready in style.
Interweave Crochet, Spring 2011
Have you seen the preview of the newest Spring issue of the Interweave Crochet magazine? I got my issue a few days ago, and I absolutely adore the Chamomile Cardigan by Doris Chan and the Petal Pullover by Robyn Chachula. If I had unlimited time on my hands (looking forward to that one day :)), i would also love to make the Bluebell Cardigan by Edie Eckman; it looks like a lovely cardi for spring. It uses very interesting method to start the project, make sure to check it out.
Hialeah Bag
Since we still need to wait for some flowers to come up, in meanwhile you can make my new Hialeah bag that you can nicely pair with any of the cardigans or pullover in the issue. The bag is fun, chic and a bit retro to cheer you up. I loved the flowers "blooming" under my fingers when making it. This projects can be made in any color combination you like. Hope you will enjoy it too!
The bag is lined with double lining - the light yellow inside to insure an easy search for things in the bag; and the light silver one that nicely matched with the bag's main color. Though if you like, you might make a single lining that will work just as well if it's sturdy enough.
The Tahki Cotton Classic Litewas very nice to work with; it's smooth with a light sheen and does not split. It also produces fabric that will not stretch dramatically on you. I will definitely consider this yarn for my other crochet projects. Loved it!!
Project Requirements:
Finished Size: About 11" wide, 7½" long, and 3" deep.
Yarn:Tahki Cotton Classic Lite (100% mercerized cotton; 146 yd [135 m]/1¾ oz [50 g]): #4017 steel gray (MC), 4 skeins; #4532 pale lemon yellow (CC1), 3 skeins; #4807 dark turquoise (CC2), 1 skein.
Hook: Sizes E/4 (3.5 mm) and D/3 (3.25 mm). Adjust hook size if necessary to obtain correct gauge.
Notions: Stitch markers (m); yarn needle; bag handles 7" in diameter; two pieces of fabric for lining measuring 15 × 19" (including ½" seam allowance); sewing needle, matching thread.
Gauge: 6-petal motif = 3" in diameter with larger hook.
I'm sorry for the once-again long break in my posts. I've been long back from the Czech Republic, of course. I came back late August and have been busy ever since. While on the summer break, I had a great time and traveled quite a bit. I visited not only my native Brno, but went to visit my very good friend near Pelhrimov, went to Olomouc, visited a friend in Prague and my cousin in Karlovy Vary. I really love showing my girls where their roots are coming from now when they are older. They speak Czech fluently, so they easily fit in. It's fun to show them places that they only know from movies or books. Though, let me save more details from the trip for a later post.
I just wanted to quickly drop in to say that you can see two of my latest designs in the Holiday 2010 issue of Vogue Knitting magazine. I just learned from Ravelry, that the same magazine is also published as a Designer Knitting magazine for European market. Hmm, interesting. Here are the designs:
: 23 stitches and 25 rows = 4 inches in start stitch patt
: US 7 - 4.5 mm
: 800 - 1380 yards (732 - 1262 m)
: XS - L
Photo by Paul Amato.
This cardigan is worked top-down cardigan, in a virtually no-sew construction. The construction allows for easy modifications. Any knitter can be easily adjust the sleeve length to long sleeve or longer length if desired.
Gauge: 32 stitches and 37 rows = 4 inches in over chart lace pattern
: US 3 - 3.25 mm
Size: 6" x 83"
Photo by Paul Amato.
This scarf is worked in a vine lace pattern that shows very nicely in the Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply yarn. I very much enjoyed working with it. It is very soft and gives beautiful stitch definition.
The scarf is worked in two pieces that are joined with 3-needle bind-off at the center. It is worked that way so that the lace pattern shows in the same direction for both halves. This construction also makes it for a faster knit if you work both halves at the same time. I like to knit that way because you have both halves finished at the same and both halves have the exact same length achieved without any measuring, counting rows or pattern repeats to check the lengths.
I had arrived with the girls to Czech last week. The travel is always tiring, but we know what to expect - the tiredness really is the hardest thing when coming here. The packing of our suitcases, though, is much worse. But now we are happily here; time-wise converted to local time and enjoying nice "cool" 70 - 80 degree F summer weather with zero humidity. :)
This is us waiting at the Vienna airport for the bus to Czech. The girls are doing remarkably good after two plane changes and 1 - 2 hour night sleep (It's 3:30 am of Eastern time!).
This past week I had
been spending my time with my kids, my Mom, my sister and my sister's three boys.
experienced quite a noise being around 6 kids nearly 24/7
had already hosted couple sleepovers!
hosted a small birthday party for my 2 nephews with my Mom.
made a cake, had to improvise because the ingredients I use in the US are not available here.
to take cold showers for 2 days!
to have a water-heater repaired.
to do without Internet connection
sent a book contribution submission after deadline (!)
