Mother of Purl by Eig, Edith (best desktop ebook reader .TXT) 📗

have this. Can’t afford it, but have to have it.” Though it might seem intimidating at first, it’s quite easy to break down the essential design elements of an existing sweater and incorporate them into your work.

Try to find a few different photos of the same garment. If it’s a signature piece by a designer, it will probably be photographed by more than one magazine and from multiple angles. If you see it in a store, so much the better.

Figure out what it is that you love about the sweater—the shape or the color, the stitch work or the style. You may well find that once you have isolated the things you like most about the sweater, you can leave off other design elements you don’t care for as much.

If you don’t have the ability to recreate it on your own or your local knitting store doesn’t offer that help and you don’t happen to live near my shop, try this. Find an existing pattern that has a similar shape to the one you are copying and use that pattern as a launch pad for your own design. Use the techniques I described in chapter four to take your measurements and refine the pattern.

Now, start knitting swatches, experiment with your design, and have fun with it. When you achieve a look that you like, work out your stitch and row gauge. If necessary, recalculate the pattern.

RIPPED FROM THE PAGES OF VOGUE

One of my knitting circle regulars came in with a picture of a chunky cashmere cardigan with cabling down each front half and a large hood. It was quite extravagant and so was the price. After we decided this was a must–have, we picked a yarn similar to the one in the magazine, and she knitted a gauge. Then I grabbed my tools of the trade: pen, calculator, and measuring tape. I made a sketch of the sweater and gave her the instructions, and she was on her way. Not only was the finished item made of a higher quality material than the original, but we were able to leave off the one thing she didn’t like about the mass–produced sweater: the hood. In reconstructing this sweater, we had another advantage, because we were able to make it to the exact size, fit, and style that she desired.

Chapter Ten

PATTERNS

It has been almost ten years since I opened La Knitterie Parisienne, and in that time I’ve taught thousands of knitters the same skills and techniques that you have mastered in my book. What I find most satisfying is to witness a knitter graduate from a nervous beginner—panicking at a dropped stitch and struggling to differentiate

between a knit and a purl stitch—to a confident craftswoman who in turn passes her skills on to the beginner who comes and sits beside her at my knitting circle. I hope that you too will be inspired to share your knowledge and skills, and that the joy of knitting will be one with which you will carry throughout your life.

For many novice knitters, walking into a knitting store can be overwhelming and intimidating—observing the vast selections of yarns, the different choices in needles, and wondering if they dare sit down at a table full of laughing, chatting, rowdy women. Let alone join the more advanced knitters who rarely seem to even glance down at their projects as they chat and knit. At La Knitterie Parisienne, our goal is to create a friendly and welcoming environment so that both new and advanced knitters are encouraged to learn and join other knitters who’ve come to make La Knitterie Parisienne their home away from home. La Knitterie Parisienne is the place where we make knitting fun, where strangers become friends, and where fabulous fashions are created. I hope you will find knitting as rewarding as I do.

The patterns in the following pages are organized in such a way as to guide you from simple designs, like a very easy scarf, to more challenging projects, among them a three–piece cashmere suit.

I’ve spent over two years designing and knitting these patterns, and I hope you enjoy knitting them as much as I enjoyed creating them for you.

[Simple and Beautiful Scarf]

MATERIAL

3 balls Noro Kureyon, same or assorted colors

4 balls Trendsetter Eyelash, black

NEEDLE

Size 13

STITCH

Garter = knit all rows

GAUGE

3 sts = 1”

FINISHED MEASUREMENT

8“x 72”

Cast on 24 sts with 1 strand of Kureyon and 1 strand of Eyelash held together. Knit in garter until desired length.

Bind off loosely.

I chose 3 different balls of Kureyon. Some colors ran from blue to pink, others from pink to green to purple. I wanted colors to run into each other in rainbow form.

Cut fringes 20” long.

Place 3 pieces in each fringe.

Antoinette Spolar Levine of

Curb Your Enthusiasm

[Ribbon Scarf]

MATERIAL

1 ball Colinette Giotto

2 balls Trendsetter Eyelash

1 ball Katia Scala for fringes

NEEDLE

Size 17

GAUGE

2.25 sts = 1”

STITCH

Garter

FINISHED MEASUREMENT

8“x 70”

Cast on 18 sts with 1 strand of Giotto and 1 strand of Eyelash held together.

Knit in garter to 70” or desired length.

Bind off loosely.

Tip to bind off: Leave a piece of yarn 4 times the length of your desired width.

Finishing: Cut fringes approximately 20” long. Fringes will be 10” long.

Use 3 pieces of each yarn for fringes.

[VerySex and the CityScarf]

MATERIAL

6 balls Trendsetter Bloom

NEEDLE

Size 35

GAUGE

1.75 sts = 1”

FINISHED

MEASUREMENT

8“x 80”

Yarn is used double throughout.

Cast on 14 sts.

Knit 8 rows in garter.

∗ Knit 1 row wrapping yarn 3x around both needles, knit 6 rows. ∗ Repeat from ∗ to ∗ until desired length.

Finish with knit 8 rows instead of 6 rows.

Bind off loosely.

Cut 22” fringe strands to make actual fringe size 11” in length.

Place 4 pieces in each fringe.

Anel Lopez Gorham of Popular

[Lost in TranslationScarf]

MATERIAL

3 balls Rowan Kid Classic

NEEDLE

Size 7

GAUGE

3.70 sts = 1”

FINISHED

MEASUREMENT

7“x 70”

Cast on 26 sts.

ROW 1: K1, ∗ YO, K1 ∗ repeat from ∗ across the row to last st, K1.

ROW 2: K1, purl across to last st, end with