Learn to use stacked decreases

If you've learned how to work a stacked decrease in my first article and possibly tried making an oak leaf, you're ready to come up with your own patterns that use this unique stitch. This article is going to focus on how to adjust the height of your stacks  and go over some of the math. Don't worry, it's not too hard.

Learn to knit stacked decreases

Some knitters have been asking about stacked decreases lately. In response, I've put together this article, a video tutorial, and a free pattern that uses this technique in a few ways.  Since publishing my Petal Cowl and Fox Paws patterns, there have been many emails from knitters asking whether they're interpreting the pattern right or wondering how I took these stitches and put them together into a pattern.

I'll go over the basics of how to do the decrease here, then, in the next article, we'll move on to some design tips.

☠ chromatose ☢

I got this yarn on impulse, thinking that maybe it would make a decent sweater. The idea of entirely unique skeins made from mill ends is really wonderful. I want to make a bunch of these just to group skeins into sweaters. I am looking into getting this yarn direct from the mill in Michigan to make some machine knit sweaters for retail!

Crazy Stripe

The last few weeks have been really busy for me with outside work coming in, but I have been spending all of my free time watching netflix swatching some really interesting patterns. Usually I design knits with overall shape in mind, not lace or cables and complex textures. To make things interesting, I decided to look at Missoni style textiles. None of these are copies of commercial knits, their machines do things that hands can't, but in studying the technology , I have come up with my own new ideas.

Here are some of the stitch patterns that I have made using stripes. each pattern is worked with one color per row, yet they look a lot like stranded motifs. the advantage is that there aren't any messy loops on the wrong side, making them great for shawls, wraps, and blankets.

1. This is how the idea started, extend chevrons vertically, lobes will form.

2. Put lobes on the lobes and it will look even cooler.

3-4. Alter the pattern slightly to try to flatten the fabric.

5. Garter stitch makes everything fit together perfectly and lay flat. I amgoing to make an afghan in this pattern and I am working on a wrap with this as well.

These look super hard to knit, but in reality, they are just glorified chevron patterns with increases and decreases - no harder to knit than any other stitch pattern.

1-2. I am looking at ways to make deeper chevrons, you can expect a  detailed post about the number of increases and decreases to make all sorts of chevron patterns as soon as I have time to knit examples. #2 has waves along the chevrons as well.

3. This is a border pattern. It looks cool, but it has short rows in addition to incs and decs. Ain't nobody got time for that.

4. Lobes - loving these lobes. They are easy. You'll see these in a scarf design.

1. I am working on a triangular shawl and thought this would be a good border.

2.  Yet againn, everything lies flatter in garter stitch.

3-4. These are center and corner experiments for the shawl. I am feeling very good about it right now and the pattern should be ready in august.


That's what I have been knitting these days. For now, I am keeping my technique secret until I release the patterns. It's difficult to write because they should be chartable, but most are not due to the change in stitch count from row to row. Maybe I will need test knitters next month. Any interest?

Knit for work or play: Midnight Blazer

Last year, when working in a freezing office, I went looking around the internet for a  super warm work appropriate blazer. There wasn't a lot that left my forearms free to do computer work and fit my intern budget. I got the idea to knit something that looked work appropriate and chic yet a bit edgy with a bit of extra shoulder padding like a tailored blazer.
This silhouette is designed to flatter “pear shapes” by drawing the eye up and balancing a bottom heavy figure.

Working with Lamb's Pride Bulky (budget appropriate and a quick knit) I came up with this simple fitted cardigan with a modified set in sleeve. In 4 days of commute knitting and about $40 I had a great new piece to wear and established myself as "the intern who could fix your knitting."
 

My mom also made this and added long sleeves which are a great easy mod. she doesn't know I'm using her picture here, but she looks great, so I'm sneaking it up before she can object.

Also, Look at how nice her back neck looks.

Sizes - determined by bust measurement:

Bust Measurement (from body): XS(28-30”), S(32-34”), M(36-38”), L(40-42”), XL(44-46”)

Garment Bust: XS(15.5”), S(17.5”), M(19.5”), L(21.5”), XL(23.5”)
Garment Waist: XS(12.5”), S(13.75”), M(15.5”), L(17.5”), XL(19.5”)
Garment Hips: XS(17”), S(18”), M(20”), L(22”), XL(24”)
Garment Length: XS(22”), S(22.5”), M(22.75”), L(23”), XL(23.25”)

Grading, test knitting, tech editing, and illustrating the unique sleeve seams may have taken a year, but it is finally out and ready to purchase right here or view via ravelry so please take a look . 

Makeover / How to add social media buttons to your blog

If you stop by every once in a while , you may have noticed that I've added a bit of color to the site just to brighten things up. For some reason I'm in a cyan tangerine mood these days. It seems to fit things better than grey and rust.

You might also see a few changes to the sidebar... there's a new thing that people are doing on their blogs: putting little coordinated sets of images that link to their social media sites. Adding these icons totally cleaned up my sidebar and decluttered, I recommend it highly. 

you.knit.lamps

Eight months ago, I posted a few pictures of a lamp that I made out of felt. There was a pretty big response from people who wanted to make lamps too, but there were also a lot of questions about fires and electrical wiring.

It took a bit of work, but with motivation from a really ugly bedside lampshade, help from the ravelry free testers group, and photography and some proofreading from my mother, there is now a way for others to knit similar lumpy lampshades.

All of the danger and live wires have been excised and replaced with safety and standardization. It may sound much less exciting, but it allows me to publish a pattern that fits the needs of all sorts of people with all sizes of lamp without an overbearing fear of fires and lawsuits.

The  pattern is for a textured felt lamp shade in multiple sizes and matching pillows in two sizes, the pillows do not light up.The lamp shade can be sewn over a preexisting shade or a handmade frame. DIY instructions for a metal lamp shade frame are included in the pattern as well as a lesson in lamp anatomy and safety.

The pillows are 10" x 16" and 16" x 16".
The shade fits a 6"-18" diameter drum shade with a height of 11". The height is adjustable.
Patons Classic Wool in color Aran is shown in all pictures.

Some of the skills needed for this pattern are non knitting related. It just wouldn't be fair to keep them secret, so I'm posting them here so that everyone can decide whether they want to put in the extra effort to make the lampshade themselves. The following images show the skills and materials needed to make a lampshade from scratch. These images are also included in the pattern PDF.

If you aren't into this sort of crafting , keep in mind that using a store bought lamp shade and making a pillow do not require any of these extra steps.

You've now seen everything but the actual knitting instructions so there are no unwanted surprises (I'm very OK with people using these lampshade frame instructions to come up with their own projects as long as I get credit for creating the files).  It's a fun project for the adventurous crafter and is very rewarding. You have to actually feel the texture to know how rewarding it really is.

The pillow is perfect for petting.

You can find the pattern on ravelry for $8.00 or get it right here.


If you are not a knitter but are interested in this product: I am able to produce a limited number of pillows and lampshades depending on my schedule. Contact me with your needs for pricing info.

TV Gameshow Sweater

There is someone out there who read my moodboard-like post about some sweaters being time machines and is waiting to see what came out of it. The time machine sweater was finished about 3 weeks ago, but didn't have any photographs that did it justice until a few days ago. Taking inspiration from the cheesy photography in vintage pattern books, I put together a little scene with period furniture. The color combo reminds me of some of the game show sets from the past.

I don't usually like to model for my own knitting photos. This case was no exception and I think you can see it on my face. I may not appear so, but I'm very happy with how this turned out. There aren't many concepts that are begging to be realized in red heart super cheap synthetic, but this one needs the artificiality to look right. The colors are so retro and they seemed to fit with the mustard chaise lounge (who doesn't love a mustard chaise lounge?). You can read about the history of the lounge on the MoMA website if you're interested.

This is a close up showing some of the fitting and the color. When this gets sized up, I'll have to learn how to chart the colored section.

The raw numbers for the full range of sizes have been worked out, so the testing phase will start soon. The pattern will be available by fall, so keep a look out if you want to knit your time machine sweater.

Gaining A lack of control

I was educated by people who, for the most part, design products to be mass produced. It's kind of the point of industrial design - make something that is reproducible using efficient manufacturing and standard materials. It's something that I have had to start thinking about professionally - products for a mass market, a user profile which dictates aesthetics, obeying the trends which sometimes conflict with my sensibilities. It's almost the opposite of the factors which I consider when working on personal projects. You give up some of your artistic control to gain the ability to design at all.  Everything is standardized to allow for optimal production and sales.

The process of designing for industrial means of production is actually really similar to designing for DIY production. You have to think about your reasoning behind the product: Is it going to be useful to different people in different situations, what materials and tools will be used to make this thing, and how much importance are you going to place on aesthetics? You're basically doing the same thing, but for a smaller audience. The only thing that you really lose is uniformity. Because production is in the hands of a bunch of individuals, no two finished objects will be the same. You have to be open to all sorts of  interpretation, success, failure, and disagreement.

Though there is something very satisfying about seeing a factory made product of your design, surprise will rarely be a positive reaction. Nobody ever sends instructions which, instead of a standard pantone color, say "surprise me." In the ideal situation, you have control over every detail and always get what you expect. But I really like surprises and a bit of diversity as well. That is one of the reasons I share knitting patterns here on my blog and on ravelry. Earlier this week I posted a bunch of interpretations of the same knitting pattern. Each product looks very different from the others, but that's the best way to cater to an audience of individuals. People create things that I would never do, and, for the most part, they like it more than if I had only allowed them to make my version.

This must be why people continue to value handmade over machinemade.

It's pretty exciting to have freedom.

Have you ever written a blog post, then forgotten to hit the publish butten?

Well that's where last week's post went.

I had finished this snowy beret the weekend of the snow storm. The snow storm that came in October, hence the name October Snow.

When my sister asked me to make a hat for this winter, I started thinking about what would look good with her curly chestnut hair. There was a skein of dark green cascade 220 in the yarn stash, and the knitting commenced.

Here are a few shots of the new pattern on, you may notice that the lady in the picture does not have curly chestnut hair. That is because she is not my sister, the model is actually my grandmother.

 You can see that all of the shaping is done with cables.

 This pattern is already in testing and should be finished next week ready. Get it on ravelry.

"The puritanical, Catholic approach of 'less is more' is wrong because we know all Catholics are sinners."

Ettore Sottsass on design and minimalism. Full article

It's Time

It's time for me to post something, I try really hard to do so every week at least, but there inst much to say. The last week has brought a whole lot of changes.

I left my internship to look for permanent work. I plan on taking those two days a week that I had been dedicating to work and using them to learn either java or processing. Being able to even poorly sketch working interfaces is an important skill in the future.

On Wednesday my father became ill and had to go into the hospital. He'll be having a procedure to fix some of his heart trouble in just a few hours. Things kind of stop when there are emergencies like that, and that is the reason for a lack of postworthy events.

The only noteworthy event is the commencement of the knitting of my first sweater pattern. It is a cropped style with set in sleeves and possibly some text on the front. The Red Heart Super Saver hot pink dayglow yarn ($8.60 for a sweater) is super tacky and creates the need for some sort of symbol that shows the world that I'm aware of the ugliness of the sweater. I might just write UGH on it because that is what people will say when they see it.

OK then, posting duties fulfilled. Time to get ready to knit my way through the wait at the hospital.

Spine Poncho Pattern is finally here!!

You may remember A while ago I asked for some help with a pattern that I came up with. After a little help from the ravelry community, I figured out how to chart this thing. The color came first, but after I uploaded the simple chart, people started to ask for the full poncho pattern.

Spine Poncho

 **A few people have had problems with Scribd  so I've decided to provide an alternative means of downloading. For those of you who would rather download from ravelry, the file is now posted there too**

This PDF is a diagrammed chart of the whole poncho. I don't want to write it out line by line because the pattern is very simple and easy to understand once you see it laid out. It's just a really big mitered piece.

For me, this was a stash buster, using up a bunch of yarn that was really warm and a bit itchy, good for a jacket type project. I never wrote down the yardage, so the file might be a little low on the amount needed of the main color.

Unfortunately, I do not have the resources right now to test this pattern before posting it, but I am sure any corrections or notes will be easily fixed once people start to make it. If you find one, just let me know in the comments section and I'll modify the file.

Digital Design Therapy/Shapeways Meetup

I went to a meetup yesterday that was hosted by the Digital Design Therapy group about the possibilities of 3d printing. There were speakers from Shapeways and design studios which use digital media as part of their design and manufacturing.
Though a lot of time was spent on the materials and capabilities of 3d printing, a few ideas on general design theory also came across as important.

More and more, people want the freedom to design their own products.
This is something that I have definitely been thinking a lot about lately. The democratization of design is kind of a threatening idea to me because its already hard enough to find work, but there is still a place for the professional in the future. Mary Huang showed a few of her interfaces which are designed to give people the tools to make products interactively. Ddress, an app on the Continuum Fashion website is an interesting example of this phenomenon. She designed the interface to give users complete freedom to choose form, but consciously limited them to black fabric and a low poly pattern. This helps people make something that is unique, but still fits into an overall aesthetic.

Like all manufacturing processes, 3d printing has unique properties and capabilities. Justify high cost by making things that cannot be made by other means.
Thee founders of Aminimal studio spoke about their lighting and jewelry projects which take advantage of the printers' ability to make highly detailed, complex forms accurately. It just doesn't make sense to print something if it can be made cheaply using another process. Similarly, designers from The Future Future showed their jewelry, which uses the freedom of 3d printing to generate unique but similar pieces. Because there is no master mold, there is no reason to make only version of a product.

All of the designers acknowledged the potential of this new technology to change the structure of manufacturing in a way that has not happened since the industrial revolution. I don't doubt it, and will be continuing to think about these new rules for design as we all should.

200/fingerscarf

Check out this new pattern which is now in testing stage. Did you ever wonder what would happen if a pair of gloves and a scarf had a child? What would happen if you just reached through your scarf every time your fingers were cold?
Well this is the answer to those questions that you never actually asked.

Doesn't look like much - until you realize what those holes are for. They are for your cold fingers.

So it has a built in glove. Its pretty useful actually. It reminds me of that scene in star wars where Han Solo is frozen in carbonite with his hands and face sticking out.

So yeah, I am looking for some test knitters because I am hoping to eventually sell this pattern for a small price. I'll be needing someone willing to make a man size too.


Also this is my 200th post.Yay.

Talk to Me

I went today to see the Talk to Me exhibit at MoMA. There was a lot of interesting content and commentary about the integration of technology into everyday life and how we interact with it. Ranging from concepts and predictions to widely used designs, most of the content of the show seemed to be a direct response to Anthony Dunne's Hertzian Tales. I thought I wrote about Hertzian Tales, but it seems that I didn't. It was about the need for empathy and philosophy in the design of electronics. Its a really interesting book - a bit dry, but you should read it.

Anyway, a lot of the content focused on the ability of electronic objects to alter perspectives, augment reality, and to create emotional responses. The subtitle of the show is "Design and communication between people and objects" which is, I guess, a good way of explaining the theme of the show. The general feeling that I got from it was that people just want to get personal with inanimate objects, whether that means artificial affection from an iPad app or pointing out the coldness of sending an email. We are human and we now expect experiences that are more human.

There were scannable codes on all of the museum tags, which makes me realize how amazingly innovative those guided tour headsets were when they first came out. Now we can scan so many things to get more info, but that idea seems to have originated in a gallery setting. A lot of the displays required headphones, which I don't like, so I only listened to some. Surrounded by so many interactive technologies, headphones hanging on hooks looked even less inviting than they usually do. There was so much to take in that I wouldn't have been able to listen to everything anyway.

The most interesting part of the exhibit was the interactions that people had with the displays.

The first piece in the show was a projection of an app called Talking Carl. There was an iPad where you could interact with the character on the touch screen. A little boy saw someone touching the screen and ran up to try it himself. His mother stopped him. She yelled "don't touch the exhibit." The boy said he saw someone else do it but she still said no. I went up to the screen, gestured the character to do a flip, and said "its interactive."  She let the boy play with the screen and thanked me, I don't know if she was being sincere. I think this experience shows the difference between generations and their reaction to technology. To someone who grew up without touchscreens everywhere, a screen in a museum still means "art, do not touch," but for someone who only knows a back lit rectangle as an icon of interactivity, they know what to do.

Another funny scene was the metro card vending machine, on display for the exhibit to show interface design at its finest. It was fully functional, dispensing cards and everything. People kept going up to it to see what it did. They would touch the screen and look confused when it did what it was expected to do. Some even asked the guard what it was for and whether it was part of the exhibit.  If good design is in fact invisible, congrats to the designer - not even the tourists found it noteworthy.

So, this review is getting really long. I will be going back to see the show again when I can spend more time. I will then write about it again with some more thoughtful and designey comments about the experience. Also next time I will show up with a charged phone for a more complete experience.

Yeah, if you go, charge your phone. And you should go.

Wabi Sabi

Wabi sabi is the new design philosophy which I would like to explore. Since I have technically finished school, I am going to be spending my time looking for work. But in the long term, I am going to look into the aesthetic and functional qualities of objects as time passes.

This is the image that caused my interest. This old, worn phone looks a lot better than the new one. The same is true for leather goods and jeans. I wonder how this concept can be transferred to mass produced products in a purposeful way.

Is it possible for objects to develop custom functionality with age?

feelology

These are the final images of the products made for my feelology project. The project started with the intent to introduce textures to the backs of electronic devices in order to make them more tactile. While sketching in silicone, I realized that though it is interesting to make a device feel good in the hand, it is not going to change how people interact with their electronics. Tactile surfaces have more impact when they are not directly competing with the functional screen side of the device.

I branched out into other materials, incorporating my love of textiles and craft into my experimentation in feelology. The result is a group of three products (plus a bunch of silicone sketches) which add an element of tactility to an environment.

The quilt is a new interpretation of the classic trapunto technique. The pattern of stuffed areas is unevenly distributed and is therefore more interesting to feel in some areas than others. By emphasizing the texture of an object that is already used as a comfort object, the user may become more aware of the physical object which they are interacting with, or maybe not.

The carpet, made entirely out of wool, has a similar concept to the quilt. The lumps of varying size are placed unevenly so the texture is more noticeable. In the process of sketching, I found that a uniform texture is the tactile equivalent of white noise: You can feel it, but the sensation is constant that after a while you no longer notice it. The bumps kind of massage the bottoms of your feet. They feel pretty good.

The third product in the series is kind of the odd duck of the group. This is the hoodie that I posted about earlier. It has an inset pocket with a texture inside. The idea is based on the observation that people reach into their pockets and jingle their change or their keys when they are nervous or bored. The hoodie took on an unusual form because I wanted to make it look cozy and inviting. I also have an affinity for strangely shaped garments. The adult size has a beard of texture, the kid's (not shown) only got texture in the pockets. There is a bit more work to be done on this garment, but for the purpose of school, all of the ideas are there. More versions can be expected.

So, one week from now there will be a show/critique at Pratt Institute. I think it might be open to visitors, so drop by room 44a in Pratt studios at 1:30, Wednesday, May 4th if you want to see my work and some really cool stuff from my classmates. I may have some more to show.

bearded head

project progress

the rug

This is a small textured rug that I am working on for my final. The bumps massage your feet and make you more aware of your sense of touch.