Feelin' Real!

There's nothing that makes you feel like something's really going to happen like having it in print!

These pretty postcards arrived this morning:

But hey! First - Wonderwool Wales! I'll give a full report on my return!

Out and about in Brighton: One man and his sheep!

This friendly chappy let me snap him and his sheep, while I was out and about in Brighton today...
Do you think he's getting in a woolly mood for Unwind?

Design Competition: Have Your Pattern Published in the Unwind Brighton Programme!

Join the Unwind Brighton Design Competition!

This competition is to find a fabulous pattern to publish in the Unwind Brighton programme. Unwind is about celebrating inspiration and bringing people together who love fibre arts. The design competition does both – We invite you to submit your inspiration to the fibre art community for the chance to be published in the Unwind Brighton programme and have your sample displayed at Unwind Brighton 2014.

·         The design can be for anything at all, as long as it is knitted or crocheted.

·         The design must be your own work and an original design, not previously published.

·         Individuals may submit up to 3 entries.

·         The pattern can be in any yarn of any weight, but please consider that the design will be published in July 2014 and therefore it is useful to consider: Would I want to knit this in the summer? Would I want to wear this in summer / early autumn?  Also, it is useful to bear in mind that Unwind visitors may wish to purchase yarn for the pattern in the marketplace.

·         Submissions should be emailed to unwindbrighton@gmail.com by 23^th May 2014.

·         Publishing the pattern in any form before July 2014 will result in disqualification.

Submissions should include:

·         A complete, written knitting or crochet pattern, including any charts needed, and a glossary of terms.

·         At least two photographs of the project.

·         Details of yarn used and estimated yardage requirements for all sizes

6-8 designs will be shortlisted for a public vote. Shortlisted entrants will be notified by 24^th May 2014. On the 26^th May shortlisted designers will be asked to add their patterns to Ravelry’s database.

A public vote will begin at midnight on 26th May 2014 and will run until midnight on 31st May 2014. The winning pattern will be the one with the most votes.  A third party application will be used for voting. The winner will be announced on Saturday 1st June 2014. There is a cash prize of £200 for the winning entry. 

Patterns should be ready to publish / print by 13th June 2014.

The original sample of the winning entry will be displayed in the Unwind Brighton marketplace. Samples will be returned to the designers by the 31^st August 2014.

For more information please download the rules & information sheet and to enter please download the entry form.

Happy Knitting! We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Unwind with Asa Tricosa

Today's featured teacher is Asa, the energetic designer who publishes intricate knitting designs by the name of Asa Tricosa. Asa has a passion for interesting and seamless construction and has been perfecting a specific technique to enable her (and knitters) to work seamless top down constructions. Asa will be teaching her 'Ziggurat’ Method on the afternoon of Saturday 12^th July 2014. She will also be teaching Flip Your Top Mittens on the morning of Saturday 12^th July and Sideways Shawl Design on the Sunday.

I asked Asa to answer a few questions and share some of her crafting experiences with us...

What was your first knitting project?

I was so little, I can’t remember. Wait! Apparently I crocheted a loooooong string which I confidently told my dad would become shorts for him. Several years later there was the reindeer incident freeform vest I “designed” or at least knitted, after reading some article about how one could just cast on and knit without any pattern. I wore it a lot. Despite the unfortunately placed reindeer. And wonky shaping.


What’s your favourite thing to knit?

Oh, that’s easy! Ziggurat sweaters. 

(c) Asa Tricosa

And gloves...

(c) Asa Tricosa

And shawls, lacy or with striking colours. And…

(c) Asa Tricosa

What was your most (or least) successful project?

That reindeer vest, I think… oh, and a striped sweater made from wildly varying thicknesses of yarn- I figured I could just will them into submission. I don’t think I’d even heard of gauge back then. The colours were great.

Do you have a favourite knitting tip to share?

Knit with abandon!

And then inspect your knitting every few rows, critically. Hold it up, pull on it to detect any oddities. It’s much easier to reweave a dropped stitch, an accidentally slipped stitch, or make a forgotten decrease after the fact, if it’s only a few rows down.

Do you have any other crafty hobbies?

I used to do pottery. Would love to again, but like knitting it tends to take over and leave time for nothing else. Plus it requires a bit more than just some wool and needles.

Is there anything you’d never, ever make (or technique you’ll never try)?

A knitted bedspread. A knitted blanket. Knitted home textiles give me the heebie jeebies. They just do.

Would you say you are a process or product knitter?

Yes!

I can get truly excited about figuring out a new technique or construction and to see if it can be made to work in action, but always with a finished THING in mind, a wearable, funky, fun or beautiful finished THING.

What are you working on right now?

Oh, about five things… I’m lucky my tech editors (Stephanie Boardman and Rachel Atkinson) let me tack my WIPs and ideas to their virtual refrigerator doors, and they dutifully say ‘ooh’ and ‘aaah’. I’m always dying to show everyone my latest project or idea regardless of whether anyone is dying to see it. Ravelry is good (and dangerous) that way.

A big thank you to Asa for taking the time to share some insight into her knitting world. You can find all of Asa’s designs by visiting her design page on Ravelry. Once there, you will also find her design, Simple Ziggurat, her seamless top down sweater that showcases her technique.

(c) Asa Trico

Pom Pom Quarterly & The Seaside Shindig!

Please give a big, warm, sunny welcome to Pom Pom Quarterly as sponsors of Unwind Brighton!

Pom Pom Quarterly are organising a fabulous party on Saturday 12th July for the festival! The perfect way to unwind after a long day of learning, shopping, darning, spinning, laughing and chatting and get ready for the same again on Sunday. It's going to be brilliant fun, can't wait to see you there!

Tickets for the Seaside Shindig go on sale tomorrow, Friday 11th April, along with Marketplace tickets.

*Tickets are limited due to space in the venue.

Be Featured on the Unwind Brighton Map!

There is still time to be included in the bespoke artwork for Unwind Brighton! Just send a photo to me at unwindbrighton@gmail.com.

Here is a preview of the Unwind Brighton banner, with a few lovely knitters on already!

The buildings shown are the Unwind Brighton venues: Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, Jubilee Library, the Brighton Friends' Meeting House, the Old Courtroom and the Latest Music Bar.

Do you recognise anyone?

Please get your photo submissions to us no later than midnight on Friday the 11th April to be drawn into the Unwind Brighton map, which will be featured in the programme!

Please note: Photos must be head to toe. Everyone on the image below has been drawn in as per their photograph!

Thanks so much to Tristan Bristow for working on this project. Please go and check out his work on his website.

Unwind with Karie Westermann

Say hello to Karie Westermann. Born in Denmark and currently residing in Scotland, Karie is a creative and multi-talented knitwear designer, tutor, translator and technical editor. Within her multiple roles in the knitting industry, Karie explores her craft with a passion for tradition and authenticity.

Karie will be applying her considerable knowledge and experience to 3 afternoon classes at Unwind this year. The first is Knitting with Beads on Friday 11th, July, then Continental Knitting on Saturday afternoon and the last is Beginning Crochet for Knitters on Sunday afternoon. You can find the classes and further information here

I asked Karie to answer a few questions and share some of her crafting experiences with us...


What was your first knitting/spinning/crochet project?

I cannot actually remember when I learned to knit and crochet – I must have been very young. My great-grandmother taught me to knit and an aunt taught me to crochet, I do remember that. I spent my childhood making clothes for my dolls and I vividly remember making a fair-isle jumper for my Barbie doll! When you are a child, you never realise things are supposed to be too difficult for you. You just do things. Something worth keeping in mind as an adult!

My very first garment was a crochet jumper I made out of my mum's cotton scraps. It was yellow, orange, pink and lime green. A hideous thing, really, with granny squares stretching across my bosom and strips of colours down the bottom. I was 17 or thereabouts. I was really proud of it and wore it around town. I am very thankful that no photos exist.


What’s your favourite thing to knit?

That is a really difficult question. I have recently discovered how much I absolutely love colourwork – it's like painting with stitches and I absolutely love watching how colours combine. On the other hand, if I were on a desert island and all I had were 4mm circs and a huge stash of hand-dyed yarn, I'd be equally happy as I love designing and knitting lace shawlettes. Then again, there is something special about garments you've made yourself…

... it is possibly easier to say I don't enjoy so much. I'm not a huge fan of knitting sleeves, but I live in Scotland, so you do need sleeves to keep warm!


Would you say you are a process or product knitter? 

Process.

My least favourite part of knitting is the casting-on part. I really like being in the middle of a project – that stage where things flow and I can see where I am going. I don't have that much time to knit for myself but if I do, I make sure the project is fun to knit and has some sort of interesting process to it. I've become much better at looking at the end result though – I don't have time to knit anything that I cannot see myself wear.

As a designer, I am all about the process. I love sketching ideas, doing research and pulling everything together. I tend to get these big, conceptual ideas and I have to chip away at my ideas to get them into workable forms.

I really got sucked into the research process for my Doggerland collection:

it's a collection of knit accessories inspired by Mesolithic archaeology and psychogeography. I ended up trawling through German treatises on 3D mapping of marine landscapes – it was at that point I had to remind myself that I am a knitwear designer, not a geologist!


What are you working on right now?

At the time of writing I am putting the final touches to the penultimate pattern in the Doggerland collection. I am also working on a pattern (and a related article) for a well-known UK knitting magazine. I am tech-editing a handful of patterns for a super-talented UK designer and I am overseeing an administrative project for a commercial yarn company. I like sticking my fingers in a lot of pies! It's a bit “the calm
before the storm”, though.

Knitting-wise, I have a couple of non-work projects lingering: I am one sleeve(!) away from completing a fair-isle cardigan and one front away from completing another. I am quietly working on a Woolly Wormhead hat as well. It's important to me that I have some non-work knitting at hand for when my head is tired and I just need some comfort knitting.


If you had to pick just one kind of yarn to knit with for the rest of your life what would it be?

I apologise in advance for the long answer, but this is the best question ever.I like working with all sorts of different fibres but I love wool above all else. I have been working a lot with rustic yarns recently - yarns where you can still sense that the wool's come from a sheep and it hasn't been processed beyond recognition.

Snældan 1ply (available in the UK from the Island Wool Company) is quite possibly my favourite lace yarn for that reason – it is a Faroese yarn which is so beautiful to work with. There's an obscure Danish yarn - Hjeltholts Håndværksgarn – which mixes Gotland fibre with Falkland merino. I discovered it a few years ago and I am really excited by it.

On the other hand, Rowan Kidsilk Haze is as far from rustic as you can get. It is such a versatile yarn that makes even the simplest design shine. I also love how many colours you can get with KSH – you can either knit it on its own or combine shades to get new combinations. I have been working a lot with Rowan Felted Tweed DK recently and it's amazingly versatile as well.

For hand-dyed indie yarn, I think we are so incredibly lucky in the UK to have some of the world's best dyers. I absolutely love Old Maiden Aunt yarns – Lilith's sense of colour is so unique and I am dying to knit a cardigan out of her Merino/Silk Sport. I also recently worked with Juno Fibre Arts Belle which has this amazing handle, Eden Cottage Yarn does some of the richest palettes around, and I'm currently working with Triskelion Yarn Amaethon 4ply – unbelievably rich, gorgeous colour and feel.

So, in short, I cannot choose just one because every yarn has its right time and place (apart from fun fur). As long as I'm working with natural fibres, I am happy. I do think people should try to shop more local and try out more local yarns. I'd love to see people really support their local knitting communities and vendors.


Where do you get your knitting inspiration? And whose work do you most admire and why?

I am not someone who goes “There's a tree! I'll make a scarf!” - instead I notice things like the bark having a specific structure or how ice crystals form patterns on leaves. I basically try to keep my eyes open as you can see the most marvellous things if you really look. For instance I really love a specific pedestrian footpath over the motorway here in Glasgow – its combination of colour and form is fantastic. I also tend to use knitting design as a way to explore my own heritage.

Designing is tricky and I am full of admiration for people who keep coming up with classic, wearable designs that have a certain quirky sensibility or a very well-defined aesthetic. Personally I want to knit everything Amy Christoffers and Heidi Kirrmaier design – both nail contemporary and classic at the same time.

I also like designers who are not afraid of pushing boundaries within tradition: Susan Crawford and Hélène Magnússon spring to mind. I do like thoughtful design and I especially like designers who understand the tradition within which we all operate.

Finally, people like Andi Satterlund, Ann Weaver, and Annie Watts are just fantastic. I always get excited when I see they've released a new pattern – very individual styles and great ideas.


What are you most looking forward to about Unwind / Or visiting Brighton?

I have never been to Brighton before, so I am super-excited about that! I am a bit of a Regency nerd... and it is going to be great to see everybody. Knitting events are often the only time I see far-flung friends and I always love seeing new faces, great new yarnies, and finding out about exciting designers. The line-up of classes, talks, and vendor is truly exceptional – it is going to be amazing.


A big thank you to Karie for taking the time to share some insight into her knitting world. To keep up to date with her latest designs and inspirations, visit her blog or keep an eye on her Twitter feed where she’s often engaged in a lively conversation.