I’m today’s stop on Carol Feller‘s book release blog tour! Carol, knitwear designer, and author of Contemporary Irish Knits
stopped by today to tell us all about her design process for her new Scrumptious Knits collection. I love hearing how these gorgeous knits came into being, and you will, too! Read on to learn more about Carol’s creative process and to win a PDF copy of the book for yourself!
Carol Says: For me, creating a collection of patterns is a very organic process. When I began working on the Scrumptious Knits book, I did not start out with a fully formed theme in mind. However, as I began sketching and fitting various design ideas together with the yarns, the concept for the collection quickly began to take shape. The smooth, shimmering qualities of the silk really dominated my design process and the general aesthetic of the collection. I wanted to create a sleek, elegant collection that showed both the stitches and the yarn to their full advantage.
In all of the designs I wanted to keep the lines clean, accented with single, visually striking details. Below, I give you a little overview of each design, and how I envisioned it.
Ignus (in photo above) is a top down cowled tunic with the body knit in stockinette stitch. However, the body is complemented by side panels of ribbing which have a cable pattern running through them. The large cowl neck really creates the finishing touch for the tunic and balances out the length.
Bakersville is a hooded cardigan in sports weight yarn with diagonal ribbing as the primary design feature. I designed this hoodie to be a very wearable piece for those in-between seasons. Personally, it’s probably the piece I’d get the most use out of (I’ve even knit a second one to use myself!) The construction method used for this cardigan, top down with seamless set in sleeves, is also one of my favourites.
The third garment in this collection is Taupo. Several years ago I designed a vest with the same basic construction techniques used here. It begins with a provisional cast on at the center of the back, then short rows are worked to create a-line shaped hips and finally short rows shape the capped sleeves. It’s an amazing top to knit if you want to learn or improve your short rows technique, and the finished piece is really flattering for many different body types. I’ve added some subtle pattern details to this vest, using Trinity Stitch, which really emphasises the short row shaping.
The remaining pieces in this collection are all accessories. The Haruna hat and glove set are all about the subtle, simple details. The hat is a flapper style hat that uses short rows (yes again!) and gathers on one side to create an asymmetric brim. The garter brim is continued up along the side of the hat with some fun faux bobble ‘buttons’ running up it. The gloves were created to complete the set with the same wrist gather and bobble ‘buttons’ up the side. The simple details combined with a single point of visual emphasis works really well with a yarn that can shine in its own right.
The final two accessories are the Flama shawl and the Vesuvius cowl. The shawl is a rectangular shawl worked with a garter stitch base. The central lace section is decreased as you work until you reach the top. I’ve shown some subtle beading details at the edge that give extra sparkle and weight to the piece. The final accessory, Vesuvius, is a simple loosely knit cowl. It is perfect for modifying just by increasing or decreasing the number of repeats. Thanks to the super softness of the yarn it is a complete dream to wear!
SO! Wouldn’t you love to win a copy of Carol’s new pattern collection? All you have to do is comment below, telling us which is your favorite of these patterns and why.
The winner will be chosen next week by random number generator.
