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Newsletter - August 2011
Welcome!
In the early days of the Patternfish newsletter we are pretty continuously evaluating what works for our readers. We want to ensure that the content and appearance are both interesting and appealing, but most importantly relevant to you. If you have any comments or suggestions please contact Gayle at newsletter.editor@patternfish.com. For any other Patternfish queries contact Phil at support@patternfish.com.
The Prime Minister and Editor frequently have the same reaction to designs sent to Patternfish for posting. Our reactions? Awe, delight, desire! One design we were both speechless about (an admittedly unusual state for either of us) was the Bergere de France Trapeze-line Jacket featured as a Landmark Design in the July newsletter.
Response was so positive that we’ve decided to add the Prime Minister’s and Editor’s Choices of the Month to the newsletter.
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Prime Minister’s ChoiceThe Inca Marl Ruffled Coat is a real "People's Choice". Its original booklet went out of print, but so many people were clamouring for this design that Classic Elite made a digital version of it-- just to stop all the begging and pleading. We've been told that whole families of sisters have made this piece, and that it's been the subject of many blog entries and fan groups. It really is one for the ages, just flowing timeless beauty. |
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Editor’s ChoiceI just love the classic composure and vintage feel of this cardigan. It was written just a few years ago, but it could have been written in the ‘40’s. The repetition of the two simple cables entrances me, although I think I’d mirror the larger cable but leave the twist as is. A huge benefit for me is the aran weight yarn and 5.0mm/8.0 US needle size that make it faster than my usual choices. |
In this issue ...From the Prime Minister's Desk
Wherein Julia answers the question: Every reason: genetics, work experience, social justice... but mostly because I wanted to use it myself, and it didn't exist; I had to make it up. Patternfish was incorporated in October 2006-- almost a year to the day after my mother's death. She had quilted, tatted, crocheted, sewed, hemstitched, knitted, needlepointed, and done many other kinds of handwork for as long as I can remember. My mom wasn't a designer, but a superb executrix of patterns-- a very careful 'follower' with extraordinary skills. She's the only person I've ever known who tatted. Tatting is a series of very small knots. If you make a mistake, you can't take it out. She was very good at it. That says a lot about her. My dad was a lifelong entrepreneur who had a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Toronto, but as an Aquarius, he was only interested in starkly new, groundbreaking tech. He opened up Hewlett Packard's first office in Canada, but HP was so well-run that he got bored, and moved to Atari before going on to co-found Geac Computer in the 70's, and Intelex Corporation in the 80's. One of the great things about my dad was that every day was 'take your daughter to work day'. I got to see how he was always, always excited about the breakthroughs that were going on at his various companies. One of them, Geac, was the first Canadian company, perhaps in the world, to make bank transactions interactive and on-line instead of batch processing them overnight. He would say with great excitement, "Joob, these guys are doing some of the most innovative work in the world." That's what I grew up with, and it soaked into my bones-- an excitement and deep reverence for talent. Luckily I get to experience that at Patternfish every day. My mom and dad (both now dead) live every day in Patternfish, too. In my work life, I spent ten years as a rep in Canadian yarn distribution and worked with scores of retailers. I also worked regular shifts as a yarn store clerk throughout that time and became familiar with the buying habits of end customers as well as retailers. I became an accomplished knitter, an executrix like my Mom, but also like her, not a designer by nature. But at Patternfish, we're about the designers/publishers. Pattern designers have been, in general, severely underpaid in relation to their skills and the importance of their work to the industry. If the designer is lucky, he or she may land 12 design contracts a year each requiring 50 to 80 hours of highly specialized work. At the currently handsome rate of $600 US each, he or she will earn $7200 a year. When I discovered this as a rep, it made my blood boil. Designers can be responsible for many thousands of dollars of yarn sales. I thought that if they got paid on a commission basis, like reps, it would be a much fairer deal for them. I also observed that really excellent designers were often lousy at self-promotion: often shy, sometimes inarticulate, and frequently far too modest. (Check out Katherine Matthews, Barbara Gregory, and Bernice Vollick-- there are probably scores of others too that I haven't met yet.) I, on the other hand, was a lousy designer, but quite skilled at promoting the great work of others. I tell you, my heart swelled at the thought of being able to help these talented people succeed and receive what they deserve-- and also be able to promote their work as classy and valuable. It was practically a patriotic duty. I still really actively love that part. Next month: more about the early days of Patternfish. |
Designer of the Month:
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Our Newest Designers and Publishers
In July, we welcomed 8 new designers.
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Dorothy Siemens of Fiddlesticks Knitting, lace mistress extraordinaire, debuts with her Lyrical Lace shawl, a design knit from the bottom up with lace patterning on the right side only. It’s somewhat unusual to encounter Estonian inspired patterns in a pattern rated ‘for intermediate lace knitters’. Dorothy’s lace includes scarves, cardigans, sweaters, not only shawls. |
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Tabetha Hedrick begins at Patternfish with Elinor Dashwood, an assured, elegant and feminine garment featuring herringbone lace patterning and the softest touch of alpaca at the cuffs and neckline. Jane Austen fans will know that Elinor is the “sense” sister in “Sense and Sensibility”; she’s the sister with dignity and restraint. |
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Iza Reyes of Iza Lisette joins Patternfish with her charming, colourful and easy to knit Firebird Shawlette, specially designed for lace weight handspun yarn. Reyes considers this a good introduction to lace knitting for beginners. You could easily make it larger and create the Firebird Shawl. Great name! |
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Leslye Solomon of Patterns by Leslye debuts with the Quadraphenia Cardigan, a fun to knit design for even the newest knitter. Basically, you knit some squares in gorgeously coloured yarn, piece them together, and add sleeves. Quadraphenia is sized from 38”-50” and the gussets at the sides and back make this flattering for just about everyone. |
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Joji Locatelli debuts at Patternfish with Pole, a design she adapted to aran weight from a fine, machine knit cardigan that she loved to wear. The adaptation came out of the observation that the design looked good on just about everyone and Locatelli has sized this for just about everyone with finished chest sizes from 30” to 60”. A good project for loose knitters. |
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Amanda Lilley of Amanda Lilley Designs begins at Patternfish with her pretty and practical Top Down Jacket knit for little girls 1 to 6. The seed stitch borders ensure neither rolling nor additional finishing and are knitted on as you go, love that! And there’s no sewing; love that, too. |
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Natalia Blank debuts with Dunes and Waves, a stole of exceptional beauty that would be a good choice for a beginning lace knitter because, as Blank states, “You start at one end of the stole and finish at the other. The pattern will do the rest.” No picking up stitches, provisional cast-ons, no sewing on edges. Wear this over a strapless dress, as a scarf, to dress up a suit, or jeans for that matter. |
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Keya Kuhn of Zibeline Knits joins Patternfish with her Elegy Fingerless Mitts, a pattern written with admirable concern for the knitter including additional, in-progress photos and tips about what you should be seeing as you begin the next step as in “beginning with the cable pattern facing you…”. Elegy’s three sizes would make it a good unisex mitt choice. |
Pattern Buzz
Deb Gemmel of Cabin Fever has just introduced a pattern that’s creating lots of on-line buzz, the A-Line Plus Cardigan. This is the third in the series of top-down, no sewing, a-line cardigans from Cabin Fever that began with Morgan’s Cardigan for teens and tweens available only in the ebook of the same name. Moms clamoured for the same design sized for them so Deb created one, now called the A-Line Cardigan and then larger sized women wanted their own, and it’s here now, the A-Line Plus Cardigan.
Julie, the moderator of the Knitting at Large Group at Ravelry, who blogs about ample size knitting says “Deb kindly redesigned her pattern specifically for larger figures; in fact, I gave her my measurements before she started and several others did, too. She’s come up with an innovative short row technique that provides a better fit through the neckline and shoulders. I’m going to start Deb’s Plus Size Cardi Knitalong on Ravelry to begin after Labor Day”.
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Collection of the Month
It is summer and blisteringly hot here in the Northern Hemisphere, but the cold weather is coming and giving up knitting is out of the question.
Cowls pop to mind: fast, not much sizing to worry about, not a huge quantity of yarn to sit in your lap.
| A wimple really | Pretty, warm, fast | Lacey, feminine |
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| Cold weather cowl | Handsome, unisex | It’s all in the name |
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From the Ambassador’s Desk
- Gayle Clow
In the ‘80’s I took a course on Synectics (defined as bringing different things into real connection) in Boston in order to become more proficient at generating creative solutions to problems at work. Some years later, I started painting and found a book that suited me extremely well, “Art Synectics: Stimulating Creativity in Art” by Nicholas Roukes.
While it is helpful to have a book full of ways to generate connections, the ideas that arrive unplanned and unbidden like a gift from the brain are the most gratifying and the most fun both to experience and to observe.
Patternfish itself, designers and designs are testaments to the value of bringing different things into connection, whether it’s the nature and nurture that go into making a person or inventing (and unventing) new ways to design and knit a garment.
Carl Sandburg could have been referring to any creative pursuit, including knitting design, when he wrote “Poetry is the achievement of the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.”