Pointelle Samples

Since working at Make Piece I have been learning a bunch of new techniques. This one is called the pointelle, though I have used this in my garments before, though I didn't know it was called pointelle !






I have also been trying to find the time to do my own garments, and I have one going! Here is a little taste of it:






Now I start making a move towards the studio to see what I can make of this last one then! Have been sitting on a computer now for hours...

Bye!

V

Knitmaster Book Volume 4

I just put these pictures of the knitmaster book for you to see, what is possible with Fair Isle punchcards. It's only a couple of samples, my own notes for thinking of my work, but also for people to see that I can do these things made to order and you can pop in and see me if you want something made for you from these patterns and the patterns that I have already written. (See collections from www.cargocollective.com/valpurivihriala

Make Piece

I have been doing an internship now for a month for a company called Make Piece. It's a knitwear design company based in Todmorden, about half an hour on a train from Manchester Victoria. Behind the label there is two ladies: Nicola Sherlock and Beate Kubitz. Make Piece is all about sustainable UK produced luxury knitwear. All the yarns are coming from the UK, they even have their own sheep (60 shetland sheepies to be precise). They were recently on Country File on BBC One. The episode doesn't seem to be available on iPlayer anymore...

I go to Make Piece once or twice a week to work with their machines. My new favorite machine is Brother Chunky ( I can't remember now what number it is, but I am looking to buy one, so if anyone hears anything, please let me know! ). Even though working with chunky gauge machine, the garments that I have made, are knitted with fine yarn. I also work in my own studio during rest of the week to carry on practicing the designs that I learned in Make Piece studio.

The toughest thing to learn has been fixing things. When I started to use machines, I used to just do practice samples, where it didn't really matter if I just started again. In the point when I started to produce garments, I was so careful that I didn't really make any mistakes anymore (cos I didn't really exactly know how to fix it if yarn broke or I lost a stitch). It was the new way of managing the tension by hand rather than trough tension wire that got me into few blood pressuring pickles, but luckily I have gotten trough that stage where I constantly snapped the yarn. At this very minute though, there is a garment in my studio that I have to undo into a certain point. I think I haven't done the "undoing" right, as it has turned into a god forsaken mess. I did fiddle with it for nice three hours today, but when the sun started to go down, I decided to go home. I am hoping to wake up very early tomorrow to go and see if my heart is healed enough from today's struggles and I could just carry on. I have started to find my Finnish "sisu" from inside me since started this internship. (Sisu is a word or a saying about Finnish people, that they are very stubborn and don't give up, I didn't really think that I fitted in that stereotype until now). But I am there to learn and I think after a while I will be seriously good knitter.

Here is some designs by Nicola Sherlock that I have learned to knit at Make Piece: (images from www.makepiece.co.uk)


Foxglove Shrug





Edgeway Shrug



Garments on these images are not the actual garments that I made, they are just images to show which ones I have been knitting at Make Piece.

To see more of Make Piece beautiful designs go to:

www.makepiece.co.uk

They also have a blog:

http://www.makepiece.co.uk/pages/NEW-label-we-want-your-help.aspx?pageid=415

So,

Let's campaign for wool!

Kisukiskis

Valpuri

New Samples and two new pieces.

Hello folks!
It has been quiet in this space since last time when I published the images of the collection that came out on November. I had a little bit of a Christmas break, and after that I couldn't wait to get back to my studio.

I have been working on some more summery stuff, and I have this idea of different kinds of tops with a fair isle pattern on the bottom, and lace or cable at the top. I am very into retro motifs at the moments, they are cute and cool at the same time!

Here is some samples that I made earlier this week:







Here is some texture samples that I made in December:






I also made a jumpsuit, but the first version needs some adjustments. It looked good on my friend Olivia, but I didn't have my camera on me when she tried it on. So the first images of it, are presented this more modest way. (See Emma in disguise in one of them, it was an accident, but a funny one!)




In more detail:





Here is the most recent and for me very exciting things that I am working on. The samples at the start of this post are different variations and ideas that I want to make clothes on. It is a glimpse of my next collection. I hope you find it retro and contemporary at the same time.


Close up:




Feel free to write your feedback in the box below. Not in Chinese though please ;)

For more, watch this space !!

V