Wednesday 13 June 2007

To Nupp or knott to Nupp?

I don't remember the first time I saw Nancy Bush's Madli shawl, but instantaneously I was in love. The I watched on as other experienced knitters churned out that heavenly stole in varied weights. I never dreamed I'd have the necessary skills to complete lace, let alone a full stole- due to sheer commitment. Well my friends, that day has passed twice over and I'm determined not to miss it on this third round. In particular it was Joyblogging's and All Tangled Up'a that game me the final push.
This one is Joyblogging's Madli.
Look at that, gorgeous! Or like I usually say in my Little Britain voice- GOOOOOORRRRRRGEOUS! But alas, nupps aka bobbles, were something I vowed never to do again. *que dream sequence* In 2006 my roomate Jena Gatto was completing her degree in fashion at Ryerson University; in which, all designers must complete a 7 piece line. Jena's influences were her italian roots and created haute coture pieces based on the sicilian godfather-esque theme. (Here's where her bestfriend Kate and I come in) Jena designed garments with a lot of handknit details- cuffs, waistbands, kneepads etc. The bobble rib stitch pattern she chose complicated what Kate and I thought was easy knitting. Alone, a 6inch cuff would take 4+hours of solid knitting a whole waistband would take days and days. I think you may see the problem- knitting isn't fun when you are rushing to make a deadline. I won't even go into the pain of explaining how we had to remake pieces when they were a few centimeters off. Such is a labour of love, and in the end, boy oh boy were we proud. My boyfriend Tobias Visualbass agreed to lend his photography skills in the master photoshoot which resulted in the following shots.
And because Jena's garments won a giant contest- two of the pieces were displayed in HOLT RENFREW'S main Bloor Street windows. Amazing, I know! My handiwork- at HOLTS. Crazy. I even managed to convince Jules to model with me for the second part of the shoot.(she's going to kill me- i know it!)
Hot. Like. Lava.
So what do you think? Go nuppless and finish it faster? Yeah I think so too! Check out www.visualbass.com and www.gattodesign.net for more pictures and info on both collaborators.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dude, I do not like my legs out there for the world to see. Especially after all the long legged models! Take down those two photos!!! (And to think I was actually feeling pretty good, until I saw those two pictures!! Booooo.)

Team Knit said...

......told ya she'd kill me.
This is a classic case of someone of someone not realizing how awesome they are, and how little people notice anyone elses flaws but their own. I vote PHOTO STAYS!

Ilix said...

Wow! Great photos! I didn't expect to see that! Lovely ladies on a knitting blog! The photos look great, nice way to showcase your knitting! LOL
Well, can't wait to see what you creat next!

shopgirl said...

haute stuff. i love the bobbled corsety waistband- never seen anything like that.

you both look fabulous! leave the photo please!

- k - said...

I was just thinking about this project on the weekend and dug out the little booklets - do you remember how raw our fingers were from making those bobbles? Do you remember how we had to rip out all our work because we couldn't afford more yarn?