Sunday, March 28, 2010
Knitwear Design Workshop
I recently purchased Shirley Paden's new book, Knitwear Design Workshop . It's an amazing book.
I have long admired Shirley Paden's designs, seeing them in Interweave Knits and Vogue Knitting. They are distinguished by elaborate details and elegant lines. Many of them are rich in stitch patterns. Couture designs.
They celebrate texture, in all its interpretations. And pay homage to the structure of the knitted fabric.
I didn't really know what to expect when I picked up Shirley's new book. What I know now is that I will not be allowing this book out of my personal knitting library. It is a knitter's dream of a reference book. Full of details in exactly--and I mean, exactly--how to construct a knitted garment, while at the same time, considering stitch pattern, colour, and mood.
Although there are some stunning patterns which Shirley offers as examples of knitting construction, the whole book is actually what it claims to be, a design workshop. She deconstructs the design process and then puts it back together again, step by step, teaching us all the stages of designing a garment.
There is a lot of math, to be sure, but it is all in the service of the final experience: to knit a garment and have it turn out the way you imagined it (or as close as possible).
I am amazed at all the detail she presents, together with lots of advice and tips on how to achieve the superb finishing that set her designs apart.
This is a book definitely worth having in your personal knitting library.
