Knitting News

UK : Intricate hand knitting back in vogue | fibre2fashion

UK : Intricate hand knitting back in vogue
fibre2fashion - October 11 2006

As fashion takes a retro step, designers are snapping up home knitting women to attain crochet, appliqué, broderie anglaise, lace and chunky Aran patterns, Fair Isle knits and long cardis.

There are several hundred enthusiastic 'home knitters' working for superior labels.

The armies of hand knitters are at work on the cutest autumn collection of berets, fingerless gloves, ponchos and wraps.

Even the bigger labels are drawing on the experience of elderly women hand knitters.

The super-skilled senior citizens are highly prized as these generations of women in there 60s, 70s and 80s have the most tremendous skills. [more]

Pringle's losses stretch to £8.2m | The Scotsman

Pringle's losses stretch to £8.2m
The Scotsman - October 7 2006

Pringle owners the Fang family have reiterated their commitment to the iconic Borders fashion company, which has reported heavy losses despite continued investment.

The 190-year-old label, which has been worn by the likes of the Duke of Windsor and David Beckham, made a loss of £8.2 million in the year to 1 April, newly filed accounts reveal, compared with the previous year's £7.7m loss. Sales increased by about 2 per cent to £25.7m. However, administrative and sales costs rose by more than £1m.

[...]The accounts predicted the firm would not return to profit in the short term, because of the heavy investment, but would continue to spend on the rebranding of the label into the luxury market.

Pringle said its new creative director, Clare Waight Keller, who joined last year after spells with Ralph Lauren and Gucci, had implemented two successful womenswear shows. "Her first was received by the world's press with great critical acclaim and the second cemented the brand in the luxury sector," the company said. [more]

Romance, Russia and billy goat fluff | International Herald Tribune

Romance, Russia and billy goat fluff
International Herald Tribune - September 27 2006

Cashmere and angora are still the fashion staples in the world of luxury knits, but there is now a new rival for the fashionista's wardrobe.

Pookh, or dandelion fluff, as it translates from the Russian, is made of a cobweblike fabric that is woven from the beards of mountain goats that graze on the foothills of the Urals and is heading to the forefront of the fashion world as the signature material of the flourishing designer brand Rodnik.

Richard Ascott, 25, and Philip Colbert, 26, the creative directors at Rodnik, were not discouraged by the challenge of being newcomers when they introduced their label in 2003. They have been unconventional from the start. Colbert, a philosophy major, and Ascott, an art history major, were discussing what they would do after graduating from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, when Ascott saw the fabric on a friend. It struck him as beautiful and unusual.

It was Pookh. With the energy and enthusiasm of novices, they used the fabric to help revive the name Rodnik, taken from an early 20th-century Moscow shop owned by Princess Tenisheva, a patron of arts and crafts, and run until 1905. It was to be the perfect union: Pookh scarves made from the beards of Russian goats and Rodnik, the Tenisheva's Russian arts brand. [more]

When knits are hits | International Herald Tribune

When knits are hits
International Herald Tribune - September 27 2006

The war of the wools is being fought in such a genteel way among the Scottish knitwear clans that they seem more like friends than fashion foes.

Ballantyne and Pringle should be archrivals, since both brands showed on the same day in Milan, both have a diamond pattern as a base and both are trying to be lairds of luxury. Yet they proved that when knits are hits there is plenty of space.

Ballantyne played up its heritage by transporting a little bit of Scotland to Italy. Two weavers creating intricate intarsia, or built-in-picture, patterns worked at their looms against a backdrop of 40 years of designs. Framed like the pictures they create were the color charts for poodles, flowers, polo players and jungle animals. Each spot on a leopard's hide, or the petals of abundant poppies, appeared on the archive knits. [more]

Game Inspired Knit Wear | Kotaku

Game Inspired Knit Wear
Kotaku - September 26 2006

Now that it is autumn, time to pack away the shorts and tube-tops and pull out the knit wear. For those lacking warm clothing, here are a retro pixel scarf and hat to keep you tacky and loud nice and toasty. [more]

Sweet Moon Boots | Flypaper

Do you think we'll see these knitted boots on the pages of knit.1 in an issue or two?

Sweet Moon Boots
Flypaper - September 25 2006

These insane knitted booties were created by German design team Bless, who will release a book, "BLESS: Celebrating 10 Years of Themelessness, No00 - No29" next month." [more]

Clare Tough's Slinky Yet Soulful Knits | Fashion Wire Daily

Clare Tough's Slinky Yet Soulful Knits
Fashion Wire Daily - September 21 2006

One of the few unfortunate side effects of Britain joining the European Union three decades ago was the gradual eclipse of UK knitters by their more sophisticated and stylish Italian competitors. This is why it was such a pleasure to catch the runway show of Clare Tough on Wednesday, September 20th, whose collection marked her as a creative knitwear designer with real promise.

Inspired by Pacific Island imagery, Tough presented an extremely well crafted series of great looking hooded cardigans, crocheted tops and a cabled bustier.

Tough has a sure hand when it came to jazzing up knits, inserting back panels of fine silk or chopping it into revealing cut outs. Things were racy but tasteful, slinky yet soulful. [more]

Wool is bringing sexy back | National Post

Wool is bringing sexy back
National Post - September 16 2006

The sweater dress is the dress for fall. It's probably part of the "protective, refuge-seeking" vibe that permeated the Fall collections. It's definitely a shift away from the beribboned, ruffled Lolitas and the prim, pencil-skirted Edwardian damsels we've seen tumbling around the trend spin cycles in the past few seasons.

In collection after collection, from Marc Jacobs to Stella McCartney, cozy knit dresses and outsized, thigh-skimming cardigans seemed to multiply on the body before the audiences' eyes: popcorn knits atop cable knits; knitted tunics atop ribbed tights.

At Prada, authoritative warrior women on the march were swathed in layers of knits. Prada showed models wearing wool bras on top of cashmere sweater dresses. Call it glam meets grunge (Glunge? Gram? Vote now). [more]

A Jacket’s Not a Jacket When It’s a Sweater, See? | New York Times

A Jacket’s Not a Jacket When It’s a Sweater, See?
New York Times - September 14 2006

Soon after we moved from New York to the warmer climate of Northern California, my three daughters unanimously decided that the article of clothing commonly known as the jacket did not exist.

At first I tried not to take it personally when, on chilly mornings, my two teenage daughters pretended not to understand English as I recommended they bundle up. They shivered off to school in flimsy sweaters. On windy days they stared blankly at the hooded jackets I pointed out in the closet. Foggy days? Sweaters. A heavy downpour? Soaking wet sweaters.

But after a family ski trip to Lake Tahoe — where a then 8-year-old Clementine insisted on riding the lifts swathed in multiple layers of ice-encrusted sweaters that made her look like a tiny Abominable Snowman — I was finally forced to recognize the outerwear war for what it was: one more brilliant salvo in my daughters’ long-running campaign to drive their mother crazy.

Or was it? [more]

Classic cable-knit bag has it all

Classic cable-knit bag has it all
The Province - September 15 2006

Cable knits are big this fall.

Imagine warm chunky sweaters in long cardigans, some with cape-like looks so substantial they look like winter coats.

When I saw a knit handbag in Harper's Bazaar's recent fall shopping issue, I knew I had to fondle the bag's distinctive woolly cable pattern. It looked so old-school, so comforting, as if a Scottish ancestor had updated her knitting bag.

This gem is a Club Monaco find (due in stores in mid-September or October). In versatile grey -- a hot colour this fall -- this unusual bag is a good foil for the rash of red that's in vogue. At $199 it's pricey, but the bucket bag is also roomy enough to stand in for an airplane carry-on bag. Unfortunately, there's no zipper closing, just a magnetic snap. [more]