Magpies, Homebodies, and Nomads: A Modern Knitter's Guide to Discovering and Exploring Style PDF
Preview Magpies, Homebodies, and Nomads: A Modern Knitter's Guide to Discovering and Exploring Style
m a g p Magpies i , e s , h o m · e b , o d i e s , a N A n d d N o m N o m a d s a d s c i r A Modern Knitter’s Guide i l i a to discoverinG And explorinG style r o s e c i r i l i A r o s e photoGrAphy by JAred Flood u.s. $27.50 caN. $31.50 u.k. £16.99 115 West 18th street ISBN 978-1-58479-953-5 52750 NeW York, NY 10011 WWW.stcbooks.com 9 781584 799535 WWW.melaNiefalickbooks.com 200L Normal Ink Magpies , · , a n d N o m a d s a Modern Knitter’s Guide to discoverinG and explorinG style c i r i l i a r o s e photoGraphy by Jared Flood STC CrafT | a Melanie faliCk Book new York Published in 2014 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang An imprint of ABRAMS Text copyright © 2014 Cirilia Rose Photographs copyright © 2014 Jared Flood All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Library of Congress Control Number: 2014930829 ISBN: 978-1-58479-953-5 Editor: Melanie Falick Designer: Deb Wood Production Manager: Denise LaCongo The text of this book was composed in Futura and Garamond Printed and bound in China 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Stewart, Tabori & Chang books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact [email protected] or the address below. 115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.abramsbooks.com Introduction: FIndIng your Inner BrIcoleur 6 Magpies 1 0 For those sMall aMounts oF precIous yarns we InevItaBly collect style iNspiratioN 48 · 5 6 For tIMe spent close to hoMe style iNspiratioN 84 8 8 N o m a d s venturIng Into the world to Meet FrIends and gather InspIratIon style iNspiratioN 132 resources 136 acKnowledGMents 143 i N t r o d U C t i o N F i N d i N g y o U r i N N e r B r i C o l e U r m o d e r N k N i t t e r s a r e m y r i a d. They defy definition, occupying so many sorts of bodies, beliefs, and lifestyles that to attempt to describe the “average knitter” would be something of a fool’s game. Yet there is still a word that applies to most knitters—an action every knitter engages in daily, hourly, moment to moment, from their yarn shops to their dorm rooms to their urban homesteads. All of these knitters are rampant bricoleurs. I first came across the term “bricolage” in a university classroom, where I was assigned to read Subculture: The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige, a British sociologist. I was floored to learn that the study of style existed and even more floored to learn that Hebdige seemed to describe something I was observing everywhere. Writing 21 years before the turn of the millennium, he hinted that the only way left to achieve originality was through the mixture of cultural referents. I agreed, and I later came to realize that this is a theory uniquely suited to modern knitters and knitwear designers. The past decade has seen a proliferation of knitwear designers, myself included, and we’re all working from essentially the same sourcebooks, with the same basic resources: the knit stitch, the purl stitch, and a whole lot of yarn. So how does one innovate in an increasingly crowded landscape? The answer is, of course, through bricolage. The combination of elements from seemingly disparate cultural sources creates energy that didn’t exist before, and when each of us cultivates our own unique concoction of referents, it guarantees more idiosyncratic knits. 7 iNtrodUCtioN Even if you don’t consider yourself a designer, you probably put a lot of thought and effort into each project. I’ve joked that this is my favorite part of the process, something that I honed during years of working in a busy yarn store in the Northeast, helping thousands of knitters in the initial planning stages of their projects. The thought and care that go into choosing a pattern, a yarn, a color scheme, and even a size are enormous harbingers of a project’s success. They can make the difference between the schlumpy, ill-fitting sweater that we’ve seen in countless clueless sitcoms and a couture-quality garment that you can get downright smug about. I’ve divided the projects in this book into three sections that I feel are three parts of a knitterly personality. We’re all Magpies, collecting small amounts of precious yarns and never knowing quite what to do with them. We’re Homebodies, sometimes preferring the quiet of our own perch, but we’re also Nomads, venturing into the world to meet friends and gather inspiration. At the end of each chapter I have included Style Inspiration entries in which I share my own thoughts on the design process and how I wear and style handknits. I hope these essays will help you learn how to think like a designer, which can make a huge difference in your knitting and your personal style. People often ask me how I became a knitwear designer, and I tell them that I have to come to terms with the title daily. Acknowledging your own style and then your creative faculties requires work, but your yarn, needles, and the contents of your closets can become your atelier. l e t ’ s g e t g o i N g... 8
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