Emma Wright - KIY 15 Modern Knitwear Designs to Stitch and Wear.

My journey with knitwear began like many of us, when I was taught to knit as a child by my Nan. I was always a very creative child. As a teenager, I knew I wanted to work in fashion, I knew I wanted to do something creative and work with my hands, so when I was 16 I went to college to study fashion and textiles. During my first year we made a hand knit project and all the knitting skills that I had learned as a child came flooding back to me, almost as if I had never stopped. I dont actually remember much about learning to knit; for me its almost like I was born with these skills. After completing the project at college, I loved it so much that I taught myself how to crochet from books and videos online.

I spent the whole of the summer between my first and second year knitting anything and everything I could. I had fallen in love and knew instantly that this was what I wanted to do. For me, the beauty of knitting is in getting to create the fabric yourself, being able choose the fibre, colour, texture, and the pattern and individually creating each and every stitch with your own hands. I feel its important to bring your own personality into everything you knit even if you are following a pattern, choosing your own yarn and colour, or being able to change the length or the cast-on method is so important. This really allows you to knit something unique and is where the idea of this book began. I obsess over sweaters and I live in them throughout the winter, always pairing them with my favourite jeans.

If I could, I would wear them all year round and occasionally I do! I love the way that a sweater can easily be dressed up or down. I particularly love that knitting your own sweater fits in with the idea of slow fashion, which is so important in todays climate; that the sustainability of how the yarn is made, the fibre you choose and how it is dyed can be thoroughly thought out when choosing the yarn for your project. Every project that you knit is a blank canvas and a great opportunity to advance and further your skills. Welcome to my workshop! This book is a guide to help you master the three core sweater shapes, and then show you how to take your knitting further by developing your own designs. It is not a book for beginners I am assuming you already know how to knit and already have a couple of projects under your belt. Each project contains hints and tips to help achieve that perfect finish, but there is no better way to learn than the art of doing practise makes perfect! Each pattern is a guide, so please feel free to apply your own cast on, cast (bind) off and sewing up techniques unless its otherwise stated in the pattern.

All the bodies and sleeves within the Square and Set-in sections are mix and match. For example, you can add the striped sleeves from , and pick your own pattern for the pockets. You can really get creative and knit it yourself! There are plenty of opportunities within the projects to design your own stripes, choose your own fabric patterns, and even mix and match yarn weights and colours. If you want to, add a DK (light worsted) weight sleeve to a chunky (bulky) weight body; or you can knit your sleeve plain, striped or with a cable the possibilities are endless! Sweaters are an investment. They are versatile and can be worn year-round so its important to think about your starting point to get the end product that you want. For me, each design begins differently.

I often take inspiration from the yarn itself: that may be the fibre, the colour, a particular collection of colour or texture. I like to wrap my knitting needles with the yarn when putting together a colour palette, which allows me to play with how the colours will go together and see what proportion of each colour will work best. I always create a mood board when I'm making as it allows me to really get creative. Simply, scan can images you like from magazines, books or catalogues or print out images youve found online. Then pin these to a notice board or glue them down to a large piece of paper. Pinterest is also a really useful tool to create digital mood boards, using their collections of wonderfully inspiring imagery.

Once you have your mood board, on paper or digitally in the form of a Pinterest board, take time to really look through the images you have chosen. Is there a theme? Have you subconsciously picked out a colour palette or a yarn texture? These images will be the very starting point of your yarn project. Another great way to approach a project is to look at whats out on the high street or even what you already have in your wardrobe. Maybe you want your project to fit in with other items in your wardrobe or go with a specific outfit or do you want to get creative? Learn a new technique? Or create something colourful that you can wear with jeans all year round? Once youve answered all these questions, have your mood board and a vague idea in your head, its time to research your yarn. So visit physical stores, have a squeeze of the yarns that take your fancy, and get swatching. As mentioned in the inspiration section, knitting a sweater is an investment; each stitch takes time so first you want to spend time choosing the right yarn for your project.

The ball band will give you a great deal of information, including: country of origin (which is helpful if you want to be environmentally friendly); weight of each ball; approx. length of yarn in the ball; what fibre the yarn is; and the shade and dye lot numbers. The length of yarn in each ball is important when substituting yarns if your chosen yarn has a shorter length per ball than the yarn used in the pattern, you will need more balls to make the item. Its also important to buy balls in the same dye lot for your sweater even with commercial manufacturers the colour can vary slightly over different dye lots. Is there a specific fibre you want to work with? If you are looking for a neat smooth finish maybe try a merino or merino blend. Cotton and linen create great stitch definition, but dont have much stretch.

Cashmere has a beautiful drape, or maybe try a wool or wool blend that has texture or a tweed effect. Yarn is not cheap so take your time to make long-lasting choices. Research the fibre you are working with to see if it suits the texture or pattern you have in mind. For example, if your project is fairisle you need a yarn with the right stitch definition and which has a solid colour. If the yarn is too textured or has colour shading or flecks, your pattern wont be as defined. If your yarn comes in a hank (skein) you will need to wind it into a ball before you can use it to knit with.