The Knitter Magazine

The Knitter

Ideas For Creative Knitting

Have you seen The Knitter?

The Knitter is a brand new knitting magazine from the UK. It caters to the skilled knitter who has been knitting for awhile. I hope I qualify after a year of knitting lessons?

Issue One is filled with 15 collectible patterns on classy glossy paper. Many popular designers are featured, including my favorite Louisa Harding. Louisa's adorable Buchanan cable jumper (sweater) from her Wildspur book is included in this issue.

This knitter loves The Knitter. I am sure you will, too, whether you live in England or the US!

If you want to purchase this premier issue you'd better hurry. Just the other night at Barnes & Noble a fellow knitter grabbed their last copy right before me. A few days later though I snagged the last issue from my local Jo-Ann's Crafts.

When you pick up your copy of The Knitter...drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Cha Cha Cha With Louisa Harding!

Cha Cha Cha Bag by Louisa Harding

A girl can never have, too, many purses!

I adore this "snazzy" new flapper-inspired bag by Louisa Harding. She named it Cha Cha Cha . I can't wait to knit it!

Last month when I met Louisa, I was very lucky to see the mock-ups of her new Spring/Summer 2009 books called Nouveau and Deco. The Cha Cha Cha bag is from her Deco book. I hope my local yarn store gets it in soon!

Cha Cha Cha Bag

The Cha Cha Cha bag is knit in Louisa's Cinnabar and Nautical Cotton yarns. I love her color combination for this bag! (Yes, my favorite colors are Turquoise and Lime Green.) I can't wait to shop for some colorful ribbon and a "glitzy" vintage broach for it, too.

Deco Book

Louisa's new Deco book is filled with fabulous "flirty" patterns influenced by her Grandmother's era.

When Louisa spoke about her inspiration for her new books she told a cute story about her Grandmother. She said "it was quite shocking the day her Grandmother chopped off her long hair into a "bob". Back in the 1920's, my Grandma Margaret wore an adorable "bob", too. The "bob" hair style caused quite a stir in it's day. I love our free-spirited Grandmother's stories and how they helped us become the women we are today!

The Deco book should be hitting the stores anytime now. When you see it...you just may want to chop your hair off into a "bob", too!

As in all her books, the models, styling and photographs are gorgeous! All the photography is done by Louisa's husband, photograhper Stephen Jessup. What a talented duo!

All photographs shown here are by Stephen Jessup from the Deco Book at Knitting Fever.

Happy Hearts Week at Knitique

Valentine Heart Cookies

In honor of Valentine's Day, it was a heart-theme week at Knitique (my local yarn store) this week.

Fellow knitter Diane made these adorable heart sugar cookies and brought them in to share. They were as impressive of cookies that I have admired in Martha Stewart Living magazine!

Diane's cookies not only looked great but they tasted great, too. I asked her if she used a silpat on her cookie sheet and surprisingly she said "no". I thought for sure she did since they were baked so perfectly! Thanks for sharing your delicious cookies with us Diane!

Knit Heart Pillow

Diane not only bakes hearts, she collects them and knits them, too. She also brought in her cute heart pillow to show us. She knit the pillow in a lofty red yarn and seamed it in a pink blanket stitch along with a pink tassel. I am not sure which book the pattern is from???

Heart Sachet

I took the Heart Sachet class at Knitique this week. This was the first time I have ever knit with sock yarn and small needles (#3's). I also learned how to knit a mitered square for the first time, too.

I was challenged at first by the small needles and the small squares. As always, Danielle (owner/teacher) makes a pattern much easier to understand. Before I knew it, I was on my way to finishing this adorable heart just in time for Valentine's Day.

I filled my heart with drived lavender buds from my garden. I added an i-cord and made it into a hanging sachet for our French armoire. I am so glad I took this class!

I hope you had a happy hearts week, too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I Had Tea with Louisa Harding!

Tea & Conversation with Louisa Harding

What a treat to sit down and have tea and conversation with Louisa Harding!

After our Juliet Scarf class our classroom was transported into a lovely setting for afternoon tea with Louisa Harding. We enjoyed a traditional English tea complete with Earl Grey tea, scones and traditional finger sandwiches. The tea was lovely but the best part was the conversation that flowed more than the tea!

Louisa began with her knitting story.

Louisa attributes three important women in her life for influencing the designer she has become. These women are: her Grandmother, her Mother and her Step Mother.

Like many of us, Louisa learned to knit as a young girl from her Grandmother. As a young girl she was introduced to fashion by her Mum. She fondly remembers following the clicks of her Mum's high heels and her Mum's Vogue Fashion magazines. It was her Step Mother who taught her how to sew and gave her love of dress making.

Louisa grew up in London and spent many hours browsing the nearby markets and museums always with an interest in fashion. Her father had hoped that she would be a banker but instead she enrolled at Fashion College. Her mother was her biggest supporter of her fashion career.

At Fashion College Louisa set out to be a textile designer. A knitting course at college...changed all that! She hadn't knit since she was a young girl and the next thing you know she was knitting up a storm of knit pattern samples in her college knitting course. Shortly after, a student intern opportunity at Rowan Yarns came her way and the rest is history!

During her career of 12 years with Rowan she also fell in love and started a family. Also at this time she was feeling a bit burned out as a designer since she was having to crank out commercial type patterns for the Jaegar and Paton's UK brands. Like any talented designer, I am sure she yearned to do design work that was true to her heart and the designer within her. With her husband's support, she took the leap of faith and became a freelance knit designer.

In 2005 she received a telephone call to come to New York to meet with Knitting Fever and the Louisa Harding line was born! She had only a few months to select her yarns and write two pattern books for her introduction line. To this day, her first two books Gathering Roses (The Design Collection and The Accessories Collection) are two of my favorite books.

Louisa's new book Nouveau

Louisa's story is more than just about knitting. It is a story about following your dreams, being proud to be a woman and keeping your creative genes alive.

Louisa talked about her new Spring/Summer 2009 books called Nouveau and Deco and how they were influenced by her Grandmother's era.

Our group also talked about how knitting is different in America and England. I asked her why the British knit items flat while Americans prefer to knit them in the round. She explained to me that knitting patterns began that way and due to her dress making background she prefers to knit items flat like fabric. The designer can see the drape and design of the pattern better as it is being knitted flat. Louisa also prefers to knit everything on long straight needles.

We talked about the big resurgence of knitting. Perhaps it is these difficult economic times that bring us back to simpler things in life like knitting. Our Grandmothers and Great Grandmothers mended and knit out of necessity to makes end meet. Today it is certainly more expensive to knit a hand-made garment than to purchase a ready made one. There is something wonderful though about making something beautiful yourself and the sense of pride that comes with it!

Our afternoon tea was followed with a wonderful trunk show and book signing with Louisa.

Green Planet Yarn
368 E. Campbell Ave

Campbell, Ca 95008

(408) 871-9196

I would like to thank the owner Beth and her staff at Green Planet Yarn for hosting this special day and trunk show with Louisa Harding!

Louisa Harding

Lastly, a special thank you to Louisa for coming to northern California.

Thank you for inspiring me with your gorgeous patterns and books!

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

It was an honor and a true delight to spend the day with you!

Louisa Harding Juliet Scarf Class

Juliet Scarf Class with Louisa Harding

I have always hoped to take a workshop with my favorite designer Louisa Harding.

I love her Cameo Shawl from the book Pretty Knits. I was so excited about a year ago when I read that she was teaching a Cameo Shawl workshop at Loop in London. Oh, how I wanted to hop on a plane to London to take that class!

I was even more excited when I found out that she was the (week long) guest instructor last September in the South of France with Kristeen Griffin-Grimes of French Girl Knits. This would have been a dream come true but I couldn't pull this trip off either.

So you can imagine my delight, when I emailed Louisa Harding's company in England and found out from Louisa, herself, that she was doing a workshop event right here in northern California. I called Green Planet Yarn in Campbell, Ca immediately and signed up for all the Louisa Harding events.

Louisa Harding Day

I was still reeling with excitement of meeting Louisa Harding the day before at the book signing event at Babetta's Yarn & Gifts. You can imagine how excited I was to be spending the entire day with Louisa at Green Planet Yarn. This was an occasion meant to be shared so I invited my knitting friend Pamela to join me. She has been knitting all her life and has followed Louisa's career since her early days at Rowan. Pamela was just as excited as me!

Louisa Harding

Juliet Scarf Workshop

I have wanted to make the Juliet Scarf for quite some time. I remember the first time I saw Louisa's book Knitting Little Luxuries at my local Borders Books. I fell in love with all the pretty patterns but didn't think I could knit them.

Not much later though, I purchased the book, started a wish list of what patterns to knit and signed up for knitting classes.

Now it is about a year later and I am taking the Juliet Scarf class from Louisa herself. Wow!

To begin our workshop, Louisa tells us about her concept for the Juliet Scarf. She designed it in her luxurious Kimono Angora yarn. The pattern only requires one skein for both the rosette pin and the scarf so it is a perfect little luxury gift to knit and give away or keep yourself. (We are keeping ours!)

The one thing I am most struck with about Louisa, is how beautiful her patterns are. She tells us that she designs all her patterns to be simple and not hard to knit.

Juliet Rosette

For my scarf, I selected a new color of Kimono Angora in # 18 Aqua. This is my first time knitting with this yarn. It is very luxurious and feels wonderful to knit with. I am using Clover bamboo needles.

Our first step in making our Juliette Scarf is to make the Rosette pin for the scarf. Louisa guided us perfectly. This was the first time that I have done short rows. I loved making the flower rosette. It was magical how it became a flower.

The interesting part, is that the rosette looks as if it could be crocheted but it is all made with knitting. Louisa told us that she knits and doesn't' crochet. So many of her garments have lacy trims and they are all achieved by knitting. Since I a more of a knitter myself, I love that!

There were eight students in our class. We were all pretty serious and entrenched in our knitting. Now and then we would fess up about a mistake and ask Louisa for help. Louisa graciously fixed our mistakes and made it look effortless. I loved it when she said to us (in her lovely British accent) "ladies it is just a scarf"! That lightened up our moods, relaxed us a bit and made the class fun!

I remember my friend Pamela being nervous about knitting in front of Louisa. She was worried about forgetting everything. Neither of us forget how to knit (thank goodness) and Louisa really put us at ease. Louisa made the class a special memory...one we wont' forget!

Louisa is an impressive knitter. I have never seen anyone knit so fast! She also has her Juliet scarf pattern memorized. No matter where one of us was stuck in the pattern, she had us back on track in no time!

Pamela, Louisa and Lisette

Juliet Scarf Workshop

Dreams do come true! 

My wish to take a workshop from my knitting idol Louisa Harding came true! 

I didn't even have to hop a plane to London to meet her. I do hope one day that I can take more workshops from Louisa. It would really be a dream come true to take a workshop in England or France with her!

I am a very expressive person so Louisa certainly knows how much I admire her. I really attribute her work as the reason I am knitting today.

Louisa's beautiful books and fashion-forward patterns are what made me want to learn more about knitting and move beyond the garter and purl stitch.

Next, it's time for tea with Louisa Harding.

Read about tea and conversation with my favorite designer next!

I met Louisa Harding!

Designer Louisa Harding

Book Signing and Trunk Show

My local yarn store Babetta's Yarn & Gifts hosted a book signing event with Louisa Harding on January 21, 2009.  Since Louisa is my favorite designer, I was pretty excited to meet her. It really is because of her that I am so excited about knitting. Her beautiful books and patterns were inspiration for me a year ago to take knitting lessons and become a better knitter.

When Louisa walked into Babetta's, I clapped. It may sound silly but I did. I was just very excited (okay, maybe a little giddy) that she was visiting my local yarn store.  After their arrival, Louisa and her yarn rep Cindy set up a trunk show of her gorgeous garments for us to see and even try on.

I wore my Louisa Harding Scala Wrap that I frantically finished to wear to the book signing. I made a comment to Louisa, that I don't knit sweaters due to my size. (Yes, I have gained some weight.) The next thing I know, Louisa has me trying on one of her sweaters. I just knew it would be,too, small. She insisted and said "knits are meant to stretch and that she designs for all types of women".

She also said "wear your knits with confidence". I love that!

This was the first designer trunk show that I had ever been to. Oh, how I loved seeing all the patterns actually knit into garments and accessories. It was wonderful to feel the yarns knit into fabrics. Now, I can't wait to knit even more of Louisa's beautiful patterns.

Here is a glimpse of the trunk show:

Abertay Wrap from the Wildspur book

Knitted in Grace Hand Dyed yarn.

(Louisa is wearing the Abertay Scarf version,

knitted in La Salute, sh. 10 grey.)

Tyrone Gloves from the Wildspur book
Knitted in Grace Hand Dyed, shade 3 Aqua.

These felt so wonderful when I tried them on!

Yes, I had to buy the yarn to make them!

Udipur from Rajasthan book

Knitted in Castello yarn with sequin details.

I loved seeing the sequin details in person.

(I already have the yarn to knit this shawl!)

Nouveau and Deco New Spring/Summer Books

Nouveau and Deco are the names of Louisa's new Spring/Summer 2009 books. Lucky for us, we were able to peak at the mock up pattern books. They are filled with pretty patterns inspired from the early 1900's Nouveau period along with Deco inspired patterns from the 1920's and 1930's. I can't wait to buy them both. They should be hitting the stores sometime in March.

Maya, Louisa, Babetta and Cindy

(and Maya's cute kids)

Thank you so much to Babetta and Maya for hosting the Louisa Harding book signing and trunk show at Babetta's Yarn & Gifts.

Babetta's Yarn and Gifts

4400 San Juan Ave

Fair Oaks, CA 95628

(916) 965-6043

Thank you to Louisa and her yarn rep Cindy for making the whirl wind trip to Fair Oaks Ca. They flew up from the TNNA show in San Diego to SFO, drove to Fair Oaks for the book signing and then drove back to San Francisco to another yarn store event that afternoon.

Mostly I would like to say thank you to Louisa Harding herself.

Louisa certainly was everything and more that I had hoped she would be in person. She was gracious to me and all her fans. She took the time for each and every one of us to sign our books, listen to our admiration for her, listen to our knitting stories and take photographs with her.

She is an incredibly talented woman and designer who has remained very humble, genuine and real.

I admire her even more now that I have met her and have a glimpse of the designer and person, Louisa Harding is.

I'm having tea with Louisa Harding!

I'm having tea with Louisa Harding!

Pinch me. I must be dreaming!

I am so excited. I am going to meet my favorite British knitting designer, Louisa Harding this week!

My LYS Babetta's Yarn & Gifts is hosting a book signing with, the one and only, Louisa Harding on Wednesday 1/21/09 at 10:00AM. I telephoned Babetta to thank her for bringing Louisa to her shop. Babetta said that she thought of me right away since she knows how much I love Louisa!

Once I found out that Louisa is visiting Northern California from England, I emailed her company LouisaHarding to see if she was doing any other events in our area. I had an immediate response from Louisa herself! She wrote that she is doing a workshop at Green Planet Yarn. She said "I am a Brit, so I have no idea if this is close to you or not".

I immediately got on the Internet and found out that Green Planet Yarn is in Campbell near San Jose. It is 142 miles and about a 3 hour drive for me to get there but a lot closer than going to England. I always imagined I would need to travel to England to meet her!

For Louisa's visit, Green Planet Yarn is having a Juliet scarf class from Knitting Little Luxuries, a British style tea party, concluding with a trunk show on Thursday 1/22/09. I telephoned the store immediately and kept my fingers crossed that it wasn't already sold out. I am a lucky lady because they had room for me in all the events.

I am not sure which I am most excited about...the knitting workshop with Louisa or having tea with her? Hmmm...it just might be the tea!