KnitPickd "Art to Wear" ... The Process

Yarns are just like people. Each one has its own character and very individual personality that reflects its heritage. Over a period of many years, I’ve amassed an extensive collection of glorious yarn “treasures” from around the world with an emphasis on the hand-spun-and-dyed fibers produced in some of the most exotic locales. Together they comprise a dramatic array of the most unusual and stunningly beautiful yarns imaginable.

"Yarns are just like people."

As intuitive as the design process is, it is also lengthy and complex. Through careful research and an extensive use of color boards and then, by endlessly visualizing a mixing and matching of yarns, I am able to create in fiber the special knits my mind’s eye “sees.” Each ART WEAR piece is comprised of a synergistic mix of at least six very different yarns that work cohesively to bring my design to life. In order to effectively enhance the design concept, all yarns selected for my KnitPicks must be unique from each other in their fiber content, texture, weight, construction, coloration and hand. This complexity in construction helps to underscore the lush mood I wish to create!

Where and how a yarn is made says a lot about how it will perform. Each yarn I utilize in my ART WEAR pieces is unusual and will behave differently from its neighbors. And each of them has its own unique “hand”…..that sensual feel that makes us want to touch and keep on touching! Because of their exquisite hands, some yarns and ribbons are destined by their very nature to be the focal point of a KnitPickd drama, while others play the very important supporting roles. But each yarn selected is subtly unique in coloration and texture with its own innate characteristics and personality.

"This complexity in construction helps to underscore the lush mood I wish to create!"

Yarns today come in many exciting, non-traditional guises and selecting from and combining them effectively is part of the design challenge. But the question of how to select that one “focal fiber” needed to energize a particular design is all important. On one occasion the design may call for a cuddly wool or llama or alpaca from Peru or Uruguay. Perhaps the textural dynamite in a reclaimed, hand-spun sari silk yarn from Tibet or India will best tell the story. Would a high-loft wool spun in Australia or a softly sensual, US-grown organic cotton be a better choice to underscore the tone and mood of a particular design?

Other yarns, too, abound that beg to be chosen for their star turns. There are the luscious (and Green!) recycled-and-reclaimed sari silks, wools and cottons from Tibet and India that are frequent players in my most prized KnitPicks. Quite different in feel, as well as character, are the lovely renewable silk-like bamboo blends or light-catching banana fiber textures. Dreamy blends of natural fibers such as silk-and-wool or silk-and-cotton make their bids to be showcased regularly. Also much prized, and often utilized for their festivity and fun, is a frivolous group of synthetic yarns that will add their own special character as well as stability to a knitted piece. Choices, choices, and more choices….but that is part of the design fun!

All of these, and many others, are the wondrous, highly desirable yarns from around the globe that I find fantastic to work into each of my KnitPickd designs.