Tag Archives: Bowery Tunic

Presentation at Marker Library

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I was so happy to be asked to hold a presentation at my local library in Ørje; Marker bibliotek. To make sure that at least one person would be there, I asked our neighbour Reidun to come along. She obliged and was not alone in the audience, despite the fact that there was a seminar on Mental Health held by an acknowledged professor at the same time upstairs in the town hall in Ørje. Michael was my Technical Manager and made sure that the large screen television was connected to my laptop.  I had brought a large number of garments, swatches, magazines, large pictures (last used at the Strikke 2017 Exhibition at Hadeland Glassverk) and promotional materials. So we arrived early to set it all up.

I wore my Bowery Tunic, made for knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017, knitted in Madeline Tosh DK. Above you see me, in the crime corner, talking about the collaboration I have with the Norwegian shoe designer Monica Stålvang.

After my presentation, the short version which takes about an hour, I encouraged them all to come up and take a closer look at the garments, swatches and magazines. The library also provided cake and coffee for us all! I met women I knew from my local gym, the knitting café which takes place in the library, as well as the former owner of our house. I answered questions on yarn qualities, which magazines I design for, where I am going next and other jobs I do. All in all, I had a lovely evening. Thank you to Marker bibliotek and to everyone who came!

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Familien Strikk March 2018

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I am delighted to have two designs in the latest special magazine called Familien Strikk, a Norwegian magazine. The magazine has an incredible 124 designs for women, men, children, babies and the house. Both my designs have been published earlier, Brewster Cardigan in the webzine Wool Studio 2016, by the editors of knit.wear and Bowery Tunic in knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017 issue.

Here is my first page, introducing the Brewster Cardigan with photos taken by Eivind Røhne of the gorgeous model Emma Ross with hair & makeup by Sissel Fylling and jewellery by Kaja Gjedebo Design. Brewster Cardigan is knitted in the soft Valley Yarns, Northfield using a 4 mm/US 6 needle and is available in sizes XS to 2XL. The English pattern is available in the Wool Studio 2016 webzine but also as a single download from my Ravelry store.

Here is the second page with the Bowery Tunic. Both garments where photographed at Bøler Church in Oslo. The Bowery Tunic is knitted in the divine hand dyed Madeline Tosh DK using 4 mm/US 6 needles and available in sizes XS to 2XL. The English pattern is available in the knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017 issue and will be available in my Ravelry store soon. The Familien Strikk magazine is available at selected news agents and super markets. If you are in Norway you can also order it by SMS just write “Strikk18” in addition to your name & address to 2205 or buy a digital version for iPad, see www.klikk.no. If you live abroad you can order the Norwegian special magazine by e-mailing kari.bachke@egmont.com and then transfer payment into their bank account.

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Strikkekafé at Sandefjord Husflidslag

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I was happy to be back at the knit café organised by Sandefjord Husflidslag/Handicraft Association, this time to present my designs and work after my Norwegian knitting book was published in 2012. Last time, I presented my book and brought a number of the garments with me. This time I brought newer designs, a lot of my swatches and skeins of selected yarns. I had also for the first time made a PowerPoint presentation, starting with my job as a design consultant for Rowan Yarns at Peter Jones department store in London. One of the knitters I met years ago when she organised a book presentation for me at Larvik Husflidslag is Nina Hove Myhre, and she used the opportunity to invite Michael and me for dinner before hand. We were delighted to accept, and to meet her newborn son, Olav for the first time as well as seeing her husband again. Above you see Nina to the left, wearing my design Saga and she is talking to her colleague Kari Cotton. I am wearing my Bowery Tunic talking to Hege Marstein who was wearing my design Cable Round Sweater knitted in a lovely green shade.

Michael was my technical support, photographer and roadie. But unfortunately there were an awful lot of photos where I was pulling faces. Here I am talking about the process of submitting a design proposal to the American magazine Interweave knit.wear and showing off the second set of photos taken of the Irina Pullover by photographer Eivind Røhne. After my presentation, I was given a beautiful bouquet of flowers from treasurer Kristin Stolpestad. Next on the agenda was upcoming events and then the raffle draw.

Several of the women present were busy knitting both during my talk and after, I am happy to report. Above you see me with a tea cup in my hand talking to Nina. Olav was sleeping in his pram next to her. Behind us the rail I had brought with a selection of my designs. I loved seeing knitters turn up in my designs and I had a very enjoyable evening!

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Photoshoot at Bøler Church: Bowery Tunic

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Several months after the Bowery Tunic came back from its trip to the US and the Interweave offices in Colorado, it was time to photograph it in my chosen style. Bowery Tunic was made for knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017 in the divine Madeline Tosh DK in the hand-dyed colourway of Tern. Model Emma Ross with her flaming red hair – perfected by hair & makeup stylist Sissel Fylling – made it look stunning. I decided to style it with black pencil pants, high heeled shoes by Camilla Skovgaard and Kaja Gjedebo’s aptly named “Amazing Mamas Earrings“. Photographer Eivind Røhne knew exactly where he wanted Emma to stand in the entrance at Bøler Church, so that he could capture the best moments.

A cable panel with electronic vibes is the focus point for this a-line pullover with a longer back ending in a vent in the sides. The collar, just like the bottom edge, is in garter stitch and crowns the garment with its i-cord bind off. The Madeline Tosh DK yarn is made of 100% merino wool with 206 meters/225 yards on each 120 gram skein and comes in an amazing 124 hand-dyed colourways.

The sample is knitted in size M with 105.5 cm/41.5″ bust circumference and modelled with 19 cm/7.5″ of positive ease on Em. The tunic is graded into 6 sizes with a bust circumference from 85 to 136 cm/33.5 to 53.5″. The back is one cable pattern repeat longer than the front, 11 cm/4.25″. It is knitted by yours truly using 4 mm/US 6 with a gauge of 20 stitches and 30 rows in stocking stitch measuring 10 cm/4″ square.

The intricate cables are fun to knit in a mixture of rib and garter stitch that moves across both the front and the back of the tunic. I found their volume and texture too much for the sleeves and opted for a garter stitch panel on the center of the sleeve since I do love texture. As you might know I also get easily bored working just in stocking stitch.

I did not intend for the back to be in fade, but considering how popular the trend of fading is – in knitting, that is – I am happy with it. This particular fade is actually a result of not alternating skeins, as you should with hand-dyed yarn. Anyway, I think I will have a go at fade on purpose very soon.

The English pattern is in knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017  available in both a digital and a print edition and it will be added to my Ravelry store at the end of March. You can also buy the German version of the magazine Strickmode. The Norwegian pattern will be published in the special magazine called Familien Strikk out on Monday 12th March.

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Behind the Scenes: Photoshoot at Bøler Church

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Our photoshoot day, last Wednesday, had a grey start but it cleared and the sun came out in the afternoon. Michael and I picked up the gorgeous model Emma Ross – Em for short – at her hotel in Oslo, before we drove to Bøler suburb and the church. Em flew in from Manchester in the United Kingdom the day before and we were excited to meet her. Bøler Kirke is a community church by HBA Arkitekter completed in 2011. See more photos here:  www.bygg.no. Photographer Eivind Røhne came as we were unpacking the car and meet the parish priest Dag Auli. We were given not only one room for lunch and our luggage but also a separate one for makeup with even larger windows towards the forest. We were given access to every part of the church, except for the Church Hall during the funeral at midday and given a tour of the church. Eivind and I did go all 121 steps to the top of the Bell Tower and had a lovely view of the nearby lake Østensjøvannet, but the platform at the top was tiny and the long drop to the ground made us both dizzy. The makeup & hair artist Sissel Fylling with her assistant Nora arrived and were introduced to Em. Yes, she needed a haircut (read: as we have come to expect) and we did not need to convince Em to accept. While Sissel and Nora set to work on Em’s hair and then makeup, I prepared the rail with the clothes and went on another tour with Eivind & Michael to locate locations. There were 3 backdrops we immediately wanted: The entrance area to the Church hall with its light concrete walls, the rusty cor-ten wall panel and the chapel courtyard. Michael has taken all these wonderful photos. Above is the entrance area and you see Sissel and me at work, while Em is checking out the biblical text written about the entrance to the Church Hall. She is wearing 1 of the 7 new designs, a long cardigan made in the lovely Di Gilpin’s Lalland Lambswool yarn with a unique twist.

Jewellery designer Kaja Gjedebo who lives at Bøler, came on her bicycle with a large selection for me to choose from. Yes, I did pick some of her new statement pieces and some old favourites. Kaja knows this community church well and could tell us about some of the events that take place here. It is one of the few churches with a licence to serve alcohol in connection with the concerts and other events organised at the church. Above you see Em covered in a felted wooly blanket (see Røros Tweed) to keep warm, as Eivind is checking the light and his flash. Yes, we have several of those blankets. Under she is wearing 1 of 3 designs that needed new photos: Autumn Symphony knitted in Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk, Ask-Hifa 2. On our agenda was to photograph a total of 10 garments during the day.Here you see Eivind in action photographing 1 of the 4 new designs for Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk in the courtyard next to the chapel. Yes, it was a cold day so Em did want that blanket. We started by photographing here as the funeral was going ahead in the Church Hall. After photographing the 4 garments made for Hillesvåg, we needed to get warm and decided to have lunch. I had checked catering but since we were only 7, we bought lunch from a coffee shop in the city center and brought a selections of drinks & fruit with us. As always we had plenty of fun and discussed postures for Em to test out. Both Sissel and I popped into a number of Eivind’s shoots to correct or adjust her hair, makeup or outfit. I love this shoot of Eivind explaining. Em is wearing the Bowery Tunic, one of the designs returned from Interweave, I had to photograph again before I can release it with new photos after the rights have reverted to me. The design was made for knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017. The high ceiling, the light concrete and the full height windows gave this entrance area a sacral light. The impressive lighting is even found in the corridor at the side of the Church Hall as well as inside the Hall itself.

I also wanted to show you half of the church seen from the car park towards the chapel and the courtyard behind it. The tower is the Light Tower and not the Bell Tower which is at the opposite end. We are standing in front of the opposite rusty cor-ten wall panel with the name carved into it. This is also were we ended our photoshoot. The priest came in and asked how it was going on all our locations. We had a brilliant day! Thank you! Now, I am trying to choose photos from Eivind’s selection and trying to finish those patterns…

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Strick Mode – Bowery Tunic in German

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The American magazine knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017 has been translated and is published in German as strick mode issue 0217. I am excited to hear this news since it means that my design Bowery Tunic is now available in German as well.

Above you can see the Bowery Tunic presented in German at the strick mode website. Here is the American version: “The body of this pullover is worked back and forth in pieces and seamed. The sleeves are worked in the round, with the sleeve cap worked flat. You’ll love working the gorgeous cable motifs on the front panel, and the asymmetrical hem gives unexpected flair to this pullover.”

The tunic is knitted in madelinetosh, Tosh DK, a hand-dyed merino wool with crisp stitch definition, in a divine medium grey called Tern. The yarn comes in 100 gram skeins with 205 meters/225 yards and knits with a gauge of 20 stitches and 30 rows in stocking stitch to 10 cm/4″ square.

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Bowery Tunic Again

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The time has come to show you the photos – well, a selection of the best ones, really – that my husband took of me wearing the Bowery Tunic just before I sent it off to Interweave in July. The pattern was released in the latest issue of  knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017, which is available both in a digital and a print edition. We photographed the tunic close to the beach at Ormøya, in walking distance to our old house at Bekkelaget in Oslo. It was not a sweltering July day, so I had no problems wearing boots and the tunic knitted in hand-dyed merino wool – madelinetosh, Tosh DK to be specific. The yarn comes in 100 gram skeins with 205 meters/225 yards and knits with a gauge of 20 stitches and 30 rows in stocking stitch to 10 cm/4″ square using a 4 mm/US 6 needle. The shade chosen by editor Meghan Babin is a stunning medium grey called Tern.

I wanted to make sure that the different length on the back and the front plus vent was easy to see: A cable panel with electronic vibes, not unlike Jean Michel Jarre renown music – hence the Jarre working title – is the focus point for this a-line pullover with a longer back ending in a vent in the sides. The collar, just like the bottom edge, is in garter stitch and crowns the garment ending in an i-cord bind off.

I am wearing the sample, made in the third size with a bust circumference of 105.5 cm/41.5″, with 15.5 cm/6″ of positive ease. The tunic is graded into 6 sizes with a bust circumference from 85 to 136 cm/33.5 to 53.5″. The back is one cable pattern repeat longer than the front, 11 cm/4.25″. Here is a presentation of the Leather & Lace  Story in the knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017 issue.

We also wanted to have a go at photographing it sitting down so here is one of those photos. I did look for a high stone that could work, but could not find any in the correct position nor size.

Last but not least, here is a detail of the back and the sleeve. The sleeve has a center garter stitch panel since the cable was too dominant to add to the sleeve. I also wanted more texture than what plain stocking stitch can provide, but this can easily be omitted if you prefer to work it plain. Now that we have moved to Ørje, we are on the look out for a new place to photograph, but is bound to be close to Rødenessjøen.

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Bowery Tunic in knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017

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I am thrilled to show you my latest design the Bowery Tunic published in the knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017 issue in the company of other designers such as: Pam Allen and  Carol Feller. On the cover is Mary Anne Benedetto’s stunning Park Slope Top. My working title for the design was Jarre: A cable panel with electronic vibes, not unlike Jean-Michel Jarre renown music, is the focus point for this a-line pullover with a longer back ending in a vent in the sides. The collar, just like the bottom edge, is in garter stitch and crowns the garment ending in an i-cord bind off.

Interweave / Harper Point Photography

The tunic is knitted in madelinetosh, Tosh DK, a hand-dyed merino wool with crisp stitch definition, in a divine medium grey called Tern. The yarn comes in 100 gram skeins with 205 meters/225 yards and knits with a gauge of 20 stitches and 30 rows in stocking stitch to 10 cm/4″ square.

Interweave / Harper Point Photography

The sample is knitted in size 105.5 cm/41.5″ (third size) bust circumference and modelled with 18.5 cm/7.25″ of positive ease on the model. The tunic is graded into 6 sizes with a bust circumference from 85 to 136 cm/33.5 to 53.5″. The back is one cable pattern repeat longer than the front, 11 cm/4.25″.

Interweave / Harper Point Photography

The intricate cables are fun to knit in a mixture of rib and garter stitch that moves across both the front and the back of the tunic. I found their volume and texture too much for the sleeves and opted for a garter stitch panel on the center of the sleeve since I do love texture. As you might know I also get easily bored working just in stocking stitch.

Interweave / Harper Point Photography

The gorgeous photos are taken by Harper Point Photography, while the photo styling is by Tina Gill and Hair & Makeup is by Janie Rocek. Thank you to editor Meghan Babin and the Interweave team for accepting yet another of my designs!

Interweave / Harper Point Photography

knit.wear Spring/Summer 2017 is available in both a digital and a print edition. This large issue also includes 4 of the designs from the Wool Studio volume 1 digital magazine, including the popular Hyannis Port Pullover by Bristol Ivy.

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