knit menswear

for a while now (in fact since last winter) i have been toying with the idea of knitting some menswear - had all these fancy plans, but alas, came to nothing what with having lots of cushion orders (not that we are complaining of course) - so, when a friend put me in touch with a menswear designer who was looking for a knitter, i, err, jumped at the chance.














very pleased to have received a commision from fantastic menswear designer Jenny Schwarz - i met with her on sunday last week and was given the brief - all laid out on the floor mind you.
the existing jersey i have as a guide (although what i am doing is not as fine) is absolutely beautiful and knitted by Jenny's mother in soft mohair.
so here we go.  i am working out a new pattern (having not ever designed my own jumper pattern before in my life) - have hauled out all my knitting construction books and been pouring over them late into the evening - calculating, measuring (and in some cases, re-calculating) - its taken me back to the basics of knitting and you know, i even knitted up a swatch ..............
so there we go - am terrified and excited at the same time.  very grateful for the opportunity - who knows, it may be the start of something. 
did i mention that Jenny is showing at Vienna Fashion Week which is in, oh, say 10 days time?  so really, no pressure then, none what so ever. .....

5 comments:

Jesse said...

Good luck! Hard work, but I'm sure really really interesting. I've been toying with the idea of designing knitting patterns using paper pattern pieces - it seems more intuitive than the rows of figures and calculations normally suggested. I'll have to ask you for advice when I get there!

Catherine said...

Interesting project. Men's knits are so difficult to make look contemporary, these are very good. (although it will not matter for my latest project a sweater for my father's 86th birthday!)

strikk handknits said...

hehe. thank you Catherine. this is possibly the most terrifying thing i've done in a long time......

strikk handknits said...

@ Jesse - this is probably the hardest thing i've done knitting-wise in my life. really have had to go back to basics on how to construct a garment.......

Stitchandwitter said...

Love this - can't wait to see the results!