For the next couple of weeks we’ll be profiling the designers featured in the Knightsbridge Collection with some insight into their process, tips + tricks about their garment or accessory, fun interviews, and other little tid-bits. We hope you enjoy getting to know the Kelbourne Woolens team and contributing designers. To view the full pattern line, check out the Knightsbridge Collection on Ravelry here.
Today we’ll be talking with Leah, web manager and youth consultant, about her Knightsbridge design, Humphrey, and her process when designing her “perfect” Knightsbridge sweater.
LM: For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a Pinterest-aholic. From my dream wardrobe, to ideas for dinner that will never look as good as the picture, to inspirational knit stitches, Pinterest has it all. If Pinterest was a human I would ask it to marry me. All throughout school I utilized Pinterest as a place to keep my inspiration images in an organized manner – while simultaneously dreaming about the day I could justify purchasing $600 boots and spend all day working up the perfect braised chicken recipe.
So, when I started to put the Knightsbridge Collection call for submission together, I used Pinterest to gather images for designers to pull from. Here’s a little sampling below, but you can see the full board, here. Taking inspiration from vintage fisherman sweaters, menswear, texture and cables, the mood board swiftly turned into my dream closet.
Humphrey was inspired by long sweater coats that have been popping up recently. I loved how effortless the long sweater looked in the inspiration images that I knew that’s what I wanted for my design.
I like to use a couple of outlets to look for inspiration: vintage, what’s in retail stores, and runway trends. These three criterium all go through the, “would I wear and want this?” test when narrowing down my initial image search. Yes, that floor length sweater is gorgeous, but I’d constantly step on the hem. Plus, by the time it was finally time to divide for the armhole, I would have bound off to make it a blanket – like most knitters, I want to knit something engaging but not monotonous that won’t take me a lifetime to complete.
After hunting for inspiration I looked for stitches that were simple and showcased the texture of the yarn. Finally, I settled on Rose stitch for it’s loftiness and overall textured feel with Garter stitch as a contrast for the neckline. Once all of the elements were in place, Humphrey was born, and I couldn’t be happier.
Long, textured, simple, and exactly what I envisioned.
Happy inspiration hunting!
-Leah
You can view Humphrey and the other Knightsbridge patterns on our website here or over on Ravlery here. Check out The Fibre Company Knightsbridge here.