Week 3 | Knitting

Author: Jacqueline

I’m through the first skein, two to go; one third done, well on my way. I’ve used almost all the needles I bought, consulted www.knittinghelp.com once and have caught on to the seed stitch pattern so I don’t have to keep such intense notes.

My favorite comments over the past few weeks have been about the inconsistency between the complexity of the pattern and my somewhat basic hand-knitting skills. While I myself am impressed with the way this wrap is developing, it is worth noting that I do have a strong background in knitting, machine knitting.

Many moons ago I took machine knitting while in college at Rhode Island School of Design. I was in love after the first class. After graduation my passion for knitting turned into Jacq’s-Hats, an award winning knit accessories company. We designed and sold our knits to retailers (much like Soak, only on a smaller scale). We developed a local network of machine knitters for production and sourced yarn internationally. We also participated in the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, a huge craft retail event (which incidentally, is on this weekend, if you are local).

The photos are a bit circa 1999, but then again, that’s when they were taken.

Our customers often ask us how they can best take care of our wool hats, sweaters and scarves. When we started, we recommended other wool washes, or baby shampoo. They worked okay, but had overpowering fragrances that were kind of dated. Our customers have a modern take on life, so we decided to offer them a modern approach to fiber care, too. We developed a better, no-rinse wash solution that works with our stuff – and with anything else people care about enough to hand wash. That’s essentially how Soak was born. The rest, as they say, is history.

This year, we’re bringing back our knits. I’m designing again. My first group of patterns goes with our latest Soak fragrance, Unleash, inspired by Ravelry. We’ve designed (based on our original knits of course!) a set, hat, mitts and scarf, with Louet Gems yarns in custom Ravelry inspired colors.

You can purchase the patterns here. You can purchase the yarns or kits (Soak, pattern and yarn) here.

Ask for them at your local yarn shop. We’re working on our distribution. If you are a local yarn shop, contact us to place your order. They’ll be appearing in magazines and shops for fall knitting and are already all the rage on Ravelry.com.

This is the colour range, with fun Ravelry inspired names.

The knitting needles are happy to have some consistent attention. (machine or otherwise). They’ve long been overshadowed by work, life and quilting. My arms are starting to get a regular workout… my shoulders too. My hands finally remember what to do on their own (thank goodness).

Next week, knitting posture and maybe some stretches too.