The Knit-1 Experience

Here are a couple of photos I took during the Knit-1 course. You can read about it here.



Every week starts off with a mood board relating to the technique we are working on.



This is my classmate, Yean, working ona design.



Every week, we explore a new technique and just play with it, coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas and then we'll working on a garment sample.

Free Pattern in Canadian Living

It's funny when you go away for a while and you stop paying attention to the internet so much. I googled my own name and found out that my publishers have been working PR on my behalf. Check out the pattern from Hats, Mittens and Scarves featured in Canadian Living!

Pitti Filati S/S 09

During the course, Knit-1 was showing at Pitti Filati, so I took the liberty of attending the show as an extra part of educating myself about the knitwear trade. Pitti Filati is known as the best show to see regarding fine Italian yarns and innovative kitting technology. This year;s theme was called "Water Line". Because industry works far ahead of time, this show was for spring/summer 2009! Here are my some of favorite images from the show.




This was from a display from one of the yarn spinner's booth. Reminds me of a certain Jean-Paul Gautier piece!



One of the show displays was focused on ecologically-friendly yarns, they had samples of garments hanging on display set against a background of a wood area.



And they have tables with yarn and fibers so that you could touch and jot down the sources . Meant for buyers to do their shopping more efficiently.





They also did a display regarding the theme of the show. So the displays were made of yarn from the spinners at the show and took form of under water sea creatures!



Cia, bella! I learned some Italian while I was in Florence.

Attention Aspiring Knitwear Designers!

Ever wonder where some of the ideas come from for a fabulous sweater from Kenzo or Top Shop? It may have come from the likes of a swatch design company like Knit-1, a top seller of copyrighted knitwear designs to fashion houses and fashion retailers worldwide.

I've been living in Brighton, Uk for the past three months taking an intensive course in knitwear design offered by Knit-1. What makes this course different from your average college or uni course is that it is truly intensive—full-time, to be exact, course hours are 10 am to 5 pm! I think this makes it the best value for your tuition fees! (Knit-1's course fees are about one-tenth the price of a degree corse, but covers much more in a short period of time). Not to mentioned if you might have already completed a degree elsewhere and don’t want to attend school again, this is the perfect solution. Also if you don’t live near a school offering a short course in knitwear, it is hardly worthwhile to purposely move there to take a course that is only 6 hours a week! You can come into the course with little to no experience and come out with the skills and confidence to become a professional knitwear designer, so long as you are motivated to do so. The people who come to this course are not coming here for the certificate of completion, but rather with a genuine interest and desire to learn.



What the course is like on a day-to-day basis
As mentioned, the course runs full-time. We spend the first portion of the week learning the specific technique designated for that week. The tutor, who is also a designer for Knit-1, demonstrates and gives us exercises to grasp the concept of the technique. The middle of the week is spent experimenting, crating swatches of knitted fabric using the technique taught to us. The end of the week is spent designing garment samples from the swatches we made. Fridays mornings include a review with Knit-1 owners, Sue and Richard. They look over the work to track your progress and offer valuable feedback to help you along. Also, on occasions, a short excursion in the Brighton area is taken to places of possible inspiration!

Course contact
The course is taught using domestic knitting machines. I know from experience how terribly written the machine manuals are, so I jumped at the opportunity to learn from an expert. Though I recommend taking the full course, you can take parts of the course in 4 weeks, 8 weeks, or 12 weeks. This is how the weeks are split up, and what techniques are taught.

Weeks 1 to 4: Stripe, Jacquard, Pointelle (Lace) & Cables

Weeks 5 to 8: Fashioning Contours, Fairisle, Intarsia & Crochet.

Weeks 9 to 12: Customer Project (with Top Shop) and Portfolio preparation.

Why this is best way to learn?
Because you spend all day at the studio learning, trying, practicing! There is nothing worse to distract the learning curve than having to write research papers or taking four other courses all at once! From my own experience, the first couple weeks can be a real challenge to learn to use the knitting machine. But like playing the piano, once you know where all the keys are, and exactly what you need to do, it will come naturally. This approach is a very good way to learn and challenge your self as a designer. It is this very process that helps you come up with original ideas (having worked in design studios, I know that many times the thought process can become stale and unoriginal, as we are often encouraged to simply copy from what is trendy). After the course, I felt that my confidence in my skills was restored. I've never filled up a sketchbook so fast!

Working with industry
Knit-1 is first and foremost a swatch design business; their focus is on maintaining industry standards. Being in such an environment is vital to understanding the business. The last three weeks are devoted to creating samples according to a design brief set out by top UK retailer, Top Shop. Many design colleges may have a similar project in that you design a collection for a specific retailer in mind, however, the difference in this case is that this a true test of your design skills; the buyer at Top Shop comes in to view the works and possibly buys works made during the course! I had two works sold to Top Shop that will be in the shops this coming winter! The feedback given by the buyer is vital to understanding what works and what doesn't from a selling point of view.

How to apply
You don’t have to be a design student to attend this course, what you need is the interest and desire to learn. If you are interested in coming to beautiful Brighton and learning about designing knitwear, please contact me directly. Space is limited! Feel free to email any questions about the course and course fees. Accommodation is not included, but assistance is offered in finding a place to stay, which is especially important if you are coming from far away, like I did.



More photos here!