New Design: Hillevi

DSC_2372-EditOne of my infatuations is reversible scarfs, and the different ways they can be worn. You can follow the development of these, as if it was a design series that started with the Cable On Scarf, recently published in Norwegian, followed by; Scarftex and now the latest; Hillevi. I had reached the conclusion that I wanted to add a shawl collar along the scarf’s length to make it more wearable: Wear it as a scarf with the collar tight around your neck, or as a shawl with the collar around your shoulders. You can even wear it upside down with the collar as a shaped curve, or as a top around your bust pinned together with a shawl pin. Hillevi was designed for the Nordic Vintage series I made in collaboration with dress designer Judith Bech and shoe designer Monica Stålvang to be published in Norwegian in Familien Trend out on 23. of February. Again, just as I did for Scarftex, I choose to hold Rowan Lima and Rowan Fine Tweed together but in two shades of blue this time. Grete Jenssen knitted the sample for me, to my relief and utter satisfaction.

DSC_2356This is how Hillevi looks worn as a scarf, with the collar lying flat around the neck. The lighter shade of the Rowan Fine Tweed, called Skipton, creates an extra depth of color to the deeper blue Rowan Lima, called Amazon. Even with both the two yarns together, it was knitted with a 5.5 mm/US 9 to make the cables pop. The reversible staghorn cables I found in Lily Chin’s book on Power Cables. I choose to use garter stitch on all the edges and the collar. All these great photos are taken by my husband in our garden in the warm mid-September last year.

DSC_2382Above the scarf is worn as a shawl upside down with the collar hanging loose. As you can see one center stitch makes up a spine in the collar with increases on each side to give the shawl collar extra fullness. In addition I choose to shape it by working a large number of short rows.

DSC_2388This is how the scarf looks worn as a top around the bust, pinned together with a shawl pin. I just left the excess scarf to flare at the front. I love the result with the full shape of the shawl collar visible and its sculptural look. The pick up row along the length of the scarf is visible but it only adds texture to it, in my opinion.

DSC_2390From behind, the middle stitch on the collar makes a decorative spine. The first small swatch I made looked stunning on Judith’s folded dress in olive green silk with a blue shine to it. So both the dress and the swatch was chosen for the collection. As you can imagine model Alexandria Eissinger at Pholk looked gorgeous wearing them both and brilliant photographer Eivind Røhne captured it all. To be continued.

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Behind the Scenes: Photo Shoot

DSCN1723I had a marvelous photo shoot on Thursday with photographer Kim Müller, dancer Francesca Golfetto, stylist Line Sekkingstad and my husband as photo assistant. The shoot was organized before I started knitting due to the tight deadline for delivery to the Norwegian magazine Familien and their special issue Strikkeboka/Knitting book due out in late August. I was fortunate to find one test knitter, Airin Hansen, and my neighbor Karin Placht to assist me in knitting samples in time for the photo shoot. There is no way I would have managed on my own otherwise. Knitting two coats (Carla and Conic) and a scarf (Scarftex) in addition to finishing another jacket (for a different magazine), as well as designing another 5 items, was more work than I ever could have imagined in a month and a half. So I had to start knitting long into the night as well, since I was working 7 days a week already. Seeing the garments stunningly worn by Francesca, with the magic touch on hair & make up by Line, fabulous shoes and boots by Monica Stålvang and beautifully captured by Kim, made it all worthwhile! Not to forget that my husband found a several remarkable spots at Tjuvholmen, the end tip of Aker Brygge/Wharf in Oslo. It was a beautiful day with strong sunshine so we had to look for backgrounds in the shadow and found numerous next to the Astrup Fearnly Museum. We broke up for a decent lunch at Olivia (read: Bølgen & Moi was closed sadly) before we continued dressing and directing Francesca around in a very different manner than she is used to as a dancer. I felt so fortunate and cannot wait to see Kim’s selection of photos! Next week I am taking part in another photo shoot, what a treat!

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