Today I have the fun opportunity of participating in Faina Goberstein and Dawn Leeseman’s blog book tour for their new book Casual, Elegant Knits. This book is filled with classic super wearable designs. You can see many of these lovely looks over on the books page on Ravelry as well.
Today I’m going to be chatting with Faina Goberstein a bit about the designs and techniques used in the book.
JT: Hi Faina! It’s great to have you here.
FG: How nice to get together with you, Jennifer. Thank you for hosting me on your blog. This is our thirteenth stop on the tour. It is so wonderful to visit all the participating designers and hear what they think about the book. I love all the questions that Dawn and I were asked. What would you like to talk about?
JT: I was really taken with the attention to detail and technical instruction throughout the book, particularly the technique section. I really like how all major versions of mattress stitch are covered as wells as the details of short-rows. Was this a conscious decision throughout the book?
FG: You see, Dawn and I are very particular about details and finishing techniques. I would not say that it was our intention to cover all the versions of mattress stitch, for example. Here is what happened. Dawn has her preference of seaming the seams and blocking, I have my favorite ways. When we were knitting our designs, we did our usual thing. When we started writing all the patterns for the book, we had a need to describe what we did, because the look of a seam depended on it. Both of us try to do the seams as invisible as possible. Take Dawn’s pattern Tweed Polo Shirt. She used a very nice textured stitch pattern. The back and the front are done separately. When you are sewing the seam in the way Dawn wants you to do it, you will make such a smooth transition that people will be thinking that the shirt was knit in the round. If you take my Elongated Neck Tunic, you will be using one mattress stitch for rib on the sleeve and another one for the sleeve seam. We hope that our readers will follow these instructions, so they will achieve the look they see on the photograph.
JT: That’s great, I think clean finishing is really what brings a piece to the next level. The cast-on used for the Red Waves Beret is really interesting and pretty, can you tell me a bit more about it?
FG: I would be happy to tell you about this. I used the same cast-on for the Vintage Hat as well. It is a variation of a long tail cast-on. We have the explanation of how to do it in the techniques section. I also put a little video on my blog (http://fainaspatterns.blogspot.com/). You can just follow me there. I knew this cast-on for many years. I love how it adds a romantic touch to both hats. It is a bit tricky and it is not a cast-on you can rely on keeping your hat in place. That is why you see a combination of stitch patterns or a constructional help in my designs of these hats.
JT: I like that it is a variation of the long tail cast-on. It seems nice to have a base understanding to start with when learning a new technique. I was really impressed with the extensive detail in the crown shaping, how many attempts did it take you to work that out?
FG: Oh, I am glad you appreciated that. I always try to keep the pattern going as much as I can on the crown. It took me two attempts to get to this look. You see, the difficulty here is in the stitch pattern. It is one of four variations of the brioche stitch. That means I worked with the yarnovers and had to modify the pattern as I was decreasing. I was very happy with the result. I think the crown adds to the look of the hat and it all blends together.
JT: It really shows and makes a difference! The Sheer Gauntlets are so elegant and I like the deceptively simple shaping technique-how did you decide on that for this design?
FG: This is Dawn’s design. Don’t you just love it? I made two pairs already.
The technique of changing needles is something we both used before. It made sense to use it on this project, because Dawn did not want any interruption of the lace design.
JT: I love a good pair of fingerless gloves and have to agree these fit in the “Gotta Have It” section. I thought the crochet technique for the fingers on these was neat. What is the advantage of this technique? Could you explain more about it?
FG: I am not a great fan of doing gloves. It is too tedious of a job for me. You could say I am kind of a lazy knitter when it comes to such work. I wanted to make these gloves with the minimal effort. So, I did come up with this idea. I am very proud of myself for that. I have never seen this done. After I set my mind on separating fingers this way, I thought that adding the vertical line of a contrast color all through the glove and then continue it with separation of fingers can be a good thing. It worked perfectly.
JT: I am the same way about gloves! Is there anything else about the techniques in the book you’d like our readers to know more about?
FG: I think blocking is a very important part of finishing. We were very specific on which method used in the pattern. Another thing is a selvage stitch. I do it as a slipstitch and it makes a beautiful edge. I do it for scarves and sweaters for different reasons. On scarves it is part of the look. On sweaters it helps to have a nice seam.
JT: Thanks so much for stopping by! I really enjoyed this book and plan to keep it handy for reference and to try out a few patterns soon!
FG: Thank you, Jennifer. I am glad to have this opportunity to bring the attention of our readers to these details. I think you learn from every book and it is important to follow the directions that designers give you. This way you get a perfect result.
FG: I want to know about your future designs. Any more pies ;)?
I love your inventive designs. I put many of them in my favorites on Ravelry. I hope to get some time soon to make them. What else should we be on a look out from you?
JT: Thanks Fiana, I don’t currently have plans for more pies but you never know – I do like engineering fun things out of knitting! :) As for future designs, I have a couple coming up in some books (a hat and a purse) and am hoping to work on several more garments to be available here on PieKnits.
FG: Well, good luck with everything you do. Thank you very much for talking to me. It was a pleasure to meet you, Jennifer. Tomorrow is our next stop. We will be with Kristi Porter of The Domestic Sphere (http://www.domesticsphere.com/).
