Thursday, February 18, 2016

Interpretations Vol. 3



Some years ago, something magical happened...
After working alone here in Argentina for some years as a knitwear designer, I met Veera, from Finland, who for some strange reason decided to be my friend and work with me from then on.

Ever since, we have been through lots, both together and separate.  The most amazing adventures have come to us, and it's all so amazingly strange when you share so much (and yet so little!) with someone from such a different country...  All I can say is that I feel very blessed to have found such a wonderful companion to share my work with.

Veera and I have our own separate paths and careers... We just discovered that every time they cross, everything we make becomes richer, better and so much more fun!

So every year, we get together and put our heads to work on a collection that we call Interpretations. For each collection we think of 6 words, and each of us creates a pattern for them.  Our own knitted interpretation of each word.  

But that's not all... During the setting up of the collection: 
- we decide which color palette we'll use, 
- we make sure that we have a varied arrange of garments and accessories (you'd be surprised how many times we come up with the same exact interpretation of a word... we even name our patterns the same!)
- we make sure that all weights of yarn are used (at least from lace to aran weight!), 
- we try to pick varied yarn suppliers and easy to substitute bases, so that the designs can also be 'budget friendly',
- and of course... we knit, block and photoshoot!

It's that time of the year again, when we proudly introduce you to a new volume of Interpretations.  Meet Volume 3, this time from Germany!


Ah, we are so in love with this collection, and we couldn't be more thrilled with the photos!  We'd like to thank especially to Marion and Steffi from Yarn over Berlin who took care of us while we were in Berlin and made this photoshoot possible.
We picked the city of Potsdam (if you don't know it, go Google it because it's oh so gorgeous) with its medieval walls and gardens as a backdrop for our garments.  The magic came from the eyes of Jonna Jolkin, who took these photos.  Thank you all so much!

We are also so proud to let you know that after all these years working together, our collections will finally be available as printed books. This is thanks to the amazing ladies from Pompom Press.  You can order them from your website or from your Local Yarn Store (if you own a LYS, I hope you consider carrying our books, and I hope you really like them!).  You can read more about that here.

So now, without further ado, I'll introduce you to the designs.

The word Kind brings us Looking Ahead (a textured beanie worked in Skein's yarn) and Light Rain (a boxy turtleneck worked in Madelinetosh's BFL Sock).


The word Curious brings us Golden Hour (a fabulous circular yoke pullover in Madelinetosh's DK) and Peeping Cowl (hehe! isn't it fabulous?  love it, it's worked in Madelinetosh's Sock yarn).


The word Free led to Breathing Space (check out that amazing striped tunic!  it's worked in fingering weight singles from TUT and Madelinetosh) and Let Go (a swing cabled cardigan worked in some DK weight from Neighborhood Fiber Co).  I think this theme represents what Veera and I do when we are free to do whatever we like:  She'll do stripes and short rows... and me? Just leave me with my cables!


Then we have the word Aged.  We designed the Heartfelt Cardigan (beautiful open front sweater worked in some Bumblebirch yarn) and the Aged Henley (worked in some singles from Walk Collection).  You can't see the fronts of the sweaters in this photo, so you'll have to go check them out on Ravelry, because that's the best view of them both ;)


The word Significant is represented by Expressive (my favorite piece in the collection, made with Malabrigo's lace-weight silk/alpaca) and Tidalground (worked in Madelinetosh's DK)


And finally, we have the word Whole, that brings My Everything (a circular coat worked in Everyday Worsted from TUT) and Be Kind (a super sweet and massive shawl using speckled yarn from Madelinetosh).



So can you see our palette?  Every year we decide to use GRAY (we both think it's our favorite color and can't live without gray) and 3 other colors.  This time we chose also BLUE, BROWN and... SPECKLED yarns!

Every year, when I put all the work involved in the release of these collections I keep wondering... Will there be a next one?  Can we keep doing these every year?  You'll be pleased to know we have no intention of stopping in a near future :)
For that reason, we have created a very special group on Ravelry called Interpretations, where we will be sharing our news and hosting some KALs and fun things.  Please come join us if you like.

And I guess I'll see you all soon!

- Joji