Behind the Scenes with a Knitting Consultant

Sometimes people are cast into roles in plays or movies that require them to act out knitting even though they are not knitters themselves. There used to be a time when people could just hold the knitting on screen and kind of pretend to knit and get away with it, but I think because so many people knit these days and are aware of it (and would be vocally critical if it weren’t portrayed properly) non-knitters are often coached in the basics so they can act the part properly.

So it was for Georgia Engel, who recently played the role of Marina in a New York City production of Uncle Vanya. It required her to knit, so a consultant –Rita Bobry, owner of Downtown Yarns — was brought in to teach her.

Bobry said in an interview with the Times-Union that she was pegged because her yarn shop is closest to where the play was being rehearsed. She said she only taught Engel the knit stitch, and during the play she worked with Lamb’s Pride Bulky on size 10.5 needles. The actress said the hardest part was knitting and talking at the same time, and though she has no plans to keep up the craft, she is planning to knit something for the director’s new child, with Bobry’s help.

Next Pattern:

As I write this, it’s probably time to start thinking about winter knitting if you haven’t already. And it’s definitely time to think about gift knitting if you have any of that you plan to do for the holidays.

The Dreamy Waves Scarf from Knit Picks, designed by Stacey Winklepleck, would be a great project to go in either category.

It uses two different multicolored yarns and a simple repeating wave pattern to make a project that looks a lot more complicated and dramatic than it is. The gradient look happens naturally just by switching which yarn you’re knitting with.

This pattern uses worsted weight yarn so it’s a pretty quick project even though a scarf is large and this one is pretty wide. It measures 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) wide and 63 inches or 120 cm long. Of course you can make it longer or shorter as you like. As written it takes one ball of each color so it’s a pretty economical project, too.

It’s rated for intermediate knitters but if you know how to do various increases and decreases you’ll be all set. The pattern uses knit 2 together, make 1 left and right, centered double decrease and slip slip knit. All of the stitches are explained in a glossary in the pattern so even if you haven’t done all of them it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

The pattern also includes tons of options for different colorways in yarn that Knit Picks sells, so you can see how different combinations knit up before you buy the yarn. That’s such a great idea!

Of course if you already have two multicolored yarns with long color runs on hand, you can absolutely use them, too. It might also be fun, but would give you a totally different look, to use a solid color and a bunch of scraps or one multicolored yarn to see how the different colors play together. So many options!

You can grab this free pattern and check out all the color options at Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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