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Remembering Annie Modesitt

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The losses just keep piling up this year, and it was announced that knitwear designer, teacher, yarn maker and proponent of going your own way with knitting, Annie Modesitt, died October 1.

She had been battling cancer for years, and she last posted on her blog late in August that she as undergoing a last-ditch chemotherapy treatment. Since that time she had entered hospice care.

Annie was a self-taught knitter who used what’s known as the combination style of knitting, which allowed her to knit very quickly and with even tension. She says in her book Confessions of a Knitting Heretic that her first project was a colorwork sweater from Vogue Knitting designed by Deborah Newton that involved 37 colors of yarn (despite the yarn store owner’s insistence that she start with something simpler). She finished it in less than a week.

Her mantra can be summed up by other words from that book: “If you are getting the fabric you want from your knitting, then you are knitting the Right Way for you!”

This is why she called herself a heretic, because at the time most teachers insisted on what’s known as the Western method of knitting and the word “wrong” was thrown around quite a bit. She felt the most important thing was to empower new knitters to find their own way of doing things and to understand how knitting works so that their interest could be ignited into a passion.

As a designer she gravitated to feminine, colorful and technical designs. She called on her millinery experience to knit amazing hats that might have been seen at a tea party at Downton Abbey.

She trusted knitters to use their intellect to be able to knit patterns, rather than suggesting that some patterns are better for beginners. (See that 37-color sweater for instance.)

She was the author of seven knitting books and contributed to many books and magazines through the years. Her flip books showing knitting techniques are delightful, and all her designs encourage knitters to try new things and be a little fearless.

She also launched ModeKnit Yarn, an independent yarn company producing vibrant colors that look great together.

She will be missed.

[Photo: ModeKnit Yarn staff selfie, via the ModeKnit Yarn website.]

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Comments

  1. i met her many years ago when our LYS had her teach a couple classes. i found her to be a delight and hilarious. she will be missed in the community of true knitters. she had a pov but it didnt interfere with her knitting.

  2. My heart breaks hearing this. My schedule never allowed me to meet Annie or to participate in one of her classes. She will be missed. Condolences to her family.

Have you read?

Knit a Glasses Holder for Your Bedside Table

knit glasses holder

Not too long ago I was seeing a crochet pattern for a glasses holder shaped like a bear all over the Internet. It was super cute, and also useful as a place to put your glasses on your bedside table instead of just throwing them somewhere random.

This project stewed in my brain for a little while and I decided I needed to make a knit version, but I didn’t want to make a bear. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m a cat person, so of course my version had to be a cat.

The base is just a basic little basic worked from the center out to the desired size, then up the sides as long as you want them. Knit some ears and add embellishments to make it whatever kind of animal you want.

The way I figured out to work the base from the center out was to use a crochet cast on, which gives you an easier way to pick up stitches from the back of the cast on than if you worked a more traditional cast on for a knitting project. It’s kind of fun to do things in a different way from time to time.

This little project is adorable if I do say so myself, and even as a plain little basket not made into an animal it’s a cute way to keep your glasses or other little things in one place. I’m tempted to make one for my desk to hold pens or even little little scissors and sewing needles that are always on my desk but somehow always seem to get lost on my desk.

If you need a little holder for your glasses on your table, check out the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]