The Knitwear Designer Causing Serious Girl Crushes

I love it when knitting related stories pop up in unexpected places, like this story from The Cut. The headline is “This Woman is Making Shawls Sexy, I Swear to You,” and if you’ve knit or even seen a picture of the hottest shawl of the past couple of years, Find Your Fade, you might know that the author, Edith Zimmerman, is talking about designer Andrea Mowry.

In the knitting world, as I learned, she had become something of an overnight celebrity — Mowry had rocketed to the top from out of almost nowhere, with her first pattern published only in late 2014, but with at least 88 since, to become arguably one of the world’s most popular designers. She’s like … the knitting world’s Taylor Swift. Cute, talented, driven, precise, upbeat, and kind, with a wink and a flicker of darkness.

There are no real revelations about Mowry in the piece; it’s mostly just fan-girling about a gorgeous and talented designer many of us might wish we were a little more like. But it’s always nice to see knitting portrayed as dynamic, stylish and, yes, even sexy, without a bit of the usual “not your grandma’s knitting” snark in sight.

Have you knit any of Mowry’s patterns? This might be the year I finally knit a Fade.

[Photo: Andrea Mowry via Ravelry.]

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I guess I’ve decided it’s time to start knitting vests, and while I typically think of vests as being for fall, this one is decidedly summery.

Vanessa Ewing’s Fruit Salad Fest is covered with all kinds of fruits. I see grapes, blueberries, strawberries, peaches and kiwi all stitched up in rows for a cute and colorful vest.

This one is worked in sock yarn and comes in nine sizes. The actual finished chest measurement of the vest ranges from 29.5 to 59 inches, or 75 to 150 cm. It’s meant to be work with 2 to 4 inches/5-10 cm of positive ease. And while it’s called a vest it doesn’t look like it has any shaping, which gives it little cap sleeves when worn.

There’s a bit of ribbing at the armholes and neckline, and the bottom has a split hem. It’s worked in the round from the bottom up and includes steeks. It’s not really a pattern for people new to colorwork thanks to all the charts and different colors used, but if you’re ready to take on a challenge this would be a fun one.

Speaking of colors, there are 13 involved in this pattern, but a few of them aren’t needed in a huge quantity, so this could be a use for some mini skeins or leftovers from other projects if you have them in the right colors. This isn’t one where you can substitute colors that easily since they are meant to be true to real fruits, but you could use a different background color, make your grapes green or red, or change the blueberries to another fruit if you have different colors on hand.

Any way you slice it, this looks like a super fun knit that is sure to bring a smile to your face whenever you wear it, and to others whenever they see it.

Check it out and grab a copy on Ravelry.

[Photo: Vanessa Ewing]

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