Introducing Knit Armour Collection - Alberta Fashion Week 2009

Knittles has embarked a new adventure, an official foray into the fashion scene of Calgary. We showed our very first runway collection for Alberta Fashion Week, this Wednesday, October 7th at Seven Lounge.

We had been busy creating our line of wearable accessories and clothing to combat the harsh Calgarian winters. Inspired by the cold urban environment and the process of building, this line of Knit Armour has elements of deconstruction, glimpses of vibrant colours amidst a sea of cold neutrals, and small sanctuaries of natural elements symbolized by handcrafted wood & ceramic buttons.

The reception we received for our collection was both flattering, and heartwarming. Many thanks to Alberta Fashion Week for allowing us to share our work to the budding fashion community of Calgary.

Photos by Faby Martin © 2009
Models in order of appearance from top left to right, Katrina Cheung, Amy Horne, Brian Sew, Denise Wong.

First Mediterranean Festival in Koper - Knitwear Designer Igor Galas Wins

I wish their main page was in English, but oh well. I love pictures too. It is so cool to see Knitwear to gain more and more popularity. Igor Galas, a Croatian Knitwear designer won the prize for the best collection.
His collection presents the unique style, wearable designs (I love Sandra but not sure where I'd wear her stuff) and such obvious hard work. Couldn't find his website, unfortunately, but found some cool video from Fashion Academy Award.

New Photographer in the House!!!

You may have noticed a little darling with the biggest pearly white smile and dazzling blue eyes modeling our newest hats. She adds a girly charm to those flowered and lacy hats (as if flowers and lace aren't girly enough). You may have also noticed that those photos are gorgeous, with beautiful lighting, and a fresh focus. This is the work of local Calgary photographer Lindsay Milner. She's a mother of 2 beautiful children and is turning her love of photography into a business. She is quickly becoming knittles' go-to photographer for kids and baby items. See more of little C and little A in the shop soon. Many more children's styles involving flowers, and earflaps, and even some little man hats as well. We're finally following our business "plan" , and working towards the next autumn season of hats & scarves and other fine knits. Who needs to sleep anyways???

New Friend

So I've made a new friend, one that my husband refers to as being unacceptable and must be put away after she scared him when he went downstairs. She was just sitting there, innocently, quietly, and unobtrusively, ready for a photo shoot. He walked right past her, into the next room, and then out of the corner of his eye he noticed the headless form, and that's when he screamed like a little girl (or so I imagine). I'll call her Stella, and she was quite the deal that I couldn't pass up at a garage sale this weekend. An old, 1970's style dress form (or a headless mannequin as he refers her to) that will be perfect for taking photos of any neck or body knitwear that we will be designing when a photoshoot with a living, breathing model just isn't possible (or when I'm too anxious to upload a new design that I can't wait to do a proper photoshoot). I must admit, I do prefer being on this side of the camera ;)

Arts of Fashion 2008 Masters Class Series

Not quite Sandra Backlund but Sandra-inspired students showcasing their knitwear. The video is not super recent(Nov 2008), we just stumbled upon it on youtube between the reviews of knitting machines and G20 Summit news.

Vote for Hunter in Etsy Fall Fashion Poll

So we weren't dreaming, we did get selected for Fall Fashion Poll on Etsy. Which is really cool. Thank you Etsy. And yeah, getting an email from etsy admin was pretty rad too. Not to mention we are pretty honored to be in the same bunch as necklush, idea2lifestyle, our favourite emilyryan and hierapparel.

So go VOTE people, and choose carefully ;-) You get to vote only once.

The Last Knit

No, we are not quite finished yet, although quite happy to get a spring break from knitting and winter and work on some ideas rather than custom orders (even though we are very happy to get them). We just stumbled upon a video that totally reminds us, well about us.

Monday Update

That's just what it is - an update. haven't been writing for awhile, so it's time.
First of, we made it to the front page of Etsy today with our Aviator Style Hat


And it has become almost a tradition to have mini photoshoots at my house because Mavis keeps bringing new hats and stuff she makes during the week.

The hats are not listed yet but  will be soon - we are half way there - hats made, photos taken. Just need a name for styles and the listings. We have also been working on a new pattern for Awesome Earflap Hat that will be listed tonight. 

new photographer in the house...

We're always experimenting with different techniques and settings for our product shots, changing locations constantly, and testing out new equipment (like the flash i got for xmas). My bro was over yesterday, visiting with little K, when I wrangled him into taking some photos of me modeling new items. To be honest, he's the real photographer in the family (I just try to look the part with my Canon Rebel & multitude of lenses), and he once again explained to me the fundamentals of photography... focus, ...uh exposure....and i forget the third. The afternoon was not a waste, for I did learn something, how to adjust the aperture so that photos taken in low light don't become blurry, as well as adjusting the custom white balance setting (sound smart, don't I?)

Anyways, here's the results of our quick, impromptu photo shoot. Boxtox (or photoshop) may be needed in the near future, as I seem to have a forhead dimple that shows itself in nearly every photo.
































He is good, isn't he?

Asymmetry

Not trying to toot my own horn, but ...... I am so excited about a new neckwarmer design, I can't stop making them. They asymmetrical (my favorite type of design), and not only are they easy to wear, they are also versatile in that they can be worn forwards, backwards, upside down, and your toddler can even slip it on and use it as a poncho. We found this at our photoshoot when C was adoringly watching us take pictures with those big 'ol eyes that were saying, can i try? She was in a good picture taking mood (usually we have to bribe her with organic chocolate) so we slipped one over her little big head & low and behold, it fit, and was so cute that she even forgot to ask about chocolate.

And for some eye candy, I've attached a few asymmetric items that I've been drooling over from fellow etsiers, kaylim, joodito, junkhousedollyard, and jalvo. Check out their shops for fabulous handmade items, knittles are really big fans of these artisans. They really are masters of their craft.

MEOW!

Independant Canadian designer, Rebecca of Replicca Clothing Company once said, "the best marketing tool is posting new items or designs". We are taking that to heart, and are taking this slower time in the new year to finally put all the designs that were stewing in our heads, to needles. Meow is one of the said designs, and I can't say how much I LOVE it! (although on skype with the inlaws this evening, when I was putting said hat on boy, mother-in-law thougth I was putting a diaper on his head). I blame it on an inexpensive computer camera, and dim lighting ... anyways, wasn't there a trend recently where you were to wear your undergraments on the outside? or something like that?

Front Page

Our brand new treelover children's beanie is featured on the front page of etsy! It was a nice thing to wake up to on a cold, winter Sunday Morning - we love making it on the front page, makes us feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside...

There's also super cool items from our fellow etsiers on there as well, (search them out using their shop name below the item's photo).

Knittles.ca is complete and live!

Ok it's finally complete - we have a website! Small, basic but functional.

2009 New Styles & Items in Knittles store

Holidays were great but we tried not to waste any time and created "a few" new items as well as had a few photo shoots to slowly start listing our new inventory. We have a new product addition from our guest designer - baby soy blanket, some new neckwarmers and cowls with new yarns and hues, and several new hat styles - Reykyavik, Elvish Glee Pixie Hat with more to come.

Wix.com

DEADLINE TO VOTE AT CHANGE.ORG

For all those crocheters out there...

It's finally here! knittle's hunter hat, in an easy to follow pdf pattern. We finally used the slowdown of custom orders to put one of our most popular hats, in pattern form so that you can make one of your own, in the colours of your choice, and in the fiber of your choosing. Not a crocheter but would like a Hunter of your very own, in the softest, most lux (and fairly traded) yarn??? You can get that here.

How about yarn recycled from cigarettes?

Yikes, what's next? Found this on treehugger.com

The experimenting of Chiliean designer Alexandra Guerrero resulted in some wool + cigarette butts blend. You could see the actual process how it is done on Mantis-mantis blog

Photo: treehugger.com, mantis-mantis

Etsy Adds Web Analytics

This is such great and exciting news! Long awaited! Now we can track the visits to our etsy shop and hopefully conversions(not sure how they would make this possible. So far the  announcement just says "pageviews, site visits, popular content and page referrals". In any case, we are very pleased and excited and yes, all set.

Knittle's Guest Designer

Knittles has a guest designer, Marcy, who makes very detailed, and tedious larger items for all those knittles fans that need a bit more coverage. She loves to design and make shawls, wraps, baby blankets and even adult size blankets. As such, her items are one-of-a-kind, each with their own unique finishing touches (interesting hemlines, asymmetric edges, etc.).

Marcy started her crocheting career with a very memorable asymmetric and wavy baby blanket (almost like an animal pelt). She has since learned to make straight edges (not always wanting to make straight edges) and now loves to play with geometry and loves using atypical colour combinations. knittles loves Marcy's work for it's simple, classic, and asymmetric style. Here are just a few items of hers that are available in our shop.