#triciawrap

Textured Knits by Connie Chang Chinchio

The idea of textured knits may seem kind of obvious. People have been knitting textures ever since someone alternated knit and pearl stitches. But there are better and worse ways to think about the use of texture, just as there are in the use of color.

The Dress Doctors always wanted emphasis in a garment to draw up towards the face. What better way to make people notice you and what you are saying? This works clearly enough with necklines and collars, and with patterned and colored yokes. Yet many knitted patterns put all the interesting details of color and texture around the hipline. I suspect this is a matter of simplicity in creating different sizes by allowing the designer to skip any complicated explanations about how to cope with the shaping for the armhole. Vintage knitting directions are far more demanding and often command: follow in the stitch pattern so far as you can to the garment edge. 

Chinchio opts for bringing the detail up towards the face as you see here on book cover featuring the caramel Intagliata Henley. The pale blue Lustro Cardigan takes a similar approach by having the textured knitting at the shoulder area. While the burgundy Professora Cardigan and the taupe Raindrop Cardigan use the idea of texture running up the front opening the the cardigan (the raindrop refers to the decorative back of the cardigan, an effort which I never see the point of--unless you want to make a good impression while turning on your heel and stalking away?)

I especially like the sophisticated Anna Maria Cardigan with the pattern making its way up and along the V-neckline. I also appreciated the Tricia Wrap in in blue which skips the uniformity which many wraps demand in favor of a more interesting movement of the texture along the wrap.

You can see the rest of the patterns on Ravelry.com here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/textured-stitches-knitted-sweaters--accessories-with-smart-details/patterns