Knitting ventures

I like to swatch.

Until recently, that was my complete "About Me" bio on Ravelry.  And it really does sum up what I enjoy most about knitting. I like choosing a beautiful yarn, then looping and manipulating it into intricate shapes, getting the rhythm going, repeating a motif.  I like the fact that it can be created with a single thread. Once I've made my point with the design, I like to finish it up and be done with it.

And then, there it is -- a swatch, the physical documentation of a complex idea.

Rippled mosaic, 100% perle cotton

A dozen years ago, before my knitting hiatus, my job description was stitch development.  I would knit swatches and my sales agent would sell them to knitwear designers.  The designers would use my "documentations" in interesting ways to create fashion.  It was great earning money doing what I liked.

A few months ago, not long after I returned to knitting, I learned that the industry had changed. I knew that many U.S. fashion designers now manufactured their garments in China.  What I learned was that in China the service of stitch development is provided free with the manufacturing contract. When designers must choose whether to pay extra for a service or get the service included in an attractively priced manufacturing package, well, there really isn't much of a choice.  And frankly, no one ever really needs a new stitch pattern.  Stitch libraries exist; stitch patterns are endlessly recyclable.  Needless to say, at the moment there is not much opportunity for a knitted swatch designer here in NYC!

Fancy ribs, 100% wool

There are no plans to return to the large wall pieces or sweater jackets from wa-a-ay back, before I discovered swatches as my end product. But I am very excited now to be working beyond the swatch. Yep, I am primed and ready for my new knitting ventures.  (More about these ventures soon!)

Recently, I was discussing the knitting industry with a product development manager of an industrial knitting machine manufacturer.  He told me that knitwear manufacturing was beginning to return to the U.S., because the price of manufacturing in China had risen greatly and because the turnaround time was too long for smaller U. S. knitwear designers.

Hmm....  Stay tuned.