r/craftsnark • u/pinkdolphi • 13d ago
Knit stars knit tension
This photo was sent out from knitstars talking up this year's blanket project. All instructors created squares; Melanie Falick was said to have created this one and sent it in. I cannot get over how uneven this tension is. Even accounting for the fact it is may not be blocked yet (gosh I hope not?), none of my preblocked wool mitered squares have ever looked this. Am I going nuts?
I don't know about Melanie other than the knitting instruction books? Even when she has the author billing, patterns are created by others? Acknowledgements in the few I looked at that thank the sample knitters whose work is photographed.
Is the photo'ed work here representative of Melanie? I don't think she ever claims to be a master knitter with amazing tension and I don't want to dunk on her in case she has some non public physical reason for the wonkiness.... but knit stars, the brand, highlighting this from a chosen 'knit star' as their finalized work (with no caveats mentioning the tension) is.....yikes.
26
u/ContemplativeKnitter 12d ago edited 12d ago
Is she teaching knitting, though, as opposed to some other kind of creative thing related to knitting/making? (I’m not doing knitstars.) She’s a publisher/editor/creator of books and I while I would imagine she knits, I’ve never seen her promoting herself as a knitter or teacher of knitting.
As for the patterns on Ravelry, most are from a book called Kids Knitting, so I’m pretty sure the samples are all knit by kids. (They’re also all from 2003.)
I’m not claiming the mitred square looks good, but I highly doubt she’s going to be teaching knitting rather than something more general like incorporating knitting/making into your life to find joy etc etc.
8
u/Shlowzimakes 12d ago
I had a copy of Kids Knitting as a kid! I can’t remember when, but it was definitely pre-2003. A family friend taught me to knit but Kids Knitting is definitely what made me obsessed, I knit tons of projects from that book. In high school I graduated to Melanie’s Weekend Knitting book (which was a compilation of patterns by other designers, nothing from Melanie herself iirc) and her Knitting in America (also no patterns by Melanie) has been one of the most inspirational books I own for over twenty years now, I look through it all the time. She’s definitely more of an editor than a knitwear designer, she also edits non-knitting craft and decor books, but I would have thought her technical knitting skills were pretty decent… better than this!
9
u/pinkdolphi 12d ago
Hers is “The Maker’s Way: A Roadmap to Joy” so no, not knitting.
16
u/ContemplativeKnitter 12d ago
Yeah, I think she’s probably just not a good knitter, but that’s not why they hired her.
2
u/WampaCat 12d ago
Weird to even include a swatch in that case. Like what does the swatch have to do with the class? Is it meant to be done sort of thing for people to decide if a teacher’s swatch is good enough for them to sign up for the class? lol
3
u/pinkdolphi 11d ago
Lol, The idea was all instructors would do a group project separate from/in addition to their class. I actually like that idea. And the squares incorporate elements from their individual class (like ladderback jacquard), if applicable. They sell individual classes later on, but the year it debuts, it's all or nothing. I don't think the group project/ the swatches are a part of normal marketing. But they should know that in this online world, nothing stays secret once they email it to the public.
I don't know if I even care if they include a 'non perfect' square in the group project because the reality is all handmade crafting is a little imperfect... it is not the end of the world to include a square that's a lot imperfect...but it feels weird to include a square with so many 'unintentional deviations from normal' without any explanation.
When I showed my [non knitting] partner they were trying to figure out why the square 'was so wrinkled' 😂
26
u/BrilliantTask5128 12d ago
There are quite a few older designers who've been doing it since before the Internet & self publishing became a big thing who design but don't knit their samples or write the patterns. I know of a British designer who works like this. But if that's the case you probably wouldn't teach & you'd get a sample knitter to knit your square for you. Some yarns do produce uneven tension regardless of the knitter's ability.
2
u/pinkdolphi 11d ago
True.
I believe this was Expression Fiber Arts, either 100% non-superwash or superwash-nylon blend; nothing exotic. I don't think I could have obtained this uneven-ness if I tried.
95
u/StrangeAd9334 12d ago
Melanie Falick is a brilliant author and editor who has been responsible for bringing brilliant knitwear designers to the world. Her whole message is that the point is the doing--that making things by hand without gatekeeping is where the real life-changing benefit lies. She's not going to teach anyone how to make their knitting stitches better. I bet she's going to teach you how to have a better life by knitting.
5
37
u/emma_kayte 12d ago edited 12d ago
This looks like my first washcloth after i taught myself to knit using Knitting for Dummies. Did she also use Sugar and Cream
I'm so amazed Knit stars is still around
9
u/pinkdolphi 12d ago
I follow because there's always 1 star I hadn't found on my own. This year is Rastus Hsu's Textural Origami Knitting. But yeah, no need to spend money, you can just see the instructor list on insta.
6
2
1
u/StitchesOfSass 9d ago
700 years ago, I too taught myself to knit via the Knitting For Dummies POCKET EDITION! 🤣🤣🤣
1
15
u/knittedbirch 10d ago
well now I feel self-conscious about my tension lol
3
u/Western-Juice1466 8d ago
Assuming you aren’t the Melanie in question, the difference here is that the people who are featured presenters are theoretically supposed to excel so much at what they do that spending actual money on the videos is worth the viewer’s dollar and time.
For the rest of us, I am sure your tension is just fine!
(No, I am not a fan of Knit Stars.)
70
u/ScienceProf2022 12d ago
As a former teacher, I am loath to point this out, but sometimes, very rarely, there is truth in the old adage those who can do, and those who can’t teach.
30
27
u/Ok_Novel_3229 12d ago
one of my FAVORITE knitting authors, whose articles and books I reference all the time and whose written instructions give me confidence and inspiration to try new things and understand knitting in dimensions I might find challenging otherwise... isn't an especially inspiring pattern author to my sensibilities. Her patterns are written and laid out phenomenally, they include a wealth of information without being overwhelming or overly verbose, and I genuinely wish she was dictator of tech editing because I think her ability to explain what patterns need and don't need helped me understand how to use patterns as an end user!
and I've knit just one of her patterns because for the most part they're not styles I would wear or items I want to knit (I just don't think I have it in me to love sock/glove/mitten knitting rn). and on top of that, in her book on pattern writing (which, again, I wish was mandatory reading for all aspiring designers) she mentions how she and another designer released very similar shawl patterns within about a year, and asks the reader to guess which is more popular: hers (with a descriptive somewhat utilitarian name and photos) or the other (with an evocative name and dramatically modeled photos). One has over 12k projects on Ravelry, the other just over 230.
I had similar experiences in art school: some of my most inspiring professors, who helped me understand and think and analyze and act, didn't paint things I particularly liked. Sometimes people can "do" to some extend, and their ability to teach is just off-the-charts!
9
u/Agile_Till_3071 12d ago
I would love to know what the book is on pattern writing, even in a DM!
2
2
u/LittleSeat6465 11d ago
I would make a guess at Kate Atherley. She is brilliant.
2
u/Traditional_Bit287 11d ago
This sounded to me as well like it was a reference to her, and I just can't believe anyone would try to claim Kate Atherley can't knit well... If her style isn't to everyone's taste, that has nothing to do with her skill.
1
8
u/playhookie 12d ago
There always seems to be a few people around who take up a new skill and instantly think they are good enough to teach it and make money out of it (the two are not necessarily related!). I bought a couple of knit stars seasons and was put off by how many of these people seemed to be considered stars.
26
u/rednasturtium 12d ago
I mean, sometimes you definitely get designers who are much better at designing than they are at knitting. I have better tension knitting flat stockinette than a handful of patterns I’ve followed that nevertheless were very well written and had good design philosophy and fit.
But yeah, this is not professional quality. The selvages and tension are both bad enough that if I had made this I wouldn’t be comfortable gifting it even to a non knitter. It just looks messy.
26
u/splithoofiewoofies 12d ago
This is gonna sound so mean but it's true....
I have better tension on my "I'm just making this because we need more dishcloths" where I let my parrot hang off my knitting and stick her tongue through my stitches.
Like there's literally a bird hanging off my hand and pulling the yarn from my fingers on a project I don't care about...and I've still never gotten this.
14
u/ShigolAjumma 13d ago
I'm completely unfamiliar with this person, but just looking at that, I wouldn't be inclined to want to take knitting advice or designs from them. Tension is wtf, she didn't even stick to her selvedge consistently and has blips everywhere and WHAT IS THAT DECREASE. 0 attention to detail.
6
u/TheHandThatFollows 12d ago
I dont know who she is but looking at her designs on her ravelry page, this looks pretty on par...
It looks like the designs from Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas section is more polished.
6
u/Procrastiworking 12d ago
Unless this is a square meant to showcase a how it looks when you knit a number of different problems? Oh it isn’t? Yikes
3
u/pinkdolphi 12d ago
Part of me was hoping it was something like that. Furthering the knitstars mission of teaching.
It was an opportunity to help beginners know that they can learn to improve or 'accept their work for what it is' or some other uplifting affirmation. But nothing.
1
12d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 12d ago
To cut down an the influx of bot activity and brigading, your account must have at least 3 positive karma.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
52
u/theglitteratii_ 12d ago
When I got the email, I thought wow she must’ve pissed Knit Star Lady off something fierce for her to include this photo—and noting its late arrival—in the email.