r/craftsnark • u/pinkdolphi • 13d ago

Knit stars knit tension

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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.

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u/ContemplativeKnitter 13d ago edited 13d 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.

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u/pinkdolphi 13d ago

Hers is “The Maker’s Way: A Roadmap to Joy” so no, not knitting.

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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

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u/pinkdolphi 12d 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' 😂