Sail Earrings

This article that continues this piece is excerpted from KNITTING DAILY’s newsletter. Rosemary Hill is an amazing knitter and jeweler and jewelry knitter. Her new book—Elements of Style: Knit & Crochet Jewelry with Wire, Fiber, Felt, & Beads—rocks. It’s really is a tremendous read, with fantastic photos and great designs. Rosemary’s Web site is: Designs by Romi, where she offers fantastic kilt and shawl pins and lots of other yummy stuff.

I really want to make Rosemary’s Sail Earrings. Here’s the KNITTING DAILY article by Sandi Wiseheart:

Just when I think there are no more knitting addictions I can get myself into, Rosemary Hill answers the phone. I’m calling Rosemary because she is the author of our new bookElements of Style: Knit & Crochet Jewelry with Wire, Fiber, Felt, & Beads, and I want to ask her a few questions about the book. I don’t actually have the book yet, so in my mind I have images of chunky, artsy pieces, made with stiff wire that hurts to knit with…in other words, I have Preconceived Notions about knitted jewelry.

But just before I call her up, I see some photos of her projects in the book… and the projects are terrific. Delicate, lovely…A couple of the pieces look more like small bits of lace than what I’m used to seeing knit up with wire.

So I call Rosemary, to see what she can tell me…and a third of the way through the conversation, I’m thinking, “That’s interesting, I didn’t know you could do that.” Two thirds of the way through the conversation, I’m asking her where I can get supplies. And by the end, after I’ve hung up the phone, I’m shaking my head, because now I am Really In Trouble: I want to knit some of her pretty delicate jewelry for my very own self. (Or for gifts of course, mustn’t be selfish.)

Rosemary has always loved both beads and knitting, so it was natural that she would eventually try to make some knitted jewelry. She loved the instant gratification–start knitting, and in an hour you can have a pair of earrings for a party or a last-minute gift! But she was frustrated with the high rate of breakage of the wire. So she experimented with different methods of adding findings and different types of wire, until she found a special wire used in jewelry making that knits up “like butter” (she says), isn’t brittle, and best of all, doesn’t hurt your hands!

She started playing with fibers, too, especially the new high-tech blends of stainless steel and silk that produce incredibly strong, but incredibly flexible fabrics. In her patterns, she was inspired to take advantage of the characteristic ruffles, waves, and curls of knitted fabric when she realized that she could mold the pieces into organic shapes and still hold on to the natural drape of traditional knitted fabrics. And the best part? Rosemary tells me that people get tons of compliments on these unusual pieces, and folks are jaw-droppingly amazed when then told that they were knitted!

By the end of the conversation, Rosemary and I were joking about taking a vacation to Mexico together, sitting at the beach with umbrella drinks and knitting away on pretty little earrings to wear out dancing that evening.

Tell you what: Grab your own copy of Elements of Style for patterns, supply information, and lots of tips for creating your own sparkly knitting, and you can come join us down on the beach this summer.

You can find Elements of Style at your local book shop, or you can order it online here.