Manos del Uruguay: Fall Collection 2018
CHADWICK
BOUVIER
LAMBERT
Fairmount Fibers, the U.S. distributor for the Manos yarns, was one of the very first companies to give me a chance as a new designer and you really don't forget things like that. Shortly after I did my first patterns for them I had the opportunity to meet some of the staff from Uruguay and learn more about the non-profit mission of the company; I was so struck by their history and commitment to bringing employment to the rural parts of Uruguay, that I then wrote an article about them [The Women's Workforce from Interweave Knits Spring 2017]. Manos del Uruguay has many facets to its business, including working with everything from high-fashion ready to wear production to selling Uruguayan tradition crafts in its domestic storefronts, but the portion I work with as a hand knitwear designer is their artisan-made hand-dyed yarn.
Here's a brief excerpt from the article that conveys some of what I found so compelling about the company.
"When Manos began, its objective was to create work for women in rural areas, but the scope was larger than just employment. The goal was to bring the work to remote villages where there are very few sources of employment so that women could stay in their homes and contribute to or sometimes even run their households on their earnings. Moreover, the mission extended to providing work that was creative and skilled, that was connected to the traditions of Uruguay and that provided a vehicle for individual growth for each woman involved. In their own words, “to provide economic, social, and cultural opportunities to all of its members.” One of the most important byproducts of this formula is the social and collective aspect of the work itself. Rather than working at home alone, women work in the Cooperative workshop together, making the work more organized and efficient but also providing a community in which to do that work. One visiting designer once observed, “the sound of looms, and the women talking and laughing, filled the studio.” As a knitwear designer whose work is done mostly alone, the importance of this community aspect really struck me."
To me, the story of Manos del Uruguay is beautiful from start to finish, beginning with the desire to help people and ending with a beautiful hand-made product. This embodies so much of I want to celebrate in my patterns; making things carefully and beautifully and with the knowledge that the materials you are using have been produced with the same care. So when I was asked to design a collection I wanted to do my best to showcase what it is that is so inviting about their yarns.
The collection is comprised of four sweaters and the guiding force is simplicity. Simplicity of style and of knitting. I used two Manos yarns, Maxima and Silk Blend, both of which are extraordinarily pleasant to knit with, and I wanted the knitter's focus in making the sweaters to be on the gorgeous colors and the lovely feeling of the yarn flowing through their fingers. But of course, I want everyone to end up with something wearable as well.
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The hallmark of Manos del Uruguay's yarns are their vibrant, unusual colors which are made using a labor-intensive space-dyeing method to produce painterly effects in the finished yarn. I often think of Manos's colors as color-therapy. You can't help but be struck by them. They range from subtle tonal colors to fantastical explosions of hues so part of forming the collection was choosing a color story to work with the designs. I love the colors we ended up with for this group of pieces.
Maxima in color Petal
Maxima in color Pewter
Silk Blend in color Silver
Silk Blend in color Oxblood
Simple textures, simple silhouettes, simple knitting. But it's amazing that when it comes to design, the simple sweaters can sometimes be the most difficult to make. Take a classic stitch like Moss Stitch (used in Bouvier); its repetitive nature can make any shaping done quite glaring to the eye. I wrestled with many different armhole treatments and ways of shaping the mock neck for Bouvier before finding what I thought gave the cleanest lines.
Lambert too presented a challenge; creating the wide neck and the right fit in the compound raglan took some fiddling but the result was worth it. A simple sweater that will, I hope, flatter a lot of people. I love necklines that draw the eye up and frame the wearer, creating what I like to think of as a sort of portrait effect. I also love that the sweater is so simple it can take a very different character just by changing the color. In the Silver we used for the sample, the sweater is understated and elegant, but I have another version in a juicy, burnt orange called Hot Toddy (that is also a slightly tighter fit) and it wears more like a nonchalant, weekend sweatshirt.
If you happen to be in the NYC area this week, I'll be doing a joint presentation about this collection with Lisa Myers, owner of Fairmount Fibers at Knitty City, Thursday, February 7th from 6:30-8:30 pm. Lisa will talk about the history of Manos del Uruguay and show slides from her trips to visit the artisans in their workshops. Then I'll be talking about how the collection took shape from concept to swatches to finished sweaters. Lisa's experience in the fiber world is long and varied and she is an absolute wealth of knowledge on a vast number of topics, so come with questions and you will be richly rewarded. I'm also hoping to shed some light for those who are interested in the design process--everyone's approach is so different and sometimes looking back is the only way to perceive any straight path in the process, but somehow, in the end, we get from yarn to sweater to pattern. For me, giving people the means to make something for themselves and put their own stamp on it is tantamount, so the process really isn't done until another knitter picks up the pattern and makes it for herself. I just got a lovely message from a knitter who said that she was planning to knit Lambert as her first sweater and it really made me smile.
