shayneknitter
Entry #32 Harriet's Outfit
My client’s name is Harriet. As you can see from the “before” picture, Harriet had some major figure flaws, from her ponderous thighs to the rolls of fat around her neck, to the unusually elongated torso. My design choices were also heavily influenced by her semi-aquatic lifestyle in and along the banks of the Lunga River in Zambia, Africa.
Her new outfit was designed to deal with both her figure flaws and her lifestyle. I’ll start with the leg warmers. Harriet does not wear shoes, as they would impede her when she is swimming. But her legs get very cold in the water during the winter months. So I designed legwarmers for her that she could wear in and out of the water. They bell out near the bottom to make her look more feminine, and also to disguise the size of her feet. All you see is the pretty ruffle—no telling how big the feet are under there! For all you know they might be downright dainty!
The dress was quite a challenge because of the shape of Harriet’s torso and the position of her head. She insisted that the top had to be grey so that she could still swim along the surface of the river undetected, with just the top of her head and back showing. I added the cable down the back to give the illusion of ripples in the grey water of the Lunga. Now she will be able to continue with her little game of sneaking up behind a boat full of tourists and giving the boat a little nudge. She gets a big kick out of hearing the shrieks and nervous titters that follow this innocuous behavior on her part.
I was a little taken aback by Harriet’s other two color choices though—the bright turquoise of the dry season sky and the bright yellow of ripe maize, which by coincidence is one of her favorite foods, when she can get it. I knitted panels of twisted-rib turquoise (it’s so slimming) and interspersed them with godets of maize yellow, which have some nice feminine yarn overs. There are ties on the inside to go around Harriet’s legs so that the dress doesn’t just go all over the place when she’s swimming. When she emerges on to dry land to forage at night, the yellow godets make it easy for her friends to locate here, even in the dark. And they serve the added function of scaring away villagers who might be hanging around trying to protect their maize fields. Finally, the ribbed mock turtleneck collar hides her problem neck while providing added warmth in the cold waters of the river.
Fiber choice was dictated by function in this case. Most natural fibers were out of the question because of the fact that they’d be immersed in water so much of the time. So I knit the entire outfit from Lion Brand’s Micro Spun, which is 100% acrylic. It’s very soft, which makes it perfect for Harriet’s sensitive skin, but it’s also very splitty which makes it a knitter’s nightmare. However, the goal after all is to please your client. And as you can tell from the huge smile on her face, Harriet loves her new outfit!
Sincerely,
Linda
Entry #32 Harriet's Outfit
My client’s name is Harriet. As you can see from the “before” picture, Harriet had some major figure flaws, from her ponderous thighs to the rolls of fat around her neck, to the unusually elongated torso. My design choices were also heavily influenced by her semi-aquatic lifestyle in and along the banks of the Lunga River in Zambia, Africa.
Her new outfit was designed to deal with both her figure flaws and her lifestyle. I’ll start with the leg warmers. Harriet does not wear shoes, as they would impede her when she is swimming. But her legs get very cold in the water during the winter months. So I designed legwarmers for her that she could wear in and out of the water. They bell out near the bottom to make her look more feminine, and also to disguise the size of her feet. All you see is the pretty ruffle—no telling how big the feet are under there! For all you know they might be downright dainty!
The dress was quite a challenge because of the shape of Harriet’s torso and the position of her head. She insisted that the top had to be grey so that she could still swim along the surface of the river undetected, with just the top of her head and back showing. I added the cable down the back to give the illusion of ripples in the grey water of the Lunga. Now she will be able to continue with her little game of sneaking up behind a boat full of tourists and giving the boat a little nudge. She gets a big kick out of hearing the shrieks and nervous titters that follow this innocuous behavior on her part.
I was a little taken aback by Harriet’s other two color choices though—the bright turquoise of the dry season sky and the bright yellow of ripe maize, which by coincidence is one of her favorite foods, when she can get it. I knitted panels of twisted-rib turquoise (it’s so slimming) and interspersed them with godets of maize yellow, which have some nice feminine yarn overs. There are ties on the inside to go around Harriet’s legs so that the dress doesn’t just go all over the place when she’s swimming. When she emerges on to dry land to forage at night, the yellow godets make it easy for her friends to locate here, even in the dark. And they serve the added function of scaring away villagers who might be hanging around trying to protect their maize fields. Finally, the ribbed mock turtleneck collar hides her problem neck while providing added warmth in the cold waters of the river.
Fiber choice was dictated by function in this case. Most natural fibers were out of the question because of the fact that they’d be immersed in water so much of the time. So I knit the entire outfit from Lion Brand’s Micro Spun, which is 100% acrylic. It’s very soft, which makes it perfect for Harriet’s sensitive skin, but it’s also very splitty which makes it a knitter’s nightmare. However, the goal after all is to please your client. And as you can tell from the huge smile on her face, Harriet loves her new outfit!
Sincerely,
Linda