The Caron Notebook

Did you ever wonder where our projects go once they’ve been photographed and patterns written? Well, here in Montpelier, VT, we have a fabulous “previously owned” (aka gently used) clothing store, One More Time, right across the street from our office. A couple of times a year I bring over the garments for the shop owner to drool over and choose from. Once I even brought over the magazines in which the garments were featured. Leslie, the owner, put the magazines in the store window together with the sweaters and they sold out. When a project sells, Caron gets a credit at the store which I use to purchase garments for our photo shoots. It works great for both of us.

Some of our garments have quite a history and the paillette (large sequins with large holes) dress you see here was actually knitted on the Ultimate Sweater Machine for an infomercial we did with QVC. My daughter was modeling back then and wore the tube dress during that shoot. The dress was in the window for two days before it sold.

And for the throws, afghans and baby items, the Fletcher Allen hospital in Burlington welcomes these items with open arms, as they are given to kids with cancer, who are traumatized or who are just plain sick.

Next time I’ll let you know our design process and just how long it takes from the time a design has been submitted or conceived through its final use.

Fancy and Fun

To get you through those hours of play-by-plays after the dinner’s done while you’re trying to figure out what to do with all that leftover turkey, here are a couple, very different projects for you to start on.

Here’s the Fancy: The crocheted Savannah shawl, designed by Randy Cavaliere, is shaped using a step-effect and trimmed using an interesting picot stitch. Circular motifs form the center of the final openwork square. And the contrasting color trim makes this the Savannah shawl really stand out. Use your own color preference – there are 24 Country colors to choose from!

And here’s the Fun: The Turtle Bay baby hoodie vest, designed by Susan Robicheau, is knitted in a three-color slip stitch that results in a colorful tweed look. The bands and hood are done in stockinette stitch in Spa Green Sheen. The other two Spa colors are Rose Bisque and Soft Sunshine.