Shibori as a knitting technique is not something many knitters had heard about until a few years ago, but now there are several books on the subject, including the excellent Shibori Knits: The Art of Exquisite Felted Knits by Gina Wilde.
Shibori was originally a technique used by dyers that used different shapes to allow the fabric to resist the dye (tie dye is one form of the art), but now it is used by knitters to add shape, texture and dimension to felted objects by including non-felting fibers or inserting objects onto the fabric before felting so that parts of the piece felt and other parts don't.
Fun with Shibori
Gina Wilde is a cofounder and creative director of Alchemy Yarns of Transformation, and she approaches knitting in general and shibori felting in particular as an alchemical process in which the knitter never really knows what the end result is going to be.
Working from patterns makes it easier for knitters to estimate what their finished projects will look like, but for designers working with felting is in large part stumbling around in the dark. It's fun stumbling, though, that often ends with a really cool project, even when it's not what you expected to happen.
All this is even more true when it comes to shibori techniques, in which you're trying to prevent parts of the fabric from felting or have used non-felting fibers so they won't felt at all. Wilde says it is important to "let go of knowing" and let the fibers take you where they will.
The book opens with a bit of this fiber philosophy, explaining the different types of shibori knitting used in the book (shape-resist felting, using non-felting fibers as resists and changing direction as you knit), how to choose and substitute yarns for shibori projects, and why knitting a swatch is still important.
The book then has three sections, one for each general type of shibori, including several patterns, tips and meditations on the projects and knitting and felting more generally.
The Patterns
In all, Shibori Knits includes 20 patterns, mostly for accessories such as wraps, scarves, shawls and bags but also including hats, a belt and a mostly unfelted kimono-sytle cardigan that uses a felted obi as its centerpiece.
As mentioned above, the first section deals with using resists such as corks, marbles and golf balls to make unfelted sections in the knit fabric, while the second combines felting and non-felting fibers to add ruffles and twists to projects and the third also uses a combination of fibers and changing knitting directions to add texture and interest.
Some of my favorite projects include the Bouquet Wrap with its unfelted flowers made by inserting glass beads into the fabric; the Whole Heart Baby Sling, which combines stripes of felted and unfelted fiber for a striking and useful accessory; the Shibori Fez, picutred on the cover, using silk fiber to accentuate what would otherwise be a plain hat; and the Portrait Scarf, in which small bands of felted fiber accentuate ripples of non-felted silks.
The projects all call for Alchemy Yarns and usually include a combination wool or mohair and silk yarn along with a 100 percent silk yarn. These luxurious choices are sure to be as fun to knit as they are to use.
The projects are good for a wide range of knitters, with six ranked easy, 11 intermediate and three experienced. the techniques used after the knititng are really what makes these projects shine, and they are not that difficult.
Bottom Line
Shibori Knits is a lovely book full of ideas and inspiration for people who might never have used these techniques before. The tips and the patterns themselves give readers a good idea of what can be done with shibori should they want to strike out on their own to design one-of-a-kind projects.
But knitters who stick to the patterns in the book will also be well rewarded with beautiful projects that reflect the wonderful transformations that happen when fiber meets water, and when some things get in the way of what would otherwise be a pretty normal transformation.
Publication date: August 2008.
