During Maxted's winter knitwear season I design the collection to introduce different yarns and qualities as the season moves along. The collection starts with transseasonal, warmer weather in mind and moves in to cooler days.
I find it's important for transseasonal styles to be as diverse as possible. You must be able to wear knitted sweaters earlier, as well as later in the season - layering is your friend.
The first quality I selected this season is a cotton blend. It's a really durable yarn, which is one of the reasons I chose it for my Mini me collection.
Seven Pullover, Alice Pullover, Ruby and Mini Seven and Mini Grandpa all use the Cotton Blend.
I love this yarn as I've been able to create new tactile tones by twisting different colours together for our knitted sweaters like the Pebble Twist in Alice Pullover and the Oat Twist in Ruby Pullover.
New to the collection this season is the Salt and Pepper textured yarn. It's also Cotton rich (70%) and I love the texture of the yarn which is durable and hardwearing. This knitted lady's jumper is such a great basic and can be used just like a sweater.
Salt and Pepper Emily Pullover
I've been working with cotton/cashmere to design some of our ladies jumpers for a while now. Ever since I realised how well the combination yarn performs, we have used it for lots of fine gauge pieces, including my favourite knitted sweater staple; the Fine Gauge Roll Neck. But, this year I decided to use cotton cashmere in a new way. We designed a 7g knitted cardigan, which is a lot heavier than the fine gauge we normally use the yarn for. We created a heavier knitted cardigan with pockets and it came together perfectly. The yarn is smooth, clean and luxurious, contrasting the other textured yarns we have in the collection.
Forest Cotton Cashmere Cardigan
I've used a Cotton/Merino blend for my next launch of garments. The fun thing with women's knitwear is we can knit 7G in a plain stitch like the Wicker clover Pullover below.
Or I can ply up the yarn to create a 3.5 gauge in a chunky cable like our Forest Soft Touch Cable Pullover below. When I say 'ply', I mean twist more ends of yarn together to create a thicker yarn to knit.
This yarn plays quite a large role in our current knitted sweater range and it's a bit of an all rounder.
Next we have a delicate, textured yarn that's a Wool/ Alpaca blend. It's honestly the cosiest yarn in our collection.
I designed a knit dressing set with the Bertie Pant and the Grace Roll neck, for WFH dressing goals!
What makes me happiest about our latest collection is that I've been able to utilise Australian Merino Wool from right here in Victoria, supporting Australian farmers. I love that people will invest in a piece of knitwear that is so special.
Being able to visit the farm, farmers and sheep last year was just amazing and our collection will continue to grown.
Here is Imogen, part of husband and wife duo, Al and Imo who build custom timber furniture locally here on the Surf Coast. Imo is wearing Pale Oat Sage Pullover, and what I love about this is that Imo brought this Pullover at our Pop- Up shop in Torquay, last June. She'd been wearing it for almost a year when this photo was taken. I've seen her wear it so many ways and it always looks FAB!
Our final yarn is a new one that I will launch this week. I lived in this yarn when I was over in the UK in January. It worked really well keeping me warm in there in the colder weather, which is why I am saving it for last! It's a Mohair/Merino blend and here is a sneak peak of the Sadie Pullover. A gorgeous merino pullover.
If you want to know more about our yarns and selection of women's knitwear feel free to drop me an email at info@maxtedclothing.com
