Remember those unforgettable olden days when grandmother or that neighbourhood aunty fondly knitted a spunky sweater in your favourite colour. More than a customised wear it was a labour of love and materialised purely out of love and affection for you. Once adorn it immediately stayed in your memory bank, giving a feel-good-factor and made you aware that someone close to you spent sleepless nights just to keep you warm, cosy in frosty weather conditions.
Come winter, my mausi – before diabetes robbed her of strength, stamina – persistently stitched sweaters for me. It was like she was embarking on an all-important project one which had to bear fruit irrespective of the handwork and man hours it would entail. She would miss out on the daily soap opera Hum Log, skip her favourite Enid Blyton novels and if the work pace was not on the expected pace she would wake up early morning to complete the hand woven exercise on the terrace of her home in Saket. She would do this with a lantern radiating light and radio beaming old Dev Anand songs like Khoya Khoya Chaand, Har Fikr Ko dhuen Mein on Sangeet Mala was the only company. The good thing about hand-knitted sweater was that they came with an option of refresh button. If you got bored with it, aunty would undo the design and create a new sweater out of the same wool.
Then there was crochet. Sharing wonderful memories of her childhood, designer Payal Jain says her bua Dr. Reena Jain would make stoles, shawls, blankets in crochet for her. “Unlike the traditional knitting, in crochet needlework is done with one hand. Being a busy doctor knitting was like a stress buster for her. This influence rubbed off on me when I started my journey as a designer two decades ago. I have worked in crochet. I would love to do knitting but don’t have patience to sit for long hours.”
“With change of time, people’s priorities have changed. What was once contemporary is now a thing of the past,” says veteran designer Pallavi Jaikishan. Recently, the hand-knitted look made a comeback but this time it is the machines which are playing the part of the neighbourhood aunty. Noting that the retro look is back in fashion, Pallavi says, “The retro look is in provided one wears the sweater with the right mix of trousers, caps and purses. Only if there is knitted look it would complement else the wearer would look awkward.”
Pointing out that the demand for hand woven sweater has increased in the past three years Rajesh Pratap Singh says knitting good quality sweater is a big problem unless the fibre is of Marino, Cashmere. “I still wear hand knitted sweaters as they are more comfortable. Knitted sweaters can look striking but they have to be done in acrylic. Like a customised car, knitted sweaters are more aesthetic. Flaws are minimised in machines and they can produce volumes,” says the designer, who showcased knitted sweaters during the Paris Fashion Week last year.
To get hand knitted look a majority of our designers are working on Japanese machines like Shima Seiki, which is a cool gadget for the nostalgia seekers. Two decades ago, designer Jattinn Kochhar bought this machine. “It was known then as a 2 crore ki machine. Now with advancement in technology such machines have become inexpensive.”
International brands like Zara, H &M, Marks and Spencer are wary of purchasing hand knitted variety and are loosening their purse strings on sweaters with knitted look. For the youth the knitted look works because the wearer gets sweater made of lightweight material and it does not make the person look bulky. As these sweaters are either acrylic blend or cotton blend they are not too warm and a person can wear a fancy coat or leather jacket over it. Machines which give sweaters the retro look have the advantage of giving more than a dozen pieces with the same appearance.
For H&M, a big team comprising 260 designers, 120 pattern makers and 45 print designers based in Sweden are creating the look for all garments, including sweater.
“We work with 850 independent suppliers, primarily in Asia. We create a good balance between modern basics, current fashion and the very latest trends. Handmade collection made from recycled fabric would soon be launched. We are getting sweaters embroidered in India ,” says Dhatri Bhatt, the spokesperson of the brand.
While in India, the trend of knitted sweaters has come recently, internationally it has been creative waves for some time. In their sweaters of vibrant colours and classic styles, Allyson Spencer and Vladimir Spencer, based in the U.S., have shown how the knitted look can be visually appealing. Showing to the world what she can do with needle and yarn, Lithuanian-born Laura Theiss sweaters are a blend of sporty look and sensual structured silhouettes. Similarly, the U.K.-based Amina Martucci has proved beyond doubt that when it comes to the art of bringing street wear to knitwear she is right there at the top. This time round, she has explored African culture resulting in oversized knits and tie-dyed prints. In their winter collection 2015, Gudrun & Gudrun showcased a range of aesthetic-looking knitted sweaters, a blend of handicrafts of Faroe Islands and Nordic-inspired commune chic.
Just when it is appearing that knitting is turning out to be a dying craft designers like Aneeth Arora getting exquisite garments done by hands. Aneeth specialises in making sweaters with Angora and Merino wool. “In most cases we keep it simple because hand knitting in itself is very beautiful. For our Fall Winter 2015 collection, we made dresses with sweaters. Here the hand knitted sweater was stitched together with skirts made of wool fabric or khadi fabric star and polka dots print to make a dress.”
Noting that like all traditional crafts, hand knitting was also a traditional craft practised commonly in the mountains, she says about three dozen women are doing hand knitting for her in Himachal Pradesh. “It takes a week for a person to hand knit an adult size sweater. We like the love and irregularities that come with hand knit sweaters. And our effort to get garments done by hands is providing work to local folks. We add hand embroidery with beads and enamel badges to make sweaters more seasonal and adapting to our uniform themed fall winter collection.”
To ensure that sweaters she wants are in the right colour, Aneeth travels to Himachal Pradesh where she meets women who knit sweaters. She does sampling of not just the colour but also design of sweaters.
