Neck Warmers and Heavy Manufacturing

Once upon a time I used to work for a very large (Fortune 5) multinational corporation, with the primary mission to manufacture and sell high volume, large scale durable goods.  I accepted the position upon my graduation from my MBA program, because I wanted to learn and work in manufacturing, a discipline completely foreign me at that time.  As I learend the business and rotated through different assignments, I came to love the amazing (and extremely complicated) process of converting materials and labor into a product that we all need and use every day, and  for years and years.  

Hooray for me, but what does this have to do with neck warmers? Well, today I sit in my little workshop with pretty much one of kind hand craft items and it could not possibly be a more different business enterprise except for my favorite part -- convertng raw materials into something amazing.

Take for example a neck warmer I recently completed.  I wanted to use this wonderful yarn that has been in my stash (knitter terminology for what manufacturing types call raw materials!) from Shaefer Yarn Company  http://www.schaeferyarn.com/yrn_about.html , producers of lovely artisan yarns. It is a soft 'handpainted' wool, utilizing a specialized dying technique that produces truly a lovely and unique variegated yarn, which is spun with a touch of poly thread that produces a very smooth-to-the skin and refined wrapped texture in yarn. The combination of the texture and rich colors really challenged me to come up with a design that highlights the properties of the yarn and works into the line of smart and upscale knitwear I am developing for fall.  I chose what is called a linen stitch, which produces a woven appearance to the fabric. Button selection came together easily, which isn't always the case, ending up with a perfectly blended matte purple button.  Happy with progress so far I had only the edging trim yarn to further consider. 


Finding the perfect yarn for the border is the last decision in the creative process, and I considered a number of different types of yarn as well as colors of yarns before I settled on this lovely and soft linen/rayon yarn from Classic Elite Yarns, known as Firefly  http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/product_page_detail.php?category_id=1&item_id=77 .  In addition to the softness, it has a slight sheen that lends some elegance and brightness to dark motif it surrounds.  Design process complete!

The result: conversion of balls of fiber and a button into a one-of-a-kind piece of wearable art!  Not nearly as complicated as heavy industrial manufacturing, but a lot more comfortable under a coat and easily affordable as gift or something fresh for the cool weather accessory wardrobe.