Marly Bird™

National Spokesperson for Red Heart Yarns, Yarn Thing Podcast Host, & Crochet and Knitwear Designer

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Urban Knit Collection by Kyle Kunnecke

Urban Knit Collection by Kyle Kunnecke is the book we’re talking about on thekyle-kunnecke Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird.

Kyle learned to knit in 2003, a housemate was knitting and he was intrigued by the materials but thought it was boring. Debra handed him needles and a skein of yarn, taught him to the knit stitch. He finished that skein and said, ‘OK, I want my own yarn’ so they visited a LYS (local yarn shop) and he became overwhelmed. They wound his skein and set him going. He worked in garter stitch for about three years. After a move, getting to know another yarn shop, it was suggested he look at patterns. He would find things to make and upgrade them to fit his desires, like recreating a woman’s pattern for a man, a motif that could become a sweater.   

Kyle believes everyone is an artist because of the myriad decisions that are made to complete a project. The only difference between each of us and a published designer is the part where the work is put in to write things out. We each of us have the ability to impact others. For instance, his first pattern he published: He wanted to create a pattern to raise urban-knitmoney for ‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ so he approached Karin Skacel of Skacel, to see if it would be possible that Skacel would like to create a kit where a portion of the proceeds would go to the charity. (To approach a big company like that was very Big.) Karin said ‘No’ but advised him to realize why you are doing the thing, put your whole heart in to a thing, to create the project where the entire amount of the proceeds would go to the project. He did create that project, with the proceeds going to Bay Area Cancer Connections, then later a big project ‘Good Deeds.‘

Later, he did want to to publish a pattern and receive the validation so he approached Vogue Knitting, and he did a hat for the Ultimate Hat book. A friend asked him how he was going to do this when he’d never done something that big before. He didn’t realize that as long as the thing you’re doing and fits within what they are looking for at the moment, he could be a complete newbie and be accepted. Since then, he’s continued to submit designs and have pieces published. One of those pieces is the Order of the Phoenix, which was for the UnOfficial Harry Potter Knits in 2013 (and then later it was included in the book Knitting Wizardry: 27 Spellbinding Projects). His design is a basic men’s vest in the front and wings contrasted in the back of the vest, beautiful!
Over the years, Kyle’s style has been growing toward colorwork. He likes charts and working more than one color. He teaches ‘Stranded Knitting’ which is Fair Isle and Intarsia. He likes locking in his floats, which Elizabeth Zimmerman called it ‘Armenian Knitting’ and also BIG CHARTS. These things are very evident in his new book, Urban Knits Collections. He says this began in 2006, his desire was to have something published and place in the Library of Congress. He approached several publishers, one was Interweave, who published that Harry Potter collection that Kyle’s vest was in. They thought his original idea was too specific and suggestion Art Nouveau. He didn’t really care for the florals, and suggested changing it up to Art Deco, to which they agreed. He then set out to create a collection of garments and accessories, some men’s things but mostly garments for women. Many of the things are based on things he would wear, for instance, the first design is the Godfrey Cardigan, which is a saddle shoulder sweater with textured stitches inspired by brickwork on an old building in NYC. Rosema Wrap, is a short jacket worked from side-to-side basically a big rectangle. The name came from Janice Rosema who did free-form knitting and crochet, one of the first classes Kyle took. D’Amour Wrap, is colorwork, and the way that he locks the strands as he works them, they tend to look woven on the back side, prevents snagging. Another example of this is the Zephyr Scarf, which features a Greek Key pattern found in Romania. The back side is shown in the book and is almost as beautiful as the front! The Town-Square hat, was done in Socks that Rock from Blue Moon Fiber, which have generous yardage, so he was able to make a second hat, so there are TWO hats in that design. Savoy Cardigan is a very graphic, he says it’s an easy chart to follow. He says when he was creating he’d made a mistake in the shaping and had to rip the entire back out. He shared this because he wants us all to know it happens, we are still getting to knit, which we love, and we’ll not look at it badly from then on, we’ll love that it’s right. The name was changed from the Art Deco title very late in the game, to the Urban Knits Collection.
Kyle has other projects he’s working on. He is California’s Ambassador for Halos of Hope. We’ve had them on the program before and just recently StephenBe shared work he’s doing with them,kyle-william-logo so regular listeners of the Yarn Thing podcast are familiar with that organization. He’s also helping Knitted Knockers, who has been on the program too, in January.
Kyle Kunnecke can be followed through his website: www.KyleWilliam.com, Urban Knit Collection has it’s own website too, and can be purchased through Amazon with Marly’s affiliate code (to help support the podcast), he has a Ravelry Group and Designer Page, and can be found in Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter. For a limited time, just through September 30th, use ‘ilovemarly’ in Kyle’s Ravelry store, get 50% off his individual patterns.

If you missed hearing this live, you can still hear it as an archived episode where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/09/20/urban-knit-collection-by-kyle-kunnecke or with your favorite podcast catcher like iTunes or Stitcher Radio. There is also behind-the-scenes video on Marly’s Facebook page.

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Comments

  1. Wow! So great to hear about Kyle and see his amazing designs. Another great episode! I feel like I keep saying that but it’s true week after week. I love Marly!!

    Reply

  2. Kyle’s new book sounds/looks wonderful! Glad to see he included two patterns for men even though they are not profitable. I will use the ilovemarly code for a few ravelry patterns too.

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  5. I love Marly and I also love hearing how other knitters get started. Kyle working in garter stitch and now a wonderful knitwear designer! There is hope for all us garter stitchers.

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  6. Another great guest! I’m particularly impressed with all the different charity work. Thank you for the ilovemarly coupon code because of course I love Marly!

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  9. I love Marly for so many reasons like the fact that she introduces me to designers who are new to me. Kyle is in this category. I look forward to knitting his patterns. I think I will take a look at the Evanston pattern as he said it was good for learning the licking technique

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  10. I Love Marly and now I love Kyle too!! I was so glad to learn about him and his awesome art deco designs. I’ll be using the coupon code for sure!!

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  13. As many before me have said, I love Marly! Without Marly I wouldn’t hear great interviews each week, find out the scoop on the latest designs, have tried Red Hear Love or Red Heart Boutique (both great yarns if you haven’t used them in a project yet, attempted crochet and bout hooks in every size. Marly brings an entertaining and educational show to us all the time. What’s not to love?

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  14. The designs are so beautiful, and the colour work reverse side looks great also. This book is on my list of “wants”. I agree with Marly, the models are delish. Oh how I Love Marly as she shows us the book on Facebook.

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  18. So entertaining. Thanks Kyle for being on the ILoveMarly program. Listened to this podcast as I was driving west to OFFF.

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  21. Urban knit collection is my favourite recent purchase, stranded knitting is something I Love. Marley, thanks for having Kyle on the show.

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  25. I enjoyed listening to Kyle in the podcast and of course I love Marly. I also love the Savoy sweater. I think it’s going in my queue.

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  26. I love Marly! I love to knit. And I love to win prizes! Kyle’s patterns are sooooo beautiful. I love them too!

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  27. What I really love about Marly is her positive attitude through it all, and how she doesn’t let technical difficulties ruin her attitude or podcast! And thank you again for introducing us to a great designer!

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  28. This was my very first time listening to this podcast. I love that Marly has introduced me to a new designer and that
    Kyle has a great book showcasing new techniques to me. This is how all podcasts should be!

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  30. I’m with Kyle; I love Marly! Love how she is a cheerleader for the industry. She is part of the reason I learned to knit! I had been crocheting for a couple years when I found the podcast. After hearing the stories from both crafts I finally took the plung a few months ago. Now I’m going down a whole new rabbit hole! LOL

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  31. What a great show this was. I’ve got several of Kyles patterns in my wish list and didn’t recognize his name. I will now. I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly! I love Marly!
    How’s that

    Reply

  32. What’s not to love? Of course I love Marly! I love the new Urban Knit Collection also. It is a gorgeous book with lots of beautiful designs. I can’t wait to start knitting some of them!

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  33. I love Marly too! Her patterns are just beautiful! I also love her podcasts for introducing me to amazing designers like Kyle Kunnecke!

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  35. I got to meet Marly and take a class from her at Stitches Texas! She is such a hoot and now I love Marly, too! I really love Kyle’s designs and his colorwork. It was fun to listen to the podcast and learn more about him. I definitely want to knit several of his designs out of his new book! Thanks!!!

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  37. Thanks for another great show. I could on for days about how much I love Marly! This book also seems amazing and I can’t wait to see it in person, hope to win a copy! 🙂

    Reply

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