MillieMooKnitwear

MillieMoo Knitwear is very much a family affair and I couldn't work at it without the support of my family, Neil, my eldest son, designed my website and branding, my other son, Craig, helps with the business side and often assists me at Craft fairs, my niece Hayley is my model and an excellent job she does. My husband Roy, well he has the most important job, he makes the coffee and mops my brow when things aren't exactly working out to plan! And finally, there’s MillieMoo my adorable Jack Russell and namesake of the business, she’s always at my side.

The MillieMoo Design and Creating Process
The process starts with inspiration, which is taken from Suffolk countryside where I walk my dog Millie or our fabulous coastline; it could be simply the breeze blowing across the river or the pebbles on the beach.

From inspiration comes surface design and yarn choice. My criteria for the finished scarf is that it must be easy to wear, a flexible Infinity scarf design, meaning, that it has more than one look and can be worn in any season, and most importantly the Infinity scarf has a fluid drape. I then interpret the texture and shapes from my photographs, into a knitted fabric, I like to work in natural yarns and tend to work mostly with pure soft cottons as this has a crisper finish and shows the textures to their full advantage and is more comfortable for the wearer, being cool in summer and warm in winter and easy to look after. Many swatches are knitted until I reach the final desired effect. This process may take a few hours or in some cases a few days.

Once satisfied, I then knit a full size sample of the knitted fabric on my hand operated knitting machine, to check that the fabric will be suitable for the Infinity scarf and all the Infinity scarf design criteria is met. I'm also checking that the patterns match and that the fabric is fully reversible, and the chosen colourway works. This sample also gives an indication on the actual finished size of the infinity scarf. The sample is then hand sewn, matching patterns to give a professional finish, this can take up to 3 hours, but is time well spent. The infinity scarf is then hand laundered, using a non-bio detergent and fabric softener, this removes any excess dye and allows for any shrinkage. The scarf is spun to remove excess water, and then gently pulled into shape and left to dry flat on a towel. Once dry the scarf is steam pressed to give the final finish.

Finally, quality control takes place, checking that all the above criteria is met; sometimes I need to make minor adjustments and then when I'm happy, the Infinity scarf is ready to be shown to the world.