Fingerless Mitts for On-the-Go Knitting

I find fingerless mitts irresistible. And this pattern -- called Alternating Current -- from Knitting New Mittens & Gloves by Robin Melanson is  perfect when I need a quick fix. Requiring only a minimal amount of focus, they're also a good project to work on while commuting or sitting through kids' sports' practices and games, music lessons, etc.

The pair shown here--knitted in a yarn called GGH Aspen from my stash -- took me only about one soccer practice and two guitar lessons to complete. The pattern also includes instructions for the rest of the hand (to make a traditional mitten) and for a removable cuff/bracelet for embellishment. I have another pair in chartreuse on the needles.

My Meathead Hat

 

I finished my Meathead Hat from Knitalong this afternoon -- it took less than two hours cast on to bind off. After I took this photograph, I remembered that I was supposed to put an embellishment on it (at least that's what the pattern says to do). I decided to skip that step and, instead, fiddled with the eraser tool in PhotoShop to create some decoration/scribble-scrabble. which was quick and fun (just like knitting the hat).

Knitalong

To read about our new book Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together by Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown, click here.

To see a gallery of some of the 20 projects in Knitalong, click here.

To read a Q&A with the authors, click here.

To download our Knitalong Kit, a guide for individuals who are considering organizing their own knitalongs, click here.

(Photo above courtesy of Library of Congress/from Knitalong Chapter 1: Hanging Out)

Swatch Garland

 

I found this guirlande (garland) on the Tête de Linotte blog and post it here with permission (and thanks). I love the idea of tracking projects this way. With enough swatches and a strong enough cord, you could even suspend swatches from one end of a room to another.

Knitting for Peace/Project Linus Blanket

 

It's always pleasing to see projects people have made from the books we publish at STC Craft. The blanket here from Oiyi's Crafts caught my eye yesterday. It's the Project Linus Security Blanket. This blogger got the pattern from our book Knitting for Peace by Betty Christiansen, but it also appears here (on the Project Linus website). If you don't already know, Project Linus is a wonderful organization that distributes handknitted blankets to critically ill and traumatized children. The pattern is basically three rows repeated over and over--and two of them are either all knit or all purl. (It doesn't get much easier than that.)

The sweater in the photo--called the Quickie ("5-Hour") Baby Sweater--comes from The Fiber Gypsy. The pattern is free but each person who uses it is asked to make at least one sweater for charity (a good deal all around).

Gallery and Author Q&A for Knitting New Mittens & Gloves

 

Knitting New Mittens & Gloves is now available in stores. If you'd like to see a gallery of some of the projects from this book, click here. If you'd like to read an interview with Robin Melanson, the author, click here.

Swedish Heartwarmer on Ravelry

 

I was very happy when I found out yesterday that a knitalong for Priscilla Gibson Roberts's Swedish Heartwarmer Shawl from Handknit Holidays is starting on Ravelry. It's such a stunning project but definitely one that requires dedication. What better way to stay focused than with a little help from your friends! If you're not a member of Ravelry yet, don't be intimidated by the waiting list--they process new memberships amazingly quickly.

Knitting on NPR

Yesterday morning Sabrina Gschwandtner, author of KnitKnit: Profiles & Projects from Knitting's New Wave, was interviewed on on NPR's The Bryant Park Project. Click here to listen to the interview and see the audio slide show. Sabrina talks to the hosts about her book, the many forms knitting can take (including graffiti, protest, and art); historic and current wartime knitting; knitting and community; and more. Photo above of Isabel Berglund's "City of Stitches" from Sabrina's book.

Montreal Tuque

 

 

I'm currently attempting to make my way through the many skeins of yarn that I have collected over the last decade or so. And so I present my recently completed version of the Montreal Tuque from Knitting Classic Style by Veronik Avery. I made it with three colors of a soft, smooth, sturdy merino wool called Emmanuella from Goddess Yarns that have been in my stash for quite some time. This hat is super-easy to knit, the style seems to suit just about everyone, and because it's a 3-by-1 rib, there's a lot of flexibility in the sizing. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a simple, satisfying project that can easily be made with an assortment of stash leftovers--or newly purchased yarn, of course. It all depends on what phase you are in, in your knitting life--the building-up phase or the working-through phase.

Knitalong News

Check out this great article about knitalongs--and, in particular, Sock Wars--from the 17 December issue of the Wall Street Journal. If you like the article, you'll probably like Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together, a new book by Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown that is currently at the printer and will be in stores in April or maybe a little sooner.

Ornament-Making with Leigh

Meet Leigh Radford, author of AlterKnits and One Skein, and learn to transform colorful roving into beautiful felted balls that can be joined together to create one-of-a-kind ornaments, garland, jewelry, or even a pincushion.

 
Saturday, December 8th and Sunday, December 9th, 12:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Churchmouse Yarns & Teas
118 Madrone Lane
Bainbridge Island, WA; 206-780-2686

Thursday, December 13th, 6 pm - 9 pm
Close Knit
2140 NE Alberta Street
Portland, OR; 503-288-4568

 
(Photo of Leigh's ornaments from Handknit Holidays) 

I Love the Kids' Books

Sometimes people ask me which of the STC Craft books I like best, a question I cannot answer. In part, this is because I need to be diplomatic. But, more than that, this is because I believe that each book is unique and special in its own way. It sounds sappy and maybe like a cop out to some people, but it's true.

Still, there are a few books that I think are especially important, and those are the three books in our kids' crafting series--Kids' Embroidery by Kristin Nicholas, Kids Crochet by Kelli Ronci, and Kids Weaving by Sarah Swett. These books teach all of the basics and also a little bit about how crafting fits into cultural history.

If you know children who like to make things with their hands, I hope you will check out these books, and, if you have some extra time over the holidays, do some crafting together. I believe that when we teach kids these skills, we are giving them a gift that will last their entire lives (sappy but true, once again).

Meet Lynne Barr this Saturday, December 1

If you're planning on being anywhere in or around Portland, Maine, on Saturday, I hope you'll stop by the KnitWit Yarn Shop and Cafe between noon and 2. Lynne Barr, author of Knitting New Scarves, will be there demonstrating some of the unconventional techniques she used to make the scarves in her book. She will have finished scarves to show as well Linked Rib, Twisted, and Drifting Pleats (shown below, left to right, and the in the gallery here) as WIP's so that knitters can try working on them--with her guidance--if they wish.

KnitWit Yarn Shop and Cafe
247A Congress St.
Portland, Maine
Saturday, December 1, noon-2pm

If you are interested in checking out the knitalong for this book, click here or on the button at right. If you are interested in reading Grumperina's wonderful account of working on Drifting Pleats, click here.

Meet KnitKnit Author Sabrina Gschwandtner

The first time I met Sabrina Gschwandtner, the author of KnitKnit: Profiles and Projects from Knitting's New Wave and the founder of the zine KnitKnit, I was impressed by her intelligence, artistry, energy, and poise (and that she was wearing a pair of shoes from one of my favorite designers -- Cydwoq). She is currently touring in the United States and England (possibly in those shoes) and I hope you will go to meet her if she will be in your area. Click here to see her schedule, here to read her blog about the tour on MySpace, here to see a small gallery of photos from the book, and here to read a Q&A with her about the making of KnitKnit.

Knitting in Uganda

Last night I spent a long time on the telephone with Judy Gigliotti, the photographer whose beautiful images of flowers and knitting needles grace the Greetings from Knit Cafe Journal and Note Cards.

Judy was telling me about a completely different endeavor she's involved in: working with the Abayudaya--a small community of Ugandan Jews who are struggling to survive. Judy and her sister recently traveled to Mbale, the village in Uganda where the Abayudaya live, and spent two weeks helping to organize a medical clinic and teaching women how to knit. Judy reports that the women were joyful in their lessons (and in their daily lives generally) and will, hopefully, be knitting well enough soon to start making blankets that will be sold for them in the United States. Here are some of Judy's photos, some of which are being made into note cards that will also be used to raise funds for the Abayudaya.

 

 

 

 

If you are interested in learning more about Judy's work with the Abayudaya, which is organized through the Institute for Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco, email her at judithgigliotti@gmail.com.

This Was a Pretend Post

When Joelle Hoverson started helping me get this blog set up, she made what she called a "pretend post" in order to show me how text and images would look and how links worked. In that pretend post she included a photo of the Color Wheel Quilt from her new book Last-Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts. It seemed like such a waste to totally delete the post with this image (not only because the quilt is beautiful but also because I'm still so new to this that the idea of actually undoing something that is working is horrifying to me), so here it is--really, not pretend.

 

Joelle also included a color wheel in her first book Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.

 

And when I called Joelle to ask her about her inspiration for these color wheels, she told me about the River Rock Color Wheel she made when she was in Idaho over the summer.

 

Joelle credits her fascination with color wheels to her upbringing in California in the 1970s."I was really into rainbows," she says. "My mom even had an artist paint one on a wall in my room. He used an airbrush. I remember watching him and being fascinated by how he made all of the colors out of the three primary colors--red, yellow, and blue. The color wheels I make today are probably an extension of that." 

Joelle is collecting images of other people's color wheels. To contribute or to simply enjoy seeing what people are sharing, click here.

A Proud Moment

I have known Sheila Meyer, founder of One World Button Supply Co., for a long time and I am continually fascinated by her stories about the work she is doing in developing countries to help artisans design and create marketable products using their traditional skills and sustainable materials.  Sheila always tells me that her favorite part of the job is working with the artisans, then meeting the people who use their products and thus facilitating the creative collaboration between them. Recently, Sheila traveled to  Guatemala to work with the members of a family who make some of the wooden buttons and pins she sells and had the pleasure of showing them their shawl pin on the Ram's Head Jacket in Norah Gaughan's book Knitting Nature. Upon her return to the States, Sheila shared this wonderful photo with Norah and me.

 

Sheila explained to me that everything this family makes (pins, buttons, and puzzle boxes) is crafted from "found wood," tree limbs picked up from the forest floor and milled locally. Here's a photo of the jacket with the shawl pin on it. The pin is slightly obscured by the necklaces but you can still see how beautiful it is.

 

Knitting Lingerie Style Cover Choices

The decision about a cover for an STC Craft book is a team decision. I take one or several covers to a cover meeting and present them to a committee of people, including the publisher, director of sales, and CEO. Most of the time, even if I am presenting more than one option, I have a clear favorite and I try hard to sell that cover to the committee. Every once in a while, however, I have more than one favorite and I am especially curious to get feedback from the committee. That was the case with Knitting Lingerie Style. Here is the cover we used:

And here is the runner up: 

 

While I am happy with the committee's decision, I do still really enjoy looking at the runner up. So, it's great to have this blog so I can share it with you and give it a bit more life. Thanks to Anna Christian, the graphic designer for this title, who pulled the file for this cover out of her archives.

Another Cover Story

Coming up with a cover concept is a challenging and exciting  part of the publishing process. In the case of our new book by Andrea Berman Price, Knitspeak: An Z to Z Guide to the Language of Knitting Patterns, the  graphic designer Sarah Von Dreele and I floundered a bit at first--until one day I remembered a postcard I had received a long time ago from the Italian luxury brand Malo that featured a line drawing of a sweater created out of poetic verse.

 

I excitedly called Sarah and told her how great I thought it would be to show a sweater filled with abbreviations and other terminology used in knitting instructions because, on a certain level, hand-knitted sweaters are made of these instructions, and Knitspeak was written to help people understand these instructions. I showed Sarah the postcard and, if I remember correctly, she emailed me a pdf of her interpretation of this idea within an hour.

Andrea  is currently touring to promote Knitspeak. Here's  her schedule for the next few weeks in case you find yourself in one of the towns she's visiting.

October 20: Yarns in the Farms (Beverly Farms, MA)

November 3: Springwater Fiber Shop (Alexandria, VA)

November 10: Shuttles, Spindles & Skeins (Boulder, CO)

Thanks, Joelle

I wanted to start a blog for a long time but felt a little lost when it came to figuring out how to get one set up. After a few false starts Joelle Hoverson came to the rescue when she so generously offered her help. Joelle is the author of Last-Minute Knitted Gifts and the just-released Last-Minute Patchwork & Quilted Gifts; she is the owner of the stores Purl and Purl Patchwork in New York City; and she is the creative force behind The Purl Bee and so much else.