Mandy Moore's Blog, page 103

Knitting Mondays: Goals for 2012

Kate's goals:

In the UFO category, there's the Must Have Cardigan that I started in early 2008… I dusted it off a couple of weeks ago, and decided to finish up the body pieces and work the buttonbands so I could try it on.  I figured that once it felt like a garment, I'd be encouraged to finish.  My plan was a good one – I'm really excited about it now!

Getting there...

In the USO (unstarted object) category, there's that bag of Noro Hitsuji which I'm sure will make something really terrific… something… am thinking a vest.

I'm sure it wants to be something nice.

And in the UEO (unending objects) category, more black socks of course.  Because a girl can never have too many pairs of socks.

Boring, I know. But I need them. Remember that I layer two pairs of socks in the winter.

The most urgent project for 2012, however, is to finish up the pair of Qiviut socks – the temperature is dropping.

 

Jillian's Goals:

1) Knit from Knitty! I want to knit at least 6 things from Knitty this year.

I just finished my Lanesplitter, so I'm counting that as one project done! Look for a Lansplitter group photo in Friday's blog post.

Next up:

Escargot

Works for curly haired girls!

2) Knit Socks!

I want to love knitting socks. I am a very slow knitter, usually I finish 1 pair of socks per year. It's sad, I know. This year I'm going to try for 3 pair, with at least 1 pair for me.

 

3) Knit with My Handspun!

One of my spinning goals this year is to spin and knit a sweater. I'm already doing some sample spinning for this one.

 

Amy's finger needs to get better before she can even think about knitting!

 

What are your knitting goals for the year?

What I've Knitty-ed: Clapotis

Gorgeous, no?

Like every other knitter on the entire planet, I fell hard for the wonder that is Clapotis.

 

Did you know that there are over 18,000 Clapotis projects on Ravelry?

 

(It's pronounced clap-o-tea, BTW, with the emphasis on "clap".)

 

And like many other knitters, I've made more than one.  But my first will always be the one I love the best.

 

I acquired the yarn in a trade.  And I am quite sure that I got the better end of that deal.

 

I got 8 skeins of a long-discontinued Noro yarn, Sarubia.  It's 60% silk, 40% Kid Mohair and I love love love love love it. (You probably saw that coming.  It's Noro and it's got silk and mohair in it.  How could I not?)  It's a slubby, very wooly sort of blend, not at all like the Kidsilk-alike sorts of blends you often see.

 

And the color is tremendous: much more subtle than many of the Noro yarns. It reminds me, in the best possible way, of gasoline in a puddle. The background is an espresso brown, and there are stripes of a pale watery grey, a pale watery green and a pale watery pink.  There's an iridescence to the colors, coming from the silk.

 

I traded 4 balls of a plain worsted weight wool in a solid dark green.  It's a great yarn, and my friend said it was just what she wanted for a felted bag.  But come on! I got the world's most beautiful Clapotis, and she got a green felted bag.

WWW: Preserving Ganseys, Sheep to Shawl Contests, Best Wallpaper Ever, a Winner, and a Giveaway!

All clothing handmade by Maude Richards.

An absolutely fascinating insight into the life of an early 20th century mother of seven…. In 1913, Maude Richards of Exeter, New Hampshire began keeping a record of all the sewing and knitting projects she completed. Each page of the journal contains a brief description, "kimono apron for myself," or "marble bag for William," and frequently a swatch of fabric. Barbara Rimkunas, the curator of the Exeter Historical Society, has given us this great snapshot.

Even butter sculptures!

This week marks the 96th annual (!) Pennsylvania Farm Show. It's a traditional country fair, featuring all those fabulous traditional country fair events and foods and activities, including animal displays, baking competitions and all sorts of fibery goodness.

A member of one of the high school teams, brushing up on his skills...

Among the many events are the annual Fleece To Shawl & Sheep To Shawl Contests, which are being held today, Wednesday, January 11th, starting at 3pm EST. Teams compete by shearing a sheep (the Fleece To Shawl teams, comprised of high-school students who are relatively new to the event, start with a fleece), carding the fleece, spinning the fleece into yarn, then weaving that yarn into a shawl – all in a 3-hour time period. The teams are judged on many things: the quality of the shearing, the uniformity of spinning and the individual quality of the spun yarn and evenness of the woven shawl are just a few of the judging criteria. A highly anticipated event, the Fleece and Sheep To Shawl contests always draw a big crowd of onlookers… and TV cameras as well!



Blogger Yarny Marni live blogs the event, too, so even if you're not there in person, you can follow it online.

When most people think of fisherman's sweaters, they tend to think of lovely Irish "Aran" knits. The traditional English and Scottish fisherman's sweater, the gansey, is less well known, and being a little simpler and less showy, perhaps a little less appreciated by the non-knitters. The BBC has produced an excellent radio documentary about a project to preserve the knitting heritage of the fishing communities on the Moray Firth coastline, in north-eastern Scotland.

Project workers are working to save existing ganseys, helping local knitting groups to create new ones and encouraging modern interpretations of this most traditional of garments.

Mme Defarge, hard at work

Following up on a story from a couple of weeks ago… the "Sticks, Hooks, and the Mobius: Knit and Crochet Go Cerebral" exhibition at the Williams Center Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, has just opened. The event was marked with a yarnbombing and an appearance from Mme. Defarge (well, an artist in a really fab costume). More activities and events have been announced for the exhibition, including a knit-a-thon, a lesson on knitting botanically accurate flowers, and a talk from Kathleen Greco, an artist who works with glow-in-the-dark "jelly yarn".

A group of Yarnbombers from the UK has been invited by Vogue Knitting to their Vogue Knitting Live event in NYC this weekend. Can't wait to see what sorts of things they do…

Best. Wallpaper. Ever.

Our winner in the Tom Bihn Swift giveaway is Eve from Vermont. Congratulations Eve and a huge thanks to the folks at Tom Bihn for a great prize!

Are you knitting a project with tangly, slippery or otherwise unruly yarn? Then this giveaway is for you! You can tame your yarn with a Yarn Cozy.

The creative folks at Buffy Anne Designs have donated 6 sets of three Yarn Cozies for a giveaway.

Three Cozies to hug your yarn

The usual rules apply for our giveaway: Leave a comment on this post before midnight, eastern time, on Monday, January 16, 2012. 6 comments will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If they answer correctly they will win our prize. Prizes valued at $12.00 each.

Spinning Tuesdays: I'm Teaching Spinning In Ontario This Weekend!

The folks at Shall We Knit in Waterloo, Ontario are having a Knitty weekend this weekend. Kate talked about the whole weekend yesterday on the blog.

Some folks wanted more info on the spinning classes I'm teaching, so here it is.

If you'd like to sign up the page is here. It's going to be fun!

 

Wrap Me Up:

Corespun 4 Different Ways

Corespun yarn

Ready to try core spinning or to try a different method of core spinning? Using different fibers and cores you'll learn four different methods of core spinning.

In this class you'll learn how each method of core spinning and each type of core effects your final yarn.  After you try all of the methods you'll know how to spin smooth or textured, fat or thin corespun yarns. I predict everyone in class will have a different favourite.  You'll also know how to make your corespun yarn balance.

I am obsessed with knitting handspun yarn, so we'll talk about knitting with corespun and I'll bring you a pattern that will show off your new corespun.

I Like Big Yarn and I Cannot Lie: Spinning Big Soft Yarn

a worsted yarn + a fat yarn

Chunky, bulky, super bulky it's quick to knit and easy to spin! Come learn the tricks to spinning a fat, soft, lofty wool yarn, and learn what to knit after you're done.

In this class you'll learn how to adjust your, hands feet and wheel to get big yarns easily. We'll try spinning with a variety of fibers and fiber preparations (roving, top and batts) to learn how they effect your big yarn.

I am obsessed with knitting handspun yarn, so we'll talk about knitting with big, soft yarn and I'll bring you a pattern that will work great with your new yarns.

 

Even if you can't take a class, if you're in the area, stop by and say Hi to the Knitty gang!

Knitty Roadtrip!

It's like our 2nd home! Image stolen shamelessly from Anne at knitspot.com (thanks, Anne!)

This coming weekend, Team Knitty (and a bonus special guest star*!) are hitting the road to visit Shall We Knit in Waterloo, Ontario.

 

Friday night Kate is doing a signing for her book!

 

Saturday we've got a full day of classes:

 

* Jillian, our goddess of spinning, is teaching classes on Corespinning and Spinning Big Lofty Yarns.

 

* Amy is teaching her Autopilot Socks and Plug & Play Shawl classes.

 

* Kate is teaching her Baby Surprise Jacket workshop, and sharing her favorite tips and techniques in her "Knitter's Toolkit" class.

 

Full class descriptions here (click on class name for description). As of this morning, spaces are available in most of the classes – check online or give the shop a call at 519-725-9739 to register.

 

Sunday we're running a Yarn Roundtable, starting at 1pm. We run these events to give knitters a chance to try out different types of yarn, and then pass their input along to our Knitty readers. You bring your needles, we bring the yarn. And nibbles. And door prizes. A most excellent way to spend a winter Sunday afternoon.  Come and hang out with your friends, try out some yarn, win some prizes!  Space is very limited, so please register here.

 

*And as a special bonus, the incomparable Denny is coming along as a teaching assistant, cider taster, and general gad-about. A splendid time is guaranteed for all

Obssession: Not cutting myself.

Which I did, very badly, on Monday. With a rotary cutter. (If you want to follow the discussion, start here, on Jan 2.)

 

So what can I do to prevent this from happening again, besides paying attention properly?

Get one of these:

Kevlar or steel mesh gloves.

Supposedly, the steel mesh is MUCH more protective. Also, read this.

 

People, be careful out there. Crafting can be hell.

WWW: A very valuable swift, scarves go global, knit along with Mme Defarge

Rare, beautiful, valuable and very, very useful.

So very cool… a recent episode of the Antiques Roadshow featured a rare hand-carved whalebone and ivory swift, appraised at a value of USD$15,000-20,000. The family who owns it tells the appraiser that they keep it in a curio cabinet, and occasionally take it out with the express intention of confusing their friends.

Nice to see craft books getting some attention in the "serious" press… the Washington Post has published a roundup of interesting craft books published in 2011.

BBC Radio 4 has produced a new radio play version of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, the book that features the famous knitting Mme Defarge… listen to the online stream, or download a podcast version.

Knit Global!

A fun story about a knitter from Leeds, UK, who is close to fulfilling her goal of having one of her handknit scarves in every country in the world. She's hit 132 countries, and that total is growing thanks to friends, family and members of her community who take her scarves with them when they travel.

Lillian Phillips who is 92 years old and nearly blind, knits the scarves from memory.

That is pretty big...

A coat made from over 8,000 knitted squares has taken the Guinness Record for the world's largest jacket. (There really is a Guinness record for everything, isn't there?)

Spinning Tuesdays: It's That Time of Year

What are your spinning plans for the year? New techniques, spinning travels, big projects?

Last year I spent a lot of time making textured and fat yarns, I learned a lot about spinning different breeds, and dabbled in color spinning.

Texture-o-rama

 

Here's what I'm thinking about for this year:

 Spinning with intention. I want to spin with specifics in mind. I want to pick up fiber and decide what it wants to be and spin it that way. I need to push myself out of my go-to spinning comfort zone. Not all of the time, but 80% of the time. Not big and scarey, but one or two specific traits or skills practiced with each 4 ounces that pass through my hands, from drive systems to spinning a worsted, 2ply, DK weight yarn with little fuss.  I am seriously excited about this one.

I'm going to spin lace weight on you.

 

Make friends with worsted. Yep, I'm going to do it. I am a dyed in the wool (snort) woolen spinner. I mercilessly tease my friends whose go-to spinning style is worsted. I don't think I will become a worsted spinner, but I want to get better at smooth yarns. I think it will make me a better all around spinner.

The only yarn I spun worsted last year.

 

Spin and knit a sweater for me. I need to stop being precious about this one. In the past, I start and then change my mind about the sweater so many times that I stop. I'm taking and EPS class in February and I'm thinking top-down, non-fussy, let the yarn sing.

 What about a core spun sweater?

 

There are other new things I have planed for this year. I'm excited about working on the SpinDoctor podcast. I'm going to Madrona, say hi if you see me! I'm signing up for the Olds College Master Spinning Certificate, year one.

 

What are you excited about spinning this year?

 

A Happy New Year Giveaway from Tom Bihn

Happy New Year and happy new knitting!

I think there are some of you who might want a new knitting bag for their 2012 projects.

The spectacularly creative folks at Tom Bihn have donated a Swift, a knitting bag that Knitty readers helped design, for our first giveaway of the year.

Tom Bihn's Swift

Swift in cardinal and hemp

1 person will win a Tom Bihn Swift knitting bag in Cardinal/Hemp a prize valued at $90.

The usual rules apply for our giveaway: Leave a comment on this post before midnight, eastern time, on Thursday, January 5, 2012. A comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If s/he answers correctly s/he will win our prize.

Good luck, everyone!

2011: A Year in Knitty

In 2011, Knitty published over 120 really fab patterns. There were patterns for every season, for every skill level, every occasion.

 

Although we love them all, we had our favourites, and you did, too…

 

Jeny's beautiful, unbelievable, amazing, fascinating and challenging Double Heelix is one of the most popular designs we published this year. We love that our knitters were up for the challenge!

Extra spicy, extra fab!

The very wearable and easy to knit Amiga cardi from Mags Kandis was immensely popular, and we love all the interpretations in different types of yarn.

Just perfect.

The very elegant, clever and also very practical Commuter mitts were a big hit.

The very definition of a must-knit.

The Escargot hat hit quickly and hard, not just with those knitting for themselves, but with knitters looking for gifts for their most chic friends and family members. One intrepid knitter had two knitted within a few days of the issue going live.

As chic as can be.

The Java socks created a ton of buzz! A great design that works just as well for men and women, cleverly constructed, and fun to knit. What more do you need?

Perhaps a soy yarn?

The prize for the fastest to the needles and the fastest FOs goes to Pretty Twisted. It's a brilliant idea, brilliantly executed! Who hasn't got leftover sock yarn? And we're all looking for a fun and fast way to show it off.

Genius.

The fantabulous and stunning Oranje cardigan caused a sensation when the Surprise went live…

Just wow. Seriously. Wow.

The Make Up Your Mind Tank is that rare and wonderful thing: a brilliant summer knit. Ideal to knit in the summer, and also ideal to wear in the summer. Our knitters agreed.

Cool and cooler.

The Fallberry Fingerless Mitts are classic Anne Hanson, bite-sized for quick and easy knitting.

You know you wanna...

Kate's personal favourite pattern, hands-down, is Franklin's interpretation of the Victorian doll's outfit from Weldon's Practical Knitter – part 1 here, part 2 here. There are many words you can use to describe it, but "practical" has to be just about the last.

This will never fail to make me smile. Laugh, even.