Mandy Moore's Blog, page 108

Stitch Light Giveaway

Stitch Light has bright light

Now that it's getting dark earlier in the evening, I've been using more and more extra light to see my knitting. Also since I've been on the far side of 40 my eyes need a little more light in general. If anyone else needs a bit of extra knitting light, today is your giveaway day!

Stitch Light comes with a craft pocket to keep tools handy

The kind and generous folks at Stitch Light are giving away a Stitch Light to 5 lucky Knittyblog readers.

Stich Light is also offering a special discount for the Knittyblog readers. Use the code KNITTY25  to get 25% off of your entire order PLUS free USPS shipping!  (1 time use per customer.)

 

The usual rules apply for our giveaway: Leave a comment on this post before midnight, eastern time, on Monday, October 3, 2011. A comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If s/he answers correctly s/he will win our prize.

 

 

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WWW: The Infinite Recursion Cosby Sweater Project; An 1861 Pattern for Socks; Church Mice

Contest Winner! The winner of the Zen Yarn Garden yarn is Jenn from Winnipeg. Congrats Jenn, and thanks again to Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden.

Socks for Soldiers: Anne Kennedy, Reference Librarian at Licking County Library, Newark, OH gives us a glimpse into history. She writes about the initiatives to knit socks for soldiers during the US Civil War.  Bonus: she includes a pattern for socks as printed in Scientific American magazine in 1861. Really!

Designer, knitter and all-around good guy.

Knitty contributor and all-around fabulous knitter Stephen West has announced a day of events in New York City, October 19th: there will be book signings, a trunk show, and a full day of workshops. Details here.

Things we love part one: Nicky Epstein has launched a club… a year's worth of exclusive patterns and other goodies from this excellent designer.

Brilliant and silly in equal measure.

At the recent Maker Faire in Queens, New York, artist Andrew Salomone demonstrated his latest project: a knitting machine programmed to knit images uploaded via computer. His biggest creation so far is the "Infinite Recursion Bill Cosby sweater" – a sweater with an image of actor Bill Cosby wearing a sweater that features an image of Bill Cosby wearing the same sweater…

Church mice.

A retired Reverend and her sister are knitting little "church mouse" toys to sell to raise funds for much-needed improvements to their local church facilities in King's Fee village in Wales. So far they have knitted and sold over 600 of the creatures. They are also hosting a photo contest, seeking photographs of their mice in exotic or unusual locations all around the world.

Charming non-knitter photo-op alert: Niall Ó Donnghaile, Lord Mayor of Belfast, is photographed with knitting needles and yarn as he meets a group of very lucky knitters travelling around Ireland as part of a knitting retreat hosted by designer Maggie Jackson.

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Just plain awesome!

Things we love part 2: our friends at Soak have just launched a new line of knitting-themed temporary tattoos. They were rolled out at the recent Vogue Knitting Live show in NYC, with great success.

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Spinning Tuesdays: Dissecting Yarn with Amy King

Last Saturday I took a class with Amy King of Spunky Eclectic and Spin Control fame.

The class was called Reading Your Yarn and it was about learning to dissect millspun yarns and reproduce them. I have to admit this really had never occurred to me. Sometimes I pick a yarn apart to look at plys, but never anything beyond that.

We looked at prep, twist, spinning technique and ply.

We all brought a yarn or two we really like to take apart and try to make. I brought Osprey by Quince & Co., because I just bought it am in deep love. It's a springy 3-ply with more loft than any 3-ply that I've ever worked with.

Osprey from Quince & Co

Untwisted I could see that it's a 3-ply with a lot of woolen characteristics. Because it's a millspun yarn, the finished yarn is a lot smoother than a handspun woolen. It was spun from a woolen prep, there is lots of air in each ply. It's slightly over twisted from a balance yarn.

Osprey untwisted

Without doing exact measurements. I spun  Pear Tree merino roving woolen and plied it 3-ply.

Pear Tree merino spun woolen

I didn't ply twisted enough to get the springy feeling throughout my skein, but I can see a few spots where I got it just right.

Needs a little more twist, but it's close

I love this yarn. It's soft with loft, but would have much better stitch definition than any handspun woolen yarn that I've knit with. I'm dreaming about a slouchy cabled hat.

Of course, since this class I've been picking apart every commercial yarn I come across in my house.

Does everyone else already pick commercial yarns apart and try to replicate them in handspun? Am I late to yet another spinning party?

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Knitting Mondays: Killybegs Progress and Quince & Co Winner

Jaime from Virginia is our winner of the new Quince & Co. pattern book , Wool Book One.

Congratulations to Jaime and than you to Quince & Co for the prize!

Don"t forget over at the Quince & Co shop you can use the code: KNITTY through Wednesday September 28, 2011 to get 10% off of your total purchase. The code is good for one use per reader.

 

Jillian here with progress on my pretend Rhinebeck sweater [I'm pretending that I'm going].

I'm knitting Killybegs from Contemporary Irish Knits.

I'm nearly to the armholes, take a peek at the lovely honeycomb:

Almost to the armholes

 

Honeycomb cable

The cable pattern is easy to memorize, it's great tv knitting. I'm a little concerned about the i-cord cast on being to tight, but not concerned enough to rip all the way back. If it turns out to be a problem I'll cut it off and work an alternate edge.

Is anyone else knitting  a Rhinebeck sweater for a real or pretend trip to Rhinebeck?

 

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Surprise Giveaway!

Thank to Roxanne at Zen Yarn Garden we have a giveaway today!

Serenity Silk, Silver Moon colorway

1 skein of luxurious Serenity Silk 75% Superwash Merino/15% Cashmere/10% Silk

Approx. 500 yards (100 g) , prize value $34 CAD.

Also, for the weekend – September 23rd to Sunday, September 25th, Knitty readers are welcome to use the discount code "KNITTY" to receive 10% off their orders at the Zen Yarn Garden shop.

The usual rules apply for our giveaway: Leave a comment on this post before midnight, eastern time, on Sunday, September 25, 2011. A comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If s/he answers correctly s/he will win our prize.

Thanks to Roxanne at Zen Yarn Garden for this yummy prize!

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Out of the frying pan…

Amy – upon receiving my first Techniques with Theresa contribution in over a year – asked me if I'd like to talk about what I've been up to since leaving you with a "Part One" – yet Part Two-less – for way too long. Here's my story.

Last fall, my husband turned to me suddenly and said "How would you like to try living in the US for a while?" I was gobsmacked. We'd talked about this for years in a vague, theoretical kind of way. But having lived in Norway since 1999, I felt at least half Norwegian. I love my adopted country and my Norwegian family, had learned to speak the language fluently, was thriving in my job and had made many wonderful friends. But the other half of me was ready to go home.

Home is western North Carolina and the house that my grandparents built in the 1950s, next door to my parents, in a small town where most conversations (with locals at least) start by trying to figure out who in my enormous extended family they already know.

Last view from window on Hattemakerlia

We left Norway in bits and pieces – first saying goodbye to the older of my husband's gorgeous daughters as she went back to college, leaving work, taking my beloved cat, Stewart, to his new home at a horse farm – complete with three sweet little girls, two lady cats and a Bernese Mountain Dog – then moving out of the house…

… hugging the younger step-daughter one last time and finally – after a weekend of the coldest temperatures I've ever experienced (-31C / -24F) – boarding a plane on February 17th to start a new life.

Oh, the poppies are blooming.

We landed in North Carolina to sunshine and summer-in-Norway temperatures. Within weeks I got to see spring unfold… and the dogwoods bloom for the first time in a decade. The peonies, poppies and tulips that my Grandma planted came up.

I planted sweet peas. Onions. Garlic. Three kinds of tomatoes. Pickling cucumbers. Sixteen squash plants. Popcorn and sweet corn. Green beans and okra. Watermelon. Fingerling potatoes. Jalapenos and banana peppers. Rutabaga, turnips and lettuce. Flowers and herbs.

Bean pole + squash

I've spent the summer making preserves, jam, jellies, pickles, salsa, sauerkraut and ketchup. Dried beans for leather britches and frozen enough squash to last at least a couple of years. (Biggest lesson learned: Nobody needs 16 squash plants.)

Chicks, day 2

In late April I asked my mom what kind of chickens they used to have here – I remember Grandma incubating eggs in the spare bedroom, but have only dim memories of actual chickens. "Domineckers!" she finally figured out. The Dominique is a heritage breed – probably America's oldest breed of chicken. Perfect! I found a farm within driving distance and picked up 11 fluffy three day old chicks.

Here chick chick chick, here chicks!

Nine have survived to adulthood – three cockrels who crow morning, noon and night and six hens who have just started laying teeny tiny eggs for us! (The eggs will get bigger – they're only 4.5 months old now.)

I've also been hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones. My childhood friend Allison went with me to meet Liza – of Merritt Farm Alpacas – who I'd bought fiber from on a previous visit and she happened to mention needing a new home for two alpacas. My hand flew into the air and I shouted "me!!" before I even knew what was happening. Dad and I got to work building an alpaca shed / chicken coop and Brichon – aka Scout, aka Mater – and Poocher …

Alpacas, dude.

…came to live with us in the beginning of June. Fiber animals!! I was starting to live the dream. All I needed now was a dog.

A few weeks later my stepkid Amalie – here visiting us and the pool for the summer – and I were driving through town and saw an abandoned dog sitting on the side of the road at a busy intersection. We stopped to make sure the poor thing didn't get hit by traffic and wound up adopting the sweetest dog in the universe. My husband christened her Audrey III.

And there's that look again.

I love her to distraction.

So yeah, I'm having a Very Good Time – despite missing my friends and family in Norway.  (Men vi ses igjen!!)  Hopefully – assuming you've noticed I went missing - you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me for leaving you hanging about blocking…?

 

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WWW: Contest winners, NYC Yarn Crawl, Knitting the Weather

The winner of the yarn pack for the Gratitude socks is Kaitlin in Minnesota. Thanks to Lisa Souza for the gorgeousness.

The winner of our Darrin cardigan yarn pack is Cheryl in Utah. Thanks to the Fibre Company for this fab prize.

A purrfect project

And although some of us at Knitty are dog people, we know that there are people out there who prefer cats. And for them, we present the following: a slideshow from the book Best in Show: Knit Your Own Cat, the companion volume to last year's Knit Your Own Dog. The book is already available in the UK, to be published in the US later this year.

A crawlin' we will go...

The third annual New York City Yarn Crawl is being held the weekend of September 30-October 2nd. As always, there will be a scavenger hunt a raffle and prizes and much yarny fun.

Awesome yarn shop name alert: The Mouton Rouge in Morris, Illinois.

No matter the weather...

A fabulous and fascinating knitting project on the Craft Magazine blog: "Knit the Weather". The artist Lea Redmond creates what she calls "conceptual knitting – knitting projects that go beyond the pattern to become a small act of performance, community outreach or experimentation". She has launched a year-long project to "knit the weather". The first piece of the project, the Sky Scarf documents the changes in the weather over a year – each day, the knitter will work a stripe in a color to match the sky.

A yarn-bomber in New Zealand who is leading efforts to "dress up" Nelson, New Zealand, reports on her collection of "anti-knitting" letters and complaints.

This may be the best thing I've seen this year.

Rad grandma alert: A knitting group in a retirement home in New Zealand is knitting slippers to give to the Georgian team visiting New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup. One of the knitters proudly displays her knitting tattoo, which she got on her 80th birthday (!) on a dare (!).

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Spinning Tuesdays: Spin in Public and Briar Rose Winner

The spinner who will be happily spinning Briar Rose Fibers silk is Deborah from Illinois.

Thanks to Briar Rose Fibers for a wonderful prize!

I took to the streets, (well a hallway really – it was chilly) with my spinning pals for World Wide Spin In Public Day. Amy came down from Toronto and met her new Sidekick. We spun at The Spinning Loft where there were treats and sales and at any given time 20+ spinners. I only took a few pictures because I was spinning.

Fleece, spinners and Amy with that second cup of coffee she shouldn't have had.

A Schacht threepeat featuring Amy and her new Sidekick. Yes, she loves it.

More spinners. Check out Erica's new to her Majacraft - a Tiny Tim, no longer made, but adorable.

We made a few new spinners answered lots of questions about spinning and ate cupcakes. What did you do for Spin in Public Day?

 

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Project Black Sock Update

I've blogged about this before… being a rabid sock knitter, and a fan of absurdly-colored sock yarns (I am pathalogically unable to resist a self-striping yarn with orange or green in it), I have a drawer full of brightly colored socks.

But sometimes, particularly if one is trying to look sensible, one needs a pair of black socks.

I have, in the past, bought the black socks and knitted the fun ones… but this year, I've been taking a different approach. I have been knitting my own black socks.

The other, more sneaky objective of this project is that it has allowed me to buy more sock yarn without guilt. Seriously, I have a healthy stash of sock yarn (much but not all of it self-striping oranges… ) and I really was having a hard time justifying buying more. Until I landed upon this new project… Hey, I didn't own any black sock yarn, so I just had to buy some.

People have also been kindly donating black sock yarn to me. Sensible people, who fear for their eyesight. More than one knitter has given me a skein, remarking that they had planned to make socks for a man (apparently, black socks are a boy thing), but then they realized that they would hate the project. And so they have given me the yarn.

Between other projects, I have been slowly chipping away at the heap of black sock yarn. And to keep things fun, I have been knitting with some variegated sock yarns, too. But still in black and white, to keep with the theme…

My recent production:

Most boring sock picture ever?

I think my sock drawer is just about ready for fall.

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WWW: Another giveaway; Quince & Co Offer; Men Who Knit; National Hat Month

Win it! Knit it!

The kind and creative folks over at Quince and Co. have offered us a copy of their first pattern book – Wool Book One as a giveaway for KnittyBlog readers.

They are also offering a 10% off discount in their shop for our readers! Use the code: KNITTY between September 14, 2011 and September 28, 2011 to get 10% off of your total purchase. The code is good for one use per reader.

The usual rules apply for our giveaway: Leave a comment on this post before midnight, eastern time, on Monday, September 19, 2011. A comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If s/he answers correctly s/he will win our prize.

Thank you Quince & Co.!

Handsome!

Pictures that make our day: a portrait of the kilt and sarong parade at the recent West Coast Men's Knitting Retreat, held in Washington State.

High concept knitwear is still warm and comfy.

Up and coming knitwear designer Kevin Kramp is showing a new collection of knitwear as part of Milan Fashion Week 2011 this month.

The designer isn't afraid to play with color and texture, and his pieces have an amazing sculptural quality to them, yet still being very close to their origin and inspiration – "ordinary" knitting.

Even if you're not into high fashion, the slideshow of his pieces on the Italian Vogue Magazine website is fascinating.

A splendid day for all!

A craft group in Dublin Ireland recently held a "HandmAid" day to raise funds for famine relief in Somalia. There were sales, classes, a crafting circle, and tea and treats. The event was a rousing success, and over 5000 Euro was raised.

Pretty website for pretty string!

Our friends at Lorna's Laces have just relaunched their website. More drool-worthy than ever before!

I bet you did not know that September is National Hat Month in the US.

If you're not sure what to wear, we have a few suggestions….

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