Mandy Moore's Blog, page 109

Knitting Mondays: A Fabulous Fall Giveaway Contest and Jillian Starts a Sweater

It may or may not feel like fall where you are, here in Michigan it varies between 80 and 60 daily, but everyone has the itch for fall knits. I swear can hear knitting needles clicking everywhere I go.

Here at Knitty we want to help your jones for a new knit by having a super giveaway!

Darrin by Laura Chau

A yarn pack for the Darrin Cardigan by Laura Chau!

Thanks to the wonderful folks at The Fibre Company we have 1 Road to China Light [65% Baby Alpaca, 15% Silk, 10% Camel, 10% Cashmere] yarn pack to give to a lucky Knittyblog reader. Prize value $105-$195.

The usual rules apply. Leave a comment to this post before midnight, eastern time, on Friday, September 17, 2011. A comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If s/he answers correctly  they will win our prize.

Good Luck!

It's Jillian and I've started my new fall sweater. I think I'm pretending I'm going to Rhinebeck and diving into the new sweater for Rhinebeck fun.

I fell in love with Killybegs from the new book Contemporary Irish Knits by Carol Feller

Who's surprised that I , tweed hoarder, have the exact yarn it calls for in my stash?

It's Donegal Yarns Aran Tweed, I chose a red tweed, though I may or may not have it in a couple other colors.

I swatched for several days. I even blocked my swatches. I am serious about this sweater.

Killybegs swatch

This weekend I cast on. It's knit in one piece to the armholes and begun with a I-cord cast on. I cast on 200 stitches more than once to get the tension right.

Killybegs cast on

I've officially begun. Wish me luck that I finish before next year!

 

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Obsession Thursday: Travel Knitting and a Giveaway

Everything a knitter needs for a long plane trip - a pillow and a new lace project.

I recently made a quick trip to the UK for a family birthday and reunion event. It's a long, long plane ride from where I live…

The most stressful part of any travel, for me, is choosing my travel knitting. Figuring out what to take my brother as a birthday gift, and what to wear and how to pack lightly for changeable weather is easy…

The big decision is what to knit while I'm away. You need really engaging knitting for the boring parts of the trip – the long waits at the airport, the train rides, the time spent waiting for your brother to get finish his phone call before you can leave for lunch… And then you need auto-pilot knitting (pun intended) – knitting you can work on while you're chatting, at the pub, and while you're in the car without making yourself motion sick.

For engaging knitting, I like lace, as the yarn required doesn't take up much room in your bag, and you get hours of fun from a single skein.

Don't get in a car without at least one sock project.

For auto-pilot knitting, I like a plain stocking stitch sock (or two)… I can tuck a sock in progress into my purse to carry around, and it's easy to pick up for a few minutes' knitting here and there.

I always have a sock or two on the go, so that decision was easy. The question was what to take for my engaging knitting. I added an extra level of complication to this decision: do I take a design-project-in-progress? I am currently working on a new lace design, but I wasn't confident that all the details were worked out, and I was worried I would get stalled without my stitch libraries.

So I looked back at my project queue and and chose something I've been meaning to make for at least 5 years: the Super-Spiral Shawl from Meg Swansen's fabulous A Gathering of Lace book. I slipped the patterninto a sheet protector, grabbed some extra graph paper just in case I decided to make tweaks on the fly, and wound up the yarn.

Well-prepared for even the longest flight delay.

But the hardest decision of all is the discretionary knitting… Extra knitting just in case I finish what I'm working on. In case I'm not enjoying the projects I've chosen. Extra knitting in case I get delayed coming back and need more to do. Emergency knitting, if you will. This can be tricky – you need to balance your need for engaging knitting with auto-pilot knitting. I chose to take along another sock project, but a cabled sock, so it could be both reasonably easy and reasonably engaging.

So yes, to recap: for four days away I had four socks and a lace project that requires 800m+ of yarn. Needless to say, I didn't run out.

Whether you need a travel project, or are just looking for something to add to your fall wardrobe, we have a Lisa Souza sock yarn giveaway!

Gratitude by Brenda Patipa

Gratitude, a lighter version

The prize is a Gratitude sock kit: enough Lisa Souza yarn for both versions of this lovely sock design from our First Fall issue.

Dark version: Lisa Souza Knitwear and Dyeworks, Cashmere Silk Fingering; [55% Bombyx Silk, 45% Cashmere, 400 yards per 2 oz. skein]; Marionberry; 1 skein

Light version: Lisa Souza Knitwear and Dyeworks, Sock!; [75% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon, 450 yards per 4 oz. skein]; Zazu; 1 skein

Prize value: $50

The usual rules apply. Leave a comment to this post before midnight, eastern time, on Monday, September 12, 2011. A comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If s/he answers correctly  they will win our prize.

Thanks to Lisa Souza for the prize!

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WWW: Events to mark the start of Sweater Weather; knitted BMW engine; contest winners

The six lucky winners of our Block 'n' Roll prizes are Kara, Cheryl, Diana, Patricia, Patty and Emily. They're all excited and ready to block their next project.

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Spreading the wooly love.

This week is Wool Week in the UK, organized by the official Campaign for Wool. The Campaign's goal is to promote the use of wool as a sustainable, environmentally friendly material for clothing, furniture, carpets and other uses. The week includes a number of activities around the UK.

The highlight of Wool Week this year is an exhibition titled WOOL MODERN launching at La Galleria in London – a celebration of wool in the 21st century. The event combines a peek into the historic archives of iconic designers with innovative pieces from furniture to art and photography, with contributions from such luminaries as Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, Vivienne Westwood, Galliano and YSL.

Visit the Love-Wool subsite and sign up to receive free patterns from Rowan and Jamieson & Smith, and a Shaun the Sheep cover for a Nintendo DS.

This coming weekend marks the 21st annual Natural Fiber Fair. Held September 10th and 11th, 2011, for the first time at a new venue, the Arcata Community Center, Arcata, CA.

A fleece market and vendor hall will be fulfilling all your shopping desires, with fleece, fibers, yarns, tools and clothing available for sale. Free demonstrations and classes run all day, on topics as varied as spinning, knitting, weaving, dyeing, felting, basket weaving. Enjoy the free ongoing demonstrations and classes each hour, or take a half or full day workshop.

As with every year, the Fiber Circle is a gathering for fiber crafting and conversation. Historical exhibits and artist displays, as well as a gourmet cafe and a petting zoo round out the fun.

Calling all renegades.

If you're in the Chicago area, visit the Renegade Craft Fair in the Ukrainian Village neighbourhood in Chicago.

The event features more than 300 crafters showing and selling of handmade goods including clothing, housewares, ceramics and jewelry. There also will be free workshops in letterpress printing, post card collage, knitting and weaving, along with live entertainment.

Wortley Village in London, Ontario, is hosting a car-free day September 11th, installing a grand piano on the main street, setting up a tea room, and encouraging public knitting (really, as if we need encouraging)…

High-tech meets hand-made.

Fiber artist Amy Twigger Holroyd's latest work is a knitted and crocheted BMW engine, displayed at the Hams Hill BMW factory in the UK. She chronicles the project on her blog. Local schoolchildren and staff from BMW Hams Hall  joined the artist in creating this collaborative piece exploring the hidden similarities between engineering and knitting.

A great profile of Jazz Domino Holly, daughter of Joe Strummer, who has just published her first book, Queen of Crafts. She draws a straight line between her father's punk esthetic and her own creativity and fascination with the hand-made.

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Spinning Tuesdays: Say Hello to Fall with Silk

Did you know that Briar Rose Fibers now has silk fiber? She's dyeing silk bricks.

I have loved Chris' sense of color for a long time – deep organic shades. I frequently call it shades of dirt, but not in a bad way – it's rich and multi-hued with color grounded in browns.

When Chris starts something new she sometimes sends me a little to play with, here's my silk:

Greens, golds and blues on a silk brick

 

I dug in my stash for some Briar Rose fiber to blend it by plying with and came up with two possibilities in BFL.

Darker and lighter purple-ish colorways

Just from looking at the photo which one would you choose? I bet on the darker colorway, it has more colors that are similar, and it's closer tonally for less marling. I spun finer than I usually do, woolen for the BFL and worsted for the silk.

Lighter colorway plied with silk

Darker colorway plied with silk

I was surprised (aren't I always?) about a couple of things. The lighter colorway didn't marl with the silk, they blended together really well, especially in the knitted swatch. The darker colorway didn't pop with the silk like I expected, too many colors too close in tone. But I do like them both.

BFL-silk swatches

I can't decide. I think I like them both equally, and I think they would look beautiful worked in something together.

What's your vote?

To celebrate the beginning of fall (and my kids going back to school!) Briar Rose Fibers is giving away one dyed silk brick to a lucky Knitty Blog reader. The prize value is $45.00 US.

The usual rules apply: Leave a comment to this post before midnight, eastern time, on Thursday, September 8, 2011. One comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If the reader answers correctly s/he will win a dyed silk brick from Briar Rose Fibers.

 

 

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Obsession Thursdays: Knitting Books

It's Jillian and I have a knitting book obsession. I have a lot, I've been buying them since the late 80′s. They have moved with me 5 times, growing every time.

I've never counted them:

Newer knitting books and magazines, also spinning books

I don't alphabetize them, just sort of group them by topic or whim. I almost never loan them out.

Knit design books and stitch dictionaries

Some of my books have to live in the basement, which I'm reorganizing. They keep my yarn company.

The 80's & 90's. Lots of Rowan, including the magazines starting with #1

Even though I get review books for Knitty, I still buy a lot of books every year.

Review book stash in the process of reorganization, plus older magazines.

Right now I'm stuck on stitch dictionaries of all eras and all of the self published and small press knitting books that lots of designers are doing.

What are your favorite knitting books?

 

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WWW: Knitty on tap, Sheep for Counting, K/W Knitter's Fair and Bonus Giveaway!

Because we love you very much, we have another giveaway for you!

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I am slightly sad that the Knitty team isn't eligible to win one...

If you're a reader of our reviews page (and if not, you should be – every issue we tell you about all sorts of fabulous and interesting products to make your knitting and your life better and more fun!), you'll remember our review of the clever Block 'n' Roll solution.

Thanks to the generous people at The Bag Smith, we have 6 of them available to give away, each with a value of $59.95.

The usual rules apply: Leave a comment to this post before midnight, eastern time, on Friday, September 2, 2011. Six comments will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If they answer correctly they will each win a kit.

We can suggest a pattern or two...

The newly relaunched Yarn Company space in New York City is part yarn gallery and part yarn think tank, complete with two dedicated guest computers. And we're thrilled that one of them is just for Knitty! The owners, Tavy and Assaf Ronen, say that having a Knitty computer makes perfect sense. "When our customers are just stuck for an idea on a project with a yarn they've just fallen for, we know they can find what they need on Knitty… "

The Kitchener Waterloo Guild throws an excellent party every year.

Knitters a little north of New York, in Southern Ontario, are excitedly looking forward to the upcoming Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter's Fair, being held at Bingeman's Park in Kitchener on Saturday, September 10th. This annual event is a highlight for many knitters in the area – Amy and Kate included. More details available in the current issue of the KW Guild newsletter.

There are 65 vendors – yarn sellers both big and small – free seminars, a fashion show, door prizes, and the most fun part of all – knit-oogling.

You might recognize the name of one of the speakers…. Kate will be there, talking about her famous "training sock" philosophy, and sharing tips and techniques for knitters to avoid the "horrible first attempt syndrome" when learning new knitterly skills.

A great story, but points off for the terrible puns in the headline… inmates in a prison in New Zealand have taken up knitting, and are donating the results of their efforts to a local women's shelter.

Since we are very excited by all things Icelandic at the moment, we were tickled pink by this video - sheep for counting, to help you get sleepy.

And we're enjoying the reappearance of crafts in newspapers, whether in listings for prize winners at local fairs, or as in this case, a pattern giveaway. The Calgary Herald is offering a free knitting pattern to readers. No picture, sadly, but I can only assume there's one on the actual pattern…

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Spining Tuesdays: Corespinning – try this!

I can't stop thinking about and trying different ways to corespin. I want it to be balanced and soft. I have a dream of knitting some sort of sweater out of corespun – loose and layer-y.

I've been researching different ways to corespin. I've found a bunch of different methods and haven't tried them all yet, but I wil,l and will report back.

Here's the one I tried this week and I really like the result – Coreless Corespinning.

With this technique you split off a small amount of your batt – about a pinkie finger's thickness, and spin a single while you are corespinning. It's brilliant.

I found a good video by Jazz Turtle Creations on You Tube – it starts at about 1:53.

Creating the core while I spun did two things for me, it kept the yarn really soft and lofty and I was able to get as close as I've ever come to a balanced yarn.

Here's my yarn fresh and feisty:

Just off the bobbin

After a hot water soak:

After a hot bath

I didn't dry this under any tension. I soaked it in hot water, squeezed it out and draped it on a chair outside to dry. Cool!

Closer

There are a couple of other techniques that I want to try and then the puzzle of knitting with corespun starts – loose, tight, what type of pattern, you know the rolling obsession part of being a spinner. Stay tuned.

Shhhhh……

Next Tuesday, to celebrate my kids going back to school I'm going to have a giveaway, and it's a good one.

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Knitting Mondays: Winners & What's on Our Needles

Winners of a copy each of the book  10 Secrets of the Laidback Knitters are Patricia in Florida and Lisa in Michigan. Congratulations and happy fall knitting!

In this segment of What's On Our Needles, Jillian shouts to the heavens:

"I touched Techno!"

Terrific Techno

Blue Sky Alpacas' new yarn, Techno, is yummy. It's the yarn I heard about again and again from fiber folks who went to the industry trade show, TNNA, in June. I finally touched some and then couldn't stop touching.

Techno is an alpaca/silk yarn, but not just any alpaca/silk yarn, it's a yarn constructed of alpaca fiber blown into a silk mesh tube. Light? Yes. Soft? Uummm, yes.

In my hands the yarn wanted to be knit loosely, making it feel even lighter. I'm not sure how a sweater knit from this yarn at an open gauge would hold up, you might blow away like dandelion fluff, but it would feel amazing while it lasted.

Techno swatching

I swatched and swatched, my first project is going to be a hat, that will be whisper light and warm.

It's almost hat weather right?

I'm not the only knitter smitten. Read Clara Parkes review, she couldn't quit knitting either.

 

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Knitty Spotting

Nothing makes us happier than seeing FOs of Knitty patterns out in the wild.

There were so many great Knitty socks on display at Sock Summit…

my favorites were these Double Heelixes (Heelices?), spotted on a lunch break in the marketplace.

Stylin'

As a closet fan of Lucky magazine, I absolutely adore this "style sheet" with suggestions on how to wear your "Make Up Your Mind" tank in cooler weather.

Like paper dolls, but better.

The site also has an interview with Julie Crawford, the designer of the pattern.

A fab OpArt blanket worked in handpainted yarn.

Lucky baby.

An absolutely stunning Seascape shawl from mary.w.e .

Stunning.

And this may be the best Knittyspotting ever: "The Knitty Project" – a knitter makes something from every issue. She even solicits votes about which pattern to knit.

The most recent WIP in the project is a pair of great Pomatomus socks.

Super yarn choice.

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WWW: County Fair Winners, Knitting for Troops, "World's Most Inoffensive Graffiti"?

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Purling & knitting by the sea.

The Belfry Arts Centre in Norfolk, UK, is currently hosting Purls by the Sea, an exhibition of works by well-known textile artists and designers. The exhibition, part of a celebration " challenging the idea of knitting as a traditional domestic craft", runs until August 30th, and features a broad range of contributions. There are miniature ganseys knit by Dr. Annie Shaw, delicate knitted jewellery created by Kate Holdsworth, a light projection installation created by artists' collective Mirrie Dancers, work by award-winning knitwear designer Samantha Brooke, who is currently working for top fashion designer Alberta Ferretti, and pieces by Norfolk-based textile artists including Stephanie Potts.

To coincide with the exhibition, the Belfry is hosting a series of workshops run by artist Biddy Rychnovsky, with those taking part using unusual materials, including broomsticks, to create a knitted wall hanging of the coastline, which will go on permanent display at the centre.

Rightfully proud!

Love this! Fort Morgan Times in Fort Morgan Colorado, has published results from their recent town Fair: the winners in the knitting, crocheting and tatting categories. Fewer and fewer fairs have judged competitions in crafts, and even fewer get their result published. Congrats to the winners!

Speaking of county fair winners, Laddie Kray of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota boasts a remarkable 13 ribbons from the recent Benton County Fair. More remarkable is that Laddie is 105 years old, and has been knitting for 100 years.

Warmth from afar.

A nice story about a Florida knitting group making blankets for soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

And a group of seniors in Raynham, MA, is knitting socks for the troops.

Cozy Cow?

More excellent yarnbombing photos in this slideshow on the Guardian website, an excerpt from the book Urban Knits: The World's Most Inoffensive Graffiti by Simone Werle.

Our own Franklin gives us an insight into the challenges of deciphering vintage patterns…

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