Mandy Moore's Blog, page 119

What's on our needles, a winner and a new giveaway!

It seems our needles are laden with socks at Knitty. Here's what we're knitting right now:

Jillian is knitting 2 socks on 2 circular needles in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport:

Colorway: Rockwell. Please don't notice the boo-boos from knitting in a movie yesterday.

On Kate's needles: two pairs of socks for spring.

There's the Knit Picks' "Time Traveller" colorway – a limited edition from last fall inspired by our favorite Time Traveller, The Doctor .

But which Doctor, 10 or 11?

And a pair of socks in just about the loudest yarn imaginable: Filatura di Crosa Maxime Print in a "citrus circus insanity" (or something). Kate's working them both at the same time on dpns, using the War & Peace inspired method. "I love this method – it guarantees no second sock syndrome, and lots and lots of amazed gasps from other sock knitters."

Amaze your friends! Two socks in one!

Amy's working on her Leftovers vest in Rowan Calmer…the first time she's had the pleasure of making a sweater with this lovely stuff. (pic to come)

Our winner of one large and one small HiyaHiya Interchangeable Needle sets is comment #1779: Patricia Congratulations, and happy knitting!

A bunch of Knitty readers got hit by another winter storm last night. Jillian got 8″ of snow, after having two days in the 50′s F last week.

To help ease the pain of more winter weather we're having a giveaway!

How about a kit to knit the 3 pairs of the Shelburne Mittens in our latest issue?

Cozy mittens for the family!

If chosen, one person will win enough Rowan Felted Tweed Chunky to make 3 pairs of mittens [7 skeins]

This prize is courtesy of the lovely folks at Rowan Yarn and Westminster Fibers.

Here's how to win: leave a comment to this post by Wednesday, February 23, at midnight eastern time, and you could win! We'll choose a winner at random, make them answer a skill-testing question, and post the results next week.

Prize value: $79.60

Good luck, good knitting and keep warm if you're snowy!

WWW: Every day is Sweater Day; Fundraiser for MSF; Grannies for Hire

At Knitty we celebrate every day!

This Thursday, February 17th, has been designated National Sweater Day in Canada. This initiative of the World Wildlife Fund is designed to help the environment by encouraging Canadians to put on a sweater and turn their furnaces down.

Our very own Franklin participated in a radio show on NPR about the resurgence of knitting. Listen to a wonderful wide-ranging discussion here. There's also some great historical knitting images and posters on the site, here. "Remember Pearl Harbor, purl harder!"
Pennies Per Hour of Pleasure, also known as P/hop, is a knitting fundraiser for Doctors without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK site, North American site). P/hop was launched a few years ago by an indie dyer in the UK, Natalie Fergie. To date it has raised over £23,000 in the UK and $4,000 from North American knitters. Designers have donated a whole range of wonderful patterns which are free to download, in exchange for a donation to p/hop according to the amount of pleasure it gives. Money is also raised via yarn swaps, raffles and other knitting related events.
Fascinating news of a different way to gather silk, without harming the silkworm, pioneered by designer Elsbeth Joy Nielsen.


On the topic of silk, the owners of beloved Treenway Silks have announced their plans to sell their business so that they may retire. The business is going strong, and they are keen to find a buyer. This is an amazing opportunity!

A classroom in 1950s UK.

The Daily Mail in the UK reports on a trend we love: knitting making a return to the classroom. Worth Primary in Kent has introduced knitting throughout the curriculum: in math classes, in history classes, and as a lunchtime club. It's turning out to be popular with students, and teachers report very positive results.

Residents of the tri-state area should make sure that the Northern New Jersey Yarn Crawl is on their calendars for this weekend. I can't think of a better way to spend a late-winter weekend.

And if you're on the other side of continent, the Portland Oregon Yarn Crawl is scheduled for the weekend of March 4-6th.

Let a Granny help you use up your stash

And if you find yourself with too much yarn (!) and not enough time to knit, consider hiring Grannies Inc, an organization of knitters in the UK who will take your custom design and knit it to your specifications.

Tiny weeny spindle

my Lilac-wood Turkish Delight

I have a weakness for spindles. Only one spinning wheel, but the spindle count is above 15. Not sure how much above 15.

I love that they're portable, and I love the sculptural quality of the spindles I choose. My latest love was spotted across a crowded Silk Retreat room — it's a Jenkins Turkish Delight.

I've been a staunch top-whorl girl since I learned to spindle. But this thing was so freaking cute, I couldn't resist. Especially with yarn on it. You wind the yarn on over two arms, under one, and that gives a nice, plump square-shaped cop. At right, you see my little Turkish Delight, with the beginnings of a cop. It's very lightweight, and so I'll be spinning a laceweight that I'll ply later. I'm in no hurry. I just like to play with it.

I thought it'd be hard to spin on, but it's not. It spins long and fast, like a crazy rabbit on crack [this is a good thing], and is so very, very pretty.

Ed Jenkins makes every spindle by hand, and in this case, he made this one for me out of Lilac wood. Lilacs remind me of my Grandma, and I couldn't choose anything else. I love that there's a little vein of natural purple running through one of the crossbars, too.

Here's a video with instructions on how to wind onto this spindle, via the lovely Mrs Jenkins, Wanda.

The tiny Turkish Delight too big for you? Go peek at Ed's newest invention, the Kuchulu. Not sure how long I'll be able to resist this one. Should I even try?

Valentine's Day Ninja Bonus Contest!

Ooh, we've got a doozy for you today, knitters.

Are you sitting down?

[image error]

Love (And Knitwear) To Keep You Warm

Thinking of knitting for a special someone for Valentine's Day?

Give a piece of your heart.

Sort-of anatomically correct and gorgeous!

Who says you have to wear your heart on your sleeve? What about across the front of your Cheesylove sweater?

Not cheesy at all, really.

Play a little footsie in the Sweetheart socks.

At Knitty, we love feet clad in hand-knit socks.

I want to hold your hand in the Corazon mittens.

Love will only keep your fingers warm up to a point.

Torn between two lovers? (Angel or Spike? Edward or Jacob?) Consider the Vampire Boyfriend socks.

Excellent for late-night trysts. In a graveyard

And then of course there's myriad delights in our nakedness-free "Sex & the Knitty" issue, including a certain licorice confection that Maxim featured in their December '04 issue…

WWW: Knitted Living Room + Garden; Not Quite Fully Knitted Scarf

LJ Kalems bag

by Jordana Paige

Our winner of a fabulous LJ Kaelms bag by Jordana Paige is comment #706: Irene from Toronto [way to represent, Irene!]. Congratulations, and happy knitting baggery!

Monica Crowe, a volunteer at a homeless shelter in the UK has knitted a living room. The room will be available for the public to view in the spring, and it's raising awareness of the charity Emmaus, which provides living accommodations for the homeless and raises funds by taking unwanted items and fixing, rebuilding or remaking them into items for sale.

Sending hand-knitted love.

The Red Scarf project is organized by the Orphan Foundation of America. It gathers donations of hand-knitted red scarves to send to orphans who are away at college. The recipients are all current or former foster children enrolled in college who receive scholarships through the foundation.
A group in Coventry UK will be gathering on March 17th in an attempt to break the Guinness World record for most simultaneous knitters. The record was previously set in 2009 at Sock Summit, with 937 knitters. The Coventry group is hoping for over 1000 participants, as part of a fundraiser for Comic Relief.

Organizers of Sock Summit 2011 will be paying close attention, I'm sure.

A self-described "horrible knitter" tells the tale of her knitterly education, and a few mistakes along the way….

Yes, that is truly a WIP. From the collection of Italian designer Frankie Morello.

And if, like the writer of the above article, you find yourself struggling to finish a project, know that you are very much in fashion.

The Charlottesville Trade School in Charlottesville Virginia is offering a course called "Knitting and Other Guerilla Activities."
Students at a primary school in the UK are being taught to knit and crochet by teachers and volunteers with the goal of making a woolly garden sculpture to decorate their school.
And here's a cat getting revenge on behalf of the entire species for that shrug…

What's on our needles: Amy's Goodale FO!

My Goodale, done and done! Very happy with it.

Yes, I finished a sweater. In just over a month. Cast on December 28th, buttons sewn on Feb 2. Oh, I am a pleased knitter. I love the process, but I do knit to wear the stuff I make, so this project has been a winner!

What, you want to see a picture? If you must [self-timer photo in our bedroom...not ideal, but it'll have to do] —>

So here's what you're looking at. Cecily Glowik MacDonald's Goodale pattern, knit in the size closest to my chest measurement. If you look at the 2nd picture, you might say I should have knit a size smaller, and you're probably right. The body is too wide, but I do like that it closes more on me than it does on the rather wee model.

What's the yarn? This was an interesting mix. I bought Misti Alpaca's Serena from The Purple Purl, after recently learning that I can tolerate knitting alpaca. Serena is an alpaca/cotton mix and I love the yarn. In this case, a thicker yarn was required.

yup, the sweater is a bit wide for me. about 2" per side. waist shaping would have helped. live and learn.

So I went to the stash and found a skein of Tess Designer Yarns' Raw Silk in a solid dark grey that matched the grellow colorway of Serena perfectly. At $28/900 yards, the Raw Silk is a STEAL and a really nice yarn, to boot. And you could easily knit this sweater with two strands of the Raw Silk held together, if you'd like.

In any case, the combination was really nice here. But about 4″ from the hem, I was close to running out of Raw Silk. So I switched to 2 strands of Serena, and made sure to alternate the silk/Serena with the Serena/Serena for several rows to soften the transition point. The bottom is more yellow than grellow, but it's a gentle transition and I'm very happy with the result.

The final result is a little oversized, but comfy and pretty to wear. The blend of yarns turned out to be a great asset to the sweater — warm but not heavy — and I am very happy to have discovered that alpaca is not my enemy. I won't wear it against my neck, but over a long-sleeved tee, it's perfect.

the space between those two fingers is how much narrower one front is than the other.

P.S. for newer knitters who are hard on themselves, thinking no one makes mistakes like they do, you need to see this [it's also a much better representation of the color of the yarns]

—>

What is it? It's the first time I knit this sweater, almost to the part where you separate for the arms, when I finally noticed that the two fronts were totally different widths. Because I hadn't bothered to count when I cast on the stitches and placed my stitch markers. In row 1.

I ripped the whole thing back and started fresh. And still finished it within a month [because I counted this time].

Feel better now?

Wonderful Winter issue WIPs + Fabulous FOs

There's been some seriously great knitting going on since the winter issue went live…

KnottyGnome's excellent Shelburne mittens

Clearly warm!

Celiabadelia's Chrysanthemums mittens in progress.  Great color choices.

So cheerful!

imlovinknit's Rock Creek hat

Of course I'm going to choose the cute dog picture... Nice hat, too!

Modiste1979's Maeva socks

Looking very good so far...

DakotaAJ's "necessary" Southern Lights hat.

Instant gratification and instantly warm

Frizzyknit's very nearly complete Fleece Shawl

Wow

WWW: Upcoming Events, Knerdy Knitting and Floating Yarn Shop

Dream vacation?

HolidayVacations has announced the details for the upcoming Craft Lit "Road to Rhinebeck" tour, scheduled October 8-16, 2011.

This autumn adventure for book and fiber lovers starts with a tour of the literary haunts of Alcott, Thoreau, Dickinson, Hawthorne and more, includes a sprinkling of yarn shops, a visit to Kristin Nicholas' fiber farm and ends at the fabulous New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck. Amy Detjen of Knit Circus and Schoolhouse Press and Heather Ordover of CraftLit will be your hosts.

More info here.

Speaking of wooly events, this weekend is Toronto's Downtown Knit Collective's Winter Workshop.

Stitches West takes place in Santa Clara California February 17-20th.

Looking further ahead, Interweave Knits has announced their Interweave Knitting Lab for November 3-6 2011 in San Mateo, California, and Vogue Knitting Live tweeted news of their fall event, to be held in Los Angeles, September 23-25, 2011.

Have yarn, will travel.

And if you're on the other side of the Atlantic, consider tracking down Colin and Carole's Creations, in the UK, the only yarn store we know of on a canal boat.  They also sell completed garments, including their own design Boatman's Gansey, and photo art.

Yay for science!

The world's first three-dimensional model of a chemical structure made out of knitting needles and balls of yarn, made in 1883 by knitting enthusiast and chemistry professor Crum Brown, has gone on display at Edinburgh University's School of Chemistry to mark the UNESCO International Year of Chemistry.

Hwaet!

The nerd's favourite blog, BoingBoing, featured Sanguine Gryphon's really rather wonderful Beowulf socks last week.

Here's a follow-up post from Mary Scott Huff about the response she's had to the news of the awful theft of her samples.
And the internets were abuzz last week with the news that Jennifer Aniston has taken up knitting. We can always use another one of us, Jen. Welcome aboard.

Spinning Tuesday: Annis is Finished!

Don't faint, but I've finished something else.

My handspun Annis:

Annis in the snow

I started spinning for this January 1 and have the shawl blocked and finished February 1. I still can't believe that I worked on a project from start to finish, until it was done. No sidetracks (well, not many), no timeouts.

Handspun from Southern Cross Fibre

I spun yarn that was almost DK, so the shawl is larger than the original, but that's what I wanted.

The spectacular thing about spinning your own yarn is that you can make exactly what you want, by blending color and fibers, and by the way you spin your yarn.

Annis swooping

I wanted my version of Annis to be a littler larger, so I made my yarn a little fatter. I wanted my Annis to be lighter rather than drapier, so I did two things: I spun my yarn woolen, letting in as much air as fiber to make a lofty yarn and I piled it to be just balanced, if not a little under plied, to cut down on the density of the finished yarn.

Now I love nupps

I am absolutely transfixed by the magic of spinning yarns, by how many different yarns I could make just altering spin and ply, and by how it makes my knitting come alive.