Mandy Moore's Blog, page 2

WWW: women’s work exhibit, AI knitting, and woolen Tulalip traditions

The Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft (East Sussex, UK) has an exhibit on now through 13 October 2019, Women’s Work. It focuses on the work of craftswomen who turned their practice’s into successful businesses between the two World Wars.

Learn more at ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk

Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (aka MIT CSAIL, Massachusetts, USA) have come up with a new approach to streamline the process: a new system and design tool for automating knitted garments, InverseKnit and CADKnit.

Knitty design submissions for Winter are due 15 Sept 2019.

Exhibit weaves together Tulalip tribes traditions with wool, the centerpiece of the display is a 200-year-old blanket made with wool from a now-extinct dog. [via Liz]

photo: Senior curator Tessa Campbell with a rare example of a blanket made from woolly dog hair and mountain goat hair at the Hibulb Cultural Center in Tulalip (Washington, USA). The blanket is part of the current exhibit “Interwoven History, Coast Salish Wool.” (Andy Bronson / The Herald)

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Popular Posts: Handspun Summer Sachet

I’m still crazy for these little sachets. I’ve made some for gifts, but have this original one on my desk where I can pet it and smell it everyday. Originally posted in August 2018.

This summer I challenged myself to make a quick handspun project that I could make while traveling, something portable, something useful.

I made a Summer Sachet. It needs two Schacht Zoom Loom squares, a bit of yarn for embroidering and sewing and a little dried lavender.

Zoom Loom squares only need 8 yards of yarn, quick to spin on a spindle. The stitching yarn uses even less yardage.

I used a braid of Lisa Souza’s gorgeous (and so soft) Superfine Merino in her South Pacific colorway. I spun and wove it as it came into a almost-worsted weight 2-ply for the square. For the embroidery, I broke out purple and green and spun them separately to stitch the lavender.

The directions for the Summer Sachet are on the Schacht Blog.

What did you make this summer?

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WWW: MRI Makers; Double Knit Sleep; Shawl Sizing Considerations

Knitting raises thousands for Scottish MR scanner fundraising campaign and there’s still more to raise. You can learn about the group, MRI Makers at mrimaakers.com and the Shetland MRI Scanner Appeal.

I’m fascinated by those who choose to turn data into knitting. Seung Lee chose to double knit his son’s first year of sleep patterns.

Find out more on this twitter thread and his Ravelry project page.

Xandy Peters (Ribbon Candy, Winter 2015) created a very useful visualization on sizing considerations for half-circular shawls.

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Popular Posts: What to Do with Fiber Slush

My Fiber Slush after teaching

My favorite thing to do with fiber slush now is to wind it into .25 ounce balls, and use them to randomly blend colors at the wheel. I can’t get enough of those little babies. Originally posted in September 2018.

Fiber slush is what I call all of the leftovers from spinning, the bits or lengths of unspun fiber that I can’t bring myself to just throw away.

Using fiber slush is a great opportunity to just play with fiber. It’s not fiber I’ve bought with anything specific in mind, so what I use it for is to stretch my creative spinning and color muscles.

I use it to make batts. Fiber slush is the perfect stuff to make heathered or tweed batts.

I use it on my blending board. Small bits of special shiny fibers really stand out in rolags and mini batts.

I use it to make oddball yarns, just grab fiber randomly and spin. Have you peeked in a yarn shop lately? Mishmash or patchwork yarns are very popular, and all they are are randomly marled yarns.

I use it to practice techniques, art yarn techniques, or worsted lace weight, I’m more likely to practice when the fiber I’m using isn’t something I might be saving for a project.

I use it to think about color, complete with notes, tags and samples in baggies. I feel freer somehow combining colors when they are smaller bits, I see combinations differently. I draft colors together, combine in plies, or just make my own patterned yarn.

What do you do with your fiber slush?

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WWW: per filo e per segno; usable scraps; crafting a spark or blown away

Per filo e per segno (“By thread and by sign”) is a project to mark the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the first Italian UNESCO site, Valle Camonica, and aims to promote the tradition of knitting and crochet. Please note the webpages are in Italian.

Hate waste? Love using scrap materials for your projects? Our friends at Tom Bihn have created a product page that lists currently available materials. Make your requests!

Are you Blown Away by the first season of a reality competition for glass blowing artists on Netflix? Or do you prefer other formats to learn about artists such as Spark or Craft in America/Handmade in Canada?

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August is for Filling My Bucket and Revisiting Popular Posts

Sampling handspun

In August I’ve planned to do more making work and less writing work. I’ll be at my wheel, needles, and loom experimenting and just filling my self up with making.

I’ll also be studying the statistics from the KnittyBlog. I’m looking for what posts were popular in 2017 and 2018, so I can give you more of that in upcoming posts.

Here on the KnittyBlog on Spinning Tuesdays in August, I’m going to be reposting the four most popular posts of 2018, that aren’t giveaways. Those, by far, are our most popular posts!

If you know what you’d like to see more of here on the blog, please leave a comment on this post.

Happy spinning!

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WWW: Hello, Crochet Friends; BT Lives in the Stitch; Antiracism Symbol Design Challenge

Crochet prodigy, Jonah Larson‘s new book, Hello, Crochet Friends! is out now.

You can find information about the book tour at this facebook page.

BT Lives in the Stitch is an entry in the PBS Online Film Festival.

Watch to learn about this after school program at North Lawndale College Prep, a high school located on the south side of Chicago (USA).

[via Kay & Kate]

While not knitting related, there are many creatives in other disciplines who read this space: Antiracism Symbol Design Challenge

Protest art always has been instrumental to the struggle for a more socially just future. From the clenched Black Power fist, to the rainbow flag for LGBTQ rights, to the campaign for nuclear disarmament peace sign, iconic global symbols representing social justice, resistance, and solidarity have breathed life into movements and challenged generations to build a better world. ~Ibram X Kendi

Submissions due by Monday July 29th at 5pm ET. Learn more at the contest website.

[via Amy on instagram]

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Spinzilla Is No More

Thanks for the memories, Spinzilla!

The news has been creeping out slowly, and if you’ve heard the rumor, it’s true. Spinzilla is no more.

For a variety of reasons The National Needlework Association has decided to discontinue Spinzilla.  Here’s the official announcement from TNNA.

I’ve participated many years, it’s always been fun to spin and just as fun to watch everyone else spin on the years I couldn’t squeeze it in. I do appreciate that TNNA recognized that it hasn’t been running as smoothly as it should.

What will you and your spinners do instead of Spinzilla?

 

 

 

 

How is your Tour de Fleece spinning going? There’s only a week left. If your enthusiasm is flagging, maybe you need some visual inspiration.  Instagram is my favorite place to look at all the amazing spins. I follow #tourdefleece2019 and #tourdefleece    Tell me what you are spinning for the TdF!

 

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www: heavy metal knitting champs; tapestry interpretation; letterbox print from lego

Finland’s Heavy Metal Knitting Championship was a success with the five-person Giga Body Metal team clinching the title.

Mark your calendars, the organizers announced they plan to repeat the event next summer.

A Handwoven Tapestry Invites Interpretation Between the Threads

Victoria Manganiello and Julian Goldman’s “Computer 1.0” is an installation inspired by the Jacquard loom and computer programming.

photo by Katherine Ryals, courtesy the Museum of Arts and Design. [via Liz]

You can browse many interesting patterns via the Present & Correct blog.

How might you interpret them into knitting?

Don’t forget, you can submit your designs to Knitty.

Pictured is a letterpress print from Lego found in their post, Brick Tease. [via Kate]

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Latest Addition to My Spinning Kit: Light

I’ve always found my headlamps at REI

Am I getting older or are the rooms we take classes in getting darker? Probably a little of both. The more I teach in rooms with few (or any) windows the more I crave light.

Instead of complaining about it, I’ve decided to combat it with an addition to my spinning kit. A headlamp.

So simple and easy. We have a bunch kicking around my house. We use them for camping. We’ve had them since the kids were little, they would wear them for various games of pretend and reading in bed. They are available lots of places, outdoor stores, on-line and the camping aisle of big box stores.

I don’t leave it turned on or wear it on my head in class, I don’t want to inadvertently shine my cyclops eye into the eyes of my students. I wear it around my neck or keep it in my apron pocket, and turn it on when I want to see color or detail in the yarn being spun.

 

Tiny USB lights I found at Staples

 

My friend Greg turned me on to another type of light for spinning. If you have an e-spinner and use a battery pack,get a USB light. Plugged into your battery pack, it gives a constant beam of light and keeps your battery on, no having to turn your battery back on after pausing a spin. Genius.

Let there be light!

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