Mandy Moore's Blog, page 71

WWW: Extreme Knitting….

Warm, stylish and educational!

So much to love: two Norwegian high school teachers have made particle physics-themed sweaters as a thank you gift to scientists at CERN for hosting their students on their annual visits.

Wonderful: historical illuminated manuscripts showing women spinning, carding and weaving.

Pic from @CBCOlympics twitter feed.

The knitter-verse was abuzz Saturday morning with news that there was a knitter spotted at the top of one of the Sochi snowboarding runs. Turns out it was Antti Koskinen, a Finnish snowboarding coach, and the scarf project is, quite literally, a team project. Members of the winter Finnish Olympic team will work on it, and then hand it off to the summer team before they head to Rio for the summer 2016 games.

A nice feature courtesy of the Craft Yarn Council of America about the health benefits of yarn-craft. Others are coming to understand what we’ve known all along: that knitting can calm stressed nerves, can provide opportunity for quiet meditation and mindfulness, and provide an important sense of physical accomplishment and reward. The article discusses the research work of two oncology nurses who studied the effects of knitting amongst their co-workers.

Glorious, glorious eye-candy! A video on the production of a Chanel sweater-jacket. It’s steeked! The care and attention to detail is entrancing.

With tongue firmly in cheek, blogger Amy offers 10 reasons why knitting is an excellent skill-set for the zombie apocalypse.

A challenging work, in many ways.

A retired teacher in China spent 11 years knitting her husband a hat and coat. From her own hair. Her motivation was to preserve her often-complimented hair. As far as we can tell, she didn’t spin the hair, but rather just held 15 or so lengthy strands together to make a sufficient strand for knitting with.

WWW:

Warm, stylish and educational!

So much to love: two Norwegian high school teachers have made particle physics-themed sweaters as a thank you gift to scientists at CERN for hosting their students on their annual visits.

Wonderful: historical illuminated manuscripts showing women spinning, carding and weaving.

Pic from @CBCOlympics twitter feed.

The knitter-verse was abuzz Saturday morning with news that there was a knitter spotted at the top of one of the Sochi snowboarding runs. Turns out it was Antti Koskinen, a Finnish snowboarding coach, and the scarf project is, quite literally, a team project. Members of the winter Finnish Olympic team will work on it, and then hand it off to the summer team before they head to Rio for the summer 2016 games.

A nice feature courtesy of the Craft Yarn Council of America about the health benefits of yarn-craft. Others are coming to understand what we’ve known all along: that knitting can calm stressed nerves, can provide opportunity for quiet meditation and mindfulness, and provide an important sense of physical accomplishment and reward. The article discusses the research work of two oncology nurses who studied the effects of knitting amongst their co-workers.

Glorious, glorious eye-candy! A video on the production of a Chanel sweater-jacket. It’s steeked! The care and attention to detail is entrancing.

With tongue firmly in cheek, blogger Amy offers 10 reasons why knitting is an excellent skill-set for the zombie apocalypse.

A challenging work, in many ways.

A retired teacher in China spent 11 years knitting her husband a hat and coat. From her own hair. Her motivation was to preserve her often-complimented hair. As far as we can tell, she didn’t spin the hair, but rather just held 15 or so lengthy strands together to make a sufficient strand for knitting with.

Jillian’s Spinning: More Stitching with Handspun Thread

A couple of weeks ago I talked about stitching with handspun thread on knitted fabric.

Since the stitching was successful on knitting I decided to try it on some linen fabric. I love linen, the heavy, swishy-ness of it. I have a lot of linen clothes that I’d love to stitch motifs on.

So here are those same handspun threads:

Front to back: tencel, alpaca/silk, merino/silk – all Lisa Souza fiber

stitched on purple linen

Handspun cloud

I used the blue merino/silk and stitched a wobbly stem stitch cloud. It behaved wonderfully with the linen, not splitting or pilling. I would spin it finer next time for fabric stitching. My joy on this little project is the Tencel raindrops. I can’t get over how shiny it is stitched. I had much better luck spinning the Tencel this time. I relaxed, used smaller pieces that I shook waaay open and spun from the end with lots of twist and barely any take up (thank you Beth Smith!). I spend a silly amount of time smiling and petting my little rain cloud.

I want to spin more Tencel and start experimenting with different silks. But first I think I’ll try some different wools and fiber blends all spun similarly and stitched side by side for comparison. I feel like I can have grand spinning dreams for embroidery yarns because I’m only spinning about 25 yards at a time.

I want to point out how easy it was for me to leap out of my spinning comfort zone with spinning embroidery yarns. I’ve wanted to make better friends with worsted and fine spinning. I’ve put both on want-to lists over and over, but all I needed was a little new obsession to learn to love spinning both worsted and fine yarns.

What’s new and wonderful in your spinning life?

A Knitting Cruise

A couple of weeks ago, I had the very distinct pleasure of going on a Caribbean cruise. Given the winter we’ve had, it was just the ticket – to see the sun, to feel the warmth on my skin, and to be able to go without socks (and a hat, and mittens, and a scarf, and a parka) was a pleasure.

Making it even more fun was the fact that it was a knitting cruise!

Well, for clarity, a group of knitters gathered on a 3000-person cruise on the Celebrity Reflection as it (she?) toured around the Eastern Caribbean.

Organized by Linda Sokalski, herself an avid knitter and teacher, the trip included all the usual delights of a winter cruise – sunshine, companionship, and fun – plus classes from myself and lace designer Anna Dalvi.

The entire experience was a delight.

Linda, Anna and two of our students. Look at the color of the water!

Knitting in the cafe on a sunny afternoon.

Much needed sunshine. San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Really, what more could a girl want?

Knitting socks, but not wearing them.

Anna and Kate.

WWW: Thinking Locally & Globally; Olympic Knitwear-spotting

Simple and very effective!

A cute and clever yarn-bomb on a statue of former US first-lady Lou Henry Hoover, in Waterloo, Iowa. I’m just as amused by the name of the group of yarnbombers: they call themselves the Waterloopers….

Good to hear: Ralph Lauren, the official outfitter of the 2014 Winter Olympics team, has announced that all the items of apparel will be made in the US, from US materials where possible. The wool for the sweaters comes from Imperial Stock Ranch in Oregon.

On a related note, Deb Robson writes about the concept of “terroir” as it applies to wool. To quote from Deb’s post,

We hear about terroir with regard to foods, for the most part: the concept began, I think, with wine, and refers to “the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate.”

Deb asks, entirely reasonably, why this couldn’t also be applied to fibers and yarns?

A modern spin on a classic Dale design.

On a different but equally related note, I do get rather excited about the winter Olympics, if only because of the wonderful knitwear that the Scandinavian teams inevitably wear. This year’s official Dale of Norway design for the Norwegian team is lovely.

LoveKnitting in the UK has launched a new contest. They are seeking “Britain’s Next Top Knitwear Designer“. Entrants must design a pattern for an item of men’s or women’s knitwear and send in the finished pattern with two photographs of the final item; the prize includes £1000 cash, but perhaps more excitingly, mentoring from Debbie Bliss, and a work experience placement with UK fashion designer Emilio de la Morena in advance of his S/S London Fashion Week show in September. Details at the link.

Spinning with Deb Robson and a Dreaming of Shetland Giveaway!

Dreaming of Shetland

Deb Robson is one of the people I most admire in the spinning world.  For as long as I have know her ( is it 20 years?) she has passionately championed rare and endangered breeds of sheep.

Yesterday, the Rare Breed Survival Trust in the UK updated their Watchlist. The Watchlist covers  cows, horses, chickens, pigs as well as sheep. Of all of the animals listed on the RBST Watchlist sheep have the most positive numbers. Deb Robson has had a hand in this. She has helped to bring an awareness to spinners and knitters and other fiber folk about different breeds and their properties that just was there before. The fiber world is richer for it.

Deb’s North American Teaching Schedule

Deb is teaching 3 four-day breed intensive retreats this year, and that’s all she’s teaching in North America 2014. Here’s some information:

Using individually selected and prepared fleeces, in each retreat she’ll lead a small group of participants in a relaxed, information-rich exploration of fibers, history, and spinning skills. All of the retreats accommodate a wide range of skill levels, from those who have recently gained confidence making a two-ply yarn to those with a great deal of experience.

Deb spends the year preceding a retreat sourcing and preparing the fibers. Her goal is a combination of featured materials that provides a variety of experiences—and that result in a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The retreat days combine presentation of materials and techniques with independent time for rest, further fiber work, and exploration of the local area. There’s lots of time for visiting and informal, personalized instruction.

Dates and locations:

* Explore 4 Fiber Retreat, a potpourri of fibers, March 17-20, 2014, Friday Harbor, Washington

* Explore 4 on the Eastern Shore, focusing on locally sourced fibers, October 13-16, 2014, St. Michaels, Maryland

* Wild Card Fiber Retreat, featuring an array of Shetlands in 2014, November 10-13, 2014, Friday Harbor, Washington

For each retreat, participants arrive the evening before and depart the morning after.

For information on the Washington retreats (March and November), contact Deb directly, deb@drobson.info, with “Explore 4 Spring 2014” or “Wild Card Fall 2014” in the subject line.

For information on the Maryland retreat (September), organized by Blended Threads, visit the retreat announcement or contact bobbi@blendedthreadsworkshops.com.

April 5 – 6, 2014 - Iowa Federation of Handweavers and Spinners, Waterloo, Iowa (a one-day rare breeds workshop and a couple of talks)
 
May 1 – May 5, 2014 - Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival  (a one-day Shetland workshop and a two-day 3Ls and 3Cs, with the three Leicesters and three Australian/NZ breeds), plus the two half-day barn walkabouts)

Dreaming of Shetland

Several designers, editors, tech editors and knitters got together last year and donated their creativity, time and money to publish Dreaming of Shetland. It is an e-book in seven sections (four have been released so far)  of knitting designs inspired by Shetland. All of the proceeds go to a fund to keep Deb doing her fiber and sheep research on the Shetland Islands. Deb talks about it here.

We have one copy of Dreaming in Shetland to giveaway, retail value $20.00.

Regular contest rules: leave a comment on this post between now and midnight eastern time, Friday February 7th. One comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If the commenter answers correctly they will win the e-book. If you have already won a prize from us in the past year, please do give other spinners and knitters a chance.

Jillian & Amy’s Shibui Mix Knitalong: the launch

Left, a Shibui Mix recipe card, showing yarn combos that, when held together yield a specific yarn weight, including suggested needle size and gauge; right, one of the Mix patterns that calls for two strands of Silk Cloud held together.

At last June’s TNNA (the trade show for the knitting industry), we were introduced to a brilliant concept: Shibui Mix. The clever folk at Shibui Knits have created a system we’ve never seen anywhere else. They have 8 base yarns, and have swatched every possible combination, so that knitters can simply take two of the yarns they like, knowing in advance how they’ll knit up when held together. Because the Shibui Knits line features yarns that are finer than average, this gives us quicker knits than using a single strand and — most interestingly — the ability to create projects that reflect exactly the mood we’re in at the moment.

Jillian came up with the idea of having the two of us work on the same pattern, but in two different Shibui Mixes. Jillian is, as you probably know, a very woolly knitter. I am the complete opposite. Can we both find happiness with the Shibui Mix system?

The choice of pattern was an easy one: Cocoknits’ Cocoon Wrap. It’s originally designed in a bulky-ish wool. How would it look made out of something double-stranded and wispy?

(Editors’ note: The  yarns and patterns for this experiment were graciously provided by Shibui Knits and Cocoknits with no obligation to provide anything but honest feedback.)

 Jillian
 Amy


 


Shibui Silk Cloud in Fjord (left); Shibui Linen in Suit (right)
Shibui Linen in Cascade (left) and Graphite (right)


I had a terrible time picking yarns and then colors. Being confronted with WALLS of Shibui at TNNA is overwhelming because it’s all perfect and gorgeous. I walked around petting and contemplating stuffing it all in my bag. I settled into the Linen/Silk Cloud combo, because the gauge would work and because I love the juxtaposition of the texture and the construction of the yarns. The silky fuzzy slickness of the silk and baby mohair and the crisp chain-link of the linen.

The colors went a little faster. I’m in a blue, deep indigo blue phase, which the Linen had. I wanted a little lift colorwise, but not a different color so I went for the Fjord in the Silk Cloud.
For me, the choice was a little easier. Since I can’t touch wool (I’m allergic) and mohair doesn’t feel pleasant to me, I had the option of going with linen, silk, or alpaca.

In the end, though I really like both the Heichi and the Baby Alpaca DK as yarns, it was color that spoke to me.  I am so in love with the Cascade blue in Shibui’s Linen that I had to choose it first. And my favorite combination with it was the same yarn in Graphite, a medium blue-grey.  (I’ve already done a project using Shibui Linen and absolutely loved it. Lightweight — almost weightless — but double-stranded it makes a substantial enough fabric to have a really impressive visual impact.)

We’re both swatching and will have cast on and gotten well into the knitting by next Monday’s update. Tune in to see how we each like our Mix and how it is knitting up!

WWW: New Places to Shop for Yarn, Small Knits and Kate’s a Star (Shhh, there’s a giveaway)

It’s the middle of winter, what better time to shop for more yarn. Several companies are opening news shops or refreshing what they already have. Here are a few I noticed this week:

Albany has Lion Brand

 

 

Lion Brand Yarn Company is opening a new shop in Albany, New York

 

 

Briar Rose has a new website

 

 

Briar Rose Fiber has a brand new website, making it easier to shop for her yarn and fibers.

 

 

 

new sweater kits

 

Vancouver based sweater design company, Granted, has begun selling kits for their Pacific Northwest inspired sweaters.

 

 

 

Knit all of the small things!

 

Do you love to knit accessories? There is a new knitting retreat for you! The Small Knits Symposium will take place in Bloomington, Indiana on April 24-27. Organized by Lana Holden of Skew Sock fame, the teachers this year are Lorilee Beltman and Sivia Harding.

 

 

 

Kate Atherley, who usually does our Wednesday post, is away teaching this week. So we thought we would offer you a chance to take one of her classes, online. Kate has a brand new Learn to Knit class with Annie’s Crafts. Here’s what it’s about: Join expert knitter Kate Atherley as she makes learning how to knit fun and easy for anyone. In this all-new Annie’s video class, you’ll learn all the basics of knitting from how to hold the yarn and needles, casting on your first stitches, the knit and purl stitches, how to bind off, stockinette stitch, ribbing, seed stitch, and basic increasing and decreasing. Class includes 8 beginner projects. 

We have one class to give away. Retail value $24.95

Regular contest rules: leave a comment on this post between now and midnight eastern time, Sunday February 2nd. One comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question. If the commenter answers correctly they will win the class. If you have already won a prize from us in the past year, please do give other knitters a chance. -

 

 

Jillian’s Spinning: Handspun Stitching on Handspun Knitting

I’ve been making progress on spinning yarn that I can stitch with, take a look:

Front to back: tencel, alpaca/silk, merino/silk – all Lisa Souza fiber. All yarns are 2-ply

The blue Merino/silk is about 18 wpi, the green alpaca/silk is 24 wpi and the tencel is 28 wpi. Regular 6 strand DMC embroidery floss is 22 wpi. I feel really good about these yarns. Of course there are different things I want to try and I want to spin finer, but that is why I keep spinning ,to keep learning!

I stitched with handspun on handspun. First I did a little feather stitch with a dk singles on a 2-ply chunky stockinette swatch.

Feather stitch

This took about a second and was fun and satisfying. I immediately realized I couldn’t pull so hard with embroidery on knitting. The embroidery floats on the top.When I pulled tightly it sunk into the knitted fabric and disappeared.  I was a little disappointed that yarn that is variegated for knitting isn’t variegated for stitching. I need much shorter color runs for my yarn. More fun to ponder.

Then I used my freshly spun yarns. A little flower on a cabled swatch.

Blue Flower

The yarns behaved beautifully (win!) and didn’t fuzz much with repeated pulling out and restitching. I like this as a first go at stitching on textured knitting. I am curious about different ways to stitch on already textured fabric. There is lots to sample and stitch in this realm.

I’m loving this so much I have to remind myself to go back to my regular work. It’s exciting to have something new – the embroidery and something old – spinning to pair up. It’s great to have a new technique to dig into with spinning – spinning fine. This is exactly why I never say never when it comes to craft. I didn’t want to spin fine in the past becasue I didn’t want to knit or weave with it, but now that I want to stitch with handspun, spinning fine is at the top of my spinning to-do list.

Vogue Knitting Live; Blocking On The Road

I felt very welcome indeed!

Earlier this month, Amy and I were lucky enough to teach at Vogue Knitting Live in New York City. What a fantastic event it was!

Now, it’s no secret that NYC is one of my favourite places in the entire world, and the idea that I got to go there and do my favourite thing – teaching knitting – was just too exciting.

The event was held at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Right in the middle of the madness.

There are knitters in these crowds.

Amy and I both had a full slate of classes

This was a fun one!

But we did get some time to wander around, eat bagels, and of course, drink coffee.

Coffee is very important.

Now, being a designer, I’m always keen to show off my own designs at an event like this. I’ve been busy with some sooper-sekrit design work, but I did have one thing on the needles that I’d been meaning to finish – a chunky version of my Rickenbacker shawl. (More details on it here.)

I worked on it on the plane on the way there – binding off the last stitch as we trundled up to the gate.

Ready to wear!

I wore it that first day, ends a-dangling, unblocked.

Living on the edge, knitter-style.

But as an instructor, I knew I couldn’t get away with that for long. So that evening I soaked the shawl in the hotel bathroom sink, rolled it in a towel to wring it dry… and then lacking pins or wires, indulged in my favorite cheat for a triangle shawl – hanging!

Improvised drying rack. Worked brilliantly!

I had a fantastic time – so many great students, so much fabulous yarn, so much to see and do. I look forward to going back.