and knitting

March of the Emperor

I missed an opportunity to make some sort of March of the Penguins/Happy Feet reference in my last post. Luckily, Chanel presented more than one intarsia penguin sweater for Fall 2007, giving me another excuse to post, and an opportunity to link to this hilarious promo bit for March of the Penguins.

Knitting News - March 8 2007

- pureknits is offering a yarntini sock club membership! The first allotment of memberships sold out quickly, but a few more were added late yesterday. If you missed your chance, console yourself with something else from Yahaira's exquisitely curated shop. Perhaps the yummy looking kashmir dk ?

- You can now register for this year's Split Rock Arts Summer Workshops. A few highlights:
Natural Dyes: Techniques for Wool
A Feltmaker's Bag of Tricks: Exploring Hand-Felting Processes
Knitting: A Different Slant

- Dame Helen Mirren plans to knit a football kit for her Oscar.
The Daily Record - March 6 2007

The 61-year-old star, who last month won the best actress Academy Award for her role in The Queen, said she would do it "to keep him warm". [more]

- Knitting women unite to keep Navy dolphins warm
KOMO-TV - March 2 2007

A group of women gathered Friday at the Bainbridge Island Senior Center.

They are part of a knitting group growing across the United States.

It only It looks like a knitting club.

This is much more than knit one, purl two. This is politics.

"The whole problem of putting them on the dolphins is one of the things we have to consider in the future. It's an interesting thought," said Jan Bailey, one of the knitters.

The women are knitting sweaters for warm-water bottlenose dolphins. The Navy wants to put them on Homeland Security patrol here.

One of the knitters Karin Beran says that's cruel, but says the dolphins will know what to do with the sweaters.

"Well, I guess the dolphins are so smart, so they can figure it out, if and how and when. I'm just happy to knit for them," Beran said. [more]

The Kaiser does Mary Maxim

Yeah, I'm still sick, so I'm afraid there are no knitting updates. A lot of people at work have also been ill, and a similarly evil viral infection also wormed its way through our computer network. Then we had the blizzard. It was a tough week.

The knitwear trend spotting posts at Knit Creations of a Curious Mind and making things were a fun distraction. However, I thought it was a bit odd that I wasn't seeing anything from Chanel, so I moseyed on over to Style.com to check out the slideshow.

There weren't that many knits, but I found a cute-ish scarf and a striped shawl. Then I saw this -- an intarsia penguin! A bit unexpected don't you think? Maybe we can convince Lucia to write one of her famous haiku.

Various and Sundry Links - March 5 2007

- A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll [via]. We need to do something about the shameful state of health care in our country. A soldier shouldn't have to re-enlist just to get health insurance for his ailing wife.

- Yeah, Japan's Prime Minister is a jerk, and some of their chefs are overly concerned with sushi authenticity, but you just have to love how Japan's zoos practice dealing with escaped animals.

- Our first powerpoint President? (I hope not)

- Foodies chortle wryly at a foie gras hamburger in a brioche bun for the same reason that people laugh loudly at all the references in Shakespeare in Love - to make sure you're aware exactly how clever they are. [via]

- Before and After the Wall

- Why are we, the already handicapped, left to wear shoes that would only make a hairy hobbit happy? I've been condemned to flats since I broke my foot last fall, so I'm very sympathetic to this plea for help. Do any of you have ideas for cute and orthopedically correct shoes? Maybe MJ will make some in his potential new third line [via].

- Human powered cursor [via]

- Fashion Wars [via]