Knitting News
Updated April 30 2005
Degrees of success
The Scotsman - April 30 2005
Edgy, yet approachable is one way to describe Katey Leyland’s look. Add the words beautiful, wearable and innovative and you’ll have described her prints. Her show, which examines vintage knitting patterns and techniques, was inspired by several different sources...
Despite her fascination with all things wool-related, Leyland does not knit. Instead she scans the patterns created by the knit onto silk, satins, georgette, jacquard and other woven materials, then alters the scale of the resulting images to create a working base. She goes on to mix the knit designs with floral shapes and various other forms to produce stunning printed fabrics.
New yarn store owners hoping to knit together a CommuKNITy
Rose Garden Resident - April 28 2005
CommuKNITy is ostensibly a store for anyone interested in knitting, crocheting and related needle arts. Located at 1345 The Alameda, in the space formerly occupied by Be Civilized, it's 4,000 square feet of yarn, needles, hooks, books, classrooms and a conversation area where people can sit and knit.
Buyer's lament: Alpaca was all wool, no action (ok, ok, only tangentially related to knitting, but thought it was amusing)
The Star Ledger - April 28 2005
Diego Siempro was supposed to be a champion stud alpaca.
Instead he has been busted down to pet status.
Aurora will host annual fair that celebrates fiber
The Oregonian - April 28 2005
The Aurora Colony Handspinners' Guild will present the 21st Annual Fiber Faire on Saturday in downtown Aurora.
Knitting prayers among the purls
The Republican - April 27 2005
Over and over again, they repeat the pattern. Knit three stitches. Then purl three. Then start anew.
Like a calming meditation mantra, this simple waltz-like movement - suggestive of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or the triad of mind, body, and spirit - is the heart of every prayer shawl lovingly knitted by a small community of women who meet at the Centered Place.
Knitting Knights
Columbia Missourian - April 25 2005
Every Tuesday, about a dozen women gather for Knitting Knight — but grannies knitting baby blankets they are not. These women are MU students, many of whom learned to click their needles together just this year.
“It was hard to get the hang of at first, but after that it was all knitting all the time,” freshman Carly Burdg said. She learned to knit in the fall when sophomores in her hall were teaching those who were interested.
Take mother out of her world
South Florida Sun-Sentinel - April 24 2005
Proclaiming that knitting is "the new yoga," The Cliffs Resort in Pismo Beach, Calif., is offering a Hip Mother's Day Enrichment package for moms and daughters. The Cliffs will provide knitting instructors and supplies, including knitting needles to take home, wine and hors d'oeuvres. Mothers and daughters also will learn about belly dancing and each will receive a scarf to take home to practice. Sunday brunch is included. Packages, available every weekend in May, start at $299.
Knit group talks, knits and bonds
Lincoln Journal Star - April 24 2005
A speeding ticket turned Tana Pageler on to knitting.
"I had to take traffic class, and I wanted something to keep me occupied," confessed the 31-year-old Lincoln woman.
Unfortunately, the class wasn't quite as dull as she envisioned — and she never picked up her needles and yarn that day.
Fortunately, she's found plenty of time since to knit socks and diaper covers for her 2-year-old son. She pulls out her needles every chance she gets — and the first Saturday of every month she leaves the child with her husband, grabs her needles and skeins of yarn and heads to The Mill in College View for Knitting Meetup.
Knit Wits growing in number on Hatteras
Outer Banks Sentinel - April 23 2005
Members arrive carrying bags stuffed with unfinished scarves, bolas and afghans. While some use traditional yarn and patterns, others work with materials their grandmothers wouldn't recognize. Coulter calls the meetings "creative free zones" where the women express their talents in different ways.
In northern Utah, knitting makes a comeback
Daily Herald - April 23 2005
Knitting and crocheting may be decidedly "low-tech," but they have become increasingly popular among young adults of both genders.
At Utah State University, Sigma Chi Fraternity members have been spotted wearing Mike Vilven's crocheted wristbands. Vilven, 19, estimates that he has crafted more than 50 of the 3-inch wide bands since he learned to crochet two years ago.
Knitting for charity can make a difference
News Tribune Online - April 22 2005
On Christmas Eve in 1995, Karen Loucks read an article about a small child whose security blanket enabled her to endure intensive chemotherapy. Loucks decided to donate handmade blankets to the Denver Rocky Mountain Children’s Cancer Center, thus starting Project Linus.
To Russia with love: Hand-knit prayer shawls sent to Beslan
Littleton Independent - April 21 2005
Brimming with compassion for the Russian families of the September terrorist attack in Beslan that eventually led to scores of deaths among the school population, two women pastors from a church in Lunenburg, Mass. began sending hand-knit prayer shawls to the grieving moms.
The idea caught on with Julie Palmason, a member of the Congregational Church on King Street. She is an avid self-taught knitter who has made scarves and other items over the years as an antidote to the hours spent on the job at a high-tech firm. She feels she can unwind and reflect while she knits.
Knitting needles put to good use
The Winchester Star - April 21 2005
Winchester Hospital's Jane Archambeault, RN (Breast Care Center staff nurse), Christine Callahan, RN (Breast Cancer Center nurse coordinator), and Melinda Taranto-Garnis, LICSW (oncology/Breast Care Center social worker) accept a donation from Muraco Elementary School students Lauren Burchard, Nicky Manning and Shadi Fotouhi at the hospital's Breast Care Center in Woburn. The girls presented 42 scarves knitted by 15 students as part of a fifth grade community service project.
Residents Urged to Join Knitting Craze
Community Newswire - April 2005
Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz are said to be fans - and now Shrewsbury residents are today preparing to demonstrate their knitting skills.
Martha's Poncho: An Amazing Yarn
Business Week - April 18 2005
You might call it the Martha Effect. In the 127 years since Ruben Blumenthal founded Lion Brand Yarn, the New York-based company has never quite experienced a frenzy like the one set off by Martha Stewart's post-prison wardrobe selection. On Mar. 3, the night the domestic diva was released, TV networks around the world broadcast images of her -- over and over again -- walking to a private jet in a hand-crocheted poncho. The garment set off an enormous wave of interest among knitting fans, says Ilana Rabinowitz, Lion Brand's director of consumer marketing.
Now's the time to get knitting!
The Huddersfield Daily Examiner - April 18 2005
Knitting is the latest celebrity trend sweeping the nation - and it has now hit Huddersfield.
The hobby - traditionally associated with grandmas and Mothers' Unions - became in vogue again after American Debbie Stoller started a knitting group called Stitch 'n' Bitch in New York.
Old craft attracts young enthusiasts
Montgomery Advertiser - April 18 2005
Charles Boyd Calvert is not "knit"-picky when it comes to finding ways to relieve stress. He simply picks up two needles, a ball of yarn and lets his fingers do the rest.
A humorous look into the "Dark Side" of knitting
Press Release - April 18 2005
The Lion Brand Yarn Company publishes The Lion Brand Newsletter, which is emailed each week to over 370,000 subscribers who are interested in Yarn Crafts such as Crocheting and Knitting. In a recent edition readers were asked to complete the phrase "You know you knit to much when ........"
Knit one, purl two for freedom
The Cincinnati Post - March 23 2005
What this means is that liberty-loving stitchers foiled the Department of Homeland Security's best efforts to disarm the nation's knitters. Thus, the Martha Stewart prison poncho celebrates freedom in two senses of the word.
The zen of knitting (thanks mk)
The Honolulu Advertiser - April 11 2005
Several young women, one with electric-red hair, plopped down at a table at Mocha Java in Ward Centre.
Excited to see the others, they spent a few moments catching up on friends and goings-on.
Then a hush fell over the group. They had assumed the position: eyes down, hands together.
If it weren't for the knitting needles, you'd think they were in prayer.
Designer’s award to help knitting
Hampstead & Highgate Express - April 15 2005
AWARD-winning designer Cheryl Branford-Peers has won a scholarship to improve her knitting.
The 29-year-old from Swiss Cottage scooped a £2,800 handout from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) to spend 17 weeks on a personal study programme at the Royal College of Art.
She will learn cutting edge knitting and embroidery techniques and plans to set up her own freelance business after completing the course.
Knit your way to a college education
MSNBC - March 28 2005
Like many high school students, Megan Schier is stitching together money for college, but she's doing it literally, winning a $1,500 scholarship from the American Sheep Industry for knitting and sewing an outfit with wool.
Hip to Knit
Bristol Herald Courier - March 24 2005
Becky St. Leger is addicted.
The East Tennessee State University student can’t stop. She does it after classes, while she’s working, with her friends, by herself. She’s even taught others how to do it.
Like many other girls her age, St. Leger has gotten caught up in the knitting and crocheting craze. Her roommates, Hope Bowers and Leslie Jones, share her passion.
Still knitting, and helping
Medfield Press - April 14 2005
The same Medfield knitters who helped deck out the Red Sox wives in team-colored scarves for last year's playoffs are turning to town spirit in their latest quest to raise money for cancer research.
Medfield and Westwood "town scarves" made their debut at the Graceful Stitches knit shop in downtown Medfield this week, crafted of each town's colors and ready for purchase. Proceeds of the sales, like every sale at Graceful Stitches, will go 100 percent toward cancer research.
Positively loopy (reg. required - try bugmenot.com)
Naples Daily News - April 14 2005
Only a handful of women pinned down their place in fact-or-fiction history with needlework — Penelope, the unraveler. Madame Defarge, the knitter. Flagster Betsy Ross. And poor Katherine Sloper, the jilted needlepointer of "The Heiress" film.
But that hasn't stopped their modern-day sisters (and brothers) from taking up the crochet hook, needle and knitting sticks in vastly increasing numbers.
A knitting craze (with video)
WTNH - April 11 2005
They’re coming out of the woodwork so to speak, out of the woodwork to do needlework. More and more people are picking up the needles and yarn.
A close-knit group relaxes on the fast track
San Francisco Chronicle - April 10 2005
There was more than the usual end-of-the-day frenzy surrounding the commuters piling into the 5:20 p.m. commuter train No. 542, running from Oakland to Sacramento on a recent Tuesday.
The fuss revolved around one particular rider, knitting guru and Bust magazine editor Debbie Stoller, who was there to kick off the inaugural departure of Stitch 'N Ride -- a car designated on certain commuter routes every Tuesday for knitters to clack their needles together as they make their way down the track.
Photo Gallery
Close-Knit Cafes
US News & World Report - April 18 2005 (whee I'm a time traveler)
The knitting cafe is the newest stitch in the knitting and crochet revival sweeping the country, as fashionistas rush to create scarves and hats--and now ponchos and wraps, the accessories of the moment. In 1999, there were some 1,400 specialty yarn stores or stores carrying high-end yarn. Today, the National NeedleArts Association estimates 2,000 stores.
Homespun Warmth
Wichita Eagle - April 9 2005
Modern hand stitchers are venturing into home accessories, adding comfort and warmth with pieces ranging from the simple to the sophisticated.
Tiny sweaters symbolize deaths (reg. required - try bugmenot.com)
Knoxville News Sentinel - April 7 2005
From knitting and war and public art comes Nina Rosenberg's RedSweaters.
On RedSweaters.org, the 25-year-old artist writes that she's not making a political statement about the war or creating a memorial to the fallen; she just wants to "suspend 1,500-plus hand-knit mini red sweaters from a tree" outside her San Francisco home to acknowledge the life of each U.S. soldier lost in Iraq and spread awareness of that sacrifice as people take the time to contribute a hand-knit sweater.
Not Just Granny’s Pastime Anymore
The Mountain Times - April 7 2005
Groups consisting mainly of females are meeting in various locations on a regular basis for what many consider to be not only a relaxing and creative outlet, but a means of building strength and dexterity. We are told that the repetitive nature of the handwork can be soothing and calming, and gatherings present great opportunities to meet new friends.
Changing gender roles and Knitting
The University News - April 6 2005
It is happening in cafés, universities, and subways across the nation.
Thousands of women are picking up their needles and knitting. The face of knitting, however, has changed drastically in the past decades.
Student fibers guild turns knitting craze into charity project
Oregon Daily Emerald - April 5 2005
At first glance it's just a burgundy stocking cap. You could get a similar style hat from a mega-store for a few bucks.
But don't tell that to the members of the University Student Fibers Guild, a group of University students with a knitting obsession and a student program aimed at giving back to the community through their own hands.
Making trauma easier to bear
Daily Liberal - April 5 2005
A cuddly teddy can go a long way in making anyone blue feel better.
Thanks to Joan Waites, 100 sick or distressed people, mainly children, have been comforted by their very own handmade teddy bear.
Knitting Club Casts Off
The Hexham Courant - April 1 2005
KNIT-WITS of Hexham, take up your needles – a weekly knitting bee among the cosy sofas of the Forum Cinema coffee bar is about to cast off.
Knitting catches on with younger generation
DesMoines Register - April 1 2005
What is it about this knitting craze that is taking hold of a much younger generation than we remember and who are creating their own rhythmic cadence of knitting and purling to take scarf-making to a new fashion echelon?
