Mostly boring, but sometimes interesting!
Updated July 31 2005
Literary briefs: Knitting
Chicago Sun Times - July 31 2005
Knitting, by Anne Bartlett (Houghton Mifflin, $23). Set in Southern Australia, this first novel charts the grieving of Sandra Fildes, an affluent, rigid professor who studies the history of textiles and related issues of women's work. After Sandra's husband dies of cancer, she meets the mercurial Martha McKenzie when they both help a stranger who has collapsed in the street.
Lambtown is coming to Dixon
Times-Herald
A year ago, Jeane deCoster swapped her job as a software designer in New York City for something much more elemental - dyeing sheep wool.
Now the owner of the Desert Hot Springs-based Elemental Affairs, deCoster travels to fairs throughout California selling an array of flamboyant fibers, and her next stop is Dixon for today's Lambtown, USA festival.
"When I was planning to go to an Oakland fair, I just decided to stay an extra two days," she said Friday while setting up a display of her wool.
She and the anticipated 100 other vendors won't be short of customers as event organizers expect some 30,000 lamb lovers to flock to the Dixon May Fair grounds for the 19th annual Lambtown, USA.
Rwandan Widows Earn Livelihood with American Knitting Machines
PR Leap - July 30 2005
When “Rwanda” is mentioned in the U.S., images of genocide and deep sadness come to mind. But when “knitting” is mentioned in Rwanda, the only images are those of smiles, laughter and women working together. “This is the Rwanda I know –seeing the biggest smile imaginable from a new knitter after finishing her first scarf, knowing she will be now able to feed her children using her newly acquired skills,” says Cari Clement, founder of FACED, the Fiber and Craft Entrepreneurial Development Center.
After a year of grant writing, Clement’s dream of helping women through knitting has finally borne fruit. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Rwandans and Americans in Partnership, a Rwanda-based non-governmental agency, are pleased to announce the signing of a $99,000 grant to benefit Rwanda Knits, a program developed by Clement in 2003. With this grant, thirteen new, and ultimately self-sustaining, knitting cooperatives will be established throughout Rwanda, each group receiving 40 knitting machines, accessories, yarn and training. Some of the cooperatives will also receive training in and equipment for finishing knitted goods for export. This training will include embellishing (embroidery, crochet, etc.), labeling, inspecting, packing and preparation of export documents.
Here's a good yarn: Knitting fans keep eye on the ball
The Seattle Times - July 29 2005 - Check out this photo
No one hawked skeins of cashmere in the 300 Level at Safeco Field last night. But oh, think if they had. More than 1,600 baseball fans blissfully knitting. The crack of the bat. The feel of soft, supple yarn in hand.
"Come on, Gil!" howled Kathie Chapman as she knitted a blue baby blanket. Her plea to pitcher Gil Meche appeared to work.
"That's all right!" shouted Don Cooper, an afghan-in-progress held with one hand; the other slapped his knee as Raul Ibanez singled.
Stitch 'N Pitch Night made its debut at the Seattle Mariners game last night.
Stitch by stitch, Bosnian women improve their lives
Christian Science Monitor - July 27 2005
Surrounded by crocheted scarves, knitted bootees and ski sweaters, and crayon-colored yarns, Sedeta Smajlovic patiently sits with her hands in her lap. She's waiting to receive a flower-bud scarf pattern, a pair of knitting needles, and several skeins of yarn. Someone will also explain the complexity of the pattern and how long the scarf will take to complete (about 20 hours).
For Ms. Smajlovic, this isn't just a casual foray into knitting a gift or for herself. When she is finished, her scarf will have a Bosnian Handicrafts tag that reads "Made by Sedeta." It will retail for $84, and she will earn $25.
Should you be part of Knitters Anonymous?
Detroit Free Press - July 24 2005
While many knitters may have a healthy, rewarding relationship with their craft, more and more are crossing the line into uncontrollable compulsion.
The new book "At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much" (Storey Publishing, $9.95) addresses this issue.
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (a.k.a. the Yarn Harlot) writes with humor about the excuses, rationales and tribulations common to compulsive knitters.
Yarn fans flock to talk shop at convention
San Francisco Chronicle - July 23 2005
Knitting isn't just something to do when you're doing something else. It turns out that knitting is something to do.
That goes for crocheting, too, although people who crochet and people who knit do not agree about a lot of things, including what best to do with a skein of wool.
Five hundred people who must be considered passionate about knitting and crocheting got together in Oakland on Friday to pull the wool over each other's eyes. It's the biggest knitting and crocheting convention in these parts in some time, and most of the people inside the Oakland Marriott City Center for the annual FiberArts show were out to dispel myths.
Children experiencing the 19th century
Baltimore Sun - July 24 2005
Each week, a different grade of about 40 children attends the camp, where they learn how people in the 19th century lived, worked and played. Each day, the children do four activities that teach them such things as how laundry was done before washers and dryers were invented, how rugs were made from weaving looms and how thread was made from wool using a wooden drop spindle.
Stud scoops the pool for wool
Country News - July 25 2005
What began as a love of spinning and knitting has led former Sydney architect Ethel Stephenson to become a prize-winning sheep stud owner.
Mrs Stephenson runs the Ostlers Hills English Leicester sheep stud at Goorambat and last week she scooped the pool for the breed at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo.
Knitting night for Mariners
The Seattle Times - July 21 2005
There are ladies who lunch and ladies who use their lunch hours to knit. Or so it goes on the sixth floor of the Seattle Mariners front office, where a group of women regularly meet in the lunchroom, knitting sweaters and scarves underneath posters of Ichiro, Richie Sexson and "Let's Mojo!"
Go ahead and tease them if you want. Co-workers did, and then a marketing vice president looked at the group and pondered: Loyal knitters; baseball fans. How about a knitters' night at the ballpark?
Smart needles for distracted knitters (Thanks Newlin!)
We Make Money Not Art - July 19 2005
Rebecca Spender´s KnitWit are smart needles that keep track of the number of stitches you've already done. Movement sensors in the ends record the movement of the needles.
Former columnist Susan Lydon dies
The Oakland Tribune - July 19 2005
Susan Gordon Lydon, a founding editor of Rolling Stone and a former Oakland Tribune columnist, died July 9 in Florida after a long battle with cancer. She was 61... She wrote three books: "Take the Long Way Home: Memoirs of a Survivor," published in 1993; "The Knitting Sutra: Craft as a Spiritual Practice," published in 1997; and "Knitting Heaven and Earth: Healing the Heart with Craft," published last month.
She also started and ran a newspaper for the spiritual school Arica, called "The No Time Times."
Ms. Lydon started knitting when she was little, but really picked it up in college. She eventually became a master knitter. "My mom was really touch-oriented, extremely tactile. Her writing and crafts — all done with your hands," her daughter said.
"She was a brilliant intellectual, she just knew everything. She was just way too smart for her own good," friend Marilyn Rinzler of Berkeley said. "She was an amazing, strong, funny and spiritual person. Throughout her whole illness she showed tremendous strength. She was really in touch with her emotions."
Club's all talk, wrist action
Tallahassee Democrat - July 17 2005
Jenn Jarvis slipped into the sweater and tugged it down, flattening the hem against her slender waist.
It was handmade, stitched in shades of green, and fit perfectly. She nodded, satisfied.
"Cool," she said.
Then she smiled at the rest of the knitting circle - none of them over 30, all gathered in the back of a hip Tallahassee coffee shop.
New shop in Felton aims to tap into knitting trend
Santa Cruz Sentinel - July 17 2005
Threads run through the hand-painted wall mural in Alison Antone’s shop in Felton and the threads are repeated on her business card.
They’re a symbol for her month-old Luminous Threads boutique, which offers unique fabrics and quilting supplies, yarns and knitting materials, classes and workshops.
The Luminous Threads name is also significant.
"One’s creativity is luminous," Antone said. "When you express yourself, you’re letting your light shine."
Children learn the art of knitting at Poultney camp
Rutland Herald - July 16 2005
The Stitchy Women, a yarn shop on Depot Street, is holding a summer knitting day camp for area children this month. The first day of the camp was Tuesday, but nobody showed, a fact Stitchy Women co-owner Marlee Mason attributed to the sunny weather.
"When it's a little cool or a little rainy, they tend to come," she said.
The camp will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 23, 28 and 29. It is designed to introduce children to knitting.
"The children will be given a skein of wool to dye," Mason said. "Then they'll have to wait a day or so for it to dry and then we'd start knitting. We'll help them start with a basic beginner's project and they'll leave in a couple of days having made a scarf."
Professor Lets Her Fingers Do the Talking
New York Times - July 13 2005
Some people looking at the crocheted objects on Daina Taimina's kitchen table would see funky modern art. Others would see advanced geometry.
The curvy creations, made of yarn, are actually both. And they are helping two very different groups - artists and mathematicians - learn more about each other. Increasingly, they are also making a quirky celebrity out of the woman who created them.
Way to work with wool
Lexington Herald-Leader - July 13 2005
Sarah Cole is known to some as "the wool lady" at the Lexington Farmers Market.
"One day I looked around and realized I had so much wool, I had to do something with it all," Cole said. "But the good thing is I don't have to buy yarn anymore."
Cole and her family husband Keith Erny and their five children, ages 12 to 19 own and operate Black Bridge Farm just outside Nicholsville. Since 2001, the former tobacco farm has served as home to as many as 60 Icelandic sheep at a time.
Crazy About Knitting: Old-Fashioned Art Appeals to Teens
The Pilot - July 13 2005
The combination of teenage hands and foot-long needles has ironically become something to admire. Once thought to be only for the older generation, knitting has become popular in every age group.
From the subways of New York City, to the classrooms of local high schools, knitting has become the latest craze for the creative and young-at-heart.
Bella Filati, the Italian phrase for “beautiful yarn,” is a luxury yarns store in downtown Southern Pines that recently celebrated its first year in business. The store has become a resource and education hotspot for knitters.
Knitting squares as easy as ABC
Bega District News - July 12 2005
Residents of the Bega Valley Shire have got behind ABC South East Radio's Drop In Stitches campaign again this year by donating hundreds of hand-knitted squares or balls of wool.
The campaign is organised in conjunction with the non-profit organisation Wrap With Love.
The hand knitted squares are created each year by volunteers and wraps are made by sewing together 28 10"x10" (25cmx25cm) squares and distributed to people in developing countries.
Knitting, gossip sessions the place for a good yarn
Bay of Plenty Times - July 11 2005
Perched on chairs with glasses of bubbly drink in the middle of Mrs Guerra-Ortiz's small clothing and accessory boutique, they knit one, goss one, purl one, sip one and repeat while R&B tracks by artists such as Destiny's Child emanate from the stereo.
Mrs Guerra-Ortiz's fingers fly as she stitches her own designer creations but she is also happy to assist beginners who are tackling the art form.
Male knitting a case of boy meets purl
Belleville News Democrat - July 9 2005
When Mark Hensel pulls out his lunchtime knitting needles, his hard-hatted colleagues cast doubts about his manhood as quickly as he casts on.
"Right off the bat, they think I'm gay," the St. Charles electrician said with a laugh. "Sometimes I roll with it. What I usually say is, 'Before I started knitting, I really liked women and now I look at men. I'd like to see you after work and hold hands and talk about my feelings.'"
Zeta-Jones knits on film set
Digital Spy - July 9 2005
Catherine Zeta-Jones cannot bear to be parted from husband Michael Douglas while he works on his new film.
Douglas is producing and starring in spy movie The Sentinel, and Catherine cannot resist paying visits to the set.
The actress keeps herself busy on the set by knitting for hours at a time.
"She's a great knitter - she comes and hangs out and does her knit one, purl two thing!" Douglas told the Daily Star.
Yarn shop opens in Pacific City
The News Guard - July 5 2005
For those looking for a knit fix, Nestucca Bay Textile and Supply in Pacific City may be for you.
Cheryl Dawson, owner and operator of the store realized there were no yarn stores in Tillamook.
The closest was in Manzanita, she said, so Dawson decided to open one herself in Pacific City. It opened in late May.
"I live in the area so it's close to home," Dawson said about why she chose to open in Pacific City. It is also growing and has a lot of potential, she said.
Offstage, rocker Toni Carr calmly tends to her knitting
The Indianapolis Star - July 8 2005
Toni Carr is a rock musician by night and a knitting enthusiast around the clock.
The bass player in the Indianapolis-based band Painting Jaime has been invited to share her hook-and-yarn techniques on "Uncommon Threads," a new show on the DIY cable network.
Carr picked up the hobby last October, when her grandmother taught her to crochet.
"I wanted to make those cute little wristbands, and she said, 'Oh, you can make those yourself. You don't need to spend 10 bucks for them,' " Carr says.
The 25-year-old, who credits the Internet for linking young knitters from coast to coast, incorporated her rock 'n' roll interests when crafting a bag that features the face of Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor.
Spinning yarn
The Register - July 7 2005
Hands moving in a delicate minuet, a woman in Colonial garb sits spinning outside the 1736 Josiah Dennis Manse. A serene smile graces her face as she turns fluffy wool fiber into yarn suitable for weaving.
No, you have not stepped into a time warp. Susan Kelley is a 21st-century woman skilled at a practice dating back some 10,000 years. Expert in the processes of spinning and weaving from start to finish, Kelley has raised and shorn her own sheep, carded and washed the wool, spun the yarn and woven it into shawls and tapestries for decades.
Knit your own Hogwarts scarf
I-Newswire
A free knitting pattern based on the colors of the different Houses of Harry Potter’s school has been posted free of charge for downloading from the Lion Brand web site. The simple and easy to follow instructions are the perfect starter project for anyone interested in dabbling in the "Yarn Arts".
The pattern was provided by the Gilroy, California Barnes and Noble where one of the salespeople knitted "Wizard Scarves" for every one of the 60 employees in the store, to wear when the doors open on midnight of July 15th 2005 for the release party of the new book.
Waldorf kids learn to farm ... with knitting needles
Lexington Minuteman - July 7 2005
A peaceful, serene farmyard with a flowing river to fish in and a cool pond in which to wade, what more could you want in this perfect place to escape from the humidity and traffic of Boston?
For this farmyard, however, you do not need your car for travel, or money to spend on food. All you need is your imagination and an appreciation for fine art to find this spectacular hand-knitted barnyard which is created by the community of the Waldorf School in Lexington.
Q-C teens knit caps for babies
Quad City Times
Knitting is: 1. Easy 2. Bewildering 3. An exercise in patience. 4. Something almost anyone can do.
Teenagers and preteens discovered that knitting caps for premature babies requires all of the above and more.
About 39 beginning and more experienced knitters attended a class sponsored by Genesis Auxiliary at Genesis Medical Center in Davenport to learn how to make the warm caps.
Knitting for charity
The Times - July 7 2005
"There's something about knitting that's very relaxing," said Eleanor Stein, with her Long Island accent.
Dolores Tight, leader of the knitting group, agreed: "All of your problems fade away."
Knitting, the age-old hobby, attracts a new generation
East Bay RI - July 5 2005
Kim Conterio has been an avid knitter since she was eight years old. She knit through high school and college. She knit on the commuter rail, in the park, or wherever it suited her. Every time she took out her knitting, she was faced with awkward stares and horrified looks.
"People looked at me like I had five heads, just because I brought knitting with me and I was young," she recalls.
Times have changed. Ms. Conterio, now 28, has opened a yarn store of her own called Bella Yarns, located on Main Street in Warren. Since doing so, she has learned that she is not alone. A pastime that once made her seem an outcast is now in everyone's hands. Knitting has become the new trend, and all of a sudden, the crazy stares are gone.
Knitting a coffee shop (Reg. required - try bugmenot.com)
The Forum - July 5 2005
Leslie Nelson would love to see a group of men knitting together in her new café.
But for now, she'll settle for women and children.
The former stay-at-home mom and her coffee-loving sister, Mollie Crace, blended their passions this spring to open the Knitty Gritty Café in Moorhead.
The cozy yet funky coffee shop/yarn store at 924 Main Ave. offers knitters a place to socialize and latte lovers a new destination.
Stansbury Care-a-thon knits up a storm - again!
Yorke Peninsula Country Times - July 5 2005
Once upon a time, a small group of women taking part in craft lessons at the Stansbury Community Church pooled their resources and made six knee rugs and some trauma dolls, and, in the words of co-ordinator, Lynne Anderson, "sat back and thought 'aren't we clever'!"
Now, 12 years later, the Wednesday morning Community Craft and Friendship Group can have up to 40 women, from Stansbury, Wool Bay, Edithburgh, Coobowie and Port Vincent, meeting to make rugs and clothes for the needy during term two, which is especially dedicated to this activity.
One Row At A Time: Knitting An American Flag
iBerkshires.com - July 2 2005
North Adams- Once witnessed, the sight is unlikely to fade from memory: two mustard-yellow John Deere excavators holding 25-foot aluminum light poles serving as knitting needles for artist Dave Cole and his assistant Joel Taplin. Cole and Taplin stand on a boom suspended about 30 feet in the air and, using a long fishing gaff dubbed “the large crochet hook,” cast yards of 18-inch-wide strips of red and antique-white felt over the needles. By July 3 noontime, the stitches are expected to have produced a 20-foot wide American flag.
Curlewis students knitting for Drop In Stitches
ABC New England - July 4 2005
Drop In Stitches 2005 has placed everyone in a knitting frenzy! Including these keen school children from Curlewis Public School.
25 students from years five and six are knitting for our Drop In Stitches campaign, and by the looks of it, they are doing a really wonderful job!
Group Knit Together by Aid Project
LA Times - July 4 2005
A cacophony of Korean, Spanish, Chinese, Armenian and English filled the room as a gaggle of seniors armed with crochet and knitting needles huddled around a long table piled high with woolen garments and multicolored yarn.
Their mission is to knit and crochet clothing that will be donated to homeless shelters and battered women's homes.
Stars & stripes & heavy machinery (via Knitty)
Boston Globe - July 1 2005
If Betsy Ross and John Deere had a love child, it would be artist Dave Cole.
This weekend, Cole and a team of assistants will be out in the courtyard of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, using heavy machinery -- two excavators -- to knit a 20-foot-wide American flag. The excavators will hold needles crafted from aluminum utility poles. To make the flag, they'll use almost a mile of red, white, and blue acrylic felt.
''I'll be up on a boom lift, throwing the stitches with a 5-foot-long fishing gaff," Cole reports. ''There will be a guy in each excavator, and I'll give hand signals to them: Angle it up, lower it down. A lot of it is just plain fun: Just boys playing with trucks."
He calls it ''The Knitting Machine" and aims to finish the flag on Sunday, followed by an afternoon cookout and opening reception, although visitors are welcome throughout the weekend. It's part of an exhibition of his work at Mass MoCA, ''Dave Cole: The Knitting Machine," which includes a flag made from 18,000 toy soldiers, and a fictional recounting of the history of the knitting needle in modern warfare. When the knitted flag is completed, it will be folded into a triangle and placed into a box nearly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.
John Deere excavators to knit flag
Berkshires Week - July 1 2005
This weekend, Mass MoCA will present a uniquely American sculptural installation by Dave Cole.
Starting today, Cole will be in residence at Mass MoCA with his project "The Knitting Machine" which comprises two excavators specially fitted with massive 20-foot-long knitting needles. The knitting project is expected to be completed by July 3.
The product of "The Knitting Machine" is an oversized American flag -- a flag which can be seen as both a celebratory gesture of pride and a commentary on America's role in world affairs.
Artist needs help with his 'knitting'
North Adams Transcript - July 1 2005
A visiting contemporary artist is bringing patriotism and knitting to the next level at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art this weekend.
"We're taking excavators and dropping the shovels and putting on 25-foot aluminum utility poles and knitting," said Dave Cole, an artist from Rhode Island.
Mass MoCA seeing red, white and blue
Capital News 9 - July 1 2005
On this most American of holiday weekends, Mass MoCA is hosting a uniquely American sculptural exhibit by artist Dave Cole.
Colin Mullinix of Dedham said, "I've never seen any knitting this big. It's interesting."
Cole, who has made a name for himself by knitting using unexpected materials, is knitting an American flag using 25 foot long needles fashioned from street lamp posts, which are attached to two massive John Deere excavators.
"I've done a lot of large work before both involving knitting and knot, but this is definitely the largest on the biggest venue. It's taken me about three months of full-time work to work out all the logistics and get the machines," said Cole.
Knitting mission keeps orphans warm
Manawatu Standard - July 1 2005
A group of Palmerston North women is knitting through the winter so that orphans in Eastern Europe won't be too cold when winter strikes there.
Blankets and other garments will be shipped in September to countries like Moldova and Ukraine and should arrive around Christmas.
When the group started its Operation Cover Up mission about four years ago, it sent 14 blankets.
Last year it sent four and a half wool bales of knitted goods.
City Knits to Host Knit Fest 2005 in Detroit July 2 & 3 and Raise Money for Breast Cancer Research
Press Release - June 28 2005
City Knits is pleased to host Knit Fest 2005, as part of the Comerica TasteFest, July 2 and July 3, from noon to 4:30 p.m. in New Center Park, at the corner of Second Avenue and West Grand Boulevard, across from the Historic Fisher Building. http://www.cityknits.com.
The Knit Fest will provide all comers the chance to learn to knit or crochet. Knitters, and crocheters of all levels are invited to join us to "knit in public" [aka "Kipping"], to raise money for breast cancer research and Stitch an Inch on our "Community Cast-On" performance art knitting project.
