Knitting News

Jeff church's shawls give divine comfort | The Courier-Journal

Jeff church's shawls give divine comfort
The Courier-Journal - May 24 2006

The Rev. Karen Mosso knows the consolation of receiving a prayer shawl. The rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Jeffersonville received a shawl, a simple wrap prayerfully knitted, after a cancer diagnosis in November 2004.

"I really appreciated that tangible symbol of people's caring," Mosso said.

Then she began hearing about the Prayer Shawl Ministry, founded by two Connecticut women in 1998. Its members craft shawls to give as symbols of compassion or joy. The group's Web site is www.shawlministry.com.

With help from four St. Paul's members, Mosso started the church's shawl ministry in March. The group plans to knit or crochet shawls to give to people in need of prayer or at a time of celebration, such as a birth or graduation. [more]

A gift of comfort | Durham Region News

A gift of comfort
Durgham Region News - May 26 2006

By doing something as simple as knitting, Margaret Turner is not only staying active by practising a craft she loves, but is also giving comfort to hundreds of children facing HIV and AIDS in Africa.

After coming across a television program last summer about a Canadian organization called ICROSS, which stands for the International Community for the Relief of Starvation and Suffering, Ms. Turner took on one of the groups projects by knitting comfort dolls, which are sent to Africa by ICROSS Canada in medical supply shipments and given to children undergoing treatment.

The use of dolls began four years ago when the first of these supplies, which were mainly glass test tubes and vials, were packaged with the knitted dolls to protect the shipment from breaking. The dolls, however, became one of ICROSS's most popular donations and have continued ever since. [more]

Knitted gear for troops is a functional fashion | Courier & Press News

Knitted gear for troops is a functional fashion
Courier & Press News - May 24 2006

Local troops now stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan can soon add knit apparel to their military garments.

That's because the staff of one local knitting shop is on a mission to outfit all local troops with knit helmet liners.

On June 14, employees of KnitWitts Yarn Shoppe will teach the relatives of local troops how to make helmet liners. The patterns and lessons are free, and materials will be discounted.

Knit helmet liners look like ski masks and shield soldiers' faces, necks and mouths from sand and extreme temperatures. [more]

Knitting allows young teens time to chat, too | The Enquirer

Knitting allows young teens time to chat, too
The Enquirer - May 27 2006

Kids' fascination with video and computer games is getting some competition from, of all things, knitting, and it's finding its way into schools.

Rapid Run Middle School in Delhi Township offers an after-school knitting club.

Students at Indian Hill Middle School can choose knitting for a weekly enrichment class. These are just two Greater Cincinnati schools where the familiar clacking of needles can be heard.

While knitting has enjoyed a revival among adults, kids are picking up the low-tech hobby, lured by colorful, funky yarns they can turn into fashionable accessories.

Sarah Laffey, an eighth-grader at Rapid Run, worked on a raspberry-colored scarf as she talked about the fun of knitting. "It gets you off the couch at home. You don't have to watch TV, and you can talk to friends."

Rapid Run students have mostly been knitting scarves, some of them presents for their Confirmation sponsors. One student made a blanket. [more]

Designs for creating your own style | Star Tribune

Designs for creating your own style
Star Tribune - May 24 2006

Looking stylish needn't cost you an arm and a leg. With a little do-it-yourself know-how, that arm and leg can be draped in your own hot hooked or embellished design that looks like it came from a chic boutique. Craft books have been hitting the stores faster than you can say "knit one, purl two."
Here are some of the latest:

[...]Toys to Knit, by Tracy Chapman (Potter Craft, $19.95)

This book is filled with to-the-point instructions on how to knit all sorts of dolls, animals and toy clothes. The pictures are beautiful and well-placed. The directions and captions are cute stories and clever hints that guide you well through this playful book. [more]

Practicing random acts of knitting | The Oregonian

Practicing random acts of knitting
The Oregonian - May 26 2006

Growing up in Africa left me without a clue that stress could be a point of discussion. And this was because the very lifestyle there included means to overcome stress (little did we realize) -- such as walking, talking and being surrounded by people who had vast interest in your being.

However, now in a new country, I have had to find ways to feel less anxious, sleep better and take things in stride. First and foremost, I had to define what was stress, what it meant to me. As such, I do random knitting, in which I knit without reading a pattern or design. The final product is all that matters. [more]

Knitting Together Security | The Connection

Knitting Together Security
The Connection - May 24 2006

When Lesley Hackman gets stuck in traffic, she simply whips out her needles and yarn and begins knitting.
"You don't even have to look, you can just knit away," said Hackman.
Since last October, Hackman and her friend Odiorne Beebe, both residents of Great Falls, have been helping teach local students how to knit by having them make afghans for Project Linus, a national, non-profit organization that collects and makes "security blankets" for children who have been traumatized or are suffering from serious illnesses.
Once a month, Hackman and Beebe meet with student volunteers in the Great Falls Library, providing them with the necessary materials and specific parameters for size and appearance. The volunteers would knit 8-inch by 8-inch blocks, which they would turn in to Hackman and Beebe. The two women took all the blocks and put them together to create on afghan. The group of seven students was able to create two afghans for donation. [more]

New hobby draws close-knit circle | Cary-Grove Countryside

New hobby draws close-knit circle
Cary-Grove Countryside

It started as a basic knitting class held at the Fox River Grove Public Library last fall.

In that class, aspiring knitters headed to the library once a week and faced the trials and frustrations of learning a new skill.

Now, a group of up to 10 women who participated in the fall class continues to gather at the library each Monday to knit, swap tips and chat.

"It's really been neat to exchange ideas and catch up with everybody," said Lyn Kendeigh, a Fox River Grove Library trustee who is a regular at the Monday meetings and taught the initial class in the fall. "This is just a knitting circle that's an extension of a course." [more]

Women Accused Of Stealing Yarn | WSBTV

Women Accused Of Stealing Yarn [with video]
WSBTV - May 24 2006

A grandmotherly-looking woman is one of the two people accused of stealing thousands of dollars in yarn from stores in metro Atlanta.

Skeins and skeins of yarn has become the target of thieves in Woodstock.

“She looked like your typical grandmother,” says Debi Light.

Shop owner Debi Light says one of the accused thieves is 68-years-old. Light says the woman looked at yarn, pretended she needed to go to her car for her pattern and check books – she never came back.

“We looked all over the store for all the yarn that she was holding in her hand, and it was nowhere to be found,” says Light. [more]

Sew Devine puts you in touch with your inner knitter | The State

Sew Devine puts you in touch with your inner knitter
The State - May 24 2006

f you visit the Sew Divine gathering at the North Main Library and the ladies ask you if you sew, DO NOT tell them that you can’t even tighten up a loose button. They’ll all look at you and go, “Oooooh,” in the same manner as if you’d told them that you never learned to floss.

For these women, who meet twice a month to work on textile projects and share tips, sewing is an everyday treat.

“Ella has been crocheting for several hundred years,” said group leader Nova Buchanan, indicating a woman intent on her task at the end of the long table. “Hear her counting stitches under her breath? That means we don’t talk to her. She’ll be back in a minute.”

Buchanan, 67, who has been knitting since she was 6, will enthusiastically tell you the differences between babyweight, sportweight, and worsted weight yarn, the intricacies of knit and purl stitches, and why hand-spun Icelandic wool is worth the price. [more]