Knitting News

Creative types turn 'trash' into trendy | Wisconsin State Journal

Creative types turn 'trash' into trendy
Wisconsin State Journal - June 23 2006

Bottle caps can be zipper pulls; candy wrappers, belt buckles; filmstrips, lampshades; snagged sweaters, pincushions; industrial outlet covers, mini photo frames. The list of possibilities for "garbage" extends from here into cyberspace, where the creative crafty class meets for inspiration and instructions in refashioning one person's castoff into another's objet d'art.

Not cute or quaint, their deconstructed, reconstructed creations often are provocative or punk, funny or funky.

"No tea cozies without irony" is the motto of Leah Kramer, a computer programming craft junkie whose addiction feeds her Boston store and the popular online exchange, craftster.org, which she started in 2003.

Besides meeting online, Shoshana Berger's readers trade tips and learn how to make and re-make stuff -- such as a thrashed snowboard deck coffee table -- through the bimonthly ReadyMade magazine she founded in 2001.

Before the inaugural issue of Berger's magazine or the first hit on Kramer's Web site, Debbie Stoller was stitching a crafty name for herself. The author of books about knitting and crocheting, she started the first Stitch 'N' Bitch in 2000; today the knitting groups extend around the globe, including in Madison. Stoller now edits the feminist magazine Bust: For Women Who Need to Get Something Off Their Chests, which, although not focused on DIY, offers projects such as sewing a beach bag from a vintage towel and stitching an edgy eyeglass case with a porn-paint-by-number style guide. [more]

Craft show comes to the History Museum | Star Tribune

Craft show comes to the History Museum
Star Tribune - June 22 2006

[...]Inspiration will be in plentiful supply as more than 130 artists display and sell their one-of-a kind works in wood, clay, glass, metal, fiber and mixed media on the grounds of the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.

Now one of the season's most anticipated craft fairs, the event sponsored by the Minnesota Craft Council runs from noon to 6 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5. For details see www.mncraft.org. [more]

Celebrities Do It: How About You? | Akron Beacon Journal

Celebrities Do It: How About You?
Akron Beacon Journal - June 22 2006

[...]What's one of the hottest trends in Hollywood right now? Knitting! Meryl Streep has been seen crocheting afghans on the set of her movies; Julia Roberts knits for her newborns; even famous tweener Raven Simone crocheted in her sitcom “That’s So Raven”...and they're not alone! Madonna, Sandra Bullock, Julianne Moore, Cameron Diaz have all jumped on the crafts wagon!

Now it's your turn...If you want to get hip on the newest crafty trends, tune-in to DIY Network for a new series, UNCOMMON THREADS, premiering Monday, July 3rd at 10:30am. (New episodes air every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:30am) [more]

Water Oak women make hats for adult cancer patients, preemies | The Villages Daily Sun

Water Oak women make hats for adult cancer patients, preemies
The Villages Daily Sun - June 2006

It’s summer outside and it’s warm inside the Water Oak Community Center, making it difficult to imagine being cold. But the women gathered in the Ceramics Room are busy knitting and crocheting for people who will need warmth this winter, and for some who need warmth year-round.

The Creative Needles are making hats for patients who have lost their hair because of chemotherapy and premature babies who are too small for their bodies to maintain a normal body temperature; and blankets for children whose families may not be able to buy them warm winter clothing, and for the elderly in nursing homes.

More than 20 women belong to the group, but only about half attend the weekly needle sessions during the summer.

“Some went away with yarn, and will bring back finished items in the winter,” said Rosemary Verhagen, coordinator of the Creative Needles. [more]

Extreme Knitting | ScienCentral News

Extreme Knitting [with video]
ScienCentral News - June 22 2006

Along with sunscreen and a book, knitting needles and yarn have become a staple of many vacationers' beach bags. Now, as this ScienCentral News video reports, it turns out that knitters might hold in their hands the secrets of the brain, or the universe itself.

A Strange Yarn

Most people who knit or crochet know what their finished product will look like. But you never know what's going to come from Daina Taimina's crochet hook. And that's the point, says her husband, David Henderson, as he holds up a convoluted piece that resembles lettuce, or a human brain -- if lettuce or brains were purple, that is.

"It actually looks like a brain," Henderson marvels. "And I had no idea it was going to look like that until Daina did it." [more]

London Architecture Biennale: A Knitted House | Treehugger

London Architecture Biennale: A Knitted House
Treehugger - June 20 2006

It’s Architecture Week AND London Architecture Biennale—don’t ask why they had to be at the same time… The Biennale kicked off with a Sheep Drive, 60 sheep being driven from Borough Market over the Millennium Bridge to Smithfield Market (the historic slaughterhouses—now meat market), herded by Lord Norman Foster, the king of architecture, to show links in food distribution.

[...] More architectural and high design than ecological; the highlight was the Knitting Site. Using a 2-storey high scaffold as a starting point, a group of women knitted the outside walls out of garbage bags, old plastic bags, and rope.
[more]

Pull the wool over your thighs | New Zealand Herald

Pull the wool over your thighs
New Zealand Herald - June 21 2006

The dress has kicked off its long-held flouncy, feminine and predominantly chiffon-concocted appearance in favour of a heavier, textured, knit creation.

The sweater dress is making its mark across big-name runways - at Alexander McQueen, Giles Deacon, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Paul Smith and Stella McCartney.

And those wincing while recalling cheap frocks accompanied by waist-cinching belts, crimped hair and boots, should rest easy. It isn't the 80s era that this style is reviving.

That's not to say that some in the 80s didn't do this pull-on fashion justice. Think rebellious Siouxsie Sioux-era kids wearing baggy sweater dresses in funereal hues over thick black tights. Or picture Blondie in her loose-fit jumper dress dropping seductively from the shoulder as she pouted through a mess of bleached blonde hair.

And that's the insurrectionary vibe that John Galliano at Dior is giving off, with his black-and-white hooped, loose-fit and laddered V-neck. [more]

Scarf project has Kristy in stitches | Warnambool Standard

Scarf project has Kristy in stitches
Warnambool Standard - June 20 2006

Kristy Henrikson didn't know one end of a knitting needle from the other when she started her Duke of Edinburgh Silver Medal this year.

Now she deftly follows the pattern of knit one, pearl one on her path to knitting handfuls of scarves to help raise the $16,500 needed to buy Warrnambool hospital a new bladder scanner.

The Warrnambool College year 10 student is on a recruiting drive for other crafty people to donate scarves either knitted, beaded, tassled or cabled to get closer to the total.

The creations will be sold at the Warrnambool hospital entrance foyer from August 13.

"Everyone needs a scarf in winter, especially with Warrnambool's cold weather, so I thought why not sell scarves with others as a fund-raiser?" Miss Henrikson said. [more]

Get creative with new titles of offbeat 'how-to' books | Asheville Citizen-Times

Get creative with new titles of offbeat 'how-to' books
Asheville Citizen-Times - June 20 2006

Forget the beach or snow cones this summer. I'm excited about craft books. If you can relate, you'll be happy to know the bookshelves are exploding with new titles that will send your scissors into high speed. From knitting to paper arts and sewing, there is a book for everyone. Here are my favorites for summer creativity.

[...]"The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts: Fifty Fabulous Projects from the Fifties and Sixties" by Leah Kramer (Ten Speed Press, $17.95): Kramer is the founder of the wildly popular site craftster.org and shares campy ideas from decades past.

[...]"Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn" by Wendy D. Johnson (Plume Books, $14): Johnson adds a personal touch to her pattern selection by sharing personal stories about her addiction to yarn and needles. [more]

New Web site offers first aid for any knitting emergency | Anchorage Daily News

New Web site offers first aid for any knitting emergency
Anchorage Daily News - June 20 2006

Are you having trouble with the kitchener stitch? Do you need to add yarn and you're in the middle of a row? Have you asked yourself, "Why does my work look messy at the edges?"

Every knitter and crocheter knows what it feels like to get stuck on a project. If you have come to this point with your needle skills, it's time to locate the emergency rooms for knitters and crocheters.

The Craft Yarn Council of America has been watching the millions of new knitters and crocheters as they advance to more complicated projects. The executive director of the council, Mary Colucci, said the council received input from members, numerous teachers and monitored bulletin boards to develop a virtual emergency room for stitchers. The Web site for knitting questions is www.Knit911.com, and the ER for crocheters is www.Crochet911.com. [more]