Knitting News

Tight-knit group tears pyramid sweater to shreds | Lansing State Journal

Tight-knit group tears pyramid sweater to shreds
Lansing State Journal - July 27 2006

It's the end of July and I still haven't started my big knitting project that is to be completed by my birthday. So I decided I would absolutely make a commitment to one fabulous project.

There have been many false starts over the past six months. I have periodically looked around and decided on something only to be seduced by something else. My original idea was to work on a pyramid sweater. It is a thing to behold, with no less than 35 different types of yarn and threads.

But when I came in, I was the subject of what those of us who have Southern roots would call a "come-to-Jesus" meeting. It happens when people sit you down and shake their heads at you and say, "Get real, Spanky."

I know that I can't finish a pyramid sweater this year. If I took the rest of the year off to do nothing but knit it, I couldn't do it. Well, I probably could, but it would have three arms and fit a dachshund.

It is suggested that instead of a ghostwriter, you need a ghost knitter. I decline because the knitting of this work of art is a part of my personal growth. [more]

New cast on knitting | Current

New cast on knitting
Current - July 26 2006

Hundreds of colorful skeins of yarn adorn the walls, and scarves, bags, mittens galore decorate Patricia's Yarns, a quaint knitting and crocheting store at 728 Washington St., between Seventh and Eighth streets in Hoboken. Owner Patricia Scribner, a graduate of Monmouth University with a degree in business, opened the store two years ago to pursue her passion.

"I wanted to own my own business and I like knitting, so the two went well together," Scribner said.

A relaxing commute

Scribner said that with so many commuters in this area, they want to occupy themselves while on public transit. "I think in this area you have a lot of people who want something to do while they are commuting," Scribner said.

Knitting is something that can easily be started and stopped and stowed quickly in a bag. It is a creative occupation, unlike a mindless video game or frustrating crossword. It provides a distraction from the daily annoyance of long commute. [more]

It's Yarn Out Here for a Pimp | East Bay Express

It's Yarn Out Here for a Pimp
East Bay Express - July 25 2006

It's all about getting the look these days. All the better if you make the look yourself, if a flood of new DIY/craft books is any evidence. Spawned in most cases by popular Web sites, these books imply that a vast tribe of crafters is out there knitting poodle-shaped toilet-roll covers, assembling desktop tepees and Zen gardens, and cross-stitching samplers that say "F*** Off."

[...]Oh, the sanders of driftwood, the spray-painters of pasta. They flock to Craftster.org, where Leah Kramer, author of The Craftster Guide to Nifty, Thrifty, and Kitschy Crafts (Ten Speed, $17.95), asserts: "Viva la handmade revolution!" and "If you've been known to run with scissors, you can break the rules of crafting with your fellow rebel DIYers here!" Showing how to melt toothbrush handles into colorful bracelets and 45s into ruffly nut-dishes, the book features actual projects clipped from vintage crafting guides along with others that Kramer made up.

And they go to SubversiveCross-Stitch.com, where Julie Jackson, author of Subversive Cross Stitch (Chronicle, $14.95), sells patterns by which fabric can be adorned with such messages as "Happy F***ing Birthday," "Please Kill Me," and "Beeyatch." It started when Jackson realized that regular stitchery fare, "all those cheerful little bears and happy smiling babies ... was just too much sweetness in one place," she writes. "It needed to be messed with." She started creating her own designs, practicing first by altering store-bought kits to make the babies look deformed and as if "the cute little bears were humping each other."

Subversive. Revolution. Viva. Most of these authors feel compelled to keep reminding you that crafting isn't dorky anymore — well, yes it is in flyover country. But not here, where hipsters with braided-yarn headbands know that felt Christmas ornaments and homemade snow-globes and bleach-bottle piggy banks and disco balls are ironic. When Auntie decoupages, we want to die. When we crochet, it's kitsch. [more]

She's crafty! | Metromix

She's crafty!
Metromix - July 24 2006

The new season of "Project Runway" has you and your girlfriends hooked. In fact, you're certain you're destined for Fashion Week fame yourselves. Trouble is, none of you has the skills to pull it all together. Yet.

We've got the best spots where you can master your craft and keep the creativity and conversation flowing over drinks at a nearby bar.

[...]Hook yourself up
Crafts: Think knitting circles are for grannies? Then you haven't been to Nina. A regular Wednesday open knit night (6:30-8:30 p.m.) draws hip knitters to the Wicker Park shop, where you'll also find some of the hottest yarns in town. Nina will also organize group lessons, so gather the gals and get ready for some serious stitching.
Drafts: Once you've tired of purling, start swirling (and sipping) a few blocks away at Vintage Wine Bar. [more]

A Good Age: Close-knit group needles with purpose | The Patriot Ledger

A Good Age: Close-knit group needles with purpose
The Patriot Ledger - July 25 2006

Their calling cards include baby blankets and the tiniest of newborn warming caps. They knit and crochet their way into nurseries, shelters, reservations and rural villages across the world.

The Naughty Needlers never rest. The women, most in their 70s and 80s, meet at the Weymouth Senior Center every Tuesday morning. By 10 a.m., they are bustling through the doors, carrying bags of yarn and finished items they proudly place on a table. They bring colorful sweaters and scarves, hats and mittens, lap robes and afghans.

For the next two hours, they will sit in a loose, large circle, chatting and laughing as they work. Their output is impressive: more than 1,000 items donated to charities last year alone.

Everyone, it seems, has a story: How they make the sweaters for malnourished children 2 inches larger across the front because starving children have distended bellies, or how security was called to disperse the admiring crowd that gathered around a volunteer delivering three big bags of items for the neonatal nursery at South Shore Hospital. [more]

Friendship, One Stitch At A Time | The Daily News Record

Friendship, One Stitch At A Time
The Daily News Record - July 25 2006

These days, knitting isn’t just a lazy-day hobby for old ladies in rocking chairs.

Career women, college students, Hollywood stars and — shock of shocks — even men have gone crazy about grandma’s pastime.

Now, knitting-related Web sites, blogs and chat rooms are as plentiful and diverse as the yarn aisle in Michael’s Craft Store.

But despite the popularity, a few Harrisonburg women say knitting is more than just a fad for them. The craft, they say, is "therapy for the price of yarn."

For the last year, five women from Eastern Mennonite University’s development office spend their lunch hour on Mondays knitting in the lobby of the University Commons building.

After months of knitting sweaters, socks and scarves, the women say their sewing circle has knit their friendship, one stitch at a time. [more]

Suri and Shiloh Sweaters | Luxist

Suri and Shiloh Sweaters
Luxist - July 21 2006

I have heard it said that there is a knitting craze among the Hollywood hot list, but it seems rather unlikely that they're sitting at home knitting sweaters when Los Angeles is in the midst of a major heat wave. But it might be true because a popular LA knitting store, Suss Designs, is now selling sweaters inspired by Suri Cruise and Shiloh Jolie- Pitt. [more]

Warmer Winters knits a new mission | Leominster Champion

Warmer Winters knits a new mission
Leominster Champion - July 21 2006

With the summer sun beating down on us, most people aren't thinking about how they'll keep warm this winter.

Warmer Winters knows some don't have that luxury.

With a variety of volunteers including students, retirees, and expert and beginning crafters, the Warmer Winters project creates a way to put low-income and homeless families' minds at ease. Participants knit hats, scarves, and gloves for families, and they also teach women to knit. [more]

Grannies' G-strings go global | Ananova

Grannies' G-strings go global
Ananova

G-strings crocheted by Polish grannies have proved such a success they are being sold worldwide on the internet.

No longer able to sell their hand-crafted doilies and table clothes, women in the tiny Polish mountain village of Koniakow turned their crocheting skills to making sexy lingerie.

And the business has proved such a success that the crochetiers have now launched an online shop for people around the world to buy the knitted underwear. [more]

An award-winning catastrophe | Gazette

An award-winning catastrophe
Gazette - July 21 2006

Rosemary Herman's knitting disaster was judged worst.

Fifteen years ago, Herman was crafting a pullover sweater for a family friend while sitting in a recliner and watching TV. She went to bed, but her son stayed up and watched TV.

The next morning, Herman woke to find a trail of yarn descending the stairs of the family's two-story home. The string began at her knitting basket, went through the living room, into the kitchen, around the table, into the bathroom, back out through the kitchen, upstairs into her son's bedroom and into his bed.

Her son had fallen asleep while watching TV, got cold and put on the partially finished sweater while half asleep. When he woke enough to go to bed, he was still wearing the incomplete sweater.

"That was where I found him," Herman wrote in her contest entry. "Sleeping in bed with the sweater on, the (circular) needle dangling through one stitch and the knitted part of the sleeve raveled.'' [more]