Knitting News

On The Bright Side: Prolific knitter makes sweaters for children | The Daily Star

On The Bright Side: Prolific knitter makes sweaters for children
The Daily Star - August 28 2006

Eunice DeForest has done in the past 10 months what most people never think to accomplish in a lifetime.

DeForest, who turns 95 today, has knitted more than 210 sweaters for the Guideposts Sweater Project. Guideposts is a not-for-profit interdenominational organization based in Carmel.

"I feel like I am doing something good," DeForest said Sunday. "They go all around the world." [more]

Chow's wearable creations surprise and delight | Des Moines Register

Chow's wearable creations surprise and delight
Des Moines Register - August 20 2006

About a week ago, while sitting in the Cedar Rapids Art Museum knitting pink plastic string with her grandmother's chopsticks, artist Cat (Catherine) Chow was visited by a 13-year-old boy with a red mohawk.

"I really like your work," said Alex Booth, who had written his nickname, "Penguin," all over the back of his oversized white T-shirt.

He had seen her work in the museum's galleries: Clothes made of surprising materials like AstroTurf, sandpaper and shredded dollar bills, and he felt they had a kinship because he, too, liked to make unusual things.

He asked questions about her work, and she responded with a disarming friendliness, pausing from her work to sign an autograph.
[more]

Dyeing business keeps growing | The Record Herald

Dyeing business keeps growing
The Record Herald

Before too long, closets will need to be cleared of summer dresses and shorts to make room for bulky sweaters and coats. Fall is approaching with winter at its heels and workers at Wool in the Woods are dyeing with anticipation of the cooler weather.

Hand-dyed yarns hang on wooden beams to dry in a huge two-story studio on Scarlet Way. The smell of the dyes fill your nose as you enter the front door.
Wool in the Woods is owned by Missy Burns and Anita Tosten, and has been open since 1998.

“I learned to knit at the Yarn Basket in Chambersburg and I knew I wanted to start my own business,” Tosten said. “I didn't want to be in competition with them, so I pursued the wholesale market.” [more]

'No swastikas' for Nato mittens | BBC News

'No swastikas' for Nato mittens
BBC News - August 20 2006

Latvians have been asked to knit mittens as gifts to delegates at a Nato summit later this year - but without a traditional swastika motif.

Local craftspeople have been asked to make the mittens in an attempt to showcase Latvian culture ahead of the November summit, the first in Latvia.

Three hundred knitters are being asked to make 4,500 mittens. [more]

Fledgling state yarn council sponsors this year's expo | Anchorage Daily News

Fledgling state yarn council sponsors this year's expo
Anchorage Daily News - August 22 2006

If you feel passionate about knitting and crochet, you may already be a teacher or mentor to someone wanting to learn these skills. Other Alaska artisans share your desire to teach their needle art disciplines. Teaching needle skills and providing for the educational support of others will sustain these traditional arts for generations to come. As poet William Stanley Merwin says, "We are the echo of the future."

Where can needle artisans find the support to teach? Where can someone go for information about the many needle art disciplines? How can a fiber guild encourage new members to attend their meetings? Where would you go to learn about Alaska knitters? Many talented Alaskans ply their needles at one or more of the traditional needle arts, and most also share the need for support, funds and information sources. Indeed, anyone who practices a discipline that uses thread, yarn, fiber and a needle can now look to the Alaska State Yarn Council for answers. [more]

How I made it: Designs on conquering the world | The Sunday Times

How I made it: Designs on conquering the world
The Sunday Times - August 27 2006

Buzzing after a business trip to Japan, Joan Millar was taken aback when the check-in clerk at Tokyo airport said her bags were too heavy. “I had three suitcases, but I was travelling business class so I had a generous allowance.”

Millar quickly came up with a novel solution. The knitwear designer opened her cases and started putting on jumpers until she had lightened the load. The clerk did not stop her and she proceeded on to the flight. “I have had many amusing experiences over the years,” she said.

Millar’s path into business was not direct. “I did not wake up one morning and say, ‘I am starting a business’. The idea happened when I was at home with our three children. I decided to make hot pants for the local boutique in Dalkey. They sold well and a seed was sown. In those days, I made everything — children’s clothes, my clothes, but then everyone did.”

That was the late 1970s and, around the same time, her sister in France asked her to source Aran sweaters for a shop there. “We built up an Aran hand-knit operation selling to top Parisian boutiques.” [more]

Some contests take different approach | Statesman Journal

Some contests take different approach
Statesman Journal - August 24 2006

Contests and competitions will give uniquely talented Oregonians their 15 minutes of fame.

[...]The Fastest Fingers in the West knitting and crochet contest is at 4 p.m. Sunday and will settle, once and for all, who is the fastest knitter in Oregon. Rosettes go to the fastest in each category. [more]

Sisters pass the hat for newborn caps | The Beacon Journal

Sisters pass the hat for newborn caps
The Beacon Journal - August 24 2006

Alexandra and Elizabeth Wainwright know they can't save the 4 million newborns who die every year worldwide. But they're out to save some of them.

The West Akron sisters have started a campaign to collect knitted and crocheted caps for infants, simple items that can prevent the newborns from losing vital body heat. They plan to send the caps to the U.S.-based Save the Children, which will distribute them in other countries through its Caps to the Capital program.

It was a Save the Children report that spurred Elizabeth and Alexandra to act. The girls, ages 11 and 7, respectively, had read a brief article about the report in the Beacon Journal in May and were dismayed to learn that such an uncomplicated remedy was out of reach for so many. [more]

Knitting circle takes to the People Mover rails | Detroit Free Press

Knitting circle takes to the People Mover rails
Detroit Free Press - August 24 2006

t's not "Snakes on a Plane," but it has the markings of an instant classic: knitting on a train.

On Tuesday, I was on the Detroit People Mover with a handful of women who have started a knitting circle -- literally. Since late June, they've commandeered the Fox 2 train every Tuesday at 6 p.m. for a Community Knit-A-Round. For two hours, they ride the 2.9-mile loop, stitching, socializing and sharing expertise.

It's the brainchild of Karen Kendrick-Hands, owner of City Knits in the Fisher Building, and of a new location in the Guardian Building downtown.

Also a public transportation advocate, she decided to knit her two passions together. [more]

Knit 1, hurl 2: Stitching at the ballpark | The Arizona Republic

Knit 1, hurl 2: Stitching at the ballpark
The Arizona Republic - August 23 2006

If any sport lends itself to a leisure activity known to involve rocking chairs, it is baseball.

The game's deliberate pace has always been perfect for those who like to relax, chat and flag down the beer guy. Now knitters are getting in on the (lack of) action, gathering their yarn for Stitch 'N' Pitch, an event weaving together baseball and the fiber arts.

Knitters (and those who crochet, do needlepoint or work with fiber in artful ways) are invited to the Arizona Diamondbacks' Sept. 9 game against the St. Louis Cardinals. There, they will be part of one major-league knitting circle, as more than a thousand yarn enthusiasts are expected to attend.

Jonelle Raffino will be there in a purple knitted baseball cap (yes, anything is possible, with yarn, needles and talent). Raffino, president of the Southwest Trading Co., a yarn supplier helping to organize the event, said the Stitch 'N' Pitch is another sign that knitting isn't just for grandmothers.

Knitting has become far more social, Raffino said. Participants love to swap stories as much as projects, conversing as they count stitches. That dynamic is drawing fresh blood into the hobby, Raffino said.

In fact, she said, the fiber community (her words) has changed greatly over the past few years, attracting younger knitters who create hip and funky designs. [more]