Knitting News

Saturn Grows Some 'Green' in Washington, DC | Promo

Saturn Grows Some 'Green' in Washington, DC
Promo - October 27 2006

Saturn is turning heads in the nation's capital with a $500,000 marketing campaign that includes erecting greenhouses around the city to drive awareness for the automaker's environment-friendly hybrid SUV.

Two of three greenhouses located around Washington, DC, opened yesterday; the third debuts today. All showcase the Saturn Vue Green Line, a hybrid SUV, with a lush green vegetation as a backdrop. To engage the public, Saturn is hosting green-themed activities at each location through Oct. 29.

Visitors can participate in cooking demonstrations using organic foods, and knitting and crocheting demonstrations that use organic yarn. [more]

Yes, but... | Guardian Unlimited

Yes, but ...
Guardian Unlimited - October 18 2006

Tête à Tête's latest opera combines music, knitting and spinning to portray the adventures of Odysseus. While enjoying the idea of a weaving motif in an Odyssey staging, the Guardian's Erica Jeal found it a practical problem: "Mostly we can't see what the knitters are doing, and the woolly theme just seems shoehorned on, despite the references to 'casting off' in the text." The Times's Neil Fisher agreed: "The metaphors are obvious, but the benefits to the opera less so ... As a whole, Odysseus Unwound doesn't knit together".

Bill Bankes-Jones responds:
The knitters are the bedrock of this production. Five brave women do what no performer could ever do - come on stage as themselves, and get on with their work. In a narrative focused on the splintered reality of Odysseus's war-damaged mind, the knitters are fundamental. They provide a very real context against which the weird performing realities of the singers and orchestra contribute to Odysseus's ontological confusion - just as in the ancient world, in some unseen place, and in a very controlled manner, the Fates spun, wound and snipped men's tangled, matted destinies. From time to time, the knitters join the collusion to confuse him, their giant weaving forming vivid images from his memories: the oars of the quinquereme, the roof of Circe's pig-pen, the sirens' trail. [more]

Crafters celebrate knitting legend | The Capital Times

Crafters celebrate knitting legend
The Capital Times - October 26 2006

Nine knitters and knitwear designers will share the stage with a knitting legend in an exhibit opening Friday.

"New School Knitting: The Influence of Elizabeth Zimmermann and Schoolhouse Press" features the Wisconsin knitter called the doyenne of the craft in America, her daughter Meg Swansen and the work of those they influenced.

[...]The British-born Zimmermann is credited with revolutionizing the modern practice of knitting. She did this through a number of books and articles, patterns, workshops and a public television series, "The Busy Knitter," which feature her no-nonsense, free-form instruction encouraging those who take up the craft to relax, take risks and be happy with the results.

While Zimmermann died in 1999, her ideas continue through Schoolhouse Press, the rural Wisconsin mail-order knitting business she founded. Swansen runs the business in Pittsville, offering books and patterns and dispensing Zimmermann's wisdom through a yearly workshop.

"She wanted people to explore the craft and not be afraid to make mistakes," Greenfield says of Zimmerman's philosophy. [more]

"No Sheep For You" | Treehugger

"No Sheep For You"
Treehugger - October 26 2006

I can’t draw you a diagram of how it happened, but knitting has become a choice medium for stylish, radical, TreeHuggers. The DIY movement is alive and well and it’s got needles. Knitting has lent itself to displays of guerrilla art, symbolic activism, and graffiti. A new book, “No Sheep for You: Knit Happy with Cotton, Silk, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo, and Other Delights” is right in this vein, it would seem. It is the work of Amy R. Singer, a magnate of hip knitting and editor of Knitty. [more]

Falling for knits | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Falling for knits
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - October 27 2006

As the weather turns crisp, fashion luckily does not forsake function. Fall knitwear, such as chunky handspun accessories, sweater coats and dresses for chic layered looks, are as stylish as they are comfy.

"I don't know that handcrafted knits ever go out of style, but it's really popular right now," says Roberta Brody, owner of Pursuits in Shadyside.

"I'm bringing in more, and I think what I'm finding is that people just sort of love finding things they like that they know they're not going to see 10 other people wearing when they go out somewhere. It makes it more appealing."

With designers piling on and belting cozy layers this fall, such as seen at Marc Jacobs, Jean Paul Gautier and Max Azria runway shows, knitwear is having a moment. Whimsical extras, including knitted or felted handbags hats, and even boots -- by Juicy Couture -- abound this year in soft, cabled incarnations of winter white, dark fall hues, or bright accent-colored incarnations. [more]

Students find niche in knitting | The Galveston County Daily News

Students find niche in knitting
The Galveston County Daily News - October 27 2006

The parking lot is still empty, and the sky not yet light when the children start filing in.

Inside the chilly cafeteria at Westwood Elementary, the hands of third-graders clumsily clutch metal knitting needles. Their brows furrow in concentration, the colorful balls of yarn beside them are slowly consumed, one stitch at a time.

It’s not a new method of punishment or an unusual early-morning art project.

The children are part of the school’s third-grade knitting club, an 87-member group. Together, the students produce afghans for charity. [more]

A handful of studios, a whole lot of art | Concord Journal

A handful of studios, a whole lot of art
Concord Journal - October 26 206

Award-winning artist/designer Robin L. Bergman is one of more than 15 artists who will participate in the 12th annual West Concord Artists Open Studios starting today, Thursday, Oct. 26 and running Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The West Concord Designers Open Studio Weekend is an annual three-day show and sale of work by a select group of artisans. All of the open studios are in walking distance and there is plenty of free parking. Brochures and maps will be available at all participating studios during the show. Local artists and businesses have combined their individual studios and shops with invited guest artists to participate in this fall and holiday retail event. Items for sale will include clothing, precious and beaded jewelry, fine furniture, paintings, drawings, knits, antiques, rugs, glass, painted silk and children's clothing.

Bergman, nationally known for her highly-original hand-loomed sweaters and accessories available under the label "Robin Originals Creative Knits," and founder of the West Concord Designers Open Studios will open her studio at 23 Bradford St., in the former Bradford Furniture mill building together with four other venues and 15 artists in all media. [more]

Stewart, Fitzgerald to appear on stamps | Yahoo! News

Stewart, Fitzgerald to appear on stamps
Yahoo! News - October 25 2006

A man who had a wonderful life, went to Washington and later was accompanied by a giant white rabbit will be a highlight of the Postal Service's new commemorative postage stamps for 2007.

[...]From comic book heroes like Hulk and Spiderman to the beautiful northern lights and stately lighthouses, there's something for just about everyone planned for nest year's stamps.

Among those scheduled:

[...] Holiday knits, including a deer a snow-dappled evergreen tree, a snowman sporting a top hat and a teddy bear. [more]

Buy Into Bulk for a Cool Winter Look | Washington Post

Buy Into Bulk for a Cool Winter Look
Washington Post- October 26 2006

From Marc Jacobs's oversize knits and leg warmers to D&G's outright sweater jamboree for its fall runway show, it's clear that "thick and thirsty" is the newest catchphrase for the knit-wit. Sexy and slim faded into the fold this season. In their place, stepsisters chunky and voluminous rose.

"It's the bathrobe factor," says Tom Julian, director of trends for the international marketing firm McCann Erickson. "It's protection in a cold, sterile environment." [more]

Handmade afghan to benefit Village Music Foundation scholarship fund | Newport News-Times

Handmade afghan to benefit Village Music Foundation scholarship fund
Newport News-Times - October 25 2006

Local area knitters led by Annette Howarth of Yachats have completed an afghan to be donated to the Village Music Foundation for raffle at the Yachats Celtic Music Festival Nov. 10-12.

Made from 100 percent Galway wool donated by Intuitivity of Yachats, this 51-inch by 66-inch afghan is made up of individual blocks representing winning Aran and Celtic patterns from a national contest sponsored by Knitter's Magazine. A local informal knitting group made up of six women wanted to do something collectively to raise money for the scholarship fund of the Village Music Foundation, and a hand knitted afghan with a Celtic theme seemed most appropriate for the Foundation's Annual Celtic Music Festival held each year in November. [more]