Knitting News

Chicks with sticks | The Frederick News-Post

Chicks with sticks
The Frederick News-Post - December 10 2006

At Roy Rogers' fast-food restaurant, it's not uncommon to see friends sharing fries or a bite of a roast beef sandwich. But at one particular eatery, diners are also trading knitting expertise or boasting about their new knitting project.

Don't call them traditional "rocking chair grandma knitters." These ladies refer to themselves as "chicks with sticks."

"It is a very eclectic group with all kinds of people and ideas," said Kathy Dollar, one of the original members of the knitting group that meets at the Roy Rogers restaurant on Buckeystown Pike once a month. "It is really a lot of fun."

Knitting is as much about the process as it is about the end result, according to Ms. Dollar.

"I reached a point in my career being a special (education) teacher that I need to unwind. They say knitting is like Prozac for the hands," she said. "Some research says you think better and I never mind waiting in a line anymore because I take my knitting with me. When you are done you have something to show for it." [more]

Yonkers High School students weave holiday hope by knitting for the needy | Mid-Hudson News Network

Yonkers High School students weave holiday hope by knitting for the needy
Mid-Hudson News Network - December 7 2006

Just like the sweaters Grandma knits to keep her loved ones warm, large blankets crocheted by Yonkers High School students will help “Warm Up America.” Just in time for the holidays, the school’s new knitting club partners with the national organization Warm Up America! to donate handmade blankets to homeless shelters, orphanages and families displaced by natural disasters. Because each knitter contributes one square per blanket, the students weave a bit of themselves into every afghan and extend their holiday wishes to each recipient. [more]

Knitting in vogue...but why? | The Charlotte Observer

Knitting in vogue...but why?
The Charlotte Observer - December 1 2006

OK, we get it. Knitting is popular.

We've seen (some of) the thousands of blogs, and maybe once or twice, gazed at a friend's sweater longingly. But a spate of recent books -- with titles like "Sew Subversive" and subjects like how to knit felt (really?) -- inspired some questions.

Is it any cheaper to make your own clothes? Can the quality match mass-produced merchandise? If not, why else would you spend $300 and as many hours making a sweater? [more]

'Felted' handbags are as fun to make as they are to use | Belleville News-Democrat

'Felted' handbags are as fun to make as they are to use
Belleville News-Democrat - December 1 2006

Nothing can keep Jeri Iwasczuk down.

While recuperating from spine surgery in 2005 and then a second battle with cancer in May, Jeri took the approach that if she had to sit still, she might as well knit wool handbags.

Knitting has been a part of her life since she was a girl.

"I knitted 300 pairs of cuffs for soldiers' coats to keep them warm during World War II," said Jeri, who is 77. On Wednesday, she and hubby Steve arrived with the results of her most recent creative jag: about 40 soft wool "felted" handbags in a riot of colors and styles. She will be selling them for $18 to $50 on Saturday and Dec. 9 at the Holiday Unique Boutique at the Art on the Square Gallery in downtown Belleville. It's a special two-weekend-only holiday sale of one-of-a-kind items created by area artists and including paintings, jewelry and sculpture.

Jeri's work as a "fiber artist" began on her 75th birthday, when a visit to Ohio to see her three daughters included a stop at a shop where they purchased a variety of wool yarn. A daughter gave her a handbag pattern, then Jeri began collecting her own.

"From there I just started having fun!" she said.

Jeri chose finicky wool for its natural qualities.

"Wool yarn is not easy to find," she said, explaining that most knitters today use synthetic fibers that are easier to work with, less expensive and don't shrink or change color when washed.

But Jeri says shrinkage and color changes of wool yarn is what "felting" is all about -- and what gives her handbags their dense, plush feel as the appearance of the knitted rows disappear and colors mutate to form unusual palettes. [more]

Knitting relaxing pastime for creative MSU men, women | The State News

Knitting relaxing pastime for creative MSU men, women
The State News

You know you've seen them.

Maybe not every day or every week, but you've seen them. You could be at a residence hall floor meeting, taking a walk in the park or having a cram session at the Main Library — and someone pulls out their yarn and needles.

Of course, MSU students who knit have heard the old-lady lines — a lot.

"I get grandma jokes all the time," psychology and German sophomore Claudia Molter said.

Molter has been knitting since her grandmother taught her at around age 9, and she said it's a crafty way to give gifts and make items to donate.

"My friends — probably because they do it, too — they all like it," she said. "A lot of times, people say, 'Oh, only old people do it,' or 'That's weird,' but I don't care."

Molter isn't alone in her labor of love. Students who enjoy knitting — from scarves to mittens, blankets and even baby booties — are defying stereotypes and making friends in the process.

Molter is friends with at least 10 other MSU students who enjoy a good knit stitch, including landscape architecture sophomore Matthew Hull. [more]

Digital Age fuels radical crafts revival | Star Tribune

Digital Age fuels radical crafts revival [ with slide show - Putting their spin on tradition ]
Star Tribune - November 29 2006

Boyfriends and baby names, pet hygiene and avant-garde art. Those were just a few of the conversational threads that unspooled on a recent night at Crafty Planet, a northeast Minneapolis shop that caters to people who are putting a new spin on old-school handicrafts.

As the dozen women who showed up for "Craft and Chat" worked on their afghans, purses and scarves, they swapped stories about the hazards of extreme crafting.

"I had to go to urgent care with tendonitis, because of cable knitting," said Rebecca Yaker, as she worked on conjoined sock monkeys.

Kale Duden developed a wrist cyst. Then there was that puncture wound. "I bled all over my sushi quilt," she said.

Cedar Roller-Olson claims she's become addicted. "My boyfriend actually told me they'd have to do a knitting intervention," she said.

Crafting has gotten an attitude adjustment. No longer safe, staid and matronly, it's now fresh, edgy and even political, thanks to a new generation of freewheeling, enthusiastic practitioners.

They're forming alternative craft guilds with names like Craft Mafia and Crafters Local 612. They're doing "Subversive Cross-Stitch" (the title of a recent pattern book, which includes words that would have made Grandma blush). And they're gathering at indie craft fairs, such as Bazaar Bizarre (Boston), Crafty Bastards (Washington, D.C.) and No Coast Craft-O-Rama, which will be held Dec. 2 in Minneapolis. [more]

Related: Crafter: Rebecca Yaker

No Coast Craft-O-Rama
December 2, 2006
9AM to 7PM
Midtown Global Market
Minneapolis, MN

Knit-orious | Sun Journal

Knit-orious
Sun Journal - November 29 2006

Three years ago, Jennifer Bayliss busted her knee. She then went on a family trip to Yosemite. It didn't seem to her like she was going to have much fun.

She decided to learn to knit. And no, she's not a grandma in her 50s.

Bayliss, now 31, got her mother-in-law to teach her to knit. "Then I taught my mom to knit, and that was sweet," she said. By February 2004, she formed Long Beach, Calif., Stitch 'n Bitch, an e-mail list that now has more than 150 subscribers.

Every Wednesday, 10 to 20 Long Beach SNB members meet at either a coffee shop or Banana Berry, a local yarn store (that's "LYS" in knit-speak).

In the past five years, knitting and crocheting has enjoyed a surge in popularity in North America and the United Kingdom. According to surveys commissioned by the Craft Yarn Council of America, a trade group whose members sell 85 percent of materials in the knitting industry, the number of knitters and crocheters in the 25-34 age category jumped 150 percent from 2002 to 2004, to hit 5.7 million women. [more]

Purls of Wisdom | Washington City Paper

Purls of Wisdom
Washington City Paper - November 17 2006

While showing off their fashionable wardrobe to their peers, some men might point out an expensive suit or a rack of power ties. Michael del Vecchio likes to boast about his handmade sock collection.

Del Vecchio, who co-founded MenKnit.net and currently teaches classes at Knit Happens in Alexandria, is taking his sock-making skills one step further. In the wake of books such as Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ’N Bitch—which gave a hip and feminist edge to what many saw as Granny’s hobby—the 28-year-old Logan Circle resident lends a male voice to the craft with Knitting With Balls: A Hands-On Guide to Knitting for the Modern Man. The book’s patterns, which del Vecchio designed himself, include a beer cozy, utility cloths, a laptop cover, and hiking-boot socks. [more]

Knit and make a statement | SUR in English

Knit and make a statement
SUR in English

No longer symbolic of lonely drudgery and female subordination, the domestic arts of knitting and sewing have sprung into fashion as celebrities embrace them and 'Stitch 'n Bitch' - or S 'n B - clubs spring up across the globe.

In Hollywood, the likes of Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz knit on the set. In Britain, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and supermodel Kate Moss are among the high-profile champions of the virtues of knitting.

And groups of 'guerrilla knitters' take every opportunity to perform their craft in public places, ranging from Brighton Beach to the London Underground. No longer a necessity, sewing and knitting are now celebrated as feminist and political statements, a reaction to consumerist culture and an affirmation of individuality over mass production and conformity.

"All of the above (reasons)," says Kate Buchanan, 31, organiser of a Stitch 'n Bitch group in Ealing, West London, when asked about the new fashion for knitting. "People like to be creative, they're rediscovering something they loved to do as children...They don't want to wear what everyone else is wearing...I could go on." [more]

Knitting Factories | LA Weekly

Knitting Factories
LA Weekly - November 15 2006

We’ve all seen the pictures of Julia Roberts in those sweaters she knits herself. We know that Kate Moss darns during photo-shoot downtimes. No one needs to tell us that knitting is a hot hobby. What they don’t tell us is that knitting can get really monotonous. Every year, I get the brilliant notion to knit my holiday gifts. I get out the yarn and needles around Thanksgiving, then knit and purl until the whole thing becomes so boring that I throw another half-made something onto the pile and head out to buy mass-produced presents. If only I could wrap up my unfinished mitten with a little note that says, “It’s the thought that counts, right?”

Here’s where the whole knitting-is-hip trend has some benefits. Yarn shops now offer classes and group knitting sessions — “stitch ’n’ bitches” — with wine tastings, poetry readings... and men. And some shops, knowing all too well about the many half-finished scarves in the world, offer quick-gift workshops, so at the end of the evening, you’ll actually have completed something more than a thought that doesn’t count.

Here are a few good shops where when you knit, you don’t knit alone. [more]