teva durham crochet + more  {books }

teva durham, who has previously authored loop d loop, has pulled out all the stops in terms of releases for this year. for starters, there's her genius new book loop d loop crochet. we're a sucker for how she's put her own innovative stamp on the designs, such as the full length coat and shawl featured on the cover. go knit in your hat has photos and ace no bull book review of teva.

that's not all! there's also the free set of steak knives in the form of her new yarn line and associated pattern book.

and...then there's the added bonus of designs in the new vogue knitting 25th anniversary edition. and it's pink. consider us duly impressed. (as of writing the vogue knitting site is down...hopefully they have preview photos)

war on bugs  {news }

now we're starting to get warmer temperatures on this side of the world, keep in mind to clean your woolens before storing. the age gives the lowdown on the nasty cashmere eating critters:
"Alexandra Shulman, the editor-in-chief of UK Vogue, recently revealed that her own extensive wardrobe was under attack. The blighters had destroyed Jean Paul Gaultier, Rick Owens and Clements Ribeiro sweaters without compunction, she revealed. "This is war," she declared." read the full article.
bring in the troops!

breaking already...  {rant }

ouch. just when we start to get going - we've got to take a break. hello sciatica. maybe if we can work out a way of knitting whilst lying on our back...

turning homemade into handmade  {resources }

definitely something for us to work on - the craft of elegantly creating handknits. if you're looking to finesse your knitting/finishing skills, check out the blog where "25 years of knitting tricks want out of my mind, and into yours" at techknitting while nonaknits gives the lowdown on her experiences with catherine "couture knitting" lowe.

urban patterns  {design }

there's a little kinda trend that we've noticed that's awesome. take a traditional pattern, then add your urban twist. take for example, timorous beasties toile wallpaper - the london version with mugging, or the charming glasgow version complete with junkies, and a guy pissing on a wall (as of writing, removed from site).
parking meters and water hydrants mix in with flowers and birds for dan funderburgh.

design process  {design }

how designers have successfully submitted for publication:
kat coyle, her folio of published patterns on flickr, her book boho baby knits.

veronik avery, her book knitting classic style.

kidsilk aura  {eye candy }

one of the big advantages of living in london is that you get to go to liberty and view their yarn porn. kidsilk aura seems so super shiny and lush. bonus points to rowan for dishing out their yarn as "donuts" so knitters can have a sugar free splurge.

showstudio's free patterns  {design }

not new, but worth a look if you haven't seen them before. Showstudio has free patterns from designers - the catch being that there isn't the handholding you might be used to with commercial patterns. Like Junya Watanabe dress, alexander mcqueen top or yoji yamamoto jacket or john galliano or martin margiela.
we've grabbed the yamamoto jacket with the idea of seeing how it might translate into a knit garment.

knitting porn = brooklyntweed.  {eye candy }

"The Cambridge Women's Pornography Cooperative asked women, young, old, rich, and poor, "What really, really gets you hot?" Armed with their findings, they worked day and night to create Porn for Women."
check it out on amazon.
thing is, we reckon if there was ever a knitting porn for women, brooklyn tweed scores the centrefold. we're talking "honey, can i design and knit you a sweater? i've just done mine. maybe there's something in my stash you'd be keen on?". bound to set pulses racing.

roll your own  {eye candy }

talk about great minds thinking alike...on craftster, a neat idea for wrapping simple scarves up as cupcakes (via), and our own submission to the latest yarn magazine - a scarf that (sorta, kinda) resembles a flower. let us take this opportunity to mention that we totally head over heels in love with rainbow wools mushroom yarn - we've always wanted a strong thick yarn that doesn't fall apart like roving, yet mushroom is the most wonderful kittenish fairy heaven cloud floss to knit with.
(excuse us whilst we grab a scanner to get you an image...)