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.
"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.
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...)
beautiful machine knit installations from ghbrett - check out the set on flickr.
Sheila Pepe creates installations using found materials in her "radically local" works, such as rubber bands and crocheted shoelaces:
we love fun and kooky, and recycling plastic bags into a groovin' fifties outfit makes our day (via craftzine).
we've been jonesing to make a princess leia type hat for some time - luckily, someone else has beat us to it, and bleuarts has the free pattern.
didn't realise that designer (and self proclaimed pink sheep of his family) alexander mcqueen had a range of designs which incorporated knitting - there's a coat on style.com (do check out the other cabled goodies - very beautiful) and anavoog has done some spotting of a dress which could be a mcqueen.
we've got a confession to make here - with ownership of our own lil' pad looming, we've become a tad obsessed with interiors. anything vaguely retro, weird, red (loungeroom), yellow (dining), pink (well, anywhere, really) gets our attention. enter florence broadhurst. after picking up the book, what's not to love? kooky lady decides at the age of 50 to get into designing. you go, girl. fullon, take no prisoners designs, and the same kind of outlook on life. strikes us as the kind of woman to aspire to be at that age. a florence broadhurst ebay search gives a decent idea of her work, as does the signature prints site.
the neat thing is finding broadhurst prints out and about - we're pretty sure that klines perfumery is using a broadhurst print (or something incredibly close) in their brunswick st store. saba on chapel st have a nifty rug which looks to be based on the japanese flower print:
seeing her work just makes us happy.
while we're waiting for the book to hit oz, norah gaughan's knitting nature has been available on amazon and overseas - check out the knitalong. the imprint that knitting nature is on is an interesting one - interweave knits editor melanie falick is putting together some more unusual books with her imprint via stuart tabori and chang. we're keen on the hardware jewellery in particular.
the ultimate in craft blogs, with plenty o' local and o/s goodness - whip up features the melbs craftiness of both loobylu (also mentioned in the weekend paper as a reading staple...whereas other blogs resort to sunday paper photo splashes, not naming any names *cough* nownow *cough*...) and nikkishell.
could be interesting to see what's inside upcoming book sexy little knits. ok, so carmen electra reckons the authors designs melt onto your body, but then again if one had carmen's body, clothing probably wouldn't be the only thing melting onto it.
interview with author ashley paige, 2006 range of designs.
if you're in melbs, you may like to check out the following exhibitions - at the ngv: floral designs in textiles @ everlasting (particularly fond of the large chinese slinky stole/scarf/wraps covered in floral embroidery that them naughty flappers wore sari style), a stunningly beautiful display of ceramics from gwyn hanssen pigott, and fashion from melbs gone paris martin grant. at the museum of victoria: morris & co - which is not entirely unlike liberty, as we had private boarding school flashbacks of frilly shirts, fob chains, denim skirts and loafers.
while they aren't exactly knitterly, they can act as a huge source of inspiration - grant and pigott might seem worlds apart in what they do, but going into the grant exhibition, it turns out that they were friends and had influence on each other.
we're haushunting (well, cheap apartment hunting) at the moment, and one of the things that gets us suckered in is retro fittings and groovy storage. enter extreme jealousy when we spotted vicky howell from knittygritty's loungeroom on flickr. pink cabinet. full of knitting books. mine!
proud to have had the pleasure of meeting christine castro, the brains behind thedarlingshoppe and the beautiful "craft or die" shirts.
there's an exhibition opening night this tuesday, for 4 doors, a knitted room (a different piece to the big knit, which has been exhibited before) as organised by caroline love.
details:
plan b 155 gertrude st fitzroy, melbourne, october 18-29, tuesday to saturday 12-6pm, opening tuesday 18th october at 6pm.
see you there?
heh...from our favourite online pixellated robot romance web comic dieselsweeties - "i'm trying to knit and it's a whole lot harder than what i expected." pink block too. niiiice.
spotted in a weekend mag - canberra based online pattern store fitzpatterns. thing is, we reckon the people wearing the clothes, not the clothes themselves are the big plus - we'll be the girl on the front page, thanks.
a beautiful thing - featuring the work of sherri wood, the cover of knitknit's latest magazine
ooooohhh... japanese knitting and craft books always catch our eye crafting japanese gives a good rundown.
jacqueline brought along a copy of the latest rowan mag - a couple of interesting bits:
kid acne - not too keen on knitting his cow on blue background design, but mister acne's entries into basefield (view photo) (view all entries - kid acne = about half way down) were something special.
the talented toughs are sisters (like we guessed previous), with clare doing a super huge scarf.
a little something spied in the latest edition of knitty - an unusual design for a men's issue pinky. there's also an interview with amy singer of knitty fame at knitcast.
we're back from a quick visit to sydney, having way too much good food (we love mint cafe - their breakfasts are amazing), timeout and a trip to the country to visit the olds and celebrate bro's 40th. we caught up with 6.5 stitches (check out those toys...), who let us know about a new book out - sample : 100 fashion designers : 10 curators - a v.swanky designery thing put out by phaidon which features oz designer toni maticevski in the lineup.
in terms of knitting books, there's a whole new swag of the things. our picks of titles that we haven't got our mitts on:
interweave knits art director leigh radford's "alterknits"
interweave knits ann budd and pam allen wrap style
sally melvilles third book for beginners - the knitting experience - color...
while not handknitting exactly, a couple of other titles of interest - Second-time Cool: The Art of Chopping Up a Sweater sounds interesting, as does The Art of Knitting: Inspirational Stitches, Textures, and Surfaces.
inside the main scarf fest at craft victoria:
sister of a winning entry by nikki gabriel (the winner was a different colour) showing un/felted machine knitting:
an interesting kinda scribble lace - winner of an innovative handknitting award:
craft vic have their own scarf fest photos.
thanks to everyone who made it to the handknitters guild mini wool fest. we were incredibly restrained, and just got some sock yarn and bears (gummi bears at that!) from lisa sockmonster:
lisa also had a sample of lorna's laces lion and lamb. one of the most luscious yarns on this earth - heavy, silky, buttery, and it's got to be a total joy to knit. mmm. lisa's stall in action:
if you're keen, lisa sells and takes orders for sock yarn, lorna's laces and more - check her out at sockmonster.
wendy dennis also had some amazing yarn - a super fine silk/wool mix that would have made amazing shawls, particularly if you're into the whole shetland shawl/natural colour thing.
darrow from s'n'b melbourne pointed us in the direction of charlie - it's always fun to come across total fiber nuts who love what they do:
we just knew that blue and green yarn was going to go!
prerequisite for knitting events - the cakes:
and the cacti:
nothing that a large vat of pink dye won't fix:
it's the handknitters guild fundraiser - a raffle for the rug is first prize, with other prizes including colinette goodies from sarahdurrant. if you'd like a raffle ticket ($2 each) get in touch, or purchase a ticket while at the craft & quilt fair at jeff's shed.
danke for miri for pointing us in the direction of clare tough - we thought she was catherine tough, but maybe they're sisters? damn crafty family if that's the case...
di from clementine's shoes mentioned a klee scarf kit, and we were instantly suckered into the idea. problem is, we had far different expectations to what the reality was. what we wanted to see was a kit for a awesomely hued squares scarf kit which wouldn't roll, or the rolling thing was a feature. one to come up with...
we were lucky to pay theoretic gal a visit last night (truly a wonderful hostess, thanks so much for all your help...), to have a freshly delivered loop d loop book from teva durham to check out. teva gives nothing but the highest quality knitting porn. really beautifully photographed inventive knitting that had as all wanting to make something.
view the photos from the book, and check out what the bloggers are saying:
typepad, blogspot.
it's been a tad quiet on the gusset front - we've just got a new computing machine - and the sad thing is, it's taking us so long to get sorted and used to using it, that yep, we're typing this on the ol' 2000 beast. anyway, looking forward to being well and truly sorted and back on top of things soon. in the meantime, part of getting sorted includes a lot of finishing work on the crazy skirt. it's a bit further along than the below, but there's the waistband happening (we're thinking about swapping over to something a little stronger, thanks to seeing kat's crochet waistband of the crochet skirt from IK).
there's some help in the form of claire's pear:
after going to the akira talk a while back at the NGV, a few things to share:
he's now part of the australia post australian legends.
akira had us won over completely - he presents as an incredibly down to earth, practical kinda guy who has worked incredibly hard to get where he is, and has a child like sense of wonder in what he does. the stories of going into thrift stores for inspiration, and the oft repeated red socks (the .pdf is highly recommended reading c/o marion hume, who has a fashionista stylee book out) were interesting enough, but we thought that the questions to akira were kinda lacking. here's what we would have asked him about:
- his take on florence broadhurst (more about florence) whose designs he's used.
- how close is he to his blood type personality?
- what's his wardrobe like?
- what's his advice to australian men when it comes to fashion?
thanks to reader aoife for letting us know about the crazy mini teapots and teacozies - cute!
tampon cosies get a look in at felieke van der leest, while there's teapot cosies of the likes that we've never seen before at the whimsical and groovy donna wilson.
. we came to the conclusion that we were running out of yarn for the weird skirt (um...sobering linking back to april 9 last year...) - so we went a little pink crazy. on a visit to yarn barn we found a weird glitzy plied up thing that we usually wouldn't touch - but when it comes to freeform, all manners of good taste and whatnot go out the door. the other small ball of pink is one of the skeins from the handspinners and weavers guild - a perfect pink.
the huge cone is planned for the making of the dress - if we manage to scrape out of that one sane. we can't even remember if we've ever attempted a crochet pattern, so it's probably just a bit of an undertaking...someone else is making the same dress as a wedding dress, and interweave have kindly published the errata for the lily chin crochet dress too.
while we have more than enough yarn, like it's going to stop us drooling - 2 sites which seem to be selling awfully similar (same?) yarn: serendipity in south america's ebay store, handpaintedyarn.com. (edit) miri has kindly sorted us out with the knitters review that tells all (and gives a pink yarn close up!)
haven't seen enough pink yarn yet? we love needles on fire valentines day.
we're just enjoying staring at wee wonderful's multidirectional diagonal scarf - it's simple, but sweet.
interweave knits has their new spring issue, but what's really caught our eye is a new knit from whiteliesdesigns which is a lush retro style design - amelie.
doin' the rounds on the internet is a charming piece about a bunch of strathaven folk knitting a room. the most amusing part is how knitting has been categorised as not just for grandma (meaning old, boring, fusty etc, etc), yet when the grandmas get into it, they do the coolest stuff.
one of yarn lovin' melbinites favourite stores is marta's for her coloured yarn. don't believe us? see (and buy!) for yourself - our pick is the slubby multicoloured yarn.
hmmm...it seems that the knitty pattern for the french inspired multi coloured dropped stitch clapotis has gained one heck of a following:
knitty editor clapotis,
thirteen ways of looking at clapotis,
stitch and kvetch siena clapotis,
two pointy sticks variegated blue cashmere clapotis closeup,
big geek hung out and finished clapotis,
froggyknits green, yellow, blue merino clapotis,
keyboard biologist lion and lamb variegated blue clapotis,
jo knits complete single colour clapotis,
luscious cosmic pluto! 100% silk clapotis,
knittingbythebay cream clapotis,
nice knits multi blue koigu clapotis,
unfurnished brooklyn neutrals clapotis,
stitchingforsanity neutral clapotis,
knitsville beginning of clapotis,
green eyed grrl artyarns supermerino,
and she knits too! 100% blue variegated silk clapotis,
morico multicoloured clapotis,
pure laine (french site) glam golden clapotis,
crayonbrain's kureyon clapotis,
knitting wench project clapotis,
fiberphile clapotis in "rimrock"
yarnorexic's kool aid lion brand clapotis
dalai mama's merino clapotis...
methinks there's more, but you get the idea...
so it sells knitting magazines faster than it sells tampons. at least, that's our guess why two magazines are featuring patterns for white bikinis in upcoming issues: knit1 and creative knitting.
we've been off the radar so to speak during our holidays (back soon...) due to isolation. in the meantime, there's a couple of new mags: from vogue knitting comes knit1, a sort of knitters version of cosmogirl vs cosmopolitan.
there's a new online zine in the werks which is looking promising too - spunmag.
why we have a thing for a set of crochet hooks in a case...we're not quite sure. there's something about the uber organisedness of having all the same hooks in the same case which is highly desirable, perhaps due to the fact that we tend to lose the things very easily, and having a designated spot for each hook can't be a bad thing. in our searches we came across a vintage boye set which looks like it belongs in a vintage painting (or to the lady in the painting - you get the gist..).
a little sample of what the class got up to at fibre forum, (the last three being from our uber teacher karen searle...it took her a little longer than a week to create those, wouldn't you reckon?)
we've been surfin' around trying to get a photo of liz, but no luck. sure enough as every year, those bloody nuns were causing havoc, dousing everyone with squirty bottles of water. while everyone else was shrieking and running away, liz just strides up and gives them a commanding "do me" (much the way as she would to elvis, another fibre forum feature...). suffice to say, lock up yr sons and husbands, ladies...
liz's week was centred around the theme "biased thinking" which included a bias knit skirt:
we got to try it on, and it's amazing - whatever horrible things you've heard about knitted skirts, that one has changed us for life. we're knitting the thing, dammit.
liz taught a nifty technique for an open knit:
step 1:
begin a knit stitch as normal - needle in loop, then wind your yarn around both needles.
step 2:
wind yarn between needles.
step 3:
finish off as usual - needle toward you through loops.
end results from students of liz's class:
if you're lookin' for published info about liz, there's a pattern for the diamond coat (knitted on the bias, goes nicely with the skirt...) and an interview in (scroll down for book info) yarn art which features pretty much everyone else that has knitterly stuff to do with fibre forum.
new(ish?) issue out - preview. the interesting bit is, we're guessing it's the corset which is knitted (how? with?), so we're looking forward to finding out more.
interweave knits have their winter issue coming out - view the projects.
we reckon lynne pretty much sums up the "rainbow is the new black" style of colour use at fibre forum:
here's one of her jackets from the exhibition:
lynne's specialty is feral (an adaptation of fair isle...) and oddball knitting which she was teaching at fibre forum. a little tutor room mascot:
one of lynne's garments:
lynne's site - women of fibre.
nylon magazine seems to have the jones for knitting. october has an unusual handknit skirt and other garments, while september featured up and coming designers:
penny o'neill, one of australias (the worlds?) fastest crocheters:
she took the sculptural knitting class with us to come up with the chilli bag:
it's pretty creative how it works - pull on the yellow top part of the bag, and there's the inside to stash your stuff. she crocheted around to core (plastic tubing?) to give some stability, and used offcut strips of lining satin fabric and other left of field materials in the construction.
she was part of an exhibition with a crocheted skirt:
view cleckheaton's patterns for penny's crochet .
in the course of checking out umpteen knitting blogs, you see a lot of header images. our favourite so far - unraveling.
we're contemplating a drool category on kip for yarn sightings, complete with warnings of compulsory bib wearing/credit card hiding. possible candidate - noro transitions. check out the - noro transitions swatch. what makes this yarn a little unusual is that the transitions are in both colour and texture. it ain't cheap - however the cucumberpatch store on ebay is probably a good deal.
perving on the rowan site for the new kidsilk haze colour blushes, (mmmmm), we also came across a pattern which might undo the never-shall-we-knit-a-poncho mantra - the freda by amanda crawford. thing is, the pattern seems best suited to tall thin models residing in england. there's enough on our plate as is.
you gotta love it:
excuse our newbie digital photography status, but you get the gist of it - a lil' brooch spelling out that the owner is indeed a yarn slut.
prudence picked it up at a yarn store in new york (purl perhaps?) and while we love the thing, we can't help but think bedazzler + black tshirt = a not so subtle statement. (anyone remember the babes in toyland shirts? was it the sweet 69 video/press release something or other that they were decked out in bedazzled shirts? given it was around 10 years ago, obviously it's left a bit of an impression...we've searched high and low on the net for 'em but no go - should you find images, do let us know.)
take a good look at the pic of beyonce on the cover of elle. whomever made the blue and cream cardigan for designer louis vuitton took on what looks like some fancy work indeed - fine yarn, knit ribbing, (what looks like) crochet lace.
a little gusset secret and reason to love google # 234578902... while we're waiting for google's brainstrust to release some sort of blogsearch (ie search those sites using movable type, blogger, blogspot, typepad and other associated things ) we've found that an advanced search using typepad.com only for whatever floats your boat can be very handy. for example, noro : which is how we're guessing we came across the marvelous find of the exact pattern and yarn we were thinking of using - noro silk garden #84 and a debbie bliss sideways cardie pattern at indigirl's gallery.
another noro yarn we're oohing and aahing over - noro iro. it's a sort of yarn version of the ultimate winter warming soup, with a luxurious wool/silk mix and some amazing colour combinations. we're particularly fond of #9 and #19. now we're heading into the warmer months, it's a case of let it go.
eye candy of the highest knit order:
SEVENTH
155 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy 3065.
Tues-Sat 12.00 to 6.00.
Aug 31 to Sept 11 The Big Knit by CAROLINE LOVE.
it's basically one gal who got a bunch of knitters together along with yarn (and other freaky knittable guff) and made an installation. it's not unlike the installation that debbie new did (as shown on the cover of her book), although the big knit is hanging from the ceiling. looking forward to seeing the photos from the opening night - if we get them (or there's online goodness to link to), it'll go here.
mark newport is one amazing guy - check out his superheroes.
wulffmorgenthaler - never depart from a knitting pattern (from another...).
there's a new issue of interweave featuring crochet coming out - we find it kinda hard to get into crochet - aside from ana's craziness we don't get all suckered into it like we do with knitting. anyhoo, a few standout things: xenobia baileys african take on crochet - check out the crafts report profile and quicktime movies from mit.
the site's in japanese, however the crocheted food etc is amazing - view the gallery along with the cakes and teacups.
totally in love with jacquelines mary janes from the s'n'b melbourne felt along.
a few things on this weekend in the fine city of melbs - there's the craft and quilt fair. we'd like to issue a caveat - if you want to buy yarn and meet fellow fibre fiends, there's other places to do it - the upcoming geelong fibre forum being a good example. the fair is a commercial enterprise - it's on at jeff's shed, you're charged $14.00 day admission, and once inside, it's simply to spend more money. the crowds tend to be huge. that said - we'll be there sunday at the handknitters guild stall - feel free to drop by and say hi if you're around...
as part of the state of the design festival, the ready made market is on this sat - while we're not expecting knitterly things, related guff such as beautiful textiles, groovy tshirts and other eye candy will be there.
it's also just a little hop skip and a jump to see janet merewether's lil' knit video at ACMI, or view it online.
while in sydney's arielbooks, we happened upon the knitting kit of stephanie chen's which is a neato idea. we also love the online shop that stephanie is part of - cut + paste.
something else that tickled us pink - a new mag which features larger women - figure , and an ad within for string's lovely scarf/shawl/throw knitting kit.
oh wow - interweave knits fall patterns. love the jo sharp cardie in particular.
yep, when it comes to love, we have it in spades for interweave. we don't know of another mag whose art department dream up and knit designs for publication.
(you know who you are) has been plagued with a lace knitting problem from ann budd's book, and we're impressed that when ykwya emailed interweave, an editor knitted the sample, saw the problem, and got in touch with both ann and ykwya. cool, eh?
jen's lil' crochet critters comic and claire's japanese finds score bonus points for cuteness.
nice redesign of the karabella yarns site which has some lovely designs - for an inside view of how those designs are made up, alison offers "how a sweater becomes a pattern" in karabellaland.
couple of cute thangs found via the referrer logs - domestic goddess in training and supernaturale. we've been a little lax here because we've been super busy with work and upcoming assessment and general self induced anxiety and stress - sounds like we need to take time out to knit!
we love them crafty sites - check out portland's nevertwice and handmadebazaar.
knitter? sure. organized? ha! still, thanks to the organised knitter, we can dream. (danke calamondin).
cat bordhi (the "stephen king of sock books" thanks to socks soar on two circular needles) does a stellar review of debbie new's unexpected knitting. (danke dbd)
whilst doing a lil' search for example of the colinette colours, we came across an innovative use for their yarn - hair extensions, dreads and other guff at hairfreax. out of all the examples there, well...the pink one wins, of course.
it's something that we picked up from the "weldons encyclopaedia of needlework" - assume the position. we just love the old funky vintage feel to the whole thing.
they just look like a fun bunch o' knitting fiends, with some useful resources (particularly if you're in america) - knitsmiths.
some people we've met have commented that we knit stuff fast. honest, we don't. we're just spending way too much time knitting in lieu of other more important activities. incredible people like wendy - well, if you knitted at least 3 hours each day over a long period of time, you'd probably be pretty good at it too. we're amazed at the technical prowess (not to mention speed) that she must have. we should be more like her - do it outside of a day job (although we're not so sure about werking for the govt.), and go hard.
naughty us - we left out the other knit blogs that we've been reading lately...some of our faves include the dachshund sprinkled blogdogblog, owner of a gorgeous puddytat - another knitting blog, bonus points winner for blog color and knit store ownership digital yarn, knitting as antidote to medicine at at the stillpoint of the turning world and nyc based-rowan lovin'-lawyer curls and purls NYC
...what a day...felicity from s'n'b melbs kindly organised to have coffee with debbie new when she ordered her new book from schoolhouse press, checking to see if debbie might also be coming to oz to promote it. lucky, lucky souls who are going to her workshops while she's here - what's in her weighty tome is a total inspiration. we grilled the woman with questions until she was well browned on both sides - with 8 kids, summers spent on a boat, a knitting career with all these cool projects - there's a lot to cover! we glanced the pages during a quick trip to DEA and decided then and there that we'd make the dress:
it's a beautiful thing. if you want to find out more about debbie, there's a profile and her cards.
one of the interesting things she mentioned was submitting designs to interweave knits for publication - you submit an idea, and if it's approved, they decide the yarn supplier and colour, and get it for you. (debbie knit the dress above for them, only to have them decide that they preferred a top - how would you feel?). submitting to magazines isn't a huge money earner, but it's a useful publicity machine and it's possible to go on from there and use that experience for other things such as teaching, publishing a book, designing for fashion houses etc such as what lily chin has done.
amazing woman, totally chuffed to have met her, and the book is fab - highly recommended you check it out (melbs locals, it's a library book, thanks to her relative that works there, and artisan books will have more (signed?) copies coming in - we sucked 'em dry - they have lots of other hard to find treasures too).
heck. there is just too many new knitting books...
- ms falick's knit, a personal handbook,
- hot knits,
- 1000 sweaters,
- denim people,
- hand knits for the home,
- shadow knitting (handy for those who might like to go a little further after completing the alien scarf from stitch'n'bitch,
- the green mountain spinnery knitting book (interesting to see how this will differ from handpaint country).
we're finding it super hard to get werk done today. the thought of doing a business plan isn't awe inspiring at the best of times, let alone a friday afternoon. we've been bad, and been skiving, checking out these cute lil' animal ecards (bummer they're in german - update - now in english!) at ggh garn ecards.
one of those "who the hell would do that"? moments, kindly brought to you by donna hay, food porn photography queen. this seasons trend? egg cosies (not to be confused with the tea cosy, latte cosy, hot water bottle cosy etc). ok, ok, maybe we'd whip up a pink one, but only if the egg underneath had a smiley face on it...
we thought that would be the end of the cosy action for today, but no...there's a awesome site that we've just come across - knitknit (which we found on naturally curly, also damn fine), which features conceptual cosies however it was the flurfy bunny that totally stole our heart. if we had grass, we'd definitely be getting one.
speaking of cosies, there's this freaky get yr knit on community get together thing in warwick (queensland - one of australia's hotter states, which makes you wonder...) (as reported in the textile fibre forum newsletter) - which will feature the tree cosy or as the publicity puts it - Jumpers in July (winter woollies for Warwick’s deciduous trees). nothin' quite as sad as a shivering cold tree, eh?
there was an article in the new magknits about working at an lys which to us was pretty much on the mark. you can't help but start putting together different colours and yarns while stocking the shelves. customers get creative (or better still, you do it together or for them) with yarn choices for their projects - total sweeties even bring them in to show you what they're like when they're done. which led us to one of the most expensive things that we'd ever knit - a jacket and top out of rowan yarns. (photos soon...).
something smart that a few stores that sell online are doing is having their own blog as part of the site. in the case of threadbearfibrearts, having blackdog and crowingram giving their own personal spin and behind the scenes look at owning a yarn store makes it feel so much more personable and friendly, and it's obvious that these guys really truly love what they do. another new site that's got it goin' on is knithappens which scores bonus points for the interior decoration.
we can't find images of the knitting online (let us know if you can), but if you manage to see harvey krumpet there's quite a few references and examples of knitting (the finger puppets in the seniors home were really sweet), thoughtfully done by the director's mum.
one of the reasons that we got back into knitting was a pair of red and pink socks:
they're from the 2000 winter range of a very talented designer based in scotland who has a thing for colourful accessories - jo gordon . while now most of her work seems to be done by machine knitting and finished by hand, there also used to be beautiful hand knitted items - a balaclava with circles of mohair for the ears and other sweet humourous things.
one day, we'll make those stripy socks.
another designy type lady we've admired from afar for those sculptural blocky things (and yes, available in pink! alright!) is catherine tough. while we won't be knitting items like hers in a hurry, the thought of shaping and felting op shop jumpers is kinda tempting...
view the band steriogram's chunk o' knitting video from their label, capitol.
beautiful, and definitely not your bog standard design:
there's the pdf download of a wedding dress on interweave knits.
princess leia's head doughnuts are now a source of inspiration. dig the crocheted borg at ana's hats.
other movies as inspiration - sussdesigns made some simple cotton tops for the matrix guys to wear - the pattern is in
hollywood knits: 30 original suss designs.
we haven't seen the history of nyc epic gangs of new york, but after reading an article about the costume designer sandy powell, we're keen. from the article - "powell also kept in mind that people would have dressed to suit their lifestyles, and costumed them accordingly. "The women of the time would have been in corsets and full-length skirts, but in this particular world the women were as tough as the men, so it wouldn't seem right having them run around in crinolines. I needed to make them more mobile. So we chopped off the lengths of the skirts and gave them trousers to wear underneath. The idea is that they got whatever they could lay their hands on. People customized clothes to create a look." ".
in the article there's a photo of cameron diaz wearing a satin corset embroidered with flowers, with a kimono style top underneath. pictorial example coming soon of what powell is talking about, and the thought of converting it to knitting...whoa. it'd be full on, but gorgeous. scan coming...
the corset/top combo is a brilliant example of divide and conquer, a term picked up from "what not to wear" - book, bbc show w/ examples. a very fast tutorial for those considering knitting clothes - take it with a grain of salt - if it works for you, ace. if it doesn't, well, sally forth and enjoy yourself, you rebellious rulebreaker you.
do you have a decent sized chest? in order to look a little more in proportion and other good things, it helps heaps to wear things that are lower cut. we're talking vnecks, scoop necks, anything that will give you a decent expanse of chest without fabric. if you do have a top that doesn't divide and conquer, if you make it pale and whack a divide and conquer jacket over the top, you're set.
no boobs/wanting to look a little chunkier? you're lucky in that you can wear all the skimpy things in the world that don't require support (hello new summer (summer our butt, considering we're writing this cuddled into blanket, heater full bore) edition of knitty with tiny tops). there are whole books with knitting patterns for you - vintage knits (delicately made tops, and vintage pattern/petite women thing going on), and vogue knitting: quick knits (you want bulk? you got it!) are both fab.
