I would really like to put together a post about great knitting reference books. The Knitter’s Handbook by Montse Stanley is often mentioned in blogs, and Elizabeth Zimmerman is a queen of good knitting instruction, but what about the other gems? I’m thinking about categories like patterns, general instruction, and design. For patterns I’ve heard that Alice Starmore’s book of Fair Isle knitting is amazing, and Barbara Walker has some lovely books of knitting patterns. I haven’t personally looked at them and used them, yet. I once got The Principles of Knitting : Methods and Techniques of Hand Knitting through interlibrary loan, but it is out of print and I’m unwilling to pay 170 dollars to own my own copy right now, even though it’s completely badass. I really want to get this book on design, but it’s close enough to my birthday that I guess I should wait…. (ahem, ahem friends and family). It looks to be very useful and informative.
Even though most things you would want to learn about knitting can be found online when you need them, I still crave holding a book in my hand and perusing it at a leisurely pace. I’d like to put up a post about some of the favorite knitting reference books that knitters like, with a short description of each. At least for my own use, I’d like to have them in one place, and a blog seems to be a good spot.
So, if you have favorites in the areas of general instruction, patterns, or design, please leave a comment or email me. I would love to learn more!
Many knitters out there have heard of Knitta, the renegade group of knitters that started the knitted graffiti craze and have carried it to cities all over the world. Oh, you haven’t heard? Well, check it out. This knitted bus is one of my all-time favorites. Well Fayetteville’s local Stitch n’ Bitch group and our lovely local yarn store, Hand Held, decided that our fair city needs some knitted graffiti of its own, so Fayetteville, you’ve been yarn bombed.
Yes, this is probably supposed to be completely anonymous, but I couldn’t resist taking some pictures of ladies in action.
And of course, there is a ransom note:
asking the City of Fayetteville to donate the squares to the animal shelter for use as cage blankets once they tire of looking at the colorful fibers.
Tonight in Fayetteville is also First Thursday, which means lots of art, music, film, and a new beer garden. If you’re interested, you can find more complete details here. Stop by Hand Held to see some lovely knitted work. Hope to see your lovely faces!
I have no excuses for my silence. Or many excuses. In the past month I have survived finals, moved, begun working at Hand Held, knitted, frogged, sighed, knitted again, contemplated, laughed, cried, cooked, reminisced, examined memorabilia, let go, and I’m still here.
I have been taking gobs and gobs of photographs, though sadly, none of my current knitting projects. I’m always working on some socks (seemingly). I’m also making this (Ravelry link) out of lovely Classic Elite Soft Linen in a lovely soft teal color. I realized I have very few summer knits. It seems I made a lot of socks last summer, rather than garments I could wear, so I’m going to aim for at least two tops and a skirt while the weather is fair.
If you’re in the Fayetteville area tomorrow, you should check out the First Thursday events on the square. The art galleries are welcoming, the beer garden is making its debut, you *might* find some knitted graffiti… and Cynthia Parker is having a trunk show at Hand Held. This: is just one of the amazing creations she’ll be showing. It’s Foolish Virgins designed by Kaffe Fassett, if you’re wondering. I hope to see you there!
In the meantime, I’ll be continuing with my indecision and feelings of limbo.
I have been knitting. I promise. I lost steam on the Franny mittens to match the Zooey hat. I hope Zooey is faring well out in the world. I’m not receiving errata ridden emails, so I’m assuming that things are working well. The mittens are three quarters of the way done. They are currently keeping a pair of socks that I have finished (save binding off and maybe blocking) company in a vase near my front door. I’ve moved on to headbands.
Just a little seed stitch, and I am happily on my way to fully committing to being a hippie. I think I may try to make a few different headband styles. It seems like a good spring and summer project. I used some self-striping Shibori. I think I may skim a bit off of my sock yarn stash if these become as addictive as I think they might.
I have been outside a lot lately. It feels wonderful to be in the warm sun and watch the baby baby plants begin their springtime awakening. The following is a slideshow of some recent outdoor adventures. Beware, there are many dog pictures, and each one may melt your heart a little more than the last. Proceed with caution.
Meet Zooey. Named for the J.D. Salinger character, Zooey Glass. I don’t know if he would have actually worn this hat, but I like to think that he would’ve enjoyed some Fair Isle. I’m working on some Franny mittens. I’m about halfway through the first one. The design will be similar, with some variety on the palm. I hope to have a preview of these up by next week.
The pdf can be found here: Zooey-Final. It is available in small, medium, and large sizes with dimensions of those sizes described in the pattern.
Please inform me of any errors you find. I tested all of the sizes myself, but I am human, and well, humans make some errors.
Edited to add: I was told that the links on the pdf are not working. The Italian Tubular Cast On was found here and the Fair Isle weaving technique is here.
Oy. The Ravelympics. I was planning on completing the Minimalist Cardigan, but the Olympics snuck up on me quicker than I imagined. I might refine my goal to include finishing the Franny mittens, writing, and posting the pattern by the end of the Olympics. There is too much other stuff going on at the moment to dedicate all my knitting energy to a sweater, and I feel like I’m on a roll with these patterns, so I want to keep the momentum going.
Other stuff that’s happening:
If you live in the Fayetteville, AR area, you should come to this album release party. Some friends of mine have been working on this album for months, and this party will be the result of all their collaboration and delicate labor. I will also be playing the flute on one song. I’m terrified. I haven’t played the flute in about 14 years with any regularity. It will be an adventure.
This is a preview of a fair isle hat I designed. It will be available in three sizes for FREE on this blog once I finish writing up the pattern and test knitting all the sizes.
It is modeled here by the lovely Miss Lindsay Smallwood in the small size. I haven’t settled on a name, but I’m thinking of calling it Zooey. Any other ideas? I’m hoping to have this up by Valentine’s Day, since there isn’t that much cold weather in the season (hopefully). Maybe I’ll make some matching mittens or arm warmers and call them Franny… haha.
Two of my favorite pudding flavors also make lovely colors for the Ripley hat by Ysolda.
I used Ella Rae Kamelsoft for both of these hats. The yarn develops a soft halo with some wear. The pattern is very easy to knit, but even on my fourth incarnation of the hat I was not totally satisfied with my garter stitch grafting. I think a garter stitch graft is always going to be a little imperfect, or maybe it’s just me. You can see for yourself in the second shot above. Wooly Wormhead has a good analysis of grafting here.
I love the way the pattern builds slouch into the hat. I’ve made this hat four times so far. One for the gentleman pictured above, once for a friend, and twice for myself. The first butterscotch colored hat I made for myself had a run-in with an enthusiastic canine. I really didn’t mind re-knitting. This hat knits up very quickly.
I have been working on a fair isle hat design that I will be posting pics of soon for a preview, then shortly after that I’ll post the pattern here. I’m experimenting with different size options by changing the size of the needles so that I don’t have to change the chart or most of the numbers in pattern. It’s working well so far for the small and medium size. I’ll take on the large size later this week.
Does anyone else have trouble with Addi Clicks sticking? Several of the needles are very stubborn about detaching from the cords. I even had to give one set to my lys so they could send them in for me to be detached or replaced.
Excuse the picture heavy post – - I recently got a new camera and have been unable to stop taking pictures…
And because it’s not everyday that doggies have birthdays… Sandog is six!
Howdy. This is my first attempt at providing a pattern for the knitting masses. Thank you to my testknittingladies for their input on the pattern. I didn’t have them test knit the small or large sizes, because I hadn’t written that into the pattern at the time, so please let me know if you find any errors so that I may correct them. You can send any pattern input to cassandra.dominick@gmail.com.
All photos by M Taylor Long. This pattern may not be sold or used for profit without permission of the author. Please email me at cassandra.dominick@gmail.com for permissions.
I built us a coffer made of cedar, to protect our woolen hearts from hungry moths.
I think I’m feeling a bit poetic today. I found the following poem in a little black moleskin notebook that I forgot all about. I wrote it last June.
Alone in a sea of minds,
hiding behind my eyelids
you come thundering
through my chest in the darkness.
Tear me apart with your
silken words.
Unseam the edges of
my placid countenance
with your gentle irises.
You have the heart of a poet.
Okay, now I’m going to put my soul away…haha. I read some poetry at a local art event recently. I didn’t know my face could get that red and warm. T’was a fun experience though.
I missed my blogiversary by ages now. It was three years on September 20th. I made a hat. I have its pattern almost ready. I need to make some tweaks to make it official. Here is what it will look like:
Bibbity Bobbity
It’s called Bibbity Bobbity. I’ll put it here and on Ravelry when I get it done. I don’t have many excuses other than school and having too much fun outside of school. Midterms came and went, now finals. My hope is that by publicly announcing its forthcoming arrival on the blog, I will be held accountable. We’ll see how that goes. At the very least, Christmas break is just around the corner and I’ll run out of excuses.
It was very cold here today. Well, in the 30′s (Farenheit), anyway. I know I’m a wimp. That’s pretty cold to me. It seems like an Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton kind of day with this grey weather.
I’m headed for a counseling conference next week in San Diego. I’ll be there from the 14th-18th. I don’t think I know of any San Diego knitters, unfortunately, but if you’re out there, give me a shout. I’d love some knitting company or just peeps to hang out and explore a new city with.
I’ve recovered from swine flu and am back on the job and school, but also feeling like I’ll never catch up. Argh. At least I have pizza and coffee to get me through the hard times. I was going batty with the social isolation. Me in my apartment for a week and a half, with mostly only the cats. And the Gilmore Girls…and some knitting.
This video reminds me of Halloween from my childhood. My aunt recorded a whole Disney Halloween set of cartoons for us once, and my brother, sister and I seemed to watch them religiously. Or at least I did. I also got really excited when I remembered a cartoon called Witch’s Night Out. I found it on DVD on eBay and ordered it! What a wonderful world we live in.
