Weaving Blankets/Making Connections
January 7th, 2009
This is a guest post by Travis Meinolf, a public textile artist and teacher in San Francisco. He has presented his work at numerous art shows and workshops, as well as taught and published pieces on weaving and fiber arts. His newest project, the Weaving Place, allows visitors to learn weaving and produce loom woven pieces. The Weaving Place is an installation I was invited to bring to the Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada by my friend, artist Kai Althoff. It is a room with six stations for a sculptural weaving device that I have been working with, which is made from a piece of laser-cut plexiglass. Kai made some instructional drawings, which are enlarged and mounted around the room so that people can learn to weave using the looms, spend some time enjoying that process, and either take home what they’ve made or leave it to be stitched into patchwork wool blankets to be distributed later to people who might need them. Basically, I want to provide this experience of production for its own sake, understood as leisure but also realizing something that will actually function to keep somebody warm.
Sherry Stewart and Kathleen Lemieux at the Vancouver Art Gallery have been really helpful in involving their volunteer and public programs departments. They have recently informed me that participation is so great that they are running out of the yarns that I collected, including a generous donation from Lion Brand! This is just another example of how people coming together can make connections, both physical and social, that enhance our lives. The show runs until February 15th, and for more information you can visit Vancouver Art Gallery’s website at vanartgallery.bc.ca. To see some pictures of the space see flickr.com/weavingplace, and for more examples of my work go to actionweaver.com. (I will be installing more little looms for 4-10 year-olds at the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose on January 17th!) Related links:
5 Brand New Patterns from Our New Catalog
January 6th, 2009
It’s a new year, and the latest episode of YarnCraft–our audio podcast–is all about new resolutions, new yarns, and new designs! My co-host Liz and I share our yarncrafting resolutions, as well as some of our listeners’ goals. We also introduce seven of our newest yarns and some great designs from our latest Lion Design catalog, which will be arriving in homes this month. Click here to listen [MP3].
As a preview to the catalog, here are 5 great featured patterns that we discuss:
- Classic Cables Scarf
- Knit Meets Crochet Sweater
- Lacy Shawl
- Fireside Patchwork Afghan
- Argyle Crochet Afghan
Join us next Tuesday for a new podcast featuring our favorite cozy winter crafts.
Related links:
Crocheted Comfort for My Cat
January 5th, 2009
This is a guest post from Carolyn, our Customer Service Supervisor:
I began knitting about 4 years ago, with help from my colleagues, then a year later I began crocheting. At this point, I have gotten the basics of both down, but I’ve decided that I am better at crochet. Whenever I want to learn something new, I see Rose, the head of our crochet class and she shows me a new stitch.
Awhile back, I had some left over yarn hanging around and just started a single crochet square using our Babysoft in Lavender, then decided to add Cupcake in Pistachio. This turned into a small square “blanket,” which now designates the bed of my kitty Sylvester (a.k.a. Maudy). I had laid the blanket over a pillow, and that is where he sleeps every night — and of course cat-naps during the day. It seems to bring him comfort.
As you see here in this photo, Maudy was in the animal hospital recently. When we visited him, I brought along his blanket -– he felt so peaceful to have his Mommy, Daddy, AND his blanket — he is resting here with the little IV in his paw.
He is back home safe and sound now, doing better from his illness, and back to his happy cat self.
Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Moving Forward in the New Year
January 2nd, 2009
A Happy New Year to all of you! I’m sure many of you have been very busy these last few weeks with all sorts of holiday projects. My Cable Luxe Tunic has been sticking up out of my knitting bag trying to get my attention – and now it finally has it again! Quite of few of you have felt you’ve gotten behind on this KAL, but now that the calm of January is here, you can continue (or start!) this project and actually learn from all the hints that other knitters of the tunic have posted so far.
So, where am I on the tunic? I had thought that by now I’d have both the front, back, and both sleeves done — and would be working away on the yoke — the reality is that I have the back finished, and a sleeve done. When I finished the first sleeve, I realized that maybe I would have to adjust the length for my daughter, since she likes to wear her sleeves longer. I decided to put the sleeve stitches on a holder, and get going on the yoke, so that she can try it on before I finish the sleeves.
When I started the yoke, I caught myself ready to make another mistake! Luckily, I reread the instructions and saw that the circular needle I need for the yoke has to be a size smaller than the needle used for the body of the sweater. I needed a US 9 needle for the tunic, so I used a size 8 24″ circular needle for the yoke. The instructions told me to start at that back center seam of the cable strip and pick up all the way around back to the seam. I placed 4 markers on the top edge of the strip right above marking the spots where the back, left sleeve, front, and right sleeve start.
With the right side facing, I picked up the stitches just like I did when I picked up for the back, front and sleeves. I really love to use markers that attached to my knitting and this isn’t the only time I will use them for my yoke. I picked up the 130 stitches for the yoke, which is what the small size total stitch count. To make sure the stitches didn’t fall off the end of my needle, I put a point protector on the other end of the needle.
Although the pattern asks for a circular needle, the yoke itself is knit back and forth, so I placed a marker at the end of the row to remind me to turn my work and knit back. Could you knit this yoke in the round? Sure you can — all you need to do is remember to work the garter stitch in the round which is knit 1 round, then purl one round. And also remember that if your stitches get too tight around your needle after your decreases, you may have to switch to a 16″ circular or double-pointed needles to get to the top. I’m doing the yoke as it is written in the pattern, and I don’t mind the seam in the back which will continue from the seam in the cable strip. By knitting it in rows, I knit every row to get garter stitch this way.
For all the sizes, the yoke decreases every 6th row and for the small size I have to decrease 13 stitches evenly across each decrease row. To make this easier, I am using my markers again to mark 13 places in my knitting. Since there are 130 stitches, I will place a marker every 10 stitches (I decided to go in 5 sts on each end of the row — this still makes 10 sts between each marker, and I won’t have to decrease right at the edge of my row.)
Now I will knit the 2 stitches before each marker together on every decrease row. After all my decrease rows, I can remove the markers and just knit up until the garter stitch yoke measures 3″ from where I picked up the stitches. So that’s my plan and if all goes well, I should have this tunic ready to sew up next week. Here’s wishing you all a year filled with happiness, health, and as much knitting as you can fit in a year!
Related links:
- Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Cables, Sleeves, and Sewing
- Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Solving Problems & Making Progress Together
- Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Take It Step by Step
- Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Let’s Get Started
- Join Us for Our Knit-Along (an introduction)
- How to Knit-Along with Us (a general guide to KALs)
Knitting for the Earth
December 30th, 2008
We love to see new and creative uses of yarn. British director Sarah Cox created a knitted short film called “Don’t Let It All Unravel,” that draws attention to the global climate crisis. The piece has been to film festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival, the Live Earth Film Project, and the Encounters Film Festival just last month.
Click here to watch the short film. Via BBC.
Related links:
Seen in the Yarniverse: Amigurum-E
December 29th, 2008
Joshua, benegesseritrm on Ravelry, shared with us his adorable amigurumi version of Wall-E, which he calls “Amigurum-E”. Inspired by Vanna’s Choice in Mustard, Joshua added the Silver Grey limbs and perfect little red and white E on his chest. He got every detail right, including the marble eyes and even a sound chip that makes him say his name when hugged! We just wish we could hear him from across the internet!
Want to show us YOUR creative projects with our yarns? Whether you designed it yourself or used a pattern, we want to see your creations! Visit our our Customer Gallery!
Related links:
Extra Super-Duper Bulky-Weight Yarn
December 24th, 2008
Knit up a sofa in a couple of hours! I wonder what size knitting needles were used?
Thanks to Jane for pointing out this fun example of knitted art.
Via BoingBoing.
Studio Snippets
December 23rd, 2008
We love our customers . . . they are smart, and funny, they surprise us, and make us laugh.
I thought from time to time I would just share pictures, comments, stories & fun from the Studio.
Today one of our customers named Melody stepped up to the counter to buy six skeins of our beautiful Cashmere. James (our Asst. Manager) was ringing her up. I looked up at the big pile of cashmere on the counter and said, “Goodbye Cashmere”, and I reached out to pet it. Just then I heard a growling sound and a barking biting-like sound from across the counter. I jumped about a foot and looked up to see Melody and James laughing there heads off (the sound, of course, came from Melody). It was then pointed out to me, with a big old smile, that’s what you get for touching someone else’s Cashmere.
Holiday Windows — With Colorful Yarn
December 22nd, 2008
This is a guest post from our intern, Jessica, who previously wrote about her sparkly winter hat.
While walking from our Lion Brand offices to my graduate school, I spotted tons of festive yarn decorations in local businesses. All of the local Starbucks are featuring sparkling balls of yarn, including this great wreath:
I’m a student on a budget, so making a wreath like this will definitely save me money on decorating! I can use my leftover yarn from other projects to make this beautiful, simple project. All I have to do is wind my yarn into balls and attach to a wire wreath frame, available at any craft store. I might also use a pom-pom maker and add some pom-poms too.
This display at Urban Outfitters has strings of lights mixed together with yarn for an exciting and unique look:
Want more crafting ideas? Here are a few patterns to help with the holiday spirit:
- Striped Holiday Ornament
- Fair Isle Snowflake Ornament
- Amigurumi Reindeer
- Amigurumi Snowman
- Decorated Christmas Stocking
Related links:
Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Cables, Sleeves, and Sewing
December 18th, 2008
I’m now into the heavy-duty knitting part of this tunic. I really like looking at the cables going in different directions in this sweater, and I’m also having a great time seeing pictures of some of your tunics grow as well! Have I made mistakes along the way? Well, I always do! But I tell my students that in order to be a good knitter, you have to be a good ripper. When I was working a couple of 3/3 cables instead of 4/4 cables in that center cable panel, back I ripped. I’m glad I did as it would have been one very uneven center cable if I hadn’t fixed it.
After I finished the back I could have worked the front (which is identical to the back) between the sections that I marked off for it. Instead, I decided to work on one of the sleeves, so that we could look at how the sleeve grows from that original cable yoke strip. For the small size, I needed to pick up 46 stitches between areas marked for the front and back. I started with what will be my right sleeve and picked up my first stitch right next to the back. Unlike the back, the sleeve does not have a center cable, just 2 slipped stitches between the smaller cables as you can see in the picture.
The increasing at the sides of the sleeve is identical to the back. I wanted to get going on this sleeve to show something that will be very important to finishing the tunic and make the sleeves fit correctly. Some knitters who have done this tunic have had a problem with the armholes ending up much too narrow. After looking at some of the pictures of the finished tunics on Ravelry, I think the problem is in the finishing of the underarm seams. Before sewing up the side and sleeve seams, make sure to sew together the front and the backs to the sleeves along the areas where you first did all the side increases and ended up casting on stitches.
I have sewn the first of these 4 underarm seams here to show you, and once again I sewed them together with right side facing me. This seam will be under your arm and will give your tunic great shape and enough width.
My first sleeve is going very well, and I was surprised to see that after you do those first side increases and cast on stitches, that you just work evenly from that point on. Only the front and back flare, while the sleeves stay the same width all the way to the end. Now with the sleeves and the front to be finished, I will be keeping extra busy with the two weeks that will pass until my next post in the New Year. Thanks to those of you who have been answering (and asking!) questions, and I wish you all the best this season! Keep Knitting and Happy Holidays!
Related links:
- Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Solving Problems & Making Progress Together
- Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Take It Step by Step
- Cable Luxe Tunic Knit-Along: Let’s Get Started
- Join Us for Our Knit-Along (an introduction)
- How to Knit-Along with Us (a general guide to KALs)
