amy singer

The weather has finally turned in our favor here in the northeast of North America, which puts us in the right mindset to knit outdoors. And just in time to start thinking about World Wide Knit in Public Day. This year, it’s not just a day – it’s a week! Events will run between June 9th and 17th, in cities all over the world. The Toronto crew is planning a big day at Speaker’s Corner at Nathan Philips Square.  A list of events around the world is here.

Knitlympic fever is heating up in the UK: a piece from the Telegraph in the UK about the book ‘Knitlympics: Knit Your Favourite Athletes’ by Carol Meldrum. Bonus link to a free pattern for Jessica Ennis, complete with Stella McCartney designed gear.

A related piece from the NY Times’ blog about the thorny issue of copyright at it relates to crafting, specifically to do with protection of the Olympic rings image.

A great profile of Toronto yarn shop (and Amy’s LYS) The Purple Purl in working.com, focusing on the realities of running the business.

Knitter Courtney Zurcher created a fun yarny installation and offered learn to knit classes as part of the Big Omaha 2012 conference on innovation and entrepreneurship, held last week.

Kickstarter project for a neat yarn storage device, invented by a Product Design student to help out his girlfriend with her knitting. Even if you’re not looking to support these types of projects, it’s fun to read about the inspiration and the design process.

Yarnbombers struck Norwich City Hall. Fantastic lamp post styling!

Excellent yarn shop name of the week: The Sheep’s Stockings.

Twice a year my spinning gang hits the road and goes to spin at a family cabin four hours north of where we live.

We spin and knit, watch movies and eat a lot. We relax and focus on a hobby we all love.

Last weekend we went. It was beautiful and sunny, we even spent some time spinning lakeside.

With no work or family constraints I got a lot of spinning done – almost a pound of fiber. I spun randomly filling bobbins with what appealed to me at the time. Of course I brought three times as many projects than I could possibly accomplish.

The spinning part of my brain feels relaxed now and I feel reconnected to my spinning women.

Do you ever spin away?

Every knitter – no matter how experienced, no matter how skilled, no matter how many years you’ve been knitting – has holes in their knowledge.

For me, it’s knitting with beads.  I’ve dabbled in it, but I’d never completed a full project, and I knew I wanted to learn more.  As luck would have it, knit designer Laura Nelkin was scheduled to come to Toronto, to teach at class at Lettuce Knit.  Laura’s one of the best designers working with beaded knits; her designs are beautiful, interesting, and clever. She’s got designs for those just starting out with beads, and designs for knitters seeking a serious challenge.

Her class “Advanced Lace with Beads“, filled up quickly, and I was happy to have a place on the list.

And what fun it was!

We worked a small sample swatch, to try out several ways of adding beads to our work.

We made nupps (and a few swear words, too, for those of us whose needles were too blunt to work that pesky p7tog).

And we played with color combos.

I learned lots of great stuff – and not just about knitting with beads.

Laura shared a genius trick for working with charts…

Sue from Rochester, NY is our lucky winner of the Bigger on the Inside yarn pack. A huge thanks to Lorna’s Laces for providing our prize. And happy wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey knitting to Sue!

The University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor is hosting an exhibition of knitting as contemporary fine art. Ruth Marshall’s “Vanished in Stitches” exhibit is on display until June 9th. The artist knits accurate life-size pelts of rare and endangered big cats – including ocelots, tigers and leopards. Her years working at the Bronx Zoo, she launched the project to highlight the plight of these rare and beautiful creatures. More about the artist and her fascinating work at her website.

Artists Pat Ashford and Steve Plummer have created one of their trademark Illusion knits in time for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. The oversized replica of a first class postage stamp with a portrait of the Queen is one of many such projects they have undertaken. An illusion uses texture to create an image that hides: when viewed from the front, the fabric looks only like vertical stripes, but when viewed from an angle, the image appears.

From the New York Times Archive, a pattern published in 1861 for mittens for soldiers. Although not necessarily immediately or obviously knittable, it’s a fascinating insight into how knitting patterns have evolved over the years, and what passed for a decent set of instructions for previous generations. I do like the thought that sock needles were considered “larger”.

Not strictly knitting (despite the article title), but absolutely lovely: Lace fencing.

Also not knitting, but great insights into the larger world around us crafters… two articles from Slate that we’ve enjoyed recently: one on the history of zippers and the Japanese company that dominates the market, and one on the ‘color authority’ Pantone and their color forecasting.

I took a quick drum carding class from Sarah Anderson this winter and one of things she demonstrated was dizzing off of a drum carder.

I tried it and it’s fun and easy. Perfect if you love drum carded fiber , but don’t like spinning from batts.

You need a drum carder (mine is a Patrick Green Deb’s Delicate Deluxe), a doffer (the pointy ice-pick-looking tool) and a diz (I use buttons. I love buttons).

Build your batt. I did a quick striped batt for long color runs. Start by doffing just enough fiber to fit through your diz.

And thread it through your diz.

Start dizzing by pulling the fiber slowly but firmly through the diz.

There has to be enough tension in your pull for the fiber to run smoothly and steadily through the diz but not so much that the fiber breaks. Here are some tips:

• Try tipping your diz at a slight angle to the drum carder.
• If you use a button as a diz, don’t use one with a shank on it. The fiber will wrap around it no matter how careful you are, or how many bad words you say.
• If the fiber is hard to pull through your diz your fiber is too thick.
• Keep your hand between your freshly dizzed fiber and the drum carder, or it will catch back onto the carding cloth. Ask me how I know.
• If your fiber breaks or gets very thin, just doff the next little piece and start again.
• Don’t expect the pull of dizzing the fiber to turn the drum on your drum carder. I turn my drum a quarter of a turn, diz, then repeat.

The fiber will pull off of the drum in a giant spiral, like peeling an apple. The resulting roving is gorgeous, fluffy and ready to spin.

Use the exact same process to diz layered batts.

The roving comes off blended.

Fun, easy and a great excuse for me to buy more buttons.

Here’s something I figured out about storing my drum carder recently. It and all the carding tools fit perfectly into a big blue Ikea shopping bag – it’s the perfect storage solution for me. Everything in one place and the bag makes hauling it off and on the shelf where I store it easy.

Here’s the latest update from the world of Jillian Knits Slowly!

I finished Groove from Winter Knitty by Stephen West.

I knit my Groove out of Madelinetosh DK

I haven’t stopped wearing it since I finished

That puts my knit from Knitty count at 3 out of 6 for the year.

Here’s a little more groove for your Monday, I dare you not to dance!

I needed these shoes. I was teaching at Yarnover in Minneapolis [which was super-fabulous, by the way] and needed a little footwear-based oomph to make my super-teacher powers fully activate.

You understand, surely.

These are Dr Martens 1461 Oxfords in the unbelievable-but-true color they call Blueberry. The leather is softer than the usual Doc oxford style [which could probably be used as the outer skin of a tank].

They fit great, with super-thick socks. For two reasons. 1: Docs don’t come in half sizes. 2: Even though the leather is softer than their usual, I have wussy baby princess feet and need the protection of a thicker-than-usual sock fabric.

That said, they’re SUPER comfy with the right socks and my trusty Birkenstock insoles [I put these in everything I wear, unless they're already Birkenstocks]. And as you can see in the pic above, the Thorlo light hiking socks I had worked. But man, I’m a knitter. They’re embarrassing. I need to knit me some beautiful socks that will give me cushy protection.

Challenge: I’m allergic to wool, and most non-wool sock yarns aren’t thick enough to make a sock that will work with these shoes. Sock Candy, for example, my usual go-to sock yarn, is great for regular wear. But it’s not enough. Two strands? Not quite what I was thinking.

So I put it to you, dear readers. What wool-free yarns have I not considered [or may not be aware of] that are more likely sport- or even light-worsted-weight, that will make a comfy, cushy, pretty sock? Maybe you’ll see something at Maryland Sheep & Wool this weekend? Maybe you know of an indie who’s using an unusual base? I sure would love a handpaint for these.

Fill the comments with your ideas. I’ll be super grateful.

The response to ‘Bigger on the Inside‘ has been so great – people love the design, absolutely, but they are also enjoying and relating to the story.  (Indeed, given that it’s Obsession Thursday, we might suggest that some of you are obsessed with it… )

I’ve received so many emails from knitters who experienced a similar thing – being told that their style was inappropriate, being told that they shouldn’t dress the way they want to, being told that they shouldn’t wear their handknits. No matter how gently the message is delivered, it can make a knitter feel isolated and out of place. I have to say, given the response I’ve received, I will never feel isolated or out of place again!

Many knitters have asked about my original scarf, wanting to see more of it…

Here it is, in its full glory, Mum’s glorious interpretation of a Doctor Who scarf, made at my request in the mid 1980s. 45sts of (k1, p1) ribbing, worked in what looks like a worsted weight acrylic. It’s 7 inches wide and 106 inches long – just under 9 feet.

I know the colors aren’t right – and I knew that at the time – but it was much harder to find a picture of the inspiration back then, and at the time I wasn’t keen on brown. So we just improvised.

Thanks Mum!

And if want your own ‘Bigger on the Inside’, we are giving away a yarn pack containing enough of the fab custom TARDIS colorway of Lorna’s Laces Solemate to knit it, valued at $52 US.

The usual rules apply for our giveaway: Leave a comment on this post before midnight, eastern time, on Monday, May 7, 2012. 1 comment will be chosen at random to answer a skill testing question.

If he/she answers correctly, they will win our prize! Good luck, everyone!

(If you have won a prize from us already this year please give another knitter a chance and leave your name out of the hat. Thanks!)

If you are interested in creating a more authentic version of the actual Tom Baker scarf, this website is very helpful.

The brainchild of our editor, Amy Singer and her friend and colleague Brenda Dayne [creator and host of the Cast On podcast], the Plug+Play Pembrokeshire Retreat is returning for a triumphant second year, this October 2012! You’ll find all the Retreat details here.

Registration opens May 15th, 2012.

To make it easier for you to ask questions, Amy and Brenda have set up a forum in Ravelry, where you can ask anything and get an answer pretty quickly. Lots of last year’s attendees visit the forum, so if you want some of their perspectives, just ask!

Okay, we’re biased, but we think this is the event not to miss in 2012!

A group supported by the Wisconsin Historic Society and The Yarn Group of the The National NeedleArts Association is planning a symposium this November to explore the formation of a Knitting Heritage Museum. The kick-off speaker at the Symposium, Dr Susan Strawn, author of Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art, will provide an historical perspective of the craft.

The group is seeking active participation in interactive forums and discussion groups to help determine how best to preserve and secure the valuable legacy of our knitting and crochet heritage. The symposium will be held Nov. 8-10, 2012, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in downtown Madison, WI.

Additional information is available at the project’s blog.

Instructions for creating knitting-themed cupcakes!

Knitting catches on at a high school in Connecticut.

In the past 20 years, knitter Betty Robb in the UK has knitted over 3000 hats to donate to charity. That’s a little more than one hat every 2 and a half days!

Some Canadians have noticed that knitting is catching on… “In Manitoba, everybody needs a warm pair of mittens.” Truth.

We just missed this year’s spring Carolina Fiber Frolic, but planning is underway for a fall event November 9-11, and the dates have been announced for next spring, March 22-24, 2013.

A fun slide show and profile of the Gorilla Knitting Crew, a yarn-bombing group in Sacramento, CA. What’s notable about this crew is that it’s a family! Candice and Adam Foster and their four kids, Bella, 13, Nieyah, 7, AJ, 6, and Lukas, 4, started the Crew last summer. In addition to decorating the city and its landmarks, the team also makes hats for the homeless and leaves them lying around for the needy to find.

Speaking of yarn-bombing, a group of clergy and church members in the UK yarnbombed some local statues in an effort to bring attention to an initiative to raise funds to repair the roof of their church. I love the slightly cheeky use of pom-poms in the photo…

Have you seen this yet? It’s my favorite spinning thing in a long time.

Spinner’s Party Tool

WPI, twist angle and bottle opener in one, all for $5 plus shipping.

From the fantastic minds that make the spinning wheel cup holders, FBN Plastics.

So how did I do with my spinning goals for April? I certainly got a lot more done than I would have otherwise. Here’s my tally and a few pictures.

April deadline spinning:

• Fiber Fiesta for the next issue of Knittyspin- Yes! But I can’t show you.
• Samples for the Spin Art SAL on SpinDoctor, the rest of the singles yarns – Ha! I did two. But those are awesome.
• The yarn for the Spunky Eclectic blue shawl I have in my head, worsted spun – Nope.

I really thought I would get more samples spun from Spin Art, but it just didn’t happen. I did coils and thick and thin and that’s all. I loved thick and thin so much I did two in different fibers, Merino and Shetland. The Shetland thick spots were much puffier and long.

April non deadline spinning

• Practice worsted spinning (for the blue shawl above, also a 2012 spinning goal) – Yes! Three yarns.
• Practice hand carding (from Carol Rhoades Madrona class)- Yes!
• Try dizzing from my drum carder (from Sarah Anderson’s Madrona class) – Yes!
• Spin and write a pattern for easy mittens and hats using handspun for holiday gifts – Spun 1 yarn
• Ponder all the bits for teaching a knitting with handspun class – Yes, and it’s going to be cool!
• Spin three things for just spinning – Did 2 though one may become a gift

  Hand carding sampler

  I did a bunch of hand carding. The samples above are, some super short Southdown (left), opening up of a really compacted roving (middle) and color blending some green fiber. I still have a lot of learning to do, but my technique is getting smoother.

  Dizzing from my drum carder

  Dizzing from my drum carder was fun! So much fun, I’ll show you more next week.

For May goals, I’ll move over the ones I didn’t get done, maybe with some tweaks and add some more. I’m still thinking about it.

What did you spin in April?