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kottke.org posts about knitting

Knitting Anything?

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I know there are some knitters around here, and I’m curious what people are making, if anyone cares to share. I’ve been knitting a Nine Note Seed Stitch Wrap for the past couple months. Next I’d like to finally try making a Junko Okamoto sweater, or maybe a James Watts sweater. And I’d really love to make this sweet guernsey kids’ sweater by Susie Haumann, but so far the pattern is only in Danish. And if I’m being honest I’ll probably just make something mindless (but no less pleasing).

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‘Visible Mending,’ on Love, Death, and Knitting

Beautiful stop-frame animated documentary about why people knit and mend. “When your life is sort of falling apart, you need to create a purpose in it for yourself, and if that purpose is quite small, it doesn’t matter.” Directed by Samantha Moore.

I’ve also been enjoying Arounna Khounnoraj’s visible mending and other handmade projects, on Instagram at bookhou.

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Another Knitting Post: The Pengweeno Cardigan

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This is a recommendation for the pattern to the delightful Pengweeno children’s cardigan, by Stephen West. I’ve made three of them — this post is probably/definitely just an excuse to share these photos — and hope to make more.

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It’s a good way to use up spare yarn, and the result is supremely cute and satisfying. There’s also an adult version — the Penguono — but for whatever reason only the Pengweeno speaks to me. (Here’s Stephen West on Ravelry, Instagram, and his website.)

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Previously: Traditional Maine Mittens. I have to cram as much knitting content as I can onto this blog before Jason comes back!

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Knitting Traditional Maine Mittens

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Shortly after I learned to knit, a friend suggested I find the 1983 book Fox & Geese & Fences: A Collection of Traditional Maine Mittens, by Robin Hansen, and make her a pair. I did, it was a wonderful experience, and I have been knitting mittens from the book ever since (some pictured above). They are exceptionally warm and durable. A bonus is that the patterns are written with a kind of common sense that for me at least made a few steps feel like fun puzzles. (What does she mean by “K both colors, gray then red, into the st that should have been gray”?? … ohhHHhhh!!!)

I found the book used on Amazon, but other books of Hansen’s are available on her website. My favorite pattern to make is “Sawtooth” (various above and below), but the best are maybe the “Safe Home” ones (center left), found elsewhere online. [thx Cecilia!] Oh also: Pair with Maine’s Bartlett Yarns – perfection.

Okay one more shot, these are my everyday mittens, I think I’ve been wearing these for the past five winters (Sawtooth pattern). Glorious!
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New Kids on the Block sweaters

If you thought for one second that I wouldn’t post a story about homemade New Kids on the Block sweaters from the 90’s, well, ma’am, I don’t think you know me, and you certainly never loved me. Shut it down, internet, you can all go home. This post wins.

Click through to see 2 more NKOTB sweaters and a bonus Vanilla Ice sweater.


Sweater tree

A tree in Baltimore recently was bestowed with its sweater for the colder months. Local knitters constructed a garment specifically for the tree, with the only restriction being that they had to use white, green, and purple yarn. The latest sweater replaces last year’s style, which was removed for the dog days.

“We actually made a little bikini for it for the summer, but it fell apart.”

The sweater tree is an example of a growing urban phenomenon called yarn bombing, aka yarnstorming or graffiti knitting. Yarn bombing is believed to have its roots in Texas, where it was invented as a way for knitters to creatively utilize their unfinished knitting projects. Common targets are telephone poles, trees, and banisters, but in Mexico City, yarn bombers aimed their knitting needles at a more ambitious endeavor: a yarn-covered bus.

Update: It appears that yarnbombing has reached the streets of Dunsborough, a fairly rural area of Western Australia. Wrapped, a collective of knitters between the ages of 8 and 87, has taken over the streets with their purled pieces. In September, the group got together and crafted wraps, pom-poms, and finger knittings that are being placed on signs, trees, and poles by a group of “knitting taggers” during the month of October. Their goal is to promote knitting events in the area, and to make a difference in the community by spreading woolly good will. The sweater swaths have tags affixed that direct the viewer to their website where they outline the project.

(thx dave)