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Crocheted Smart car
Spotted by the photographer StartTheDay in Rome, he found out later that it was by artist Magda Sayeg for the Roman Arts Festival.
Blogpick: Addicted to knitting
Are you addicted to knitting? In this post, Kate at Foxs Lane compares her own knitting habits with the classic and very real symptoms of addiction. It makes a good if slightly worrying read, and along the way she knits this gorgeous Bunny Tail. There's a link to the pattern in the post.
Blogpick: felted boots
These boots look really attractive after felting, but what makes these photos amazing is that they show just how much items shrink when felted.
Unfortunately I can't find a blog, but you can see the pictures before and after felting on Flickr
Express yourself
At Cafepress you can find gifts for yourself or others featuring custom designs.
Fancy a tee-shirt, tote bag or mug that tells the world 'I knit therefore I am', 'Keep calm, carry yarn', 'So much yarn, so little time?'
Fair Isle Knitting
Moira Hickey marches across sodden fields on Fair Isle to look at the importance of knitting to the islanders at a time when knitting is about to be dropped from the curriculum. Besides meeting the sheep and discussing the traditional techniques, she asks about the viability of a 'fair trade' product handmade from fleece to jumper, and whether hand knitting should be kept alive as a tradition on the island or be developed to encourage tourism.
Broadcast on Thursday 5th August 2010 and available on the iPlayer
Knitting on a plane
It's holiday time, but can you knit on the plane...?
There is much debate about this subject wherever you are in the world including here in the UK.
The answer seems to be yes or no, depending on your airport. I've done some research for you:
Selvedge Magazine
Selvedge magazine is a special and collectable magazine, covering interior design and contemorary textile art.
Be one of the first to read the Summer 2010 issue (number 35) for £10
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Zero calorie Chocolate Fondue
This chocolate fondue has no calories. In fact you'll burn some when you make it.
I recently mentioned Kate Jenkins' incredibly realistic food. Here are a couple more scrummy knitted projects.
First of all, for the fridge, knitted meat complete with polystyrene tray and cling film:
the chocolate fountain in the picture is from skymagenta's Flickr photos. Her crocheted food also includes pizza, hot-dogs and coffee and biscuits. Follow the links to her etsy shop where she's selling the crochet patterns for the food and lots of other objects.
Making time tangible
A while ago I featured automatic knitting in the shape of a knitting lampshade and wind-powered knitting and here's another project along similar lines. This design seeks to make time a tangible, physical thing.
German designer Siren Elise Wilhelmsen exhibited her 365 knitting clock at DMY International Design Festival Berlin. The circular knitting machine with 48 needles moves clockwise and after one year creates a scarf two meters long.
Blogpick: What's the meaning of this?
It feels a little bit irreverend to chuckle at these little fellows who appear in a Japanese cemetery. Vicki of Knitorious posted this wonderful photo of them looking so cute in their little crocheted caps, but the reason is a mystery.
Extreme Knitting, 1000 Strand Knit
This video shows Rachel John breaking records by knitting with 1000 strands simultaneously on a pair of giant needles. The work of art took place at a Textiles exhibition in 2006. It's designed to make us think about waste and finding / making yarn, and as with much art, taking things out of context. I love it for these reasons, and most of all because I love it when things are taken to extreme.
Free pattern: Wakefield Diagonal Lace Scarf by Melissa LaBarre
This simple lace pattern with a natural bias is by one of the authors of 'New England Knits' - the theme of the book features garments which reflect the culture and style of New England and allow you to cope with changeable New England weather which goes from chilly to sunny in the same day.
Blogpick - free scarf roundup
I don't usually feature bought patterns, but Tina of Peacefully Knitting has gone to the trouble of searching out some of the best shawl and shawlette patterns, and there are some beautiful ones here.
Free pattern: cabled purse with buckle
I love this little purse - it looks quick and easy to make using some stash yarn.
Washing instructions for pure wool
I recently designed a 'washing instructions' label for a handspun / handknitted gift. I've shared the label here as text / image for you to copy and paste or in word format for you to download.
BlogPick: On knitting
What does a crocheter feel when she starts knitting? I love this post in which crocheter kate learns to knit.
She lists her 'likes' and 'dislikes' - the lines almost form a poem. How many do you agree with?
Stitched Selves
A collaborative work, in which hundreds of people from around the world made stitched selves, has been on display for one night only at the Science Museum.
The Stitch Yourself exhibit was on display in the main Energy Hall on 30 June 2010.
The gathering of little people included a flasher and a lady busy knitting her own head.
StitchLondon's blog post about the event is here
http://stitchandbitchlondon.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/stitch-yourself-night/
Pictures of all of the 259 mini-me's will feature with backstories on StitchLondon's Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38202796@N06/sets/72157624280938971/
and the Flickr group pool for the event is here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/stitchlondon/pool/
Come dine with me
We've seen knitted food before, but Kate Jenkins does it on a big scale with realism and humour. Her previous exhibitions have included a bangers-and-mash cafe and fish and chips at Brighton.
Her current exhibition, Come Dine With Kate, is showing at the Rebecca Hossack gallery in London until 24 July
iPad cosy
I really don't know what's going on here, and I'm not sure I want to know.
She's demonstrating crocheted iPod and iPad cosies; this pom-pom one is quite clever - the pom-pom folds around the back to provide a soft shock-absorbing angled rest. But she's doing all of this while wearing a crocheted dragon outfit complete with LED nose and red-painted toe nail slippers.
I went to make a cup of tea and when I came back it was still just as surreal. Tried Google language tools... Oh, it's a tiger, not a dragon. But no explanation. Perhaps some things are better if you don't know...
Free eBook - Knitting Techniques for More Successful Knitting
Help for all Knitters from the Knitting Daily Experts.
This free eBook (requires registering your email address with Knitting Daily) includes casting on for ribbing, making a French knot, working short rows, felting or blocking your pieces successfully, making an applied i-cord, a three-needle bind-off and more. RNLI.
A woolly underwater world
Textile artist Alison Murray has created a huge seaside scene involving 2,000 knitters. the contributors did their own thing and Alison took five months to sew it all together.
Alison says, "knitting is an Olympic sport for me and the pieces are of an Olympic size"
You can view the piece in Bideford in July and money will be raised for the RNLI.
Letting the grass grow under your feet. Free pattern - knitted grass rug
Doesn't this make you want to get your bare toes into it? I love it, and will be making one soon.
The pattern from Lion Brand includes instructions for the 'make one loop' stitch and you can make the grass as long or short as you like.
Argyle giraffe
This is spot, the eight-foot Argyle giraffe, here for no other reason than he, or possibly she, is cute. The soft sculpture was made by Lion Brand to take with them to Maker Faire where they were teaching knitting and crochet to the visitors.
The soft sculpture stands on, and is eating, an equally lovely grass rug.
Knit in Public Day / Week
I don't usually buy into International Whatever Day, but love seeing / doing public knitting / spinning.
At the Knit in Public Day website you can find out more, find an event (there are some in the UK) or organise your own.
Will you be knitting / spinning in public? Make sure you get some snaps and add them here: Spinning and knitting in public - if you have a Flickr account, just click 'join'. If you aren't on Flickr, it's pretty easy to join.
Tutorial: Mattress stitch
This excellent tutorial from the Knitting Daily blog takes us through that essential stitch for sewing up with a neat seam with good illustrations and top tips.
Brightening up Brisbane
I can't help feeling that it's not guerrilla knitting if it's organised by the local council, but rampaging guerrilla knitters or not, I love these knitted, woven and crocheted works which are brightening up Brisbane.
Knitted boobs for new mums
Local knitters in Somerset are being asked to make a boob as well as the clothes for premature babies they normally make. The South Somerset NHS in Somerset is using the knitted breasts as training aids by infant feeding specialists.
A similar scheme at Liverpool Women's Hospital was reported last year
Blogpick - Coronation Street Knitting
I Knit London take us on a trip down memory lane in the shape of 1968 Corrie stars modeling some contemporary knitting patterns.
The actors relax in elegance, get cool and casual and get into a holiday mood in Sirdar knits.
Read more.
Self-knitting powered by alternative energy
The textile industry has used wind and water energy in the past, but here are some beautiful and fascinating contemporary pieces which use what we now call 'alternative' or sustainable energy to power knitting.
Read more.
New yarn bowls handmade by Helen Dixon
These individually hand-crafted glazed ceramic bowls will hold your ball of wool as you knit, keeping it clean and in one place.
I've had new stock of bowls, hand-thrown by Helen Dixon, in some lovely new glazes and this gorgeous 'pot belly' design.
Currently available on this site in a selection of glazes.
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How to knit a nupp
Notice the big bobbles. Those are called nupps. A number of lace patterns use them and they give another dimension to the texture of the lace. It's used in traditional Estonian lace knitting.
A while ago I called p3tog 'the mother of all stitches' but the nupp leaves that stitch way behind. It involves making 5, 7 or even 9 into a single stitch, and then purling them all together on the return purl row...
Read on for more info, tips and links about knitting nupps.
Selvedge Magazine
Selvedge magazine is a special and collectable magazine, covering interior design and contemorary textile art.
I now stock the magazine. You can buy the Spring 2010 issue (34) from me for £10 post free.
Ah, non, J'avais dropped un stitch.
If you don't know your maille à l'endroit from your maille à l'envers, then maybe this will help. Vogueknitting have created a phrasebook for cosmopolitan knitters.
Bookmark this link and you'll have access to knitting pattern terms such as 'knit', 'purl', 'cast on', 'increase' and 'decrease' in ten languages, including Russian, Japanese and Norwegian.
It is a little bit flawed - despite knowing some useful phrases like "Oh dear, I need to rip back. Again.", words such as "wine" "tea" and "cake" are nowhere to be seen...
Blogpick - From fluff to tiny bag
I've been watching eskimimi's blog since she learned to spin less than a week ago. Check out the cute hand-painted sheep on the spindle she was given.
In this post she has found a perfect pattern to use up some of the small quantities of handspun yarn that she's made. Her spinning is sooo neat, as is her knitting; the colours work out beautifully and this little bag looks a treat!
Read the original post.
Casting on Spells
A commission for 15 hand-knit jumpers with a brief to make them look as if they were knit by an unskilled knitter and not to worry about mistakes is something many of us would feel that we could happily take on.
Pride and Joy of Scotland made the magical garments used in the first Harry Potter film. In the books they were made by Mrs Wesley, described as a "rather poor knitter". Lucy Mackenzie, owner of the company said that "It's hard for a skilled knitter not to knit properly."
I would say that for some of us it comes very easily!
The original article about Mrs. Weasley's sweaters appears on the Interweave Knits Collection 2002 CD .
Felted bowls - free pattern round-up
A great idea, quick to knit from left-overs and highly functional. Rebecca of Chemknits has done the leg-work of finding a long list of free patterns for us.
Teeny tiny toys free knitting pattern
Julie makes and sells gorgeous little cotton rabbits. Here she gives us a free pattern for very cute teeny tiny toy rabbits and bears. Julie says that they are "a wee bit fiddly but lots of fun!" In case they get hungry, this post also contains a pattern for a teeny tiny iced bun.
Spin to Knit - the Knitter's guide to making yarn - by Shannon Okey
This is another excellent 'getting started' book, this time aimed at experienced knitters who'd like to knit with their own handspun. Half of the book teaches you to spin and the other half is packed with imaginitive knitting patterns designed with handspun in mind. They're well-chosen to make you want to get your hands on the fibre and get started!
Read my review of Spin to Knit and bag a copy over at Handspinner.co.uk.
