Before we dive into “Knitting Noro: The Magic of Knitting with Hand Dyed Yarns” by Jane Ellison, a confession must be made. One day at the Connecticut Yarn and Wool Company in Haddam, we ran into a great yarn sale and some lovely hand-dyed yarn so we scooped up as much as we could fit in a bag (that was the deal) and went home and pumped up our yarn stash. Not too long after that, we opened this book and started drooling. Noro yarns are hand-dyed and run about $12 a skein. Some are mohair blends, which don’t suit me at all (you want hives with that?) but all are gorgeous. Ellison has collected patterns that bring out the beauty of the yarns and are easy to follow. There’s even an LYS guide in the back if you want to find the yarns locally plus YarnMarket, one of our favorite on-line retailers. The book will make a nice holiday gift for knitters who are ready for beauty without too much pain and suffering.
Archive for the ‘Knitting and Feministing’ Category
Switch Craft and the need for time and disposable income
December 8, 2008There’s never a good time to lose your job, but the arrival of “Switch Craft: Battery Powered Crafts to Make and Sew” almost made the Negress regret taking the buyout from her most recent place of employment. Never mind that she doesn’t sew, has been mildly electrocuted from toasters and isn’t sure she needs gloves that can handle touch screens. So much of the stuff in here is very cool and intriguing you will almost forget about how many of these objects will increase your carbon footprint to the size of a clown shoe. So we recommend seriously browsing, but not sure if we would spring for the $24.95 price. Hey. that’s two movies out or two months of downsized NetFlix. Your crafting mileage may vary.
National Finals Rodeo and craft books from Potter
December 8, 2008You may be wondering how these topics are related, but sometimes even a dedicated hockey fan has to take a break from her usual pursuits. When we are not drinking wine, we knit. We have a pair of Perpetual Sweaters we pick up and work on when we don’t have something fun to do. Where the National Finals Rodeo fits in is what we do when we’ve been seized with enthusiasm for a new project that knocks the Perpetual Sweaters out of our hands. In short, we stay up late, ball yarn and watch cowboy butts get flung earthwards at high speed. This is the 50th anniversary of the NFR. For the first 10 days or so of December, various ESPNs rev up the rodeo action at midnight. The cowboys break legs, tear pectoral muscles, dislocate elbows and land with a thud with alarming regularity. They are also jut-jawed, mostly good-looking and black and brown on occasion. No matter who is president, these guys are not getting health insurance, dig?
Anyway, what started the latest knitting jag was a chance remark from the grandmother upstairs that her grandson needed a hat with earflaps. So we picked up “The Expectant Knitter” and knocked out the “Winter Wonderland Hat” in about 12 hours of total knitting time. Here’s the hat:
Winter Wonderland Hat
Cute, no? The book is by Marie Connolly, owner of the StitchDC shops in Washington. If you’re not having a baby, you can skip the bits about your growing belly, taking your vitamins and other prenatal mishegas. There are some very cute patterns in here and most of them are easy to follow and open to modification by most intermediate and advanced knitters.
This is a three yarn ball book. On the Negress yarn ball rating scale, three means you’ll make at least three things in the book and you’ll share it eagerly with your knitting pals. You can check out Potter Craft for more stuff and blogs and whatnot.
Crafternoon at Potter Craft
May 16, 2008You can’t drink all the time, now can you? Last week, the Negress journeyed to Random House to visit with the men and women who produce the Potter Craft imprint of craft books. We got to fondle proofs and finished books, eat a lovely lunch and chat with other craft writing and publishing types. It was a drop-in buffet event, which was perfect because you could spend as much time as you needed there without trying to slither out of a sit-down event. My knitting screeched to a halt with the delivery of several baby hats, but the itch is strong now to pick up the needles and fly. After all the Mason-Dixon knitters have inspired me, Kaffe Fassett has overwhelmed me (his use of pattern and texture is truly artful, but trying to make one of his pieces would be a lifelong event for most of us. Call it aspirational.) and the seamstress who made the iPod friendly gloves made me smile. All of the offerings blended nostalgia, wit and deft patterning. The Potter gang share their wizardry in a blog that their authors share. The Negress is trying to come up with wine pairings for knitting projects. Any suggestions are welcome.
Purls before twine
April 27, 2008Before driving down to DC this week, I had started knitting a baby blanket for an expectant Mom in my church choir. It was a triple strand event and I noticed as I kept going that the texture and weight were remarkably like a jute doormat. Visions of traumatized infants danced in my head (you try wrapping a baby in a doormat. On second thought, don’t). So, with the Devils playing Vancouver on the West Coast (10 p.m. start, perfect for hockey fan insomniacs), I started ripping out the evil garment. The deconstruction lasted longer than the game, which ended 5-0 against the Devils. By the time the ripping and the pelting of Brodeur has finished, I had sore hands and was too agitated to fall asleep immediately.
Our moral here: bad knitting and bad hockey are a nearly lethal mix. Good news, the Devils beat Edmonton, which is fabulous.
Now I’m in DC juggling friends and family and enjoying my stay at a nearly empty hotel and feeling a bit like Eloise. Off to see Linda and her family. We’ve been friends since high school.
