Wabbit Season

Doublish

Catacomb

There’s so much to love about Malabrigo – it comes in fantastic colourways and is unbelievably soft. The Malabrigo Junkies on Ravelry love it so much they’ve named an entire month after it – Malabrigo March.

Alexandra Tinsley of Presents Knits has designed five cute and easy accessories using Malabrigo yarns. I love her take on the earflap hat, Wabbit Season. It’s so sweet with the pompoms and flaps that double as little pockets. This pattern also placed first in the Malabrigo Junkies Malabrigo March 2010 Design Contest. Congratulations Alexandra!

The collection includes two hats and a shawlette (pictured here) as well as a ruffled scarf and headband/ neckwarmer. You can buy the patterns separately or together in the ebook Go Go Malabrigo. If you’re not on Ravelry, you can also buy them from Alexandra’s Etsy store.

[Photos courtesy of Alexandra Tinsley]

Ori Ami Knits by Olga Buraya-Kefelian & Vanessa Yap-Einbund is a collection of knit patterns using Habu Textiles exclusively. Habu is a weaving studio and textile shop in New York City that sells imported Japanese and Asian yarns. The materials are amazing and range from stainless steel to paper. I’ve only seen a small selection of their textiles, at Rose Haven Farm Store, and was blown away by the possibilities.

Rhombus Wrap by Kirsten Johnstone (Ori Ami Knits, 2010)

Chapter One of the digital book came out last week and let’s just say I can hardly wait to see the other three! Each of the chapters represents a particular theme, with the first being Practical Geometry. The first four patterns are: Cubed Necklace, Axonometric Top and Trapezium Pullover by Olga Buraya-Kefelian; and Rhombus Wrap by Kirsten Johnstone. The Rhombus Wrap pictured above is one of my favourites; I love the handpainted cotton and versatility of the garment.

Cubed Necklace by Olga Buraya-Kefelian (Ori Ami Knits, 2010)

Olga and Vanessa have put together a truly beautiful collection – the textures and drape of the finished pieces highlight what makes Habu so special.

Ori Ami Knits on Ravelry (login required)

I was lucky enough to receive three wonderful knit-related books for my birthday. My birthday was on January 14th but I’m a big believer in celebrating my birthday for not just a day but a week or two! So please indulge me while I share some of the presents I received.

Potter Craft (October 13, 2009)

The Knitter’s Book of Wool was written by Clara Parkes, the author of the immensely popular The Knitter’s Book of Yarn and editor of Knitter’s Review. This book is big and beautiful and I can hardly wait to dig in.

The book is a guide to the anatomy of wool fibre, turning wool into yarn, sheep breeds, and different effects achieved by blending wool with different fibres. There is also a pattern section that goes into more detail than most about why a particular yarn was chosen for each project. Thanks to my Aunt Shelley for this one!

Interweave Press (June 1, 2009)

I’ve wanted to read this book for a long time (thanks Aunt Tracy!). Amy King, the author of Spin Control, is the owner of Maine-based fibre studio Spunky Eclectic. The book covers basic spinning techniques but with an emphasis on producing the type of yarn that you want, and want to knit with. I haven’t demonstrated much control in my spinning up to this point, so here’s to hoping I’ll learn some helpful tips from Amy!

Front Street (April 2007)

My knitting partner for life gave me this sweet book. The Surprise is a wordless picture book by Sylvia van Ommen about Sheep’s quest to make a special gift for her best friend. It’s such a nice story of generosity and gift giving!

Knitalong by Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown, opened to Barn Raising Quilt

Larissa of Stitch Marker has put a call out for volunteers to contribute to several Barn Raising Quilts. The finished pieces will be raffled off at the Sock Summit in Portland with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. The pattern is available for download on the Knitalong website and more details on how to get involved are on Larissa’s blog. If you haven’t picked up the Knitalong book yet I would highly recommend it. The pattern can also be found there, along with many other great designs. The Blessingway Blanket is one I’m slowly making my way through…

This will be my first knitalong and I’m pretty excited about it! I’m going to contribute two squares to the project. The yarn I’m planning to use (Estelle Cadenza) was actually bought for a Barn Raising Quilt. My knitting partner for life and I were thinking about doing some sort of Boise-Toronto knitalong project for her new niece. So this will be my Barn Raising warm up!

Photo from Selvedge Issue 27

I thought my subscription to Selvedge had run out, so I had a happy surprise when I received Issue 27 yesterday! The theme of the issue is frugality, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. You can’t go anywhere or read anything these days without being bombarded with economic doom and gloom. It did get me to thinking though – about the handmade tradition and how its resourcefulness is made to weather just this kind of situation. About ways not just to ‘make do and mend’ but to create lovely things without spending as much money as I might like to! Here are some ways that I plan to ‘make do’ in the upcoming months:

1. Reclaim

Whether reclaiming yarn from thrift store sweaters or recycling yarn from pervious projects, this is a budget-friendly way to get yarn. Here’s a helpful tutorial that I will be trying out soon… I have an alpaca/wool sweater that would be more useful wound into fresh skeins!

2. Reciprocity

The best way I can think of to reduce my yarn stash is to make clothes, toys or blankets for donation. The Mother Bear Project is my personal favourite. I have one finished preemie blanket and another in progress for Project Linus. They are crazily multicoloured but I’ll still post them before I send them off! afghans for Afghans is another organization I’d like to contribute to one day soon. They send hand-knit and crocheted blankets, sweaters, hats, mittens and socks to the people of Afghanistan.

3. Just one skein (okay, not an ‘r’)

Knitting small projects can be enormously satisfying. You can buy luxurious yarn, complete a project and not feel too terrible about the money you spent. I’m a huge fan of Ysolda Teague’s Whimsical Little Knits collection – as my tiny shoes can attest! There are so many wonderful designs – I’m struggling to pace myself! Another good resource for small projects is One Skein.

I couldn’t help but think of my knitting partner for life when I received this book. I associate feminine, French style with her. She was the only person I knew in my early 20s that had spent a year in Paris. She came back to British Columbia with many wonderful stories of food and fashion.

French Girl Knits was written by Kathleen Griffin-Grimes, aka French Girl and published by Interweave Press. Kathleen launched her pattern line in 2005 and runs a knitting retreat in the Languedoc region of France. Sounds pretty perfect to me!

Photo courtesy of French Girl Knits

One of my favourite patterns from the book is pictured above – Niobe, a lacy pullover. I think this will be my first project from French Girl Knits – worked in a laceweight mohair/silk yarn, how can I resist!

The patterns are presented by theme: la Boutique Parisienne, Enfant Sauvage, la Créatrice and Dans la Rue. From romantic and vintage-inspired to rustic folk designs, the common thread is definitely feminine design.

Most of the patterns are constructed seamlessly, which is something I’ve grown to appreciate very much!  The book includes useful construction overviews of techniques such as top-down seamless raglan and side-to-side seamless construction.

There’s a lot of prettiness in this book and I recommend taking a look. Even if the patterns aren’t necessarily your taste there’s a lot of inspiration and techniques to benefit from.

It has happened. I might have sworn it wouldn’t but it has. The joys of amigurumi have taken over. I picked up a copy of Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts: Amigurumi last week and was entertained for the better part of 48 hours by the cuteness of it all. All of these sweet crocheted animals with oversized heads. I started on the big teddy bear right away. You can see the beginning of its massive head above.

I picked up Knitalong tonight on my way home. Knitting with others for a common purpose – something I don’t do much of anymore. It made me miss my dearest knitting partner! We started knitting together over a decade ago and are now separated by many provinces and states. I guess that’s where an online knitalong would come in . . .

I really like the concept of knitting together for a common cause. The American Red Cross Museum has a great archive of military knitting patterns from World Wars I and II. The pdfs are scans of the original typed patterns. The paper has yellowed and the authors offer tips like, “Sometimes odd bits of yarn can be knit up quite attractively.” It’s One Skein for the Knit Your Bit set! I’ve been trying to come up with a way to use these patterns for a humanitarian cause like afghans for Afghans. I haven’t come up with a good concept yet though, other than helping people to keep warm while simultaneously putting a dent in your stash!

The authors of Knitalong talk about all types – from stitch ‘n’ bitch (could the plural really be bitches?) at cafés to competitive knitalongs at agricultural fairs. The section on giving shares some information on how to get involved in knitting for those in need. Knitting for Peace is a good place to look for that as well.

There are many, many projects that I can’t wait to start. I love the Blessingway Blanket by Hannah Cuviello and the Barn Raising Quilt. Both of them would be really fun to knit with other knitters – the different pieces that make up the Blessingway are divided by skill level. Thankfully there’s a sale on at Romni right now!

P.S. I just noticed that afghans for Afghans has a knit- and crochet-along.

I love this book!

I haven’t read it from cover to cover, yet. But the patterns are amazing. And this edition (the third revised) includes a Note to American Knitters written by none other than Elizabeth Zimmerman. Helpful since the book was written for British knitters in 1971.

There’s a preview of it and other editions on Google Books as well.

Now I just have to choose a pattern to tackle!