Spotted

Haven't done a Spotted in a while, not because I haven't been spotting things, but just life and all that.  But these series of photos of South African artist Mary Sibande thought was worth sharing.  The images are striking, maybe controversial, definitely beautiful, but for me (and alas, it always comes down to this) was the use of yarn and a spot of knitting that made me want to share this.

(photos via The Guardian)

By far my favourite - love the serenity in her face looking at her needles, but still a powerful statement.

I could, of course, be interpreting this all wrong, what do you think?

Book Review

Ok, so I'm spoilt, what can I say.  Spoilt by friends who give me absolutely beautiful birthday gifts, one of which from lovely Maya from Knit With Attitude (you may remember I featured the best lil'wool shop in London here) with this little book (well not so little).

Not a knitting pattern book as such, but rather an exploration of what knitting is all about and how it can form such a part of life.  The first few sentences did make me laugh though, "Do you ever stop to think what it is that keeps drawing you back to your needles and yarns?  Do you screech to a halt whenever you see the sign "Yarn Store?"" - yip, that pretty much sums me up when it comes to knitting.  Right now my life revolves around it.

The book is filled with great anecdotes, advice, a whole "Meet the Knitter" series and little challenges on trying new yarns, new styles, new ideas - and glorious photos.

Also, dissecting the different elements of style.

Although the little bit on knitting in public I did find amusing - especially the suggestion.  I see they missed out the Pub, but did suggest a motorcycle - really?

Fabulous book to dip into every now and again and get excited about knitting all over again (although for most, that just takes looking at needles and yarn - I know, it can be sad.....).  

Maya has copies in her shop here

Finger knitting, now there's something haven't done since school.

spotted

I spotted this little gem of a book from Etsy seller, Duke Street Duchess and knew it had to be mine.

Not often you get a vintage book in such great condition and the patterns and photographs are fabulous.  Here's a little round-up of the those particularly fetching (I could honestly post the whole book but that would probably be wrong....).

Loving the pattern names.

 The knitted menswear section is truly marvellous (gosh, did I just say that!) - each of them look fantastic.

And one or two scary looking babies thrown in for good measure.

Something that I haven't seen for a while (and maybe that's because we're no longer living in wartime) is ideas on re-using yarn.  There's a whole section on how to knit with old yarn, with some rather sage advice : "Not one scrap of wool or woollen fabric, however small, should be thrown away now that wool is so precious." 

 

 I have never actually knitted a vintage pattern before, I hear it can be a little tricky, but I'm prepared to give a few of these a go.  The knitted ladies vintage jersies and cardies are lovely and fitted.   

If anyone has any experience with vintage patterns, would love to hear any tips and suggestions.

the end result

if you dip into my little blog now and again you'll see that a few weeks ago i posted about my adventure into knitting for a menswear designer, the ever talented and wonderful Jenny Schwarz - if not, you can read here
and here is the end result from the Vienna Fashion Week.

 i have to admit, i cannot quite believe it - i know how difficult it was to knit, how i had to re-learn how to knit a jumper, how hard it can be to shape the neck and the shoulders and so on and so on.....but my goodness, i would do it all again given half the chance.  

you can see the rest of Jenny's amazing showing here http://www.spykeheels.com/2011/09/19/jenny-schwarz-fashion-show-vienna-fashion-week-2011/
and of course, a big thank you to Maya of Knit with Attitude who so cleverly helped me with the neck.....couldn't have finished it without her mathematical brain.....

spotted

if you're in the uk, you may be watching the rather brilliant scandi-thriller the killing (this is from someone who is somewhat obsessed with scandi-crime writers and no, i don't include mr larsen i'm afraid....) - anyway, the star of the show has to be sarah lund's hanknitted jumper. 

i did little bit of digging around to see if i could find out any information on the talented jumper knitters - turns out its a little company located in the faroe islands who handknit beautiful designs.

a few of my favourites i spotted.

(um, you might recognise the bauble effect from my handknitted washmits - although a long away away from this jumper)

the company is called gudrun & gudrun - please have a look at their shop and blog, truly beautiful designs - very talented and i love the fact they say "its good to come to Europe for input and inspiration, but its good to come back home to the silence" - aah.....sigh! my kind of knitters.

its official...

well kind of, but knitting helps improve your memory......

you can read the rest of the article in today's guardian here
(photo : guardian.co.uk)

new on strikk

well, not exactly brand new - colourblock cushions that have been re-done.

these were the first set of cushions i did way back in 2007 for my then new etsy shop. the only reason i used the colours was because it was the only wool i had lying around and lucky for me, they turned out to be pretty popular.

i'm starting to have a love affair with orange - and actually beginning to notice how many signs use the colour (etsy for one). but i think orange looks good on retro scandinavian glassware - some of which are currently on ebay.various retro scandinavian glassware to be found here, here and from here
so you're probably getting the idea by now.......

cushion now available in both my etsy and notonthehighstreet shops.

tips and tricks

i'm always on the lookout for knitting tips and tricks - most of the time i can't remember them and struggle along as usual, but here are some that i've managed to remember:

• to make sure sleeves are even, knit both sleeves at the same time on one needle - they'll be exact when completed.


• i always decrease one stitch in from the edge - keeps the edging smooth.


• when joining yarn, i split my yarn and then twirl them back in and knit it altogether (not sure if this tip makes any sense, but i promise it works and looks much neater).


• i always knit on circular needles, not because i'm knitting in the round, but i find them easier to work with - you don't end up "flying" with your elbows on the tube or bus and you don't lose your needles either, bonus!

now if i could only just organise all my knitting patterns then i'll be completely sorted - but alas, they lie all over the place - at least i've learnt to write my patterns as i'm working on them!

if you have any tips, post a comment, i'd love to hear how you do things.

knitty illustrations

in case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of knitting illustrations on etsy at the moment - i keep seeing them everywhere - does that mean knitting is super cool? possibly.

i trawled around and found some of my favourites and thought i'd share.

ninja knitters at phineousandlou

knitty knitty at ashleyg

the knitting girl at eveluche

and of course, knitting at rosiemusic

new on strikk

i did a custom order recently and quite liked the end result. another take on the ruched cushions, but this time in suede.

of course, a cushion needs a chair, so i thought a little e-bay window-shopping might be appropriate.you can find details of this retro mid-century armchair here

loving the rocking chair from here and possibly a vintage wingback chair from here - although i'm not convinced how comfortable it would be.

the suede ruched cushions in both my etsy and notonthehighstreet shops.

window shopping

spending a whole week in bed with flu can leave you feeling a little cooped up and longing for an ordinary life - so, thank goodness for online shopping (well, not exactly shopping - should probably call it online drooling....) and no better place to drool than anthropologie - i haven't had a chance to get down to the london shop, but hopefully soon.

i thought i would get a head start though and found these fair isle sweater clocks

and then over in this corner, very cute ski cap candles

and then finish off with a sweater sleeve candle.

there, that's my shopping done for the week.

new on strikk

well kind of. this cushion was actually a custom order i did recently and i'm quite liking the silver. again, i used the elle pure gold in aran - i keep going back to the elle range and now i believe they're no longer stocking in the uk which is going to make life a little difficult!

so this got me thinking, what kind of chair or sofa would it look good on and i came up with these.

you can see more amazingly recycled and re-covered (is there such a word?) sofas, chairs and other things at metrosofa.com.

in the meantime, i've decided to make my silver cable cushion available on my etsy and notonthehighstreet shops.

new on strikk

my blog may have been a little quiet of late - what with moving and settling into a new home and new life - but i have managed to keep knitting, probably more due to the once a week knitting meet-up with the girls from the knitting group.

so, i did make these cushions which i think are quite fun.

again, for a change, using chunky wool and large needles (must remember to choose projects that use bigger needles rather than small needles...!).

they're in my etsy and notonthehighstreet shops and will also be available at we make fair on 5 december.

knit accessories

i have a lot of wool - lots of wool. i know this because when i moved recently, much of the stuff i took was wool! my new flat is a bit smaller than the old house which means i have to be more organised and neater. i thought i would do a trawl around etsy to see what i could find to help me in my neatness quest.

the box tote is from RoseKnits and we found a pretty cool knitting needle case from sarahkincheloe

we're loving the knitting tote from thefunkybaglady and the knitting basket from designsmayamade

how cool is this apron from strandit

and i know this isn't exactly something to keep knitting neat and tidy, but i love love these teatowels from girlscantell

and you know, i just realised, i don't have any teatowels......i need to go shopping!