Auntie's work

May 11, 2008 was my Great Aunt Ellen's 90th birthday. She has always been a crafty one, that Aunt Ellen. And I don't just mean she's sly (which she is). I always remember seeing crocheted and embroidered bits and bobs not only around her house, but around all of our relatives' homes. Auntie was always giving away afghans, tissue box covers, doilies, you name it! If she could hook it, she'd make it. In honor of Auntie's birthday (and who my middle name came from) here are a few images of items she's made for me:


(afghan)

I am so grateful for these particular gifts, and for all the interesting things my family has made for me over the years. My Aunt Bev painted beautiful ceramics, my mother and grandmother crocheted and knitted lovely things, my Aunt Kathy makes gorgeous sewn decorations too. I'd love to see pictures or here stories of other people's handmade treasures and heirlooms. It's so wonderful to have things wrought by a loved one's own hands, don't you think?


(toilet paper cover!)

Are you getting sick of knitting yet?

Becky Stern at Craft posted about her awesome new project "Knitted Interfaces for Technology":

In this paper, we propose a participatory installation that aims to bring critical awareness and consideration to the complex relationship between people and their technological artifacts. These 'Body-Technology Interfaces,' (BTIs) in the form of hand-knitted custom wrappers for personal electronic devices, will reflect salient interaction behaviors between the participant and their chosen device.

How cool are they?

See a bunch more pics here

Learning to Knit Images

Craft magazine posted about Ladybird craft books, which seem to be all out of print, and I couldn't resist posting a few of their beautiful illustrations on learning to knit:







You can order any of these images on the Ladybird website....

A different kind of yarn project

Tired of actually knitting with yarn?

Try this!

My favorite knitwear brand

Keep and Share by Amy Twigger Holroyd is my absolute favorite knitwear company. Amy is inspired by the "story behind the product" and her philosophy of ethical fashion that is built to last has a growing number of beloved customers and fans. All of her pieces are made in her studio in lovely Hereford England. Unfortunately the mighty British pound makes it difficult for me to buy as much as I'd like, but the 'Jumble Sale', where last season's goods are 30% off, helps. Here are some of my favorites in her new SS08 collection:



My only complaint is her flash based website that only allows me to link to the main page and won't let me see bigger pictures of her beautiful work!

Beautiful knitwear

I've been posting mostly funny, weird or cutesy knitted things so far, so now i thought I'd better show you something beautiful. I first saw Tim Ryan's lovely knitwear on Style Bubble, and I was hoping to say I found a bunch more pictures of his work once I dug around the internet a bit, but sadly I have not. So here are a few photos that were on Susie's site and will have to do for now. I'm going to see what other beautiful knits I can find out there to inspire us.






If you're interested Susie's post talks a bit more about his interests & technical skills.

Scarf round up link

Make Magazine Scarf Round Up is awesome! A few of my favorites:


The saw that dripped blood


A scarf that loves you back


Blood scarf (you have to click on the image in her portfolio)

Snake Scarves

Really cute snake scarves!

For my Knitters

I'm doing a group knitting project for next fall (see here) so I'm going to keep my entries very knit-centric for a while to inspire my knitters! Please click on the link above to read more about it (and see the first pictures).

My first post has to be about Net Granny! Iread about this site recently on Craftzine, and it's a service that let's you order a custom-made pair of socks hand-knitted by the Swiss grandmother of your choice. Look:



You click on the picture of the Granny you want to knit your socks, then you choose which socks you want, and you can see how long the wait is for your socks, and how many pairs of socks she is already knitting. I wonder how they found all these grannies....Here's a blurb from their website:

Until now, handknitted socks have been mainly sold on rural markets or in handcraft shops. Distribution via online-shop appeals to the modern urban people, who is used to fulfill his needs on the internet and still loves nothing more than cozy handmade socks. On the other side the grannies, all passionnate knitters, have found a vast clientele who cherishes their work.

Sweet!

Feeling lucky?

A nice article on luck, one of my favorite topics.

P.S. not the best picture, but I totally want to make a balaclava. Maybe this one: