sknitter

If you are a regular reader you may know that I have 3 books coming out this year: two on managing the graphic design process and a baking cookbook. I’m pleased to tell you that Booze Cakes is now available. The publisher, Quirk, tells me it is getting a good response. That’s is the cover, above. My co-author is Krystina Castella. Check out the Booze Cakes blog if you want to read more about baking with wine, beer and spirits. There you can get our recipe for the Tequila Sunrise Cake which is one amazing Summertime cake. If you really want to knit cake, go to Bitter Sweet’s website. Maybe eat booze cake while knitting a cake? Less stitch error than imbibing.

While I’m being a lazy blogger, I may as well go with the vehicle theme again today. This time, it’s a photo by Zontee from the Lion Brand Blog— a Crochet Bicycle found on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. That is crazy. Here’s a little knitted bike on Instructables. Yes, bike love, indeed.

Sorry, not much to say this weekend. Spending all my time knitting Amelia. Here’s an amusing photo from a tumblr called “Nick Holmes… “ (via the always entertaining blog, Neatorama). Oh, for any of you thinking about knitting Amelia and are clueless as how to Knit Through The Back Loop (K tbl) and Purl Through The Back Loop (P tbl) iknitwithcatfur’s videos should help you out.

Did you catch the two new patterns up on Knitty?  Fluidity is a lace tank designed by Jennie Pakula (that’s a detail of the garment, left). The second “Surprise” is Susanna IC’s beauty of a shawl which is called Annis. I’ve finished my Cropped Cardi and really like it. Now I’ve started another Knitty sweater that caught my eye a while back— Amelia designed by Laura Chau. She’s a very talented designer who also blogs at Cosmicpluto Knits.

No, it’s not the latest thing available at your LYS.  Steel wool is the sculptural media used by artist Krysta Olson in her thought-provoking piece, The Steel Wool Sweater (left). Olson works in a variety of media to investigate her attraction to vulnerability, intimacy and sadness. Her works plays with a kind of awkward tension. View her videos, photo projects, and painting. If you’d like to knit with steel, I’d suggest something from Habu Textiles or LB Collection Wool Stainless. A bit more user friendly, and infinitely more wearable.

It’s been a lazy holiday weekend (Memorial Day here in the US). I’ve been knitting my Cropped Cardigan, went to a BBQ, and also saw the movie Solitary Man starring Michael Douglas and a bunch of great actresses. I’m into spending my first-run movie dollars on adult dramas so filmmakers keep making them. This film is good, not great, but good. Go here for: trailer, synopsis, bad review, and spoiler script analysis. It certainly is well acted, but beyond that, it has great knits. Susan Sarandon gets to wear two truly fantastic sweaters (including that one at left, shown in a still from the movie), Olivia Thirlby dons a chunky retro cardi, and Douglas himself get some stylish flair with a simple black scarf. Hats of to costume designers Jenny Gering and Ellen Mirojnick.

Here’s an interesting book: In The Loop: Knitting Now by Jessica Hemmings, the Associate Director of Visual and Cultural Studies at Edinburgh College of Art. Published earlier this year, the book examines knitting’s journey from retro hobby to cultural phenom—  humble utilitarianism to current craftivism. There are lots of examples of artists working with knitting as their medium, including Mark Newport, Sabrina Gschwandtner and Annie Shaw. That is Shaw’s amazing “Gansey, deep-fried“ above. Yes, that is a deep friend wool sweater wrapped in fish and chips paper! Read a book review here. See more images from In The Loop at the Guardian UK.

I am coming down the home stretch on my Cropped Cardigan, a design by Stefanie Japel that is  available FREE on Knitty. The sweater, in Cascade Indulgence, is super soft and fits nicely through the shoulders and sleeves, but the neckline is way way too deep and rolling-edged to be flattering on me. I need adjustments. Luckily, I found Melanie (momalmighty on Rav), who had the same issues and solved the problem beautifully. That is her cardi, above. She knitted a stockinette and picot edging, very much like the hem treatment, to create a lovely and flattering variation. Notice how she also abandoned the leaf ties in favor of a button, and used KnitPicks Shine Worsted (a cotton blend). Beauty. Thanks Melanie for the inspiration! By the way, enjoy her adventures in motherhood on her blog, Mom Almighty. Love the way she charts her daily mood.

Classic Elite Yarns launched knitwear designer Véronik Avery’s yarn line, St-Denis,  last year with Nordique.  There is a second yarn in the works called Boreale. Pretty exciting stuff. No doubt it will be as refined and beautiful as everything this talented designer puts her name too. Her work is simply classic elegance. You can check out the progression of the St-Denis brand on the blog, where Avery posts about her efforts. (That’s her photo seen above.) Buy issue 1 of St-Denis Magazine here, or go for the Spring/Summer issue here. You’ll find patterns by Ysolda, Jared Flood, Kat Coyle, Robin Melanson, Carol Sulcoski, and, of course,  Avery herself.

Last Summer I missed this wonderful multidisciplinary performance piece by Chicago artists Amber Ginsburg, Carla Duarte and Lia Rousset called “re•pur•pose.” It happened at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago as part of the series Here/Not There, which explored ephemeral experience as art. This particular piece repurposed seeds, bricks, and knit sweaters as a metaphor for the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing. (Detail of an MCA photo of the piece, above.) The artists created 600 multiples submerged in a bit of water, which they carefully tended over the duration of the performance. The absorbent quality of the bricks and wool was a perfect sprouting medium. As a continuation of the cycle of reuse, once the performance was over, the multiples were placed in planters around the museum. So cool.

Thanks to Jill Bell, via Petrula Vrontikis for the tip on this amazing art piece.