Legwarmers, Octopus and Owls, Oh My!

My knitting goal this winter was not to knit a scarf. When the temperature drops, and the knitting needles come out, I usually end up knitting a big ol' rectangle because:

a) I love scarves.

b) Complicated knitting patterns are intimidating.

While the former is still true, I decided to tackle the latter. I didn't choose complicated patterns by any means, but I tired to pick patterns that included some slightly-more-involved elements like increasing, decreasing, cabling, or knitting in the round. All methods that have previously made me think, "Hmm, not sure if I can do that... maybe I'll just make a scarf instead!" But this year: NO SCARVES.

I succeeded in my goal... and actually knit more this winter than any other year! I got mildly addicted to "just one more pattern"... Now I'm going to take a break from the needles for a while though. Between knitting and rock climbing several times a week, my fingers are in need of a break... though climbing is still on the schedule. Sorry, knitting, you'll start your annual hibernation now.

I'm really pleased with the fun non-scarf items I made. First off were my thick cabled legwarmers. You can read more about those in my post about them.

Next thing after legwarmers? More legwarmers, of course. I made a pair that I can wear when I go climbing and bouldering. They're off-white and yellow and a little retro sporty. They are definitely cozy to wear with my shorts or capris when in the climbing gym in the winter. Outdoor testdrive to come this Spring!

After all the legwarmers, I guess I was pretty obsessed with legs... cause I made an octopus.

I followed a pattern from the book, Little Knitted Creatures by Amy Gaines. It was surprisingly simple, and very satisfying to knit up curly little tentacles complete with wooly little suction cups.

Last but not least, I tackled a hat. I've been wanting to knit a cabled owl toque for a long time... and eventually want to make a cabled owl sweater one day. I used Sara Amoroso's "Who?" pattern on Ravelry, where there are many owl cable patterns to choose from. I had to adjust the number of repeats (ie. how many owls), as I was using a different yarn and needles that recommended. The cable is super easy, and oh-so-cute when you're done and have added buttons for eyes.

So all in all, not a bad winter of knitting for me, seeing as I'm not a serious knitter. And I accomplished my goal of a scarf-free season! As for the sore fingers, I did manage to find another string craft that wasn't so finger-intensive... more on that later!

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Craft Rock Friday with Seventeen Evergreen

When it's cold outside, I just feel like being completely surrounded by wool all the time.

Or, at least that's what I was thinking until I saw this video.

Today's Craft Rock Friday is wooly, wild and downright weird. There is a thing as too much knitting... That's when knitting goes bad.

Here is Seventeen Evergreen's "Polarity Song". Be careful in those thrift shops!

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Lovin' My Legwarmers

Remember a month or so ago, when I was dreaming about legwarmers? Well, I actually made some.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out. They are thick and oh-so-warm. And they're perfect to wear with my fave winter boots.

I used the Anushka Tay's Tree Tunk Legwarmers pattern on Ravelry, with Patons Shetland Chunky Tweeds yarn, in the "Charcoal Tweeds" colourway, on 6mm double-pointed needles. The cable was really quick and easy to knit. This was actually only my second time knitting in the round on double-pointed needles, and I've got to say it was not so bad. I'm inspired to knit more! Maybe even socks...?! But first, my next knitting project will be another pair of legwarmers -- this time, fun ones to wear at the climbing gym!

I also wanted to share with you a little gift I sewed up for my friends in Montreal (don't worry, they've already opened the prezzie, so I'm not spoiling the surprise!). They have the cutest puppy, Teddy, so I wanted to make a fuzzy felt version of Teddy to put on the tree.

Here's Teddy and his felty counterpart... not quite as cute, but come on, I can't really compete with a real live puppy.

 

I hope you all have warm, wooly and wonderful holidays!

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Legwarmers Warm My Heart

image via Anushka Tay / Ravelry

Recently I've had legwarmers on the brain. It doesn't take many cool, dark autumn mornings to get me thinking about knitting again, wishing I had some warm woolies to keep me warm. And this year I've been thinking a lot about legwarmers.

I bought new boots this year, and totally love them: Puffin boots from Merrell. I have a crush on my own boots, they're so damn cute. Plus, cozy and comfy. And they do remind me of puffins. Which is awesome.


I think they would go great with some cute cable knit legwarmers. I am leaning towards trying out the Tree Trunk Legwarmers by Anushka Tay, but may go with the non-cabled Legwarmers by Jane Richmond, both free patterns on Ravelry.

What's more, last week's Purl Soho eNewsletter featured a pattern for rad and hilarious legwarmers that look like tube socks. Not enough legs, I tell you.... nor enough time to knit!

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A Woolly Royal Wedding

With only 49 days to go until the Royal wedding on April 29th, you better start knitting soon...

A new craft book, Knit Your own Royal Wedding, by Fiona Goble, shows you how to reproduce all the key players of the upcoming the royal nuptials in wool and yarn. You can even knit the corgis (naturally).

My favourite is the Queen...

You can read more about the book on the Telegraph site and also check out a slideshow of the wonderful wooly royal wedding party.

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Living with Wool

These knitting prints by Laura McCabe are fantastic. Perfect for those who have stashes of yarn that are big enough to live in. You know who you are.

You can buy Laura's prints from her Etsy shop, and keep up with her on her site and blog.

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Call for Submissions: Knitting Baby Hats in British Columbia

The Period of Purple Crying is inviting knitters to get knitting for a good cause!

The Period of Purple Crying is a program which educates parents and caregivers about normal infant crying and the dangers of shaking a child. Here's the info I received about the project and how you can get involved:

We invite you to join our mission: make a PURPLE newborn baby cap so we can give select babies born in British Columbia the week of November 15th a gift to coincide with Canada’s National Child Day. Please share your knitting or crocheting skills to help Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC.

Unite and lend your hands now to knit or crochet PURPLE newborn baby caps for this great cause.
Create as many as you like - from five to 50, or a...ny number in between, using any newborn baby cap pattern, and any colour of soft baby-friendly PURPLE yarn.

PURPLE caps must be received no later than by November 5, 2010.

If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Pelto: melissa@limelitepr.com or call 778.786.1495

Please knit and mail your PURPLE caps to
BC Children’s Hospital:
c/o Claire Yambao
Provincial Program Coordinator, Prevent SBS BC
BC Children's Hospital
4480 Oak Street, K1-209
Vancouver, BC V6H 3V4

By knitting and sending PURPLE newborn baby caps to be given to babies across the province, you will make a difference by:

• Raising awareness for this life-saving project - Period of PURPLE Crying - Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC - that promotes crucial parenting skills, infant/parent bonding, and understanding of a typical early infancy stage that every baby goes through which is frequently misunderstood.
• Participating in a growing, province-wide grassroots effort to educate new parents about the normalcy of early infant crying and how to cope with the frustration that can accompany it.

Assist in promoting the Period of PURPLE Crying - Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC so that parents (and all others) learn to understand normal increased early infant crying and that crying is a key trigger to shaking.

The Period of PURPLE Crying - Prevent Shaken Baby Syndrome BC is a part of the most comprehensive shaken baby syndrome prevention initiative in North America. To learn more, visit www.PURPLEcrying.info and follow us on Twitter @PurpleCrying

More details are available on the Facebook group page.

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Craft Rock Friday with Sophie Madeleine

Hello, July!

It's finally full-on SUMMER (please don't let me down now, Vancouver weather!) and it's an extra-long long-weekend for many (Happy Canada Day and Fourth of July!)... so today, Craft Rock Friday comes with an extra helping of sunshine.

And I know just the girl for that.

Sophie Madeleine is completely and utterly charming. Her voice is lovely, her lyrics are brilliant... and did I mention that she plays the ukulele?!

Sophie has the perfect song for Craft Rock Friday: "The Knitting Song"

Lovely, right?

Have a listen to this one -- "Take Your Love With Me" (aka "The Ukulele Song")



Sophie also plays with a partner as Rocky and Balls. Here's their song, "Love Cake"



OK, a couple more! Just to carry you through the long weekend. :)

Rocky and Balls perform "I Heart You Online"



Sophie Madeleine and The Sailor Jerrys' cover of "Goody Goody" (with kazoos!)

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Cary Grant Knits

From the movie, Mr Lucky.

(via Kim Werker)

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Craft Rock Friday with.... Natural Gas?

Today's Craft Rock Friday is a little less 'rock' that usual. It's actually an ad for natural gas, but is so adorable I can't resist posting it. It reminds of parts of Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep - everyday objects coming to life in crafty ways...

Plus, my parents are thinking of getting gas heating installed at their place, so there you go. :)



The steam on the kettle is a brilliant touch.

(via She is Sew Creative)

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Craft Rock Friday with Neko Case, Modest Mouse, and a bunch of whales...

One of the things that got the whole city of Vancouver excited this week was a visit from a grey whale... He swam right into town!

Here's a video of the whale swimming up False Creek. Not to worry, he found his way out.

Today's Craft Rock Friday is a tribute to the False Creek Whale (who even has his own Twitter account, btw!). Neko Case's song, "People Got A Lotta Nerve" features these great lyrics about a whale:

We know, they call them 'killer whales'
But you seem surprised
When it pinned you down to the bottom of the tank
Where you can't turn around
It took half your leg, and both your lungs
And I craved I ate hearts of sharks
I know you know, that I'm a man, man, man
Man, man, man eater
But still you're surprised-prised-prised when I eat ya
Yes, I'm a man, man, man
Man, man, man eater
But still you're surprised-prised-prised when I eat ya

The video also starts out with some crafty goodness: girls knitting (though in a somewhat dubious looking cave). The artwork and illustration are by brother/sister team Paul and Julie Morstad. Julie Morstad also did the illustration on Neko's album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.



Another video that combines both whales and craftyness (and what a fine combo it is!) is the one for Modest Mouse's "Whale Song". I love that multi-pencil drawing device at the beginning of the video!



Let's see, what other great whale-related music comes to mind?

1. "Sad, sad Song" by M. Ward:

And so I went to the whale
I said "killer whale, please, what do you do when your true love leaves?"
He said "I only have but one trick up my sleeve
I sing it over and over till she comes back to me

2. "Grounds for Divorce" by Wolf Parade:

You said you hate the sound
Of the busses on the ground
You said you hate the way they scrape their brakes all over town
Said pretend it's whales
Keeping their voices down
Such were the grounds for divorce I know

3. "Last Great American Whale" by Lou Reed:

Last great American whale...
Some say they saw him at the great lakes
Some say they saw him off of Florida
My mother said she saw him in Chinatown
But you can't always trust your mother

4. Anything by Noah and the Whale.

5. Anything by Freelance Whales.

Can you think of anything else? Let's make a whale of a mixed tape...

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Yarn Bomb the Textile Museum of Canada

The Textile Museum of Canada is a little tucked away on a side street in downtown Toronto. What better way to make them more visible than yarn bombing?

Fibre Person has put out a call to help the Textile Museum of Canada with a project to gather knitted or crocheted works from crafty people like you and me. The yarn work will end up on a concrete planter and on bike racks outside the museum.

Get all the details on how to submit on the Fibre Person blog. The deadline to get your knitted or crocheted works in is May 15, 2010.

Here's the piece that I'm mailing in today...



(PS. If you need some inspiration, check out the rad Yarn Bombing book by lovely Vancouverites, Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain.)

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yarn bombing at the community garden

Vancouver is under attack. By yarn.

Here are some photos from the Davie Village Community Garden at Davie and Burrard in Vancouver ... It's been yarn bombed!









I think this is the perfect place for a little guerilla craft: the bright colours of the yarn complement the blooming plants, flowers and veggies, and gives the whole place even more of a cozy, community feel.

If you wanna see more yarn bombing, visit YarnBombing.com, the companion blog for the Yarn Bombing book coming out this Fall.

On the blog, they cover yarn bombing round the world - for instance, check out this ridiculously, awesomely over-the-top wool attack in London done by a group called Knit the City. Here's the story of how they did it. I saw an advance copy of the book last week - it looks great. You can sneak a peek, too: here's a PDF excerpt.

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owls make me want to be a better knitter

Every winter, I make a scarf or two. I only knit in straight lines; no increasing, decreasing, or any fancy stuff. I'm that kind of knitter.

But this pattern makes me want to be a better knitter: the owl sweater.



Oh my. That is quite possibly the cutest sweater ever. If those owls were mine, I would wear them ALL the time.

Needled has kindly written up and posted the pattern, so you (and I, once I learn to knit properly) can make your own owl sweater: the pattern PDF is here, and also read Needle's notes.

There's also a pattern for adorable knitted owl mittens, free from Kelbourne Woolens.

HOOT!

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happy obama day!

Have you seen the The Obama Craft Project yet?

The Obama Craft Project seeks to celebrate and archive the work of the many crafters who have created projects inspired by Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign for the Presidency.



There's a crazy amount of stuff on there, in all kinds of media, from knitting to felting to jewellery to portraits made of beans...





Pictured above: needle felted ball, Bean Obama, and Greyhounds for Obama, and the Hope sweater (with a link to a free pattern, should you have a ton of extra Obama-excitement-energy you still need to burn up.)

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craft rock friday with tricot machine

It's hard to get more craft rock than this. Each frame of this video is knitted.

Each. Frame. Knitted.

Sure, they were knitted by machine, but still, that is a LOT of knitting. Think of all the sweaters you could make from those panels!

Appropriately, the band's name is Tricot Machine, which means "Knitting Machine".



(via Drawn!)

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warm and wooly

What's more holiday-y than Rachel Denny's Domestic Trophies?

Deer made of sweaters. Seriously, you can't beat that.

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balaclavas for your keys

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

OK, it's not. It's not snowing at all out here on the west coast and I'm not feeling the holiday vibe yet. My neighbour's inflatable snowman is just not doing it for me.

But help is on the way! These little dudes make me think about putting a log on the fire (if I had one), baking gingerbread and singing carols.



Little balaclavas for your keys! Don't they make you want to just send your keys out to build a snowman? These knitted key cozies were created by Sonics. They're also available in her Etsy shop.

(via Craft: blog)

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who (else) is living in your livingroom?

I literally let out a little gasp when I saw these photos by Australian artist Magdalena Bors.









I sometimes (often) imagine (wish) my home was like this.

(Via Drawn!)

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video killed the radio star (and craft helped)

Craft + Rock + Video = Magic.

Eric Power knows this formula. Here are a couple of his craftilicious music videos, full of the magic ingredients.

Cut paper collage video for the Lovely Sparrows' "Year of the Dog" (via Drawn!)

I'm loving those paper ghosts.

Wooly video for AM Syndicate's "To the Peasants of the Emperor"


Check out more of Eric Power's power on his You Tube page.

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