Knitted fingerless gloves, in green

Fingerless gloves are great for those (many) occasions when I want to keep my hands and wrists warm, but need to preserve full dexterity. For these hand/wrist warmers (“modeled” by my sweet cat Starfire), I made use of a project in Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2004). I sized them for myself, but used the basic ribbed-knit of the men's version of Hoverson’s pattern. The yarn is dark green acrylic, worsted weight. The gloves are knitted on size 3 Knitter’s Pride Dreamz Symphonie Wood double-pointed needles.

‘Getting Started Knitting Socks’ by Ann Budd

Books on library science aren’t the only essential occupants of my keep-on-hand reference shelf. Another title I turn to consistently is Ann Budd’s Getting Started Knitting Socks — especially when I’m ready to break out the double-pointed needles and cast a new project on. From start to finish, Budd’s easy-to-follow explanations are with me every step along the way to creating beautiful and wearable socks.

Originally posted to Goodreads

Yarn bombing commemorates library anniversary

Image credit: Manchester Community Library on Facebook

In Manchester, Vermont: Artist Trish Weill and Youth Services Librarian Janet Kleinberg spearheaded a yarn-bombing by community members of the Manchester Community Library (MCL).
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Yarn Bombing: ‘Maker Day’ at Bill Library

Artisans, crafters and hobbyists demostrated their skills during a Maker Day event at the Bill Library, Saturday, July 22, in Ledyard, Conn. The library started its maker program about two years ago and holds monthly hands-on classes.
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Yarn-storm commemorates ‘Friends’ group anniversary

In Orange, Conn.: Case Memorial Library was “yarn stormed” with a colorful, hands-on, knitted and crocheted exhibit depicting the four seasons, in the library’s second-floor rotunda.

As reported and photographed by Pam McLoughlin for the New Haven Register, the exhibit — created by Friends of the Case Memorial Library — “has visitors talking, touching, teaching and marveling at the uniqueness and detail.”

The Friends group installed the exhibit in May, to celebrate the group’s 25th anniversary. “The exhibit was originally slated to stay up through June, but Library Director Meryl Farber loved it so much she requested to keep it up at least until November. Farber said, in her book, it can stay up forever.”

Posted to Yarn Bombing at Your Library on Facebook

Hand-crafted ‘Pokémon’ hidden at ‘Pokéstops’

Source of image: Nichole’s Nerdy Knots on Facebook

Via the MarySue: “[F]inding digital Pokémon in our surroundings wasn’t enough for Nichole’s Nerdy Knots. The nerdy knitter has been stitching up some Pokémon and hiding them around Pokéstops (and other appropriate areas) in the real world for random people to find.” Libraries are often designated Pokéstops and Gyms in this augmented-reality game. If any crafters would like to tag their local library, Nichole’s patterns are free for download on Ravelry.

Posted to Yarn Bombing at Your Library

Yarn-bombing project at Beaconsfield Public Library

As reported Aug. 9 by the Montreal Gazette: In Beaconsfield Public Library, Beaconsfield, Quebec, chief librarian Elizabeth Lemyre has organized a summer yarn-bombing project that welcomes both youngsters and adults. The knitting circle will create squares to cover a "nondescript public bench." On a recent afternoon, three young ballplayers used knitting looms to create pieces.

Posted to Yarn Bombing at Your Library on Facebook

Yarn bombing at Dover Public Library

Image credit:Dover Public Library

In Dover, Ohio: Crafters of all ages and creative ideas are invited, beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday, to celebrate International Yarn Bombing Day by decorating the front entrance of the Dover Public Library. In a news release submitted to the (New Philadelphia) Times Reporter, writer Jim Gill advised that people attending are asked to bring at least one full skein or several partial skeins of acrylic yarn to participate in a yarn swap. Crafters are welcome to knit, crochet, wrap yarn or make pom poms for the project.

Posted to Yarn Bombing at Your Library on Facebook

Timaru Library, NZ: Yarn bombing planned

At the Timaru Library in New Zealand, crafters are creating artwork for International Yarn Bombing Day on Saturday, June 11. Via a news account published by the Timaru Herald: the exhibition is part of a “Now we’re talking” project to raise awareness of family domestic violence. It will be on display from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

Posted to Yarn Bombing at Your Library on Facebook

‘101 Socks’

I love making socks and even as I explore other knitting techniques, I have a feeling that socks are a project I’ll return to again and again. For this reason, 101 Socks (Schiffer Publishing, 2015) was a natural addition to my wish list.

This book is full of ideas and designs for a variety of socks, created through various techniques: double-pointed and circular knitting needles, crochet and the addi® Express mini-knitting machine.

I’d explored various approaches to making socks and came away from this book with ideas for techniques I would still like to try.

Yarn bombing highlights children’s books

Photo by Matthew Parslow

Added to the timeline for Yarn Bombing at Your Library, my ongoing project to showcase yarn-bomb installations at or involving libraries: Outside the Ferntree Gully library and community art center in Melbourne, Australia, this yarn-bombed tree duplicates the covers of classic children’s books including Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Matthew Parslow posted photos of his wife Kim’s work to Imgur and GoodHousekeeping.com published an article about the project, which was part of a commissioned installation organized by the group Yarn Corner.

2016: Year of knitting hats

I am resolved that 2016 will be the year of knitting hats.

My first project is “Rolled-Brim Hat” by Karen Turcotte from Knitting for Peace by Betty Christiansen (Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2006).

This is my first attempt at constructing a hat on needles, but it is technically not my first knitted hat. I created several others with a knitting loom, which allowed me freedom to explore the craft when I had not yet mastered the needles.

Library yarn bombers distribute scarves

Source of image: Fairfield Public Library

In Fairfield, Conn., the Purls of Wisdom Knitting Group and Fairfield Public Library staff knit, crocheted and sewed nearly 100 scarves and attached them to trees and light posts. As related in an essay published by the Fairfield Sun, each scarf had a removable tag that said, “Need a scarf, Please take a scarf. Hand made with love.” The scarves were attached on Sunday and by Monday morning according to the article, only 12 scarves remained.

Posted to Yarn Bombing at Your Library on Facebook

Yarnbombing at Gonville Cafe and Library

Photo credit: The Inked Librarian on Facebook

Readers of my blog may be familiar with Yarn Bombing at Your Library, a project on Facebook where I curate images and articles about yarn-bomb installations involving libraries. The project’s scope is international and in the latest post to its timeline: the Gonville Knitting Group brought holiday color to the Gonville Cafe and Library in Wanganui, New Zealand. The Inked Librarian (Kelly Scarrow) wrote about the yarnbombing in her column for the Wanganui Midweek newspaper.

‘Susan B. Anderson’s Kids’ Knitting Workshop’

After three attempts at learning to knit, I finally succeeded with the help of a circular-knitting class: 16 inches of knit stitch on circular knitting needles to form the body of a bag.

It’s precisely this approach that is taken by Susan B. Anderson in her Kids’ Knitting Workshop (Artisan Books, 2015). “Knitting in the round is the easiest and most effective way for children (and adults) to learn how to knit.” All of the knitting in her book uses circular knitting needles.

Knitting: No longer ‘left-’ or ‘right-handed’?

Knitting-book authors seem to be moving away from terms like “right-handed” and “left-handed” knitting, referring instead to “Continental-” and “English-style” knitting. (In “Continental,” the yarn is carried in the left hand; in “English-style,” it’s carried in the right.

Yarn-bomb tribute to words and libraries

Posted to Yelp by “Tami S.” circa April 17, 2015, a yarnbombing of bicycle racks at the San Mateo Public Library for National Library Week 2015. Knitted black letters against a yellow background read, “Words are,/In My/Not-So-Humble Opinion/Our Most/Inexhaustible/Source of Magic.”

Cross-posted from Yarn Bombing at Your Library on Facebook

I want to decorate that knitted T-shirt

A knitted update to the classic baseball T-shirt appeared in my Facebook timeline, linking to a pattern from designer Ysolda Teague on Ravelry. Imagine the charted-design possibilities for the T-shirt’s front panel! The Sharrow design perhaps? Or maybe ... Social sharing credit goes to Erin Duffy, pattern editor at Shibui Knits (my knitting instructor at The Web-sters in Ashland, Oregon).

Self-striping ‘Fair Isle’ socks

For my latest socks, I cast 56 stitches of Zwerger Garn Opal “Flower Power” onto my size 1 Knitter’s Pride Dreamz Symphonie Wood double-pointed needles. I love the yarn’s bright variety, the yellows, greens and reds, especially the Fair-Isle mimicry. I left my knitting on the bed, and a short while later found Starfire next to it, almost as if posing for a photograph. I was only too happy to oblige.

Cross-posted to Ravelry

Neon socks with short-row-heels

With my sock explorations to-date, I’d used the heel-flap-and-turn technique taught by Ann Budd in her book Getting Started Knitting Socks (Interweave, 2007).

With this latest pair of socks, I decided to attempt the short-row heel technique.