Fashionknitsta Thursday: 12/17/09

Welcome to another edition of Fashionknitsta! On this rainy Thursday, I hope everyone is staying warm and dry. I have a lovely selection of things (mostly thanks to my wonderful friend Amanda for showing them to me first) that I'm very excited to share with you today. Beginning with a piece called Auntie Peggy Has Departed, by London-based artist Shane Waltener.


This piece was installed in Aldwych Tube Station, the Strand, London in 2003. In the statement about this piece Waltener writes:

Doilies are like dreamcatchers, each knot holding a thought, a memory. The sum of these make up the history of a place.

This is such a beautiful thought, and so true about knitting as a craft. Every stitch is a symbol of a moment and so much thought and care and reflection is put in, whether your project be for yourself or someone else; which I think is a feeling that comes to many knitters as they get more involved in their craft.

Much of Waltener's work revolves around this idea, in his bio for the UK Hand Knitters Association he says, "beyond the aesthetics of knitting, I am interested in the social dimension of the craft, people exchanging stories, recollections and memories when knitting together". His work also deals with the balance of knitting in the larger discussion of art vs. craft and the idea of high art vs. low art. More of Waltener's fiber and mixed media installations can be found here, and I really recommend checking them out.

The next thing I have to share is also lace-centric and really interesting. Lace in Translation is a project between 3 art and design studios working to share their own interpretation of The Design Center at Philadelphia's collection of traditional lace designs by the Quaker Lace Company. The three European and Canadian teams, Demakersvan a studio based out of Rotterdam, Cal Lane a Canadian sculptor, and Tord Bootnje a Dutch industrial designer, are showing their takes on this historic art at The Design Center until April 3, 2010.


This is Demakersvan's interpretation, a 16 panel, 152 foot lace fence made of galvanized PVC coated wire.


Sculptor Cal Lane cut, welded, and painted her inspiration into a 1000 gallon oil tank and burnt a traditional lace design into the lawn at the Center.



This is Tord Boontje's contribution to the project, the first is an installation of Sofa Aramide and Dynema Fibers with powder coated steel, the second is a Raffia lace curtain.

More information on this project is available on all of the designers and teams websites as well as at the Lace in Translation home page.

A strange coincidence that all of these lace based projects would find me this week, if you receive our emails you may know that we are on a bit of a lace frenzy as of late. We recently received word that the famous Estonian lace book Haapsalu Sall (Haapsalu Shawl) by Siiri Reimann & Aime Edasi would be translated and printed in English available early next year. We are taking pre-orders for the second shipment of this beautiful book right now, the first were reserved almost immediately.

The next thing I have to share with all of you today is courtesy of Jenny, our graphic design wonder, De*Nada is a line of chic knit accessories founded by Virginia Blanca Arrisueño, who cites the culture and traditions of her Peruvian heritage as her inspiration.

The Challah Braids

The Eternal Roped and Skinny Fringe

The Eternal Web and Ladies Gloves

I really like this line, none of the patterns look as though they would be too difficult to figure out and make your own, and it's a really good example of well photographed knitwear.

The final thing I have today is this really interesting headband, also found by my friend Amanda, by the French accessories designer benoit missolin :

Pom-poms! I really love how fun this is, and how easy it would be to make! Can you believe they charge $194?! A pom-pom maker costs about $8. Outrageous! I'm really glad she showed me, I have a few girlfriends who should be expecting pom-pom headbands for Christmas (only maybe I'll make mine a little smaller).

With that, I leave you all until next time. In light of the holidays, there will be no Fashionknista next week, but check back the week after for a new post. Until then, stay chic, blogfans!

-Lindsay

We like the fuscia here.

Which has nothing to do with Franklin's talk (see further below), but it certainly makes sense in terms of current staff projects. Like, oh, Marjorie's Skif Heart (IP):

Currently being knit with over a dozen different yarns that are nearly all in the hot pink to purple-pink range. Even the marigold and orange you see there comes from a painted yarn that has, you guessed it, pink and purple as well.

Next, we have Kristin's Mystery Sweater (also IP), that I cannot find on ravelry (and it's Kristin's weekend right now...), but clearly it's a shade of purpley-pink:

And, finally, we have the Children's Bolero I am making for my niece, Tegan, (IP):

Using ShibuiKnits Merino Worsted in "Peony".

Are you sensing a strange trend here? It's a bit weird, actually. All of a sudden, our projects match. It must be something in the water.

But at least I also have this, my natural white cashmere lace:

(Evelyn Clark's Cocoon Lace Scarf or Wrap and Cashmere 1)

Which I somehow convinced Franklin (yes, that Franklin) to hold in lieu of a traveling sock :

He's such a good sport. And hilariously funny. If you missed his lecture last night, well... I don't have to words to describe such a side-splitting experience. I did manage to snap a shot before the event really started...

But completely forgot to take any photos during or after. Yes, I know. Bad blogger, no cookie.

If you did miss it, I suppose I shouldn't mention the trivia and prizes (knitting cartoon totes!), or silly photos, or Victorian patterns or... never mind. It would be cruel to go on. In the end, we had two seats left (not bad with 35 chairs squeezed in the room with a projector and screen), which you can see right there. Next time (yes, Franklin's promised to visit us again, apparently we aren't that odd), we're thinking a bigger venue would be quite lovely.

And, lastly, to prove we like all the colors of the rainbow* (not just the purpley-pink ones):

I have a basket of samples for my upcoming Kitchen-Safe Dyeing workshop. I wouldn't have mentioned it at all, but I've been nagged by several coworkers. So, there, I've mentioned it and even put out samples on the coffee table. Make what you will of it.

Until next time, stay colorful!

*Although, it may be fair to say we like some colors more than others.

We love colors.

All of them. A lot. Which is why we've set up our newest display:

And just might be planning some wicked Fair Isle treats over the next few weeks. Oh, yes, indeedy. Along those lines, Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting is BACK IN STOCK!


Get your copy while we still have them. I know I (and several other staff members) have. This is THE reference to have on the art of Fair Isle. Really, honestly, and truly. It has pages and pages of detailed diagrams, pictures and instructions on everything from technique to designing your own sweater. If you're a knitting tech-phile, this is the book for you.

Anyway, that's what I think.

Moving on... Frances kindly brought in her newly finished Girasole:

No, it hasn't been blocked. But it's still gorgeous! In fact, I had a hard time taking a photo that didn't have someone or another's hand on it, petting. The finished "cloth" is just sublime - due entirely to the high quality of Catherine Lowe's Silk Mohair 1. And Frances has promised to bring it in after she blocked it, so keep an eye out for that!

Lastly, we sent out the very first Sock Club 2010 packages this afternoon! Excitement abounds. We can't wait to see (and hear) your reactions, o loyal Sock Club members, so please let us know what you think. Until next time, blogfans, start planning those Fair Isle projects...

You know how the saying goes...

"So much to do, so little time."? That seems to be our new mantra 'round here as we transition from the old website to the new, from summer to fall (big transition in the knitting business) and just generally try and keep from being buried in wool. Not that we're complaining... especially about that last bit.

Now, let's see, we've had a slue of recent happenings. The most noticeable will have been Lindsay's first blog post last week. Lindsay is our web fulfillment person and will be blogging (hopefully) once a week about customer and staff projects. If you're a web customer and want to share your current wip or recent fo, be sure to shoot Lindsay an email [info(at)knit-purl(dot)com] and she'll be glad to blog about it.

Next, we have some photographic leftovers (that I just found in the back of our fridge camera's media card), which I thought our blog readers might find amusing...

First, during Sock Summit, we had many sock-themed goodies at our various events. Including sock-shaped cookies...

and sock-shaped doughnuts, made for us specially by Voodoo Doughnuts:

Something you cannot but love, right? Socks and doughnuts... together in a non-sticky-wool way!

There was also a pic from last week's "No Mean Feet!" - which I can't recall why it was relevant now, but thought might still be interesting to our readers out in BlogLand:

During which I took a photo of Hannah's literally just-finished BeGyle Socks:

Cute, huh? That link up there, btw, goes to Hannah's ravelry journal if you want more information on the socks. You have to give her props, since she knit them (argyle socks!) in 18 days! That's just over two weeks. It kind of makes me dizzy, actually...

Moving on, we have this lovely (if slightly blurry and anonymous) photo of a knitter and her recently-finished Vintage Baby Cardigan:

I'm afraid I have no more information than that. Maybe the knitter (or the knitter's friends) read this blog and might help a poor, befuddled knit-blogger out?

Now, onto the more recent goings-on. First, very exciting, we have our Twitterific Sock Contest! Don't know about this? Check out our most recent Newsletter or the Twitterific Sock Contest page.

Oooh, it's gonna be exciting (we hope). We're going to give away one membership in our Sock Club to the lucky winner. In the spirit of inspiration and leading the way and Good Old-Fashioned Silliness*, we posted the first image:

Lindsay and I had fun with entertaining the masses at Pioneer Courthouse Square. If you're thinking about participating, do! The prizes are amazing (one year's membership in the Sock Club or a KnitPod or ShibuiKnits Sock yarn) and it's not hard to enter. Seriously. If the Sandies can tweet, anyone can.

And finally, we have from last night's The Yarnover's (Lace Knitters Night), an extremely blurry photo in which at least two of the victims subjects are visibly trying to escape**:

But, it's worth mentioning (aside from the ha!-we-caught-you factor), as three of the knitters last night were working on their Girasole Shawls from our recent KAL. It was a nice big group, too, with ten knitters on the first night! Maybe lace knitting is bigger than we think, but just really really quiet.

It could happen.

Anyway. Until next time, you might want to check out our lovely Twitterific Sock Contest page, our recently updated Calendar of Events page and, quite possibly, stalk #twitterificsock on twitter. It's gonna be great!

* We're good at that, we know.
**Nice try, Marj & Leslie.

Did that just happen?

The last week has been more than a little crazy. If you follow us on twitter, you'll know that we were bombarded at both our booth and in the store during the Sock Summit. Moreover, the website transition could have gone a lot smoother (a fact that we lament this ourselves, quite a bit). But it's done and mostly working, so we're grateful for our small victories.

If you were left wondering where the heck the promised Newsletter was, over the past weekend, well that's a good question. In fact, due to some of the wrinkles in the transition, we couldn't get it out until Wednesday. In the future, however, it looks like sending our Newsletters will be easier than ever (I may have just cursed us, oh... dear). Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Also, while on the topic of Newsletters (and eCards), it seems that the color PDX (in happiest girl! Sock) sold out within a half hour of the latest mailing (check your inbox). But we do have the KnitPods (some) and a few other treats.

Now, moving on to blog-worthiness, we have some really sweet goodies this time. First, Farrah brought in her finished Hidcote Shawl last night and I even managed to corner her into modeling it:

The pattern? Miriam Felton's Hidcote Garden Shawl. Knit with Suri Blue in "Smoke", by FarrahW (on ravelry). Isn't it just gorgeous? And the yarn is magnificent (we have it on order!). Yum, yum. Go on, go to ravelry and fav it. (You know you want to!)

And while I had Farrah cornered, I made her model the Cherry Blossom Shawl she knit for us as a store sample:

The one you can see on Anne Hanson's blog (knitspot). Made with 3 skeins of ShibuiKnits Silk Cloud, this thing is just plain dangerous. The sheer number of people I've seen petting it does not bode well for it's safety! Of course, if you want to participate in the Cherry Blossom KAL, we've been helping people out with their questions and getting started.

While Farrah was been subjected to the Nikon, everyone at JoAnn's birthday party last night was shouting advice to her (how to stand, how to hold her arms, etc); so I returned the favor and took a couple of shots of the group:

Which they didn't much like, but fair's fair. Some of the quicker knitters managed to dash out of the frame before the shutter clicked (which is why you can see abandoned projects in chairs). I'll get them next time, mwahaha.

And, finally, just because, I managed to get a shot of the Birthday Girl:

Who tried (and almost succeeded) to hide behind her sock in progress. The sock, it should be mentioned, is being knit with our fantastically popular limited edition colorway "City of Roses" (which has sold out, sorry!). So pretty.

Let's see... Other news? We-ell, Franklin Habit of the Panopticon has agreed to visit the store and teach/ lecture in late September. Mark it in your calendars! We'll post registration information on the website/ blog/ calendar sometime in the next fortnight or so.

Also, the Fall 2008 issues of Marianne Isager and Amimono are back in stock. Grab 'em while you can!

And, last but not least, the Habu Trunkshow is up and will continue to be on display through the end of August. Drop by (or give us a call) to find out what unusual yarns and fibers we have in stock!

Girasole KAL!

Hey, have you heard? We're starting


on July 1st! Sandy Kay and I already have our yarn (Isager Højlandsgarn) and are gearing up (actually, Sandy Kay has cheated and started early). Sandy Bingham and Brook are talking about participating - both with be using ShibuiKnits Sock, I hear - so you'll have not one, not two, but four staff members available for help or support whenever you need it!

If you've ever wanted to try this pattern or a Shetland circular shawl, now's your chance. But the KAL ends on July 31st, so you'd better decide soon! We'll hope to see you at one of our KAL knit nights (TBA) or in with your wip or fo...

A dose of silliness never hurt anyone.

'Specially not around here. But before we get to that, here's something serious-ish to balance the large quantity of silly coming your way. Last week we received several copies of the coveted books Kunst stricken:

Which translates literally into "knit art". Cool, huh? The books include patterns from the turn of the century for a variety of lace accessories. And because we're too curious for our own good, we couldn't help but open one - the charts are unbelievable.

And that's enough seriousness. Today we had a visit from Mortaine, the creator of the comic book series Handknit Heroes*:

Of course, we can't release her secret identity (hence the blurry photo). But she gave us a sneak preview of the mask kit that will soon be available as well as the details of their mask contest, in case any of our loyal readers might want to enter.

Of course, as soon as the mask came out, everyone had to try it on. First Jenni:

But, really, it was Sandy B. who had the most fun with the mask:

And here she's off to fight crime in very knitterly fashion:

... with a little help from a stepstool.

You know you wish you'd been here. Until next time, evildoers beware!

*Issue #2 is available in the store and will be online in a day or so.

A regal shawl, a wacky hat, and some colorful felting

I swear I was going to post this yesterday until I realised that we had a staff workshop in 10 minutes... so it got delayed. But we do have more photos for it!

First and foremost, prepare yourself to be amazed, with Duffy's (a.k.a. fiberqat) Queen Anne's Lace shawl:

Over 6 feet across and simply gorgeous. She was so (rightfully) proud of herself she brought it in to show off. A big 'thank you' to Tsipa (right) for helping Duffy hold it up during our impromptu photoshoot. And here's a center detail:

And the lovely edging that makes me think of peacock feathers:

Duffy said that it was an easy and very enjoyable knit. In fact, her ravelry notes compare it to "crack" (see link above). Hmm, sounds dangerous. Here's the pattern info on ravelry.

All in all, I think the best description is "wow".

Next, something completely different, is another amazing project that you have to see to believe... Wendy's most awesome self-designed EAT hat (okay, that's not what she's calling it):

Made with Kauni W-EM & W-EN for a friend who's a chef. Note the fork & knife motif as well as the inverted wine glass detail. Wendy is clearly crazy. In a good way, of course, but it must be said.

With those two projects, I bet I'm not the only one feeling like an underachiever right now. Oy.

In other, slightly smaller, FO news... we have NINE more cranes! Giving us 138. Almost half-way there. Keep 'em coming, guys!

And, finally, the reason this post was postponed last night... our staff Artfelt workshop. Here's us getting started with our base layers of wool laid down:

And here's the felting demonstration as best could be approximated (without a dryer on premises):

(with a peek at Lindsay's & Marjorie's unfelted pieces)

If you want to see more of the process, or pictures from our workshop, see our flickr page. I'll try and nag everyone to finished their projects over the weekend and bring them in next week for photos. Look for them in a week or two.

And that's everything, for yesterday today. Check back tomorrow for a sneak peek at our upcoming Mother's Day Special!

Truly wicked yarn pr0n

I'm evil, I know it. But, see, if I sell the yarn to customers it won't end up in my stash. It's all about the self-preservation, see. And believe me when I say some of it has already found a new home in my Stash Containment Unit. The new Habu is particularly tempting.

The first on our list of Must-Have New Yarns are from two powerhouse favorite dyers: Schaefer Yarns and Chameleon Colorworks. Direct from Schaefer's dyepot, we have the coolest of the cool in their Memorable Women Series - the Memorable Knitters. Next to it is Twinkle Toes (by Chameleon), which is a luscious, shimmery half-superwash merino, half tencel blend:

At the moment we have 3 of the 4 Memorable Knitters Series: Mary Walker Phillips, Elizabeth Zimmerman, Emma Jacobsson. Dorothy Reade is still on order. If you're a hard-core sock knitter, you'll going to want to grab these soon as I predict they're going to go fast (and not just into my stash).

The Twinkle Toes is a little more whimsical in nature, dyed in many of Chameleon Colorwork's most popular colors plus two new themes: Ophelia and Lavender Fields. Again, I have a feeling that these will run out the door fast, but this line promises to be more long-term.

Next on our list of yarny goodness are on the recently refurbished New Wall: Abstract Fiber & Araucania. Two lines of handdyed loveliness.

Abstract Fiber is well-known by most Knit Purl customers, but Araucania is a line we're less familiar with. 100% cotton and handdyed, it'll be great this summer...

And, finally, the last of our new yarns... Isager's summer lines:

And wall. They have so many yarns we decided they needed their own wall. Anyway, back to the new yarns. For this summer they've put out six new lines:

1. Bomuld (100% mercerized cotton)
   
2. Viscolin (linen/ rayon blend)
   
3. Bomulin (cotton/ linen blend)
4. Hoer (100% linen)
   
5. Alpaca 1 (100% baby alpaca, lace weight)
   
6. Hoejlandsgarn (100% Shetland lambswool)
   

We still have several colors on order, so expect to see the wall fill out over the next two weeks. And, quite possibly on the blog, a Hoejlandsgarn WIP I'm contemplating. Also to go with the yarns are the next Amimono 2 and Marianne Isager Spring/ Summer books.

In less tempting news (but still worth ogling), we have a pair of finished Wishbone Socks:

The pattern is by Nancy Bush and was featured in the Mar/Apr 2008 issue of Piecework Magazine. I'm afraid that the information concerning these socks has been lost (I'm truly very sorry about that!), but I think I remember them being knit with ShibuiKnits Sock in "Wasabi".

And, very nearly finally, we have some...

Announcements:

1. Our annual Spring Sale starts Thursday! Drop by the store for huge savings on all your favorite yarns, door prizes, a free needle case with purchase and more. See our Events page for more details.
   
2. [Some colors of] Kauni back in stock. Kauni EQ is still on order. But we do have one NEW color and some old favorites, such as ES and EV.
   
3. A collection of new habu yarns have arrived: Silk/ Wool A-113, Silk Cashmere A-190, Wool Pom Pom (N-60), Natural Cover Cotton (A-184), Kusaki Zome (A-4), Stainless Steel Thread (N-48), Ramie (A-166), Jersey Tape (A-189). All of which are so new they aren't on our website (or, in some cases, Habu's either); but, if you'd like to drop by the store or give us a ring, we'll be glad to help you.

And, lastly, just because:

We've been having fun with all the different fuzzy mohair yarns we carry. Shown: Habu Kit 110 and Knitty's Ice Queen knit up with ArtYarns' Beaded Mohair & Sequins (sparkly bling, eh?).

That should be everything. Check back on Thursday (sale, sale, sale!) for more news about the, yes, sale, LeBrie's Nuno Felted Scarf Class and... well, whatever happens between now and then.