Pinned Up

Today's post is about the jewelry of knitting: the shawl pin. You might need a way to keep that drape front cardigan or lace shawl securely in place, and obviously your lovingly and intricately hand-knitted pieces deserve so much better than even the most discrete safety pin. So I've put together a sampling of shawl pins for your perusal. This doesn't pretend to be a "best of" post, as there are far too many beautiful shawl pins out there for me to choose among. No, these pins are simply some of those that caught my eye, and if you'd like something different I recommend a image Google search along the lines of "wood cat shawl pin" or "silver Celtic shawl pin" or whatever style and material you'd like.

Some of my favourite shawl pins were traditional Celtic pennanular brooches. You're in no danger of losing the pin with this style as it's fastened to the ring. The large silver penannular brooch above is from Isle of Mull Silver & Goldsmiths. Do remember that the penanular brooch is properly worn with the pin sticking up.

Love the quiet distinction of this one, the Off-Center Disk Shawl Pin, from Dreamweaver Yarns. The stick is rosewood and ebony.

This is the Sweet Pea Vine Shawl Pin, from Dreamweaver Yarns. The stick is rosewood and the ring white bronze.

This is the Garnet Heart Yarn Pin, from Adorn Handmade Jewelry, and it's handmade out of sterling silver. I recommend a look at the other styles available at Acorn Handmade Jewelry too.

This is the Filigree Sterling Silver Stick Pin from Goosepond.

This mother of pearl round pin is from Mary Maxim.

This dragonfly pin is from Sassy 2 Stitch. It's hand-carved from buffalo and steer horn.

This simple wooden pin is from Colorful Stitches.

This is the Flared-End Penannular Shawl Pin, from Stitch Diva Studios. A very simple, spare style of shawl pin might be the way to go if you want only one shawl pin, because then it will be likely to go with everything.

This is the Summer Stripe Wavy Shawl Pin, by Bonnie Bishoff Designs, available from Halcyon Yarn.

This shell shawl pin is from Annie's Crafts. There are many carved shell pins available, and they do tend to be among the least expensive shawl pins, although I can't answer for how well they'd survive a drop to the floor.

I would be remiss if I didn't feature some of the non-ring-and-stick style pins that are available. You can get a shawl pin that is just a simple stick pin, such as this Flower Stick Shawl Pin by Bonnie Bishoff Designs, available at Halcyon Yarn.

The other style available is the closed pin that resembles a safety pin. It's probably the most secure type of pin, but I do find it much less aesthetically pleasing than the ring and stick style pin. This orange bead pin is designed by Gina Reynolds, and is available from Knitting Boutique.

Casting on and Casting Light

Perhaps you've made yourself a pouf, or bought one of Clare O'Brien's knitted stools or Bauke Knottnerus's Phat Knits, and are looking for a coordinating home furnishing piece to continue the knitting theme. Perhaps you'd like a lamp, but have rejected the knitted lampshade as not being meta enough. Well, in that case, I have a few home lighting ideas for you that represent the actual act of knitting. The Needle Table Lamp from Vitamin Living above being one.

This design is Louisa’s Loup Light, created by Louisa Pacifico. The design is mains operated and is available in various colours and materials.

This is the "Granny Lamp", by Sebastian Errazuriz, which is made of knitted electrical cable. I don't know if it's at all available commercially, and I think if it were to be, Errazuriz would have to consider renaming it.

How to Stay on Knitting Message During a Heatwave

If you'd like to proclaim your love of or attitude toward knitting and it's too damn hot out right now to wear anything you've knitted, you can always do it by wearing a message t-shirt. This one's from Zazzle.

If you have a secondary interest, such as all things pirate, you can combine the two by wearing this t-shirt. From Zazzle.

If you're more rocker knitter than pirate knitter, this shirt might be more your style. From Kaboodle.

I love Art Nouveau, so this one from Zazzle is right up my alley. If you have a favourite knitting-themed artwork, you can always grab the image off the net and have a t-shirt made that will suit you to a... T.

Once the apocalypse comes, who do you think will be coming to us and begging for a stash-made garment? From Zazzle.

You may have been told that the devil has work for idle hands. What you weren't told was that you might actually be doing that work already. From Zazzle.

Sometimes, but not often, and even then only slightly. From Zazzle.

I've always liked this shirt from Craftster. Of course knitting takes balls, the more the better!

This is for the more stoic knitter. Because, at least in my experience, there is indeed crying in knitting. From Zazzle.

And this is for a knitter's non-knitting husband, who has more sweaters than he can ever wear and needs to know that there's a club for him too. From Zazzle.

"Future Knitter" onesies. Because it's never too early to begin on the brainwashing education of a knitter. From Craftster.

If none of these shirts appeal, there are probably hundreds more on the internet (Zazzle alone has 23 pages of knitting-themed t-shirts for sale) and there's nothing to stop you from having your own favourite slogan or knitting image custom-printed on a t-shirt. I find custom print t-shirts can be even better than pre-made, because you can find or create exactly the image or slogan you want and put it on a t-shirt in your preferred colour and cut. It may be a little more trouble, but it usually costs about the same. If you've made your own sassy knitter's t-shirt, feel free to link to it in the comments!

Coming up: My review of Interweave's The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits 2013 is scheduled to post tomorrow morning!

Knitting Needles That Jingle, Jangle, Bangle

If you want to signal your fetish for love of knitting to the world in some other way than actually knitting, and don't think you want to go as far as getting a knitting tattoo, you might try making yourself a knitting needle bracelet. Time for Tea offers an excellent tutorial on how it's done. And I must admit that if you've got a suitably interesting mateless plastic or metal knitting needle sitting around that you never use because you care about having your 4mm needles match each other visually, turning it into a rather fun and funky bracelet isn't a bad way to make use of it.

That's my rational reaction. My visceral reaction is something similar to that engendered when I see crafts made from "extra" books. There's no such thing as extra knitting needles or books. What's next, eating our young?!

The Silence of the Sheep

I can't find anything on who made this chair (let me know if you can) but doesn't it look like the ultimate knitting chair? The sheep heads will be the perfect aid in winding hanks or in blocking hats. Your small children and/or pets won't bother you while you're knitting because they'll have run screaming from whatever room the chair was placed in the day it came into the house. If you're a spinner, you'll probably have to hold yourself back from stripping the wool off the chair when you're running short on roving, and some night down the road you'll probably wake up in the wee small hours to find these sheep are standing over you armed with shearing knives and muttering something about Buffalo Bill's "woman suit", but oh well. It's not every day one has a knitting chair that looks both cushy and like the evil entity in a Stephen King novel.

Not Your Grandma's Knitting Tattoo. Unless it is.

I keep running across a lot of knitting tattoos on the net, and even though I'm not considering getting any ink done (I've never even been able to tolerate a stick-on tattoo for more than a day), and would of course be getting an orange swan if I did, they are interesting and fun to look at. Here are some that I've come across.

The most common kind of knitting tattoo is the ball of yarn with a pair of knitting needles thrust through it, and there are loads of variations on this theme, like the one above.

Here we have the needles, the ball of yarn, and a cat. Cats seem to be a common addition to knitting tattoos. I suppose it's easier to add a cat than it is to add all the members of your book club.

The use of the "Keep Calm" meme is so going to date this person.

For a minute there, I thought "alpaca" was missing its "l". You definitely do not want your tramp stamp to have a spelling mistake in it. It gives off the wrong impression.

This one is a little more knitterrrr girrrrrrlllllll.

This is really quite the piece of artistry, but the idea of having an unfinished project permanently tattooed on my body makes me feel twitchy and OCD.

This one is actually Tunisian crochet (note the hooks on the ends of the needles), but could easily be altered to be knitting. It's another unfinished project, but one gets the sense that progress is being made.

Here's a knitted tattoo that's all finished.

The hands at work here have a few too many knuckles, but otherwise I love this one, which is a beautiful expression of the love of knitting and the love that goes into one's knitting.

I'd be afraid this one would cause my cat to attack my foot.

I don't think I can possibly can get knitting-themed ink when this woman has done it so definitively.

If you want to see some more knitting tattoos, there are some on Tumblr. Or you could just image google "knitting tattoos".