A Romance Without Too Fine a Point

A commercial for Knit Lite knitting needles. In which two single knitting needles find their sole mate.

Circular vs. Straights

Skacel Collection, Inc., has decided to show us how much faster a knitter can knit on an Addi Turbo Circular needle compared to straight needles. Speeds may appear faster in the video than they really are, especially given that neither contestant seems to actually have any idea how to knit.

"Manky wool is no good to us because we've got really high standards."

Check out Pringle of Scotland's cheeky 2010 animated short on the process of making their jumpers from collecting wool ("We like to take the wool from the belly of the goats because the rest of it gets really manky. Manky wool is no good to us because we've got really high standards"), to producing the yarn and designing and producing the sweaters ("Things that aren't designed look all ramshackle"), and the process of promoting their products ("We always get good write-ups in the magazines because they all know how good we are and how rubbish everyone else is").

Ready! Steady! Knit!

Check out this video, which gives us a sneak peak into what happens at a training camp for an elite squad of knitting grandmas.

If You're Cold, Put On a Sweater

A Belgian natural gas company wanted a commercial that would convey the warmth and comfort that natural gas will bring to your home. How do you do that? Well, what did your mother always tell you? If you're cold, put on a sweater. The commercial is made by TBWA Brussels, directed by Olivier Babinet, and produced by Lovo Films.






Here's a short film about the making of the commercial above. After a month of preparation, a professional crew of over 40 men spent four days and nights shooting this commercial live and in stopmotion with four different cameras.

There's Such a Thing as Getting Too Into Our Knitting

This is a 1955 knitting ad from McCall's. And yes, it's true that we put a bit of ourselves into every thing we knit: our creativity, skill, time, effort, love, and hopes for the future. But it doesn't necessarily follow that we have to make everything we knit an actual part of ourselves. I hope we can stop short of using yarn for hair, for instance.

Coming up: Look for a review of Interweave's Knitting Traditions Spring 2013 issue tomorrow morning!

Knitting Under Duress

This woman is receiving a permanent wave at the beauty salon. This is what the perm process looked like in 1937. It was an arduous matter, and from what I've read even if all went well and the hairdresser didn't misjudge or forget the time and leave her client under the machine so long that her hair got scorched, women went home from the salon with scalps so sore they could hardly bear the prospect of ever combing their hair again. But this woman looks very serene. It must be the fact that she's able to knit meanwhile.

A PSA for Knitters

This is a public service annoucement I can get behind, though it may seem a little overwrought.

Seriously. Don't wreck the Noro. It deserves better.

Moby Ripped

In 2007 Greenpeace Poland aired this anti-whaling commercial. It uses knitting to convey their point, and the imagery was so striking that it made me do a little Googling to find out whether I agreed with Greenpeace's stance that commercial whaling needs to be banned worldwide, so I'd say it's a success.