Apocalyptic Casual Style and Other Knitting Fables

"Afghan patterns are too pretty to just sit on the couch, so I adapted one to make this great top! I think it's fantastic, especially with the gumball armband I made. What do you think? Hey, do you have any more LSD? I'm out."




Ramona felt her new Apocalyptic Casual line had turned out quite well.





Ever the thrifty mom, Lesia made herself a wrap out of her children's discard toys and yarn from their outgrown mittens. Now, she thought, she just had to figure out a way to upcycle her husband's holey socks.





Nadia combined mesh from her grocery shopping bags, upholstery fabric from her couch, tassels from all her cushions, and leftover paint from the guest room renovation to make a statement about who she really was: a miserably unhappy housewife who needed to lock up the liquor cabinet and put the fact that she'd once flunked out of design school behind her.





Kim made every effort to wear the latest in secretarial wear, and so far her boss's only comment had been, "Kim, your bra is showing. Please fasten your coat. No, I don't care if it is too warm in here for that, you should have worn something suited to a temperature-controlled environment." Kim decided she was jealous.





Lillian was just waiting for her hair to finish setting in the appropriate bouffant style before she went out in the world and strutted her stuff in her new crocheted ensemble.





Rocco soon learned that the first rule of Knitting & Fighting Club is that you don't use a stitch gauge.




Ever since he'd lost his job as an accountant, Richard had left his gray suits hanging in his closet and embarked on a quest to discover what his sartorial style really was.





Susana's grandma, besides being a former swimsuit model, had always been one not to waste anything, and when Susana inherited her grandmother's crocheted afghans, she thought the best way to honour her grandmother's memory was to put them to good use as a fetching bikini and coverup combo.





Christie had finally figured out how to stay warm and avoid any possibility of bruising during falls at the weekly Teen Fun Skate at the local rink. Now, she thought, she was already to go to the skate and meet some boys!


Coming up: Look for the Bergère de France Magazine #167 tomorrow morning.

Two Toys, One Knitting Project

Designer Susan B. Anderson has published a new book this spring, Topsy-Turvy Inside-Out Knit Toys: Magical Two-in-One Reversible Projects
, and the designs in it are not only topsy-turvy and inside out, they're adorable. This stop motion video shows the toys being turned inside out. Anderson's main area of focus as a designer is on making children's toys, and her work is generally very cute. Check out her other designs on Ravelry.

I'm reminded of how much I loved those reversible princess/Cinderella dolls I sometimes saw as a child, and thinking I'm going to have to subvert that unanswered childhood desire into making a few such toys for my three-year-old grandniece and her new sibling, who will be joining us in July.

Mad Knitted Style

If you watch Mad Men, you've almost certainly admired the costuming. Have you ever wondered if you could knit a replica of a Mad Men costume piece? If you have, get in line. There are loads of knitters making Mad Men-inspired projects. It's no surprise, of course. Mad Men is a show as much admired for its fantastically detailed and period accurate costuming and set design as it is for its excellent writing and acting. So many of those costumes look so damn good that the show has been a huge and pervasive fashion influence, with Banana Republic even partnering with Mad Men's costume design Janie Bryant to introduce entire Mad Men-esque clothing lines. A sewing pattern for a blouse I was making last fall referenced the show in its instructions.

I am finding as the sixties wear on in the world of the show that the costumes and set designs are becoming, though no less historically correct and impeccably rendered, less visually appealing. My theory is that this has less to do with changing and less classic fashions of the late sixties than with Janie Bryant's efforts to depict the ever-growing complexity, moral compromises, tension, and pain of some of the main characters' lives. Janie Bryant's work is setting a whole new standard for costume design — not only do her costumes recreate the look of an era and the very specific socio-economic status of each character while remaining grounded in realism (i.e., the characters don't get whole new wardrobes each season), but they also point up the show's narrative and themes and even add poetic layers to them. Fashion bloggers Tom and Lorenzo are doing a wonderful series of Mad Style posts in which they analyze the costumes; if you are a fan who hasn't read these posts, I can't recommend them enough. Tom and Lorenzo were actually one of my sources of inspiration for launching this blog; I wanted to write about knitting and knitting-related matters in the kind of smart, insightful, and entertaining way that they do about style.

But I digress. If you'd like to plan a Mad Men knitting project, there are a couple of approaches to take. The first way is to recreate a Mad Men knitwear item exactly. It won't be too hard to do. Sweaters such as these, worn by Don and Megan Draper, are classics and will look perfectly appropriate in 2013. There will be a lot of really similar patterns available on Ravelry or in the public library or in your own pattern collection that are very much like these and can be adapted into a near-pefect replica.





Sweaters such as those above are less elegant but have their own appeal, especially if you like a little hipster kitsch in your wardrobe. Love that "dorky but loveable" stepdad thing you're working there, Henry Francis.





If you like Peter Campbell's secretary Hildy's mittens from the season three episode "The Grown Ups", the blogger at Very Pink has recreated them nearly exactly and generously shared the pattern with us all. She even went to the trouble of recreating the "waking up Pete" shot, which made my day. I find the shot with the dog much more appealing the the one with Peter. That dog probably has a better understanding of the concept of fidelity and more self-control than Peter Campbell ever will.




Another route to creating a Mad Men style project is to make a knitted replica of a Mad Men costume that's not knitted. The blogger at Skiff Vintage Knitting Patterns did an excellent job of recreating Peggy Olsen's fantastic little office dress as a sweater, and says she may go all the way for a future project and knit an entire dress like it.

These are some wonderful Mad Men looks I'd love to see rendered in yarn.





...and here's a look I have seen rendered in yarn, and wish I hadn't. I keep imagining Jessica Paré's expression when she was shown this and told she was going to be wearing it in this episode.





The other route to Mad Men knitted style is to consider the Mad Men look a starting point and proceed from there to create a version that is updated and/or customized to the individual looks and style of the wearer.

Best of luck with your Mad Men-inspired knitting endeavours, and feel free to post about or link to your efforts in the comments!

Creative Knitting Summer 2013: A Review

Let's have a look at the designs in Creative Knitting's Summer 2013 issue!





Love this pillow. It's simple yet pretty and effective. I can imagine it working in any room of my house if it were in the right colours.





I also like this little rug. Though I'm not sure I could stand to have anyone wipe their feet on it.





The description of this little cardi makes a point naming the ruffles as a design feature, but they're actually the one aspect of this sweater I don't care much for. They're just sort of... sitting there, adding bulk. The rest of the design is very nice.





Nice simple shawl. This is a design you use a beautiful, excellent quality yarn for, something that can stand on its own with just a simple pattern.





Very much like this little lace-trimmed open cardigan. It's well-shaped, it's just feminine enough to be pretty without being too frilly for most women's tastes, and it's so simple it will go with many a summer outfit.





This pair of socks is supposed to be a sock knitter's beginner pair. They're not a bad pair to start with if you like the bobby sock cut and don't always wind up with chafed heels when you wear them.





These pot holders are supposed to be another beginner project, this time to learn the basics of double knitting. They look like a beginner project too. If you like them go ahead, but if not I promise you, you can find an easy double knitting project you do like by quickly searching on Ravelry.





This little boy's sailor sweater is kind of cute, though the pictorial design looks a little crude to me.





I like this little dress, hat and backpack, though I would put the pockets higher on the dress and I wouldn't make all three items for the same child. While you can always make a two-item matching knitted set, making a three-item knitted set nearly always looks like overkill and like the knitter was trying desperately to use up all the yarn of that kind. Or just didn't know when to stop.





Pretty pullover. I'd shorten these sleeves by a few inches or so. Right at the elbow is an awkward-looking sleeve length that tends to look dowdy, like the mid-calf skirt length.





Jewelry made out of yarn never looks right to me — it's always just too crude looking. That said, the red poppy necklace is one of the best rendered knitted jewelry examples I've ever seen. The choker's flowers don't actually look like flowers to me.





Cute hat! I like the pansy design.





Very pretty shawl. I love those tulips in the back.





These slippers are another technical exercise because they involve three stitch patterns. They're not bad, though I'm not crazy about them. It's almost impossible to find slippers, even non-knitted slippers, that have any style to them. They're all so shapeless and juvenile looking, and they all make your feet like something that fell off The Muppet Show sewing table. Make these in your favourite colour and add buttons you really like and you'll probably be pretty happy with them.





The yarn used here is pretty, the stitches are pretty... but I just can't sign off on that twisted front. It's going to add bulk in the front and probably just look like it's on wrong a lot of the time.





I really don't like the buttons on this otherwise quite pretty lace shrug. They look lopsided and distractingly random, for one thing. It looks like the buttons on the right button up the sleeve, but do the buttons on the left side actually have any purpose?





Very much like this simple, pretty little top, but the top decorative band is going to be awkwardly placed on many women. However, it can be easily raised or lowered, or left off altogether.





I like this top, but don't like the vest. It looks just plain unfinished. It apparently has a racer back (mentioned in the description but now shown here), which I can't imagine would help matters.





I rather like this one; the concept is clever and fairly well done on the whole. It is a little on the boxy and shapeless side, but that could be corrected, along with the colour combination, which does not do this sweater any favours.





I do rather like this cover up and matching beach bag. It's knitted in cotton, which would be so absorbent and comfortable on a hot day.





Not a bad simple hooded pullover. Though I bet most boys or young men would choose different colours for it.





This is rather clownish and unfinished looking, although let me tell you, it looks better than I would ever have thought a horizontally striped drape front cardigan could look. The stripes have been kept relatively subtle by their narrowness and colourway. Must remember that trick.





This is another technique demonstration piece. This time the item is a way to learn some decorative weaving techniques; the decorative touches you see here are made by interlacing and twisting yarn through the surface of the garment after it's completed. I can't say I care for this design. The decorative touches are detracting, rather than adding, and the shape isn't great, although maybe this sample is just a little too big for this model. I think I'd like it better in another colourway — this one's a little crude.

A Case for Crochet

On May 8th, this little Franklin Habit essay, "Play Nice", in which he implored knitters and crocheters to give each other's crafts a chance, appeared on the Lion Brand site. It was widely shared on Facebook and generally and emphatically agreed with.





I agree with Habit. Although I don't take the schism between the Needles and the Hooks (which I've written about before) very seriously myself. As anyone who follows this blog, and especially this blog's Facebook page will know, I often take swipes at crochet, but I hope everyone realizes my potshots are tongue-in-cheek, a little harmless indulgence in geeky rivalry between camps (see also: Mac vs. PC; Star Wars vs. Star Trek; the Addams Family vs. the Munsters). That is, mostly.





I can crochet quite well, but don't much like to. I remember with gritted teeth the time my sister begged me to crochet her an afghan in a particular pattern she loved. She'd helpfully bought and insisted on loaning the pattern to me, and also supplied me with colour samples of the three colours she wanted me to choose among for the project: dusty rose, sage green, and eggplant purple. I finally gave in and made the afghan for her. Crocheting that damn afghan took me seven of the longest weeks of my life; it went in its own plastic bag and travelled with me everywhere I went. Finally it was done and I gave it to her for Christmas. And then about four months later my sister redecorated her room at my parents' place in reds and browns, which meant that the now discordant dusty rose afghan got put away out of sight for years. I wanted to throttle her.





But although I don't especially care to crochet, although I make fun of the many ugly granny square afghans and bikinis out there, I don't hesitate to pick up a crochet hook if there is a particular crochet pattern or hybrid knitting and crochet pattern I really want to make. And I'm astounded by those who love the one craft and simply won't even attempt the other. In one internet conversation I had on the subject, I was taken aback when one commenter said she'd actually thrown out a pattern she had paid for and very much wanted to make because it called for some crocheted edgings. I mean, what the hell?! It would take just a few minutes to learn to do that edging! Would she have thrown out a pattern because it called for some knitting technique she'd never previously done?





When you're doing creative and/or skilled work, it's never a good idea to arbitrarily decide you don't like or can't learn to do something without having given it a real try. Be bistitchual. Actually, be trystitchual: try anything once, twice if you like it, and after that, hey, who's counting? Knitting and crocheting both have their different limitations, and if you understand how to do both you'll always have one to turn to when the other craft isn't up to the job at hand. Knitting generally drapes better than crochet, which tends to be stiff, but that very stiffness can turn into an asset when you want to stabilize a knitted piece with a firm crocheted picot edging. Crocheting also lends itself to free form or purely decorative pieces such as flowers better than knitting does. Case in point: this post of mine about handmade yarn bouquets, the best examples of which were all crocheted. And as a bonus, if you have crochet hooks in the house they do a killer job of cleaning hair out of drains.





Although there may be a lot of ugly crocheted things out there, there are wonderful crochet designs too. On this blog's Facebook page, I frequently post crocheted items from my newsfeed because although I like to keep my blog focused on knitting most of the time, they are simply too stunning not to share with my readers. Irish crochet especially awes me. I intend to learn it at some point, as I have an idea for a lace-trimmed top I'd like to make.





I know many if not most readers of this blog do know how to both knit and crochet so I'm preaching to the choir, but for those hold outs who need to be convinced, I've said my piece and sprinkled it with some illustrations of just how wonderful crochet can be. I mean, if Gustav Klimt had been a crocheter, he would have crocheted the afghan above. And now let's all join forces and beat up on the scrapbookers, who richly deserve it!

I'm kidding. That is, mostly.

Amanda Seyfried Knits for Ellen

When Amanda Seyfried appears on Ellen, knitting is discussed, and knitted gifts are exchanged.

Mothers and Knitters and Common Threads

When I began casting about for a Mother's Day-themed topic for today, my Google searches returned a lot of links containing suggestions of projects knitters can make for their mothers. And all I could think was, other knitters knit for their mothers? Their mothers like having things knitted for them?

This has not been my experience. My mother knits very well, though since her late thirties she has not been one to knit often as it makes her hands ache to do very much of it. And knitters don't tend to knit for other knitters in general, because knitters can knit anything they like for themselves, and they'd rather. I don't think anyone has knitted anything for me since before I learned to knit myself. Not that I mind — anyone can see it would be coals to Newcastle. But I have knitted a number of items for my mother in the past, and try as I would to please her I almost never could. Something was always wrong with the things I made: she didn't like the fit, or the shape, or she didn't think the colour was quite right for her. One August in the late nineties, she thought I should enter some of my knitted items in the local fall fair knitting show and competition. I said I didn't have anything ready, but she helpfully produced the four or five sweaters I'd previously made for her from her dresser and chest of drawers, and brightly suggested I submit them. After all, they were still in pristine, just-finished condition because she'd never worn any of them.

I'm not the only knitting offspring of a knitting mother in this situation. A former co-worker of mine, Barbara, once told me a tale of the time she'd knitted her mother a sweater and mailed it across the country to her mother's home in B.C. as a surprise gift. A month or so later Barbara received a package in the mail from her mother. It was a sweater, not the sweater she had sent to her mother, but a different one... knitted from the same yarn. Barbara's mother had decided she she didn't like and would never wear the sweater her daughter had made for her, frugally ravelled out and re-knitted it in a different style, and then sent it back to Barbara for her to wear and enjoy. I have to say, of all the "Mother still knows better than her adult children" cross-checks I ever heard of, that has to be the nastiest. And when I told my mother that story, expecting her to feel the same way about Barbara's mother's destruction of her daughter's work as I did, Mum's response was a horrified, "She sent it back?!" My mother would have done exactly the same thing as Barbara's — she just wouldn't have told me about it.

Well, it hasn't been all bad. My mother taught me to knit when I was eight, and though the lesson was something of a battle royale (I desperately wanted to learn to knit, but did NOT like having all my stitches ripped out), next to reading and writing, knitting is probably the skill I've used the most and enjoyed the most in my life. Mum has worn a few of the things I've made her — there was a scarf and hat set that was quite a success. And she does genuinely respect my knitting skills and admire at least some of the items I make. Even though when I show her something I've made, the first thing out of her mouth is guaranteed to be some kind of criticism, she was incensed when my knitted entries didn't win any first place ribbons at the aforementioned fall fair, so much so that though it's now fifteen years later, it's still not a topic that can be safely mentioned to her. We talk about our projects, I loan her my knitting magazines, and we visit the wholesale yarn store in her town together. Our shared love of needlework and making things has been common ground and a bond between us much more often than it's been a cause for contention, and that's nothing to be taken for granted when the life I've led doesn't otherwise resemble hers.

I recommend this lovely Oregon Live article in which Mary Mooney reminisces about the day her mother taught her to knit back in 1981, when Mooney was ten. Mooney's mother died suddenly only two months later, and Mooney muses that because her mother was always making things, knitting has always been synonymous with her mother and with love, that knitting is a way to remember and to feel close to her mother, and also a reason to feel sure that she could connect with her mother if her mother was still alive, regardless of what kind of relationship they would have.

Many knitters got their first lessons in knitting from their mothers or grandmothers, and though each knitter's experience will differ, it's a memory very likely to be positive and to have created a bridge between the two. Here's hoping whatever form your Mother's Day takes, that today you too can enjoy thinking of how your knitting has connected you to whomever taught you, whomever you knit with, and whomever you knit for.