Knitting Dreams

A 2010 animated video, "Knitting Dreams", made by Andrea Markart and Julia Laggner, about all the hopes, dreams, and fantasies one works into one's knitting.

Shaker Stitches

The Shakers, an American religious community first established in 1774 that peaked in the 1840s with a membership of 6,000, began to decline with the rise of mass manufacturing in the late nineteenth century, and is more or less reduced to surviving artifacts, buildings, music, and crafts now, have always fascinated me. The irony is that the Shakers are now remembered mostly for the material goods they produced and that they considered of little importance rather than for the religious beliefs that were their motivating force, but though the spare beauty and sheer level of craftsmanship of the furnishings and other items that they produced has enormous appeal to me, I do find a lot of merit in some of their principles. (No, not the whole celibacy thing.) I find much food for thought and inspiration in the Shaker work ethic and embrace of simplicity. I think often of their founder Ann Lee's maxim on time management:

Do all your work as though you had a thousand years to live; and as you would if you knew you must die tomorrow.

I also like this rule of thumb for Shaker creations:

If it is not useful or necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to make it. If it is useful and necessary, free yourself from imagining that you need to enhance it by adding what is not an integral part of its usefulness or necessity. And finally, if it is both useful and necessary and you can recognize and eliminate what is not essential, then go ahead and make it as beautifully as you can.

Or, more simply:

Don't make something unless it is both made necessary and useful; but if it is both necessary and useful, don't hesitate to make it beautiful.

And then there are these dictums, which I think work wonderfully as basic design principles:

Simplicity is the embodiment of purity and unity.

Beauty rests on utility.

That which has in itself the highest use, possesses the greatest beauty.

That is best which works best.

However, as interested as I long have been in all things Shaker and though I have tried to apply some of their principles above to my crafting processes, it did not occur to me that the Shakers were also knitters themselves until a few days ago when I came across the photo above, which is a 1949 photograph of a Shaker sister knitting, and was taken at Canterbury, New Hampshire, by Nina Leen.

This photo is of Eldress Fannie Estabrook knitting at Hancock Shaker village, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and was taken sometime in the 1930s.

Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art by Susan M. Strawn has some information on Shaker knitting (and I've drawn on it to write this post). For of course Shaker women were prolific knitters as most mainstream American women were in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century — they had to be. Homely but very necessary items like stockings and mittens couldn't be machine made at that time. Shaker sisters knitted many stockings, socks, gloves, mittens, fingerless mitts, wristlets, shawls, washcloths, chair cushions and rugs, both for use by the community and for sale, and as with all the goods the Shakers produced, Shaker knits were much admired for the excellence of their workmanship and design.

This is a picture of a Shaker-made rug, made by knitting tubes which were then sewn together in a spiral. One thing to keep in mind when looking at this or any other examples of Shaker knitting is that Shaker sisters knitted with "knitting pins", which were even smaller than than contemporary U.S. size 00 knitting needles. They were essentially long hairpins with knobs at one end. I look at that rug, lovely as it is, and I think about my experiences of knitting with the smallest knitting needles I've ever used (i.e., probably U.S. size 2/2.75 mm), and I think, umm, no, not even if I did have a thousand years to live. Mind you, had I been a Shaker back in the day, my poor knitting form probably would have gotten me reassigned to kitchen duty anyway.

The Shakers were never one to work in an unnecessarily inefficient or labour-intensive way. They were always very progressive and innovative when it came to adopting new technologies and even patented a number of their own inventions. Though in the early days the Shakers carded and spun their own wool, as milled fibres became available they were quick to begin to use them, and they began to use knitting machines, though due to the limitations of the machinery, and in order to maintain the quality of their work, they would still hand finish the garments by hand-knitting ribbed cuffs and edgings to otherwise machine-made items. They were also very willing to produce goods to suit the tastes of mainstream society. In the early twentieth century the Canterbury village Shakers installed knitting machines into some of their former laundry rooms and produced bicycle stockings and varsity sweaters for sale.

I suppose one of the Shaker's lasting contributions to knitting is the Shaker knitting basket. The basket above, from Shaker Workshops, is based on the Shaker knitting baskets used in the nineteenth century.






There is also a knitting stitch called the Shaker stitch, or Shaker Rib stitch, though I don't know that the Shakers invented it. (It is also known as the half fisherman stitch.) It's just as likely that they simply used the stitch so much in their knitted goods that it became associated with them. The Shaker stitch has a ribbed effect of vertical lines and is very stretchy and flexible, which makes it especially useful for ribbed cuffs and waistbands. Machine-made Shaker sweaters were very popular in the 1980s. I remember that at 14 I had one in aqua, and little guessed why it was referred to by the term it was. The video above demonstrates how to knit the Shaker stitch.

You Bet Your Buttons You Can Make Buttons

If you've ever had trouble finding just the right buttons to finish off your knitting projects, you might consider making your own buttons. There are several basic methods for making your own buttons and you can embellish the basic button in any way you like and create the perfect button to finish off your item in less time than it might take to scour all the button stores where you live and then the internet button resources.

One button-making method involves making buttons from polymer clay. This tutorial explains how to make the buttons above.

Polymer clay buttons can be painted in any style you like. This tutorial explains how to make these buttons.

I don't have a tutorial for these hand-painted buttons as the original post seems to be down, but I'm including them for inspiration.

A second method for making buttons involves using shrink plastic. The blogger who made these buttons has posted a tutorial on how to make them.

Method number three involves cutting wooden buttons from a tree branch. The resulting wooden buttons can be painted.

A fourth button-making method is to make fabric-covered buttons with a kit that should be available at any fabric store and the fabric of your choice. Alternatively, you can make a little knitted or crocheted circle and use that as the fabric with which to cover your button.

Fabric buttons can also be embroidered.

Fabric buttons can also be beaded, either lightly or to the point of being completely covered in tiny beads. You can find a tutorial on how to make beaded buttons here.

Lastly, one can crochet buttons, though I find this the least attractive method of any I have listed as the buttons tend to look crude. But if you're interested in this method, Crochet Today has a thorough post on all the possible crochet button methods with links to tutorials. The most successful crocheted buttons I have seen were crocheted with thread with a very small size hook.

And thinking back to the time I had this past spring finding just the right teddy bear buttons for my grandniece's teddy bear dress, I totally wish I'd thought of researching and writing this post a long time ago.

Knitting at Breakfast

Aneeta Patel of knittingsos.co.uk joins Lauren O'Farrell of whodunnknit.com to talk knitting on BBC Breakfast on February 11, 2012. My favourite part of the program has to be when they go out on the street with a camera and ask passersby if they can knit, accompanied by Bill Oddie's knitting song.

Toys That Go Bump in the Night

Halloween is approaching, and I'm planning on doing several Halloween-related posts over the next eight days, beginning with this one, in which I offer a selection of thirteen Halloween toys.

The toy above is the Topsy Turvy Werewolf, designed by Annie Watts. As the title suggests and the picture illustrates, the toy can be turned inside out to become either a man or a werewolf. The pattern is available as a $6.00(USD) download.

This is the Halloween Devil Doll, designed by Tatyana Korobkova, and isn't it the cutest little devil you ever saw? The pattern is available as a $5(USD) download.

These are the Voodoo You Love Me dolls, designed by Susan Claudino. The pattern is available as a $5(USD) download.

Here's a Halloween Ghost Girl pattern, designed by Eteri Khodonashvili. The pattern is available as a $3.50(USD) download.

I've never really gotten the love some people have for vampires or zombies, but there is one fantasy archetype that has already fascinated me, and that's the witch. It took considerable self-restraint for me to only include four witch doll patterns in this post because I found so many cute ones on Ravelry. This is the first of the four, and it was designed by Tatyana Korobkova. The pattern is available as a $9(USD) download, and the black cat pattern and pumpkin patterns are included.

Who says witches have to be unattractive? This adorable little doll is the Halloween Witch with Magic Broom, designed by Loly Fuertes. The pattern is available as a $4.50(USD) download.

Love this medieval witch. Witchypoo was designed by Ravelry user Phoeny, and the pattern is available as a $4.50(USD) download.

This is The Wicked Pudge of the West, designed by Megan Schmidt, and the pattern is available as a $6.50(CAD) download.

Tombie the Zombie, designed by Phoeny, comes apart. The pattern is available as a $4.50(USD) download.

Don't let the From the Brain Slug Planet, designed by Steph Michaud, too close to your brain. This is a free pattern.

For the Monty Python Holy Grail fans out there (and don't we all qualify?) here's the Run Away! aka the Killer Rabbit pattern, designed by Ravelry user Knitting Magic Girl. It's a free pattern.

The Felted Woolly Owl design, by Marie Mayhew, is available as a $10.95(USD) download.

Love this chubby little gargoyle. The My Little Gargoyle pattern, designed by Phoeny, is available as a $4(USD) download.

Knit Face

Knit Face, a short animation by Janet Merewether's Go Girl Productions, which "toys with the idea of the 'portrait' in a pluralist society" and in which a collection of knitted and crocheted toys strike a pose and give good face.

Vogue Knitting Holiday 2013: A Review

Vogue Knitting has released the preview for their Holiday 2013 issue. Let's have a look at it.

I believe this top was made using the same yarn throughout, and the solid and sheer effects were created by knitting the bodice with two strands of yarn and the sleeves and shoulders with only one. I do quite like this concept but am not sure I care for this particular execution of it. I like the sheer part, but the bodice has a too-heavy, clumsily shaped look.

The heavy and lacy vertical bands on this one are not attractive on their own nor are they flattering on a wearer.

Very elaborate construction on this one, and it works. It's flattering and eye-catching and would be an interesting and challenging project to make.

I'm a little torn on this one. I like the lace but the bands of plain stockinette seem too heavy in contrast. I'd be inclined to take that chest band out of it and just have the lace sweater trimmed in stockinette at the wasitband, cuffs and neck. Yes, you'll be able to see the brassiere below but you would be able to see straps and a lot of midriff skin as it is, so an underlying camisole would be advisable anyway. And it looks like this model has one on.

This one is... just not attractive. At all. I think it might look better if it were done in a solid neutral colour like black or gray. The colour combo plus the gimmicky design is too over the top. Right now it's looking like part of an old afghan was stitched to a stockinette tube hat, and not in a good way.





I displayed all these shawls together because I've got just one comment to make about them: that they're exquisite.





Love the dress (so smart and flattering!), like the socks... but I can't imagine any woman wearing them both at the same time in real life without looking ridiculous. If you want to make them both, considering wearing the socks on the slopes and the dress as après-ski wear, or some such.

Really like this little jacket. It's just so chic. I do wish I could see the bottom — I have my suspicions it's a cropped length, which isn't a flattering length for many women, but if it is that's easily remedied.

I really like this smart, graphic, wearable little pullover too.

Can't say this skirt appeals to me much, but it might be a victim of the styling here. The top garments don't go with the skirt at all, but then what would one wear with this skirt? I can only imagine a plain turtleneck in one of the blues would work. And I wish we could see the top of the skirt. The centre panel leads our eyes upward but the overblouse stops us short. This is a concept that might work better in a dress.

This one looks more than a little rough and unfinished to me, but I think it might be the colour combination that isn't working here. This design calls for a colourway that's a little higher contrast. I'm imagining the navy replaced with, say, a white, and it works better.

I like this one. It should work in a number of colourways and look right at the office or at the mall or around home or just about anywhere a woman is likely to go during the course of a winter's day.

This sweater is also rather unfortunately styled. I don't see the point of putting a busy blouse under a busy jacket. I like the jacket on the whole, but I do have my concerns about the way the front is rolling underneath itself and the way the jacket doesn't meet in the front. I'd make it meet in the front and probably also add a fastening, such as zipper.

This one looks luxuriously cozy, but I would tweak it a little. I'd fix the dropped shoulders and neaten up the fit a little because it's big, and maybe put a few rows of garter stitch or a crocheted edging on the bottom and the cuffs because they look a little unfinished as is.

This sweater reminds me of the neuro knitting post I wrote three months ago. It'm not terribly impressed with the look in this case, but I suppose it will do. Although the designer went to all the trouble of knitting the front panels from side to side and all I can think is that it would look better if those front bands were vertical.

This is another big, cozy, beautiful sweater. It's not going to be easy to scale this one down as it's elaborately designed so if you make this one make sure you're going to be happy with a big, heavy-looking sweater.

Really interesting afghan stitch. Though I'd want to knit it something other than this oatmeal shade.

I rather like this one. It's amazing how good the silhouette is from the back. Though it should not have been styled over a bow-tie blouse.

Here's another big, beautiful sweater with a removable cowl. This one has batwing sleeves, so make sure you or the intended wearer of this sweater likes her sweaters big and roomy.

Not sure about the proportions of the sleeves on this sweater — I'm not a fan of three-quarter sleeves at the best of times, but these especially look really off to me. I think maybe the sweater is too boxy for them. If you like this sweater (and I do think it's cute except for the sleeve issue), I'd make the sleeves wrist length.

Another big, cozy, beautiful sweater, but this time it isn't big enough to fit over a house but is just a little oversized. This is a Good Thing.