By Tara, on March 30th, 2010%
Last April, I had the glimmer of a good idea:
I would make yarn, and photograph the process, every single day of the month.
Within just a few days, it turned into a fun (but challenging) group experience on Ravelry.
I wrote about the first Yarn Every Day Month here and this is my favorite bit:
I long to pay attention to the daily. A grumpy day will pass and it’s not until I’m falling asleep that I realize I haven’t touched any fiber all day (this is rare, but when it happens, I feel it in my bones). Many beautiful days pass without me capturing even a moment, with a picture or a small . . . → Read More: Yarn Every Day Month (2nd annual!)
By Tara, on March 10th, 2010%
I’m honoring National Craft Month by posting something crafty that catches my eye every weekday. Share your favorite crafty finds in the comments!
I love Crochet By Faye‘s idea for celebrating National Craft Month – adopt a designer!
You can read all the details in her post. The general idea is to pick a designer every day for the rest of the month and do something to help them succeed: blog about them, recommend them, buy a pattern!
I love this idea and will be incorporating here my already-planned National Craft Month blogging. I’m also going to spend the month looking for more designers to feature in my bricks+mortar shop, A Novel Yarn.
If you know of a designer (especially one that works with handspun or handdyed yarn), let me know in the comments!
By Tara, on March 4th, 2010%
The uber-smart Cosy has the answer to the eternal question: When IS the hat DONE?
It’s in her 2nd post in a super helpful series on knitting hats.
approximate hat heights
0-6 mo. – 5 in. (12.7 cm) 6-18 mo. – 6.25 in. (15.9 cm) 18 mo.-4 yr. – 7.25 in. (18.4 cm) 4 yr.-adult s – 8.25 in. (21 cm) adult m-l – 9 in. (22.9 cm)
Read her whole post here.
By Tara, on March 1st, 2010%
I’m super honored to be interviewed by the fabulous Diane of CraftyPod about teaching crafts (and specifically, knitting). We had a great conversation about the experience of teaching and how to get started teaching.
If you’ve wanted to start teaching your craft, listen to the conversation here.
Diane mentions that my Learn to Knit kit taught her to knit (squee!), you can find the kits here. Even if you know how to knit, these kits are a great way to teach a family member and avoid frustration that comes from not knowing how to describe when-the-loop-does-this-you-do-this.
Have you taught your craft? Anything you’d add to our conversation?
By Tara, on February 25th, 2010%
Today, I want to celebrate the awesome-ness of knitters.
The following knitters each made a fantastic hat-ness from a single skein of handspun.
Hat + Scarf by the darling Marian Firke
Drew’s Hat by AtomKitty
Game Hat by the wonderfully silly Kim Werker.
By Tara, on January 20th, 2010%
Remember how last week I got a bit crochet-obsessed?
Yeah, that didn’t fade away.
I’m crocheting a bunch of these hexagons to make a blanket for my bedroom (lots and lots and lots of green scrap yarn).
I start with cute little circles, crochet as many of those as I feel like and then I move onto,
adding the second round. I usually do one round of that and jump right to the last round:
And at this point, I stop and move onto the next hex. Because though it’s not a full hexagon left, I want to join them together as I add the last brown, hex-making round.
Every circle is going to be hex-ed with the same brown yarn (I think it’s an alpaca/wool blend, but a big bag was given to me un-labeled, so I’m just guessing.
Since I want to . . . → Read More: Hex-Love
By Tara, on January 14th, 2010%
Colors, like people, play off each other. Highlighting, complimenting, contrasting. Suggest a couple and color and win 50% off, during this celebration of color + love. . . . → Read More: 3rd Annual Month of Love Contest
By Tara, on January 13th, 2010%
It’s been a while since I’ve talked about yarn (the New Year brought new projects), but it is still my first love.
Sometimes I forget and wander into the land of launching a yarn store in 12 days or teaching other yarnies…but all it takes is one great pattern to pull me right back to my first love!
This granny square is what drew my fervent adoration this week. Or maybe it was this entire rainbow-colored blog.
Or maybe it was Mercedes of Kitchen Sink Dyeworks (she’s kitchensinkdye on Twitter), who is crocheting the most amazing granny squares from her handpainted yarn.
(yarn dyed, squares crocheted and photograph taken by Mercedes)
But once I fell into this granny square vortex, I started scarfing up granny square information.
How to Granny from Meet Me at Mike’s How to Granny from Purl Bee
And then . . . → Read More: Cro-Crazy
By Tara, on December 7th, 2009%
I’ll confess, I am not a pattern-follower. And thus, I very rarely buy patterns.
But occaisionally there are patterns so suited to a specific person, so unique, unlike anything I could design on my own and so beautifully photographed that I know purchasing the pattern is the only way to make the great item.
The following patterns meet those standards and would be just the thing to shock your not-knitting gift recipients. (all of these links are to the Ravelry page, if you’re not on Ravelry, sign up, already! It’s free and fabulous!)
French Press Felted Slippers – I NEED these! Need!
Yarn Harlot’s Pretty Thing – such a pretty lacey cowl.
Smith – Squee! A tiny stuffed hedgehog. Adorableness!
Felted Clogs – Everyone in the world wants warm feet in winter. These clogs are the squooshiest!
What’s your favorite pattern to knit into gifts?
By Tara, on November 19th, 2009%
New knitter? Know one? Check out the (free) 7 Tips for New Knitters! . . . → Read More: 7 Tips for New Knitters
|
|
|
