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by Knit Picks Staff on May 19, 2010
When you were a kid, you know how your imagination was able to turn your hand into a T-rex? Or a fierce lion? Or... anything? Or how your dad's old sock could transform magically into a sea monster, just by putting it on your hand? Well, I sure do! Bring that magic to the young'uns in your life with the Critter Mitts kit! |
Category Archives: Knit Picks Designers
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 18, 2010
When Kerin and I were faced with the challenge of designing fun, playful kits for a kid-and cotton-themed catalogue, we decided to imagine ourselves as kids again and figure out what kinds of things we would have wanted knit for us. It wasn't much of a challenge, really. Sweaters??? Bo-ring! Scarves? Suh-NORE!!! The kids in us wanted something that would be really, truly FUN to play with, especially in the warming days of springtime: |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 13, 2010
This has been a rough few weeks, trying to hide this giant sweater from hubby! But after putting the sleeves on holders and deciding to steek the chest, it went much faster. |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 13, 2010
I wasn't exaggerating when I said that in the last year, I have been bit by the dyeing bug HARD! Today I want to share two more of my food-dyed yarn experiments with you, and discuss how different put-ups of yarn can make the colors appear different. |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 12, 2010
When I finished dyeing up my Rainbow sock yarn that I last blogged about, I was really really excited to start knitting with it RIGHT AWAY! But you know how it goes with socks..I had to get one of my billion sock projects finsished before I could think about casting on another one. So while I waited for a free set of needles, I wound up the hank, to better admire the color combinations: |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 11, 2010
There's one kind of food-grade dye that I really like to use, but it can be a little hard to find. Usuallly it's only available in stores in the spring. Easter Egg Dyes! |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 7, 2010
Well, I've made a little progress on my hubby's sweater. Not nearly enough, though! I spent all my knitting time this week charting out the shaping and design of the top, and almost none of it knitting. So it's not as far as I'd like it to be! |
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by Knit Picks Staff on May 6, 2010
Two of my favorite kit designs I ever did just got released: |
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by Knit Picks Staff on April 28, 2010
Here's the newest installment of our "History of Knitting" Kits: The Soleado Bag! This is a shoulder bag worked out of Cotlin using motifs and construction methods inspired by the diverse fiber arts traditions of Central and South America. This was a really fun project to design--I always love working on our "History" projects because I learn so much from them! The three major areas of fiber arts I drew on in designing this piece were spinning, knitting and weaving. Much anthropological information has been gathered from spindle artifacts collected in Central America, and the central medallion of the bag was inspired by the motifs found on ancient spindle whorls (that's the disc-shaped part of the spindle.) The stranded colorwork motifs were inspired by Peruvian knitting (which Kerin also interpreted last year in her amazing Chullo Hat pattern), and the borders of bi-color linen stitch between the motifs was inspired by the rich weaving tradition of South America, which are predates knitting in these region by several centuries at least. The kit includes yarn and pattern to make the bag, and a brief written history of the traditions that inspired the pattern. |
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by Knit Picks Staff on April 28, 2010
While I can't say that I'm in the camp of non-obsessive sock knitting, I know it's not for everybody! But, with such wonderful colors, Stroll Tonal is pretty universally appealing whether you like socks or not. So, if not socks, what do you do with it? Well, I've got a few ideas!First, I have to say that our IDP designers have done a bang-up job of showcasing our yarns to their best advantage. And there are a lot of patterns that would look awesome in Stroll Tonals! Here are a few:Beverly Cardigan by Snowden Becker I can imagine this in the "Gypsy" colorway of Stroll Tonal with Black Stroll as the accent. Very elegant! |
