Tag: worsted

Knitting

Melt the ICE: Knit for Justice

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red, handknitted beanie with straight sides, pointed top and a braided tassle

With a nod to Minnesota’s Norwegian heritage and honoring that country’s historic resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II, needle & skein, in St. Louis Park, is promoting a Melt the ICE Hat. Designed with versatility in mind, the beanie can be knit using fingering, DK, or worsted weight yarn. A crochet pattern is also available. A quick check of Ravelry projects reveals that since the pattern was released on January 16 thousands of fiber artists have already cast on this unique design.

The yarn store website describes the reason behind the flat, pointy, tasseled design this way: “In the 1940’s, Norwegians made and wore red pointed hats with a tassel as a form of visual protest against Nazi occupation of their country. Within two years, the Nazis made these protest hats illegal and punishable by law to wear, make, or distribute.”

For those a little less familiar with Minnesota geography, St. Louis Park is a close-in Twin Cities suburb just west of Minneapolis. Some of the news footage you have seen recently may be from those very streets. The yarn store has promised that “the proceeds from the sale of the pattern will go to the LynLake community of businesses who will distribute the funds to those impacted by the actions of ICE.”

Using a stashed skein of Kelbourne Woolens Germantown in a Persian Red, I finished the first of five (or maybe more) Melt the ICE Hats. As friends seek something rational to grasp onto after a nightmare week that revealed the best of Minnesotans who rallied in peaceful protest by the tens of thousands in sub-zero temperatures and the worst of America with the executions of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, I will use my knitting needles to proclaim:

Do justice. 
Love kindness. 
Abolish ICE.
Knitting

Swiss Miss Knits

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hand knit cowl with white background and blue and teal dashes of color displayed on a wooden hanger

This year’s virtual Traveler’s Club: A Knitter’s Journey has moved from Switzerland to Germany. But before leaving the alpine meadows and glacial lakes of my grandparents, I finished two of the three Swiss inspired patterns. (The February knit-along project, Kleine Sweater, is still on my needles.)

Marie Greene developed these new designs after spending time in the Bernese Oberland region of the Swiss Alps.

  • The Interlacken Headband features a clever mosaic technique that creates a textured fabric in two colors without actually carrying multiple strands. The 17-stitch width in worsted weight wool knit up quickly and will surely keep ears warm on nippy mornings.
  • Like its namesake, the Lake Stroll Cowl, was inspired by walks along the shores of Lakes Brienz and Thun while Marie visited Interlaken and features slipped stitches interspersed with garter stitch pops of color.

Happy Knitting! Or, more appropriately, Viel Spaß beim Stricken!

Knitting · Travel

Swiss Holiday Mail and Fiber Arts Inspiration

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handpainted holiday images on card and envelope with Swiss postage stamps

Mail arrived from Switzerland just as Knit Camp’s virtual Traveler’s Club begins its three-month (January – March) exploration of Swiss fiber arts. The beautiful, handcrafted card offered family news, as well as memories from the summer of 2023 and time spent with Kuster cousins. This holiday greeting will serve as inspiration when I stash dive for yarn to knit this month’s themed pattern, the Interlaken Headband which features interlocking two-color mosaic stitches, just like the lakes for which the design is named.

Plus, the hand painted Christmas imagery also qualifies for this month’s geometric squares with BeckyB!

Happy Knitting! Or, more appropriately, Viel Spaß beim Stricken!

Knitting

Autumnal Knitting

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a selection of six hand knit beanies in various colors on a wood floor

Unlike Shel Silverstein’s Mr. Smeds who had twenty-one hats, and none of them were the same, I knit only eight beanies for this year’s Halloween hat drive sponsored by Hawthorne Helps.  Momma joined the giving with a donation of two knit scarves.  At nearly 101, she may be their oldest donor and HH will feature her picture on their October 29th distribution poster.

Hawthorne Helps is a community partnership between Rochester Public Schools Hawthorne Education Center and the First Unitarian Universalist Church.  The program also receives support from local faith, service, and business groups.  Twice a month, HH volunteers distribute essential items that are not eligible purchases using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, such as deodorant, dish soap, or toothpaste.  Each fall, the selection of items available to the adult learners includes wintery weather gear – hats, mittens, and scarves – which are especially useful for new immigrants arriving from warmer climates.

Knitting

Red Gems

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small handknit red blanket on a blue tweed chair

Just in time for Valentine’s Day!  Although these diamonds are not of the shimmery carbon variety but a well-planned placement of textured knit and purl stitches that create the illusion of repeating geometric shapes.  The designer offered three graduated sizes: baby blanket, lapghan, and full-sized afghan.  My version of the Little Gem Blanket is baby-sized, 32-inches square; just right to provide a bit of warmth on a sedentary evening of streaming videos. 

What we designate as our TV room can be chilly on a frigid winter evening depending on wind direction.  This room has only had cosmetic improvements – new windows and the refinishing of the original maple flooring.  We have no idea as to the energy efficiency of the insulation.  Slumped vermiculite? Or, it may even be the stitched newspaper–tarpaper variety we discovered when we remodeled the 1940s bump-out bathroom addition.  Hence the need for wool warmth.

This small blanket project also channeled the best ideals of stash management.  The 650-yards of superwash wool were remnant skeins remaining after the completion of the 2022 Vivi workshop sweater. That pattern was designed in the style of boxy Danish “night” sweaters which, coincidently, displayed an elegant collection of cabled diamonds.

Knitting · Reading

2022 Highlighted in Knitting & Books

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Taking an inventory of the old year is by no means a unique task.  It is, however, not something I have done previously in this blog.  So here are a few highlights of my 22 knitting projects (some of which you will have already seen) and my titles read – 82 – although to be honest, I indulged in a number of quick read YA fantasies and enjoyed a variety of easy-listening titles while driving to-and-from Eau Claire and hours spent gardening last summer in order to reach this quantity.

handknit blue silk scarf with beaded zigzag edge
Hitchhiker Shawl
gray knit afgan on blue leather chair
Gansey Afghan
January – March
handknit shawl using rustic silk in muted creams and lavenders
Buds & Bumbles Shawl
blue green sweater with cable stitched yoke
Little Gansey Sweater
April – June
handknit cardigan in light sage with navy blue accents
Coastal Grandma Sweater
bronze medallion marking Boston Freedom Trail set in sidewalk with the tips of two black leather shoes on bottom edge
Massachusetts Pilgrimage
handknit teal shawl with cables and red porcelain bowl holding yarn in upper left corner
Mallory Shawl
July – September
handknit blue shawl with contracting cream colored bands and lace edge
Apple Cart Shawl
hand knit cable scarf and beanie in magenta tweed yarn
Whitethorn Beanie & Scarf
October – December
Knitting

Solstice Mittens

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blue-brown knit mittens
Slightly wonky but very warm fulled mittens

With winter storm warnings blinking on my computer tool bar and anticipated temperatures hovering below zero all day, it seemed the perfect time to wear my first ever fulled wool mittens. 

The timeline from knitting to fulling to wearing spans nearly a decade.  These mittens were knit between February – March 2013 during a course at a local fabric store no longer in business.  But the class only provided the pattern and a knitting circle on two evenings.  I took my new project home and worried about how to actually create the thick mittens without ruining my work.  I finally deduced that whether I ruined the mittens during the hot water agitated washing or if they simply continued to sit at the bottom of a wicker yarn basket, they were equally unwearable.  A Covid Finishing Fest hosted by Northfield Yarns in May 2020 gave me the impetus to watch several how-to videos and violà mittens!  Not needed with springtime temps, I tucked them away to be forgotten, thought lost, then found, and worn today for the first time.   

Happy winter solstice!

Note:  The distinction between fulling and felting is one of timing.  In the textile world, felting is a done with fibers, not with woven cloth while fulling describes the act of wet finishing the woven cloth or knitted item with water, temperature and agitation.

Knitting

Before the next sweater…

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hand knit cable beanie in magenta tweed yarn
hand knit cable scarf in magenta tweed yarn with close up of twisted cables
hand knit cable scarf and beanie in magenta tweed yarn

Since my knitted contributions to this year’s church auction (the Mallory Shawl and the French Oak Scarf) were successful in raising funds and as Brezel, Marie Greene’s new design for her 2023 January Sweater Workshop, is waiting in the wings, I just completed several smaller projects.  Using worsted weight tweed yarn in vibrant magenta, the matching beanie and scarf combo with reversible cables was a quick project.  Plus, this set gives me a head start on next year’s auction donations.

And for a sneak peak at Brezel details — With a release date of December 30 for Knit Campers like me, Bretzel incorporates Bavarian twisted stitches and German short rows to create an overall design resembling a platter of carefully crafted pretzels.  And, yes, the name of the sweater is the German translation of this symmetrically twisted, salty snack.  In the weeks ahead, in addition to the knitting lessons shared during this sweater workshop, there is a promise of pretzel baking lessons.  Yumm!

Knitting

Sailaway Starts Today

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blue and green graphic logo for Olive Knits Sailaway knit along

The color combos and at-gauge swatches knit in beautiful yarns as shared by my fellow Knit Campers proved too tempting.  With today’s cast-on (after wavering earlier this month) I joined Marie Greene’s sixth annual 4-Day knit-along (KAL).  Free patterns (always well designed and precisely written) and advance access prior to the actual pattern drop are among the many Knit Camp membership benefits.  So while this KAL officially begins tomorrow, I already have Comfy worsted cotton in a lovely mix of silver sage and planetarium blue on my needles.  

Sailaway is a top-down cardigan which takes its inspiration from the current popular Coastal Grandmother Aesthetic fashion style – classic, loose fitting designs, often in natural fibers, and perfect for a summer in the Hamptons.  (Imagine Diane Keaton or other older women living in luxurious oceanfront properties.)  Having just celebrated 70, with a swatch of purple contrasting against my more salty coiffure, I definitely fall into that demographic group sans the beach house.

Happy Knitting!

Graphic:  © Marie Greene