Knit Like A Man

This photo is from Life Magazine (obviously), but unfortunately I have no context for it.  It's an amazing image nonetheless.

My Googlefu is weak tonight, but a search for background info led me to this interesting history of knitting during WW2.

Um...Patterns I Love???

Yeah.  Totally not making this one.   :O

Hey, You! Yes! YOU!!

Have you finished your Giftmas knitting yet?

Knitting for Victory

As an historian, I've often thought that World War I has to a certain extent faded from public consciousness, obviously due to the horrors of the war that followed and the length of time that has passed since the battles at the Somme, Ypres, the Marne, and the tragedy of the Lost Generation.

Modern warfare is often at a distance.  With the use of advanced technology, a soldier can sit at a work station, do their job from 9 to 5, and be home in time for dinner.  And unlike past conflicts, the general population is usually not part of the war effort.

With the United States' entry into World War I in 1917, aid agencies such as the Red Cross appealed for help to clothe the men at the front, and the country's knitters leapt into action.  Terrible conditions in the trenches created a huge need for woolen socks, both for warmth and to prevent the dreaded trenchfoot.

As soldiers mobilized, even schoolboys began to knit for the troops, and almost everyone did their bit to support the war effort.  Radio was in its infancy, and methods of mass communication differed greatly from those available today.  Popular songs rallied the country behind the troops and conveyed propaganda to the public.

    "In May 1918 the Seattle School Bulletin printed this patriotic knitting song:

Johnnie, get your yarn, get your yarn, get your yarn;
Knitting has a charm, has a charm, has a charm,
See us knitting two by two,
Boys in Seattle like it too.
Hurry every day, don’t delay, make it pay.
Our laddies must be warm, not forlorn mid the storm.
Hear them call from o’re the sea,
‘Make a sweater, please for me.’
Over here everywhere,
We are knitting for the boys over there,
It’s a sock or a sweater, or even better
To do your bit and knit a square."

Patterns, yarn and needles were distributed to those on the Home Front and the entire country prepared to do their bit.

Thanks to the internet, knitters (and history geeks!) can knit up these historic patterns today (scroll down for knitting patterns).

 For more detailed information on war relief knitting during World War I, check out this excellent article from HistoryLink.org.

If Only This Were Edward...

Scrap Yarn

ZOMGS BUTTONS!!!

Did I post this already?  I can't remember if I posted this already, but it is so cute!  Meli Melo has so many neat things on her blog...Check it out here.

This is a little bit more sewing and weaving in ends than I would usually do, but it is so much prettier than your average mug cozy... Instructables has tons of crafty crap beyond patterns for knitting and crochet, it's definitely worth adding to your favorites list.


                                 

Patterns I Love

It's starting to get colder, so I am embarking on my yearly search for the perfect slouchy hat pattern...Look at this!

So cute!  So cute!!

This one is close to perfect!  Free Rav download too, you can't go wrong with that.  :D

Aw...

Patterns I Love

Just a beautifully simple cardigan.

I haven't ventured into sweater-making territory yet, but this cardie is seriously tempting!

Whatcha Doin'?

All my Yarny Stuffs have been on hiatus recently, or progessing only very slowly, since exams are looming.  Apparently all my professors have decided to make my project due dates all within a day or so of each other, in complete disregard for my hobbies, social life, or need for food and sleep...  :/

But I have been working on one item in particular for a while...I'd been spinning some beautiful muted green and purple merino at one of Batty Knits' craft nights, and a friend ooh'ed and aah'ed over it so much that I had to promise to knit it up for her:

The photo really doesn't do the colorway justice--it's coming out in a gorgeous muted stripe.  The pattern is #4 Eyelet Wrap from the Vogue Accessorize book, one I have used several times for scarves and shawls/stoles.

Eventually exams will be over, and I have a serious yen to use some of the Polwarth I spun a little while back on this.  I love the colorway she used here...

But I am still on a Yarn Diet and have a billion skeins of handspun to knit up before I am allowed to buy any more!

This Is Not A Jayne Hat

So after 10 years, Fox decided to pay some attention to the Firefly series, and by attention, I mean being a meanypants to the fans.  Yeah, I understand the whole copyright issue, but claiming copyright a decade after the fact, on an item the wardrobe department picked up in a thrift store?  Hmmm.

But of course, the knitting community and the Browncoats showed yet again how awesome and creative they are with their response to Fox's shenanigans...Would you like a Cunning Hat?  Or a parable about a Nasty Mean Canid?

Some people had Things To Say about the situation...

Can't stop the signal.

YARN!

Dancing Leaf Farm on Etsy has some really incredible colors...Seriously, look.  LOOK.  :D




She dyes both yarn and roving, though when I last checked, there seemed to be a bit more roving than yarn...This is not A Bad Thing, but you non-spinners out there had better get to shopping quick!  Though most of her fiber seems to be merino or plain Australian wool, her colors are just amazing.

Sock Heel Project

This is an awesome project from Ravelry by Taina.  It's mostly in Finnish, since she's from Finland and all, but it might be a really cool thing to try out yourself, or run it through Google Translate and keep it as a reference.

The linky is here.

Scrap Yarn

If you're anything like me, you have 5,641 balls of scrap yarn cluttering up your yarn room.  I am loathe to just pitch yarn because...well, it's YARN!  So I started scrounging around to see what ideas I might be able to find on constructive ways to use up that last little bit of sock yarn, or the worsted left over from the pillow I made for Mum, or whatever...Just how many scrapghans can you make, really?  ;)


Even good ol' Red Heart has some cute ideas:

If you have a bit more than just a hundred yards or so, or maybe if you have some handspun that's gathering dust, check out this bag on the Kathryn Ivy blog...I love it!!

Indigo Muse Knits has a pattern for fortune cookies!

And I could NOT resist this Rav pattern by Saartje Knits:

For the ecologically minded, you can save up all the tiny bits and pieces cut off after you finish weaving in the ends, and put them out for the birds building their nests this spring:

Patterns I Love

Sheer genius.

Procreating ungulants, indeed!  :D

The Fiber Factor Contest

So Skacel Yarns is having the coolest contest EVAR.

All entrants receive the yarn, needles and supplies for each project free from Skacel, just for starters.  The winner of each round gets a $500 prize, and the Grand Prize is an all expenses paid trip to Germany to check out the Addi needle factory and prance around a yarn mill.  GERMAN YARN!  IN GERMANY!  :D

Guest judges include folks like Franklin Habit, Cat Bordhi, Lily Chin, Lucy Neatby, Ysolda Teague, Cookie A and basically almost any A List Knitwear Designer you could think of!

Check out the website here: The Fiber Factor.

Wow

Organiza-SHUN

When I'm not busy studying or playing Plague, Inc. on my phone, I spend way too much time cruising Pinterest...Luckily, I have managed to convince myself that this is productive time, since I have found some really neat patterns, ideas for future projects, cute shoes, and awesome color schemes in case I buy a house one day.  Hooray for rationalization!!  :D

But while I hear other students on the bus planning their spring breaks in Cancun or Panama City Beach , I have plans to spend that time doing some serious organization, particularly in my Art Room O' Doom.

I already have a little date book I carry around with me to organize my schedule, but since I am a visual person, I thought that hanging something like this in the kitchen might help things along a little bit:

This has some really good tips...Sometimes the most obvious idea doesn't always occur to me, and the whole separating your WIPs from your stash?  ZOMGS, WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE???  I might have already finished that sweater's worth of olive merino if it wasn't sitting in a tote with all of the other stuff!  ;)

I absolutely love how she's displayed her finished shawls here, and the whole yarn room has such a finished look to it, while still being a viable (and beautiful!) workspace.

Then there's this...

Not so sure I want to sit around winding yarn onto old TP rolls, but maybe there's something to be taken from the concept?  Or not...  ;)

Things People Would Never Say

Roving Pr0n

OK, so I was all ready to start gushing over this bit of BFL, since it's my favorite fiber, and it's all green and teal and mint and evergreen and YUMMY...

But then I clicked on the main part of Edgewood Garden Studio's Etsy shop, and Oh Em Eff Gee.  Go look at her huge selection of handspun.  Exquisite handspun.  Glorious handspun.  Incredible handspun!  If I could spin like this lady, I would die a happy woman!  OK, go look at it, I will wait here.

AMIRITE?

I also love the very complete descriptions for each of her items, with extra info about the fiber animal, as well as specific information about the handspun itself.  Impressive!  This shop is definitely going to become one of my Etsy favorites.  :D