Category Archives: Finds

By request: DIY Anthropologie sweater

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DIY Anthropologie sweater

I got an email from a reader asking if I could help her with her quest to knit a version of this sweater, designed by Correll Correll for Anthropologie. It’s a great summer sweater — slouchy, slightly open gauge, interesting texture, and that random colorwork. Y, I’ll call her, said she thinks she can figure out the colorwork but was having trouble finding a suitable pattern. I’ve had requests for similar things before, and honestly I’m surprised there isn’t a blank-canvas pattern — that I’ve seen — for a boxy, sleeveless top like this. But it would be pretty easy to do a little math and make it up. (Look at a few Pickles patterns, such as the Dressy Sweater, for the basic approach: Knit a tube from the hem to the underarms, divide your stitches in half for the front and back, working those sections back and forth to the desired armhole depth, then grafting it back together along the tops of the shoulders. Leave out the stripes, ribbing and sleeves.) Otherwise, you could easily adapt Elka Park by Heather Dixon, knitting it a little bit wider than the pattern calls for (going up a needle size would accomplish that and loosen the gauge), and changing the stitch pattern. I’d also make the armholes deeper.

It looks to me like the stitch pattern is a 4-row repeat: 2 rows of stockinette, then a garter ridge. But it starts at the hem with 3 garter ridges, which gives some ballast and prevents it from rolling. So after your cast-on, alternate knit rounds and purl rounds for a total of 6 rounds. Then switch to three knit rounds followed by a purl round (that’ll give you two rows of stockinette followed by a garter ridge); repeat. That’s as long as you’re working in the round. Once you’ve separated for the front and back, and are working those sections back and forth, to maintain that same stitch pattern you’d knit row 1, purl row 2 (that’s two rows of stockinette), then knit row 3, knit row 4 (one ridge of garter).

The colorwork is up to you!

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Annie Williams, Han Starnes and Josi Faye

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Annie Williams, Han Starnes and Josi Faye

When I saw this leather-and-stockinette clutch on Pinterest several weeks ago, I had to know more. Namely whether the designer — Nashville leather-crafter and musician Annie Williams — is a knitter. It turns out this piece is a collaboration with Williams’ studiomate Han Starnes, who not only spins and sells yarn but has a new line of beautiful handknits called Josi Faye. And yes, I will definitely be trying to swing a visit to that studio next time I’m in Nashville.

The clutch will be available August 1st on annie-williams.com. For glimpses of Starnes’ fiber-filled workspace, follow her on Instagram.

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FO Sightings: Z’s coveted closet of handmade clothes

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Z's coveted closet of handmade clothes

This girl and her closet are killing me. The beautiful sweaters and tunics. The mix-and-match-plaid tops. That killer olive raincoat with the grommets! All of it handmade. She is known only as “Z” (or by her Ravelry name, grimfrosties!) and lately I’ve been stalking her blog, Quixotic Thread, waiting for more garments to appear. Z has amazing knitting and sewing skills, great taste in patterns, and a knack for subtle but meaningful mods, whether it’s reshaping a neckline or adding those aforementioned grommets. I feel like she could single-handedly transform North America’s idea of what homemade clothes look like.

Z, more please!

1. Black Linen Tova, from the popular Wiksten pattern

2. Nude Beaubourg, a modification of the Julie Hoover pattern

3. Exeter, faithfully knitted to the Michele Wang pattern

4. Perfect Plaid, adapted from a pattern in the book Sew U

5. Lattice Top, from the Purl Bee’s Cap Sleeve Lattice Top pattern

6. Ubiquitous Olive Jacket, adapted from the Built By Wendy pattern Simplicity 3694

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Wraps I’d like to knit for my mother

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wraps to knit for mom

Dear Mom—

As you’ve probably guessed by now, I didn’t knit you anything for Mother’s Day this year. (Sad face.) BUT I have been thinking a lot about that conversation we had when I first started knitting. You know, the one where I showed you a bunch of lovely things I wasn’t qualified to knit? Most of those are still a bit out of my comfort zone, but I’m feeling pretty confident in my junior lace-knitting skills these days and am eager to try to my hand at something a little bit fancier for you. But this time I want you to have a hand in picking it out. Here are some ideas (additional images of each if you click the links), but if none of them makes your heart leap with longing, we can look at other options — there’s no end of them. Think about colors, too, and we’ll pick out the yarn together once we’ve decided on a pattern. Meanwhile, Happy Mother’s Day and thanks for being you — I love you!

1. Snowflake Stole by Véronik Avery, very straightforward and lovely

2. Checkerboard Lace Scarf from the Purl Bee, could easily be knitted to more wrap-like proportions if you like

3. Edie triangular shawl by Bristol Ivy, probably the most ambitious of the 4, but I can do it!

4. Terra triangular shawl by Jared Flood, simpler overall texture with a few lace repeats along the edges

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Dear everyone else, this week’s ICYMI post is last year’s Mother’s Day post, A kerchief for my mother.

Ann Shayne’s twisted sweater of life

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Ann Shayne's twisted sweater of life

It’s very very early days yet, but so far the most interesting thing to come out of The Fiber Factor (Skacel’s web-based knitting version of Project Runway) is a little off-Broadway show going on over at Mason-Dixon Knitting. The FF challenges are being announced online, with the contestants given an appropriate number of weeks to complete their entries, so it’s happening in real time. Ann decided to play along at home. The first challenge is to “knit your life.” My response would be a blank stare, with my mouth hanging slightly ajar. No idea. Ann, on the other hand, has responded with a cable sweater, knit from the top down, whereupon the cables go the way life goes. (“There’s no pattern to [this sweater], that’s for sure.”) So simple. So brilliant.

I can’t actually say that this is any more clever than what the official contestants have come up with, as I can’t sit through the individual videos where they announce their plans. (Anyone want to summarize for me?) But I’m looking forward to the moment where the finished pieces begin to appear. Most of all, though, I can’t wait to see what Ann decides about her hem: “Beginning to have superstitious feeling that I can’t ever cast off this hem. Maybe I’ll just leave the stitches on a holder down there. Don’t want to end anything too soon …”

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New Favorites: Camp wear

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perfect campsite knits

I have got camping fever, people. West Texas road trip fever. Live in a van fever, even. I’m way past due for an outdoor adventure, and editing a book of camping recipes (with corresponding drool-inducing images of savory foods in cast-iron skillets over open fires) is not helping. Then along comes the preview for the new issue of Pom Pom Quarterly. Look! Oddly, I wasn’t factoring knitwear into any daydreams I may have been having, but I am now!

LEFT: These adorably slouchy Camp and Trail socks by Pom Pom’s Lydia Gluck would be a dream after a long hike into the backcountry or around a campground fire.

RIGHT: And this Flying Squirrel wrap by Michiyo (from the new Brooklyn Tweed Wool People 5 collection) would be equally perfect around camp. It’s a big rectangle shawl with anchoring armholes on two corners, which you wouldn’t always have to use. It cracks me up that the pattern is called Flying Squirrel (get it?), and that it’s defined as a “textured stole garment.”

Have I ever told you my friends Meg and Jo (mother and daughter), who taught me to knit, take camping trips together where they just camp and knit? I need to get in on that.

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Our Tools, Ourselves: Leigh Wells

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In Our Tools, Ourselves, we get to know makers of all walks, ages, styles and skill levels, by way of their tools. For more on the series, read the introduction.

Leigh Wells knitting needles and sweater in progress

LEIGH WELLS is an illustrious illustrator and fine artist. Her studio also happens to be about 10 steps from mine, so you can see I kept this installment of OT/OS very close to home. In addition to being my first local knitting friend, Leigh hosts a monthly creative women’s gathering you may have heard me mention before, where these days most of the group of graphic designers, photographers and artists whip out their knitting needles. So to the extent that I have a knitting social life, I pretty much owe it all to Leigh.

You can see Leigh’s artwork at the Gregory Lind Gallery in San Francisco, and she’ll also be in a show at Portland’s PDX Contemporary Art opening June 6th. She’s only nominally on Ravelry and somewhat new to Instagram, so be sure to friend her up.

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Are you a knitter, crocheter, weaver, spinner, sewer … ?

I am a knitter, in a remedial sort of way, thanks to having gone to Ecuador as an exchange student in high school. The dear mother in my host family taught me her technique, and people sometimes comment on how strange it is. I have no idea what they are talking about. My first project was a huge acrylic lavender pullover made of four rectangles. It fit over my body that had been dietarily enhanced by all of the cheese-filled, fried plantains I had eaten over the course of the year. I know how to knit and purl. That is my skill set, virtually unimproved over thirty years.

Oh, and I have been sewing for longer, and making all sorts of other things from collage, to sculpture, to soap and preserved lemons.

Tell us about your tool preferences and peccadilloes.

Much of my equipment is by default. I inherited all of my former grandmother-in-law’s knitting needles, crochet hooks and her thread stash. (Still haven’t used those four spools of lime green thread.) I use from that supply and usually borrow or buy second-hand what I don’t have. Given how I like to purge unnecessary possessions, it’s strange that I have many, many size 0, 1, and 2 needles from this inheritance. I would rather gnaw off both of my hands than do a project on those needles. I probably should ship them to that rad hat dude. What’s his address?

How do you store or organize your tools? Or do you? 

I keep my collection of straight needles in a paintbrush holder I found on sale at the art supply store. After I bought it, a bunch of other friends ran out to get one. Black nylon. Looks like a piece of camping equipment. Very unglamorous. And speaking of poor taste, I only just recently organized my tangle of circulars in an IKEA bin using little Ziploc bags with Avery labels on them. Disgusting.

How do you store or organize your works-in-progress?

WORKS!? Can’t deal with the idea of more than one at a time. Keep it in a little bucket I made out of found industrial felt.

Are there any particularly prized possessions amongst your tools? 

See above … Oh wait! My little beaded pouch for my sewing needles and stitch markers. Gift from my dear friend, found at the Chelsea Flea in NYC.

Leigh Wells sewing machine and stitch marker pouch

Do you lend your hooks or needles?

But of course. Anyone want to borrow these 0′s and never return them?

What is your favorite place to knit?

In the rain.
In the dark. On a train,
In a car, In a tree.
In a house. In a box.
With a mouse. With a fox.
Here or there.
Pretty much anywhere!

Other than that, I savor the four stitches I knit, then eventually rip out, when I host the monthly STITCH night at my place.

What effect do the seasons have on your knitting/sewing productivity?

Probably knitting a deep winter project in the heat of summer and vice versa because I am so slow?

Do you have a dark secret, guilty pleasure or odd quirk, where your fiber pursuits are concerned?

I know that Fringe Association probably considers my knitting behaviors “odd quirks,” but I swear that I am a completely normal knitting dilettante.

What are you working on right now?

Knitting some royal-blue French cotton yarn into a summer pullover. You taught me to do top-down knitting, and now I feel like I can rule the world. Not so, however, since I have ripped out a particular portion of this sweater five times and am now afraid to proceed. [Editor’s note: This one is not top-down, FYI!]

I found this yarn on a shopping trip to a certain second-hand crafty shop in Sonoma County. Until that moment, I had been strict about NOT having a knitting stash. Leaving the shop that day, I knew I had so much yarn that some lucky person would inherit much of it someday along with all of these knitting needles.

Leigh Wells Ikea bin with circular needles

PREVIOUSLY in Our Tools, Ourselves: Nicole Dupuis

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