Think Pink

I've always loved pink and I've had a thing for pink lawn flamingos for years. this takes it to a whole new level, don't you think? Original article found here. Be sure to watch the video at the end!

---

Artist Olek Covers a House in Finland with Pink Crochetby Christopher Jobson 

First a playground alligator, then an entire locomotive, and now artist Olek reveals an entire two-story house covered roof to floorboards in pink crochet. This new yarn-bombed installation currently stands in Kerava, Finland where Olek worked with a team of assistants to stitch together huge panels of crochet that envelop every inch of this 100-year-old house. Olek shares:

Originally, this building, built in the early 1900s, was the home of Karl Jacob Svensk (1883-1968). During the Winter War 1939-1940, the family fled to evade bombs falling into the yard, but they didn’t have to move out permanently. In 2015, more than 21 million people were forced to leave their homes in order to flee from conflicts. The pink house, our pink house is a symbol of a bright future filled with hope; is a symbol us coming together as a community.

You can see more photos and videos of the pink house on Instagram.

https://vimeo.com/180960347

A Gift of Thistle

Seeing your work out there in the world never ceases to be a thrill. I've always been a big list maker and an even bigger goal maker, and I've checked a lot of teaching and design goals off of my list this past year. Teaching a Craftsy class, teaching for my second time at Squam, seeing book ideas become tangible objects, teaching at retreats like Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, and having work featured in certain publications - one of these publications being Knitty.

Knitty was ahead of its time when it was started in 2002 by Amy Singer. Always free, always hip, always full of interesting ideas, designers and articles, Knitty did something no one else had done before - put free knitting patterns online in one place magazine-style, making them available to all while being cool and fresh with each issue. Knitty was instantly a hit, bringing the global knitting community together in a way that one else had before. Sure, there were scads of knitting blogs, but without Knitty, there could possibly be no Ravelry, no Twist Collective, no online force of knitters quietly taking over the world one stitch at a time.

I've been a fan of Knitty since the get go. I was still at RISD when it started in 2002 and when I began working at Vogue Knitting as the Yarn Editor in 2004, it was always a good day in the office when the new issue was posted. "Did you see so-and-so's new pattern?" and "I need to cast on for that project immediately" were the conversations of the day. I didn't think I'd ever get to the point where my designing would be good enough to get a spot on the coveted Knitty roster.

One of my knitting goals this year was to have a pattern featured in Knitty's Deep Fall issue. I'm delighted to introduce A Gift of Thistle, a matching cowl and hat set worked in the round from the bottom up. Using two different sets of gradient yarn in sport weight from Copper Corgi, one set of colors goes from light to dark, while the other goes dark to light. When worn together, this set creates an interesting effect and it's one of my favorite ways to use gradients. This set is inspired by a small bit of music by James Horner from the film Braveheart during one of the most heart-wrenching scenes - watch the quick video below to hear the music that inspired this hat and cowl...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL--prfnuJ8

I hope you are dying to get this Fair Isle extravaganza on your needles as much as I do every time I see something on Knitty that I can't wait to knit. It was an honor being featured and I hope to do it again soon. Onto the next goal!

Download the free A Gift of Thistle hat and cowl set here.

Fair Isle Fundamentals Craftsy Class Launch!

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE!!!! I am downright delighted to announce the launch of my first Craftsy class, Fair Isle Fundamentals!

The first time I knit Fair Isle, my knitting world completely changed. Suddenly I had multiple strands of yarn in my hands, more than one color, tension became a bit trickier to manage and those floats? I wasn’t sure I was doing correctly at all, but it was love at first sight and to this day I get grabby hands when I’m about to start a new Fair Isle pattern. I teach Fair Isle more than any other class or workshop and watching people who crave that technique but are scared/worried/intimidated by it leave after our time together not only doing it, but also doing it well are my favorite moments as a teacher.

Since I can’t travel the world spreading Fair Isle addiction, Craftsy is the perfect platform to teach students worldwide. You can toggle between chapters, speed up, slow down, and ask questions that I’ll be able to see and answer and discuss with your fellow students. You can post your progress immediately to share with other students, watch the tutorials anytime (I love this feature because I like to watch Craftsy classes late at night when the house is quiet), take a class from the comfort of your own home at your own pace (no judgment if you're watching in your pajamas!), watch anywhere and once your download the class, it's yours forever.

There’s so much more to this technique than an extra strand of differently colored yarn. In my class you’ll learn basic color theory and color psychology, choosing ideal color combinations to really show off your gorgeous work, how lighting and texture can affect your fiber choice, which fibers work best for this type of work, how to properly hold your yarns English, Continental and Combination style (yup, all 3 ways!), how to trap those floats 3 different ways to find the way that works best for you, jogless stripes, learn the difference between intarsia vs. fair isle vs. mosaic knitting, steeking (NOT as scary as you think!), duplicate stitching, chart reading, dealing with repeats and the very important yet often untaught difference between dominant and non-dominant colors. Dying to knit that Fair Isle yoke sweater with 53 colors you've been lusting after? You'll be able to do it after watching this class!

Everything you learn above will then be put into practice for the class project, the Copenhagen Hat. Inspired by a floor in an ancient museum seen on my recent trip to Scandinavia, the Copenhagen Hat covers my favorite cast on, the German Twisted, reading charts and working repeats, corrugated ribbing, paying special attention to dominant vs. non-dominant, Fair Isle, float trapping, keeping even tension, decreasing in Fair Isle, working on circs and DPNs, hat finishing and blocking techniques. This is a unisex hat that looks good on everyone and is jam-packed with technique!

I’m certain you’ll finish this class feeling like a confident Fair Isle pro! We didn't have a LYS nearby growing up, there was no YouTube, no Craftsy, no Ravelry and most of what I learned was from a helpful neighbor or just good old-fashioned flying by the seat of my pants. This is the class I wish I had available when I was first learning and I curated what I wanted to teach with great care. Watch the class preview here:

http://www.craftsy.com/video/course?courseId=11240

Working with Craftsy was a wonderful experience – the crew was professional and super nerdy like me, we had all done our homework and the filming experience was a smooth and exciting one. I felt like I was with my people there and already being a big fan of Craftsy, their stellar list of classes and wide array of talented teachers, teaching a class for them was something I always hoped to do. I’ve taken many Craftsy classes over the years and what I like about them is I can go in and watch them again as many times as I’d like. I want this class to be inspiring and give you the instruction and confidence you need to knit anything Fair Isle.

Download Fair Isle Fundamentals here and check out a few pictures from the set below. :)

Hollensbury Hat

Living in Washington DC is a feast for the eyes when you're talking about architecture. We used to live on Capitol Hill and I'd pack up our newborn son, leash up our pug and head out for our daily 3 mile walks. We'd walk through the grounds of the Hill, strolling alongside senators and lobbyists hustling to and from meetings, wind our way through the vegetation of the National Botanical Gardens nestled at the base of the Hill, swing back around and circle the Library of Congress, then head home. I loved these walks and it was these daily jaunts that inspired Capitol Knits, my second book.

Once me moved a mere 9 miles away to the other side of the Potomac River and became residents of Virginia, I was afraid we'd lose the sense of history and grand architecture I had come to admire. I was extremely happy to realize that Old Town Alexandria was not only home to George Washington himself and Mt. Vernon was down the road, but the history of Alexandria was just as rich as that of DC. Alexandria may not have the grand scale and the monuments that our nation's capitol has, but there are ancient restaurants that our founding fathers hung out at, historic homes of people who affected real change in politics, the Underground Railroad, and so many remnants left behind of people who lived here when our nation was just finding its feet. Of course history cannot only be viewed through rose-colored glasses - not everything that happened in Alexandria is cheerful and bright, but we can use these instances to teach future generations how to move forward and do better. History is a wonderful teacher.

There's a tiny little blue house on Queen Street in Old Town I would go by when out walking with my son. Nicknamed "The Spite House," because as the New York Times stated in an article about the home in 2008, "John Hollensbury, the owner of one of the adjacent houses, built it in 1830 to keep horse-drawn wagons and loiterers out of his alley. Indeed, the brick walls of the living room have gouges from wagon-wheel hubs. The house, 7 feet wide, about 25 feet deep and a whopping 325 square feet in two stories, is...just across the Potomac from Washington. Structurally, it’s more of an enclosed alley than a house — the brick walls of older houses on either side form the painted brick walls in the living room." I love this house because it's a "blink and you'll miss it" piece of architecture. People walk and drive by it everyday and are blind to its charm.

When contemplating my last design for the year-long String NY KAL projects, I kept thinking about this house. The beautiful, almost Delft blue of the painted exterior, the brick walkway out front, the white trim and black shutters and the texture that only old buildings seem to have were perfect inspiration for a hat. Using String Yarns' super soft brand new Dolcetto yarn in the perfect shades of blue and cream, a warm and squishy blend of 70% merino wool and 30% cashmere and knitting up on US 8s, this is another project designed to teach the knitter multiple techniques. My model and I were lucky enough to shoot in front of the house wearing the hat inspired by it!

Starting September 13 in the String Yarns Ravelry Group here, we'll begin our 2-month adventure together to knit this unisex hat. Our first month will consist of me checking in daily and posting step-by-step photo tutorials on our techniques which will be broken down into weekly segments. We'll cover my favorite cast on - the German twisted cast on, Latvian braids running in both directions (I LOVE Latvian braids!), mosaic knitting, crown decreasing, switching to DPNs and finishing. After a month, we'll switch gears and I'll continue to check in daily to make sure everyone has a chance to catch up. We'll wrap things up in November.

So what exactly is mosaic knitting? Often called slip-stitch color work, it's a lesser-known cousin to Fair Isle and intarsia knitting. Unlike Fair Isle, mosaic knitting is not stranded and unlike intarsia, we're not working on one small section with bobbins. Each color is worked across 2 rows (or in our case, rounds) while the other is left behind. Certain stitches are slipped rather than knit to create the illusion of using both colors in one row. This creates elongated stitches and geometric designs and is much faster than both Fair Isle or intarsia. We'll take it a step further and work it in garter in the round. This is the perfect technique to mimic the brickwork seen in front of Hollensbury's house and will get you very comfortable with chart reading!

As always with our KALs, String is generously offering 15% off the Hollensbury Hat kit. Use the code SeptKAL16 at checkout to receive your discount and chose my color combination or create one of your own. Order your kit now so we can all start together on September 13!

I'm excited that this hat has so many interesting and often unsung techniques packed into it. As summer draws to a close and the leaves begin to fall, our knitting takes center stage in our lives again. The chill in the air gets me excited to think about what will fly across my needles this season and I continue to work my way down my holiday knitting list. I hope you'll join me in this last KAL for String Yarns and learn to love mosaic knitting, Latvian braids, German twisted cast on and hat shaping as much as I do.

Bring on autumn! Download the Hollensbury Hat here.