Photo from Love From Woolly: A Lift-the-Flap Book of Woolly Gifts

Witchbaby and I chanced upon Love From Woolly: A Lift-the-Flap Book of Woolly Gifts by Nina Michaels at the bookstore last weekend while we waited for the hub to get a haircut. It was instant love—well, for me at least. Witchbaby slapped her palms against the board pages and babbled to herself, but whether it was in approval or disapproval, I cannot say.

With gorgeous illustrations by Nicola Smee, Love From Woolly is part interactive guessing game, part touch-and-feel book, with actual knitted fabric peeking out from within cut-outs of socks, mittens, hats, and scarves that Woolly has knitted for her menagerie of friends. Her handiwork is, in turn, hidden beneath movable flaps disguised as presents, and your child is invited to guess the identities of the knitted gifts based on the rhyming clues offered. Utterly charming.

Photo by Stellapop

Simply put, Stellapop is pure knitting porn, even if this erstwhile knitter has temporarily hung up her Addi Turbos for diaper-slinging duty. And designer Mary Clark should know, since she hand-knits many of the pieces herself, rallying help from local Philadelphia chicks with sticks to cast on and off with merino wool, kid mohair, and ultra-luxe cashmere.

Photo by Stellapop

Photo by Stellapop

Comic by Amy Crosthwaite

It’s like Amy Crosthwaite shone a flashlight into the dark chasm of my soul.

Yarn: O Wool Classic, a 100 percent certified-organic merino wool in “Evergreen,” which knit beautifully and bloomed gloriously after blocking.
Pattern: Cobblestone Pullover by Jared Flood, from the Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits; you can also purchase the PDF from Knitting Daily
Needles: Size 7 Addi Turbo circulars

I actually knit this last winter—it’s just taken me this long to block it and get it on my husband. I’m a lousy excuse for a knitter/wife that way. Plus, I really hate blocking, especially when it’s a huge one-piece like this because it takes FOREVER to dry in a tiny apartment, even with the windows open, and you’re constantly shooing away wool-loving cats…you get the picture.

Photo by Tiny McSmall

Photo by Tiny McSmall

I love looking at play food, don’t you?

Yarn: Fuzzy Bunny Fibers handspun and hand-dyed 100 percent merino wool (obtained ethically from local Vermont farms). I adored working with this yarn—it was soft and luscious—and I’d buy yarn from the owner again before you can say “tallyho.”
Pattern: Mikado Fingerless Gloves
Needles: Size 5 and 7 Addi Turbo circulars

Photo by Victoria’s Secret

You wouldn’t think it, but Victoria’s Secret has some amazing sweaters, many with cablework that’s simply transfixing. Of course, I’m resisting plunking down any kind of change for them because:

1. They’re probably made in a sweatshop in some third-world country.
2. Many of them contain acrylic, which is a genteel way of saying “petroleum.”
3. Several comprise wool, which would basically make me want to rip my skin out, since I’m allergic.
4. There’s really no point in my buying clothing now, since my body is going to change drastically again over the next few months when this baby busts out of my uterus.

Here are some of my favorites, though, which I’m posting for inspiration in case one day I ram my head into a lamppost and wake up some kind of knitwear-design genius. You never know.

Photo by Victoria’s Secret

Photo by Victoria’s Secret

Photo by Victoria’s Secret

Photo by Victoria’s Secret

Photo by Victoria’s Secret

My ever-helpful cat Chekhov decides the blocking process will be hastened with a little bit of feline assist. I’ll take a clearer photo of the arm warmers when I’m done; I’m almost loathe to part with them because they’re so pretty, but they’re for a friend who has been so wonderfully helpful throughout my rollercoaster ride of a pregnancy.

I bought the handspun and hand-dyed 100 percent merino wool from a lovely lady in Vermont when the hub and I were there last fall, despite the fact that I’m allergic to animal fibers—or more accurately, “pokey” fibers, since I can wear extremely fine-gauge merino sock yarn without itching like a flea-bitten monkey. (My worst nightmare? Death by mohair.) It’s sad but true: I can’t resist the pretty, to my everlasting detriment.

Photo by The Purl Bee

Man, if I weren’t almost comatose with fatigue every day, I’d be all over this knitted witch in a heartbeat. Get the free pattern from The Purl Bee.

Click on each image for details. Photos by Areaware.

Hand-knit from Scottish lamb swool, British designer Donna Wilson’s collection of creatures and oddities, now available stateside at Areaware, are packed with oversize personalities and utterly, utterly charming. (I can’t get over that kitty tea cozy!) You can even make your own monster using one of her kits, no sewing skills required.

Photo from Debbie Bliss Magazine

That baby blanket! That bag! Those cupcake-fondant-colored sweaters! Ever since I stumbled upon Royal Yarns’ sneak peek of Debbie Bliss’ new knitting magazine, I’ve had to hold myself back from licking the screen and then sobbing uncontrollably because I resemble a large cantaloupe and can’t wear any of this deliciousness until I regain my figure. (Well, assuming I have the time to knit anything in the first place with ALL THIS FREE TIME I’m going to have when the baby arrives.) More photos, if you can handle them, online.

Photo from Debbie Bliss Magazine

Photo from Debbie Bliss Magazine

Photo from Debbie Bliss Magazine

Photo by Bella Knitting

No messing around with flapping scarves—or dealing with unsightly bulges under your coat—with this snug little scarflet. Click on over to Bella Knitting for the free pattern.

[via Craftzine]

Felt Frenzy by Heather Brack and Shannon Okey

If Shannon Okey (of Knitgrrl fame) and Heather Brack haven’t written the definitive primer to unraveling the alchemy behind felting, they’ve come exceptionally close. With Felt Frenzy, the two fiber enthusiasts—they live for the needle arts, and it shows—will induct you into the mysteries of shrink felting, welt felting, and needle (”dry”) felting, as well as more-advanced techniques such incorporating beads into felt, Shibori textile dyeing, and quilting felted fabrics.

Among the 26 projects are 5 devoted to recycled felt, or what the authors define as “repurposed knits (such as old sweaters) that are felted, sewn, embroidered, knitted onto, or otherwise manipulated into new items.” (One of the tips they provide: Accumulate lots of thrift-store sweaters in the spring and summer when they’re cheap. Make sure you check out the clothing tag to determine fiber content, however.)

You’ll get to tackle an embroidered felted needle case, a stained-glass sweater pillow, a camera case for your point-and-shoot, a French-press cozy, and a patchwork felted jacket.

The brief note on vegan felting—think soysilk batts, my herbivorous compatriots—was a thoughtful touch. ($21.95, paper)

This review refers to a first American paperback edition, courtesy of Interweave Publishing. Felt Frenzy can be found in stores now.

Graphic by Vogue Knitting

To commemorate its 25th silver anniversary, Vogue Knitting is releasing its Fall 2007 issue with 10 variant covers. You can check out all 10 designs on its Web site, as well as download the patterns to knit them, for free.

“Silver Belle” is my pick of the litter, although sweaters are probably the furthest thing on my heat-addled mind right now. (Chekhov is currently splayed out in front of the fan like a bearskin rug.) Which is your favorite?

[via Whip up]

Photo by Amy R. Singer

One of the surprises from Knitty.com’s Spring 2007 issue: The Everlasting Bagstopper, designed by the chief knitwit herself, Amy Singer. Using only two skeins of Hemp for Knitting’s allhemp6, the bag includes a drawstring closure for extra security, which is a nifty touch.

Related article:
1. Yarn Review: Hemp for Knitting allhemp3

A generous 165 yards per skein, Hemp for Knitting’s fingering to sportweight allhemp3, in the pumpkin (022) colorway pictured above, knits up very similarly to 100 percent tightly plied cotton—they’re both plant-based fibers, after all. Because, like 4-ply cotton, the fibers have little give, your hands may start to cramp if you barrel through extended sessions of knitting. (So if you don’t like knitting with most cottons, which I personally don’t, you’re not going to like working with hemp, either, which the joints of my fingers didn’t.)

allhemp3 is a sturdy yarn that can take a fair amount of abuse—unsurprising because of hemp’s reputation for tensile strength—but it isn’t very forgiving of repeated frogging; tufts of fiber will whip about and latch onto your clothing. Strands aren’t perfectly smooth, either, so you’ll get the rare bump in your knitting, though probably not enough to be noticeable.

Blocking made the swatch softer, and the stitches evened out more, though not dramatically. Rated gauge is 7st per inch on size 2 needles.

This review refers to yarn purchased online at Kpixie.com

Photo by Little Cotton Rabbits

Photo by Little Cotton Rabbits

Update: I’ve asked; the pattern is not for sale, alas.

Related articles:
1. Hello Cupcake!
2. New from Betz White

Whenever you withdraw money from an ATM, or refill your subway pass at a machine, consider refusing the printed receipt if that option is available to you. You’re likely to just wedge the receipt into your already overstuffed wallet, anyway, never to look at it again. Save yourself some clutter—and the planet some precious global-warming-fighting trees—simply by saying no.