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Knitted Things
How to Knit a Rainbow in Six Steps and 96 Hours
Aug 31st
I recently finished up one of the trickier pieces for my upcoming show, and thought it would be fun to show a little step-by-step post about how I knitted this big guy.
(This isn’t a pattern, though—as you’ll see, I just figured it out as I went, and didn’t worry too much about counting rows, etc.)
Step 1: Carve an arch shape out of a block of foam.
Step 2: Measure how big around the arch is, decide how many stripes you want in your rainbow, calculate how wide each stripe should be, and knit a few samples to check.
Step 3: The bend in this rainbow isn’t rainbow-y enough, so let’s see if stretching it out will have any lasting effect on the foam. (It does!)
Step 4: Continue to knit some stripes until they are long enough to cover the length of the rainbow. (This knitting part takes forever, so you probably want to have a few movie rentals on hand.) Pin them in place.
Step 5: Get out your tapestry needle, and let mattress stitch do its magic on the first couple of seams at the top. When you get to the more bend-y stripes at the side of the rainbow, think really hard, and decide that you need to make wider seaming stitches on the upper stripe and shorter stitches on the lower stripe in order to make them bend properly and conform to the foam shape.
Step 6: Finish knitting, knitting, and knitting the rest of the stripes. (Have I ever mentioned that Radiolab is a great podcast to knit to?). Then, hold your breath as you sew up that last seam…
…and it actually worked! It’s a knitted rainbow, without funny scrunchy bumps!
It was the hugest relief to know that I didn’t just waste four days of nonstop knitting making this guy. Now it’s onto knitting a herd of mini unicorns to slide down the rainbow. Also remaining are a river, a cloud, a possible cornfield, and tons more. Just about a month left to do it all!
Itty-bitty Elephant
Jul 28th
Remember my failed experiment with super-tiny knitting? This time I got it right!
Using lace-weight yarn (Shadow Tonal from Knit Picks) and size 000 (1.25 mm) needles….
I ended up with an itty-bitty elephant! He’s about half an inch tall, which is about half as big as the original Tiny Elephant.
Just look how HUGE Tiny Elephant looks now in this actual-size photo. (He is feeling just a tiny bit less special now.)
Once I had the right material and tools, the itty-bitty knitting was actually a breeze! I could only find the #000 needles in 8-inch length (I got my set online from Angelika’s Yarn Store)—at first I thought they would be awkward to use, but the needles balanced nicely in my hands, and the extra length seemed helpful for keeping the micro-stitches from slipping off the ends.
The hardest part was picking up stitches for the ears and feet. This can be tricky even when working in a larger scale, so I knew I just had to be very patient and keep trying until I got it right. It probably took a little less than twice as long to knit the itty-bitty guy than it took to knit the original Tiny version.
Give it a try if you have a little time, patience, and decent eyesight (or just a willingness to do a lot of squinting)!
Knitting Mochimochi Preview: Naughty and Nicey
Jun 28th
Somehow suddenly the release of Knitting Mochimochi is TOMORROW—I can hardly believe it! Time for one last preview!
Naughty and Nicey are part of the “Impractical Wearables” section of patterns in the book. I wanted to include some patterns that had a new twist, and wearable toys seemed like just the thing. As the “impractical” indicates, these aren’t your usual animal-shaped scarves and hats, but something much sillier, like an angel and devil that you can strap onto your shoulders. Perfect for a costume party!
This was a particularly challenging project to shoot, both because Brandi and I would have to incorporate a model in the image, and also because we really wanted to convey “temptation” in the photo. We thought about shooting a model from the back, with her front facing a big wall of tempting yarn. That concept didn’t work visually, though, so we looked into bakeries in the Tulsa area for a shoot with a counter full of cakes.
In the end, our primary concern was showing the angel and devil as clearly as possible, so Brandi shot it without a background. The end result was a clean, simple shot, but getting it wasn’t so simple! Once we found Ching, our model with the right kind of narrow shoulders (so that Naughty and Nicey weren’t spread too far apart in the image), we had to find just the right shirt for her to wear (we actually ended up turning a the top around backwards because the neckline looked better that way), and just the right cupcake for her to be tempted by (from Sweet Cakes in Tulsa). We actually had a selection of cupcakes, and we had to switch them out during the shoot—it was taking so long to get the lighting and angle just right that the icing on them was melting in Ching’s hands!
Ching was a trooper throughout the shoot, doing her best to express a dilemma without being over-dramatic. We weren’t sure if her whole face would end up in the cropped photo in the book, but it did, and I think it turned out great.
The pattern for Naughty and Nicey comes with instructions for three sizes of straps, but it’s easy to make them to fit any size. And of course, Naughty and Nicey don’t have to be worn—they can also watch over you from somewhere else (a kitchen shelf, perhaps)!
The Pigeons have Landed!
Jun 21st
Update: The Tiny Perching Pigeon Party was featured in Londonist! (Thanks, m@!)
I just had the best time making Tiny Perching Pigeons with Stitch London!
About 40 London knitters turned out to this evening’s Tiny Perching Pigeon Party at St James’ Park. I was wowed by how many brought multiple pigeons already finished, and all the many variations were a riot to see.
After a couple of hours of knitting and chatting, we all paraded over to Trafalgar Square with our feathered friends to replace the pigeons that were chased out a few years ago. (Feeding them is now banned in the square and surrounding areas.) No one seemed to object to our temporary flock of cuties, fortunately—although we certainly got the attention of some tourists.
Once in place, the pigeons all got their picture taken by the group.
After the photo shoot, most knitters took their birds home to cozy captivity. I’m planning to set a few of my own free in the city and in other parts of England that my mom and I travel to this week.
Thank you to everyone who made pigeons and contributed to this fun display of knitted cuteness in all shapes and sizes. And a HUGE thank-you to Deadly Knitshade and Stitch London for arranging the pigeon-perfect party!
All the Fun of the Fair
Jun 21st
Wow, London has been so much fun! It helps that we’ve had great weather so far—I’ve even gotten a tiny bit sunburned, which I wasn’t expecting. My mom and I have packed an unbelievable amount of sights and shops and food into one weekend, so I’ll share a bit of that here on the blog when I can!
One of the highlights so far has been my visit to All the Fun of the Fair, a knitting shop just off Carnaby Street in Soho.
It’s a darling little shop, with very pretty yarn and lots of fun buttons and other goodies. The neatest thing about All the Fun of the Fair is the way that they specialize in silly knitted foods, tea cozies, and other cute and more or less impractical stuff. Right up my alley!
Sarah was behind the counter there and I chatted with her a while about the shop and knitters in London. I was happy to learn that she had seen my Tiny Perching Pigeons from the Stitch London newsletter!
… Speaking of which, today is the Tiny Perching Pigeon Party at St James’ Park! I can’t wait!
Check out the perched-upon logo that Stitch London used in their latest newsletter.
Totally squee-worthy!
