It’s the Small Things...
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a holiday gift
Two of our favorite new titles are filled with projects perfect for gift giving, and we have 20 copies of each to give away to lucky readers. For a chance to win an autographed copy of Kristen Rengren’s Vintage Baby Knits or Cathy Carron’s Hattitude, please visit our homepage. (The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.)
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It’s always the unofficial end of summer when this magazine leaves its embryonic stage and makes its way to the printer, ready to realize its full potential when it lands in your waiting hands in late September. We’re still wearing linen (for a few more days at least), looking forward to our Labor Day plans (no rain, please!) and hoping the water in the Northeast will still be warm enough to swim in (this year it should be) as we look back over one season and plan our slow transition to the next.
There’s even a little early nip in the air this week, which got me thinking about my first project for the cooler days ahead. This year, I think that initial bit of knitting will be a gift. I am planning, like many of you, I’m sure, to begin knitting right now for the people on my holiday list. I’ve just imagined a hat for a male friend, knit in the lovely black merino sitting in the bag that hangs on my closet door—mindless knitting that I can do while on the phone at work or waiting here and there. Then there’s last year’s lace scarf that I would like to finish for another friend. It’s hanging in a project bag in my office. Only a few inches to go before I can cross it off my list.
When I look at Ravelry stats and read knitting blogs, I find it interesting that so many people are making smaller projects—hats, socks, wraps, mittens. Angela Hahn’s vine-and-leaf lace hat from our Fall 2009 issue is showing up all over the web in myriad colors and textures, each as beautiful as the next. The same with Lisa Hoffman’s lace panel gloves, also from the Fall issue, which are being reinterpreted in every hue imaginable. (We’ve heard that many yarn shops are using them as the focus of classes on glove making.)
This issue, we offer our own smattering of smaller projects—the “Through the Looking Glass” feature on page 72 is a showcase for blue lace designs. I think the results are gorgeous. Kate Gagnon Osborn’s beret, in Tilli Tomas’s “Milan,” is so soft, we passed it around the office again and again just so we could take turns touching it. Sadly I didn’t make it to the Sock Summit in August, sitting jealously at home reading posts on Facebook, et al. instead. The overwhelming success of the event is yet another testament to our obsession with knitting things small and fabulous.
The Fall runway shows featured a plethora of wonderful knits this year, but we were particularly inspired by the cowl. I think of it as the “grown-up” scarf—cleverly compact, effortlessly chic, perfect worn over anything at all. Cathy Carron has created four classic pieces that are fast to finish yet warm and wearable (page 56). I hope you will use them as the starting point for your own creative versions—they are the ideal canvas for a special yarn, a new stitch you’ve always wanted to try or a combination of whatever you can dream up.
On a personal note, I’d like to wish a fond farewell to Tanis Gray, our intrepid Yarn Editor for the past four years. Tanis and her husband have relocated to a new city, and we wish them all the best as they take on new career challenges. Our talented designers and yarn-company friends will miss her as much as we will (almost!). But she’s not leaving us entirely, I’m happy to report; you’ll still be able to knit her lovely designs, which will appear regularly in future issues.
It’s the Small Things...
|
a holiday gift
Two of our favorite new titles are filled with projects perfect for gift giving, and we have 20 copies of each to give away to lucky readers. For a chance to win an autographed copy of Kristen Rengren’s Vintage Baby Knits or Cathy Carron’s Hattitude, please visit our homepage. (The giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only.)
|
|
|
It’s always the unofficial end of summer when this magazine leaves its embryonic stage and makes its way to the printer, ready to realize its full potential when it lands in your waiting hands in late September. We’re still wearing linen (for a few more days at least), looking forward to our Labor Day plans (no rain, please!) and hoping the water in the Northeast will still be warm enough to swim in (this year it should be) as we look back over one season and plan our slow transition to the next.
There’s even a little early nip in the air this week, which got me thinking about my first project for the cooler days ahead. This year, I think that initial bit of knitting will be a gift. I am planning, like many of you, I’m sure, to begin knitting right now for the people on my holiday list. I’ve just imagined a hat for a male friend, knit in the lovely black merino sitting in the bag that hangs on my closet door—mindless knitting that I can do while on the phone at work or waiting here and there. Then there’s last year’s lace scarf that I would like to finish for another friend. It’s hanging in a project bag in my office. Only a few inches to go before I can cross it off my list.
When I look at Ravelry stats and read knitting blogs, I find it interesting that so many people are making smaller projects—hats, socks, wraps, mittens. Angela Hahn’s vine-and-leaf lace hat from our Fall 2009 issue is showing up all over the web in myriad colors and textures, each as beautiful as the next. The same with Lisa Hoffman’s lace panel gloves, also from the Fall issue, which are being reinterpreted in every hue imaginable. (We’ve heard that many yarn shops are using them as the focus of classes on glove making.)
This issue, we offer our own smattering of smaller projects—the “Through the Looking Glass” feature on page 72 is a showcase for blue lace designs. I think the results are gorgeous. Kate Gagnon Osborn’s beret, in Tilli Tomas’s “Milan,” is so soft, we passed it around the office again and again just so we could take turns touching it. Sadly I didn’t make it to the Sock Summit in August, sitting jealously at home reading posts on Facebook, et al. instead. The overwhelming success of the event is yet another testament to our obsession with knitting things small and fabulous.
The Fall runway shows featured a plethora of wonderful knits this year, but we were particularly inspired by the cowl. I think of it as the “grown-up” scarf—cleverly compact, effortlessly chic, perfect worn over anything at all. Cathy Carron has created four classic pieces that are fast to finish yet warm and wearable (page 56). I hope you will use them as the starting point for your own creative versions—they are the ideal canvas for a special yarn, a new stitch you’ve always wanted to try or a combination of whatever you can dream up.
On a personal note, I’d like to wish a fond farewell to Tanis Gray, our intrepid Yarn Editor for the past four years. Tanis and her husband have relocated to a new city, and we wish them all the best as they take on new career challenges. Our talented designers and yarn-company friends will miss her as much as we will (almost!). But she’s not leaving us entirely, I’m happy to report; you’ll still be able to knit her lovely designs, which will appear regularly in future issues.