Knit ME! Knit ME!

One of the best things about being a librarian has got to be unpacking the boxes of new books. It’s like a little bit of Christmas every week!

As soon as I pulled Knitted Animal Cozies out of the box, I just knew this was my latest favourite craft book. The animals are so desperately cute and adorable, I just wanted to knit them right away. I found myself wanting to take up drinking coffee just so that I could knit myself a woolly Sheep Cafetière Hug. Or even golf, because who wouldn’t want cute, fluffy, puppy cozies for their golf-clubs?

Once I recovered from the cuteness overload, I realised it’s written by Fiona Goble, who just so happens to have written several other crafty favourites of mine. I actually like Fleecie Dolls so much I bought my own copy! And once I’ve knitted all the cozies I need in my life (maybe I’ll skip the Tortoise Stool Cozy) I rather think I’d like a Knitivity.

Since most of the cozy projects are knitted in chunky or aran weight wool, or are pretty small, they should be quick to make — unlike Grandpa’s socks which I’m still working on 10 months later (the end is in sight, though, I’m 7 inches down sock number two)!! And if you’re new to knitting, the book has great, clear instructions on how to knit, including how to do the various stitches in the patterns.

Go on, you know you want some knitted animal cozies too!

• Read more posts about knitting

 

Cold climate knitting

Wow, we have some great knitting titles from the Scottish highlands and islands, and Scandinavia at our libraries.

Other titles:

• Scottish knitting
• Irish knitting
• Scandinavian knitting
• Norwegian knitting
• All knitting

Groups:

• Knitting groups in our libraries
• Knitting groups in the community

Our Zinio for Libraries collection includes several knitting eMagazines that you can download for free and keep. PressReader has knitting magazines that you can view online. You will need your library card number and PIN/password.

World Wide Knit in Public Day 2016

Where do you knit? Do you knit in the privacy of your own home? What about in the tearoom at work or the waiting room? Have you knitted on the train, tram, bus or ferry? What about the park? Have you taken your knitting to a café or library?

Saturday, 18 June is World Wide Knit in Public Day and you are encouraged to do just that. Grab your knitting and knit in public. Do I hear you ask ‘why’? I say, ‘Why not’? It is a great way to show the world that knitting isn’t just for little old ladies with grey hair and pink cardigans.

World Wide Knit in Public Day at Central Library Peterborough

Join us at Central Library Peterborough with fellow Peterborough Street-ers Knit World to celebrate World Wide Knit in Public Day. Bring your knitting or crochet and enjoy tea, coffee and a chat on Saturday 18 June from 12 to 2pm. Better living through stitching together! Find out more.

Midwinter Woolfeast at Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre

This year, Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre will be hosting a Midwinter Woolfeast from 10am to 5pm. The Midwinter Woolfeast will have artisan dyers selling their wares as well as a whole series of workshops for knitters.

Knit around the Orbiter

How about knitting on the bus? Knit around the Orbiter!:

Celebrate World Knit in Public Day with fellow knitters and crocheters doing a loop on the Orbiter bus. Then we will pop along to a café. Bring your knitting or crochet and friends. There will be some wool and knitting needles and crochet hooks and tuition available. It takes approx 1hr 40 mins to knit all the way round.

Here’s our blog post on last year’s Knit around the Orbiter event.

More knitting action

If you can’t make it to a Knit in Public Day event, don’t worry, some of our libraries have knitting groups. Just look in our events calendar.

Now if you like the idea of knitting in public, but don’t want to be seen doing it, you could try yarn-bombing, but I think I’d prefer the company of others at a WWKIPD event. I might meet someone new, learn a new technique or introduce someone to the art of knitting.

• Check out our catalogue for books on knitting or knitting magazines
• Find out more about World Wide Knit in Public Day
• Find information about knitting groups in Christchurch

Knitting on the bus

World Knit In Public Day was last Saturday (13 June), and to celebrate, Sally Blake (Riccarton High School Library Manager), Catherine Boyd and Heather Chambers (Upper Riccarton Library) joined 23 other crafters on the Orbiter Bus. Sally yarn-bombed a bike from the Eco Shed, which was put on the rack at the front of the bus, to advertise the event.

Photos by Sandy Brinsdon

We knitted, crocheted and had a hilarious time together. We comprised a core group from the Upper Riccarton Knit ‘n’ Stitch Group, complemented by friends, neighbours and new friends that found out about the event through Facebook. People stayed on the bus for one or two complete rounds, and it was such a resounding success, that it will be repeated next year.

See the Facebook event and more photos on Facebook.

Naughty Knitters

Here’s how my Winter Word Association works: Winter; Wool; Knitting; Afghan Squares – no, wait, tried that three years ago and the dog died before he got his little blankie.

Time for a new knitting direction.

Sex Sells and it was inevitable that knitters would eventually want to sex up their hobby. And that’s where Knit Your Own Kama Sutra steps up to the crease, providing us with teeny tiny little knitted figurines that contort themselves into naughty positions. I’ll say this much for it, you’d have to be a pretty skilled knitter and be going easy on the mulled wine for these little sex fiends to avoid getting their knickers in a twist! Oh, and best of all, the author goes by the name Trixie Von Purl.

If, however, you have taken a religious vow to resist the temptations of the Kama Sutra, there’s still WTF Knits into which to delve. Author Gabrielle Grillo has been scouring the net for four years to bring you weird knitting projects to sate your jaded appetites. If you come from a family that is squeamish about rude words, bodily functions and black humour, for heaven’s sake don’t make the mistake of leaving this little beauty lying around on the cross-stitched footstool in your boudoir!

Although my final recommendation looks wholesome enough, there is nevertheless something covertly creepy about it. Novelty Knits has patterns for thirty-five sweaters with large motifs ranging from coiled snakes, bananas and even a boiled egg (I am not making this up). Joanna Lumley loses her grip on glamour wearing two of these sweaters. These are the sorts of sweaters you knit in the first fervour of love because no one told you they are the kiss of death to any fledgling relationship.

But let me stick one final needle in the mix here: Could it be that knitters are weirder, wilder and more perverse than needle workers? Or are there Sexy Sewers out there as well?

World Wide Knit in Public Day – Saturday 13 June 2015

Ahoy knitters! We are hosting a World Wide Knit in Public event at Central Library Peterborough on Saturday 13 June 10am to 12pm. There will be tea and coffee and some biscuits to sustain you.

This event will be held in conjunction with Knit world (just down the street a bit at 189 Peterborough Street) and they are supplying a couple of secret prizes on the day too.

Daleks do not knit! World Wide Knit In Public Day at Shirley Library, 14 June 2014.  Flickr: CCL-2014-06-14-WWKIPDay-ShirleyLibrary-DSC_4494.JPG

There is another cool-sounding event Knit around the Orbiter!

The library caters to all your knitters and crocheters:

• See our crafts and collecting page.
• Browse our latest hobbies and crafts titles.
• Hobbies, crafts and games events at the library.
• Find in our collection:
  • Knitting
  • Handicraft
  • Crocheting

New, cute, and perhaps crazy knitting for winter

I get together with some friends fortnightly in an informal craft group, or “stitch and bitch” as one participant calls it. The cosy surroundings and good chat lends itself well to trying new things and meeting new people. It’s interesting to see what crafts people are into and at what level of skill they’re at.

Whether you are a group knitter or solo, here are some of the unusual titles I have seen in our libraries recently –

You’ll find more knitting titles in our collection, as well as titles published in 2014 & 2015.

Our Internet Gateway recommends some great craft websites too. World Book Craft Corner has access to thousands of engaging projects suitable for a broad spectrum of hobbyists – from beginner to expert, for children and adults.

CINCH, our community directory, lists local knitting groups and a variety of handicrafting groups that you could join.

Often we are looking for time out from our busy lives to do something just for ourselves. Consider starting your own knitting group with your friends. No experience necessary.

Reuse, Repurpose, Upcycle

After an absolute age of gentle – and not so gentle – persuasion, I finally convinced Miss Missy that her room needed a serious tidy-up. Usually my suggestions were met with everything from tears to wails of “you’re ruining my life!” But suddenly, the other day, she agreed. No, I didn’t discover some marvelous parenting technique that brought her round to my point of view. Believe me, I’d share it with you if I had! No. It’s thanks to a minor incursion of ants. Thankfully, there were only about five ants and they were quickly dealt with, but they did persuade my melodramatic preteen that tidying up would be a good idea. (Perhaps if I’d found this book earlier, I could have saved myself a whole lot of bother!!)

While we were in the midst of liberating the floor from the deluge of detritus, and ousting the un-loved Barbies from the prime real estate they were inhabiting, I found a too-small, unworn, Nana-knit jersey. Now, Nana (bless her heart) is an excellent knitter, but she does have a bit of a tendency to knit what she wants to knit, not what Miss Missy would actually want to wear.  She also likes to make up her own patterns, with some  – ahem –  unusual results. The jersey presented me with one of those tidying dilemmas which have the potential to derail the entire process.  Nana (bless her heart) had spent time and money on this jersey, and it seemed wrong to just donate it (unwanted though it was). We had no sentimental attachment to the jersey, so it really didn’t belong in the attic pile. And since Miss Missy wasn’t going to wear it, it certainly didn’t belong in her dresser. If I had a little niece who wouldn’t mind wearing a jersey with a rather snug-fitting neck, I could pass it along, but unfortunately I’m a bit short on nieces (snug-neck-friendly or otherwise).  What to do, what to do??

Now, although I have not had much success in clearing the clutter in my corners of the house (you can read about my attempts here and here) I am making a concerted effort not to add to the clutter. I refused to let this jersey get the better of me!  And then I hit on the perfect solution. I would unravel it, and remake it into a shrug for myself. This would not only solve the tidying dilemma, but would be eco-friendly and hip too (upcycling is so in these days, right? …If taking a jersey and remaking it into another jersey counts as upcycling that is) And the colour would go beautifully with that favourite skirt of mine. Perfect!

So then I had to find a pattern.  I really like some of the patterns in these books, but they weren’t exactly what I was looking for.  So then I turned to Designer Knitting, Creative Knitting, and the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary for inspiration. And now, just a few short weeks later I, have a new shrug. And, despite doing almost as much un-knitting as knitting (being rather new to creating my own knitting patterns) I have to say I’ve very happy with the results!

I think upcycling could be my new favourite thing and I’m already gearing up for my next project – this time I want to make a top out of a scarf, and I’ll be checking out this book for ideas.

• Would you like to give upcycling a try? Check out my list for inspiration
• Looking for ideas for your kids rooms? Try these books

Oh, and yes, I did get Miss Missy’s room sorted, and she’s actually happy with the results (well, mostly happy!)

Don’t have a pet? Knit (or crochet) your own plus you can also knit your very own boyfriend!

WWKIP Day = Better living through stitching together

My knitting pattern usually has the following phrase: “Knit to end of row”.

In Central Library Peterborough, people will really be doing that. Do you have a UFO (Unfinished Object)  or a WIP (Work In Progress)? Then grab it and come on down to the library on Saturday June 14 from 10 am-12 noon and join in as Central Library Peterborough and Knit World join hundreds of knitters around the world for World Wide Knit In Public Day.

There is also a session at Lyttelton Library.

It will be great. Sitting and knitting or doing crochet with like-minded crafters, sharing ideas, discussing patterns and quietly counting stitches. If you find knitting to be thirsty work, then hot drinks and food will be available.

As for me, I’m going to be at work on Saturday.  However I will bring along my knitting bag containing my latest WIP  and, at lunchtime, between sips of coffee and bites of sandwiches, I’ll k2 *p2 k2* rep to end, turn.

If you need some inspiration, check out the following:

• Knitting books and magazines
• Quick knits
• Crochet books and magazines
• Our page of resources on handicrafts

And, in the spirit of crowdsourcing, why not share your favourite resources, or tales and photos of your WIPs and UFOs (or even completed projects)?