Our Jazzed Up Window is a Puzzler

Every year, organizers of the Atlantic Jazz Festival invite local retailers to decorate their windows in celebration of the event. The request came to us around the time of our WorldWide Knit in Public scavenger challenge, so I immediately thought it would be fun to make our display both a tribute to jazz and a skill-testing game!

Morgan and I have created a felt and fibre vignette that depicts the titles of classic jazz songs. There are ten titles so far (there are elements of four in the detail photo above!), but we’ll be adding a few more over the coming days.

Drop by and see how many you can find! Don’t know much about classic jazz? Here’s a great resource that may help you: Jazzstandards.com .

Denise Revolution

Revolution baby blanket in progress

My friend is having a baby this summer and I wanted to make a blanket that was quick and easy, without being too boring. Too much to ask? I was looking at the fun designs of British math geeks Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer (Woolly  Thoughts). I had a hard time deciding which of their intriguing patterns to go with, but thanks in part to the projects posted on Ravelry, I chose “Revolution”.

A couple of dozen people had posted Revolution on Ravelry and many talked about how easy it is. Looking at the images I felt that it must be fairly simple, but my mind just couldn’t grasp how exactly the funky jagged spiral effect was created. I  purchase and downloaded the detailed, colourful pattern booklet and began to study it. Indeed once you read the instructions and get started, it’s blessedly simple to do. This is a fun pattern, a way to make garter stitch interesting! I’m using Estelle’s organic Cloud Cotton, which itself is a delight to work with. This is going to be a lucky baby, if I may say so myself.

One of the things that is making this project so enjoyable for me is my Denise Interchangeable Needle set.  It’s like the Denise kit was made for this kind of project. The blanket is a circle but you are only ever knitting one “wedge” at a time. Stitch holders are important, and as the segments of the blanket get bigger, you would need to use multiple circulars or lengths of yarn as stitch holders. With the Denise set, I just add lengths of cable and carry on. Most of the time the same needle I am knitting on is acting as a stitch holder for another part of the blanket.

We love the Denise Interchangeable company not just because of their products, but because they are a small company with a great customer service ethic.  The product itself is made with a conscious effort to support local (to Denise) manufacturing. We are always delighted to chat with them and they are incredibly friendly and helpful. And how many big corporations would send a package in the mail looking like this? (Yes those are individual postage stamps.) We love Denise.

A journey of a lifetime

If you have attended ‘Loop Group’, our drop-in knitting night on Thursdays at The Loop, you might have met Tina B.  She is in the ninth grade and a devoted knitter – pictured below knitting the Cobweb Doily from A Gathering of Lace.

Tina knitting the Cobweb Doily from 'A Gathering of Lace'

Now we’ve learned she is also devoted to bringing happiness to other people. Tina approached us recently to ask if The Loop would make a donation to help cover the costs of a trip she wants to make this June.  This is no average summer holiday – she will be travelling to Poland with a group called Coalition for Kids, to visit terminally ill children to help make their short lives a little bit more pleasant.  The children helped by the program suffer from diseases like cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. As Tina explained it to me,  many of the kids’ wishes are as simple as an iPod or a good bed. Check out the Coalition for Kids website to learn more about the program and its “Journeys of a Lifetime”.

I was impressed to learn about the funding structure for the program. Each teenagers’ trip costs $36oo and the fundraising structure employs a ‘pay it forward’ philosophy. Each participant raises half of the money for their own trip, and when they return they commit to raising another $1800 to cover half the cost of another student’s trip. One participant helps pay for the next one’s trip, and so on.

This is not something we normally do with this blog space, but I wanted to tell our community about this program  in case anyone would like to support Tina’s trip. The Loop will be making a donation and I will make one personally too, because I think it’s so important for young people to look outward and take an interest in the world.

If you are a knitter reading this, you know that non-knitters hold stereotyped ideas of who and what knitters are. We know better. Similarly, I think Tina – as a young knitter preparing to make this remarkable trip – does not fit the stereotype of a self-centred teenager.

Please feel free to contact us at The Loop if you would like to make a contribution to Tina’s “Journey of a Lifetime” by May 1st 2009.

NSCAD’s Wearable Art Show to dress up Granville Square

This year’s NSCAD Wearable Art Show is scheduled to take place next Wednesday evening on Granville Square.  The square will be transformed into a canopied gallery and performance venue. The show promises to be a fabulous and fascinating evening of avant-garde fashion and art. Tickets are $15 in advance (available at Venus Envy or on the NSCAD art supply store). Proceeds from the event will go to the AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia and to the Wearable Art Scholarship Fund. See you there!

Alas, alack! Sheep and knitting fall victim to Fall Fair overhaul

This morning’s Chronicle Herald comes the announcement that the Maritime Fall Fair will no longer include livestock events and homemaking competitions.  Citing a lack of public interest in the agricultural and artisanal competitions (including the knitting category won by Richard Stilwell last year), the organizers want to develop the retail craft component of the fair instead.

Aren’t agricultural fairs meant in part to provide an opportunity for farmers and artisans to promote their skills and educate the public? If these events are not attracting the public, then maybe the organizers aren’t doing enough them! Am I right in thinking that it is completely backwards to be cancelling these components of the fair at a time when interest in local agricultural poducts and self-sufficiency is on the rise?

We would happily host a homemaking salon des refuses here at The Loop!

New leaves for spring

I just opened a shipment of new magazines and books.

We’re starting to carry Interweave’s Spin-off magazine, and the first batch arrived today. It contains articles for spinners of all levels, and looks to be full of inspiration.

New issues of Knitter’s and Interweave crochet also arrived, along with more of the popular “Twinkle’s Big City Knits”.

Just for fun, The Loop is joining the social experiment called Twitter. It may also be because I have been finding it challenging to manage actual blog posts. Can I handle 140 characters?? Follow us at  http://twitter.com/theloophalifax

Birds love yarn too: share yours with them

If your home has  a backyard or even a balcony, you may already offer feeders or baths to your avian neighbours, but have you ever thought of offering them yarn or fibre? Birds can use short scraps of yarn and small tufts of fluff in building their nests.  Cut yarn into 10 to 20 cm lengths and put them into suet cages. It’s like a homebuilding centre for birds! Find out what other materials make good nests in  the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s excellent guide to attracting birds.

Knitting on the Lighter Side–Free Patterns for Spring Projects

It may yet be chilly, but the days are a little longer, the sun a little stronger, and most of winter’s ice and snow have melted away.

Spring is a great season for knitting: a new hat or fine-gauge mittens or gloves to go with your new spring coat; lacy scarves and wraps to give your mood a lift; new socks to celebrate the end of boot season; bright colours to tide you over until the blooms arrive. I’ve found a few patterns in this spirit:

• Classic Elite’s adorable Daisy Chapeau [links to PDF], knit in supersoft Minnow Merino–a perfect union of easter bonnet and tuque.
• Also from Classic Elite, either the simple Interlude Lace Stole and more challenging Floral Fantasy Shawl would be beautiful made in Silky Alpaca Lace. Just use a smaller needle (3.5mm, perhaps), and add a couple of repeats.
• Berroco’s very easy Fascinate scarf, worked in a dropped-stitch pattern, would make a beautiful spring accessory scarf  in shimmery Seduce.
• Morgan’s chic and springy be-bobbled Lady Parker beret–a new addition to our free patterns page–is quick to chrochet in worsted weight yarn.

US Knitters’ Outrage Moves Quiz Comedian to Frog His Comments

I often listen to the American radio network NPR online. Last week, during an interview on the news quiz show Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me with a woman who knits sweaters for featherless chickens, comedian Mo Rocca took a swipe at homemade sweaters, calling them “itchy”.

American knitters swiped right back, and this week, Rocca apologized for his use of “the i-word”. You can hear both the original clip and Rocca’s retraction on the WWDTM site.

While the slight did net him an offer of a soft handmade sweater from some Ravelry members, Rocca’s troubles are unlikely to end there. His apology makes some pretty uneducated references to alpaca!

Your Local Sheep

Cotswold sheep (image, wikipedia)

The other day, a new local yarn arrived in the store, brought by the very farmer who raised the sheep. This lovely Cotswold was lovingly raised near New Germany, on the beautiful south shore, at Lange’s Rock Farm. It has the high lanolin content that is characteristic of traditional Maritime yarns, but a softer feel that will soften even more as the garments are washed and worn. In two natural colours–a heathered brown and a natural cream–this medium-weight 2-ply is a perfect choice for traditional “fisherman” knits, outdoor sweaters and weatherproof hats and mitts.

The Langes’ homegrown fibre joins our growing range of locally-produced fibres. Another recent shipment, from Noah’s Place Farm, includes an assortment of mohair-wool blends–more great yarns processed by the Tonning sisters at Legacy Lane Fibre Mill.