Knitting Daily

Along with a new editor, Interweave Knits also has a new website: Knitting Daily. Here, you can find several posts each week devoted to knitting (and most recently, crocheting), as well as several of IK's patterns, made available for free to people who have registered with the website. Along with access to the websites trove of treasures, a registration will also give you an opportunity to sign up for their mailing list to get the posts sent directly to your inbox.

As well as introducing and breaking down patterns and techniques, the blog-style website has posted interviews with designers and a couple of project galleries that show how the sample garment fits on different body types with different amounts (both positive and negative) of ease. Very interesting.

Interweave has been making select patterns from all their disciplines available for free on their various websites. If you haven't visited their website, take a few minutes to browse around http://www.interweave.com and click around to their various disciplines. There are free projects guidelines in beading, needlwork, weaving, and spinning. All their knitting and crochet projects have been moved over to Knitting Daily.

Saartje's Booties

One of the patterns I’ve seen floating around in several online spots lately is the Saartje’s Booties pattern, written by Saartje, who blogs from her home in the Netherlands. She has made the pattern available for free on her blog (side bar, in both English and Dutch).

I have be honest and admit up front that I am not a big fan of baby booties in general. I have never seen a pattern for a pair that I have felt compelled to make (before these). Babies don’t need shoes until they are walking, and when they do have booties or socks on, they are constantly falling off!

But when I first came across this pattern, I decided I had to make them. What a great little design with the crossed straps — these should stay put on a baby’s foot!

I made this little pair in an afternoon, using about 12 grams (for the small size) of leftover sock yarn and some little shell buttons I found in a drawer at home. The only thing I changed was how the button loops were created. Instead of making them from yarn ends (I’m always looking for ways to sew in fewer ends), I took the last stitch of the last knit strap row, slid it onto a crochet hook, chained 6, then slid the last chain loop back onto the needle to start the bind-off row.

These little booties are a great one-day project, would make a great gift for a new baby, and a wonderful way to use up some of those yarn scraps you are reluctant to get rid of, but don’t know what to do with.

Are you Raveled Yet?

Ravelry.com is a new online knit and crochet community. The index page of the Ravelry website says “organize. Organize your projects, stash, needles and more”, “share. Show off your work. Share your ideas and techniques”, and “discover. Find new designs and yarns. Make friends. Try new things”. That pretty much sums it up, I think. I am currently on the wait list for an account, but I have seen the inside through someone else’s account, and let me just say, I’m excited. This is revolutionary for the online fiber community, and we’ve been waiting for something like this to come along, to organize us and bring us together.

Some of the features of Ravelry include: organizing your projects and your stash; seeing what other people are working on and what they are using their stash yarns for; joining groups with similar interests; finding new projects; seeing how the same project can look in different yarns, joining a community of interest; and making friends. One of the things that most excites me about becoming a user of Ravelry is the inspiration that I am sure will become a detriment to my bank account, but also seeing what others may be doing with some yarn that I have been hoarding in my stash, waiting for that elusive “perfect project”.

The website is still in its beta stages, so the users are currently limited, at least until the operators get their grown-up servers and networking hardware in place and tested out. A recent post on their news blog indicates that there are currently 8300 users and, as of August 19^th, their new hardware was shipping and they were anticipating being able to crank up the invites soon. Meanwhile, for those of us who are anxious to join, you can sign up for their waitlist and periodically check where you stand on the list while you salivate at the prospect of becoming a member.

On the Road

This week, I am on vacation. I will hopefully be happily knitting away on a pair of socks or other small, tote-able project on the beach.

It seems only fitting that my topic be On the Road: What do you bring/do/buy fiber-wise when you travel?

Here’s what I tend to do and bring:

• I scout out nearby local yarn and fiber shops. And if I haven’t planned ahead, I do a search on my cell phone.
• I bring a couple of projects to keep me entertained and for different types of situations:
• A good plane or car project — something relatively mundane and/or small – I make tons of mistakes when I ride in the car, so it can’t be lace or anything too complicated, something stockinette or garter stitch is ideal, but I will also do small projects like socks or baby hats.
• A project that requires my attention and focus, usually a project I have been wanting to work on, but haven’t had the time or focus to make much progress. Wishful thinking.
• Something I can work on while doing other things (could be same as the first project).
• A back-up project. Again, wishful thinking.
• I plan for far more than I can actually accomplish.

And here’s what I tend to buy:

• Something special I can’t get at home or something unique to that shop or area. Is there is a yarn spun from local sheep by a local spinner and/or hand-dyed by local dyers? (I also use a similar thought process for MD Sheep and Wool – I limit myself to purchasing things I can’t get easily otherwise.)
• Sock yarn. I always know how much I need to make a pair of socks, so it is a safe and fun buy. Also, usually a low-investment purchase that doesn’t take up a lot of room in the suitcase (unless I buy 20 skeins of sock yarn...).
• Patterns. I’ve learned that when you see a pattern you think you might like to make one day, buy it. You never know if you’ll find it again. Also, again, low financial investment (because remember, I am using all my money to finance my vacation) and low spacial commitment in the suitcase.
• Buttons. I’m always looking for cute buttons. See above for why buttons also make a good travel purchase.
• Anything supply I end up desperately needing for a project that has been traveling with me.

So, here’s to happy traveling!

A Year in Socks

Not just another knit-along, the Rockin’ Sock Club hosted by Blue Moon Fiber Arts is an annual sock club. Every other month for a calendar year, participants receive a kit. The kits typically contain a special-for-the-club hand-dyed skein of BMFA’s famous (did anyone else see that line at MD Sheep and Wool? Crazy) sock yarn, along with an exclusive new sock pattern and dyer’s notes. The yarn and the pattern are available only to club members until the end of the year.

With each shipment, there is also the element of surprise. Participants don’t know what is coming in terms of yarn weight (will it be their lightweight? Mediumweight?), even fiber content (the second 2007 shipment was a new yarn, “Silkie” – 81% superwash merino and 19% tussah silk), or pattern (will it be lace? Will there be cables? Will it be top-down or toe-up?). Each shipment is a chance to potentially learn a new technique involved with sock knitting and try out a color you may not have picked out if left to your own devices.

Also in full utilization of the technology resources that surround us on a daily basis, the ladies at Blue Moon have a message board/blog set up for all the participants. They can communicate with participants about shipments, contests and answer questions; and the participants can also ask and answer questions, arrange local meet-ups and post status updates or modifications and finished photos of their kit socks.

If you are a die-hard sock knitter, or even just a regular sock knitter, and would like to participate in 2008, check back with the Blue Moon website closer to the close of 2007.

Copyright is Confusing

I was thinking of writing a piece on “tips and tricks” to share with you. One of the “tips and tricks” I use for nearly every project that I was going to share is to make a “working photocopy” of your pattern. I know it seems like a no-brainer, but I run into a lot of people who haven't thought of doing this to save their books from the wear and tear they are subjected to in project bags, not to mention giving you a handy place to jot down notes.

But I was having a dilemma. I couldn’t just put that tip out there and not include a note on copyright as it pertains to both personal uses and Springwater uses. So, here are the bones of copyright laws as they pertain to your own fiber endeavors and at Springwater:

Copyright law is a serious consideration for Springwater. Unfortunately, it is easy to violate (as we have seen with the music industry), but violations are still illegal and could carry hefty fines. As a non-profit organization concerned with community and educating people about all the joys of fiber arts, we also need to be sure we are not doing so at another’s expense.

Whether a pattern specifically has a big, bold copyright notice on it or not, it likely has a copyright owned by either the author or the publisher. Patterns, I think we would all agree, are undoubtedly artistic and intellectual works. The government copyright website (http://www.copyright.gov/) defines copyright as:

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of ‘original works of authorship,’ including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. . . . It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright.

~ Quoted from http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci

Things we MAY do include:

• We MAY make a copy of a pattern we have already purchased for our own personal use. For example, I usually make a copy of a pattern that I am working on so that I may make notes, highlight the size I am working on, or make alterations to the pattern for myself.
• We MAY print out a copy of a free pattern on the internet for our own personal use. For example, patterns on http://www.knitty.com are available to print out for person use, but are not available to sell or distribute.
• We MAY tell customers where they may obtain a free pattern on the internet.
• We MAY make a copy of a pattern that we have sold the last copy of. This copy should not to be sold, but used only as a reminder of what we need to re-order.
• We MAY write a pattern and copyright it ourselves. If you do create and wish to copyright a pattern yourself, the correct notation would be: © 2006 Jane Doe or Copyright 2006 Jane Doe. Under the current laws, technically you do not need to register your piece nor put a copyright notice on it in order to secure copyright protection, but it certainly helps to avoid any confusion.

Things we MAY NOT do include:

• We MAY NOT make copies of free internet patterns to distribute to our customers. These patterns are under copyright protection by the author or publisher and may not be distributed by a store (even if we don’t charge for them) without express permission for the copyright holder. We can, however, tell a customer where to go to make their own copy for personal use.
• We MAY NOT make a photocopy of a pattern from a book we have not purchased, nor allow our customers to do so.
• We MAY NOT sell a photocopy of a pattern.
• We MAY NOT sell something we have made from a pattern that is copyrighted by someone other than ourselves.
• We MAY NOT make a slight adjustment (i.e. change the color of the yarn) to a pattern and call it altered sufficiently as to no longer be protected under copyright law. This is covered under the “derivative works” section and would also require permission from the copyright holder to distribute.
• Unless you are certain it is in the public domain, it is always safe to assume that if you did not write it, draw it, photograph it, compose it, etc., someone else did, and therefore, someone else holds the copyright, and we need to obtain permission (by asking or purchasing) to distribute it.

For more information about copyright, visit: http://www.copyright.gov/.

Mystery Stole 3 – An Adventure in Lace

What’s got over 6500 members around the world, is free to join, and has everyone knitting lace? Why, it’s Mystery Stole 3, of course!

Melanie, knit designer and hostess of the PinkLemonTwist blog, is in her third year of hosting her lace stole knit along, and this year, it is bigger than ever. With the word out and a few well-known knitters and bloggers signed up, membership in this group exploded in the last week of sign-ups in the end of June.

I figured I’d better see what the fuss was about.

The idea is simple, yet so clever. Melanie has labored and created a pattern for a knitted lace stole. The pattern and theme are kept secret, but she gives hints at the outset to help each knitter make decisions about what yarn (and in this year’s case, also optional beads) to use. Each week over the summer, she gives out one “clue” (so far, each week’s clue has been 50 rows of lace knitting) to knit in consecutive order. At the end of the cumulative weeks, everyone will have a knitted lace stole (and will know what the pattern and theme is!).

Melanie has also set up and is moderating a Yahoo! Group as a way of communicating to over 6500 knitters around the world, distributing the clues, and enabling discussion amongst the knitters who wish to participate. As is continuing to be an prominent feature of the over-all knitting community (in her latest book, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting, the Yarn Harlot, who is also a member of MS3, gives a humorous glance into what characterizes this thing called a "knitting community"), the members of this KAL are eager and quick to assist anyone with questions or difficulties.

So, you may be wondering how my Mystery Stole 3 is coming along... I’m consistently a week behind on the clues, but am enjoying knitting every row. While it helps to have a bit of lace knitting knowledge under your belt to participate, there seem to be a lot of new lace knitters in the group – this would be to be a great way to find your lace groove if you have been daunted by trying a large lace project on your own. Just remember one word (ok, two, really): Life Line.

And if you’ve missed out on the fun this summer, plans are already underway for Mystery Stole 4 to take place late next summer.

Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Done Right

Knitting can be infectious. We know that. Take a look at all the various sock clubs, knit-alongs (aka KALs), and trends in what people are knitting. Someone knits something cute, blogs about it, and all of a sudden, you’ve got a whole host of people knitting that object and sharing their progress and problems in this huge online knitting community.

One of the things I have seen around the blogosphere a lot lately, and been infected with myself, is Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise Jacket (BJS). Just Google “Baby Surprise Jacket” and you’ll see how many of us are hooked on this ingenious design. You can find her guidelines in both The Opinionated Knitter and Knitting Workshop for this amorphous blob of garter stitch that seems to magically, with only a few well-placed folds, become a handsome little baby cardigan.

I first saw some pictures of it just a few weeks ago, after I had finished the 36 mitered squares for my mitered square baby blanket—I have to admit, I was initially drawn to the BJS because of the use of miters. Immediately, I set to drawing it out and puzzling out how it was constructed. After a little online research, including visiting a site devoted to knitting Elizabeth Zimmerman patterns, http://zimmermaniacs.blogspot.com/, and the BSJ page of KnitWiki, http://www.knitting-and.com/wiki/Baby_Surprise_Jacket, I had it sketched out and was committed to making one myself.

I chose a variegated yarn for my own BJS: something purple and turquoise, favorite colors of the mom-to-be for whom I was knitting. It only uses 300–400 yards, so it is easy to find something in a reasonable price range that will work beautifully. Stash yarns would work wonderfully, too, since you can easily make a striped BJS. The knitting is pretty straightforward (all garter stitch), so you have plenty if opportunity to be creative and play with color and texture.

EZ’s directions, while feeling a little like I was blindly being led down a path whose end I was a little unsure of, were clear and concise. You just cast on and go, decreasing where she tells you, increasing where she tells you. It was a little like turning a sock heel for the first time – just follow the directions, and even though they may not make sense at the time, it works out. Your cast-on row becomes the back neck and sleeves, and after a series of well-placed decreases, increases, buttonholes and bind-offs, just sew up the seams on the tops of the sleeves and you are done! I also added a simple row of single crochet around the neck edge to give it a more “finished” look, and cute fishy buttons.

Once I noodled out how I thought it would work on paper as well as the actual knitting up of my own little cardi following her directives, I still continue to be in complete wonderment of how she figured it out in the first place. Genius. I’m already planning my next one for some unsuspecting, unborn baby.


For more inspiration and see who else has knit one of this little surprises up in a flash, check out these popular blogs:

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2005/04/06/whats_wrong_with_my_arse.html
http://www.glampyre.com/2007/07/10/mercurys-on-the-move/
http://www.helloyarn.com/wp/?cat=35
http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/06/baby-surprise-jacket.html