Author Archives: Karen Templer

Slade update + Fringe holiday open house!

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Slade cardigan in progress

So I wanted to show you my (very little) Slade progress — lest you think I’ve left off knitting altogether — and as I was laying it out for this photo, I had the urge to put the second sleeve on top of the first just to illustrate a point. The point being: the power of blocking. Much of the difference between the blocked sleeve and the not-yet-blocked one is obvious, although what you can’t tell from the photo is the difference in the feel and drape of the fabric. But a funny thing happened on the way to this photo. See how the camera is picking up on brown undertones in the yarn, and even thinks the upper part of the second sleeve was knitted with a distinctly browner skein than the rest? I can’t see any of that, whatsoever, with my naked eye. But now I’m worried my sleeve is two different colors and I’m just too blind to see it! #thingsoldpeopleworryabout

Fringe Supply Co.'s Sit & Knit & Shop & Sip eventRegardless, onward I shall knit. And I’ll be working on this come Saturday and the aforementioned Open House, which I’ve since dubbed the Fringe Supply Co. Sit & Knit & Shop & Sip event here at the Fringe mini-warehouse. That’s this Saturday, tomorrow, December 7th, from 2-5pm, 1450 4th St in Berkeley CA. I’ll have hyper-local pilsner,* some bubbly, cheese and chocolate.

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And speaking of chocolate: Because I love chocolate and I love my customers, all Fringe Supply Co. orders from today through Christmas Eve (assuming my supply holds out) will have a little square of Poco Dolce tucked inside. There are a lot of illustrious chocolates to have originated in SF, but for my money nothing beats Poco Dolce. If you’ve never had it, I’ll just say that it’s as if I were sticking a gold coin in each order. I wish there was a way I could send one to every blog reader everywhere, because I love you as much as I love chocolate. If only my pockets were lined with gold …

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*The Trumer brewery (gold-medal pilsner!) is less than a block away.

Someday vs. Right Away: Nordic delights

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Someday vs Right Away: Nordic delights

If you’re among the millions of people who were doing something other than reading this blog on the day before Thanksgiving, you may have missed the first installment of Someday vs Right Away, wherein I distract myself (and you!) from all the amazing sweaters we don’t have time to knit by offering up smaller-scale substitutes. Today: the Nordic sweater. Specifically the lopapeysa, national sweater of Iceland. As utterly transfixed as I am by the geometric colorwork on this perfectly unisex gem of a lopi, I won’t be knitting Jón anytime soon. But there are mittens that hold some of the same attraction, despite being very, very different. I’m looking at Pamela Wynne’s geometric, fair-isle Vera Marguerite Mittens (lower left) and Veronik Avery’s Pinion mittens (lower right), which have a lot of the same graphic appeal as Jón, but aren’t stranded knitting. They’re knit sideways in garter-stitch intarsia, so there’s the added bonus of an interesting little construction project.

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SIDE NOTE: For anyone in the Bay Area interested in shopping the Fringe Supply Co shelves in person, I’m planning an impromptu Open House for this Saturday afternoon, here in Berkeley. I’ll post full details tomorrow but wanted to give you a quick heads-up!

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PREVIOUSLY in Someday vs Right Away: Complex mixed cables

FO Sightings: Süsk’s “mantastic” cowl

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Hand knit cowl and hat, man style

I feel like the best thing I can do here is say as little as possible and just leave you alone while you stare at these photos.

(Or I could whisper for the few of you who want to listen a little while staring: Süsk and Banoo is a blog I should have known about a long time ago but only recently discovered by way of having shipped her a nice pile of Fringe Supply Co. goods — to Helsinki! — and then seen her nice blog post about it. She posted the top shot on Instagram the other day and then I saw that there were more on the blog. It’s the Purl Bee’s Lovely Ribbed Cowl knitted in some gorgeous charcoal wool, along with a matching improvised hat — a gift for her father, as modeled by her boyfriend. Husband? Whatever. Check the blog for the whole story.)

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PREVIOUSLY in FO Sightings: Z’s coveted closet of handmade clothes

Q for You: What are your favorite knitting pattern books?

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Best knitting pattern books

This Q for You comes from rachelalise in the comments, who is looking for recommendations on the best knitting pattern books:

I have an (unrelated) question for you and your most wise readers as I work out my Christmas list: do you have any favorite pattern *books* that a knitter should own? I realize that I almost exclusively knit from online patterns purchased one-off, and I’d love to build a collection of books that I can return to that contain patterns. (I have a good set of what I guess I’d term “technique books,” and all the most wonderful EZ books, but nothing else that is exclusively dedicated to patterns.)

I’m rather in the same boat and share her curiosity. For me, in my admittedly narrow experience, there aren’t a lot of books that have enough good patterns in them to warrant the cover price. So I have only invested in a few. Here are the ones I’m happiest to have bought, in no particular order:

1. “The Knitter’s Book of Wool” by Clara Parkes. Not “exclusively dedicated to patterns” — it’s about half education and half patterns, but both halves are well worth owning. (I believe the same is true of her “Knitter’s Book of Yarn,” but I loaned it to someone and never got it back, so can’t say for sure.)

2. “More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts” by Joelle Hoverson is the book that made me a knitter, and it is just wall to wall with excellent patterns.

3. Pom Pom Quarterly is like a really good pattern book that happens to be sold in installments.

4. Pioneer by Martin Storey. They may be classified and sold as periodicals, but the one-off editions of Rowan are actually slender, beautifully produced, paperback books. This volume (which I originally raved about here) contains more patterns I want to knit than any other bound object on my shelf.

5. “Knitting by Design” by Emma Robertson. Just published a few weeks ago, and I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with it. It’s very young and bright and funky, not designed or photographed like any other knitting book out there, but contains several wildly adaptable patterns. E.g., a knitted tank sweater happens to be white and dip-dyed, but you could make that tank a million different things by changing the yarn/color, dyeing it or not, etc. Same with the colorblock mittens, the adorable vest, etc.

6–8. “Knit One Knit All,” “Knitter’s Almanac” and “Knitting Without Tears” by Elizabeth Zimmermann. It takes a little imagination to see how some of EZ’s garments and accessories can look modern, but they can. I did a riff on this in Street styling Elizabeth Zimmermann (a year ago today! how weird), but just look at Abigail Chapin in her light grey Icelandic Overblouse (from Knit One Knit All), which is just like EZ’s original and looks perfectly current.

Those are the ones I’m most likely to knit from, although when it comes time to browse patterns, I do turn to my PDFs. I’ll also mention that one book I really want but don’t own yet is “Fair Isle Style” by Mary Jane Mucklestone. So let’s hear it, please: What are your favorite knitting pattern books?

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PREVIOUSLY in Q for You: How do you join a new ball of yarn?

New Favorites: Amy Christoffers’ columns of cables

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Amy Christoffers' cable sweater knitting patterns

There’s a sweater pattern very near the top of my to-knit list that I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned here. It’s Amy Christoffers’ Wren, above left. There’s no end of what you can do when you abut cables, and Amy seems to have a knack for it. Those wide and shallow cable pairs, stacked in columns, look like plating to me — almost like an exoskeleton of some sort! I’m mesmerized by them, and also love the attention to detail in how the waist ribbing folds itself into the cables. I’m dying to knit it (and to have it). But then along comes the new Twist Collective and here’s Amy at it again with the beautiful columns of cables. In Calabash, above right, the cable pairs are narrower and inverted (as compared to Wren) and in this case they remind me of laurel branches. Such a totally different effect. For Calabash, she’s contained them to the yoke, in a V, on both front and back. And they lend just enough structure to that funnel neck to make it work. Both such simple, beautiful sweaters.

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fsco_instagram_giveawayUNRELATED: You may have seen this if you follow me (as @karentempler), but over the weekend I started an Instagram feed for Fringe Supply Co. — and kicked it off with a giveaway. I’ll be posting more behind-the-scenes stuff than I have on my account, along with shop updates, etc. So if you’re on Instagram, be sure to follow @fringesupplyco!

Also, I want to let you know that I have (at the moment) 3 or fewer of the following: Kinfolk 10, the Fringe project bag, the leather tool pouch in both colors, and the round canvas tool case in the navy and natural. These won’t be restocked (although I may get more Kinfolks), so if you’ve had your eye on any of them, act now!

Thanks so much, and I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend!

The very best goods to give and receive

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Fringe Supply Co — the very best goods to give and receive

As you already know, Fringe Supply Co. is stocked with beautiful, cunning and hardworking goods I think every fibercrafter should own — from my favorite little counter and everyone’s favorite ruler to an array of great bags and baskets and more. But today I’ve added a few new ones. There are handsome navy canvas tool pouches, beautifully detailed round pencil cases (in limited quantities — be forewarned!) and a waxed canvas Dopp-kit style bag I literally cannot take my eyes off of. It is exquisite. Even Bob pauses to gaze longingly every time he walks past them in my studio. Also: Kinfolk 10, “the Aged Issue” — dedicated to all things that get better with age. I was dubious when I heard this was the theme of the next issue. But I have to say, it is very cleverly done, and as beautifully produced as ever. It would make a great gift for a variety of family members.

So whether you’re shopping for others or compiling your own wish list to share, please do take a good look at Fringe Supply Co. And thank you for shopping small this holiday!

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Giving thanks and Elsewhere

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Yarny links for the long weekend

I’m taking some semblance of a day off today — as I hope you are, if you’re in the U.S. — and celebrating Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. I also believe in taking life one holiday at a time, so I do have a little shop update, but it will happen tomorrow morning, along with a short blog post about that update. But I wanted to leave you with a few links to keep you entertained, and also with my most sincere thanks. Of all the things I’m grateful for, the opportunity to do this — to run Fringe — ranks way, way up there. I know I’ve said this a lot and recently, but I can never say it enough: It means the world to me that you find what I’m doing worthwhile. I am truly thankful for your time, your advice, your encouragement, and everything else.

So with that, a little Elsewhere:

— Is your pet turtle this well-dressed? (I love that my husband sent me this link.)

— Adventures in historically-correct knitting

— What could be more 2013 than a Kickstarter for custom-fit, 3D-printed sweaters

— A campaign I’m seriously contributing to: Mendocino Wool & Fiber

— “Handmade is never small” — Meredith’s latest yarn bomb project

— and my favorite yarny Instagram of the week (read the caption)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

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