Tag Archives: sewing

Elsewhere, new goods, and come to Nashville!

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Yarny links for your clicking pleasure

I have a little Elsewhere for you today, for starters:

I also want to talk to you about Stitches. Many of you have asked if I’ll be having a booth at Stitches West again this year, and after a lot of deliberation, I’ve decided not to. One of the many reasons is that Stitches South is moving this year, from Atlanta to my newly adopted hometown of Nashville! So I’m concentrating my energy on the (hopefully) much bigger booth I’ll have at Stitches South in late April, and I’m encouraging you to come. If you’ve ever thought of traveling to Nashville, I can’t think of a better time. The Stitches shows (where I learned so much of what I know) are so worth going to — whether or not you have to travel to get to one — but they’re generally near destination towns, not in them. South will be right here in Nashville, at Opryland. So in this case, you can partake of the amazing classes and the marketplace and get to enjoy the town. It also coincides with the Nashville Flea Market, which I’m told is ranked in the top-ten fleas in the country but I can tell you is the best flea I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot. Restaurants, music, hiking trails, the flea, and a chance to attend Stitches. Why would you not come?! I’ll have more to say about it between now and April, but you should seriously take a look at the class schedule and give it some thought. Grab a friend and come together!

Elsewhere, new goods and Stitches South!

And I have exciting shop news: First, there’s some amazing micro-batch yarn from Abundant Earth Fiber, which you can read more about right here. Because there is so little of it, I’m declaring that it will be for sale at 10am CST this morning, and when it’s gone it’s gone, so set an alarm. Also, as noted above, the Wabi Mitts kits are back in stock in all colors and larger quantities this time, so hopefully you can get the one you’ve been wanting! And the beloved wooden gauge rulers are also finally back in stock.

Happy shopping, happy reading, happy knitting, and happy weekend!

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Elsewhere

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Yarny links for your clicking pleasure

I’m on a plane to Phoenix today, headed for the winter trade show. Last winter in San Diego was when I wore my one-armed Acer in the Hyatt lounge one night while drinking with a bunch of knitters. This year I’m taking my Amanda with me with the full intention of wearing it to the actual show on Saturday — and I haven’t packed a backup. So instead of doing a Monday blog post last night, I worked on my button bands. If it’s not done, will I wear it all day without finished bands or buttons? Let’s all hope/pray we don’t have to find out. And yes, that means there’s almost surely no blog post for Monday. Sorry! But hopefully these links will keep you busy for a bit—

– Could use a scarf like this about now

– Can’t wait to see where Carrie Hoge is going with this

– Love. This. Girl. (thx, Anie)

–  The making of Clara’s cormo (I’m saving this to read on the plane)

– Jen’s wardrobe plan makes me want to sketch again. Also: Mesmerizing

– How is this even possible?

– and have you ever seen a more beautiful yarn cabinet?

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ON A SEPARATE NOTE: We’ve restocked the concave horn buttons, narrow-rim horn/bone buttons and soft concave corozo buttons and have expanded the size and color variations available in all three. DG will be shipping today as always! And I’ll do my best not to run off with whatever is left upon my return. That is seriously a whole lot of beautiful buttons.

Happy weekend!

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The outlook for 2015

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The outlook for 2015

So we’ve talked about the top posts of 2014, my favorite New Favorites of the year, and my paltry but meaningful list of FOs. That leaves only the matter of the resolutions I made for 2014, which, um …

1. Knit less, crochet more. If I crocheted a single stitch this year, I don’t recall it.
2. Give it away. Sum total: one pair of mitts.
3. Specifically, knit my husband a sweater. Fail.
5. Publish more patterns, here and elsewhere. Sum total: zero.

But what about number 4, Continue to push myself? That one I feel pretty good about, although the new skills I tackled weren’t the ones I specified in that post. But I’m definitely knitting on a much higher level than I was a year ago. As evidence of this, I offer the fact that I’ve been knitting a cable sweater while watching a Netflix series that features a steady stream of subtitled Norwegian dialogue. My definition of “mindless knitting” now encompasses 40-row cable charts. Easily memorized, as cable charts go, but still — subtitles!

As for failing on the other four — in my defense, life and Fringe both took off in directions I couldn’t have predicted a year ago. The growth of Fringe Supply Co. is the absolute highlight of my year, but it left me with less knitting time, for sure. And then there’s the fact that Bob and I decided to move ourselves and Fringe from Berkeley to Nashville, an enormous undertaking, and one that derailed all sorts of other plans, not just my knitting list. The new Fringe HQ is a about twice the 200 square feet I had in CA, and my trusty shipping manager, DG, now works with me five days a week — and we’ve already outgrown this space and are looking for a new one. I have hopes of paying myself some semblance of a living wage this year, if not of having any more knitting time than in 2014. But that’s a pretty wonderful “problem” to have.

So my goal for this year is to choose wisely. I feel like I’ve gotten much better about picking projects and materials that are worthy of my precious making time. I want to make better, not more. And now that I have the space to do it, I want to really, truly sew. The biggest personal shift for me this year was the crystallization of a desire to know where my clothes come from, whether I’ve made them myself or bought them from small-batch producers. But most of all, I want to make them — to the extent that life will allow.

And I also have goals for the blog in 2015. There’s a roundtable idea I’ve been talking about for over a year that I vow to launch this year. And for those of you clamoring for more knitalongs, there’s another idea that’s gone from a simmer to a boil in the past few days, so expect an announcement about that very soon. It’s lovely that you guys apparently enjoy the sound of my voice, but I want to make sure you hear from others here even more than you have in the past — meaning more installments of Our Tools, Ourselves, the aforementioned roundtable, and more people writing about subjects that are beyond my skills and knowledge. I’m so grateful to everyone who contributed to making this blog what it’s been in 2014, most notably the Amanda panelists, who’ve so exceeded whatever I imagined when I first cooked that up.

It’s been such a pleasure to knit with you all, so here’s to much more of that in the new year!

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Top posts of 2014

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Top posts of 2014

It’s always intriguing to take a look back at the blog for the year and see what caught your interest. It’s also odd to look at, because there are about twenty posts from deep in the archives that are so huge on Pinterest and/or Ravelry that they are just always way out in front, no matter how old they are. It’s possible nothing will ever compete with the tutorial on How to improvise a top-down sweater, the top post for two years running. Right behind it are two of the holiday knitting cheat sheets: Cowls all around and A hat for every head. Then comes Pullovers for first-timers and my most popular pattern, Super Simple Mitts. But as far as which of this year’s posts grabbed your attention, these came out on top:

1. Joining sweater parts at the underarm: Here comes the fun! (Hey, I got there on Christmas day!)
2. Mitts for Miss Casey, which ties in to the aforementioned Super Simple Mitts
3. Knit the Look: Mariska van der Zee’s EZ pullover
4. Knitting in Paradise, about my time at Squam
5. Hot Tip: Mismatch your needles
6. Colorwork patterns for first-timers
7. New Favorites: Lena Samsoe’s fisherman cardigan, precursor to the knitalong
8. New Favorites: Rosa Pomar’s blanket hat
9. Best new hat patterns from last winter
10. Our Tools, Ourselves: Jared Flood, Q&A with the Brooklyn Tweed founder

I love how diverse this list is — a mix of pattern picks, how-to information, an interview, some personal whatnot, and the sweater that fueled the Amanda knitalong, When I ask people in person what they enjoy about the blog, the two most common answers these days are that knitalong and the Tag Team Sweater Project. So it’s clear you guys enjoy a big project, along with the regular features.

Here are some of my personal favorites from the year:

January: FO Sightings: Fancy Amber’s heroic vest
February: Knit the Look: Marte Mei Van Haaster’s perfect grey pullover
March: Sleeveless in Seattle (Flattering or not, I love those photos) and Lemaire’s never-enough knits
April: Sweet spring shawls and Pretty spring scarves (I also LOVED creating these images.)
May: Make, knit, mend — the post I hope I never forget
June: To live and dye in Oaxaca, the beautiful guest post by Jess Schreibstein
July: Future most-worn handknit, the beautiful guest post by Ashley Yousling
August: What I really want is a Kathryn Davey wardrobe
September: Amanda knitalong: Meet the panel! — one of my all-time favorite posts
October: All those WIPs of the Week
November and December: The knitalong FO interviews with Jaime Jennings, Meg Strong and Kate Gagnon Osborn

I’ve also loved every word of Our Tools, Ourselves. And I always love Q for You. I don’t always have the bandwidth to respond to everything, but I read and appreciate every single answer and always learn something (lots of somethings!) interesting. I’m still making my way through all the incredibly meaty answers to last week’s question. The Q that drew the most responses this year, if you’re curious, was Does having a yarn stash work?

So if you’re bored at work or the in-laws today, hopefully that will fill some time! And if you’re inclined to tell me, I’d love to hear what your favorite features or posts have been this year — and what you’d like to see more (or less) of in 2015!

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p.s. There are a few marked down items in the shop this week.

Elsewhere

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Yarny links for your clicking pleasure

Pardon my absence yesterday — y’all kept us crazy busy with that sale, and there was no time for blogging before my birthday dinner. Thank you for all that craziness, though, and for all of the very sweet birthday wishes. You truly made my day.

Two broader Elsewheres to start. First: I was thrilled to see Jared Flood announce that he would be returning to blogging. Not that he hasn’t been doing a bang-up job with the BT blog the past few years, but I have loved and missed his original blog. So hooray for that. Second: I bought a little bluetooth speaker for my car, now that I have a commute, and have been trying to form a podcast habit. I’m so thrilled Woolful and Knit.fm are out there (and have been happy to sponsor both). I’d love to hear about your other favorite maker podcasts.

Beyond that—

That is one impressive mantel

Z’s been at it again, cranking out the wardrobe staples I want

Does crafting make you crazy?

An incubator for tiny fashion brands (thx, Anie)

Perfectly timed: Top 9 sewing books for beginners (or begin-again-ers like me)

And a beautiful essay about the seductive appeal of indigo dyeing

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HOLIDAY SHIPPING NOTE: A few people have asked about when is too late for Christmas orders. My answer is it’s up to you. We ship every weekday at Fringe Supply Co., and domestic orders (except oversize parcels) ship via Priority Mail, which is a 2-Day shipment to just about anyone in the US. Orders received this morning will ship today for probable delivery on Monday. Orders received up through Monday morning will ship Monday for probable Wednesday delivery. I say probable because USPS does not guarantee those delivery windows, and of course this is the busiest time of the year. Obviously ordering this morning is safer than ordering Monday morning, but use your own discretion! We’ll be here shipping away as always.

And don’t forget: We have gift certificates!

Happy weekend, everyone!

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Winter wardrobe fix, part 1: Simple sewn tops

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Winter wardrobe fix, part 1: Simple sewn tops

There’s been some turmoil going on in my home life the past few months that I haven’t really been talking about publicly — health issues with my husband that are finally (hopefully) being resolved thanks to surgery last week — but that means we have basically still not moved into our house. If you only saw the kitchen, you would think somebody lived there (albeit someone who apparently likes bare walls) but if you peered into what we call My Room, you’d think there were squatters in the house. When we moved to Nashville, we didn’t actually move to Nashville but to a town outside of town where the rents are dirt cheap and we were able to get enough space that Bob would have his painting studio in the daylight basement and I would have a room where my sewing machine could be out 24/7. Living the dream! Until … squatterville. The other thing keeping me from putting the room together and to use is that I haven’t had time to give any thought to how to furnish and organize it. But with things turning around finally, I was doing stuff around the house Sunday and a lightbulb went on over my head. Suddenly I could see the room all laid out, and immediately ordered my favorite industrial shelves and a worktable (happy early birthday/Christmas to me!) to use as a cutting table and for blocking. Now all I need is a table for the sewing machine itself (or a dining table so I can commandeer the table we’re currently eating on). And I’m fantasizing about a serger, but I’ll have to win the lottery first.

So my early New Year’s resolution, which I’ve been talking about on and off here for awhile, is to really learn to sew. I learned very young and do it rarely and have forgotten almost everything I ever knew. So I want to start from scratch. As much as I truly need sweaters right now, I just can’t bring myself to buy them, and it will take me awhile to knit the handful I need. Plus who doesn’t love a sweatshirt? So I have two immediate projects in mind for as soon as I get myself organized:

TOP: You may recall I bought the new Grainline Studio Linden Sweatshirt pattern on my Seattle trip last month. I’d love to make it in a nice heavy fleece, but I’ve also been pondering a fancier version. I bought this gem from J.Crew recently, a glorified sweatshirt in boiled wool, and I could not love it more. Shortly after that, Purl Soho added some exquisite-looking boiled wool to the shop, and along came Linden. Seems like fate, no? Except there’s the matter of the price tag on that wool — and the fear of cutting into it. But I’m not giving up on the idea.

BOTTOM: Then just last week on the Purl Bee appeared the Sewn Raglan Shirt pattern — designed for woven fabrics, with a little gathered neckline. I love it, and am picturing it in a nice flannel. Because there’s no end of how much flannel I want in my closet.

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Blog Crush: The Craft Sessions

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Blog Crush: The Craft Sessions

It occurred to me when putting together the last installment of Elsewhere how often I link to Felicia Semple’s Craft Sessions blog and yet I’ve never done a proper Blog Crush about it. Well! Felicia is the founder of the Australian craft camp known as The Craft Sessions — which I dream of one day attending — and started the blog (I believe) at the same time as the run-up to the first Sessions, a couple of years ago. In addition to her being a fantastic knitter and sewist, whose every project is worth an ooh and an ahh, the blog has become an outstanding resource over time, as Felicia is not afraid to write long. She picks a topic — from keeping a visual diary to picking the right sweater pattern — and digs all the way in. That means I don’t always have time to read as much of it as I would like, but I love knowing it’s there when I do — you know? Keep it up, F!

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PREVIOUSLY in Blog Crush: Woolful — who, by the way, launched her podcast yesterday