Tag Archives: weaving

Welcome to Fringe Association

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fringe association intro sampler

When I started this blog last December, and called it Yarnover.me, it was primarily a cleaner way for me to show my beloved friends Meg and Jo what I was up to. They were my only knitting friends at the time, and they live most of the way across the country from me. I also hoped it would help me find more kindred spirits, and it quickly became not just a place for me to document what I was making, but to share the great patterns and bits of inspiration I was finding as I scoured the internet. It’s no small chore — finding the needles in this particular haystack — but I love doing it. And it’s incredibly rewarding that so many people are choosing to spend a few minutes here each day. Nothing makes me happier than to hear that someone has been inspired to try a new skill, or that they saw a link to the perfect pattern for them. One very kind person told me she thinks of me as her imaginary friend who she goes yarn shopping with, because she doesn’t know any knitters, and that made my heart melt.

Up to now, my yarnophilia — and this blog — has been something of a secret identity, an aspect of my life I rarely and reluctantly mention to existing friends and colleagues. Nobody ever found it the least bit odd that I sew or garden or cook. And yet they find it improbable and hilarious that I knit. So while you know I love fringe in a literal sense, the new blog name is also a tiny joke about the fact that — even despite the boom in knitting over the past several years, even in a place as handmade-centric as San Francisco — knitting (or crochet or weaving) can still feel like a subversive activity.

The happy fact is, knitting is increasingly becoming a real focus in my life. But “Fringe Association” is also meant to convey that this is about much more than me. It’s about whatever and whoever is worth knowing about in the crazy, warm, wonderful world of yarn.

So, with that, I have two requests of you:

1) Talk to me. I regularly hear from people through all sorts of channels, but I’d love it if you’d leave a comment below letting me know who you are and what brings you here. What would you like to see more (or less) of?

2) If you like the blog, I’d be honored if you’d tell your friends about it. That might mean mentioning it to your three-dimensional knitting friends, or sharing a favorite post on Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest. Any mention is greatly appreciated.

And regardless, thank you so very much for reading. There’s lots more to come —

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PICTURED ABOVE, snippets from: 1) Transformative Mods: A modern spin on Flukra; 2) Blog Crush: Wiksten; 3) New Favorites: from Wool People 3; 4) Unspun and undyed; 5) FO Sightings: Kent Turman’s impeccable headwear

Blog Crush: Cathy of California

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cathy of california blog crush

I know I’ve mentioned Cathy of California a time or two before, but she really warrants an official Blog Crush. Cathy Callahan is a vintage-crafts buff in Southern California with an apparently amazing collection of mid-century craft and fiber-arts books, which she shares images from. The blog is really that simple. Posts tend to be occasional and brief, but I experience every single one of them as a little burst of inspiration. I have her own book (“Vintage Craft Workshop”) on my wishlist, and I recently discovered that we have at least one mutual friend, so maybe I’ll wrangle an introduction one of these days. Meanwhile, I’m a devout fan.

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Projects for the Labor Day weekend

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knitting weaving projects for labor day weekend

As much as I want to hunker down with my Walpole chunky and make some real progress over the long weekend, I have that recurring urge for a little instant-gratification project. Something fallish. Liiike … charming knitted acorns, in small or large sizes, to slip into the hands of assorted friends. A pair of slippers — maybe these, or these, or a new spin on these. Or perhaps a little branch weaving? We’ll see.

But please, if you care about me at all!, tell me what you’ll be working on this weekend.

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Elsewhere

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sonia delaunay hot pants and elizabeth zimmermann

Welcome to Elsewhere: the historical edition! Some inspiring and informative links from this week’s travels around the Internet —

– Threaded has the skinny on hot pants.

– Kate Davies is on a Sonia Delaunay kick.

– Dominique Browning discovers Saori weaving and has her first experience at a loom. (OK, that’s from March, but I didn’t see it until now!)

– And it’s nice to see Elizabeth Zimmermann tweeting.

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In other news, Knitting Daily has put out an amazingly thorough Free Guide to Knitting Needles. Worth coughing up your email address for.

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Seen at Stitches

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habu handspun tassar silk

I’m back from Stitches Midwest and a little bereft, missing Jo and Meg after a fun weekend together, surrounded by knitters as far as the eye could see. I thought I’d share a few scenes. Above is my favorite thing that came home with me — two bundles of handspun tassar silk from Habu. It’s like pliable twigs, and I can’t wait to try weaving with it.

watershed cardigan knitted by jo strong

Meg’s cardigan was a huge hit, prompting countless inquiries and lots of petting. It’s Amy Swenson’s Watershed cardigan pattern, and was knitted by Jo in Tosh DK. (It was perfectly adorable on Meg, but I was trying to figure out if I could do it with sleeves and straight edges for myself.)

sincere sheep napa valley wool at carolina homespun

I was surprised and happy to see some Sincere Sheep wool hanging in the Carolina Homespun booth. Even more surprised when we walked around the rack and found Brooke Sinnes herself sitting there, knitting away on a shawl like she always seems to be. Meg bought enough fingering-weight merino to knit the Walpole cardigan, in a color which is hilariously called Kung Hey Fat Choi. I wonder if she’ll have it done in time for the parade.

indigo weaving

A seriously gorgeous blue table runner, woven by a demonstrator whose name I failed to write down.

advanced tunisian crochet stitch sampler

Part of my stitch sampler from my Advanced Tunisian Crochet class. We did lots of beautiful stitches, but I was mostly stunned to learn of Tunisian Knit Stitch, which you can see above looks exactly like stockinette (but so fast to do).

manos del uruguay wool

I wanted to bring home these bundled hanks of Manos del Uruguay — all of them — and just put them in my living room as decoration. So beautiful. I had to settle for two skeins of that brilliant kelly green you can just see on the left edge of the photo.

plucky knitter sarah dimond colorwork cowl

And it was a pleasure to meet Sarah Dimond and her sister, of The Plucky Knitter. They won my best dressed award, for sure. Sarah has great color sense, and her multicolored cowl looked amazing with her navy schoolboy blazer, jeans, and sandals.

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Blog Crush: Karen Barbé

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karen barbe woven patches

I can tell you it’s been eight weeks since I first saw this image, these little woven patches. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at it since then. It’s the work of Chilean textile artist Karen Barbé, and it makes my heart go pitty-pat, as does her whole blog. Barbé weaves, embroiders, teaches, and takes beautiful and amusing photos. Go forth and browse.

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Fun for the whole family

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To no one’s great surprise, I’m sure, I did essentially no knitting on my trip, despite the giant bag of stuff I took with me. I did make those Humanoidish mitts on my departure flight, but the knitting I did after I landed was limited to teaching my 5-year-old niece how to knit!

She asked if I’d teach her and I said we could certainly try, and that if she wasn’t big enough to do it yet we’d try again another time. She was completely fine with that, and proceeded to wow us all by getting it very quickly. Of course, each stitch took her awhile to complete and she would tire out after a couple of rows. But she kept coming back to it, and over the course of a few days, with me knitting the first few stitches of each row, we made about a 4-inch swatch (with a color change in the middle). I bound it off before I left and she is very proud of it. And I of her.

But there was more. This was something of a mini family reunion, with relatives ranging from 2 years old to 87, and I thought potholder looms might be fun for everyone. Something the grown-ups could help the kids with, and get into themselves, and that it would be something to keep our hands busy while we all sat around and yammered. So I had two looms sent from Amazon, along with a mountain of loops, and it really was fun. There were a good dozen or so made (or in the works) by the time I left. And best of all, everyone will go home with this funny little souvenir of our time together.

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