Knitting & Purling

"All the world loves a do-it-yourselfer." That's what my Mom wrote--in 1966. She and my Dad steered us toward DIY before it was cool. He built our furniture, she knit when she had the chance, my sister sewed and embroidered, and my brother built models and things in the woods. So we were all "makers". Much as we loved it, my Mom will also tell you it was born of necessity when times were tight. But let's talk about this gorgeous vintage lopi sweater from the late 60s. Because if you are a baby boomer, you may have had one, too. Sweaters from lopi wool are knit densely to keep out the cold. Its name originally referred to wool that has not been spun. M y mother made me this sweater when I was in junior high school, and it is still in my armory for long winters. Her first lopi creation was a surprise for my father, and her frantic and secretive knitting as she tried to finish it one Christmas goes down in the family history books. I remember sittin...

In the early 1990s contemporary sweaters knit by a pre-school mother from Norway caught by eye. In a matter of weeks learning to knit them myself became a  joy. Until then I had never worked with multiple colors or knit in the round. It was fast, fun and addictive.  Do knitters have milestones, turning points or -- dare we say -- transformational moments? Well, yes -- in their own way! One of my first Norwegian sweaters for children, knit in the round. I met Gullborg Johannsson at Ithaca's UCNS pre-school, where parents all took shifts in helping to care for the children. She was knitting a maize-colored sweater at lightning speed, all the while serving as referee at the local Lego table.  In coming weeks, a small band of us trooped through snow and ice every week to learn more about her knitting techniques. She surrounded herself with stacks of hand-knit sweaters that she had made for her three children and her husband, a Cornell graduate s...

A few years ago I set out to create patterns for hand-knit hats to show Cornell University's Big Red spirit. The result was a line of hats that flatter all ages and feature a Norwegian-inspired classic and an appealing rolled-brim beanie. All sport sans-serif lettering.  Left: Norwegian-style hat Right: baby hat I have had great results with Dale of Norway's Heilo yarn for the Norwegian hats, and it produces a crisp edges for the lettering. The baby hat uses a small amount of yarn so it is wonderful to choose luxuriously soft alpaca or cashmere blends. But it's the cozy little baby cap that wins hearts, and I've now made that pattern available for purchase on Ravelry . More Big Red hats: Head gear Hipster A mighty emblem for precious cargo Last, but not least: the "Sesqui Special".  This was a custom baby hat for Liz using a Cornell giving society logo.

Valentine's Day is a fun time to remember life's great romantic moments -- whether your own or those of someone dear to you. Last year, with my daughter's June wedding on the horizon, I began plotting a sweet surprise for the bride and groom. There's little decorating needed when an outdoor wedding is in a splendid location. But my idea? A play on tree graffiti with a nod to the fun of yarn bombing. The bride and groom's initials in a heart echo the ritual (but disfiguring) practice of tree-carving proclamations. The piece is knit in all-cotton with a crocheted lace edge. I-cords were used to simply tie the piece around the trunk. I chose an old-fashioned font with a handmade look. It's a reminder of samplers and counted-cross-stitch projects, which were both needlecrafts enjoyed by my grandmothers. Happy Valentine's Day!  When it comes to knitting for weddings there are many fabulous ideas. See one blogger's collection I really love.   ...

Knitting letters is similar to stitching alphabets in  traditional samplers and cross-stitch embroidery. The catch is that the "pixels" are rectangular, not square.  Helvetica, a typographic classic, renders well in knits because it is bold and sans-serifs.  If, in the 70s, I could be a champion at rendering fonts in pencil,  I figured i could transfer that skill to knitting.  Here's my latest creation, a warm solution for the hair-free, requested by my clever neighbor, Marc.  As Marc says, this cap stops people from wondering why he is wearing his  hat indoors. Plus, the fiber is super soft Berrocco Ultra   Light Alpaca .  When I chart my pattern, my process is utterly low-tech, as shown below. Sometimes I have also been known to hold up graph paper and trace from my Mac or iPod computer screen after I have enlarged or reduced text. The completed hat Here's a hat for...

Every knitter accumulates leftover yarn from projects.  It would be a shame to waste beautiful, high-quality wool and other fibers.  Over the years, these leftover balls and scraps grow into sizable stashes, especially when you inherit yarn from other knitters. So some knitters like me turn to scrap-yarn knitting. It's a fun, creative, and liberating process. You can let go of the rules and play, using only the most basic of patterns. Here's my first project, a scrap-yarn cardigan, circa 2009. Same sweater different scarf, as shown with my friend Becky. The 1985 book that riveted me. It was in the window of Homespun Boutique on the Ithaca Commons. From the richly textured stitches forming that sweater, I moved on to more color play after learning new techniques from  Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably  when they visited Cornell and led a weekend workshop. Kaffe's work caught my eye in the early 1980s, and the story of how this Big Sur, California...

Best-quality wool, classic patterns, and quality workmanship make for a sweater that wears like iron. My mom knit me this gorgeous classic when I was in high school in the 1970s, and I've been wearing it ever since. She has always been a prodigious knitter of beautiful garments and accessories. And it's all the more remarkable because she finished it all the while working full time at Johns Hopkins University during the Vietnam War, the feminist movement, and coeducation at a previously male institution. (But then, maybe that's why she turned to knitting: its calming nature.) I'm third in our matriarchal line of knitters and started with a Knitting Nancy before moving on to a pair of needles. Between my grandmother's and my mother's projects, yarn and needles were never hard to find. We had deep chests of leftover yarns to root through.  With insomnia running in the family, I suspect there was a lot of middle-of-the-night knitting. My sister and I w...