Some Yakety Yakking about Yak Yarn

If you like yak yarn, or wish to try working with some, you might consider buying it from The Rocking Yak. About a decade ago Bret Colledge, the founder of The Rocking Yak, was backpacking through the mountain villages in southwest China and was struck by the poverty and desperation of the Tibetan people there. He decided he had to help them by giving them a way to support themselves and their families, and so formed The Rocking Yak company, which employs Tibetan women who use their traditional spinning and knitting skills to produce high-quality hand-produced yak fibres, yarn, and garments.

Spinners can buy The Rocking Yal's fibres and spin and dye them into their own yarn. Knitters can purchase The Rocking Yak yarn, which comes in its natural brown, a dyeable cream, and a few hand-dyed colours, and is available in light, medium, and bulky weights. The Rocking Yak also offers a few very basic knitting patterns for free. If you are a non-knitter or don't care to add yet another item to your already endless list of projects, The Rocking Yak sells some hand-knitted items.

Some stores in U.S., Canada, and China sell Rocking Yak yarn; for those of us who don't live near one of the stores on the list, Rocking Yak's products are available online, and they offer free shipping on U.S. orders over $30. I've had no dealings with The Rocking Yak or with yak yarn myself, but I've looked at the all the projects made with The Rocking Yak yarn on Ravelry, and I see a lot of beautiful items and no complaints whatsoever.






Here's a slide show of the Tibetan knitters and spinners and other The Rocking Yak employees at work, with bonus shots of some unsuspecting yaks, who have no idea how their down (which is gathered after they've shed it, not shorn) is helping the people they live among.

Booking Your Next Knitting Project

I came across the above photo on the net, and its sheer awesomeness made me decide to seek out other knitted book covers and do a knitted book cover post. You won't want to knit every book you own a book cover, of course, but it might be nice to make one for a gift, to make your journal or your chequebook or your daytimer look worthy of belonging to a knitter, to protect a beloved yet crumbling book, or to camouflage the fact that you're reading trashy novels from everyone on the bus, your children, or the Mother Superior of your convent.

And may I also suggest cotton covers? Because, though you may not be one to feel the heat like I do, I cannot imagine anyone wanting to so much as touch a wool-covered book in July (or in the height of summer whenever that is where you live). Please excuse me while I peel my arms off my desk. They got stuck while I was typing this.

The above book cover was created by Craftivore, and she provides details on the Ravelry page for the project. There doesn't, sadly, seem to be a pattern available, and it won't be easy to recreate it. Just look at that detail!

And this inside detail! I love the wit and the bookishness and the colour sense and the sheer level of craft and care that went into this project. I did not, as one might expect, find another book cover to equal this one, but I did find some quite attractive ones.

This sketchbook cover by Veronik Avery is really quite something. It's available as a download for $5.50.

This notebook cover by Jane Burns is also very eye-catching. This pattern is available as a download for £2.99.

This cat motif notebook by Julia Brice is simple but cute. I'd do the cat in an angora or a mohair. It's a free pattern.

If you're a Dr. Who fan, this book cover from The Fantasy Intellectual is for you. The pattern is free.

If you're partial to classic cables, you could always go with a pattern like this cabled one, which appeared in Carri Hammett's Ready, Set, Knit Cables: Learn to Cable with 20 Designs and 10 Projects.

And it would be easy to make your own pattern in any colour, pattern, texture or size you wish, since they are really just simple rectangles.

A Clockwork Knit

Today's post was going to be about knitted lampshades. I found loads of gorgeous ones and was confident that the topic was going to work into a great post... until I started researching the safety aspects. And I ended up concluding I don't want to be responsible for any of my readers winding up homeless or getting burnt to a crisp. I then sighed, deleted the draft post and moved on to write this post about knitted clocks. I'm not going to be making a knitted clock myself because it'll get dusty and be difficult to clean, but at least I can be pretty sure that promoting the idea isn't going to get anyone roasted alive.

The Clock Tam above was designed by Kerin Dimeler-Laurence and Nina Isaacson and is available as a $9.99 download. It would also make a snazzy hat.

I absolutely love the Gomitolo Knit Clock, which is made by the Italian company Diamantini & Domeniconi, but alas, the pattern doesn't seem to be available online and at any rate this clock is 3 feet in diameter. I've included it in this post for inspiration, though, because surely a good knitter could design something similar on a smaller scale.

Knitted clocks seem to be an unexplored area of knitting design, because I could only find two that I really liked. I do rather like this crocheted rainbow clock, from Babukatorium. Visually dividing the clock's face into twelve sections would do away with the need for numbers. As I've always found when buying watches, I don't need the numbers, but I do need the hours marked in some way. A former co-worker of mine once told me she inadvertently left work an hour early one day because the stylish new watch she'd gotten from her boyfriend on her birthday only had a blank face and hands. Oops.






If the idea of making a knitted clock intimidates you, don't let it. You'll be buying the clock mechanism and assembly is easy. The video above by Kyoko Nakayoshi explains how it's done. It's not like you're building a clock that will do your knitting for you, is it?

If you'd rather just spruce up an existing clock than make one, you can make a clock cozy like the one above in any colours or patterns you like. The pattern is by Inger Lise and is available for free on Ravelry.

Gloves and Gathered Shoulders: a Selection of Knitting Patterns from 1940 to 1949

Today's post is the fifth in my series of 20th Century knitting pattern posts (you can see the other posts in the series here), and offers a selection of patterns from the 1940s. As I move forward through the 20th century, these period patterns that are wearable by today's standards become easier to find with each post, until it's reached the point where the only challenge is finding patterns that look period instead of looking too generically classic and too much like the designs of the present. This was especially true of the forties because its fashions reflected the austerity of the war and post-war years. I've chosen not to include any of the patterns I found that were designed specifically for the war effort because they were simply too utilitarian to be attractive to modern knitters.

The pattern above is the Bolero Bed Jacket of the late 1940s. Of course these days it would not be considered a bed jacket but a spencer, and it's quite similar to the spencers that are very much in style right now. I like the graceful shaping of it and the ribbon tie and think it would look very pretty over a simple empire-waisted dress. It's available on Subversive Femme as a free pattern.

This Lady's Evening Jumper pattern is from Jane Waller's Knitting Fashions of the 1940s: Styles, Patterns, and History. The empire cut was very popular in the 1940s.

This is the Gwen Cardigan design, and is a Patons Australia pattern that is available for free.

This is a knitted dress pattern that originally appeared in Alice Carrol’s Complete Guide to Modern Knitting & Crocheting, published in 1942, and the pattern is available for free. It has the gathered shoulders that were so typical of forties women's wear designs.

The Keryn pattern is another free pattern offered by Subversive Femme and that dates from the late forties. It's meant to be knitted in angora, which was all the rage for women's sweaters from the late forties through the fifties.

Here's a Fair Isle beret and glove set that is another free pattern from Subversive Femme. In the 1940s a lady always wore gloves on the street.

I just had to include this pattern for Fishnet Stockings. In the 1940s fishnet stockings seem to have had very different sartorial connotations than they do now. One wouldn't wear fishnet stockings with such sensible shoes these days. This pattern was originally published in From Stockings and Underwear: Vogue-Knit Series No. 35, and is now one of the catalogue of free 1940s patterns offered by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and you can view and print the PDF here.

The Biscay design is another free pattern offered by Subversive Femme. Most of the 1940s men's patterns I saw while researching this post were just too generic to include, but I thought this one had a bit of style. Apparently the pattern mentions knitting a "tie-keeper" on the inside neck edge.

This child's Tin Soldier Jersey is also from Jane Waller's Knitting Fashions of the 1940s: Styles, Patterns, and History, and is just too cute.

Speaking of too much cuteness, this pattern for Tim the Tiger and Leo the Lion definitely fall into that category. These toys were designed by "Finella" for Wife and Home Magazine, and the pattern is is now one of the catalogue of free 1940s patterns offered by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and you can view and print the PDF here.

There's a Knitted Corgi on the Loose

Will and Kate's wedding, as imagined with knitted characters and falsetto voiceovers. Don't trip over the corgi while you're doing the Conga line, Queen Elizabeth! If you're interested in knitting your own versions of the wedding party members, check out this post of mine.

Knit n' Style October 2013: A Review

The October 2013 issue of Knit n' Style is out, and I've made all the jokes I think I can make about their wildly mismatched dating of their magazine's issues, so let's just take a look at the designs on offer, shall we?

I don't know about Arianna Vest. It's not terrible, but it doesn't have any exemplary qualities either. It's neither unflattering or flattering, neither sharp nor ugly. Which probably means I should advise you to keep looking for a vest pattern that is smart and flattering. And I will say that if you do want to make this one, make sure the buttons don't protrude past the edge of the bodice when it's buttoned. That always makes a garment look poorly made and too small.

This is the crocheted version of the Arianna Vest above. The same comments apply. Though at least the buttons are properly placed on this one.

Here we have a Intentional Stripes Cowl that's neither great nor terrible. And I don't know how warm it will keep your neck when it's as open as this one.

The Aeryn is a well-designed classic cabled cardigan. But then you probably already have a very similar pattern in your pattern library.

I actually don't mind this Monarch Scarf. Sometimes a novelty-yarn scarf can be the perfect accessory for a simple outfit. I don't know why they paired it with a rumpled leopard pattern blazer, though. Not only is the colourway dreary, the combination makes this model look like a leopard that has just made a meal out of an ostrich.

This Teddie Hooded Vest looks like something out of a seventies-era craft magazine — and the seventies are not known for the aesthetic or technical excellence of their craft kits and patterns. A hooded open-front vest isn't a bad concept, but that blue trim is doing this pattern no favours. Are the blue lines on the front panels supposed to be asymmetrical? Because they look like an accident. If you want to make this pattern, I'd make it all in a solid colour and put some kind of fastener at the top (or all the way down the front), rather than that tie.

Oh dear. This Lacy Rib Pullover is not good. The variegated yarn used on the sleeves is just hideous. The lace pattern on the bodice is really enough detail for this sweater — it didn't need a competing visual interest, particularly an overpoweringly ugly visual interest. This sweater would look about twenty times more attractive if the whole thing had been done in just one solid colour yarn. I'm not crazy about the ruffled edgings, which look a little chintzy, but I think they might work if the sweater is done in a pale shade, or perhaps black, to give the look a feminine, lingerie-like look.

I do quite like this Bold Stripes Pullover. The colourway is good, it's striking, it's a little different, and yet it's totally wearable. My one nitpick is that the cowl doesn't lie all that well, but it does show to better advantage on the cover shot for this issue, so perhaps it just wasn't arranged well here. Yes, this design is the cover look for the October 2013 issue, which is good because it's the strongest and most eye-catching design of this issue and Knit n' Style usually doesn't put their best design on the cover for some reason.

I like this Galway Jacket design too. The collar and cuffs are so pretty and the workmanship is good overall.

I have been peering at this Diagonal Rib Pullover design for about ten minutes and I honestly can't tell what's going on with it. The sock yarn and the stitchwork combined make it look like a knitted version of camouflage. But I give it a qualified approval, as it does look like a fairly decent design, though perhaps you may wish to knit it in a solid yarn, as a intricate pattern combined with a variegated yarn can wind up looking a little muddled. And to wear it with a crew neck t-shirt, as that v-neck is a little too open and it's not exactly flattering on this model's neck.

The Stansborough Sheep Jacket is really, really basic. This is a sweater that calls for a great quality yarn in the kind of colour that makes your day, because doing it in gray makes it look just too utilitarian.

The Tweed Deluxe Pullover is another very basic design, and the shape of it is pretty seriously unflattering even on this model. I'd definitely bypass this one. A very simple sweater needs great lines.

This is the Modesto design. And I know menswear must be seriously boring to design and I'm willing to give this designer points for effort and for trying to think out of the box and come up with a fresh new concept, but this sweater looks more like a bad upcycling project than a sweater most men would like to wear.

The Fairy-Slipper Shrug actually isn't bad. It's neither shrug nor spencer but is the happy offspring of both. I know I have taken lots of potshots at spencers, but I suppose that's probably largely because I simply can't wear one myself. And I couldn't wear this either. But quite a lot of women can, and that is what matters.

The baggy cropped sleeves and those ugly buttons are doing the Vine Lace Cardi no favours, but other than that it's not bad.

The design of the Summer Days Tank isn't bad, but it's hard to see past the awfulness of the yarn selection. It's a silk yarn too. Why would anyone dye silk in those wretched colours? Were they molested by a silkworm in another life? When I do my best to look beyond the yarn, I see the tank is reasonably well-shaped, has an airy texture that should be comfortable in summer, and has nicely finished edges.

The Diagonal Stripes Vest is interesting conceptually and has obviously been designed with a lot of thought and care... but I can't see any of the women I know actually wearing it. Well, I do have one friend with a very modern dress sense whom I think could pull it off. I'm gathering from the ties at the front that this could be worn tied. I wish we'd been given a photo of how it looked worn that way.

The Nerina design looks frumpy on this model and is going to look even more so on woman with anything other than a model's figure. Baggy elbow-length sleeves are such a bad idea.

I quite like this Lace Columns Dress, though I'd like it even more if it hadn't been done in a variegated glitter yarn. It just cheapens what could be a really elegant, polished look, and limits where a woman can wear the dress.

Can't say I'm a fan of the Yorganza Scarf, which basically looks like a crumpled manuscript. The Yorganza yarn is an interesting one, but I'm not sure I've seen a good use for it yet. Usually it just looks like an amateur sewing project.

Quite like the Feathery Waves Tam. It has interesting stitchwork and a good shape.

The Trend Deluxe Scarf could definitely work on a woman who has a very modern dress sense and who tends to favour graphic patterns and lines.

The Flirtatious Bag looks like it needs to pay its bar bill and tell the bartender to call it a cab, because otherwise it's going to wake up empty in a back alley the next morning without any idea of how it got there. Novelty yarns can work for a clutch or a drawstring bag, but using it on a larger scale as in a shoulder bag like this is just too over the top and looks cheap and tacky.

Not sure about the shape of the Bressay Cowl. It looks like a hood that's on backwards.

The Fair Isle Hat is really cute. I love those little tulips. You can skip the pom-pom if you want to make the look more adult.

I like the Zigzag Cable Cowl. It sits well, it looks warm, and it's a quality piece that can be worn anywhere.

The Twist ‘n Twirl Shawlette isn't bad. It's a very summery accessory in those colours, so if you're thinking of it as a fall piece I'd go with yarn in a shade from the fall or winter palette.

This is the Yorganza Cowl, which again has that beginner sewing project look to it. Although it's not helped by the styling here. It's too light and flirty a piece to look good with a leather jacket.

The Barleycorn Socks are interesting. I like the twisted effect of it, which gives it an interesting arty appeal that works well on a small scale.