What’s What Wednesdays

The winner of the Lisa Souza BFL sock yarn is comment number 742, Bridgette. The winner of the Cuckoo Mitten kit using The Loopy Ewe Solid Series yarn is comment number 3005, Eileen. Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to the wonderful fiber folk for donating prizes! Some truly excellent guerilla knitting (woolen octopus streetcar attack!) in Japan [see right]. A video of the Wall Street Bull yarnbombing in progress – outstanding finishing skills on display. The Toledo Main Library is hosting a collection of rare and wonderful knitting images. Rare Purls: Knitting Images from the Victorian Age ...

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust in the UK is a charitable organization dedicated to conserving Britain’s native farm livestock. Founded in 1973, not a single breed has gone extinct since then, and they are doing important work to protect both the animals and small farms and holdings who keep them. They have recently launched a Wool Exchange, allowing members to advertise wool and fleeces from rare breed sheep for sale or exchange. The listings are fabulously breed-specific. (Note that the advertisers are small, independent suppliers – they likely would only ship within the UK.) Bonus adorable sheep pictures on ...

The Edmonton Journal has a charming little piece about the final rush of gift-crafting. Perhaps the journalist herself is a crafter and was perhaps looking for a quick article to write so she could get back to her projects? The staff at Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum were thrilled to see the museum yarn-bombed in November, proudly posting the pictures [one shown at left] to their Facebook page. Planning for 2011? Take a peek at the comprehensive round-up of knitting and fiber-related events at Knitters Review. We love that Sarah Keen’s book Knitted Wild Animals has made it onto a New York Times’ ...

MacMillan Cancer Support in the UK is running a campaign to raise awareness of and force the government to address the issue of “fuel poverty” among cancer patients. Fuel poverty is when someone has to spend more than 10% of their income on energy to heat and power their home. In the UK, 1 in 4 people having cancer treatment struggle to pay their energy bills, and 6 out of 10 people with cancer have had higher energy bills since diagnosis. Visit the site to participate. Enter an answer to the question “what makes you warm?”, and your name and answer will be added to the petition and a section ...

The new year is approaching fast, and that means it’s time for a new calendar. Here’s a few we’d be proud to hang on our walls… Our very own Franklin Habit’s Stash of Knitting Cartoons. Interweave, as always, has a lovely selection of fiber-arts related calendars – knitting and spinning, and others. Vogue Knitting offers a stitch-a-day desk calendar. Accord Publishing offers a pattern-a-day desk calendar. If you’re looking for something a little off the beaten path, there’s the Dishcloth calendar, including patterns from a number of great designers like Kay Gardiner. ...

A school in Bracknell U.K. has been working on a project to bring mathematics to life: a blanket with 100 squares, one square for each number between 1 and 100, each square showing how many factors the number has. A prime number (that is, a number that cannot be divided up evenly, e.g. 17) has a two-colored square, representing that it can be divided only by one and itself; a number that can be divided up more (e.g. 18, which can by divided by 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 18) has a square with 6 colors. B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, hosted an knit-in event this week aiming to help calm stressed parents ...

Big congratulations to our friends at Ravelry, which recently hit the milestone of 1 million registered users. Bolton UK’s Knitting Noras – also known as the Naked Knitters, thanks to their fundraising cheeky postcards – are at it again.  They will be yarnbombing the International Centre in Harrogate, the site of the upcoming Knitting and Stitching show, November 25-28th. Have you heard about The North Circular? Although they sell finished goods, they are running a unique and wonderful company in the UK. They make and sell products from a flock of rescued Wensleydale Longwool sheep. It’s all ...

This year marks the 100th issue of Knitter’s Magazine, and the 26th anniversary of XRX the company that publishes the magazine and many terrific books.  As of this issue, the magazine is being distributed both in physical copies and in digital format through the Zinio service. To celebrate the anniversary, Knitter’s has a special double issue with 50 patterns, and a digital version being distributed for free. More info here. Arthur learns to knit! In a new episode of the popular and long-running kids’ TV series, “Arthur Unravels“, Arthur’s grandma Thora teaches him to knit. In the ...

A very big Happy Birthday to Amy, our Editor-in-Chief. Lift a cupcake in her honor today! This knitted skeleton is an absolute masterpiece.   Ben Cuevas, an artist based in California, created it as part of a mixed media piece for Wassaic Project (an arts collective and residency program located in New York state).  The skeleton sits in the lotus position atop a stack of cans of  condensed milk, with a cloud of screen prints on Flexi glass suspended above it. look and be amazed. The artist uses a lot of fiber – specifically  knitting and crochet – in his work.  In his bio, he states that he enjoys ...