[tag]Classic Elite Yarns[/tag] is proud to announce that Pam Allen has joined the company as Creative Director. Pam has been a knitwear designer for 25 years. Her designs have been published in [tag]Vogue Knitting[/tag], [tag]Knitters,[/tag] and Interweave Knits magazines. She was featured in Melanie Falick’s Knitting in America and is the author of Knitting for Dummies, Scarf Style, Wrap Style, Lace Style, and the upcoming Bag Style. For the past four years Pam has been editor of Interweave Knits magazine. Pam’s duties will include creating the bi-annual pattern collections, online communications, and sourcing of yarns. Pam, who admits to being a long-time fan of Classic Elite yarns, is anxious to meet with retailers at trade shows and other knitting venues. Besides being a yarnaholic, Pam likes to hike, listen to books on tape, and to swatch.

And then over at Interweave Knits is the announcement about the new editor [tag]Eunny Jang[/tag].

Loveland, Colo., March 12, 2007: Interweave Press announced today that Eunny Jang, knitwear designer and popular knitting blogger, will be the new editor of Interweave Knits magazine, effective March 15. The announcement was made by Interweave Press President Marilyn Murphy at the same time as her announcement that Interweave Knits editor Pam Allen is resigning to pursue other interests in the needlecraft industry.
Interweave Knits, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has experienced several consecutive years of phenomenal newsstand growth, and its subscribers have grown by more than 25 percent in the last year and by more than 200 percent in the last five years. Ms. Murphy says, “Eunny Jang is the perfect match to be the new editor of Knits and to build on Pam Allen’s success. She totally understands Interweave’s sensibility and aesthetic, and she has incredible respect in the knitting community among designers, enthusiasts, and a new generation
of knitters who are active online. As a contributor to Knits, Ms. Jang has connected with readers across a wide range of subject matters. She is beyond brilliant in her understanding of knitting techniques, and we are confident she will continue to forge the indelible bond Knits has with its readers.”
Ms. Jang says, “Residing as the editor of Interweave Knits is my dream job—it’s an iconic category leader, and I’m absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work on it. I’m looking forward to leading Knits into the future, as we bring the magazine’s reputation for excellence to
Interweave’s other media platforms including books, online, and television

From the website:

What …? A new wool for[tag] Schoolhouse Press[/tag]? And, you say, it’s SOFT? I know; we are super conservative about adding new wool. Once chosen, we have remained loyal until the mill folded (Cambridge and Condon’s), or discontinued the line (Suomi and Highland). This time it is half wool, half alpaca. I used it to knit EZ’s [tag]Baby Surprise Jacket[/tag] on the new DVD. It is a seductive fiber with which to knit and is available in deep, rich shades.

One of the most unique & ingenius of all of [tag]Elizabeth Zimmermann[/tag]’s designs, the BSJ was introduced in 1968, and has grown in popularity ever since.
The mystery of the jacket unravels as Meg takes you step by step through the jacket construction, including:long tail cast on, double decreasing / increasing, adding colors, baby buttonholes, casting off in purl, sewing a seam/darning in ends.

The DVD is a must have and priced at only $18. The wool colors are just beautiful!

[tag]Muggles[/tag] Beware – we are people with pointy sticks but we come in peace!

[tag]Stephanie Pearl McPhee[/tag] is promoting her new book “[tag]The Yarn Harlot’s Guide to the Land of Knitting[/tag]“. Her list of [tag]tour[/tag] cities is impressive with the kick off in NYC.

I saw in the list that she will be near me (1.5 hours away) in Ann Arbor, MI on April 1. April Fool’s day, Palm Sunday and OHH!!!!! major conflict day – my granddaughters first communion!

Well, I guess you know where I will be, LOL.

She will be one busy lady this Spring.

The exhibit is now published on the web with wonderful pictures of the creations of Ms. Zimmerman and others that have adopted Ms. Zimmerman’s methods in their construction and design philosophy.

A review of the past exhibit can be found here.

Wendy has been challenged to knit solely from her stash in 2007. The guidelines are simple and Wendy will update us as she knits. The list of completed projects is on the right side bar.

Would you be able to do this? – knit just from your stash for nine months. Not buying any additional yarn unless it was to finish a work in progress? I’m not sure I could. First I’m sure I don’t have the stash that Wendy has, and secondly to deprive myself from not hitting a yarn store weekly? Not to smell the wool, touch the soft baby yarns, dream of socks knit in the latest hand-dyed yarns?

No way I say!

A group of knitters have displayed on the web many of [tag]Barbara Walker[/tag]’s Treasury of Knitting stitch patterns in color. The hope is to offer knitters a visual aid when knitting these stitch patterns as the original patterns were pictured in black and white in the books and do not give justice to the true beauty of the [tag]stitch patterns[/tag]. The site will not offer the patterns, however, as they are copyrighted.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Barbara authored several volumes of knitting references. Her knitting treasury series documents over a thousand different knitting stitches. Barbara’s other books included designing [tag]mosaic knitting[/tag] to producing multicolored designs while knitting only one color per row, and ‘[tag]Knitting from the Top[/tag]” a book on how to construct knitted garments from the top-down rather than the usual bottom-up method. After over 20 years out of print, ‘Knitting from the Top‘ is being reprinted with many of her other knitting books, starting in the mid-1990s, as well as the publication of new contributions to knitting literature.

If you have the opportunity, visit The Walker Treasury and view the stitched designs. The site is very slow loading as it is graphic intense. This will be an ongoing project since there are over 1,000 patterns in the 4 book set – so visit often.

Elizabeth Zimmerman was to knitting what Henry Ford was to automobile manufacturing. Ms Zimmerman was part philosopher, part engineer and part scientist. She saw patterns and designs in life and the world around her. Elizabeth called herself The Opinionated Knitter. She had definite ideas about yarn, wool, needles and designing and encouraged fellow knitters to test their limits

Ms. Zimmerman became disenchanted by her friends demand to use printed patterns in their knitting. Ms. Zimmerman developed a mathematical formula for creating seamless sweaters in the round on circular needles. This allowed knitters to concentrate on other creative concerns, like yarn and stitches. This mathematical formula or “K” is all about the finished size of the sweater and the amount of stitches needed to make certain parts of a garment.

Sadly, Ms Zimmerman is no longer with us, but her designs and legacy live on through her daughter Meg Swansen and Schoolhouse Press. If you want to take your knitting to the next level, I suggest reading Elisabeth’s books. They are full of her reflections on her life, from childhood in England to the schoolhouse in Wisconsin where she lived with her family.