Knitting News: New Jersey Knitter Wants Help with Yarn Bombing

A yarn bombing is not usually something you announce before the fact in the local newspaper, but Bridgeton, N.J., knitter Carol Moore says she wants help beautifying her city’s downtown with yarn.

She participated in a yarn bombing for International Yarn Bombing Day, which was back in June, and in the time since the tree in front of her shop has become increasingly covered with knit and crocheted pieces.

She says she things more fiber art around downtown would improve the look of the area and give it something unique and special that hopefully would drive more visitors and customers to the area.

Moore has the blessing of mayor Albert Kelly, who called is an easy way to beautify the town that isn’t permanent (he also says it does no damage to the tree, but it can if left on long-term).

[Photo by the News of Cumberland County.]

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Beautiful people and beautiful sweaters combine in Lasse L. Matberg’s Viking Knits. The book includes more than 40 Scandinavian inspired knits for men, women and children featuring textured stitches and colorwork.

Matberg is known as The Viking and has worked as a chef, naval officer, fitness instructor and model, as well as being on a couple of reality TV shows. He comes from a long line of makers and his book was first published in Norwegian in 2021 and has since come out in an English version.

The book is divided into sections including everyday sweaters, knits for the great outdoors, stylish knitwear, Norse sweaters and accessories. Some of the patterns use the same designs in different versions for men, women and children. I counted seven projects rated for beginners, 19 for intermediate knitters and 17 for experienced knitters. The more difficult patterns tend to have allover colorwork or stitch patterning.

The pattern stitches and colorwork are shown in charts, with a little bit of text to tell you how to make the garment. Most of the book is sweaters, but there are also hats (sometimes coordinating with sweaters), scarves and a couple of sitting mats.

You can check out all the patterns on Ravelry. Some of my favorites are the more basic ones, such as the Power Sweater, a close-fitting (sized for men) ribbed sweater; the Heart Sweater, a raglan with allover lice stitch; and the Midsummer Sweater, with textured stripes and a henley neckline. I also like the Breeze designs (there are versions for men, women and children) that have colorwork diamonds on them.

Sizing on the garments varies, but there are six sizes for the men’s patterns (noted as small through XXL and then Lasse sized), six for women (XS to XL) and three for children (age 2-4, 6-8 and 10-12).

The yarns used in the book aren’t available in the United States but you can find suppliers here if you want to use the same yarns. Otherwise the book gives a lot of details about yarn content and gauge so you should be able to find good substitutes wherever you live.

If you have Norwegian or Scandinavian heritage or just like the look of cozy textured or colorful sweaters, this book is a lot of fun, and the eye candy is pretty great, too.

About the book: 192 pages, hardcover, 43 patterns. Published in English in 2023 by Search Press. Suggested retail price $29.95.

Comments

Tracy says
July 14, 2012 at 11:21 pm
I personally do not find these “yarn bombing” projects to be beautiful at all! The colors do not co-ordinate, there is no regularity in the stitches or pattern stitches used, etc. It is a beautiful tree! I love trees, including their trunks. Don’t cover them!Cover something ugly, & use co-ordinating stitches & colors. Make sure you use excellent workmanship as others are stuck with looking at it. I have seen some lovely examples of “object covering” on the internet. It CAN be done well. So can Krazy Knitting & Crazy Crochet. It’s difficult, it’s an art, I discovered I am not good at either covering objects, nor Crazy Crochet, so I don’t do it.

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