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Check Out Judith Durant’s Sweaters for Carousel

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judith durant knitting for carouselThe worlds of knitting and Broadway might not mix often, but when they do, the result is pretty cool.

I love this story from the New York Times about the sweaters knit from the musical Carousel by Judith Durant, whose name you might know because she was an editor for Interweave. She was tasked with knitting 13 sweaters for the cast, but she ended up enlisting the aid of other knitters to help her meet the deadline.

The sweaters are made of acrylic so they can be washed daily, and they’re meant to look like the men knit the garments themselves so there are intentional mistakes. They are tight fitting and most feature horizontal stripes.

Durant said she gained 10 pounds and binge watched a lot of TV while working on the sweaters, sometimes working from 6 am until 2 am the next day.

From the results — and the Tony nomination for show’s costume designer — the effort was well worth it.

[Photo: Cody O’Loughlin of the New York Times.]

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Comments

  1. How about a link to the article, or the name of the article or journalist who wrote it?

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Knits with Sheep

It felt like it had been a while since I’d done a roundup of knitting patterns involving sheep, and if search is any indication, that is true. I found a roundup of patterns for knit sheep from a few years ago, but the only one with v I could find is from 2015. So it’s definitely time to revisit this fun genre of knitting patterns.

This all started with a headband. Alyssa Kaat’s Icelandic Sheep Headband (free on Ravelry) to be specific. Ravelry showed it to me as a pattern highlight and I couldn’t resist taking a closer look. It’s worked with two colors of worsted weight yarn and alternates sheep with stars around your head.

Another great sheepy headband is this one from Loch Fyne Crafts on Etsy. These sweet little sheep are worked in bulky yarn and you can make the background look like field and sky or work it in a solid color.

Or make a headband (or a hat, cowl, or all three) covered with a flock of sheep with this set of patterns from New Age Knitting CA. These pieces also use the field/sky coloring, but you can use whatever colors of worsted weight yarn you like.

Speaking of hats, there’s also the sheep hat from Lynann Knits Designs. The sample was worked in Icelandic wool to make the sheep and the hat extra fuzzy and warm, but any worsted weight yarn will work.

There’s also the Wandering Sheep hat from Kat Hudon (on Ravelry), which features a fun collection of speckled sheep that can be worked in different yarn weights to make different sizes of hats for kids and adults.

And lest you think sheep need to be knit in traditional stranded colorwork, check out the Rebel Sheep Mob blanket by Deborah Moore. This one is worked in mosaic knitting using fingering weight yarn. In mosaic knitting you’re only working with one color per row so it’s pretty easy. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

I can’t possibly share sheep knitting patterns without mentioning the amazing Black Sheep Shadow Shawl by Mark Jamieson. Shadow knitting is a technique I want to do more of, but it involves working two rows alternating in two different colors and the pattern emerges when you look at the design from an angle. It’s so cool and the sheep on this one are amazing! It’s not a beginner project but well worth the work. You can find it on Ravelry or at the designer’s website.