Crafty Help for Fire Victims

Reports out of Colorado are that the biggest fires are now mostly contained, thank goodness, and thoughts turn to helping people recover who may have lost everything. Craftsy, which has its headquarters in Denver, recently reported that it made a $3,000 donation to the Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department and was hoping to help raise $10,000 through First Giving (as I write this they hadn’t quite raised $4,000, so help them out if you can!).

I talked to a pal at Interweave, located in Loveland, last week, and she said no one at the company had lost their home but friends and family had been impacted. There’s a story on the Weaving Daily website about Nancy, a woman who lost everything in the Waldo Canyon fire, including her beloved cat and her loom. Fiber folks are stepping up with offers of looms and yarn, which is lovely to see. And a contributor to Spin-off, Kris Paige, lost her home and barn to the High Park fire. All her animals were temporarily relocated, and the family has set up a website to accept donations to help in their recovery.

One other way knitters can help is by buying Bijou Basin Ranch yarn. The company produces yak yarn and fiber products and is located in Elbert, Colo. They’ll be donating at least 10 percent of all online sales of fiber and yarn to the Red Cross and the Colorado Professional Firefighters.

Know of other ways knitters can support those who have been affected by the fires? Spill it!

[Photo of the High Point fire in June by Bijou Basin Ranch.]

Next Pattern:

Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

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