Knitting

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Interweave Library Up for Sale

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book sale interweaveIf you’re anywhere near Loveland, Colo., you’re going to want to consider attending the craft book sale and liquidation happening at Interweave’s old building. The founder of Interweave, Linda Ligon, is selling off the collection of books, notes and samples acquired over the course of more than 30 years.

Ligon tells the story of the collection on her blog, explaining that it started with a collection of books on weaving and textiles given to her 35 years ago by a woman who was moving into an Airstream. Over the years the collection grew into the Pourrey Cross Textile Library, complete with classification system and volunteer librarians.

When she sold the company in 2005 she left the collection (though she and colleagues still owned it), which by now included Interweave’s books as well as those of many other publishers, collections donated when their owners died, notebooks form workshops, swatches and more.

In time the company sold again and the building where it was headquartered is now being sold, so it’s time to do something with the books.

The most historically significant books have gone to the Avenir Museum at Colorado State University, where they will be well cared for and available for study. Many more books, and the archives of FiberArts magazine, have gone to the textile department at CSU. The Boulder Weavers Guild has taken collections of fabric swatches – boxes of them.

The rest are being sold by Cloth Roads on May 8 and 9, with the hope that they’ll all go to good homes. Proceeds from the sale will be donated to Cloth Roads, an organization that supports indigenous textile artists around the world.

This is such an amazing opportunity to get your hands on some really great books. If anyone goes I would love to hear about it!

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Pencil Knitting Patterns

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns! 

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil. 

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn. 

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point. 

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up. 

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.