KnitBits: Prison Knitting in Brazil, Tighter Ribbing and More Fun with Knitting

March 18, 2016 by Sarah White 1 Comment

I’m fascinated by this story about male prisoners in Brazil who knit and crochet for a fashion designer in order to earn money and a reduction in their sentences. Seventeen inmates at Arisvaldo de Campos Pires are currently working with Brazilian designer Raquel Guimaraes on her Doiselles brand, and more than 100 have gone through the program, which provides a small wage and gives workers one day off their sentences for every three days they knit (the story uses the terms knitting and crocheting interchangeably; though the pictures show knitting the garments show both). Click through to see some of their beautiful work.

By now we probably all know the benefits of knitting and crochet beyond making amazing stuff with our hands and some simple tools, but if you need a reminder, check out this list of six health benefits of yarn crafts from Starting Chain.

Have you watched the PBS show “The Mind of a Chef”? Fringe Association reminds/tells us that there is a lot of great knitting to spy in the second half of season three, which features brilliant Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson, and a lot of great sweaters. He’s also on an episode of the Netflix series “The Chef’s Table,” but I don’t remember there being as much knitwear in that one. “The Mind of a Chef” is available for streaming on Netflix, and probably from PBS as well.

Do you have the common problem of sloppy-looking knit ribbing? It happens because of the different amount of yarn used to make a knit stitch versus a purl. This is an old post that recently popped up somewhere, but the tip for knitting tighter ribbing, from Jessica Joy, is still worth checking out.

Finally, there are a lot of funny knitting memes out there, and Love Knitting has collected a few of its favorites on its blog. Download these to share on social media or use as a background on your computer or phone. I think my favorite is “Can you knit me a … no.” What’s yours?

[Photo via Reuters/Paulo Whitaker.]

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Comments

Heidi Kirsch says
March 18, 2016 at 11:20 am
This picture is scarier than the one I saw a few days ago. In that one they were only wearing masks over their mouth & nose. Why is it that they are covering their whole face? Is it something I should be doing if I knit for long periods?

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Use Your Sock Yarn Scraps to Knit a Colorful Scarf

Using your yarn stash is important to me throughout the year, but as I start to feel the end of the year coming on I get more excited about using things I already have in the house. Maybe that’s because I don’t want to go to a store in the thick of holiday shopping times, or I like the idea of having a little space in my stash when the new year rolls around.

It’s super satisfying to use up all the little odd balls you’ve made over the year (or years), and I have several stash busting blankets I work on when it’s cold and will maybe finish someday.

If you’d like to start a stash busting project that’s perfect for using up odd balls, check out the Soukish pattern from Neisha Abdulla. This pattern is made for fingering weight/sock yarn, and it’s worked in a tube with allover color work.

This is great for a couple of reasons. You don’t really have to weave in your ends when you can hide them in a tube (this is one time you might even get by just tying a knot when you change colors!) and you can change colors whenever you run out of yarn and it will look good.

Of course the pattern is made with blocks where the designer changed colors, but you can change yours more or less often as you need to make it work for your stash. You can use blank charts to design your own color combinations, or even your own stitch patterns if you like. You can also adjust the length of the scarf as needed or turn it into a cowl based on the amount of yarn you have.

This project looks like a lot of fun and would be a great thing to have on hand to stitch up and then to wear during the cold, gloomy months.

You can get a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Neisha Abdulla]

Another Way to Use Up All Your Sock Yarn Scraps

Gather Your Scraps for a Fun Wrap

A Scrappy Shawl Knitting Pattern to Use All Your Odd Balls

Use All Your Yarn Scraps on This Great Cardigan Knitting Pattern

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