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This Week in Knitting News: Poppies, A Knitting Statue and Stephen West

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gansey girl statueWith Veteran’s Day/Remembrance Day happening this week, poppies are popping up everywhere. Check out my roundup of poppy knitting patterns if you’d like to make some of your own, and don’t miss this story about a British woman who knit 1,000 poppies for the Royal British Legion to sell during its Poppy Appeal, which raises money to support servicemen and women, veterans and their families. In case you’re wondering, it took her nine months and 30 balls of yarn, and each poppy took about 30 minutes to knit. Amazing.

Looking for more knitting patterns for Poppies? Check these out on Etsy.

Knitting is a big part of the heritage of fishing communities in Britain and elsewhere (even though that story about every family having its own gansey pattern is a myth), and the town of Bridlington is celebrating that connection with a new stature. Gansey Girl, designed by Steve Carvill was unveiled recently. She’s sitting and knitting a gansey (though it’s difficult to see if she’s actually holding knitting needles). The statue also carries the names of some local fishing families.

On a lighter note, Stephen West recently started a mystery shawl knitalong, and to promote it he’s released a super fun video that will make you pretty happy to be a knitter. And may just make you want to knit a shawl. (If you can’t see it here, check it out on YouTube. You’ll be glad you did.)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwmfP0PNOLg]

[Photo via the Bridlington Free Press.]

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Comments

  1. Hilarious. And yes it does make me want to knit. I’m a new knitter; I started with Stephen West’s Penguono and then made another, and another. I’m knitting a ‘normal’ jumper now but it isn’t nearly as much fun.

Have you read?

A Blanket Knitting Pattern Where Yarn Selection is Everything

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]