November 2008

Tools of the Trade: Darning Needles

Every project—whether it has one piece or twelve—needs a darning needle. Larger and duller than your average sewing needle, darning needles let us weave in every single loose end of yarn, so that our projects are beautiful and ready for wear. Often referred to as tapestry

October 16, 2008

Isager Yarn Overview

A fixture in Denmark's knitting scene for more than 30 years, Marianne Isager is finally—and fittingly—entering the U.S. market. She dipped her toes in our waters a few years ago when Interweave Press published the English translation of her book, Knitting Out of Africa. But that book represents a

October 9, 2008

Classic Elite Yarns Fresco

Please note: As of October, 2018, Classic Elite Yarns has closed its doors. I'm leaving the review up here for reference in case you're lucky enough to discover some of this yarn for sale. This yarn is like a good rollerball pen. It's widely available, doesn't

October 2, 2008

Denise Organizer

I've used Denise Interchangeable knitting needles for years now, first using the standard set and more recently the pink Interchangeables. They're infinitely portable, flexible, and practical for almost every knitting use. If I'd had to come up with one complaint, it would've been the shiny plastic box in which

April 24, 2008

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Things I Learned from Knitting: …whether I wanted to or not by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is a master storyteller. Her mind is always working, observing, recording, making connections, remembering things that most of us notice and then quickly forget—and then recounting them at the perfect moment. She's also a very good writer who comments on the foibles of human

April 10, 2008

Books

Circular Needle ID Tags

When I first started acquiring knitting needles, I religiously kept all their packaging and vowed to keep each needle in its corresponding package for safekeeping. It seemed like brilliant idea, but entropy got the best of me. Some 20 years later my house is overrun with

April 3, 2008

Signature Needle Arts Single-Pointed Straight Needles

My first knitting needles were pink aluminum Boye straights that made an awful clanging noise every time I dropped them, which was pretty often. When I finally discovered that they made needles out of other materials, I took off and never looked back—until I received three sample pairs

April 3, 2008

Montana Mountain Single-Pointed Straight Needles

As knitting began its meteoric rise in popularity earlier in this decade, new yarn stores and yarn companies emerged almost overnight. There was just one problem: not enough needles to go around. For a while, only a handful of companies manufactured almost all the needles on

March 27, 2008

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Classic Elite Yarns Soft Linen

Please note: As of October, 2018, Classic Elite Yarns has closed its doors. I'm leaving the review up here for reference in case you're lucky enough to discover some of this yarn for sale. Linen has its fans and foes in the handknitting world. Derived from

March 20, 2008

Handmaiden Swiss Mountain Cashmere and Silk

Most cashmere yarn is good, and some is even really good. But very, very rarely do you encounter extraordinary cashmere. This is the yarn that, when you touch it, causes time to stand still. Your fingers sink effortlessly into the skein, and you are overcome

January 10, 2008

Green Mountain Spinnery Sock Art Meadow

Until now, Green Mountain Spinnery yarns were primarily in the DK- to worsted-weight range, with yarns like Mountain Mohair and Weekend Wool. These yarns are great for most projects, but if you want to knit socks or lace? Alas, you'd have to look elsewhere. But the Vermont-based community spinnery

January 3, 2008