Stitches and Thrills

"I am just here for the knitting." "Does everything have to be about politics?" These remarks often pop up in conversations in the yarn and knitting community. I am sure other communities will have the same comments from their members. Maybe you feel the same sometimes. Weary of the news on internet and television. You just want to clock out and relax with your knitting. You can do that. It is good for your mental health to switch off all the information input. But it is also a privilege of able bodied White women to be able to do so. Awareness is key here. Be grateful that you can, and strive for a world where this is an opportunity for everyone. When you step outside that bubble of 'yarn&you' into the community, then you can and should expect politics. Because whether you step into a yarn shop, follow a dyer on Instagram, or comment on a forum: everyone's experience is grounded in politics. The personal is political.  Maybe you think you are non-p...

I treasure my interchangeable circular needles. They are easy for adding needle length when knitting large shawls. And you always have all needle size/length combinations at hand. My circular needle set is from KnitPro , but there are other brands who carry them, like HiyaHiya. The only size that didn't work for me was 3mm. The wooden tips kept breaking. Steel points are better for me when thin needles are required. But for everything 3.5mm and up I am very content with Knit Pro. Keeping the needles loose in a basket was not an ideal storage solution. I needed to keep them out of reach from our cat Dita as she has been caught stealing wooden crochet hooks and sock needles before. But searching for a pair of the same size in the basket became a bit of a nuisance. Google brought me to the blog Life According to Missus Vonkysmeed . She posted a sewing pattern for a needle case. I read the whole pattern description twice to make sure I understood all the steps to take. For ...

Four knitters on a train. All the way up north to Leeuwarden. The exhibition Breien! / Knitting! in the Fries Museum is all about knitting. Finally I could see my Flamingo hat among the other 14 nominees for the Animal Hat contest 'Beestenboel'. It's really fun to see how each knitter has a different approach to the animal hat theme! In the same room as the 'hat-tree' there were little boxes with miniature knits about the history of knitting. We really enjoyed our museum tour. There was work from knitters we were familiar with and new discoveries. Westknits shawls at @friesmuseum . I wore my own #dottedrays 😊 @westknits #breien #friesmuseum #museum #knitting #exhibit #leeuwarden #shawl #westknits #westknitsshawl #knit Een foto die is geplaatst door Ama (@missminoes) op 21 Mei 2016 om 11:40 PDT Nice surprise was there were knitting patterns available. For instance of the skirt in the top right picture below. If you understand Dutc...

When the Breien! (Knitting!) exhibit at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden opened I immediately wanted to jump on a train to the far north. But..hold it... They announced there would be a competition for knitted animal hats! Entries before February 29th 2016, and a selection will be on display for 2 months from April. So I will go later this year, when the hats are in the museum, hoping mine will be among them. :-) (Dutch readers: so you can still enter the Beestenboel competition!) In 2003, when I got back into knitting after decades of non-knitting it all started by making kitty hats as Miss Minoes on Etsy to raise money for the Stevenshage animal shelter in Leiden. Some other animals have popped up in that parade: a bunny , a donkey, a mouse and even a cow. So, having made so many hats with ears already, I really wanted to approach this from another angle. I made a secret Pinterest board (now public) to find the elements I wanted in my design. Follow Ama's...

Introduced in 2014 it became quite the trend in 2015: Arm knitting. Here's the most used video tutorial. Things to keep in mind: - The first time you arm knit you might take 1 or 2 hours to make a scarf. Once you get the hang of it, it goes a lot quicker. - Take a bathroom break before you cast on. Not very handy to bring all that knitting to the toilet!

Last winter the Dutch shopping chain HEMA used a lot of knitted items in their holiday season promotions. There were knitted champagne bottles, a cat, food, yes, even a ham. All this was knitted by Club Geluk (= Club Happiness). On their website the actual items are for sale, but also Christmas NYE cards and a spicy calender. But most of all, a big hooray for the Dutch knitters, the knitting patterns are now available in a book: Club Geluk Boek I didn't get the book yet, but a friend of me bought it and confirmed it was full of patterns that were unlike anything she had seen before. On the Club Geluk website you can also find free crochet patterns (in Dutch). Among those a crochet log. The pattern suggests using a cardboard roll as filling. But I made a pillow filling for it. Which will be DIY December Day 9, otherwise I'll never catch up ;-)

The free pattern for these fingerless gloves is available on the blog Knitting And So On . Aren't they amazing? I have never seen anything like it. I can't wait to knit them! Free pattern on Knitting and so on

The Nordic Island Hat: Inspired by the wind, the dune, the colours and the atmosphere at the Wad&Design festival on Schiermonnikoog, at which I was a part of an Etsy Pop Up shop last September. I designed The Nordic Island Hat on Schiermonnikoog and i knitted the first hats there from Drops Eskimo wool. Cute and cosy on the couch in the Etsy cottage where we stayed with fellow Etsians Babette, Margriet, Nynke en Barbara. De Nordic Island Hat shall be available in my Etsy-shop next week. I'm also working on writing out the pattern.      

As promissed: On reaching 100 followers at my Miss Minoes Facebook page , I will share with all the lovely  100+ of you this knitting pattern I made for a chevron knitted phone cover. Thank you for following! =^x^= Chevron Zig Zag cover for mobile phone. Used materials: - 4 Sock needles metric 3.5 / US 4 / UK 9 - 20 gr colour A, 20 gr colour B (Double Knitting DK yarn) - Big embroider needle. - Button with 4 holes. - Optional: crochet needle (metric 3.5) Gauche for pattern 10 cm (4”) = 22 stitches and 22 rows. (Fair isle knitting can be quite stiff. If you are a tight knitter, you might want to go for a bigger size needles.) You’ll keep the thread of the other colour yarn at the back of your knitting, try not to pull this to tight. Pattern in 2 sizes: Small phone (11.5 cm x 6 cm) Medium phone (13 - 13.5 cm x 6.5 - 7 cm) There is a little stretch in the cosy, so you can pull a little in either length or width to get a snug fit. If your ...

DAY 1: On the first full day we went to see the fabulous exhibition "David Bowie Is" in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Every aspect in the career of this talented artist was displayed (costumes, painting, lyric sheets, where he gets his inspiration etcetera). I love how the exhibition was put together. Tip 1 : If you travel by Eurostar train to London, you'll get a 2 for 1 discount at the Bowie exhibit, when showing your train ticket. Tip 2 : We were in line for 45 minutes, you then can buy a ticket for a later timeslot. But there is also a possibility to book your tickets on line in advance via the V&A website. Tip 3 : The V&A is free (but for special exhibitions), and would be perfect to spend a rainy day in London. While waiting for our timeslot we walked to the top floors to see the variety/entertainment/theatre costumes. Among other I saw Adam Ant's Prince Charming, but also well known costumes from cabaret and musicals. For Tuesday evening we h...

Now that winter is approaching , it is time again for ( fingerless ) gloves . At the moment I 'm working with Silk Blend Yarn by Manos del Uruguay . Not only is the material very soft to work with (30 % Silk / 70 % Merino Extra f ine Wool ). The story behind the Silk Blend makes it extra worthwhile . Manos del Uruguay ( Hands of Uruguay ) is a cooperative of 400 women throughout the countryside of Uruguay . They are spinning and dyeing wool from Uruguay . The wool is hand dyed in large kettles ( Kettle Dyed ). Manos del Uruguay is a Fair Trade organization : they focus on the eradication of poverty through sustainable development . The project also consists of hand knitted and woven products , as ponchos . The Silk Blend lends itself well for fingerless gloves because the material is warm , soft and breathes well . Perfect for t his kind of gloves that you wear during  activities like typing on the computer , texting , kni...

Another FREE pattern you can use to join our knitting forces for KATTENMUTSEN VOOR JAPAN (Kitty Hats For Japan) This one is very easy, you just have to know how to knit and purl. And you don't need circular needles. The added colour design is optional. If you want to add colour, but not do fair isle, go for stripes =^x^= SQUARE CAT HAT (pattern) Materials: Knitting needles:   metric (European) size 3 ½ en 4 ½ /   US size 4 and 7 Tapestry needle Main yarn colour: 1 skein 100 gr Additional colour for ears : leftover yarn Gauge: 10x10 cm = 17 stitches to   25 rows Sizes:   (child: 46cm=18”) - teen: 52/54cm=21” – (adult: 60 cm=23”) Please take into account that the hat will stretch less if you apply a fair isle pattern (like the windmills) The knitting pattern: The front and back of the hat are knitted separately. FRONT: Rim: cast on ( 34) - 42 – (50) stitches on needle 3 ½ (US 4). Knit 10 rows 2   kni...