Illuminating Blogger Award

January 26, 2013 | Verónica

What a great way to start off a new year. Dre at Grackle & Sun shared the Illuminating Blogger Award with Agujas. Dre illuminates me with her step-by-step yarn dyeing experiments. She uses only natural plant dyes and is even growing her own dye garden! She and her husband recently celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary. Thank you Dre and wishing you many more years full of joy!

In return for the award, I must share one random thing about myself: I am trying to learn Mandarin Chinese. I’ve been taking classes at the Chinese Community Center and hope to travel to China so that I can practice.

I also get to pass on the award to five other blogs. So, without further ado, here they are:

Travel Photography by Dmitrii Lezine – Fantastic photography and time-lapse videos of interesting places around the world
Bottleneck Consensus – Textile design and other artistic endeavors
Itchier Feet – Journey through Ethiopia through amazing photos
Alicja Kolakowska – Designs beautiful and interesting jewelry, and also crochets
First Bar – Graphic designs inspired by nature

Knit Fashions – Fall/Winter 2012/2013

January 20, 2013January 20, 2013 | Verónica

The Fall/Winter 2013 fashion collections are out. Here is a sampling of some knit creations.

~ Sibling (Source)

~ Derek Lam (Source)

~ Unknown Designer (Source)

~ Corneliani (Source)

Wooli – Bespoke Yarn from New Zealand

September 12, 2012April 18, 2014 | Verónica

This package crossed an ocean to reach me. As you can note by the postmark, this has been sitting in my queue for some time.

This thick yarn is designed by Nikki Gabriel and produced from recycled fabric remnants. The fiber contents include wool, alpaca, silk, cashmere and possum. The raw fibers produce this color which she calls Greige. Other dyed colors are also available.

Then there are these sturdy needles handmade from recycled Rimu wood, which is a tree native to New Zealand.

I like the concept of naming them “construction” tools.

I even got this nice thank you note from Nikki Gabriel herself.

In addition to creating yarn and needles, she is also a knitwear designer. She designed these beautiful flowing costumes for a performance of The Australian Ballet.

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I would like to visit New Zealand some day and go to her shop, Gather, in Napier. In the meantime, I am content with reading her blog.

Knit Owls

February 16, 2012 | Verónica

Flipping through pics of all the fabulous designs from New York Fashion Week, my eyes focused in on these whimsical knit owl hats. The knit hats are by designer James Coviello and were featured in Anna Sui’s Fall 2012 collection. Besides the bold colors and the smiling models, the hats added a bit of fun to the whole look. (Also see the knit owl gloves in the first pic). Who thought knit hats could be so cool? To see Ms. Sui’s full collection, go here (same source for all pics).

Knit Chair

Link | February 1, 2012February 2, 2012 | Verónica

From the first time I ran across this Knit Chair by Claire-Ann O’Brien, I fell in love with it and her designs. I love the way she takes the knit stitch puts it under a magnifying glass and makes it functional as well as engaging to look at. Design Milk just ran an article on her knit stools. You can also see her work on her website and blog.