Today is Harikuyo, the festival of broken needles. Harikuyo is a memorial service for the broken sewing needles of the past year that is celebrated in Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples across Japan, a ritual of thanks and respect for the tools of the sewing trade…but why limit it to that? Let’s honor our broken knitting needles and crochet hooks as well. The DPNs you sat on, the circs your cat successfully attacked and chewed… we’ll say they’re eligible, too.
A reader noted recently that her local wool shop owner said several of their customers are still using old UK-sized needles, and would we please print directions for those as well? Unfortunately, there isn’t unlimited space in the magazine, and before standardization (metric and otherwise), needles tended to be slightly different sizes from manufacturer to manufacturer, too. Here is a chart you can print out if you need a general reference.
I also have a better solution for you — invest in a needle gauge, like the one shown above or linked. Even if your needles aren’t standard modern sizes, you can determine what they are and mark them so you won’t forget. (Nail polish or permanent marker works well).
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(post edited to add the above photo by production editor Alex McDowell, who took part in the Great YF Snowball Fight of 2 February 2009 near our Herts. office)
Like so many other London-area businesses, Yarn Forward was not immune to the giant snowfall. In fact, everyone in our Hertsfordshire office is working from home today, and Kerrie has emailed me impressive photos of her front doorstep, which is near the deepest snowfall reported (Stansted had 13 cm on the ground, the last I read). Our Wiltshire office is apparently due to be buried next.
As some of you know, I am based in one of the snowier places in the US: northeast Ohio. We’ve had over 40 inches of snow in January, just shy of the 42-inch record. When the winds come flying across the Great Lakes from Canada, they regularly cover us in snow…sometimes until April! Like our new president, who also comes from the freezing midwest, I find London’s inability to handle snow somewhat like Washington DC’s. Here’s a funny quote from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
And like all parents trying to adjust to Washington life, Mr Obama has been confronted by the peculiar rules that require local schools to shut once the slightest sprinkling of snow settles on the nation’s capital.
For somebody from snow-bound Chicago this has been a bit hard to bear.
“My children’s school was cancelled today because of what? Some ice?” said Mr Obama.
“As my children have pointed out, in Chicago school is never cancelled. In fact my seven-year-old pointed out that you go outside for recess, you wouldn’t even stay indoors!”
A bit of advice from your snow-experienced editor: please don’t drive if you don’t absolutely need to, because even if you are quite good with driving in the snow, chances are 99% of your neighbors are not!
Here’s hoping you are all safe, sound, and tucked inside with your knitting! I’ll drink some cocoa for you and wish for melting! (Anyone up for a snowball fight?)
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Sometimes I get interesting questions via email, and I wanted to pass this one along to you, the readers. One reader was concerned that a pattern did not use the same needle size as the ball band suggested, and this is what I told her:
Designers frequently use needles other than those specified on the ball band. Generally speaking, this is the reason tension/gauge is given. Some knitters knit more tightly or loosely than others — depending on which type you are, it is perfectly ok to switch to a smaller or larger needle size in order to achieve the correct tension. Ball bands’ recommended needle sizes are just that — a manufacturer’s recommendation.
For example, right now I myself am knitting something from Cascade 220, whose ball band recommends either 5mm (US8) or US7s:
But, for the effect I would like to achieve, I am using US5s to create a denser fabric. And that’s ok! So think of the ball band suggestion as just that — a suggestion. And don’t be afraid to change needle size if you don’t like the way the fabric is turning out for you — if it’s too dense and stiff, try a needle size larger. Too loose and floppy? Go down a size. Of course, for sized patterns such as garments, you’ll want to stay within the tension/gauge given by the pattern or else risk downsizing or upsizing the pattern! (Which in itself can be ok if you don’t mind a little unpredictability!)
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Yarn Forward is! (click here) And so is our new crochet magazine Inside Crochet (click here)!
What’s Twitter? Think of it as text-messaging for the web. You can stay in touch with your friends — including your friends at YF! — in the space of 140 characters or less. It’s shorter than, say, a blog post — but can be a quite interesting look inside a designer’s head.
Some other knitter-friendly people you might want to follow there: Jessica & Casey (from Ravelry), the Yarn Harlot (aka Stephanie Pearl McPhee), Amy from Knitty, Jillian from KnittySpin, designers Annie Modesitt, Stefanie Japel, Vickie Howell, Amy Swenson, Robyn Chachula, ex-Interweave Crochet editor and CrochetMe founder Kim Werker, Inside Crochet editors Amy O’Neill Houck and Julie Holetz and of course, YF editor Shannon Okey.
Even Stephen Fry is on Twitter, and has recently written about it on his blog.
Technology seems to be bringing us all closer together every day.
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Sometimes all the pleasure of knitting is in the very simple things. Smooth, dense Blue Sky Alpacas cotton; sleek and shining Addi Turbos; rich and earthy colours. Some cottons I find too slippery and unyielding for metal needles, but the Blue Sky Alpacas yarn has a springy hand that makes slipping the stitches from the silvery points pure joy.
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Issue 10, page 46 (’subscribe today’ page) correction:
Contact info for Shades of Cashmere is incorrect; they do not have a website. You can reach them instead at shadesofcashmere@hotmail.com.
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Your trusty editor has just returned from the National Needle Arts Association (TNNA) show in California. Technically, cameras are not allowed on the show floor, so you’ll need to settle for this:
San Diego has a ton of pedicabs (think rickshaw attached to a bicycle) near the convention center. Tara, Miriam and I took one to the dinner Marly had organized, and Amy and Mary-Heather couldn’t resist. First, they ran along the sidewalk snapping photos. Then, they hired a pedicab of their own. Then, our drivers (pedalers?) had a crazy little race. This is the best photo of the bunch. The back of Amy’s head is at left, Mary-Heather (of Ravelry fame) is smiling at right.
There will be a newsy update on the show in the next issue — who was there, what I spotted, etc. But in the meantime, enjoy this photo!
What’s on my needles at the moment? With Copine and Red Lotus at the office for photography (they’re both in issue 11), I’ve been working on a lighter-weight version of my pattern Exploded View — you can see its Ravelry project page here and thinking through some other new designs I’d like to knit. What have you been knitting lately?
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One of the nicest things about writing the News and Net sections for Yarn Forward is that I get to contact and interview so many exciting people doing fabulous things with knitting. For the latest magazine, I got in touch with lasdcm through Ravelry to ask about her version of the Bowknot sweater which I wrote about for a column on vintage knitting. Lasdcm works for the Philadelphia museum of art and collaborated with Schoolouse Press to develop the kit you can order here. It’s a wonderful piece, and uses Jamieson and Smith Jumperweight - one of Yarn Forward’s favourite wools.
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Jacqui Walker’s Flowers in the Rain pattern, which appeared in YF 6, has been updated and is now available as a download to support Médecins Sans Frontières as part of the p/hop project, which Natalie from The Yarn Yard wrote about in our last issue.
p/hop is pennies per hour of pleasure, so please feel free to use this pattern, then donate what you think it was worth to you to MSF.
MSF is an independent humanitarian medical aid organisation, committed to providing medical aid wherever it is needed, regardless of race, religion, politics or gender. We currently work in over 60 countries helping victims of war, natural disasters, disease epidemics and those who simply have no
access to even basic healthcare. For more info, please visit www.msf.org.uk
As of today, according to the Yarn Yard’s blog, they’ve raised over £228. You can donate, too: click here. Well done, Jacqui, Natalie and everyone who’s supported the p/hop project. We at Yarn Forward are happy to have done our part to promote it!
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