Knitting hits our screens

Given the number of crafters out there, you might expect to see craft portrayed in films a little more often. But it proves elusive... there was Kate Winslet in The Dressmaker last year (who learnt to sew for the role), back in 1995 Winona Ryder sat and stitched in How to Make an American Quilt. The film of the enjoyable book, The Friday Night Knitting Club, by Kate Jacobs, has been 'in production' for about a decade.

But now there are two new knitting viewing experiences to enjoy!

On small screens now, via Netflix, as part of the Slow TV movement, are National Knitting Evening and National Knitting Night. Both are Norwegian, and feature different knitters, tutorials and world record attempts.

And on the big screen, from September 23 in Shetland, nationwide from October 9, is Yarn – the Movie. It's an award-winning Icelandic documentary that also takes us to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Poland, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Hawaii, Cuba, USA and Canada on a journey that explores the endless possibilities of yarn, with artists who work with yarn through knitting, crochet and other modes of creative expression.

I'm a big fan of Iceland – I've been three times – and it was the first place I ever saw graffiti knitting.

Watch the Yarn – the Movie trailer and find your nearest screening.

Read up on Kate Winslet – and more famous crafters
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Coming close to a Clanger

TV viewers of a certain age look back fondly on the Clangers, and we were happy to hear that they're coming back to our screens, albeit in slightly different format.

I went to the Canterbury Heritage Museum, which was like a trip back to my childhood: Bagpuss, Rupert the Bear and more familiar faces. The Clangers case was surrounded by grown-ups like me grinning like idiots, all of us so hay to see a Clanger up close!
CBeebies has a free new-look Clanger knitting pattern – download it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/clangers-knitting-pattern

Martha Stewart on QVC!

Let's get one thing straight: I don't watch shopping channels, but I saw the name and thought: 'is she actually on it?' And she actually is: demonstrating her fancy hole punches accompanied by her glamorous (male) assistant. For all I know, she's on QVC all the time - but blimey, that's pushing the product a bit hard, isn't it?
I think Martha (or her team) has some good craft ideas (see Martha's craft channel here), but her approach is a little all-encompassing. I get the feeling she can't have a wee in the night without crocheting up a toilet roll cosy and stencilling the cistern en passant.
In 1995 I made my first trip to New York and I saw a book in Barnes & Noble spoofing Martha Stewart called something like Tarmac Your Own Drive with Martha Stewart. I've just done a quick search and I can't find it. However, I did find Martha Stuart's Better than you at Entertaining, with a walking-on-water Martha lookylikey on the cover, which I may be adding to my Christmas list...

Things I'd like to make...

This, of course, is a potentially endless list, but at the very front of my mind are the curled paper (or is that quilled paper?) rings that Kirstie Allsopp made on Kirstie's Handmade Britain (with original inspiration and practical help from Phiona Richards at Rare Notions. Haven't quite got round to it yet but I have bought the ring blanks (and couldn't resist making a big cocktail ring with a big glued-on silvery glass bead - the work of minutes, literally).
Here's how to make the paper rose ring above