Wool Week 2016: renewing the knitted graffiti

I've decided to do some form of 'wool work' – and blog about it – every day this week, for my own personal celebration of Wool Week.

Today I've updated the knitted graffiti on my local lamppost.
The previous pieces have been out there for over a year and it was impressive to see just how robustly they'd withstood the weather. Slight fading on the grey/blue big wool, crispiness on the red eyelash yarn, and a couple of leaves tucked in.
And on a more personal note, I've pinned down exactly what set of scarf my OH would like me to knit for him: about 6ft long, quite narrow, in garter-stitch welt, navy blue. I'll be casting on soon...

Before and after pix

As seen on screen: Yarn – the Movie review

Tonight, for one night only, Yarn – the Movie is being screened in cinemas nationwide.  Some showings, at Showcase cinemas,  are 'knit-alongs' which sounds like fun. I've just had my own private screening and to be honest, although the film really made me want to start knitting, and to create all kinds of projects out in the world, I'd have difficulty doing it in the dark, and I'd want to concentrate on watching the film.

Yarn – the Movie is 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.

It's cosy and comfortable on one level, covering how women pass on their skills to each other, wand how women all over the world are connected by them, and how yarn can be connected in oh so many beautiful, thought-provoking and meaningful forms.

The film features the work of Polish crochet artist Olek, known for camouflage-pattern crochet, Japanese artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam of Net Play Works who creates giant three-dimensional knitted, knotted playgrounds, Tilde Björfors, the founder of the contemporary Swedish circus company Cirkus Cikör and Tinna Þórudóttir Þorvaldar, yarn graffiti artist from Iceland. (Reykjavik was the first place I ever saw graffiti knitting – I wonder if it was by Tinna.)

Watch the Yarn – the Movie trailer and find your nearest screening. Obviously, this film deserves a wider audience; I hope to see it on TV soon.

Finding free knitting patterns

We all like something for nothing, and that includes craft necessities like knitting patterns. I've blogged on some of my favourite places to find free knitting patterns over on my work portfolio and I've just written a feature on free baby knitting patterns for Saga. I'm not one to go gooey over babies, puppies or kittens but even I have to admit that these ribbon-tie baby bootees designed by Susie Johns are so cute!

The sites I've included in the Saga feature cover knitting designers, knitting shops and yarn manufacturers. They all offer more free patterns than I could include. Here's the list:

Erika Knight

Debbie Bliss

LoveKnitting.com

Let's Knit magazine

KnitRowan.com

McAree Brothers

and a couple of extras:

Hobbycraft

WoolandtheGang.com

Laughing Hens

One of my other favourite sources is the local library. I love it for the extended choice. You can take the books out on loan – books you'd never consider buying (who has an unlimited budget?), browse at your leisure, take a photo of the patterns you want, or scan the page, then return the book – all for free. Even the fastest knitter – who certainly isn't me – would struggle to knit the pattern before the end of the loan period! 

How to make pickled beetroot

Beetroot keeps turning up in my weekly organic veg box. Recently I've been spiralising it, and serving it with candied walnuts, goat's cheese and a dash of balsamic vinegar, which is a great mix of texture, taste and colour.

But this week I wanted to do something different. Cleaning out the fridge, I came across an ancient jar of home-pickled home-grown beetroot, well past its eat-by date. So I thought I'd make some more.

And it's so easy. I used BBC Good Food's recipe. This calls for wrapping each beetroot in foil and baking it, then unwrapping and peeling. And this calls for pink fingers, as you can see (right).

Next you make the pickling juice (below left) by simmering spices in vinegar. Once the beetroot are cold, slice or cut them into chunks, put into a sterilised jar, pour over the vinegar, add some sea salt and screw on the lid (below right). Ready in two weeks!

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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Changing colour: customising clothes

Dyeing brings a new look, and new life, to clothes. I loved the shape of the linen top in the middle – A-line, three-pleat neckline, patch pockets – but I loathed the colour. Pale pink is possibly my least favourite colour.

Having bought my Dylon Machine Dye
in Jeans Blue and read the super-easy instructions, I realised there was enough dye to do 500g of fabric.

So to make up the weight I picked the linen jumper on the left, a paler pink, but really insipid, like a bra that's been washed a few too many times. And on the right, a long-sleeved mauve T-shirt.

Dyeing with machine dye couldn't be easier. You just tip the contents of the pouch into the drum, add the clothes, wash at 40°, remove clothes and do a wash with the machine empty.

Points to watch
• Check the fabric. Natural fabrics, eg linen and cotton, take dye well. Synthetics don't. Be aware that stitching may be nylon, hence the contrast stitching on my newly blue T-shirt.
• Check the colour. Pale shades will dye deeper, but not the other way round.
• Don't spill the dye! It's very easy to accidentally sprinkle a little of the powder as you're putting it in the washing machine.
• You need to dry the newly dyed clothes away from the sun.

Read more on Dylon's machine dyes

Licking and sticking

Stamps are little scraps of social history, and they're miniature works of art, too. I recently visited Stanley Gibbons HQ in the Strand, ahead of Stampex, the annual stamp-collecting show, in its 60th year.
I used to collect stamps as a child, and this event was a real memory-jogger, surfacing recollections of stamp hinges, and soaking squares of envelope in little bowls of water to get the stamps off.
On display was the original artwork for some Royal Mail stamps including the butterflies collection from 2013.

But stamps aren't just for sticking on letters or collecting in albums. Suzanne, of Art Stamped, is a craft artist who creates contemporary artworks using postage stamps. She was on hand to help me create a card design with stamps. She'd brought along a selection of stamps, themed by colours and subjects, such as hearts and animals. And she'll be showing a jungle-themed piece at Stampex.

With an anniversary coming up, I went for a green colour theme with the occasional love stamp. Suzanne took a shot of me as I planned and pondered my design.

And here's the finished card: not too shabby considering I spent about five minutes on it...