Friday, January 11, 2013

Knit a Monster Nursery

That Rebecca Danger comes up with the cutest stuff. This time around it's all about decorating a nursery. Her son, Presley, is one lucky baby. Can you imagine living with a room full of monsters all lovingly created by your mom?

She sent me a copy of her latest book, Knit a Monster Nursery, and I curled up with it last night. It couldn't have been any more fun!



It opens with a pretty substantial discussion of special tricks and tips for knitting monsters. It tells you about gauge, yardage, cast ons, sewing up, stuffing, eyes, mouths....all specific to monsters. If you love knitting them, this section alone is worth the price of the book. Trust me, it's going to make your life so much easier.

The next section talks about more than just knitting. It's a peek behind the curtain at Rebecca's thought process when it came to decorating the nursery for her kiddo. She discusses her starting point (a piece of fabric) creating wall art, her choices for accessories and furniture. Since her background is in design, she is able to bring far more to the table than only knits and monsters.

But, at the end of the day, the book is call Knit a Monster Nursery, and there are going to be lots of knits and lots of monsters. I think my favorite thing in the whole book is the Monster Pocket Sweater.


The first thing I like about it is the stripes. More often than not, I'm in a striped shirt of some sort. (Just ask around.) The other thing that I really like is the fact that it has a pocket that is big enough to hold a tiny monster. Perhaps one that you will find on the Monster Mobile?


There's also these super cute tissue and wipe covers. You know, I always made fun of the crochet tissue cover in my aunt's house when I was growing up, but somehow when you add a zigzag mouth and some safety eyes, the concept takes on a whole new life.


The last photo I'm going to share is the Monster Chair. I just love this. That Presley has it made


The book has tons more stuff. There are more than 25 projects in all. Swings, bookends, pillows, blocks, rattles... The list goes on and on.

This one is a keeper. There's plenty of great stuff for you if you are planning nursery, but it's also great for showers and gifts and just cute stuff that we all can use to brighten our lives. Honestly, who couldn't use a monster or two?

Rebecca and Martingale were nice enough to send a copy for me to give away. So leave a comment telling me what monster you remember most vividly from growing up. (We'll close the comments Sunday at midnight and we'll pick a winner on Monday.) I'll start. The monsters that I remember are the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. They scared the pants off me. Kudos to Mrs. Danger for creating happy fun monsters. That is how it should be!


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

KnitScene Spring 2013

KnitScene Spring is live!

OK... I'm having just the tiniest bit of trouble thinking about Spring right now. It's January 8th for goodness sake. Show of hands, who still has their Christmas tree up? Yeah, I didn't think I'd be alone.

But, there's no shame in dreaming of green shoots and sunny skies, is there? This is Jessica Bolof's Lightning Shrug. I'm digging that wide ribbing at the bottom. I don't have a photo of the front but I'm intrigued enough by what I'm seeing here in terms of the angles of the knitting to want to take a closer look.


This is knit from our Honor yarn in 611 Magnificent Mile. It takes 2-3 skeins. That's a nice size project.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Vogue Winter 2013

Vogue's Winter issue has a whole section of red garments. The models are going to be part of a silent auction at the upcoming VK Live event in New York. The proceeds will benefit The Heart Truth. We're proud to have donated the yarn to help make it possible. 


This lovely Shawl Collared Vest, designed by Yoko Hatta, is made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Bulky in 11ns Bold Red. It's sized all the way up to 3x and takes between 6 and 10 skeins. (Photo: Rose Callahan)