Don’t stop knitting! It keeps you healthy. Last month I wrote an article called “Why bother knitting a scarf?” Much to my surprise, I received thousands of positive reactions from readers who share my love of homemade, local, and beautiful “slow fashion” items. Clearly, knitting is being embraced by people from all walks of life who benefit from its peaceful, relaxing repetition. It got me wondering – what’s really going on when people knit? Why is it so tremendously popular? It turns out that knitting has incredible health benefits. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Even professionals are catching on. Keep at it, all you knitters!
12 Inspirational and Exclusive Interviews on Yanko Design – Hideshi Hamaguchi 12 Inspirational and Exclusive Interviews on Yanko Design – Hideshi Hamaguchi So far we have had four awesome designers share their wealth of experiences in this Inspirational and Exclusive Interviews series. Robert Brunner spoke about the core DNA of a designer/entrepreneur; Scott Wilson showed us how to rise from the ashes like a phoenix; Karim Rashid taught us his roadmap to success and Yves Béhar spoke about forging partnerships. My recent visit to the red dot award ceremony for product design at Essen, brought me face to face with the charismatic Hideshi Hamaguchi, the inventor of the USB Stick. To give you a background, Hideshi Hamaguchi is a chemical engineer and a math’s champion in Japan. Creativity for Hideshi is very intuitive based, however there were no concrete steps by the company to explore this aspect. I cannot draw! Despite the fact that Hideshi has more than 120 innovations to his credit, it comes as a big surprise to me that he cannot draw! Engineer-designer conflict!
IvyLacePatternInstructions from Barbara Walker's book Charted Knitting Designs "A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns" This is another pretty and unusual lace pattern and it's not hard to do, none of them are really hard to to, some just take longer than others! This sample was knitted with RH 4-ply and keyplate 3. Because the extra 3 stitches are on the left for so many rows, then on the right for so many rows, it was not practical to number the stitches consecutively on the needle bed. Back to Lace Patterns Back to Heidi's Knitting Room Mark Jenkins // Glazed Paradise Kristiansand, Norway London, England Montreal, Canada Cologne, Germany Besançon Rome Rio de Janeiro Tudela London Dublin Moscow Winston-Salem Seoul Royan Bordeaux Puerto del Rosario Barcelona Malmö Washington DC Washington, DC
92-Year-Old British Woman Knits 400 Sweaters for Needy Syrian Kids The weather has been freezing in refugee camps housing Syrian families who have fled the bloodshed in their home country, adding just one more challenge to humanitarian organizations scrambling to help people lacking in both food and medical care. Here’s one heartwarming story out of the crisis, though: Hand in Hand for Syria, a London-based charity focusing on bringing medical care and food to dying Syrians, reported the above donation. A 92-year-old woman identified as Doris from Swindon knitted 400 sweaters to send to Syrian children. Amazing. Hand in Hand for Syria notes that, as it intends to deliver aid to help people help themselves, they are currently planning a textile workshop and opening a school to get local children back into education. Bridget Johnson is a career journalist whose news articles and opinion columns have run in dozens of news outlets across the globe.
Robot silkworms to print architectural structure Researchers at MIT plan to 3D print a pavilion by imitating the way a silkworm builds its cocoon. The research team, headed by architect and Mediated Matter Group founder Neri Oxman, attached tiny magnets to the heads of silkworms to discover how they “print” their pupal casings around themselves. “We've managed to motion-track the silkworm’s movement as it is building its cocoon,” said Oxman. “Our aim was to translate the motion-capture data into a 3D printer connected to a robotic arm in order to study the biological structure in larger scales.” The pavilion is part of a research project to explore ways of overcoming the existing limitations of additive manufacturing at architectural scales and follows recent proposals for a house made of 3D printed concrete sections and a dwelling made of prefabricated plastic elements. Top image: colour scanning electron microscope image of the exterior surface of a silk moth cocoon.
Craft Ideas - Learn How to Knit with Lace at WomansDay Embrace the complex stitch patterns and the delicate touch of holding the blocked beauty in your hands. Fall in love with the beautiful marriage of positive and negative space that only the increases and decreases of lace can create. SKILL LEVELIntermediate SIZE To fit bust: 28 (40, 52)" (71 [101.5, 132]cm)Directions are for smallest size, with larger sizes in parentheses. FINISHED MEASUREMENTS • Neck Opening: approximately 28 (40, 52)" (71 [101.5, 132]cm); exact size determined by tension of crochet edging • Bust: 30 (42, 54)" (76 [106.5, 137]cm)• Length: 22¾ (23¾, 24¾)" (58 [60, 63]cm) GAUGE20 stitches and 24 rows = 4" (10cm) in rib (slightly stretched) using size 5 (3.75mm) needle. SPECIAL STITCHESBind off loosely; join; k2togL; k2togR; m1; pick up and knit; single crochet; slip stitch (crochet); slip stitch (knit); vdd; w&t; waste yarn; yo Neckline With smallest 24" (61cm) needle, cast on 150 (210, 270) stitches. Cap Shaping Sleeve From this point you will be working in the round.
Shadow Dancing Diet Wiegman creates a bit of different sculptures by arranging piles of rubbish which, when lit in a special way, result in producing a perfect shadow of Michael Jackson, Michelangelo’s David or other persons and objects on the wall. He is working with this unique art form since he finished his studies in 1965. Wiegman received international recognition for his installations which has been copied by others throughout the years. With his art he creates a world of illusion and reality that invites the viewer to look at so-called ordinary objects and situations in a different way.