Mary Jane Mucklestone

Hand Knitting Blog & Knitting Patterns

Knitting

What I’ve Been Doing

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Teaching and touring! Holy Cow – I was here there and everywhere! VogueKnittng Live Seattle! VK always puts on a great event – you can count on it. Extra-special fun for me because it was in my hometown.. my cousin lives really close to our hotel .. Old friends and new! Super fun. I was lucky to have my friend Gudrun Johnston stay on and hang out with me and my mom….

How did I miss getting pictures of Cirilia? She met Gudrun and me in Columbia City for superb coffee, gave us thrifting tips, showed us around the Skacel offices..No pictures?..must have been having too much fun! (read Cirilia’s story on another dear PNW friend, Andrea Rangel here)..

I’ve become a walking fiend.. on the beach and in the woods…don’t even ask me about my new tiny friend fitbit!

I flew back just in time for Vogue Knitting Destinations Camden Maine…A really perfect weekend retreat – gorgeous weather! Amazing knitters – Sensational organizers, Doreen from VK and Michele Rose Orne from Swan’s Island Yarns. Read about it here, I got to participate with the group in a Swan’s Island natural dying workshop lead by head dyer Jackie Ottino-Graf who told great stories and showed us what to do.

The next weekend was my Color Immersion Workshop at wonderful Harrisville Designs, Harrisville New Hampshire. A fantastic location, fantastic classroom full of all the yarns we could possibly use and of course, fantastic students, so nice to have a couple of days to really get to know you!

What you don’t see? Crazy deadline knitting and final editing for both of my new books which you can pre-order!

Stay tuned! I’m a judge for THE FIBER FACTOR Challenge Number Two!

Congratulations Kate M!

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Congratulations to Kate M, winner of Icelandic Handknits by Helene Magnusson!

Thanks for everyone’s comments, they were so much fun to read. You can all pick up your own copy of the book here.

I’m teaching this Friday and Saturday – a Color Immersion Weekend – at historic Harrisville Designs in Harrisville New Hampshire. I think there are a couple of spaces open. I’d love it if you could join us!
Find out more here.

Icelandic Handknits – Book Giveaway!

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My mailbox has been a happy place lately! I’m a book collector and the latest addition to my library is a treasure. Icelandic Handknits 25 Heirloom Techniques and Projects, by Hélène Magnùsson is my favorite kind of book, it includes simply everything! Part scholarly treatise on historic Icelandic knitting, part pattern collection, part technique tutorials, part visual travelogue and even… part cookbook! You really can’t ask for anything more!
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The designs in the book are inspired by artifacts found in the Textile Museum in Blönduós, in northern Iceland. The book is divided by category of inspiration, Mittens, Traditional Costumes, Lace and my personal favorite, Footwear. I’ve been obsessed with the knitted shoe inserts ever since I got a copy of  Hélène’s previous knitting book, Icelandic Knitting: Using Rose Patterns. Last summer, Gudrun and I were intrepid travelers, driving all the way from Reykjavik to Blönduós just for the purpose seeing the inserts housed in the Textile Museum, quite an adventure!

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The museum did not disappoint, and Hélène has included some wonderful images of the items that served as springboards for her patterns. Here is Gudrun – wearing her Lopapeysa- at the museum, notice the grass growing on the roof!

 

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The book includes a wide range of patterns to please just about everyone; mittens, a bag, hats, lace shawls, swweaters, a throw, beaded wristletts and even a skirt based on traditional knitted slips. My favorite I think, are the colorwork socks wildly worked with short rows, so the stranded sections are topsy turvy. CLEVER! The inspiration was the woven bands used to wrap around socks to keep them staying up, which Hélène’s socks cleverly mimic.

The landscape photographs by Arnaldur Halldörsson are spectacular, and his fashion images gorgeous, many were taken during a snowstorm! Undaunted those Icelanders!

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Gudrun and I were so lucky to meet Hélène in her house in Reykjavik – taking time to see us and treat us to an Icelandic breakfast of smoked salmon and other goodies, even though she was in the middle of renovations and it was the first day of school for her kids.  Keep up with Hélène at her blog and website. Don’t miss out on her many other books. As a souvenier when we visited she gave us her sweet and funny little book  The secret of good vinaigrette revealed to Icelanders. I use it ALL THE TIME!  Icelandic Handknits  includes several recipies including a soup with moss as the main ingredient…others recipies are made with easier to find ingredients so don’t overlook this charming feature of the book.

 

Vivacious and unstoppable Hélène leads amazing hiking-knitting-workshops that I’ve always dreamed of going on. The one called Hiking and Knitting with the Elves is one I’m particularly fond of, reading the description over and over!  Best of all would be to attend Hélène’s summer workshop from July 31 – August 6, 2013,  Icelandic knitting traditions: Textile Museum and North Iceland  focusing on the 19th century Icelandic traditions covered in the book. All the designs from the book will be on exhibit at the Textile Museum, from June 1st to August 31st  and  throughout the first months of autumn by request.

The kind folks at Voyager Press are providing a book for me to giveaway to one lucky reader! Don’t miss out – leave me a comment about knitting or Iceland or even elves before next Tuesday April 30th – midnight.

The Blog Tour Continues:

April 4th, 2013: Gudrun Johnston – theshetlandtrader.com

April 11th, 2013: Donna Druchunas – sheeptoshawl.com

April 18th, 2013: Woolly Wormhead – www.woollywormhead.com/blog

May 2nd, 2013: Susan Crawford – justcallmeruby.blogspot.com

May 9th, 2013: Terri Shea – spinningwheel.net

May 16th, 2013: Alana Dakos – www.nevernotknitting.com

If you don’t win, you can buy a copy here.

We Have A Winner!

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Knit to Flatter COVER

Congratulations to Nell…maker of small things…she’s won the book that may spur her to move on sweater making with the help of our dear friend Amy Herzog!
The rest of us can pick up a copy Knit to Flatter here.

Stay tuned! Tomorrow I have another fantastic giveaway!

oxo

MJ

Knit to Flatter: Book Giveaway!!

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Look what I found in my mailbox! A book book that deserves to be on every knitter’s bookshelf, Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog. I’m a sucker for a beautiful book, and I’d buy this one for the end binding alone – just look at  those darling swiss dots – I tell you I admired that for simply ages before I opened the book! It even has a different cloth-like texture – it is beautiful in the dark! (You can see my mom’s new kitten agreed, choosing this book to be the very first to test his teeth on.) I didn’t wait too long to crack it open and found that the subtitle says it all – The only instructions you’ll ever need to knit sweaters that make you look good and feel great!

It is true!

Chapter One is perhaps the single most important chapter you will ever read about making knits fit your particular body shape. Notice I said shape not size. This is the key element. We all need to learn to accurately measure our bodies. We need to view our bodies from the side not just straight on. We need to determine our own silhouette –  the outline of our body that does not change regardless if we gain or lose weight.

Amy guides you through the process step by step, like only a best friend or beloved sister can do. And that is who Amy will become to you. You may find yourself hauling the book around just for reassurance on those days that you feel like no one loves you. Amy does, you can count on it, her warmth an good humor envelope you!

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In Knit to Flatter 9 models of all different shapes and sizes are used throughout the book. No freaky photoshop here folks, real women with real bodies. As it turns out there are just 3 basic body shapes, and each of us fits into one of them despite fluctuations in our weight. Certain sweater shapes and particularly certain sweater details, will be best suited for a particular body type, and Amy outlines them, annotating the photographs so you instantly understand what she means. She does not stop there – everyone has particular figure features and Amy helps you to determine what alterations may especially flatter your own, very individual shape.

If alterations sound daunting, not to worry – Amy’s clear instructions and suggestions make the work an adventure. And the lessons you learn can be applied in the same way to any sweater you may knit from here on out.

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Which brings me to the patterns! Even if you never want to alter a pattern or care to discover what your body type is, the 18 patterns are reason enough to buy this book! Besides Amy, Caro Sheridan, Kirsten Kapur and Elinor Brown each contribute a design.

These are all gorgeous wearable designs and each one includes ideas for modification, so you can make it fit you perfectly and add your own personal signature. Of course I’m partial to Striper Wrap, which cleverly incorporates motif #172 from my stitch dictionary, 200 Fair Isle Motifs, but I might just attempt Chemera Cardigan, with it’s pretty cabled panels, shown with both short and long sleeves…I’d do short for summer!

That is another thing, there are lots and lots of photographs- and as I said before, no fewer that NINE different models are featured. Very ambitious, and very successful. If only all publishers understood that the extra costs and effort such an undertaking requires is well worth it.

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Ok- have I gushed enough? Because I could go on – but let’s get to the giveaway!
Leave a comment for a chance to win your own copy of Knit to Flatter…Let’s talk about your own knitting – a project that worked – a project that didn’t – or your favorite kind of project. Comments will stay open until midnight Tuesday April 23. I’ll use one of those random number selectors to choose a winner.

 

This blog tour continues, with more chances to win Knit to Flatter, and highly entertaining reading from my favorite bloggers and peers:

Monday, April 15: Rock and Purl – Ruth Garcia-Alcantud
Tuesday, April 16: Mind of Winter – Julia Trice
Wednesday, April 17: Mary Jane Mucklestone You are here!
Thursday, April 18: Moth Heaven – Julia Farwell-Clay
Friday, April 19: Baby Cocktails – Thea Colman
Saturday, April 20: Knitting At Large – Julie Matthews
Sunday, April 21: ADD Knitter
Monday, April 22: Savory Knitting – Amy Christoffers
Tuesday, April 23: Carole Knits

 

And don’t miss Amy’s Craftsy Class!

 

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