Lately I've become obsessed with intarsia mittens from Norway, Sweden, and anywhere else. I haven't been able to learn all that much about the history and the background behind all the amazing designs I've seen, but I hope to in the future (the local libraries I went to yesterday were lacking some serious... everything, weakest libraries I've ever been to for sure). Besides the history, the images I've found and the patterns (free mostly too!) have made me feel completely inspired to try my own. I have tons of ideas for these mittens I hope to accomplish (I've started my own simple pair out of the one decent book about Norwegian mittens I was able to find at a local library). So I thought I'd share with you some of the amazing mittens I found while prowling around the internet, hope you get just as inspired as me!
If you are interested in more patterns (free too, the best kind of patterns) then check out this site, it has so many amazing patterns and a blank template for you to create your own, plus millions of other knitting patterns for a hundred other things, really an amazing site.
Also, this book "Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition" has been referenced all over the sites I've been looking at, and I'm thinking of getting myself a copy, looks pretty amazing.
If you're a knitter then chances are you know about Ravelry and the amazing postings you can find on their site, plus everyone loves free patterns, right? Here are a few of my favorite patterns that I hope to sometime in the future (at some point in time and space hypothetically) I would love to make. (If you don't have a Ravelry account, I would suggest getting one because it's always interesting to see all the different things that people can make, plus all the patterns I've put here are free as long as you have a Ravelry account.)
I remember when I bought my pair of Doc Marten's in London, in the bag I found a CD, and since I was studying abroad and didn't have a computer with a disc drive or a CD player I wasn't able to listen to any of the songs until I was back in the states in December and one of the songs on there was a cover of The Buzzcock's song "Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't)" by the band the Noisettes, which I did like, but never invested more time into looking for more music by them, until now. Their music is fun and exciting, but I found out their lead singer Shingai Shoniwa is a total inspiration. Her clothing and hair is the best and I love how she performs on stage. She's always wearing these really colorful outfits and I love them all. Wikipedia has this to say about her:
Shingai Elizabeth Maria Shoniwa(first name pronounced shing-guy; born on 1 September 1981) is an English singer of Zimbabwean descent and best known as the vocalist and bassist for the UKindie rock band Noisettes. Her first name, Shingai, means ‘be strong’ in the Shona language. Critical response to Shoniwa's performance has largely been positive. Rolling Stone magazine said that "Shoniwa is a living, breathing manifestation of the rock & roll spirit, with a voice that is equal parts Iggy Pop and Billie Holiday." In her stage persona, Shoniwa looks like what the New Yorker called "an African supermodel", and she frequently performs in bare feet while wearing face paint or fur hats on stage. - Wikipedia
Pretty awesome I think. I would love to see them play live. Check out their video for "Sister Rosetta (Capture the Spirit)" and "Don't Give Up."
Totally awesome, right? Here are some photos of the beautiful Shingai Shoniwa.
I've never been much of a crocheter. In fact, to this day I'm still confused as to how to crochet, because I'm primarily a knitter, but after looking at Helen Rödel's work, I really want to learn how to crochet. Her work is amazing and watching videos of her talking about and working on her clothing is amazing. Makes me want to try to knit more clothing that is wearable. (Currently working on a chevron blanket for Aaron and I.) But anyway, Helen's work is wonderful. I highly suggest you check it out.
