We here at My Sister Knits are HUGE fans of Jared Flood and Brooklyn Tweed (that’s a link to his Ravelry pages). His patterns are simple and brilliant, making use of lace, cables and the ever-wonderful garter stitch. Not to mention his photos: Jared Flood is an excellent photographer and the photos of his knitting make even the busiest knitter want to curl up with a cuppa and some nice scrunchy wool.
Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Tweed
A native of New York, Jared takes inspiration from his neighborhood in Brooklyn. His blog alights with his gorgeous photos and explanations of where he finds his inspiration and ideas for his lovely patterns. He has recently been blogging about his experiences with some Elizabeth Zimmermann (another inspiration of his) treasures that have crossed his path. You can read about the process he went through to create his own yarn line, Shelter (unfortunately NOT available at MSK). Be sure to read up!
While Jared won’t be able to join us this summer, we’re contenting ourselves with his beautiful projects. Patterns are available for the Girasole Lace Shawl-Blanket (shown above), Wool Leaves Baby Blanket, Shale Baby Blanket, Cinder Cable Scarf, Fenimore Cabled Tam, Habitat Cabled Beanie, Tweed Baby Blanket, Guernsey Wrap, Celes Lace Stole, Umaro Textured Throw, Cobblestone Pullover and Porom Lace Hat. Samples will be available in many of these patterns, and we’ll be doing featured blog posts on them throughout the month. Happy knitting!
One of the first knitting reference books many new knitters purchase is Knitter’s Companion, written by Fort Collins’ own Vicki Square. Coveting the Barbie clothes her maternal grandmother was making, Vicki was taught to knit at the age of 6 so she might make her own. While she is most known for her knitting, she has a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking and also takes pleasure in mixed media drawings utilising as diverse materials as paper, paint, oil or charcoal pastels, and fiber.
A Chicago native, jewelry artist Katherine Ware has resided along the Colorado Front Range for 26 years. She moved to Boulder to follow her siblings to the University of Colorado where she studied Art History. As part of her studies she “learned the traditional methods of casting and fabricating in silver. I enjoyed studying ancient jewelry and jewelry in portraits, and I was inspired to try recreating what I liked.”
New York City born Donna Druchunas lives in the region with her husband, mother and three cats. As a child she learned many crafts from the women in her life including knitting, crochet, rug-hooking, embroidery, and sewing. Like many she took a break from crafting, hers lasting 25 years.
For 20 years she worked as a writer, designer and creative servies manager in a variety of industries from large industry to small business and even military training facilities. These jobs strengthened her skills in technical writing and creative services. Eventually she broke away from corporate culture and combined her interest in knitting with her skill in writing easy-to-follow instructions. Her designs and features have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and the pattern lines of a variety of yarn companies. She has also authored six knitting books, including the award winning Arctic Lace.
Donna’s latest book, Successful Lace Knitting: Celebrating the Work of Dorothy Reade, will be released on May 10th. The book contains more than 25 knitting patterns from many top designers, each pattern using lace stitches designed by Dorthy Reade. This book is more than a pattern book though. It is also a biography of Dorthy Reade who is considered by many the mother of modern lace knitting. There is also a section designed to take the mystery out of reading charts and knitting lace.
A New Jersey native, Joanna Johnson and her husband moved to Colorado in 1999 for the sunshine and drier climate and haven’t looked back. Together they have started an independent publishing company called Slate Falls Press. This spring marks the first released publication, Phoebe’s Sweater which was written by Joanna Johnson and illustrated by her husband.
the midst of summer’s heat. I called her over to try it on, and at that moment, something seemed so poignant about everything- her carefree playfulness, my pregnancy, the coming changes in the seasons and in our family… it was a very rich moment and inspired the whole story from there.“ Included in the book are patterns for the sweater, a Phoebe doll and a doll-sized sweater to match. The book is sure to make a great gift for a special child with a knitter in their life.
Joanna comes from a long line of knitters and has her mother and grandmother to thank for her love of knitting today. Like many she relearned as a young adult. Joanna also enjoys sewing and quilting and exploring the wide world of fiber arts, including spinning and weaving with her daughter who also has the “fiber bug.”
