With needles clicking, they weave together not just garments to warm the body but also comfort and companionship to nurture the soul.This tradition is flowering today through knitting ministries, a worldwide ecumenical movement of small groups of women who gather to pray and knit for those in need. As they create shawls for people burdened with illness and sorrow, their handiwork becomes an expression, not only of their love and concern, but also of the loving care of the God who works through them.In this beautifully illustrated book, the authors--a United Church of Christ minister and a Roman Catholic laywoman--share stories of how the knitting ministry has touched lives and hearts around the world. They offer directions for knitting the shawls and for starting a parish or community knitting ministry. The book also provides a selection of prayers, written from many faith traditions, to offer along with each completed shawl.

    Stunning patterns are arranged by season, reflecting the colors and beauty of nature that inspire feminine designs. From an amber-beaded cardigan that captures the feeling of hay fields drying in the sun to a long, belted coat with a spray of coral roses inspired by flowers in local markets to an intarsia jacket that evokes memories of a fall hike in a forest, each pattern is rich with color, detailing, and romantic knitting style. The design workshops throughout this guidebook challenge knitters to find inspiration in their surroundings, build color palettes, swatch creatively through knitting and sketching, and finesse their style and fit.

    These non-traditional colorwork charts are perfect for the creative knitter looking to break away from the ordinary. Derived from graphic design elements, these fresh motifs include everything from geometric mountains, waves, and spirals to modern bikes, skulls, and sheep. Dive into stranded colorwork with confidence with a section on reading charts, working floats, and choosing colors. Learn how stranded colorwork can be used in design with five accompanying projects including mitts, cowls, and sweaters. Plus, use your imagination to modify, deconstruct, and combine the unique motifs to create your own designs. Be inspired to break the rules and use charts in creative ways with AlterKnit Stitch Dictionary.

    There are even patterns for the family dog and cat.

    Find clear instructions for both toe-up and cuff-down sock knitting Learn multiple techniques for knitting: casting on and binding off, working heels and toes, making size adjustments, and more Browse a stitch dictionary of favorite texture patterns; find options for creating your own unique socks

    What started as a dare became an icon of Norwegian knitting and started a snowball of knitting traditions across the North Atlantic. Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition follows the story of these beautiful mittens and gloves, from folk tradition to major regional industry to national symbol, and passes the tradition on with over 30 patterns taken from actual antiques. Every aspect of business today can be found in the story of Selbu knitting. And above it all, thousands of women and men, using spare moments to create spectacular designs that are as fresh today as they were 150 years ago.

    30 detailed and easy-to-follow patterns for garments and accessories are presented including a slimming Jackie Kennedy-style Camelot coat and a reversible tank top with scoop neck.

    And it’s all in one flirtatiously fresh package.Aimed at the knitter who is super-passionate about socks, The Joy of Sox delivers on its name. With their tantalizing cables, intricate lacework, and intriguing color work, the patterns represent the very best in sock design. There are revamped classics, bold new styles, and even a few themed socks—like the diamond lace thigh-highs and toeless pedicure socks. In addition to the results of our online knitting poll, you’ll also get fun stuff, including info from knitting personality Laurie Perry and phenoms Laura Bryant and Shannon Okey.

    Among the more than 35 patterns provided here are a cozy neck wrap featuring a built-in iPod holder, a lacy drawstring hood, and a woven necklace sparkling with Swarovski crystals.

    Or a sophisticated cashmere wrap featuring rich jewel tones that set off a favorite black dress. Knitting teacher and author Margaret Radcliffe presents a world of color techniques in a single comprehensive reference that you'll consult every time two or more yarn colors are in play. Stitchers of every ability level will love the color-combining methods and professional secrets revealed in The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques.Multicolor knitting techniques are explained with step-by-step illustrations and photographs accompanied by instructive text. Complete chapters on stripes, stitch effects, knitting with multicolor yarns, stranded knitting, and intarsia cover the theory and how-to behind each method as well as offering creative solutions for handling tangled yarn, estimating yarn quantities of each color, tips on how to handle all those ends, and stunning finishing techniques. An additional chapter describes more unusual techniques, such as helix, shadow, mosaic, and modular knitting.

    From lobster-shaped mittens with moveable claws to a smoke-puffing dragon scarf with spikes, knitting critters is pure enjoyment. In this Collection you’ll discover scarves, hats, mittens and more, masquerading as wooly zoo critters with floppy ears, wiggling tails and googly-eyed faces.All you need are basic knitting skills and a few skeins of colorful yarn. Step-by-step instructions are written in easy-to-understand English without the usual knitting abbreviations or cryptic symbols. Plenty of tips are included to add a little extra flair, flourish and swagger to your creation and make it uniquely yours. Morehouse Farm Critter Knits make wonderful gifts: they are one-of-a-kind, totally unique, absolutely loveable, completely practical and functional and enjoyed by young and old. The critters you’ll encounter in this volume are: Caterpillar Scarf Kissing Fish Mittens Gecko Scarf Bear Paw Mittens with Honey-Dunked Scarf Critter Scarves (Fox, Raccoon & Cat) Dragon Scarf Dragon Hat Dragon LegWarmers Panda Scarf Snake Scarf and matching Cap CatWrap Owl Purse Alligator Scarf (regular and mini-sized) Gator Mitts Loon BackPack Lobster Claw Mittens Lobster Tail Scarf Pony Tail Hat RatRace Scarf Rooster Hat

    The book features detailed knitting patterns, schematics, and basic animal hat-making techniques—plus how-to instruction for adding a fleecy hat-lining for extra coziness. There are patterns for every animal-lover. Animals included are cat, dog, chicken, rabbit, pig, frog, penguin, cow, elephant, fox, koala, monkey, panda, lion, and mouse. Patterns offer both child and adult sizes, so family members can each have their own hat.

    . . Mary Thomas's Knitting Book. It's a veritable encyclopedia of knitting, clearly and definitively explaining and illustrating every method, operation and stitch, and a good number of the patterns you are ever likely to need or use. After an engaging history of the craft and its implements, Miss Thomas carefully lays the foundation of knitting in the opening chapters ― how to hold needles, wind yarn, gauge stitches, control tension, etc. ― and builds gradually upon it in the following sections. These explain in lucid progression every operation in common knitting, from basic knit stitch and purl, casting on and casting off, shaping by decreases and increases to turning, triangular shapes and mitres, and knitting on the diagonal or bias. For the reader who has mastered these fundamental procedures, Miss Thomas devotes the remainder of the book to fancy knitting stitches and techniques, including color knitting by stranding and weaving; pattern weaving; knitting woven, by frame with its complement of stitches (plain, raised, rib, etc.), looped, beaded, embroidered by chart, using cross stitch, honeycomb, etc.; and making patterns for garments and working out their details (armholes, belts, buttonholes, collars, hems, necklines, pockets et al). To put what the reader learns into practice, she offers instructions and patterns for making various Shetland shawls, gloves, and socks. More than 250 technique diagrams clearly illustrate every operation and pattern as to position of hands, yarn, and needle, so the knitter will have no trouble in following along. For all knitters, whether beginner or adept, a chapter of helpful knitting hints on blocking, picking up dropped stitches, lengthening, knitting up, mending, taking-back (correcting), etc. completes these invaluable and personalized lessons.Unabridged republication of original (1938) edition.

    Through clever planning and some simple techniques, the projects in Finish-Free Knits are shaped and joined during knitting— without sacrificing the pockets, buttonbands, shaped collars, and more that is accomplished in most designs by sewing together separate pieces. In addition, learn how to shape armholes, join pieces as you go, use short-rows for shaping, and more.Once these stress-free finishing techniques are learned, you will enjoy the freedom to apply variations of each method in projects beyond the book. With Finish-Free Knits you can avoid the dreaded “Some Assembly Required” phrase forever.

    Radford’s fascination with the creative potential of these raw materials is evident throughout One More Skein, where she melds the alternative approach to knitting and felting she introduced in AlterKnits and AlterKnits Felt with the magic she worked with a single skein of yarn in the bestselling One Skein. One More Skein features 30 diverse projects that can be completed with one or two average-sized skeins of yarn or multiple bits of leftover yarn. Projects include an earflap hat sized for the whole family; fingerless mitts; sweaters, britches, and capelets for baby; hemp jewelry embellished with jump ring “beads”; a felted, pleated sleeve to dress up a vase; and a multicolored blanket worked from assorted stash yarn. All of them are quick and relatively easy to make, without sacrificing beauty or ingenuity.