Thursday, November 24, 2005

Thursday Best of: The Weird and Wonderful

We can’t explain it, but we love it – Matie Trew “likes to make strange things” and we think she’s fabulous. We especially like her knitted human internal organs.

Picture from Matie Trew's website, Strange But Trewe, 2005.

Knitting in the News

As we know, knitting is big news in the UK. After the States, Britain is one of the places that has really embraced the knitting trend over the last few years. Knitting is getting a more prominent profile, with the BBC and major newspapers often running articles on this fabulous pasttime. Below we bring the best of this week’s knitting news.

On Monday, the Telegraph featured a piece on customising and making Christmas gifts – knitted or embroidered. Read it here: “Wizardry with a needle”

Yesterday, the BBC website ran an interesting article on how knitting can help to stop smoking.

As we're always looking for ways to improve this site, we will aim to publish knitting news on a weekly basis, collating all the interesting items together in one go.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Swiss Knitting Championships

The TSR (regional TV channel for Swiss Romande) has the results in of the Swiss National Knitting Championships. Read more here (article in French). personally I didn't even know there was a Swiss knitting competition...

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Best of: inspiring online knitting sites

Today marks the start of what I hope will be regular ‘best of’ lists – and we’re kicking it off with a list of the most inspirational online knitting sites. To follow will be reviews of great knitting books, blogs, online yarn stores, patterns, etc. Feel free to send in your ideas for future issues: contact us at snb_geneva@yahoo.com

If you’re seeking inspiration, then the selection below is sure to get creative juices flowing.


  • By far the most comprehensive and inspiring site I’ve found is knitty.com It has tons of patterns, and if you rummage in their archive, many interesting articles on the art of knitting and related weird and wonderful subjects.


  • Donna Wilson has the enviable life of being a knitting artist and her work has been featured in everything from Elle Decoration to Vogue.


  • Ace Chick’s site is inspiring because of the sheer volume of items she produces. featuring contemporary projects, she turns her hand to everything from funky cabled hats, to striped socks, chunky scarves.


  • Finally, and its not strictly knitting,Six and a half stitches, with its beautifully sparse design, is an online showcase for this girl’s extraordinary talent for sewing, photography, crewel-work, and über funky embroidery.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Paris Picks Up the 'Tricot' Trend

Those in the know have realised for a long time that chicks with sticks are at the vanguard of a movement that is hailed as the new rock ' n roll. Only natural then that the media are way behind us when it comes to reporting what's happenening on the street. But we shall forgive them, as it's still nice to see knitting in the news. Here's an article from this weekend's Figaro magazine (in French) about the knitting café craze that is sweeping La France.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Feed your habit: Knitting Magazines


Not many of these around in Switzerland, although the vogue for knitting has been picked up on in the UK, spawning a new rag - Simply Knitting. (If anyone spots it in Geneva, let me know!) It's not bad, although it would be better if it picked up on the fashionable take on knitting that Rowan does so well.

Anyone interested in subscribing to Simply Knitting, can do so here.

Angel Yarns, one of my favourite online UK knitting sites, has a comprehensive breakdown of knitting magazines available in English. Take a look.

Knitting and Stitching Show Review

Although no one from SnB Geneva could attend, the Knitting and Stitching Show that was held at Alexandra Palace in London in October was apparently a great success. One of the main events was the Student Textile Awards brought to you from the British Hand Knitting Confederation featuring fabulous knits from talented students at colleges around the UK.

Other highlights included the knitted wedding, which you can see below:




and items from the fabulously innovative knit2together exhibition (see picture below) hosted by the Craft Council in the UK.



As I mentioned before, our weekly knitting meets are now well established in the Recyclables café every Wednesday night. In the new year our plans are to make this site a community blog for all SnB Geneva members, where we'll be able to fill in member information and post photos of our finished oeuvres.