For years now knitters have a had a secret love of the nose neighbour. Who doesn't envy the fine facial hair of a lucky moustache wearer if we're honest? Last year's S&B London Knit Crawl proved that fact to be irrefutably true.
So while it's still a bit nippy out there how about wandering over to Knitty and joining the moustached many by knitting up their Incognito Cowl.
Knitty have long tradition of knowing what the knitter wants and giving it to them for free. In this case a knitters quiet pining for a tash of their own prompted them to publish a pattern for a cosy cowl with an element of the sneaky 'stache.
The pattern is offered in two different levels of difficulty, tangy and mellow, so you can tash up even if you're a newbie knitter.
As Knitty say get out there and wear your ersatz facial hair with flair!
Back in days gone by they were a classy bunch. Graceful, debonair and chic; the dress of the 40s and 50s took a fair amount of putting together but was worth it for the finished look. Inspired by her grandmother's photos and vintage fashion photographs of the period, My Vintage Dresser was created.
Katie dreamed up the vintage pattern shop when her job became a bit unstable and has gone onto create a place where you can find a treasure trove of vintage fabulousness.
You can dig up retro goodness to your heart's content with a classic selection of sewing and knitting patterns. From 1960s pleated skirts from Vogue to P&B Wools patterns for fine tailored jackets, every pattern will have you itching to get your retro on.
Katie also teams them up with the opportunity to attend workshops covering everything from vintage hairstyling and makeup to where to source vintage and how to put it all together.
You'll be crafting yourself vintagey before you can say "Make do and mend".
Recently I have been mesmerised by the new studio Ghibli film Ponyo, the work of anime genius Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki's films are pieces of animated magic and well worth casting your eyeballs at. As Ponyo is a bit too new for a wave of crafty creatures to appear from its underwater depths I thought I would share this pattern for Totoro mittens I found while we wait.
My Neighbour Totoro is the tale of two tiny girls and a giant rabbit/cat creature that lives in the woods nearby their new house. It has inspired these amazingly cute Norweigan Totoro mittens by Ravelry's Brella.
The pattern is free to member of mighty knitting social network site Ravelry, so you'll need to sign in to get your claws on it. Signing up is free and the site is amazing so quite frankly if you're a knitter and not on Ravelry already you certainly should be.
There are also tons of other Ghibli goodies on there too. So go wild with your Mayazaki makings.
Debbie Stoller's Stitch and Bitch is the book that launched a million knitters. There are very few people with sticks and string who aren't aware of the book and its follow on Stitch and Bitch Nation and Son of Stitch and Bitch. So when Ms Stoller does something people take notice.
Recently Debbie released Stitch Nation, her own brand of yarn. The knitting world is abuzz once more. She teamed up with Red Heart Yarn to make a range that is "100% natural and 100% affordable".
It comes three types Full o' Sheep (Peruvian wool single ply), Bamboo Ewe (bamboo and wool) and Alpaca Love (80% Wool, 20% Alpaca) and the colours are fresh, zingy and varied.
The site also features a few free patterns to get your started on your Stitch Nation stitching.
Stitch Nation is only available in the US at the moment. Here's hoping it comes to the UK soon.
Keeping the knit in the family is a common occurrence. Stitching is often a generational thing passed down from your grandparents to your parents to you to your kids in some cases. If crafting isn't something being passed down your family generations then maybe it's about time it was. Doing this in Swedish style are MillaMia, a new knitting site offering beginner classes for the Mother's Day weekend.
Millamia's yarns are made from soft and squishy merino wool in a lovely range of colours and their knitting kits and pattern books offer some trendy knits for your tinies. The classes are being run by stitching sage, Claire Montgomery, in Millamia's London studio.
You can see all the info for the classes on the 13th and 14th of March on their site here.
A mother's day gift that keeps on giving. Possibly in some lovely handmade knits for you from your grateful mum.
Knitting needles: for any self-respecting knitter your needles tell your knitting who's boss. I'm a fan of wooden needles, which grip the stitches, and an enemy of metal needles off which my knitting seems to slide as soon as my attention is distracted by something shiny.
My love of wooden needles is why I may have broken out in a small Snoopy dance when I was sent this link to Martha Stewart's Custom Knitting Needle tutorial via Twitter. It's about as simple as a how to gets.
Step one talks you through making the shaft of the needle involving easy to find tools such as a pencil sharpener and sandpaper. Step two deals with the end of the needle.
Voila! Your very own handmade knitting needles for you to handmake your own knitting on. You'll be spinning your own yarn next.
Apparently fur is back in fashion. In my mind it's never been ok to swan into a fancy party decked in the embalmed remains of one of the forest's furry friends and thankfully most agree. That doesn't stop those of us who admire the animal kingdom longing for a creature companion at such events, which is where Knitty's Vegan Fox comes in.
With a little bit of novelty yarn (how most of us run for the hills at the mere thought of knitting with it) and your basic inc and K2tog you could soon wow the party people with a knitted fibre-based fox draped across your shoulders.
The free pattern comes from Knitty.com which, if you knit but have been living in yarn-stuffed cave for the past few years, is possibly the most fabulous free pattern site out there next to Ravelry.
Get your fur-wearing funk on without death to small creatures. Go on.
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