I love this sweater!
(Click on Image to Enlarge)
This photo is from one of my all time favorite books:
Knitting Art: 150 Innovative Works from 18 Contemporary Artists
By
As some knitters craft mittens and sweaters, others find themselves taking flight into the realm of art. Some become true fiber artists, creating exhibition-quality quilts and sweaters and shawls, yarn mobiles and sculptures and gigantic abstract installations.
An exploration of art knitting, Knitting Art profiles eighteen of the most prominent and intriguing practitioners of this craft-turned-art. Karen Searle, herself a recognized fiber artist, examines the works and inspirations of each of these knit artists.
Numerous photographs illustrate each profile, documenting these artists' work and at the same time offering inspiration to those who might transcend the purely practical aspect of knitting.
Among the artists encountered here are such nationally known knitters as movement founder Katharine Cobey, Carolyn Halliday, Debbie New, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Lindsay Obermayer, Kathryn Alexander, and others.
I had the pleasure of working with Lisa Anne Auerbach when I was Senior Producer on Knitty Gritty and have been a huge admirer of her since.
I was thrilled to see her and her amazing knitting in Knitting Art.
One of the jobs of art is to inspire and her knitting is truly an inspiration.
Check out what it inspired me to make:
And here is how I did it:
I grabbed a wool sweater and washed it to felt it.
Then I rough cut a long strip from cuff to cuff.
And then I straightened it up with my rotary cutter and ruler.
Then I went to the Google image search and found a machine gun image and made a template.
(download and enlarge template as desired)
I cut out a machine gun from a black section of the remaining sweater and a red one to go on the black area of the scarf.
All that was left to do was needle felt them on after deciding where I wanted them. In this case I placed one toward the end and one so it would fall across my neck when worn.
Only took me about an hour or so, taking a few breaks in the needle felting!
And that brings me to day 2 of our:
15 days of Holiday Goodness Giveaways!
Simply leave your answer to each day's question in each day's comment section and we will randomly pick a winner of a book from each day's commenter. You can enter every day but you are only eligible to win 2 times! (You can go back and answer yesterday's question. We will be drawing the winners after the first of the year.)
Today's question:
2. Who are the hardest people on your list to shop for/craft for and how do you figure out what to give them?
My
answer: My Mom I would have to say is the hardest person to shop/craft for. I always want it to be extra special and personal. I am closer to her than anyone else, so it means the most. Last year I asked my parents what their favorite quotes were and I cross stitched them. You can check them out here along with one I did for her for Mother's Day. A handmade holiday gift serves two purposes, one is to give something to someone that they like and enjoy, the other is to have that handmade thing remind the person of who gave it to them which is the part I like best about getting handmade things from others.
Be sure to read the comments of others, maybe you can pick one up a good idea that will make your holiday gift giving a bit more personal and easier!
Also if you want to stay in the "Craftside Loop" sign up for our newsletter that's packed full of more crafty goodness.
To close out today's post I am including a fun video from Threadbanger that was shot at this year's Felt Club.
It includes a bit of yours truly at about 1:44 into it and my fellow
author Lisa Sonora Beam of The Creative Entrepreneur
A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real.
My dad is nearly impossible to shop and craft for. He is one of those people who just go get the things they want, they don't drop nice fat hints for the rest of us to catch! I don't think he's worn a tie since he got married twenty years ago... We live in a warm climate so I can't even make him a nice pair of knitted socks or a scarf. One of these days I am going to borrow a childhood photo of my stepmom off the piano and photocopy it for use in a collage, but it's a little late to be plotting that for this year...
Posted by: Suz | December 04, 2008 at 11:19 AM
The hardest person to shop for is my husband. He buys what he wants and when he wants it. I start getting e-mails in Feb with "Christmas ideas" . I solve it by buying what he asks for and usually find something related he hadn't thought of.
Barb
Posted by: Barbara Roberts | December 04, 2008 at 04:41 PM
My husband is the hardest person for me to shop for! Every time he mentions something, he goes out and buys it before I have the opportunity!! He stumps our kids too! I really haven't been able to solve this. We usually end up getting something for feeding the birds, something we both enjoy!!!
Posted by: Sandi | December 04, 2008 at 05:29 PM
My dad, definitely. It seems like I get him the same things over and over, but for his birthday I found some great photographs on Etsy I thought he would like (he's and amazing photographer himself). Okay, I LOVE that scarf! I must raid a thrift store soon (but it is hard to find wool sweaters in California).
Posted by: Casey | December 04, 2008 at 07:36 PM
Well, for sure the toughest gift to buy is the one for my husband. He never gives a hint as to what he wants, and I have to listen very carefully to him to get an inkling of what he might like to have. I think this year it will be a cordless screwdriver. Exciting, huh?
Posted by: Sherelyn Nichol | December 04, 2008 at 07:41 PM
The two hardest people in my life to gift are my husband and my best friend. My husband is just not a material guy and presents aren't really special to him. In terms of knitting, he always runs warm and we live in a warm climate. This year is a big question mark, but for next year I'm going to make him a light weight quilt for his side of the bed.
My best friend is a completely different problem. He is the classic example of the shy programmer guy in the back room. He is also a really big guy. I would like to make him a sweater that fits him, but I've never seen a sweater pattern that is a size 4XL. Since he is a programmer, I made him a pair of fingerless mitts to wear in the deep freeze that is most modern computer rooms.
Posted by: Lisa | December 05, 2008 at 07:00 AM
My Mother and Mother-in-law are tough folks to give gifts. So last year I decided to focus on what they like to 'do' vs what things to buy. I got Mom a gift card at the local movie theater where she can see movies free whenever she likes. For my Mother-in-law, I contact her favorite hair salon and arranged to purchase 4 appts, then I made 'coupons' for her to use for payment when she has her hair done. Everyone is please, no shipping, no waste, nothing to dust.
Posted by: melody | December 05, 2008 at 07:32 AM
I love the machine gun scarf! So weird but yet wonderful! My husband is the hardest to find a gift for as he getws what he wants when he wants it or else wants really, really expensive stuff - the only reason he doesn't go out and buy that stuff is we can't afford it! He hates clothes, hasn't worn a sweater ever and a scarf - forget it! Jeans and t-shirts all the way. I usually find him a tool or such as that is what he loves most.
Jan C.
Posted by: Jan Canyon | December 05, 2008 at 09:30 AM
That would be my teenage son - and it's not so hard for us to buy him something (because it will usually be one large present), it's that we never have ideas for other folks in our family to get him. This year we're recommending gift cards to Target - not very personal, but it will allow him to buy Guitar Hero, which is one of the big ticket items that he wants.
Posted by: wendy | December 07, 2008 at 02:21 PM
In answer to the question:
Definitely the men in my life! My husband and all the fathers and grandfathers on the list. I never know what to make them or get them for Christmas or any other time. I just try and think about what they're currently "in to" and find something related. Not always easy and not always successful, but there it is...
Posted by: scrapcatb | December 07, 2008 at 03:20 PM