The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting Book Giveaway

Hi Knitters,

A couple of years ago or so I was visiting my publisher, Artisan Books, and my editor pulled out a box of sweaters for me to look at. As I looked over a few of the original sweater samples from the 1940's-1970's I became completely fascinated with this future knitting book. I loved holding the original and fantastically vintage knits in the office that day. The sweaters looked exactly like something my stylish mother would have worn during my childhood. How I loved her clothes back in the day. She was so chic. Anyway, I couldn't wait to see the finished book and my day has come!

With this initial introduction in mind I'd like to present to you, The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting Book. It's a knitting book with a unique twist. Here is the blurb on the back book flap about Steven Tatar, the author:

Cleveland sculptor Steven Tatar was hunting for scrap metal when he stumbled upon the now shuttered Ohio Knitting Mills. He bought the company's sweater archive and opened Ohio Knitting Mills, a stylish Brooklyn storefront, where for two years he sold vintage knits that had never been worn. He now sells limited-edition sweaters on his web site, Ohio Knitting Mills.

Basically to boil the story down a bit, Cleveland for many decades housed garment makers, including the Ohio Knitting Mills. The OKM, for short, made knitwear for stores and brands like Sears, Saks Fifth Avenue, Pendleton and hundreds of other labels. Steven Tatar discovered a large amount of mint-condition knitwear when he acquired the mill in 2005.

The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting Book has taken 26 of these original knitwear pieces and breathed a fresh and modern day adaptation into each of them. Each of the original pieces has been given new life with a design twist that updates the look but always keeps true to the vintage feel of the original. Patterns and schematics and instructions are provided for each of the patterns.

This is a wonderful, historical and beautifully crafted book. I just love the book design. I think it is timely as well. There is always an interest in vintage and retro fashion but I feel like there has been a definite resurgence of this trend as of late. The photography really captures the updated and modern flair given to the knitwear.

Each pattern has the original knitwear piece in an inset photo with a description and the year it was made. The example above is one of my favorites in the book. I would love to have this sweater in my wardrobe. The original design was for the winter collection from 1956. Each pattern has a description that explains its place in fashion history as a project introduction. The book is a good read along with the patterns. It is very interesting.

On a side note, the talented Kristin Nicholas wrote the instructions for the embroidery work on several of the projects. You can't get better than that. She is the embroidery expert like no other. What a bonus.
This original sweater is from 1972. I love the modern shape of the new version. The original had a drawstring waist on a long tunic shape. The new version is a much more flattering option that would look great on many body types.
The book offers a scarf, a hat, a bag and a couple of dresses as well as sweaters for both men and women.

How about that dress on the cover shot? It is stunning. I'll tell you what, when I was younger and thinner I would have knit that dress in an instant. Then I would have been wearing it with the black tights and a pair of black Mary Jane's all over town. I kid you not.

This one is from 1967 and the original is timeless. I love this sweater! This is going on my to do list for sure.
There is a lot of historical information and entertaining photos.
I love the photo pages of the original sweaters all lined up. Here are the good and golden ski sweaters of the 1950's. I can't ever get enough of the old stuff.
The instruction and technique support is thorough and helpful.
"Vintage-inspired projects updated for the modern knitter" sums the book up perfectly.

Steven Tatar did a guest spot on WGN in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. It is a fun clip because he brought along lots of projects from the book, both old and new. He did a great job.

Click here to view Steven on WGN!

Click here for the Ravelry pattern page for the book projects!

If you'd like to win a copy of The Ohio Knitting Mills Knitting book please leave a comment on this blog post! Please only enter once and please leave your email or Ravelry name on your comment so I can easily contact you for your mailing address if you win. I will randomly select a winner in a few days.

Good luck.

best, susie

Knitting Knirvana

Hi Knitters,

This is my friend, Suzanne. She came to my book signing at Knitty City in NYC last March. She is so much fun and although I felt like I have known her online there is nothing better than to get to be with someone in person. We had so much fun at that event.

Suzanne is a fabulous and talented knitter. She is the moderator for the Itty-Bitty Knits group on Ravelry. I feel so lucky to have such a good person helping to oversee this smart group of charitable and supportive knitters. She does an excellent job.

Suzanne had an exciting week. An article she wrote got picked up by Yahoo News and it is worth a read. She is talking about her time living in New York as a social worker and how 9/11 effected her and her work and how this tragic event continues to play a part in her life today. I was touched to see that in the article she talks about her journey back to NYC to see an author at a book signing. That photo of us together is of that day she describes in her writing.

Here is the link to the article.

Next, Suzanne started a video podcast on her blog. Click here to go to her blog.

You can watch her podcast right on her blog or you can hop over to youtube to watch it, which is what I did so I could watch full screen.

Click here to see Suzanne's video podcast on Youtube.

I just had to share the news about Suzanne, Knitting Knirvana, she is a good one to watch and follow. I can't wait to see what she does next.

best, susie

Just Because

Hi Knitters,

Enjoy!

This next one wouldn't let me embed the video for you so click here to see another gem!

best, susie

A Blanket for Peachy

Hi Knitters,

Do you remember Peachy's squares from a long time ago? Peachy loves to go to the knitting group with our neighbors which she has done for the last couple of years or more. Over these years she has knitted square after square at the knitting group but I know that she mainly goes for the cookies and hot chocolate and fun with her friends. I can relate to that.

I finally pulled out her squares and rectangles and oblong shapes again as I had promised her I would help pull them together into a blanket of sorts. The squares had been hiding in a bucket in my closet for many months. The shame.
Let me tell you that putting this blanket together wasn't an easy task. The squares had no real rhyme or reason and to get them to form into a blanket took some serious prep work and figuring out. I decided in order to get a little more consistency I would first add two rounds of single crochet around the edges of each square. This helped so much. I wove in all of the ends at this point as well.

After each square had the crochet edging in place I steamed, pulled and stretched it to form a square or really more of a rectangular shape. The squares became so neat and tidy and Peachy was beyond excited about all of the progress. She couldn't believe how good her knitting looked. She is so funny about it like there is no expectation at all. I set out all of the pieces on the kitchen table and I was pretty pleased to see that the funny little squares would actually form a blanket.

Next I set out crocheting the squares together using a slip stitch seam which made a fantastic little decorative ridge. I love the ridges. First I crocheted the horizontal seams together and then the vertical seams together.

Seam, seam, seaming..... You can see the horizontal slip stitch seams (the camera angle makes them look vertical here) and the open vertical seams.
Now I've got the seams finished and running both ways. Peachy used all sorts of yarn for her squares. There is wool, acrylic, blends of all sorts and even a little sparkly yarn thrown in. Some were yarns she picked up at the knitting group and some were from balls she picked out from home, various yarn shops locally and also from shops we visited while on vacation. Her squares tell many stories.
After all of the seams were complete I went on to add three rounds of single crochet around the entire outer edge. This made the blanket really come together.

By the way, crochet makes my hands hurt in the most awful way. I couldn't wait to put the hook down. I don't know what that is all about.
Peachy is thrilled with the outcome of her hard work. She has decided to keep her blanket and now has it proudly displayed on her bed. I don't blame her for keeping the blanket. It took her years to make all of those squares and I think it is sweet that she wants to hang onto her work. Peachy is not a passionate crafter but will join in on occasion and that is why this blanket seems like a monumental achievement for her.

Will she start another? That is yet to be determined.

best, susie

Sunday

Hi Knitters,

We are enjoying a lazy Sunday with no one having to rush off here and there. TC was up to her gathering self. She presented me with a bowl filled with acorns this afternoon. She made the rounds on our block and collected as many whole acorns as she could find. Her favorites are the hairy-capped acorn brand and the double or triple attached sort and when the acorns remain on the branch. She found some of each of these.

TC has also been busy at work on her mosaic tree stump. The theme has become all of the things TC likes. She has enjoyed digging through all the little treasures that I have saved up over the years. It is a bunch of silly stuff for sure.

I have some fun links to share today. Enjoy.

Macaroni Love Story by Heather Ross (click on the squares to see them all).

The Falling Stitches site reviews what's hot on Ravelry. It's fun to look at what's new.

Sweet Georgia, a new sweater out of sock yarn by Jane Richmond.

Jane Richmond's free top-down hat pattern. Way cool.

I want a couch full of these sweet pillows.

I love this sea and beach inspired quilt by Amanda Soule.

A cool knitting blog for you.

I love this video tutorial on simple sewn snack bags. Super slick and easy.

Knitted ice cream? Look right here.

The fall Twist Collective is beyond wonderful. Be sure to check it out.

That's it for today. I hope you are all well.

best, susie

More from the Knitting Buddies

Hi Knitters,

I have to share a little more of the knitting storm taking place around these parts. The Collector finished the Sailboat Hat from Itty-Bitty Hats. She did all of the decreasing for the point and the I-cord for the knot on top. I helped her a bit with the sailboat applique. She is so thrilled with this hat. It is already gone off as a charity donation.
Our knitting neighbor whipped up this college-themed hat for her sister who headed off to the UW-Whitewater. She lovingly made this for her before she left and her sister just loved it. She is already adapting patterns, changing sizes and piecing patterns together with ease.
Here are four of the neighbor-sisters in my living room. Aren't they wonderful? I love having them around. I love the way the oldest sister tied her hat up tight under her chin. Apparently she wore her new hat to a pool party later that afternoon and it has been hot around here. That's love. They are going to miss their college-bound sister.
I had many people ask about the rainbow sock yarn. It is Opal Feelings #1701. I believe that it is discontinued but you could probably still find it if you searched around on Ravelry. Maybe? I don't know anything more about it or where to get it. I've had this ball sitting around for at least a couple of years. I am glad it got put to good use.Here is the blanket the girls brought home from the knitting group last weekend. The theme is pink if you couldn't guess. The squares are both knit and crochet and are all donated from the knitting group members. The girls are now working on a single crochet border on all of the squares and then they will stitch them together. My favorite part of this was watching them lay out the squares, piecing them together like a big puzzle. They came up with a good sized blanket. I'll take a photo when they finish. TC is loving the crochet which is new for her.
This is Miss Molly's second hat. She went for a simple boy hat. Miss Molly learned how to decrease for the top, use double-pointed needles and how to make an I-cord for the top-knot. She is on a roll.
I can't believe how quickly she caught on to the whole knitting thing. She now has another baby hat almost to the decrease rounds and I started her on a bulky weight garter stitch scarf out of Spud & Chloë Outer in Soapstone. She will need that warm scarf while walking to her classes on campus this fall and winter. It will be beyond cold for certain.

Her joy about her knitting success is contagious to say the least. She has fallen for it.
The Easy Top-Down Raglan Knitalong is in full swing. Here is TC's Stripey Raglan that I am working on. It is turning out so great. I love working in stripes and haven't done much of it lately. I am almost done with the body as you can see. It has been so much fun.

The busy knitting days continue on....

best, susie

Morning, Noon and Night

Hi Knitters,

The knitting frenzy is continuing right on over here. The Collector wakes up early in the morning and starts her knitting....
... and continues right on into the late night. Things to note in this photo: TC wearing the original Chocolate Blues bonnet from Itty-Bitty Hats (they dug out my collection of hats from the book), the finished sock on our neighbor's leg, and how closely TC snuggles in next to her knitting buddy on the couch when there is plenty of room to spread out. Our neighbor is the most patient of the patient, thank goodness. TC practically sits on her. When they are knitting together they say, "We are one," and hold up their pinky fingers to touch. Then they laugh. Life is good.

That is another friend/neighbor-sister sketching in our huge coffee table sketchbook. These neighbor friends have a family of six girls so my girls are lucky to have them nearby. They have had more fun together over the years.

I stumbled up to bed at 11pm and left the knitters in my living room. They put me to shame. I have let TC live it up a little as school starts soon. I will be so sad when school starts.
I finished the Eclipse Hat for Peachy while sitting with the knitting girls. She loves it. Peachy has been knitting, too, as she started a lovely little baby hat of her own. She is on high school swim team right now and doesn't have much time between practice and sleeping. She joins in when she can.
This is one easy hat. I think I have enough yarn for another.
TC has learned how to purl, stitch in a fleece lining with needle and thread, use double-pointed needles and she is currently doing the single crochet. She lined her pumpkin hat with a pumpkin colored fleece.
She is so proud of her creations. What is better than that?
She made a modified football themed hat.
TC donated 6 hats to the Elizabeth House last Saturday. She was so excited to attend the knitting group she goes to with our neighbors to hand over her hats. She made 3 boy hats and 3 girl hats just to be fair and square. Elizabeth House is a place where mothers who are having a rough time can stay for awhile and receive support, classes and a general boost to get back on track. TC can't believe how lucky she is to get to give her hats to actual babies. I love that she has no problem giving away her creations like that. There is no thought to it at all.
She walks around with her knitting setting it down everywhere she goes. That's our piano bench that has to be cleared off in order to play. She has a hat and a pair of booties on the needles right now. Her fingers are always flying. She has taken to wearing yarn around her ankle, too. You can see it a little in the shot above.
Our sweet neighbor has finished one sock and has not taken her one sock off since she finished it days ago. I see her walking down the sidewalk in her Birki's with the one sock on, the other foot is bare. I can't stop smiling about it. She is on her second heel already so it won't be long until that toe comes around.
Who wouldn't wear that one sock all of the time? I would. And how's that for a first sock? Pretty impressive in my eyes. This girl is a smart cookie and a natural born knitter. I tell her something and she remembers and immediately knows what to do. I don't even write anything down for her. It is incredible to see.

The girls came home from the church knitting group with a batch of knitted and crocheted donated squares to make up a blanket. They are now spread out on my living room floor. They are working on putting the blanket together with crochet edgings and seams. I'll share photos of this later. It is too good to be true.

The knitting girls have made the end of my summer just about the best thing ever. Having their company is a blessing I don't take for granted.

best, susie

Good Golly

Hi Knitters,

Miss Molly is so proud of her first hat. I taught her to knit one night when I had a gaggle of girls sitting in my living room knitting. She decided to join in. I quickly grabbed some needles and let her pick out her hat color. She caught on incredibly fast and worked on it non-stop, even knitting in bed. I love that. With all of her hard work she finished it up in a short couple of days.

Isn't she cute? She is pretty pleased with the result of her first project.
I added the ears for her and found some brown silk ribbon to top it off. The yarn is Blue Sky Worsted Cotton in the color called Aloe. I think the color of the ribbon and the yarn together are so sophisticated. The pattern is the Bunny Tail hat in Itty-Bitty Hats.
It's so fun to see success on the first try. I immediately cast on her second hat and she is off!

There has been so much crazy all day and late night knitting around here. I have a group of girls sitting in my living room chatting away and knitting at all hours of the day these past few days. I keep saying I have my own knitting group meeting daily at my house. It is really fun and I am not sure what exactly spurred on the flurry of knitting but I'll take it!

I'll be back shortly to share the rest of the success! These girls are on knitting fire.

best, susie

Knit Explosion

Hi Knitters,

We've got a knitting explosion of sorts over here lately. Loads and loads of knitting has been going on over the last few days. Yesterday I found myself surrounded by girls and their knitting. TC has been going nuts with her hat knitting. Our neighbor has been going crazy on her sock knitting. My son's girlfriend learned to knit last night. I started her on a baby hat. Boy, did she catch on fast. I keep giving away my addi turbo circs and my dpns so I will need to replace all of those very soon. I give away yarn, too. I have too much anyway and I just love to see these young girls knitting away. It gives me great joy.

I am doing a ton of knitting and I have been loving the good company. Okay, above is the stripe-y top-down raglan I am knitting for TC over on the Spud says! blog. I am having a huge raglan knitalong over there. Please join me over at Spud says! to join in or to follow along. It is very casual. We are off to a great start. I have the first 2 parts of the custom fit "recipe" posted so far.

Click here for the Spud says! blog.

Click here for the Ravelry Top-Down Knitalong Project Page.
Here is the chair in my living room right now. I know, it's a mess. I am cleaning it up today. Even I can't take it. You can't see the entire scene of books, knitting magazines, needles, pencils, calculators, post-its, yarn labels, glasses, yarn scraps, scissors, yarn bags, etc. It is bad.

The tweedy hat is the Bella's Eclipse Hat (free pattern) that I am working up for Peachy. She is very excited about it and closely watching my progress.

Now for a TC knitting update. Over the last four days (not kidding) she has knitted three hats and has a fourth hat on the needles. Something has lit a fire under her and I like it. The hat above is knit in a Crystal Palace Yarn called Puffin. It is an stretchy tape-like yarn that has a super soft suede-like feeling to it. TC loves it and asked me to make a flower to add. I knitted that little flower up in a jiffy and stitched it on. It's a very sweet and tiny newborn-size hat.

She made this one out of some pink heathered Encore that we bought at Stitchers Crossing. She finished it late one night. When I came downstairs in the morning I found the hat on the hat stand and sitting on my chair. I couldn't stop smiling. What a sweet way to wake up.
This last completed hat is made out of one ball (48 yards) of Crystal Palace Chunky Mochi in the Baby Face colorway. TC is so crazy about this hat. She just loves this yarn and this hat. She made this entire hat in a couple of hours at most, start to finish.

I am seeing if TC would like to put out a mini-collection of her own baby hat patterns (with my help of course). She already has another hat on the needles so maybe when that one is done we'll pull together her body of work in pattern form. She says she just might be interested. Wouldn't that be fun? We'll see where the wind takes her...
Lastly, I have some new cloth designs going for the next installment of the Summer Camp Series. The next set is all based on a simple rib pattern with variations. Isn't that the best blue ever? It is sort of like a fresh burst of cool air. The color is called Glacier. Perfection. That is the Blue Sky Skinny Cotton.

That's it for now.

best, susie

Stitched by Hand

Hi Knitters,

I always laugh about the things I didn't think of before having four kids. Things like trying to keep groceries in the house, massive amounts of laundry, the number of forms you will be filling out (especially at the beginning of the school year) and the number of basic appointments you will be in charge of making, keeping track of and then taking the kids to. In the past few weeks I have had about a half-dozen doctor appointments and five dentist appointments.

All of this pain and suffering is far outweighed by everything positive having a larger family brings to our life. But still. I know this is magnified by the fact that I am not good at keeping a calendar. I'm just not. I try my best. I only messed up on one appointment this summer by showing up a little late and that's not too bad for me.

The point of this silly saga is that I started the hand-stitched head scarf kit from Purl to have a tiny project to tote along with me to some of these appointments last week. The instructions are in here: Alabama Stitch Book. I had so much fun with this little project that I am thinking about ordering this bag kit. I want it to have longer handles though. What do you think?
The knots are part of the design which I love. I always enjoy that handmade, not so perfect, element to anything I make or that someone else makes. The knots add such a richness and element of whimsy. After I stitched around the stenciled on pattern I had to start cutting away. This made me hesitate a little. Cutting is so permanent.
Guess what? I loved the cutting out part. I know it isn't perfect but who cares. I really got into it and discovered that this is one addicting project. I didn't want it to end and immediately started to think about what else I could make using the reverse applique technique.
I am sure you have already guessed who is now the owner of the head scarf. Um, yeah. I cut out the last applique and there she stood ready to put it on. Fantastic.

(We are making something for TC's fairy garden. We saved a stump from our tree removal last year. She is going to mosaic the top of the stump to make a little and colorful seat to place in her garden area. She sanded and primed the seat. Next she will place the tiles with mastic, then grout and seal. I'll keep you posted. TC is into it!)
TC absolutely LOVES the Alabama Stitch bandana. I mean truly loves.
Take it away little one. It's yours.

best, susie