as seen on happy things - love love these

Part of our alt craft month we will be bringing you ideas, inspiration and patterns that might be considered ‘alternative crafting’ that is crafts that fit within: Making unconventional choices (materials + methods); taking different approaches to the problem, not conforming to accepted rules or standards; out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird. if you have some ideas or want to contribute email me whipup[at]gmail.com

this crochet uno dress won the Craftster Total Board Game Re-vamp Challenge, by kitty creates - there is no pattern but she explains how she made it at ravelry. First, I hole punched the Uno cards (invest in a good hole puncher for this, or your hands will hurt). Then I made half double crochets around the edges, making 3 in each corner, then joining and making another row of hdc’s. …

Lindergookas mask (modified version of the jakyll and hyde mask)

crazy ski mask by leethal

this is a modified version of the baby cap and mittens from Minerva, by WIP insanity - she used a hi-res screen capture of these charactors to create her own charts. (via ravelry)

r2d2 beanie pattern by carissa

As part of our alt craft month, we will be posting links to cool ideas and inspiration as well as tutorials and articles. We are still taking tutorial and article ideas for the month so please email your ideas and stories to me at whipup[at]gmail.com. what is ‘alt crafting’ anyway? Making unconventional choices (materials + methods); taking different approaches to the problem, not conforming to accepted rules or standards; out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird. - Yes indeed its going to be a month of FUN!

More interesting inspiration found via ravelry.

this sea monster [pattern] from fiber fool

count cucumberla by libertine knits

As part of our alt craft month, we will be posting links to cool ideas and inspiration as well as tutorials and articles. We are still taking tutorial and article ideas for the month so please email your ideas and stories to me at whipup[at]gmail.com. what is ‘alt crafting’ anyway? Making unconventional choices (materials + methods); taking different approaches to the problem, not conforming to accepted rules or standards; out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird. - Yes indeed its going to be a month of FUN!

More interesting inspiration found via ravelry.

Norah Gaughan’s ‘beet’

And more knitted veg from in stitches

As part of our alt craft month, we will be posting links to cool ideas and inspiration as well as tutorials and articles. We are still taking tutorial and article ideas for the month so please email your ideas and stories to me at whipup[at]gmail.com.

If you have not yet joined up to ravelry you really must. Of course ravelry is hardly ‘alt craft’, however I will be linking to a few projects that I found on ravelry over the next month which do fit the theme. And speaking of the theme - what is ‘alt crafting’ anyway? Making unconventional choices (materials + methods); taking different approaches to the problem, not conforming to accepted rules or standards; out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird. - Yes indeed its going to be a month of FUN!

this image of a knitted landscape of Connemara, Diamond Hill by Dutch Jan.

and this image from sharkseasons flickr photoset of Calgary Yarnover

knitting in biology - dissected frog from crafty hedgehog [via craft]

kids socks from lulu beans Pattern: From Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks, it’s the Little Child’s Sock. I don’t know about you, but I feel possessed to knit every pattern in this book. It’s a great resource.

little cotton rabbits - pattern for knitted easter egg covers [again via craft]

sock room by bobolina

Nicole Gastonguay - Nicole’s supercute milk cartons aren’t crochet - they’re plastic canvas needlepoint. [thanks commenter - ed

brooklyn tweed - pi shawl blanket The Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmermann

quilt while you’re ahead knitted merino rovings with gigantic needles then felted.

crochet balls and crochet flower necklace both from craftastica

As part of our alt craft month, we will be posting links to cool ideas and inspiration as well as tutorials and articles. We are still taking tutorial and article ideas for the month so please email your ideas and stories to me at whipup[at]gmail.com.

If you have not yet joined up to ravelry you really really must. It doesn’t take long to get your invitation (it is still in Beta), and joining and using is really very easy. For me so far I have just been browsing for inspiration, but there is a whole new world in the forums, as well as fantastic pattern, designer and yarn finding data bases.

Of course ravelry is hardly ‘alt craft’, however I will be linking to a few projects that I found on ravelry over the next month which do fit the theme. And speaking of the theme - what is ‘alt crafting’ anyway? Making unconventional choices (materials + methods); taking different approaches to the problem, not conforming to accepted rules or standards; out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird. - Yes indeed its going to be a month of FUN!

Pattern for the thrifty critter is from the thrifty knitter

These bunny slippers from flickr user billthecat are adapted from a regular slipper pattern

Neck warmer by lady harvatine The pattern is from Knitty. I used some sort of Merino, I’m sorry I don’t know what, but it was very soft and squishy.

hoppelpoppelsocks by craftoholic Hoppelpoppel - something useful made from leftovers - from craftaholics - Pattern: Basic top down 2×2 rib Needles: US 2 Yarn: mostly Lana Grossa Meilenweit leftovers

handspun pinwheel blanket by lulubeans pattern: free one from genia planck, via the good folks at knitlist.

camera mittens by impulsive arts (with pattern)

Indigo Knits: The Quintessential Guide to Denim Yarn from the Founders of Artwork by Jane Gottelier (Author), Patrick Gottelier (Photographer), published by Potter Craft (November 13, 2007).

I was quite impressed with this book for a number of reasons. But before I go into the reasons I want to explain my love for knitting and fibre books. I don’t just use them as a practical pattern book, I love to gaze upon the pictures too, I love to sigh over the fibres and patterns and colours. So when a book has beautiful images I am instantly attracted. Then of course I check out how good the patterns actually are - looking is one thing, making quite another.

This book has some lovely scenic photography of Cornwall, my mothers family came from Cornwall so it was quite lovely to look upon the area, and images of the various fisherman/guernsey/cable sweaters, both pullover, and cardigan are just gorgeous. My mother was a cable expert and would have loved the challenge they presented. For me though, I prefer my challenges in other areas - but I did like the simple tunic style pullovers in soft faded comfort, and the simply delightful crochet cotton skirt, which my daughter is angling for me to make for her.

The patterns in the book are either knitted or crocheted and all from denim/cotton, but another aspect of the book which I was intrigued by was the use of bleach on the denim fibre to highlight the cables -I rather the liked the end result. There is a Jackson Pollock inspired design where bleach turns part of the pattern into brown. And a “Painterly Stripe Sweater” which features the same effect where certain stripes with the aid of bleach change colour, it is quite interesting.

I don’t generally like to knit with cotton - its a strange bias I have, but I enjoy so much the feel of pure wool in my hands that knitting with cotton seems like a waste of time to me. And I am not sure that I could justify spending all the time knitting complex cables in a child’s garment - unless of course there were multiple children to pass it on down the line. However after checking my stash it appears as if I may have enough knitting cotton in white and mauve to knit the “Pirate-stripe guernsey” for my daughter.

About the reviewer: Janette lives in Australia and is spending her retirement doing the things she loves. Gardening, playing with yarn and making things for her grandchildren.

by beagleskin on flickr

A new edition of Tejemanes, a spanish mag about Knitting and crocheting. All projects are great, but this hair accessory is fantastic.
*An explanation, “moño” means “hair up in a bun”.

Una nueva edición de Tejemanejes, una revista online para los amantes de la aguja y la lana. Todos los proyectos son geniales, pero es cubremoños es lo más original que he visto en mucho tiempo.

Marci emailed in with this letter: I noticed that your posting a lot of links of ornaments and especially knitted mini sweater ornaments. Well, I don’t knit so I looked all over for a crochet version and couldn’t find anything. So I made my own [link]. Crocheters deserve cute sweaters too.

very cute knitted hat - not just for your dog - c/o dogged.

by brooklyn tweed

ruthless knitting and dogged knits

[to find out about patterns etc go to the blogs]

Knitted from Alan Dart’s pattern from the 2005, Issue 8 of the British magazine Simply Knitting, which I first saw knitted up here on Hege’s blog and many more later, here on Ravelry. This one is for my mom’s birthday but there are plans in the works for at least one or two more. When I first saw this pattern I thought I wanted to make a hundred but knitting one up has tamed those ambitions. from Knitting iris is pretty much the most adorable christmas item I have seen this year.

Beginning spinners make it their goal to produce fine, even, predictable yarns which make for lovely knitting, crocheting or weaving. Many spinners talk about the calming, meditative effects of their craft, and while there is lots of opportunity for creativity with color and texture, certain spinners take it to another level completely by incorporating found objects, hand felted elements, beads, charms and anything else they dream up. Witness the work of Yarn Punk: Spring Eternal and Gnome Yarn below

Vitreous Humor by Insubordiknit:

Stoneleafmoon offers a tutorial on making your own creative batts for this type of spinning (drum carder required):

And Pluckyfluff offers her yarns for sale, has written a book on creative spinning, and teaches workshops on extreme spinning (spinning wheel and basic spinning abilities required): Lost in Adorable below:

On her very inspirational blog, she has come up with themed challenges (the latest one was “sniff and spin”) to involve other spinners; quite fascinating to compare the various interpretations.

The Yarn Museum is a great place for inspiration as well…now, what does one make to do justice to these unique yarns?