Actually, all old handcrafted items make me feel this way, whether it’s in a museum and they have a young girl’s needlepoint sampler under glass, ancient hand-woven baskets are on display from cultures lost long ago, small bits of lace attached to the end of a cuff in an apparel museum that flutter under an air vent, or small hand knit treasures made for people long gone are shown. Nostalgia aside, it makes me proud that these items still exist, and many of them appear to be in decent shape. These small items carry such weight to them. So many stories with each stitch… What was going on in the crafter’s life when they made this? Were they making it as a gift for a loved one or to sell at the marketplace? Was it their livelihood or done for the simple love of crafting? It makes me a bit sad that while these lovely items remain, their stories and makers are lost forever.

My mom has worn a particular hat for as long as I can remember. Very simple and off white with a slight halo, as I sift through my many memories I always recall her wearing it come wintertime. I never really thought about where it came from or why she was so attached to it until recently.

While on the phone with my mom a few weeks ago, the hat came up in discussion and she asked advice on how to clean and block it. She told me her mother, Irene had crocheted that hat for her over 30 years ago. If you are a regular reader, this is the same Irene whose wedding dress became the family heirloom Baptism gown. She mailed the hat to me and when I pulled it from the padded envelope it felt slightly crunchy. I guessed it was probably an acrylic and mohair blend and knew it had never been blocked or cleaned well.

I washed it in Soak, let it dry over a few days and cleaned it up a bit. Looking almost like new, this hat brought forth such feelings. My Grandma Irene passed away when I was 16. She knew I was a knitter and loved to watch me knit. Her hands were frozen like claws from bad arthritis due to a lack of the wonderful medical advancements we have today. I have a hat and scarf she made me but just like the items in the museum, this hat had serious weight to it. She’s been gone for so long yet this hat remains. After a good wash and cleaning it looks brand new, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s gone. She’ll never crochet again, she’ll never make something for my son (even though he has blankets she made for me) and she’ll never get the care that could have left her hands mobile enough to continue to crochet, or feel the amazing fibers we have today.

I suppose this will happen to all of us knitters… We’ll be gone someday and our stashes, needles and finished knitting will still be here. If taken care of properly, those finished items may be around for our great-grandchildren to wear or beyond.

Crafting binds us all. I come from a long line of crocheters with my mother breaking the mold and looking towards knitting. Every time I pick up a crochet hook and start a chain, I think of all the women in my family doing the same simple act and how it changed over the years with new inventions like cars, radios, dishwashers, television and the internet helping and distracting us equally. Each chain I make is for one of the women in my family tree and while my grandmother is gone, my mother will continue to wear this hat and I’ll continue to wrap Callum up in one of her blankets she made for me. She’s gone, but not entirely.

I encourage everyone to teach at least one person in their life how to knit or crochet. They are such special and amazing crafts and in an ever-increasing era of technology, sometimes we lose sight of the simple act of crocheting a chain or casting on to knit. We need to ensure this craft will last long past our lifetimes and keep future generations grounded.

Chain on, dear friends, chain on.

Fibre Space is an amazing shop owned by the talented and savvy Danielle Romanetti in the heart of Old Town. I teach a lot at this shop and Danielle is a great shop owner and friend. The store was packed! We ran out of books within the hour and it was wonderful to see people trying on garments, checking out the book and choosing yarn for what they want to knit.

Thanks for having me, Fibre Space!

Lately I’ve been fixing up furniture. I generally stay off of Craigslist until there’s something I’m looking for, which is fairly rare. Craiglist is worse than Facebook, Twitter and Ravelry combined as far as being a time suck goes. I’m looking for a certain type of book shelf for Callum’s room and came across this cabinet instead.

I’ve always had a thing for birds. I think they’re amazing little creatures and one of my favorite pets of all time was our cockatiel, Ralph. We got Ralph when he was 3 years old from a neighbor who couldn’t stand the chirping. Ralph passed away last year (at the ripe old age of 27) and he took a little piece of my heart with him. I adored that bird. This cabinet made me think of him and I decided I needed to take it off the hands of the woman on Craigslist who needed to get rid of it before she moved across the country.

It was pretty cool to begin with, but a bit boring. I’m not a fan of white furniture and really think it needed color in addition to a good sanding to get rid of the raw wood and chance of splinters…

after I removed all the hardware and doors

weird crosshatching motif on the top

On a rainy day a couple of weeks ago, I left the house with an idea in my head and made my way to Home Depot. Heading to the paint section (look at all the pretty colors!) I chose a coral color that was more red than orange. I got some heavy-duty sandpaper, was disappointed in the hardware section, got some paintbrushes and a metallic bronze paint. The hinges were weird and I couldn’t find any the same size to replace them with.

After coming home and laying out all my Home Depot loot, I sanded that sucker within an inch of its life and cracked open my paint. A few days and a few coats later, I had my desired color, leaving a bit of the distressed look peeking through. I painted the weird crosshatching on top, the birds and the mesh a metallic bronze, found some fancy knobs online and voila!

Our home is full of color and this bright pop of coral in our living room makes me smile every time I see it. Bright, a subtly sparkly top, birds, fancy knobs… I’m really happy with how it came out. I know a few people with zero color in their homes, no artwork and zero warmth. Your home is where you live! You spend time there so why not make it a reflection of your taste and personality?

Next up… Revamping my ancient night stand!

You can listen to the 15-minute podcast here.

I had a chance to meet Nancy yesterday at VK Live, amongst all the knitting insanity! Old friends, new friends, knitters, crocheters, crafters and non-crafters alike showed up for the marketplace, classes, fashion shows, demos, book signings and parties. It’s like a summer camp reunion and even though I was a bit bleary-eyed from waking up at 4AM to catch the 5AM train, it was well worth going just to get a chance to talk about Knit Local and see some dear friends.

I did 4 back to back to back to back book signings for Knit Local with some of my favorite companies, Bijou Basin (LOVE their yarn and Carl and Eileen are some of the nicest people in the biz), The Yarn Co, Knitty City and Yellowfarm. Thanks for having me, everyone!

Capitol Knits is like a published journal or scrapbook. There are amazing sketches by Paul Heaston, an insanely talented artist, info on the flora and fauna of DC, historical facts, photos and tidbits. It’s an interesting book because it really is like having your journals out there for all to see, but instead of juicy secrets and gossip, mine are full of knitting and pressed flowers and leaves!

Union Station Infinity Cowl

Union Station Infinity Cowl available here.

Jefferson Pullover

Jefferson Pullover available here. 

This is probably my favorite garment in the whole book. I love this blue pullover with the cabled back!

E Pluribus Unum Cowl

E Pluribus Unum Cowl available here.

This was my favorite garment to knit! Picot hems and lace? Super fun!

National Gallery Shawl

Same shawl, solid color

National Gallery Shawl available here.

Shooting in the LED tunnel was the most memorable shoot. Another HUGE thanks to my model and friend, Jess. I can’t imagine anyone else being my model.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief glance at Capitol Knits. It was wonderful to make and I hope it makes everyone realizes how amazing DC is! Come visit if you haven’t already!

I wanted to introduce a few more patterns today…

Lincoln Cardigan

Lincoln Cardi available here.

I call these types of cardis (my favorite kinds of sweaters to design) “mullet sweaters.” You know, business in the front, party in the back? I love that knitting is wearable art, especially when there’s more going on than you think. This was our last day of shooting and my good friend and model, Jess was a sport. I was nervous asking her if she was down with shooting at the Lincoln Memorial at sunrise on a freezing day, but always game, Jess was willing and we met up in the dark at an obscenely early hour. We had the Memorial to ourselves and watching the sunrise from the top of the steps was something I’ll never forget. Jess was hands down the BEST model I’ve ever worked with. She let me tell her what to wear, how to wear her hair, didn’t roll her eyes when I bought her lipstick and made her wear it, twisted her body this way and that or took away her coat and made her stand in the freezing cold. Jess, you are a rock star.

Constitution Hall Scarf

Constitution Hall Scarf available here.

There’s something really fun about multi-directional knitting topped with a lace edging. All I can say about this yarn is YUM.

Renwick Wristers

Renwick Wristers available here.

Another fine example of “thinking on your toes” is when you go to shoot at a place you scoped out months ago, checked on a few days beforehand, show up and it’s closed. We waltzed into the Renwick ready to shoot, went upstairs to the gallery I had planned on using and it was closed. Not only closed, but EMPTIED. To change the lightbulbs. For the next week. Drats! Always have a back-up plans, folks and it’s a good thing I did! Luckily the Renwick is gorgeous and I had thought we’d shoot in both galleries to see what worked better with the wristers. On to Plan B.

American Indian Cardi

American Indian Cardi available here.

I love this building. The exterior is truly amazing.

Tomorrow I’ll show you the last few projects. hope you’re enjoying these sneak peaks from Capitol Knits!

Since moving to Washington DC, I have been incredibly inspired by the history and architecture around us. We live on Capitol Hill and I walk the dog with my son every day up by the Capitol, near the Library of Congress or down by the National Mall. It’s pretty amazing to see the madness of the November Presidential Race begin and know that things around here will soon reach a fever pitch. I’ve lived in Boston, Providence, New York and DC. I’m not necessarily a city girl (and actually crave space and peace), but it’s just always worked out that way that I find myself in a new city now and again.

Capitol Shawl

Capitol Shawl available here.

I liked DC right from the start. Perhaps it’s because it’s similar to Boston where you can actually see the sky, people seem to have more to say, there’s fantastic museums and culture is abundant. There’s a rich sense of history you can’t help but feel while strolling these streets.

I got it into my mind last year to do an independent knitting book inspired by Washington DC’s architecture. There were a few reasons why I decided to do this… I wanted to see what it felt like to have complete control over a book from start to finish. I wanted to do the photography, have 100% say over the yarns, colors and designs, decide on the locations and choose my model. I knew it’d be difficult, but it was an experience I wanted to have. I had a loose idea in my mind about what I wanted and I started putting pen to paper, sketching, writing copious notes, choosing yarns and began knitting. I started this venture in September and now it’s here. It’s finished! I did it! It was harder and more wonderful than I imagined and holding my indie book in my hands and leafing through it is pretty great.

Library of Congress Hat

Library of Congress Hat available here.

The book has 12 garments in it, each inspired by a different location within the DC limits. I’ll introduce a few each day, all week. The book is available on Amazon (click the cover to the right) or through Deep South Fibers if you are a shop that wishes to carry it.    Deep South is also distributing the individual paper patterns and digital downloads are available through Ravelry. Each garment in the book has a historical write-up on the location it was shot at, accompanied by amazing illustrations by my friend, Paul. There is so much jam-packed into 56 pages! I did so much research about DC I should be a tour guide!

Summerhouse Hat & Wristers

Summerhouse Hat available here and Summerhouse Wristers available here.

More to come tomorrow!

I love projects like this. Tanis sent me a special color reserved only for the club (I had no idea what was coming, only that it was sock yarn and blue) and asked me to design something with her sock yarn that wasn’t socks and took only 1 hank of yarn. Always chomping at the bit to throw another lace pattern out into the ether, I had a few ideas rolling around but wanted to wait and see what the exact color was. Color has a HUGE influence over me and it really can change an idea when you see it in person.

I’ve been fortunate enough to get to edit two of their incredibly popular “60 Quick…” books from that beloved series. I edited their first one back when we first moved to DC:

© Sixth & Spring

And their latest when I was 1 week away from delivering Callum (but didn’t know it at the time since he arrived 7 weeks early). Each book in this series gets better and better and when non knitters ask me what they should get for their knitting sister/mother/girlfriend/etc, I almost always recommend one of the “60 Quick…” books.

© Sixth & Spring

Not only do they have great, affordable yarn, but these are solid-to-the-Earth people. Family run, I haven’t met anyone from the Cascade family who isn’t kind or generous. I was asked last year to do a handful of patterns for them and they are just starting to debut online.

Up today and in their recent newsletter are the Eco Alpaca Cabled Wristers. Download it for FREE here or find it on Ravelry here.

Eco Alpaca Wristers

Available a few weeks ago was the Mock Ribbed Watch Cap, also available for FREE here or on Ravelry here.

Mock Rib Watch Cap

There were 3 other patterns I did for them so keep your eyes open for those!

© Vogue Knitting

Then the best part happens… You get the magazine or book your work is featured in in the mail, you flip through the pages and lo and behold, there it is! Styled, beautifully shot and out there for everyone else to see, what you worked on feverishly on your living room couch, car rides, in bed while watching the late night news and on the Metro is now public. It’s a nice feeling to open a page and see your work.

My latest design was something I had to knit very quickly with a lot of yarn. It’s in the Vogue Knitting Winter 2011/12 issue that hits stands January 8, 2012. An oversized lace poncho (anyone who knows me as a knitter knows how much I love knitting lace), it’s knit with 18 balls of S. Charles Collezione Peruviano and 3 of S. Charles Diva. You can check it out on a body from all sides in realtime on VK360 here.

© Rose Callahan/Vogue Knitting

I always love Holiday and Winter issues of knitting magazines. They pull out all the stops and when it’s chilly out, all you want to do is curl up and knit anyway, right?

You can find it on Ravelry, along with all the other garments from this issue, here.