normally, today would be a fave friday, but honestly, i’ve been thinking about it all week and nothing felt right! do you have any ideas for me? or anything you’d like to see up on this blog? so in lieu of a fave friday, you get: daydream knitting!
it’s been a little while since my last daydream knitting post! i’ve been keeping my eye out as i go through movies, but either the movies i’ve been watching haven’t featured droolworthy knits, or it’s been difficult to find images of them! but, at last! a new daydream knitting post, courtesy of: the amazing spiderman!
this image is probably a set shot, which i grabbed via the tumblr emma stone daily.
look at that hat! what clay coloured, cabled, bobbled and eyelet perfection! fantastic!
here at casa ifandany, we love superhero movies, and we loved sam raimi/tobey maguire’s spiderman’s (except the third one, obviously, whose existence we try really hard to ignore). so we went to the amazing spiderman with mixed feelings. and actually, at the end of the movie i had mixed feelings, too! but andrew garfield was pretty great. and so was this hat.
i was all prepared to whip up a list of similar looking patterns, only to find that someone (hailey knits) has already made a pattern for this hat! huzzah! go forth and make your own gwen stacy hat (y’know, if that’s what you’re into!).
have any of you gone to see the amazing spiderman? what’d you think? anyone else want in on that hug he gave his aunt at the end? any fave friday suggestions to put into the suggestion box?
it’s been too long, friends, since my last daydream knitting post. i’ve been thinking about them, to be sure.
i never would have known this book existed, but i was playing follow the links through the internet and found a blog post (goodness knows where, i don’t think i could find it again if i wanted to) where someone was waxing poetic about this being one of their favorite books growing up, and describing it in a way that made it sound just right for me.
i love cassandra, the main character and protagonist. i’m not certain, now, if i was just like her, or if i just wanted to be like her, but this variety of dreamy, imaginative, well-intentioned but questionable decision-making and poetic character, these were among my favorite characters… sara crewe, emily starr, etc. so despite that i read this book for the first time in my 20’s, there was a quality of rediscovering an old friend as i read it.
the film is lovely, a fairly good adaptation, as far as these things go, and has some lovely knits in it. here are rose and cassandra in the village, and i thought rose’s blue hat, a fairly simple beret, with purled stripes, was charming.
(the picture links to the source. it’s from kris atomic. here’s another group of screenshots of the movie if you feel like feasting your eyes on some more pretties.)
among the many things i love about british period dramas is their absolute reliability to have some sweet knits in them. (why doesn’t downton abbey?! i desperately want to do a daydream knitting about it…)
speaking of sara crewe, my old book group has decided to sputter back to life (huzzah!), and we’re kicking it off with a little princess, and i couldn’t be happier.
i lumpin’ love this show. for real, guys. it helps that we just finished watching season six on dvd.
(screencaps found here)
so these images are from the season six’s bottle episode (the blackout in the blizzard). i love bottle episodes, unlike abed. look at brennan’s cute hat! i have been loving really chubby pom-poms recently.
now! if i were to use this as a bouncing point to knit a hat, i have several really good options…
i could take the stitch from cocoon, even though it has a slightly different quality to it than brennan’s, but i think it could make a supercute hat. (side note- jill made one of these that i just modeled* and i’m kind of in love with it.)
also a similar quality is zebraknits coline:
BUT! if i really wanted it to be as close as possible, rather than just inspired by… then groovy cable hat would be the way to go. observe maguidhir‘s:
i like them all! which would you pursue, do you think?
EDIT: ness and anna both gave me links to a pattern inspired by bones’ blizzard hat! as of right now, it isn’t available, but maybe it will be in the near future! thanks, ladies!
*that sounds so fancy! i wore it so that she could take better pictures of it.
we were watching nativity! on christmas day and i saw these cute fingerless mitts. you can almost always count on british films to have abundant knits and woolies!
they’d be easy enough to make. the market mitts from my mitts quick knits would do just fine! so would some toasties, for that matter! one skein as the base color, and a little leftover yarn from some other project for the edges. i’ve been loving that tiny edge that a little contrast provides (as you may know from the cowl i made recently. and on pinterest in these mittens, and i’ve also been loving the dipped quality of these mitts and these mittens)
i thought i’d better sneak cowls in while we still have a bit of time. less time intensive than scarves, with no chance of ‘second sock syndrome’, but still substantial, and completely in the round (okay, not all of them, but the ones below), cowls are a great present to knit. i have, just this year, succumbed to the fun of cowl knitting.
botzy‘s rococo cowl (state street cowl)
does anyone else immediately get arcade fire stuck in their head whenever they hear/read the word ‘rococo’? this cowl could be even pretty last minute, it uses super chunky yarn and size 15 needles.
tanisfiberart‘s stockholm scarf, using her own gorgeous yarn (free pattern!)
this one would be the most time intensive of the ones up this week. but i see no reason why this pattern wouldn’t work just as well knit up with fewer stitches on a heavier yarn and still look fabulous, if you need a wee shortcut.
wovenhand‘s asheville cowl (honey cowl, free pattern!)
i’ve had my eye on the honey cowl for a while. the results are consistently beautiful and wearable. and you should know by now that i’m a sucker for any project in the ‘old gold/fancy mustard’ color range.
barefootrooser‘s handspun eternity cowl (eternity cowl)
oh handspun! it elevates any project. i can tell you from personal experience that this cowl is easy to memorize, and totally addicting to knit.
have you made any of these? have any of these been waiting patiently in your queue? which is your fave cowl?
lars and the real girl. i tried to write a mini-blurb about this movie, and kind of failed. so here is the trailer if you want it! lars wears as a scarf the baby blanket his mother knit for him before she died in childbirth. i love this, as a tiny addition to the overall character of lars.
i also love the idea of a baby blanket changing its purpose with the recipients age. i have a beautiful handknit christening blanket that was made for my aunt that i wore as a scarf (kind of seen here) until it’s torn and holey condition started to worry me. someday, when i have the skill and inclination, i’ll fix it up.
the scarf/blanket seems to be mostly a knit & purl chevron pattern with ladders of eyelets between each column of chevrons. i’ve browsed, but i haven’t found any baby blankets that really meet these specifications. or… it has scalloped edges, so maybe it’s a razor shell stitch that alternates between knit and purl?
going back a few years now…. to elizabethtown.
this film actually features my favorite costume designer. costume design (especially in contemporary films) is not something i particularly notice. an item of clothing here, an outfit there, sure. but i looked up the costume designer for several different movies and it kept leading back to her… kirsten dunst’s (or claire, really, i guess) style in elizabethtown is breezy, casual, and sexy. nancy steiner, come be my personal stylist! i’ll pay you a shiny shiny nickel! we’ll see if that entices her…
back to the hat for a moment. this was one of the first times i really became interested in the power of a good slouchy hat. it led to several failed experiments before i started to get the hang of it. and while there have been a few attempts to recreate this hat (and i’ve made one meself), i think if i were to do it again, i’d use the relm pattern.
brooklyntweed knows how to throw a good slouchy hat. i have some cherry red yarn squirreled away in the back of my stash waiting for whenever i want to cast on for this.
while a lot of my knitting inspiration comes from others knits on ravelry, or store bought knits on random people on the street, and even knits seen in movies or tv shows, knitting has kind of worked its way into how i view the world. nature and architecture can inspire as easily as anything else.
i love the blog sakura snow. she takes beautiful pictures and curates them together in inspiring ways. every now and again we get glimpses of her work, too, and it is just stunning. she recently posted pictures from a trip to the coast of south africa:
image from sakura snow
does that sand make anyone else want to cast on for something with organic cables immediately? something, perhaps, a leetle like zis? (said a la meg ryan in french kiss)
photo from family trunk project, knitted & designed by emilystarr and here’s the ravelry pattern for ethel mildred ferguson.
i love the idea behind the family tree project, and all of the patterns.
have you seen pushing daisies? in this casa, we love brian fuller created shows. dead like me, wonderfalls, pushing daisies. all gold. on a personal note, it is never hard to get me to watch something starring lee pace. i find him very easy to look at. (for the more curious, this is from the episode corpsicle).
but right now, i’m talking knits. in this case, ned’s scarf. such a great scarf. interesting, but masculine, not too showy and totally cool. these are the kind of things the guys i knit for would wear, and i think the world needs more of them. cocoknits malabrigo weave scarf would fit the bill perfectly. maybe with a i-cord on each side for a tidy edging? the image makes it look like it has some stockinette curl, but i think an i-cord edge has a little extra stability/knitterly elegance.
when i find the right yarn for this, i will make it.
it’s a bit hard to see, sorry. but this was a very moody film, so frankly, things aren’t lit in a way that encourages knitters to dissect the knits. but the yoke and wrists are brown, with a bit of colorwork, but then the bulk of the arms and body are a simple lace. how lovely! it was the mix of colorwork and lace that caught my attention. so rarely are they put together, and in such a lovely and harmonious way!
similar to this j crew sweater (sans lace, of course) from last winter:
which i always loved. i’m amazed no one has tried to recreate it… (i think rachel wore this in an episode of glee once)
on a side note, it was cool to see andrew garfield with his (i presume) natural accent.
ifandany 
