We've been having a few enquiries about Irresistible Gifts To Knit our collection of Alan Dart patterns. It should be available in WH Smiths from today, although it seems some store staff don't realise they're getting the book in. It's all gone to press and been printed, so unless WH Smiths staff are hurling all the boxes of books onto a bonfire at their warehouse, your local shop should have it in stock soon!
If you're overseas or can't get to a branch of WH Smiths, Irresistible Gifts To Knit should be on sale through My Favourite Magazines in the future, although it's not on sale there at the moment.
The book features patterns Alan has done for Simply Knitting, including the Little Blossom elephant, Yuletide Gnomes, Noah's Ark and the farmyard scene. If you love to knit toys, it's a great book to have.
Thursday February 28, 2008 Irresistible Gifts To Knit
Northern Lights: Lyra's coat
Have you seen the film The Golden Compass? There's been a lot of debate online about the yarn used to make Lyra Belacqua's red knitted coat. The costume designer, Ruth Myers, has stated that it's actually made out of twine and strips of fabric.
You could recycle some old red clothes and make your own version of the coat. Recycling clothes to make new ones is really environmentally friendly. However, if you don't want to try that, or are worried about the laundering potential of mixed strips of cloth, online knitters have identified a couple of substitutes. Noro Iro number 9 and Feza Alp Oriental have both been suggested as good replacements. Alp Oriental comes in a burgundy shade that's a good match to the original, and the Noro is a little pinker, which some young girls may prefer.
It's great to see a really distinctive knitted garment taking such a prominent place in a film. As much as we all love films here in the SK office, from Jane Austen costume dramas to The Lord of the Rings to Tim Burton flicks, knitted costumes seem to be very much an afterthought for most costume designers. The Harry Potter films' Weasley jumpers aside, can you think of an iconic knitted or crocheted film costume?
You could recycle some old red clothes and make your own version of the coat. Recycling clothes to make new ones is really environmentally friendly. However, if you don't want to try that, or are worried about the laundering potential of mixed strips of cloth, online knitters have identified a couple of substitutes. Noro Iro number 9 and Feza Alp Oriental have both been suggested as good replacements. Alp Oriental comes in a burgundy shade that's a good match to the original, and the Noro is a little pinker, which some young girls may prefer.
It's great to see a really distinctive knitted garment taking such a prominent place in a film. As much as we all love films here in the SK office, from Jane Austen costume dramas to The Lord of the Rings to Tim Burton flicks, knitted costumes seem to be very much an afterthought for most costume designers. The Harry Potter films' Weasley jumpers aside, can you think of an iconic knitted or crocheted film costume?
