Bristol Ivy – The Lyf So Short

Just a dark blue stockinette project I’m working on, some beautiful yellow mohair hanks, and voila!

As part of Ravelry’s Ravellenics celebrations, my fledgling (very fledgling) knitting design company, Moon & Sixpence Knits, pledged to donate all its proceeds during the 2014 Winter Olympics to the Los Angeles Human Rights Campaign (you can read my original post about this here, just scroll to the end). This effort was spearheaded by Bristol Ivy, who enlisted a lot of other designers to participate in this donation ring in support of the LGBT community in the face of Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on their basic human rights. I don’t intend this blog to be a political platform, but this happens to be a cause that means a lot to me and I’m so glad that the knitting community is doing their part. Putin doesn’t know what he’s up against!

So today, I went ahead and made my donation based on my meager sales (hey, every little bit helps!) and sent the amount to Bristol Ivy so she can announce the big tally. I know my contribution wasn’t that large, but it was heartfelt. Let’s keep fighting the good fight!

By the way, you should check out Bristol Ivy’s design site on Ravelry — they’re classic and beautiful, and I know you’ll see something you want to make right now.

Just a quick post today to update some information from yesterday’s post. Lisa Shroyer at Knitting Daily has written a short article/preview-of-coming-attractions, called “Sport Your Stitches,” about the Norwegian National ski teams and their uber-cool knitted sweater uniforms. The article contains a couple of neat archival photos, and Shroyer mentions that she’s working on a longer article on the subject for the upcoming issue of knit.wear.

Apparently, Dale of Norway has been making the ski team’s sweaters for every Olympic games since 1956. Having recently completed my first Scandinavian-style fair isle pattern (a Christmas stocking pattern by Debbie Bliss — photos of which were tragically lost in the push of the wrong button on the camera), I’m gaga over these geometric, snowflakey patterns.

Dale of Norway has published a book with hand-knit patterns for all the sweaters going back to 1956. Knitting Daily has also assembled some patterns “inspired by the Games” into a booklet. My favorite pattern was the Cross-Cultural Pullover, and I thank this article for reminding me I already own the pattern.

On a more serious note… it’s so heartwarming to know that the knitting community is also responding to the unconscionable treatment of the LGBT community in the Soviet Union. If you are a designer, please consider joining Bristol Ivy’s donation ring. And who doesn’t love a rainbow?