Souki Socks, a small sock factory in Japan’s Nara Prefecture, has devised a machine that allows people to knit their own socks by pedaling on a stationary bicycle.

Unless you’re a fan of knitting, making socks doesn’t exactly sound like a fun experience. This was the reality that the brilliant minds Souki Socks were confronted with when they set out to make sock-making exciting for the masses. Luckily, despite having the odds stacked against them, they managed to come up with an ingenious contraption that combined a mechanical sock knitting machine and a bicycle to allow virtually anyone to knit their own socks just by pedaling. Named “Charix,” the machine has been very popular with tourists ever since it was inaugurated in 2017.

Read More »

Heavy metal and knitting doesn’t exactly sound like a match made in heaven, but that hasn’t stopped some truly creative minds in Finland from combining them in the world’s very first Heavy Metal Knitting Championship.

Finnish Marketing Agency Tovari teamed up with Joensuu City Cultural Services and the Joensuu Conservatory in order to bring together two of the most popular things in the northern European country. Heavy metal is really big in Finland, with over 50 heavy metal bands per 100,000 Finnish citizens (more than anywhere else in the world), and knitting not less so, as hundreds of thousands of people out of a population of around 5.5 million are practising some kind of needlework crafts. After brainstorming for the best way to combine the two, the creative minds behind this initiative came up with the World Heavy Metal Knitting Championship.

Read More »

Looking at Rosa Ferrigno’s new suit, you could swear it was knitted with regular yarn. It’s only when you touch it and hear the characteristic rustling of plastic that your realize there’s something special about it. In fact, the suit and jacket ensemble is made out of over 300 plastic grocery bags.

At age 75, Rosa Ferigno, a Sicilian immigrant from Greece, in western New York, is a very active woman. In the warmer seasons, she spends most of her days tending to a large yard complete with flower and vegetable gardens, but in the winter she likes to keep busy by working on complex knitting projects. Last year, she took on her most challenging endeavor yet, a stylish suit made out of hundreds of brown plastic grocery bags. The fruit of her labor is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Read More »

Knitting may not be the most exciting art from, but Liisa Hietanen’s knitted creations are nothing short of awe-inspiring. The Finnish artist makes crocheted life-size versions of people in her village, and the similarities are eerily uncanny.

Hietanen began crocheting and knitting when she was 10 years old and got so good at it that while attending art school she started making knitted sculptures. It all began with a life-size sculpture of her first-grade teacher which turned out so good that the artist felt inspired to create an entire series based entirely on the people in her village, Hämeenkyrö. She meets up with them to decide on the pose, takes photographs of them from all directions, takes some measurements and pays attention to their mannerisms so she can better capture their personalities in her artworks. A few months later, she introduces them to their knitted doppelgangers.

Read More »

The male convicts at the Pre-release Unit in Jessup, Maryland, have a unique story to tell. A story of how they found peace and calm through an unusual activity – knitting. Unusual, because it hardly seems normal to picture a bunch of rough-looking guys sporting tattoos and several teeth missing, sitting quietly, occupied with knitting needles and a bunch of wool.

And yet, it’s true, thanks to the efforts of Lynn Zwerling, the founder of Knitting Behind Bars. 67 year-old Zwerling retired from her job of selling cars in 2005, and then turned her attention to knitting, which was her passion. Initially, she started off with a small knitting group of women in her town. The group grew quickly to around 500 members. According to Zwerling, she observed something Zen-like when she saw women who did not have anything in common sitting quietly beside each other, absorbed in their knitting. She then had the idea to take knitting to prisons, more importantly, male prisoners.

Read More »

A 700-feet-long knitted ski hat, made in 1977, by Ginny Woodward, was recently showcased during Sandpoint’s Winter Carnival.

The Guinness Book of Records official website the record for the longest knitted hat is held by Germany, for a giant Santa Claus hat 22-feet-long and 49 feet in circumference. But the people of Sandpoint, Idaho have recently submitted an application for what they claim is truly the world’s longest ski hat, and to show they’re serious about their claim, they took the 700-meter-long ski hat for an outing, during the annual Sandpoint Winter Carnival.

According to press clippings at the Bonner County Historical Society & Museum, the hat was knitted back in 1977, by locals Ginny Woodward and Scott Hadley, who were looking for something to distract them from the long winters in the Panhandle. It was made using a punch card-operated knitting machine and weighs an impressive 80 pounds.

The world’s longest ski hat features 539 advertising panels of local business from around Sandpoint and Bonner County, in 1977. Out all these, only 25 are still around today.

Read More »

Knitting is mostly known as a favorite grannies all around the world, but at Bangkok’s Big Knit Café, it’s practiced by crafty young professionals trying to unwind.

Who would have thought knitting could be the recipe of a truly successful café business? Not many people, I’m sure, but that didn’t stop Khun Nice from starting Big Knit Café, a now internationally known venue where anyone can savor a cup of coffee or a tasty piece of cake, while knitting and learning new tips from local crafters. Even if you don’t know the first thing about knitting, all you need to do is buy a kit, and the staff at Big Knit Café will teach you everything there is to know.

Apart from all the cakes, pastry delicacies and drinks, Big Knit Café also offers a large colorful collection of yarn, from cotton and bamboo to alpaca and cashmere. The walls are practically lined with rows of yarn, and all customers have to do is decide on type and color.

Big Knit Café is far from being a knitting spot for grannies, as the place is visited by women of all ages, even college students and children, eager to discover the secrets of the art. Even some Thai celebrities stop by Big Knit Café, every once in a while, to relax in a nice, friendly atmosphere.

Read More »

Ah, these knitted artworks take me back to my high-school biology classes. Come to think of it, these memories are kind of gross…

The Crafty Hedgehog,  a skilled knitting artist, decided to immortalize one of the most exciting moments in the life of a high-school student, the dissection of a frog or rat. Entitled “Knitting in Biology 101”, his project depicts dissected animals, made out of wool and pinned to a dissecting tray of a cork frame. They’re not glued,so you can pick them up and examine the work on both sides.

You’ll be glad to know The Crafty Hedgehog has taken his knitting art even further and is now making “dissecting” fetal pigs and even…the Easter Bunny. If you like this sort of thing, you can order one via The Crafty Hedgehog’s profile on Etsy.

via worldfamousdesignjunkies

Read More »

Canadian needle-worker, Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts, spent eight years making what could be considered the most amazing replica of the Sistine Chapel paintings.

Inspired by a magazine cut-out of the Sistine Chapel, stuck-up on her bathroom wall, Joana spent eight years knitting Michelangelo’s masterpiece. She says starting was the hardest part, because she just didn’t know where to begin.

To make sure her knitted work-of-art follows every detail of the original painting, Joanna made close-ups of every section of the artwork and even bought some books from Rome. After a total of 3,572 hours of work, Joana Lopianowski-Roberts created a perfect 40 inches by 80 inches replica of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.

Her knitted masterpiece now sits safely in Joana’s home, but the artist says she would consider selling it for the right price. I’m sure she already has plenty of offers. The old-ladies who knitted their village managed to sell their creations, so finding a buyer for this should be a breeze.

Photos by BARCROFT MEDIA

via Telegraph.co.uk