The Beauty of Knitting, Sewing and Crochet
Where does the beauty come from? It isn’t necessary to travel around the world in its most quiet places to experience it. Beauty is always near us — you just need to want to explore it. And you can of course create it with your own hands and imagination: just a couple of movements with a knitting needle and a ball of thread suddenly turns into something remarkable, something that exists nowhere else in the world. And once you’ve created it, it will remain a unique and inexhaustible source of further inspiration. Also, it will warm your heart and your spirit every time you see it, as the scarves that our moms and grand-moms knitted in good old days.
This showcase is supposed to provide you with some creative ideas for knitting, sewing and crochet. We want you to get inspired for handcraft and creative arts. After going through this showcase follow the links in the end of the post, learn how to knit, feel inspired, turn off the computer, get to your family and start knitting! (You may want to take a look at our related post Handcraft Strikes Back: Buttons, Badges, Pins and Clips, too.)
The Beauty of Knitting
Nadja Girod – motifs for knitwear
Cuteable: Needle Noodles Neat Knits
Learn How To Knit
Below you will find a couple of useful resources that will help you get started with knitting: either by using illustrations or step-by-step-video-tutorials.
- Learn To Knit (PDF)
A very detailed and extensive e-book about knitting, with illustrations and step-by-step-tutorials. - Knitting section on CraftStylish
Dozens of detailed tutorials and contents related to knitting. - Learn how to knit: free knitting videos
Grab your knitting needles and yarn, and learn a new knitting skill the easy way: by watching. Start by learning the knitting basics such as Long Tail cast-on and the knit and purl stitches. Those three techniques make up the vast majority of any knitting project, so pat yourself on the back. - Learn to Knit
Learn to knit here in the way that’s best for you — video, illustrations or detailed step-by-step instructions. - Knit 101
Whether you’re a knitting novice or just need to brush up on the basics, this quick refresher course will get you clicking. - Knitting on Craft
Knitting section on a popular magazine about traditional crafts. - Ravelry
A community site, an organizational tool, and a yarn & pattern database for knitters and crocheters.
h1brd
April 18th, 2010 5:09 aminteresting sunday post, really out of the box :)
haydyn
April 18th, 2010 5:18 amI want to learn knitting now!
George
April 18th, 2010 11:31 amYes, I’m too ))
snnaqvi
April 18th, 2010 5:22 amPretty
Robin
April 18th, 2010 5:26 amToo much out of the box for me here..
Thomas
April 18th, 2010 5:32 amI do not think I like this alternate reality.
Kim Murphy
April 18th, 2010 5:33 amMy other love beside web design is knitting and crochet! I’m glad you all posted this.. great article.
carolyn winter
April 18th, 2010 5:34 amWOW – these are fantastic!!! are these yours and if so do you have a book of instructions?
Very inspiring.
Carolyn
ursonate
April 18th, 2010 5:44 amAbout half of these items are *not* knitting. I see sewing, felting, needlepoint, weaving, pom poms and crochet. Can’t help being a stickler about this, but there’s a whole community of knitters out there who are a lot worse than me lest you feel their wrath.
Tabitha
April 18th, 2010 6:22 amSo glad you made this comment. All of these are amazing, but they are from many different craft-types.
Vitaly Friedman (Smashing Editorial)
April 18th, 2010 8:43 amYou are absolutely right. Sorry for the inconvenience. The title of the article was updated.
Amean
April 21st, 2010 6:15 amYes, however the page title is : The Beauty of Knitting, Sewing and Crochet
Rolica
April 18th, 2010 5:51 amWTF? Sunday to-do list – re-evaluate subscriptions.
Simona
April 18th, 2010 2:29 pmno open mind here?
ojami
April 18th, 2010 5:52 amI love this diversion from the norm here. I’ve knitted for years and found crafts a great rest for my brain when I used to do programming and now when I’ve spent too much time at the compy running my online shop on Etsy and my website.
(@ursonate – yes quite a few are other fiber arts. But those ones are just as fun to me as knitting. Crafts can be so addicting!)
aisha
April 18th, 2010 5:54 amvery nice
Kim
April 18th, 2010 5:54 amWhat? Half of these things are crocheted/sewn/felted…? not knitting at all.
Paul Irish
April 18th, 2010 7:52 amTrue! THROWDOWN!
s0nj4
April 18th, 2010 3:25 pmYes, there is knitting; that’s how one creates felt. First you knit a swatch of yarn then you soak and agitate it in hot water. The result is felt that can then be sewn together. That’s how they create boiled wool pea coats.
eimearee
April 19th, 2010 8:40 amwashing knitted items in natural fibres is technically fulling – and is not entirely felted.
Fulling knitted items is only one method of creating felted items. whilst being knitpicky here, the felted items shown above are likely not knitted – I would hazard a guess that they are needle wet-felted.
Anyway, love some of the photos.
Amean
April 21st, 2010 6:13 amYes that is clear, the title of the page does read: The Beauty of Knitting, Sewing and Crochet.
Ihsan Rama
April 18th, 2010 6:21 amso what the connection this post to web develop ?
Vitaly Friedman (Smashing Editorial)
April 18th, 2010 8:44 amThe idea of this post is to provide you with some creative ideas for knitting, sewing and crochet. We want you to get inspired for handcraft and creative arts!
What the hell
April 18th, 2010 4:50 pmThen start a handcraft blog.
Tanya
April 18th, 2010 8:34 pmDon’t be so sharp. Just imagine how you can use these ideas in design of the header of a website for example. Fun vector illustrations are widely spread, why not to use photos of a fun knitted creature?
Tanya
April 18th, 2010 8:43 pmThank you for the great post, I love Smashing magazine for that it brings always something particular, often unexpected and always very interesting and inspiring. I’m just wondering why people are not able to value what they get (btw, regularly and for free)… This my comment, naturally, refers to Smashing, not to What The Hell.
ramalamadingdong
April 18th, 2010 2:18 pmThis is about thinking out of the box. Loosen up a little bit a forget the coding. This is fun!!
Awesh
April 18th, 2010 9:02 pmRespect creativity in any form…
Caesar Tjalbo
April 18th, 2010 6:40 amA knitted videoclip: Tricot Machine – Les peaux des lievres
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z5UoYdcakk
elyas121
April 18th, 2010 6:46 amhave wonderful!!:)
Karen Dickenson
April 18th, 2010 6:48 amInspirational! Motivating me to go through my yarn and sort my needles.
Paul Anthony
April 18th, 2010 7:19 amFantastic, I feel inspired to pick up my needles, cast on, then cast off. Oh yes. Personally I like to combine web design and knitting at once. The warm and soft wool against my fingertips, inspiring those more feminine designs. You have to be careful not to stab yourself in the eye, but hey – its a risk we take.
In fact, I knitted my computer mouse a nice little cover, it makes designing that little bit more challenging, but keeps the old mitts warm during those long cold nights in front of the screen.
You guys don’t know what your missing. Honest.
Karmen Mlinar
April 18th, 2010 7:26 amSome are really not knitted but nice thematic post anyway. Thanks for inspiration.
Val Woodhouse
April 18th, 2010 7:35 amIn a high tech world it’s good to see people going back to a low tech alternative, especially stuff like the knitted typography. I’ve never been able to master knitting but sometimes I like to like to include things like embroidery, buttons and sequins in illustrations instead of just using the computer. Perhaps someone could make a website that looks like it’s been knitted?
Josie McCormick
April 18th, 2010 7:51 amWow! What a nice surprise to see this! As a design and application Instructor (aka professional nerd) and a knitter I often catch some grief for my Martha Stuart ways. But recently have found some like minded students in my Illustrator classes and have been able to blend the need for a design app with ways to create new patterns in knitting and cross-stitch. (*Note: not all the featured pieces are knittied). This is a great article to share with students looking for new inspiration at work and at play. Thanks for the post!
Ramm
April 18th, 2010 7:58 amIf i wanted a post about knitting i would go to a website about knitting.
Are you really running out of ideas that bad? this seems desperate.
Copied from your “about us” page:
Nicole Dominguez
April 18th, 2010 8:49 amSM is going out of the box to show you how color and art can combine to create something beautiful. Much like design, no? Yes, it’s yarn work, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not inspirational. Stop criticizing. If you wanted web development, there are tons of other places for that as well. Are you going to hate on SM’s other inspiration posts as well?
Ramm
April 18th, 2010 9:35 amI never say i hate SM, i even bought the book and i love it, and i criticize because is my right to do do it.
I’m just asking for focus.
Mike
April 18th, 2010 8:11 amCreativity, color, imagination, humour and inspiration. Perfect post for a sunday afternoon.
I can only assume that all the moaners just want to copy other peoples web designs and have no interest in anything that might make them actually think outside the box.
Chris
April 19th, 2010 6:06 amOr… they aren’t interested in knitting and like to read about web design.
Flora
April 18th, 2010 8:28 am@Ramm Left-of-field, surprising content is a standard creativity-igniter (innovative information) for web designers and developers.
I’m with @ojami and others who’ve already discovered that manual creative arts are both restfully productive and deeply satisfying — plus, they also balance-out and fuel more cerebral / intangible creative arts.
Juliya in her insightful article is using luscious fibre arts pics to *inspire* as she said, not to sell the concept of knitting with dumbed-down, literal illustrations of knitted items. @innerwild
Kellie
April 18th, 2010 8:31 amLovely post… As a knitter it’s great to see someone giving some attention to needle arts. I’d sugguest changing your word knitting to needle arts though because all of your examples are not knitted. Beautiful photos!
Tom Arnfeld
April 18th, 2010 8:49 amHahaha!
I just bought a puffer fish :)
Heather
April 18th, 2010 10:01 amI’ll have to forward this to my Mum; she loves all things yarn. :)
Halcyon
April 18th, 2010 12:00 pmI was shocked by the post about the photography of India, but this on is just awesome ! This is very creative and it can be a new art influence ! We can imagine a lot of uses of that objects, like decorate a shopwindow or the office of my agency.
Really, it’s like pixel but on the clothes ! I am sorry for the purists of the web design and web developpement, but be creative and so be a good web designer start to discover new kind of art.
So use your imagination and try to find the way to use it in clothing e-Shop or something.
Good selection and good consistency compared to the photography of India !
Tulume DiMango
April 18th, 2010 12:23 pmhow about CULINARY ARTS next time, guys?
exotic DISHES, then let us have a poll on which is the TASTIER
how about origami next time, guys?
exotic FOLDING, then let us have a poll on which is the TASTIER
Jackie
April 18th, 2010 12:55 pmI learned how to knit from knittinghelp.com! Really great resource!
liebesiech
April 18th, 2010 2:16 pmLOVE IT!! I can think of a gui with knitted elements….
nets
April 18th, 2010 2:37 pmyes, what a nice article. 5 stars. it’s sunday, it’s not “thinking out of the box” it is excluding the job out of the box for one day ;)
Andrea
April 18th, 2010 2:44 pmNice article! Even an article about knitting, as diversion, can be inspirational :)
Bryce
April 18th, 2010 3:06 pmI’m with Ramm on this one.
s0nj4
April 18th, 2010 3:20 pmI knit and am a member of Ravelry (which, IMHO, is the greatest web 2.0 success story). Right now I’m working on my binary scarf ( http://twitpic.com/182ifc ). When not up to my usual geekery, I knit. Thank-you for this post. My username on Ravelry is heima if anybody wants to check it out or has any questions.
Josie
April 19th, 2010 5:33 amThat is an awesome design! I am working on the Mario Bros. collection of plush characters for my kids. The knitted shrooms are coming out great! And I agree — Ravelry is an excellent online community.
Alexei
April 18th, 2010 6:55 pmI am surprised and disappointed. As many others I think that I would go to knitting blog if I wanted to know something like that.
Another story would be if you could show examples of how knitting/furniture design/car design inspired web design and so on…
The bottom line – I come here less and less often. That’s bad.
Douglas Bonneville
April 18th, 2010 7:09 pmOk. I’m cool with out of the box and all, but is this jumping the shark or not, at least a little?
Next post: 10 black, minimal, cool websites designed by Fonzi. :)
Next next post: 14 Awe-inspiring Snuggy patterns
LayoutSeed
April 18th, 2010 9:27 pmPretty good post. I just came by your blog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed reading your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
ptarmigan
April 18th, 2010 9:45 pmThis is great. Very much creative and inspirational and it shows to some people that there is actually a world outside of your monitors and screens :P
Grapplica
April 18th, 2010 10:40 pmCheck this ad from TBWA\Belgium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A22x7AreS8
all kitted stop-motion
Phil
April 18th, 2010 11:15 pmVery brave post. I can really appreciate this. I think it would really be a challenge to find the time for this. Awesome examples, some very humorous.
With kind regards,
Phil
taniya varshney
April 18th, 2010 11:32 pmthis is great eye candy! great stuff.
Ignazio
April 18th, 2010 11:40 pmReally creative people can get inspired by almost anything. The only thing I don’t understand is the complaints of all those grumpy people here. Go back to your “The 500 best CSS3 secrets” lists.
Enough talking. Back to my knitting. >;o))
Penelope Else
April 19th, 2010 12:15 amGlorious pictures, amazing projects! Slightly strange place to host the article, but hey – the greatest inspiration comes from the most unlikely places.
BTW – bagsy “I so fuzzeh” for my avatar.
Pete Masters
April 19th, 2010 1:44 amHi Juliya, thaought you might like to have a look at this – http://www.p-hop.co.uk – it’s a community knitting project in support of Medecins Sans Frontieres. It’s really cool – knitting pattern designers donating patterns, then people downloading them in exchange for a gift to MSF. All based on an honesty box system. Plus the knitting community (especially on Ravelry – check the p-hop group there) have really run with the idea and it has evolved into stash swaps, events, even knitting on a plinth in Trafalgar Square in London!
tanya L
April 19th, 2010 2:39 amI am front end developer and I enjoy the post a lot. I think we should appreciate people making a lot of effort to write the article and provide the free resource. For me, All kind of designs are related.
Buatoom
April 19th, 2010 3:11 amawesome article!!
Akino
April 19th, 2010 4:35 amPlease do not do it again. What will be next? “THE ART OF COOKING…”
Jon H
April 19th, 2010 4:52 amThis isn’t a bad article, and if I ever designed a website remotely knitting oriented, I’d probably find this article helpful.
But I do hope that resources that would normally go into an interesting, useful article on web design didn’t instead go towards a Google Image search for “impressive knitting”
Smashing Editorial
April 20th, 2010 5:30 amSuch inspirational pieces are being published on the weekend, when most people get some rest and could use some inspiration for the week to come.
Dennis
April 19th, 2010 5:03 amLMAO I have seen it all now…I am going to invite my nana to follow your blog from now on :) hahahaha I cannot stop laughing, you have made my day, thank you.
I love knitting ....
April 19th, 2010 5:28 amKnitting, gardening, handicrafts, etc, gives you another way to explore color and design. Then, from this different medium you can be even more creative on the computer screen. I really love knitting too, and am glad to see that this was included as an article on the site. I can see how people might think this is really, really off base. But, really it isn’t. It’s just another way to express creativity … Getting those creative juices flowing can help out in the office!!
Christina
April 19th, 2010 5:29 amThank you for this wonderful inspiration!
P.S. So glad you changed the title ;)
Josie
April 19th, 2010 5:40 amEven with all the nay-sayers on this post, I am glad there’s more positive feedback than negative. Let me say it again, more clearly… If you are a designer, a creator, and thinker… then you would have seen the ways that the many methods of design can be integrated. (My choice, AI.) Using Illustrator is not just for logo and button creation, line art and vectors. It is a multifaceted application that deserves to be used in every way imaginable. If that means creating grids and charts and patterns for knitting, does that lessen your opinion of the masterpiece program?
rodrigo
April 19th, 2010 6:10 amGreat article, and like this post says. Inspiration is everywhere
Nancy F.
April 19th, 2010 6:34 amHi. I’m Nancy and I’m both a knitter and a programmer. Many of the members of Ravelry are technologists. We won’t find this intersection of web design with 3-d craft design so jarring. Good design is good design. How to present technical information (a pattern or set of instructions) to an audience composed of both novices and experts is just as challenging for knit/crochet designers as it is for programmers.
Anyway, thanks for the look at 3-d design. I think SM’s sensibility comes thru in the illustration choices for the article. And…how can one be grumpy with crochet puffer fishes looking out with their googly eyes?
Mike Haeg
April 19th, 2010 7:16 amI’ve been knitting for a year or so. I just leaned how to knit 2 color patterns and it blew my mind. My first project? I knit a QR code!
http://makescoolshit.blogspot.com/2010/03/hand-knit-qr-codes.html
Thomas Petersen
April 19th, 2010 7:21 amGreat post, that puts a smile on the face and is not techie in a computer way :o)
If you’re into this kind of handcraft, there is a Danish girl, who stitches funny pieces. Not your average crossstitching, but stitching with a lot of humor, she calls herself cross stitch junkie, and you can find her on Facebook :o)
Niall
April 19th, 2010 8:39 amI think you can tell the designers and the coders from the posts above. You should appreciate the things in everyday life and take a little inspiration.
Slavi Thomsen
April 19th, 2010 8:51 amMore articles like this!!! Thank you!
Megan
April 19th, 2010 10:04 amNice divergence from the usual. I hope to see more inspiring, divergent articles like this one :)
David
April 19th, 2010 11:29 amCool, this is really going to help me with web design. Er, wait… it’s not.
The Beauty is in the Detail . . .
April 19th, 2010 12:02 pmHello!
Thanks for featuring my non knitted sock mouse (Mortimer). Wondered why I had so many hits on my flickr page!!
Just read through the other comments – there are a lot of angry people out there – maybe they need to try some crafting to calm them down!! :0)
Shelley
a.k.a The Beauty is in the Detail . . .
x
carpier
April 19th, 2010 1:06 pmNice article: something original ! Also fun to read the comments even for me that I do not know English well.
atsbil
April 19th, 2010 1:44 pmcute.
eliZZZa
April 19th, 2010 3:17 pmReally amazing – especially for me, as I run the probably most comprehensive (WordPress) site for learning knitting & crochet with more than 250 instructional videos (yet) in German. English version soon available:
http://www.nadelspiel.com/
Thanks for that delightful collection!
eliZZZa
eliZZZa
April 19th, 2010 3:18 pmP.S.: Furthermore this my site is a good example how to monetize a mainly private site without any ads…
Moore
April 19th, 2010 5:47 pmIt’s not the medium used , its how well a design works and clicks for the viewer. If you are a designer and can’t see this then you are not a designer. Thanks for the article.
Susi
April 19th, 2010 11:56 pmSmashingmagazine… crochet?… what about cocina española? wooden furniture, or bike design!! They are all very inspiring themes! i’m sure it’s hard to find on what to talk about when you have a growing network and it’s hard not repeating… and then you’ve got that kind of “crisis” (please, buy our book!). Just quoting you from a recent article:
“Smashing Magazine is working hard to serve the design community with professional, in-depth articles about Web design, and we are doing our best to improve the state of affairs and to help designers share their wisdom and connect with one another”
Once upon a time, there was a website…
Adrian
April 20th, 2010 3:54 amAt first I was like ” Knitting, REALL!?” then I figured you could use some of the knitting ideas shown here for a header or a site..
KnitSpirit
April 20th, 2010 4:47 amWhat a cute article about knitting! I really like the pictures!
Deek
April 20th, 2010 10:40 amAs a programmer and avid knitter, I was actually disappointed in seeing this article. I’ve seen all these projects before and I’ll go to a needle arts website if I want to see this! :/
Wool Free and Lovin' Knit
April 20th, 2010 11:05 amWhat a wonderful collection of hand knit items and a great creative outlet for design inspiration in general.
Vanessa
April 20th, 2010 11:46 amA friend sent me a link to this article ad I’m so glad he did! This is just awesome and so beautiful. Very inspiring for this fiber arts junkie.
Lola LB
April 20th, 2010 1:59 pmBelieve it or not, there *is* a tie-in between knitting and typography. A very good friend of mine has been working on a knitted abecedarium for quite a while. She has a deep interest in typography, in addition to knitting, of course, and has found a way to combine these interests, drawing on her librarian training. First, read this article: http://www.twistcollective.com/collection/index.php/component/content/article/35-features/588-knitting-letters-a-to-z-an-abecedarium-by-susette-newberry-
And then check out her “Knitting Letters: A to Z” blog at http://unionpurl.blogspot.com/
Kelly
April 20th, 2010 6:16 pmI think the people thrown off by this may have received one too many tacky knitted sweaters with poodles on them from their grandparents for birthdays and holidays. ;)
I was pretty thrown off by the post, too – especially the intro image used, but once I dug down, I really enjoyed soaking in all the creativity showcased. It’s inspiring to see so much creativity in the world.
I’m sure you can appease the unhappy folks with a new post in a week or two of awesome automotive concept designs. I bet they’d prefer something more industrial than domestic.
Toni
April 21st, 2010 11:02 amGreat site. Love the photography.
ruthieb
April 21st, 2010 1:50 pmI, for one, am happy to have come across this article; great ideas; great photography. I also agree with the idea of the post–creative ideas to inspire! Thanks for the inspiration!
sp
April 23rd, 2010 6:27 amAs a designer and an avid knitter, I loved the article. Just as I love most of the other articles on SM. What I don’t get is why the complainers don’t just skip this post if they aren’t interested? Reading over the comments, there are quite a few people who enjoyed this post as much as I did. Design and craft often go hand-in-hand; it’s not that unusual to think that many designers might also find this post of interest. When I come across a post I don’t find interesting, you know what I do? I don’t read it. Maybe some of the negative readers around here should try that.
Juan
April 28th, 2010 2:58 pmBeautiful article. I really follow all the great posts about design and web development but this one was a nice surprise. My girlfriend does cute little knitted animals, check them at http://www.pachalana.com.
Cheers from Argentina!
yuanwuqu
April 28th, 2010 6:59 pm好漂亮，好有创意，不一样的思维方式，原来针织不仅仅只用来做衣服
Funkyredhead
April 29th, 2010 12:36 amVisually inspirational.
Emília Oliveira Cardoso
May 2nd, 2010 9:16 amOi, gostaria de receber algumas receitas em crochê, agradeço sua atenção.
Calandra Cooper
May 2nd, 2010 12:17 pmAs a crafter whom visits smashing magazine regularly, I’m pleasantly surprised by this off-the-beaten track (but not really) article on beauty and design.
Thanks so much!
marcela
August 12th, 2010 12:07 pmmi nombre es marcela martinez y vivo en santiago de chile, todos los trabajos que aparecen aqui son maravillosos los felicito
kristine
January 18th, 2011 12:51 amThe letters are so beautiful! Does anyone know how to make theme? A recipe or pattern?
Kristtine, Norway
Mary
December 15th, 2011 11:06 pmIt’s really great to see so many inspirational pieces of fine knitting on the web. Very nice round up. Keep it going!
Rachel
April 12th, 2012 4:49 pmFirst of all, I loved looking at these photographs! I’m at a bit of a crossroads–a standstill–creatively, and this has has put a few thoughts into my head.
Second of all, I can’t believe some of the comments here! “If I wanted to read about knitting, I would have visited a knitting blog.” ect. I understand differences of opinion, but those who are saying that they don’t want to see knitting articles and are going to “reevaluate their subscriptions” because the writers of this post dared to bring up a type of design they aren’t comfortable with are showing a certain lack of openmindedness.
Perhaps the people who made these comments feel that knitting belongs in the home, and–I couldn’t help but notice that the majority of those commenters were male–since they obviously think knitting is a woman’s second-class hobby, perhaps they think women belong in the home as well, barefoot and pregnant, knitting baby booties.