Inspiration
Spelling It Out
In the US, it’s Thanksgiving Day, one of those holidays that imprints strongly on people, for better and for worse. Folks may have a lot of memories attached to this day, and a lot of feelings. Here’s hoping that memories and feelings land softly, and maybe you get to have one of those fantastic cleansing cries at some point, if you enjoy that sort of thing (as I do).
One thing Ann and I have in common is that a large group gathers at each of our tables on this day, leading to madcap moments in the kitchen and complicated folding-chair math. Are Lisa Downstairs’s folding chairs spoken for? What time can she send them up after her brunch crowd departs? Would it be wrong to grab a couple on my way out of that brunch? What is the card table situation?
This year I delegated enough of the cooking to be able to add a new task to the to-do list: knit the place cards. No big deal! Two episodes of Ken Burns’s The American Revolution, a few colors of Atlas, and my copy of Knit Hello, Rüdiger Schlömer’s new typeface made especially for hand knitters.
It’s so cool, and so knittable. I knitted these names using the Knit Hello Specimanual, a 32-page booklet that is available in print or ebook here. It has everything you need to knit the dictionary.
Yes, the dogs get place cards. Yes, we have two Rons this year.
Each letter is only 7 stitches high. Add 4 background stitches, and the cast-on for each name is 11 stitches. Knitted sideways, most letters are three garter ridges in two alternating colors—M and W are 5 garter ridges, and I is only a single garter ridge! I’m clocking 3-5 minutes per letter.
The more letters I knit, the more intuitive and playful the process became. While minimalist, the typeface has so much personality. The letter forms are simple, and their knitting logic is easy and quickly memorized. One color per double row (aka garter ridge), slipped stitches, that’s it. SUCH FUN.
Happy Thanksgiving and/or Thursday!
Happy Thanksgiving to MDK! We’re thankful for all of you!
How fun! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone at MDK
What a wonderful idea!! I checked out the website but could not order any item because for some reason the dropdown menu for country did not include the USA. Is he boycotting the US for some reason???
At any rate- Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!
Hi Pam, unfortunately the Swiss Mail is not delivering to the US right now because of the tariffs, which is why I had to disable this shipping option for physical projects.
Best, Rüdiger
Thank you—and completely understandable!
US isn’t an option for the ebook either.
I had the same experience with the website. Happy Thanksgiving!
Try your local library. Mine had a copy, I just placed a hold! (Request interlibrary loan if you aren’t as lucky)
Very thankful for y’all. And those are pretty neat.
Your guests will be thrilled and feel so special. I know I would. What a gift! Happy Thanksgiving from Australia.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love the knitted place cards!
What a sweet gift, Kay! I am very grateful today for everyone in tbe yarn and knitting worlds, especially the lovely bunch at MDK!
What a fun idea! I just ordered it from Barnes and Noble, it was in stock. Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone at MDK!
Happy Turkey Day
To Ann and Kay
What can I say
But YAY!!!
You make my day
Always!
❤️
Do you know where I can purchase a hard copy. I found one site but it won’t let you put in an American address. Thank you
Happy Thanksgiving!! Love those place cards, you’re a whizz! Enjoy the day.
These are wonderful! Wishing everyone a happy feast day.
Sounds like these are a living example of why we should order what we want when we can, because the world does change and get complicated sometimes.
Yes, yes, yes! It’s comic-booky and bouncy and the result is so fun.
I came for the knitting, I keep coming back for talk of typefaces, travel, music, series to watch and the community that forms around talk of creativity. Thank you, all of the contributors to MDK continue to inspire. Bises !
RADIANT