Showing posts with label movies and videos about knitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies and videos about knitting. Show all posts

Monday 24 November 2014

The Yarning



In this stop motion animated short by YouTube user lapendule100, a skein of wool explores a knitting basket and finds the horrors that lurk within it. If skeins of yarn had sensibilities, they'd probably report all of us knitters to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Inanimate objects.

Monday 17 November 2014

Cherish Garden



Check out the changing of the seasons and the activities of the little creatures in Cherish Garden, a lovely little stop animated short made by Miho Yata (YouTube user Yatamimation), whose wonderful work has previously appeared on this blog. Unfortunately I don't understand a word of the accompanying soundtrack, which is sung in what I presume to be Japanese, but perhaps one of my readers will be able and willing to provide a translation.

Friday 7 November 2014

Nudinits



Check out this stop animation video, Nudinits, for some anatomically correct knitting. This videe takes us into the village of the Nudinits, who "are the quirky inhabitants of Woolly Bush, a village bursting with Britishness and bare bottoms". Nudinits also has a Facebook page, which is also, as you might expect, very cheeky.

Friday 31 October 2014

Mother and Urnie Knitting Things



This video from It's Alive, a late night horror show webcast based in Pittsburgh, PA, Mother has some unwelcome news for Urnie. She's late. Fifty-six years late, to be precise.

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Knit in 80 Seconds



The children's storybook, Phoebe's Sweater, written by Joanna Johnson and illustrated by her husband Eric Johnson, tells the story of Phoebe Mouse and how she becomes a big sister. The book also includes knitting patterns: one for a child-size hooded sweater, one for a toy Phoebe Mouse, and one for a doll-size sweater that will fit the toy Phoebe Mouse as well as a 16-18 doll. The video above shows a Phoebe sweater being knitting in 80 seconds. Or more accurately, shows us 80 seconds out of of a day-long process of knitting the Phoebe sweater, but the 80 second stop motion video is quite well done and offers cute background effects, such as a last ball of yarn being delivered by a little vehicle made out of Lego. If you'd like to knit Phoebe's sweater for the little girl in your life, the pattern is available on Ravelry for $6(USD).

Wednesday 17 September 2014

A Triumph of Combined Operations



This British Pathé video from 1954 gives us fascinating glimpses of the process of producing tailored handknit garments for high-end shops in London, England.

Monday 1 September 2014

Yarn, Paper, Scissors



In the animated short Yarn, Paper, Scissors written, directed and animated by Rebecca Olson, a yarn creature living in a crafted world must save his friend from a malevolent pair of scissors.

Wednesday 27 August 2014

To the Peasants of the Emperor



Check out this stop motion music video made by Aniboom Animation for AM Syndicate's song "To the Peasants of the Emperor", in which yarn people overcome many obstacles in their material world thanks to the potential of yarn.

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Zero



In an Aldous Huxley-esque world of yarn creatures where yarn babies are born marked with the rank they will live with all their lives, one little yarn boy bearing a zero grows up to prove that something can be made of nothing. Directed by Christopher Kezelos, Zero has been shown in over 50 festivals and has won 15 awards including 'Best Animation' from LA Shorts Fest and the Rhode Island International Film Festival as well a nomination for an AFI Award in the 'Best Short Animation' category.

Friday 15 August 2014

Chicken's Lifetime



Check out this stop motion video about the progress of a crocheted chicken's life, from egg forward, by YouTube user Betibettin. I did hope we were going to see the full span of a chicken's life, ending in some yummy-looking fried chicken on a plate, but the story took a different turn.

Monday 21 July 2014

Film Muffler



The knitted stop motion short Film Muffler, created by Miho Yata (YouTube user Yatamimation), combines knitted scarves, crocheted roses, and a simple piano accompaniment by Mie Yanashita in a nod to the silent movie era that is the most charming thing you'll see all day.

Wednesday 16 July 2014

The Wonderful Knitting Machine



One of the unsung heroes of the World War I, the knitting machine helped preserve the feet of the soldiers in the trenches and keep them fit for active duty. This documentary, The Wonderful Knitting Machine, directed by Rasec Ozal, talks about the knitting machine and its role in WWI, and includes a demonstration of how to make a sock on an antique knitting machine. Part 1 of The Wonderful Knitting Machine appears above while Part 2 appears below.

I will quibble with this documentary on one thing, though. In the video, the narrator claims knitters could make a pair of socks in a week. This might have been the average rate of production, but many knitters could and did knit socks much faster than that. One of my great-grandmothers, who was of an age to knit for WWI, could make a pair of socks in an evening.





Here is Part 2 of The Wonderful Knitting Machine.

Monday 7 July 2014

Hare Skins



This is a stop animation video for the song "Les peaux de lièvres" ("Hare Skins") by the former French-Canadian indie pop band Tricot Machine ("Knitting Machine"). Those who made this video used an incredible 720 separate pieces of intarsia to tell the story of two lovers spending an evening outside during a snowfall, and the characters depicted in the video actually resemble Tricot Machine members Catherine Leduc and Matthieu Beaumont. The song title itself refers to an old St. Lawrence River coast expression, used when there's a heavy wet snow, "it's snowing rabbit/hare skins/pelts", and this video features subtitles that contain both the French lyrics and an English translation of them.

Wednesday 18 June 2014

Ta Douleur et Ton Tricoter



In this 2005 video for French singer Camille's song "Ta Douleur" ("Your Pain"), Camille is provided with her onscreen wardrobe by some helpful animated knitting. If you don't speak French, you can find an English translation of the lyrics for "Ta Douleur" here.

Please be warned that this video is possibly not safe for at work viewing.

Monday 9 June 2014

Walkie Talkie Knitty Man



In this 2003 music video for New Zealand punk band Steriogram's song "Walkie Talkie Man", the band steps into a knitted, crocheted, felted, and string art world, and when disaster strikes, they break out their crafting skills to save the day.

Monday 26 May 2014

The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett



If, like me, you pine to go to the exhibit of Kaffe Fassett's work at the American Museum in Bath, England, but cannot hope to get there, you can check out this video, which gives a good overview of the show Fassett calls "an intricate opera of colour".

Monday 19 May 2014

Moving On



Moving On is a stop-motion video from BAFTA-nominated animator, writer, and director Ainslie Henderson, which she created as a music video for the song of the same name by the British rock band James. In it, Henderson uses yellow yarn to tell a story about the inevitable cycle of life, death, grief, and joy. As Shakespeare put it, "the web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together." (All's Well that Ends Well, Act IV, scene 3.)

Wednesday 14 May 2014

How to Knit Like an Icelandic Man



Þórgnýr Thoroddsen has a name that is very hard for non-Icelanders to say, but he makes up for it by being a very manly knitter and Tunisian crocheter. In this video Þórgnýr tells us how an Icelandic man knits and invites us to look him up if we ever visit Iceland.

Monday 28 April 2014

Knitter's Guide to the Galaxy



The knitted sequence from the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, featuring what may be the most innovative use of variegated yarn ever. It almost makes me wish they'd done the whole movie that way, although the presence of Morgan Freeman reconciles me to the live action option.

Wednesday 9 April 2014

Made From Cool



In this series of commercials for the retail clothing company Jack & Jones, Christopher Walken demonstrates how a really cool tailor, knitter and sheep shearer makes suits and sweaters. Warning: attempts to replicate Walken's methods at home will result in wasted time and materials and a very exasperated sheep.