AntiCraft: Knitting, Beading and Stitching for the Slightly Sinister

162 Pages·2007·39.92 MB·English

by  Renee Rigdon

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A N T I CRAF
T
RENÉE RIGDON ZABET STEWART
Knitting,
Beading and
Stitching for the
Slightly Sinister
Cincinnati,Ohio
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Anticraft Copyright © 2007 by Renée Rigdon
and Zabet Stewart. Manufactured in China. All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means including information stor-
age and retrieval systems without permission in
writing from the publisher, except by a review-
er, who may quote a brief passage in review.
Published by North Light Books, an imprint
of F+W Publications, Inc., 4700 East Galbraith
Editor:
Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. [phone].
Tonia Davenport
First edition.
Designer:
11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1
Maya Drozdz
Distributed in Canada by Fraser Direct
100 Armstrong Avenue Photographer:
Georgetown, ON, Canada L7G 5S4
Al Parrish
Tel: [phone]
Production
Distributed in the U.K. and Europe by David &
Coordinator:
Charles
Brunel House, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 Greg Nock
4PU, England
Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone] stylists:
Email: [email protected]
Leslie Brinkley
Maya Drozdz
Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link
P.O. Box 704, S. Windsor, NSW 2756 Australia
hair and makeup:
Tel: [phone]
Cass Smith
Comic Illustrator:
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data Matt Rigdon
www.fl uffyandbear.com
Rigdon, Renée.
Anticraft : knitting, beading, and stitching for
the slightly sinister / Renée Rigdon and Zabet
Stewart.
p. cm.
Includes index.
eISBN-13: 978-1-60061-204-6
978-1-60061-030-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-60061-030-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Knitting. 2. Beadwork. I. Stewart, Zabet. II. www.fwbookstore.com
Title.
TT820.R563 2007
746.43’2--dc22
2007027648
Some digital brushes in this book are courtesy of Jason Gaylor of designfruit.com.
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Dedication
For Cayden, who will now know beyond a shadow
of a doubt that his mother was never cool.
—Renée
For Grandma Amy, who didn’t teach me how
to knit. Which, strangely enough, is how I got
started down this path.
—Zabet
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C O N T E N T S
50
CROCHET
6 52
ANTIFESTO BRIER ROSE
8 56
ANTIDUCTION
LIZA’S NET
10 60
KNITTING LILY
12 63
SNAKE DANCE THIGH HIGHS DUNGEON DÉCOR
18 68
APOTHECARY / I [SKULL]
GOTHIC GLAM YULE HAT
TROUBLE TOTE
22 74
BELLADONNA SLEEVES CARRION
25
78
POP ART SKULLS THE WHILAMEENAS
30 84
SEWING
TOUGH BABY
36
86
SKYLLA BAD EGGS
42
91
IMMACULATE HEART THREE OWLS
46 95
YAR! WHEEL OF THE YEAR
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130 TECHNIQUES
FOR VIRGINS
104
MISCELLANY 130
MASTER LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
106
131
FOREVER BOUND KNITTING
109
CHANDELIERS 145
CROCHET
112
153
MIDNIGHT
STAR BEADING
115
A BLACKBIRD’S SECRET 154
CHAINMAIL
122
THYSELF
TREE OF LIFE AND DEATH 156 EDUCATE
[RESOURCES]
126
GRAFFITI 157
INDEX
158
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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Antifesto
We were deep in the clutches of a weeklong Creation from chaos is natural. We’ve come to
absinthe binge¹ when the Divine Hand of Bril- a place where we’ve realized that we have this
liance touched us in an inappropriate place. actual, physical need to create things. We’ve
When this vision came, we knew we must create a discovered that we hate people en masse,8 we’re
haven for all the sinister crafters of the world. No sick of homogenized culture, and these realiza-
more would we be cowed into silence by cheer- tions have left holes in our hearts.9 We create
ful scrapbook stickers. Never again would we be to fi ll those holes, to be able to sleep at night
forced to gleefully execute a sweater of intarsia knowing we’ve done something, even a small
puppies. The Green Fairy had blessed us with something, to confront the manufactured culture
an exotic vision we were powerless to deny. We that is currently being churned out.10
madly scrambled for pen and paper with which to The point then is not that you should craft
compose our opus. Finding none, we took up our just like us.¹¹ You should craft in the medium
knitting needles and carved text into the walls.² that understands you.¹² This is just a place to let
With an old tube of Vamp³ we illustrated our your eyes rest, fi nd some inspiration, or scream
glorious creation.4Upon release from the hos- yourself hoarse. We’re all outcasts and refugees
pital, we returned to our lives with renewed from the mainstream here. We’re strange girls,
direction and embarked upon this project with tactless and profane in the face of the sacred,
the fervor of a snake-kissing Pentecostal who obsessed with mortality and the things you fi nd
has an anti-venom kit.5 under fl esh and over bone. Our personalities are
But not really. Really, we were thrilled when in this (can you tell that one of us likes puns?¹³),
crafting was de-grannifi ed6; we just got tired of which makes it personal. We want you to help
it having to be so dang perky all the time. We us carry this along, which makes it political—a
suppose that’s what happens when you take stand against the current trends in society to
something old into the marketing department sanitize grief, drug sadness, hide obscenities,
for cosmetic surgery. Some things get sucked stigmatize sex, and take everything much, much
out, some things get porcelain veneers, and too seriously.14
some things get, um, perkier.7
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1 This is a lie. We did make some absinthe once, but it was 8Zabetreally hates people.
too horrible to actually drink. 9We’ll wax poetic if we want to.
2 Also a lie. 10Skatchamogowza!
³ A seriously old tube. Like 1990 old. Gross. ¹¹ Yes, you should. We know what’s best for you.
4Again, a lie. Why are you considering taking craft advice ¹² We’re still waiting for wood-enamel, gold-leaf
from such pathological liars? bookbinding in a Jell-O mold project.
5We live in Kentucky—we know of what we speak ¹³ Not yet, but you will.
here—but, also a lie. 14Seriously? You read all these footnotes?
6Yes, we know yourgrandmother is cool. Ours are as well. And we thought we were, uh, different.
7If you don’t know what we’re talking about, put this book
down and walk away.
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