Anyone for tennis?

Tennis cupcakes - very sweet but delicious

As England is gripped by Wimbledon fever, signs of tennis are emerging everywhere. Popping out for lunch near the MillaMia office today we were inspired to indulge in some tennis- themed cupcakes. So creative.

It made me think that no doubt there are lots of tennis-inspired knitting and craft projects too. And of course a quick surf around Ravelry never fails to deliver. Tennis booties for babies available in both crochet and knit patterns for instance.  Both of these patterns are for a DK yarn which means our Naturally Soft Merino would also substitute well.

Crochet version: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tennis-baby-booties
Knitting version: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/tiny-tennis-shoes

And of course the tennis tank top is a classic. Our Bjorn tank top is perfect for any younger tennis players in your life.

Bjorn Tank Top from The Close Knit Gang

Snow 124 in Naturally Soft Merino

Putty Grey 121 in Naturally Soft Merino

It is beautiful in the original Seaside and Fawn, but I have always thought that it would also be lovely with Snow as the main colour and a cool stripe of Putty as a gentle contrast:

And as I googled I found some other interesting connections between Knitting and Tennis. For instance the fact that knitters suffer from 'Knitter's elbow' - which is in fact the same type of repetive strain type injury that tennis players suffer from when they have tennis elbow.

And the funniest story has to be this one from 2012 Wimbledon, where a lady was busy knitting on the sidelines of an Andy Murray match. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/9369232/Do-you-know-the-woman-who-knitted-her-way-through-tennis-thriller.html

Other viewers were horrified - finding it an insult to the players that she would be knitting at the same time as watching tennis. They clearly have no idea of what it is to be a knitter- the fact that we can multi-task, and knit at the same time as we talk, watch TV, commute, interact with others. At TNNA and Stitches and the other shows we attend, it is more common to see people walking around, shopping, talking and doing business while they knit than it is not to. I find this a wonderful example of why you should never jump to conclusions without understanding enough about the actions you are making a judgement on. 

And on that note I am off to knit and work on a Bjorn tank top for my little one while watching Wimbledon on the TV! 

Posted by Katarina