Author Archives: pdxknitterati

You are the boss of your knitting

Posted on February 3, 2012 | 17 Comments

I taught the second of a two class series at Twisted last night. It’s a simple hat, knit in the round on a circular and then double pointed needles. In the first class, we talk about reading a pattern, different cast ons, and getting that circular knitting going, “being careful not to twist.” Then they knit like crazy for a week, so that they’re ready for the decreasing at the crown of the hat. The second class is where the fun really happens. We do decreases, learn how stitch markers can be your friends, and eventually move to dpns, and everyone learns that you really only knit with two needles at a time, no matter how many are in your knitting. I love encouraging students to be fearless, and that they are the boss of their knitting. And I love the grins that happen when the knitting comes off the dpns and suddenly it’s a hat. A finished project with new techniques is such a confidence builder. And the camaraderie that develops with a group of knitters chatting as they knit is a wonderful thing.

kalehat

I knit a hat, too. This is the one I started for knit nite last week. I saved the decreases for class, so we could do them together. This Madeline Tosh Worsted is so deliciously squishy; it was a pleasure to knit.

On Monday evening I’m teaching a class on entrelac knitting, also at Twisted. I love entrelac. It looks so complicated, but it’s simpler than you think, and you look so clever knitting it. My favorite part is purling back backwards without turning your work. I think there is still one spot left open in this class. If you’re interested, call Twisted!

I went on a big entrelac design jag a little while back.

entrelac sox 2
Entrelac Socks, knit in the round


Athena, knit in the round

infinity
Infinity, knit flat

lacy midwinter
Lacy Infinity, knit flat

entrelac
More Athena!

We won’t be doing any of these particular patterns in class, because it takes a while to get into them and it’s only a two hour class. Instead, we’ll learn the little bits of technique needed for entrelac, and start a sample that can end up as a scarf, or bag, or whatever. But while I was rooting around in my little yarn stash, I found a ball of fingering weight Chroma from KnitPicks in the Pool Party colorway. Doesn’t it look like spring is just around the corner?

poolparty

I’m not going to be using it, but it’s the perfect weight for the fingering weight version of my Infinity Entrelac Infinity scarf. Here’s mine, in Crystal Palace Mini Mochi.

mochi long2

Do you want to knit one? I’d be happy to send this ball of yarn and a downloadable pattern to one of you. (Of course, you’re free to knit whatever you’d like with it.) Leave a comment on this post if you’d like a chance to win it. Have you ever tried entrelac? Do you like it? Are you afraid of it? I’ll let the random number generator pick a winner after Monday’s class. Ready? Go!

→ 17 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged

Among Friends

Posted on February 2, 2012 | 11 Comments

February, and time for the big reveal! Or at least a partial reveal. My hot off the needles new design is for a yarn club with Knitted Wit (Lorajean Kelley) and Sincere Sheep (Brooke Sinnes). The club is called Among Friends, and I can’t think of a better name for it. Brooke and Lorajean are friends, having met and bonded at many yarn events. I’ve known Lorajean for several years through our knitting group. I’m thrilled to be a part of this club, and now you can knit among friends, too.

Join us as we knit with Sincere Sheep’s naturally dyed yarn in April, Knitted Wit’s candy colored yarn in June, and a skein from each dyer in August. Each bi-monthly shipment will feature a pattern written just for the Among Friends Club. April’s designer is Michele Bernstein of PDXKnitterati (that’s moi), in June we’ll feature Carrie Sullivan of Irish Girlie Knits Designs, and we’ll wrap up in August with Michelle Miller of Fickleknitter. It’s a great lineup, with wonderful yarn. You can find out more details here. Sign-ups are open from now through March 25th, but there’s an added bonus if you sign up by February 29.

My design is the featured design for April, so I can’t show it to you yet. But I can tell you that I absolutely love how it all turned out. The yarn is a pleasure to work with, and I learned some new techniques along the way, which I think you’ll love, too. All the designs are for either one (April, June) or two (August) skein accessories, which is just perfect for the busy knitter. I’ve always loved designing accessories because they are quick to knit, and who doesn’t love a finished project? Also, a one skein project means never finding out that your two skeins don’t match…

I hope you’ll join us and knit Among Friends!

→ 11 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged

Outside my window

Posted on January 28, 2012 | 9 Comments

I finished knitting my design project this morning, and I love it. I can’t show it to you yet, though. It’s a secret! The next step is to write the pattern, so I’m chained to my desk, doing so. (Or maybe I’m really just blogging and thinking about pattern writing. Bad dog, no biscuit.) But I looked out my window, and this is what I saw.

P1040872

Maybe we need a closer look.

P1040876

Between this and the two coyotes I saw in the street outside my house last night, it’s an urban wild kingdom.

Back to work…

Oh, just a reminder: My Hugs and Kisses Fingerless Mitts pattern is on sale for $4 (20% off) through the end of the month. They’re a sweet Valentine gift! Click here to buy through Ravelry; you don’t have to be a Ravelry member to do so.

mitts

→ 9 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged

Knit Nite

Posted on January 28, 2012 | 9 Comments

I’m part of a knitting group that’s been meeting for several years. It started with an intarsia class that met with Leigh Radford, and continued to meet after that. We met again last Wednesday.

Even though I’m a fairly monogamous knitter, sometimes I need a no-brainer project to knit around other people. Wine and conversation can really mess up a complicated lace pattern or a current design project! I’m at a “must think, chart, write this down” moment on my current design project, so I cast on a simple hat for DH. It’s in MadelineTosh Merino, which is worsted weight superwash merino, 5 sts/inch. The color is called Kale, and it is a reddish brown wonder. The depth of the color is luscious.

kale

(Before you ask, no, knitting with dark yarn on dark needles doesn’t bother me. I knit mostly by feel, rather than looking at what my needles are doing. I love my ebony needles, even if I’m not looking at them! They feel and sound great. If I need to see my dark knitting, I’ll knit with rosewood, but ebony is my favorite.)

Cathy of Lantern Moon was just back from the TNNA Winter Trade Show, and she brought some new books for us to see. They’re from the Fyberspates Scrumptious yarn line: Saturday Treat by Ysolda, Scrumptious Knits by Carol Feller, the Scrumptious Baby Collection, and the previous book, the Scrumptious Collection. Fun!

P1040858

Cathy even brought back an autographed copy of Ysolda’s book for me. Thanks, Cathy!

P1040863

I love being part of a knitting group. We compare projects, swap stories, help each other with techniques, and laugh a lot. And of course, there’s food. We meet in our homes and always have a potluck dinner. It’s a good group of people, and I love being part of it.

Are you in a knitting group? Do you meet in homes, libraries, knitting shops? What’s your favorite thing about your knitting group? If you’re not in one, do you wish you were?

→ 9 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged , ,

Scrumptious yarn

Posted on January 22, 2012 | 8 Comments

I stopped in at the Lantern Moon office last week to pick up a needle for a design project. The office was a quiet beehive of activity, getting ready for the TNNA (The National NeedleArts Association) winter trade show in Phoenix. I’m a little sad that I’m not there with them this year. Different venue, no party house! Last year was a blast.

I saw the knitted samples for the new Fyberspates Scrumptious book by Carol Feller. Lantern Moon branched out into yarn last fall with this luscious line of 45/55% silk and merino wool. I was particularly taken by Taupo, a long vest that’s partially knit sideways. I tried it on, and it fit perfectly. I think I may need to knit one of these, or at least put it in my Ravelry queue for now. It’s knit with Scrumptious Chunky, so it should be pretty quick!


(images copyright Joseph Feller)

You can see more pictures from the book in my other blog post here.

I also picked up a sample skein of Scrumptious 4-ply/sport in the Water colorway. Isn’t it gorgeous? The yarn has such a nice sheen because of the silk content. I’m guessing the knitted fabric will be wonderfully drapey. I’ll make something with it soon and post it here. For now, I’m just admiring it, constantly.

scrummy

It just has to wait until I finish my current project. Yes, I’m that rare bird, the monogamous knitter. How about you? One project at a time? Oodles overflowing your knitting basket? Happy medium? Count ‘em up!

→ 8 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged , ,

Kathy’s Knit Korner

Posted on January 21, 2012 | 7 Comments

Lorajean and I had a great time at our joint trunk show at Kathy’s Knit Korner in Forest Grove. The shop is really cute, and has lots of rooms filled with yarn, crochet thread, needle felting supplies, spinning fiber, and more. Sharon Spence, the owner, made us feel right at home, so we took over a room! Lorajean brought her Knitted Wit line of hand-dyed yarns, and I brought my patterns and knit samples. Here I am with Sharon, and Lorajean’s lovely yarn. (Yes, that’s a tag on my Zen Rain shawlette. I’m getting in touch with my inner Minnie Pearl.)

pdxk

And Sharon and Lorajean.

kw

Sandy came to visit us, and so did Nadine, but I didn’t get my camera out in time to catch her.

sandy

I love the rich colors of the DK Polwarth/Silk. It’s what I’ve been knitting with lately, a lot. The resulting fabric has a great hand, very springy and soft. I can also tell you that it holds up well to ripping and re-knitting. That’s just part of my design process, trial and error! I want it to be perfect before it goes out to you.

dk

The shine and drape of this merino/tencel blend is enticing; it’s so nice in a shawl.

shine

Here’s how I’m displaying my business cards these days. It’s a little square shot glass with a yarn ball etched on it, and the cards fit perfectly.

shot

Lorajean and I had a fun afternoon, and are planning and plotting several projects together. It’s marvelous to have a dyer friend to inspire my design work!

How is your weekend going?

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged ,

Trunk Show time!

Posted on January 20, 2012 | 4 Comments

Tomorrow (Saturday, January 21) is trunk show day for PDXKnitterati and Knitted Wit at Kathy’s Knit Korner in Forest Grove. Stop by and see us! We’ll be there from 1-3 with lots of pretty samples, Knitted Wit yarns and PDXKnitterati patterns.

Kathy’s Knit Korner
1703 Pacific Ave.
Forest Grove, OR 97116
503-648-8525

If you can’t make it out to Forest Grove, but you’re itching for some yarny fun in town, several Portland shops are waiting for you with bells on. The Seattle to Portland Yarn Train, due in on Saturday, has been cancelled due to storm damage (downed trees and more) on the tracks. I know that Cindy at Urban Fiber Arts is carrying on with her sale. If you’re local, you benefit! (edited for late breaking news: Amtrak says that they’ll have service on that line on Saturday, so we may have Seattleites, after all.)

What else is going on? You know all those ancient Greek tragedies, where the hero is brought down by his own hubris? I’m living a knitterly version of it. I’m working on a little design project. I liked my prototype that I knit out of stash yarn (purple), and felt ready to jump into the real thing with one little change planned. I was feeling pretty confident, as you know from my last post. Right now I’ve got a basket o’ chaos.

After knitting the first piece with the real yarn (green), I slowly realized that it wasn’t the real yarn after all. Slightly different weight, slightly different row gauge, and it turns out that it’s not the yarn it was supposed to be! A quick call to Lorajean confirmed it. Oops! It will fit me, though, so I’ll save it for later.

Do over. Started with the real, real yarn (blue!), and finished the first piece. (Again.) Thought of a change for the second piece, tried it, hated it, ripped it out and am finishing again. I should have just gone with my first (well, second) instinct. But it’s almost done, again. I do all the trial and error so you don’t have to!

And in other news, we’ve fallen under the spell of the chocolate mug cake, thanks to Pinterest, twitter, and Facebook. Social media is dangerous! Sorry for the lack of pictures, but we make them at night, the lighting is awful, and the cake doesn’t last long! We’ve tried two recipes in the last two days.

2 Minute Chocolate and Salted Caramel Mug Cake, sans caramels but with added ice cream and bourbon chocolate sauce, plenty for two people

One Minute Chocolate Cake (a single serving, but we shared with no problem)

There may well be a nutella mug cake tonight. The best part of it is that there are no leftovers to tempt you the next day. You just have to be able to stop making them…yeah, sure!

What’s new with you?

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, recipe

Tagged ,

MLK Day service opportunity

Posted on January 12, 2012 | 8 Comments

Monday, January 16th, is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. How will you be spending it? Do you get the day off? I’ll be at a service workday for the Backpack Lunch Program. The program provides weekend lunches for children who are at risk of hunger on the weekends, when no school lunch is available. If you’re in PDX and looking for something to do, come and help us pack lunch sacks for the kids we serve at Woodlawn and King Schools. After packing lunches, there’s a short program with folk singing and honoring Dr. King. The Day Old Pastries, my music group, will be leading the singing, so I’ll be there with guitar in hand. Last year we packed about 580 weekend lunch sacks for kids at risk of hunger — just about equal to a month’s sacks that we need for the two schools. The event is at Woodlawn United Methodist Church, NE 15th and Dekum Street, from 1-3 p.m. Hope to see you there!


(backpack logo copyright Jill Penney)

So what’s up, knit-wise? I’m working on a little project. Yesterday Lorajean dropped off these colors, and I’ll be picking one for this project. I’ve already knitted a sample with some yarn I had here, so I know where this is going. I love it when the knitting cooperates with the vision the first time around…

P1040835

→ 8 Comments

Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit, pattern design

Tagged , ,

Social by nature…

Posted on January 9, 2012 | 5 Comments

I was once described as “social by nature” in the NY Times. It’s true; you can google it! And here are some ways to find me with social media:

This blog, of course. And the Lantern Moon blog, too.

I’ve added a Facebook page for PDXKnitterati. I’m using it for all things knit- and fiber-related: blog posts, sales, contests, and more. You can find it here.

I tweet as @pdxknitterati, if you’re inclined to be part of the twitterverse.

There’s a PDXKnitterati Ravelry group, too!

Every once in a while I check to see how people find this blog. Mostly it’s linking from somewhere else, but the search terms that people use can be a riot. I was surprised to see that if you google “pum pum pum aloha aloha,” my blog is the number one search result. Must have been the thrummed knitting on vacation!

Knit related: I’m sketching for a little design project. I think I’ve gotten my little selfish knitting binge done, and it’s back to work! Oh, but I’m also knitting some worsted socks. For me. They’re a relentlessly cheery take-along project, or TV-watching project.

cheery

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Knit

Tagged , ,

River City Music Festival

Posted on January 7, 2012 | 3 Comments

I spent a little time last night at the River City Music Festival. This used to be the River City Bluegrass Festival, but the festival has expanded its horizons and now encompasses Americana and Country, too.

We went mostly to hear Tommy Emmanuel, a phenomenal guitar player from Australia. He played for an hour and a half, delighting us with guitar and his special brand of percussion on the guitar.

How does he make it sound like his hands are an ensemble of players? At one point he yelled, “Take it away, boys!” and looked over his shoulder. You would have sworn that he had a backup band, but nada. Amazing.

There were bluegrass groups jamming in rooms all around the hotel, and they sounded great. There were vendors in the hallways and meeting rooms, and I fell in love with a blond. A blond guitar, that is. It has a gorgeous Sitka spruce top, a Brazilian Rosewood back (the guitar on the right), and it’s only three days old. Les McMasters of McMasters Guitars in Hermiston made it. It felt good in my hands, and sounded good, too. I’m not in the market for a guitar right now, but a girl can dream, right?

IMG_1877

IMG_1878

(Sorry that my iPhone camera doesn’t do this beauty justice, but this is all I had with me.)

There’s a more thorough description of the festival here on the OregonLive site, but what you really need to know is that the festival runs through Sunday (tomorrow), so get on down there and enjoy some music! Whether or not you can make it, here’s a treat. Tommy Emmanuel, playing Michelle, with lots of harmonics.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in music

Tagged , ,