Win my brioche class at Virtual Vogue Knitting Live

Posted on May 25, 2023 | 4 comments

I’m teaching Next Steps in Brioche: Increases and Decreases for Virtual Vogue Knitting Live on Sunday, June 11, 2 – 4 pm Eastern (11 am Pacific). Vogue is generously letting me give away a seat in this class via my social media channels.

Deep End Hat and Cowl, and Madrona Cowl in lower right corner

In this class you’ll learn how to knit brioche increases and decreases that create the lovely patterning in two color brioche. We’ll also talk about fixing mistakes and reading a chart. Prerequisite for the class is knowing how to work two color brioche in the round. To enter to win a seat in this class, leave a comment on this post telling me what you want to knit with these increases and decreases. For an extra chance to win, leave a comment on my Instagram post for this giveaway. Contest closes at 11:59 pm Pacific on Monday May 29, and I’ll let the winner know on Tuesday, May 30.

I’ve taught a lot of knitters to knit two color brioche with my Petite Brioche class and pattern. If you don’t know how yet, sign up for my Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake! The class is on June 3 at 10:30 am Pacific (1:30 pm Eastern). Learning from this class or from my free Petite Brioche pattern on your own will have you ready to learn increases and decreases.

Big thanks to Julie Rosvall (@julierosvall on Instagram) for letting me use her giveaway graphic! She’s teaching at Virtual VKL too, and I’m looking forward to taking her First Impressions: Print Making with Knitting class on Saturday June 10 at 10 am Eastern (7 am Pacific, oy!). Luckily, Vogue is recording our workshops during the June event, so I can replay it if I need a reminder from this early (to me) morning class.

Here’s a description of Julie’s class: Join textile artist and printmaker Julie Rosvall for a hands-on textile printmaking workshop. Julie will share how she went from knitter to printmaker, and why she loves capturing the pattern and texture of knitted shawls and swatches on paper. Participants will have the chance to try textile relief printmaking in a simple hands-on process, no experience necessary. Julie will provide information in advance for preparing textiles to print, or if you’d like to use stencils or other materials to mimic the textiles she will provide alternatives that can be picked up at your local dollar store or craft supply store.

You know I’ve been playing with block printing. Printing from knit fabric swatches will be next level fun!

Block printing

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Posted in classes, giveaways, Knit, Other craftiness

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Weekend in Buffalo NY

Posted on May 23, 2023 | 4 comments

I had the great pleasure of teaching for the Knitting Guild of Greater Buffalo this weekend. We had a day of brioche, and then we explored elongated novelty stitches (some of which are also great for assigned pooling) and designing with favorite shawl shapes. So much fun!

Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson

I usually choose my airplane seat by whether there might be a view of Mt. Hood. It only matters during daylight, and it was a very pretty morning. (No view? Aisle seat please.)

American Falls, from the Canadian side

Maureen was the perfect hostess/tour guide/organizing whiz. I met her (and Sharon, the other half of the organizing duo) at Madrona years ago. She took my entrelac and Syncopation classes and knew we’d have a good seminar weekend! My one non-knitting wish was to see Niagara Falls. We went over to the Canadian side for a better view.

Niagara Falls, American and Canadian, on the Niagara River

The water is a pretty green from dissolved minerals.

American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls (the smaller one to the right)
Horseshoe Falls (Canadian Falls)
Looking across the ring of Horseshoe Falls

I think the Canadian falls are prettier than the American falls, but I’m not trying to create an international incident!

Under the bridge

I didn’t think to take class pix until the last class, which was on shawl shapes. It’s a pretty relaxed class, and you have a bunch of mini-shawls when you’re done. Vince says he’s going to string his on a cord and hang them like a garland on his mantel. After blocking and weaving in ends, of course! Blocking is magic for shawls.

Favorite shawl shapes
When in Buffalo, one must have Buffalo wings!

Thank you to the Greater Buffalo Knitting Guild for having me! I love teaching for guilds. If you want me to come teach for yours, let me know…

Now I’m home trapped under these cats!

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Posted in classes, travel

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Re-introducing: Brioche Knit Love!

Posted on May 17, 2023 | 1 comment

It’s back! I’ve just re-published my book, Brioche Knit Love, through Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon’s print on demand service). You can order your copy here.

Brioche Knit Love is also available as an ebook. Some of you have asked me for an ebook version, and here it is! You can view it on the Kindle app for phones, tablets, computers, and on the Kindle Fire tablet. It’s a print replica (works like a pdf), so it’s not for the Kindle e-reader. Here’s the ebook link.

The book is also available in other countries through other Amazon marketplaces, like amazon.uk. Search for it if you aren’t in the US.

If you’ve previously purchased Brioche Knit Love and enjoyed it, I’d love it if you’d leave a review on the Amazon page.

I’m really pleased to be able to offer this book again. It’s been a long journey figuring out how to make it happen, and I’ve learned all sorts of things along the way. Many many thanks to Carlee Wright, the designer of the original book, for working with me to get everything formatted to republish.

And I’m so glad that I don’t have to warehouse books and ship them out. I’d rather be knitting and designing and teaching.

Now I can get back to my knitting…on a plane! I’m headed to Buffalo, NY to teach for the guild this weekend. Happy spring!

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Posted in my book project

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Wildflower hike

Posted on May 12, 2023 | 4 comments
Balsamroot blossoms

It’s wildflower season on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. The balsamroot and lupines are at peak bloom, a little late this year after a colder than usual spring.

Looking west down the Columbia River

The kids and I went to hike the Mosier Plateau Trail, and it did not disappoint. (Mosier is a small town in the Columbia River Gorge, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains just past Hood River. That’s the dry side of the mountains; we live on the wet side.)

There’s even a waterfall, Mosier Creek Falls, along the way. It’s just 3.5 miles, which is about what I like.

So nice to be out on a gorgeous day!

I’m adding a few pictures from May 2019 when I hiked with friends across the river at Catherine Creek. I went looking for them, and found that I never posted them.

Balsamroot, and Mt. Hood
Bitterroot blossoms
Big headed clover

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Posted in Portland area fun

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WWKIP 2023

Posted on May 11, 2023 | 2 comments

WWKIP is World Wide Knit in Public Day! Will you be knitting with maximum visibility?

I’ve been participating in Knit Picks’ WWKIP festivities since 2017. They stopped in 2020 (hello pandemic) but are starting up again this year. Their events always have raffle prizes, free yarn, free books…and snacks!

This year’s event will be on June 10, from noon to 3 pm. The venue has both indoor and outdoor possibilities, so we’re covered in case of rain! Here’s a link to their post.

See you there, local-ish peeps?

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Posted in events, Knit, Portland area fun

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Classes! Virtual VKLive in June, and more

Posted on May 11, 2023 | Leave a comment

Just added to the calendar: Petite Brioche and Next Steps in Brioche: Increases and Decreases! New this time: Classes will be recorded and you’ll have access for 2 weeks after the event. You can preview the class offerings now, here.

Where else am I teaching this summer/fall?

Petite Brioche (beginning 2 color brioche in the round), Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake, June 3, 10:30 am


Starfall Assigned Pooling Cowl, Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake, June 4, 1:30 pm

Brioche workshops at Sitka Center (Oregon Coast) July 15-16


Nautical Knitting cruise on Zodiac Schooner, July 31-Aug. 2


Vogue Knitting Cruise to Alaska, Sept. 2-9


Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, Oct. 13-15 (website not up yet…)

Planning ahead…come knit with me!

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Introducing Starfall

Posted on May 8, 2023 | 2 comments

Starfall is a fingering weight bandana cowl featuring a cascade of assigned pooling stars on a stockinette stitch background. Knitting begins in the round at the neck with a reverse stockinette rolled edge. Simple shaping at the center front creates the look of a triangle shawl, and Old Shale Lace adds a beautiful, scalloped edging.

Choose a yarn that is dyed for assigned pooling, with an accent color run of about 8 – 10” long. Hand-dyed yarns vary, and the pooling color length can vary from skein to skein! You may have a longer pooling color run, which you can address by having color streaming on each side of your stars. Suggestions are given in the pattern for managing your color.

Blocking is magic! You’ll want to wet block this piece to make it the star of your dreams. Pattern includes a blocking tutorial.

The pattern is now available from Ravelry, link here.

And also from Payhip, link here.

Use coupon code METEOR for 15% off through May 15. If you’re taking my Zoom class through For Yarn’s Sake on June 4, the pattern is already included in your class fee; don’t buy it twice!

Thanks to tech editor Jen Lucas, test knitters Carmen Adkins, Peggy Baker, Ann Berg, Shelly Dinh, Angela Gronewold, Desta Packan, Jamie Waclawik, and model Sharon Hsu. It takes a village and we had fun!

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Posted in Knit, pattern design

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Almost there! So close…

Posted on May 8, 2023 | 4 comments

I’ll be re-publishing Brioche Knit Love through Kindle Direct Publishing (Amazon). This way makes the most sense for me. The prospect of ordering 750 – 1000 copies, warehousing them, and being the distributor for them was overwhelming.

I uploaded my files, and we’re soooo close! The cover needs a little adjustment (it’s riding high; that white stripe at the bottom doesn’t belong there).

That’s especially true on the back, where our heads are floating out of the frame. But it’s all been sorted, and I just ordered a final proof copy to make sure everything looks right. Soon!

I’m not quite as far along on the e-book. I uploaded a file for that, and it’s not doing what I want. We’re working on it…

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Posted in Knit, my book project

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Darn it! Hook it? Mend it!

Posted on May 3, 2023 | 7 comments

My sister asked if it’s possible to mend a hole in a shawl. Well, anything is possible, but I hadn’t done that before.

It looked like it was just one stitch, so I thought I could just duplicate stitch over it. Unfortunately, a closer look revealed that the edge stitches were also frayed, so I’d have to make a patch about 4 stitches wide by 3 stitches high to attach it to stable fabric.

I didn’t have the exact same yarn any more, but this red was pretty close. The back isn’t nearly as pretty, but it’s the back! You can definitely see the frayed hole on the back side, plus the patch covering the front.

I ran yarn back and forth across the hole, leaving a loop twice as long on the left edge as the yarn covering the hole, each time I passed there. Then I used that yarn and hooked up a column from an existing stitch below the hole, beginning with the stitch on the furthest right. At the top of the column, graft to the existing stitch above using the yarn that’s still in the yarn needle. Then hook up the next column and do the same. Lather rinse repeat until the hole is covered. Hooking up uses up the extra loops that were on the left.

It’s similar to the patch I knit over this hole (blog post here) but it’s hooked up instead of knitted back and forth (and also much smaller than that blown out heel). It’s tidier because instead of using k2tog and ssk at the sides of the patch to attach it to the fabric, which creates bulk, the yarn is just put into position to be hooked up, so it lies flatter at the bottom and sides of the patch. The only place it’s bulky is at the top of the patch, where it’s grafted to the existing fabric. I couldn’t get it flat. But it’s still better than a hole that’s going to get bigger!

I decided to re-block it, because blocking is magic, and it had been a while. And that’s when I discovered…

another hole. This one happened right next to an eyelet, which means the same kind of fix wouldn’t be appropriate here.

I played with it a little. I think I can work with these two ends, bringing them to the back and tying them off. The edges here aren’t frayed, so it should be pretty secure. I’ll see what happens after it’s dry; I can’t do anything yet.

Whew! That was a lot of words to describe the fix. Should I make a video tutorial?

Do you mend your knits? I always mean to, and drop them on the mending pile, but it’s not a high priority for me. You?

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Posted in Knit

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Ebb and Flow encore

Posted on April 30, 2023 | 8 comments

My third Ebb and Flow cowl. It’s my favorite of the three, and it’s everything I dreamed for it to be. I’m so glad I ripped back to put the color changes at the garter ridges. And the yarn blocks out so crisply, it’s an absolute joy. I sewed in the ends this morning so I could wear it today.

Blocking is magic! A reminder of how it looked, just off the needles. Now it’s airy and perfect.

Schmutzerella mini skeins. So much yardage, I could have both the taller cowl neck, and the longer triangle point. There’s yarn left over, because of the color changes at the garter ridges. I love it when a plan works out perfectly!

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Posted in Knit, yarn

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