I’ve been craving a simple knit, and here it is. Working title, Trillium Path. It’s simple stockinette with assigned pooling fields.
I love the fields of flowers. I’m adding optional eyelet bands for texture to this second knit. Why? Because the first one ended with eyelets to discourage the bind off from curling, and I’d like to incorporate them in the body, too.
I’m looking for a few test knitters for this single skein piece. This is meant to be simple knitting, perfect for travel or social knitting. It’s knit with fingering weight yarn, 100g. I used A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering in From Paris with Love (green) and Wildflowers (blue). Let me know if you’re interested!
And Modern Daily Knitting! I’m teaching online for them on Friday, June 26, noon to 2:30 pm Eastern. The class is recorded for rewatching, or watching for the first time if you can’t make it in person.
Entrelac looks woven, but it’s actually knit modularly, unit by unit, each one picking up on the previous blocks. We’ll learn how to make each of those units in class, including picking up stitches, and simple decreases.
We’ll be using Noro Silk Garden for its beautiful color changing properties. You can purchase this yarn with class registration, or on your own. You can use this or any other Aran to bulky weight yarn with a slow color change. I’ve also used Berroco Wizard for this project with excellent results.
The scarf above was knit with two 50g balls of Noro Silk Garden. It’s knit end to end, so you can stop when you want, if you’d rather seam it for a shorter round cowl. (Photos above are from the Modern Daily Knitting site.)
This is the only picture of my Noro sample that I have! I knit most of it on the plane to Nash Yarn Fest, and left it there for photography. I love how vibrant Noro colors are.
Flower Power Entrelac
These samples are knit with one 100g skein of Berroco Wizard. Actually it’s just one long sample, pinned up to show you how shorter versions would work as a cowl.
And here’s an entrelac sample (Minerva pattern) knit with a gradient yarn. It takes longer to see the color change, but it’s spectacular.
I collaborated with Sweet Paprika Designs for their Skill Building Yarn Club this spring. My design for the yarn box featured…brioche, of course!
Cowl
This is the Staghorn Cowl Hat. I love convertible cowl/hats as teaching pieces, because not everyone loves a cowl…or a hat. So you get to choose!
Hat
You can also choose to knit the whole piece in 2 color brioche rib, without the decorative increases and decreases that make the Staghorn motif. This is a great way to practice brioche knitting before getting into the more challenging parts.
Wider cowl
If you know you don’t want a hat, you can make the cowl a bit wider because it doesn’t need to fit a head. Choices!
Staghorn Cowl Hat is knit with 2 colors of worsted weight yarn. The cowl/hat is knit with 140 yards/128 meters dark color, 66 yards/60 meters light color heavy worsted weight yarn. Shown in Sweet Paprika Andante (100% superwash merino wool, 4oz/110g/195 yards/178m), Jacaranda (LC) and Deep Purple (DC). If you’d like to buy the Sweet Paprika Designs kit, you can do so here.
If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you’ll get a code for 25% off this pattern. I’m a little behind in getting my newsletter written, so it’s not too late to subscribe before the newsletter comes out on Saturday (I hope!). Subscribe here.
This pattern is available through my Ravelry store, link here.
This pattern is also available from my Payhip shop, link here.
I’ve got my teacher hat on. Last week I was trying to come up with a new class or two. I’ve been thinking about colorwork, but only one strand at a time. Strandless colorwork? The easiest of which is stripes.
The easiest of which is stripes. Garter stitch or stockinette stitch, I love them both. Then we get into textured and fancy stripes. And slip stitch knitting, which are just interrupted stripes. And even brioche rib is a kind of slip stitch stripe, right?
But if you’re working in the round, you might want jogless stripes.
And you might want more than two colors. I really went down the rabbit hole with helix knitting this past week.
This striped hat has no jogs in the stripes or the garter stitch edge.
And this cowl’s three color stripes have no jogs, either. Magic!
I think these are actually two classes, one in unstranded colorwork with a touch of helix knitting, and one specifically in helix knitting. I’m teaching the helix knitting class at For Yarn’s Sake on Saturday June 20, 11:30 to 1:30. It’s not on the website yet, but should be up soon.
It’s been really strange for me to have three projects on the needles at the same time, but now I’ve finished the hat and cowl. They’ll have a pattern to go with them; it’s not quite done yet.
The third project is now the only project! This is a single skein bias triangle shawlette. The yarn is from A Chick That Knitz; it’s her Singles Fingering in From Paris with Love.
I love this sweet little assigned pooling stitch. It’s easy! Pattern coming soon.
I was searching my blog for something else, and this popped up. I’m running it again because it’s helpful!
How many rows has it been since I cabled? See the hole where my finger is coming out? That indicates last cable crossing. The first ladder next to my finger is from the cable row. The three other ladders over my finger are the three rows that followed. My thumb is pointing at the ladders, just to be helpful. This shows that I have worked the cable row and three more rows (actually rounds here). According to my pattern, it’s time for my next cable crossing!
I learned this trick in 2016 from Norah Gaughan at Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival. This was long before we were teachers/cruise buddies on the 2022 Vogue Knitting Cruise to Canada & New England.
Next door neighbors!
Do you enjoy knitting cables? I haven’t knit cables for a while, but I definitely like them. Check out my Tutorials page for more cable fun, including cabling without a cable needle.
What’s been in my new project bag this past week? Something that got too big for the project bag it started in.
Effervescent
This is Effervescent, finished and blocked. It’s two color brioche rib, with a syncopated brioche edging and assigned pooling motifs.
Frogged and reconditioned yarn
This is the yarn from a previous shawl that I frogged and reconditioned. I had a better idea for it, and it came out like a dream. The yarn is a little fuzzy now; it’s a single ply and I’ve effectively knit it through three projects. But it’s soft and lovely.
I was about 70% finished with the second shawl in this yarn’s life, when I decided it needed to have bigger motifs, and be knit on a smaller needle. Ooof. Good thing I like to knit.
Then I was worried that it was going to be too small. But blocking is magic.
I didn’t block it aggressively; I just patted it out as the fabric relaxed after soaking for wet blocking. It’s airy and drapey.
The pattern has been tech edited, and I’m looking for test knitters that love brioche knitting and assigned pooling. Is that you?
yellow balsamroot, blue lupine, purple vetch, blue sky
The wildflowers are in peak bloom in the eastern Columbia River Gorge. I went hiking with friends on Thursday in the Memaloose Hills. This is on the Oregon side of the river, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. The dry side!
red paintbrush, too
It was a gloriously beautiful day.
So many flowers! See Mount Hood just peeking out under the clouds on the right?
It’s good to have friends who like to hike with you.
Big headed cloverlarkspur/delphinium
I’m not sure what this is, but I love the seed pods.
This is a reminder to me, to think about hiking in April for wildflowers. Sometimes May is just too late. What’s blooming near you?
Well, that was a hoot! With a hootenanny! The second annual Nash Yarn Fest by Modern Daily Knitting was a great opportunity to see old friends and new, hear music and speakers, and shop for yarn and yarn-adjacent goodies. I had a great time. And participated in country line dancing for the first time. It’s not unlike tai chi; you learn some simple steps that get combined and repeated, and do them with a room full of like-minded people. Fun!
Ann Shayne of MDK, with hubbo Jon aka singer Merle Hazard (he’s good!)
The event was well-run, as you’d expect from the team at Modern Daily Knitting. This year’s event was even better than last year’s. More speakers, more music. I don’t know if there were more vendors.
Me, Julia Farwell-Clay, and Kay Gardner
Kay is the other half of MDK. See her nametag? She’s the one who got us all hooked on Rudiger Schlomer’s Knit Hello. She and Karen Tumelty knit nametags for all the vendors. And there were tables set up so everybody could knit their own nametag, too. I already had mine, so I was good to go.
Denise really caught the Knit Hello bug! She knit hello, her name, and couldn’t stop. Good thing she found a thrifted vest to display her tags and pins!
with Franklin Habit and Gaye Glasspie (GG Made It)
It was great to see Franklin Habit, who came all the way from Paris to give a talk on his miniatures and creativity. And GG is always fun.
with Jeni Hankins and Odile Bunny
Jeni Hankins is a gem. She’s a talented singer/songwriter/writer/crafter, and she sang for us on Saturday. She has Appalachian roots, and many of her songs tell stories of her family. She writes for MDK, and she’s working on a piece about making doll clothes.
I told her about my knitted Barbie clothes made by my Aunt Vivian, so the next day she showed me Mary Jane, her Mary Hoyer doll that will be the subject of her MDK story.
Jeni Hankins
Jeni sang a song using her manual sewing machine as accompaniment, and sewed a project as she sang.
with Shelley Brander
Shelley Brander of Knit Stars was there, with her cute dog Charles Barkley (he’s on the floor, out of view). Do you subscribe to Knit Stars? I’ve participated in all the seasons (they’re video classes), and there’s always something interesting to learn.
Nancy Marchant
Nancy Marchant and her sister Jane came in woven knit vests. Woven knitting is Nancy’s current fascination. Cool!
There are more pictures on my Instagram page, if you want to scroll through. Including my game of yarn chicken on a project that I finished in Nashville!
Yarn from A Chick that Knitz
I picked up some more yarn inspiration from A Chick that Knitz. Three are pooling yarns. The teal green on the left is by itself for a single skein project, and the other two pooling yarns may or may not be combined with the variegated or semi-solid to their right. We shall see.
goodies!
The hootenanny came with a commemorative project bag and a skein of Atlas, as well as an enamel pin (next picture). I love surprise swag. I also bought a shawl pin from Birdie Parker Designs, various repair hooks from Stunning String Studio (because my Susan Bates handi-tool is a little too long for my notions tins), an embroidery project, and a glasses case that may be my new notions tin…or my glasses case.
The pin!
The pin, on my Julia Hilbrandt felt tote that I bought last year at Nash Yarn Fest. Julia wasn’t able to come this year, but the bag is going strong.
(last year)Project bag from Dani’s Knitting and Crochet, Logan UT
I came home to find this gift from Chilali Hugo, a Facebook follower. She sent me this frog themed project bag because she’s been knitting so many Portland Frog Hats. This bag is lovely; it has six pockets inside for organization, and is big enough for a small sweater project. I love it! Thank you, Chilali.
My shawl project has been living in the bag, but I just finished it. What goes in there next?
I usually knit from a center pull ball. They’re tidy, and if you put a yarn sleeve on the ball, it doesn’t collapse into a messy heap. Yarn sleeves shown above. And you can make your own! See this post.
Some yarns require a little more strategy. I’m currently knitting with Noro Silk Garden, and the high silk content makes it not very elastic. I could see that the ball was going to collapse, yarn bra or not. I decided this was a good candidate for knitting from the outside of the ball. The original put-up was very loosely wound, so my first move was to rewind it on my winder to tighten it up.
I usually knit sitting at a table, so I decided to try the Yarn To Go Carousel from Twice Sheared Sheep. I received this in my teacher’s gift bag at Vogue Knitting Live in 2025, so it’s been waiting for a while! Like I said, I’m usually a center pull knitter.
The wooden carousel comes in 3 pieces. On the left, you can see the spindle and base plate for holding the yarn. There’s a loop at the top for an optional wrist strap, but I’m not one to try to knit while walking. I’m a klutz! Maybe just standing, to take a break from sitting? You can use these 2 pieces by themselves, or add it to the spinning carousel.
The carousel piece on the right has two magnets on top, and revolves (on inner ball bearings?) as I knit. It spins very easily and doesn’t require a big tug to unspool the yarn. The platform itself is a little thick, but not a big deal since it’s sitting on a table and not weighing me down.
The ball is rapidly shrinking, and I am absolutely charmed by the sheep appearing as the yarn ball gets smaller.
I think for brioche or colorwork projects, I’m still happy with my 2 center pull balls with yarn bras. Two spinning carousels seems like it would be quite a production. But for this single ball of Silk Garden, it’s a good choice for me.
If you want to get a Yarn To Go Carousel, they’re available from Twice Sheared Sheep. They also come in a sunflower and mandala design, instead of sheep. The links are affiliate links, so if you purchase through the link, I get a commission. But this review is my honest opinion of this unsolicited gift!
No, my shawl isn’t done yet. But I needed to make this Noro swatch for an upcoming teaching project. Heading back to my brioche now.
Soooo are you Team Center Pull, or Team Outside the Ball? For me, it depends!
Posted onApril 10, 2026|Comments Off on So much knitting, so much better
I’ve finally passed the point where I frogged the whole project, Row 196. I’m on 207 of the re-knit now. Whew! I like the fabric a lot better; it won’t stretch open as much when it hangs on the bias.
This picture is from knit group at the local coffee shop; it’s our table on Friday mornings! I don’t get to go to this very often because Friday is a gym/pool day for me. But my gym buddies were both away, so I played hooky and enjoyed the company.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, so the knitting on this has been a bit slower than I want.
I took some time out to knit a hat band to wear to the No Kings protest on March 28. I love this Typeknitting from Rüdiger Schlömer. You can make it say whatever you want, and it’s so legible.
I met a fellow frog hat knitter on the way to the event.
I love seeing frog hats in the wild!
The hat band works on my sun hat, too. The hat doesn’t have a crown, and is size adjustable, because I have a big head. But not as big as I thought! I was originally planning to knit a headband, but I made it a bit too long. Which made it a perfect fit over a hat!
We participated in this art installation for Mike Schneider (@blcksmth on Instagram) on the Burnside Bridge; it’s created with umbrellas. We’re the 2 white umbrellas on the top line of the second E in the word KEEP.
And we were lucky enough to get tickets to see Bruce Springsteen on the Land of Hope and Dreams tour. It was an excellent show.
Find my patterns on Ravelry: Michele Bernstein Designs
Here are some of my favorites, and the newest. Many of my designs are also available through my Payhip store.
PDXKnitterati 