Monthly Archives: September 2014

New classes for fall

Posted on September 25, 2014 | 3 comments

I’m teaching several new classes this fall. I’m most excited about this one, because it has the most possibilities: Slip Stitch Cowl Design. It’s an intro to slip stitch knitting, and we explore this fabulous colorwork technique that uses only one color per row/round.

Using only one color per row/round makes it really easy to manage your yarn. We also explore how light and dark colors interact with each other, and why. After the introduction to slip stich techniques, we figure out how to apply this to a simple cowl. A tiny bit of math, and you’re the designer of your own cowl! My ZigZag Lightning Cowls are based on this slip stitch technique. Remember, it’s only one color per row/round!

This class is being offered at the first ever Astoria StitchFest on Sunday, October 12, and at Stash in Corvallis on Saturday October 25.

I’m also teaching an introduction to lace class using my Beanstalk Scarf. It covers basic lace stitches, and working with written instructions and charts. It also includes a fabulous knit-in i-cord edging. This class is offered at Twisted in Portland on Tuesday October 14 and at For Yarn’s Sake in Beaverton on Sunday November 2.

My third new class is an intro to cables class, using my Snowy Woods Cowl pattern. This class covers cabling with and without a cable needle, twisted stitches, and using charts and/or written instructions. It also features the two-ended long tail cast on, which prevents you from running out of tail before you run out of cast on. This 2 session class is offered at Twisted on Sundays November 16 and 23.

I love teaching knitters new techniques, and how to be the boss of their knitting. Come join me and rule the world!

3 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit

Tagged Astoria StitchFest, Beanstalk scarf and mitts, classes, Knit, snowy woods cowl, teaching, zigzag lightning cowls

OFFF 2014 is this coming weekend

Posted on September 24, 2014 | 4 comments

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival is this weekend. I’m really looking forward to it! I’m teaching on Friday and Saturday afternoons, and playing the rest of the time. The weather report is looking decent as of this moment, which would be great after last year’s monsoons.

Things I’m looking forward to:

Knitted Wit’s booth. Always lovely things there, and this year she’s debuting her Cotton Candy yarn, 100% merino super bulky. You can see my Big Leaf Scarf and pattern in her booth this weekend.

Hanging out with the Portland Spinnerati group. Always entertaining, and always inspiring!

I went to the group’s meet-up at the Oregon Historical Society for Worldwide Spin In Public Day last Saturday. I was the only drop spindler in a group of wheels, but it was all fun.

I’m also looking forward to shopping, and visiting the animals. For a much more comprehensive list of things to do at OFFF, see Mary Mooney’s post on the OregonLive Knitting blog. If you see me, say hello!

What’s on my needles? I’m almost done with my Snowy Woods Cowl that I’m doing for the knitalong. This is the last official week of the KAL, so there’s one more prize to be drawn next week. This week’s prize? Stitch markers, made by me. These feature leaves, snowflakes, and the blue of the custom dyed Snowy Woods colorway from Knitted Wit.

This cowl is coming with me to OFFF, where it will be part of my blocking class on Friday, 1 to 4 p.m. There’s still a little room in the class, and there’s no homework! Registration is onsite only at this point.

Are you going to OFFF, or another sheep and wool festival near you? Who’s going to Rhinebeck? (Someday, me…)

4 Comments

Posted in classes, events, Knit, Portland area fun, spinning, yarn

Tagged Big Leaf Scarf, Knitted Wit Cotton Candy, OFFF, Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival, snowy woods kal

Horsetail Falls Loop Hike

Posted on September 23, 2014 | 3 comments

I took a favorite hike with a friend last week; it’s the Horsetail Falls Loop Hike, 2.6 easy miles. You’ve seen it before on this blog, here and here. Same same, but different. At the end of summer, the water flow is much lighter, but still pretty. We’ve had a hot, dry summer, and it shows in the reduced waterflow. Still pretty, though.

Horsetail Falls, which is right on the Old Columbia River Highway.

Ponytail Falls, which feeds into Horsetail Falls.

I love that you can go behind it; that’s the reason I chose this hike for this particular friend.

Middle Oneonta Falls.

Looking down at the top of Lower Oneonta Falls. There’s a big logjam, and then it goes over the edge. You can’t see this waterfall from the trail, but you can hear it!

Coming off the trail, you walk back along the Old Columbia River Highway, and pass Oneonta Gorge, which is where Oneonta Creek ends up after the waterfalls. You can hike up the creek, but we were not prepared for wet feet, so we just went a little way. I love how big the rocks are here, and how narrow the canyon is.

It looks like a knitter was leaving a trail marker for someone.

My favorite picture of the day is in the creek under the old highway. The sun was shining through the very clear water, and the shadows of the water striders really showed why they can walk on water.

On the way back home, we stopped at Multnomah Falls, because it’s right there. It’s the 100th anniversary of the Benson Bridge. I think I’ll have to do the hike to the top of Multnomah Falls this autumn. Soon!

3 Comments

Posted in Portland area fun, travel

Tagged columbia river gorge, hiking, horsetail falls, multnomah falls, oneonta falls, Pony Tail Falls, waterfall hikes

New pattern: quick knit Big Leaf Scarf

Posted on September 17, 2014 | 3 comments

Knitted Wit has a new super bulky yarn, and she asked me to design something fun with it. She gave me some blue yarn, but I saw the color she was knitting, and I coveted it right off her needles!

This is the Big Leaf Scarf. It’s a series of leaves, knit end to end. I knit mine on size US 17 needles. Big leaves, big fun! This color is called Sea Glass. The yarn is Knitted Wit Cotton Candy, 100% merino wool, 250g/140 yards/skein.

It only took two days to make this scarf. I think it would be great for quick and easy holiday gifting.

The pattern is available for $6 USD through Ravelry. Use the coupon code BIGFUN for $2 off through September 24.

What else is going on? I had a great weekend with friends at the coast, helping celebrate a birthday. On Friday we kayaked down the Nestucca River to the ocean (but not too close; no ocean kayaking for us!) and back.

The weather was gorgeous all weekend. (This is the other Haystack Rock, at Cape Kiwanda, Pacific City.)

I even did some knitting on my Snowy Woods KAL!

We just had the second weekly prize drawing for the KAL. Here’s this week’s prize: A notebook with part of “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” printed on the cover.

There’s still time to join the KAL. One more weekly prize drawing, and then we’ll have a grand prize drawing for the finishers!

How was your weekend? Did you knit?

3 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, Portland area fun, travel, yarn

Tagged Big Leaf Scarf, cape kiwanda, haystack rock, knitted wit, Knitted Wit Cotton Candy, Oregon Coast, quick knit, snowy woods kal

Punchbowl Falls hike

Posted on September 10, 2014 | 3 comments

At the beginning of the summer, I put Punchbowl Falls on my short list of must do hikes. I love waterfall hikes, but summer slipped away from me. No matter. September is perfect hiking weather here in Oregon.

This is about 4 miles, easy hiking. It begins at the Eagle Creek trailhead at exit 41 on I-84 in the Columbia River Gorge.

There’s a short spur trail about 1.5 miles in that goes to a view of 100 foot Metlako Falls. Pretty!

Punchbowl Falls falls (ha!) into a shallow area that is very popular in the summer. I waited for people to get out of my picture…

Lower Punchbowl Falls empties into a deeper pool. The water below is a gorgeous greeny blue color. (See all the tiny people up by the upper falls?)

My friend V was my hike/photobomb pal.

There is no westbound freeway access from exit 41 to return to Portland post-hike; you have to go east to Cascade Locks and turn around. While we were there, we went to Thunder Island Brewing and tried the pear cider from HR Ciderworks. Great cider, great view.

We headed back west for a stop in Troutdale and dinner with V’s dad at the iconic Tad’s Chicken & Dumplings. I love that they never fixed their sign. Chic, indeed!

On to knitting! The winner of the first week’s prize drawing for the Snowy Woods KAL is getting this in the mail:

Tiny scissors, tiny tree stitch marker, and some fun HiyaHiya yarn needles. Congratulations to Kelli! Kelli has finished her cowl already, and so has one other knitter. These are quick, addictive knits, perfect for gift-giving. It’s not too late to join the KAL; we still have 2 more weeks of prizes, and a finishers’ drawing, too. Check out the Ravelry thread for more info.

What’s on your needles? The seasons are changing!

3 Comments

Posted in KAL, Knit, Portland area fun, travel

Tagged columbia river gorge, hike, Metlako Falls, Punchbowl Falls, snowy woods kal, waterfall hikes, waterfalls

Happy birthday to me pattern sale

Posted on September 5, 2014 | 8 comments

It’s the anniversary of my 29th birthday. Again! To celebrate, I’m having a pattern sale. 29% off all patterns that are available from ME in my Ravelry pattern store. Because today, it’s all about me. Heck, it’s all about me, all weekend! This sale is good through Sunday, September 7, Pacific Daylight Time. Use the coupon code BIRTHDAY to get your discount.

The only pattern you don’t want to use this code for is the ZigZag Lightning Cowls; they are still celebrating their launch with the code ZIGZAG through September 9, which gets you a slightly bigger discount.

What else is going on? It’s the first week of our Snowy Woods KAL.

It’s such an addictive knit that yarndiva1 is already binding off. Binding off the longest version! I’m not that far yet; here’s a progress picture from Wednesday. I was downtown, and found a very cooperative model.

snowy woods cowl, on otter

It’s not too late to join the Snowy Woods KAL. We are having fun discussing this in my Ravelry group. Come on over!

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, ravelry

Tagged birthday, discount, pattern sale, snowy woods kal

Malabrigo Quickie: ZigZag Lightning Cowl

Posted on September 2, 2014 | Comments Off

Fall is in the air, at least here in Portland. It’s time to start thinking of ways to keep warm!

Short ZigZag Lightning Cowl

Long ZigZag Lightning Cowl

These are my new ZigZag Lightning Cowls. Knit with Malabrigo Merino Worsted, they’re featured this month as a Malabrigo Quickie pattern.

Long cowl, doubled

Either of these cowls can be knit with two skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in coordinating colors. I love the colors in Malabrigo’s variegated yarns, and pairing a variegated with a semi-solid is my favorite way to make them both shine. I’ve used a slip stitch pattern, so you are only working one color per row. A simple cable maneuver creates the zigzag effect.

Are you new to cabling? I’ve made a video tutorial for you! It shows how to make the zigzag lightning cables both with and without a cable needle. You can see it here.

The ZigZag Lightning Cowl begins with a long tail cast on. Do you avoid this cast on for fear of running out of yarn? Fear no more, because there’s a way to ensure you never run out of yarn for this cast on; I wrote about it in my previous post.

This pattern is available through Ravelry; here’s the page link. To celebrate its launch, I”m offering it for $2 off through September 9. Use the code ZIGZAG to get your discount.

Thanks to Malabrigo for the pretty yarn to play with!

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Posted in Knit, pattern design, tutorial, yarn

Tagged malabrigo, malabrigo quickie, malabrigo worsted, zigzag lightning cowls

Never run out of yarn with 2 tailed long tail cast on

Posted on September 1, 2014 | Comments Off

We’re starting the Snowy Woods knit-along today, and I ask that you start with a long tail cast on. I love the long tail cast on for knitting. It’s stretchy yet firm, and it has definite knit side and purl side. You can choose which side to use as your public side. The only thing I don’t like about this cast on is guessing how long a tail you need to have before you start. There are a couple rules of thumb out there, like multiplying the width of your knitted piece by 3 (somehow related to pi and the circumference around your needle), or wrapping your yarn around the needle 20 times and multiplying to get the number of stitches you want to cast on (5 times if you want 100 stitches, for example). but it can still be iffy. Who hasn’t experienced the heartbreak of being a few stitches short? Ouch.

I came across this fabulous method while I was researching cast ons for my Cast On, Bind Off class. You can use two balls of yarn, or both ends of a center pull ball.

Take the two strands of yarn and use both to make a slip knot about 6 inches from the end.

Put this on your needle. This is not a stitch; it’s just holding your yarn together. Choose one of the strands to be the tail, and the other to be the working yarn, and proceed as usual with the long tail cast on. (This is the same as the thumb cast on, if you prefer to work it that way.)

When you’re finished working the cast on, cut the tail (not the working yarn), leaving 6 inches to weave in. (I didn’t actually cut this here, because I use this piece of yarn for lots of demonstrations.)

Turn and work your first row as you normally do. (Notice that the purl bumps are facing you on this row, because you were essentially knitting stitches on when making the long tail cast on.)

When you come to the double slip knot, undo it (because it’s not a stitch) and continue working.

You’ll have two more ends to weave in, but you didn’t run out of tail when you were casting on! I find this especially helpful if I’m casting on hundreds of stitches. No one wants to run out of yarn while doing that!

On the Snowy Woods Cowl, I want the bumpy side of the cast on (the purl side) to be on the public side of my knitting, and it will be if I use long tail cast on. That’s why I’ve specified which cast on to use. If you prefer to use a different cast on that will leave the smooth (knit) side on the first row, you may wish to adjust your rows so that you still get the right number of garter ridges on your edging.

Are you knitting along with the Snowy Woods KAL? I hope this is helpful to you!

Comments Off on Never run out of yarn with 2 tailed long tail cast on

Posted in KAL, Knit, tutorial

Tagged cast on, long tail cast on, snowy woods kal