Monthly Archives: December 2021

Wrapping up 2021, and putting a bow on it

Posted on December 30, 2021 | 3 comments

Sheepy Steeky Coasters, Cherry Blossom Wrapture, Leafy Origami Hat, Leafy Origami Cowl, Brioche Knit Love, Slip Away Cowl, Swizzle Cowl, Dreyma, Impressionist Kaleidescope Blanket

It’s been quite a busy year! I designed a lot, including the 21/22 designs for my book, Brioche Knit Love. I did manage to knit one thing that wasn’t my own design, and that was the Dreyma sweater for DH. Two of the designs (bottom row) were for Knit Picks.

I taught a lot, too! I introduced Darn It! (mending your knits) and Brioche Doctor, and the Slip Away Cowl and a new steeking class. I taught most months for Virtual Knitting Live, and for LYSes Twisted and For Yarn’s Sake. I took the summer off to write my book, and am slowly working my way back into classes. I’m hoping that all the in-person classes that we’ve scheduled for 2022 are really going to happen: Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat, Vogue Knitting Live Seattle, Yarn Over in Minnesota, Vogue Destinations Cruise in August…and more.

I have three new patterns coming out next week: Slip Away Cowl, Dotty Bed Socks, and Sheepy Steeky Coasters. If you’re looking for something new to cast on in 2022, keep an eye out for these! Dotty and Slip Away will have a special combo deal for newsletter subscribers.

Thanks for being part of my knitting life. I appreciate that you love knitting, too. Happy new year!

3 Comments

Posted in Knit

Color is a funny thing

Posted on December 27, 2021 | 11 comments

Remember this color combo? I really wanted it to work for a version of my Cherry Blossom Wrapture for the Knit Picks IDP (Independent Design Partnership) program. I took it to Hawaii to knit after the Dotty Bed Socks (working, working, working). I liked the green and the pink together. I liked the green and the speckle together. I didn’t like the pink and the speckle together. Blergh. I tried to make it work by making the log cabin frame around the leafy center green instead of pink, hoping that using less pink would make it work.

I kept telling myself it was okay, but the pink still looks like a tacked on afterthought. The shawl was reading as way more green than pink, and it’s the pink that I’m most interested in. Over the course of vacation, I got word that this pattern will be featured by Knit Picks in spring 2022 for the IDP program, and the thought of it not being perfect made my stomach hurt. So I started poking at using a different color with the Poseidon and Italian Ice.

My options? Turkish Delight (a deeper and more magenta pink), or Goddess (straight up purple). I love the Goddess with the greens, but I don’t think the flowers would show up in a color that dark, so I decided to try the Turkish Delight.

I think Turkish Delight is a winner! Somehow it holds its own against the green and yellow, where the Camellia did not. So that’s how it’s going to be. I love it. Now I just have to finish knitting it, and re-writing parts of the pattern. I’ve done the math and know how big it’s going to be…yay math!

Bisquee is helping. She let me her pawdicure snips, because I left the snips from this project bag in my studio for a class.

What are you working on during this in-between week? Are you planning to celebrate the new year with a new cast on? I want to finish this project first, and I have miles of garter stitch to go…

11 Comments

Posted in cat, Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged cherry blossom wrapture, Knit Picks Hawthorne, knit picks yarn

Christmas aloha

Posted on December 23, 2021 | 18 comments

It’s been a minute or two, hasn’t it? I came home from Minnesota on a Friday, did a book signing and taught on the weekend, and left for Hawaii on Monday…two and a half weeks ago?!

We had planned for the kids to be with us, but after traveling at Thanksgiving and then learning of the omicron variant, they decided to opt out this year. That left us with the usual 3 BR condo, and lots of room to spread out. We worked *and* played.

Not a bad place to knit! I decided that I wanted the Dotty Bed Socks to have the dot pattern on the top of the instep, instead of an all striped instep, but some of my test knitters loved that wrap around stripe. Which do you like?

Knitter’s choice! Instructions for both insteps will be in the pattern. I’ll publish it next week, or the week after, along with the Slip Away Cowl. If you’re interested in a combo deal, make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter!

Now I’m home, and scrambling to catch up. (More aloha pictures at the end of this post.) I put up new Christmas lights on the house on Tuesday. I still need to put the knitted fairy lights on my wreath, hopefully today.

The tiny tree is up, and both Biscuit…

…and Calvin have investigated. One of my Korknisse was missing, but I found him under the piano, and all is well.

I just made a batch of Irish Cream for gifts. The recipe is in this post, and the picture is a re-run because it’s biz (Bisquee?) as usual around here! Onto the next thing! But I’ll leave you with a little more aloha…

Mele Kalikimaka to you!

18 Comments

Posted in cat, Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged Aloha, birds, christmas, hawaii, honu

Steek with me! Free pattern

Posted on December 2, 2021 | Comments Off

I’m in Minneapolis, MN this week to teach from the studio for Craftsy/The Knitting Circle. I did a free steeking event featuring my Boxed Hearts Coasters.

You can download the pattern and find the video here.

My favorite giggle-worthy moment:
Me: Are you just talking because you’re afraid to cut your steek?
Jen Lucas: (pause) YES.

I also taught two slip stitch knitting classes for the Holiday Knits Virtual Event. It was really fun! A lot like teaching via Zoom, but I didn’t have to manage the cameras. I just had to my hands in the frame while knitting (thank you monitor). We had 3 cameras; one on top of the monitor (to see both Jen and me), one overhead (shows on the monitor), and one over the shoulder. Fancy!

I’ll publish the pattern for the slip stitch cowl when I get home; I’m wearing it in the picture with Jen.

I’ll be teaching Brioche Doctor via Zoom on Sunday, December 5 with For Yarn’s Sake. This is my last class of the year. If you’d like to learn how to fix your brioche mistakes, this class is for you! Register here.

And! Tomorrow is the last day of my holiday pattern sale. 21% off any of my self-published patterns through December 3 with coupon code HOLIDAY21; the coupon works on both Ravelry and Payhip.