I’m in the Guardian! Earlier this month I was contacted by a reporter about crafting and activism. I put her in touch with Tracy Wright, who is also mentioned in this article. The gist of the story is that common interests make it easier to participate in protest. True!
Knit on…
I’m looking forward to teaching at Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat, February 12-15! I’m scheduled to teach 3 brioche classes (my favorite, as you know), and an assigned pooling class.
My newest brioche class is Embellished Brioche, which uses brioche rib as a background for assigned pooling. If you know how to knit brioche rib, this would be a great addition to your brioche toolkit. You can add assigned pooling to any of your brioche rib projects; you just need to know your strategy. I would love a few more students for this class.
Pre-registration is important for events like Red Alder; a class may be cut if it doesn’t get enough pre-registration before January 4. Embellished Brioche is in that danger zone. Treat yourself, and treat me, too! Here are some examples of brioche + pooling:
My other classes are:
If you are planning to come to Red Alder, please pre-register for classes! There is limited registration available on-site, but for maximum choice, pre-registration before January 4 is the way to go.
Hope to see you there!
Posted in classes, events, Knit
Tagged assigned pooling, brioche knitting class, brioche plus pooling, Red Alder Fiber Arts
I spent the weekend in Albany, Oregon teaching at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. I taught entrelac, Darn It! (mending), and log cabin knitting.
I think the mending was the most challenging for me, because it’s been a hot minute since I’ve taught it. But I was ready, and we had fun.
I didn’t have a lot of time in the market, but I managed to snag a few things.
Yarns for frog hats, and some sweet buttons for a baby sweater.
How do you start knitting a frog hat? Rib it! Rib it! 🐸 This super bulky is knitting up quickly on US 15 needles. I’m riffing off Pussy Hat for 4 gauges by Sarah Keller, pattern free on Ravelry. I’ll add buttons and felt for eyes.
Flock and fiber festival isn’t just for knitting. There are animals (I only saw the bunnies), spinning, weaving, crochet.
This wet felted hat with needle felted ornamentation was my favorite piece in the exhibition. It’s by Val Kinman, who was in my log cabin class on Sunday.
Needle felted pygora goats. I didn’t catch the name of the artist. If I find out, I’ll update here. Edit: Lester Nishimura is the artist, and he has only been needle felting since early this year!
Navajo style weaving by Bob Van Slyke
Saw lots of fiber friends over the weekend; it’s always great to catch up! You can see more of my pictures on Instagram, if you’re so inclined.
Karen’s frog hat is fabulous! I was going to use the green worsted for a brioche beanie and add eyes, but I really like the shaping on this one. We shall see…this pattern is Frog Hat by Annanitato Lolo, available on Ravelry. The eyes are crocheted.
It’s definitely knitting season!
So it’s gone from this
to this
to this! Pardon my Quality Assurance Cat; she’s making sure the ends have been woven in properly.
I’ve added spiral stitch markers to the circle; can you see them? They’re cats! The ears help them stay in place. The stitch markers are meant to hold my lightweight necklaces. Which I’ll show you, once I get them untangled. They’re currently in a box, all jumbled up.
Reminder: The Knit Your Own Adventure Summit is this week! This free online event will help you be a more confident knitter. Learn more about the Knit Your Own Adventure Summit, and grab your free ticket here (The links to the summit give me credit for you signing up, which is free. If you upgrade your access with an Expedition Pass, I receive a commission. Your choice!)
My presentation is Frogging Your Knitting: Getting Back On Track. And I’m participating in a Zoom panel on Tuesday October 7 at 1 pm Central. It’s called Live Fix-It Lab: Your Top Troubleshooting Questions Answered. Come join the fun!
Posted in cat, classes, events, Knit, pattern design
Tagged assigned pooling, helpful knitting cats, Knit, knit your own adventure, knit your own adventure summit
I’m so pleased to publish the Fantasia Cowlette! Fantasia is a fingering weight bandana cowl knit in the round, featuring easy assigned pooling fans on a stockinette stitch background.
Choose a single skein of fingering weight yarn that is dyed for assigned pooling. I used A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering in Tropical Flowers for mine.
The pattern is available through Ravelry and Payhip. Use coupon code FANCY for 15% off the pattern through October 9, 2025. Let’s get knitting for fall!
Reminder: The Knit Your Own Adventure Summit is next week! This free online event will help you be a more confident knitter. Learn more about the Knit Your Own Adventure Summit, and grab your free ticket here (The links to the summit give me credit for you signing up, which is free. If you upgrade your access with an Expedition Pass, I receive a commission. Your choice!)
I’m presenting a segment on frogging your knitting and how to get back on track. And I’m participating in a Zoom presentation on Tuesday, too. Come join the fun!
Onward!
Posted in events, Knit, pattern design, yarn
Tagged A Chick That Knitz, assigned pooling, Fantasia Cowlette, knit your own adventure summit
I’m excited to be part of the Knit Your Own Adventure Summit! This is a free 4-day event where you’ll learn from 20+ top knitting designers who are ready to help you fix your knitting mistakes, tackle challenging techniques with ease, and knit with confidence.
I’m giving a presentation about frogging your knitting. As a designer, I have a lot of experience with frogging. It’s part of my design process. (Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it! Practice makes perfect.)
This summit is free! You can watch the presentations for 48 hours after they go up. You can also upgrade your access with an Expedition Pass, but basic access is totally free.
You can get all the details about the Knit Your Own Adventure Summit over here, but as a quick recap:
Learn more about the Knit Your Own Adventure Summit, and grab your free ticket here (The links to the summit give me credit for you signing up, which is free. If you upgrade your access with an Expedition Pass, I receive a commission. Your choice!)
Looking forward to it!
I forgot! Last week was WWKIPDay, Worldwide Knit in Public Day. Did you knit in public? I had the option to knit at IKEA in the morning, but it was one too many activities for me that day.
I did bring a small project to the No Kings demonstration in downtown Portland. The crowd size was reported as 50,000 people exercising their right to peacefully protest. It was a good WWKIP/No Kings/Pride (halleluy’all!) multi-tasking day. I used my Lemonwood Mini-minder to hold my yarn while I was knitting a dishcloth. I did *not* want to bring my 2 color brioche assigned pooling project!
If I had known I’d be using this umbrella sign again and again, I would have left more room for updates on it when I made it in March.
I updated the We the People section.
Did you knit in public last weekend?
We had quite the time at the first ever Nash Yarn Fest, and it sounds like it will happen again next year. Sweet!
I had such a fabulous time chatting with so many knitters, listening to speakers and musicians, and shopping of course.
I succumbed to the lure of the Julia Hilbrandt’s felted wool bags, and bought this tote bag. The sheep is an exterior pocket, and there are two interior pockets. I chose this shade of gray because it won’t show cat hair (such is my life). Julia customized the bag with the blue tiara for my sheep, perfect.
I was so pleased to meet Tammy Pelfrey from A Chick that Knitz in person. She’s the dyer that dyed the yarn for my Starstruck Shawlette that I’m wearing in this picture. If you look between us, there’s a Starstruck WIP hanging above a Starfall cowl.
A little more yarn came home with me; I guess I’m not quite done with assigned pooling yet.
I posted a lot of pictures on Instagram; you can find them here.
DH came with me on this trip, so we saw some music and knocked around town a bit.
Thanks Nashville; we’ll be back!
A small haul from Rose City Yarn Crawl! I didn’t really need another tote, but this year’s was so cute, I had to have it.
I also bought 2 skeins of MadeleineTosh Twist Light in their exclusive colorways for For Yarn’s Sake: Queen’s Chair (pooling), and Night Swimming, which is the most delectable velvety midnight blue. There’s more in the shop if you need some, too.
This zipper pull from Swanky Raven Studio features a rocket, and Melvin the Hedgehog, the mascot of Hook and Needle. Swanky Raven has lots of beautiful jewlery and stitch markers; check out her Instagram. And I bought a much needed bottle of Soak Wash, which is great not only for washing and blocking knits, but I also use it on my swimsuit three times a week. I bought a BIG bottle.
That’s it!
I spent Thursday, the opening day of the crawl, at For Yarn’s Sake with Shannon Squire and Lorajean Kelley (Knitted Wit). So great to catch up with them. Check out my Instagram to more pictures from the day.
I’m currently playing with this, trying to get something going so I have travel knitting on my way to Nashville tomorrow. Yes, it’s time for Nash Yarn Fest!
I’m extremely pleased to announce that I’ll be teaching an online class for Modern Daily Knitting. I’ll be using my Brioche Pastiche pattern to introduce knitters to 2 color brioche rib, and increases and decreases that create beautiful brioche patterning.
The live class will be Friday April 25. It also will be recorded, so you’re covered if you can’t make it on that date. You can also just play it again and again after class if you miss hearing my dulcet tones.
You can sign up for just the class, or include an optional pack of Modern Daily Knitting’s Atlas yarn, which is a lovely and squishable Rambouillet. Register here!
Brioche is my favorite kind of knitting, as you probably know. I love teaching it, designing with it, and playing with it. And I wrote a book about it! Brioche Knit Love: 22 Skill Building Projects from Simple to Sublime. It’s a teaching book, and it has related videos.
Do you knit brioche? Are you brioche-curious?
Posted in classes, events, Knit, yarn
Tagged Brioche knitting, brioche knitting class, knitting class, MDK Atlas yarn, modern daily knitting
PDXKnitterati 