I just realized that I never told you that registration is open for Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat! I was away in the woods near Mount Hood when registration opened, and meant to blog when I returned. Oops.
The retreat is February 15-18 in Tacoma Washington. It’s a lovely event at the Hotel Murano.
Starfall Cowl
I’m teaching Assigned Pooling using my Starfall Cowl as a backdrop for several bonus pooling stitches,
Favorite Shawl Shapes
Favorite Shawl Shapes (learn the construction of basic shapes and use them to design your own shawls),
Aspen Leaf Coasters
Aspen Leaf Coasters (intro to brioche increases and decreases, and knitting brioche flat),
Brioche Pastiche
and Brioche Pastiche (beginning brioche in the round and a little more: choose your own adventure hat or cowl, plain rib or fancy increases and decreases).
I also signed up to take Xandy Peters’ Color Blocked Brioche class. I love seeing what other designers are thinking about brioche. Come knit/spin/weave with us in Tacoma!
Alder?
A leaf (maybe alder) on the railing of the bridge over the creek, in the woods that I mentioned before…
Well, I didn’t get my swatching done for the When Harry Met Lucy KAL, but I have a good excuse. I went on vacation and couldn’t fit bulky yarn into my luggage!
Knitting on the go with qiviut and POG mimosa
But one ounce of laceweight qiviut, 200 yards, doesn’t take up much space at all. And yes, that’s a tiny yarn scale because I didn’t want to have a yarn chicken issue when coming to the end. I wanted to use as much of the yarn as possible.
No yarn chicken here!
I ended up with just over half a gram left, which was less than one round’s worth of yarn. Perfect.
Souvenir qiviut cowl
I gave it a light steam blocking. The top edge doesn’t wave as much as the bottom; that’s the nature of this stitch pattern (Old Shale). It doesn’t matter; the whole thing will collapse around my neck. I began and ended with a garter stitch edge to give it some heft, and to avoid curling.
Old Shale stitch pattern detail
I’m glad I chose this stitch pattern; it has just enough going on to make it interesting, but I was never fighting with not being able to see the stitches with this dark and fuzzy yarn.
Qiviut cowl
I’m really happy with how this souvenir qiviut cowl turned out. I didn’t have much use for this cowl on vacation in Hawaii, but I put it on right after we landed back in Portland. I was so glad that I had it with me in my carry-on bag! 36 degrees F which was quite a shock to the system. This cowl is so lightweight, soft, and warm. I love it.
Is it worth writing up a pattern, or should it just be one and done? It’s great for any precious souvenir yarn. This particular yarn began in Alaska and ended in Hawaii, the 49th and 50th states. It’s been a good knitting year.
I did bring some fingering weight yarn with me for a design project, too. It didn’t take up too much room!
It’s a lovely sweater, but I like it better on me than on him. I think it’s because this yarn (Berroco Vintage) is soft and drapey, and the sweaters that I like on him have more body to them.
I want to knit another sweater for him, and when I saw Paul Haesemeyer’s sweater in Knitty, I was smitten. Bonus: He’s having a KAL and it’s opening weekend right now!
When Harry Met Lucy KAL
The sweater is knit in bulky weight yarn, which should be relatively quick. The sample was knit in an alpaca blend, but I ordered Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Mineral Heather, which should have more body, and be less warm.
why yes there’s a cat hair on it already…
I think I’ll make it with a relaxed fit, but not as oversized as Paul’s. DH is not a large person, and I don’t want him to look like the sweater is wearing him! I could knit it in the round up to the armholes instead of in pieces. Does it need the structure of the side seams? My favorite sweater that I knit for him was knit in the round to the armholes. I altered the drop shoulder construction to cut in at the armhole, and picked up the stitches at the shoulder and worked downward, instead of knitting the sleeve and then sewing it in. Hmmm.
On the other hand, knitting it flat would make it easier to swatch for gauge, and I could avoid the “keep knitting and figure it out” debacle that I just did gauge-wise on my recent Starfall sample. (Knitting in the round takes longer to figure out that your first instinct was a bad choice…) I don’t have to decide about the sleeves until later. And I could knit it with or without cables on the sleeves…
Anyway, I’m dreaming of how I want to modify it, and I haven’t even swatched yet. Stay tuned.
Remember these two beauties? I last posted about them, wondering which color I’d use to knit a Starfall sample. I have now knit three cowls with these two skeins. (You’ll see why/how in a bit.)
Wine Mom, first swatch
At first glance, I didn’t think there was enough going on with Wine Mom. And the color run was longer than in my previous Starfall cowl, so there was a lot of color on each side of the star. This swatch was knit on a US5.
Keith’s Irresistible Orchid
This colorway called my name. I was knitting on a US4.
Starfall Cowl, unblocked
I knit this over the Thanksgiving holiday, but I wasn’t really happy with it. The stars are pretty small, and the fabric is a bit firmer than I like. There’s a lot of color at the sides of the stars, too. I wondered if it would be better on a US5, even though I thought that looked a little puny with this yarn. What if I made 6 stitch stars instead of 5 stitch stars? Would there be enough yarn to finish the cowl? I didn’t want to frog the whole thing and reknit it, if it could mean losing at yarn chicken.
Of course that meant that I should knit an entire cowl with Wine Mom, just to make sure the yardage would work out. Behold, 6 stitch stars on a US5 needle.
Starfall cowl in Wine Mom
I love it. Which meant I had to frog and re-knit the first cowl. And that’s how I’ve knit three cowls with these two skeins of yarn. I re-knit the Irresistible Orchid cowl in 3 days. Don’t try this at home; my arms are definitely feeling some tendinitis. Oops. But I did binge watch the current season of Virgin River on Netflix, so that was fun.
Bisquee is ready to help with blockingStarfall encore
The stars are bigger and there’s less color leakage at the sides of the stars. And the fabric feels right, too. Winner! I also added one more 4 row repeat of the old shale lace at the bottom edge, because there was enough yarn left to do that. I would have added that to the end of the Wine Mom version too, if I had thought of it. It all depends on how much yarn you have left.
Blocked photos coming soon. And I’ll figure out if kits are happening with Keith, the dyer of these gorgeous yarns.
Oh! While I was knitting, I realized it would be easier for me (and you, the knitter), if I gave row numbers throughout the triangular increase section, instead of just telling you to repeats rows 2 and 3, 39 times. So I edited the pattern. If you purchased it through Ravelry, the updated pattern is available to you. I’ll get the Payhip version updated today, too.
Now I need to finish my qiviut cowl, and think about a sweater I want to knit for DH, and design something with some fun new yarn from Knitted Wit. Never a dull moment, right?
Current name: Whale Pod Migration. See the line of whale tails heading north? Somehow the name doesn’t reflect the bold yet graceful design of this piece. What would YOU call it? If I choose your suggestion, I’ll send you a copy of the pattern when it’s published.
I’m also looking for test knitters for this brioche cowl. It’s 2 skeins of DK weight yarn in contrasting colors. I used Anzula Lucero for mine. Knitting would finish at the end of December (I know, holidays!), but it would also make a nifty gift to knit, if you’re so inclined. Pattern has been tech edited. Let me know if you want to knit!
The cowl is the same construction as my Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl, up from the wide end to the narrow end, knit flat and seamed at the neck. It’s a little simpler to knit; there’s less syncopation (just between the edges and the body). It looks like a triangle scarf, but it won’t fall off your shoulders.
Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl
Speaking of Aspen Leaf, there are just a few more days for the introductory coupon code LEAFLET for 15% off the pattern on Ravelry or Payhip. Use by December 7!
Are you gift knitting? I’m not; I usually just shop my stash of samples. But I’m knitting madly away on some projects; there’s no shortage of knitting here!
I often find that I need just a teeny bit more flexibility than I get with a standard bind off. My favorite long tail cast on is nice and flexible, and I don’t want my bind off to be tighter than my cast on.
First: How do I get my long tail cast on to be loose enough, but not sloppy? Leave space between the stitches as you add them to the needle. Don’t cinch them down tight on top of each other.
A suspended bind off suspends the moment that you drop the second stitch from the left needle in the bind off process. You can pull the yarn up to make a slightly bigger stitch when knitting that second stitch, and that also makes the bind off looser. Then you bind off the previous stitch before dropping the second stitch from the left needle. This bind off works in knit, purl, ribbing, whatever. It doesn’t matter if you’re knitting flat or in the round, either. It looks exactly like a regular bind off; it’s just looser. Here’s a video I made a while back.
Suspended Bind Off
What about brioche? Yes, it works for brioche, too. Sometimes I include what I call a closing row when knitting brioche, bringing those brioche stitches back to plain knits and purls. But if it affects my patterning (as in a decorative brioche increase/decrease patterning), I’ll opt to skip the closing row/round. Then I just use a suspended bind off incorporating those brioche stitches. I used this for my Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl so that I’d have a nice edge for seaming, and no extra brioche above the last leaf motif. Here’s the new video.
Brioche Suspended Bind Off
I have other stretchy bind offs that I like, too. Jeny’s Super Stretchy Bind Off (good for ribbing), Elastic Bind Off (good for lace), Russian Bind Off…check out my tutorials page for all these and more.
The Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl features a garland of syncopated brioche aspen leaves on its edge, just enough to make a sweet statement on this brioche rib knit. The cowl is knit flat in fingering weight yarn for a lightweight yet cozy accessory.
Large Cowl
Choose your size, closer fitting or a bigger swoop. Both can be rolled a bit at the neck to show a pop of contrast rib from the reverse side.
The Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl is knit with two skeins of fingering weight yarn in contrasting colors. I used Manos del Uruguay Alegria in Mojito and Lush. The cowl is knit from the bottom edge up, and seamed at the neck. Gauge is not critical, but it can affect size and yardage requirements. This pattern features flat syncopated brioche with brioche increases and decreases, and a syncopated border around the leaf motif.
Swatching at sea
I played around with this idea while on the Vogue Knitting Alaska cruise, and it has come a long way since then!
The Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl is available on Ravelry, link here. It is also available on Payhip, link here. Use coupon code LEAFLET for 15% off through December 7, 2023. (How did we get to December already?!)
I’m planning to make a sample of my Starfall cowl with Keith Leonard’s fingering weight Yarn Snob yarn. I love his yarns for assigned pooling. We’re planning to do kits.
The fronts, Wine Mom and Irresistible Bearded IrisThe backs, Wine Mom and Irresistible Bearded Iris
He sent two skeins, so I could choose. That’s a difficult choice when they’re both utterly gorgeous. Which one sings to you?
Starfall assigned pooling cowl
We started talking about kits when I told him how quickly I sold the extra yarn from my assigned pooling class.
A Wondrous Worsted in Times Square colorway
He’s waiting for a shipment of worsted to dye, so this kit is on hold for now. Soon!
I wore my Star Flower Shawl for the first time yesterday. It went perfectly with my new dress. So happy! This shawl was in the works from spring until fall; it took a long time to work out all the details.
I always say that as a designer, I make the mistakes so you don’t have to. They’re not really mistakes, though. They’re choices, depending on what I think looks good, and what I think is easily explainable and repeatable.
Dream in Color Smooshy, Tip Top Tangerine and Sonoran Magic
I chose these colors for an assigned pooling shawl. I planned to base it on my Aloha Shawl, with a contrast color floral triangle that moved into alternating sections of pooling and an accent stripe in contrast color. I thought this would be a simple design process. Nope.
The yarns have a nice tonal contrast with each other. But the colors in the applied pooling skein didn’t have a lot of tonal contrast with each other.
My first attempt told me that the pink flowers were lost on a stockinette stitch background. I could also see that my floral stripe was too bold, and stole the show from the assigned pooling.
where are my flowers?
I noticed on the back side of the fabric, the star/flower popped better against the reverse stockinette stitches, but I wouldn’t want something as dense as reverse stockinette on the right side of the shawl. Garter stitch was my next best choice. Also, I wouldn’t want the beginning and end of the wrap to be so prominent, so we’d have to begin and end the wraps on the wrong side of the fabric. Okay! I also made the flower bands smaller.
I knit nearly the entire shawl before realizing that I’d never like the smaller floral bands after blocking; they wouldn’t be round enough. They looked like columns with headers and footers, and would not be improved by blocking.
(No picture because it was late at night when I had this epiphany, and I wanted to frog it immediately.)
So I frogged back to the first floral stripe, and opted for this one instead. It’s an old favorite that I’ve used on several previous designs (Sophie’s Rose, Aloha Shawl, Nymphaea, Embellishment Cowl). I wasn’t planning to have so many features in common with Aloha, but it was the best choice.
I wasn’t sure I’d like this shawl until after blocking, but I forged on, and fell in love with the finished piece. So pretty!
I wanted to knit one more with a more contrasty applied pooling yarn, and also to double check my stitch counts for the lacy edging. It was then that I discovered that I didn’t like the star flowers to have garter ridges on the front of the fabric when there was this much tonal contrast (ridges depend on if you start the star flower on the right side or wrong side, wherever the pooling color begins).
So I changed my draft pattern to have the garter ridges fall to the wrong side of the fabric. Much better. I was knitting this version on a camping trip to see the Perseid meteor showers, and suddenly this piece became the night sky. Stars, trailing meteor streaks, the contrast bands as the Milky Way. Which made me want to rip the whole thing out again so I could have the extra color pop all to one side of each star flower like a shooting star, instead of centering the flower in the color pop with color running out to each side. But NO, it really wasn’t worth knitting the whole thing over again. You can do it that way, if you want to.
So my Star Flower Shawl could also be Meteor Shower/Perseids. Knitters’ choice!
Every time I picked up my knitting, the cast on edge bugged me. It was a little too tight, and it was curling badly. I didn’t know if it was going to block out, and that made me hesitant to continue.
So I ripped it out. And while I was ripping it out, I started thinking…of course I did. I liked the fabric I was getting with the US 6 needles. I knew about how many stitches I needed for a cowl. And wouldn’t it be nice if it had fewer patterning rounds, and more plain knit since it’s so hard to see the dark stitches?
Do-over!
I cast on loosely, and then knit two garter ridges (4 rounds) before beginning the Old Shale lace patterning. I wanted a substantial edge that wouldn’t curl. I also wanted to put the first lace patterning row further away from the edge, hoping that would also help prevent the curl.
The Bubble Net pattern had patterning on Rounds 1 and 3, and plain knitting on rounds 2 and 4. I’m working Old Shale (with no garter ridges), which has easily memorized patterning on Round 1, then 3 plain rounds. Less paying attention, perfect. I’m very happy with the new start.
I guess I’m designing my own cowl after all.
I’m knitting on Knit Picks Rainbow Options (birch) interchangeable needles. I picked these up at their Knit in Public Day in June. They have just enough grip with this skinny yarn.
Oh, I want to give a shout out to this ebook, Old Shale Variations edited by Mary Spanos from the Greater Birmingham Fiber Guild. It’s a free download on Ravelry, and chronicles the guild’s group project of varying ways to knit Old Shale lace: wider, narrower, garter, stockinette, etc. Very fun to see how you can change the appearance.
I chose to use stockinette (no purling, in the round), and a short number of rounds. Fewer rounds means more complete repeats before heading into an ending garter stitch edge and bind off. (Example: If you only have enough yarn for 10 rounds, you can knit two 4 round repeats, or *zero* 12 round repeats which would waste a lot of this precious yarn. Shorter is better.)
Do you listen to that little voice that tells you to DO OVER? Sometimes I wait a lot longer, and the ripping is brutal! Glad I listened early.
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 