Once I determined how to best make these motifs, this cowl was a hoot to knit. I made it a little longer in the front, to cover any gaps in a V-neckline.
The yarn is a worsted weight space-dyed, from Stranded By the Sea in Edmonds, Washington. I got it at Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat in February.
Should I write up a pattern?
Someone on Instagram said it reminded them of holiday lights. i don’t want to limit ideas, but Light Bulb Moment felt like a great name. What do you think?
Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn
Tagged assigned pooling, cowl knitting, knitting, Stranded by the Sea
I taught two classes this past weekend. One was Brioche Pastiche, beginning brioche, at For Yarn’s Sake. So busy that I forgot to take a picture! So here are my samples of the various things you can knit with this pattern: Cowl or hat, plain or fancy, or somewhere in-between! Picture taken at the end of class.
I also taught an entrelac class at Hook and Needle.
Entrelac is just a series a small stockinette squares or rectangles. It’s a good opportunity to evaluate your stockinette stitch! Does yours look like this?
or like this?
In conventional Western knitting, stitches sit on the needle with the right (leading) leg in front. In Eastern knitting, stitches sit on the needle with the left (trailing) leg in front. In either case, to keep your stitches open, not twisted, you work the stitches going into the open loop, not twisting them.
What makes your stitches sit on the needle with the right or left leg in front? It’s how you made your stitches in the previous row or round. If you wrap your stitches counterclockwise, the stitches will be mounted with the leading leg in front (conventional knitting). If you wrap your stitches clockwise, your new stitches will be mounted with the trailing leg in front. Do you mix it up? In Eastern Combined knitting, knit stitches are wrapped counterclockwise, and purl stitches are wrapped clockwise, resulting in a mix of stitch mounts.
Do some of your knit stitches have a little cross at the bottom of the V shaped stitch instead of being open? Do you want that crossed stitch? It does make your knitting tighter. But if you want it, you’re set. As long as you get the result you want, you’re doing it right! If you don’t want that cross, read on.
If you’re an Eastern Combined knitter and some of your stitches are twisted, and you’d like your knit stitches to be open at the bottom instead of twisted, you have two choices. You can change the direction of your purl, which would be conventional Western knitting. Or you can continue to wrap your purls the same way, but change how you enter the stitch on the next row or round.
Here’s a little video to show you how.
One more thought: If you wrap both your knits and purls clockwise, you’re an Eastern Uncrossed knitter. The principle is the same. As long as you work into the open stitch (not making it cross when you enter it), your new stitches will be fine. You just need to know how to work them on the following row or round.
How do you knit? English, right hand carry? Continental, left hand carry? Western? Eastern? Eastern Combined? Interestingly, four of my eight entrelac students were Eastern Combined knitters, some English and some Continental. One knew how to untwist her stitches already. The other three learned a new thing, besides entrelac.
Again, as long as you get the result you want, you’re doing it right. And if you’re mid-project and want to switch, wait until you’re done because it will definitely show.
Knit on, my friends!
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
The Rose City Yarn Crawl is coming right up, Thursday March 6 – Sunday March 9. Lots of shops to visit, lots of prizes to win! The theme this year is “Our Sky Full of Stars.”
I’m having a trunk show on Thursday at For Yarn’s Sake, come say howdy! I’ll have lots of knits to squish, including my latest design, Starstruck. Way to fit the theme!
It’s busy season around here. This morning I gave a lecture on blocking and taught a class on brioche + assigned pooling for Vogue Knitting Online.
Trunk show is this week, and next week I’m heading to Nashville for NashYarnFest. This is the first NashYarnFest; it’s being put on by Modern Daily Knitting. I’m looking forward to knitting…and some music!
Speaking of Modern Daily Knitting, I have news! I’ll share in the next post…
Posted in events, Knit, Portland area fun
Tagged Brioche knitting, classes, Nash Yarn Fest, rose city yarn crawl
The Starstruck shawlette combines two of my favorite knitting techniques, brioche and assigned pooling. This asymmetric triangle is knit from the narrow end to the wide end. The syncopated edging evokes swirling nebulas, and the body of the shawlette features assigned pooling stars.
The shawlette requires two skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling. The assigned pooling yarn is featured in the body of the shawlette and stars, and the other yarn is featured in the syncopated edging.
Your pooling yarn tells you when it’s time to make the stars. I knit my shawlette with A Chick That Knitz Singles Fingering, in Hibernation and Caramel.
This pattern is available on Ravelry and Payhip. Use coupon code NEBULA for 15% off through March 5, 2025.
Thanks to tech editor Meaghan Schmaltz, test knitters Ann Berg, Debbie Braden, Diane de Souza, Nancy McNally, Annette Morsing, Lynn Murphy, Brynn Riordan, Tammy Pelfrey, Anna Zeigler, and model Sharon Hsu.
Special thanks to Tammy Pelfrey/A Chick that Knitz, for the beautiful yarn for this design.
And yes, I did change the name of this design from Stardust Nebula to Starstruck. Shorter, punchier, easier to remember? I hope so!
I had a great time at Red Alder last weekend. I taught 4 classes, took a class, shopped the market, and enjoyed the company of many fiber artists. There are a ton of pictures on my Instagram; pop over there to see them because they won’t all fit here!
I taught 3 brioche classes and one assigned pooling class. No class pictures, because I was too busy.
Nancy Marchant gave the keynote address, talking about her knitting career. She is deep into woven knitting now. She referenced an article about brioche that she wrote in 1992 for Vogue Knitting magazine.
Later that evening, a passerby in the lobby asked us if there was a bread convention because they saw the brioche sign. Ha!
When I came home, I wondered if I still have that magazine, and yes I do.
It was interesting to read the article; brioche terminology has come a long way. BRK didn’t exist yet; Nancy called it k2tog, but noting that it was just one stitch. Nancy Marchant did so much work with the brioche stitch, her terminology is pretty much the standard for brioche knitting. I think I breezed right past the article in 1992; I was more interested in the recipe for knitting hats at that time.
Always fun to express appreciation in person!
I took a class with Xandy Peters on center-out knitting. This is the kind of class where I know I could figure it out myself, but need a class to make me sit down and actually do it. We looked at three cast ons.
The first was a circular cast on that is much tidier than the one I’ve been using. Xandy affectionately called it the cat butt cast on; you can see why!
The second was Judy’s Magic Cast On (JMCO), done so the stitches on the second needle aren’t twisted. I use this infrequently, so it was nice to refresh my memory. The trick for remembering this is to think of swimming the forward crawl, so that the yarn is going over the needle each time. No twist!
The third cast on you don’t need to know if you can do JMCO, so I just kept knitting my rectangle (on which I probably messed up the increase corners, whoops).
We also talked about increase rates for knitting to lie flat, 4 increases every round on average, but you can arrange them/space them out as you like. Four increases per round, 8 increases every other round, etc. The sample pictured above is to remind me of that.
I wore my two new brioche plus pooling/algorithmic knitting shawlettes, among other things.
And test knitter Anne-Marie wore her Trailing Leaves cowl.
I sang a song about gauge one evening: Don’t Knit Twice, It’s Alright. I also sang with Amy Snell: Teach Your Knitters Well. Fun!
Maker’s Mercantile hosted my books, so we sold and signed a bunch of them. Anna from my class bought this one.
I visited my favorite window at the federal courthouse, which is in the old train station. The glass art is by Dale Chihuly.
We had a spectacular sunrise on Saturday,
with Mt. Rainier casting a shadow on the clouds. Stunning!
And it’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. This was the last Red Alder for John and Becky; they are handing over the reins to my singing buddy Amy and her business parter Karen. Look for more Red Alder next year, February 12-15, same location at the beautiful Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Washington.
Now I’m home, and I need to prepare a presentation for the Tigard Knitting Guild for Thursday evening. Aaaaaand, GO!
Posted in classes, events, Knit, music, travel
Tagged Brioche knitting, mount rainier, nancy marchant, red alder fiber arts retreat, tacoma washington
When I finished re-knitting the end of my shawlette, I also re-named it. It’s Starstruck, which is a punchier, easier to remember name. Also, there aren’t a million Starstrucks on Ravelry, so it will be easier to search, too. Test knitters are sending me gorgeous pictures of their projects, so we are on track to publish at the end of February. Can’t wait!
I was at loose ends for my next project, so I am knitting a second Brioche Pastiche cowl, just like this one, while I wait for some yarn to come in the mail. This set is knit in MDK Atlas Rambouillet Worsted. It’s beautifully wooly.
I’m packing up to head to Tacoma, Washington for Red Alder Fiber Arts Festival, where I’ll be teaching Brioche Pastiche (beginning brioche, choose your own adventure), as well as Brioche Doctor, Whale Conga Line, and assigned pooling. It will be a fun weekend!
I’m also preparing to teach a brioche plus assigned pooling class for Virtual Knitting Live, online on Sunday March 2. A mashup of two of my favorite things!
I’m also giving a lecture, Blocking: It’s Magic on that Sunday as part of the same event.
Gotta run! Time to pack and hit the road…see you on the flip side!
Posted in classes, events, Knit, travel
Tagged Brioche knitting, red alder fiber arts retreat, vogueknittingonline
I finished my current design project in a hurry so I could wear it at VogueKnitting Live last weekend. But I had 15 g of my pooling yarn left, and I still needed to make a video tutorial on how to make the assigned pooling stars, and the shawlette needs re-blocking anyway so I can take product photos…
so I tinked the bind off and the last couple rows, and put it back on the needles. I added 18 more rows at the wide end, about 3 inches longer and 1.5 inches wider, unblocked.
Yarn chicken is so much better when you have a scale to keep track. I won!
I had great helpers. Caturday knitting in bed is great, even when it’s work!
Video tutorial is done. Shawlette is blocking, again. Pattern has gone to tech editor and test knitters. It’s still called Stardust Nebula for now. We shall see. If you’d like to be the first to know when this pattern is published, sign up for my newsletter here!
In the meantime, here are a couple book recommendations from me. I like to read while I knit; I can control the pace, unlike television. I usually read fiction, but the last two books have been nonfiction. First off, The Wide, Wide Sea by Hampton Sides. It’s the story of Captain James Cook’s final journey from England to the South Seas to Alaska to the South Seas again. I knew he died at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii, but this filled it all in for me.
We were at Kealakekua Bay last month. I didn’t want to hike 2 miles down and 2 miles back up (you can also get there by boat), so I settled for seeing it across the bay from Hikiau Heiau at Nāpo’opo’o Beach, a place that Cook had visited (and been mistaken for a god). Apparently he was mortal, after all.
The other book is The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. It’s the story of Stéphane Breitwieser, who stole more than 300 artworks from museums and churches across western Europe in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Fascinating true crime.
What are you reading and knitting? January is flying by!
Posted in book review, Knit, pattern design
Tagged book recommendation, Knit, knitting, stardust nebula, tinking, yarn, yarn chicken
PDXKnitterati 