Category Archives: music

Busy weekend of entrelac, frog hats, music

Posted on December 8, 2025 | 3 comments

I was grumbling to myself about having to finish all those ends, and the rest of the design work for this project, when I reminded myself that I had successfully done small circumference entrelac in the round before.

I knit these on dpns, and had no trouble with them. Hmm. Easier than magic loop or flexi-flips. I never thought I’d say that!

It seems a lot less fussy this way. And I do love Brittany birch dpns. I’ll see if I can make this piece be what I want it to be…

We took a stroll to see some Christmas decorations in the neighborhood. Froggy shenanigans continue! I was pleased to receive a letter this week from a church group that knit 27 frog hats, sold them at their holiday bazaar, and donated $550 to Oregon Food Bank. And I received a note from Northeast Emergency Food Program thanking me for the $100 donation from my frog hat sale. I’m glad the hats help people get fed!

winter choir concert — Alameda Women’s Choir

Our choir concert was on Saturday. We sing pop music, and it is fun!

I had a fun solo at the beginning of this song. It’s such a gleeful piece, all about loathing!

Back to work. I’m prepping handouts for Vogue Knitting Live NYC and Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat. My goal is to have them all turned in by tonight. Wish me luck! And register for these events now, if you’d like to come.

3 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit, music, pattern design

Tagged Alameda Women’s Choir, entrelac, portland frog hat

Red Alder Fiber Arts 2025

Posted on February 18, 2025 | 3 comments

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.

Slides from a powerpoint presentation by Nancy Marchant — Slides from the keynote

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.

a 1992 issue of Vogue Knitting magazine, cover and articles on brioche knitting and hats

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.

Michele Lee Bernstein and Nancy Marchant — Brioche plus pooling, and woven knitting

Always fun to express appreciation in person!

Xandy Peters with a blanket constructed from knitted triangles, and two knitting samples from a class on knitting from the center out

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).

A brioche circle knit from the center out

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.

collage of woman wearing two different brioche knitting shawlettes — Starstruck and Peekaboo shawlettes

I wore my two new brioche plus pooling/algorithmic knitting shawlettes, among other things.

two women wearing brioche knit accessories

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!

woman wearing a knit sweater and hat, holding a book about knitting, Brioche Knit Love by Michele Lee Bernstein

Maker’s Mercantile hosted my books, so we sold and signed a bunch of them. Anna from my class bought this one.

Window at federal courthouse in Tacoma Washington featuring large orange glass flowers

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,

Mount Rainier casts a shadow on the clouds at sunrise

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!

3 Comments

Posted in classes, events, Knit, music, travel

Tagged Brioche knitting, mount rainier, nancy marchant, red alder fiber arts retreat, tacoma washington

Sweet summer vibes

Posted on July 30, 2024 | 5 comments

My friend Linda’s yellow plum tree is having a stellar year, which means I was invited to pick plums! Last year there were only 20 plums, so I’ve been out of my favorite jam for quite some time.

I picked 8 pounds, enough for 2 batches, 22 half-pints of jam. This is the basic Sure-Jell jam recipe, with the addition of 1/4 cup of chopped candied ginger, and 1/4 cup of bourbon. Yum!

Orange jam, orange cat! I made jam, and then ran off to Sisters, Oregon to visit friends.

We had some time at Suttle Lake, which was lovely even with a bit of wildfire haze from somewhere not too nearby.

And we sang at B’s church on Sunday. It’s so nice to get together to sing songs of hope, joy, and peace.

Now I’m home and knitting another sample along with my test knitters. And more yarn has just arrived for what I’m hoping will be the perfect brioche/assigned pooling combination. More on that soon!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, music, Pie Birds, travel

Tagged pie birds, plum jam, yellow plums

February: That’s a wrap!

Posted on March 2, 2023 | 3 comments

Rose City Yarn Crawl was my third event of the month. That’s packing in the fun!

On Thursday, the day of my postponed trunk show, I put on my snow boots + YakTrax cleats and walked up to Close Knit. I wore these ancient Selbu mittens; I don’t remember when I knit them. They were too big when I knit them, so I fulled them in the sink way back when, and they are toasty warm! Way better than gloves.

I bought this tote by Kirikomade (IG) that I’ve been eyeing since last year. It’s lightweight denim, with a sweet print. One pocket inside. So pretty!

I did make it to For Yarn’s Sake on Friday for my delayed trunk show! It was great to visit with intrepid knitters. I signed books and chatted about my upcoming classes (Assigned Pooling, Aspen Leaf Brioche Coasters, Embellishment Cowl).

I bought another skein of Dream In Color Classy Cashmere to knit another Fanfare Cowl/Hat (is that it’s name? Probably! Pattern coming next week) because the green/purple one goes to For Yarn’s Sake.

Bisquee says it passes the sniff test.

I didn’t make it to more shops; I had other things on my agenda. I did personalize my bag with pins from JaMPDX and ShannyPeasCorner. Love that yarn chicken! Then we hit the road.

We ended February with Bruce Springsteen, Saturday in Portland and Monday in Seattle. It was DH’s 50th Springsteen show. A big deal, but remember…Bruce has held my sock knitting.

(2016)

Now it’s onward to March!

3 Comments

Posted in events, music, Portland area fun

Tagged dream in color classy, rose city yarn crawl, springsteen

Podcast: We’re Doing What We Love

Posted on October 14, 2020 | 9 comments

The Dissent Cowl (pattern by Carissa Browning) is done! I steam blocked it this morning. I like this with the dot pattern folded to the inside, and just the dissent collar portion showing.

It was best to knit this while looking at it, because it’s easier to maintain the patterning by reading the knitting instead of counting. Which meant I needed to *listen* to something instead of reading my iPad or Kindle while I knit. Game on.

Mary Chapin Carpenter has a new album out, The Dirt and the Stars, and it’s wonderful. A lot of it feels like it’s written especially for this time, so deeply introspective, but she’s been working on it for several years.

Carpenter made a podcast with poet Sarah Kay, called One Story, to promote the album. It’s a great example of pivoting and adapting to our pandemic times. Normally a musician would go on tour to promote a new album. Instead we get to know about what she was thinking when she wrote the songs, and then a deeper dive at the end. All three episodes are great, but the third one really struck me. Titled “We’re Doing What We Love,” it has so much resonance for all makers of art and craft. They talk about heroes, mentors, impostor syndrome, and legacy. Give it a listen; I hope you love it as much as I did. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and who knows where else?

Lots of introspection on the album, but my favorite track is this sly, rollicking song about…Lindsey Graham.

So that’s what I’ve been listening to. And I’m reading the memoir “All I Ever Wanted” by Kathy Valentine, the bassist for the Go-Go’s. It’s a fast moving read, with lots of name dropping. Highs and lows and lots of music and drugs fueling it all. I’m just getting to the part where money changes everything, but I’m enjoying the upbeat 1980s music while I read.

Do you multitask while you knit? What’s your favorite thing to do while you knit?

9 Comments

Posted in Blogging, book review, Knit, music

Tagged dissent cowl, making, mary chapin carpenter, podcasts

Piano and Pinot 11.0

Posted on August 13, 2018 | Comments Off

My home was filled with gorgeous music on Saturday evening. The eleventh annual Piano and Pinot Fun-Raiser brought together three musicians, 16 guests, and wine and dessert. I don’t play my piano much these days, so it’s nice to hear it played by someone else. For this event, I’m in charge of the venue, a freshly tuned grand piano, and dessert.

We had two intermissions; the first one featured this simple dessert:

Mini blueberry cheesecake shooters. I adapted The Pioneer Woman’s Cherry Cheesecake Shooters recipe, and topped it with my blueberry compote. These mini wine tasting glasses hold just enough, and look fabulous. Updated recipe is at the bottom of this post.

The second intermission featured a buffet of lemon bars, shortbread, fruit salad, and my favorite sensational dessert, a flourless chocolate cake with chocolate glaze.

This cake is so good that the gluten free status is just a bonus. This is easy, elegant, and delicious! Recipe is also at the bottom of this post.

Biscuit was very well behaved.

Yadi wanted lemon bars. I had to put him in the back room where he sang along(!).

It was a lovely evening among friends.

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Blueberry Cheesecake Shooters
adapted from the Pioneer Woman’s Cherry Cheesecake Shooters

Make the blueberry compote the night before, and refrigerate.

For the blueberry compote:
2.5 cups frozen blueberries, unthawed
1/3 C sugar
1/3 C water
1 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp pectin plus 1 tsp sugar

Combine 1.5 C berries with the sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until berries burst, about 10 minutes. Add remaining berries and lemon juice. Continue stirring; cook until compote thickens, about 8 minutes. That wasn’t thick enough for me, so I stirred in a tsp of pectin combined with a tsp of sugar at the very end and cooked for another minute. Perfect. Cool, then cover and refrigerate.

For the cheesecake (same day, or night before):
1.5 cups finely crushed graham crackers (12 whole crackers, crushed)
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
2 8 ounce packages cream cheese
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sliced almonds

I used graham cracker crumbs, already crumbly, which is a great time saver.

Place graham cracker crumbs in a large mixing bowl. Gradually add the melted butter and mix until crumbs begin to cling together. Spoon this “crust” into serving dishes: mini wine glasses, wine glasses, whatever you’d like.

Combine cream cheese,sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whip until fluffy. Place mixture into a resealable plastic bag, cut off a corner and pipe mixture over graham cracker crumbs.

Spoon blueberry compote over the cheesecake mixture. Top with sliced almonds just before serving. Enjoy!

Yield: 24 servings in mini wine glasses, fewer if you’re using larger dishes. I used two sets of Libbey’s mini wine tasting glasses. They’d also be cute in little half cup canning jars.

********
Flourless Chocolate Torte with Chocolate Glaze

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 19 minutes

Ingredients:

6 ounces coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze:
2 ounces coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon milk
1 1/2 teaspoons Agave syrup or honey
1/8 teaspoon vanilla

Fresh raspberries for garnish, 1/2 pint (about 30 berries)

Preheat oven to 350°F
Line the bottom of a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper and spray the paper with non-stick cooking spray.

Melt 6 ounces chopped chocolate and butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Stir until chocolate and butter are melted and smooth.

Add sugar and salt and reduce heat to low. Cook while stirring for about one minute, until sugar starts to dissolve.

Remove pan from heat. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Whisk in vanilla.

Use a mesh sieve to sift cocoa into mixture. Whisk until batter is smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for about 19 minutes. (I check mine at 15, first.) The center of the cake should be just firm to the touch; do not overbake.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto serving plate.

Glaze:
Melt 2 ounces of chopped chocolate and 1 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a small saucepan. Remove pan from heat. Add milk, agave syrup OR honey, and vanilla and stir until smooth. Cool glaze for about 5 minutes.

Pour glaze in the middle of the cake. Spread over the cake, allowing glaze to run down the sides of the cake. Garnish with raspberries around the edge.

Serves 16

adapted from http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/dessertsandsweets/r/flourlessgfcake.htm

Comments Off on Piano and Pinot 11.0

Posted in cat, music, recipe

Tagged blueberry cheesecake shooters, Flourless chocolate torte, Piano and pinot

Busy as a bee

Posted on May 25, 2017 | 4 comments

Buzz! I’m watching my test knitters’ projects develop on the Go Tell The Bees projects page on Ravelry, and planning for a fun KAL. Pattern coming June 1, KAL begins June 11.

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I found some cute bee stitch markers that will make a sweet prize.

I’m working on a design to coordinate with a crochet friend, and Biscuit is marginally impressed. She helped with the math.

I’m dreaming of a shawl in blue and yellow yarns. Which blue? Which yellow? I don’t know yet. What do you think?

And after changing my mind several times on how this combo will play out, I think I have a plan.

I’ll just be over here in my corner with lots of graph paper!

And in the middle of all that, I spent the weekend out at Edgefield for my friends’ wedding. No wedding pix; I was hopping busy that day! But I was blessed to sing with my beloved Pie Birds during and after the wedding. So much fun.

Note the red boots and newly finished second Red Zephyr Shawl!

We made good use of the soaking pool, and my MDK tote.

Wine tasting on the balcony. Cheers!

4 Comments

Posted in cat, KAL, Knit, music, pattern design, Pie Birds, Portland area fun, yarn

Tagged Edgefield, Go Tell the Bees KAL, knit design, pie birds

Catching up with May

Posted on May 18, 2017 | 4 comments

How did half of May fly by so quickly? I see that I last posted here on May 1, but I’ve been having fun over on Instagram. It’s so easy to post a quick photo with a short caption. I’m pdxknitterati over there, too; here’s a link to my profile if you’d like to follow me there.

So to catch up here:

I’ve been madly knitting gorgeous gradients from Fierce Fibers, designing a crescent shawl in two sizes. More about that in the next post.

I picked the winner of the linen mini-skeins for the Linden Leaf scarf. Congratulations Sharon Brown! I’m sending you an email to get your addy.

And I love it when you send FO pictures! I had the pleasure of teaching at the Sheeper than Therapy retreat in central California last fall. One of the classes was for my Tilt Shift Wrap. Ann Berg sent me this picture of several successful finishers. Thanks, Ann!

On the non-knit side, I’ve been obsessed with baking bagels. I’ve been experimenting with whole grain and different amounts of yeast/kneading/boiling times, and now I’m getting the size and texture I want. Yay!

And I had the opportunity to sing with my fellow Pie Birds in church, and will be singing with them in a wedding soon, too. Here’s a recording of us singing Bird Song, written by Heather Masse.

Cheers!

4 Comments

Posted in foodies!, Knit, music, Pie Birds

Tagged bagels, Linden Leaf, pie birds, tilt shift wrap

Nashville and knitting

Posted on February 10, 2017 | 2 comments

Catching up with myself here…DH and I went to Nashville for a few days of fun last week. He was on his way to Bowling Green, KY for a project, and had to pass through Nashville, so why not?

I met up with Ann Shayne at Mason-Dixon Knitting world headquarters. I’m so impressed by how she and Kay Gardiner have developed MDK from a longtime blog between friends to this new creation. They’re dabbling in all sorts of knit-related fun: publishing booklets, blogging, community forum, YARN.

This is the wall of yarn. My Euroflax mini-skeins used to live here, and now they’re all grown up.

It looks great on Ann! It’s a long skinny…scarf? Shawlette? Scarlette? What would you call it? Ann called it “deliriously pretty” in an Instagram post; I was pretty chuffed by that. Pattern coming soon.

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A post shared by Ann Shayne (@annshayne)

These are samples of the Breton Cowl from Field Guide Number 1. The Shibui yarn is heftier than I thought (quick knit!), and really pretty. The favorites queue is getting longer! Thanks to Ann for a fun morning of knitting and chat.

I made a quick trip to Craft South the day before in search of yarn to swatch for a design idea. This is a sweet shop that carries fabric and a small but exquisite selection of yarn.

While I was there I met Hannah Thiessen, @hannahbelleknits on Instagram. So fun to meet online knitting friends in real life!

And Craft South is near a Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream shop, so I got to introduce DH to his first Jeni’s experience.

I may have acquired some red boots that day, too. But it wasn’t an all knitting trip. We saw Sister Sadie, an excellent 5 piece bluegrass band at the Station Inn, and A Prairie Home Companion at the Ryman Auditorium. Nashville is a fun city; I’d love to visit again.

Those stained glass windows at the Ryman!