Wow, 11/13 of the commenters want to cut their knitting! We could all use a friend when it comes to that first steek. I’m that friend!
sheepy steeky coasters
The winner of a Vogue Knitting virtual class with me is Judith Grant. I used a random number generator to choose. Congratulations, Judith!
If you’re interested in cutting with me, you can still register for this class here. Use coupon code NOV25 for 25% off the class. We’ll discuss ways to reinforce your steek before cutting, cut the steek, and pick up stitches for finishing. Class is on Friday Nov. 14, but it’s also recorded and available for 2 weeks after the event.
I was away for the weekend, and talked a friend through cutting some knitting! She doesn’t knit, but she wanted to make a frog hat. She bought a green chenille cardigan at Goodwill. The back of the sweater was wide enough that we could use it for the hat, including the ribbing for the bottom. It’s just a rectangle straight up, seamed to make a tube (she put the seam at the back, since there was only one seam), then seamed across the top. It turned out great.
I finished my worsted weight frog hat, too. Free pattern from me, for worsted and super bulky weight yarns! This yarn was burlier than most worsted, so it’s a little bit big on me.
I’d like to sell it for a good cause. $100 for the hat and a Feminist Knit Club patch, with all money going to my local food bank (Northeast Emergency Food Program).
Thanks to Thao from Nerdbird Makery for the patches! These are the last of the last; there are no more patches or other Feminist Knit Club swag available. Come and get it!
…your enemies closer, and your knitting tools…closer yet!
Knitting tool necklace
While I’m working my Peekaboo motifs, I need stitch markers, and a cable hook for working the brioche 4 stitch decreases. I’m not always sitting next to a table, so it’s easier to wear my tools on me.
This is just a silk cord with a hook finding (it’s half of a necklace fastener; there’d be a little ring to slide onto that silver J). It can hold stitch markers that I use to note where a motif begins and ends. The gold cable hook can hang on the silver J, too, or in the little loop that the silk cord is threaded through. The decorative pink stitch marker is for weight, so that the necklace hangs down instead of flopping around.
Each of the motifs on the Peekaboo Cowl had me using the cable hook. Having that hook on my person kept it handy!
The same is true for the Peekaboo Shawlette (coming soon).
How do you keep your cable needle/cable hook handy? I don’t use one for most cabling, but when I need it, I need it!
A hot dry weekend is always better under the trees!
It was our very timely ladies’ camping weekend. We went to Panther Creek Campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, just north of Carson, Washington.
Rocks in Panther Creek
The water in the creek is clear and cold, perfect for a bracing dip on a hot day. The rocks are such pretty colors, too.
Panther Creek Falls
Panther Creek Falls is a twisty drive of 4.7 miles up the road, and then a very short hike. You can go down to the bottom of the falls. Stunning!
Panther Creek Falls, from the bottom
What a gorgeous beetle.
Tai chi
The tent pad at the vacant site next to ours made a great tai chi space.
I played with beads (ankle bracelets)
and I almost finished this project. We’ll see if blocking makes the brioche patterning show up better in the green section. Super fun to knit.
We also played games and just had a great time hanging out. It was a perfect weekend with friends.
How was your weekend? Hot? Do you knit when it’s hot? I always knit!
Side craft: I saw Romi Hill do this on Instagram, so I wanted to try it.
Crafty pouf time!
You know those bath poufs for scrubbing? They’re made of a long tube of nylon net, which is pretty much the same as a very long yarn sleeve. I had a pink one at home, but decided that I wanted a more neutral color. This pale green was as close as I could get to neutral. I snipped the string that held the center together, and was rewarded with 3.5 yards (3.2 meters) of usable tube.
Yarn sleeves!
I like mine to be about 5.5 to 6 inches long; they shorten up when stretched. I’ll get at least 20 sleeves from this inexpensive (less than $2) pouf. I’m finding that these are a little looser/wider than the commercial ones, but they’ll do. (Edit: Romi says that steaming them can make them a little narrower/tighter.) Why do I like these sleeves? They keep the ball tidy, no yarn unwinding from the outside of my center pull ball.
Knit Picks Chroma in Bare and Drawing Room
Do you prefer a center pull ball/cake, or working from the outside? I usually like center pull. But I’m knitting one of my projects with Knit Picks Chroma, and it’s easier to knit from the outside of those balls, no sleeve needed.
This monogamous knitter just said “one of my projects,” haha! I kind of have two right now. They’re related; the green one is an brioche and assigned pooling project but I made an math error in my decrease rate, whoops! It was bottom up, so while I was re-figuring, I also decided to make it top down. And to save the yarn from many more froggings while I work things out (it’s holding up amazingly well through several different design ideas), I decided to do a non-pooled version with the Chroma.
I’ve just frogged the green project, so I really do have only one project on my needles!
I’ve run away to the coast with friends. Apparently the unofficial first year for Crafty Moms was 2003 with kids and husbands, and the first year with just moms was 2004. This is the 21st year? Egad.
I have my knitting with me, but this is a great opportunity to explore some other fiber fun, too.
On the way to Rockaway, we stopped at Latimer Quilt & Textile Center in Tillamook to see the Homage to Audrey Moore, founder of the Damascus Fiber Arts School near Portland, Oregon.
Homage to Frida, Feeling Pink, Summer Days (Audrey Moore)
These are pieces from her series, The Ladies. They’re tapestry weavings on a Navajo style loom.
There are many pieces by Moore, and many pieces by her students. Reading their comments on their own pieces gave a good idea of her teaching style: Suggestions, comments, but she’d let you figure it out yourself. Perfect.
Besides the exhibit room (you can tell that it was a school auditorium at one point), there are two other large rooms. One is full of looms and other fiber fun, and the other is full of quilts and even more fiber fun. Some of it is for sale, and some are just for exhibit.
Loom RoomOn the loom
I found some beautiful hand painted roving for sale by Mary Torrey of Manzanita. It’s 75/25 BFL and silk.
Wait, I don’t spin! Why do I want roving? Well, I saw a reel on Instagram where someone was using a Lemonwood mini minder to hold her roving while spinning. I commented on it, and Veronica from Lemonwood offered to send me one. I love it. It’s so much more ergonomically friendly than throwing roving over your elbow and hoping to keep it out of the way of your spindle!
Heart Heart Heart Mini Minder
I love how the hearts look like knit stitches.
I think the Mini Minder is really meant for holding a cake of yarn so you can knit or crochet while you walk (or not); your yarn unwinds off the outside of the cake. I’m usually knitting 2 color brioche, so that wouldn’t work for me. For a one skein project, sure! Many of my assigned pooling projects would love this. And you can take it off the spindle at any time, too.
Thank you to Veronica for the Mini Minder. She offered it to me with no expectation of a review, positive or negative.
I thought I’d practice with old fluff on hand. The Mini Minder works great; it doesn’t unwind before it needs to. Clearly my cop winding skills could use some work; I got distracted and suddenly I was off. Oh well; this is practice, and my new roving awaits!
Cordsmith i-cord maker
I also took some time to play with the Cordsmith that I bought at VKLive NYC. If you need yards and yards of 3 stitch i-cord; this may be your jam. It’s a little fiddly to get started, and then it starts rolling along. Occasionally I accidentally drop a stitch off the needle, and have to figure out how to get it back in sequence. Practice is helping, for sure.
I don’t actually mind knitting i-cord on double pointed needles. Also, I’ve made i-cord on any number of stitches on dpns, 3, 4, 6… And my usual fake way to make a cord is to cast on a big whack of stitches, and bind off on the next row.
It was lovely when we arrived yesterday; Carole and I walked up to the jetty and were pleased to see sea stars, and a seal frolicking in the waves.
Sea stars and anemones and barnacles, oh my!Zoom in to see everything!
There are several bald eagles hanging out here. They like this post outside the house. Sorry for the blur; I can’t get close!
I hope you’re having a fiber fun weekend, too. And food. OMG so much food when we get this crew together! Delicious.
I bought this kit from NW Yarns & Mercantile for DIY dryer balls. It came with 8 ounces of fluffy white fiber that made me want to spin (I resisted), and some yarn to wrap around the balls. I made the two on the left with the included yarn.
Then I went rogue. I used Noro Kureyon on the third one, and embroidered the flower with Lopi. I wanted the fourth one to look like the earth, kind of, so I used Lopi for the water and embroiderd with green Lopi for the three land masses. That one’s my favorite!
The Lopi was the best felting yarn, and it was all leftovers from my Stopover sweaters. The Noro still looks a bit stringy, but it may felt more with repeated trips through the dryer. And I wish I had more green on that second one. I didn’t love the black on the first one. But they’re all going around in the dryer with my laundry right now, so that’s a win!
This was a quick project, and fun. I highly recommend it!
I’m home from the nautical knitting cruise on the Schooner Zodiac. That was a ton of fun! But just before that, I taught a steeking class at Northwest Yarns in Bellingham.
I love teaching knitters to cut up their knitting.
It’s low stakes cutting; they’re coasters!
Easy-peasy.
The next morning we boarded the beautiful 99 year old schooner Zodiac, and set off on our adventure in the Puget Sound. The Zodiac is a sail-training vessel; you can choose to help sail and be assigned to a crew (based on which sail you’re operating), and also to a rotation of watch duty: chart house/navigation, bow watch, helm/steering, and messenger (between the bow watch and the wheel). Well why not try it all? How often does this kind of opportunity arise? And I taught 4 knitting classes, too. Busy busy!
“Who’s feeling burly?”
That was the question, and my answer was “Not me!” Mainsail crew was the first to volunteer.
“Who’s feeling agile?”
Well, I’m more agile than burly. The jib crew hops over the bow onto the stays to untie the jib sail. I was glad there’s a net under it, just in case.
And then we raised the jib. Haul that line!
Once we were sailing, we could knit until it was time to tack (turn the bow through the wind so the wind changes from one side of the sails to the other). When it’s time, it’s time. You can’t say “Just let me finish this row!”
Tacking! I’m on the wheel pulling hard to port, and the people behind me are turning the mainsail.
Diane at the aforementioned bow watch. There’s a bow watch because the person back at the wheel can’t see what’s directly in front of the 160 foot long ship. (Oh, and that’s a good look at the stay and netting under the jib, too.)
Abby the cat lives on board, and she likes to nap in the chart house.
Hoist that sail, Abby!
Zodiac schooner, image copyright Taylor Hodges, borrowed from Zodiac website
I couldn’t take a picture of the sailing schooner while sailing on it, so here’s the Zodiac in full glory.
The wind died down that afternoon, and we were becalmed. What goes up must come down. We took the sails down and stowed and tied them back up. (I climbed up on the booms to help stow the other sails, too.) We then motored to Clark Island to explore a bit. Shells, beach glass, cool rocks..
Vickie and I have been friends since college. The perfect roomie!
The sunset that night was reflected in the water through the trees.
And the moonrise was even more spectacular.
Nearly full Sturgeon Moon.
The second morning was foggy and a bit chilly.
Whale Watch Cap and Cowl
It was a great opportunity to break out the knitwear. I’d never actually worn this sample set before. It was perfectly cozy.
Crew member Sarah’s double knit compass rose hat was inspiring! She improvised off a pattern. We still had no wind, so we motored to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to shop at Island Wools and see the town.
Our classes on board were in the salon, which is also the bunkroom. See the curtained bunks around the edges? Some people sleep here, and some sleep in small staterooms. Vickie was on sunset/moonrise watch during the evening classes, to alert us when it was time to peek.
Another lovely sunsetMoonrise; full moon was earlier that day.I see some brioche…and a nicely stowed sail!
After our last class on the third morning, I was a bit sad that we didn’t have enough wind to sail back to Bellingham. But that also meant we could just relax and knit. Mixed feelings, indeed.
There’s all sorts of craftiness on a boat. I wish I had a picture of some of the thump mats on board. They’re like small rugs made of rope, meant to protect the deck from dropped rigging blocks.
NOAA (Ironic Noah?) used 3 fathoms of rope for this mini project; a fathom is 6 feet or 2 yards. A fathom was originally based on the span of a man’s outstretched arms. Your best measuring tools are the ones you have with you!
It turned out well. A mini version of the heavier rope thump mats on deck.
I don’t know what these weighted knots are called, but they remind me of the little Lantern Moon stitch markers. (Googling tells me they’re called monkey’s fists. They’re worked around a sandbag or other weight, and help when tossing the lines.)
Baggywrinkles! These are made from frayed rope to protect the sail from the rigging.
Red lentil patties, roasted cauliflower, rice pilaf, tahini dressing
Every meal felt like a work of art. That’s craftiness, too! Vegetable forward, interesting seasonings, delicious. Caz Ludtke (@seasonedatsea on Instagram) does amazing things in a small galley kitchen.
I had a great time! Thanks to the Cephalopod Sisters Echo (right) and Heather (center) at Northwest Yarns for inviting me to teach on this adventure.
And thanks to Abby for endorsing my book! Or at least the cardboard box they came in…
I’m teaching Next Steps in Brioche: Increases and Decreases for Virtual Vogue Knitting Live on Sunday, June 11, 2 – 4 pm Eastern (11 am Pacific). Vogue is generously letting me give away a seat in this class via my social media channels.
Deep End Hat and Cowl, and Madrona Cowl in lower right corner
In this class you’ll learn how to knit brioche increases and decreases that create the lovely patterning in two color brioche. We’ll also talk about fixing mistakes and reading a chart. Prerequisite for the class is knowing how to work two color brioche in the round. To enter to win a seat in this class, leave a comment on this post telling me what you want to knit with these increases and decreases. For an extra chance to win, leave a comment on my Instagram post for this giveaway. Contest closes at 11:59 pm Pacific on Monday May 29, and I’ll let the winner know on Tuesday, May 30.
I’ve taught a lot of knitters to knit two color brioche with my Petite Brioche class and pattern. If you don’t know how yet, sign up for my Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake! The class is on June 3 at 10:30 am Pacific (1:30 pm Eastern). Learning from this class or from my free Petite Brioche pattern on your own will have you ready to learn increases and decreases.
Big thanks to Julie Rosvall (@julierosvall on Instagram) for letting me use her giveaway graphic! She’s teaching at Virtual VKL too, and I’m looking forward to taking her First Impressions: Print Making with Knitting class on Saturday June 10 at 10 am Eastern (7 am Pacific, oy!). Luckily, Vogue is recording our workshops during the June event, so I can replay it if I need a reminder from this early (to me) morning class.
Here’s a description of Julie’s class: Join textile artist and printmaker Julie Rosvall for a hands-on textile printmaking workshop. Julie will share how she went from knitter to printmaker, and why she loves capturing the pattern and texture of knitted shawls and swatches on paper. Participants will have the chance to try textile relief printmaking in a simple hands-on process, no experience necessary. Julie will provide information in advance for preparing textiles to print, or if you’d like to use stencils or other materials to mimic the textiles she will provide alternatives that can be picked up at your local dollar store or craft supply store.
You know I’ve been playing with block printing. Printing from knit fabric swatches will be next level fun!
It’s been a busy month since I last posted. Lots of teaching, and lots of fun. I’ve been sitting in on Shaina’s and Keith’s brioche sessions in Brioche Buddies
and tonight it was my turn. I taught about fixing mistakes, and increases and decreases. Here’s the aftermath on my desk with three swatch samples plus Deep End cowl and hat (and my little cork buddies)
and the aftermath of samples next to me
as I kept pulling more things out of the dresser where I keep some of my samples. Next week is the last week, and we’re having a cast on party, woot!
I also did a couple more rounds of tea towels.
Okay, this may have been overkill; that’s a lot of work for each towel!
I love these pine cones with gradient shading; they have more depth than the plain brown ones I did before. I’ve learned a lot and am still learning more.
And I’ve been knitting! More on that in the next post…
I’d been promising all year to teach my sister Sharon how to block print tea towels. When she saw my friend Sharyn’s bee block, she was ready to make her own!
So she did. But I also wanted her to have the full experience, from carving her own block, to mixing color, to printing.
She chose to carve a hibiscus blossom, plus a contrasting pistil and stamen.
I chose to carve a more stylized bee, to go with the flower block I made last month.
We ran out of time, so I still need to add my flowers to my bee towels.
But Sharon finished hers!
A fun afternoon, making beautiful and useful objects. Because who couldn’t use more tea towels?
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 