Category Archives: pattern design

Stellar knitting

Posted on May 29, 2025 | 5 comments
Brioche knitting and assigned pooling

I’m happily knitting away on my Simply Stellar (brioche plus assigned pooling shawlette) sample, and test knitters are beginning theirs, too. I love this yarn combo; it’s Wildflowers (pooling) and Sassy (pink) Deluxe Sock from A Chick that Knitz. There is just a tiny overlap of that fuchsia in the pooling yarn, but not enough to be confusing to the eye. Perfect!

I misread my intentions and started with a US3 needle instead of a US4. Not a big difference, but I decided to change mid-project. I wouldn’t do that on a sweater, but on a bias brioche shawlette? It’s not really going to show. It might give it a tiny bit more drape, and it might make me finish a tiny bit sooner. I was 126 rows in when I decided to swap needles. And then I swapped needles again today after another 6 inches, because my yarn was catching on a rough spot where the needle goes into the metal join, grrr. So away with the Knitters Pride Ginger (I usually really like these), and onto a KnitPicks wooden interchangeable that was in my stash. Things are going more smoothly now.

Brioche knitting plus assigned pooling

Sometimes the pooling color pops up where you don’t want it. One way to deal with it is to knit a pooling motif in the background color of the pooling yarn. This will reset where the color pool happens.

Back side of brioche plus pooling

Another way is to cut your yarn and move the pooling color along. But that means you’ll have more ends to sew in. I don’t cut until I’m done with the project, because sometimes I frog entire projects! So I just pull up a big loop of the background color of the pooling yarn.

I’m enjoying this knit. I’ll have time to work on it this weekend. Airplane knitting! My sisters and I are going to our cousin’s wedding celebration. Yay, family time!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , , ,

Test knit calls

Posted on May 20, 2025 | 2 comments

Yes, two of them! Both are for accessories knit with brioche + pooling.

Scattered Petals cowl featuring brioche plus assigned pooling

Scattered Petals is a bandana-style cowl that features brioche plus assigned pooling. It’s knit in the round with 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling. The pattern is written for two sizes, and you can customize further if you wish. Yarn shown is from Yarn Snob/Knits All Done from Keith Leonard. Colors are Black Orchid and Wicked Green on A Good Fingering base.

beginning of a boomerang shawl featuring brioche plus assigned pooling

Simply Stellar is a shawlette featuring brioche and assigned pooling stars. It’s knit flat using 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling. This design is the result of a conversation I had at Nash Yarn Fest. Yarn dyer Tammy Pelfrey (A Chick That Knitz) mentioned that she loves my Starstruck Shawlette, but brioche + syncopated brioche + assigned pooling can be intimidating to newer brioche knitters. I decided to design a simpler shawlette with no syncopated border. There is minimal shaping as a backdrop to the assigned pooling stars. Yarn is A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering in Tropical Flowers and Caribbean.

These two test knits are both mashups of brioche + assigned pooling. You should already know how to knit brioche to test knit. Previous experience with assigned pooling isn’t necessary; there’s a video tutorial for each assigned pooling motif.

Both of these patterns have been professionally tech edited. Why test knit? It helps me to fine tune the instructions. Tech editing gets me halfway there, but real life knitters really help. Test knitters get early access to the pattern and tutorials, and help future knitters. The test knits will run for 4 weeks. You provide your own yarn, and keep the sample you knit. Leave a note in the comments if you’re interested in test knitting; let me know which project.

I was merrily knitting along on my Simply Stellar, but then I decided I wanted to see what it looked like with more tonal contrast. I’m in love…guess I’m starting over because I’m obsessed. This is from A Chick that Knitz, Deluxe Sock in Wildflowers and Sassy.

2 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Oregon Coast getaway

Posted on May 18, 2025 | 9 comments

We were planning a trip to Japan for this month, but our plans fell through. You can read about that on DH’s blog here, if you’re curious. I had blocked out the back half of May for this trip, so we went to Plan B. Oregon Coast!

two glasses of wine, another Haystack Rock in the background

We stayed at a friend’s house near Pacific City. You can see Chief Kiawanda Rock from there. I know this rock as Haystack Rock, but there are three Haystack Rocks on the Oregon Coast. The most famous is in Cannon Beach up north from here. So calling this Chief Kiawanda Rock, at the end of Cape Kiwanda, makes sense!

Haystack Rock, aka Chief Kiawanda Rock, Pacific City Oregon

I like the little sea arch kickstand on the north side.

I love beach walking; there are so many interesting things to see.

Sea foam

Look at all the colors in this sea foam.

Jellyfish stranded on the beach

This jellyfish is waiting for its ride home.

Velella velella, dried up, Cape Kiwanda and Haystack Rock in the distance

This Velella Velella (by the wind sailor) is too dried up to make it back to sea.

A couple steps can totally change your perspective.

Just like real life.

This area is known as the Three Capes Loop: Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout, and Cape Meares. We went to Cape Lookout on Wednesday and explored the South Trail (shorter, but lots of tree roots and challenging footing) and the Cape Trail (goes out to the end of the cape, longer but mostly easier footing). We didn’t have hiking poles with us, so we just did some of each. Lots of interesting flora! (This is the wet side of the Cascades and Coast Range, unlike last week’s dry side wildflower walk.)

Fairy Bells
salmonberry blossoms
Salmonberry blossoms
ferns

We saw lots of trilliums that were past bloom, but there was one with just a bit left.

trillium
trillium flower

Trilliums are white when they bloom, purple after pollination, and this one was translucent, ready to disappear.

The views from the cape are spectacular.

looking south from Cape Lookout to Cape Kiwanda
looking south to Cape Kiwanda
view north from Cape Lookout to Cape Meares
looking north to Cape Meares

On Thursday we went to Cape Meares to visit the lighthouse, a perfect rainy day activity. This lighthouse was in service from 1890 to 1963. It’s the shortest lighthouse on the Oregon Coast (on a tall cliff). We had a great tour of the light with a park volunteer; he loves lighthouses and it shows! He and his wife are living in an RV, traveling and volunteering when they’re not home in Boise.

Cape Meares lighthouse
Cape Meares lighthouse
Three Arch Rocks, south of Cape Meares

And we even had one nice sunset.

We’re home again, and I’m knitting and designing and writing and…everything! It was nice to get away.

Knitting featuring assigned pooling stars

Oh! I did some knitting on this, but I’m not sure I love it. I think it needs more tonal and color contrast between the two yarns. What do you think? The pattern is all written and tech edited; I just need to knit a sample.

9 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged , , , ,

Take 3. Really.

Posted on May 14, 2025 | 14 comments
Take 2

Reader, the gauge in the second version of the cowl was much better, but the cowl was still too big/tall/wide after blocking. I want that vertical center line to be straight, not wobbling back and forth because the piece is too big, at least for me. I had a taller friend try it on, and it was better on her, but it still needs adjusting. I had about a half skein of each color left, so I promptly recalculated and cast on for the THIRD time. For ME.

Woman wearing hand knit cowl featuring brioche and assigned pooling
Post-midnight bind off

This is more what I envisioned. It’s still going to grow with blocking, but I think it will be the right proportions. Yes, I could just steam block it, and not let it grow much, but I think something that is worn around your neck should be able to be washed, eventually! So I’ll definitely wet block it.

Soooo close. I need to block and photograph, and then it will be ready for a test knit call. Current name? Scattered Petals, or Cascading Petals. What do you think?

Design by trial and error. I do all this refiguring/reknitting so you don’t have to!

14 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , ,

Black Orchid diva

Posted on May 2, 2025 | 7 comments
brioche knit swatch in dark purple and vivid green, with assigned pooling in pink and yellow

I ordered the green yarn to go with Black Orchid. What did I knit?

backyard knitting with wine

A giant swatch, apparently. Top down is easier to figure, because you choose the neck size, and then increase until you want to be done. This was knit from the bottom up because I wanted the motifs to face this way. I cast on too many stitches, and the finished cowl was too loose, too long, too…everything. Sometimes you *should* listen to that little voice that says STOP! I didn’t block this, because I didn’t want to set the yarn into ramen-style kinks. I knew it was headed for the frog pond!

brioche knitting with assigned pooling

I cast on with the remaining yarn to confirm my new choices. This may look the same to you, but it’s infinitely better. Not so loosey-goosey, and a more reasonable number of stitches so it won’t be so long/tall by the time I finish decreasing. With this bottom-up construction, the rounds have been getting shorter as I go. I frogged the first cowl when I ran out of yarn, and now I’m nearly done with this second one.

I made a video tutorial for the assigned pooling motif yesterday. It’s slightly different than the one for Fired Up. I’ll put up a test knit call soon, but I want an FO pic first.

What should I name this design?

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , ,

Color is a mystery sometimes

Posted on May 1, 2025 | 4 comments
Collage of a black hand knit cowl featuring assigned color pooling

I loved designing and knitting Fired Up. I knew exactly what the yarn wanted to be, as soon as it was placed in my hand. I’d been thinking about this assigned pooling motif for months. In fact, I had already been planning a brioche/assigned pooling piece with it!

Two skeins of yarn. One is very dark with a pink color pop, and the other is a light gray

I started working with this color combo back in December while in Hawaii. When I ordered it, I thought the pooling yarn was black, with a pink and yellow color pop. Gray would be great with black.

Black Orchid colorway is deep purple with pink and yellow pooling section

But it turns out that Black Orchid is really a very dark purple. I didn’t like it with the gray; it gave me a cold jangly feeling. I tried it with white too, just because I had some, but the white wanted to be the star of the show. Light colors pop, right? And the Black Orchid should be the real star of the show here.

purple yarn and purple orchids

This orchid color was gorgeous, and I hoped it would work.

purple on purple yarns

I loved it. (It was brighter in person.) This was the edging, with the purple orchid as the featured color, and syncopated flowers from the Black Orchid. The rest of the piece would feature Black Orchid with the leaf motif. But it was confusing to knit, because the colors were so similar. If it was confusing for me as the designer to knit, it would only be worse for the knitter. Back to the drawing board.

A black orchid is inspiration for the Black Orchid yarn colorway

I looked at Keith’s (the dyer’s) inspiration photo for the Black Orchid colorway…what about that vivid green? I had some leftover Bellina from my Peekaboo Cowl, so I knit up a little swatch.

A brioche knit swatch in deep purple and vibrant green, with a pop of pink and yellow

Bingo. Trust nature! More in next post.

4 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , , ,

Introducing Fired Up!

Posted on April 14, 2025 | 2 comments
woman wearing a handknit cowl featuring assigned pooling motifs
Fired Up cowl

Fired Up and ready to go! Fired Up is a simple worsted weight cowl featuring an
assigned pooling Flame Motif on a stockinette stitch background. It is knit top down.

Yarn dyed for assigned pooling, black with rainbow color accents

Choose a worsted weight yarn that is dyed for assigned pooling, and cast on for some fun!

Detail of stockinette stitch with colorful assigned pooling flame motifs

Two kinds of assigned pooling make this cowl shine: the Flame Motif, and colorful purl bumps.

Colorful hand knit cowl featuring assigned pooling flame motifs

Simple shaping at the center front creates cozy coverage over your shirt’s neckline. The cowl
ends with a reverse stockinette edge to keep the bottom from curling up.

Tara Roberts of Stranded by the Sea gave me this yarn at Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat, and I knew exactly what it wanted to be. It took me a few tries to figure out how to best make the Flame Motif, but once that was sorted, it flew off my needles!

This pattern is available on Ravelry, link here. It’s also available on Payhip, link here. Use coupon code FLAME for 15% off through April 21, 2025 on either site.

Fire away? Flame on? Have fun!

2 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , ,

Sweet Paprika Yarn Club

Posted on April 12, 2025 | 2 comments
collage of brioche knit accessories with designer Michele Lee Bernstein

I’m designing for Sweet Paprika Designs’ Skill Building Yarn Club! This club will have six project boxes over the next year, with yarn dyed by Sweet Paprika Designs. The projects include mosaic knitting, lace, colorwork, cables, steeking, and brioche. I’ll be designing an all new accessory (hat/cowl?) for this project.

A ball of purple yarn

Each box includes yarn, tutorials, and a pattern. And a little extra yarn so you can sample the technique before casting on.

You can sign up for an individual box, or the whole club at a discount. Use code NEW-SKILLS for $5 off your order. Sign up at Sweet Paprika Designs website here.

2 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , ,

Cowltastic

Posted on April 2, 2025 | 23 comments
Black hand knit cowl featuring assigned pooling color motifs

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?

23 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , ,

Introducing Starstruck

Posted on February 24, 2025 | 1 comment
Collage of shawlette, detail of shawlette, and the assigned pooling yarn

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.

woman wearing a gray and caramel colored shawlette with white 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.

detail of assigned pooling stars on brioche rib, and a syncopated brioche border

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!

1 Comment

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , , , , , ,