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.
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.
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?
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 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!
I had a quick weekend in New York City, teaching at Knitting Live by Vogue Knitting (the official name, but we mostly still call it Vogue Knitting Live). I taught five classes, saw friends old and new, checked out the market, and came home! Thursday to Sunday, bam. Some pictures to amuse you:
I left Portland at dawn Thursday, and enjoyed the view of Mount Hood. I arrived in time for the teachers’ meeting Thursday evening, and saw lots of teacher friends.
Barbara was in my Tink Drop Frog (fixing mistakes) class, but I think she really wants to fix brioche mistakes. She ordered a copy of my Brioche Knit Love book on the spot.
All ready for Minerva entrelac class, with step-outs at the ready. This is how we stay ahead of the students in class.
So many smiles!
The marketplace was hopping, with fashion shows and interviews on stage, and lots of beautiful yarn and clever products.
My favorite thing: Talisman necklaces by Birdie Parker Designs. A stockinette themed charm, semi-precious stone, crochet hook, hand-made silver darning needle, and two stitch markers.
Remember my DIY cable hook holder? This is next level.
Sweet wreath with wool locks knit in from Long Island Yarn and Farm
There are art installations outside the marketplace (which is on two floors). Here’s a taste:
Crochet art by Will ChatloshDragon by Going GnomeEllie D’Eustachio is a textile street artistBeam me up with fiber artist Sarah Divi! Loved this fun display.Sara Elizabeth Kellner’s knitted Victorian Housecats
I finished my last class at 5 pm on Sunday, and scurried to the airport. It was snowing lightly, and I was worried about my flight home. We ended up with a 3 hour delay for plowing the runways and de-icing the plane.
De-icing, us and the neighbor plane
I was relieved that we actually took off!
Hello 2 AM Portland!
I love teaching at VKLive. It’s a big vibrant show, with something for every knitter, at all levels. Definitely something to experience!
Now it’s back to work. I need to finish writing the pattern for this shawlette, which I enjoyed wearing this weekend. I think I’m going to remove the bind off and use the rest of the yarn to make it just a little bigger, now that I have time.
If you want to know when the pattern is published, sign up for my newsletter! You’ll be the first to know, and you’ll also get the subscriber discount of 25% off. Sign up here.
Not as I do. Was it ridiculous to knit til 1:30 am on Monday night/Tuesday morning so I could soak and block my new shawlette?
Deadlines. I’m headed to New York early Thursday, and I knew it would take two days to dry completely. So, it was worth it to me! I want to wear it at VKLive this weekend. I still have to write the pattern, but that will have to wait until I get back.
I love this color combination. It’s from A Chick that Knitz, Hibernation and Caramel. The shawlette still needs a name. Starstruck? or Stardust? Stardust Nebula? Help me decide.
Oh, also in the “Do as I say, not as I do”: Remember to take breaks and stretch when you’re on a knitting marathon! I can feel a little achiness in my forearm tendons. I’m giving my arms a break for a couple days. Time to pack!
Want to know when the pattern is published? Sign up for my email newsletter and you’ll be the first to know! You’ll also get a coupon for 25% off the pattern; its a subscriber benefit.
I’m playing with Modern Daily Knitting’s Atlas, a worsted weight 3 ply Rambouillet. It’s bouncy and round and fun. The spin and ply aren’t particularly tight, which makes this a bit fluffy! It’s described as a light worsted weight so I thought it would feel thinner while knitting, but it feels substantial and squishy at the same time. Not quite as soft as merino, but nice and wooly.
I need some new Brioche Pastiche samples, so what better way to test drive a new-to-me yarn? I’m loving it so far.
Atlas is USA grown and raised. I don’t see the words superwash anywhere, so I’m guessing it would also felt/full nicely. But I’m not about to try that with my brioche hat! Maybe something for a swatch later.
I have so much knitting and related work to do before VKLiveNYC next week! So I’ll be over here, knitting and writing and packing and…
By the way, if you’re planning to take advantage of the introductory discount for my Peekaboo Shawlette, use discount code PEAKING for 15% off through Ravelry or Payhip by January 10, 2025!
I was tickled to see my Both Sides Now Shawl peeking out under a pile of yarn in an email from Knit Picks.
A green version of Both Sides Now is on the website.
I received another email this morning. It’s like seeing your kids out in the world. Sweet!
I’m not sure how long the sale lasts, but if you want to buy some Hawthorne, here’s the link.
Here’s Both Sides Now, available for purchase on the Knit Picks website. It was on the cover of their brioche book several years ago. So pleased to see it again!
The Peekaboo Shawlette is a 2 color brioche shawlette, knit flat. It features assigned pooling/algorithmic knitting motifs that peek between the brioche ribs. When your pop color arrives, you begin a Peekaboo motif, which is worked over the next several rows.
Right side and wrong side, both lovely
Peekaboo is reversible, with a different motif on the “wrong side”. Choose 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling. I used A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering.
Gauge is not critical, work to get a fabric you like. A video tutorial for the Peekaboo motif is provided in the pattern. Most of the knitting is simple 2 color brioche.
Peekaboo Cowl
You know I love brioche, and you know I love assigned pooling! I’m thrilled with both the Peekaboo Cowl and this new Peekaboo Shawlette.
The Peekaboo Shawlette pattern is available on Ravelry, link here. It is also available on Payhip, link here. Use coupon code PEAKING for 15% off on either site through January 10, 2025.
We spent a week in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii earlier this month. This is a favorite place of ours. The west coast is on the dry side of the island, and we see more rocky lava than beach. We stayed in a different condo complex this year, the Keauhou Kona Surf and Racquet Club. Still oceanfront overlooking lava rock and the ocean.
We made it in time for sunset. I woke the next morning at 5 am, after moonset and before sunrise, so I had the joy of watching the Geminid meteor shower around the setting Orion constellation. I saw 12 meteors in the 45 minutes before the sky began to lighten. This was the only morning the Geminids were visible; on subsequent days there was too much light from either the setting moon or the rising sun.
I love hanging out on the lanai. I saw kayakers, canoers, dolphins, waves, and this beautiful rainbow.
Our complex was just south of Mākole’ā Beach. It has tide pools, black and tan sand, and Ke’eku Heiau, a restored temple.
West end of Ke’eku HeiauStatues at the east end of Ke’eku HeiauLooking north past Ke’eku Heiau towards Kahalu’uSpiny sea urchins
One morning I saw schools of yellow tang in the waves!
Sunset over tidepools at Mākole’ā Beach
It was a great place to watch the sunset, but I think I like sunset on the lanai even more.
Aloha Costco!
We explored more of Kaloko Honokōhau National Historic Park. The park ranger advised starting the loop with the lava field and ending with the more pleasant beach and petroglyphs. Good advice; a mile over lava rock trail wasn’t very pleasant. Glad to have my hiking poles.
The next feature was Kaloko Fish Pond. This was built by native Hawaiians for raising fish. The ocean is to your left. The rock wall has been rebuilt; it’s impressively level.
The trail continues along part of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail, which follows the coast. It eventually comes to Honokōhau Beach, which is my favorite place to look for honu (green turtles).
I wasn’t that close; this is zoomed *and* cropped!
The trail continues on to Ai’opio Beach, which has a fish trap and heiau, another favorite place for turtle spotting. The trail then heads back up towards the welcome center and lava fields, while passing a petroglyph field.
I see people, a long gun, a fish hook…what do you see?
Of course there was knitting on the lanai. Heres a sneak peek at my latest design project.
It was a lovely relaxing week, and we came back ready to tackle Christmas and Hanukkah prep. Which was good, because I hadn’t done any beforehand!
I hope your holidays are merry and bright. Looking forward to new adventures in 2025!
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 