Bellini Bubbles is a triangular shawlette, knit on the bias from the point to the wide end. It features assigned pooling and bubbly eyelets.
Bellini Bubbles is knit with a single skein of fingering weight yarn that is dyed for assigned pooling. You can also extend the size with another skein of yarn, if you like a bigger shawl.
I knit mine with Yarn Snob’s Bellina colorway, which inspired this design’s name.
This pattern is available on Ravelry, link here, and also on Payhip, link here. Use coupon code BELLA for 15% off on either platform.
Thanks to tech editor Jen Lucas, test knitters Ann Berg, Carolyn Crisp, Alaina Foster, Sarah Gallegos, Ann Harting, Jacqueline Lydston, Lenore MacLeod, Ellen Peters, Jamie Peterson, Kristin Smith, Crystal W., and model Sharon Hsu.
Special thanks to Keith Leonard of Yarn Snob/Knits All Done for this beautiful yarn to design with!
I worked very hard at not working on my current design project during the week before I went to the coast. I wanted to have an established work in progress so I could be sociable while I knit.
Fan stitch
I want to combine brioche and assigned pooling, two of my favorite types of knitting! I was planning to use a V’d stitch like in Fanfare. In my imagination, they’d be airier because there would be the brioche purl stitches between the knit stitches, and I was going to dip down and out to the side to make upside down Vs. But I found out pretty quickly that it would not be very much fun to make those Vs if the pooling color happened on the wrong side of the fabric. I need a pooling stitch that will work on both right and wrong sides. And it needs to fit into the rhythm of brioche.
I used brioche increases to make my Vs instead. So sweet! I set the project aside, ready to knit at the coast.
It took 70 rows of coastal knitting, but I finally realized: All of those cute stitches *really were* increases, and they were going to throw off my shawl shaping. You can see in the picture above where all the increases have thrown off the straight edge on the right. Oops. Also, I had elongated the Pear Leaf edging from 10 to 12 rows, and it didn’t really look like a leaf any more. Double oops.
So this is my project, frogged, at the coast. Since then I’ve knit and frogged and restarted it at least 5 more times while settling on the syncopated cream colored edging pattern (not pear leaf after all) and how to handle the pooling stitches. Remember, I make the mistakes so you don’t have to! And now I’ve figured out where it’s going. I’m kind of obsessed, and all I want to do is knit this gorgeous yarn. Why yes, that’s Yarn Snob Keith’s Bellina colorway again, this time paired with cream. I love the combo; it tones down the green just a little bit. No previews yet.
I thought I was done with assigned pooling for a while, but during my Starfall KAL with Yarn Snob Keith I fell in love with a colorway used by one of the participants.
Keith’s Orchid: Bellina
The colorway is Bellina, named after one of dyer Keith’s orchids. When I saw it, I had to have it. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.
When I asked Ann Berg to test knit Prosecco Pop in a smooth yarn, she used a pooling yarn instead of a slubby one. I loved the idea, but I wanted more pooling, and fewer eyelets. It took a few tries to figure out the proportions, and I even changed my mind after my sample was finished, but here’s the basic idea.
Working title: Bellini Bubbles
I was going to use a different assigned pooling stitch, but these star flowers are so perfect here. This was knit with one skein of fingering weight yarn, dyed for assigned pooling.
Star flowers, blocked
The pattern has been tech edited, and now I’m looking for a few test knitters. Is that you? Let me know!
When Shannajean (Shannon Squire and Lorajean Kelley) asked if I’d like to collaborate on a design with Knitted Wit Summer Slubbing to feature during Rose City Yarn Crawl, my answer was a big YES.
Prosecco Pop in Sakura
The slubby texture of Knitted Wit’s Summer Slubbing fingering weight yarn shines with simple stitch patterns in this triangular shawlette, knit on the bias. Alternating waves of nubbly stockinette and lacy eyelet bubbles make this chic piece perfect for warding off summer’s air-conditioned chill.
Prosecco Pop in Unicorn DreamsProsecco Pop in Aquamarine, photo by Shannon Squire
The pattern is available through Ravelry, link here. It’s also available through Payhip, link here. Use coupon code FIZZ for 15% off through March 11, 2024.
If you’re local, come visit me and Shannon at For Yarn’s Sake from 10 am to 3 pm on March 7, the first day of the Rose City Yarn Crawl. We’ll have trunk shows with design samples including Prosecco Pop and Starfall, my book Brioche Knit Love, and some Knitted Wit Summer Slubbing so you can make your own Prosecco Pop!
I’m back from VKLiveNYC, playing catch up, and on the move again. I’m now in Tacoma for Red Alder Fiber Arts Festival. I’ll catch up later! For now, here’s a little something to amuse you. And I’m offering a buy one/get one deal!
Fuzzy Memories cowl
Fuzzy Memories is designed to use one precious skein of souvenir laceweight yarn. My souvenir yarn was a one ounce skein of qiviut (muskox yarn) purchased on the Vogue Knitting Alaska Cruise in 2023. This fuzzy yarn needed an unfussy stitch pattern to complement the dreamy fluffiness, so I chose a stockinette variation of Old Shale Lace.
Qiveut Designs Laceweight QiviutFuzzy Memories in Manos del Uruguay Cabrito
This cowl will also work with a 25g skein of laceweight mohair such as Rowan KidSilk Haze or Manos del Uruguay Cabrito. A fuzzy yarn will help keep the cowl’s shape at this loose gauge. Savor your warm fuzzy memories!
Airy Old Shale stockinette lace
The pattern is available on Ravelry, link here. I’m having a BOGO sale; put Fuzzy Memories and one other pattern or ebook in your cart, enter the coupon code FUZZ at checkout, and the Fuzzy Memories pattern will be free. This offer is good through February 21, 2024.
I finished my Fuzzy Memories cowl on vacation in Hawaii in December. That’s another fabulous memory!
No yarn chicken here; I did the math!
Is there a precious skein of souvenir yarn in your stash?
I thought a lot about whales last summer, while on the Zodiac Schooner trip, and on the Vogue Knitting Alaska cruise. I didn’t see a single whale, but they were definitely on my mind!
The Whale Conga Line cowl is the result of those whale-centered expeditions. It’s knit flat from the bottom up and seamed, using 2 skeins of DK weight yarn in contrasting colors. I used Anzula Luxury Fibers Lucero, which is a sparkly blend of superwash merino, cashmere, and stellina. So pretty!
detail
If you’re not into whales, choose a different color and you’ll have migrating birds on the wing, or Jack’s beanstalk reaching for the sky.
The pattern is available through Ravelry, link here, and Payhip, link here. Use coupon code FLUKE for 15% off through January 10, 2024.
Thanks to tech editor Jen Lucas, test knitters Ann Berg, Debbie Braden, and Erica Erignac, and model Sharon Hsu. And thank you to newsletter subscriber Shauna, who came up with the winning name for this pattern! I’ll be sending her a copy of the pattern.
I forgot to add the biggest knit thing I did in 2023, which was also a second chance: I re-published my sold out, out of print book, Brioche Knit Love: 21 Skill Building Projects from Simple to Sublime! It’s for sale through Amazon.com and through select yarn shops including For Yarn’s Sake and Northwest Yarns and Mercantile. Get a copy and enjoy brioche knitting!
To ring out the old year and ring in the new, I’m having a sale on my 2023 individual self-published patterns on Ravelry. These are the eight designs you see above (not the book, which is not on Ravelry). Here’s a link to the Ravelry bundle so you can find them easily. Get 20% off any of my 2023 patterns from now through January 5, 2024. Explore assigned pooling, play with brioche, or just have a simple knit and let a gradient yarn walk you through Ebb and Flow! (If Ravelry is not accessible for you, message me and we’ll work it out.)
Happy new year…are you doing something fun for New Year’s Eve? We’re staying home with the cats. That’s enough excitement for us!
These are my finished designs of 2023; there are still 3 in the hopper that will be published in 2024. Assigned pooling was definitely a big part of my year! Pooling is a Cinch, Firefly Trails, Fanfare, Starfall, and the Star Flower Shawl were my pooling pieces.
I started the year with the Aspen Leaf Coasters, which were a brainstorm off my re-worked Aspen Leaf brioche scarf for Knit Picks. Because what if you only had to knit one leaf instead of a whole scarf?That was a fun idea, and I designed them so I could use them for a class on brioche increases and decreases. (I’m teaching it at Red Alder on February 16.) I finished the year with the Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl (center bottom) because I love that leaf motif. I’m back to my beloved brioche and leaves after my assigned pooling detour.
27 finished projects in 2023
I counted up all my projects for the year, and there were 25 FOs. Two were from other designers, the Sink Mates mini washcloths by Lorilee Beltman, and the Buggiflooer cowl adapted from the Buggiflooer Beanie by Alison Rendall (for Shetland Wool Week). The other 23 were from my own designs.
I knit several of these pieces more than once while developing or revising the designs. I love second (and third) chances, don’t you?
Ebb and Flow in variegated, long gradient (pink), mini skeins (blues/greens)
I designed Ebb and Flow to use a souvenir skein of Moss Fibers yarn from Knit Maine 2022. Then I knit it again with the long pink gradient. I loved the color, but I think the yak/silk blend doesn’t have enough bounce to help it hold its shape (it didn’t help that I made the neckline wider, but that was a good thing to learn for the design). And then I knit it with mini skeins, and that was awesome.
I knit two more Starfall cowls for the upcoming knit along with Knits All Done/Yarn Snob, and found that a bigger, fuller star was ideal based on Keith’s dyeing patterns, along with an extended lace edging due to his generous yardage. (I had to knit through an entire skein to make sure there would be enough.)
Second chances can add a lot to an experience, whether it’s knitting or something else. While we were on vacation this month in Hawaii, we took advantage of two second chances. I had gone rock hopping with the kids at Wawaloli Beach in 2018, but we never came to the wave crashing tide pools that were pictured in our guide book.
Wawaloli Beach tide pools…found ‘em!
These are great for wading, if you’ve got kids. The calm pools that we saw before were full of interesting sea life, including shingle urchins.
It was definitely worth going back and doing it again for the short Coastal Trail; the tide pools were full of interesting fauna. Why do sea urchins put things on themselves? Camouflage, maybe?
Looking back from 1871 Trail at lava shelf/tide poolsLooking north, 1871 TrailGoats!
I was a little sorry to learn that we were going to be on vacation during the new moon, which meant no moonsets. But after several days of waking at 5 AM by accident, I decided to have my coffee in the dark on the lanai.
Orion, December 15 (amazing to capture with iPhone)
The sky was perfectly clear, and I saw Orion setting over the ocean. A green shooting star dropped from his shoulder. I saw six more meteors in the next half hour as Orion sank to the sea. Apparently the Geminid meteor shower happens at this time of year, who knew? Gemini is near Orion in the night sky. There is also an Orionid meteor shower, but that one peaks in October.
Do you knit/do things more than once? I do! And learn a little more each time.
Knitted Wit Summer Slubbing, Sakura and Unicorn Dreams
As I said in a previous post, I took this yarn with me on vacation. I was originally planning a 2 color top down crescent shawl.
Sunset slubbing, color not true
Well, I did the math and swatched the stitch patterns I wanted to use, and tried a couple needle sizes. Then I cast on. And I decided…that my design required too much counting and thinking. I was on vacation! Also, I had swatched with the pink yarn, and the stitch patterns didn’t show as much as I wanted them to in the variegated yarn. I love the variegated version (Unicorn Dreams). Summer Slubbing wants to be an easy-going knit. Nothing complicated.
So I frogged it and started over. The knitting is now plain enough that this nubbly, bubbly yarn is the star of the show. This will be a single skein asymmetric triangle, knit on the bias. Shawl? Scarf? We’ll see how big it is when we get to the end of the skein!
Do over!
I like how it’s going so far. My yarn scale tells me I am close to finished; I just have to decide what I want the end to look like. Sometimes that’s the hardest part.
You’ll learn to create simple shawl shapes in class. From there you’ll get pointers on how to apply stitch patterns and design your own shawls. Registration for Red Alder is here. This is a good time to let you know that pre-registration for Red Alder (and other events) is important! Classes get canceled if registrations are low. Next week is the cut week for Red Alder. My shawl shapes class could use a few more knitters, so if you’re interested please register. I blogged the list of my classes here.
Well, I didn’t get my swatching done for the When Harry Met Lucy KAL, but I have a good excuse. I went on vacation and couldn’t fit bulky yarn into my luggage!
Knitting on the go with qiviut and POG mimosa
But one ounce of laceweight qiviut, 200 yards, doesn’t take up much space at all. And yes, that’s a tiny yarn scale because I didn’t want to have a yarn chicken issue when coming to the end. I wanted to use as much of the yarn as possible.
No yarn chicken here!
I ended up with just over half a gram left, which was less than one round’s worth of yarn. Perfect.
Souvenir qiviut cowl
I gave it a light steam blocking. The top edge doesn’t wave as much as the bottom; that’s the nature of this stitch pattern (Old Shale). It doesn’t matter; the whole thing will collapse around my neck. I began and ended with a garter stitch edge to give it some heft, and to avoid curling.
Old Shale stitch pattern detail
I’m glad I chose this stitch pattern; it has just enough going on to make it interesting, but I was never fighting with not being able to see the stitches with this dark and fuzzy yarn.
Qiviut cowl
I’m really happy with how this souvenir qiviut cowl turned out. I didn’t have much use for this cowl on vacation in Hawaii, but I put it on right after we landed back in Portland. I was so glad that I had it with me in my carry-on bag! 36 degrees F which was quite a shock to the system. This cowl is so lightweight, soft, and warm. I love it.
Is it worth writing up a pattern, or should it just be one and done? It’s great for any precious souvenir yarn. This particular yarn began in Alaska and ended in Hawaii, the 49th and 50th states. It’s been a good knitting year.
I did bring some fingering weight yarn with me for a design project, too. It didn’t take up too much room!
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 