I’m knitting for food again this year! I’m participating in this 12 hour knitting marathon to raise funds and awareness for food insecurity. The money we raise will be equally divided among Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry, and Meals on Wheels.
Please support me by donating through this link. If you donate to my link, I’ll send you a coupon code for a free pattern from my Ravelry store. (If you’ve already donated, I have you on my list and will send out codes next week.) Today (Saturday) is the last day to donate this year.
Puddletown Knitters Guild is having a knitting party from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm at Rose City Park Presbyterian Church in Portland, OR. We’ll have door prizes and activities. Come knit with us! RSVP here. Not local? Check the Knit for Food website for local watch parties, wherever you are! You can also sign up to fundraise yourself, if you wish.
including in other people’s media content! That’s pretty fun. And a great way to discover new podcasts/people to follow.
Erica’s Whale Conga Line
Erica of the “Bootie and Bossy Eat Drink Knit” podcast was a test knitter for Whale Conga Line, and talks about it in this episode of her podcast at about minute 26. This podcast series is lovely. This episode about a family gift stole my heart; I’ve subscribed and really enjoy the series.
Screenshot
I was interviewed at VKLive NYC by the fabulous people at Gosadi, a big sponsor of VKLive this year, also about Whale Conga Line. I’ve pinned the bit on my Instagram here.
Kim’s Brioche Pastiche hat with taller crown
And Kim of “Knit Together with Kim & Jonna” talked about taking my Brioche Pastiche class at VKLive NYC (I’m at about minute 36). It’s a great recap of her entire time at VKLive; she does a great job of making you feel like you’re there. Here’s a link to the episode on her YouTube channel. I watched it while working on my newest design; it’s like having a knit group in your iPad. Wonderful! I just subscribed.
Where am I next? Trunk show at For Yarn’s Sake for Rose City Yarn Crawl on March 7, 10 am to 3 pm. Hope to see you there!
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!
Rose City Yarn Crawl is just around the corner! We celebrate our yarn shops in the Portland metro area with a 4 day extravaganza. There are 8 shops on the crawl, and I hope to visit all of them. I’m hoping to at least visit the two I’ve never seen. One is Knotty Lamb in Forest Grove (a ways out), and the other is Ritual Dyes in inner SE Portland.
I’ll be having a trunk show at For Yarn’s Sake from 10 am to 3 pm, along with designer Shannon Squire and dyer Lorajean Kelley (Knitted Wit). I’ll bring all my designs since the last crawl, including my newest design (coming out Monday, February 26), Prosecco Pop! I’ll also have copies of Brioche Knit Love to sign, if you still need one.
Prosecco Pop
Prosecco Pop features Knitted Wit’s Summer Slubbing fingering weight yarn. The slubby goodness shines in this easy to knit shawlette. Come see us at For Yarn’s Sake on March 7 to get your hands on this fun yarn; we’ll have it there for the trunk show.
Brioche Pastiche
Also in March at For Yarn’s Sake, I’m teaching Brioche Pastiche. This choose your own adventure class starts with learning 2 color brioche in the round. You can add increases and decreases when you feel ready; the class pattern lets you choose headband, hat, or cowl, plain or leafy. This class is 2.5 hours in person, March 24, 2-4:30 pm, register here.
Whale Conga Line and Tink Drop Frog
Not local? I’m teaching Whale Conga Line (brioche increases and decreases, and syncopated brioche) and Tink Drop Frog (fixing mistakes) for Virtual Vogue Knitting Online on March 15 & 16. These classes are recorded and available for 2 weeks after the class, so you always have the best seat in the house…YOUR house!
In person local classes
Rounding out the spring, I’m teaching Tink Drop Frog April 20 and Sheepy Steeky Coasters May 18 at For Yarn’s Sake (class listings soon) and Petite Brioche April 13 and Whale Conga Line May 25 at Hook and Needle in Vancouver WA (right across the bridge).
I love teaching, and would love to help you take your knitting to the next level!
I’m knitting for food again this year! I’m participating in this 12 hour knitting marathon to raise funds and awareness for food insecurity. The money we raise will be equally divided among Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry, and Meals on Wheels.
Please support me by donating through this link. You can also sign up to participate yourself, if you’re interested. Come knit with us!
Puddletown Knitters Guild is having a watch party from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm at Rose City Park Presbyterian Church in Portland, OR. We’ll have door prizes and activities. Come knit with us! RSVP here. Not local? Check the Knit for Food website for local watch parties, wherever you are! You can also sign up to fundraise yourself, if you wish.
Happy New Year! I hope you began as you mean to go on. For us, New Year’s Day was spent with the (grown) kids. They came for brunch (cinnamon rolls, cheesy scrambled eggs, mimosas, fake bacon) and then we headed out for a visit with a troll.
Ole Bolle, and a human scale door
This is Ole Bolle, one of a series of oversized trolls by Thomas Dambo. This is the only one in the Portland area; the rest of this series are around the Puget Sound in Washington. But there are over 100 around the world!
He’s made of recycled wooden pallets, and he’s BIG.
I love how he’s peering into the house, looking for snacks.
Don’t look now!
We extended our outing with a 3 mile walk along the Rock Creek Greenway, a wetlands area. Lots of ducks and evidence of beavers (gnawed tree trunks and limbs).
Wouldn’t this plumage pattern make a great sweater yoke?
A little bit of knitting, and the day was complete. How did you start 2024?
I had a fabulous weekend! It began on Friday with Romi Hill’s Embrace Your Lace class, which went deep into adapting lace patterns into repeatable blocks that fit into the shaping of your designed piece. Her lace work is next level up, always gorgeous. Check out her work on Instagram, @romidesigns
Saturday morning I sat in on Julie Rosvall’s First Impressions class, which was about printmaking, including printing from knits. I only watched, because it was at 7 am my time (11 am her time in Canada!). You know I love block printing, and you know I’ll be trying this! @julierosvall on Instagram.
Both of these classes were through Virtual Knitting Live from Vogue Knitting. I also taught during this event on Sunday, Next Steps in Brioche: Increases and Decreases, using my Deep End hat, cowl, and Madrona cowl patterns.
I also had a fun chat with Josh Bennett and Amy Snell on Sunday before teaching my class. So much fun! But this was only the VKL portion of the weekend.
Saturday was Worldwide Knit in Public Day, and Knit Picks knows how to throw a party!
I didn’t knit a stitch at WWKIP Day, but I *talked* about knitting, non-stop!
With trunk show designers MKNance and Emily Kintigh
Yes, I have the t-shirt too, but I really wanted to wear this preview of an upcoming piece for Knit Picks. Honey Bee Mine will be in a book coming this summer.
They gave me this tote (thanks for the grafting reminder!) stuffed with yarn
including these yarn samples, and several skeins of a new yarn that I don’t think I can show you yet. Stay tuned! I love that the above samples fit my 2 skein attention span rule. That purple Luminance could be a spectacular shawl.
I also snagged 3 sets of interchangeable wooden needles: Caspian, Rainbow, and Rosewood (inside the silver case), and this notions bag and pin. Swag is fun, yes?
The venue was lovely, Hidden House in Vancouver, Washington. It was great to have indoor and outdoor space. Lots of snacks, and a no-host bar for coffee or adult beverages.
Now I’m back to finishing up hat crowns for the Brioche Pastiche revamp! Knit knit knit…
I recently had a fun chat with Lee, Stacey, and Andi on the Knit Picks podcast. We talked about my designing and teaching, and about the upcoming World Wide Knit in Public Day, which is this Saturday, June 10. Have a listen here, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
I’ve been participating in Knit Picks’ WWKIP festivities since 2017. They stopped in 2020 (hello pandemic) but are starting up again this year. Their events always have raffle prizes, free yarn, free books…and snacks!
This year’s event will be on June 10, from noon to 3 pm. The venue has both indoor and outdoor possibilities, so we’re covered in case of rain! Here’s a link to their current post.
I’ll be there as a special guest designer. I’m bringing knit samples, including the assigned pooling pieces we talked about in the podcast. And books! Brioche Knit Love is back in print, and I’ll have some with me for sale.
See you there, local-ish peeps?
There are many other events in the Portland metro area, and all over the world. Pick one or many! Go forth and knit, and have fun.
It’s wildflower season on the other side of the Cascade Mountains. The balsamroot and lupines are at peak bloom, a little late this year after a colder than usual spring.
Looking west down the Columbia River
The kids and I went to hike the Mosier Plateau Trail, and it did not disappoint. (Mosier is a small town in the Columbia River Gorge, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains just past Hood River. That’s the dry side of the mountains; we live on the wet side.)
There’s even a waterfall, Mosier Creek Falls, along the way. It’s just 3.5 miles, which is about what I like.
So nice to be out on a gorgeous day!
I’m adding a few pictures from May 2019 when I hiked with friends across the river at Catherine Creek. I went looking for them, and found that I never posted them.
Balsamroot, and Mt. Hood Bitterroot blossomsBig headed clover
WWKIP is World Wide Knit in Public Day! Will you be knitting with maximum visibility?
I’ve been participating in Knit Picks’ WWKIP festivities since 2017. They stopped in 2020 (hello pandemic) but are starting up again this year. Their events always have raffle prizes, free yarn, free books…and snacks!
This year’s event will be on June 10, from noon to 3 pm. The venue has both indoor and outdoor possibilities, so we’re covered in case of rain! Here’s a link to their post.
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 