I’ve been craving a simple knit, and here it is. Working title, Trillium Path. It’s simple stockinette with assigned pooling fields.
I love the fields of flowers. I’m adding optional eyelet bands for texture to this second knit. Why? Because the first one ended with eyelets to discourage the bind off from curling, and I’d like to incorporate them in the body, too.
I’m looking for a few test knitters for this single skein piece. This is meant to be simple knitting, perfect for travel or social knitting. It’s knit with fingering weight yarn, 100g. I used A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering in From Paris with Love (green) and Wildflowers (blue). Let me know if you’re interested!
And Modern Daily Knitting! I’m teaching online for them on Friday, June 26, noon to 2:30 pm Eastern. The class is recorded for rewatching, or watching for the first time if you can’t make it in person.
Entrelac looks woven, but it’s actually knit modularly, unit by unit, each one picking up on the previous blocks. We’ll learn how to make each of those units in class, including picking up stitches, and simple decreases.
We’ll be using Noro Silk Garden for its beautiful color changing properties. You can purchase this yarn with class registration, or on your own. You can use this or any other Aran to bulky weight yarn with a slow color change. I’ve also used Berroco Wizard for this project with excellent results.
The scarf above was knit with two 50g balls of Noro Silk Garden. It’s knit end to end, so you can stop when you want, if you’d rather seam it for a shorter round cowl. (Photos above are from the Modern Daily Knitting site.)
This is the only picture of my Noro sample that I have! I knit most of it on the plane to Nash Yarn Fest, and left it there for photography. I love how vibrant Noro colors are.
Flower Power Entrelac
These samples are knit with one 100g skein of Berroco Wizard. Actually it’s just one long sample, pinned up to show you how shorter versions would work as a cowl.
And here’s an entrelac sample (Minerva pattern) knit with a gradient yarn. It takes longer to see the color change, but it’s spectacular.
I collaborated with Sweet Paprika Designs for their Skill Building Yarn Club this spring. My design for the yarn box featured…brioche, of course!
Cowl
This is the Staghorn Cowl Hat. I love convertible cowl/hats as teaching pieces, because not everyone loves a cowl…or a hat. So you get to choose!
Hat
You can also choose to knit the whole piece in 2 color brioche rib, without the decorative increases and decreases that make the Staghorn motif. This is a great way to practice brioche knitting before getting into the more challenging parts.
Wider cowl
If you know you don’t want a hat, you can make the cowl a bit wider because it doesn’t need to fit a head. Choices!
Staghorn Cowl Hat is knit with 2 colors of worsted weight yarn. The cowl/hat is knit with 140 yards/128 meters dark color, 66 yards/60 meters light color heavy worsted weight yarn. Shown in Sweet Paprika Andante (100% superwash merino wool, 4oz/110g/195 yards/178m), Jacaranda (LC) and Deep Purple (DC). If you’d like to buy the Sweet Paprika Designs kit, you can do so here.
If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you’ll get a code for 25% off this pattern. I’m a little behind in getting my newsletter written, so it’s not too late to subscribe before the newsletter comes out on Saturday (I hope!). Subscribe here.
This pattern is available through my Ravelry store, link here.
This pattern is also available from my Payhip shop, link here.
I’ve got my teacher hat on. Last week I was trying to come up with a new class or two. I’ve been thinking about colorwork, but only one strand at a time. Strandless colorwork? The easiest of which is stripes.
The easiest of which is stripes. Garter stitch or stockinette stitch, I love them both. Then we get into textured and fancy stripes. And slip stitch knitting, which are just interrupted stripes. And even brioche rib is a kind of slip stitch stripe, right?
But if you’re working in the round, you might want jogless stripes.
And you might want more than two colors. I really went down the rabbit hole with helix knitting this past week.
This striped hat has no jogs in the stripes or the garter stitch edge.
And this cowl’s three color stripes have no jogs, either. Magic!
I think these are actually two classes, one in unstranded colorwork with a touch of helix knitting, and one specifically in helix knitting. I’m teaching the helix knitting class at For Yarn’s Sake on Saturday June 20, 11:30 to 1:30. It’s not on the website yet, but should be up soon.
It’s been really strange for me to have three projects on the needles at the same time, but now I’ve finished the hat and cowl. They’ll have a pattern to go with them; it’s not quite done yet.
The third project is now the only project! This is a single skein bias triangle shawlette. The yarn is from A Chick That Knitz; it’s her Singles Fingering in From Paris with Love.
I love this sweet little assigned pooling stitch. It’s easy! Pattern coming soon.
What’s been in my new project bag this past week? Something that got too big for the project bag it started in.
Effervescent
This is Effervescent, finished and blocked. It’s two color brioche rib, with a syncopated brioche edging and assigned pooling motifs.
Frogged and reconditioned yarn
This is the yarn from a previous shawl that I frogged and reconditioned. I had a better idea for it, and it came out like a dream. The yarn is a little fuzzy now; it’s a single ply and I’ve effectively knit it through three projects. But it’s soft and lovely.
I was about 70% finished with the second shawl in this yarn’s life, when I decided it needed to have bigger motifs, and be knit on a smaller needle. Ooof. Good thing I like to knit.
Then I was worried that it was going to be too small. But blocking is magic.
I didn’t block it aggressively; I just patted it out as the fabric relaxed after soaking for wet blocking. It’s airy and drapey.
The pattern has been tech edited, and I’m looking for test knitters that love brioche knitting and assigned pooling. Is that you?
Well, that was a hoot! With a hootenanny! The second annual Nash Yarn Fest by Modern Daily Knitting was a great opportunity to see old friends and new, hear music and speakers, and shop for yarn and yarn-adjacent goodies. I had a great time. And participated in country line dancing for the first time. It’s not unlike tai chi; you learn some simple steps that get combined and repeated, and do them with a room full of like-minded people. Fun!
Ann Shayne of MDK, with hubbo Jon aka singer Merle Hazard (he’s good!)
The event was well-run, as you’d expect from the team at Modern Daily Knitting. This year’s event was even better than last year’s. More speakers, more music. I don’t know if there were more vendors.
Me, Julia Farwell-Clay, and Kay Gardner
Kay is the other half of MDK. See her nametag? She’s the one who got us all hooked on Rudiger Schlomer’s Knit Hello. She and Karen Tumelty knit nametags for all the vendors. And there were tables set up so everybody could knit their own nametag, too. I already had mine, so I was good to go.
Denise really caught the Knit Hello bug! She knit hello, her name, and couldn’t stop. Good thing she found a thrifted vest to display her tags and pins!
with Franklin Habit and Gaye Glasspie (GG Made It)
It was great to see Franklin Habit, who came all the way from Paris to give a talk on his miniatures and creativity. And GG is always fun.
with Jeni Hankins and Odile Bunny
Jeni Hankins is a gem. She’s a talented singer/songwriter/writer/crafter, and she sang for us on Saturday. She has Appalachian roots, and many of her songs tell stories of her family. She writes for MDK, and she’s working on a piece about making doll clothes.
I told her about my knitted Barbie clothes made by my Aunt Vivian, so the next day she showed me Mary Jane, her Mary Hoyer doll that will be the subject of her MDK story.
Jeni Hankins
Jeni sang a song using her manual sewing machine as accompaniment, and sewed a project as she sang.
with Shelley Brander
Shelley Brander of Knit Stars was there, with her cute dog Charles Barkley (he’s on the floor, out of view). Do you subscribe to Knit Stars? I’ve participated in all the seasons (they’re video classes), and there’s always something interesting to learn.
Nancy Marchant
Nancy Marchant and her sister Jane came in woven knit vests. Woven knitting is Nancy’s current fascination. Cool!
There are more pictures on my Instagram page, if you want to scroll through. Including my game of yarn chicken on a project that I finished in Nashville!
Yarn from A Chick that Knitz
I picked up some more yarn inspiration from A Chick that Knitz. Three are pooling yarns. The teal green on the left is by itself for a single skein project, and the other two pooling yarns may or may not be combined with the variegated or semi-solid to their right. We shall see.
goodies!
The hootenanny came with a commemorative project bag and a skein of Atlas, as well as an enamel pin (next picture). I love surprise swag. I also bought a shawl pin from Birdie Parker Designs, various repair hooks from Stunning String Studio (because my Susan Bates handi-tool is a little too long for my notions tins), an embroidery project, and a glasses case that may be my new notions tin…or my glasses case.
The pin!
The pin, on my Julia Hilbrandt felt tote that I bought last year at Nash Yarn Fest. Julia wasn’t able to come this year, but the bag is going strong.
(last year)Project bag from Dani’s Knitting and Crochet, Logan UT
I came home to find this gift from Chilali Hugo, a Facebook follower. She sent me this frog themed project bag because she’s been knitting so many Portland Frog Hats. This bag is lovely; it has six pockets inside for organization, and is big enough for a small sweater project. I love it! Thank you, Chilali.
My shawl project has been living in the bag, but I just finished it. What goes in there next?
I usually knit from a center pull ball. They’re tidy, and if you put a yarn sleeve on the ball, it doesn’t collapse into a messy heap. Yarn sleeves shown above. And you can make your own! See this post.
Some yarns require a little more strategy. I’m currently knitting with Noro Silk Garden, and the high silk content makes it not very elastic. I could see that the ball was going to collapse, yarn bra or not. I decided this was a good candidate for knitting from the outside of the ball. The original put-up was very loosely wound, so my first move was to rewind it on my winder to tighten it up.
I usually knit sitting at a table, so I decided to try the Yarn To Go Carousel from Twice Sheared Sheep. I received this in my teacher’s gift bag at Vogue Knitting Live in 2025, so it’s been waiting for a while! Like I said, I’m usually a center pull knitter.
The wooden carousel comes in 3 pieces. On the left, you can see the spindle and base plate for holding the yarn. There’s a loop at the top for an optional wrist strap, but I’m not one to try to knit while walking. I’m a klutz! Maybe just standing, to take a break from sitting? You can use these 2 pieces by themselves, or add it to the spinning carousel.
The carousel piece on the right has two magnets on top, and revolves (on inner ball bearings?) as I knit. It spins very easily and doesn’t require a big tug to unspool the yarn. The platform itself is a little thick, but not a big deal since it’s sitting on a table and not weighing me down.
The ball is rapidly shrinking, and I am absolutely charmed by the sheep appearing as the yarn ball gets smaller.
I think for brioche or colorwork projects, I’m still happy with my 2 center pull balls with yarn bras. Two spinning carousels seems like it would be quite a production. But for this single ball of Silk Garden, it’s a good choice for me.
If you want to get a Yarn To Go Carousel, they’re available from Twice Sheared Sheep. They also come in a sunflower and mandala design, instead of sheep. The links are affiliate links, so if you purchase through the link, I get a commission. But this review is my honest opinion of this unsolicited gift!
No, my shawl isn’t done yet. But I needed to make this Noro swatch for an upcoming teaching project. Heading back to my brioche now.
Soooo are you Team Center Pull, or Team Outside the Ball? For me, it depends!
So much to catch up on! My friend Sharyn and I went to visit our friends Bev & John who are staying in Spain for 2 months. They came to meet us in Madrid before we all headed to their apartment in Alicante on the coast.
Madrid is a beautiful city. The architecture is so much older than west coast USA.
Baroque doorway at Museo de Historia de Madrid
This museum was in the neighborhood where we stayed, right by the Tribunal metro station. (The metro is efficient and easy to use.) The doorway dates from 1726.
Doorway detail
Fancy!
We took a bus tour on the evening we arrived. It’s a good way to start to figure out where you are, and doesn’t take a lot of energy from the jet-lagged.
The moon makes a cameo appearanceCity Hall and the Cibeles fountainAgriculture building
Do I remember what all these buildings these are? No, but they’re gorgeous.
Julia by Jaume Plensa at Plaza de Colón
I did recognize the work of Jaume Plensa, having seen some in Chicago. We followed our tour with dinner at 10 pm, as one does. So continental.
On Sunday morning we headed for Puerta del Sol, a big lovely square full of people enjoying their day.
Churros and dipping chocolate, and café con leche, breakfast of champions!
The bear and the strawberry tree (madrone) are symbols of Madrid, and this statue in Puerta del Sol had lots of people waiting to take a picture with it. And kids were getting a kick out of 67 (is that still a thing they say?).
This ornate building was across the street from our churro stop.
Not to be outdone, the one attached to it appears to have bobbles on it.
Even the less fancy buildings were still quite lovely. We went to El Rastro, the famous open-air flea market, but it was pretty overwhelming, so we didn’t stay long.
Sharyn and I spent 3 hours in the Prado Museum, admiring the paintings of Velázquez, Goya, and many others. We could spend a week in there! No photography allowed, which is probably a good thing. My favorite painting there? Las Meniñas (Velázquez).
In the metro station on the way home, this Velázquez from 1660 was featured: The Spinners or the Fable of Arachne. How did I miss that in the museum? Easy, it’s a huge museum and we saw just a fraction of it.
Fiber arts are everywhere, right?
We had another fashionably late dinner that evening, this time at Cafe Commercial around the block from our apartment. Great vibe, and the olives…
Plaza Mayor
Monday morning we headed for Plaza Mayor, the main square in Madrid; it dates to 1619. The buildings surrounding the square are uniformly impressive.
Felipe III
A bronze statue of Felipe III from 1616 is at the center of the square.
On the way to the plaza, we came across El Gato Negro, the yarn shop. It was a quick trip through, but the most interesting part about it was that you’re not supposed to help yourself the yarn. Let them know what you’d like to see, and they’ll show it to you. No pawing through the wares!
There’s a hang tag for each section of yarn, but the skeins weren’t individually labeled. And there’s a scale because you purchase by weight. This sport weight cotton yarn was 7 euros/100g, which is really quite reasonable. I’m looking forward to playing with my two hanks…eventually!
In the afternoon we visited the Almudena Cathedral and the Royal Palace.
Almudena Cathedral
The cathedral was begun in 1883 and completed in 1993. The interior is a mix of old and new styles. Note the modern stained glass windows above what looks like Byzantine-style paintings just below.
Royal Palace
From there we headed to the Royal Palace. It’s…a lot. A bazillion chandeliers and marble and porcelain and paintings on walls and ceilings, and…very beautiful.
Enter here, and feel your insignificanceDon’t forget to look up!an early 19th century piano, and several instruments by Stradivarius in this room
This piano has five pedals for registers such as bassoon, drum, or bells. Or so my translation app tells me!
Throne roomTable for 120, if you’d likeCollar of the Order of the Golden Fleece (ooh, fiber adjacent!)
Tuesday, the next day, we were off to Alicante on Renfe, the high speed train. More later, but I’ll leave you with one more building to enjoy.
Adios Madrid, city of architecture, fountains, art, statues, olives!
PS: The NY Times came out with a “What to do in Madrid” article after I came home. Here’s a gift link if you want to know more!
I’m in Spain, Madrid and Alicante. Coming home soon. But I wanted to share this:
I happened upon El Gato Negro near Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
It’s a cute shop, and they had some fun speckle and space dyed yarn, too.
It matched my flower power jacket. I had to buy some! It’s cotton, sport weight, 2 100g skeins. I wonder if I can get the pink to pool a bit. It’s a pretty short color pop. We shall see, later.
Rosaria shawls, my 2014 RCYC MKAL design
I’m coming home soon. Rose City Yarn Crawl starts Thursday, and I’ll be at For Yarn’s Sake on Thursday with a trunk show! See my latest designs, and get my book, Brioche Knit Love, if you haven’t already.
Also, I’m teaching Brioche Pastiche, beginning brioche, on Sunday April 26 at For Yarn’s Sake. Come learn brioche in person with me, me, me!
I had a fabulous time at Red Alder Fiber Arts Festival last weekend. I taught 4 classes: Brioche Pastiche, Brioche Doctor, Embellished Brioche (brioche + assigned pooling), and Fun Stitches for Assigned Pooling. I was in my technique heaven!
Andrea
Andrea wore her Whale Conga Line to Assigned Pooling class. I love seeing finished projects from previous classes!
Katherine wore hers, too! And I loved wearing my Seagull Flight shawl from Brioche Knit Love. (Seagull Flight pattern is still on sale for 15% off with code FLOCK through February 24.)
It was fun to have Lily Chin teaching on this coast! I usually see her in NYC.
The marketplace was full of goodies, as usual. And I feel like an influencer: Last year I asked several dyers if they had assigned pooling yarns, and I only found one.
Tara from Stranded by the Sea gave me the yarn that turned into Fired Up last year (see it over her shoulder?), and had lots more pooling yarn this year in both fingering and worsted weight.
I picked up some Starry Night to demo in my assigned pooling class, and also picked up sparkly yarn…and chocolate.
Phat Girlz Fibre also had pooling yarn, and Ashley took my pooling class to make the most of it.
Dragonfly Fibers/Canon Hand Dyes had gradient and rainbow assigned pooling minis (very cool).
And Northwest Yarns had assigned pooling yarn AND my books, which we sold out. Woohoo!
Greta showed me her Portland Frog Hat. I’m getting to ya!
I also loved Susan’s little frog hat in the Runway Rubber Duck contest. He took 3rd place, yay!
Debbie’s duck took Top Duck and Fan Favorite. The small scale lace and bead shawl plus the red hat were well done.
Anna-Lisa’s group won the Top Flock award with this Olympic themed team.
And Mr. New Beginnings at the train station modeled my Fired Up Cowl.
I had a great time teaching, socializing, shopping, and knitting.
But perhaps brioche plus pooling isn’t the best choice for knitting by the fire during a late night game of Cards Against Humanity. I taught Brioche Doctor the day before, so I was definitely prepared to frog and get this back on the needles!
This morning I gave a presentation on Design Process and taught an assigned pooling class for the Greater Boston Knitting Guild; we had a fun 3 hours together! Let me know if your guild would like a presentation or class, too. Tomorrow I’m off to Spain to visit friends. DH is staying home with the cats. Hasta luego!
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 