Honey Bee Mine in Spark Speckle, Slate Kettle, and Compass Kettle
Honey Bee Mine is a cozy three-color bandana cowl that features sweet honey bees flitting among the honeycombs. The cowl looks like a triangular shawl when worn, but it needs no fussing or pinning to remain stylishly in place.
Honey Bee Mine is worked in the round from the bottom up, so the bees are flying upwards. Multiple yarnovers over several rounds are dropped and scooped up to form the wings of the honey bees, and double yarnovers create bold eyelets for the honeycomb. The pattern uses 3 colors of fingering weight yarn. The edging can be knit in either Brioche Rib or 1×1 Ribbing. (I’m always sneaking in brioche!)
Honey Bee Mine in Panettone Speckle, Slate Kettle, and Gold Hill Tonal
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…
My third Ebb and Flow cowl. It’s my favorite of the three, and it’s everything I dreamed for it to be. I’m so glad I ripped back to put the color changes at the garter ridges. And the yarn blocks out so crisply, it’s an absolute joy. I sewed in the ends this morning so I could wear it today.
Blocking is magic! A reminder of how it looked, just off the needles. Now it’s airy and perfect.
Schmutzerella mini skeins. So much yardage, I could have both the taller cowl neck, and the longer triangle point. There’s yarn left over, because of the color changes at the garter ridges. I love it when a plan works out perfectly!
Knitting goes a lot faster if you’re not second guessing with every stitch whether you should rip it out. After deciding to make my mini skein color changes at the garter ridges, this was a breeze of a multitasking project. Three bands of the first two colors, two bands of the next three colors, and one band of the last color for the lacy edging. I spent a couple afternoons finishing my Ebb and Flow while reading in the sunny backyard. (Spring has finally sprung!) I’ll be blocking it today.
I’m also playing with this yarn combo. It’s Dream in Color Smooshy in Tip Top Tangerine and Sonoran Magic. Yes, a little more assigned pooling!
Getting the yarn to cooperate for assigned pooling is tricky when you don’t have many stitches on the needles yet. I ripped it out and started again after cutting off about 18” of yarn at the beginning of the orange. Much better. The orange and hot pink are pretty fun together. We’ll see if it fulfills my vision for this piece. Wish me luck!
The linen knit is coming along nicely, but I decided I needed an even simpler project for multi-tasking. I cast one one more Ebb and Flow cowl, which is mostly stockinette. I bought these minis from Schmutzerella Yarns at Red Alder Fiber Arts Festival for just this purpose. So it’s not stash!
I want the blue up by my face, and the green at the bottom edging. I’m so happy the minis have numbers on them in case I get them out of order. Blue is 6, Green is 1, so I’m working in reverse. Each mini is 92 yards/20g, and there are 6 of them for 120g total. Doing a little math, 100g is 460 yards, which is lighter in weight than the Moss Fibers (100g/394 yards) that I used for the original cowl here.
I cast on with the same size needle (US 4), but decided pretty quickly that the fabric was too open. I started again with a US 3. Much better! It makes the neck slightly smaller, but that’s fine with me. And with 552 yards total, I’m able to have both the taller cowl neck and the longer triangle body, and I know I won’t run out of yarn before I’m done.
Do you like to knit the same thing more than once? I don’t mind, especially if it’s a good multi-tasking knit.
What goes around, comes around! This was an abandoned project from last year. I set it aside when it became clear that I wouldn’t be wearing it before summer was over. Now it’s spring again and this is the perfect simple project to keep my hands busy while I dream about the next design project and work on getting Brioche Knit Love re-published.
Where I left off last year
As I wrote last year: Back in 2019, I was swatching/playing with Quince & Co Sparrow, which is fingering weight linen. I ultimately decided to design Kittiwake in Quince’s Kestrel, which is Aran weight, for a quicker project. I used the same stitch pattern for both weights.
Kittiwake in Aran weight Kestrel
The blocked fingering weight piece was relegated to the stash bin for later evaluation. When I pulled it out last year I fell in love all over again with the beautifully crisp yet drapey fabric. The original piece was an excellent gauge swatch, and it even had the needles in it so I knew what size to use. I started an oversized top, basically two rectangles, no shaping. The oversized shoulder seams would come down as faux sleeves.
I was knitting it in the round from the bottom up to the armholes. Instead of the swatch’s 16 repeats/37 inches wide, I was knitting 20 repeats/46 inches, which gives me 9 inches (a lot) of ease. Perfect for a drapey swingy top for summer. I have about 2 inches (5 cm) to go before it’s time to split to work the front and back separately, back and forth to the shoulders.
I’m not usually good about going back to abandoned projects, but this one looks worthwhile! It’s not a design project, just a fun for me project, so there’s no pressure about getting it done. I’m just enjoying the ride again.
What’s on your needles for summer (or winter, down under)?
Still on the assigned pooling bandwagon! I just blocked this, and I love it. It’s a fingering weight bandana cowl with a cascade of assigned pooling stars, and an Old Shale lace edging. This is one of my favorite looks to wear; it looks like a shawl but it stays on without a fuss.
I just finished writing the pattern and video tutorial, and it will be tech edited this week. I’m looking for a few test knitters; you’d need one skein of fingering weight yarn that’s dyed for assigned pooling, with a color pop of about 8” long. I used Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere.
I’m making a paper chain with the yarn labels from this year’s projects; it’s a tidy and visual way to remember what I’ve done. Ten projects by the first week of April feels pretty good.
So far, from the top: Fierce Fibers and Moss Fibers (for Ebb and Flow), Knit Picks Chroma (Aspen Leaf scarf and Athena Cowl), Yarn Snob (Pooling is a Cinch and Firefly Trails), Anzula Luxury Yarn (Aspen Leaf Coasters), Dream in Color Classy (Fanfare Cowl/Hat (2 of them) and the current project which isn’t named yet).
Also pictured: Yarn chicken mug by JaMPDX, and our ancient Darth Vader bank, which still works when you put coins in. Some heavy breathing, light saber waving, and a message: “Impressive. Most impressive. But you are not a Jedi yet!”
Do you save your yarn labels? If yes, how? I used to just throw them in a basket, but the chain is much more fun.
I love Knit Picks Chroma Worsted; the long smooth color changes are fun to work with. My favorite colorway is Pegasus; I’ve used it many times. I like pairing it with Chroma Worsted in Bare for brioche.
This is my Aspen Leaf scarf, re-worked in Chroma Worsted for the Knit Picks Independent Design Partnership (IDP) program. It’s a little shorter than the DK weight version, and very squishy. It’s featured this month in the Knit Picks IDP Showcase, which is all about their Chroma yarns. All Chroma yarns are on sale 20% off this month. That means Chroma Worsted, Chroma Fingering, Chroma Twist Worsted, and Chroma Twist Bulky.
April is starting off chilly and wet here, so wool is still a big part of the wardrobe!
Yesterday was the debut class for my Fanfare Assigned Pooling Cowl/Hat, and we had fun! We talked about many ways you can adjust your knitting for assigned pooling, and a little bit about other planned pooling as well. This is a one skein quick knit in worsted weight yarn, and the coziness is still welcome this month.
What are you knitting in April? I’m finishing a fingering weight assigned pooling piece, and then I need to decide what’s coming next…
Fanfare is a convertible cowl/hat knit with worsted weight yarn, designed for my assigned pooling class at For Yarn’s Sake next month. It can be worn as a cowl
or as a hat. It’s knit with yarn that is dyed especially for assigned color pooling, with a color pop of 10 to 16 inches. This yarn is Dream in Color Classy with Cashmere, in the Violet Fields colorway. It feels so plush!
The yarn comes in 12 pooling colorways. I knit a second version to confirm my instructions (and avoid yarn chicken this time), using Dream in Color Classy with Cashmere in the Storm Berry colorway.
The color pop was longer in this skein of yarn, so I adapted my fan stitch to accommodate the difference. Instructions for the fan stitch are given in a video tutorial and in written instructions, too. There are also instructions on adapting the size of the fan stitch to suit your yarn.
The pattern is available through Ravelry and Payhip. It’s 15% off through March 14 with coupon code FAFF. If you’re signing up for my online class through For Yarn’s Sake, the pattern is already included in your class fee. Don’t buy it twice! The class is on April 2.
I have one or two more pooling patterns in the works. It’s kind of addictive!
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 