Category Archives: yarn

Introducing: Camellia Wrap

Posted on March 1, 2022 | 1 comment

I’ve been working on a project for Knit Picks IDP (Independent Designer Partnership) program. They’ve begun doing monthly IDP showcases, and I applied to feature my Cherry Blossom Wrapture for their March “green” showcase. This meant that all I needed to do was to knit a sample in Knit Picks yarn. Easy, right?

The colors I chose didn’t want to play along. I think the stronger colors I chose required a simpler, less busy layout. I ended up writing a new pattern, Camellia Wrap. Camellia Wrap is a streamlined version of Cherry Blossom Wrapture. It’s simpler in that there’s just one way to lay out the colors, and there’s only one lace motif for the logs. I did all the thinking so you don’t have to; you just get to knit!

I chose the name Camellia Wrap because I envisioned photographing the wrap in front of a friend’s camellia hedge. Apparently the hedge didn’t want to cooperate either; it will probably be in full bloom in mid-March. See the single blossom above Sharon’s head?

The pattern is available for purchase through the Knit Picks Independent Design Partnership here.

The pattern is also available for purchase through Ravelry downloads, link here.

The pattern is also available through this link to my Payhip store, link here.

On Ravelry and Payhip, you can use the coupon code blooms for 15% off your purchase.

If you previously purchased Cherry Blossom Wrapture, you can get the Camellia Wrap pattern for free! I sent out an update to previous buyers with a special code.

pdxknitterati rosaria

In case you’re wondering, this is what the camellia hedge looks like in full bloom. This is Rosaria, my design for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL in 2014. I was working with Knit Picks for a March 1 launch, so I couldn’t wait for the mass bloom effect. Maybe later…

Just keep knitting…

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Swatching, charting, knitting

Posted on February 12, 2022 | 2 comments

It was a splendidly beautiful day yesterday; it got up to 67 degrees F (19 C); which is unusual for February in Portland. I took my work outside. My math swatch has paid off, and I’m done with the first section of my new design. The next step required some charting and planning to make stitch counts work out on the repeat (do you sense a theme here?). I want to alternate the variegated and semi-solid, and give the variegated yet another chance to sing. This yarn is Knitted Wit Sock in The Future is Bright and Kiss and Teal.

The book on the table is Lorna Miser’s The Hand Knitter’s Guide to Hand-Dyed and Variegated Yarn. It talks about different dye methods, and how to make the most of them. A lot of the book is about how to recognize if colors will pool, and how to avoid pooling, if desired. There are lots of stitch patterns to play with. I’ve swatched the one that it will be perfect for this project. We shall see.

Sometimes you want colors to pool, and Hunter Hammersen’s Stochastic Hat is an example of that. She worked with Gauge Dyeworks to make a yarn with spaced out color runs, just long enough to knit random color burbles into the hat. (As well as a section to knit a brim all in the contrast color, whoa.) You can use any yarn for this hat, but the thought of knitting it with assigned pooling (the yarn tells you when to make the burbles) is fun.

I was going to knit this hat with Knit Picks Chroma Worsted, but the fuzzy single ply (top) doesn’t want to settle nicely into burbles. The smooth superwash yarn (Malabrigo Rios, below) is much better behaved. I’m not sure I have a hat’s worth in two coordinating colors, though. I’ll poke around a little more. I’m glad I swatched the burbles *before* jumping in and knitting an entire hat brim before finding out my yarn wasn’t going to cooperate! Swatching can be very helpful.

I’m teaching a Zoom class on planned pooling for For Yarn’s Sake on March 6. We’ll talk about planned pooling and assigned pooling. Come knit with me! Register here.

That same weekend I’m teaching Petite Brioche for Twisted (also Zoom). Saturday March 5. If you’d like a jump start into two color brioche in the round, this is it! Register here.

Okay, time to see if my charting made sense, and if my math works out!

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Posted in classes, Knit, pattern design, yarn

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Introducing: Brioche Entrée

Posted on January 27, 2022 | 2 comments

I love a simple project for teaching a new technique. Brioche Entrée is your very most basic introduction to brioche rib. It only uses the brioche knit (brk) and slip 1 yarn over (sl1yo) stitches, but you still get a brioche rib scarf. No purling needed! I designed this piece to use for a guild presentation, but I’m happy to share it with you.

One skein of super bulky yarn, a pair of US 15/10mm needles, and you’re all set. I used Malabrigo Rasta; this is the Abril colorway.

You can download the pattern here. I made video tutorials for both right hand throwers and left hand continental knitters. I’ve got you covered! This is a simple pattern for brioche newbies, or a quickie pattern for experienced brioche knitters, or both.

Are you a brioche knitter? Am I tempting you to try it? Get it off your bucket list!

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Mmmm, cinnamon rolls

Posted on January 16, 2022 | 10 comments

I’m deep into cinnamon roll experimentation. My sister gave me some Penzey’s Vietnamese cinnamon, so it’s cinnamon roll season. FIrst I made the recipe that came with the cinnamon; it was a no-yeast version. The dough was really wet and messy, but the rolls were good.

Then I tried the NYTimes no-yeast cinnamon roll recipe. The dough was easier to handle, and they were pretty. A little too salty, but also good.

A friend recommended this yeast cinnamon roll recipe. This version involves pouring heavy cream or half and half over the rolls before baking. Another friend recommended braiding and rolling the dough into knots, which I’ll try next time. I wasn’t sure my yeast was still good (April 2020), so I didn’t want to get too ambitious.

I even iced them. They were fabulous! And the yeast was a little slow, but things turned out fine. Yeast rolls are alway so much better than quick rolls, but they do take a little more effort.

Biscuit approves. Happy Sunday!

I’m still knitting my kep, but it’s not mindless knitting because of the chart. I need some knitting for multi-tasking, so I’ll be designing something a little simpler for this yarn.

Knitted Wit Sock, in Kiss and Teal and The Future is Bright. I have two ideas, so I need to pick one and then swatch a bit. Perfect for a three day weekend here in the US.

What are you knitting?

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Posted in foodies!, yarn

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Slip It! Slip It Good!

Posted on January 2, 2022 | 1 comment

Apologies to Devo, and you’re welcome for the earworm.

Introducing two new slip stitch designs, the Slip Away Cowl, and Dotty Bed Socks!

Slip Away Cowl

I designed the Slip Away Cowl as a teaching piece for The Knitting Circle’s Holiday Virtual Event, and now I can share it with you, too. The cowl is knit with two colors of worsted weight yarn; I used Malabrigo Rios. It features five easy slip stitch patterns; you get fun colorwork while using just one color per row. It’s knit flat, and then joined together at the end. This is a great way to get your cowl to be exactly the length you want. This is my favorite cowl length for wearability. The pattern includes tips on using these stitch patterns in the round, too. The Slip Away Cowl pattern is available on Ravelry and Payhip. Use the code SlipSlide for 20% off, through January 8, 2022. If you’re taking the Slip Away Class at January’s Virtual Knitting Live, the pattern is included in your class fee in January only, so don’t buy it twice!

Dotty Bed Socks

The Dotty Bed Socks are a quick knit in worsted weight yarn; I used Malabrigo Rios for these, too. They’re knit from the cuff down, and have a flap and gusset heel turn. Magic! You can knit the top of the instep in either Dotty or stripes; instructions for both are in the pattern. The Dotty Bed Socks pattern is available through Ravelry and Payhip. Use the code SlipSlide for 20% off, through January 8, 2022.

If you’re a newsletter subscriber, check your email for a combo offer!

I do love knitting with two colors, one at a time. It’s like…brioche! Which I’ll get back to, eventually. For now, I’m knitting madly on my garter stitch Cherry Blossom Wrapture, which is also…one color at a time! Happy happy new year to you.

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Color is a funny thing

Posted on December 27, 2021 | 11 comments

Remember this color combo? I really wanted it to work for a version of my Cherry Blossom Wrapture for the Knit Picks IDP (Independent Design Partnership) program. I took it to Hawaii to knit after the Dotty Bed Socks (working, working, working). I liked the green and the pink together. I liked the green and the speckle together. I didn’t like the pink and the speckle together. Blergh. I tried to make it work by making the log cabin frame around the leafy center green instead of pink, hoping that using less pink would make it work.

I kept telling myself it was okay, but the pink still looks like a tacked on afterthought. The shawl was reading as way more green than pink, and it’s the pink that I’m most interested in. Over the course of vacation, I got word that this pattern will be featured by Knit Picks in spring 2022 for the IDP program, and the thought of it not being perfect made my stomach hurt. So I started poking at using a different color with the Poseidon and Italian Ice.

Camellia, Goddess, Turkish Delight

My options? Turkish Delight (a deeper and more magenta pink), or Goddess (straight up purple). I love the Goddess with the greens, but I don’t think the flowers would show up in a color that dark, so I decided to try the Turkish Delight.

I think Turkish Delight is a winner! Somehow it holds its own against the green and yellow, where the Camellia did not. So that’s how it’s going to be. I love it. Now I just have to finish knitting it, and re-writing parts of the pattern. I’ve done the math and know how big it’s going to be…yay math!

Bisquee is helping. She let me her pawdicure snips, because I left the snips from this project bag in my studio for a class.

What are you working on during this in-between week? Are you planning to celebrate the new year with a new cast on? I want to finish this project first, and I have miles of garter stitch to go…

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Posted in cat, Knit, pattern design, yarn

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Playing with slipped stitches

Posted on October 16, 2021 | 10 comments

I know we use the heel stitch to make the heel of socks a bit thicker; slipping every other stitch gives us a double layer of yarn over the heel. So for a bed sock, why not used slipped stitches to make the whole thing doubly thick and cozy?

I finished one, almost. I won’t commit to grafting that toe until I’m done playing with my stitch patterns! I have a Dotty slip stitch pattern on the leg of the sock, but I didn’t want that underfoot. Even though this is intended to be a bed sock (worsted weight, warm), I didn’t want those bumps on the sole. At first I tried using the double stitch stripe on the whole foot, but it was hard for me to carry the floats loosely. I put them just on the sole.

But the heart wants what the heart wants. As you can see, now I’m trying the stripes on the leg first, to see if I can keep things loose enough there. If yes, then I can do it on the foot, too. I kind of love the idea of vertical stripes on leg and foot, and a band of horizontal stripes across the gusset shaping. (Partly because working the decreases into the vertical stripe pattern seemed like a pain in the…foot? But I’ll think about it again when I get there on the second sock.) Also, I want the purple foot stripe to begin right after a purple gusset stripe, and end right before the purple toe. I don’t like the purple bar floating against the orange background. See how nice it looks snugged up to the ribbing on the second sock?

Do I want to explain all of this in a pattern, or just make these for myself for fun? It would be a quick gift knit.

I love these colors. Malabrigo Rios, in Lavanda (purple) and Archangel. It feels like fall to me. And I’m sitting here in the backyard, making the most of a gloriously sunny day. Rain tomorrow!

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Brioche Knit Love: putting it all together

Posted on October 14, 2021 | 11 comments

The final projects of Brioche Knit Love combine all the techniques we’ve been learning throughout the book. We now get to play with both worsted and fingering weight yarn. (I like to teach using worsted weight, so you can see your stitches better. Now you’re ready for the fun stuff.)

I wanted this chapter to be beach themed, in honor of my beloved Oregon Coast. But the book is coffee themed, so I had to rename all the projects with that in mind, too. I think that was the hardest part of making this book!

(knit in Malabrigo Rios)

This is the Cappuccino Cowl, a study in syncopated brioche. It was originally called Coast Range, after the mountains between Portland and the coast, but now the peaks are peaks of foam on a cappuccino. You can wear it with either light or dark peaks pointing up.

(knit in Knit Picks Chroma Worsted)

The Seafoam Latte Scarf combines increases and decreases with a syncopated crest of the wave. The working name for this piece was Beachcomber. I do love the thought of Seafoam Lattes, though.

(knit in Hazel Knits Entice MCN)

The Coffee Bean Trivia Cowl is a bandana style cowl that is knit flat from the lower point until it’s wide enough to join to knit the neckline in the round. This is a very easy to wear piece. And the yarn is sooooo soft. The working name of this was Kelpie, because I thought it looked like a kelp forest underneath the waves. I decided that the little roundels could also be tiny coffee bean trivia shells, as in this post. (Check the link for a fun free project, the Victoriana bracelet.)

(knit in Huckleberry Knits Gradient, and Madeline Tosh Twist Light)

Seagull Flight may be my favorite project in the book, but it’s so hard to choose. And it’s always been called Seagull Flight, from the very beginning. This one just rolled off my needles. I knew what I wanted it to look like, and I knew the basic layout. It’s a half-pi shawl, and very easy to knit.

How did I get it to fit my coffee theme? A flight of coffee. Done.

The final project in the book is actually two projects. You can knit Coffee Breakers as either a cowl or a shawl. (Working name was Surf’s Up)

(knit in Hazel Knits Artisan Sock)

The cowl is easy to wear, and takes about half as much yarn as the shawl.

(knit in Hazel Knits Entice MCN)

And the shawl takes two skeins of fingering weight yarn; it’s sooooo squishy. I love how it feels around my neck, especially in this yarn. (Thanks to Ann Berg for knitting this sample for me!)

I hope I’ve enticed you to try brioche knitting! I’ll be with you every step of the way. Brioche Knit Love has photo tutorials, as well as a link to video tutorials. All the designs are accessories, and mostly small and easily accomplished. The projects start from the very beginning, and build on your skills, one at a time. If you already knit brioche, you can knit the easier projects as quick gifts, and knit the projects from the last chapter with confidence.

You can see all 21 designs from the book here.

Brioche Knit Love is available through local yarn shops, and from the publisher, Library House Press. Local yarn shops can order from our distributor, Sommer Street Associates. The book’s official publication date is October 19, but pre-orders are shipping, and I know several knitters have already received their copies!

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Brioche Knit Love: Increases and Decreases, and a winner

Posted on October 11, 2021 | 1 comment

Brioche increases and decreases make brioche rib so much prettier, and so much more fun to knit! Just a few new stitches to learn, and the brioche world is your oyster.

Knit with Hazel Knits Lively DK

The chapter begins with the Iced Latte hat. There’s only one new stitch to learn, the right leaning brioche decrease, and we don’t use it until we’re shaping the crown at the very end.

The Iced Latte hat is a perfect pairing with the Iced Latte Cowl.

Knit with Malabrigo Rios

The Berry Galette Cowl and Wristlets give you the opportunity to create undulating patterns in your brioche. These were inspired by the blueberry bushes in my garden.

More Malabrigo Rios

The Green Tea Chai Scarf has a simple repeat, which is a great opportunity for learning to read your brioche knitting! You won’t need to look at the chart/instructions after a few repeats.

A little more Malabrigo Rios!

And the Latte Leaf Coaster and Cup Cozy give you a chance to explore increases and decreases along with syncopated brioche, both flat and in the round. These make great quick gift knitting.

All of these patterns have written instructions as well as charts. And there are photo tutorials for all the increases and decreases. I had to use the book yesterday to remind myself how to make a 4 stitch brioche decrease while teaching my Brioche Doctor class for Virtual Knitting Live! Very handy.

Winner! I’ve picked a winner from the comments on the introductory Brioche Knit Love post, and that winner is Meredith Coelho. Meredith, I’ll email you to get your snail mail addy. Thanks everyone for all your lovely comments. If you didn’t win, please buy my book! I’d love to teach you brioche. Purchase from your LYS or directly from the publisher.

One more chapter’s projects to show you after this, in which we get to combine all our new brioche techniques.

(All photos in this post are by Angela Watts, Tekoa Rose Photography)

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Brioche Knit Love: Syncopated Brioche

Posted on October 8, 2021 | 7 comments

The photo tour of my upcoming book, Brioche Knit Love, continues. It’s a short chapter, but the next section of the book teaches you to syncopate your brioche. Syncopation means switching your brioche knits to brioche purls, and your brioche purls to brioche knits. Why do we want to do this? Brioche knit stitches pop up, and brioche purl stitches recede into the background.

You can syncopate entire rounds, as in the Crema Cowl. See how the colors and the white take turns being the star of the show? The colors that show are the brioche knit stitches.

And in the Shortbread Scarf the knits and purls trade places within the rows, to create the checkerboard pattern you see here. Both of these patterns are knit with Knit Picks Chroma Worsted. I love the subtle shading of this gradient yarn. The Shortbread Scarf is named because the squares make me think of shortbread squares.

I baked some chocolate chip shortbread to share with you, and you can bake your own. The recipe is in the book.

Once syncopation is in your toolkit, we’ll move on to brioche increases and decreases. This is where brioche really shines. No more straight lines! I’ll show you in a future post.

Don’t forget, I’m giving away a copy of Brioche Knit Love to a lucky blog reader! Leave a comment on the introductory blog post here, if you’d like a chance to win. I’m picking a winner Sunday night (October 10). Good luck!

(Photos in this post are by Angela Watts, Tekoa Rose Photography)

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