I’m so happy with my current WIP (work in progress). It’s brioche knitting with Knit Picks Chroma Fingering in Drawing Room and Bare. I love the gentle color shifts in Drawing Room. This was yarn I found in my small stash.
Of course it can’t be just plain brioche rib, right? So there’s some syncopation going on, plus some increases and decreases to make it pretty and engaging to knit. Because this yarn is single ply, it’s knitting up to be a fluffy wonder, but probably too warm to wear until this fall. I think the plied version is going to be be perceived as lighter weight, even though they’re both fingering weight yarns.
Side craft: I saw Romi Hill do this on Instagram, so I wanted to try it.
Crafty pouf time!
You know those bath poufs for scrubbing? They’re made of a long tube of nylon net, which is pretty much the same as a very long yarn sleeve. I had a pink one at home, but decided that I wanted a more neutral color. This pale green was as close as I could get to neutral. I snipped the string that held the center together, and was rewarded with 3.5 yards (3.2 meters) of usable tube.
Yarn sleeves!
I like mine to be about 5.5 to 6 inches long; they shorten up when stretched. I’ll get at least 20 sleeves from this inexpensive (less than $2) pouf. I’m finding that these are a little looser/wider than the commercial ones, but they’ll do. (Edit: Romi says that steaming them can make them a little narrower/tighter.) Why do I like these sleeves? They keep the ball tidy, no yarn unwinding from the outside of my center pull ball.
Knit Picks Chroma in Bare and Drawing Room
Do you prefer a center pull ball/cake, or working from the outside? I usually like center pull. But I’m knitting one of my projects with Knit Picks Chroma, and it’s easier to knit from the outside of those balls, no sleeve needed.
This monogamous knitter just said “one of my projects,” haha! I kind of have two right now. They’re related; the green one is an brioche and assigned pooling project but I made an math error in my decrease rate, whoops! It was bottom up, so while I was re-figuring, I also decided to make it top down. And to save the yarn from many more froggings while I work things out (it’s holding up amazingly well through several different design ideas), I decided to do a non-pooled version with the Chroma.
I’ve just frogged the green project, so I really do have only one project on my needles!
Purple was the overwhelming favorite pick for comb and wattle, and I think it looks great. I chose green eyes to pick up the green in her tail feathers. And I didn’t bother washing/blocking before seaming; her stitches are pretty even, right off the needles. Git. Er. Done.
Eggatha joins her big sister Henelope Aubergina Featherington. I used a US7 needle for Henelope, and a US5 for Eggatha. Eggatha is smaller and stuffed more firmly, which is what I wanted for Emotional Support Chicken #2. Do you ever knit something more than once, because you have an idea for how you’d like it better if you changed something about it?
Henelope and Eggatha, size comparison
And now I guess I should get back to work knitting! I think I’m going to frog my brioche/assigned pooling project and start over, because it’s not quite what I want. Almost there, I hope? The chickens have been a nice diversion while I ponder what happens next. Procrastiknitting for the win!
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!
I don’t stash a lot of yarn, which means I don’t shop for a lot of yarn while I’m at fiber festivals. But here’s what followed me home.
Red Alder stitch markers Red Alder 2024 colorway from Greenwood Fiberworks
Organizers John and Becky gave me a sweet goodie bag that included Red Alder stitch markers and two half skeins of Red Alder 2024 sock yarn from Greenwood Fiberworks. This was a thank you for redesigning my Aspen Leaf Coasters into red alder leaves for my brioche class. I also made coasters for John and Becky. I’ll be adding the red alder leaves to the pattern eventually, in case you need red alder leaves, too.
Aspen and red alder leaf shapes
I’m never quite sure what to do with variegated yarns unless I add a tonal or speckle to tone them down, so I went to the Greenwood Fiberworks booth to find something suitable.
Carolyn (Greenwood) suggested this beautiful Violet semi-solid.
Sandpiper minis and Contempo
I was also looking for something to go with this set of minis in Sandpiper; I traded a copy of my Brioche Knit Love for the minis at Oregon Flock and Fiber in 2022, maybe? She suggested this Contempo variegated. I think it might end up as brioche, somehow.
Although these two skeins look pretty nice together, too! I’ll let all those ideas sit for a bit while I work on other things.
Knit stitch necklace from Birdie Parker
I may not stash a lot of fiber, but I can’t resist knit-adjacent lovelies! This is my new necklace from Birdie Parker. So many beautiful things to choose from, but I finally did.
I love my new entrelac print leggings. They go perfectly with my 31 year old sweater that’s still going strong!
Myrna Stahman
The last thing I brought home: 2 copies of Myrna Stahman’s book, Stahman’s Shawls and Scarves, which are a masterpiece of lace knitting. She is downsizing the last of her print copies, giving them away. I have 2 signed copies, one for me and one for the Puddletown Knitter’s Guild.
Okay, that’s my Red Alder takeaway. Red Alder Fiber Arts Festival is a lovely event that includes knitting, spinning, weaving, and more; save the date for next year: February 13-16, 2025.
Reminder: Puddletown Knitter’s Guild is having a get together as part of Knitting for Food. We’re raising funds and doing some charity knitting, as well as enjoying the company of other knitters. And we have great prizes, including the Myrna Stahman book.
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 had forgotten how much fun it is to knit cables, especially with bulky yarn.
When Harry Met Lucy
It’s mesmerizing to watch the cables develop. I just finished Row 50 of the back. Yes, there are two row counters because the center cable has a 32 row repeat, and the side cables have a 24 row repeat.
I put the charts inside a page protector to give it some body, and I’m using my ribbon covered magnets from a Slipped Stitch Studios pattern keeper to keep track of which row(s) I’m on. Why not just use the pattern keeper? Because the magnets only work if the chart is printed in portrait mode, and I can read them better printed in landscape mode!
The next step in the sweater process is deciding if I want to modify the drop shoulder for a better fit for DH. I modified this favorite sweater for him (Sky Lights from North Island Designs, not on Ravelry because it’s THAT old), so I put it on the floor to measure it.
Helpful Knitting Cat Bisquee
I’ve measured all the important bits: Length to armhole, cut in at armhole, armhole depth, neck width, overall length of sweater and sleeve. Now to translate it to the current knit…
We’ve had an ice storm on top of a snowstorm, so we’ve been cooped up inside. Perfect weather for knitting, and for baking.
Calvin helped me make blueberry muffins. He can smell melted butter from the other room.
The birds are puffed up against the cold, and hungry, so I put out bird seed.
I’m ready for the ice to melt. And I need to start getting ready to go to VKLive NYC next week. Must. Stop. Knitting. Sweater. For now at least! How are things where you are?
I finally have enough projects off my plate that I can begin to contemplate this KAL. It has a lot going on, and it’s definitely not for knitting on the go!
Bisquee and I worked 3 stockinette gauge swatches. I couldn’t get gauge, even going down two needle sizes. Did I wash and block my swatch? Nah, that would just make it relax, and make that desired gauge even more unattainable. So I just cast on with the smaller needles to see what would really happen. Sometimes you just have to jump in.
This bulky-ish yarn on US 8 needles wasn’t going to make my hands happy over the long run. And the width of the piece was much smaller than it should have been! I did some math, and the actual measurement over the cabled body is the same as I’d get with that stockinette gauge, and that can’t be true. Cables pull in, and stockinette doesn’t.
I went back to the original US 10 that was recommended and cast on for the 42” sweater. Even though my stockinette gauge is way too big, the actual knitted piece was very different. The 42” size was coming out at 39”, too small.
I cast on again for the 46” sweater and it is measuring 44”. (Well, really 22”, because it’s just the back.) That’s a good amount of ease on DH, but not ridiculous. And it’s better than being too small. The fabric has a nice hand, so far. If I were using a larger needle, the fabric would be too loose. So I’m ignoring the stockinette gauge, because there really isn’t any stockinette in this pattern.
I’m planning on using this cabled body as a jumping off point, and then adapting a few things. I don’t want a plain drop shoulder sweater, so I’ll bind off some stitches at the armhole for a better shoulder fit for DH. Then I’ll finagle the slightly set in sleeve, which I’ve done before on a sweater that fits him well.
We’ll see if I can get past my two skein attention span and actually do all those things I’m planning!
The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Mineral Heather. It’s kind of a heathered gray with violet undertones.
Oh, about that cable hook: I usually do my cables without a cable needle, but for the 3 over 3 crosses, it’s not comfortable, so I’m back to using a hook. The 3/1 and 1/3 cables don’t need it. Do whatever makes you happy!
Tools: I printed just the charts on one page. Perfect for my knitting bag! The 12 page pattern can sit at my desk. This is definitely home knitting!
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 