Category Archives: yarn

On the needles: Qiviut and Chroma!

Posted on November 10, 2023 | 7 comments

I just finished a design project (picture soon). I’m a monogamous knitter, so that meant I had nothing on the needles. Quelle horreur! I poked around my limited stash, and found the qiviut I bought at Changing Tides in Juneau while on the Vogue Knitting Alaska Cruise in September.

This is one ounce of qiviut/qiveut (musk ox yarn), 200 yards. I guess that means it’s laceweight, not fingering! I don’t usually enjoy knitting with laceweight, but this is so fluffy, it doesn’t feel skinny.

Especially when knitting on US 6 needles! I poked around on Ravelry to see what other people made with a single skein of this yarn. The Bubble Net cowl is a popular choice. I bought the pattern and cast on. Yes, I could have chosen any simple lace pattern and figured something out, but this will be a one and done project. It’s not a design project and I wanted someone else to do the gauge/cast on math/needle sizing for me. Perfect!

The lace is a four row repeat, and two of those rows are just knitting rest rows. But the other two require chanting in my head, especially because the yarn is dark and it’s hard to read my knitting.

knit blanket square
Knit Picks Chroma Twist in Sandpiper

So I also cast on a second project. Quite a novelty to have more than one project! This is one block out of 9 planned blanket blocks. I have the yarn for this project because I designed the Impressionist Kaleidoscope Blanket for Knit Picks in 2021. They sent me enough yarn for the design, but I only knit one of the blocks while designing it, the one pictured above. The rest of the blocks are all knit the same, so I didn’t knit them!

Knit Picks Chroma Twist in Lupine

Knit Picks chose their own color for the sample knit. It’s all garter stitch, from the mitered squares in the center to the log cabin borders. The pattern is easy to remember, but the constant change from mitered square to mitered square, and then to the log cabin border keeps the knitting interesting. It’s not just one big garter stitch blob.

Chroma Twist yarn changes color on its own, giving each blanket square its own dynamic personality. And the pattern is free! It was part of Knit Picks’ Twelve Weeks of Gifting in 2021. I’ll knit on this when it’s too dark to see my qiviut stitches, or if I need to zone out while dreaming of what I’m designing next…

How many projects do you have on your needles?

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, yarn

Tagged , , , ,

Celebrating Brioche Knit Love

Posted on October 30, 2023 | 3 comments
Brioche Knit Love

October marks the second anniversary of the publication of my book, Brioche Knit Love. I wrote it in 2021, as an extension of my love for designing and teaching brioche knitting. It’s still my favorite kind of knitting!

Seafoam Latte scarf

I’m so glad I had the opportunity to write this book. It was first published by Marie Greene’s Library House Press, which no longer exists. Since then it sold out, and I had to figure out how to keep it going.

Printing 1000 copies and running a warehouse from my home? I didn’t have the mental bandwidth for that. In May I finally figured out how to sell it via Amazon/Kindle Publishing Direct, and that works really well for me. I don’t have to mail anything myself, which is great. I also sell the books wholesale to local yarn shops, if it works for both of us. Winner!

I’ve been enjoying all the Brioche Knit Love Facebook Memories posts this month, so I wanted to share that bit of fun.

Seagull Flight

If you want a book that takes you from beginning to more advanced brioche, Brioche Knit Love is the book for you. I made video tutorials to go with the book, too, for a complete brioche experience.

Currently on the needles: more brioche! It’s all about the syncopated brioche edges on this piece. I’m knitting with this gorgeous Anzula Lucero DK which has a bit of sparkle in it.

I’m finding that I’m on a roll with wooden needles; I really like them for a little more control than my usual stainless steel. These needles are Knitters Pride Ginger. I like the finish on these birch needles; they’re not overly slick. But not sticky, either!

Do you have a favorite type of needle? I find it depends on the yarn. For this project, these needles are perfect!

3 Comments

Posted in Knit, my book project, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , ,

Coming soon: a bit of brioche

Posted on October 24, 2023 | 7 comments
Aspen leaves on a brioche cowl

I just finished knitting the second iteration of this piece, a bit smaller than the one shown. It’s a cowl that looks like a triangular shawl. This is one of my favorite shapes, because it’s so easy to wear. No danger of falling off!

Swatching with a Dutch 75 on our Alaska cruise last month

The cowl features syncopated brioche rib, and an aspen leaf motif that climbs along the edge. It takes two skeins of fingering weight yarn in contrasting colors. I knit both sizes with my two skeins of Manos del Uruguay Alegria.

I’m looking for a few brioche-loving test knitters. Is that you? Let me know!

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , ,

Introducing: Star Flower Shawl

Posted on October 19, 2023 | 3 comments
Star Flower Shawl: Dream in Color Smooshy, Tip Top Tangerine and Sonoran Magic

This gorgeous shawl has been in the works since last spring! I wanted it to be absolutely perfect, and let the yarn tell me what it should be. The first idea was a whisper, and I refined it several times until it sang out. The shawl features flowers and assigned pooling stars (or are they flowers, too?) on a garter stitch background. I love that it has more than just assigned pooling; lace adds a harmonious counterpoint. And it’s an answer to several knitters who wanted a shawl instead of a cowl.

Star Flower Shawl: Dream in Color Smooshy, Bali Wood and Rabbit Ears

Choose two 420 yard skeins of fingering weight yarn and enjoy the star show! I loved choosing these color combinations in Dream in Color Smooshy.

Star Flower Shawl: Dream in Color Smooshy, Violet Fields and Lime Ice

So much so that I helped test knitter Ann Berg pick these for her version, too!

Pink Pop and Sonoran Magic would also be lovely!

The Star Flower Shawl pattern is available through Ravelry, link here.

It’s also available through Payhip, link here.

Use coupon code SHINE through October 25, 2023 for 15% off the pattern on either site. Edit: I’m extending this to October 28, 2023 because I forgot to post to Instagram before Rhinebeck weekend, and it got a little lost!

Thank you to tech editor Jen Lucas, test knitter Annie Berg, and model Sharon Hsu.

Three lacy flowers at the center neckline
Star Flowers

This combination made me think of meteor showers amid the Milky Way. What do you want yours to be?

3 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , ,

Assigned pooling kits!

Posted on October 17, 2023 | 20 comments

Update: I have requests for more yarn than I have left. I’ll go through my email and let everyone know if I have yarn for them. Thanks so much your interest!

I’m back from Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival; I enjoyed teaching and a quick spin through the market and exhibits. But first: I have a bit of extra yarn from my pooling class, and wanted to offer it in kits with my patterns that go with it. The kit includes 1 skein of Yarn Snob’s A Wondrous Worsted in the Times Square colorway and download codes for my TWO patterns that were designed with it. You get to choose which project to knit!

Pooling is a Cinch (hat and cowl)
Firefly Trails Cowl

The kit is $36 including shipping to USA addresses. The retail value of this kit before shipping is $43 (yarn and two patterns). Interested? Please leave a comment and I’ll email you back. (You can tell that kits are not my usual business; I’m not set up to do this automatically.)

Pooling really is a cinch! Here’s longtime OFFF volunteer Sue, happily pooling away during class. You can do it, too!

More on OFFF when I catch up with myself…

20 Comments

Posted in events, Knit, yarn

Tagged , , ,

Slip Away Cowl update

Posted on September 17, 2023 | 7 comments
Slip Away Cowl

I just updated my Slip Away Cowl pattern. I’ve added a bonus stitch pattern, Zig Zag Lightning. It uses a nifty cable stitch to zigzag the slipped stitches.

Zig Zag Lightning

I also updated the single garter stitch edge to a 2 stitch knit-in i-cord edging. I really like it; you can see it on the edges of the swatch above. You probably won’t see much of it when the cowl is worn, but it’s a great skill to have in your knitting toolbox. It’s not just for slip stitch knitting. It looks especially nice on garter stitch.

Slip Away Cowl

I enjoyed knitting this new sample, after I finally settled on colors. This is English Rose and Liquidambar in Malabrigo Rios.

I originally designed the Slip Away Cowl as a teaching piece. The cowl is knit with two colors of worsted weight yarn. It features six 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 updated Slip Away Cowl pattern is available on Ravelry and Payhip. If you purchased this from me (not The Knitting Circle) previously, you’ll see the updated pattern available to you there. I’ll leave the original pattern there too, in case you prefer the previous garter edge. If you’re new to Slip Away, use the code SlipSlide for 20% off, through September 25, 2023.

Dotty Bed Socks

If you love slip stitch, also consider my Dotty Bed Socks. They’re 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 September 25, 2023.

I do love knitting with two colors, one at a time. It’s like…brioche! Which is on my needles again, finally. More on that, soon.

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged , , , ,

Pink

Posted on September 16, 2023 | 11 comments
Liquidambar and English Rose

The pink of this English Rose by Malabrigo is so hard to capture with a camera.

But adding more colors to the photo seems to help! Vogue Knitting sent me flowers and get well wishes. Feeling pretty good over here! Still testing positive for Covid, though. I’m glad tomorrow’s class is via Zoom!

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, yarn

Tagged

Buggiflooer Cowl

Posted on September 15, 2023 | 3 comments

Oh, I love everything about this finished project!

Just off the needles, the stitches were a little burbly, and the ribbing at top and bottom were a bit flared.

A little bath with Soak woolwash, and a pat out, and everything is much smoother.

I’ll wear it like this, because I want the flower to show under my chin; the side motifs will scrunch down a bit. Better than centering the side motif, and losing the flowers!

I’m really pleased with the colors. I had the Granite, Lipstick, White, and Lupin as leftovers from last year’s Bonnie Isle hat. The black (Mirry Dancer) and oatmeal (Eesit/White) are new. I love how the Eesit/White warms the palette up a bit. Very subtle, but it’s there.

Mods: Many! This is from the Shetland Wool Week Buggiflooer Beanie pattern. I reduced the stitch count based on my usual gauge on US 3 needles with Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. I used 136 stitches so I could use 4 repeats of the flower chart. I shortened the ribbing by 3 rounds, because I wanted more flower than ribbing. My cowl measures 20” x 6.75” inches, blocked. It grew taller by half an inch with blocking, but the width did not change.

Now that I have this finished, I might knit a hat, on exactly this many stitches. It fits my head as well as it fits my neck. It’s a giant gauge swatch! We’ll see if I have some spare time.

Join my class on Sunday if you’d like me to walk you through the ins and outs of stranded colorwork! Register here.

3 Comments

Posted in KAL, Knit, yarn

Tagged ,

Alaska cruise: Yarn shop hop

Posted on September 14, 2023 | 8 comments

I had a great time on the Vogue Knitting Alaska Cruise on the Holland America Eurodam. I taught brioche classes, had fun with other knitters and DH (my plus one), and visited some cool towns and glaciers. But I know you’re here for the yarn, so I’ll start with my three yarn shop visits.

Display case at Changing Tides, and is that a JaMPDX yarn bowl?

Our first stop was in Juneau. I made a quick scouting trip as DH waited for me in a coffee shop before our tour to Mendenhall Glacier. Changing Tides (Instagram link, formerly Seaside Yarns) is right in the port area. They have yarn and lots of fabric for quilters, too. Local dyers Juneau Woolies and Alaskan Yarn Co. are featured here.

Qiviut, or qiveut

I try not to stash a lot of yarn; I’d rather shop for each project as I go. But I knew I wanted to get a skein of qiviut, musk ox fiber, while on this trip. You can buy qiviut yarn in its natural brown color, but this lovely Violet called my name. Qiviut is very soft with a lovely halo. Stitch definition won’t be great, but that’s not the point. It’s lightweight, warm, and cozy, and it packs down to nearly nothing. This skein is 200 yards of fingering weight, and it will be a simple cowl, eventually.

Qiviut facts, click to embiggen

Changing Tides also had a little goodie bag for VK cruisers: a mini skein, postcard, and tea. Sweet!

In Sitka I stopped at the Raven’s Hook, a small arts and crafts store with yarn and other craft supplies. No qiviut here.

My favorite thing here was the yarn dyed by Raven Frog Fibers in kits for the Glacier Bay Beanie by Nancy Bates. I resisted because I knew I’d never knit the hat (I don’t wear them very often), but oh how I coveted that blue yarn! I’d love a whole skein of it, please.

In Ketchikan I visited Fabulous Fiber Arts and More (formerly The Hive on the Creek). This is an easy walk from the dock.

They have an inspiring wall of yarn from Raven Frog Fibers (and more twisted hanks in the cubbies below), including the Glacier Bay Beanie kits. I still resisted the beanie, but I swear it was following me!

Raven Frog’s Garden Wall colorway was swoon-worthy.

Fabulous Fiber’s other featured indie dyer is Robin’s Nest Fiber Arts; Robin is one of the owners of the shop. She dyes very pretty yarns on interesting bases.

I fell in love with this Robin’s Nest color on a sparkle base, but Rhoda found it first. Clearly it’s her palette; it goes with what she’s wearing! And no, Rhoda wasn’t on my cruise; she and Jen were on a different ship, the Royal Princess. We ran into each other in both Juneau and Ketchikan. (I first met Rhoda and Jen at VKLNYC last February.) Like the beanie kit, I think they’re following me!

Juneau meetup

They were out of qiviut here, so I’m glad I bought some in Juneau while I had the chance. That’s my lone Alaska yarn souvenir.

My other cruise souvenir? Covid-19! After we got home, I poured myself a glass of bubbly. It didn’t taste like anything. Nor did the cherry tomato, chocolate chips, and pistachios I tried after that. Uh-oh. (Breakfast on the ship was delicious that morning.)

Guess which one is mine? I feel like I have a cold; it’s not terrible. I’m hoping I can taste/smell things again soon!

8 Comments

Posted in travel, yarn

Tagged , , , ,

Tonal and color contrast, redux

Posted on September 13, 2023 | 2 comments

I’m back from Alaska with lots to blog, eventually. It will take a while to catch up!

Remember I was looking for a couple social knitting projects to take with me? I didn’t knit much on my Slip Away Cowl sample; too much counting. But I worked on it in my stateroom at night, and a bit when I got back home.

I’m not happy with it; it needs more tonal contrast. Or color contrast, or something.

I’ll save the blue-green Solis (one of my favorite Malabrigo colors) for another time. The variegated Liquidambar needs to be the feature of this project. I lined it up with all my Rios leftovers that had enough to work this project.

I thought that the deep purple would be perfect, that it would make the Liquidambar pop, but a few rows in I could see that it would all be too dark. I then tried the light pink, but it was so strikingly pale that it wanted to upstage the Liquidambar.

Onward to English Rose. I love how vibrant the pink/orange combo is. From the previous photo you can see that there’s not a lot of tonal contrast here, either, but I think the Liquidambar reads as blue/green overall (too similar to the Solis), and makes a better contrast with this deep pink/orange.

I can see the contrast better, both color and tonal. You can see it in the vertical stripe section in the grayscale photo. The garter/stockinette contrast helps move things along, too.

I tried to take a picture of just the knitting, but my camera keeps reading the pink incorrectly, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one for now. It’s very fun knitting, but I have to set it aside to work on my Buggiflooer Cowl before Sunday’s class.

If you’d like to learn about stranded colorwork with me, sign up here! Class is Sunday at 1:30 pm Pacific, via Zoom.

If you’d like to learn more about slip stitch knitting, I’m teaching a Zoom class Friday Oct. 27 for Virtual VKLive, featuring the Slip Away Cowl. Registration isn’t open yet; I’ll let you know! The Slip Away Cowl is a fun introduction to colorwork. It looks complicated, but it’s slip stitch knitting. Only one color is used per row, which means there is no stranding or juggling two colors in the round.

More cruise blogging soon!

2 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit, yarn

Tagged ,