PDXKnitterati

Fall classes, virtual and live

Posted on September 2, 2024 | Comments Off

I’m teaching for Vogue Knitting for the September virtual event September 13-15, and live in New York City January 16-19. Who says you can’t have it both ways?

Whale Conga Line, modeled by my sister Sharon

I’m teaching Brioche Doctor (fixing mistakes), Whale Conga Line (brioche increases, decreases, syncopation), and Brioche Pastiche (beginning brioche, choose your own adventure). And of course there are a lot of other teachers offering classes in nearly every fibery thing you can think of, too! Registration is here.

Vogue Knitting Live NYC is January 16-19. I’m teaching Whale Conga Line, my only brioche class at that event. I’m also teaching a whole bunch of technique driven classes: Log cabin knitting, steeking, fixing mistakes, entrelac, fancy stitches. Early registration for VIP packages starts later this week, and regular registration will come after that. The registration link is here.

I’m also teaching locally at For Yarn’s Sake in Beaverton, Oregon, and at Hook and Needle in Vancouver Washington. Here’s the schedule:

Sheepy Steeky Coasters at Hook and Needle, Sept. 28
Brioche Pastiche at For Yarn’s Sake, Sept 29
Brioche Pastiche at Hook and Needle, Oct. 19
Stranded Colorwork: Islesburgh Toorie at For Yarn’s Sake, Oct. 20
Thrumbelina Thrummed Slippers at For Yarn’s Sake, Nov. 17
Starfall Assigned Pooling Cowl Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake, Dec. 7

Come knit with me!

Comments Off on Fall classes, virtual and live

Posted in classes, Knit

Tagged knitting classes

Plum torte, redux

Posted on September 1, 2024 | 8 comments

The little purple Italian plums are in season, and my friend Ann gave me some. They’re so good for snacking, and also for cake!

Clockwise: Plums, placed, cinnamon sugared, baked

I love the way the batter rises up around the plums, so they’re just peeking out. Here’s the recipe from 2021.

Plum Torte

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) salted butter, softened
2 large eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour plus 1/4 cup corn meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
10 – 12 small plums, cut in half and pitted
1 tablespoon chunky sugar and a sprinkle of ground cinnamon for garnish

Cream sugar and butter, beat in eggs, beat in dry ingredients. The batter is quite thick. I put mine in an 8” springform pan (lined with parchment paper), because that’s the one I have. Top with plums, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or til done. Cool, remove from pan, celebrate!

It’s starting to feel like fall. School is in session; I can tell by the kids passing by on their way to the local school. Plum cake is also a sign of fall. And so is woolly knitting!

8 Comments

Posted in foodies!, recipe

Tagged baking, plum torte

Dream fulfilled, and upcoming design

Posted on August 29, 2024 | 12 comments

Remember this? It was worth frogging, re-skeining, soaking, rewinding.

I’ve been dreaming all year about a way to combine brioche and assigned pooling/algorithmic knitting in a way that pleases me. I’ve done a lot of knitting and frogging along the way.

I love this color pooling yarn from Yarn Snob/Knits All Done; the green/purple is Bellina, which is named for an orchid. I wanted to make it sing! Bisquee thinks it looks good, too. Do you see peacock feathers? Flames?

I had first used some of this yarn to design Trailing Leaves (coming soon!). It’s lovely, but you can’t see the pooled stitches, so Trailing Leaves will be just brioche. And no, I didn’t frog this cowl!

I frogged this one, that I knit with the remaining yarn. And I’m glad I did.

Side note: Test knitting for Trailing Leaves is wrapping up, and I’m planning to publish it next week. I have a wonderful group of test knitters; we’ve had a great time working on this. I’ve knit two more samples along with them. Stay tuned!

12 Comments

Posted in cat, pattern design, yarn

Tagged algorithmic knitting, assigned pooling, Brioche knitting, Knits All Done, trailing leaves, trailing leaves cowl, yarn snob yarns

Reclaiming my yarn

Posted on August 14, 2024 | 2 comments

This colorway, Bellina from Yarn Snob/Knits All Done, is one of my favorites, ever. It made me want to try to combine assigned pooling with my favorite technique brioche.

The assigned pooling doesn’t really show up in Trailing Leaves (currently in test knitting phase). The brioche leaves are beautiful, but where’s the assigned pooling? I thought the issue was because the leaves are front and center, and the pooling is on the side, so I knit a small cowl with the same theme.

I know I’ll never wear the little cowl shown above, so why not reclaim the yarn?

The yarn was pretty kinky since I had wet blocked the cowl, so I wanted to smooth it out. (The last time I knit with previously blocked yarn, it really showed in the finished object. Lesson learned.)

I wound it on my niddy-noddy (had to google how to use it; it’s been a while). Look at that kink! I tied it off and soaked it, then squished it in a towel and gave it a nice snap to straighten it up.

Much better! It’s currently drying (not on the mannequin; that’s just for a nice picture). And then I’ll move on to attempt number 365 or so to see if I can successfully combine brioche and assigned pooling, without bobbles (not my fave look). Wish me luck!

2 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged Bellina orchid colorway, Knits All Done, trailing leaves, trailing leaves cowl, Yarn Snob

Another weekend, away

Posted on August 11, 2024 | 3 comments

Mosquito Bites (vodka/coconut rum/cranberry & pineapple juices)

I spent last weekend at a friend’s family house on the Alsea River, near Waldport on the Oregon Coast. There were four of us hanging out and having fun.

I finished one of my Trailing Leaves samples, and started another. I need two of them for yardage requirement information, since the first one isn’t knit according to the current version of the pattern.

I beaded a new ankle bracelet, and re-strung an older one with shiny new metal bits.

Salad is always more delish with fried halibut on top!

I started a second sample for Trailing Leaves, and found a clumsy join in the yarn (two unrelated colors together), so I started over.

The top one is the first clumsy join. I found the second (middle) one when i was casting on again. And the third (bottom) one? I was about at the same point I had been before. What are the chances of 3 joins in the same ball? And with a gradient, it really matters.

I decided that I wasn’t going to start over again; it didn’t look like the color was that different.

But it was; see where the dark blue starts again after the first pale bit at the bottom? It all works, but it could have been a bit more graceful. Hoping I don’t find any more joins! Next time I use a gradient like this, I think I’ll just rewind the whole ball before starting.

It was so nice to just be away with no to-do list!

I was supposed to be away this weekend, too, but my classes at Sitka Center at the coast didn’t fill. When we scheduled it, I didn’t know that it would be the same weekend as Flock Fiber Festival in Seattle, which is a big draw. I thought about going to Flock this weekend, but I really just needed a weekend at home.

Currently knitting in the backyard, with Cheetos. Perfect.

3 Comments

Posted in beading, Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged Alsea River, knitting, trailing leaves cowl

Sweet summer vibes

Posted on July 30, 2024 | 5 comments

My friend Linda’s yellow plum tree is having a stellar year, which means I was invited to pick plums! Last year there were only 20 plums, so I’ve been out of my favorite jam for quite some time.

I picked 8 pounds, enough for 2 batches, 22 half-pints of jam. This is the basic Sure-Jell jam recipe, with the addition of 1/4 cup of chopped candied ginger, and 1/4 cup of bourbon. Yum!

Orange jam, orange cat! I made jam, and then ran off to Sisters, Oregon to visit friends.

We had some time at Suttle Lake, which was lovely even with a bit of wildfire haze from somewhere not too nearby.

And we sang at B’s church on Sunday. It’s so nice to get together to sing songs of hope, joy, and peace.

Now I’m home and knitting another sample along with my test knitters. And more yarn has just arrived for what I’m hoping will be the perfect brioche/assigned pooling combination. More on that soon!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, music, Pie Birds, travel

Tagged pie birds, plum jam, yellow plums

Trailing Leaves test knit call

Posted on July 23, 2024 | 20 comments

Trailing Leaves is back from my tech editor, and it’s ready for test knitting. This is a brioche bandana cowl knit in the round beginning at the neck. It gently increases down to the bottom edge. A central leaf pattern is created with syncopated brioche; syncopated brioche also makes the bottom edge pop. Trailing Leaves is knit with two skeins of fingering weight yarn in contrasting colors.

If you’re interested in test knitting, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll contact you. (Your email is visible to me, but not public.)

current sample knit in Dream in Color Smooshy

I’m currently knitting a second sample; it was perfect airplane and deck knitting this past weekend! We visited friends in Chicago and had a fabulous time.

The Bean (Cloud Gate) in Millennium Park

Bronzeville tour with Dilla of ChicagoMahogany.com

50th Anniversary Tour, Prairie Home Companion

And a blues show (Stephen Hull Experience) at Rosa’s Lounge, and a late night show at Second City. Whew! We also ate ourselves silly…Filipino, Cambodian, English pub, Chicago deep dish pizza. Our friends Susan and Patrick are phenomenal hosts, as is their sweet dog Luna.

Back to work for me! Let me know if you’d like to test knit!

20 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Brioche knitting, chicago, knitting, knitting-wips, test knit, trailing leaves cowl

Back from camping

Posted on July 15, 2024 | 8 comments

A hot dry weekend is always better under the trees!

It was our very timely ladies’ camping weekend. We went to Panther Creek Campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, just north of Carson, Washington.

The water in the creek is clear and cold, perfect for a bracing dip on a hot day. The rocks are such pretty colors, too.

Panther Creek Falls is a twisty drive of 4.7 miles up the road, and then a very short hike. You can go down to the bottom of the falls. Stunning!

Panther Creek Falls, from the bottom

What a gorgeous beetle.

The tent pad at the vacant site next to ours made a great tai chi space.

I played with beads (ankle bracelets)

and I almost finished this project. We’ll see if blocking makes the brioche patterning show up better in the green section. Super fun to knit.

We also played games and just had a great time hanging out. It was a perfect weekend with friends.

How was your weekend? Hot? Do you knit when it’s hot? I always knit!

8 Comments

Posted in beading, Other craftiness, pattern design, Portland area fun, travel

Tagged Brioche knitting, camping, gifford pinchot national forest, panther creek campground, tai chi, waterfalls

Decisions, decisions

Posted on July 9, 2024 | 10 comments

I’ve been playing with some ideas, zeroing in on what to keep, and what to toss. This first version (Knit Picks Chroma Fingering) was my attempt to spare my pooling yarn from the tenth frog/restart. It’s pretty good, just a bit longer than I wanted. I’ve got it figured out, and I’ll be looking for test knitters soon.

This pooled version (Yarn Snob Fingering) is the right length, and I changed the increase rate to get to the number of stitches I wanted for the edging. But you can’t really see the pooling, because it’s on the sides and back of the green brioche section. Why do all that extra work, if you’re not going to see it when you wear the finished object? The leaves are really the star of the show. So I don’t plan to release a pooled version as a pattern; it’s a unicorn.

That doesn’t mean I want to give up the idea of combining brioche with pooling/algorithmic knitting.

Places you can knit: Bon Bon Vivant sound check!

There’s enough yarn left over for me to design another piece. It features that lovely syncopated edging, too. I’m halfway done…

Places you can knit: Margo Price at the Blues Fest

We had a great time at the Waterfront Blues Festival this weekend. It was HOT, so we were mostly there during the evenings. Of course I brought my knitting.

And my Lantern Moon fan, which I’ve had since 2009 (Sock Summit!). Make your own breeze!

Local great Curtis Salgado and 11 more fabulous musicians

Hawthorne Bridge lift for the fireworks barge to get through

Doing our part! (We take this picture every year)

Bisquee hopes you’re keeping cool! We have central air conditioning, so she’s not as hot as she looks. She’s enjoying her bit of sunshine.

Do you knit when it’s hot? It’s always nice indoors here! But I did knit outdoors at the festival, too. At least it was a small, not very woolly project!

10 Comments

Posted in cat, Knit, pattern design, Portland area fun, yarn

Tagged algorithmic knitting, assigned pooling, bon bon vivant, briioche cowl, Brioche knitting, trailing leaves cowl, waterfront blues festival

Orenburg Lace class at Black Sheep Gathering

Posted on July 3, 2024 | 7 comments

I took a little road trip down to Albany, Oregon on Saturday to visit Black Sheep Gathering. This year is the 50th year of this fiber festival, but it was my first time ever. I wanted to take a class with Galina Khmeleva, master lace knitter. We’ve been at many of the same festivals, but I’m usually teaching instead of taking classes. This was my chance!

Orenburg lace is knit with 10 different motifs, combined in many ways. It’s usually on a garter stitch background. Some motifs have patterning only on the right side rows, and some have patterning on both right and wrong side rows. All the stitches are either knit, yo, k2tog, or k3tog. There’s no directionality to the decreases; the work is so fine that it really doesn’t show.

We didn’t have time to knit through all the motifs, but the magic is really in the combining. We knit our swatch samplers with Jaggerspun Zephyr, a laceweight blend of wool and silk, 1120 yards/100g. Skinny, but not hard to knit with. I knit my swatch on US 2 needles, and I loved the stitch definition.

Galina gave us enough handouts to keep us busy for years to come. And she regaled us with many stories of the history of Orenburg lace, and more.

Gossamer web, indeed!

The Warm Shawl is a heavier version of Orenburg lace. Simpler patterning, but it’s not really that heavy, either. It’s knit in pieces and grafted together with a special grafting method, which was the subject of the next day’s class. Alas, I was not staying over.

I did visit with the sheep in the barn, and also viewed the fiber work exhibits.

Look at this beautiful wool! This is Sorpresa, a Valais Blacknose sheep from Honey Hoof Ranch.

Even horns are beautiful.

There was a sheep to shawl exhibit from 9 am to 2 pm.

And the fiber work exhibits were beautiful.

This shawl by Lucy Swift was my favorite piece in the exhibits.

All right, back to knitting! I’m knitting another sample of the leafy brioche cowl now that I have it figured out. I need to decide if I want to publish an assigned pooling/algorithmic knitting version in addition to the regular one. More on that later…

7 Comments

Posted in classes, events, Knit, travel, yarn

Tagged black sheep gathering, galina khmeleva, knitting class, lace knitting, orenburg lace