PDXKnitterati

Zen Rain KAL

Posted on May 27, 2011 | 8 comments

Thank you for your kind comments about Zen Rain! I’m really pleased with this design, and even more pleased that we’re having a knitalong.

For those of you knitting along, what yarn are you going to use? I’m currently on the ruffle of my third shawl (this one is for me, me, me). It’s knit with Alpha B’s Luxe yarn, 50%superwash merino, 50% silk. The color is stainless steel, with lots of shades of gray in it. It has a lovely sheen, and it’s really soft.

But to be fair, I should be knitting along with you! I’d happily knit another one of these; I just have to decide what to use. I’m not much of a skinny yarn sock knitter, but I do have a small collection of sock yarns, so I’ll pick one of those. I can hear you wondering, why does an avowed non-sock knitter have a collection of sock yarns? I picked up several at Deb Accuardi’s pre-Sock Summit luncheon a couple years ago (I really hope she does another luncheon this year), and I also have some from yarn clubs. It will all get used, somehow.

What do you think of a girly-girl pink, extravagantly ruffled Zen Rain? I have this gorgeous skein of 100% Rambouillet single ply from Knitted Wit; it’s part of her Community Supported Yarn/Fiber club. Berries were her inspiration for this first delivery.

Let me know what you’re using. If you’re not in the KAL yet, but would like to be, let me know. I’ll give you a discount coupon code to use at the Ravelry checkout; the code is good through June 4. And I just started a Ravelry group so we can all post pictures and discuss as we go. Are you on Ravelry? The group is PDXKnitterati

Note: I think you have to go through Ravelry to have the option to use a coupon code. The Ravelry pattern page is here.

Cheers,
Michele

Let’s knit!

8 Comments

Posted in KAL

Tagged kal, zen rain, zen rain kal

Introducing…Zen Rain

Posted on May 25, 2011 | 12 comments

When I learned that there would be a Sock Summit in 2011, I knew that I wanted to design something special with sock yarn to commemorate the occasion. I wanted a shawl that would be a souvenir of Portland, where it rains, and rains, and rains. I asked Lorajean Kelley of Knitted Wit to dye a cloudy gray sky for me, and she did it with Bling, which is merino, silk, and silver.

This is Zen Rain. I was inspired by rain running down a window.

It’s shallow, and really wide, with a girly-girl ruffle. The extra wingspan lets the ends twist in a riot of ruffles, if you’re inclined to wear it that way.

You can also knit it with a more sedate ruffle, if you insist.

You can purchase this pattern through Ravelry on the pattern page now, or at the Knitted Wit booth at Sock Summit in July. I’m hoping the only rain we see at Sock Summit is Zen Rain!

Would you like to do a Knitalong? I’m thinking it would be a fun June project. The pattern will be $6, but if you’d like to participate in a KAL, let me know in the comments and I’ll send you a coupon code for $1 off the pattern, now through June 4.

Thanks to Rachel Nichols, Tami Hawes, and Christina Morales for test knitting for me.

12 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged kal, zen rain shawl

Sakura to Hanami, and Japan

Posted on May 19, 2011 | 8 comments

I’ve made some tweaks on the design formerly known as Sakura, making it shallower and wider. I like the way it fits me, and it looks great on Bobbi, too.

I’ve decided that I want to publish this two ways: One, through Ravelry, featuring the beautiful Sakura Silky n Single yarn that Knitted Wit dyed as a fundraiser for Japan disaster relief. This pattern is ready now; you can go to the pattern page here.

I also plan to publish this through the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program, which means that I need to re-knit it in Knit Picks yarn. Almost done! I also need to re-name the pattern; there’s already a Sakura in the IDP. Sakura thus becomes Hanami, which is Japanese for enjoying the beauty of flowers, traditionally through cherry blossom parties. Who doesn’t love a party? Alas, the cherry blossoms are all gone now, so I’ll have to find a different backdrop for the IDP version of this pattern.

In other news, I sold 90 copies of my Pacific Shawl pattern in March and April, which is $534. I have sent $534 to the American Red Cross for Japan disaster relief. Thanks so much for purchasing the pattern. Now I want to see your projects on Ravelry!

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged hanami cowl, Knit, sakura cowl

A bit of Bali

Posted on May 8, 2011 | 14 comments

I’ve been looking for a bag that is large enough, but not ridiculously huge, to carry a knitting project and my small purse, and sometimes my laptop, too. I also want it to zip shut so my stuff doesn’t fall out. Also on the wish list: An inside zip pocket so I can find my keys, and a cell phone pocket would be nice. And it has to be pretty. I think this fits the bill.

It’s Lantern Moon’s Bali Handuk Shopper. Lovely! (Note the Lantern Moon 10th anniversary pin on it, too.) I went over to Lantern Moon last week to check out new products for their blog, and this bag came home with me. It’s perfect. Thursday also happened to be Cinco de Mayo, and it was fiesta time at the office. Here’s Jesse, rolling out the cart of chips, salsa, guacamole, and margaritas. Jesse is in charge of the warehouse; he knows where everything is, and makes sure it all gets to the right place.

Sharon and Joel just came back from Vietnam, and Sharon picked up these candies in the Tokyo Narita airport. She says that the chocolate in the candy isn’t great, but isn’t the packaging awesome? Love it!

Happy Mother’s Day! Here’s the buzz at our house. I came home from church really hungry and found the guys in the kitchen.

They had bought a Belgian waffle iron and surprised me with lunch…after some trial and error. The first one stuck to the iron!

It all worked out, eventually.

I love it that they are fearless in the kitchen! Happy Mother’s Day to all moms.

14 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged bali handuk, waffles

Surfacing…

Posted on May 6, 2011 | 11 comments

It’s been a busy few weeks around here: holidays, a women’s retreat…but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been knitting. I’m finally happy with my lace shawl project, having knit it to completion, twice. Well, three times, if you count the first one that I completely frogged! Here’s the second version:

It’s a very shallow, wide piece of knitting, and there are a lot of ways to wear it. Scarf? Shawlette? Whatever suits your fancy. Thanks to Bobbi for modeling!

The third version has a less ruffly ruffle, and is currently on the blocking wires. The pattern is out to test knitters right now; we’ll see if I made sense! The impetus for this design is the upcoming Sock Summit. I wanted to do something with sock yarn, that wasn’t a sock! I asked my friend Lorajean Kelley (Knitted Wit) to dye a cloudy Portland sky, thinking that the yarn/pattern combination would make a great Sock Summit souvenir. This design will be called Zen Rain; I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

Speaking of Sock Summit, I am registered for three 3 hour classes, plus the Anna Zilboorg lecture and the opening night reception. My classes will be Photographing Your Fiber, Designing with Japanese Stitch Dictionaries, and Choosing Among Choices (sock design). Looking forward to all of it! I’ll also be roaming the marketplace and perhaps helping LJ a bit in her booth, too.

I didn’t take many pictures on retreat, too busy working! But here are a few. The labyrinth at Menucha Retreat and Conference Center in Corbett, OR is a great place to contemplate one’s life.

And the late afternoon light was absolutely magical.

I hope your weekend was grand, too. And here we are, on the verge of another one. Happy spring!

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit, Menucha, sock summit, zen rain shawl

Late night fiber finds

Posted on April 28, 2011 | 3 comments

I’m waiting for something to finish downloading, and found this through the Knitty Blog: a link to the corgi pattern from Knit Your Own Royal Wedding by Fiona Goble. Just a little something for you to celebrate the royal wedding…or not. But the dog is cute!

What’s downloading? Respect the Spindle by Abby Franquemont. Interweave Press currently has this for sale for 10 cents! How could I say no? I have this book, but sometimes a video is worth a thousand words. And the price is definitely right.

No pictures tonight; I wasn’t planning to post!

3 Comments

Posted in Knit, spinning

Let them eat cake

Posted on April 20, 2011 | 11 comments

Well, perhaps not this cake, unless they want a lot more fiber in their diet!

These are from the pattern for knitted cupcakes from Leigh Radford’s One Skein book. Aren’t they cute? Although I’m not sure mine look as much like cupcakes as hers do, and I’m not sure why. But they’re cute, and make a great base for birthday gift earrings as garnish.

The left one is actually quite a bit bigger than the one on the right. I used a size 5 needle for the base on the left, and went down to a 4 for the base on the right. The bases are Tahki Cotton Classic, and the top is Sprout organic cotton from Classic Elite. I think I like the smaller one better; the structure feels a bit more stable. I really like the way the bottoms look, the spoked decrease pattern warms the cockles of my heart.

There’s lots of yarn left for more cupcakes!

In other news, the lists of teachers and classes at Sock Summit are now posted. I looked at the class descriptions, and have determined that I want to take more classes than there are hours in the Sock Summit schedule. Oops.

And finally, I just checked on Ravelry, and I’ve sold 78 copies of my Pacific Shawl pattern in March and April. I’m donating all proceeds from online sales through April 30 to the Red Cross for Japan disaster relief. That’s $468 so far; thanks so much for helping to make this possible. Can we make it to $500? There’s still time!

11 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged knit cupcakes, leigh radford

Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival

Posted on April 18, 2011 | 7 comments

This past weekend was the first ever Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival in Hood River, Oregon. This event is the brainchild of Yvonne Ellsworth of Lavender Sheep, and sponsored by local yarn store Knot Another Hat. There were classes in spinning, knitting, and fiber selection. I wasn’t able to take classes this weekend, but I did drive out to visit the market on Saturday. I saw lots of fiber friends, old and new.

Knitted Wit (Lorajean) was hosting my patterns in her booth. Thanks, LJ! I see my blue Pacific Shawl as a bit of window dressing here.

Lorajean’s Baby O was having a fine time crawling over this suitcase. Hours of entertainment!

I sent the new Sakura cowl and mitts with her, too. I liked my pattern so much that I knit another on Saturday and wore it on Sunday.

It looks good on everybody! (I can’t believe Mookie let me do this.)

Spindlewood had some very lovely hand spindles. I did manage to resist, but only because I haven’t been spindling at all. These could manage to tempt me back, though.

Cheryl Newhouse from New Hue Handspuns had the coolest little spinning “wheel,” the miniSpinner from Hansen Crafts. It’s electricity driven by a foot pedal so she doesn’t have to treadle (she spins huge amounts of yarn). It’s a very small setup, but it’s highly efficient!

I met another single-L Michele. This is Michele LeBlanc from Toots LeBlanc. They specialize in unique woolen blends in all natural colors, using fiber from animals raised on small family farms in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Lovely stuff.

I stopped in at Knot Another Hat‘s booth, and saw lots of Lantern Moon bags, baskets, and notions in their center display. I also saw a swing bucket bag in a fabric I hadn’t seen before,and now there’s a new thing on my must-have list. I didn’t get a picture of it…what was I thinking?!

And I ran into Stevanie Pico from Pico Accuardi Dyeworks and Sarah, the owner of Knot Another Hat. Both were knitting away on their Lantern Moon ebony circulars.

I generally don’t buy much at festivals, because I like to have a plan for the yarn before I buy it, and I like to decide that just before casting on. But this came home to me:

One skein of Alpha B‘s Luxe B fingering weight, 50% superwash merino, 50% silk. The color is stainless steel, with lots of shades of gray in it. It has a lovely sheen, and it’s really soft. No, it won’t be socks! I have a new design on the needles, and this will be another version of it. Anne Morrow, the dyer, didn’t want to be in the picture, so here’s a picture of the rest of the Luxe B yarn. Mine is on the bottom right!

It sounds like this was a successful event, and I’m looking forward to it coming around again next year. How was your weekend?

7 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged columbia gorge fiber festival

sakura

Posted on April 15, 2011 | 8 comments

Sorry for the radio silence; I’ve been knitting! I just finished a little something.

This is Sakura, a cowl and wristlet set. It was inspired by the lovely yarns that Lorajean (Knitted Wit) dyed as a fundraiser for Japan earthquake relief. When I saw the luminous Silky n Single (60/40 wool/silk single ply worsted weight), I knew just what it should be. It took a few tries to get it right, though.

Knitting with this yarn is like knitting with a cloud. It’s light, and airy, and sturdy and delicate at the same time. Sturdy to knit with, but it doesn’t particularly like being frogged! So I’ve done all the experimenting with it so you don’t have to. You can knit this set with other worsted weight yarns, but it’s so pretty in this pink, and if you buy this particular yarn from Knitted Wit, $10 from the skein goes to Mercy Corps.

Pattern will be up next week, I think. I’m sending a few copies with Lorajean to the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival today, along with the sample cowl and wristlets, but I’m waiting for the gorgeous weeping cherry at the school across the street to bloom so I can use it as a backdrop for better photos. We’ll see if the weather cooperates, and if they chase me off the lawn. Crazy knitting lady is out there draping hand-knits in the trees, and taking pictures!

Collaborating with Lorajean is fun, and a pleasure. I have another knit to show you soon…

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged knit cowl, knitted wit, sakura

ruffles…

Posted on April 7, 2011 | 11 comments

or not. Remember this?

I nearly finished it. Do you know that a ruffle formed by decreases, like the one above, won’t match a ruffle formed by increases at the other end of the knitting? At least, mine didn’t. Guess I should have swatched all portions of this project before jumping in head first! It’s all been ripped, and I’ve started over, sans ruffle. The good news is that it’s really quick knitting in this Knitted Wit Silky & Single Worsted, so it will be done in a couple days. Pictures later.

My Aunt Rose is in town visiting. She’s the person who taught me to knit, way back when. Of course, we went yarn shopping. We stopped at Twisted, where she and Uncle P perused the patterns.

Cousin S found the Malabrigo Rios.

This is going home with her.

We went to the iconic Voodoo Donuts. This was my first trip there; it’s fun to have out of town guests so you can be a tourist in your own town. The wait was only about 10 minutes, unlike on the weekends. It’s counter service only; you take your pink box of donuts and go elsewhere.

We bought bacon maple bars. Sounds weird, but think of Saturday breakfast with bacon and pancakes with maple syrup. They were quite tasty!

And finally, an update: I’m donating all proceeds from online sales of my Pacific Shawl pattern in March and April to the Red Cross for Japan disaster relief. So far I’ve sold 57 patterns, so $342 will be going to the Red Cross. Thanks so much for being a part of this. I’m waiting until the end of April before sending the money, so there’s still time if you want to participate.

Back to work today, and knitting.

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit, pacific shawl, sakura