Again, I’m supposed to be packing, but instead I’m playing with knit-in i-cord edges for my Slip Away Cowl. You can barely see them on the right side of the fabric.
But they’re pretty obvious on the wrong side! They’re very tidy and I love them. I’m revamping the pattern to include them, and adding an extra slip stitch pattern as a bonus. Soon!
Now I really do need to pack…
I started the Buggiflooer Beanie a few days ago, adjusting the stitch count based on my known gauge with this yarn.
I’ve knit 3 previous Shetland Wool Week hats with Jamieson’s Spindrift, which means I have 3 existing gauge swatches!
I did some math so I could reduce the main stitch count by one flower motif (which would make it an inch smaller than the previous hats), but I goofed up my math between the ribbing and the pink zigzag sections. I only realized it when I got to the next motif (flower), and was off by 4 stitches. Math, blech. I could go back and fudge it, but I I took it as a sign that I should knit a cowl instead of a beanie, anyway. I don’t wear hats very often.
You can see that I shortened the corrugated ribbing a bit when I restarted; I took out one row of each of the colors (white/gray/white) because the ribbing will repeat at the top of the cowl (symmetry!), and I don’t want it to overpower the lovely buggiflooer.
It’s going swimmingly. Look at all those pretty heathered colors in the background color, Mirry Dancer! So much more interesting than flat black. And I made a little braid with my yarn ends, so I don’t accidentally knit with a tail. I know I could weave in ends as I go, but I’m still not completely committed to the project yet.
I recently bought myself a little present…a knitting light. It’s helpful with the black yarn if I’m tinking (I don’t have to see to knit) in bed; the lamp on my nightstand isn’t quite enough. It will also be a hands-free camping light. I tried a different one earlier this month, but it was heavier and clunkier, and prone to accidentally turning on in my bag. I like this one much better!
I need to start packing for the Vogue Knitting Alaska cruise. And of course that means deciding what knitting project will come with me! I’m enjoying Buggiflooer, but I don’t want it to be my main cruise knitting next week. Cruise knitting is social knitting, and counting charted colorwork isn’t conducive to chatting.
My little DK brioche project from the schooner trip isn’t panning out the way I hoped. It was great social knitting, though. I have about 4 inches done, and it’s lovely, but my yarn scale and math are telling me that two skeins won’t get me across the finish line. It won’t be a cost-effective cowl design if it requires 4 skeins of sparkly luxury yarn, so I’ll use this beautiful yarn for a something else later.
I do have an experimental version of this shape under way in fingering weight yarn, and I think that can be completed with two skeins. But I’m not completely committed to it yet, either. I need a backup plan.
Ever since MDK Summer Camp, I’ve been thinking of the elegant knit-in i-cord edging that we put on our mini washcloths (thank you Lorilee Bateman). So tidy! I’m planning to re-knit my Slip Away Cowl before upcoming classes, and play with that i-cord edging. If I like it, I’ll update the pattern to include it. This should be a reasonable social knitting project. Except that I’m monkeying with it a bit…
When you go on trips, what do you pack first? Knitting? Or clothing? I think you can see my priorities all over this page!
Posted in Knit, pattern design, travel, yarn
Tagged buggiflooer, Jamieson Spindrift, keps, Malabrigo Rios, shetland wool week beanies, travel knitting
This one has been cooking for a while! I wanted to combine assigned pooling with something in a second color to make things even more enticing, and I think it does. I began building this on ideas from my Aloha Shawl, but it was supposed to be flowers upon flowers upon flowers in the assigned pooling section, and the same flower but smaller in the flower band stripe. (That flower band took the focus away from the assigned pooling, so away it went.)
I worked really hard to make this low tonal contrast assigned pooling yarn sing on my first sample.
And so it did! The bi-colored rings around some of the flowers were fine in this orange/pink combo.
I knit it once more in another color while double-checking my math for the edging. I then realized that I didn’t love the all of the assigned pooling flowers in a contrastier yarn. I only liked the starry ones! See the bi-colored rings around the flowers? No thank you.
So I adjusted my directions, and now the pooling flowers are more like stars. And because I just can’t get enough of this colorway, Bali Wood, this shawl is a kissing cousin of my Starfall Cowl.
The pattern is currently being tech edited, and I’m looking for some test knitters. Is that you? You’d need 2 contrasting skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which is dyed for assigned pooling. I’m hoping that test knitting is finished by September 30.
The pattern features assigned pooling on a garter stitch background, and some fun and fancy stitches in the contrast color. I’ve made video tutorials for the pooling stars and the flower bands.
If you look at it just right, these are shooting stars amid the Milky Way! I knit part of this during our Perseid meteor shower camping trip earlier this month. If you want to emphasize the shooting star look, you could let the extra bit of pooling color extend on just one side of the star flower. I balanced my star flowers between the extra color, only realizing while knitting the last section that I could make it look more like meteors. That’s not something I’d frog and re-knit for, but I love the idea.
Sooo, are they stars or are they flowers? I think it’s knitter’s choice!
Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn
Tagged design process, dream in color smooshy, Star Flower shawl
Holy cats, it’s almost September! My favorite month: birthday, anniversary, back to school, back to knitting classes.
I’m teaching on the Vogue Knitting Alaska Cruise September 2-9; I’m teaching Brioche Pastiche, hat or cowl. Ana Campos is also teaching on the cruise; she’s teaching Portuguese knitting. I’m looking forward to this! I haven’t been to Alaska since I was working in a cannery on Kodiak Island to pay for college.
I’m teaching a Zoom class on stranded colorwork for For Yarn’s Sake using the Shetland Wool Week Buggiflooer Beanie as a jumping off point. I have the feeling that I’m going to go rogue with my sample and knit a cowl instead; I haven’t worn any of the previous beanies (they mess up my hair!).
We’ll talk about yarn color dominance, ways to manage your yarns, and more.
I’m teaching Petite Brioche on Saturday September 30 in a new venue! I’ll be in-person at Hook and Needle, a new shop in downtown Vancouver WA, right across the river. Register here.
I’m teaching at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival October 13 and 14. Come learn assigned color pooling, and entrelac with me!
I’m teaching a Thrill of the Thrum Zoom class for For Yarn’s Sake on October 22. These deliciously cushy slippers are a longtime favorite.
Virtual Vogue Knitting Live is the weekend of October 27. I’m teaching Brioche Pastiche, Slip Away Cowl (slip stitch knitting), and Syncopation (syncopated brioche). And I’m giving a lecture on blocking, too. Come knit with us, virtually! Registration isn’t open yet (there’s a virtual event at the end of September currently on the site), but you can sign up for their newsletter and you’ll be the first to know when classes are available.
I’m teaching assigned pooling via Zoom with my Starfall Cowl for For Yarn’s Sake on November 12.
And that’s the plan so far! Are you planning your fall knitting experiences? It’s time!
It’s time to register for classes at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival! I know it seems early for October classes, but it really helps us plan for you. The festival is October 13-15.
This year I’m teaching Sheepy Steeky Coasters on Friday morning. (Your first steek? totally non-threatening!)
Assigned pooling on Friday afternoon, using Pooling is a Cinch as a jumping off point to explore several pooling stitches. I’ve ordered this yarn (my favorite, A Wondrous Worsted in Times Square colorway from Knits All Done) for class. I have a limited number of skeins, so sign up soon!
I’m also teaching entrelac on Saturday morning. This technique looks woven, but it’s knit a square at a time and is simpler than it looks! You get to look clever while taking it easy.
The new venue in Albany, Oregon is pretty spiffy; the tradeoff from the closer Clackamas site of previous years is worth it. It’s just about an hour down the road from Portland. Come knit with me, or one of the other fine teachers at OFFF. And the shopping at the marketplace is pretty wonderful, too. I’m looking forward to teaching AND shopping!
Comments Off on Register now for Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival
Tagged OFFF, Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival
I’m on the second knit of an upcoming assigned pooling shawl design; I won’t show you the whole thing until I’m ready to ask for test knitters. First I need to knit through again to confirm some numbers.
I started with this color combo back in March or April. So pretty!
There’s not a lot of tonal contrast between the orange and the pink…
Which meant it didn’t make much difference if I had garter bumps on the edges of the star/flower stitches.
In fact, it added a little something-something that I kind of liked.
But in my second knit, I really didn’t like those contrasty garter bumps. They looked kind of like toothy maws, waiting to bite. No thank you!
So I’m editing the draft pattern to make all of the stars/flowers smooth on the top and bottom edges. (Looks like I may have missed one up there, oops.) This will look good in both the less contrasty and more contrasty yarns.
This design has been through a lot of fussing since I began it; I really wanted to make the assigned pooling sing as the star of the show. I think all the do-overs will be worth it in the end. The orange/pink version blocked out beautifully. I’m so glad, because I didn’t know if I would like the finished shawl until I blocked it. That was a leap of faith to keep knitting til the bitter end.
I’m looking forward to sharing this with you soon!
If you like thinking about tonal contrast, check out this previous post and this post about picking colors for my Soldotna Crop sweater in 2019.
Posted in Knit, pattern design, yarn
Back from a weekend camping trip with the Gal Pals. We went over to central Oregon for clear dark skies, anticipating water fun by day, and the Perseid meteor showers by night.
We live on the west side of the Cascade Range, so we drove over to the east side going around Mt. Hood. It’s pretty bare in the summer.
It’s drier on the east side of the mountains. The views of the mountains in the Cascade Range are stunning from that side.
The setting sun cast a shadow of the mountaintop against the slight haze in the air…
followed by an allover orange glow. That’s Haystack Reservoir in the foreground, where we were camping. Unfortunately, it had a toxic algae bloom going on, so we couldn’t play in the water. Pivot and adapt!
We went to Sisters (the town) on Saturday, shopped at a couple favorite stores (Bedouin and the Stitchin’ Post), had an impromptu visit with friends there (hi Becky & Lisa) and swam at their community pool, and then went for music and wine at Faith Hope and Charity Vineyards.
What a beautiful setting! It wasn’t quite the day we had planned, but it was lovely.
The next day we set up at Tumalo State Park to play in the water, either floating down a short stretch of the Deschutes River, or just wading. Delightful! No pictures; we were having too much fun.
We stopped at Smith Rock State Park on the way back to camp. I had always imagined that Smith Rock is a single monolith that rock climbers love, but I guess not!
It’s an austerely beautiful place in the summer.
We enjoyed the starry skies, the Milky Way, and the streaking meteors each night. On the last night we took off the tent’s rain fly so we could skywatch through the mesh roof. Perfect!
So grateful to have friends to play with!
I’m guest posting on the Rough and Rede blog. This is my fourth guest post there, and I’m honored to be asked! This is George’s 12th, and last year of organizing his Voices of August series. My topic this year is Silver Linings, and it’s about how my work life has changed since 2020. Here’s a link to the post.
My previous posts: What happens when DH decides to go vegetarian/pescatarian? Check out last year’s guest post for Voices of August on the Rough and Rede blog. Here’s the picture from that one!
My other guest posts are on the previous Rough and Rede blog (blogspot instead of the current wordpress site). Here are the links to those posts: Because I Can in 2013 about snorkeling and my relationship with swimming, and The Empty Nest in 2012.
Happy reading!
Home is the sailor, home from the (Salish) Sea…
I’m home from the nautical knitting cruise on the Schooner Zodiac. That was a ton of fun! But just before that, I taught a steeking class at Northwest Yarns in Bellingham.
I love teaching knitters to cut up their knitting.
It’s low stakes cutting; they’re coasters!
Easy-peasy.
The next morning we boarded the beautiful 99 year old schooner Zodiac, and set off on our adventure in the Puget Sound. The Zodiac is a sail-training vessel; you can choose to help sail and be assigned to a crew (based on which sail you’re operating), and also to a rotation of watch duty: chart house/navigation, bow watch, helm/steering, and messenger (between the bow watch and the wheel). Well why not try it all? How often does this kind of opportunity arise? And I taught 4 knitting classes, too. Busy busy!
That was the question, and my answer was “Not me!” Mainsail crew was the first to volunteer.
Well, I’m more agile than burly. The jib crew hops over the bow onto the stays to untie the jib sail. I was glad there’s a net under it, just in case.
And then we raised the jib. Haul that line!
Once we were sailing, we could knit until it was time to tack (turn the bow through the wind so the wind changes from one side of the sails to the other). When it’s time, it’s time. You can’t say “Just let me finish this row!”
Tacking! I’m on the wheel pulling hard to port, and the people behind me are turning the mainsail.
Diane at the aforementioned bow watch. There’s a bow watch because the person back at the wheel can’t see what’s directly in front of the 160 foot long ship. (Oh, and that’s a good look at the stay and netting under the jib, too.)
Abby the cat lives on board, and she likes to nap in the chart house.
Hoist that sail, Abby!
I couldn’t take a picture of the sailing schooner while sailing on it, so here’s the Zodiac in full glory.
The wind died down that afternoon, and we were becalmed. What goes up must come down. We took the sails down and stowed and tied them back up. (I climbed up on the booms to help stow the other sails, too.) We then motored to Clark Island to explore a bit. Shells, beach glass, cool rocks..
The sunset that night was reflected in the water through the trees.
And the moonrise was even more spectacular.
The second morning was foggy and a bit chilly.
It was a great opportunity to break out the knitwear. I’d never actually worn this sample set before. It was perfectly cozy.
Crew member Sarah’s double knit compass rose hat was inspiring! She improvised off a pattern. We still had no wind, so we motored to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to shop at Island Wools and see the town.
Our classes on board were in the salon, which is also the bunkroom. See the curtained bunks around the edges? Some people sleep here, and some sleep in small staterooms. Vickie was on sunset/moonrise watch during the evening classes, to alert us when it was time to peek.
After our last class on the third morning, I was a bit sad that we didn’t have enough wind to sail back to Bellingham. But that also meant we could just relax and knit. Mixed feelings, indeed.
There’s all sorts of craftiness on a boat. I wish I had a picture of some of the thump mats on board. They’re like small rugs made of rope, meant to protect the deck from dropped rigging blocks.
NOAA (Ironic Noah?) used 3 fathoms of rope for this mini project; a fathom is 6 feet or 2 yards. A fathom was originally based on the span of a man’s outstretched arms. Your best measuring tools are the ones you have with you!
It turned out well. A mini version of the heavier rope thump mats on deck.
I don’t know what these weighted knots are called, but they remind me of the little Lantern Moon stitch markers. (Googling tells me they’re called monkey’s fists. They’re worked around a sandbag or other weight, and help when tossing the lines.)
Baggywrinkles! These are made from frayed rope to protect the sail from the rigging.
Every meal felt like a work of art. That’s craftiness, too! Vegetable forward, interesting seasonings, delicious. Caz Ludtke (@seasonedatsea on Instagram) does amazing things in a small galley kitchen.
I had a great time! Thanks to the Cephalopod Sisters Echo (right) and Heather (center) at Northwest Yarns for inviting me to teach on this adventure.
And thanks to Abby for endorsing my book! Or at least the cardboard box they came in…
Posted in cat, classes, Knit, Other craftiness, travel
Tagged northwest yarns, sailing, schooner zodiac
I’m supposed to be packing for my teaching gig in Bellingham, on the Zodiac schooner, and Ellensburg. I’m leaving tomorrow morning. But I was daydreaming in my aqua-fit class at the gym (I do a lot of designing in my head during class), and I had an idea.
So of course I had to come home and cast on. It’s brioche, my true love. This beautiful yarn is Anzula Lucero, a DK weight yarn that’s 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, and 10% Stellina (sparkle!). The colors are Storm (blue) and Hippo (gray). It’s so bouncy and fun to knit with!
It was so tempting that I now have TWO projects on the needles, which is pretty wild for this monogamous (monomaniacal?) knitter.
My other project is an assigned pooling shawl, the second knitting of this design. I need to check some numbers along the way so I’m knitting it again before putting out a call for test knitters. The first colorway turned out gorgeously, although low contrast tonally, so I’m going for high contrast this round. More about that later.
Right now? I’m still supposed to be packing (7 classes packed for next week, but no clothes yet) something besides my knitting projects, but I need to announce a winner!
The winner of the Nature Walk ebook from Knit Picks is Lynne. Congratulations! I’ll be in touch via email to work this out with you.
I’m thrilled that Honey Bee Mine is part of this collection.
Have a great weekend; have a great week! I’m leaving DH home in charge of the cats. Or the cats at home in charge of DH. It’s a mutual aid society.
Posted in giveaways, Knit, pattern design, yarn
Tagged anzula yarn, Honey Bee Mine, knit picks
PDXKnitterati 