PDXKnitterati

Trunk show today

Posted on February 24, 2023 | 1 comment

I’m venturing out today, Friday February 24, noon to 4:30 pm at For Yarn’s Sake for Rose City Yarn Crawl.

Wish me luck, and hope to see you there!

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Posted in events, Knit, Portland area fun

Tagged for yarn's sake, rose city yarn crawl

Knit for Food update

Posted on February 23, 2023 | 3 comments

It’s official; we have a place for local PDX knitters to gather on Sunday, March 26. We’ll be knitting in the fellowship hall (downstairs) of Fremont United Methodist Church, 2620 NE Fremont Street in Portland. We’ll be there from noon to 5 pm (although I’ll be knitting all day). Join Margaret Waddell (co-founder of Puddletown Knitters Guild) and me for an afternoon of knitting for a good cause. Masks optional, but highly appreciated.

I’m participating in this 12 hour knitting marathon to raise funds and awareness for food insecurity. The money we raise will be equally divided among Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry, and Meals on Wheels.

Please support me by donating through this link.You can also sign up to participate yourself, if you’re interested. Come knit with us!

PS: I’ll have some door prizes/raffle prizes from my knitting book collection to share with you. My shelves are overflowing!

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Posted in events, Knit, Portland area fun

Tagged knit for food

Trunk show postponed

Posted on February 23, 2023 | 1 comment

Mother Nature laughs at all our careful plans.

We’re snowed in! This weather system stalled over us, and we have 6-10 inches of snow. That’s a lot for Portland; we’re not equipped for it and our roads are a mess.

This means I won’t be having my trunk show at For Yarn’s Sake today. We’re hoping that roads are decent tomorrow (Friday), and if they are I’ll be there!

I still have knitting on my mind. doesn’t this look like a sweater yoke? It’s the netting between two neighboring driveways, to keep the basketballs on their side.

The brickwork on my front porch looks like slip stitch knitting. And I love how the snow is a gradient from thin to thick based on how the wind blew. I see some bobbles in there, too!

The snow on my bamboo is lovely. (I’m looking out my kitchen window; please ignore the garbage cans behind it.) To get a better view I’d have to actually go outside, and I’m still in my jammies. Maybe later. I may even ski the neighborhood.

Stay safe and warm!

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Posted in events, Knit, Portland area fun

Tagged rose city yarn crawl, snow, snow day

Still catching up, bicoastally

Posted on February 21, 2023 | 3 comments

How much can we pack into February? A LOT. I’ll never get to completely blog VKLive NYC and Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat in Tacoma, but here are some highlights.

Fun classes with great students, both at VKLive

And at Red Alder. why am I showing both Sheepy Steeky Coasters classes? Because the joy of scissors makes a great photo op!

So happy to meet up with Keith Leonard and Shaina Bilow again after Knit Maine. And new friend Dario Tubiana, too. (Check out the sheep on the door of La Pecora Bianca.)

The Empire State Building makes a great tiara…or unicorn horn. You decide.

I didn’t have a full length mirror in NYC, but I did in Tacoma, so I could do my traditional what did I wear collage. Coffee Breakers Shawl (from Brioche Knit Love), Camellia Wrap, Ebb and Flow cowl.

Ebb and Flow looks good on everyone! New Beginnings statue outside the Federal Courthouse in Tacoma. It was the train station a long time ago.

Hanging out with Alasdair Post-Quinn (double knitting king), Michael Kelson (Spinpossible), and Xandy Peters.

We had fabulous markets on both coasts. What did I buy, since you know I don’t stash yarn?

Super fun yarn and NYC-themed project bag from Maker’s Mercantile. And it comes with a notions box that fits in the pocket, too. Look closely to see all the fiber-related pictures!

Also from NYC, Jūl’s new toolkit. Choose your shape: round, square, or triangle.

You can make the shape into a shawl pin with the stick pin, or a shawl cuff with the leather band. You can use the stick pin by itself. The other two leather pieces are to close a cardigan front. And the buttons have a round ball at the end of the shank, and a leather back to pop over the ball. You can move your buttons from one piece of knitwear to the next. So far I’ve only used the cuff, but I’ve used it a lot.

From Tacoma: a silly cats in hats project bag, also from Maker’s Mercantile. Did I need it? Yes. It will help corral supplies for a class.

Oh look, yarn! I bought this peacock green to teal gradient from Schmutzerella to knit one more Ebb and Flow. I love how smoothly the colors melt into each other. I can have both the taller neck and the longer triangle with this much yardage. It’s not stash if I have a plan to cast on soon! Right now I’m trying to decide if I want the blue on top or bottom. The piece gets wider towards the bottom, so the stripe down there will be narrower, but more visible. What do you think?

Always nice to see Mt. Rainier from my hotel room window.

So very different from my hotel room view the week before!

Currently on the needles: I’m finishing an Embellishment Cowl sample. I used it in class last week at VKL, and now I need it to display at For Yarn’s Sake as a sample for my class on May 7. It’s almost done. I need to have it bound off and steam blocked by Thursday morning, just in time for my trunk show. Wish me luck!

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Posted in classes, events, Knit, Product review, travel, yarn

Tagged Jul Designs, Red Alder Fiber Arts, Schmutzerella Yarns, VKLive, VKLive NYC

Rose City Yarn Crawl begins Thursday

Posted on February 21, 2023 | 1 comment

We always begin the Rose City Yarn Crawl with a trunk show at For Yarn’s Sake; it’s a tradition.

Here’s last year, and we hope to see you this year, too! Pictured with me left to right: Debbie Stone, Lorajean Kelley, shop owner Anne Lindquist, and Shannon Squire. Our trunk show is Thursday February 23, from 10 am to 4 pm. The shop is open from 10 am to 6 pm that day.

I’ll have copies of Brioche Knit Love to sign for you; this is a great last chance to get a copy before they’re gone! I don’t know if there will be a reprint, and we’re down to the last few boxes. I’ll also have samples of my applied pooling adventures, and samples for upcoming classes. Come say howdy!

Helpful links: Rose City Yarn Crawl

Rose City Yarn Crawl Backup Instagram account, because the real one got hacked (ugh). Follow this and post using hashtag #RoseCityYarnCrawl

Starlight Knitting Society backup Instagram account, because the real one got hacked (ugh again). The internet is a wonderful and terrible place…

For Yarn’s Sake Rose City Yarn Crawl page

PDXKnitterati For Yarn’s Sake Rose City Yarn Crawl page

Hope to see you Thursday!

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Posted in events, Knit, Portland area fun

Tagged for yarns sake, rose city yarn crawl, trunk show

Yarn chicken hijinks

Posted on February 15, 2023 | 7 comments

I’m just back from Vogue Knitting Live in NYC. I’ll catch up with pictures from that eventually, but right now I’m packing to go to Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat in Tacoma, Washington. I’m leaving today, so…I’ll catch up when I catch up! You can see some of my pictures on Instagram.

I worked on this assigned pooling design on my flights to and from New York. I have a very small digital scale for travel, but it’s not very accurate on a bouncy airline tray table. I waited until I was in my hotel room to carefully weigh my yarn to see how many grams it took to knit a round. Then I figured the number of rounds I needed to complete my project, and added a buffer. That yarn there? That was calculated to be enough to bind off, and knit a cord to cinch the top of this cowl/hat, just like the finishing on Pooling is a Cinch.

Almost done…and it’s clear that the bit of yarn left is not going to be enough to finish binding off the stitches on the needle. So much for math! I need about the equivalent of one more round, but I’d have to frog 10 rounds to get to the place where I would shorten this piece. Blergh.

Luckily, I remembered this trick, so here is this tutorial for you.

Binding off when you’ve lost at yarn chicken…

I win! And I like this narrower cord; it will fit in the eyelets better. That’s serendipity!

Have you ever had to resort to binding off without yarn?

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Posted in Uncategorized

Knitting for Food

Posted on February 13, 2023 | 4 comments

I’m knitting for food!

Please support me by donating through this link.You can also sign up to participate yourself, if you’re interested.

We’re working on getting space for local PDX knitters to knit together on March 26. I’ll keep you posted!

4 Comments

Posted in events, Knit

Tagged knit for food

Introducing Pooling is a Cinch!

Posted on February 6, 2023 | 1 comment

Pooling is a Cinch is a convertible piece that will please both hat and cowl lovers. The stockinette stitch body is a perfect canvas for playing with assigned pooling. Worsted weight yarn knits up quickly for a fun introduction to this technique. Choose a yarn that is meant to pool; you’ll want 6 to 8 inch (15-20 cm) runs of your pooling color.

Knitting begins and ends with a reverse stockinette rolled edge. A knit cord is threaded through a round of eyelets near the top. The cord is tied in a decorative knot on the cowl. The cord can also be cinched to convert the cowl to a hat.

The pattern is now available through Ravelry here, and through Payhip here. It’s 15% off through February 14, no coupon code needed. If you’re in my Pooling class at Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat, the yarn and pattern is included in your class packet. (I think there are 2 spots left; come knit with me!)

I used Yarn Snob’s A Wondrous Worsted in the Times Square colorway, and it pooled beautifully. Calvin approves!

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Posted in events, Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged Pooling is a Cinch, Red Alder Fiber Arts, Yarn Snob

Assigned pooling mania

Posted on February 5, 2023 | 7 comments

Help! I’ve fallen down the pooling rabbit hole, and I’m not sure when I’m coming up for air. The ideas are flying.

I had so much fun with the yarn for Pooling is a Cinch (publishing tomorrow), I had to play with one more design. This cowl doesn’t have a name yet, but I think it will be out later this month.

Dream in Color has pooling yarns in worsted weight, too! We’ll be using this yarn (choice of colors) for an assigned pooling Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake in April. I’m working on this pattern right now; it will also be out later this month. I love this stitch, and it’s very adaptable for the length of your colorburst.

If you have an idea for naming either of these, let me know. If I use the name you suggest, I’ll send you a copy of the pattern.

Have any new-to-you techniques caught your fancy lately? Do tell!

7 Comments

Posted in classes, Knit, pattern design

Planning ahead to September

Posted on February 4, 2023 | 3 comments

I worked summers at a cannery on Kodiak Island, Alaska to pay for college, way back when. I worked in the egg house, sorting and packing salmon roe to send to Japan.

That’s me, with a handful of salmon roe. I’ve always wanted to re-visit Alaska, without the fish eggs.

Guess who’s going to Alaska? This cruise with Vogue Knitting is going to be spectacular. I’m not sure what I’m teaching yet, but I think brioche and Whale Watch Cap and Cowl would be perfectly appropriate.