The Vogue Knitting Cruise was great fun; I met lots of knitters and also got to know my fellow teacher, Vogue Knitting Editor in Chief Norah Gaughan.
Hi Norah!
I met blogger Brenda Solman/Kingshearte in Halifax; we’ve been reading each other’s blogs and commenting back and forth for years. So nice to meet in person!
Lady Liberty welcomes us back to NY
I was thrilled to accidentally wake up early and see the Statue of Liberty as we returned to New York. So cool! The person in the next stateroom said that she had booked her portside cabin and set her alarm to get this view. Me? I lucked out at 5 am.
Embellishment Cowl Zoom class at Twisted, Saturday Oct. 1, register here. This class is new, and features three techniques: Elongated/gathered stitches for the flowery bits, quilted lattice slip stitch, and beading as you go. Come get a great start on a quick holiday gift for you or a loved one! 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn can make 3 cowls.
Petite Brioche
Petite Brioche 2 color beginning brioche in the round Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake, Sunday Oct. 2, register here
Petite Brioche in person at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, Friday Oct. 14, register here
Deep End Brioche increases and decreases in person at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, Saturday Oct. 15, register here
Deep End hat or cowl
Deep End Brioche increases and decreases Zoom class via Twisted, Saturday Nov. 5, register here.
Bonnie Isle Hat
Bonnie Isle Hat/Stranded Colorwork Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake, Sunday Nov. 6, register here
Tink Drop Frog
Tink Drop Frog, finding and fixing mistakes Zoom class via For Yarn’s Sake, Sunday Dec. 4, register here
Re-introducing: Embellishment Cowl! I originally designed this as an exclusive for Knit Camp with Olive Knits, and now the rights have returned to me. That means I can offer it to you!
The Embellishment Cowl is knit with two skeins of fingering weight yarn. It features a fun elongated/gathered stitch, quilted lattice slip stitch in one or two colors, and optional beads, knit as you go. You can knit three cowls with 2 skeins of yarn, if you switch up the color setup.
I knit mine with 2 skeins of Schmutzerella Spectacular, which has a little bling in it. Two skeins is enough for the three cowls you see here.
I’m teaching a Zoom class for the Embellishment Cowl via Twisted Yarn Shop on Saturday, Oct. 1; registration link will be here. Pattern is included in class fee; don’t buy it twice.
Do you want to do a knit along in October? If there’s enough interest, I’ll set it up!
I went to Sisters to visit fellow Pie Bird Becky and her family. We went to a concert and made some music. We even remembered how to play our instruments, easy for me (just basic guitar) but Becky plays guitar, mandolin, and banjo, and it’s been a while.
Tim O’Brien and Jan FabriciusBackyard music accompanimentOur audience was wild
Becky works at Pine Meadow Ranch, the home of the Roundhouse Foundation, which focuses on projects that work with and through the arts. Their four program areas: arts and culture, environmental stewardship, education, and social services. She gave us a tour of the ranch, which is a working ranch and also uses the restored ranch buildings for artists’ residencies.
The restored round barnInteractive art installation that makes colored light and sound when you move under it. Note the tile mural across the way…
Sisters (the town) is named for the Three Sisters mountains in the Cascade Range. The town hosts a quilt festival each summer, and that’s reflected here.
Tile “quilt” on the greenhouse by Kathy DeggendorferThis year’s quilt garden contest winner by June Jaeger. See the 3 Sisters?Detail from the quilt; I love the birds, and music notes in the snow creasesDetail of detail!And the garden inspired by the quilt. I wish you could see it from above!A panel from a 7 panel tile mural, designed by Rochelle Schueler and Lynn AdamoAnother panelHorse shoe gate to the gardenPencil shaving…as you walk around it, it looks like it unfurlsMore art, from 2 different artists
There’s a lot more art, and sheep and cattle, too. It’s a beautiful and inspiring setting.
I’m home now, setting up classes for fall, and getting ready for the Vogue Knitting cruise and Knit Maine. Time is racing by!
What happens when DH decides to go vegetarian/pescatarian? Check out my guest post for Voices of August on the Rough and Rede blog.
I went looking for my previous guest posts, and they’re on the previous Rough and Rede blog (blogspot instead of the current wordpress site). It took some hunting! 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.
It’s was ridiculously hot here last week (90 to 100F), so a planned camping trip with the ladies was a welcome respite. We went to Cape Perpetua, near Yachats, on the central Oregon coast.
Looking south from Cape Perpetua
It was a cool and misty weekend, with highs in the mid-60s. The curtains of mist falling past the cape were ethereally lovely.
Banana slug
I brought my assigned pooling cowl, but didn’t do a lot of knitting. There was a whole world to explore.
Giant Spruce
This Sitka Spruce was here before Columbus arrived in the New World. Older than Henry VIII?!
View from the other side
The hollow underneath was formed as the tree grew out of a nurse log, which then rotted away, hundreds of years ago.
What’s going to grow from this nurse log? Who will see it hundreds of years from now?Stone shelter on Cape Perpetua
Stone shelter built by the CCC in the 1930s. Workers (young men) earned $30/month. They kept $5, and $25 went home to the family.
Note the temporarily blue sky!Fungus among usLooking at you, oxalis?
Cape Perpetua is on a pretty rocky part of the coast, but there are occasional sandy beaches. Tillicum Beach was wide and inviting.
Designer feathers on Tillicum BeachTide pools like moonscapes
Spouting Horn blow holeCape Perpetua overlookFarewell to our mascot, who stayed with us all weekend
Back in town, where it’s cooled off a bit. Time to work out my next design!
I’ve gone through two design ideas so far. One would require an extra skein of speckled yarn, so no go on that one. It’s risky to order another and expect that the speckles will be the same (ask me how I know). Both this idea and the next idea involve working from the large end to the small end, in order to make the motif right side up. It’s a lot more planning and math, but it will be worth it. I hope. Onward!
I guess I’m not done with assigned pooling yet! I had this monster skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Plushy left from teaching a previous planned pooling class. I was stack pooling it, but I put it aside when class was over.
For planned pooling to stack, I need to keep my eye on my knitting, adjusting my tension as needed to make the colors stack or move slightly to the left or right. But I don’t usually look at my knitting; I’m usually reading blogs or my Kindle. So planned pooling means I have to be more mindful. Right now I want to be more mindless!
This is why I’m really enjoying the assigned pooling. It just takes an occasional glance to see when it’s time to work the pooling stitches. That’s much more relaxing for me because I don’t have to control the tension. So I’m knitting a cowl, approximately 34 inches in circumference (making a wild guess based on the piece that was previously on the US 10 needles). I’m using the sunburst stitch whenever the deep red-purple appears.
Plushy is an Aran weight yarn (Ravelry says worsted and I disagree), 3.5 to 4 sts per inch, 330 yards/270g. I think this color is Let Your Love Light Shine. It’s spectacularly cheery!
Still occasionally knitting the white linen too, while my mind chews on how I want to arrange these three skeins of Knit Picks Hawthorne Fingering. I have an idea…but it’s going to take a lot of mental gymnastics before I get there.
I’m pretty streamlined when it comes to tools; I love things that are inexpensive, portable, and useful. Here are seven things you’ll find in each of my project bags. (I only have three project bags, so it’s not difficult to stock them with my favorite tools. Monogamous knitter? Pretty much.)
It’s a row counter! It’s a stitch marker! It’s my favorite knitting helper. I use this at the beginning of my round, or one stitch into the row if I’m knitting flat. It keeps track of my rows/rounds, and I never lose it in my knitting bag because it’s always attached to my knitting. Perfect!
A row counter keeps track of your knitting vertically, and stitch markers keep track of your knitting horizontally. Marking off pattern repeats helps keep you on track before you go too far astray. These soft ring markers are simple and effective. Don’t forget to have some locking markers too, for catching dropped stitches until you can fix them!
Keeping track of my progress is fun with my tape measures. The Lantern Moon sheep is my favorite. The tail comes out to measure in inches and centimeters, and pops back in with the push of a button. Cuuuuute.
A cable hook is for…cabling? Yes and no. I usually do my cables without a hook, unless the cable is wider than 3 over 3 stitches. But I find a cable hook to be very helpful for holding a stitch while I manipulate other stitches, as in a brioche 4 stitch decrease. The J shape is essential for this; it holds the stitch securely and also gets out of my way. I like the thin metal ones better than the thick plastic ones. The J hook is also great for fixing mistakes in a column of brioche, like this: https://youtu.be/bgWr2TrXvOk
This small tool is a lifesaver! It has a crochet hook on one end, and a knitting needle on the other. It’s perfect for picking up dropped stitches, and for working tiny repairs.
You’re going to need a tapestry needle to sew in your ends. I really like the bent tip needles for scooping into my stitches. Bonus: This cute little case has a place on the cap where you can attach your snips. That keeps everything you need for finishing your project, all in one place. There’s so much satisfaction in a finished object!
These are the seven essential tools in my project bags. What do you like to keep in yours?
I finished the hat with the criss-cross stitches, and the earband with the sunbursts. I love them both. I think the name for them is Bossy, because the yarn tells you what to do.
You may remember that I frogged a perfectly good sunburst hat to knit the criss-cross version. After all of that, I think I like the sunbursts better after all!
But I’m not going to frog it and knit it again. That would be silly.
These, along with my Shall We Dance cowl, show the ideas we’ll address in my Planned and Assigned Pooling class at Knit Maine in September. Students can choose which project they’d like to make; the class yarn (Yarn Snob Wonderful Worsted in Cabana Boy) can do any of these things. I’ve written up the class notes; do you want it to be a pattern, too?
What tickles your fancy? Have you tried planned pooling or assigned pooling? Or is it on your bucket list? So many questions!
Find my patterns on Ravelry: Michele Bernstein Designs
Here are some of my favorites, and the newest. Many of my designs are also available through my Payhip store.
PDXKnitterati 