PDXKnitterati

Indie Design Gift-A-Long

Posted on November 24, 2020 | 2 comments

It’s the sparkliest time of the year: The Indie Design Gift-A-Long on Ravelry starts tonight! I’m one of 250 participating indie designers this year.

The pattern sale runs from Tuesday, November 24 at 8:00 pm US EST – Monday, November 30, 2020 at 11:59 pm US EST. The coupon code is giftalong2020 and it’s good for 25% off any of the participating patterns from all the designers. My designs are in the GAL bundle on my designer page, here.

The KAL/CALs will run from Tuesday, November 24 at 8pm (US-EST) through New Years Eve December 31 at midnight (US-EST). Check out the Ravelry group for all the details. Your project with any paid pattern by a participating designer is eligible for prizes, not just the patterns in the sale. You do need to be a member of the GAL group to win prizes.

You can see all 250 participating designers in this thread. I’m having a good time looking through the list and picking patterns I want to knit! Eventually. Or at least in my mind…

I don’t really gift knit for the holidays (too much pressure), but this is a great time to stock up on patterns for the knitting year! And participating in the KAL at a relaxed pace sounds good to me. How about you? Are you a deadline gift knitter?

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about an alternative knitalong, in case you’re not able to use Ravelry…or if you want to do it in addition to Ravelry! You can use your same projects in that KAL, too. I’ll have the same patterns available with a different discount code on my Payhip store. I’m not really sure about all the social media channels for sharing that KAL, but I’ll find out and put that in my post, too.

Onward!

2 Comments

Posted in events, KAL, Knit, ravelry

Tagged gal2020, giftalong2020

A little frogging

Posted on November 22, 2020 | 13 comments

Yes, you *can* frog and recover your brioche knitting.

I accidentally added an extra couple rounds of brioche rib after finishing the leaves; I was wondering about that as I was binding off. Oops.

I had some help. If you don’t remember how to frog and get your brioche back on the needles, you can check out my video tutorial here. And there are lots more tutorials of all kinds on my tutorials page.

All done! Now it’s mimosa time…

The Leafy Origami Cowl pattern is coming in December. I think I may knit one more, withe the colors reversed, just for fun. Knit on!

13 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, tutorial

Tagged frogging and recovering brioche, Leafy Origami Cowl

Leaf season

Posted on November 20, 2020 | 6 comments

The leaves on my maple tree outside my studio window are nearly gone. It’s been a glorious season. I still have leaves on my mind, though.

Coming soon: Leafy Origami Cowl. This worsted weight project is flying along!

The stitch pattern makes the fabric fall into mountain and valley folds, like origami folds. It’s a fun rhythmic brioche knit.

Blocking makes a big difference on this piece!

I’m looking for a few test knitters who are experienced with brioche increases and decreases. This project takes some special attention on a few of the rounds because the markers need to move forward or backward by 2 stitches to keep things orderly. Of course, I made a video tutorial for moving the markers!

Let me know if you’re interested! I’m hoping to publish this pattern in early to mid-December.

6 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Leafy Origami Cowl

Binding off in the round

Posted on November 20, 2020 | 4 comments

I was just finishing another cowl knit in the round, and I realized that I haven’t shown you how I like to finish my bind off. It’s very neat and tidy.

Easy peasy. Now I’ve shown you my favorite ways to begin *and* end your project in the round. If you missed my post about joining to work in the round, here it is again:

And yes, the new project is yet another brioche cowl. Going on a deep dive here. I just can’t get enough! Sneak peek coming soon.

4 Comments

Posted in Knit, tutorial

Tagged knitting in the round, tutorial

The Knitting Circle

Posted on November 14, 2020 | 17 comments

You may have a knitting circle of your own; i certainly miss my knit nite crew! But the Knitting Circle I want to tell you about is something completely different.

During this pandemic summer, I had the opportunity to make video tutorials for a new venture, The Knitting Circle. It’s a place to learn about knitting, online. The website just launched last week. Now I keep seeing my face chatting away in their Facebook ads. Startling!

The site has blog posts and instructional videos. Due to the pandemic, the teachers made videos in our home studios. I learned a lot about lighting, recording, and editing! They turned out well. Some of the videos are free, and some are premium pieces that require a subscription to watch. The subscription is $49/year, but there’s a special offer for $2 USD for the first year. For that price, I’d subscribe! I think if you sign up for their newsletter, you’d get the offer, or you can claim it through their Facebook ad. I’ve posted their ad on my Facebook page to make it easier for you to find.

Use the link below to get to the site; this is just a picture!

Here’s a link to my blog posts there; they are free content but link to free or premium videos. These are all complete blog posts, no subscription needed to read them.

So why would you want to subscribe to The Knitting Circle, when there are a million videos on YouTube? Curation. The teachers on the site are carefully chosen; we’re experts! My teacher cohort includes Jen Lucas, Corinna Ferguson, Mary Beth Temple, and Jill Wright.

The Knitting Circle is a venture from TN Marketing; they also have sites for sewing, quilting, photography, RV restoration, bowling, and more. They are also the new owners of Craftsy.

I’ve enjoyed working with them, and I learned lots of new skills this summer. Having a knitting studio at home is coming in handy! All of my Zoom classes are there, and my own videos are getting better and better, too.

How has pandemic living changed how you work?

17 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Knit, Other craftiness, tutorial

Tagged knitting circle

Introducing: Deep End Cowl

Posted on November 10, 2020 | 1 comment

When I designed the Deep End hat as a teaching piece for my brioche classes, a knitter asked if I would also design it as a cowl, because she doesn’t wear hats. Voilà!

The Deep End Cowl is a 2-color brioche cowl, knit in the round from the bottom up. It features a large staghorn motif flanked by an adaptation of the gull stitch, echoing the curves of the staghorn.

You’ll learn both of the decreases on the first patterning round and have the option of one more; it’s like jumping in the deep end of the pool!

Cowl requires 80 (100) yards/73 (92) meters dark color, 60 (80) yards/55 (73) meters light color worsted weight yarn for shorter (taller) cowl. I knit both of these with the leftovers from my Deep End hats. They’re knit with Malabrigo Rios.

Taller cowl allows tucking top or bottom, or not, if your neck is longer than mine!

I love knitting these; they’re my comfort knitting. Most of the rounds are just plain brioche rib, and the increase/decrease pattern is easily memorized. I may knit a couple more!

The pattern is available through Ravelry here, and also through my Payhip shop here. It’s on sale for 10% off through November 17 with coupon code DEEP.

Thanks to tech editor Meaghan Schmaltz, and test knitter Ann Berg.

1 Comment

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged deep end cowl

Petite Brioche Class giveaway

Posted on November 9, 2020 | Comments Off

I’m teaching at Vogue’s Virtual Knitting Live this coming weekend. Most of my classes are full, but there’s still a few spots open in Sunday’s Petite Brioche class. Vogue is letting me give away a spot in the class.

Would you like to win this spot? Class is Sunday November 15, 7 pm EST (4 pm PST, and I’ll let *you* figure out the rest!) To enter to win, visit my Instagram page and click on the picture that looks like this one. Tag a friend and leave a comment about why you want to learn to knit brioche! I’ll pick a winner Thursday evening.

Good luck!

Comments Off on Petite Brioche Class giveaway

Posted in classes, giveaways, Knit

Tagged class giveaway, VKLive

Joining to knit in the round

Posted on November 9, 2020 | 1 comment

I’ve been knitting in circles so much lately, so many hats and cowls. One benefit? I’ve perfected my circular join. I used to cast on one extra stitch, and then knit the first and last stitches together. This snugged up the join, and it still will.

But I’ve started using that extra stitch in a different way, and it’s just a bit tidier. I really like the way it looks. I take the last stitch cast on, and pass it over the first stitch that I cast on. I made a video for you!

You do still have to remember not to knit with the tail…

May all your joins be tidy and snug!

1 Comment

Posted in Knit, tutorial

Tagged circular join, circular knitting, tutorial

Rockaway Beach birthday

Posted on November 4, 2020 | 5 comments

The family was scheduled to go to the coast in September to celebrate my birthday, but wildfire smoke (and fire at the coast) meant we had to postpone. We finally did go last week…I like to joke that I celebrate my birthday all month, but this has been a two month birthday. Why not, 2020?

We’re still distancing from the kids; they’re a bubble and we’re a bubble. I rented the house I usually rent for Crafty Moms weekend. They had the downstairs unit and we had the upstairs. The house has 5 bedrooms/5 bathrooms and sleeps 16, and there were only 4 of us.

The weather cooperated beautifully, which meant we could have all our meals out on the deck. Otherwise, we would have been dining separately on two levels.

We had lots of beach walks and good conversation. (And my boots finally cracked and leaked. Sorry to see these go.)

I finished the cowl version of Deep End. I love, love, love it. Pattern coming soon. I knit this with the leftovers from the first Deep End hat.

I wanted to knit a shorter version (I have a short neck) so I cast on another, with leftovers from the pink Deep End hat. I noted that I should cut the tail so I wouldn’t knit with it. Well, you know what happened…of course.

I managed to make some progress before going home. And it was so warm on the last day, I could hang out with no sleeves at all. Pretty nice for almost November!

It was a perfect birthday celebration.

Carrying that peace forward as we await the results of Election Day here in the USA. Just breathe!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged deep end cowl, family, Oregon Coast, Rockaway

Evolution in class planning

Posted on October 21, 2020 | 2 comments

My new and improved Brioche Increase/Decrease class is set to debut this Saturday. I designed my new Deep End hat especially for this class, so you can get a lot of practice with both left and right leaning decreases during the 2 hour class.

I was chatting in a Petite Brioche class this past weekend, and someone asked if there would be a cowl version of this hat, because she didn’t wear hats and would rather knit a cowl. Well, there’s not a cowl yet, but I could see doing one. Not in time for this weekend, though!

But! My Madrona Cowl uses the same kinds of increases and decreases, and it would be perfect for this class, too. So I’m expanding the class projects to be a choice of either the Deep End hat or the Madrona Cowl. I like that there are options in this class; that makes it better for more students. I always want to improve my classes, and this one has been especially fun to develop.

If you’re already registered for this class, I’ll be emailing you with the added option. And if you would like to register, the link is here. If you’re registering for class through Twisted, the pattern is already included in your class fee.

In order to make this work, I’ve updated the Madrona Cowl pattern with easier-to-read charts (thanks, Stitchmastery!). I’ve also changed the pattern language to use the more standard sl1yo terminology, which matches the language in the Deep End hat. No confusion in class! The pattern is available on Ravelry, and also on Payhip. Also, if you previously purchased the Madrona Cowl pattern through Ravelry, the updated version is in your library, as well as the older version.

I’m having a lot of fun teaching on Zoom. These pictures are from my Petite Brioche classes this past weekend. I took them near the end of class, so some people have already left. We had fun!