A student asked me how to tink brioche decreases. I made a little video so I can share it with all of you, too.
Also, my Petite Brioche class through Twisted on September 26 is full!
So we added another class on October 17. Link to register is here.
There’s still room in my Syncopation class on October 3, link here.
Let’s knit!
You may remember that I started teaching knitting about a dozen years ago at Twisted, my neighborhood LYS. I was sad to see Twisted move to an online only model early this year. But given the way 2020 has gone, it seems to have been a very good idea.
So I got to thinking: Online shop, online classes. Why not? I’m happy to announce that I’m teaching a couple classes for Twisted via Zoom.
I’ll be teaching Petite Brioche on Saturday September 26, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm PDT. This is a gentle introduction to two color brioche in the round, which I think is the easiest way to learn brioche. Register here.
I’ll be teaching syncopated brioche using my Syncopation pattern on Saturday October 3, 10:30 am – 12:30 pm PDT. If you’re already comfortable with knitting brioche rib and want to get fancy, this class is for you. Register here.
Classes are via Zoom, and they’re limited to 12 students each. We’ll have a cozy knitting time together.
Come knit with me! I think we could all use a happy diversion right about now.
After teaching my brioche increases and decreases class at Virtual Knitting Live last month, I started thinking that I wanted to design one more hat.
Specifically, it would be a teaching hat, one that uses both left and right leaning double decreases within the first few rounds. I love Heliotrope and Brioche Pastiche, but it takes quite a while before we get to the right leaning decreases.
I wanted a big stitch pattern to make a visual statement, and there it is! This is the staghorn motif from Nancy Marchant’s Knitting Fresh Brioche. I could use this motif twice, and not have a big enough hat, or three times, and the hat would be too big. Hmmm. I could use the motif once or twice, and make the rest of the hat in garter stitch, which has the same row gauge as brioche rib. But that could be confusing for students, as it knocks one out of the rhythm of brioche knitting.
Also, using this motif once or twice doesn’t guarantee that students will get to practice both increases more than a few times during class. A better alternative to garter stitch would be to use a smaller motif for size adjustability, and for practice with both decreases.
This stitch pattern is based on Nancy Marchant’s large gulls. I made it taller, to make it fit the row repeat of the staghorn motif. I like the way it echoes the shape of the staghorn motif. Perfect. I added a single rib on each side of the staghorn motif as an accent.
Sometimes designing is just this specific. I knew what I wanted to feature in the pattern, and then it was just a matter of putting several parts together. Like playing with Legos? Now I’m up to the crown shaping, and working out how to make that work for three sizes, which is just a bit of engineering.
It’s coming soon; I want to use it for classes this fall. That means it’s jumping to the top of my to-do list. Don’t worry, Sneaker Wave is still coming, too. By the end of the month, I think!
How do you decide which project to work on? Do you have many or few? What makes one jump to the top of the list? For me, there’s nothing like the power of a deadline.
Monday, when the sun was still visible through smoke
Side note: 2020 is an absolute dumpster fire. Pandemic, lockdown, a crashed economy, civil unrest to protest police brutality and racism…and now wildfires up and down the west coast. Entire towns have burned to the ground, and people are being evacuated for their safety. The fires aren’t close to my home right now, but smoke has blanketed most of western Oregon, and the air is unhealthy for breathing. The city of Portland declared a state of emergency as of last night.
I’m hoping and praying for change on so many levels.
Working on this little knitting project is giving my brain just enough to chew on, to keep the worry at bay. I’m grateful for home and safety, and grieving for those who have lost everything.
“Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises.“ Elizabeth Zimmermann
Our Half the Knit Sky KAL ran through the end of August, and I finished mine, just under the wire.
You may recall that I finished knitting at the beach last Wednesday.
I wet blocked it on Saturday, and took pictures yesterday.
I love all three of my shawls, but this one reminds me of the sky with the aurora borealis dancing across the stars. Not that I’ve ever seen the aurora, but it’s on my bucket list!
I have prizes for my last two KAL finishers, so I’ll be getting in touch with Terri and Marilee soon.
I haven’t forgotten Sneaker Wave; I’ll have the patterns out next week, I hope? But I’m also juggling some blog posts and videos for a company I’m working with, so we’ll see how the week goes. Nothing like the power of a deadline! I steam blocked yesterday. The left mitt is blocked; see how relaxed the fabric and the cable are, compared to the right mitt? Don’t worry, I blocked that one, too. Blocking is magic, even steam blocking!
Calvin insisted on helping with the photo shoot, even though the hat is too big for him.
And Biscuit decided to start the holiday weekend early.
Here’s to a safe and happy holiday weekend! Tomorrow’s my birthday, so we’ll be celebrating that, too. Cheers!
What’s Payhip? It’s another online platform for PDXKnitterati pattern sales. Some knitters are having health issues caused by Ravelry’s recent update and are unable to use the site, so I want to provide an alternate way to purchase patterns.
Here’s the link to my Payhip store. I have most of my shawls and wraps listed, and I’ll keep working to put more of my patterns over there. Coming soon: the brioche collection, and then cowls and scarves. (If I say this here, it’s incentive for me to get it done.) The site is pretty, but it doesn’t have a database for searching like Ravelry does. At least, I don’t think it does.
If you’d like to try it out, I’m offering 15% off my patterns there through September 7. Use coupon code SEPT15 for this discount. (If you subscribe to my newsletter, you’ll get a code for 20%.)
If you’re a Ravelry user and want to put the pattern in your library, email me your receipt and I’ll gift you a copy on Ravelry. And if you’d rather purchase the pattern on Ravelry, the code works there, too. Please check my Payhip store to see which patterns are included in this sale.
Here’s the link to my Ravelry store, which is the most complete of all the options at this time. The database of patterns and projects is still a great resource; there’s nothing like it anywhere else.
You can find some of my designs on LoveCrafts. This site is the slowest for me to work with, so I’m not planning to add more patterns on it for now.
Last but not least, some of my designs are on Knit Picks, either through their books, or through the Independent Design Program (IDP). They choose the patterns, so there is a limited number of mine on this site.
Savoir-Faire is everywhere? (Old cartoon callback; let me know if you get it!)
I was lucky to get away for a bit this past week. Walking on a beach on a cool sunny day is a great way to clear one’s head. And the lack of things to trip on make walking free and easy, unlike walking on sidewalks in town.
One of my favorite beach walks is south of Cannon Beach, beginning at Tolovana and heading south to Jockey Cap and Silver Point. It’s much quieter down that way, away from Haystack Rock.
Further down the coast, north of Rockaway, looking back to see Twin Rocks. (I do love monoliths.)
I spotted this sea lion on Nedonna Beach at the South Nehalem Bay Jetty.
Looks like someone needs a cuppa coffee! He did swim back out to sea after this.
Lots of jellyfish on the beach, some big and some small.
I saw the Big Dipper each night, and managed to catch it with my iPhone. Turn up your screen brightness if you need help to see it.
And I finished knitting Half the Knit Sky for my KAL, just in time. (See how I snuck the knit sky in with the night sky?) Now it’s time to block. If you’re knitting along, post a picture by August 31 for the last round of prizes.
It was a lovely getaway. Back to work!
It was a big week! I did a little knitting, and a lot of teaching.
Here’s the little knitting, before. I ripped back my Rio Calina a bit. I learned that it’s not so much the direction of the cable cross that drives me, but the over/under. I didn’t like long snakey lines that continued uncrossed on the top of the fabric, so I changed it! Do you see what I did?
I like it a lot better this way.
The squash I’ve been pollinating (plant sex!) in the garden did some sneaky growing while I wasn’t paying attention. It got big!
I guess the bees can manage from here on out.
I used one of the squash on a pizza. Same basic structure as the puff pastry tarts in previous posts, but this is a little more substantial than the puff pastry.
Do you remember mug cakes, from a few years ago? We needed a small dessert, so I made a mug cake. This is half, plus some goodies. Here’s the recipe.
I taught 4 classes for Virtual VKLive, including Syncopation, which made its VKLive debut. It was really fun; my students were awesome!
Now I’m working on more video tutorials, and launching a Payhip store. More on that later.
Knit on!
I’m trying to get excited about my emPower People bandana, but I’m just not. I think it’s even frowning at me! I had hoped to finish it and use it for special election Tuesday next week, but I’m just not feeling the love. I’m going to put it aside for now.
I need to work on my Half the Knit Sky KAL; I’m trying to finish by the end of August. I have a sneaking suspicion that there’s a lot more knitting than I expect, because the yardage on this Huckleberry Knits gradient is so much longer than on my original KnitCircus gradient.
I love how subtle the color shift is.
If you’re knitting along, please post a picture on Instagram or Ravelry so you can be in this week’s prize drawing. I’ll pick a winner over the weekend.
My Rio Calina #4catbordhi is calling my name. I love how quickly this river moves along, big stitches, bold cables. I’m trying to be random with the cables and go with the flow, but those two long lines heading to the left are just begging for an intervention!
What is your knitting telling you to do?
Onward!
Well, I didn’t find 2 skeins of worsted in my small stash, but I did find 2 skeins of fingering weight that I could use doubled, for a roughly worsted equivalent.
This is Knit Picks Hawthorne Fingering Multi in their Springwater colorway. One of them seems more purple than the other, but that just means that the blend will be that much richer.
The pattern for the Rio Calina cowl is a gift from Cat Bordhi. The cables are meant to be random, like a river. I’m not very good at being random. I like rules; that’s how I design. I’m trying to be intentionally random here, which is testing me a bit, but for Cat Bordhi, I’d do it. Thank you, Cat, for encouraging me to go with the flow.
I cast on while Carole was visiting for wine o’clock in the backyard; she was working on a quilt while I was knitting. It would be sweet to knit this only when I’m with friends, either in person or in virtual Zoom knit nights. But that may not work during our pandemic social distancing. We’ll see how strong the pull of the knitting is. I now have 3 projects on the needles, so I can rotate…randomly?
Cat Bordhi is such a shining light; I’m so sad that the knitting world will soon be without her. If you missed her grace-filled post, it’s here.
Do you want to knit along? You can see posts with #4catbordhi on Instagram and other social media. I’ll be knitting, over here.
Claudia came over to pick up some jam, and to jam, socially distantly. Music is a balm to the soul. And a diversion, too. We missed our third Pie Bird Becky, but we sang our hearts out, 12 feet apart in my backyard. And laughed ourselves silly.
Social Distance. Apologies to Julie Gold, the composer of From a Distance.
Here are my lyrics, since it’s kind of hard to hear through the masks:
Social distance we all stay at home
And wash our hands incessantly
Social distance: we wear masks to shop, and check out hurriedly
Social distance: we’re allowed on walks, if we stay six feet apart
We miss all our friends, we miss happy hour, and museums full of art
Social distance, we would have enough hand sanitizer and TP
But there are hoarders emptying the stores, not thinking logically
So for instance, we would like some flour, some sugar and some yeast
We could bake at home, relieve some stress, and have some carb filled treats
The world is watching us, the world is watching us, world is watching us from a distance
Keep your distance, please just stay at home
Amuse yourself with your TV
Binge on Netflix, or work in your yard, while we anxiously await vaccine
If you go out, please do wear a mask, spread out and wash your hands
It’s for everyone, keep your neighbors safe, it’s the song throughout the land
You’re the hope of hopes, you’re the love of loves, it’s the song for all the land.
A little rough, but we had fun.
Also, if you’d like to know more about songwriter Julie Gold, her inspiring story is here.
Tagged From a Distance, Julie Gold, pie birds, singing, social distance
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