I was tickled to see my Both Sides Now Shawl peeking out under a pile of yarn in an email from Knit Picks.
A green version of Both Sides Now is on the website.
I received another email this morning. It’s like seeing your kids out in the world. Sweet!
I’m not sure how long the sale lasts, but if you want to buy some Hawthorne, here’s the link.
Here’s Both Sides Now, available for purchase on the Knit Picks website. It was on the cover of their brioche book several years ago. So pleased to see it again!
The Peekaboo Shawlette is a 2 color brioche shawlette, knit flat. It features assigned pooling/algorithmic knitting motifs that peek between the brioche ribs. When your pop color arrives, you begin a Peekaboo motif, which is worked over the next several rows.
Right side and wrong side, both lovely
Peekaboo is reversible, with a different motif on the “wrong side”. Choose 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling. I used A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering.
Gauge is not critical, work to get a fabric you like. A video tutorial for the Peekaboo motif is provided in the pattern. Most of the knitting is simple 2 color brioche.
Peekaboo Cowl
You know I love brioche, and you know I love assigned pooling! I’m thrilled with both the Peekaboo Cowl and this new Peekaboo Shawlette.
The Peekaboo Shawlette pattern is available on Ravelry, link here. It is also available on Payhip, link here. Use coupon code PEAKING for 15% off on either site through January 10, 2025.
These are the 16 projects that I completed in 2024. A couple aren’t published yet, but there’s a lot of duplication this year! I see Prosecco Pop and Bellini Bubbles, Fuzzy Memories in Cabrito, two Emotional Support Chickens, 4 (!) versions of Trailing Leaves while I was trying to get it just right, Peekaboo Cowl, Peekaboo Shawlette (coming soon), Starstruck Shawlette (also coming soon), 3 out of a whole bunch of korknisse that I knit this past week, and a Minerva entrelac scarf that is just off the needles.
I see assigned pooling, brioche, and assigned pooling + brioche. You know my favorite techniques! And Minerva, because party trick knitting is my favorite.
Many thanks to my sister Sharon, who is a fabulous model! And I even modeled my Peekaboo Cowl myself, via selfie.
Here’s what Top Nine says were my top nine Instagram posts in 2024. I see 3 Emotional Support Chicken posts, assigned pooling yarn and Bellini Bubbles (green shawlette in progress), Whale Conga Line, Rabbit Hole Knits’ knitted Victorian housecats at VKLive NYC, Olle Bolle (a Thomas Dambo troll), and my Apple watch mistaking my yarn winding for an elliptical workout. Ha!
Wishing you a very happy new year, with lots of knitting fun to come in 2025.
We spent a week in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii earlier this month. This is a favorite place of ours. The west coast is on the dry side of the island, and we see more rocky lava than beach. We stayed in a different condo complex this year, the Keauhou Kona Surf and Racquet Club. Still oceanfront overlooking lava rock and the ocean.
We made it in time for sunset. I woke the next morning at 5 am, after moonset and before sunrise, so I had the joy of watching the Geminid meteor shower around the setting Orion constellation. I saw 12 meteors in the 45 minutes before the sky began to lighten. This was the only morning the Geminids were visible; on subsequent days there was too much light from either the setting moon or the rising sun.
I love hanging out on the lanai. I saw kayakers, canoers, dolphins, waves, and this beautiful rainbow.
Our complex was just south of Mākole’ā Beach. It has tide pools, black and tan sand, and Ke’eku Heiau, a restored temple.
West end of Ke’eku HeiauStatues at the east end of Ke’eku HeiauLooking north past Ke’eku Heiau towards Kahalu’uSpiny sea urchins
One morning I saw schools of yellow tang in the waves!
Sunset over tidepools at Mākole’ā Beach
It was a great place to watch the sunset, but I think I like sunset on the lanai even more.
Aloha Costco!
We explored more of Kaloko Honokōhau National Historic Park. The park ranger advised starting the loop with the lava field and ending with the more pleasant beach and petroglyphs. Good advice; a mile over lava rock trail wasn’t very pleasant. Glad to have my hiking poles.
The next feature was Kaloko Fish Pond. This was built by native Hawaiians for raising fish. The ocean is to your left. The rock wall has been rebuilt; it’s impressively level.
The trail continues along part of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail, which follows the coast. It eventually comes to Honokōhau Beach, which is my favorite place to look for honu (green turtles).
I wasn’t that close; this is zoomed *and* cropped!
The trail continues on to Ai’opio Beach, which has a fish trap and heiau, another favorite place for turtle spotting. The trail then heads back up towards the welcome center and lava fields, while passing a petroglyph field.
I see people, a long gun, a fish hook…what do you see?
Of course there was knitting on the lanai. Heres a sneak peek at my latest design project.
It was a lovely relaxing week, and we came back ready to tackle Christmas and Hanukkah prep. Which was good, because I hadn’t done any beforehand!
I hope your holidays are merry and bright. Looking forward to new adventures in 2025!
I’ve enjoyed playing with this new-to-me yarn. This is Berroco Wizard, 85/15 Superwash Wool/Nylon. It’s a very light and lofty chainette, classified as bulky. Recommended needle size is 10-10 1/2 (6-6.5 mm), but I’m using a US9 because I like the fabric better. I knit til nearly the end of the ball, and the result is a short scarf, but long enough to cross over my chest. Based on the light and lofty fabric, I decided that this version would be a great Minerva scarf instead of a cowl. You get to see more of the entrelac fabric if it’s not doubled up around your neck.
I’m planning an entrelac class at Hook and Needle in Vancouver, WA on March 29, and I wanted to see if this yarn they carry is appropriate. Why yes, it is. If you’d like to learn to knit entrelac with me, you can do so in person at Hook and Needle, and also at Vogue Knitting Live in New York City on Sunday, January 19. Minerva is bi-coastal! You can use this lovely yarn for a scarf, or you can use a gradient yarn for a different effect. The pattern gives instructions for both scarf and cowl.
Or a different color changing yarn for a short or long cowl. Knitter’s choice!
About the Berroco Wizard: I loved knitting with it. It’s very airy, so the fabric is pretty fluffy in hand. That’s the other reason I wanted it as a scarf rather than a cowl; it wants to drape itself artfully. Sometimes you have to let the yarn tell you what it wants to do! I highly recommend it; it’s fun to knit.
Are you looking forward to learning new things in 2025? I know I am!
This all started because I wanted a little red one for the neighbors, like my Stopover Korknisse above. I may knit a couple more today while procrastinating about wrapping presents. If you want to knit some too, here’s a quick set of instructions. The original pattern is in Norwegian by Manne, and is only available via Wayback Machine/Internet Archive. I’ve adapted it for champagne corks.
I used Malabrigo Worsted for most of these (Stopover is in Lopi). US 5 needle, worked in the round.
Sweater: CO 18 sts 2 rnds k1p1 rib. 1 rnd stockinette 2 rnds 1×1 colorwork BO round in neckline color
Hat: CO 16 sts 2 rnds ribbing, 3 rnds stockinette, then decreases every other row; 3 per decrease rnd. If you work the first dec rnd as K2tog, k2, k2tog; (k3, k2tog)2x, that will make your following dec rnds simpler. You’ll knit one fewer st before the dec on each dec rnd, until you have 3 sts remaining.
This all started because I wanted a little red one for the neighbors, like mine above. I may knit a couple more today while procrastinating about wrapping presents.
Here’s a crew of korknisse from 2014. I’ll catch up with my current Kona post…soon!
I’m a little slow getting ready for the holidays, but I work best under pressure. We arrived home from Kona (Hawaii) on Thursday night, and Friday I put new lights on the porch.
It wasn’t raining, so the timing was perfect.
I put up my tree, on top of the piano. That surfing Santa is finally getting his legs glued back onto the surfboard this year; one of our cats knocked him off the piano years ago. I also put up the Christmas stockings on the mantel.
Old picture, same stockings!
I’ve added my knitted lights bow to my Christmas wreath. I’m skipping the knitted ribbon with dpns, because last year the dpns got…moldy? Mildewed? Gross, whatever. The bow is fine by itself.
I made a double batch of Irish Cream from the recipe in this post, and I’ll make one more batch today.
I helped a friend decorate cookies. Aren’t these cute?
And I knit this little korknisse for Carole at coffee this morning.
Shopping is done. There are a few presents to wrap, a little more housecleaning to do (tomorrow, because it needs to be tidy the day after). And we’re hosting Christmas dinner here on Wednesday.
Lots of pictures in this post, so I’ll do a Hawaii post separately. We had a great time!
Are you ready for the holidays? I actually cleaned the wax off our menorahs, so I’m ready for Christmas AND Hanukkah!
…your enemies closer, and your knitting tools…closer yet!
Knitting tool necklace
While I’m working my Peekaboo motifs, I need stitch markers, and a cable hook for working the brioche 4 stitch decreases. I’m not always sitting next to a table, so it’s easier to wear my tools on me.
This is just a silk cord with a hook finding (it’s half of a necklace fastener; there’d be a little ring to slide onto that silver J). It can hold stitch markers that I use to note where a motif begins and ends. The gold cable hook can hang on the silver J, too, or in the little loop that the silk cord is threaded through. The decorative pink stitch marker is for weight, so that the necklace hangs down instead of flopping around.
Each of the motifs on the Peekaboo Cowl had me using the cable hook. Having that hook on my person kept it handy!
The same is true for the Peekaboo Shawlette (coming soon).
How do you keep your cable needle/cable hook handy? I don’t use one for most cabling, but when I need it, I need it!
I finished the knitting on this entrelac piece, but I haven’t decided if I want to seam the ends for a loop cowl, or keep it as a shortish scarf. The light and airy fabric doesn’t want to be a single loop, so I’d have to make sure it’s long enough to be a double loop. Or I could leave it as a shortish scarf, held with a shawl/scarf pin. I think that would show more of the little squares, which is the whole point of this piece! So I may have just talked myself into a scarf. Onward!
I’m still on my brioche + pooling kick. Yarn Snob’s Black Orchid is so pretty! I chose Silver Fox to go with it, but after I started knitting the two together, I’m not so sure about the combo. The black is really more like a deep dark purple, and the gray feels “cold” next to it. It doesn’t help that I haven’t actually seen my knitting in daylight! But I think I’d like it better with Winter (cream) to warm it up a little. I’ll have to take one more look in the morning before frogging. I do have Winter waiting in the wings.
In the meantime, I also have this yarn from A Chick That Knitz; it’s Hibernation, with a choice of either Caramel or Silver Fox (yes, another Silver Fox!) to go with it. I’m starting with Caramel, but as you can see, everything is up in the air until the swatching is done.
Are you gift knitting for the holidays? I’m shopping my samples; that takes a lot of pressure off!
Cherry Blossom Wrapture, Trailing Leaves, Star Flower, Nymphaea
Thank you for your response to my sample sale! Most of the smaller items are sold, but the bigger ones are a little slower to move. Incentive time! I’m dropping the price of the remaining items by $10, so it would be equivalent to free shipping. I’m planning to mail everything out at the end of this week, so this is your chance for handmade gifts, without having to make them.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, with all of the DH-side relatives meeting up in St. Louis. It’s been a few years since we’ve all been together for Thanksgiving, so it was a treat. We managed to successfully prepare Thanksgiving dinner in our Airbnb kitchen, and then transport it to our party room at Mom’s assisted living center.
The gang’s all here
I think the best part of these trips is that the next generation gets to spend time together, and we get to spend time with them, too.
I didn’t have a moment to knit until I was on the plane headed home. The entrelac is close to yarn chicken stage; I’ll be finished soon. (Is it cheating if I use a scale?)
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 