What’s been in my new project bag this past week? Something that got too big for the project bag it started in.
Effervescent
This is Effervescent, finished and blocked. It’s two color brioche rib, with a syncopated brioche edging and assigned pooling motifs.
Frogged and reconditioned yarn
This is the yarn from a previous shawl that I frogged and reconditioned. I had a better idea for it, and it came out like a dream. The yarn is a little fuzzy now; it’s a single ply and I’ve effectively knit it through three projects. But it’s soft and lovely.
I was about 70% finished with the second shawl in this yarn’s life, when I decided it needed to have bigger motifs, and be knit on a smaller needle. Ooof. Good thing I like to knit.
Then I was worried that it was going to be too small. But blocking is magic.
I didn’t block it aggressively; I just patted it out as the fabric relaxed after soaking for wet blocking. It’s airy and drapey.
The pattern has been tech edited, and I’m looking for test knitters that love brioche knitting and assigned pooling. Is that you?
I had a fabulous time at Red Alder Fiber Arts Festival last weekend. I taught 4 classes: Brioche Pastiche, Brioche Doctor, Embellished Brioche (brioche + assigned pooling), and Fun Stitches for Assigned Pooling. I was in my technique heaven!
Andrea
Andrea wore her Whale Conga Line to Assigned Pooling class. I love seeing finished projects from previous classes!
Katherine wore hers, too! And I loved wearing my Seagull Flight shawl from Brioche Knit Love. (Seagull Flight pattern is still on sale for 15% off with code FLOCK through February 24.)
It was fun to have Lily Chin teaching on this coast! I usually see her in NYC.
The marketplace was full of goodies, as usual. And I feel like an influencer: Last year I asked several dyers if they had assigned pooling yarns, and I only found one.
Tara from Stranded by the Sea gave me the yarn that turned into Fired Up last year (see it over her shoulder?), and had lots more pooling yarn this year in both fingering and worsted weight.
I picked up some Starry Night to demo in my assigned pooling class, and also picked up sparkly yarn…and chocolate.
Phat Girlz Fibre also had pooling yarn, and Ashley took my pooling class to make the most of it.
Dragonfly Fibers/Canon Hand Dyes had gradient and rainbow assigned pooling minis (very cool).
And Northwest Yarns had assigned pooling yarn AND my books, which we sold out. Woohoo!
Greta showed me her Portland Frog Hat. I’m getting to ya!
I also loved Susan’s little frog hat in the Runway Rubber Duck contest. He took 3rd place, yay!
Debbie’s duck took Top Duck and Fan Favorite. The small scale lace and bead shawl plus the red hat were well done.
Anna-Lisa’s group won the Top Flock award with this Olympic themed team.
And Mr. New Beginnings at the train station modeled my Fired Up Cowl.
I had a great time teaching, socializing, shopping, and knitting.
But perhaps brioche plus pooling isn’t the best choice for knitting by the fire during a late night game of Cards Against Humanity. I taught Brioche Doctor the day before, so I was definitely prepared to frog and get this back on the needles!
This morning I gave a presentation on Design Process and taught an assigned pooling class for the Greater Boston Knitting Guild; we had a fun 3 hours together! Let me know if your guild would like a presentation or class, too. Tomorrow I’m off to Spain to visit friends. DH is staying home with the cats. Hasta luego!
Remember I said I thought the dark purple was too contrasty with the pooling yarn? Before I went to New York, I popped in the LYS to pick a green, figuring that Mother Nature knows what she’s doing. But I didn’t love this so I ended up going with the dark purple again.
I was really glad I wound 3 of my 4 hanks on my swift, because the dark purple that I wound on my 2 yard niddy-noddy was too wide for my swift when I was ready to re-wind it after soaking. I had to wait for DH to come home from a trip so he could be my human swift, the night before I left for VKLive.
The initial bit of knitting looks pretty good. Using the dark purple as background and a small featured accent helps tone it down. I’m not sure about my pooling motifs, though. And then I had another idea while I was at my aqua-fit class. I do a lot of mind knitting in the pool.
I’m realizing that the orange color pop is shorter than I’m used to, but it works fine for the motif I’m using. Part of the fun of assigned pooling is that every yarn is different, and you can choose what you want to do or not do, to adapt or let it be.
So this is my “mindless” knitting project to take with me to Red Alder Fiber Festival on Wednesday. I’ll be gone for the weekend, teaching classes and hanging out with other fiber loving creators. For now I have to set it aside and prep my teaching things, and pack!
I’m looking forward to teaching at Red Alder Fiber Arts Retreat, February 12-15! I’m scheduled to teach 3 brioche classes (my favorite, as you know), and an assigned pooling class.
My newest brioche class is Embellished Brioche, which uses brioche rib as a background for assigned pooling. If you know how to knit brioche rib, this would be a great addition to your brioche toolkit. You can add assigned pooling to any of your brioche rib projects; you just need to know your strategy. I would love a few more students for this class.
Pre-registration is important for events like Red Alder; a class may be cut if it doesn’t get enough pre-registration before January 4. Embellished Brioche is in that danger zone. Treat yourself, and treat me, too! Here are some examples of brioche + pooling:
StarstruckPeekaboo CowlScattered Petals
My other classes are:
Brioche Pastiche (beginning 2 color brioche in the round)Brioche Doctor (fixing brioche mistakes)Fun stitches for assigned pooling
If you are planning to come to Red Alder, please pre-register for classes! There is limited registration available on-site, but for maximum choice, pre-registration before January 4 is the way to go.
to this! Pardon my Quality Assurance Cat; she’s making sure the ends have been woven in properly.
I’ve added spiral stitch markers to the circle; can you see them? They’re cats! The ears help them stay in place. The stitch markers are meant to hold my lightweight necklaces. Which I’ll show you, once I get them untangled. They’re currently in a box, all jumbled up.
Reminder: The Knit Your Own Adventure Summit is this week! This free online event will help you be a more confident knitter. Learn more about the Knit Your Own Adventure Summit, and grab your free ticket here (The links to the summit give me credit for you signing up, which is free. If you upgrade your access with an Expedition Pass, I receive a commission. Your choice!)
My presentation is Frogging Your Knitting: Getting Back On Track. And I’m participating in a Zoom panel on Tuesday October 7 at 1 pm Central. It’s called Live Fix-It Lab: Your Top Troubleshooting Questions Answered. Come join the fun!
I’m so pleased to publish the Fantasia Cowlette! Fantasia is a fingering weight bandana cowl knit in the round, featuring easy assigned pooling fans on a stockinette stitch background.
Choose a single skein of fingering weight yarn that is dyed for assigned pooling. I used A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering in Tropical Flowers for mine.
The pattern is available through Ravelry and Payhip. Use coupon code FANCY for 15% off the pattern through October 9, 2025. Let’s get knitting for fall!
Reminder: The Knit Your Own Adventure Summit is next week! This free online event will help you be a more confident knitter. Learn more about the Knit Your Own Adventure Summit, and grab your free ticket here (The links to the summit give me credit for you signing up, which is free. If you upgrade your access with an Expedition Pass, I receive a commission. Your choice!)
I’m presenting a segment on frogging your knitting and how to get back on track. And I’m participating in a Zoom presentation on Tuesday, too. Come join the fun!
Simply Stellar is an asymmetric triangle brioche shawlette, knit on the bias from narrow end to wide end. It features assigned pooling stars. The pattern requires two skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling.
I knit my Simply Stellar with A Chick That Knitz Deluxe sock in Wildflowers (pooling) and Sassy, a fabulous hot pink.
I designed this shawlette as a slightly simpler version of my Starstruck. Tammy Pelfrey, the dyer at A Chick that Knitz, told me that some people were intimidated by the syncopated border on Starstruck, so Simply Stellar was designed as a simpler introduction to brioche plus assigned pooling. The shaping is very simple, and the yarn tells you when it’s time to make a star.
This pattern is available through Ravelry, link here, and Payhip, link here. Use coupon code SHINE for 15% off through September 9, 2025.
We’re barreling towards September, and I am juggling several projects! I’ll have a new design out next week (Tuesday, September 2), another one ready for tech edit and test knit, and a fun online project for October. I had a photo shoot with my sister yesterday. She doesn’t work for cash, so we go out for our favorite lunch instead. Her: chicken and waffles. Me: usually the perfect fried chicken sandwich.
Lunch at Screen Door, PDX Pearl District
But this time I had a fried chicken salad. It’s salad, so it’s healthy, right? (Look away from the bacon.)
I’m still editing pictures, so you’ll see those later.
I’ve been looking for a way to store my everyday necklaces and earrings. Right now they’re jumbled in a pretty box, and they’re always tangled. I’m planning to use a big circle of knit fabric in an embroidery hoop, and add some hooks to hold the necklaces. Those hooks may be spiral stitch markers; we’ll see if they work. Earrings can go directly into the fabric. Wish me luck!
I started knitting with leftover yarn, but I really wanted something that coordinated with our bedroom, and I wanted it to be more interesting than a stockinette circle. Assigned pooling is doing the trick.
I bought this yarn, MadelineTosh Tosh Merino Light, at For Yarn’s Sake on the way to a meeting. I didn’t have the right sized dpns with me, so I bought these Knit Pro Cubics. They’re square shaped. I like them!
We’re heading into a holiday weekend. Hope yours is full of knitting. I hope mine is, too!
And off, and on, and off, and on again! Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what your yarn really wants.
This yarn is A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering in Tropical Flowers. I got it at Nash Yarn Fest, intending to pair it with another color for brioche plus pooling.
Here it is with Caribbean.
It was nice, but the stars didn’t really pop against the background.
I liked the contrastier combination of Wildflowers and Sassy. this is A Chick That Knitz Deluxe Sock. This pattern, Simply Stellar, is coming soon. It’s been a busy summer, and this will make a nice intro to fall knitting.
I frogged the blue version, and decided to try a different assigned pooling pattern, without brioche. I want this to be a cowl, and it has to be worked in the round because the motif has to be worked from the right side of the fabric.
I love how the colors pop against the background when it’s just the pooling yarn. The second color in brioche really didn’t add anything meaningful.
But do I want the motifs to be flowers?
Or volcanoes? I knit on this last weekend, while we were traveling to and from Ellensburg, Washington for a friend’s birthday/retirement party. And by the time we were halfway home, I decided I wanted flowers.
And voilà, my project was instantly transformed into a swatch! I needed to frog the whole thing, and work it from the bottom up instead of top down.
That meant choosing an edging for the beginning, and doing some math. Easy peasy. The nice thing about working it from the bottom up is that there won’t be any yarn chicken shenaningans going on. The edging is completed first, so I know there’s enough yarn for it. And I can knit the top of the cowl to be as tall as I want it to be with the yarn that’s left; the height isn’t a critical measurement.
I’m about halfway done, and looking forward to showing you the result. It’s an easy knit.
Cheers! (Cocktails at Julep in Ellensburg. Backwoods Barbie on the left, Rhinestone Cowboy on the right.)
Scattered Petals is a bandana cowl knit in the round. It features a dusting of assigned pooling petals on a two-color brioche rib background. Choose two skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which is dyed for assigned pooling. Knitting begins in the round at the bottom with a contrast color brioche rib edging. Simple shaping at the center front creates the look of a triangle shawl.
Smaller and larger cowls stacked, for comparison
The pattern offers the cowl in two sizes, depending on how much coverage you like.
Assigned pooling stitch detail
I used Yarn Snob’s A Good Fingering for my cowls, in Black Orchid (pooling color) and Wicked Green. I love, love, love how this turned out.
The Scattered Petals pattern is available on Ravelry, link here. It is also available on Payhip, link here. Use coupon code ROSES for a 15% discount on either site. I hope you enjoy this sweet knit!
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 