I’ve been playing with some ideas, zeroing in on what to keep, and what to toss. This first version (Knit Picks Chroma Fingering) was my attempt to spare my pooling yarn from the tenth frog/restart. It’s pretty good, just a bit longer than I wanted. I’ve got it figured out, and I’ll be looking for test knitters soon.
Trailing Leaves cowl, Take Two
This pooled version (Yarn Snob Fingering) is the right length, and I changed the increase rate to get to the number of stitches I wanted for the edging. But you can’t really see the pooling, because it’s on the sides and back of the green brioche section. Why do all that extra work, if you’re not going to see it when you wear the finished object? The leaves are really the star of the show. So I don’t plan to release a pooled version as a pattern; it’s a unicorn.
That doesn’t mean I want to give up the idea of combining brioche with pooling/algorithmic knitting.
Places you can knit: Bon Bon Vivant sound check!
There’s enough yarn left over for me to design another piece. It features that lovely syncopated edging, too. I’m halfway done…
Places you can knit: Margo Price at the Blues Fest
We had a great time at the Waterfront Blues Festival this weekend. It was HOT, so we were mostly there during the evenings. Of course I brought my knitting.
And my Lantern Moon fan, which I’ve had since 2009 (Sock Summit!). Make your own breeze!
Local great Curtis Salgado and 11 more fabulous musiciansHawthorne Bridge lift for the fireworks barge to get throughDoing our part! (We take this picture every year)
Bisquee hopes you’re keeping cool! We have central air conditioning, so she’s not as hot as she looks. She’s enjoying her bit of sunshine.
Do you knit when it’s hot? It’s always nice indoors here! But I did knit outdoors at the festival, too. At least it was a small, not very woolly project!
I worked very hard at not working on my current design project during the week before I went to the coast. I wanted to have an established work in progress so I could be sociable while I knit.
Fan stitch
I want to combine brioche and assigned pooling, two of my favorite types of knitting! I was planning to use a V’d stitch like in Fanfare. In my imagination, they’d be airier because there would be the brioche purl stitches between the knit stitches, and I was going to dip down and out to the side to make upside down Vs. But I found out pretty quickly that it would not be very much fun to make those Vs if the pooling color happened on the wrong side of the fabric. I need a pooling stitch that will work on both right and wrong sides. And it needs to fit into the rhythm of brioche.
I used brioche increases to make my Vs instead. So sweet! I set the project aside, ready to knit at the coast.
It took 70 rows of coastal knitting, but I finally realized: All of those cute stitches *really were* increases, and they were going to throw off my shawl shaping. You can see in the picture above where all the increases have thrown off the straight edge on the right. Oops. Also, I had elongated the Pear Leaf edging from 10 to 12 rows, and it didn’t really look like a leaf any more. Double oops.
So this is my project, frogged, at the coast. Since then I’ve knit and frogged and restarted it at least 5 more times while settling on the syncopated cream colored edging pattern (not pear leaf after all) and how to handle the pooling stitches. Remember, I make the mistakes so you don’t have to! And now I’ve figured out where it’s going. I’m kind of obsessed, and all I want to do is knit this gorgeous yarn. Why yes, that’s Yarn Snob Keith’s Bellina colorway again, this time paired with cream. I love the combo; it tones down the green just a little bit. No previews yet.
I thought I was done with assigned pooling for a while, but during my Starfall KAL with Yarn Snob Keith I fell in love with a colorway used by one of the participants.
Keith’s Orchid: Bellina
The colorway is Bellina, named after one of dyer Keith’s orchids. When I saw it, I had to have it. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.
When I asked Ann Berg to test knit Prosecco Pop in a smooth yarn, she used a pooling yarn instead of a slubby one. I loved the idea, but I wanted more pooling, and fewer eyelets. It took a few tries to figure out the proportions, and I even changed my mind after my sample was finished, but here’s the basic idea.
Working title: Bellini Bubbles
I was going to use a different assigned pooling stitch, but these star flowers are so perfect here. This was knit with one skein of fingering weight yarn, dyed for assigned pooling.
Star flowers, blocked
The pattern has been tech edited, and now I’m looking for a few test knitters. Is that you? Let me know!
I forgot to add the biggest knit thing I did in 2023, which was also a second chance: I re-published my sold out, out of print book, Brioche Knit Love: 21 Skill Building Projects from Simple to Sublime! It’s for sale through Amazon.com and through select yarn shops including For Yarn’s Sake and Northwest Yarns and Mercantile. Get a copy and enjoy brioche knitting!
To ring out the old year and ring in the new, I’m having a sale on my 2023 individual self-published patterns on Ravelry. These are the eight designs you see above (not the book, which is not on Ravelry). Here’s a link to the Ravelry bundle so you can find them easily. Get 20% off any of my 2023 patterns from now through January 5, 2024. Explore assigned pooling, play with brioche, or just have a simple knit and let a gradient yarn walk you through Ebb and Flow! (If Ravelry is not accessible for you, message me and we’ll work it out.)
Happy new year…are you doing something fun for New Year’s Eve? We’re staying home with the cats. That’s enough excitement for us!
These are my finished designs of 2023; there are still 3 in the hopper that will be published in 2024. Assigned pooling was definitely a big part of my year! Pooling is a Cinch, Firefly Trails, Fanfare, Starfall, and the Star Flower Shawl were my pooling pieces.
I started the year with the Aspen Leaf Coasters, which were a brainstorm off my re-worked Aspen Leaf brioche scarf for Knit Picks. Because what if you only had to knit one leaf instead of a whole scarf?That was a fun idea, and I designed them so I could use them for a class on brioche increases and decreases. (I’m teaching it at Red Alder on February 16.) I finished the year with the Aspen Leaf Brioche Cowl (center bottom) because I love that leaf motif. I’m back to my beloved brioche and leaves after my assigned pooling detour.
27 finished projects in 2023
I counted up all my projects for the year, and there were 25 FOs. Two were from other designers, the Sink Mates mini washcloths by Lorilee Beltman, and the Buggiflooer cowl adapted from the Buggiflooer Beanie by Alison Rendall (for Shetland Wool Week). The other 23 were from my own designs.
I knit several of these pieces more than once while developing or revising the designs. I love second (and third) chances, don’t you?
Ebb and Flow in variegated, long gradient (pink), mini skeins (blues/greens)
I designed Ebb and Flow to use a souvenir skein of Moss Fibers yarn from Knit Maine 2022. Then I knit it again with the long pink gradient. I loved the color, but I think the yak/silk blend doesn’t have enough bounce to help it hold its shape (it didn’t help that I made the neckline wider, but that was a good thing to learn for the design). And then I knit it with mini skeins, and that was awesome.
I knit two more Starfall cowls for the upcoming knit along with Knits All Done/Yarn Snob, and found that a bigger, fuller star was ideal based on Keith’s dyeing patterns, along with an extended lace edging due to his generous yardage. (I had to knit through an entire skein to make sure there would be enough.)
Second chances can add a lot to an experience, whether it’s knitting or something else. While we were on vacation this month in Hawaii, we took advantage of two second chances. I had gone rock hopping with the kids at Wawaloli Beach in 2018, but we never came to the wave crashing tide pools that were pictured in our guide book.
Wawaloli Beach tide pools…found ‘em!
These are great for wading, if you’ve got kids. The calm pools that we saw before were full of interesting sea life, including shingle urchins.
It was definitely worth going back and doing it again for the short Coastal Trail; the tide pools were full of interesting fauna. Why do sea urchins put things on themselves? Camouflage, maybe?
Looking back from 1871 Trail at lava shelf/tide poolsLooking north, 1871 TrailGoats!
I was a little sorry to learn that we were going to be on vacation during the new moon, which meant no moonsets. But after several days of waking at 5 AM by accident, I decided to have my coffee in the dark on the lanai.
Orion, December 15 (amazing to capture with iPhone)
The sky was perfectly clear, and I saw Orion setting over the ocean. A green shooting star dropped from his shoulder. I saw six more meteors in the next half hour as Orion sank to the sea. Apparently the Geminid meteor shower happens at this time of year, who knew? Gemini is near Orion in the night sky. There is also an Orionid meteor shower, but that one peaks in October.
Do you knit/do things more than once? I do! And learn a little more each time.
We’ve added Pooling is a Cinch to the Starfall KAL, so now it’s a PDXKnitterati Assigned Pooling KAL!
Starfall cowl
We’re kicking off the knitalong on January 9 via Zoom. I’ll be there to demonstrate some techniques and give you pointers on how much more you can do with Starfall and this fabulous yarn!
The Starfall pattern is available through Ravelry, link here. It is also available through Payhip, link here.
Check out Keith’s colors here; choose a color that works for assigned pooling in 100g fingering weight for Starfall. There are a lot of pooling colors to choose from. Your yarn purchase will get you on the Zoom invite list. Order your yarn by December 27 so you can knit with us in January!
Pooling is a Cinch in Times Square colorway
UPDATE: We’re adding Pooling is a Cinch to our KAL; if you order this yarn (it’s worsted weight, so an even quicker knit) from Keith, you’ll get the Zoom invite, too. Wednesday Dec. 27 is the last day to order to get your yarn on time for the January 9 Zoom. Jump into the pool with us!
AND! I’ve opened a thread in my Ravelry group so we can discuss both of these projects and the KAL. Here’s the link. Hope to knit with you in January!
I’m planning to make a sample of my Starfall cowl with Keith Leonard’s fingering weight Yarn Snob yarn. I love his yarns for assigned pooling. We’re planning to do kits.
The fronts, Wine Mom and Irresistible Bearded IrisThe backs, Wine Mom and Irresistible Bearded Iris
He sent two skeins, so I could choose. That’s a difficult choice when they’re both utterly gorgeous. Which one sings to you?
Starfall assigned pooling cowl
We started talking about kits when I told him how quickly I sold the extra yarn from my assigned pooling class.
A Wondrous Worsted in Times Square colorway
He’s waiting for a shipment of worsted to dye, so this kit is on hold for now. Soon!
I wore my Star Flower Shawl for the first time yesterday. It went perfectly with my new dress. So happy! This shawl was in the works from spring until fall; it took a long time to work out all the details.
I always say that as a designer, I make the mistakes so you don’t have to. They’re not really mistakes, though. They’re choices, depending on what I think looks good, and what I think is easily explainable and repeatable.
Dream in Color Smooshy, Tip Top Tangerine and Sonoran Magic
I chose these colors for an assigned pooling shawl. I planned to base it on my Aloha Shawl, with a contrast color floral triangle that moved into alternating sections of pooling and an accent stripe in contrast color. I thought this would be a simple design process. Nope.
The yarns have a nice tonal contrast with each other. But the colors in the applied pooling skein didn’t have a lot of tonal contrast with each other.
My first attempt told me that the pink flowers were lost on a stockinette stitch background. I could also see that my floral stripe was too bold, and stole the show from the assigned pooling.
where are my flowers?
I noticed on the back side of the fabric, the star/flower popped better against the reverse stockinette stitches, but I wouldn’t want something as dense as reverse stockinette on the right side of the shawl. Garter stitch was my next best choice. Also, I wouldn’t want the beginning and end of the wrap to be so prominent, so we’d have to begin and end the wraps on the wrong side of the fabric. Okay! I also made the flower bands smaller.
I knit nearly the entire shawl before realizing that I’d never like the smaller floral bands after blocking; they wouldn’t be round enough. They looked like columns with headers and footers, and would not be improved by blocking.
(No picture because it was late at night when I had this epiphany, and I wanted to frog it immediately.)
So I frogged back to the first floral stripe, and opted for this one instead. It’s an old favorite that I’ve used on several previous designs (Sophie’s Rose, Aloha Shawl, Nymphaea, Embellishment Cowl). I wasn’t planning to have so many features in common with Aloha, but it was the best choice.
I wasn’t sure I’d like this shawl until after blocking, but I forged on, and fell in love with the finished piece. So pretty!
I wanted to knit one more with a more contrasty applied pooling yarn, and also to double check my stitch counts for the lacy edging. It was then that I discovered that I didn’t like the star flowers to have garter ridges on the front of the fabric when there was this much tonal contrast (ridges depend on if you start the star flower on the right side or wrong side, wherever the pooling color begins).
So I changed my draft pattern to have the garter ridges fall to the wrong side of the fabric. Much better. I was knitting this version on a camping trip to see the Perseid meteor showers, and suddenly this piece became the night sky. Stars, trailing meteor streaks, the contrast bands as the Milky Way. Which made me want to rip the whole thing out again so I could have the extra color pop all to one side of each star flower like a shooting star, instead of centering the flower in the color pop with color running out to each side. But NO, it really wasn’t worth knitting the whole thing over again. You can do it that way, if you want to.
So my Star Flower Shawl could also be Meteor Shower/Perseids. Knitters’ choice!
Star Flower Shawl: Dream in Color Smooshy, Tip Top Tangerine and Sonoran Magic
This gorgeous shawl has been in the works since last spring! I wanted it to be absolutely perfect, and let the yarn tell me what it should be. The first idea was a whisper, and I refined it several times until it sang out. The shawl features flowers and assigned pooling stars (or are they flowers, too?) on a garter stitch background. I love that it has more than just assigned pooling; lace adds a harmonious counterpoint. And it’s an answer to several knitters who wanted a shawl instead of a cowl.
Star Flower Shawl: Dream in Color Smooshy, Bali Wood and Rabbit Ears
Choose two 420 yard skeins of fingering weight yarn and enjoy the star show! I loved choosing these color combinations in Dream in Color Smooshy.
Star Flower Shawl: Dream in Color Smooshy, Violet Fields and Lime Ice
So much so that I helped test knitter Ann Berg pick these for her version, too!
Pink Pop and Sonoran Magic would also be lovely!
The Star Flower Shawl pattern is available through Ravelry, link here.
Use coupon code SHINE through October 25, 2023 for 15% off the pattern on either site. Edit: I’m extending this to October 28, 2023 because I forgot to post to Instagram before Rhinebeck weekend, and it got a little lost!
Thank you to tech editor Jen Lucas, test knitter Annie Berg, and model Sharon Hsu.
Three lacy flowers at the center necklineStar Flowers
This combination made me think of meteor showers amid the Milky Way. What do you want yours to be?
Update: I have requests for more yarn than I have left. I’ll go through my email and let everyone know if I have yarn for them. Thanks so much your interest!
I’m back from Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival; I enjoyed teaching and a quick spin through the market and exhibits. But first: I have a bit of extra yarn from my pooling class, and wanted to offer it in kits with my patterns that go with it. The kit includes 1 skein of Yarn Snob’s A Wondrous Worsted in the Times Square colorway and download codes for my TWO patterns that were designed with it. You get to choose which project to knit!
The kit is $36 including shipping to USA addresses. The retail value of this kit before shipping is $43 (yarn and two patterns). Interested? Please leave a comment and I’ll email you back. (You can tell that kits are not my usual business; I’m not set up to do this automatically.)
Pooling really is a cinch! Here’s longtime OFFF volunteer Sue, happily pooling away during class. You can do it, too!
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 