Tag Archives: Bead Biz

Red Alder 2022 recap

Posted on March 2, 2022 | 3 comments

This picture says it all. It was so wonderful to be back in a classroom with my knitters! This is my Brioche Pastiche class from Thursday morning. This was my first ”away” teaching since Red Alder in 2020. It’s been a long two years.

I taught 4 classes, and it was a joy. I brought my laptop and document camera, so it was the best of both worlds. Everyone could see the demonstration at the same time like a Zoom class, and then i could go around the room and fine tune with people.

The market was fun, and I had a great time signing books with the fun peeps from Northwest Yarns.

Melissa, Heather, Tristan, and Echo from Northwest Yarns

Nancy of Schmutzerella Yarns with her ravishing Oregon Sky

Dyers Jen of Matchmaker Yarns & Kalliope of Anzula Luxury Fibers

I met Kris in person; she was so helpful test knitting for Brioche Knit Love. So nice to put faces with names!

Here’s what came home with me:

Sparkly fingering weight yarn from Schmutzerella, and beads from Bead Biz. I have a plan for this combination.

Sparkly DK weight yarn from Anzula Luxury Fibers. Apparently I was having a thing for all things sparkly. I think I have a plan for this, too.

And worsted weight yarn from Anzula, as a backup if the sparkles don’t work for what I was planning…

Red Alder is already planning for next year; mark your calendars for February 16-19, 2023!

Here are more pictures from the weekend.

Chihuly art glass at the old Union Station

Union Station reflection on the Bridge of Glass

Mural. I’ve seen this expression on Bisquee

The mountain peeked out at sunset on Friday

Now hard at work (at home) trying to pare down the to-do list! It grew quite a bit these past two weeks. Onward!

3 Comments

Posted in classes, events, Knit, travel, yarn

Tagged Anzula, Bead Biz, Red Alder Fiber Arts, Schmutzerella

Rhapsody in pink

Posted on June 13, 2020 | 6 comments

I love my Aquarius/Beach Glass Love Note so much. It’s a teaching wardrobe staple. I have a skirt that pairs well with it.

It was such a quick knit and perfect fit, so I decided to knit one more.

This time the colors are Cherry Blossom and Ticklish, which has tiny flecks of pink and green.

Since I’m using the same yarn, hazel Knits Lively DK, and I have good notes on Ravelry, it’s a pretty mindless knit. I’m going to use all of the MC on the body, and work the sleeves in Ticklish. Thank you, past self!

I started this on Monday night. It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m zooming along down the body. But now it’s time to put my knitting down and prep for my next Virtual VK Live class. I’m teaching Minerva Entrelac this afternoon. Two more classes tomorrow, both brioche, and that will be the wrap up! I’m so glad knitters can still get together, even while knitting apart.

My Facebook Live with Wool and Fiber Arts and Bead Biz was fun. We had five designers instead of four; Alasdair Post-Quinn was able to join us after all, yay! So it’s me (in my Love Note sweater above), Alasdair, Anna Dalvi, Laurinda Reddig, and Linda Dean. Here’s a link to it on YouTube if you want to watch.

And my Facebook Live with Knit Picks was postponed a week, so that should be happening this coming Thursday, June 18, 8:30 am PDT, link here. .

It’s Worldwide Knit in Public Day. I may knit for a moment on my porch! So different this year. Are you knitting in public?

6 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Bead Biz, Love Note sweater, WWKIP Day

Virtual Vogue Knitting Live, right now

Posted on June 10, 2020 | 1 comment

It’s on! Round 2 of Virtual Knitting Live from Vogue Knitting. I’m teaching or lecturing every day from Wednesday (today) through Sunday. There’s still room in my Friday class, Intro to Lace and Beads: Fern Shawlette, and there is always room in lectures. My lecture on Thursday is Blocking: It’s Magic!

You can still register for classses, or you can just register for the virtual marketplace ($4.99) which gets you access to the market and other marketplace extras like virtual knit nights, trivia, meditation, and most fun: At the Drawing Table with Franklin Habit. Well worth the price of admission.

In light of recent events, Vogue has issued this statement:

We at Vogue Knitting stand in solidarity with Black communities and the Black Lives Matter protests happening around the world, and with everyone who is fighting for justice and equality in this country. In support of this, we will be donating a percent of net proceeds from this show—those already collected and yet to be collected from this show—to Color of Change, which is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. “Color of Change helps people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by 1.7 million members, we move decision-makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people in America.” For more information about Color of Change, please click here.

I’ll be donating 20% of my Ravelry pattern sales during Virtual VKLive to Color of Change. Change is slow, and change can be hard, but every small step helps.

And as part of the whirlwind week, I’m part of a Facebook Live Zoom with Wool and Fiber Arts and Bead Biz. Come talk about design and beads with 2 knit designers and 2 crochet designers. That’s today, this afternoon, 3 pm Pacific/6 pm Eastern. Link here.

My Facebook Live Zoom with Knit Picks has been postponed from June 11 to June 18. That’s next Thursday, 8:30 am Pacific (I’ll let you do all the figuring for your various time zones). There isn’t a specific event listed; they usually do these on their page every Thursday morning. Link to the Knit Picks Facebook page here.

OK, deep breath, and off to prep for the day’s events. Brioche class tonight!

1 Comment

Posted in classes, events

Tagged Bead Biz, knit picks, Virtual Knitting Live, VogueKnittingLive

Nymphaea Shawl FO number 3!

Posted on October 2, 2019 | 6 comments

I started this shawl for the Nymphaea Fall Shawl Retreat last year, and set it aside sometime after my last post about it in November 2018. Other design projects were calling my name. You can see my progress up to that point in the previous blog post, with lots of thoughts about color and beads.

So when the Bead Biz ladies asked if they could borrow my sample for their shows, I decided now would be a good time to finish!

I was already on the 10th repeat of the ZigZag Lace pattern, and that was about where I wanted to end up. There’s enough yarn left for at least another partial repeat, maybe a half? But deadlines are deadlines, so I finished the 10th repeat and went on to the edging.

I was planning to use the dove gray pearl beads on the edging, but the yarn in the Soft Kitty colorway was tabby striping, and the beads weren’t really adding anything to the story. So I ripped back and changed to peacock beads, to pick up the teal from the last repeat. I love it.

The finished shawl is so beautiful; can I really stand to let it out of my custody to go to west coast shows with Bead Biz?

Sure, as long as it comes back soon. The yarn is from Fierce Fibers, her Abyss base (with silk!) in the Surf and Sand gradient. I’m really pleased with how it turned out. Finally!

The original shawl was knit with a mini skein gradient.

The second shawl was knit with 2 435 yard semi solid skeins from Bumblebirch. (Lots of CC left over.)

And this third shawl was knit with a 650 yard gradient from Fierce Fibers, plus a 50g skein of contrasting yarn.

I love them all!

6 Comments

Posted in beading, cat, Knit, pattern design, yarn

Tagged Bead Biz, Fierce Fibers, nymphaea shawl

Introducing Nymphaea, my Rhinebeck shawl

Posted on October 17, 2017 | 1 comment

I’m going to Rhinebeck this weekend! But not in person.

This is my Nymphaea shawl. Nymphaea is the genus name for water lilies, and the lacy shell pattern reminds me of flowers floating in a pond on a breezy day. The zigzag ripples are laden with beads. I designed this shawl as a collaboration with Bead Biz and June Pryce Fiber Arts. I’m a little jealous that my sample is going to Rhinebeck without me!

Bead Biz will carry this pattern as part of a kit, available in their booth at festivals like Rhinebeck (Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Festival, officially) SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair in Fletcher NC), Fiber Festival of New England in West Springfield MA, and Madrona Fiber Arts Festival (see you there!). The kits will also be available on their website. It is available exclusively from Bead Biz through September 2018.

The kit comes with a gradient pack of seven 100 yard skeins of June Pryce Fiber Arts Saunderstown Sock, a fingering weight superwash merino/cashmere/nylon blend. Five packs of coordinating beads are also in the kit.

My sample is knit in Purple Mountains, and there are four more colorways to choose from.

There’s a crochet version, too, designed by Laurinda Reddig (ReCrochetions). It was really fun collaborating with her to see if we could come up with something that worked equally well in knit and crochet!

I hope you get to see this shawl in person, and fall in love with it as much as I have. If you love knitting with beads, you’ll love knitting this.

Knit on!

1 Comment

Posted in beading, Knit, pattern design

Tagged Bead Biz, June Pryce Fiber Arts, Nymphaea

Gradient yarn, planning ahead

Posted on August 18, 2017 | 2 comments

Next design project: A shawl with this gradient kit. With beads!

The yarn is from June Pryce Fiber Arts, 7 100 yard mini-skeins of MCN. The beads are from Bead Biz; I’ve met them several times at Madrona.

I want to use two minis as contrast to five skeins used as gradient. I thought about using the two darkest as the contrast, but I don’t think there’s enough tonal contrast between either of those and the third darkest skein. (You know this trick, right? Use the “tonal” filter on your phone camera to check for tonal contrast.)

But if I take the two lightest skeins for contrast, both of those look great across the rest of the gradient range.

If there’s enough of the darker of the two light ones, it can be contrast to all of the five gradient series, and the lightest skein can be a ruffle at the very end.