When I finished re-knitting the end of my shawlette, I also re-named it. It’s Starstruck, which is a punchier, easier to remember name. Also, there aren’t a million Starstrucks on Ravelry, so it will be easier to search, too. Test knitters are sending me gorgeous pictures of their projects, so we are on track to publish at the end of February. Can’t wait!
Brioche Pastiche
I was at loose ends for my next project, so I am knitting a second Brioche Pastiche cowl, just like this one, while I wait for some yarn to come in the mail. This set is knit in MDK Atlas Rambouillet Worsted. It’s beautifully wooly.
I’m packing up to head to Tacoma, Washington for Red Alder Fiber Arts Festival, where I’ll be teaching Brioche Pastiche (beginning brioche, choose your own adventure), as well as Brioche Doctor, Whale Conga Line, and assigned pooling. It will be a fun weekend!
I’m also preparing to teach a brioche plus assigned pooling class for Virtual Knitting Live, online on Sunday March 2. A mashup of two of my favorite things!
I’m also giving a lecture, Blocking: It’s Magic on that Sunday as part of the same event.
Gotta run! Time to pack and hit the road…see you on the flip side!
Not as I do. Was it ridiculous to knit til 1:30 am on Monday night/Tuesday morning so I could soak and block my new shawlette?
Deadlines. I’m headed to New York early Thursday, and I knew it would take two days to dry completely. So, it was worth it to me! I want to wear it at VKLive this weekend. I still have to write the pattern, but that will have to wait until I get back.
I love this color combination. It’s from A Chick that Knitz, Hibernation and Caramel. The shawlette still needs a name. Starstruck? or Stardust? Stardust Nebula? Help me decide.
Oh, also in the “Do as I say, not as I do”: Remember to take breaks and stretch when you’re on a knitting marathon! I can feel a little achiness in my forearm tendons. I’m giving my arms a break for a couple days. Time to pack!
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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.
…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!
You know I love assigned pooling. And I love brioche. Test knitting is under way for my new shawlette.
I’m designing another shawlette using brioche and assigned pooling, and the pooling was starting to…pool! At the ends of the row, over and over again. This left a big center with no stars.
Highly annoying.
So I frogged back to where there were just two stars at each end, and then I skipped a bunch of yarn so that the next star would be in the middle of the row.
It took me two tries to get it right, so I’m glad I didn’t cut the yarn first. I’ll leave this big loop on the back until I’m fully committed.
I think of assigned pooling as a dance between the yarn’s suggestions and what I want. But ultimately I’m the boss. If we have a disagreement, I WIN. I make the rules for this game!
Have you tried assigned pooling? Who’s the boss of YOUR knitting?
Oh, one more thing!
I’m teaching Thrill of the Thrum, my Thrumbelina thrummed slippers, this Sunday at 2 pm at For Yarn’s Sake in Beaverton. Come learn how to make and knit fluffy thrums into your knitting! This is an in-person class, the better to get a feel for those squishy thrums. Register here.
I love my little peekaboo motif so much. I couldn’t let it go yet. Brioche plus assigned pooling is my current obsession. (Did you see my Peekaboo Cowl?)
With a little fiddling, I can work it from the right side *and* the wrong side. Again, reversible, and different yet attractive from either side. This shawlette is knit with two skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which is dyed for assigned pooling. I used Singles Fingering from A Chick That Knitz in Forget Me Not (pooling) and Glenhaven. It’s light and cozy at the same time.
I’m looking for a few test knitters for this shawlette. Are you interested? Let me know!
The Peekaboo Cowl is a 2 color brioche cowl, knit in the round. It features assigned pooling/algorithmic knitting motifs that peek between the brioche ribs. The pattern includes a video tutorial for the Peekaboo motif.
Peekaboo is reversible; the motif looks completely different on the inside. You can wear it with a bit of both sides showing, for maximum fun. I do!
Choose 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling. You can make the cowl close to the neck, longer for double looping, or anywhere in between. I knit a short cowl because I wanted a quick project!
The Peekaboo Cowl pattern is on sale 15% off through October 29, 2024 with coupon code PEEKING. The pattern is available through Ravelry, link here. This pattern is also available through Payhip, link here. You can use the coupon code on either site.
This pattern has been professionally tech edited. Thanks also to test knitters Ann Berg, Carolyn Crisp, Diane Kay Gelder, Rhea Kohlman, and Diane O’Brien. Thanks to Keith Leonard/Yarn Snob for the beautiful yarn for the design.
I’m working on more brioche plus pooling…can’t stop, won’t stop!
I left town before dawn last Thursday to teach for the Minnesota Knitters’ Days retreat. Our topics for the weekend: brioche, more brioche, and assigned pooling. All my favorite things!
Look at all the smiling brioche knitters! We worked on Brioche Pastiche, my choose your own adventure pattern for hat or cowl, plain or embellished. (I’m teaching this class again at Hook and Needle on Saturday; if you’re local and want to learn to knit brioche, please sign up!) We also worked on Whale Conga Line, as an introduction to brioche knit flat and syncopated brioche. That’s a lot of brioche!
Ursula and Beth finished their hats over the weekend.
And Janet simplified and fancied up the cowl pattern. I love it!
On Sunday morning we played with assigned pooling, which was a great palate cleanser. It’s fun to let the yarn boss you around…a little. You’re still the boss of your knitting, overall.
The knitters were a great group, with lots of mad skills! (Thanks to Stacey for recommending me; she was in my class at YarnOver Minnesota a couple years ago, and here too.)
Kris’s purple sweater on the left is amazing; I love the lively ribbing pattern on the collar and cuffs.
Sheryl (on the right) is the organizer of this well-run event. This is the 40th anniversary of this retreat; Sheryl was a long-time participant and took over when the previous organizer retired. Many of the participants have known each other through this event for a very long time!
Sheryl’s show and tell sweater was a fantastic example of yarn color dominance. Those stripes aren’t ribbing; they’re 1×1 stockinette stripes.
Linn brought her cardigan to show me what she did with Yarn Snob Keith’s Cabana Boy pooling colorway. I love how the white stripes lightened things up; you can see on the bottom band that the colors are pretty intense! And look how the hot pink pooled on one sleeve, and the orange pooled on the back of the other. You could never get it to do that if you were planning it.
Cabana Boy yarn
We were at a Franciscan retreat center in Prior Lake, and the grounds were lovely.
Labyrintha quiet place for tai chiOne of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakesSame sunsetMount Hood on the way home
Why yes, I choose my seat for the Mount Hood view! And now I’m home, and prepping for this weekend’s classes. Brioche Pastiche at Hook and Needle, and a stranded colorwork class at For Yarn’s Sake on Sunday, based on the Shetland Wool Week Islesburgh Toorie.
Who says you can’t have it all? I’ve been dreaming of combining brioche knitting and assigned color pooling since January. After working through many design ideas, I’ve finally found one that lets both of these techniques shine.
Peekaboo Cowl, WS
This is my new Peekaboo Cowl. It’s 2 color brioche rib, knit in the round with fingering weight yarn. It features assigned pooling peeking out between the ribs. The Peekaboo stitch is reversible, and the inside of the cowl looks completely different! You get two looks with one knit.
I knit this with yarn left over from one of my Trailing Leaves cowls. The small cowl only uses 165 yards/38 grams of each color. You can easily adjust the pattern for length and height if you like longer/taller cowls.
The pattern is back from my tech editor and is ready for test knitters. Let me know if you’re interested in test knitting this lovely little cowl! (Or bigger cowl, if that’s your jam.)
Well, last week was super hot, 100 degrees F here in Portland. Definitely not dreaming-of-wool weather! So I’m extending the discount for Trailing Leaves to September 15, 2024. Use coupon code WILLOW for 15% off the Trailing Leaves pattern on Ravelry or Payhip.
Trailing Leaves
It’s going to be a lovely 74 degrees here in Portland today, with rain coming in tonight. Perfect.
I made a new video tutorial! Trailing Leaves uses a brioche purl increase along the border edging, brpyobrp. Which is just what it sounds like, but here’s the video. There’s also a link to it from my tutorials page, should you ever need it.
Time for me to get back to my knitting! I’m on a brioche plus assigned pooling tear…
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 