Tag Archives: cat

Onward!

Posted on December 2, 2025 | 2 comments

It’s been a hot minute since I last checked in! I finished the Portland Frog Hat and sent it off to Sheryl, and donated her $100 to Northeast Emergency Food Program. And I started swatching a new project.

So far I’ve established that yes, you can do entrelac in the round on magic loop or 2 circulars or Flexi-Flips, but no, it would be terrible to try to write that pattern. If it’s confusing for ME, it would only be more confusing for someone trying to learn from it!

My Athena Entrelac Neck Warmer is knit in the round, and knit flat for the split at the bottom (top, really). It works because it’s on an appropriate circular needle with no extra cable to fiddle with. For a small circumference item like my current project, I’d need a 9 inch circular, and I don’t like working with those.

So the project is flat, and that means a lot more ends to weave in later. I could use a color changing yarn so I don’t have to work in different colors for each tier, but it’s supposed to be a stashbuster. Well, I have color changing yarns in my stash! But I’ll figure that out later. I have a couple other things I need to puzzle out with this swatch first.

Since I last checked in, I’ve had two Thanksgiving celebrations, one in St. Louis and one in Portland. I get around!

When in St. Louis, we have to acknowledge one of DH’s favorite things growing up. We actually had a box of 30, not 20, for a group of 9.

Calvin the Christmas CATcus sends you the greetings of the season.

It’s December, and I already have the lights on my house…because I didn’t take them down last spring! I just didn’t turn them on until now. Winning!

2 Comments

Posted in cat, Knit, pattern design, travel

Tagged cat, entrelac, white castle

I’m not obsolete…yet

Posted on April 15, 2023 | 12 comments

DH asked Bing’s AI (artificial intelligence) tool to write a brioche pattern for a hat, and wanted to know if it was any good. Calvin and I have gone through it, with our notes in red.

“Here’s a brioche knitting pattern for a hat.

Materials:

2 skeins of worsted weight yarn Should these be 2 different colors?
US 6 (4mm) circular needles How long should these be?
US 8 (5mm) circular needles I think these would make a fabric that’s too loose; tell me about gauge
Stitch marker

Instructions:

Using US 6 (4mm) circular needles, cast on 80 stitches. Is this a 2 color pattern? Which color should I use?
Place stitchmarker and join in the round.
Work *k1, sl1yo* around. Good through here, although it would be nice to know what sl1yo means.
Switch to US8 (5mm) circular needles and work in two-color brioche stitch until hat measures 8 inches from cast on edge. Well now I know I’m using 2 colors. Ummmm, how do you work 2 color brioche stitch? Do tell!
Decrease as follows:

Round 1: *k2tog, sl1yo* around. What happened to the brioche stitches? What do I do with all those yos? And this isn’t going to work out past the first 3 stitches, you’d end up making a sl1yo over the sl1yo from the previous round. Which means everything from here forward isn’t going to work. Especiall Rnds 4 and 6: *sl1yo* around. What?!

 Round 2: *k1, sl1yo* around.
 Round 3: *k2tog, sl1yo* around.
 Round 4: *sl1yo* around.
 Round 5: *k2tog* around.
 Round 6: *sl1yo* around.
 Round 7: *k2tog* around.
6. Cut yarn and weave in ends.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.”

Oh, I have questions. Luckily, it lists all of its sources, and you might be able to use one of those patterns to knit your hat. Or at least get an idea of how to knit one.

As I said, I’m not obsolete yet! I guess I could use the chatbot to get a pattern started, and then edit like crazy to get it to make sense. But it’s easier to just write the pattern from scratch.

If you’d really like to learn how to knit 2 color brioche rib in the round, I highly recommend my Petite Brioche headband pattern, which is free here on this site. This is the pattern I use in my beginning brioche classes; I’ve taught hundreds of new brioche knitters. I have lots of brioche hat patterns when you’re ready for those, too.

Have you used an AI chatbot? What did you think of the results?

12 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Bing AI, cat, chatbots

Mmmm, cinnamon rolls

Posted on January 16, 2022 | 10 comments

I’m deep into cinnamon roll experimentation. My sister gave me some Penzey’s Vietnamese cinnamon, so it’s cinnamon roll season. FIrst I made the recipe that came with the cinnamon; it was a no-yeast version. The dough was really wet and messy, but the rolls were good.

Then I tried the NYTimes no-yeast cinnamon roll recipe. The dough was easier to handle, and they were pretty. A little too salty, but also good.

A friend recommended this yeast cinnamon roll recipe. This version involves pouring heavy cream or half and half over the rolls before baking. Another friend recommended braiding and rolling the dough into knots, which I’ll try next time. I wasn’t sure my yeast was still good (April 2020), so I didn’t want to get too ambitious.

I even iced them. They were fabulous! And the yeast was a little slow, but things turned out fine. Yeast rolls are alway so much better than quick rolls, but they do take a little more effort.

Biscuit approves. Happy Sunday!

I’m still knitting my kep, but it’s not mindless knitting because of the chart. I need some knitting for multi-tasking, so I’ll be designing something a little simpler for this yarn.

Knitted Wit Sock, in Kiss and Teal and The Future is Bright. I have two ideas, so I need to pick one and then swatch a bit. Perfect for a three day weekend here in the US.

What are you knitting?

10 Comments

Posted in foodies!, yarn

Tagged cat, cinnamon rolls, knitted wit yarn

Tonal Contrast in the Knit Sky, redux

Posted on June 30, 2020 | 7 comments

Remember this? I really liked how the smaller/whiter ball was popping against the dark blue background, but I didn’t have enough to knit a whole shawl with this leftover half ball.

The more heavily speckled/creamier ball had more color than I liked in the big stars. (This was also against a lighter background, so it had even less pop.) What to do?

Mix and match! I’m using the whiter/less speckled yarn for the single stitch stars, and for the big star stitch rows. I’m using the specklier yarn for the star trails, and I love how it looks. It’s blending really well. I didn’t take out the very first set of star trails; they’re so short that the less speckled yarn was a better choice there.

I’ll still keep the overall combined contrast color to 100g for test knit math purposes. But this night sky version is making me very happy.

I have enough of the blue to finish as written, but not enough to add any extra rows. Good to know! I like that I can figure this out without playing yarn chicken. Instructions for weighing (ha!) your options are in the pattern.

Note that Biscuit is helping me here.

Are you interested in a KAL? I think this could also be a fun class; it has a few interesting techniques, and you’d learn them all at the beginning. Hmmmm…..

7 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged cat, Half the Knit Sky, Knit Picks Hawthorne

On your mark, get set, September!

Posted on September 8, 2016 | 4 comments

I love September. It’s my birthday and wedding anniversary month. Lots of good celebrations are ongoing.

September is also the beginning of knitting season. I knit year round, but somehow September knitting feels more special. And I’ve been quite inspired this past couple weeks, finishing two shawls and charting out two more. The two finished shawls are variations on a theme. I noted that the bind off was too tight on the first of these in a previous post, so I had to tink the entire edge after the shawl was dry, and re-knit the bind off. I still need to re-block the shawl.

I want to share my favorite elastic bind off with you; this bind off makes your edge as stretchy as the rest of your knitting.

Elastic Bind-off
K2. * Insert left needle into fronts of these 2 sts from left to right and knit them off together through the back loops (like making an SSK). One st bound off. K1; repeat from * until one stitch remains on right needle. Cut yarn and fasten off.

I’ve already used this on my second shawl, and blocking went much better! Tight bind offs haven’t been an issue for me previously, but the new-to-me construction of these two shawls requires a really stretchy finished edge. As I’ve said elsewhere, I make the mistakes so you don’t have to.

The next two shawls use another new-to-me construction. I’m almost done swatching the first chart, and I’m in love. I’m not quite sure how I want to publish these four pieces yet, which is why you haven’t really seen them. The two finished ones are out on a design submission, and the two planned ones will be out on another submission. If they aren’t chosen I’ll self-publish them in October, either individually or as an e-book collection, maybe? What do you think? I’m looking forward to sharing them with you no matter how I do it!

To distract you in the meantime, here is a picture of Biscuit/Bisquee/BellaTrix with something polka dotty on her nose. Litter, maybe?

Knit on!

4 Comments

Posted in cat, Knit, pattern design, tutorial

Tagged cat, elastic bind off, tutorial

What’s in a Name? and name contest

Posted on July 21, 2016 | 29 comments

A cat has no name. (Apologies, Game of Thrones.) It’s hard getting a name to stick to this one. She was Trix when we adopted her, and since then she’s been Coco Pele (homages to Pele the Hawaiian fire goddess, Pele the soccer player, and Kokopelli), and Clio Petra. None of them stuck. I call her Mooper a lot, but that’s not her name. The kids like Unagi (eel, because she’s so twisty/slippery), Mochi, and Biscuit. Biscuit?! Hmmm, all food names.

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A post shared by Michele Lee Bernstein (@pdxknitterati)

Well, she does like the kitchen. At just one year old, she’s a lot busier than our 16 year old Mookie was.

Yes, she tried to get into the refrigerator. Picture courtesy of Son1, and the Prisma app. (Have you played with Prisma? Free, and interesting! And you can remove the watermark in the corner, easy peasy.)

I’ve also found her on the piano, and *in* the piano. Apparently she’s a lot sassier now that she’s feeling at home, and healthy. (She had giardia and a respiratory infection when we adopted her. Messy!)

I kind of like her when she’s asleep, and not trying to bite my knitting.

Anyway, I’m sure we’ll come up with a name, soon. It may even be Biscuit.

Here’s another new addition to the household. I found her at Home Goods yesterday, quite by accident. She needs a name, too. I’d been thinking of getting something like this because Bobbi, my fabulous model, is off to college this fall.

I gave her one of my old dresses, a black velvet mini T-shirt dress. Very demure. She’ll be introducing my newest design soon, including the necklace she’s wearing here. At least the design has a name!

Let’s have a little fun. Suggest a name for my new mannequin, and I’ll do a random drawing for a winner (but I’m too chicken to pick her name at random!). You can also suggest a name for my cat. Winner gets a copy of this book, Aura: 2016 Spring Collection from Knit Picks. Click the link to see the designs.

My Trellis Vines Poncho/Wrap is in it, along with many other breezy patterns for lightweight yarns.

I’ll pick a winner July 27. Ready, set, go!

29 Comments

Posted in cat, giveaways, Knit

Tagged cat, Knit, names

Mookie, 2000 – 2016

Posted on April 23, 2016 | 12 comments

It’s been a sad week chez PDXKnitterati. We had to say goodbye to our beloved Mookie a week ago Thursday. She was 16 years old, and part of our family for 12 years. She was the best cat ever.

Mookie was a reluctant knitwear model, but she loved being around knitting.

She brought a lot of joy to our family.

Although knitting was our favorite craft, we also dabbled in non-knitting projects.

Our kids are grown, but they have truly lost the last bit of their childhood with the passing of the family kitty. There is a cat-shaped hole in all our hearts. I still find myself looking for her in the house before I realize that she’s not here.

Princess Mookie Nguyen, 2000 – 2016

12 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged cat, Mookie

Fall favorites

Posted on November 20, 2014 | 4 comments

Knitting with my assistant

Raking leaves

Catnaps

More knitting!

Fall is my favorite time of year.

Don’t forget, the Indie Design Gift-A-Long pattern sale ends tomorrow at midnight, Eastern Standard Time! Now’s the time to stock up on patterns for gift and selfish knitting. Use the code giftalong2014 for 25% off the specially featured patterns of nearly 300 independent designers on Ravelry. The details are at the Indie Design GAL group. There are already more than 200 posts in the FO picture thread! There are some great prizes being awarded, and a lot more to come.

My featured patterns for the GAL are here. From what I’m seeing, there should be a lot more Snowy Woods Cowls and Thrumbelina slippers making their way into the world. I’m looking forward to seeing them in the project pages.

4 Comments

Posted in events, Knit

Tagged autumn, cat, Indie Design Gift-A-Long, knitting