Tag Archives: Half the Knit Sky

Rose City Yarn Crawl starts today!

Rose City Yarn Crawl, Portland’s premier yarny event, begins today, March 4, as usual. But it’s not business as usual, because the crawl is going virtual this year, with an extended crawl March 4-14.

I usually kick off the crawl at For Yarn’s Sake with owner Anne Lindquist, Knitted Wit dyer Lorajean Kelley, and designers Shannon Squire and Debbi Stone (Ravelry link). This year we toasted virtually in a Zoom we recorded last night. You can see our chat online on the For Yarn’s Sake RCYC page here. And you can find our trunk shows for the crawl on the same page. I’m featuring 7 designs. Six are new this past year, and Lucky Star is an older favorite that Features Knitted Wit’s yarn.

My Half the Knit Sky design is being offered as a yarn kit with gradient yarn from Huckleberry Knits, another Pacific Northwest dyer. Quantities are limited, so if you want a kit, now’s the time for action! These colorways are Practical Tactical Brilliance and Made you Blush (shop exclusive for For Yarn’s Sake). Pattern is sold separately from the kit through Ravelry and Payhip. Many of our trunk show items are in the shop so you can see them up close, too.

Check out the Rose City Yarn Crawl site for ways to participate and win prizes. And you can even visit the stores in person; it’s just not required this year. This may be the first year in a long time that I’ll be able to visit all eight participating shops, if only virtually!

Half the Knit Sky KAL: It’s a wrap!

Our Half the Knit Sky KAL ran through the end of August, and I finished mine, just under the wire.

You may recall that I finished knitting at the beach last Wednesday.

I wet blocked it on Saturday, and took pictures yesterday.

I love all three of my shawls, but this one reminds me of the sky with the aurora borealis dancing across the stars. Not that I’ve ever seen the aurora, but it’s on my bucket list!

I have prizes for my last two KAL finishers, so I’ll be getting in touch with Terri and Marilee soon.

I haven’t forgotten Sneaker Wave; I’ll have the patterns out next week, I hope? But I’m also juggling some blog posts and videos for a company I’m working with, so we’ll see how the week goes. Nothing like the power of a deadline! I steam blocked yesterday. The left mitt is blocked; see how relaxed the fabric and the cable are, compared to the right mitt? Don’t worry, I blocked that one, too. Blocking is magic, even steam blocking!

Calvin insisted on helping with the photo shoot, even though the hat is too big for him.

And Biscuit decided to start the holiday weekend early.

Here’s to a safe and happy holiday weekend! Tomorrow’s my birthday, so we’ll be celebrating that, too. Cheers!

Life’s a beach

I was lucky to get away for a bit this past week. Walking on a beach on a cool sunny day is a great way to clear one’s head. And the lack of things to trip on make walking free and easy, unlike walking on sidewalks in town.

One of my favorite beach walks is south of Cannon Beach, beginning at Tolovana and heading south to Jockey Cap and Silver Point. It’s much quieter down that way, away from Haystack Rock.

Further down the coast, north of Rockaway, looking back to see Twin Rocks. (I do love monoliths.)

I spotted this sea lion on Nedonna Beach at the South Nehalem Bay Jetty.

Looks like someone needs a cuppa coffee! He did swim back out to sea after this.

Lots of jellyfish on the beach, some big and some small.

I saw the Big Dipper each night, and managed to catch it with my iPhone. Turn up your screen brightness if you need help to see it.

And I finished knitting Half the Knit Sky for my KAL, just in time. (See how I snuck the knit sky in with the night sky?) Now it’s time to block. If you’re knitting along, post a picture by August 31 for the last round of prizes.

It was a lovely getaway. Back to work!

Half the Knit Sky: First prizes

The KAL continues! My magenta is shading into a deep, deep purple. That will be followed by a deep blue; I’m looking forward to seeing that, too.

I did a random drawing for the cast on prize, and marleneknitter on Instagram is the winner! Marlene, please message me your snail mail addy through IG, and I will send you the yarn bras.

But also! Arlene (scrapquilts989 on Ravelry) finished her shawl, and she added beads, too. Definitely a double achievement! So as first finisher (and a spectacular one at that), I’m sending her a Knit Picks circular needle, because you can never have too many shawl appropriate needles. It’s a US3, 32 inch metal needle; I’m using one and I love it. The join transition is perfect for the stars; no catching at the join. Arlene, please message me your address through Ravelry.

OK, that’s a lot of coincidence: Winners are Marlene and Arlene, and both are from Canada. Knit on!

The Half the Knit Sky pattern is now available on the Knit Picks site through their Independent Design Program. I’m glad to make it available through more channels. Here’s the link to purchase the pattern there.

Keep cool, and keep knitting!

Half the Knit Sky KAL: cast on prize drawing

The KAL has been underway for a little while, and so it’s time for a prize! Please post a progress pic by the end of Friday, July 24. Everyone who has posted at least a cast on and several rows will be eligible for the drawing. I’ll be looking on Ravelry and on Instagram for your pictures. Don’t forget to hashtag your Instagram pictures so I can find them! #halftheknitsky

The prize: 2 yarn bras to hold your yarn. I am trying one of these for the first time, and I love it. Usually my center pull cakes go conical as I use them, but this seems to be keeping my yarn in shape. You can see it on the white cake here. I’m using the gradient from the outside, so no bra for that one.

I had a Zoom knit nite last night, so I had time to do some knitting. I’m about to start the second star stitch row. These are a little tricky to do, but so worth it in terms of effect! And of course there’s a video link in the pattern.

Post your pictures, and I’ll draw a winner on Saturday morning!

Half the Knit Sky KAL: Choose your yarn

I’m looking forward to the Half the Knit Sky KAL. We’ll knit from now through the end of August, at your pace. Please let me know if you’re knitting along; I’ll do random draws for prizes as we go.

To be eligible for a prize, post a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #halftheknitsky, or post a picture in this linked Ravelry thread and make a project page using the halftheknitsky tag. You can even post in the comments of a KAL blog post like this one, and I’ll make arrangements to get a picture from you!

What are you knitting with? I thought about just cheering you on from the sidelines, but I decided to knit one more version of this shawl. It’s such a simple and satisfying project, it will be a perfect multi-tasking knit.


I stopped at For Yarn’s Sake the other day and came home with this. It’s a Huckleberry Knits sock weight gradient cake in Practical Tactical Brilliance, and MadelineTosh Twist Light in Stormborn. Why yes, I’ve used this gradient colorway before.

I used a DK weight version for my Aspen Leaf scarf, and I loved it. For the shawl, I’m going to start with the magenta at the center, moving through the purple and blue, and end with the green at the bottom of the shawl. I’m hoping it looks like the aurora borealis at the horizon.

I was poking around to double check the name of the photographer of the inspiration photo for this project, Nikita Maykov, and found a time lapse video version. Here’s a link; it’s mesmerizing.

I’ll be casting on this coming week; how about you?

Introducing: Half the Knit Sky

Half the Knit Sky is a half pi shawlette, based on a time lapse photo of the night sky. Shown above in Knit Circus Sparkle Gradient, The Knit Sky, and Knit Circus Trampoline, Mistress of Myself.

Photo by Nikita Maykov

This easy knit uses only one color per row. Slip stitches create the colorwork star trail stripes, and the Star Stitch rows are a pop of fun. A bit of lace near the end sends you into orbit! The half-pi construction keeps your patterning simple with only occasional changes in stitch count.

Shown here in Knit Picks Hawthorne Kettle Dye, Delphinium, and Knit Picks Hawthorne Speckle, Blueberry Speckle.

The pattern is easily adjustable to the yardage you have. It requires two 100g skeins of fingering weight yarn.

Half the Knit Sky pattern is available through Ravelry, and it’s 10% off through July 14, no coupon code needed. If you’re a newsletter subscriber, check your email for your special offer. If Ravelry’s recent website renovation renders the site unusable for you, please email me or leave a comment here, and I can send you an invoice through PayPal instead. It’s a little slower, but it works.

I’m planning a KAL for this design, to be through this blog, Instagram, and Ravelry. Whatever works best for you! Please use #halftheknitsky to participate on Instagram, or this thread on Ravelry to participate there. Comment on this post, or any later posts about Half the Knit Sky, to participate through the blog.

I’m very pleased with this design, and hope you love it, too. Come knit with me!

Tonal Contrast in the Knit Sky, redux

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.

weighing yarn for half the knit sky

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…..

Virtual VKLive Round 3 coming up!

I’m pleased to be teaching at the July edition of Virtual VogueKnitting Live! More brioche, and more entrelac. And for the first time, they have a preview page so you can see what the class offerings will be. Link right here. Sign up for their newsletter, and you’ll be first to know when registration goes live, which will be very soon.

I’m knitting away on my second Half the Knit Sky. Pattern coming soon; 2/3 of my test knitters are done. I’m ready to rock and roll! Would you be interested in a Half the Knit Sky KAL? I’d be happy to organize one, if the interest is there. This is lovely lightweight summer knitting.

What are you knitting now?

Coming soon: Half the Knit Sky

Unless you have a better name for it, this will be Half the Knit Sky.

This shawlette is based on a time lapse photo of star trails in the night sky. I love half pi shawls because they’re half the yarn, half the knitting, all the glory by the time you’re wearing it.

I’ve been dreaming of this shawlette for a year or so, and it finally found the right time and the right yarn. I love it.

Knit Circus Sparkle in The Knit Sky, and Trampoline in Mistress of Myself Speckle.

The pattern has been tech edited, and is now being test knit. Coming soon! What would *you* call it?