Still on the assigned pooling bandwagon! I just blocked this, and I love it. It’s a fingering weight bandana cowl with a cascade of assigned pooling stars, and an Old Shale lace edging. This is one of my favorite looks to wear; it looks like a shawl but it stays on without a fuss.
I just finished writing the pattern and video tutorial, and it will be tech edited this week. I’m looking for a few test knitters; you’d need one skein of fingering weight yarn that’s dyed for assigned pooling, with a color pop of about 8” long. I used Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere.
I’m making a paper chain with the yarn labels from this year’s projects; it’s a tidy and visual way to remember what I’ve done. Ten projects by the first week of April feels pretty good.
So far, from the top: Fierce Fibers and Moss Fibers (for Ebb and Flow), Knit Picks Chroma (Aspen Leaf scarf and Athena Cowl), Yarn Snob (Pooling is a Cinch and Firefly Trails), Anzula Luxury Yarn (Aspen Leaf Coasters), Dream in Color Classy (Fanfare Cowl/Hat (2 of them) and the current project which isn’t named yet).
Also pictured: Yarn chicken mug by JaMPDX, and our ancient Darth Vader bank, which still works when you put coins in. Some heavy breathing, light saber waving, and a message: “Impressive. Most impressive. But you are not a Jedi yet!”
Do you save your yarn labels? If yes, how? I used to just throw them in a basket, but the chain is much more fun.
I finished my assigned pooling hat with the sunbursts/flowers. It’s cute! I tried it on, and it’s a little snug on me. It measures 17” around; those sunbursts do pull in the fabric a bit. The hat in the above picture isn’t blocked; blocking will make the sunbursts prettier.
Calvin’s already good-looking enough!
I haven’t blocked the hat yet because I also want to knit a hat using this criss cross stitch I used in my Criss Cross accessories and Tilt Shift Wrap. I needed to know if I have enough yarn to do that.
Now that I’ve started, I’m pretty sure I don’t have enough yarn to knit both, and I think I’m more likely to wear the criss cross stitch, so I’m frogging the sunburst hat while I knit the criss cross version.
I don’t mind re-knitting; the yarn is ridiculously entertaining. I’ll knit a sunburst headband with the yarn that’s left from the skein. It’s been fun figuring out how big (how many wraps, how many stitches) I need to make the sunbursts and criss crosses look their best. This will vary depending on your yarn! I’m teaching this very fun class at Knit Maine in September. We’ll be using this exact same yarn in class; it’s Wonderful Worsted from Yarn Snob yarns in Cabana Boy.
The winner of 3 months of Knit Camp from Olive Knits is…Quite a Yarn Blog! I’ll contact you for info to connect you with Knit Camp. Congratulations!
Cosette is a cross between a cowl and a shawlette. A cowlette? It starts out as a round cowl, knit from the top down. After the cowl is finished, knitting continues with triangular shawl shaping in the round. This cowl/shawette combo provides great coverage, and it won’t slip off your shoulders! It’s fuss-free wear.
Here’s Cosette in its unscrunched glory. I really love how this turned out, and I enjoyed all the mathy bits that made it work!
Cosette is knit with 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn. I used Knitted Wit Sock in Kiss and Teal and The Future is Bright (variegated). I love how the quilted lattice stitch shines in a variegated yarn. Other stitches in this pattern include my favorite lacy flower, and a shell lace stitch that uses elongated stitches with extra yarnovers that are dropped on the next round. There’s a video tutorial for the shell lace stitch.
Cosette ends with either brioche rib or k1p1 ribbing; it’s your choice. I love the way the contrast color peeks through the brioche rib. There are brioche video tutorials linked in the pattern, too.
The Cosette pattern is available through my Ravelry shop here, and my Payhip shop here. Use coupon code QUILT for 15% off through April 14 in either shop.
Thanks to tech editor Meaghan Schmaltz, model Sharon Hsu, and test knitters Ann Berg, Debbie Braden, Karen Cunningham, Jesse Hodgden, Jacqueline Lydston, Marilee Reinhart-Davieau, and Andrea Roosth.
I’ve been having a lot of fun with my 2 color in-the-round brioche classes, Petite Brioche (free pattern) and Brioche Pastiche. Petite Brioche is plain 2 color brioche rib; Brioche Pastiche introduces increases and decreases.
Now I want to teach a class that tackles 2 color brioche knit flat, and adds in syncopation (switching MC and CC color) mid-row.
I taught syncopated brioche with my Hopscotch pattern last month at Twisted, but I really want to use my Syncopation shawl/scarf for the next class. It’s a little more ambitious, because it also includes increasing/decreasing. If you’ve knit brioche rib in the round, it’s a do-able next step. The new class debuts at Twisted on February 22.
Planning a new class is fun; it requires organization like a general! Or someone hosting Thanksgiving guests for an entire weekend. (Menu planning, I won!) How can I best lead you down the garden path to a positive outcome?
Here’s how I plan to structure the class:
Brioche knitting is the current “it knit” and there are so many ways to play with it, once you understand the basic brioche rib stitch. We’ll review basic brioche rib, then practice syncopating (swapping main color with background color in the same row), and finally learn an increase and 2 decreases. Voilà, it’s a gauge swatch, and then we can cast on for the real deal!
3 hours, intermediate. You should already be familiar with knitting brioche rib; this is not a beginning brioche class.
Sound enticing? February 22 at Twisted, be there or be square!
Dotty Cake is a fun to knit hat that combines herringbone braids and slip stitch dots. The crown is fairly flat, like that of a tam. The braids create sections, making the hat look like a layer cake! I find that the flat crown is more flattering on me than a traditional closely fitted beanie.
Dotty Cake is knit in the round from the bottom up. It’s a quick knit in worsted weight yarn. I used Knit Picks Chroma Worsted for this larger hat, in Natural and Pegasus.
This smaller hat is knit in Malabrigo Worsted in Sunset and Malamba. Only one color is used per round in the Dotty stitch sections. The pattern includes a video tutorial for the herringbone braids.
The hat is meant to fit with a bit of negative ease; I’m wearing the 19” hat on my 22” head.
The Dotty Cake pattern is on sale for 15% off through December 12, 2019, no coupon code needed. You can find the Ravelry page here.
Thank you to tech editor Meaghan Schmaltz, and test knitters Ann Berg, Susan Schwartzenberger, Jae Tauber, and Nan Wagner. And thank you to my sister Sharon Hsu for taking pictures of me!
I’m doing a deep toss of my studio office. Lots of dumping and recycling going on, and I’ve moved more of my knitting books in, and more of my kiddos’ books out. I now have three shelves of knitting books. The top three shelves are mine, and the middle shelf of the three is the powerhouse; it has all my reference books.
I also found this lone mitten. Once upon a time, I made 8 pairs of these, with Bugs Bunny buttons, for eldest son’s third birthday. Pretty swank party favor! I knit these flat and seamed them, because I didn’t know how to knit in the round yet.
January feels like it’s time to tidy up! My studio is also the guest room, so it will be much nicer for guests to not be drowning in my yarn and papers.
I found duplicates of several books, so I want to have a giveaway. First, I have this book, Shetland Lace Knitting, in Japanese and in English (funny story here). I bought the book at Kinokuniya and decided I wanted to read the rest of the text. I found out that the original book is in English, so I bought that, too.
If you can work from charts, this book has lovely stitch patterns and edgings that are accessible to you. I’m having a drawing to give the Japanese copy away. Leave a comment below and let me know you’re interested! USA readers only this time, please. (I just sent a book to Canada last week, and it cost more than the book itself to send it, ouch.) I’ll pick a winner on January 31.
If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you can also reply to the upcoming newsletter for a second chance to win. (Newsletter coming out in a day or two.) Not a subscriber? You can subscribe here.
Last fun thing: I worked as an extra last summer on TNT’s The Librarians. Season 4, Episode 8 is now out there, and I can say that I saw myself very briefly!
(ETA: Video unavailable. Glad I got the screen shot while I could.)
The original call was for knitters, but they eventually changed the knitters into quilters, and I ended up being a townsperson, and not a needleworker at all! It was an interesting experience.
If you don’t blink, you can see me walking by in my Garland Shawl! So many hours for a tiny bit of screen time.
The Purple Hat ad we did at Twisted last year is airing again locally. That was much more fun to film, and had actual knitting in it. Here’s the backstory on that, if you missed it.
The photos of the devastation in Houston are heartbreaking, the result of unimaginable rainfall from Hurricane Harvey. I’ve been looking into charity efforts, trying to figure out how to help.
The Mason-Dixon Knitting gals are one step ahead of me; they’re donating all proceeds from their Ravelry pattern sales through August 31 to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, a fund established by Houston’s mayor and housed at the Greater Houston Community Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity. This is brilliant.
I’m following suit. From now through Saturday, September 2, 2017 (midnight PST), I’m donating all proceeds from my Ravelry sales to the same Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. If you’ve been thinking about buying a pattern, now is a great time to make it count a little more. Here’s a link to my patterns on Ravelry.
I know we as knitters want to help. Cash donations are the best way to get help to where it’s needed. While we’d love to knit something to help, Houston doesn’t need our knitted goods. Mary Mooney of the Oregonian suggests other ways to help.
I’ll be making a donation to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, and hope you’ll help me make it that much bigger.
Linden Leaf, knit with Mason Dixon Knitting’s Euroflax mini skeins, in Forest.
SeaScape Scarflette, also knit with Mason-Dixon Knitting’s Euroflax minis, in Sea.
All my Ravelry patterns are included in this effort, but I wanted to highlight the MDK connection. Thanks for your help.
I’ll admit, I was conflicted about the pink hat. I don’t like using the word “pussy,” and I didn’t want to trivialize a march that was meant to address serious issues. The Pussyhat Project just didn’t speak to me.
But a friend in DC wanted a hat, and DH offered to help. A chance to teach DH to knit? OK!
The hat was finished, modeled, and sent off to Rita in DC.
Still, I had no interest in a hat of my own. Until Friday night, when I finally realized the optics of a sea of pink hats. A message of solidarity that didn’t need words. An answer to the red baseball cap, but handmade, and a play on the very words that had offended me.
I cast on at midnight, knit for an hour, and wondered if I could finish in the morning. Malabrigo Rasta, in Sabiduria. Recycled twice off the experimental brioche rib cowl I had knit earlier in the week (a single skein Rasta cowl turns out to be too bulky for comfort when that small).
I finished at a pre-march brunch. Brioche rib is very stretchy, so even at 40 sts it was a little big, but serviceable. (Rita’s hat was 48 sts with a K1P1 rib.)
I gave another Sabiduria hat to L on the left; it never fit me and the pinkish purple was the right color. And I gave a Sabiduria headband to a neighbor. Color, color, color. A sea of pink/purple.
Under umbrellas.
Do I love the hat? Not really, But it served a purpose. Here are a few links that help explain how I feel.
I borrowed this image from Abby’s post; it says that it’s a mosaic made from Ravelry images of the hats. I’m trying to find the source and will give credit when I find it. (Edited to add: the mosaic was made by Casey, Ravelry’s webmaster/programmer extraordinaire. Well done!)
It finally stopped raining, so I had the chance to photograph my newest shawl design: Ships in the Night.
This was my comfort knitting when Bisquee/Biscuit/BellaTrix/Trix was ill after her adventures in the fireplace. It’s probably the most soothing knit I’ve ever designed. So much zen garter stitch, with just enough Fibonacci sequence thrown into the striping that you don’t fall asleep knitting. “Ships in the Night” refers to the Fibonacci stripe patterns gliding past each other. I knit mine with two coordinating skeins of Knitted Wit’s Victory Sock yarn.
It’s an absolute joy to wear, too. Worn on the shoulders, the ends hang down nearly to my knees. It’s like a great big garter stitch hug.
Worn scarf style, it feels luxuriantly engulfing. Ella is much taller than I am, so it’s not quite as engulfing on her. Your mileage may vary. You could also wear it bandanna style, with both ends hanging in front. I did that yesterday.
For long-time readers who want to know: Bobbi is away at college, and Ella stepped in to help me out. Thanks, Ella!
The pattern is available through Ravelry, pattern page here. I’m offering 20% off the price of the pattern to subscribers of my new newsletter through November 15. Have you signed up? Leave a comment below if you’d like to. You’ll also receive my Lobelia Shawl/Shawlette pattern, free.
I’m hoping you’ll love this comfort knitting. It’s election week here in the USA, and I think many of us could use a chill pill right about now!
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 