Tag Archives: knitting

Steeks, log cabin knitting, and a tidy bind off

Posted on November 2, 2025 | 1 comment
Collage of me and my Log Cabin Love steeked coasters

I’m very pleased to be teaching my second class with Modern Daily Knitting in January. It’s a workshop on cutting your first steek! We’ll be using my Log Cabin Love Coasters pattern, which also features a log cabin knitting border. That’s peak MDK. The virtual class is on Friday January 16. It will be on Zoom, and also recorded. You can register here.

While working on my log cabin edges, I’ve been annoyed by the loose stitch at the end of my bind off. It doesn’t matter in the middle of a project, because I’ll be picking up stitches all the way around the edge, but at some point there will be an outside edge that lets that loose stitch show.

I went poking around on the interwebs, and found a great tutorial by Patty Lyons on the Modern Daily Knitting site. She demonstrates five methods; some of them take pre-planning. All of them are shown with stockinette stitch, and they look great.

My favorite is the one that takes the least planning and effort. Yep, that’s me; git ‘er done. It does show a little bit more in garter stitch knitting, but I think I prefer that to having a loose stitch on the outside edge. I made a video for my log cabin knitting classes.

What do you think? Does that little blip bother you, or does the burble in the garter stitch bother you more? Knitter’s choice! I haven’t found a perfect solution, but this is good enough for me. For now. And I’ll definitely be using it for stockinette stitch.

Do you have a better way? I’d love to know that, too!

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Will it go round in circles

Posted on September 13, 2025 | 5 comments

Progress report on my jewelry storage project. I want to hang my necklaces so they don’t tangle.

This circle isn’t quite as big as the embroidery hoop, but it’s going to be stretched while wet blocked. It seems a bit ruffly, and if I fold it in half it’s slightly more than a half circle.

Wet blocking solves that. And the little yarn over holes are a good guide for centering it in the hoop.

It definitely grew when wet. Now what should I do with the excess fabric? I don’t want to keep it looking like a mob cap.

I can turn it to the back and trim it off, but it might still show. Or I could try to glue it to the inside of the hoop. Or I could take yarn and sew across the hoop to hold the extra in back, like spokes on a wheel. That might show through to the front, though. What do you think?

I’ve decided I want a brighter color for my bedroom; the gray/blue isn’t as contrasty as I thought it would be. Also, I think I don’t want it to be a single ply; it’s going to get some bumping and handling as I hang and swap out jewelry on it. So this lovely yarn is on its way to me from Sharon Spence at Garage Dyeworks. It’s a plied MCN blend (merino/cashmere/nylon), colorway April in Paris. I think it’s going to be perfect.

Let’s find out!

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San Diego knits!

Posted on July 16, 2025 | 2 comments

I spent last week in San Diego, presenting and teaching for the San Diego North Coast Knitters Guild. This is a happening guild! They bring in guest speakers/teachers nearly every month, and have two retreats per year. Impressive!

Monday was travel day, in order to be in place on Tuesday. I arrived in the afternoon, so I went to the beach! Moonlight State Beach was just a half mile down the street from my hotel in Encinitas.

concession stand tacos
Not your usual concession stand hot dog
Moonlight State Beach and lots of people

It’s a lot more crowded than an Oregon Coast beach, because the water is warm.

Moonlight State Beach

I walked a half mile south to where it was quieter. Perfect. Then back to my starting point, and a little ways north. I sat on the sand watching the waves, and it was so pleasant that I couldn’t bring myself to get up for an hour past when I thought I should.

I explored the main drag of Encinitas. Very touristy, lots of fun shops and eateries. And overlooks at the ends of the streets so you can see the beach and ocean.

The main drag is Highway 101, so 4 of these surround every tree and lightpost. .

I gave a presentation on my design process, and blocking accessories at the guild meeting on Tuesday. And I enjoyed the Show and Share time at the end of the meeting.

A collage of brioche shawls called Both Sides Now

The knitters in Emmy’s family had a knitalong (KAL) of the Both Sides Now shawl that I designed for Knit Picks. It was fun to see so many of them, and to see how different each side looked.

Woman with a Sophie’s Rose shawl

Anne brought her Sophie’s Rose shawlette. 2014!

And one of the knitters modeled a cardigan that she started in 1997. She had set it aside many times, and was finally determined to finish it. Then she ran out of her lilac yarn, so she color blocked one of the fronts in a gorgeous spring green. It looked fabulous, but the kicker? She found the rest of the yarn after finishing the sweater! I think the color blocking really added to the piece, so it was a serendipitous misplacing.

Woman wearing brioche knit cowl featuring assigned pooling petal motifs

I was pleased to have a chance to wear my new Scattered Petals cowl.

I taught classes on Wednesday and Thursday: Brioche Pastiche, Whale Conga Line, YO YO Fancy Stitches, and Sheepy Steeky Coasters.

Steamer action!

I loved that program coordinator Theresa bound off her coasters just before class, and she brought her steamer for steam blocking!

Mary is knitting a Starstruck shawlette. I love her color choices.

It was so nice to meet Karen, who test knit for my Brioche Knit Love book.

Theresa, Denise, Karla, Anne

I had a great time with this guild! I’d happily teach for them again.

San Diego sunset

I came home and hit the ground running. Lots to get done this week before I leave on Friday to go sing in Sisters!

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Entrelac Encore

Posted on July 4, 2025 | 4 comments
Flower Power?

I’m knitting away on this new entrelac piece. It’s much like Minerva, my usual entrelac teaching piece, but it has fewer units in width, so it grows more quickly in length. There’s also an optional flower motif in the center squares, because why not add something new?

The driving force behind this new piece? I’m teaching an online entrelac class for Marie Greene’s virtual Knit Camp at the Coast in September. I decided that I want a minimalist project that better fits into the allotted time.

I love the yarn that I’m using here. It’s Berroco Wizard, which is a fluffy chainette. It’s listed as chunky/bulky, but the chainette construction makes it almost weightless. So cozy! One skein is enough for up to a double looped cowl or scarf, but you could stop at any time after 20” and seam it up for a shorter cowl.

Pattern coming soon! This will be my entrelac teaching piece after it’s published.

I’m headed to San Diego on Monday to speak and teach for the San Diego North Coast Knitters Guild. We’ll be playing with brioche, fancy elongated stitches, and steeks. And I’ll have plenty of knitting time on the plane to finish this entrelac project!

assigned pooling stitch detail

In the meantime, happy 4th of July to the Yanks! I’m working this weekend, prepping for San Diego, and getting ready to launch Scattered Petals on Monday. Knit on!

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Stellar knitting

Posted on May 29, 2025 | 5 comments
Brioche knitting and assigned pooling

I’m happily knitting away on my Simply Stellar (brioche plus assigned pooling shawlette) sample, and test knitters are beginning theirs, too. I love this yarn combo; it’s Wildflowers (pooling) and Sassy (pink) Deluxe Sock from A Chick that Knitz. There is just a tiny overlap of that fuchsia in the pooling yarn, but not enough to be confusing to the eye. Perfect!

I misread my intentions and started with a US3 needle instead of a US4. Not a big difference, but I decided to change mid-project. I wouldn’t do that on a sweater, but on a bias brioche shawlette? It’s not really going to show. It might give it a tiny bit more drape, and it might make me finish a tiny bit sooner. I was 126 rows in when I decided to swap needles. And then I swapped needles again today after another 6 inches, because my yarn was catching on a rough spot where the needle goes into the metal join, grrr. So away with the Knitters Pride Ginger (I usually really like these), and onto a KnitPicks wooden interchangeable that was in my stash. Things are going more smoothly now.

Brioche knitting plus assigned pooling

Sometimes the pooling color pops up where you don’t want it. One way to deal with it is to knit a pooling motif in the background color of the pooling yarn. This will reset where the color pool happens.

Back side of brioche plus pooling

Another way is to cut your yarn and move the pooling color along. But that means you’ll have more ends to sew in. I don’t cut until I’m done with the project, because sometimes I frog entire projects! So I just pull up a big loop of the background color of the pooling yarn.

I’m enjoying this knit. I’ll have time to work on it this weekend. Airplane knitting! My sisters and I are going to our cousin’s wedding celebration. Yay, family time!

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Test knit calls

Posted on May 20, 2025 | 2 comments

Yes, two of them! Both are for accessories knit with brioche + pooling.

Scattered Petals cowl featuring brioche plus assigned pooling

Scattered Petals is a bandana-style cowl that features brioche plus assigned pooling. It’s knit in the round with 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling. The pattern is written for two sizes, and you can customize further if you wish. Yarn shown is from Yarn Snob/Knits All Done from Keith Leonard. Colors are Black Orchid and Wicked Green on A Good Fingering base.

beginning of a boomerang shawl featuring brioche plus assigned pooling

Simply Stellar is a shawlette featuring brioche and assigned pooling stars. It’s knit flat using 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn, one of which should be dyed for assigned pooling. This design is the result of a conversation I had at Nash Yarn Fest. Yarn dyer Tammy Pelfrey (A Chick That Knitz) mentioned that she loves my Starstruck Shawlette, but brioche + syncopated brioche + assigned pooling can be intimidating to newer brioche knitters. I decided to design a simpler shawlette with no syncopated border. There is minimal shaping as a backdrop to the assigned pooling stars. Yarn is A Chick that Knitz Singles Fingering in Tropical Flowers and Caribbean.

These two test knits are both mashups of brioche + assigned pooling. You should already know how to knit brioche to test knit. Previous experience with assigned pooling isn’t necessary; there’s a video tutorial for each assigned pooling motif.

Both of these patterns have been professionally tech edited. Why test knit? It helps me to fine tune the instructions. Tech editing gets me halfway there, but real life knitters really help. Test knitters get early access to the pattern and tutorials, and help future knitters. The test knits will run for 4 weeks. You provide your own yarn, and keep the sample you knit. Leave a note in the comments if you’re interested in test knitting; let me know which project.

I was merrily knitting along on my Simply Stellar, but then I decided I wanted to see what it looked like with more tonal contrast. I’m in love…guess I’m starting over because I’m obsessed. This is from A Chick that Knitz, Deluxe Sock in Wildflowers and Sassy.

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Black Orchid diva

Posted on May 2, 2025 | 7 comments
brioche knit swatch in dark purple and vivid green, with assigned pooling in pink and yellow

I ordered the green yarn to go with Black Orchid. What did I knit?

backyard knitting with wine

A giant swatch, apparently. Top down is easier to figure, because you choose the neck size, and then increase until you want to be done. This was knit from the bottom up because I wanted the motifs to face this way. I cast on too many stitches, and the finished cowl was too loose, too long, too…everything. Sometimes you *should* listen to that little voice that says STOP! I didn’t block this, because I didn’t want to set the yarn into ramen-style kinks. I knew it was headed for the frog pond!

brioche knitting with assigned pooling

I cast on with the remaining yarn to confirm my new choices. This may look the same to you, but it’s infinitely better. Not so loosey-goosey, and a more reasonable number of stitches so it won’t be so long/tall by the time I finish decreasing. With this bottom-up construction, the rounds have been getting shorter as I go. I frogged the first cowl when I ran out of yarn, and now I’m nearly done with this second one.

I made a video tutorial for the assigned pooling motif yesterday. It’s slightly different than the one for Fired Up. I’ll put up a test knit call soon, but I want an FO pic first.

What should I name this design?

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Color is a mystery sometimes

Posted on May 1, 2025 | 4 comments
Collage of a black hand knit cowl featuring assigned color pooling

I loved designing and knitting Fired Up. I knew exactly what the yarn wanted to be, as soon as it was placed in my hand. I’d been thinking about this assigned pooling motif for months. In fact, I had already been planning a brioche/assigned pooling piece with it!

Two skeins of yarn. One is very dark with a pink color pop, and the other is a light gray

I started working with this color combo back in December while in Hawaii. When I ordered it, I thought the pooling yarn was black, with a pink and yellow color pop. Gray would be great with black.

Black Orchid colorway is deep purple with pink and yellow pooling section

But it turns out that Black Orchid is really a very dark purple. I didn’t like it with the gray; it gave me a cold jangly feeling. I tried it with white too, just because I had some, but the white wanted to be the star of the show. Light colors pop, right? And the Black Orchid should be the real star of the show here.

purple yarn and purple orchids

This orchid color was gorgeous, and I hoped it would work.

purple on purple yarns

I loved it. (It was brighter in person.) This was the edging, with the purple orchid as the featured color, and syncopated flowers from the Black Orchid. The rest of the piece would feature Black Orchid with the leaf motif. But it was confusing to knit, because the colors were so similar. If it was confusing for me as the designer to knit, it would only be worse for the knitter. Back to the drawing board.

A black orchid is inspiration for the Black Orchid yarn colorway

I looked at Keith’s (the dyer’s) inspiration photo for the Black Orchid colorway…what about that vivid green? I had some leftover Bellina from my Peekaboo Cowl, so I knit up a little swatch.

A brioche knit swatch in deep purple and vibrant green, with a pop of pink and yellow

Bingo. Trust nature! More in next post.

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Log Cabin Knitting winner, classes

Posted on April 14, 2025 | Comments Off on Log Cabin Knitting winner, classes
samples of log cabin block knitting

And the winner is Helen Brisson! I’m emailing you so you can register for class. Congratulations!

If you didn’t win, you can still come to this online class. Register at the Vogue Knitting Live website; class is Saturday April 26. Edited to add: Flash! Use coupon code APRIL20 for 20% off remaining classes for this event.

Collage of shawlette, detail of shawlette, and the assigned pooling yarn

I’m teaching three classes via three venues that weekend. I’m teaching brioche + pooling in-person at For Yarn’s Sake in Beaverton on Sunday, April 27. Class is for knitters who can knit brioche rib. We’ll cover the increases and decreases, syncopation, and assigned pooling in class. Fun!

A brioche knit hat and cowl in shades of blue

And I’m kicking off that teaching weekend with Brioche Beginnings for Modern Daily Knitting online. Class is on Friday, April 25; you can register here.

Busy busy! These are my last classes for spring. May is…unsettled. Juggling lots of stuff in real life…

brioche knitting with assigned pooling, and a glass of wine

But I’m still knitting! Current project on the needles in Black Orchid and an unnamed green from Yarn Snob. I love this color combo.

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Sweet Paprika Yarn Club

Posted on April 12, 2025 | 2 comments
collage of brioche knit accessories with designer Michele Lee Bernstein

I’m designing for Sweet Paprika Designs’ Skill Building Yarn Club! This club will have six project boxes over the next year, with yarn dyed by Sweet Paprika Designs. The projects include mosaic knitting, lace, colorwork, cables, steeking, and brioche. I’ll be designing an all new accessory (hat/cowl?) for this project.

A ball of purple yarn

Each box includes yarn, tutorials, and a pattern. And a little extra yarn so you can sample the technique before casting on.

You can sign up for an individual box, or the whole club at a discount. Use code NEW-SKILLS for $5 off your order. Sign up at Sweet Paprika Designs website here.

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