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…
Trailing Leaves is a brioche bandana cowl, knit in the round from the top down. It features a central double leaf motif in syncopated brioche against a background of MC brioche rib. Choose 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn in coordinating colors to knit this beauty.
Trailing Leaves in Knit Picks Chroma Fingering
A gradient yarn will add an interesting color play to the brioche rib background, as shown here in Knit Picks Chroma Fingering. Knitter’s choice! This pattern is easily adjustable for neck circumference and length. This is one of my favorite cowl shapes; it looks like a shawlette but doesn’t fall off. So easy to wear.
Trailing Leaves in Yarn Snob A Good Fingering
I’ve knit four samples of this, to get it just right. The sample above featured some assigned pooling, but it doesn’t show, so it’s not in the pattern.
Trailing Leaves in Knit Picks Chroma
And this sample was a little too long due to a different increase rate. But you get the idea!
Remember this? It was worth frogging, re-skeining, soaking, rewinding.
I’ve been dreaming all year about a way to combine brioche and assigned pooling/algorithmic knitting in a way that pleases me. I’ve done a lot of knitting and frogging along the way.
I love this color pooling yarn from Yarn Snob/Knits All Done; the green/purple is Bellina, which is named for an orchid. I wanted to make it sing! Bisquee thinks it looks good, too. Do you see peacock feathers? Flames?
Trailing Leaves
I had first used some of this yarn to design Trailing Leaves (coming soon!). It’s lovely, but you can’t see the pooled stitches, so Trailing Leaves will be just brioche. And no, I didn’t frog this cowl!
I frogged this one, that I knit with the remaining yarn. And I’m glad I did.
Side note: Test knitting for Trailing Leaves is wrapping up, and I’m planning to publish it next week. I have a wonderful group of test knitters; we’ve had a great time working on this. I’ve knit two more samples along with them. Stay tuned!
This colorway, Bellina from Yarn Snob/Knits All Done, is one of my favorites, ever. It made me want to try to combine assigned pooling with my favorite technique brioche.
Trailing Leaves, kinda
The assigned pooling doesn’t really show up in Trailing Leaves (currently in test knitting phase). The brioche leaves are beautiful, but where’s the assigned pooling? I thought the issue was because the leaves are front and center, and the pooling is on the side, so I knit a small cowl with the same theme.
Still can’t see the pooling, really
I know I’ll never wear the little cowl shown above, so why not reclaim the yarn?
frogged!
The yarn was pretty kinky since I had wet blocked the cowl, so I wanted to smooth it out. (The last time I knit with previously blocked yarn, it really showed in the finished object. Lesson learned.)
I wound it on my niddy-noddy (had to google how to use it; it’s been a while). Look at that kink! I tied it off and soaked it, then squished it in a towel and gave it a nice snap to straighten it up.
Much better! It’s currently drying (not on the mannequin; that’s just for a nice picture). And then I’ll move on to attempt number 365 or so to see if I can successfully combine brioche and assigned pooling, without bobbles (not my fave look). Wish me luck!
I spent last weekend at a friend’s family house on the Alsea River, near Waldport on the Oregon Coast. There were four of us hanging out and having fun.
Trailing Leaves sample
I finished one of my Trailing Leaves samples, and started another. I need two of them for yardage requirement information, since the first one isn’t knit according to the current version of the pattern.
I beaded a new ankle bracelet, and re-strung an older one with shiny new metal bits.
Salad is always more delish with fried halibut on top!Looks sea-worthy, yes?
I started a second sample for Trailing Leaves, and found a clumsy join in the yarn (two unrelated colors together), so I started over.
The top one is the first clumsy join. I found the second (middle) one when i was casting on again. And the third (bottom) one? I was about at the same point I had been before. What are the chances of 3 joins in the same ball? And with a gradient, it really matters.
I decided that I wasn’t going to start over again; it didn’t look like the color was that different.
But it was; see where the dark blue starts again after the first pale bit at the bottom? It all works, but it could have been a bit more graceful. Hoping I don’t find any more joins! Next time I use a gradient like this, I think I’ll just rewind the whole ball before starting.
Alsea River
It was so nice to just be away with no to-do list!
I was supposed to be away this weekend, too, but my classes at Sitka Center at the coast didn’t fill. When we scheduled it, I didn’t know that it would be the same weekend as Flock Fiber Festival in Seattle, which is a big draw. I thought about going to Flock this weekend, but I really just needed a weekend at home.
Currently knitting in the backyard, with Cheetos. Perfect.
Trailing Leaves is back from my tech editor, and it’s ready for test knitting. This is a brioche bandana cowl knit in the round beginning at the neck. It gently increases down to the bottom edge. A central leaf pattern is created with syncopated brioche; syncopated brioche also makes the bottom edge pop. Trailing Leaves is knit with two skeins of fingering weight yarn in contrasting colors.
If you’re interested in test knitting, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll contact you. (Your email is visible to me, but not public.)
current sample knit in Dream in Color Smooshy
I’m currently knitting a second sample; it was perfect airplane and deck knitting this past weekend! We visited friends in Chicago and had a fabulous time.
The Bean (Cloud Gate) in Millennium ParkLive taping of Wait Wait…Don’t Tell MeChess Records studio tourBronzeville tour with Dilla of ChicagoMahogany.com 50th Anniversary Tour, Prairie Home CompanionGettin’ our kicks
And a blues show (Stephen Hull Experience) at Rosa’s Lounge, and a late night show at Second City. Whew! We also ate ourselves silly…Filipino, Cambodian, English pub, Chicago deep dish pizza. Our friends Susan and Patrick are phenomenal hosts, as is their sweet dog Luna.
Luna
Back to work for me! Let me know if you’d like to test knit!
I’ve been playing with some ideas, zeroing in on what to keep, and what to toss. This first version (Knit Picks Chroma Fingering) was my attempt to spare my pooling yarn from the tenth frog/restart. It’s pretty good, just a bit longer than I wanted. I’ve got it figured out, and I’ll be looking for test knitters soon.
Trailing Leaves cowl, Take Two
This pooled version (Yarn Snob Fingering) is the right length, and I changed the increase rate to get to the number of stitches I wanted for the edging. But you can’t really see the pooling, because it’s on the sides and back of the green brioche section. Why do all that extra work, if you’re not going to see it when you wear the finished object? The leaves are really the star of the show. So I don’t plan to release a pooled version as a pattern; it’s a unicorn.
That doesn’t mean I want to give up the idea of combining brioche with pooling/algorithmic knitting.
Places you can knit: Bon Bon Vivant sound check!
There’s enough yarn left over for me to design another piece. It features that lovely syncopated edging, too. I’m halfway done…
Places you can knit: Margo Price at the Blues Fest
We had a great time at the Waterfront Blues Festival this weekend. It was HOT, so we were mostly there during the evenings. Of course I brought my knitting.
And my Lantern Moon fan, which I’ve had since 2009 (Sock Summit!). Make your own breeze!
Local great Curtis Salgado and 11 more fabulous musiciansHawthorne Bridge lift for the fireworks barge to get throughDoing our part! (We take this picture every year)
Bisquee hopes you’re keeping cool! We have central air conditioning, so she’s not as hot as she looks. She’s enjoying her bit of sunshine.
Do you knit when it’s hot? It’s always nice indoors here! But I did knit outdoors at the festival, too. At least it was a small, not very woolly project!
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 