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Episode 118: #MeMadeMay

May 9, 2016May 15, 2016 by Sara

cover118 This episode includes the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Sew Forth. It has been a few weeks since I’ve talked about my projects, so this episode is devoted to an update. May has been dubbed #memademay, when many crafters celebrate their journey of making. I’ve completed three pieces for my handmade wardrobe, and have begun two more. I’m also cooking with rhubarb this month — searching for new sweet recipes, some savory recipes, and even methods for using rhubarb leaves to make a mordant.

The Back Porch

Finished ribbed socks on US 0 dons; toe up with a FLK heel and tubular bind off.

Bonny tank by tincanknits in wool/silk blend on US 4 needles.

The Front Porch

Agatha socks by Claire of NHKnits in Gynx Yarn BFL Sock in colorway Sea Salt Ice Cream.

Paper Cranes stole by Lori Versaci in Swans Island fingering: indigo.

Ever-expanding Skill Set

This month, I’m cooking with rhubarb, a vegetable that is popular in the Northeastern US during the spring and early summer. I found great information and some recipes on the Rhubarb Compendium. You can cook along and share your photos and links on the Ravelry thread. This week, I’d like to try this Rhubarb Ginger Downside-up Oatmeal Cake.

Sew Forth

Last week, I sewed a skirt based on a beloved garment I purchased from Anthropologie more than ten years ago. The wrap skirt looks simple, but it is made of four irregularly-shaped pieces of linen with a tie waist and pocket. Since I didn’t want to dismantle the skirt to make a pattern, I enlisted Samuel’s help to trace the pieces as carefully as I could. With a ruler and pencil, I added a 5/8 inch seam allowance to the hem and sides of each pattern piece. I made some final adjustments ep118.1 and cut out the paper pattern. It was a thrill to find that I could cut the skirt from 2 1/4 yards of linen/cotton blend in a deep plum color. I ripped two lengths of the fabric to create a waistband. Flat-felled seams create a sturdy structure and smooth finish, although my seams are located on the inside of the skirt instead of the outside. I might try a different approach on my next skirt. The waist band pictured is wider than the one on the original, which I think is an improvement. It passes through the skirt via a buttonhole opening and is secured with a loop sewn into the back of the waistband. I didn’t add a pocket, but I might add one later. This skirt will be a spring / summer wardrobe staple. The small amount of yardage make it an affordable choice for a handmade wardrobe.

Arrows and Doorways

The design for this super-cozy cowl was inspired by textiles in a hotel lobby. Concentric geometric shapes kept playing in my mind until finally I was able to chart the pattern and get it onto my needles. The interplay of this chevron-like patterning has a mesmerizing effect–while you’re knitting and when you wear the finished accessory.

Knit up a cowl with yarn from your stash, adding some magical new mini-skeins from your advent calendar, or exchange leftover yarn with a friend. The design invites frequent color changes, and makes an ideal knit for the advent season. It could be just as striking knit with two high-contrast colors.

While most cowls of this type are seamed within a band of a single color, this pattern incorporates a technique called stranded donut grafting, an incredibly clever and completely seamless graft that allows you to maintain colorwork patterning so that your starting and ending rounds are undetectable. Really! With many possibilities for color play and a new technique to add to your skill set, this cowl pattern is really an opportunity for knitters to level-up!

NEW PATTERN DESIGN!

ONE DARK BLUE NIGHT

This hat is the third in a series of patterns inspired by teachings in Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves. This time, I drew inspiration from Estés’ retelling of a Japanese tale, Tsukina Waguma or “The Crescent Moon Bear,” in which a young woman travels to the cave of an incredibly intimidating and ferocious bear. She makes several journeys to the cave, leaving food and quickly retreating, until “one dark blue night,” she musters the courage to stand her ground and ask for what she seeks--one hair from a moon-shaped patch on the bear’s chest--which she is granted. The young woman returns, triumphant, to the old healer who has sent her on this quest. She believes this single hair is the magic ingredient in solving the problem that plagues her. She holds it forth, but the healer tosses the hair into the flames. The young woman is in despair until she realizes the true lesson of her quest: that using her determination, courage, and patience, as she did with the crescent moon bear, will help her to confront the challenge at hand.

The moon phase motif of this colorwork hat is meant to capture the magic of a dark blue night--when the moon shines brightly overhead, the frosty air sparkles with possibility, and we succeed in summoning accumulated wisdom from deep within ourselves so that we can apply it to our own healing. Choose colors to conjure a wintery night sky, or select a palette of your signature colors.

Available on Ravelry December 20th.

Yarns at Yin Hoo

Episode 118: #MeMadeMay

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