podcasts

Episode 142

October 30, 2016November 27, 2016 by Sara

cover142 This episode features the following segments: The Front Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and a Fleece-wise update. Wouldn’t it be fun if knitters could trick or treat and receive samples of beautiful yarn? I’m using this bowl of yarn as inspiration for continued progress on my Sheep to Shawl project.

Listeners have been enjoying Bovine Social Club's version of Saweeet on the podcast. You can find more information about the band by clicking on the photo. Their album is available on iTunes, and I'll be giving a few copies away this week. Listen to Episode 142 for details. — Listeners have been enjoying Bovine Social Club’s version of Saweeet on the podcast. You can find more information about the band by clicking on the photo. Their album is available on iTunes, and I’ll be giving a few copies away this week. Listen to Episode 142 for details.

The Front Porch

Tungata cowl by Stephen West
Sheep 2 Shawl project

Ever-expanding Skill Set

A layer of thinly sliced tart apples lends an unusual sweetness to German Hunter's Stew. — A layer of thinly sliced tart apples lends an unusual sweetness to German Hunter’s Stew.

German Hunter’s Stew posted by Kuntzknit
Louisa’s Cake
Tart Apple Soup posted by selkhet
Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You Don’t — rich and creamy version
Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You Don’t — low-fat version

Note: The two soups above are made with sweet potato, but I like to use butternut squash instead!

Fleece-wise Update

Raw locks of Eloise from 10.9 oz. of unwashed fleece. I note characteristics of musket (left) and emsket (second from left).

This week I have sorted the fleece into piles of locks with similar characteristics (a process called stapling). I have scoured a sample of the fiber, carded it into rolags, and started spinning. This fiber is like a cloud, so wonderfully soft and with such strength and integrity. I’m loving every minute. You can find an extensive list of resources, and more photographs of my work with Eloise’s Shetland fleece on my website. There is a page devoted to Fleece-wise.

One randomly-selected winner will receive a rust-dyed bento bag and a collection of hand-spun, botanically-dyed mini-skeins. Add a post to the Fleece-wise discussion on Ravelry for a chance to win!

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 142

The Front Porch

Ever-expanding Skill Set

Fleece-wise Update

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