podcasts

Episode 193

March 27, 2018March 27, 2018 by Sara

I’ve decided to seize the opportunity to record a short episode on a Tuesday afternoon so that I can fill you in on some of my recent projects.

The Back Porch

I love these mitts, improvised with SpillyJane’s design for Mushroom Kelliemuffs. I used millspun yarn from Battenkill fiber mill as the main color, and bits of my handspun, hand-dyed yarn from Eloise’s beautiful Shetland fleece for the motifs.

The Front Porch

After many long thinks, debating whether or not I had enough yarn to knit Tegna, I took the plunge and have made it through the lace section feeling optimistic. This beautiful wool/mohair blend, called Taconic Twist, was dyed with logwood by Tammy of Wing and a Prayer Farm. It feels sticky and stringy as it’s being knit, but the lace looks beautiful after it plumps a bit with steam blocking. I will have my work cut out for me rinsing the excess dye from the garment, but for now I’ll concentrate on knitting. Tegna is similar in fit and drape to the Deschain sweater, which I’m wearing a lot, so I think the finished garment will be a wardrobe favorite.

Ever-expanding Skill Set

I’m still having fun making water kefir — about three batches every two weeks. But I needed an additional challenge and decided to try two recipes from Sandor Katz’ Wild Fermentation: Sweet Potato & Groundnut (peanut) Stew and an Ethiopian staple bread called injera. The stew is delicious. I even incorporated some leftovers from the freezer: turkey gravy + water to substitute for some of the broth and a container of very concentrated tomato in place of the stewed tomatoes. I used very finely ground peanuts in place of peanut butter because for some reason there are peanuts in my freezer, too.

The injera was another story. What you see above is my first attempt at a crepe or pancake. It was edible. The remaining attempts were not edible. Injera is supposed to be a soft, steamed, spongy-yet-strong staple in Ethiopian cuisine — used to scoop up other foods. My version was more of a stiff buckwheat pancake. I did enjoy the deep and somewhat sour flavor, but the texture needs a lot of work. Hopefully, I’ll get some tutoring from my sister Jessica this weekend.

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 193

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