podcasts

Episode 268

February 15, 2021May 21, 2021 by Sara

Winter Storm Uri is only hours away, so here’s the latest in knitting, kal, birding, and spinning news! Look for spinning progress on my supported and suspended spindles as I add photos to my IG stories as part of the #100daysproject.

There is great conversation going on the Ravelry thread for Episode 267, Part 1 of a series with Dr. Lilly Marsh. Thank you for all of your praise and participation! We’ve had the suggestion for a Baby Surprise Jacket knit along — which we will begin on March 1!

I’m so pleased to have my designs included in The Woolly Thistle’s #TWTcolorkal2021. Use the code on Ravelry for a 50% discount on either of my colorwork hat patterns (One Dark Blue Night above / Distelfink below) through February 20th.

THE BACK PORCH

I got a very handsome result on the Cabled Cushion kit, a gift from BarbLynn of WildRoseTextiles. She has kits in several sumptuous colorways in her shop. Yarns at Yin Hoo listeners can save 15% by using the code YINHOO15 until April 1.

New Year’s Eve themed yarn made a great pair of Valentine’s Day socks for Mom. Three x one rib is becoming my go-to sock recipe. I’m also fond of a rounded toe. I provide an overview of my technique for this sock on my Ravelry project page.

THE FRONT PORCH

One finished pair of socks — one new cast on. This is the Cherry Blossom Festival colorway from KnitSpinFarm and I adore it!

I’m making steady progress on the Glynn pullover in Harrisville nightshades yarn. Taking liberties with the design as usual, I’m knitting on the recommended needles, in one size smaller than specified for my measurements. So far, I like the fit. I’ve kitchenered the front and back together instead of performing a 3-needle bind off, and I’ve seamed up the sides and have picked up stitches for the sleeves.

OFF THE SHELF

“Notes on the Peanut” by June Jordan

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.

Episode 268

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