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Episode 312

June 30, 2023June 30, 2023 by Sara

Finished these mitts as my first entry into the Knit Spin Farm #outsidethesockCAL. The pattern is Socks vs. Fingerless Mitts by Carri Anne Eikenberry. I used a three by one rib for the body instead of stockinette and I LOVE the way these turned out. Please pause to admire the way the brown stripe works up on each thumb.

Here is the Ogden Cami Dress Hack sewn up in Atelier Brunette Loom in Night, a rayon/linen blend. I was able to get this dress from 1 1/4 yards and I’m very pleased after making a few modifications: pockets from Amy jumpsuit, shifted direction of grainline for bodice, let the bodice lining hang loose inside the dress, widened straps reinforced with lightweight fusible interfacing, incorporating the selvedge into the hem.

I’ve completed the Moonshadow Table Runner from Issue 44 of Taproot magazine. I am very pleased with the results after needing to make a big save thanks to my novice quilting skills. The running stitch around the moons incorporates the front fabric and the batting only, so I created the gridlines to incorporate and stabilize all three layers. I really liked this tutorial for adding the binding.

Recently I had a fun Sunday afternoon in my friend Dee’s basement studio with Lizzy and Elaine of Red Delicious Press in Aurora, CO. Dee and Elaine are both highly skilled in making all kinds of prints and I was pleased with the results on scrap papers that I found around this creative space.

Here is my complete (I think almost complete) wall hanging from a papel picado workshop held in a local cafe. I pulled some of the organic botanicals from my print into this piece, as well as the moon phases. I would like to dye the backing fabric with some botanical dyes and have been saving avocado skins and seeds in my freezer for use in a dyeing project this summer.

Here is one recipe you HAVE to make this summer. I love this cake because of its humble ingredients and no need for special equipment. I used two duck eggs and backed the oil down to 1/4 cup, kept the sugar at 1/3 cup and bulked up the blueberries to 2 cups (some fresh, some frozen). Finally, I added most of a grated lemon rind and some of the juice.

I conclude this episode with an excerpt from Camille T. Dungy’s SOIL: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden.

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 312

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