podcasts

Episode 81: Crushed Berries

July 5, 2015April 11, 2016 by Sara

This episode includes the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Off the Grid, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Off the Shelf. I spent a few days in Vermont, and dyed fiber using elderberries my sister harvested last fall. We also dyed some yarn and fiber using avocado seeds and skins. All of this was done over an outdoor fire pit, to make it more exciting. There are finished projects, plans for Stash Dash and Tour de Fleece, plus a new topic for #powerpantry and thoughts on color. Join in the summer read-along and pick up a copy of Color by Victoria Finlay.

The Back Porch

Summer Surprise Challenge with Jenkins Woodworking Lovers — Summer Surprise Challenge 353 yards

Stash Dash Goal 5k (2,962 yards to go)

The Front Porch

Tour de Fleece Get ‘er Done! Hobbledehoy Battlings in Folklore on my Jenkins Kuchulu

Christmas Knitting

Design Project

Sewing

A “big shawl” — should I knit Pagoda or Blóm?

Off the Grid

Jessie uses hoop houses to extend the VT growing season

elderberries simmering over an open fire

the dye color was an deep purple, but it quickly escaped from the fiber — the dye color was a deep purple, but it quickly escaped from the fiber

avocado seed and skins yield a pinkish-orange

Ever-expanding Skill Set

In July, let’s talk counter tops and counter space.

How do you manage counter space in your kitchen? Do you have tips and tricks?

Do you even consider the counter as part of your pantry?

Please tell me all about it! Photos are awesome, too. In fact, I will do a drawing for a swell prize, made by me. All you have to do to enter is post a photo of your counter space (organized or not) below and tell us about it.

Off the Shelf

All that Big Rain Coming Down -- Rover Thomas — All that Big Rain Coming Down — Rover Thomas

My copy of Color: a Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay finally arrived. The YAYH read-along will extend until September 1. If you like to pace your reading, there is a schedule below. I will adhere to this timeline as I talk about book on the podcast. Read at your own pace and post comments on the Ravelry thread.

Here is a passage from the Ochre section that inspired me to look for some images: “Whenever a friend was asked what his favorite color was, he would say it was just that: the red of the Australian center, when you flew over it in the morning. From this bird’s-eye perspective, the spinifex and other bushes made little dots on the landscape, just like so many of the Central Desert paintings I had seen. And from a plane the dried-up creeks and the curves of rocks turned into whorls and wiggles that no doubt had whole epic choral symphonies enclosed in them.” p. 67

July 5 — The Paintbox; Ochre
July 12 — Black and Brown; White
July 19 — Red
July 26 — Orange; Yellow
August 2 — Green
August 9 — Blue
August 16 — Indigo
August 23 — Violet
August 30 — The End of the Rainbow

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