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Episode 117: Knit Local

May 1, 2016May 15, 2016 by Sara

ep117.4 This episode is devoted to a detailed Yarn Lover at Large segment. You’ll hear all about the getaway to Washington County, New York for the annual Farm & Fiber Tour. Nineteen extraordinary women joined me for a weekend of fiber, fun, and friendship. It was a special time that I will continue to reflect on throughout the year. Pictured at left is one of the newest lambs of Foster Sheep Farm. We spent a lovely afternoon with Carol and Tom and had plenty of time to cuddle with lambs.

Washington County Farm & Fiber Tour
St. Mary’s on the Hill Cashmere Goats
Alpacas of Breezy Hill
Battenkill Creamery
Battenkill Fibers Carding & Spinning Mill
Ensign Brook Farm
Dancing Ewe Farm

Christ the King Retreat Center has excellent trails and beautiful views.

Ella is the loveliest spinner; she demonstrated her skills at St. Mary's on the Hill. — Ella is the loveliest spinner; she demonstrated her skills at St. Mary’s on the Hill.

Thanks to Jaclyn's color theory course for beginners, I selected this set of analogous colors for a future project. — Thanks to Jaclyn’s color theory course for beginners, I selected this set of analogous colors for a future project.

I only managed to take a photo of the delicious panna cotta at Dancing Ewe Farm.

MORE FROM THE GETAWAY:

Jaclyn (jaclynsalem) of Brooklyn Knitfolk gives you a glimpse of the getaway in her “In the Wild” series
Lisa (saratogaknitting) shares her getaway experience on IchigoAbroad Episode 42
Candy (paws4stitches) has a new podcast

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 117: Knit Local

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