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Episode 132: Stash Dashed

August 21, 2016 by Sara

cover132 It’s back to the regular segments this episode: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Sew Forth. Stash Dash has concluded, and although I acquired quite a bit of yarn this season, I did manage to spin and knit up 5,570 yards to meet my goal of using up 5K from stash. At the end of the competition, it required a little sleuthing to add some meditative spindling and charity knitting yardage. Thank you for your listenership, encouragement, and support over three years of the Yarns at Yin Hoo podcast.

The Back Porch

Selkie Hat and Mitts set designed by Bristol Ivy. Knit in Juniper Moon Farm Moonshine on US 5 (hat) and 4 (mitts) needles. This pattern appears in Issue 17 of Taproot.

The Front Porch

I'm conducting a sox-speriment by knitting socks in tandem on two different brands of US 0 dons. I'm using the heel directions for NHKnits' Agatha socks, as well as some ribbing on the foot arch. — I’m conducting a sox-speriment by knitting socks in tandem on two different brands of US 0 dons. I’m using the heel directions for NHKnits’ Agatha socks, as well as some ribbing on the foot arch.

Sheep to Shawl project in progress. I'm using hand-spun, naturally-colored and naturally-dyed yarn for this project. — Sheep to Shawl project in progress. I’m using hand-spun, naturally-colored and naturally-dyed yarn for this project.

Ever-expanding Skill Set

I've been making horchatta latte, using variations on a recipe video I saw on Instagram. — I’ve been making horchatta latte, using variations on a recipe video I saw on Instagram.

And Sew Forth

StapleDress.Black1 — The Staple Dress pattern by April Rhodes has been my most economical and versatile pattern purchase to date. It is very difficult to make a black dress look exciting, but I’m very excited about this dress.

StapleDress.Black2 — Some of the adjustments I’ve made to make this garment suit me include: bust darts, waist shaping, overlock stitch finishing, lightweight fabric pockets, commercially-made bias tape, and an adjustment to the elastic waistline directions.

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 132: Stash Dashed

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