podcasts

Episode 169

May 21, 2017May 21, 2017 by Sara

IMG_C267541DFA78-1

This episode includes the following segments: On the Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Yarn Lover at Large. There is lots of news from MDSW and NHS&W. Plus, I announce the winners of the “Regions of Kindness” contest.

On the Porch

Jasmine Tea by Amanda Bell
Tsumuzikaze by michiyo
Bousta Beanie by Gudrun Johnston

Ever-expanding Skill Set

So far this month, I’ve made my typical turkey tacos, and breakfast tacos. I have plans for dessert tacos and fish tacos using some tips for crispy baked fish from the current issue of Cook’s Country.

Upcoming Events at Hope’s Favorite Things

May 27th Spin-in
July 29 & 30 Natural Dye Intensive with Jane Woodhouse

Mom, NHKnits Claire, and me at the Foster Sheep Farm booth.

My favorite photo from last weekend: the chicken ladies. All of these smart, beautiful women (my sister Jessica, Mom, and Claire) tend to chickens and generally make the world a better place.

Hog Island fleece from MDSW, split with Emily of Fibretown podcast.

Sampling the fleece. Different preparations for different staple lengths and texture.

Hog Island spins up into a spongy single.

Cheviot X is strong and soft with lots of luster.

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 169

Leave a Reply