podcasts

Episode 194

April 10, 2018 by Sara

The Humblebee pattern will be available on Ravelry on Saturday, April 14th. Knit from cuff to toe, these socks feature a beautiful textured pattern on the front, a column of bees down the back, and several design elements to give you a great fitting sock. Check out my IG feed for a chance to win the pattern, yarn dyed by Julie of Sweet Sparrow Yarns, and a set of stitch markers from A Lovely Homemade Life. Each pattern purchase will benefit efforts of Heifer International to supply agrarian communities with honeybees.

Yarn Lover at Large

Ever-expanding Skill Set

In this episode, I share some of the techniques I learned from my sister Jessica when she tutored me in making injera.

And Sew Forth

I’ve had the pattern and fabric for two garments and finally settled in to do some sewing. Part of the holdup was the fact that both of these patterns are only available as pdf downloads. Since I don’t care for printing out and taping together pattern pieces, I stalled on these projects. But once I got started, they really moved along.

Floaty and feminine, the Ogden Cami from True Bias is sure to be a wardrobe staple. I’m dreaming of the fabric for two more of these dreamy tops. A little nerve and a few extended lines and even a novice sewist could turn this top into a sweet summer dress. For my next version, I plan to lengthen the top to just above the hip. I stitched a tag to the facing in order to tell the back from the front.

I made the Metaporphic Dress from Sew Liberated with very lightweight fabric in two solid colors. The skirt in this photo has been lengthened by 2″, and I wish I had added another inch to the bodice as well. The straps around the top are a bit ill-fitting, but the gathers worked beautifully in this fabric. The pattern description specifies that this is a layering piece and that is certainly how I intend to wear it–under my Deschain sweater or my Tegna top (when I complete it). There is an excellent video tutorial for completing the burrito method. I may have another go at this pattern with the same fabric since I have enough to make one more.

Off the Shelf

“Bees Were Better” by Naomi Shihab Nye

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 194

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