podcasts

Episode 206

September 16, 2018 by Sara

How yellow is too yellow when it comes to the colorwork in Marie Wallin’s Lovage sweater? That’s what I’m trying to decide this week as I work my way up the yoke after attaching the sleeves to the body.

On the Porch

Lovage by Marie Wallin

The Front Porch

Easy Folded Poncho by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas
Arika Cowl by Jane Richmond

Off the Shelf

No Makeup by Sharon Olds — this link includes an audio file of the poem read by the author

And Sew Forth

Here you see the completed Forager Vest, designed by SewLiberated. Complete except for the little loop we added to hang it. I’m also wearing my first Curlew Dress. Mom and I made several modifications as we sewed this vest, including doubling up on the fabric for the yoke, and adding some fusible interfacing to the tops of the pockets. It’s a very utilitarian garment, but I found the pattern directions (text only) to be confusing for the beginning sewist. I think some diagrams or photo tutorial, either in the magazine itself or online, would have been helpful.

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 206

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