podcasts

Episode 224

May 28, 2019 by Sara

So many crafty adventures have happened in the month of May. It’s taken me awhile to get a new episode together, but I have been posting quite faithfully on IG using #memademay and providing the details of my mostly handmade wardrobe. In this episode, I talk about two finished knits and one finished garment. There’s also a quick review of MDSW and a sewing weekend with Cal Patch.

The Back Porch

Finished yoga socks in yarn from Misha’s Obsessions. I incorporated some design features that I really like and will be working to write up this pattern during the month of June.

Another finished knit is Summer by Ankestrick. No photos yet, but I’ll be incorporating this t-shirt like sweater into an outfit before the end of May.

MarieWallinKAL

Emily and I are working on our Marie Wallin sweaters at MDSW. In this episode, I dedicate a little time to talking about how I go about making color choices for MW knits. I’ve also sorted some prizes for the knit along. Check out the Ravelry thread for photographs and to join in the conversation as we knit along.

Maryland Sheep & Wool

First of all, don’t Emily and I look adorable in our twin Iris shrugs? And I love the way Jaime includes his boots in our photo.

I scored not one but two Jacob fleeces, as well as some beautiful Monhonk light yarn from Jill Draper and this amazing woven mobius shawl from Kathy Dinsmore of The Wandering Vine.

And Sew Forth

I couldn’t be more pleased with my raw silk version of the Highlands Wrap Dress by Allie Olson. In this episode, I give an extensive review of this project and list the three adjustments I made as I cut the pattern.

It was a great weekend of sewing and stitching with Cal Patch when she visited The Wool School at Hope’s Favorite Things to teach a skirt-making class and an embroidery workshop. If you have the opportunity to take a class with Cal, don’t hesitate. And if you are near Richmond, PA, check out the classes coming up at The Wool School.

Off the Shelf

“Famous” by Naomi Shihab Nye

Videopoems version: a short film incorporating the lines of the poem

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 224

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