podcasts

Episode 289

November 21, 2021November 21, 2021 by Sara

With the publication of this episode comes the launch of my latest knitting design: Arrows and Doorways. Indispensable to this process was the problem-solving acumen of Ellen Silva. In our interview, Ellen (aka twinsetellen) talks about the steps she took to incorporate a seamless grafting technique, which she has termed “stranded donut grafting,” into this design. Really and truly, your graft will be undetectable!

Ellen Silva’s Sylvan Gansey (a recent design published in Cast On)
Kirsten Kapur’s Waiting to Flower (a brioche hat pattern)

Holiday Gift Knitting

Leni hat designed by Isabelle Kraemer
Musselburgh hat designed by Ysolda Teague
Maybe the Perfect Scrubbie crochet face scrubby from Pam Maher

Leni hat trio. This is a great hat and knits up quickly for a gift.

Ever-expanding Skill Set

#100daydresschallenge
November 26- March 6 — follow me on IG to keep up with my progress
Camellia Tank Dress (long) from wool.and

Off the Shelf

“Thanks” by W.S. Merwin

2 thoughts on “Episode 289”

Suzanne says:

November 27, 2021 at 12:52 pm

I am looking forward to seeing your 100 days adventure unfold. I have looked at wool and’s line up many times but so far none of their dresses really hits me. Perhaps you will win me over.
Julie Kipp says:

November 22, 2021 at 12:08 pm

And thank you for that 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 289

2 thoughts on “Episode 289”

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