podcasts

Episode 45: Observation Deck

July 16, 2014 by Sara

This episode includes the following segments: Yarn Lover at Large, The Front Porch, The Back Porch, and Double Happiness. I also announce the five winners of WOLLWERK patterns in anticipation of the Asymmetri-CAL, which begins on August 1. This podcast is loosely structured and lightly edited.

LISTEN:

Yarn Lover at Large

This episode is brought to you from Nashville, Tennessee. I’m in town for the Super Summer Knit together (SSK), a retreat hosted by TheKnitGirllls. My plan is to record a few episodes on location, and upload them right away–like an audio diary of my experience. I hope you enjoy them. In this episode, I talk about the classes I’ll be taking: spinning with Malia and fleece prep 101 with Sadie.

The Front Porch

“What projects do I take to SSK?” has been foremost in my mind over the past few days. Conventional wisdom demands a simple design that I can work on while socializing, and bright colors or color changes to keep my interest. I’ve decided on taking a pair of yoga socks that will be a holiday gift, the Nymphalidia shawl, which is a bit more intricate, and another skein of rustic handspun to work into cord using my lucet. I anticipate that I’ll spend a lot of time spinning on my Turkish spindle. Seriously, it’s addictive.

The Back Porch

It’s Tour de Fleece time and I’ve been doing lots of spinning. Most of it has been completed on my Aegean Turkish spindle from Jenkins Yarn Tools. I have a personal goal of spinning every day during the Tour de France, and hopefully I’ll complete the battlings I purchased from Hobbledehoy at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. When I have some time at home, I work on my Louet. This week I completed spinning the Papaya braid from Beesybee Fibers. This BFL/silk blend yielded 375 yards of a fractally-spun 2-ply.

Asymmetri-CAL Update

Congratulations to the folks who’ve won WOLLWERK patterns. Please contact designer Simone Eich, wuscheltigger, by sending a personal message on Ravelry. Let her know which pattern you’d like to receive. Thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in this craft-along. The official start date is August 1. You’re invited to craft any pattern that is asymmetrical in design, construction or use of color. The Yarns at Yin Hoo group on Ravelry is growing, so join us. Chatter here. Post photos of finished projects here.

For those knitters spinning chunky handspun during Tour de Fleece, you might be interested in the Asymmetricowl, a pattern by Denae Merrill. It’s available for free during the month of July. Thanks, Denae, for this generous offer!

In case you need just one more reason to participate in the Asymmetri-CAL, here you go. Susan, the dyer of Riot of Color, has offered up a skein of cobweb silk as a prize. Check out her shop to see the beautiful colors and dazzling yarn bases.

During the week of July 7, I facilitated an Open Institute at Rutgers University. Designed to help participants deepen their experience as writers, the institute is always inspiring. On Friday, we read aloud from writing we’ve produced during the week. I began this poem on Wednesday, when visiting poet Toney Jackson prompted us to write about significant objects from our homes. Immediately, I thought of Gertrude, the vintage dress form that was a Christmas gift from my sister, Laura.

On Being Gertrude

An actor inhabits a character, beginning with her feet. Mine

are heavy metal, for a start. I’m an hourglass,

upholstered in grey fabric, fragmented into several parts.

My chest can heave, and float apart, or shift together—no body

type is too trim or too remote for me to assume her shape

if she’s a lady. Sorry, fellas. My plate tectonics are of the feminine

kind, and are like to drive you crazy. You’ve seen smooth-skinned

mannequins in department stores—they’re bland as hangers.

Those gals are caged in their pre-ordained proportions,

but my physique says, more is more. My poem is for you women,

not the girls. We’re shape-shifters. We’re full of surprises.

Look in our closets; we wear many sizes. What I mean is this: My heart

is full-figured. I’m petite when it comes to petty concerns.

In terms of my singing voice, I’m just about average. Don’t talk to

me about some salad-eating, calorie-saving—don’t say the word diet.

I’m expansive, not expensive. And my curves do the talking ’cause

I don’t have a mouth. Vogue, Cosmopolitan, — you’d best keep quiet.

They can dress me up, honey, but they’ll never take me out.

One thought on “Episode 45: Observation Deck”

Maggie Leiterman says:

July 19, 2014 at 9:23 pm

I was catching up on several of your podcasts today… I was in the kitchen cooking and listening to this podcast. I heard you mention me in relation to the CAL, thanks for the reminder! As you mentioned, want to weave something asymmetrical. I bought some wool a couple months ago from Heather of Fiberista Files that I am thinking about using in the project. I am considering designing my own pattern for something utilitarian item; that is my favorite kind of project.
I always enjoy listening to your podcast, but especially these from Nashville bring back memories for me, I lived in Nashville in the 1980s.
I love your poem “On Being Gertrude.”

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.