podcasts

Episode 67: Handwork

January 26, 2015January 26, 2015 by Sara

Snow has covered the ground at Yin Hoo and there’s more on the way. Hopefully there will be enough time between shoveling sessions to work on some thrummed mittens while I sit by a toasty fire. This episode includes the following segments: Ever-expanding Skill Set, Yarn Lover at Large, Gratitude Journal, And Sew Forth. I announce the winner of the zebra project bag pictured on the cover of Episode 66. There’s a giveaway of beautiful Kauni yarn just in time for Valentine’s Day — check out the prize thread on the Yarns at Yin Hoo Ravelry group to make your entry.

LISTEN:

Ever-expanding Skill Set

Since the last episode, I discovered that the can-can sale may be particular to the US East Coast supermarkets. But some listeners have commented about their favorite items to stock when they go on sale: beans, broth, pasta. My go-to is Annnie’s Mac & Cheese. I know it’s not so great in the total nutrition department, but I can never resist it!

There’s been a lot of discussion about de-cluttering and getting organized, so I thought that this week would be a good time to discuss staying organized. Without good habits, we can easily return to a cluttered, disorganized state. Adhering to the principles of mise en place helps me stay organized in the kitchen, but the principle (known to chefs as meez) can also be applied in other areas of your life. Check out this segment from NPR’s Morning Edition. The All in Its Place blog has a great excerpt from Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, where he explains how important a chef’s meez is to his efficacy in the kitchen.

This week’s question is:

What are your tips for staying organized in the kitchen?

Comment below, make a post to the Ravelry thread, or use #powerpantry to contribute your photos, tips and suggestions.

Yarn Lover at Large

I’ve begun a year-long Sheep to Shawl course, which will meet one Saturday a month. The event takes place at Fiber Craft Studio in Chestnut Ridge, NY. Our class meets in Orchard House, a beautiful old building on the campus of Threefold Center, a training facility for Waldorf educators.

I spent Friday night in one of the dormitory rooms (that corner room was my refuge) and awoke to a dazzling white morning. There was just enough time before class to meet Deb (L1ttleredhen) for coffee and conversation before class began.

This week, we encountered the beautiful fleece of Hazel, a Jacob sheep raised by Jenny Jump Farm in Hope, NJ. We also got in touch with our primitive roots, and spun using hitched twigs and spindles made from sticks and stones. Homework before the next class will consist of washing 2.5 ounces of Hazel’s fleece. I’m using some of the methods I learned from Sadie’s fleece processing class during the Super Summer Knitogether.

And Sew Forth

Last weekend, I completed eight feathers for the Birds of a Feather appliquéd skirt designed by Anna Maria Horner. The project so far has consisted of strip-piecing 6 different types of fabric, cutting right and left sides of feathers, cutting spines for feathers, sewing feathers to spines, and lots and lots of ironing to press seams out of the way and smooth the fabric for ease of sewing. I’m pleased with the way the feathers have turned out, and look forward to another sewing day, when I will make a pattern for the skirt according to my measurements, and cut the skirt fabric on the bias.

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.

Episode 67: Handwork

LISTEN:

And Sew Forth

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