podcasts

Episode 84: Asymmetri-CAL Cast On

August 3, 2015April 11, 2016 by Sara

This week’s episode features the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, Off the Shelf, And Sew Forth. I’ve just returned from a mini-holiday in Burlington and Saratoga Springs, finding fun things to do during down time and enjoying Bovine Social Club’s performances at Nectar’s and Caffé Lena. There was lots of farm-to-table dining and a beautiful sunset cruise on Lake Champlain. I found some gorgeous fabric at Nido and worked diligently on the Blóm shawl. Now it’s back home and time to cast on for the second annual Asymmetri-CAL. What will you be making?

The Back Porch

Hobbledehoy battlings spun on Jenkins turkish spindles for Tour de Fleece

cowl knit with 440 yards hand-spun battlings

The Front Porch

Join in the second annual Asymmetri-CAL by making an asymmetrical garment or accessory by September 30. You can knit, crochet, sew, or even develop a woven object. Conversation and planning will take place on the Chatter Thread. Information about prizes is located on the Finished Object Thread, where you can post a photo of your FO for a chance to win. Tag your posts with #yayhasymmetrical on social media.

Ever-expanding Skill Set

I’ve designed an asymmetrical shawl and I’m looking for a few test knitters. If you can comply with the parameters below and you’re interested in test knitting, please send me a personal message.

Yarn: approximately 600 yards fingering weight yarn (400 yards Color A; 200 yards Color B)

Needles: US size 5 or 6

Pattern directions sent: by August 15

Test knitting complete: by September 15

Pattern release date: October 1

Off the Shelf

August 2 — Green
August 9 — Blue
August 16 — Indigo
August 23 — Violet
August 30 — The End of the Rainbow

And Sew Forth

I wore my second Schoolhouse Tunic to Caffé Lena, where I met Sophia and Lisa of the Ichigo Abroad podcast. The second round of this pattern is certainly more successful than the first, since I felt confident about the steps and executed some ideas to adjust the pattern. Thanks to kconnors, I’ve added a sewing podcast to my playlist, and highly recommend ThreadCult.

determined to cut a skirt from not-enough linen print fabric

fabrics from Nido to be sewn into the Staple dress by April Rhodes

Bovine Social Club performs at Caffe Lena — Bovine Social Club performs at Caffé Lena

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