sustainable fashion – Yarns at Yin Hoo

Episode 320

This episode contains an update on my recent knitting AND crochet projects. I’m thrilled to be working on a test crochet of Kore by Maysa Tomikawa. I talk about my visits to The Met and a local exhibition about the story of silk production in the Lehigh Valley. There’s more linocut — this time a Hare Moon. All this, plus advent excitement and a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye.

November 27, 2023November 28, 20232 Min Reading

Episode 319

I’m back from a weekend in Rhinebeck, NY and eager to share all of the fiber-y goodness of the weekend. Listen in for festival news, the details of my finished RB sweater, plus — how to win some NY Sheep & Wool loot! What have I been doing ALL wrong? Listen to find out. This episode closes with a poem titled “How to Listen” by James Crews.

October 30, 2023October 30, 20232 Min Reading

Episode 318

It’s all about sweater weather and pumpkin in this episode.

October 10, 2023October 10, 20231 Min Reading

Episode 317

Indigo summer is drawing to a close, and I’ve made time for indigo dyeing and improvising a version of Malaysian blue rice. Plus lots of progress on my Rhinebeck sweater and a poem by Lorna Dee Cervantes.

September 22, 2023September 22, 20231 Min Reading

Episode 307

It’s been an exciting month as a fiber enthusiast, with a teaching engagement, finished projects, plans for 2023 — and a giveaway for YAYH listeners.

January 31, 2023January 31, 20232 Min Reading

Episode 298

A catch-up on finished projects and upcoming makes — including my Rhinebeck sweater. Plus, pollinators, recipes to savor summer, and a poem by Fatimah Asghar.

August 30, 2022September 2, 20221 Min Reading

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.

Tag: sustainable fashion