podcasts

Episode 181

October 15, 2017 by Sara

Process vs. product knitting is a focus of this episode, as I have completed a year-long project just in time for the upcoming New York Sheep and Wool Festival.

The Back Porch

Bressay Dress by Gudrun Johnston

Completed spin: Hog Island gradient from The Ross Farm. 475 yards / 150 grams of sport-weight 2-ply.

The Front Porch

Clark Socks by Jaclyn Salem
Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher
resuscitated project: Jasmine Tea by Amanda Bell
The Tea House Dress by Sew House Seven

Yarn Lover at Large

Lehigh Valley Fiber Festival at the Wildlands Conservancy
Rhinebeck: See you at the podcaster meetup at 1pm on Saturday, or at the Foster Sheep Farm Yarn Shop (Barn 31) on Saturday around 2 pm or Sunday following the Leaping Llamas.
Hope’s Favorite Things in Richmond, PA

See you at Hope’s Favorite Things. Shop Löuet, Ashford and Majacraft spinning wheels & equipment, plus NEW Harrisville Designs yarn!

Ever-expanding Skill Set

October is all about the braise! In this episode, I talk about the history of braising, and a definition from a 1901 cookbook, plus four tips for braising (and three additional ideas for amping up the flavor). I tried a recipe from The New Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook, and I’d love to talk braising strategy with you on the Ravelry thread.

Off the Shelf

Litany by Billy Collins

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 181

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