podcasts

Episode 187

December 17, 2017 by Sara

In this episode, I talk about my recently completed Deschain sweater, pictured above. I love it! In January, I plan a series of knits designed by Caitlin Hunter. Finally, I announce a giveaway sponsored by the FiberCrafty marketplace.

The Back Porch

Deschain by Leila Raabe, knit with 4 skeins of Green Mounain Spinnery’s Cotton Comfort in the Aubergine colorway.

The Front Porch

2017 has been the year of garment knits; it’s been one year since I’ve knit a shawl, so naturally I’ve been plotting and planning for months about what I will cast on this New Year’s Day. You are welcome to join me in starting Ohra by Caitlin Hunter.

Ohra — in Blaker Yarns’ Samite
Oulu Mitts — in Blacker Yarns’ Brushwork
Cardamom Coffee (hat) — in Blacker Yarns’ Brushwork
Tegna — in Wing and a Prayer Farm’s Taconic Twist

On Friday, my fiber arts students worked with hand cards to create ghost batts from their scoured Cheviot X fiber. Ghost batts are a semi-worsted preparation, which works very well with the amazingly long (6+”) of this fiber. Our next step will be to focus on spinning with suspended spindles.

GIVEAWAY!

Pam has provided this very generous prize package from her 24-hour fiber marketplace called FiberCrafty. I’m hosting a giveaway on Ravelry. Follow this LINK to enter!

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 187

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