podcasts

Episode 288

November 7, 2021November 8, 2021 by Sara

UP AND COMING

Baltian by Caitlin Hunter
mini Gale by Alicia Plummer
Marled Magic by Stephen West

NEW PATTERN — Christmas in July — coming November 22nd!

This design began with inspiration from textiles in the lobby of a Saratoga Springs hotel. As I worked, I identified the need for a seamless graft within a colorwork pattern, but could not find any instructions for this technique. Thanks to Ellen Silva (twinsetellen) and her development of stranded donut grafting, knitters of my new design can really level-up and work this clever approach for a seamless resolution to a cowl with 2-color stranded knitting.

For your chance to win a copy of the pattern, post a comment to this episode and share a moment when you felt like a clever and accomplished knitter / crafter. You can also comment on my IG post for an additional chance to win. I’ll announce the winners on Sunday, November 21 in Episode 289.

OFF THE SHELF

Su Cho’s editor’s note Poetry Magazine (November 2021)

5 thoughts on “Episode 288”

Sara says:

November 21, 2021 at 7:25 am

Hi, Jill:
I’m so pleased that you are getting good use of that pattern. I love to add in my favorite details from past knits!
Sara says:

November 21, 2021 at 7:24 am

Hi, Annie:
I love this idea of working from both ends. It means so much that you listen and stop by here to tell me about it. Stranded colorwork is indeed magic.
Annie Payne says:

November 17, 2021 at 4:59 am

Hello Sarah! I have been knitting for a couple of years and perhaps felt most accomplished when I finally taught myself to knit stranded colour work with two hands – it took lots of practice!

I am so glad to have found your enjoyable podcast. I have been listening from both ends – starting at your first episode and also to your most recent. I’m looking forward to meeting in the middle sometime! Many thanks, Annie x
Jill Lang says:

November 8, 2021 at 1:10 pm

Thanks for your latest podcast! Looking forward to your new pattern. I’m just working on some socks where I’ve added in the heal and arch ribbing detail from your Humblebee pattern which I love and have made twice!
Irene Marks says:

November 7, 2021 at 2:52 pm

Very enjoyable podcast, Sarah, thank you! The new pattern sounds really interesting, I look forward to seeing it. Nice hats! Happy Fall!

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!

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 288

5 thoughts on “Episode 288”

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