podcasts

Episode 308

February 26, 2023February 26, 2023 by Sara

Congratulations, Pamela! You are the winner of a skein of Bear Mountain sock yarn and the pattern for my Taking Back the River socks.

This is the Candied Orange Almond Cake from Taproot Issue 49: REFRESH. It looks amazing with blood oranges and you don’t need any fancy mixing equipment — just a springform pan!

The Spring Speakers Series at Thomas Jefferson University is now available via YouTube. Select the Sustainability Panel or the Farm to Fabric Panel (featuring MJ Packer and Dr. Lilly). Grab your knitting, sit back, and learn from these experienced speakers.

Flickerl by Simone Eich is the ultimate scrap yarn project: a 4-row repeat and no ends to weave in. I knit one of these in 2015! I called it scrappiness and I still receive lots of compliments on it. This version will feature muted colors.

Here are the Winterlight Mittens designed by Abby Goodman for Taproot Issue 53: AMEND.

I’m giving away my leftover yarn from this mitten project to a listener who wants to make the Winterlight Mittens or another small accessory. These are two great farm yarns to try! Leave a comment on my website or on the IG post for this episode (or both) for your chance to win. I’ll announce the winner on Episode 309.

This month, I worked on a collaboration with six local artists, recording audio files in which they talk about their work, which will be featured in a show of 20+ artists to commemorate Women’s History Month. Follow this LINK to hear these skilled and powerful women. The piece above is a multimedia piece on handmade felt by Linda Schwartz. It is the first in her “Badass Babes” series. The show was created and curated by Trisha Lowrey Lippert.

“The Spinner’s Lament” — TUMBLR link

One thought on “Episode 308”

Nancy S says:

March 3, 2023 at 8:34 pm

Oh yes, I would love to try those beautiful yarns, andI think I’d also skip the brioche in Black Welsh Mountain. I love brioche, but not in almost-black. That cake also looks amazing and no doubt tastes the same. Thanks for the poem – I can definitely relate.

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 308

One thought on “Episode 308”

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