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Episode 332

August 18, 2024August 18, 2024 by Sara

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Here is the Islet Kerchief designed by Leila Raven. It is a classic piece knit in Hudson Valley Fibers Palisades and Bert & Ernie from Foster Sheep Farm.

Working on the bell-shaped part of the sleeves on my RibWave sweater designed by Joanna Ang. I have noticed how the stitches are shifting to the right? See that? I believe it has to do with a bit too much energy in my handspun. I am enjoying the level of complication and the clarity of this pattern.

So I had this idea of a shirt made of linen scraps and the notion of the sun shining on my shoulder. I found Sherri Lynn Wood’s Creativebug tutorials very helpful when it came to my first time piecing on a curve. Except for three seams, the entire shirt is hand stitched and hand finished.

It was a thrill to teach hand sewing to these amazing crafters! HERE is a link to a list of resources for hand sewing that you might find useful.

Off the Shelf

What the Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman

One thought on “Episode 332”

Nancy says:

August 21, 2024 at 11:23 am

That top is a triumph. I zoomed in for a look at your top stitching – exquisite!

The other day I was walking in the woods near my house when I heard an Great Horned Owl very near. I looked up and there it was, on a branch just a few feet above me. What a treat! Could it be the same one that calls every summer evening for hours?

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 332

One thought on “Episode 332”

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