Yarns at Yin Hoo

A Podcast About the Fiber Arts and Other Post Apocalyptic Skills

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Episode 137: LETTERPRESS

Beginning with a cabled neckline, this cowl cascades in gentle swirls around your neck and shoulders. The pattern includes a bit of shaping, a bit

September 28, 2016November 13, 20162 Min Reading

Episode 136: Samuel’s Smart, Late-night Tofu Spaghetti

This episode includes the following segments: The Front Porch and Ever-expanding Skill Set. This month, we’re cooking with mushrooms at Yin Hoo. One of my

September 18, 2016November 13, 20162 Min Reading

Episode 135: Fair Isle Knitting

This episode includes the following segments: The Front Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Off the Shelf. Links to the patterns and projects I mention: Fair

September 11, 2016September 5, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 134: The Music of Knitting

This episode begins with a few announcements, and then it is devoted to a discussion of knitting needles and related topics: preferences, brands, durability, storage,

September 5, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 133: Morels & Magic Corkshrooms

This episode includes the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Off the Shelf, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Yarn Lover at Large. Do you

August 31, 2016August 31, 20162 Min Reading

Episode 132: Stash Dashed

It’s back to the regular segments this episode: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, and Sew Forth. Stash Dash has concluded, and

August 21, 20162 Min Reading

Episode 131: Knit the Sea

This episode is a travelogue of my summer vacation to Provincetown, a destination at the outermost reaches of Cape Cod. Nearly 15 years ago, I

August 14, 20162 Min Reading

Episode 130: Knit the Strip

This episode is a travelogue of my recent visit to Pittsburgh’s Strip District to hang out with my friend, Marybeth. We had many adventures to

August 14, 20162 Min Reading

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.