Yarns at Yin Hoo

A Podcast About the Fiber Arts and Other Post Apocalyptic Skills

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Episode 105: Fluff and Flame

I hope this episode brings light and warmth on a bleak January day. This week, I have been knitting Flaum, a cropped cardigan in a

January 10, 2016April 10, 20162 Min Reading

Episode 104: Head, Hands & Heart

This episode comes with warm wishes for a happy new year. It is time to review 2015, set goals, make plans, and dream a little. I

January 3, 2016April 10, 20163 Min Reading

Episode 103: Sparkle

In this episode, I talk about the completed Miranda sweater project. It received high marks from Jessica and will enjoy a life of hard work

December 28, 2015April 10, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 102: Vánoční cukrovi

Happy Holidays! In this episode, I talk about gift knitting still in progress and the completion of my Suffragette cloche. This week has been a

December 20, 2015April 10, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 101: Season of Light

Thank you, listeners, for your kind words of congratulation on the occasion of my 100th podcast episode. It was a momentous milestone, and I have

December 13, 2015April 10, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 100: Gather Here

In this episode, I reflect on my year as a participant in Sheep to Shawl at Fiber Craft Studio and share my final project for the course.

December 6, 2015April 10, 20162 Min Reading

Episode 99: Brand New Bag

In this episode: whole roasted cauliflower pumpkin stuffed with everything good James Beard’s rich pumpkin pie how to win a $25 gift certificate to Three Irish

November 22, 2015April 11, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 98: Attentive

This episode includes the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Sheep to Shawl, Ever-expanding Skill Set, And Sew Forth. Thank you to everyone

November 15, 2015April 11, 20161 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.