podcasts

Episode 16

November 19, 2013April 14, 2017 by Sara

This episode contains segments titled: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, and Gratitude Journal.

The Back Porch

I completed a second Oak Trail, a cloche design by Alana Dakos, found in her collection, Botanical Knits. This hat has interesting construction, is stylish without being complicated, and would make a great gift. I selected Berroco Vintage yarn, which is easy care. As usual, I blocked the hat using one of the decorative lamps on our porch.

The Front Porch

I’m headed to Boston for the National Writing Project Annual Meeting. With some down time there (though I’m not expecting much) I plan to knit on a few simple projects. I still need to decide what those will be.

I’m also looking forward to learning the identity of my pen pal. Dr. Kelly of the Ewe University podcast is hosting a Pen Pal Pair-up Project. The deadline to fill out the questionnaire and acquire a correspondent is November 22. So head on over to the Ewe University group page on Ravelry and sign up!

Gratitude Journal

This week, I’m feeling grateful for the Yarns at Yin Hoo podcast audience. On the show, I answer a few questions from listeners and identify some goals I have for the podcast this year.

Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak.

— Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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 16

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