podcasts

Episode 211

December 2, 2018December 16, 2018 by Sara

What’s November 31st? It’s a holiday for knitters. How do you celebrate? Stay up late to complete the project you had all month to knit. Around 11:45 pm, pour yourself a Scotch to celebrate while you bind off!

The Back Porch

Midnight libations! I still have a lot of finishing to do on my tunic-length version of Doocot by Kate Davies, so I’ll post photos to my project page later. For now, here’s the designer modeling her cropped sweater. I think that I do want to knit this version. I think the piece would pair well with sleeveless dresses and extend my warmer weather wardrobe into the colder months. Look how good this is with a bold necklace!

Off the Shelf

This week I share a passage from Kate Davies’ memoir, Handywoman. I purchased my copy from The Woolly Thistle and I’m really enjoying it.

Ever-Expanding Skill Set

I didn’t take any photos, but I’ve made Eric Kim’s recipe for Sheet Pan Chicken several times. I use a package of six boneless, skinless chicken thighs and find that the spice blend is enough for two dinners, so I reserve half in a small container to make the next preparation EVEN EASIER! On another sheet pan, I spread a mixture of vegetables (potatoes and carrots or broccoli and Brussels sprouts) that have been tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with salt. The chicken is great the first night and even better in the dishes I dream up over the course of the week: quesadillas, rice bowls, grain salads . . . the list goes on.

This is my favorite recipe for pumpkin gnocchi. I’ve used canned pumpkin, but I may try sweet potatoes in my next batch. I say that this recipe is from Food52, but I found it on Recipe Tin Eats. The ricotta makes these gnocchi pillowy soft and the dough is easy to handle. One batch is enough for two dinners. I reserve half the gnocchi and put the remainder on a sheet pan to flash freeze and then bag for an easy meal. I like these gnocchi with a creamy sauce., but the sage butter is also very good. There were some chicken-apple sausages in my freezer, which were perfect in the dish.

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 211

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