podcasts

Episode 253

July 26, 2020July 28, 2020 by Sara

In this episode, I talk about past, present and future makes, including the Seabright Swimmer from Friday Pattern Co. I also share the cake recipe I’ve been baking nonstop, and a poem from Cornelius Eady.

Thank you for your purchase of my recent sock design — Taking Back the River. I appreciate your purchase, which supports this podcast. This pattern has tiered pricing so you can purchase the pattern at the price that is right for you.

RAVELRY LINK: Taking Back the River
If you would like to purchase the pattern via PayPal, you can also take advantage of tiered pricing. Send me an email:

Matt of Birch Hollow Fibers has worked to design a stitch marker set to reflect the themes and motifs of my pattern collection. I just received my set in the mail and they are so cool. You can see which motif coordinates with the socks. I wonder what motif will be featured in the next design — coming September 20!

WWRWTW stitch marker set

PAST, CURRENT & FUTURE KNITTING

I finished the knitting of some perfectly-matching socks and sent them off to my sister. RAVELRY LINK: matchy socks

This Rift Tee is knitting up so nicely in my 3-ply handspun. I’m just loving the knitting. Since I only have 550 yards, I knit the twisted rib split hem with some commercially-spun black sport yarn to stretch my yardage. I’m also using the helical knitting technique as explained by Grace O’Neill. RAVELRY LINK: handspun rift

In my queue:

Marklee designed by Elizabeth Doherty RAVELRY LINK: marklee
Tokonatsu Pullover designed by Beatrice Lim RAVELRY LINK: tokonatsu

#powerpantry

The one-bowl vanilla cake I can’t stop making is Jami Curl’s recipe, featured on Food52’s Genius Recipes. It’s moist, dense, and soooo easy to stir together and bake. LOVE!

Off the Shelf

This week, I read “What Do You Call” by Cornelius Eady. You can follow this link to hear Eady read his poem. I also recommend his collection Brutal Imagination.

And Sew Forth

Aren’t these Sheep Lovies adorable? The sleepy one has some lavender mixed in with the wool stuffing. I enjoyed doing the hand-embroidery. I did not enjoy sewing this plush fabric, but after making a few, I developed some techniques to make things easier: 1) After cutting the plush pieces, I took them outside and shook like mad to release all the loose fluff. 2) I used quilting clips instead of pins to hold pieces together 3) The zigzag stitch on my machine helped to grab more of the fabric and create a secure seam. If the fluff factor did not make these things so DARNED cute, I would not have come this far. From the REVIVE issue of Taproot magazine.

Here are a few of the pages for the moon phase cloth book from the GRAIN issue of Taproot magazine. I did not feel confident about the free motion machine sewing techniques recommended in the directions, so I’m turning this into a hand stitching project.

The Seabright Swimmer by Friday Pattern Co is a great first swimsuit pattern because it is straightforward and the Creativebug tutorial walks you through every step. I’m very pleased with mine, and would make it again, adding another inch of length to the torso. I’m very proud of my decision to mix the directions of the stripes. I love the plunging neckline, and find it very secure when I move around so I did not add any ties.

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 253

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