podcasts

Episode 266

January 26, 2021May 21, 2021 by Sara

It’s a quick episode, with some announcements and updates on knitting projects! I will work on coming back with some photos later this week!

UPCOMING KNIT & CHAT

Our knit & chat will follow a free online seminar about the Backyard Bird Count hosted by the Appalachian Mountain Club at 7pm EST on Thursday, January 28th.

Link to ZOOM INFO (RAV link post #17) on the Birding Chat Ravelry thread. Everyone is welcome to post to this thread. We are united by our common interest in becoming more proficient birders and making the most of our time in / observing nature.

THE FRONT PORCH

Glynn by Whitney Hayward in Harrisville nightshades VINYL

EVER-EXPANDING SKILL SET

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Chai Cream Cheese Frosting on Food52

This recipe uses one 15 oz. can of pumpkin and makes 18 moist and delicious cupcakes. I am really impressed with the result!

NOTE: I reduced the oil in this recipe from 1 cup to 1/4 cup. Next time, I might consider adding only a tblsp or none at all. The egg and pumpkin in this recipe do the work of oil, in my opinion.

I also reduced the white sugar from 1 1/2 cups to 1/2 cup.

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 266

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