podcasts

Episode 29

March 8, 2014November 22, 2017 by Sara

This week’s episode includes the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Gratitude Journal and Double Happiness.

The Back Porch

The big news since last week’s episode is . . . I knit my first sweater. I have never felt like anything other than a real knitter. In my opinion, if you know how to knit and purl, and follow a pattern (any pattern) on your own, you’re a knitter. However, I do feel a special sense of accomplishment after completing this project. And I’m thrilled to wear the finished sweater. It made its debut just hours after the seaming was complete and it had been steam blocked. The pattern is Apocalypta by Amy Herzog, which is found in Knitting it Old School. I’ll be sending my copy of the book to a lucky winner. Check out this thread on the YAYH blog on Ravelry for details.

The Front Porch

Since knitting a lot in a short amount of time to complete my first sweater, I’ve been taking it slow for a few days. One pattern that has been in my queue for awhile is Luna 2, a scarf by Reiko Kuwamura. It features some interesting color work, alternating on the right and wrong sides of garter stitch, and more German short rows. I’ve been admiring the projects of others and now I’ve begun my own version.

Gratitude Journal

This week, I sent 44 hats to Click for Babies, sponsored by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome. I knit seven hats in all, and was grateful to my colleagues and students for contributing additional hats for the cause. If you or members of your crafting group are looking for a worthy cause, consider this one. The website provides more information and links to free knit and crochet hat patterns.

Double Happiness

Have you been following Sally Schneider’s blog, Improvised Life? If you haven’t, you should be. Just reading blog’s manifesto is sure to empower you and get your creative juices flowing. Recently, the team has added a clever article about collecting an assortment of vintage jars and using them for spices and other bulk ingredients. It’s worth your time to a look. From recipes to craft ideas, to living well in small spaces, this blog is cleverly conceived and clearly archived.

Spices are in the spotlight this month in the Bulk Bins Cook Along. Share links to recipe ideas, photographs of your spice collection, and other resources on the Ravelry board.

A Note about the Show’s Theme Music

Many listeners have commented on the theme song that plays at the beginning and end of each episode. The song, Saweeet, was written by my partner and my co-inhabitant of Yin Hoo, Samuel. The lyrics are inspired by our home, a rustic, 1922 replica of a Chinese tea pavilion. Samuel’s band, Bovine Social Club, has recorded a version of the song, and the lyrics can be found on the band website. You can LIKE the band’s page on Facebook in order to receive notices for upcoming shows.

So often, we think that making a difference involves spending a lot of money, or investing a lot of time. It doesn’t have to.

— Morristown Fiber Fairy

One thought on “Episode 29”

maggie says:

March 8, 2014 at 2:50 am

Thank you so much for answering my question about the lyrics, and for telling me how to find the episodes 8. I adore your pod casts. I have never used I-Tunes, I only use the computer on the internet and am viewing the website yarnsatyinhoo.com to listen to your podcasts. Thank you again!

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