podcasts

Episode 66: Orientation

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 by Sara

This week’s episode includes the following segments: Ever-expanding Skill Set, Off the Shelf, The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Yarn Lover at Large, Double Happiness, and Sew Forth. I’ve been the happy recipient of some post-holiday packages, so I thought that this would be a great time to send out a special package to a listener. You’re invited to enter and impromptu contest to win the wedge-shaped project bag featured on this episode’s cover photo. All you have to do is leave a comment below. I’ll announce the winner on Episode 67.

LISTEN:

Ever-expanding Skill Set

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the ongoing #powerpanty discussion. I’m learning so much by reading listener comments. It’s a thrill to see photographs of your pantries, cupboards, and kitchen organization.

This week’s question is:

What do you like to stock up on when there’s a can-can sale at your local supermarket?

You can make a comment below or post to the Ravelry thread.

Off the Shelf

Yarns at Yin Hoo listeners are invited to take part in a read-along as part of our #powerpantry endeavor. The first selection is Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. It is a short novel. I have always thought of it as a novella, so there is at least one potential topic for discussion. Here is a link to information about the novel, and additional resources.

Week ONE (February 1-7): Chapter 1
Week TWO (February 8-14): Chapters 2 & 3
Week THREE (February 15-21): Chapters 4 – 6
Week FOUR (February 22-28): Chapter 7
Week FIVE (March 1-7): Chapters 8 & 9
Week SIX (March 8-14): Chapters 10 & 11

Yarn Lover at Large

Have you ever been to a yarn tasting? This was only my second one, but I think it’s something that can be replicated with a group of friends. And it’s chance for a lot of fun. Joanne, the owner of Mountain Knits & Pearls in East Stroudsburg, PA, hosted an excellent event. She was informative, and she allowed a lot of time for trying the yarns and socializing too. I didn’t expect to leave with a few goodies, but everyone got to take home one of the sample yarns. Mine was this beautiful Triologie, a wool, silk and linen blend.

And Sew Forth

I discuss several tutorials and projects in this week’s episode. Many of these are linked on my Pinterest board titled “Sewing Ideas.” Do you have any suggestions for beginner sewing projects that get great results? Let me know!

Rebecca Ringquist on Creativebug. She has a blog designs really cool samplers. Her forthcoming book is now available via pre-order.

My next garment project is the Birds of a Feather maxi skirt by Anna Maria Horner.

2 thoughts on “Episode 66: Orientation”

Taphophile says:

January 20, 2015 at 10:54 am

i would love to win the lovely project bag and am excited to join the read-along.
Astrid afKlinteberg says:

January 19, 2015 at 10:30 pm

I go for tomatoes! I’m a ‘dented can’ fiend, i.e., the reduced bin, anytime I see tomatoes there I grab them ALL! My second fav is any kind of beans.

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