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Episode 94: Good ’til the Last Bite

October 25, 2015April 11, 2016 by Sara

This episode is devoted entirely to Yarn Lover at Large. In narrative form and in rough chronology, I talk about my visit to the New York Sheep & Wool Festival last weekend. It was a great time knitting, eating, drinking, laughing, talking, sharing, and shopping. There was even a little snow to make things exciting and to remind me that the holiday season is on its way. I’ve never spent a weekend at the festival before, so this year was quite a treat. The highlight of any fiber event is the people. I’m so fortunate to have had the chance to speak to old friends and make some new acquaintance.

I enjoyed my first Rhinebeck cider donut.

Nearly every festival-goer takes a photo near this tree. Early Sunday morning, the crowds were thin.

Saturday evening at Jill Draper's studio was a blast -- not least because we got to chat with Laura Nelkin. — Saturday evening at Jill Draper’s studio was a blast — not least because we got to chat with Laura Nelkin.

Last year I missed the Leaping Llamas, but this year I had an excellent seat!

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 94: Good ’til the Last Bite

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