Yarns at Yin Hoo - A Podcast About the Fiber Arts and Other Post Apocalyptic Skills

Episode 109: Subversive Stitches

This episode features the following segments: The Back Porch, The Front Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, Off the Shelf, And Sew Forth. I continue to work

February 7, 2016April 10, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 108: Snow Scene

Inspired by the #make2along, I’ve completed the Flaum cardigan and Esme dress. Last week’s blizzard was the perfect time to complete the knitting on Flaum.

January 30, 2016April 10, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 107: Inner Fleece

This episode includes the following segments: On the Porch, Ever-expanding Skill Set, Gratitude Journal, And Sew Forth. I’ve been having a great time cooking with

January 23, 2016April 10, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 106: Getaway

This episode is devoted to an invitation to join me and some of my fiber enthusiast friends for a weekend in Washington County, New York.

January 16, 2016April 10, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 105: Fluff and Flame

I hope this episode brings light and warmth on a bleak January day. This week, I have been knitting Flaum, a cropped cardigan in a

January 10, 2016April 10, 20162 Min Reading

Episode 104: Head, Hands & Heart

This episode comes with warm wishes for a happy new year. It is time to review 2015, set goals, make plans, and dream a little. I

January 3, 2016April 10, 20163 Min Reading

Episode 103: Sparkle

In this episode, I talk about the completed Miranda sweater project. It received high marks from Jessica and will enjoy a life of hard work

December 28, 2015April 10, 20161 Min Reading

Episode 102: Vánoční cukrovi

Happy Holidays! In this episode, I talk about gift knitting still in progress and the completion of my Suffragette cloche. This week has been a

December 20, 2015April 10, 20161 Min Reading

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.