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

Episode 275

This episode centers on discussion of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s newsletters — how they evolved over time from a sales list to the biennial publication Wool Gathering; how they became a means for EZ to share knitting designs and variations in template form; and most importantly, how the newsletters helped to make a growing knitting …

April 14, 2021June 8, 20212 Min Reading

Episode 274

A stripe-y cowl for spring in Birch Hollow Fibers’ yarn, McCall’s M7969, seriously awesome sock yarn from KnitSpinFarm, and “Windchime” by Tony Hoagland.

April 11, 2021May 21, 20211 Min Reading

Episode 273

This episode is focused primarily on Zimmermann’s early work with industry and how she managed a parallel track between developing her own mail order yarn and design publication business with her increasingly critical work within industry spaces and practices. Dr. Lilly Marsh shares some gems from her research, including excerpts from local newspaper articles, and snippets from “the lost document” that reveal her deepest desires for fostering a knitting community.

April 2, 2021June 8, 20212 Min Reading

Episode 272

In this episode, I catch you up on my recent projects. There’s lots of sewing, including this darling clothespin bag, a dress with voluminous sleeves, and more mending for Mom. I’ve begun knitting a cowl in spring colors with yarn from Robin of Birch Hollow Fibers, and I have some poems that are perfect for spring, plus a new-to-me recipe that I encourage you to try!

March 29, 2021May 21, 20212 Min Reading

Episode 271

In the third part of an eight-part series with Dr. Lilly Marsh, we learn how Elizabeth Zimmermann’s desire for quality materials evolved into a business opportunity. We also hear about her participation in the Wisconsin State Fair and her ongoing (and ever-shifting) membership in the Wisconsin Designer Craftsman organization.

March 13, 2021June 8, 20213 Min Reading

Episode 270

This episode is chock full of finished and new projects, plus I’ve added a new post-apocalyptic life skill and some quilting to my list!

March 8, 2021May 21, 20212 Min Reading

Episode 269

In the second part of an eight-part series, Dr. Lilly Marsh helps us get to know Elizabeth Zimmermann. We get to hear EZ’s knitting origin story, learn about three aspects of her knitting identity, and dig deeper into the terms critical knitting and cultural production.

February 27, 2021June 8, 20213 Min Reading

Episode 268

Winter Storm Uri is only hours away, so here’s the latest in knitting, kal, birding, and spinning news! Look for spinning progress on my supported and suspended spindles as I add photos to my IG stories as part of the #100daysproject.

February 15, 2021May 21, 20212 Min Reading

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!

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.