My favorite thing about Ravelry is how it constantly introduces me to new patterns—through the Hot Patterns page, seeing what my friends are faving, or just when I’m searching for, say, a worsted-weight cardigan or a fingering-weight shawl. But now I’ve got a problem. It’s one of those “first world problems” that indicate that your life [...]
Whew, where has the summer gone! Since my last post life has been full of travel, change and surprises. I’ve been on several excursions full of knitting and yarny goodness, and have been collecting pictures to share with you, but apparently got too busy to upload them before departing on my next adventure. :) For [...]
My local knitting group has a tradition of visiting the oh-so-chic yarn shop Churchmouse Yarns & Teas every spring. We’re on the Seattle “mainland” and Churchmouse is on Bainbridge Island, so it makes for a fun day trip because we get to ride the ferry over—it’s about a 30 minute ride, just long enough to [...]
Last week I published my latest pattern, Flecktone: a free fingerless mitts pattern in three sizes. I designed this pattern to highlight the colors in a variegated or handpainted yarn—the crazier, the better. I’ve worked with these elongated slipped stitches once before (in my Karo Socken sock pattern), and recently I’d been trying to come up with [...]
In 2010 I had start-itis. Bad. I love the feeling of winding up a new ball of yarn and starting out on a new project. (Actually, I get excited about pretty much any fresh start—moving to a new place, a new year, a fresh journal…) I forgot how bad my start-itis was until I looked [...]
Sometimes it’s the little details that take a project from good to great. Here’s one of my favorites: making the end of your bind-off join seamlessly with the beginning when you’re binding off in the round, such as around a sock cuff or sleeve. This technique works equally well for knitting or crochet—any bind-off that [...]
I’ve got a dirty secret: I love meetings. Image from http://www.myconfinedspace.com No, I’m not lonely (although I do enjoy donuts). I just love to knit. I knit in almost all of my meetings at work, and lucky for me no one bats an eye over it. I find it hard to sit through a meeting [...]
Last week at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival I used the time I didn’t spend taking classes to instead wander around photographing people’s sweaters. They were all very gracious about having their pictures taken. And good on them, because the garments were gorgeous! If any of these are you (or you know who they are), [...]
We’re pretty lucky in the Pacific NW to not only have a ton of talented designers and fiber artists nearby, but also some great fiber events. This weekend is the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in Tacoma, WA: four days of classes and demos on knitting, spinning, designing and more, plus a free marketplace full of [...]
For a few years now my local knitting group has been making, and sharing, New Year’s knitting resolutions with each other. Yes, I know it’s already February, but what better time to talk about our 2012 resolutions—when we’ve still got 11 months left to get them done! These were my knitting resolutions in 2011, and [...]