With the release of my 40th birthday design, Depth Perception, in the Malabrigo’s Quickies program, Malabrigo interviewed me on their blog.
Mixing Techniques
What do you do when you can’t decide whether you like the right side or the wrong side of your cowl better? Transform the pattern from a right side/ wrong side design to a fully reversible one!
Interview and Review
A quick blog this week for International Dog Day and news on “Take the Plunge.”
Terran MKAL
Terran MKAL beckons you forth armed with brioche stitches and stunning yarn into a deep exploration of the subterrain and terrain structures. This shawl is designed for brioche knitting loving terrans – an adventure to knit and thrill to wear! The pattern is live (on presale!) on Payhip, Ravelry, and Lovecrafts. The knitting starts October 7th. The fun happens in the Knit Eco Chic group on Slack!
Celebrating 10 years
This November Puddles and I celebrate 10 years of publishing!!! God has been so faithful to provide many designs and such wonderful collaborations and community through the medium of knitting and the Internet. As we wrap up July, which turned into our celebration month, we have a few more treats to share, including a very special yarn discount.
Malabrigo Quickies November 2020
Featured as the November 2020 Malabrigo Quickies program release, Snow Showers knits up a double knit cozy cowl in 2 skeins of Verano. In a new facet of the Quickies program, I was honored to be interviewed by Jessica! Grab your favorite hot drink and pop over to November Quickies: Snow Showers to read our chat. As a bonus, find out what I’m sipping on right now ;-).
Solitary Snowflake
If design were to be contrived as a recipe, this unusual combination would be the making of this week’s release, Snow Showers. “Ingredients” – inputted by God throughout the past 25 years! 1 part Christmas gift box – Christmas 2019 (reused from 2018, 2017, 2016, 😉 you get the idea) 1 part choir music from elementary school – yep that’s the 25 years ago reference. In elementary school choir we sang “Solitary Snowflake” by Jerry Estes. Now I don’t have any recordings from my school, but this gives you the feel… and fashion of the day! https://hallmanmusic.weebly.com/solitary-snow-flake.html 2 parts yarn… plus 2 more parts yarn – originally selected by Malabrigo Quickies program, I admit to having a designer brain miscalculation …
Five Wise Owls Fingering
Collaborations and networking are such an integral part of discovering new-to-me and, hopefully, new-to-you eco dyers. My teacher, Jill Wolcott, first introduced Five Wise Owls to me last summer as she knew I was always on the lookout for eco options. Five Wise Owls features animal-fiber free eco yarns in her Etsy shop. Juliah, dyer extraordinary from Five Wise Owls, kindly sent me a skein for this review. I loved it so much, it ended up being featured in this year’s Pattern Club! Formerly known as “Worth”, Juliah’s organic cotton fingering is now known as Five Wise Owl’s Fingering. Let’s look more closely at this fingering weight organic cotton yarn from one superb indie eco dyer from Texas. Gauge Summary:Less …
Color Me Surprised
Have you ever noticed how different colors take on different yarn bases? Both of these yarns from “The Unique Sheep” were dyed in their Spring Grass colorway. One of them is 100% organic cotton DK and the other is 50% organic cotton and 50% bamboo. Not just the sheen is different, but I was surprised to see a slight difference in some of the colors too.
Fiber Focus: Bamboo Yarn
Fiber Focus: The Good, The Bad, & The Eco… Bamboo
With the shine and shimmer of silk, but with a different touch, Bamboo is the new kid in fiber. First developed as a yarn (mixed with wool) patented in 1881 (1), bamboo stayed quiet in the fiber industry until it was “rediscovered” at Beijing University in the early 2000s (2). Since then, bamboo yarns began to pop up in indie dyers and commercial ventures alike. A recent trend towards the name Bamboo Viscose (or Viscose from Bamboo) reveals much about this fiber. Let’s dig deeper into bamboo to discover the good, the bad, and the eco!