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Last night I was working hard to finalize the layout for a men's color work cardigan when I was surprised by the latest issue of Twist Collective going live. I found this out by seeing a photo of my mittens, Scribe, pop up on my Ravelry page. It's a funny feeling when you see something you spent so much time with appear fully formed before your eyes, especially when you finished that work months and months ago. It's a strange sort of deja vu in which the memory has been intensely enhanced by the skills of stylist, model, and photographer. Thank you Twist Collective Team for showing my mittens in such a lovely light.
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| Photo © Jane Heller |
These mittens started with the idea that I wanted really warm mittens for winter, especially if there's snowy weather. I love the concept of lined wool mittens because a liner adds an extra pocket of air between the hands and the outside where even more warm air can get trapped and keep you toasty. The double layer and dense gauge means that these are water and wind resistant too.
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The mittens are constructed by using a provisional cast and working the liner mitt first. Before working the outer mitten from the provisional cast on stitches, the liner is turned inside out because, as I found out through trial and error, at this dense gauge it's a lot more comfortable to have the purl side next to the fingers. When I was trying on earlier versions, it seemed like I could feel the decreases at the top of the hand with the knit side in, which bugged me. This way, it's all smooth.
It's not super obvious in the photos, but these mittens also include a cord to hang them around your neck when they're not being worn. I'm terrible about losing just one mitten and this was my solution. It also allows me to take them off to do a task without having to figure out where to put them down.
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Photo © Jane Heller
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As a teenager I owned those very boots: 10-eye oxblood Docs. Sometimes I still think about them and miss them, so to see them so perfectly styled with my mittens warms the punk rock part of my heart.
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Photo © Jane Heller
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Both mittens are worked the same in worsted weight wool so you don't have to worry about which is which, and the knitting goes quickly even with the lovely color work.
I encourage you to check out the rest of this issue of Twist Collective - it really is a stunner.
You can see these mittens in the magazine and on Ravelry. I can't wait to see the color combinations knitters come up with.
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Photo © Jane Heller
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I'm finally back from Seattle and just starting to head back into the usual swing of things. Knit Fit was a really incredible experience and I'm already looking forward to next year. The whole event was kicked off with a talk, slide show, and display of sweaters brought to us by Sylvia Olsen, author of Working With Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater, among many other books. Thank you Sasa and Hannah for bringing us such an excellent speaker!
I was especially honored to be asked to introduce Sylvia. And as you can see, I was pretty excited, and I talk with my hands.
In the first row, Cirilia Rose and Ann Weaver were sitting next to me as enraptured as I was. I adore a room full of knitters and sweaters! I was seriously in love with Ann's sweater, The Line, as well. It's from her latest book, White Whale Volume 2. The photos don't do justice to the vibrant shades of yellow and yellow-green by Dragonfly Fibers. Kits for the sweater are even available, and I feel a serious need to get me one.
Sylvia talked about the history of Coast Salish knitters and the people who have worn the beautiful sweaters they made. She finished her presentation by discussing the current trends, including Cowichan knitting in the media. Of course it was great fun to hear her talk about The Big Lebowski.
It was the perfect start to a fantastic weekend. Thanks again, Sylvia, Hannah, and Sasa! My next entry will be about my class at Knit Fit.
What was your favorite part of Knit Fit?
I've been having an amazing and overwhelming experience here in Seattle for Knit Fit. The event was so seamlessly organized - I have to give a huge shout-out to Sasa and Hannah who put the whole thing together. I also got the chance to do a photo shoot with three wonderful models (thanks Joe, Joseph, and Jon!) and the very talented photographer, Kathy Cadigan. Once I'm home and can get my photos uploaded, I'll share lots more about the event and the upcoming book with you, but for now, I give you pictures of food.
In case I haven't already convinced you to come visit me up north, here are a few images of the bakery that brought us here, True Grain Bread. The bicycles are outside, but the delicious-ness is inside.
You can get locally-made jam.
And freshly-milled flour and oatmeal and granola.
And of course, amazing bread and pastries.
And now I'm hungry.
I've enjoyed being in a community that has locally-owned businesses, and one of the businesses I've gotten to know is The Spinning Ninny, a boutique that carries "local handcrafted treasures." The images of the shop really speak for themselves, so I'll let them do the talking.
Come visit the shop and get some treasures! There are even some Cowichan leg warmers and handknit baby hats by yours truly.
Just at the beginning of autumn, I took a ride on my bike just for taking pictures. I've posted lots of pictures of the village, but away from the water, it's all farmland around here. So, here are a few photos of the country in autumn.
Whenever I'm out by these farms, I'm on my bike, usually running errands like getting groceries. As much as I love rainy, dreary weather because it's perfect for knitting indoors, I'm going to miss the clear skies when I'm on my bike.
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Since I talk so much about my bike, I figured I'd show it off. It's a 2012 Cannondale Quick CX 3. All that neon orange is actually duct tape that I put on for visibility, because I love orange, and because when I bought it, it looked so darn fancy I was afraid it would attract thieves. Now it's just right for me. It has shocks that can be locked out, which is what I usually do since I'm rarely riding on trails, usually just on country roads. I'm a brand new rider - I bought this bike just before we moved, about two months ago, and before that I hadn't ridden since I was a kid. Hills are still a challenge, but I'm getting stronger and enjoying it. I like the feeling of riding my bike, especially if I'm doing something that I could use a car for - it makes me feel powerful and independent.
And, it's making me think a lot about what kinds of hand knits people might need for cycling. That, of course, makes me want to design a collection of active wear garments and accessories. If you cycle, run, hike, ski/snowboard, etc, what have you wished you could knit for your active life? What do you look for in garments that you use for these activities, whether they're commercially-made or hand-knit? Have you had any serious flops in garments or accessories that you tried to take on the trail? What went wrong? I'd love some feedback from experienced folks, especially since I'm relatively new at this. Please comment below if you have thoughts on this subject.
In the last tutorial I showed you how to attach a lace edging to live stitches. Today we'll look at what to do when you reach the end of the live stitches and need to turn the corner by picking up stitches and attaching the edging to the vertical edge.
After you have joined all the live stitches, work a wrong side row of the lace edging pattern to the last stitch.
Slip the last stitch to the right hand needle and set left hand needle aside.
Now look at the edge of your fabric and see the slipped stitches along the vertical edge. Insert your needle from back to front (as if to purl) behind both legs of the next slipped stitch.
Wrap yarn around needle and draw stitch through (pick up and purl.)
Pick up left hand needle again. Insert it into slipped stitch and pass the slipped stitch over, joining lace edging to edge of body.
After joining, turn and work a right side row of the lace edging, slipping the first stitch as before. No special changes are made to the lace pattern while rounding the corner. Because the edging is only eleven stitches wide, blocking will stretch the corner sufficiently to create a lovely corner.
Continue joining by picking up and purling, then passing the slipped stitch over every wrong side row as established. Work in this manner to the next corner where you'll resume joining to live stitches.
This tutorial shows me using my long circular needle for my left hand needle, but it's a lot more comfortable to use two double pointed needles for joining the lace edging to the vertical edge of the body.
I hope those tutorials were helpful. Please feel free to post any questions or comments!
I feel really fortunate that I was able to attend the very first Knit City in Vancouver, BC. I've been looking forward to this since before I moved up north and it did not disappoint!
I got to attend the marketplace on Saturday and the venue was packed long before the doors even opened. When they did, the crowd poured in! I always walk a few laps around the room to get an overview before diving in to individual booths. This time it would have been hard not to since every booth was full of knitters.
But I'm sort of skipping the best part, jumping right in to tell you about the marketplace. On Friday night, there was a fantastic kick-off party. Look at all these knitters! The sight always warms my heart.
Kim Werker spoke first, telling a room full of knitters why we should love crochet. She answered some great questions, including how to check gauge with crochet, which has always been one of those things that made me hesitate to follow crochet patterns, and how to achieve drape with crochet. I don't know that I'll be crocheting any fitted sweaters in the near future, but it did give me a serious hankering for some granny squares. And Kim's example garment, a gorgeous cabled bolero on Madelinetosh DK with a delicate crochet edging made her point beautifully.
The second speaker was Sylvia Olsen, author of Working With Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater, among many other books. Her talk was about the history and impact of Coast Salish knitting and Cowichan sweaters on knitters, their communities, and the people who wore those sweaters. I'm especially fascinated by just that subject since I moved here to Cowichan Bay. Lucky for you Seattle folk, she'll be speaking again at Knit Fit in just a few short weeks! I really encourage you not to miss that. She has slides with pictures of sweaters and knitters galore! (While you're checking out Knit Fit, you can sign up for my class too. There are still spots available, but registration closes soon.)
And look at this batch of local Victoria knitters! It was really fun to meet folks who live in my new community even if they are a bit south of me. In the middle there is the talented Jane Richmond! Hopefully I'll get a chance to knit with these ladies soon.
And now back to the marketplace! This yarn display was stunning, but somehow I missed the name of the yarn! If anybody recognizes the label & knows what it is, please let me know!
And best of all, the Salish Fusion booth. Sylvia Olsen and her daughter Joni Olsen were on hand to answer questions about their hand knitted bags, slippers, sweaters, hats, mitts, leg warmers, and furnishings. Much of their work is felted creating a clean, modern look that melds perfectly with the traditional yarn and geometric patterns of the Coast Salish. They also offered kits so that knitters could make their own projects with their very special wool. And of course a couple of Sylvia's books were available.
All-in-all, it was a successful event & I can't wait for next year!
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