Astrid Headband and A New WIP

I'm back from teaching at the Squam Fall Retreat! Just like last year, Squam is a magical teaching experience. I had the privilege of teaching students from all over the globe, sitting down to meals with people from all walks of life coming together for the love of craft, sharing stories, ideas, lakeside views and walks through the woods. It's one of those retreats that as soon as you leave, you want to come back. I look forward to next year.

My class at Squam was a technique-based class centered around one project, the Astrid Headband. Designed to be a boot camp knitting experience of sorts, we covered chart reading, kitchener stitch, bobbles, lace, cabling without a cable needle, the provisional cast on, applied i-cord and blocking. The pattern remains a Squam exclusive until after the retreat is over and now I'm happy to introduce it to you, dear readers!

Knit in fingering weight in the delightful Socks that Rock Mediumweight (I love the stretch factor of this sock yarn) and knit on us 2s, this is an ideal travel project. I worked on my second class sample at the airport, on the plane, at meals and always had it tucked away in my bag for those moments when I could sneak in a few rows. It kept my interest as I knit, was easy to follow and is blocked and ready for when the chill descends upon us.

The Astrid Headband is designed to fit an average adult-sized head but also comes with notes on how to adjust the sizing for larger skulls.

Download the Astrid Headband here.

The other announcement is that I have a WIP (work-in-progress) that we've been keeping under wraps. We are expanding our lovely little family from 3 to 4! I'm due in March and we are beyond excited. Stay tuned for lots of baby knits headed this way!

That's all for now as I try to catch up from Squam. What's on your needles?

Dozens of Orbs

I'm away in the woods teaching at Squam, but I wanted to leave you with some colorful eye candy. Textiles are so much more than knitting, crochet, sewing or quilting. Some talented folks raise it to an art form, like artist Serene Garcia Dalla Venezia. Her color palette is lovely and I just want to go up and touch her beautiful sculptures! The bits of metallic make her organic work shine. Original article here.

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Textile Sculptures Created From Dozens of Multicolored Orbs by Serena Garcia Dalla Venezia by Kate Sierzputowski 

Chilean textile artist Serena Garcia Dalla Venezia creates thoughtfully composed arrangements of hand-sewn fabric balls, producing texture and depth by grouping together dozens of differently sized and shaped spheres. Appearing almost like organic growths, her works seem to be transforming before your eyes, which makes sense when you consider her fascination with accumulation and chaos. You can see more of Venezia’s smaller works and large-scale installations on her website.

Think Pink

I've always loved pink and I've had a thing for pink lawn flamingos for years. this takes it to a whole new level, don't you think? Original article found here. Be sure to watch the video at the end!

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Artist Olek Covers a House in Finland with Pink Crochetby Christopher Jobson 

First a playground alligator, then an entire locomotive, and now artist Olek reveals an entire two-story house covered roof to floorboards in pink crochet. This new yarn-bombed installation currently stands in Kerava, Finland where Olek worked with a team of assistants to stitch together huge panels of crochet that envelop every inch of this 100-year-old house. Olek shares:

Originally, this building, built in the early 1900s, was the home of Karl Jacob Svensk (1883-1968). During the Winter War 1939-1940, the family fled to evade bombs falling into the yard, but they didn’t have to move out permanently. In 2015, more than 21 million people were forced to leave their homes in order to flee from conflicts. The pink house, our pink house is a symbol of a bright future filled with hope; is a symbol us coming together as a community.

You can see more photos and videos of the pink house on Instagram.

https://vimeo.com/180960347

A Gift of Thistle

Seeing your work out there in the world never ceases to be a thrill. I've always been a big list maker and an even bigger goal maker, and I've checked a lot of teaching and design goals off of my list this past year. Teaching a Craftsy class, teaching for my second time at Squam, seeing book ideas become tangible objects, teaching at retreats like Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, and having work featured in certain publications - one of these publications being Knitty.

Knitty was ahead of its time when it was started in 2002 by Amy Singer. Always free, always hip, always full of interesting ideas, designers and articles, Knitty did something no one else had done before - put free knitting patterns online in one place magazine-style, making them available to all while being cool and fresh with each issue. Knitty was instantly a hit, bringing the global knitting community together in a way that one else had before. Sure, there were scads of knitting blogs, but without Knitty, there could possibly be no Ravelry, no Twist Collective, no online force of knitters quietly taking over the world one stitch at a time.

I've been a fan of Knitty since the get go. I was still at RISD when it started in 2002 and when I began working at Vogue Knitting as the Yarn Editor in 2004, it was always a good day in the office when the new issue was posted. "Did you see so-and-so's new pattern?" and "I need to cast on for that project immediately" were the conversations of the day. I didn't think I'd ever get to the point where my designing would be good enough to get a spot on the coveted Knitty roster.

One of my knitting goals this year was to have a pattern featured in Knitty's Deep Fall issue. I'm delighted to introduce A Gift of Thistle, a matching cowl and hat set worked in the round from the bottom up. Using two different sets of gradient yarn in sport weight from Copper Corgi, one set of colors goes from light to dark, while the other goes dark to light. When worn together, this set creates an interesting effect and it's one of my favorite ways to use gradients. This set is inspired by a small bit of music by James Horner from the film Braveheart during one of the most heart-wrenching scenes - watch the quick video below to hear the music that inspired this hat and cowl...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL--prfnuJ8

I hope you are dying to get this Fair Isle extravaganza on your needles as much as I do every time I see something on Knitty that I can't wait to knit. It was an honor being featured and I hope to do it again soon. Onto the next goal!

Download the free A Gift of Thistle hat and cowl set here.