Category: Knitting

Knitting

Knitting Retreat: Early registration confirmed

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the foreground shows a woman's wrists in gold sweater sleeves, two hands hold a large cup of coffee; the background shows the seashore

On a sunny March day, with meteorological Spring having just sprung, I have a Fall weekend booked for knitting. From September 18-20, I will join 100s of other knitters at the annual Knit Camp at the Coast virtual retreat. My registration is confirmed, complete with swag. The speakers’ roster is a who’s who of industry experts. As planned, workshop topics range from short rows to color saturation to changing gauge. With a sunny disposition, I will set aside my worries of potential scheduling conflicts – retreat vs. house move – and simply plan to defer packing and unpacking while acquiring new skills.

Happy knitting!

Knitting

Starting Kleine Cardigan Today!

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logo for the Knit Camp winter sweater knitting workshop with curved Swiss buildings in the background, each with a red and white Swiss flag
Swiss flag in the background overlaid with gray and maroon checked knitted swatch

With my yarn caked, the pattern printed on cardstock, and the third swatch having met gauge using my new blue-and-gold interchangeable needles, I am ready to cast on Kleine Cardigan. Marie Greene’s new design pays homage to the Swiss flag although I opted for a silvery gray and maroon color combo rather than the traditional red and white. This sweater will be knit bottom-up in one piece using organic merino hand-dyed in Kansas.

Needles in hand I am ready to virtually explore Switzerland with hundreds of other Traveler’s Club participants.

Happy Knitting! Or, more appropriately, Viel Spaß beim Stricken!

Photo credit: Logo for Winter Workshop © Marie Greene, 2024

Knitting · Travel

Swiss Holiday Mail and Fiber Arts Inspiration

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handpainted holiday images on card and envelope with Swiss postage stamps

Mail arrived from Switzerland just as Knit Camp’s virtual Traveler’s Club begins its three-month (January – March) exploration of Swiss fiber arts. The beautiful, handcrafted card offered family news, as well as memories from the summer of 2023 and time spent with Kuster cousins. This holiday greeting will serve as inspiration when I stash dive for yarn to knit this month’s themed pattern, the Interlaken Headband which features interlocking two-color mosaic stitches, just like the lakes for which the design is named.

Plus, the hand painted Christmas imagery also qualifies for this month’s geometric squares with BeckyB!

Happy Knitting! Or, more appropriately, Viel Spaß beim Stricken!

Knitting

Seashell Shawlette

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handknit shawl with rows of lace stitches in lavendar and green hues on a wooden hanger
Seashell Shawlette
close up detail of handknit shawl with rows of lace stitches in lavendar and green hues on a wooden hanger
Lace details of the Seashell Shawlette

With an observant eye, whether on a sandy stretch of coastline along the Gulf or walking on a rocky Lake Superior shore, a beachcomber can always discover rock and shell treasures. While this winter we will stay cozy and close to home, we will enjoy vicariously the sun of warmer climes through our friends’ travels and as depicted through knitted imagery.

Designer Shaina Bilow describes the Seashell Shawlette this way: “The lace stripes are inspired by the repeating patterns on seashells and the soft, expanding, curled shape is also a nod to these lovely natural formations.” I knit this version using a wonderful blend of Merino and silk yarn dyed in subtle colors (reminiscent of the iridescent hues of mother of pearl buttons) that will drape elegantly across one’s shoulders.

Happy knitting!

Knitting

Mystery Knit-a-Long: Bubble Wand Shawl

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Only the barest details were revealed before the start of the fall Knit Camp mystery knit-a-long (MKAL).

  • The title: Bubble Wand Shawl – inspired by the whimsy of bubbles flowing gently through a wand.
  • The yarn: Fingering weight in five contrasting colors. Ahead of time, designer Marie Greene, shared recommendations for fiber content, including the brand and colors she chose for her initial sample. Sleuthing knitters were welcome to make their own choices. I opted to match the Knit Camp sample rather than resorting to the color wheel to find complimentary and contrasting colors that, when put together, played well.
  • The schedule: Five clues released, one per week in October. MKAL participants graciously kept undercover the developing design by posting progress pictures only after a new clue was revealed. As my early October schedule included hosting visiting Swiss cousins this led to my late start so I benefited from seeing my fellow Knit Campers’ progress reports.

The Bubble Wand Shawl began with a five-stitch cast-on. A four-stitch increase on every right-side row – one stitch added at the beginning of the row, two along a central axis, one at the end of the row – provided the shape and size. From that simple cast-on, the stitch count grew through the final lacy edge and a bind-off of 389 stitches. The Stroll Fingering blend of 75% merino wool and 25% nylon, knit using a larger than recommended needle size resulted in an airy fabric with a lovely drape that wraps nicely around the neck and shoulders. Now, I just need a lucky recipient.

Happy knitting!

Knitting

Traveler’s Club: A Knitter’s Journey

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four picture postcards with postmarks and the words traveler's club 2025

After hosting a Kuster cousin in July and Müller cousins in October, my knitting will vicariously take me to the land of my Swiss grandparents. In 2025, knitting maven Marie Greene will guide knitters on virtual travel tours to Switzerland, Germany, France, and British Columbia. Each quarter, she will share culturally specific patterns, history lessons, and recipes. As with her other workshops, there will be instructional videos to help participants learn new techniques, suggested books to read, and a music list, as well as random prizes, possible even in situ knitting notions. In January, along with my fellow travelers, I will begin this knitting journey at Kleine Scheidegg in the Canton of Bern. It is a magical place which I visited in 1982 and 1991 as the Jungfrau was my grandmother’s favorite mountain. While the sweater that will be the focus of the coming year’s annual Knit Camp sweater knit-a-long (KAL) is still being designed, a sneak peek at the top-down cardigan reveals slipped stitches in red and white, just like the Swiss flag.

Happy Knitting! Or, more appropriately, Viel Spaß beim Stricken!

Knitting

Autumnal Knitting

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a selection of six hand knit beanies in various colors on a wood floor

Unlike Shel Silverstein’s Mr. Smeds who had twenty-one hats, and none of them were the same, I knit only eight beanies for this year’s Halloween hat drive sponsored by Hawthorne Helps.  Momma joined the giving with a donation of two knit scarves.  At nearly 101, she may be their oldest donor and HH will feature her picture on their October 29th distribution poster.

Hawthorne Helps is a community partnership between Rochester Public Schools Hawthorne Education Center and the First Unitarian Universalist Church.  The program also receives support from local faith, service, and business groups.  Twice a month, HH volunteers distribute essential items that are not eligible purchases using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, such as deodorant, dish soap, or toothpaste.  Each fall, the selection of items available to the adult learners includes wintery weather gear – hats, mittens, and scarves – which are especially useful for new immigrants arriving from warmer climates.

Knitting

Knit Camp at the Coast

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knit camp retreat logo on badge with black edged blue circle featuring a beach bag with pink stipped towel, flip flops, sunglasses and straw hat

My head is swimming with the possibilities of newly learned techniques, and I am only at the mid-point of the 2024 Knit Camp at the Coast Retreat.  This annual online event, hosted by Marie Greene, features 11 guest instructors this year, as well as a marketplace (with discounted products) and time for socializing.

As shawls are my jam – that is, my favorite item to knit, the first class highlighting different shaped shawls – bias rectangles, chevrons, and asymmetrical triangles – was the best kick off for these three days.  The instructor shared intricate color designs within repeated 45° angles and created by the artful pairing of increases and decreases to achieve the desired shape.

The retreat topics range from the practical such as sewing perfect seams which provide structure to knitted items to acts of kindness as we learned how Loose Ends “aims to ease grief, create community, and inspire generosity by matching volunteer handwork finishers with projects people have left undone due to death or disability.”

The quality of the content has always been of high caliber, but things have changed since 2020 and the Covid days when the technology befuddled everyone.  This year’s prerecorded classes ensure the systematic presentation of information in an environment with controlled lighting, refined camera angles, and good sound.  Gone are the days of dropped microphones, disruptive background noises, and stitch demonstrations that were sometimes out of focus or out of frame.  During years 1-4, the retreat was a two-day event plus an opening evening reception.  For this fifth anniversary year, the content fills three days.  And I can review the sessions anytime during the next 45 days.  So don’t call or text until Sunday as I am busy with Knit Camp at the Coast! 

Happy Knitting!

Knitting

Ready for autumn days

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handknit reddish brown shawl with lacy eyelets and bobbles

The Skipping Stones Wrap is just off my needles and, without an intended recipient, becomes another on-hand donation for the next silent auction fundraiser.  Bobbles grace each end and construction offered double the fun as this piece was worked as two mirrored halves and then grafted seamlessly in the middle.  While I like the whimsey of bobbles, a quick inventory of over 250 projects reveals this design element in only seven items (one hat, one cowl, two sweaters, and now, three shawls.) 

Rows of differing sized lacy eyelets flow through the body.  And, just as the name suggests, the wearer can almost hear the gentle plop, plop, plop as a stone leaves the hand and skims across the smooth lake surface.  The fingering weight blend of merino wool and silk, knit in a reddish foxy brown, will be perfect for cool autumn days.

Knitting

For a new great-great

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handknit green sweater on white background with a central cable design on the body and the sleeve hanging on a wooden hanger suspended by an orange ribbon
Babbling Brook in Forestry
details of a handknit green sweater on white background with a central cable design on the body and the sleeve
Cable details

Amidst those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, Knit Campers add yarn[y] to the list of rhyming words as 100s plunge into a four-day sweater knitting adventure. While I did not follow the crowd’s choice of patterns, I did create a sweater for an expected great-great niece or nephew. (We must wait until October to know which.)

Green is the new momma’s favorite color, thus the choice of this gender-neutral forestry colorway. The blend of cotton, bamboo, and silk always knits up nicely with the advantage of being machine washable. Marie Greene’s Babbling Brook pattern offers assorted sizes from newborn (0-6 months) to seven years; and includes my favorite design element – cables. Knowing little ones grow quickly, I hope this size 2-4 might keep our new great-great warm through one or two Oregon rainy seasons.

Congratulations Katie and Cam!