doing the thing(s) !

 

Another overdue gift almost ready for its giftee!  In January I told myself this year is going to be about doing the things that I have already started or have been meaning to start. Keep the new projects to a minimum. In knitting and everything else.

Loving this scarf  The main color is the delicious Big Birdie yarn , the contrast color is three strands of fingering weight yarns held toge ther, one has some bling in it.  The pattern is my own-ish, inspired by this scarf inspired by Missoni. I added an as-you-go three stitch icord up each long edge, and instead of using self striping yarn I'm using my choices. It's one row repeated forever, the kind of knitting I enjoy when I'm tired or traveling or being social.

I wrote out the pattern in the ravelry project page if you're curious.  You could make a fun super scrappy stash buster.

I'm trying to improve/expand my project bag situation. This one is from BeautifulSyster  I never understood the greatness of this bag style till I visited their booth at Nash Yarn Fest. You can tie it up like a little dumpling and put it in a larger bag, or you can put your arm through the strap, and when open it sits nice and flat and wide open and holds a lot. No zipper, a dealbreaker for me (too many projects or yarns snagged in zippers, no thanks). Plus seaweed fabric print...I mean how could I not? 

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I am trying to get on board , dday-wise, with As Kat Knits Unraveled which is WEdmnesdays...maybe next week! I'm reading The Women by Kristin Hannah. It sucks you in.  

Still here! Or..somewhere!

I'm still here and this blog is too!

Fast link to places I am teaching photo for makers coming up SOON maybe you'll join me???

Columbus OHIO 4/27/24 and Chicago IL 5/4/24

 

 Here's a little behind the scenes from a Berroco photo shoot we did in late fall.  It's a really wonderful fresh crochet collection, the theme was Summer Festival wear --and it being way beyond the summer festival season IRL, we created this kitschy set .  And yes I want her boots!

 We purposefully lit it to be as bright and pop as the astro turf and fake backdrop. I really love the collection.

Wait till you see the next season of collections  we shot for Berroco that will be out soon for the Fall 24. All shot  on location in amazing places, fab moels and styling and such good designs and yarns.

Some fun trends: more and more good crochet design made with good yarns. And more and more shades of yellow greens! And more attention paid to yarn sources and sustainability.

These three are from a photo shoot for the Hudson Valley Textile Project, showing off member products. 

I'm even finding myself drawn to a bright almost not-quite  yellow green!  What colors are you falling for lately?

This week: teaching Chicago in person!

As much as I enjoyed teaching virtually these past two years, I am thrilled I'll be in front of a room of living breathing people teaching iPhonography in just a few days  in Chicago!

 

If you'll be at H+H Americas, the trade show for handmade business  please join me !

THURSDAY JUNE 23,  9:45-11:15 am     Smartphone/IPhone Photo Confidence 

FRIDAY  JUNE 24,  9:45-11:15 am  10 +  Tips for Product Photography

These will be fun, helpful, talks filled with actionable tips and time for Q&A.  Not to mention so many images to look at!

And then if you're in the area, visiting or a local,  I am so excited to be teaching hands-on Fabulous Phone Photography for Knitters and Makers                                      SATURDAY JUNE 25, at STRING THEORY YARN COMPANY                            Chicago (Glen Ellyn)    9:30-Noon

If you're thinking about this one , don't wait too long, there were just a couple seats left when I checked in on Friday! I have wanted to visit this shop for ages, having met Janet Avila, the owner at past events and long admired her mission, attitude, events and style.  Oh, and yarn selections! Going to be some new projects cast on here, I can pretty much promise that.

 

show and tell -with cookies!

Show and tell! Click and order and treat yo'self:

My beloved cookie bakery client--the ONLY cookie bakery URL you need- AUNT COOKIE  is doing a fundraiser for feeding Ukrainian refugees. For every 1 pound order of her NYC Confetti Cookies (rainbow or special blue and yellow) she is donating $15. to World Central Kitchen.  Treat yo'self . And send some to a friend!

 As Aunt Cookie says: Taste the Love--and Share the Love".

Answers to questions you didn't ask:

 • the cookies are elevated sugar cookies with a sprinkly crust. You will not be disappointed.

 

• you can put them in the freezer to slow down eating the whole package in one day. Except they taste delicious frozen too. I mean it, these are really good cookies.

 

• there was some sprinkly exuberance at the photo shoot that could not be contained to the tabletop set up. A week later I am still finding the runaway sprinkles !

 

• in case you wondered about sprinkles and their place in history and global cuisine, I gotcha covered

 

• sunflowers are a symbol of Ukraine and pretty much SOLD OUT everywhere. It took an exhaustive search to get this lonely one in the photo, found in a bouquet.  I couldn't persuade the florist to switch out a few from the other small bouquets she had.  Every place I tried said they are selling out of sunflowers as fast as they get them in.  And it turns out there is already a sunflower seed shortage so....

• • • MORE SWEETNESS• • • • • • 

The finished Baby Fern Lake has the most important part: the baby! meet Raina Rose, born last Tuesday night. We are all in love. 

(more about this excellent blankie here)

 

 

Brite Stripes Scarf Kit= happy knitting

 

 I may have made my favorite scarf photo ever! This was the last frame shot from the photo shoot for The Yarnery,  Brite Stripes Kit, in October.   The scarf feels so exuberant  that I wanted to see if we could catch that vibe.

The kits released yesterday .  I am thrilled ot share these, shot on a handball court in Brooklyn. I kind of love the location as a street studio setting. And I lovvvvve these models, Martine McKinney and Ariana McLean.  

 

The yarn is pretty fabulous as well--it's knit in solid colors of Snefnug and a skein of self striping Lang Cloud yarn.  It's bulky gauge knitting  although very light and airy. I am crazy about the Snefnug because the colors, I mean take a look. And also that name, it sounds like a funny sneeze. It means snowflake in Danish.

 This is a candidate for another Treat Yo'self project--and I say that as someone who feels the urge to knit a long scarf pretty much NEVER.  It would fly.

3 things about needing color!

I don't know about you but even with the frigheningly mild winter we've been having here on the Connecticut shoreline, I am craving color and light.  Three thoughts on this.

1) Images that looked too bright and colorful last summer look fabulous this week! I was pulling some images for a presentation and revisited this Nash Island sheep.  This image that I'd rejected as not quite right when I shot it suddenly is my new favorite sheep photo (for the moment.). 

 2) Colorful projects are irresistible.  On a whim I knit a hat to include in a gift box for some tiny cousins. I fell in love with this Urth yarn when I popped into Knit New Haven. I wanted something bright and cheery and soft and self striping.With no color decisions needed.

Except as I started knitting,  it was screaming Christmas Elf to me. It's just a little hat and all the stripes were shades of red/green. So I ended up cutting out a large chunk of the yarn until the colors shifted to something that said Cheerful Kid in Spring.  This yarn is pretty fabulous, btw-- and the company plants a tree for every skein sold, which you gotta love.

This is the colorway of the yarn thought I thought I bought, as sort of modeled in the shop sample by my favorite stripe-enabler 8 year old. I may have grabbed the wrong colorway.  Or the hand dyeing went greener in my skein. It's all good!

And there is more than enough yarn for a definitely-not-christmas hat for Zoe . The pattern is On the C Train, it's one-one rib.  As a thrower it's usually an annoying  stitch for me to sustain. I've been knitting two handed on those coins all winter and realized I could whip through the ribbed hat if I held the yarn in my left hand and knit it combination style.  So it's been a fun little distraction and I'm on the combination ribbing team from here on in. 

 If the one-one ribbing looks good to you too here's another one , the Basic Chic Ribbed Beanie which I would have knit, had I recalled that I'd bought the pattern and had it waiting for me in my Library!  Advantage it's already graded for different size heads, while the pattern I knit had to be sized down. Not brain surgery but...sometimes it's nice to know someone else did the figuring for you, y'know?

 3) A fabulous shawl to work in whatever colors bring you some late winter joy is Marblehead.  I shot this for Berroco in the fall and fell for it. At the time I was thinking muted greys  -- it's a great design to play with color and still have something light and flowy thanks to the stitch. The yarn is UltraWool Fine , which is really lovely yarn  and will not break the bank. Now of course I want it in color, color, color.

Closer look at the stitch and our model's smile. Do you like seeing this model? She's Betsy,  a real person, who works as a yarn rep, a flight attendant....and coaches a cross-country track team. And sh'es a grandma!   I adored working with her. If you like seeing women with silver hair and some laugh lines modeling,  drop an email to Berroco and let them know you approve of seeing models such as Betsy. It surprised me to learn that  yarn companies and magazines and book publishers often hear blazingly nasty and mean comments about models , but rarely receive positive feedback. And, they take it to heart! 
Ok, done with my PSA.

What kind of color are you looking at this week ? And what form is it taking?

3 projects from Saturate/Desaturate

I've been on a work bender since late summer, photographing a ton of projects that I am crazy about. Like, I'm busting to show and tell.  Most of them won't surface for months or even a year...but happily Saturate/Desaturate , a collection and ebook from Kirsten Kapur/Through the Loops was released a couple of weeks ago.

It's probably not news that I love collaborating with Kirsten, considering that I shot her Shawl Book One and we co-authored Drop Dead Easy Knits with Mary Lou Egan. Among other adventures.

This book is extra special to me. The concept came up when we were on a long drive and I was saying how her designs are so strong that she could show them in both her signature color combos AND as natural, neutral solids that let the textures and geometry shine, showing each piece two ways. A while went by (we come up with a lot of schemes that never reach action). Then she told me she'd partnered with Malabrigo Yarn and the idea became real! Next we had to figure out a way to photograph the collection.

Naturally we came up with fantastic visual solutions that far outstripped the budget. Like going to a wonderful location where there were houses painted all kinds of colors and shooting in front of them, or shooting by street murals all over NYC , standing somewhere different for each set up. Logistically a budget buster for all the extra model and shooting  time needed to travel all over.

In the end, I decided that each project was plenty strong on its own.  No need to get crazy with the backgrounds! We'd show Saturated (in multi colors) against a plain white studio wall, and then the Desaturated (monochrome neutral or natural color version) would be photographed against a multi colored backdrop of fabric and styled with more neutral / naturals.

There are five patterns in the collection--I left off a bulky hat that I love, and a gorgeous wrap that looks crocheted but is infact some beautiful knitting stitch. You can purchase them singly if you are able to make those kind of choices ;-)  Go look!

FO: Solbein sweater

When my friends at Berroco Yarns, who distribute Lopi yarn from Iceland, mentioned a Lopi Knit Along , I was all in. At the time we were shooting  Lopi samples  (psst! that link is to five free patterns) in New Hampshire. Not, sob! in Iceland.  My Stopover, knit in Lett Lopi a couple of years back,  is in such constant wear that my neighbors  are ready to do an intervention and I'd been eyeing the Solbein Cardigan by Mary Jane Mucklestone.

Amy Christoffers, (aka Savory Knitting and the Creative Director at Berroco)  and I played Sweater Switch last month--she's in my Solbein and I am in her utterly fabulous modified Birkin. That's an Instagram link where she explains it all.

I like that the Solbein yoke is traditional in proportion yet modern and abstract. I love how Mary Jane's pattern samples had two subtle colors and one higher contrast. Oh did I mention I also love a sweater knit on size 10US needles? That is the charm of both Solbein and Stopover knitting up quickly.  LettLopi- which is technically light worsted weight,  airy and fluffy--on larger needles creates a light warm fabric*. The halo from the yarn--which gets fluffier with wear and washing, filling in the stitches so is is not saggy or loose. 

Cautionary Tales of the Color Confusion Variety:  at the time I cast on, the pattern was only available in the hefty print magazine version. I took the yarn with me to cast on while traveling, and quickly copied the pattern into my phone via a scan in B&W. Ooops! Turns out the grayscale version of the colorwork chart translated into not being able to tell the difference between CC1 and No Stitch spaces.  So, strictly speaking, there may be some minor differences in my yoke and the pattern.

Along the same lines-- if you choose to go with subtle color difference for the colorwork, don't spend so much time knitting in low light!  The Oatmeal Heather of the body and the Frostbite  of the yoke background look exactly the same while you are watching TV in my house, or knitting in a car at dusk ...or on a plane.... or seemingly everywhere I knit ..

With partial crew at a recent chilly photo shoot. That's Amy Christoffers again, Emily O'Neil, artist/styist and my assistant, Yliana.  I wear this sweater ALL THE TIME!
You can see my color discerning problems didn't stop me much, it's a lovely knit.

 Modifications: 
•  I converted it to a pullover by omitting the center front steek stitches and adding a stitch so the ribbing etc would work out.
•  I added a few short rows  just behind the neck- you can see them in the top photo.  
•  I omitted the hem colorwork because my hip line needs not extra decor  ;-)
•  I added length to the body. I didn't start out with that plan but it is knit top down. As I got near the lower edge, I was thinking about how my Stopover is just exactly perfect in length for my life.   I measured my Solbein against it, above,  and knit to the same hem.  This meant I ran low on my main color. Since the sleeves are knit down I saw it coming . I added an extra repeat of colorwork motif at the cuffs, as there was more than enough of the contrast color yarns. You can see that in the top photo, as well.

If you feel like a Lopi knit might be fun but the whole Lopapeysa yoke thing isn't your jam, check out Saltwater Bay Cardigan by Amy Christoffers from Knitty. It is one of the pieces we were shooting when the whole Lopi KAL conversation started :-).

* if you wear your sweaters with nothing underneath them, then you may find Lopi a little woolier than you like next to your skin- I've worn mine over a sleeves tank and been just fine. They  get soft and fuzzy and are weightless-- still lovely and warm-after washing. 

3 things: Camurac Cardi/Drop Dead Easy Knits

When we first dreamt up Drop Dead Easy Knits, our rather fab book of stylish but not too difficult projects, we had to provide a sample or two in order to nail down our contract with the publisher. The cushy, squooooshy Camurac Cardigan by Kirsten Kapur was the first garment designed for the book. It truly deserves the spotlight.

 It's knit on size 10US needles, so it knits up quickly.  Cast  on now and without too much fuss you'll have a  dreamy pick-me-up of a wardrobe addition while it is still March.  I don't know about you but I could use a wardrobe pick-me-up about now.


In the above photos, you're seeing it knit in Quince Osprey which is delicious (plus, whoa, check out the colors in that link).  You can sub any aran/heavy worsted.  Kirsten made one in Jill Draper Makes Stuff Empire  and Mary Lou knit one in Neighborhood Fiber Company . Somehow this little pic of the three of us is the only image I can find of Kirsten in hers....you can peek the lapel texture. Below is a sweater-size bump of Empire. A Camurac waiting to emerge.

I guess that's already Three Things about the Camurac Cardi . This Three Things on Thursday format* really  helps me squeeze out a blogpost. This week I'm going for a bonus round ! Three MORE things:

1) Initially, this wonderful throw-it-on anytime cardi and the Westerloe dog sweater were to appear in the same chapter,  so they were designed with coordinating stitch detailing. Sweet!

whooooshhh! Is that the sound of you rushing out to get yarn for a Camurac PLUS a Westerloe so you can match your furry friends? I hope so.

2) Camurac is a skiing resort area in the French Pyrenees.  This pattern appears in our chapter "Cold Hands, Warm hearts"-- warm pieces,  lovely to have in your lap as you knit in cool weather.  Mary Lou did some heavy lifting for pattern naming, finding chilly locations around the globe. They had to be pronounceable and not already overly represented as pattern names.  Seriously, go search Aspen or Chamonix or whatever popped into your mind first as a cold weather locale, on Ravelry, and see the number of designs that got there before you.

3) This pattern is knit flat and pieced together. That's right, on good old straight needles. No overdeveloped biceps needed to work that stockinette in one weighty piece. The seams provide structure. No Saggy Sweater Syndrome, a problem striking so many of us who adore big slouchy cardis.

If you've knit a Camurac cardi--or any pattern from Drop Dead Easy Knits-- could you do us a solid and post it on Ravelry? We adore seeing what knitters do with the book!

* Carole Knits and AsKatKnits  are the brains behind the Three Things on Thursday, the beauty of it is, you can choose any topic you wish for your three things. Controlled anarchy!  If you feel like joining in any Thursday inspiration strikes, post the link from Carole's blog, near the bottom.

3 things: what i'm knitting now

The sub-title of the post should be: for better or worse.  I'm really jazzed about  a number (greater than three! a cornucopia of knits!) of projects I have going on,  but these three are actively being knit on this week.

ONE 
My Jane Jacobs Shawl from I Knit New York.   I am having fun with this! Mosaic knitting over a large surface is new for me. It flies by magically. My only issue is indecision about colors. I need to swap out for the next section.  Designer Kirsten Kapur gave me the heads up that in mosaic knitting, subtle contrasts get lost--more so than in garter stripes or stranded colorwork. Who knew??  Being friends with the designer has its advantages, but now I am fretting the colors.  I think the next section will be blue (see yarn options at top) with black squares, then with grey with squares and end with the purple with lightest silver/white squares. Or....maybe not...

Bonus: on an episode of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, there's  a scene with Jane Jacobs, on a  soapbox in Washington Square Park. I sputtered in excitement as I watched " Hey I AM KNITTING A SHAWL named after her".  I may have repeated it three times.  (any wonder non-knitters think we are crazy?)

TWO I finished Dave's sweater, Zacapa by Thea Colman. I love everything about it except the fit is messed up.  Entirely MY fault, NOT the pattern's.  Dave tried it on fresh off the needles,  I thought all it needed was a good blocking. So I wove in ends, finished seams, blocked it thoroughly (3 days to dry, no joke, it is heavy yarn ).  Now it is obvious the sleeves and shoulders are all wrong.  My first saddle shoulders will soon be my second saddle shoulders ;-) .  I have lost my zip to work on this but he loves it, so I shall seek zip and rip back soon . Quite a ways back. UGH.  It's beautiful Jill Draper Makes Stuff Middlefield yarn , far too nice to leave unworn and neglected!

THREE
If you are thinking " wtf ? scribble lace in south florida flamingo and green?" , I hear you. Though we are calling it seaweed green and mermaid pink.  It is a gift for someone who is all about such foof and flair.  I want to make something that she will love.  Back in the day  (so far back, pre-ravelry) I knit at least two Loopy & Luscious Wraps .  This is a narrower version as a scarf, in the venerable KidSilk Haze and a skein of really lovely but intensely pink Soul Wool merino. Both skeins have been here a while.  It became obvious to me they need to be this gift.
The scribble lace cranks off the size US15 needles--I watch a little TV and work on it at night for an hour or so-  it'll be done soon and then I can leap onto one of three sweaters for me that are in the plans. And on my Make Nine.  And calling to me every time I walk past the yarn.

Not unrelated--Berroco is running a Lopi KAL starting February 1st.  I am so in to Lopi-Along.  You? 

3 things about the brioche topper (to start the year)

Brioche Topper by Laura Nelkin is my first FO for 2018.  It was also my last FO for 2017.  Lucky for me  (Thing 1):  The Brioche Topper is a fun knit.
It's a perfect Three on Thursday post because...I knit it three times.  Above: the final, version 3 .
It was a gift for sister Lulu, she wanted something chunky, and I thought I'd supersize the aran weight pattern into something slouchier.

Above, a view of unravelling between V1 & 2.  

V1 was ginormous. Version 2 was smaller, but not quite small enough (I like loose hats, turns out sister Lulu does not, and to be fair, she's  petite) . V3,  knit Tuesday night, just right. 

 

Are you wondering which yarn I'm using for all this knitting, ripping out and knitting again. ? The hand dyed is a Wonderland Yarns Tweedle Dee Dum bulky weight merino  in the colorway January (nailed it! so. exactly. right). and the grey is Quince  Osprey. Both feel soft and squooshy and warm. Both held up fabulously to the re-do and the re-do of the re-do.

 It looks cute on her, right? --and  she showed up wearing  gift circa 2010 granny square scarf . 

I'll be knitting more of these.  Because it's a great design. Thing 2: The brioche section, which is essentially double weight, is great on the ears. Also if you like brioche but don't loovvvvve it, it is just a small section of the project. However, I DO I loovvvvve brioche, so I'm ready to cast on another brioche project.

My final version used size 7US needles for the brioche section and size 10US for the rest of it.  This 3 sizes difference is what the designer suggested. When I knit V1, I thought really full brioche would be better, so I used size 9 needles.  Nope! Duh! Listen to the designer! It was waaaay too relaxed.  

The very large V1. See how much poufier the brioche is compared to the top? Two heads could have fit in there. 

Thing three: this is a very well-written pattern, just follow the instructions and don't try to mess around with it like I did on V1 and V2--- you'll have a fab hat the first time around.

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Belated happy new year! December blogging was obliterated by my return to yoga plus holiday related activity. I'm not saying  I'll be back daily but I'll be here...more. 

And, in the interest of sharing BTS, here's the uncropped view of my top photo.  Usually I duck outside to make a quick photo on the porch but it's so freakin' cold out I just didn't want to.

So... here you see an old roasting pan, some paint chips I picked up to choose colors for painting the stairs and stairway walls (I guess their colorway is also January?)  .  I plopped it on a cabinet that gets decent light from windows nearby.  I'm getting very enamored of shooting on old baking trays. You'll see more of that this year, too, no doubt.

Stay warm fellow east coasters in the US! Knit a new hat today!