I'm in love with this project. It's a quilt top with very basic patchwork made from upcycled vintage sheets. I was even able (thanks to Etsy!) to find a new-old-stock, still new-in-package sheet in the exact same pattern as the sheets my grandmother had in what was "my" room when I would visit her house when I was a little girl - it's the fabric with the orange roses.
The fabrics are soft and washed and smell like sunshine and laundry drying outside. If you're interested in getting your hands on similar fabrics, I can't recommend Vintage Fabric Studios Enough. Everything I've gotten from Kelly has been in top notch condition and a dream to work with.
What you're seeing here is just the quilt top. I've now sandwiched the top, the batting, and the backing and started quilting it by hand. My last few quilts have been machine quilted, but I wanted to spend more time with this beauty.
]]>
I am so excited to show you this little cutie. She stuffed with wool, has handspun hair, and little felt shoes.
I've made a pattern for her and a zillion videos of each step of how to make her. Now I need to learn how to edit video so I can assemble them into a class for you! I'm honestly super intimidated by the video bit. The cuteness of the dolls is helping me find my gumption to work on the video part.
What are you working on this week?
]]>I'm super excited about these dolls! I've been working for several weeks to shoot video of each step of making them, and I'm working on creating a comprehensive e-course so you can make them too!
]]>Even though it’s not useful for me to speculate about your motives in downloading 31 patterns, not leaving a tip, and then checking out with firstname “Noway”, lastname “Unneccesary,” I find I can’t quite stop myself from trying to understand.
Were you trying to be cheeky or funny? Angry that I’m asking for anything at all from you in exchange for my work? Some other motivation?
Seeing your order, with your fake name, felt awful. Worst of all, the discomfort felt self-inflicted because I set up a system that allowed people to take my design work – all of it – for free. That said, most are kind enough to leave their names.
I’ve been doing free patterns in one form or another for 9 years, and I’ve given away more than 15,000 patterns. It’s been important for me to have something tangible to give to the newsletter subscribers who allow me the privilege of appearing in their inboxes every two weeks. It aligns with my belief that the world can be a place where people take what they need and give back what they can. It’s been a great way to build momentum and have structure around my design process. It’s felt like a way to show people what my yarn can do while giving something back to the fiber community.
It should feel great. And it doesn’t.
Patterns don’t spring fully formed from the void. They take time, effort, and grit to create. A lot of knitters seem to think that pattern writing is a cushy aspirational job. Spoiler alert: Almost nobody makes a living at it.
Very few knitting designers make a living wage from their work. Cassidy from Ravelry occasionally posts anonymized sales data, and the last time I saw it was from January 2019 (spreadsheet here). Only 2.3% of sellers – 227 designers – made an amount of money equivalent to federal minimum wage that month. And that’s before you factor in the costs of a computer, software, editing, photography, yarn, taxes, PayPal and Ravelry fees, and before you cover any extras like health insurance or paid time off.
The other thing about writing patterns is that it’s work, not leisure. Anytime you take a hobby you love and turn it into your job it becomes work. It might be work you love, but it’s not something you can do to relax anymore – it’s work. And work demands fair compensation.
This free-for-all free library business? It’s not working. It enables behavior I can’t condone, and it doesn’t feel good. I really wanted to keep it free or donation-based, but in three weeks of asking for tips, four people contributed a total of $14. So I am changing my policies.
Everybody who supports my business with a purchase gets access to all my patterns for free. My newsletter folks will still get a free pattern every month for being a part of my business community. Anybody who wants or needs it can take one pattern for free.
Thank you, Noway Unnecessary, Nobody Likesdoingthis, X, Z, and J, for crystallizing this decision. Go in peace and don’t let the screen door whack you on the behind.
Brightly,
Cate
]]>
Pattern by Xandy Peters, available on Ravelry here.
Knit by liyu using one Giant Gradient in Ole and one 500 y Gradient in Mermaid Hair.
Project details and handy spreadsheet available here.
First, the shop is chock full of Helix Giant Gradients. If you'd like continue the Valentine's vibes with a gift to yourself, or sock it to the winter blues with 700 yds of mood-lifting color, this update is for you! Second, there's a lovely new shawl pattern available for Helix Giant Gradients - the Silver Linings Shawl by Artesanitarium. Third, I have a special discount for you on e-courses in traditional Japanese sashiko stitching. It's always the right time for a cool new hobby! |
|
Silver Linings Shown in Helix Giant Gradient in Winter Birches, this garter shawl with a cable edging is knitted from the flat edge down in squishy garter stitch, and then trimmed with a panel of cable stitches. It's a lovely size, and can be worn and styled in a number of ways. The pattern is available here on Ravelry. |
|
Kazue, with whom I was lucky enough to do a in-person workshop when I visited Kyoto in 2019, has created a range of online classes and patterns for this beautiful and functional needle craft. She's offering a 10% discount with code infinite for her online workshops. Thanks for your support, and wishing you happy stitching! |
Martina Behm has graciously allowed me to do a sample of her classic pattern Hitchhiker in a Helix Giant Gradient. I choose the Cardoon colorway, and I love how it knitted up.
With thoughtful details and an easy-to-memorize pattern, this project makes for delightfully relaxing knitting.
The version photographed here used all but 10 g of the gradient, and has three more "teeth" than called for in the pattern.
Pattern for sale directly from designer here, or here on Ravelry
Finished Size: 86 inches / 220 cm tip to tip, and is 13 inches / 33 cm deep at the center.
Yarn: Helix Giant Gradient, 240 g / 710 yds. Shown in Cardoon.
Needles: U.S. size 5 / 3.75 mm
Gauge: 18 sts & 44 rows over 4 inches / 10 cm in stockinette stitch.
Notions: yarn needle.
]]>These are Heidi Nick's Auld Lang Syne Socks. I was really excited to dye for this project because gradients and cables are not known for getting along well together - in fact, quite the opposite - and Heidi's cable designs are so stunning I wanted to make a yarn that would showcase them to the fullest.
Why don't cables and gradients get along famously?
The source of the argument is that cables generally "read" vertically - that is, your eye tends to follow cables up and down more than side to side and gradients tend to read horizontally. In combination, the two elements can confuse the eye - or they can look awesome together.
To make your cable knitting shine in gradient yarn, start by choosing a gradient with relatively smooth color transitions. Smooth transitions let the color element of the gradient add visual interest to your project instead of becoming a distraction because the smoother the color transitions, the less trouble your eye has following the vertical cables.
For maximum visibility for your cables, choose a relatively light-colored gradient. Pastels are your friend because they make your cable work easier to see. If you don't want to go full pastel, that's fine too - bright colors are a good second choice.
Next, think about how to best make your yarn work for your project. If you're working with a light-to-dark gradient, think about where you want the cables to be most visible and use the lighter end of the gradient in that area. For example, if you're making socks you plan to wear with shoes, you can use the darker end of the gradient for the less visible toe area, and the lighter end for the more visible leg area.
I hope this sheds some light on how cables and gradients can work together harmoniously, and gives you extra confidence to mix the two!
Pattern: Auld Lang Syne Socks, available on Ravelry for $5
Yarn: Infinite Twist Half-n-Half Sock Gradient, shown in Winter Blue.
Project Notes and more images here.
]]>
I love my stash. I have negative guilt about the amount of yarn that's in my stash. My stash is a prefect reflection of everything I love to knit - full of scrappy bits of bright colors, big batches for sweaters, and everything in between.
The moving process brought me the lovely gift of revisiting my stash. I couldn't be happier.
Now I just need time and for my elbow to stop bothering me. Soon, my pretties, soon,
]]>I designed this shawl to use up every possible yard of handspun salvaged from a formerly favorite shawl in which my cat chewed several holes.
Floating Ribs features a faux i-cord edging, a central column of increases, and uses two colors of yarn to create a subtle striped effect. The elongated heart-shape of the shawl keeps it on your shoulders, and it’s a great size for multi-season wear – scrunch it up and wear it as an oversized winter scarf, or wear it around your shoulders as a transitional layer for fall and spring.
Skill Level: Intermediate, with some experience knitting brioche.
Skills Needed: Basic knitting skills, plus brioche knits and purls (brk and brp, brioche knit–yarn over–brioche knit (brkyobrk), Brioche knit four stitch increase (br4st), Judy’s Magic Cast-on, i-cord, and grafting.
Finished Size: 62 inches / 158 cm tip to tip, and 18 inches / 46 cm deep at the center point.
Yarn: MC – Infinite Twist Halo Heather Handspun, 100% Merino wool, 300 y. CC - Infinite Twist Umbra, 300 y.
Needles: U.S. size 7 / 4.5 mm circular needle, at least 80 cm long, or any size yielding correct gauge, plus one set of DPNs in same size as circular needle.
Gauge: 7 CC ribs & 19 CC rows over 4 inches / 10 cm in brioche stitch pattern after blocking.
Notions: At least one locking stitch marker, yarn needle.
Download the pattern
]]>Well friends, I’d say things are definitely getting interesting.
This morning, the local wet market / food centre / gathering spot for the aunties and uncles in my neighborhood was denuded of meat and produce. Malaysia has closed its border, and a lot of the fresh greens and herbs I buy come down from Malaysia - not to mention the chicken we eat and use to make food for the dog.
The chicken seller saw me round the corner, and waved me off with a loud but friendly “all finish already!” All his roasters were already sold, and what remained was about five pounds of backs and necks, and a large pile of chicken feet.
Now this is something I can work with!
I needed to make chicken broth today for tonight’s dinner anyway, so I made a recipe in case you’d like to try your hand at making bone broth. It’s about as easy as cooking gets, and it’s a great way to eek a little something extra out of a roasted chicken or whatever oddments your butcher may have in his or her case, while also making use of the less glamorous parts of the veg in the back of your produce drawer.
I think we could all use some homemade chicken soup right now, and great soup starts with great broth. Wishing you good health!
]]>I missed an increase, and wasn’t willing to rip back 34 rows, so I ripped back the entire section, and re-knit it.
My main trick for this kind of brioche surgery is to go down one needle size. You can adjust the tension stitch by stitch after if you need to, and blocking takes care of the rest. The other thing to think about is that you can do all your surgery from the right side.
Here’s the (comforting, I hope) after photo.
]]>On Thursday morning at school drop-off, four of them were having a snack in this peacock flower bush. They were pulling the pea pods of their stems, holding the pods in one foot, holding onto the bush with the other foot, opening the pods with their beaks, eating the seeds from inside the pods, and then dropping the pods on the ground. They are definitely feathered acrobats.
]]>There’s also a very industrious group of wasps or native been building a spindle-like nest near my house. It blows around in the wind, so please pardon the blurry bottom of the image. There’s a group of wingless individuals constantly at the nest, and winged individuals seem to be hatching from the round-capped cells. I’m not interested in getting any closer to be sure.
]]>At the beginning of the month, my goal was to finish this puppy in February. It turns out that this was a crappy goal because there was a lot more knitting left to do than I anticipated. My new goal is 20 hours knit on the project. That’s actually attainable, and should get me to a solid 2/3 done. Most of the body is done, and I’m knitting the sleeves down to the same point I’m done on the body so the color shifts from skein to skein will be even across the body and the sleeves.
At the beginning of the year, I made a list of all my current WIPs and an inventory list of all the fabric I had on hand for sewing garments. I’m working my way through both lists. The fabric is easier to deal with because it has a much lower volume to time to finished object ratio than the yarn. My office/studio has been consistently about 10% over actual storage capacity since we moved in back in September, and I feel like I’m constantly teetering on the edge of clutter and mess. Getting the fabric out of my office and into my closet will make a huge difference, and knocking out a few more knitting projects should allow me to get all my personal yarn into one dedicated shelving unit.
Meanwhile, I have started a container garden! from left, I have a pomegranate tree and a lemon balm plant from the nursery, and fancy basil and chard I grew from seeds. It took me a long time to get the lemon balm into a proper pot so it looks a little sad at the moment. I have tiny seedlings of kale, beets, and tomatoes coming up, and I’m very excited about turning the whole balcony into a little green oasis.
]]>The blog was down much longer than I intended. My house move (back at the end of September) took a lot more energy than I was expecting, and then there was a family vacation, and a whole lot of life happened in between. Anyway, here I am! And here’s my knitting.
This is a version of my Minnow shawl pattern knit up in yarns with historical significance.
Back in the glory days of living in Shanghai, there were always these far-flung odd places that you’d hear people talking about - e.g. The Curio Shop, the Cashmere Market, the Wholesale Western Food Market - where you could get things like Mao-era enamel basins, insane deals on yarn, and whole wheels of gouda cheese respectively. These places were also ephemeral. I remember going to find something called the Ghost Market (reputed to have lovely handmade baskets) only to find a freshly-bulldozed pile of rubble.
Anyway, in the last few days before a dear friend returned to her country of origin, a small but intrepid bunch of knitters headed out to the Cashmere Market to see what she could gather up and stash in her sea shipment, and what we could get our hands on, before the market coincidentally closed forever.
This shawl is knit from the yarn from that day. It’s huge and fluffy and is like a warm brioche hug from those lovely friends on that bitterly cold, dry, and dusty day. And oh goodness does it make me miss them.
]]>Because there is very, very little domestic agriculture, almost everything is imported, which brings us to these tiny and battered but delicious apricots from Turkey. When you can’t get your hands on fresh and local, you make do.
I’ve been making mesophilic yogurt, which is easier than falling off a log. Vilii (from Finland) and Caspian Sea yogurt are strains of good bacteria which turn milk into yogurt at room temperature - no fuss, no muss, no yogurt maker required. My tiny people are not yet totally sold on the natural sourness of the yogurt, so I made a batch of apricot freezer jam to use as a topping.
Spoiler alert: failure! The Turkish apricots are apparently less juicy than their North American cousins. There wasn’t enough liquid to dissolve the sugar, the jam did not set, and it was full of undissolved sugar crystals. I dumped all the jars back into a bowl, added four cups of peach mash, and re-jarred it. Not perfect, but it works for yogurt.
]]>I then proceeded to angst about pattern and yarn choices because I’m a picky knitter. After about 8 weeks of false starts and more angst, I picked my yarn and my pattern: my own Helix Superwash in Dendrobium, and Louisa Harding Orielle in Fondant that I over-dyed to a pale violet. Here’s the “before” swatch:
Here’s the “after” combo:
September is not happening, but I’m hoping for a late October finish. Wish me luck!
]]>Anyway, box bags are a bit fiddly to sew, but so worth it. Mine are two layers of canvas, and I wish I’d added interfacing. Within 24 hours of finishing, the lighter bag had had a serious run-in with a marker without a cap, and it’s looking a little… let’s go with wabi-sabi.
There will eventually be a second round of these. The twins love hauling them around, so I’d like to make them shorter so they don’t drag on the ground quite so much, and I’m thinking an oil cloth exterior will be more marker-resistant than canvas.
]]>My patching fabrics were all dyed and ready to go. I thought I could just take the backing off the rug and put the new fabric underneath the holes, stitch around the holes, and boom - done. No such luck.
After getting the cheap, nasty black polyester backing off, there was very bad news: each individual piece of the rug is underlined with more of the aforementioned nasty cheap fabric, and it’s sewn in to every seam. Oh, and the seams have all been topstitched. There’s no good way to get it out without seam ripping everything, and probably making a huge hash of the rug in the process.
I’m considering patching over the top of the holes, but I’m not sure how it’s going to look. The disappointment about this not being the quick and easy project I thought it was going to be has taken the wind out of my sails.
Luckily I have Vesper to keep the fabric company while I mull it over.
]]>The poor thing has seen better days. I was contemplating replacing it, but realized that I think I can patch it. I’ve dyed up a bunch of rug wool from the Pendleton Wool Mill Outlet (also in Portland), and the dye gods definitely smiled upon me - the colors came out very, very close to the original.
Now to figure out the patching.
]]>Exhibit B: A kampong chicken seen while walking my dog.
So what’s the difference?
Kampong chickens are village chickens (“kampong” means village). They’re free ranging, free foraging local birds found throughout Malaysia, Indonesia, and occasionally Singapore. A bit of quick research reveals that kampong chickens are a the result of random cross-breeding between red jungle fowl and exotic chicken breeds introduced in the 1700s.
]]>A few months back, a team of landscapers was trimming back the bamboo outside my home. They cut down some huge pieces which I was eyeing as they lay in the driveway. One of the landscapers noticed my interest, and asked if I wanted some. It was a win-win - I got bamboo for a project; he got a smaller pile of stuff to haul away.
I ended up with 5 pieces well over 2 m long (probably around 8 ft). After it had aged in our entryway for a few months (read: until I got around to it), I sanded it down, cleaned it off, and drilled holes through the pieces. I ran parachute cord through the holes, sewed a cover, and voila - play tent!
It’s a great rainy day space, and I hope it will be a fun place to read books someday.
]]>