When I finished my first version of Junko Okamoto’s Ogawa pattern, a crocheted pullover worked side-to-side in a stitch that looked like knitted brioche rib, I was exhausted, my hands hurt, and the resulting garment was so wide that the sleeves were little more than cuffs. It’s a beautiful sweater, but I felt that I … More Crochet, We’re on a Break. See Other People
I don’t like summer very much. I can’t wear my lovely wool sweaters, so I try to make wearable things out of plant fibers. It doesn’t always work out as I hope, but each summer I make something and hope that maybe this will be the year that I make a summer top that I … More Summertime, And The Living Is Sweaty
It was a beautiful sweater, knitted from an extraordinary chart made up of fairly simple components consisting of two different cable sequences, two different faggoting sequences, and two increase-decrease leaf shapes, reshuffling their order all over the length of the garment so that the lines of the designs went every which way. I showed the … More Flourish 1, Flourish 2, and Flourish 2 and a Half
After I published the post Madison Wisconsin USA January-December 2023 about the unfinished temperature blanket I was making as a wedding present for my younger daughter and her new husband, I was still troubled by the fact that I had been unable to think of the algebraic equation for calculating the number of rows I … More Math and Mattress Stitch
My annual January Swatchathon is as close as I get to making New Year’s resolutions, because it’s when I try out different techniques and combinations to see if the idea I’m playing with is something I want to turn into a finished object, and I set a goal for the coming year. This year’s goal … More Taking Liberties With Junko
This spring we undertook a massive decluttering and refurnishing project to return our two spare bedrooms to functionality after having used one of the rooms to store 25 years of junk. The other room was our daughters’ childhood bedroom, still full of their stuff a decade and a half after the younger one flew the … More Siobhan Has Seen Things. She Doesn’t Want To Talk About It
Last summer I figured out the mechanics of machine-knit intarsia, and discovered that it was the perfect vehicle for some self-striping mercerized cotton DK yarn that I had had lying around for several years. My first intarsia summer top, made of Uneek Cotton yarn, was supposed to have been a stash-buster, but it came out … More The Heart in Summer
Last year’s January Swatchathon, my annual month dedicated to making swatches and trying new techniques, was a particularly productive one for numbers of swatches and new techniques attempted. But in terms of completed garments based on the swatches, it was a bit of a bust. I was overly ambitious. When I first started dedicating my … More January 2024 Swatchathon
I suppose it’s not really a news flash that I finished a project intended to use up yarn in my stash, because I have a lot of yarn in my stash and I try to use it, and it’s not news that I finished the project, because I usually do. But I mentioned my in-progress … More Stashbuster Update
I have a big, huge, overwhelming yarn stash. It happens. I’m not the only one. That’s why so many people write “stashbuster” patterns, and I just made two of them that actually did make a tiny dent in my stash. Many months ago I was attracted to a pattern for a crocheted and felted rug … More Sisyphus Meets My Stash
The Interior of My Brain: A Knitting and Fiber Arts Blog 