Selfish Knitting Month

10JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

It was Brenda Dayne — she who creates the fabulous podcast Cast-On (you do listen to it, don’t you? Don’t you?!?) and who just knit this hat with SpaceCadet yarn — who introduced me to the concept of January as “Selfish Knitting Month”.

For knitters and crocheters, the months leading up the holidays are almost always about making things for other people. All our own projects come to a screeching halt as we realise there’s only a few months left(!) and begin to work like mad on our gifts instead. And then, come January, all that is over. And it is time to return to our own projects, our own knitting and crochet. The idea of Selfish Knitting Month magically turns January from cold and dull into something welcome, warm, and cosy. Time to knit for ourselves again!

And I have really taken the Selfish Knitting concept to heart in 2012, in two ways. The first was actually at the end of December, as I was coming up with the newest colourway for the members of InterStellar Yarn Alliance. I wanted to create a something that would be a real treat for the members… to welcome in the new year with something so luxurious and indulgent that it would single-handedly banish January’s cold and grey post-holiday funk.

I saw cold days ahead and they transformed into a warm, moody plum; I felt a bitter wind, and it was a streak of blue-purple; the welcome respite of a cosy fireside became a rich vein of copper gold; and the whole colourway shot through with dramatic streaks as dark as the blackest night. And to make it extra special, I laid all these colours down over the sparkles of Lucina.

The colourway, in honour of the month, is called “Selfish”. …Well, would you give it away?!?

And the other way that I took Selfish Knitting concept to heart? Well, it wasn’t voluntary, and it wasn’t so much me as my body that made the decision. After a December which was just insanely busy and in which everyone except me seemed to come down sick, my body decided enough was enough. This past week, I’ve been sliding ever-so-slowly downhill, until finally this weekend, I succumbed to cold chills, shakes, and muscles that made my neck and shoulders seize up solidly. I have spent the past two days mostly in bed, propped up gingerly on pillows, moving as little as humanly possible.

Except, I could knit. And as painful as my shoulders and neck were (oh, and they were!), it’s been a truly welcome respite to just sit quietly and knit — without having to stop for work-demands or family-demands or… well, not for anything except for another round of painkillers. Selfish or what!? Yep, deliciously so, and it felt great. I took my skein of Selfish and cast on Karrie Steinmetz’s Walnut Grove. When I can sit up well enough to take photos, I’ll let you see how it looks.

So, Happy Selfish Knitting Month! What are you doing to celebrate? Have you cast on something fresh and new, just for you? Leave a comment and let me know, or even link to you project on Ravelry — I’d love to see!

Oh, there was supposed to be a shop update today, but — for obvious reasons — it will have to come a bit later this week. Keep your eyes open for it. And if you liked the look the of this yarn and would like get in on the Yarn Alliance yourself, spaces will open sometime around the end of the February or beginning of March. Make sure you’re on the mailing list to be the first to hear about it!

…And if you’re in the Alliance, your exclusive email with a chance to get extra skeins of Selfish will be coming soon, so watch your inbox!

The Best Resolution of the Year

06JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Fresh new year. The first week of a fresh new year and it holds so much possibility. Sparkling and brand new. Beautiful, perfect… like freshly fallen snow.

And we try to fill the space of those possibilities with resolutions. I will lose weight. I will read more. I will stop smoking. I will pay down my debt. I will… I will… I will…

The thing is that, while also those resolutions promise to lift us to a higher place, they start the year out by reminding of the things we most dislike about ourselves. It’s a strange way to set out into the newly fallen snow.

My friend Natalie and I were discussing resolutions last week. Mine were all of the usual sort, the sort that pulls you down before bringing you back up by kicking you in the backside. And her resolution… well, it stopped me in my tracks. “I’m going to knit something green each month of 2012.”

Green is Natalie’s favourite colour — favourite like an obsession. She says, “You know my green sweater?” as though anyone could know which green sweater she might mean. So it wasn’t that that surprised me. It was the simple positivity of her resolution. Her resolution is about doing something she loves, in a way she loves, more often. Now that a resolution that feels worthy of the brand spanking new year.

So y’know what? I’m rethinking my own resolutions. Maybe I can afford to ditch all the self-improvement ones (because, really, they’re on the cards already regardless of the time of the year). My life is so busy that I rarely get the chance to sit down and knit as much as I’d like. So maybe I could resolve to… just knit more. To just knit when… well, when the knitting calls to me. As resolutions go, it actually feels pretty radical.

And pretty uplifting. The way resolutions should.

So what are your resolutions for the new year? Do you have any that you’re especially excited about? Or one that is just simple and uplifting and fibery?

Shop Update to Welcome the New Year!

03JanApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Happy New Year! Lots of you will be heading back to work today, so let’s start the year off right, with some lovely new yarns. There’s a lot of sparkle, some smooshy DK, and fabulously intense colours. Click the button below to see them!

Risk Makes the Most Beautiful Yarns

30DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

Some of the most beautiful colourways are simple: blues into greens, rusts laid over reds… And some are incredibly complicated: layer upon layer of eye-popping colour.

But the best colourways — the ones that I can’t stop looking at — are the ones where there’s an element of risk. A combination of colours that might’ve worked… or might not have. A dyeing technique that pushes the boundaries beyond what’s usual. That is the essense of hand-dyed and, when that happens — and happens well — the results are nothing short of breath-taking!

This weekend I’ll be sending out the InterStellar Yarn Alliance parcels, and the yarn the members will find inside is risky indeed. I laid down colours that shouldn’t have worked together, I dyed them in an unusual way. And, as I was twisting up the skeins, today… Oh! I am in love, I am in love, I am in love!

I so hope the Alliance members feel the same way. Risky yarns are… risky, I know. But all I can do is create the colours that call to me, and let them become the colourways I see in my mind. And them pack them all in their little boxes and send them on their way. Beautiful, beautiful, risky yarns…

Here’s a little sneak peek at the Yarn Alliance parcel…

What? You wanted to see the colours? Sorry — no one can see that until the Alliance members have received their parcels! But don’t worry — I’ll reveal this risky, beautiful colourway as soon as they’ve had time to be delivered.

Pattern Roll-Call: Tea Cosies! And How to Make (Me) the Perfect Cup of Tea

23DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

These are cosy days. Here we are at the end of December, mid-way through Hannukah, with the Winter Solstice just yesterday, and Christmas only a few days away. And the days are cold, and the nights are so long, and crisp, and sparkly. We are all tucked up indoors, with fires crackling and twinkly lights all around. These are cosy days indeed.

And to me, days like these call for tea — copious cups of steaming, fragrant, soothing tea. Tea to warm the fingers and toes, tea to warm the soul. A cup of tea, I have always felt, puts everything back in its right place. So long as that warmth remains — in my fingers, down my throat, warming me from the belly out — all is right in the world.

So long as that warmth remains…

If cosy days call for tea, then these chilly days call for tea cosies — little teapot-shaped jackets that keep the warmth in the pot and keep the world right longer. And what could be better than that? Well, this could: tea cosies are often one-skein wonders, and the most exciting ones call for mini-skeins. Here are a few of my favourites…

I love the Tea Mitten by Elisabeth Kleven. I love the simplicity of it, the way it perfectly hugs the teapot, and the fact that (if you poured very, very carefully), you’d never have to take it off.

And this is a classic tea cosy shape… The Kureyon Kosy by Emma Crew is like a warm blanket that your teapot can snuggle down into. Hot tea, happy teapot — perfect!

(I haven’t actually checked this with the designers, but I feel really confident that either of these designs would also work on teapots in colours other than brown.)

And if you’re making a single cup of tea? Well, it deserves to stay toasty warm too. Check out MK Carroll’s Mug and French Press Jacket. It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? I love the big, fat button, the rich cable detailing, and… oh, just the adorableness of it!

And here’s something super-cool: if you’re more about coffee than tea (what?!? WHAT?!?), this pattern fits a French Press (cafetiere) as well.

How to Make (Me) the Perfect Cup of Tea

Now, I know there are a whole host of tea-making traditions in the world and probably a bazillion opinions on how to make the perfect cup of tea, but I am steeped in the tradition of English tea-making — four, six, ten times a day — and so this is how I think the perfect cuppa is created…

(“steeped”… ah hahahaha! I love a good pun!)

First, start with English Breakfast tea. I do love a cup of Rooibos and just lately I’m a little bit in love with Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Green tea, but there is nothing nothing nothing so restorative as English Breakfast.
The best tea is loose-leaf, of course, but I won’t turn my nose up at a teabag. One is Sunday Best, and the other day is workaday.
Put the kettle on, bring that water up to a happy, busy, rolling boil. Please, never ever make tea with just hot water. Get it rollin’!
If you’re using a teapot, warm it first by putting a bit of the boiling water in for a minute or so, and then chucking that away. You need to keep the tea happy with a nice, warm, cosy pot.
Tea goes in — either loose into a pot or a bag into a cup — and then the water must go in after and hit the tea. The water must hit the tea. That’s the only way. Food-service workers of America, please take note: great tea cannot be made by dunking a cold bag into a cup of (vaguely) hot water! It’s got to be boiling water, plunging right down into the tea.
Let it steep for… how long? Until you get that perfect colour. I can’t help you here — you just know it when you see it. And, if you’re making a pot — the phrase round here is ‘mashing a pot’ — again, I can’t tell you how long, but you know the colour when you see it. (Actually, it’s a little like dyeing in that respect!)
Sugar and milk, thank you very much. Not cream (too rich), not half-and-half — just plain milk. How much milk? Well, about that much… Just until you get that perfect shade of mid-brown (I’m really not much help, am I?). And though my dentist long ago made me wean myself off the sugar, this is my perfect cuppa, so it’s got a teaspoon of sweetness in it. No honey, thank you. No lemon, please! Sugar and milk… hot sweet tea… the perfect shade of gentle, warm brown… mmmm…

And then, gather up your knitting, and sit back and enjoy — so long as that cup is warm in the hands, all is right in the world.

Ooh, just one more thing before I go… As we are smack in the middle of so many mid-winter celebrations, I want to take a moment to wish all of you the most blessed and happiest of holidays. And that amid all the hustle and bustle of the season, there are quiet moments of peace, love, and joy to all of you!

And tea. The best moments come with tea.

Shop Update: What’s DK and Sparkly?

20DecApril 14, 2015 By Stephanie

There was snow on the ground this weekend, and there’s a tree covered in twinkly lights in my living room. What better week to put a little bit of warm and sparkly in the shop?

First, the sparkles…

These are Lucina, an incredibly soft fingering weight yarn in Superwash Merino and Nylon, with a just the right amount of sparkle. There are four skeins of each colourway, and pink in Translucence is the same pink in Gentle, so they go beautifully together.

Then, the warmth…

Now is the season for warmer knitting and thicker yarns, so here are two skeins of Astrid, a wonderful DK in 100% Superwash Merino, in a colourway called Happy Secret.

And then, warmth and sparkles together…

And as this is also the season for going a bit overboard, how about a few skeins that have both warmth and sparkles? These beautiful experimental colourways are dyed on a soft and luxurious DK yarn in 75% Superwash Merino, 20% Silk, with 5% Stellina to give that fabulous touch of sparkle.

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