Once upon a time, I cast on a sock. It was out of a ball of Zauberball, in some gorgeous spring colors that I love to see together. It was an incredibly boring sock, but that was what I wanted: a boring sock. The ultimate in vanilla: some K2xP2 ribbing, followed by endless rounds of … More The Tale of the Boring Hat
My brainpower is at a pretty low ebb right now. When I went back and looked over that last post, my writerly self-esteem dropped a couple notches. My life is fascinating and wonderful, but taking up so much physical and emotional energy that I have none left to write about it. So in that spirit, … More The Tale of the Boring Shawlette
To all my brothers and sisters of the East: Happy Easter! Christos Anesti! Χριστός Ανέστη! Христос воскрес! This Lent, Holy Week, and Easter have been a particularly cruciform journey for me. It seems fitting then – almost too fitting to sully with words – that the second Easter pattern is a baby blanket, designed after … More Behind the Design: Carolingian Cross
Lilies are the Easter flower. Easter Lilies are particularly so because of their pure whiteness and distinctly trumpet-like shape. Loud and reckless without being garish, vulnerable and precious without being weak. They rejoice without fear, to celebrate the day of the year that we are to celebrate the most with unmitigated joy. When Jesus rose … More Behind the Design: Lilies for Easter
Everyone loves Robert Frost’s famous poem, so much so that to quote it would seem cliche. This project hijacks this old-school meme, just a little bit. The concept is simple, and doesn’t bear much explaining beyond the pattern description. These cables are meandering roads that come together to form the icthus fish – another cliche … More Behind the Design: Road Less Traveled
My stated goal: To make a sweater that fit in with the “new” sense of style I have been acquiring since my Halloween haircut: dark, feminine, professional, comfortable. The selected pattern: Victoria by Lori Versaci The yarn: Shelter by Brooklyn Tweed, in “Long Johns,” 9 skeins. Results Analysis: success. I knit this sweater in about … More Love, Children
Out of all the patterns I have designed so far, Rachel’s Tears has the most of my heart and soul packed into it. The name of this pattern came from two places. The first is from an Anglican service in a little booklet called Liturgies and Prayers Related to Childbearing, Childbirth, and Loss; the service … More Behind the Design – Rachel’s Tears
The idea for this shawl happened all at once, as these things often do. And it happened in church, as it often does to me. We were visiting the Church of the Ascension in that fancy area of Pittsburgh called Oakland, and over the side chapel I spotted this. I was lucky to have my … More Behind the Design: Rose of Sharon
Good morning! I know it’s two hours after noon where I am, but on the day after two weeks of Jan terms have been completed, that totally counts as morning. I had a blast, I learned, I laughed, I read, I wrote, I had deep thoughts. And, of course, I knit. Oh, how I knit. … More Cloche Coveting
On December 24th, the last pair of socks from Folk Socks came off the needles. They were the only pair for which I used the actual recommended yarn: Jamieson & Smith’s 2-ply Jumper Weight. They were kept hidden from the internet because their recipient was my mum. Pattern review: I thought 90 stitches around seemed … More Seven Socks A-Stepping
Osborn Fiber Studio 