JCBriar Knitting newsletter, January 2018

January 2018

Book review • Winners • Wrist warmers • Almost FOs • Upcoming events • In other news

Book review: Magical Shetland Lace Shawls to Knit
I have to be honest with you. I’m not terribly fond of Shetland-style lace. The stitch patterns – mostly eyelets on a garter-stitch background – just don’t turn my crank. (That’s okay, right? I don’t have to like every kind of lace out there.)

Ah, but Elizabeth Lovick’s book on Shetland lace shawls – that I like.

Magical Shetland Lace Shawls to Knit appeals to me for a number of reasons:

It covers the history of Shetland lace, and how Shetland lace shawls were traditionally constructed. At the same time, Lovick notes that the tradition is not static and encourages knitters to explore and adapt Shetland styles to their own liking.
It contains instructions for five “apprentice pieces,” small samples that you can knit in order to practice a particular construction style before tackling a full-sized project.
It includes clear diagrams showing the construction steps for each apprentice piece and for each project. Bonus: the diagrams for the projects are superimposed over photos, so you can see exactly where each stitch pattern comes into play.
It places a handy stitch-pattern photo next to every chart.
And it ends with a section suggesting ways to wear shawls of a variety of shapes.

Bottom line: I enjoyed reading about different approaches to shawl construction. (Circular shawls were traditionally knit from the center out in rows and seamed – who knew??) And I even found a couple stitch-pattern combos that I like! Click the images to see ’em at Stitch-Maps.com.

Get the book for yourself

Winners

Last month I asked what additional brioche classes you’d like me to teach, beyond Beginning Brioche. I had figured the votes for Patterned Brioche and for Syncopated Brioche would be nearly the same – but Patterned Brioche won by a landslide!

I’ve already started submitting proposals to teach Patterned Brioche at future events. Fingers crossed that the proposals get accepted! Of course, when the class gets scheduled somewhere, I’ll let you know in this newsletter and on my website.

By the way, I also asked if anyone could identify the unlabeled gradient yarn in my brioche scarf WIP. The winner seems to be Zauberball Starke 6 in color #2136.

Yay! The yarn’s identity is good to know – this way, I’ll be able to answer questions when knitters see the scarf and ask about the yarn. (After I finish the scarf, anyway. Don’t hold your breath. It’s kind of slow-going.)

Wrist warmers

Speaking of brioche, I just finished a couple quick-and-easy wrist warmers.

They’re for a short class (just two hours long!) that I’ll be teaching on February 10 for the Salem Millstream Knitting Guild. The goal is to get everyone in the guild comfortable with knitting two-color brioche in the round – and to have enough time to see the rib pattern develop. And that’s why we’re going to knit wrist warmers. Or coffee-cup holders. Whatever: as long as they’re small enough so everyone can make visible progress, right?

Learn about the Salem Millstream guild

Almost FOs

Over the holidays, I resurrected a UFO that’s been languishing for far too long: a pair of felted entrelac slippers for myself.

You can see they’re almost done. I’ve finished the knitting, and I’ve even managed to weave in the ends. But I have yet to get around to felting them, and then sewing on some leather bottoms so they last longer.

These are replacements for slippers I knit years ago, to celebrate the release of Gwen Bortner’s Entrée to Entrelac.

Sadly, I had failed to sew leather bottoms onto the original slippers. And I walked the bottoms off ’em, hence the need for replacements. I miss my felted slippers!

Like Lovick’s book on Shetland lace, Gwen’s book is full of clear diagrams and small “practice blocks.” And the slippers make a great first project, as any inconsistencies in your knitting disappear when the slippers are felted.

If you’ve been meaning to learn to knit entrelac, get the book! Or sign up for my Entrelac Basics class at Interweave Yarn Fest.

Get Gwen’s book

Upcoming events

My teaching schedule for the first half of 2018 is filling up! In addition to the previously-mentioned brioche wrist warmers class in Salem and Interweave Yarn Fest, I’m looking forward to these events:

Stitches West is promising to be bigger and better than ever! Many of my classes are full, but there’s still room in Not Your Grandma’s Long-tail Cast-on, Charts Made Simple, Stretchy Bind-offs, and Slick Set-in Sleeves.
Early bird registration for Yarnover is now open. General registration begins on January 13th.
And who can forget the Fjords and Highlands Knitting Cruise!

Get all the deets

In other news

Did you know that I regularly post a “Did You Know?” Tip of the Week in the Stitch Maps group on Ravelry and on the Stitch Maps page on Facebook? These tips aim to point out ways of using Stitch-Maps.com that you might not have considered. My favorite post of late is the one that suggests giving “default” instructions when entering knitspeak. Default instructions can make it much quicker to enter some stitch patterns – such as this lovely doily center:

The Facebook page also gets a weekly Stitch Pattern of the Week and Tidbit of the Week. So be sure to join the Ravelry group and like the Facebook page to get the most out of Stitch-Maps.com.

Our mailing address is:

JCBriar Knitting

1441 NW Terracegreen Pl.

Corvallis, OR 97330

Add us to your address book