Three New Patterns and Stitches Midwest!

On Wednesday, August 5, I released three new patterns! Two of them were shawls that were inspired by my recent trips to the Republic of Georgia; Lenjeri is a lace pattern inspired by a small village in Svaneti, and Polyphony was my attempt to knit a tangible interpretation of the traditional 3-part vocal tunes prevalent in Georgia.

When Doug and I visited Lenjeri on our honeymoon, we were enamored with the greenery and flowers finding homes within cracks of stone walls. When Leading Men Fiber Arts gave me a skein of green merino-silk lace yarn (the Ghost Light base) at Vogue Knitting Live, I immediately associated that green (Envy) with the green I saw in that small village. Fortunately, I had the chance to return this summer with my Georgian Choir on a tour to learn folk songs.

I'm fascinated with traditional Georgian polyphony, most often sung in three parts with close harmony (each word links to a different style of three-part singing in the country--I could not decide). I decided to combine this fascination with my love for knitwear design, and came up with Polyphony, a warm, color-block stole with a lace center. I tried to make the colors work together to make a whole, as well as illustrating that the middle part in Georgian polyphony is often the most detailed. I knit it out of Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stealer base (80% merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon) in the colorways Dames At Sea, Dusty Quartz, and Sandcastle.

I modeled it by a river in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
The third pattern I designed for the Leading Men Fiber Arts boot at Stitches was a fun hat pattern called Zipadee, using elongated slipped stitches forming zig-zag zippers that meet at the top.

I knit it out of their Playbill base (dk weight single-ply merino) in the Seaweed colorway. It was a fun, quick knit after all the shawls!
On to Stitches! We set up the Polyphony wrap on the model next to several kits that Steve and Andy picked out to go with the pattern.

I had a wonderful time meeting other designers, fellow yarn-addicts, and seeing some old friends.

If you came by the booth, thank you! I loved the opportunity to meet you!

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Minnesota Nice

Last week, Doug and I drove up to Minnesota with his mom to see his brother's sweet family in Wayzata, an unabashedly charming little town on Lake Minnetonka. It had everything from gorgeous foliage, a sparkling lake, and still-blooming roses. There was even a miniature electric train set outside the train station!

Did I mention the foliage?

After many pleasant turns around the small town, Doug and I went over to Minneapolis to see my friend Leslie. I'd heard about Steven Be's store, so I asked if it would be cool to meet there. Leslie doesn't knit very much, but she accommodated my request. Obviously, I got distracted:

Then, I met the man himself, Steven Be! We posed in front of both the chandalier...

And also by the "Red Carpet" area!

What's in the bag, you ask? Well, only a couple yarns that one can only buy at this shop! On the left is MadelineTosh in the colorway Dead Sexy, and on the right is an amazing, sparkly yarn by Three Irish Girls in the colorway Trust Me, I'm The Doctor. They had almost an entire merch island devoted to Doctor Who. My kind of store!

Upstairs there's a fantastic workspace:

In this workspace there is some Loopy Mango yarn, and I kid you not, just lying around. Even Leslie was impressed! Or at least I asked her to look impressed, and she complied!

After this lovely trip, we went to Modern Times, which had such delicious food (and a friend I had nearly ignored for several minutes while I was fawning over yarn) that I did not take any pictures. Then we headed to Electric Fetus Records, which had a very impressive selection. Doug found a record by the De Zurik Sisters, and we had to buy it. They grew up on a farm in Minnesota and developed the most uncanny yodeling-in-harmony we've ever heard:

The rest of our time involved pancakes, bacon, and a pumpkin patch with our baby nephews. They were so cute, the weather was so perfect, and it was so amazingly autumnal that I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Doug and I should move there. I decided to make a pros and cons list:
Pros

• It's as pretty as New England this time of year. That means super pretty.
• People stun you with their niceness, kind of like in the South. Apparently this is called Minnesota Nice.
• There are Meat Raffles. At bars, probably on game nights, you can enter a Meat Raffle and come home with meat.
• This is Choir Country. I love choirs.
• In the wintertime, people leave parkas and sleeping bags in parks so the homeless can try to keep warm. This warms the cockles of my heart.
• A Prairie Home Companion.
• The Walker Museum of Modern Art is impressive, but unpretentious. There's a big spoon and a cherry!

Cons

• I am susceptible to Frost Bite.

I'm sure there are other cons, but that last one is kind of the end of the conversation (for now...let's see if I survive one more winter in Chicago, and then we'll see if I can handle a steady 10 degrees lower). Anyway, the point of this post is that I was charmed off my feet by Minneapolis!
Also, on our way out, we stopped for breakfast in St. Paul. I had a bacon caramel roll at Swede Hollow:

It was as yummy as it looks.

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