Pattern Release: Trespassers William

Now, Piglet lived in a very grand house in the middle of a beech tree in the middle of the forest - and Piglet loved it. The house had been in the family for a long long time and had his grandfather's name on a broken sign to prove it: TRESPASSERS WILL.

"That," Piglet would explain, "is short for TRESPASSERS WILLIAM, my grandfather's name."

from "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day." Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh Storybook. 1989.

  

On my coffee table, there is a book: red and fraying at the corners, the embossed design of the cover worn down to a scattering of gold flecks. The image that's left is half of Winnie the Pooh, seated, with one golden finger suspended in the air. The other half - whatever he was holding in one chubby hand, and the rest of his face - are blotted out by a water stain.

There are twin mysteries there: what, exactly, did the Silly Old Bear's face used to look like? And what on earth did I spill on it back in 1991, when I was three and my favorite pastime was stealing crumbs of cheese from the family refrigerator?

(The first question is easy enough to address with a quick Google search. As for the second, the world may never know.)

What I do know is that from ages 3 to 8 or so, the Winnie the Pooh Storybook was my literary comfort food.

When I listened to - and later, read - the words, I was reminded of the forest outside my back door: I felt the sun through the trees; heard the singing of water and the hush of pine needles beneath my feet. I knew the characters as I knew my friends, in all their habits and foibles and joy. And through their stories - of meeting new people, overcoming fear, and practicing kindness in small ways - I learned how to be a person.

All of that from a red, water-stained book - which is why, over two decades later, it still sits on my coffee table.

 

And so, this week I'm very excited to release Trespassers William, a collaboration with my friend Kenneth of The Homestead Hobbyist, featuring his beautiful yarn and inspired by my childhood love of Winnie the Pooh.

I hope you love it too.

You can check out the pattern on Ravelry here, or purchase directly below.

Happy Wednesday, friends. <3

Cory

Pattern Release: Jardiniere, a Collaboration with Black Wolf Ranch

  

Annnd they just keep coming! A few months back, I started chatting with Wendy from Black Wolf Ranch about creating an original design using her yarn, with an eye towards featuring several of her beautiful dyed colorways.

This is the resulting shawl: Jardiniere, a four-color shawl inspired by knitted counterpane motifs, knit up in Wendy's beautifully textured alpaca/mohair Spirit for the body, and lusciously soft & glowy Distinctly Alpaca Sport for the color panels and edging. Wendy and I put together two different colorways - one with lots of color, and one neutral with just a little pop of brightness, which you can take a look at below.

This pattern is debuting as a kit at Black Wolf Ranch's booth at Stitches Midwest 2016 this weekend, and will be available exclusively from Black Wolf Ranch until July of 2017. 

  

I knitted most of the sample on a two-week trip to London and Paris a few months ago. I'll always remember knitting in bed on a rainy afternoon in Paris: the city shrouded in mist and rain streaking across the windows; our rooftop balcony lined with plants, a kinetic green against the gray.

When it came time to name the shawl, Jardiniere seemed like a perfect fit: it's a word used in both French and English, with multiple meanings - a flower box, a gardener. A word that by its meaning alone is something ordinary, but in its context means something more.

A painted container full of earth and color, tendrils of green spilling out over its walls. A woman with dirt under her fingernails holding a tomato still warm from the vine, her face half-shaded from the sun. This is what I thought of as I named it.

I hope you love it.

Happy Friday, friends - and happy Stitches!

<3

Cory

Stitchjones Design Challenge Part I: Q&A with Sharon of Stitchjones

 

I'm excited to announce a third collaboration with Ariel of Stariel Knits - and this time our friend Noriko of Norichan Knits is also joining the fun!

We're delighted to welcome Sharon of Stitchjones as our featured dyer, and with her help, we've cooked up a series of custom, Lisa-Franktastic colors to design with! We're working with her Merino Sock, a squooshy, fingering weight superwash merino base. And - who's surprised? - my custom colorway is fluorescent pink.

For our first post, Sharon has graciously agreed to answer a set of questions from each of us. Since I adore color and all of the stories behind it, I asked Sharon a little bit about her relationship with color and dyeing. Without further ado, here's the interview:

Cory: I love how bright and fun your colors are! If you could describe your color sense in three words, what would they be?

Sharon: (Thank you!) Happy, Vibrant, Childlike.

For this project, Ariel, Noriko, and I were really inspired by the fluorescent colors of Lisa Frank illustrations, which were all the rage with school kids in the 1990s. Where do you usually draw your color inspiration from?

Primarily from music and nature, although inspiration also comes to me from international culture, pop culture and fashion. 

Often, artists and makers practice in several different media before they find their favorite - I started with cross stitch and drawing as a kid, then made the leap to knitting right before college. What did your path to dyeing look like, and what was the moment that you realized that it was your thing?

I didn't become an indie dyer until I was in my 50's, but I loved yarn even before learning to knit, and I did some embroidery as a child. Once my daughter was in school I became very serious about knitting. I fell in love with natural fibers and hand dyed yarns. After some experimenting with acid dyes, I became hooked very quickly! A wonderful LYS in Portland (Twisted) began selling my yarns on consignment, and Stitchjones progressed from there. I began eight years ago, what an amazing ride it's been. 

I always have a new color I'm excited about - right now it's lavender-grey - but at the end of the day, pink is my first love. What's your favorite color at the moment, and are there any other colors that stick with you?

So hard to pick just one color! I'd have to say that right now, it's turquoise. I'm finding so much fascination with nailing the right concentration of turquoise dye that looks stunning by itself and also sets off the other colors around it. Pink is a perennial favorite too, I love all shades of pink, and never get tired of seeing how many different pinks I can mix up.

Thank you so much for participating in the collaboration, Sharon! I'm super excited to start the design process with my amazing pink yarn!

Thanks, Cory!

And there you have it - huge thanks to Sharon, fellow pink-lover and dyer extraordinaire! You can check out her pretties on the internet over here:

Etsy

Stitchjones website

And the other interviews over here:

Ariel

Noriko

Happy Friday, friends!

<3

Cory