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

Special Event: Lelia Mitts & Lupine Shawl Classes at Starlight Knitting Society

Friends, I'm excited to announce that I'll be teaching two project-based classes at Starlight Knitting Society this fall!

I found Starlight about six months ago, at the recommendation of several of my Issaquah Tinker friends who stopped by and discovered this little gem of a store. With a fun, friendly vibe, and a fabulous stock of Fibre Company, Spincycle Yarns, O-Wool, and more, Starlight has quickly become my favorite yarn shop to visit when I'm down in Portland! They have a cozy layout for sitting and chatting, and a jewelbox display of yarns everywhere you look.

This fall, they'll be celebrating their 1-year anniversary with a fab party on Friday, September 16th, from 5-9 pm, and I'm excited to come celebrate with them on Friday - then teach a couple of fun classes on Saturday, as part of the festivities!

  

I'll be teaching two classes based on my designs - the Lelia Mitts, and the Lupine shawl - both on Saturday, September 17th.

If you're in the Portland area - or you're in the Pacific Northwest and would love an excuse to go on a yarny field trip! - pop over to the class section of Starlight's website or call the shop to sign up.

Okay - onto the details! (Follow the links for full details on materials and skills.)

 

Lupine shawl
$40
September 17th, 10 am -12 pm

New to lace? Have no fear! We’ll start with the basics - practicing increases, simple lace, and even a scalloped edging technique in a swatch before jumping into your project. Along the way, I’ll talk about troubleshooting lace projects, and how to easily customize the size of your shawl.

 

Lelia Mitts
$40
September 17th, 1-3 pm.

Inspired by vintage dishware, the Lelia Mitts are a fun introduction to two-color knitting! We’ll talk about choosing colors and practice techniques to create beautiful, even stranded colorwork and stripes. In the process, I’ll share some of my favorite little tweaks to make your knitting shine.

I'm sending out samples of both projects to Starlight this afternoon, so you can head on over to the shop and pet them in person before class starts! :D 

It should be a really fun weekend event - I hope to see you there!

<3

Cory

Fighting the Ick: Bubbles & Brights

  

One of the biggest dangers I've faced as I work towards designing full-time is the trap of thinking that creative self-care isn't work.

I've dropped into post-creative depression enough times that I should know better, but still, there it is: one day, when the work is finally out in the world and I'm proud and excited and tired, I wake up and find out that my world has constricted to the size of a raisin.

Where did the light go, when the sun is right there? Why does the sight of dirty dishes in the sink make my heart flop around in my ribcage like a sack of wet garbage? And there's the guilt, too: the stern questioning of self, the rehashing of time-honored questions like, why-must-we-do-this-again and I-thought-we-were-done-with-this-fuckery?

At this point, I think I've finally come to a solution: I put on pants. I leave the house. I go for a walk, or look at plants, or browse the local vintage mall for cool stuff. I let it be okay that I'm not working-working.

And inevitably, it's the second that I let myself stop stressing out about the work for two minutes, that the joy of possibility comes back to me. I'll be anxious and stupid and on the verge of having a screaming match with my sofa - but hey, go look at some colorful teakettles and Hawaiian-print shirts and I'm suddenly a-bursting with ideas.

So this afternoon, instead of hyperventilating on the floor of my studio for an hour, I went over the Fremont Vintage Mall and searched for treasures, with the sole intent of not stressing out about work. I didn't buy anything (although I often do; it's one of my favorite places to find cool housewares) - I just wandered around and took pictures of the textures and colors that caught my eye.

And just like that, I feel better.

<3

Cory

PS. Thank you to everyone who has favorited and commented on my recent releases on Ravelry, Instagram, and the blog - it's been really exciting to work with such great companies and publications, and I'm looking forward to doing more of it in the future! (I just gotta focus and make time to look at kitschy lamps and flamingo-shaped jewelry boxes too...)

<3<3<3

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

Stranded Magazine & Pattern Release: Gilia Legwarmers

 

Photo credit: Andi Satterlund, Stranded Magazine

I'm super excited to announce the release of the Stranded Magazine: Mild Weather 2016 issue, and my pattern, the Gilia legwarmers! Knit up in Miss Babs Yowza - Whatta Skein!, they're a fun, cozy way to extend skirts and dresses into the fall, or keep your legs toasty walking down to the diner for pie and damn good coffee. ;)

Gilia is available as part of the full issue, which you can check out on their website or Ravelry.

Now that the official stuff is done, okay, full disclosure: I'm in love with this issue! The bright, retro styling, the Twin-Peaks-y vibe, the designs - Salal and Tupshin and Latourell, omg - soo goood. Not to mention the articles, including a feature on my absolute favorite yarnies, Kate & Rachel of Spincycle Yarns! Yep... time to go find my wool skirts, put on some winged eyeliner, and start adding new projects to my queue...

(And just as a little introduction after the fact, Stranded is a new online publication put together by local designers & yarn folks Andi Satterlund, Erin Birnel, and Monica Kirby - they've been an awesome team to work with, and I'm super stoked to see what they do next. I hope you like the issue as much as I do!)

Happy Thursday!

<33

Cory

Stitchjones Design Challenge Pattern Release: Pow!

  

Aside from a moment in college when I wore slacks and plain t-shirts every day, I've noticed that I choose things based on a deep, irrational pull that I've felt towards them, even - or maybe especially? - if they're the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Glittery trapeze dress? Yes. Pants in a neon tropical fish print? Yesss. This boxy rayon dress with pockets and a checkerboard/rose/watercolor design on it? Yessssss!!!!

And thinking back on it, I had these kinds of clothes as a kid, too: a turquoise t-shirt with frolicking dolphins on it, a white crocheted dress, a pair of hot pink jelly shoes. I couldn't describe why I loved these things, only that I did.

More and more, I've grown to trust that intuition - to design based on what I feel pulled towards, like a weirdo plant leaning towards the sun.

And so, in honor of that: here's Pow! It came to me as a feeling: a sense of joy and playfulness, a picture drawn in comic-book dots - and for an extra bit of fun, Sharon from Stitchjones and I chatted and decided to name the colorway Jelly Shoes. :D

I hope you like it as much as I do!

It's available for download for $6.00, or you can check out the details on Ravelry on the Pow! pattern page.

Happy Wednesday, friends - and if you haven't already, don't forget to check out the other Stitchjones Design Challenge posts below, including the link to Noriko's awesome mitt pattern, Torrance!

<3
Cory

Stitchjones Design Challenge

Part I: Interviews with Stitchjones

Ariel

Noriko

Cory

Part II: Styling Brights

Ariel

Noriko
Cory

Part III: Patterns!
Noriko - Torrance mitts (Ravelry)

Pattern Release: Lelia Hat

  

Way back when I was still in design school, I sketched a cute little hat with a coffee bean pattern on it, and was positively smitten with the idea of it.

Fast forward a couple of years, and that same motif kept on coming up in my sketchbook, again and again. So when I volunteered to work up a design for the Fiber Gallery at Madrona this last year, I was super delighted to find the right balance of yarn and design to finally make the idea come to life, in the form of the Lelia Mitts.

But in my head, Lelia was always meant to be a hat, too. So I put that idea in the back of my noggin for a second while I finished up some other projects, thinking that I'd get back to it as soon as they were finished.

And thennnnnn we got a puppy. (Good-bye, free time! Hello, adorable poop-troll!)

But once the Corgmonster had finally settled in a bit more, and learned important commands like "sit," stay," and "holy crackers, dog, don't put that in your mouth" - a constant work in progress, let's be real -  the Lelia Hat seemed like a great way to get back to it.

Knit up in the same yarns and colorways as the Lelia Mitts, with the same gorgeous color changes of Dyed in the Wool, this hat was like a little potato chip of happiness coming off my needles.

And today, the Lelia Hat pattern is finally ready for its debut! Hooray!

It's available for download for $5.00, or you can check out the details on Ravelry on the Lelia Hat pattern page.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

<3
c.

Pattern Release: Chiral

  

Happy news today, friends - the Chiral cowl is now available for download in my Ravelry store!

The idea for the design started as an experiment in symmetry, and turned into a bright, kicky piece of 3-D smooshiness when I knitted it up in Spincycle Yarns Knit Fast, Die Young, in the colorway Gold Digger. (Just in case I haven't mentioned it enough times, the badass ladies over at Spincycle have my color number on speed-dial!)

So whether you have 100 yards of super-bulky chilling in your stash, or you've been eyeing that Spincycle-y goodness, this pattern is a quick, fun way to play with color and shape.

Chiral is available for download for $4.00, or you can check out the details on Ravelry on the Chiral pattern page.

Big thanks to my test knitter Sara, who helped tweak the wording to make it a better pattern and took her Chiral on a fun field trip to Port Ludlow! I love it when my patterns are well-traveled. :D

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Cory

Design Notebook: Lelia Hat

   

I've had the idea for a companion hat to the Lelia Mitts since the very beginning, but have been super sidetracked recently with work deadlines, classes, and various family stuff. I finally cast on for the sample last week, but after working the colorwork band and a few stripes, I tried it on and found out that it had some problems - too big in the ribbing, and maybe too big in the body too. Either way, not what I wanted.

So today I grabbed some turquoise and green stash yarn in the right weight, and cast on for a second hat to give myself a sanity check, by comparing the two hats without ripping out the first one. I knew that I should try that ever since I started last week, but was feeling disheartened by how far off the sample looked from my vision of it.

Of course, the answer was right there all along: go down a needle size. Chop off a pattern repeat. And suddenly, the thing that looked so sad to me this morning has regained its possibility, that it could have that thing that makes it feel special and right. I was fighting it, because it takes a certain amount of work to admit defeat and try again - but it almost always seems to be worth it in the end.

Harumph.

In other news, our little Corglet has officially completed her first class at doggie school! She's already way more attentive and happy than she was when we started, and we're finally starting to feel like we're communicating properly with each other - even though we still have a lot of work to do.

And Corglet happiness is positively contagious! (Just look at that face... sheesh, dog, you're the frigging cutest.)

Happy Wednesday, friends!
<3
Cory