Moar Teaching, and an FO Too: Lelia Mitts!

A quick note for Seattle-local folks - I'll be teaching the Lelia Mitts workshop locally, this upcoming Sunday at The Fiber Gallery! This workshop will be two weekend sessions, October 16th and 23rd, from 3-5 pm.

Interested in joining? Give the shop a call to sign up.

Materials requirements are listed on the Lelia Mitts Ravelry page; needles, Spincycle-y goodness and print copies of the pattern are all available at the shop. Hope to see some of y'all there! <3

 - and now, onto the post!

  

Oh hai there, friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? The fall season has arrived - and with it, a plethora of fiber festivals, classes, and other flagrant knit-wearing opportunities. I have to admit that my brain is a little scrambled from all the fun, as well as with preparations for this year's Knit Fit!, where I'll be a vendor.

I'm hoping to come back to the blog a bit more than I have for the last six months - I've really been missing it, and you all!

In the meantime, here's my most recent pair of Lelia Mitts. I've been jamming hard on orange and turquoise lately, and these mitts are a prime example of that.

I worked them up in three yarns: Swans' Island All-American Collection Sport, a delightfully crunchy domestically-produced Rambouillet yarn, as my main color; and a skein of Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool - which was a special edition color, and a little skinnier than its usual sport weight - held double with Jade Sapphire 2-ply Cashmere, as my contrast color.

Dreamy, right?

More details are on my project page on Ravelry, over hmeah.

Happy fall, friends, and happy Tuesday!

<3
Cory

Pattern Release: Lelia Mitts

On Christmas day, 1899, my great-grandmother Lelia Rieth was given a book of poetry by her father. It's a beautiful volume: the cover brown and textured, the title and spine embossed with flourishes, the edges of each page leafed in gold. My grandfather passed it on to me on my twelfth birthday, my name inscribed in his blocky engineer's handwriting below Lelia's. The dates between us spanning an entire century.

I never met my great-grandmother, but through that book and through stories of her life, I felt like I knew her. Even her name sounded singularly beautiful to me, not only because of its pleasing cadence, but also because of the strength of the person she was: her creative spirit, her resilience, her optimism.

Lelia, abandoned by her husband to raise her children alone during the Great Depression. Lelia, mother of two boys who went to war, and only one who came back. And yet, still: Lelia who sang opera. Lelia who painted. Lelia, who kept a book of Longfellow given to her by her Papa for her whole life.

Lelia, who looked at the world through eyes the color of mine.

And so, these are for her.

 

The pattern is available for download for $5.00, or you can check out the details on Ravelry on the Lelia pattern page.

Big thanks to my test knitter and tech editor, and to everyone who has shared their kind words about this design both in person and online. This one has been in my noggin for a long time, and I'm so happy to be able to share it with you! <3

Happy Friday, friends!

Cory

Sneak Peek: Lelia Mitts

  

Exciting news to share this week, friends! So, next week is the Madrona Fiber Arts retreat, which is always one of the highlights of my year - and this time, I have a new pattern that will be debuting just in time for the event, exclusively available in print at The Fiber Gallery booth.

Meet the Lelia Mitts!

Inspired by the patterns on vintage Pyrex dishes and named after my great-grandmother, they're a kicky little pattern featuring Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool and Cascade 220 Sport. They're a quick, wearable project that will keep you delighted as the Dyed in the Wool gently shifts colors as you knit. (Fiber Gallery fans will be able to knit them up in our brand-spankin-new custom colorway from Spincycle, which will also debut at Madrona.)

Local folks can buy their copy of the Lelia Mitts at Madrona (or at the shop, post-Madrona) and non-local folks will be able to download the pattern on Ravelry starting March 11th, 2016.

I'll be working the Fiber Gallery booth at Madrona on Thursday, and I'll be hanging around the market on Saturday too - please do say hello! You'll recognize me by the Fluevogs and ridiculous outfit I am 100% likely to have on.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

<3

Cory

F / W 2015: Wayward

Next up in the F / W Collection is a brand-new accessory pattern: the Wayward mitts. As with the other items in the collection, it will be available for download this Friday, November 13th.

Wayward is knit in two colors of Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift, a richly textured, traditional Shetland yarn with an incredible range of colors, perfect for colorwork and light, warm accessories. Additional details on the yarn and pattern can be found on Ravelry.

  

Growing up, family was anyone you chose to give your heart to, and I can think of no better example than my grandma Margaret. Born in the 1920s and raised in New Mexico, Margaret worked as a computer at Los Alamos during the war, and met my mother when they both worked in the aerospace industry in the late 1980s. 

Sleepovers at Margaret's apartment were a fixture of my childhood weekends. Although I was too young to understand the significance of an unmarried woman working in technology in the mid-twentieth century, I always gravitated towards the material artifacts of her long and adventurous life: a painting of the mesa; a clock made from a piece of petrified wood; ceramics of turquoise and gold and speckled earth.

It was not New Mexico that I fell in love with from these objects; it was New Mexico through Margaret's eyes. The moment when the sun goes down and night begins to settle in over the desert, the sky fading from cerulean to a blue so deep it nearly blots out the stars. The black mountains in the distance, cupping the valley in darkness. The little square windows of the houses illuminated, the activity of the people inside framed as if in miniature: who cooks with an old iron pot, who wears sheepskin slippers, who drinks coffee thick with grounds. 

And so, Wayward is like one of those small windows to me: a mountain in twilight, a sketch of a place done from memory. To follow this thread of taking inspiration from women dear to me, I drew the name and color choices from the work of my friend Kat of The Wayward Knitter, whose beautifully earthbound color sense constantly surprises and delights me.

And with that - happy Wednesday Tuesday, friends. (ETA: Hee hee! Can you tell I'm tired? I don't even know what day it is.)

<3

Cory

Model & Styling: Nicole Hood

Designer, Photographer & Styling: Cory Ellen Boberg

WIP: Opaline

 

Some of my most-worn knits this winter have been fingerless mitts; I wear them pretty much every day, and I find that they're great for both driving and walking around town. Although most days in Seattle, a full mitten is overkill, having just a little bit of warmth on my hands helps keep my fingers toasty. They're also a ridiculously fast project - so fast that I'm not sure why I haven't knit more of them!

I've had this Tosh Chunky in the colorway Opaline in my stash for three or four years, and a few days ago, I decided it was time to make it into mitts. I had forgotten how beautiful and squishy this yarn is - the colorway is almost iridescent, gently shifting from pale violet to glazed blues and pinks with each stitch. (Even Lumberjack commented on how pretty it is.)

The pattern is called Meg's Fingerless Mitts, from Serial Knitters out in Kirkland, although unfortunately it's not listed on Ravelry. It only took me a few hours to knit these up, and I've already given them a bath! Now I just have to be patient and let them dry before I weave in their ends and start wearing them everywhere.

Happy Friday!
<3
Cory