Upcoming Event: 2-Session Lelia Mitts Workshop at The Fiber Gallery!

hosted by

Sundays, March 12th & March 19th (2 sessions)
3 - 5 pm

Class Fee: $50 + supplies
Skill level: Adventurous beginner to intermediate
Skills needed: Long-tail cast-on, knitting & purling, small-circumference
knitting in the round (DPNs or Magic Loop.)

Starts this weekend - stop by, call, or email to sign up!

The Fiber Gallery
8212 Greenwood Avenue North

Seattle, WA 98103

Online Class Schedule

(206) 706-4197
fibergallery@comcast.net

 

Workshop Overview

Local to Seattle and curious about colorwork? Come join me at The Fiber Gallery in a 2-week workshop featuring my Lelia Mitts pattern, and learn the ropes of basic stranded colorwork!

We’ll talk about choosing colors and practice techniques to create beautiful, even stranded colorwork and stripes on your very own Lelia Mitts project. And as we knit, I’ll share some of my favorite little tweaks to make your knitting shine.

In addition to the in-class discussion of color, you'll receive a Color Play! Combining Two Colors handout to take home.

We'll Learn About:

- how to choose a stranding technique that works with your knitting style
- how to work simple stranded colorwork

- how to work a pretty 2-row stripe technique

as well as

- color dominance in stranded knitting
- basics of yarny color theory
- how to create inspired color pairings

 

Please Bring

- Lelia Mitts pattern

available in print or through Ravelry at The Fiber Gallery

 - 125 yards sport weight Main Color

- 95 yards sport weight Contrast Color
- 3 stitch markers

- needles

Recommended yarn:
Main Color - Cascade 220 Sport, 1 skein.
Contrast Color - Spincycle Yarns Dyed in the Wool, 1 skein.

Recommended needles:

Size 2.5 US (3.0 mm) DPNs

Size 3 US (3.25 mm) DPNs

Size 4 US (3.5 mm) 32"+ (81 cm +) circular needles

Or, preferred needles for small-circumference knitting in the round.

---------------

I'm very excited to be working with Megan, our new owner at The Fiber Gallery, to bring you this indie.knits workshop - it's been so cool to be a part of the awesome new ideas and energy she brings to the shop! <3

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

Love,
Cory

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

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

Spincycle Yarns + The Fiber Gallery: Pink Panther Custom Colorway

 

A few months back, The Fiber Gallery owner Mary, the Spincycle gals, and I started talking about developing a custom colorway for the shop to showcase at Madrona this year.

Thinking of Art Deco and floofy '50s dresses, I helped create a mood board, and Mary, my coworker Cathy, and I brainstormed a name for the colorway. Then we sent it off to Kate & Rachel at Spincycle HQ to work their magic - and oh my gosh, friends, it really is magic. Because yesterday afternoon, Pink Panther hit our doorstep, and when I opened up the box, my heart stopped with happiness for just a second.

Local folks can can come visit it at Madrona next week, exclusively at The Fiber Gallery's booth, where - let's be real here - I will probably be sitting in the corner petting and talking to it like a cat.

Happy Friday! Happy Yarn Day!

<3

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

Fireweed With Me: It's Almost Over!

 

Twinsies!

Remember, tonight, December 4th, at 11:59 pm is the deadline for finishing the knitting on your Fireweed for the KAL. Then you'll have until 11:59 pm next Friday, December 11th, to post on the Ravelry FO thread. (Remember, even if you don't quite finish knitting, please post your WIP on the thread instead!)

Happy Friday, friends!
<3
Cory

Fireweed With Me: Deadline Reminder!

 

Just wanted to pop in and remind you all that the Fireweed With Me KAL is wrapping up soon - next week, actually! It's been so fun to see all your projects on Ravelry, on Instagram, and in person, and I hope that it's been fun for you all too!

In keeping with the chillness of this KAL, I've extended the date for posting your FO on the Ravelry thread, so you have an extra week to block, weave in ends, and snap some photos. And if you're not quite finished yet? No worries! Post a photo of your WIP on the FO thread instead.

So here's all the relevant nitty gritty stuff again, just in case:

Fireweed With Me KAL Dates

• We'll start knitting Friday, September 25th, with a finish date of Friday, December 4th.

• Post your Fireweed on the Fireweed With Me FO thread on Ravelry by 11:59 pm on Friday, December 4th, let's say Friday, December 11th! and you'll be entered to win some super cool prizes, including yarn from Spincycle and patterns from my Ravelry store.

Happy Friday, friends!
<3

Cory

Fireweed With Me KAL: Color Inspiration

 

For my new Fireweed, I wanted to choose something really cheerful and fun. I adore color, and my current favorite way to dress is to start with a neutral base layer, and give it texture and light with a colorful accessory or two. Since my original Fireweed is pretty toned-down, I wanted to go in the opposite direction and choose something really bright.

I ended up choosing Narcissus (yellow) and Venus In Furs (pink) - although I was shying away from using one of the same colors again (my other Fireweed is Venus In Furs & Robin's Egg), in the end, my pink-loving self won out. And because each skein of Dyed in the Wool is unique, I was able to find a skein that complemented my two skeins of Narcissus perfectly, without looking exactly the same as my original color choice.

For this color pairing, I was really inspired by two colors that you see in nature together pretty often: gold and pink. Both of my chosen colorways have undertones of brown, even though the overall color is very bright. I loved the contrast of the pink and the yellow, and the saturation of the colors pair very well together.



Not sure how to choose your colors? Here's a couple of things that I like to think about when I'm picking colors to use together:

Similar saturation levels. There are definitely exceptions to this, but in general, I like to have similar levels of brightness and saturation in the colors that I choose. It's okay (and even preferable) for them to have different values - for one color to read darker than the other, which you can check by viewing the colors in black-and-white. Or, you can turn it on its head by pairing a bold color and a lighter color together, which lets that bold color really shine!

Complementary colors. Some color pairings are tried-and-true favorites, and they work especially well because of their complementary relationship on the color wheel. Orange and blue! Yellow and violet! Red and green! It can be fun to explore these color relationships by playing with their tints (color + white) or shades (color + black) as well.

Color inspiration from nature, art, and photography. I really like Knitsonik's approach to color inspiration: the world around you! If you have a favorite piece of visual inspiration - be it a painting, houseplant, or dog breed - you can definitely use it to help you find a direction for your color pairings. Color is such a personal experience, and I know that I always find it most satisfying to work with colors that make my heart sing!

Here I've taken a few photos and pulled color ideas from them, then matched them up with their representative Spincycle colorways. Of course, each skein is different, so these pairings may work beautifully with some skeins but not as well with others, but they could definitely be a jumping-off point if you're not sure which direction to go in! I tried to include super-bright color combinations and more subtle ones, too.

1 / Red & Blue / Devilish Grin & Tangled Up In Blue

2 / Dark Orange & Dark Blue / Rusted Rainbow & Overpasses

3 / Green & Warm Purple / July, July! and Nostalgia

4 / Orange & Mint / End of Summer & Deep Bump

5 / Cool Purple-Grey & Yellow / Pick Your Poison & Narcissus

6 / Warm Purple-Grey & Sage / Payback & Tell-Tale Heart

I've already seen some great color pairings in your Fireweed KAL projects on Ravelry & Instagram!  I'm delighted that a bunch of folks from Art of Yarn in Kelowna, BC will be joining us on our KAL adventure as well. (Hi friends!)

You have until next Friday, September 25th at 11:59 pm to post on the Ravelry thread, or to Instagram with #fireweedkal, for a chance to win a copy of Lupine - but don't fret, you're welcome to join the KAL even if you don't make it in time for the giveaway!

Hope you all have a very happy Friday!

<3

Cory