Knitters From The World

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Jen

photo by Hiyastricklust

From an enchanted coast in Denmark, you might by chance see a lovely lady strolling the rocky Baltic Sea edge in a Solstice Lanterns Tam. This is an outstanding knit of the design, as I am so very fond of the natural colorway of Hiyastricklust’s tam. Hers is a great example of how the kaleidoscopic affect of the motifs alone are interesting enough, without making the lantern “lights” a focal point. It is a “lights out” version.

photo by Hiyastricklust

Oh and is that really a thatched roof I see in the countryside there? Utterly charmed lives some knitters have ~~ thank you Hiyastricklust, for your lovely artful knitting !

Solstice Lanterns Tam!

Posted on November 13, 2019 by Jen

jenjoycedesign© Solstice Lanterns Tam 2

Solstice Lanterns is a colorwork tam with original motifs depicting lit lanterns glowing in the festive time of deep winter when the earth takes a nap and we all make merry.

jenjoycedesign© Solstice Lanterns Tam folded

Jolly wee lanterns hang in the base of the crown above the ribbing, and the color changes are close together so you can carry the colors upward without having to snip the yarns, making the finish work of weaving in ends minimal . . .

jenjoycedesign© Solstice Lanterns Tam detail beneathunderside4

. . . and elegant chandelier lanterns in the upper crown, cozy with scrolls and checking and the detail of the lights casting a glow is rather delightful . . .

jenjoycedesign© Solstice Lanterns Tam lights detail

However, as these sort of things go, it doesn’t much matter what they are, because the kaleidoscopic affect of the design is quite transfixing. I knit this tam in a lovely Elemental Affects Shetland 2-ply yarn , which I am a big fan of. But by the time knitters are able to get their yarn to needles for this, it will likely be only a few weeks left to the Winter Solstice .

jenjoycedesign© Solstice Lanterns Tam 1

So speedily gather your Shetland 2ply yarns of choice, cups of tea, mugs of coffee, plates of baked goodies, and a lot of spiritual calm and please do knit one of these up for yourself before the holidays are past.

jenjoycedesign© Solstice Lanterns Tam 8

Poetically speaking, the lanterns have a deeper meaning for me, and that is ~~ a light in the dark is hope, and from our hearts shines a beacon for the future.

The pattern is available HERE.

♥ ♥ ♥

Now, just in case you are thinking, what about the grey-scale tam that I knit up in Jamiesons Spindrift ? Well, it is a bit of dark humor (excuse the pun) as I knit it during a Public Safety Power Shut-off during a very windy few days in October (power lines and wind are a major cause of wildfires in California) , and which in fact lasted a week in the mountainous areas north of the bay. Then, due to falling trees there have been still more power outages, and furthermore, the power is OUT as I post this!!! With a bit of irony, I introduce to you my slightly sinister ” Lights Out In California ” . . .

jenjoycedesign© Lights Out in California

Adorned with a tidy wee felted toorie which I made & posted about yesterday . . .

jenjoycedesign© Lights Out In California 1

Equally as good looking as the festive prototype! However, now that I’ve posted the “Lights Out” version, I have a mind to stitch in colored lights. I’ll think about it. In the mean time, please do check out all the details of Solstice Lanterns over on Ravelry, as it is now live! Thank you ~ xx Jen

Almost

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Jen

jenjoycedesign© tam scraps

Good morning ! My day was started early this morning finishing the last rounds of the tam, and doing all the finish work, and left with a minimal pile of trimmings for the birds’ nests , as I was able to carry the yarns upward as I went, making very little in the way of ends to weave in. Now the tam is blocking to dry, inside-out, with many pins to shape it into a slightly taut disc, which later will be turned outside-out and steamed ever so gently to set the fabric and soften the brim crease.

I have had so much enjoyment designing and knitting this tam that I’m thinking I need to allow myself another tam to design, you know, just binge with it for a while. Nevertheless I am almost done with it, and as it has been quite warm lately, I am hoping it will be dry and ready for a photo later today . . . and you know what that means?

In a blink this tam pattern will be ready to fly!

The Solstice Ahead

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Jen

About five and a half weeks away is the Winter Solstice, and I am working like an ox to get this here tam up and running ahead of the holidays so knitters can knit it for the holidays. As soon as I finish knitting the prototype here I’ll be done & dusted ; I’ve got the pattern all ready to go, charts are drawn and redrawn, then drawn again, and so I am confident that the Up & Coming is going to be ready in a blink. It is certainly a significant personal accomplishment in the wake of a couple of years where my creative brain seemed to be on vacation somewhere far away. It will be knit, blocked (that is, put into a lovely tam shape and un-wrinkled so to speak), then photographed . . . all in the next couple of days.

Stranded on Fair Isle.

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Jen

I’ve been feeling like knitting design has taken a back seat for so long that it was becoming inconsequential to big things going on (so many big big things), so I decided to get focused again and design a tam during the week-long power outage in Napa last week. Here it is blocking inside-out on a blocking board drying into shape with a lot of pins. The motif is quite apropos to the power situation, but I won’t be showing it off right-side-out yet, as it is a test-knit to an upcoming pattern idea. That is, I am waiting for my order of Elemental Affects Shetland yarn to arrive for something heart-warming and cheerful for the holidays, but having wanted something to ‘sketch’ the motif with, I dug into my yarn drawer and pulled out four balls of Jamiesons Spindrift to make a grey-scale version of the colorful holiday one forthcoming, but with a little bit of a sinister spin on it. And that is all you get to know for now.