I'm selling pieces from the Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet books to raise money for Black Lives Matter and the Equal Justice Initiative. Today I'm listing the Lycaena virgaureae Shawl from The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet, Volume II. Now I'll tell you a secret. I always sort of thought that, when the books were done, I'd keep this beauty all for myself.  It is exactly my shade of orange (with tiny hints of pink and gold in there to break your heart).  The lace is gorgeous. And at about 19 inches tall and 62 inches wide, the whole thing is big enough to feel [...]

I'm selling pieces from the Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet books to raise money for Black Lives Matter and the Equal Justice Initiative. I'm starting with the Fucus asparagoides Shawl from The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet, Volume III. I just adore the shape of this shawl. It sits on your shoulders just so, and the curve on the back is more satisfying than it has any right to be.  It's knit with Plucky Single, a lovely silk and merino blend from The Plucky Knitter.  And it's about 48 inches wide at the widest point, 16 inches tall at the center back, and 10 [...]

Let's raise some money for folks doing good work.⁠ ⁠ I have a stack of pieces from the Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet books. But those books are out of print, so I don't do trunk shows for them, so I don't need the samples anymore. Let's auction them off & send the money to people who will use it to do some good.⁠ Half of the money we raise will go to Black Lives Matter and half to the Equal Justice Initiative. The pieces I'll be auctioning off are the Fucus asparagoides Shawl, the Erasmia pulchella Hat, the Polypodium vulgare Cowl, [...]

The individual patterns from all three volumes of The Knitter's Curiosity Cabinet are out! You can take 10% off the individual patterns or the complete books with the code CURIOUS. Or, if you want all three books, you can use the code QUITE CURIOUS to get the whole set for less than what two books would normally cost. Ok, you already know how I feel about books (pro...I'm pro book). But I know that, every now and then, there could be a book out there where you really only need one or two of the patterns, so getting the whole [...]

Oh look, pretty yarn.  Pretty yarn and pretty knitting. But we need to talk about a few other things too. To those of you who wrote and asked if there would still be pretty yarn, or if it "will just be political nonsense from here on out," I have some good news.  Yes, yes there will be yarn and knitting (because again, enticing pictures of yarn and knitting are how I keep the lights on).  But there's totally going to be some of that "political nonsense" too. It turns out, I am totally cool enough to do both!  If that [...]

Normally, on the first Tuesday of the month, I bring out a pattern.  But things aren't normal. Things are awful.  And I just can't bring myself to talk to you about pretty knitting patterns as though things were ok. So instead, I'm going to ask my US readers to check and make sure you're registered to vote (assuming you're able to).  I want you to check, even if you're pretty sure you're registered, because states purge their voter rolls from time to time (to get rid of folks who have moved or died) and literally tens of thousands of active, [...]

The things functional members of a society are expected to know change over time. You're expected to know how to use a credit card & a cell phone & an elevator, but not how to use an oil lamp or a or a sundial or a slide rule. Keeping up with expectations of what you should know is part of how you remain a member of society. And you do it all the time! This was written on and for instagram, a platform that didn't exist 10 years ago (and now I've shared it on a blog, a concept that [...]

Remember the swatch parade from the other day? Remember the pink and green swatch that almost but not quite clicked?  Turns out all it needed was a little tweak. I swapped the pink out for a Very Similar Pink on a slightly different base, and presto.  Now it works beautifully. And I'll show it off properly down the road, but it's even pretty on the back side.  This looks rather promising!  Well no. This looks crumpled and weird.  But crumpled and weird in a way that gives me confidence that it will be lovely in a bit.