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looking back at 2018

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I’ve been taking some time to look back, as one is wont to do at this time of year. Yesterday was the winter solstice, which means this year has almost drawn to a close. 2018 has been quite a year. I released a lot of patterns this year. I knew I had done more work than usual, and kicking it up a notch in the first full calendar year after finishing my master’s degree was the plan, but still, when I sat down to count out how many new designs I actually released, I was stunned to realize there were twenty-four of them. 24 new patterns in 2018! Fifteen of those came in the form of three collections. I am absolutely astonished at my own productivity. Of course, there are some things that helped make this achievable – working with third parties always makes the work less for me, and tied to that is the fact that the work for some of this year’s releases was actually done in 2017 (or in the case of Fog & Frost, even earlier). Sample knitters also knit a few of these samples. These are all things I’m grateful for as someone designing and writing knitting patterns. But here’s a look at my 24 patterns of 2018 (a list with links will follow in case something piques your interest):

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From left to right –
Row 1: Frost Flowers, Lyngen, Alice Mittens
Row 2: Mountain Hum, Polar Night, North Wind
Row 3: West Wind, Cloud Pine, Adrian
Row 4: Opal, Dorthea, Turlough
Row 5: Drumlin, Weekend Walking Mitts, Caithness
Row 6: Tremblant Toque, Le Massif Scarf, Sutton Slippers
Row 7: Stoneham Poncho, Bromont Mitts, Brave at Heart
Row 8: Just and Loyal, Wit Beyond Measure, Great Ambition

The collections are definitely all highlights – Fog & Frost, the Chalet Collection for Espace Tricot, and Lion, Badger, Eagle, Snake. The reception for the latter two in particular has been incredible, and I don’t know how to say thank you in a way that actually conveys my gratitude. But thank you.

A few of these patterns were published in books, and it is always exciting to see my name and my work in print. Opal and Dorthea were published in the Norwegian book Ruter og Lus: Retrostrikk fra Salhus Trikotagefabrikk (which I wrote about here) and I still can’t quite believe the museum wanted me of all people to be involved with that project. And then Caithness was published in Kate Davies’s new compilation of hat patterns, Milarrochy Heids, and it means a great deal to me to be included in those pages and to call Kate a colleague and a friend.

I also returned to teaching this year, giving a few classes at Espace Tricot and teaching a full weekend of workshops at Twist Festival in Saint-André-Avellin, Québec. I spent eight months of this year working at Espace Tricot as well, getting to know local knitters and making friends and generally becoming a part of the wonderful fiber community in and around Montréal and Québec, so being invited to teach at Twist was a highlight. All the classes I gave were colorwork related, and it brings me so much joy to share my love and knowledge of colorwork with other knitters.

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From top to bottom: teaching my Traditional Mittens workshop, being interviewed by Transistor Media (you can listen here), and hanging out with buds in the Knitting It Up Yarns booth (first two photos by Sébastien Lavallée for Twist Festival, third photo courtesy of Annie of Knitting It Up)

While I’ve been invited to teach at a few retreats and events in 2019, I’m not anticipating very much teaching in the coming year, I’m sorry to say. The reason for that is that I’m likely looking at another big move next summer (which can make event planning difficult-to-impossible), but more on that at a later date.

Plenty of other things have happened this year – I read 30 books, I learned a new craft, I traveled to some new and exciting places as well as some old and familiar ones. I feel I have so much to be grateful for right now. Given the year I’ve had, I’m taking it easy for the last few weeks of the year, and I’m looking forward to spending the Christmas holiday with family and friends. I am especially grateful to you, my readers, followers, customers. You all are a massive part of the wonderful year 2018 has been on a professional level, and I can’t say thank you enough. My birthday falls on the first of the new year, and some of you may remember I held a birthday sale on patterns last year – keep an eye out, because I plan to do the same this coming year. It’s such a nice way to say thank you for the year just gone by.

Whatever the end of 2018 holds for you – travel, festive celebrations, time for quiet reflection – I hope you enjoy it. And I’ll see you in the new year.

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new year

DiannaLeave a comment

It’s been a surreal start for 2016. Here’s a glimpse:

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Emma Watson started an online feminist book club (it’s called Our Shared Shelf, and you can join the group on Goodreads, if that’s at all appealing). I read most of the first book, Gloria Steinem’s My Life on the Road, on a flight to London over the weekend. My route back to Tromsø included an overnight stay in London where I got to hang out with Lydia of Pom Pom and some lovely folks at Loop. I didn’t take any pictures until the train ride to Gatwick (that always happens these days), but I had a lot of fun. I love London.

Monday morning I woke up at six (thanks, jet lag) and spent some quiet time hanging out in the tiny bed in my tiny hotel room. It was there that I learned about Bowie’s passing, via Twitter. It felt absolutely unreal, and then I was just sad. It’s still surreal.

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I finished My Life on the Road in the first hour of my flight from London to Tromsø. It was really, really excellent. I tweeted about this, and then Emma Watson replied and retweeted me (!). I’ve now had a (very) tiny glimpse of what it’s like to be a celebrity on Twitter, and I’m grateful that’s not my reality. Not only do I have a lot of respect and admiration for Emma, but she’s an actress near my age who I watched grow up on screen, so the surreal score is off the charts for seeing my tweet right there at the top of her feed.

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I’m back in snowy, dark Tromsø now and the beauty of this place at this time of year is as surreal as ever. The days have been clear since I got back and the light’s been incredible. In less surreal news, I’ve started classes for the new term and already have a stack of reading to do, but I’ve managed to get in a few stitches here and there on some small projects. I’m sensing a color theme; it might have something to do with the light outside. I love these wintry blues. Also, now that I’m thinking about it, the fern pattern and the tree motif have quite a lot in common…

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The embroidery is a kit I bought last summer at Urban Craft Uprising, from Studio MME. It’s one of those fantastic and simple little kits where the pattern is printed right on the fabric so the stitching is relatively mindless but the end result is stunning (I’m sort of halfway through, so if you look very closely you can see the difference between my stitches and the printed bit I have yet to embroider). You can find this particular kit in their online shop (although it appears that it’s now being sold with a round hoop, instead of the oval one I got). The knitting is another kit, a Toatie Hottie by Kate Davies. The pattern is for a hot water bottle cozy and the kit (not currently available in Kate’s shop) came with yarn and pattern plust a mini-hot water bottle just for that purpose. I bought the kit ages ago and have actually used the hot water bottle several times, but I’m using it more regularly in Tromsø and I thought it was about time I actually knit the thing. I managed to knit most of it in an evening, getting through the whole chart with just the top bit and ribbing left.

golden milk smoothie

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I’ve probably used the “I know this isn’t a food blog” disclaimer before, but I do enjoy sharing the very occasional recipe in this space when I come up with something I actually think is worth sharing. In any case, I’ve been pretty into making smoothies in my Vita-Mix since the start of the new year, and I’m kind of an Oh She Glows devotee at this point. One of my favorite smoothie recipes in the Oh She Glows cookbook is the Cheerful Chocolate Smoothie, a vegan chocolate smoothie that uses a combo of almond milk and avocado (rather than banana, which is not my favorite smoothie ingredient) to create the creamy base. To give credit where credit is due, that’s the smoothie that put this idea in my head. Thanks for that, Angela!

Golden milk is something I’ve seen popping up all over lately, and for good reason. It’s long been a folk remedy for colds and other sicknesses, largely due to the benefits of turmeric – which is what gives it its namesake golden color. A quick Google search will have the Internet hitting you over the head with the magical! healing! properties! of turmeric! so search the Internet at your own risk and take it with a grain of salt. But at the very least, the mix of sweet and spicy in golden milk does do a great job of being refreshing while also clearing out your sinuses. It’s served as a hot drink, and I’ve definitely enjoyed it before bed a few times. If you’ve had golden milk and liked it, or if you just know you like turmeric and ginger, this smoothie version’s totally for you.

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Vegan Golden Milk Smoothie

A few notes on the recipe:

– It involves frozen goods and ice cubes, and dates can be on the hard side depending on where they’re coming from, so you may not want to attempt this if you haven’t got a high speed blender with a good motor in it.

– When cutting into a new avocado for a batch of smoothie, I go ahead and quarter it so that the sections are ready to go for future batches. Pop the 3/4 you’re not using in a freezer-safe container and freeze them for later.

– The almond milk could be swapped out for any other non-dairy milk (or even dairy milk if you roll that way). I use unsweetened and would recommend that for this smoothie, since the dates act as a sweetener.

– When I make this, it yields about 3 cups. I like to pour half in a glass and the other half into a jar I can pop in the fridge for later.

Ingredients

  • approx. 1/4 of an avocado
  • 2 cups unsweetened almond milk or other non-dairy milk
  • 1 heaping tsp turmeric powder
  • small quantity chopped ginger (I chop up about a 1/2″ piece)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4-6 medium medjool dates, pitted
  • 1/8 tsp cardamom
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 4-6 ice cubes
  • pinch of salt
  • dash of black pepper

1. Add the avocado, almond milk, turmeric powder, ginger, and vanilla to blender. Blend on high speed until mixed.

2. Add the pitted dates, cardamom, cinnamon, ice, salt, and black pepper to blender, then blend again on high speed until mixture is smooth.

3. That’s it! Pour and enjoy!

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knit fit! and a vasa knitalong

DiannaLeave a comment

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Have you been thinking about knitting Vasa? Then it’s the perfect time to head over to Ravelry and join the September knitalong hosted by Holland Road Yarn Co. of Wellington, New Zealand! Of course, the southern hemisphere is heading into their spring, which makes it the perfect time for southern hemisphere knitters to cast on, but if you live in some of the warmer places up here in the northern hemisphere (like my home state of North Carolina) you’ve still got a month or two of Vasa-appropriate weather. I was quite excited when I discovered that Tash, who owns HRYC, had chosen Vasa for her store’s September KAL, because I had *just* been reading about the store and her yarn, Knitsch, in Extra Curricular magazine. I love it when worlds collide and I’m hoping to work with some Knitsch sock on a design for winter or early spring release… but more on that later!

If you want to join the Vasa KAL for September, you can find the Ravelry thread right here. I’ve been enjoying seeing different Vasa tees pop up on Ravelry – it’s so fun to see what colors everyone chooses! I hope some of you will join in for the KAL.

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My other announcement today is that Paper Tiger will be a vendor at this year’s Knit Fit! marketplace. Knit Fit is a knitting even in Seattle with classes, lectures, and a free-entry marketplace. This year it runs November 2-3 at the Ballard Community Center, and the list of instructors can be found here. I will be releasing my Fall/Winter 2013 collection in the week leading up to it, so I’ll have printed copies of collection patterns available and samples on display in the booth! I’m also hoping to put together a few kits, for pieces from the collection and hopefully a few of my other patterns as well (Pine Bough Cowl, anyone?).

If you’re in the Seattle area and a trip to Chicago for Vogue Knitting Live! is a little out of your budget, Knit Fit is a fantastic local alternative. You can view the schedule of classes and events here, and registration can be found here. If you’re not up for any classes, you should still pop by the marketplace and say hello! Registration isn’t necessary for the free-entry marketplace. I hope to see some of you there!

new journal

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I ended up taking a big break from bookmaking in 2009, rather by accident, so I’m hoping to make many new ones in the coming year. Here’s my first book in a long time:

As always, it’s blank with 50 pages, bound and painted by hand. I’ve been folding paper and sewing pages for weeks, so there are more on the way!

baked potato frites

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I’ve had food on the brain a lot, lately. Here’s one of my easy favorites for your Sunday afternoon:

Baked Potato Frites

You will need:
– potatoes (I use russet, but these can easily be done with red potatoes, sweet potatoes, or any other variety, really)
– olive oil
– salt & pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450°F
2. Wash and slice potatoes into fry-sized pieces
3. Place unbaked frites on a cookie sheet. Douse with enough olive oil that the frites are coated. I like to arrange them in rows so that they’re easy to flip later on.
4. Place the cookie sheet in the oven for approximately 12-15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and flip the frites. (If you’re having trouble with the frites sticking to the cookie sheet, try popping them in the oven for a few more minutes first).
6. Put the frites back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
7. Remove frites from oven, transfer them to a plate, and sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste.
8. Savor and/or devour accordingly.