Issue 32, fiber fest workshops and the return of the 100 Day Project

hey everybody,

It’s that time of year again. The 100 Day Project started on February 23rd, and I’m settling into the routine. This year, my project is pretty wide open. Since my usual approach to freeform is geared towards wearables, I typically choose to stay within some fairly consistent boundaries that I know work for me. For 100 days, however, I’m working outside those boundaries, with an intention to not worry about outcomes (I’ll try my best). That leaves a lot of possibilities, which is exciting.

So far, I’ve tried a Romanian point lace cord scrumble with lots of negative space (photo above), log cabin knitting with a little crochet in bulky yarns,

log cabin construction

and the beginnings of a piece made with post stitches and chunky bright yarns.

Some days, I work on this River Run Shawl as part of my Project. This Christy Furber pattern works more like a recipe, which makes it easy for me to add my own favorite stitch patterns to it. The yarns I’m using are worsted to chunky, again, heavier than I usually work with.

I’m enjoying using bigger needles and hooks with these heavier yarns and warm fibers like mohair. The textures are just very satisfying to play with. I consider this particular design comfort knitting at its finest.

Is anyone else here doing a 100 Day Project? I’d love to hear about it if you are.

wonky spiral pattern tests

It’s almost time to release my Wonky Freeform Spirals Guide. After teaching the Wonky Spirals workshop at the Carolina Fiber Fest (in Raleigh at 1:00 on Saturday, March 15), I’ll do one more edit and make the guide available on Ravelry.

Once again, I’ll say that the women who tested the stitch-by-stitch pattern for this new guide are just the best. Their valuable feedback and suggestions truly helped me improve the pattern by leaps and bounds. I posted some of their test spiral photos in the last newsletter, and here are a bunch more. Heartfelt thanks and appreciation go out this time to Kelli, Mary, Anne-Sylvie, Janice, Hilary, Heidi, Anna, Sue, Loren, Murleen, and Emma.

I was thrilled when Anna, a lovely crocheter in the UK, made a spiral from the pattern, then improvised her own variations afterwards (row 2 in the grid above). What an exciting thing to see.

If you’re interested in coming to Raleigh for the Carolina Fiber Fest, here’s their link. It’s a great event. My other classes are on Friday the 14th; join me for a freeform class at 9:00 or a knitted asymmetrical shawl class at 1:00.

artist for inspiration

These paper weavings from russelljamesbarratt on Instagram were done as small projects to work out ideas for future textile projects. His IG page is an interesting browse, lots of intriguing techniques and ideas for quilters and fiber people in general.

a few more things you might like

What I’m listening to: the soundtrack to Parade by Jason Robert Brown

What I’m reading: lots of other newsletters on Substack, especially Austin Kleon’s, about writing, writing a newsletter, creativity, and a wide variety of interesting topics

What I’m watching: Dexter (TV series), an oldie but goodie

That’s it for today, thanks for reading!

Lisa

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