Tag Archives: Knitted Wit

Brooke Sinnes of Sincere Sheep

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I first came across Brooke Sinnes and her beautiful yarn, Sincere Sheep, at the Interweave Knitting Lab in San Mateo last November. Her booth was crammed so full of people I could hardly get in. So I really just grabbed the first thing that caught my eye – a blue skein of her “Keen” yarn, a blue-faced liecester wool – paid for it and left. But I really liked what I was able to see.
THEN I started knitting with my “Keen,” making Michelle Miller‘s Flambe shawl. I nearly had a fit at how fantastically lovely this yarn was. It had a great hand feel, the stitch definition was superb, and I loved the intensity and variation of the color that came from her indigo dye. The shawl is an eye-popper and when I next saw Brooke, at Stitches in Feb., I snagged TWO skeins of “Keen” and another of “Agleam” in color way “Suerte.”
Brooke will be at K2Tog on Wed. May 2 from 6 to 8 p.m., with Kira Dulaney of Kira K Designs, to talk about her dying method using all natural dyes. We have a sample of her yarns in the store now to whet your appetite for more.

Brooke's yarn on display at K2Tog

 Kimberly- How long have you been knitting/crocheting? Who taught you, or how did you learn?
Brooke – I taught myself how to knit when I was about 10 years old (about 23 years ago).  We were living in Kansas City, MO at the time and I made one of my parents drive me out to the nearest Hobby Lobby’s so I could buy a pamphlet, yarn, and some needles.  It worked!  After that my dad put me in touch with a co-worker that knew how to knit and she was able to answer some lingering questions.  I also taught myself how to crochet during the same time period.

Brooke in her Stitches booth

K – What motivated you to start your business? How long ago was that?
B – I started Sincere Sheep in 2003 when, through a friend who is a vet in Sonoma, I found out that the price of wool was so miserable that sheep farmers were just composting their wool.  Because I live in the wine country the concept of ‘terroir’ was a familiar one and seemed a logical fit with wool and natural dyes.

Yummy Brooke Yarns

K – What do you most love about creating the things you eventually sell? What is most satisfying to you and why?
B – It’s hard to choose just one thing.  I love being able to support farmers.  I love working with color.  I love meeting my customers and seeing what they do with my yarns.  I love working with great designers and local yarn store owners.  Can you tell I really enjoy what I do?
K – What’s the single biggest challenge in running your business?
B – There’s never enough hours in the day to do all of the things I’d like to do!
K – Tell me about one item you sell that is most special to you, or that you are most proud of.
B – I really love my Cormo Sport yarn.  It’s a great mix of wonderful farmer, fiber, mill, and yarn. (You can read more about Cormo wool and the Sonoma sheep farm where Brooke gets the wool from here).
K – Brooke has a new Terroir Fiber Series (T.F.S) where she borrows the idea of “terroir,” or “sense of place” from the wineries in and around Sonoma and applies it to wool, creating a line of yarns that instill a sense of the farm and personalities of sheep from which they were made.
K –  Who most inspires you in what you do? Why?
B – The list is long but I’ll pick the other women and men that I meet in the industry.  I love the sense of collaboration and camaraderie that arises.  The excitement I feel after a conversation with Kira or Lorajean, for example, drives me to create and come up with new ideas.

Ballerina Shawl

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Ballerina!

I just finished another of Michelle Miller’s fine triangle shawls, this one called Ballerina. Michelle, of course, is the brains and beauty behind Fickle Knitter Designs. You can read more that I have written about Michelle and her work here.

Michelle designed this shawl earlier this year to debut at Stitches West. The night before, she showed it off – and offered the pattern for sale – at a trunk and talk show we held with her and Lorajean Kelly of Knitted Wit Yarns.

The shawl was designed with two skeins of Knitted Wit’s “Featherweight.” I made with with a single skein of Sincere Sheep‘s “Keen” in color way “Brocade.”

This was not a complicated pattern at all. You start at the top, at what will be the back of the neck, and spread outward and downward from there. Then you come back and add a knitted on border that is perpendicular to the main triangle. This is not a pick-up -and-knit border, ut one you knit and attach by knitting together the last stitch of the border with the last stitch of the row on the shawl. You go around the point in an easy-to-accomplash bit of short rows. And nice big needles – size 8!

Ballerina border

I loved this pattern – will make it again – and love this yarn. I am teaching this as a knit along at K2Tog later this summer. It’s a great project for those wanting to try triangles, try lace, or learn to read charts.

Ballerina body - detail

Making Valentines – FOR ME

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Today is Valentines Day and I am on my own. My husband is in Wisconsin visiting his mother. It is -11 degrees. Good.

So I had a lot of time for knitting this last weekend and I finished a couple of projects. First, I completed Fickle Knitter’s “Flambe” shawl using one skein of Sincere Sheep‘s “Keen.” This was just a blast to knit. I love knitting triangles, and this one had a great rhythm to the pattern, which was easily memorized. I have also never done a lace pattern that has “stripes.” Pretty cool. And I finished it just in time for the Michelle Miller’s, the designer, visit to our store on Feb 22. I will wear it proudly!

The other thing I loved about knitting this was the yarn. I bought a skein of Keen at the Interweave Knitting Lab show held in San Mateo last year. Brooke Sinnes, the owner and dyer behind the business, only uses natural dyes, and she warned me this yarn, dyed with indigo, would leave my hands blue. It did, but nothing got on my clothes or anything else, and I would just wash my hands after knitting and it would be gone. It was a skein of blue-faced Leicester- my first (that I know of) made from this breed – and it was a tightly wound fingering weight yarn. I don’t know if I have the words to accurately describe how much I loved working with this yarn or why. I just loved the way it felt going through my fingers, I loved the stitch definition. I just couldn’t put it down and I WANT MORE. Brooke and Sincere Sheep will be at Stitches West and you better believe I’ll be there with $$$ in hand.

Flambe

All right, let’s see. The other thing I worked on was a hat made from a single skein of Madeline Tosh “Vintage” in “Mansfield’s Garden Party.” I bought this skein at Balls and Skeins in Sebastopol as Terry and I were on our way to the Sea Ranch last month. I am not usually a fan of yarn this variegated, but there was something about this one. It looked like a bouquet of  spring flowers right here in the middle of winter (or what passes for winter in Northern California). Anyway, not much you can do with one skein besides a hat, so I searched Ravelry and found this pretty nice FREE pattern for a slouchy beret. I wanted something that I could knit while reading, so I was looking for something pretty simple – just knit and purl. And I’m happy to say I read through half my stack of New York Times while making this. When I finished, I felt the colors of the yarn needed something – a little punctuation to draw the eye and make certain shades stand out. So I dug through my button box (a pretty big box) and found this great reproduction of a vintage button I bought years ago – I think at Stitches – made by “Wave of the Wand.” I have attached it for a safety pin for now so I can move it around, change it, etc. I love it!

Slouchy hat

And then there’s the two babies my editor at Religion News Service and his partner are expecting. I already designated this Elizabeth Zimmerman “Baby Surprise” sweater I had stashed away for them, and I have another baby sweater made from a vintage pattern not he needles. But I have always wanted to try my hand at Saartje’s Booties, a very popular Ravelry pattern. And viola! Made

EZ's Baby Surprise

with Crystal Palace “Bunny Hop” on size 2 needles. The buttons are two vintage mother-of-pearl ones dug out of – you know where.

Saartje's Booties

That’s it. That was my weekend. That and a trip to see “The Artist” (fab!) and two hours absorbed by Downton Abbey. What am I going to when that concludes next week? More knitting, I am sure.

Introducing Michelle Miller of Fickle Knitter

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Michelle!

In my last post, I introduced you all to Lorajean Kelly of Knitted Wit. Today, I want you to meet Michelle Miller, the brains and talent behind Fickle Knitter Designs. Both Michelle and Lorajean will be giving a talk and doing a trunk show at K2Tog on Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. – the night before Stitches West, where both will be making their first appearance. This is your chance to come and hear these young yarn divas talk about their design process and small businesses AND GET FIRST PICK OF THE GOODIES – YARNS AND PATTERNS – THEY ARE TAKING TO STITCHES.

Ellen and I first met Michelle at TNNA last June. We were so impressed with her patterns – gorgeous lacy shawls, scarves and shawlettes made with one skein of luxury yarn. Her patterns are well-written and clearly explained with superb charts and written instructions. I have knit a couple – Jade Sapphire and Flambe – and been super-impressed with their clarity. I like that Michelle’s patterns only seem simple – they are easy to execute but look much more complex than they are. And they are damn pretty, too! And we were also impressed with Michelle – her background in physics gives her patterns a mathematical precision lots of other designers should envy. She has a pattern in Iris Schreier’s new book One + One and will debut a new shawlette pattern made with Knitted Wit yarn at our store on the 22nd. Michelle lives in Southern California.

I asked Michelle a few questions about her work . . . .

Kimberly: What motivated you to start your business? How long ago was that?

Michelle: I started Fickle Knitter Design in 2008 when I was staying at home with my daughter Maya. I was inspired to start my business because I wasn’t getting much adult interaction and chasing after an 18 month old all day wasn’t mentally stimulating. Right before I started my business I read an interview by Meg Swansen saying that if you’ve conquered knitting lace the next frontier is design. I took her on her word and began writing, editing, and selling my patterns for the first time. It was a big personal leap for me but I’m so glad I did it because being a small business owner has really changed my life for the better.

Michelle's creative space

Kimberly: What do you most love about creating the things you eventually sell? What is most satisfying to you and why?

Michelle: I like solving puzzles and designing, knitting, and writing is like solving one large, very complex puzzle! I’ve worked a lot of complicated problem sets over the years as a physicist and while working on unsolved physics problems I’ve found that writing a successful knitting pattern is just as rewarding. I love hearing positive feedback from knitters on my work and love to see what other people are knitting with my patterns.

Kimberly: Tell me about one item you sell that is most special to you, or that you are most proud of.

Michelle's First Book!

Michelle: Leaves, Fickle Knitter Design, Volume 1 is my very first book and I’m so proud of it. My family really came together to allow me the time and resources to complete my first body of work. I particularly enjoyed working with the photographer and graphic designer to make my dream a reality! The book has eight knitting projects all using 395 yards of yarn or less which is perfect for the busy 21st Century knitter. The book features patterns using lace weight, fingering weight, dk weight and aran weight yarns in a variety of styles with most patterns requiring only one skein of yarn. [Kimberly says - we have copies of the book and Michelle's patterns in stock, and she'll be bringing more to the trunk show on Feb 22]

Kimberly: How long have you been knitting? Who taught you, or how did you learn?

Michelle: I’ve been knitting since 2004 and I taught myself in graduate school as a way to cope with a family member fighting terminal cancer. Knitting has brought me such serenity in my life when chaos has tried to take over. Of course at times I feel frustrated, but that’s when it’s time to pull out a simple stockinette piece or hand spin some yarn to knit up. Knitting is my touchstone and my life wouldn’t be the same without it.

Kimberly: Who most inspires you in what you do? Why?

Michelle: I’m inspired by all of the women-owned businesses in the knitting industry. It’s a place for us to work in an area we love. I make a special point to seek out other knitting businesses who are women owned and based in the US or Canada when I can. I love my work and even though it can be difficult at times to be away from my family it refreshes and recharges my life. I’m a better person because of knitting.

Kitty in Fickle Knitter Designs

Knitted Wit’s Lorajean Kelly

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Some of you know that one of my new projects at K2Tog is to bring in new, young fiberistas to talk to our customers about what they do and how they do it. Our goal is to have one of these talks and shows each month, and we are kicking the whole project off this month, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. with a dynamic duo, Lorajean Kelly of Knitted Wit and Michelle Miller of Fickle Knitter Designs. In this post, I want to introduce you to Lorajean, and we’ll tackle Michelle in another post all her own.

I came across Lorajean, who is from Portland, at last year’s Interweave Knits show in San Mateo. Hers was the first booth I entered, drawn in by its gorgeous colors and her charming self, standing there knitting away while she answered questions and guided people to her luscious goods. I purchased a skein of “Shine” in a gorgeous, shiny pewter and brought all my buddies in to buy, too. I am very excited to bring her and her goodies into the shop for the show, where she’ll talk about where her ideas for yarn colors come from and how she sets those ideas into motion and eventually gets them to our needles. She will be bringing lots of yarn to sell after her talk – we get first pick before she heads down to Stitches West right after her talk. In preparation for the show, I asked her a few questions about her process . . . .

Kimberly:What motivated you to start your business? How long ago was that?

Baby dyer!

Lorajean: I started Knitted Wit in early 2007. I had just learned how to spin and there weren’t many options for dyed fiber yet. I had done a little bit of natural dyeing with a friend so I got the gist of what to do. I thought I could dye fiber for myself and sell the extra to keep me in the fiber habit. I think I’ve always had an entrepreneurial bug and this was the perfect fit. I love all the aspects of the different jobs, I never get bored!

Kimberly: Where did the name “Knitted Wit” come from?

Lorajean: Knitted Wit is because I think I’m funny. I know. It’s a little silly. But I have a very silly sense of humor and love to laugh! My favorite joke? Do you have a hole in your sock? No. Then how did you get it on! Ha!

Kimberly: What do you most love about creating the things you eventually sell? What is most satisfying to you and why?

Lorajean: Such a great question! I really enjoy every step. I love winding yarn, a nice meditative task, but also finishing the job is satisfying. The physical labor of dyeing is very satisfying too. Drying, rewinding, labeling. All these tasks are great! I think because I’m home with my two boys (Eli, 3, Owen, 20 months) it feels amazing to get all these tasks done. I think it can be hard to stop with the tasks and tap in to the creativity, but I think that’s just where I am in this moment. It’s getting easier and easier as the boys are getting older, and the creativity is back!

Look at her colors!

Kimberly: Tell me about one item you sell that is most special to you, or that you are most proud of.

Lorajean: I am passionate about Feather Weight and Cypress Hollow Yarn. The Rambouillet wool is grown in Wyoming ( at Mountain Meadow Wool) and processed in Buffalo. The mill has a track back program that sends funds back to farmers based on sales. The yarn is beautiful, and full of life. Each yarn creates a beautiful fabric. I love working with the rustic, strong yarn.

Kimberly: How long have you been knitting? Who taught you, or how did you learn?

Lorajean: My mom taught me how to knit when I was a teenager, I’ve always been crafty. My mom sews and knits. My grandmother sewed, knit, and crocheted. It’s in the genes! I didn’t stick with knitting too long though. I was on a sloggy stripe scarf that was w-a-y too big for anything. But my tension was amazing! That’s what a sloggy scarf will teach you! Then in college a coworker re taught me and I was hooked. I knit a pair of mittens in a day! (This friend also taught me a little natural dyeing.)

Kimberly: Who most inspires you in what you do? Why?

Lorajean: I have to say it’s all the people in our industry and customers. We have such a great community! Like any business there are ups and downs, I know I can always find encouragement from my peers. And it doesn’t hurt that my 3 year old Eli complements every yarn I dye. Not even joking! That boy loves color!

Lorajean recently started a venture with Brooke Sinnes of Sincere Sheep, who we’ll be bringing in for a talk and show of her own in May. They have started a yarn club called “Among Friends.” Even more fun – Michelle Miller is going to design a pattern for the club! Check it out, it’s gonna be gooood. I’m signing up myself!

OKAY! So now you all know Lorajean and are gonna wanna come out and meet her in person, fondle her goods and get a jump on all those Stitches shoppers by coming to K2Tog on Feb 22 at 6 p.m.  SEE YOU THERE! And stay tuned for an intro to Michelle Miller.

Interweave Knitting Lab – The Market

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Last weekend, I had the pleasure of going to the Interweave Knitting Lab, which was being held in San Mateo, Calif, just across the bridge from my home in the East Bay, to visit its market. This was the first ever IKL and I suspect from attendance and feedback that I am hearing from friends and customers at K2Tog it will not be the last. Look out, Stitches West! Interweave wants to give you a run for your -and our – money.

I did not sign up for classes. I am not the kind of knitter who learns well in classes. I need a project and a book and quiet. But I did go to the market with four good friends from my long-running Friday morning knitting group organized through Skein Lane. We took my van – lovingly known as “the senior fun bus” (tho I must point out at 47 I was the youngest person on the trip and I wound not describe any of my companions as seniors) and, after a couple of wrong turns, found the hotel and parking.

Cut to the chase – the market, which is what we all want to know about. I must say I was very favorably impressed. Here’s what I liked – the market featured small producers of yarn and patterns and a handful of local yarn shops that brought their best stuff and their knowledgeable sales staff. It is my opinion that Stitches, in recent years, has grown so big and expensive that only the big guys can afford to come and show there. That is well and good – I like to stop with those folks, too. But I get excited and inspired by the smaller producers, and that’s who I gravitate to first at Stitches, tho they are becoming harder to find there (what happened to Snicklefritz, who showed there a few years ago and shoe “Diesel Gnome” yarn is some of the best I’ve ever had? And Asciano, whose lace knitting needles are the best and my favorites? Both of these are local to the Bay Area yet have not been at Stitches West for several years!).

What I did not like was the smallness of the space. Vendors were crammed in and then had (understandably) filled their spaces with as much stuff as they could. This is not necessarily bad – but when IKL classes were out and some very inconsiderate shoppers brought in their baby strollers (DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON BABY STROLLERS AT KNITTING SHOWS) the aisles disappeared. And let’s face it – a lot of knitters are not of the sleek, slender variety. We are real women and need real spaces.

Also, the lighting sucked. You had to go to a window to see color.

IKL - The Take!

But these are quibbles. Really did not effect my absolute pleasure at being there and my satisfaction with what I found and purchased.

SO! Who did I shop from and what did I buy? My first stop was Knitted Wit, where dyer and knitter Lorajean Kelley (aka “Sassy Girl”) sells her lovely dyed yarn. I was very impressed with Lorajean, who stood in her booth knitting from a ouch at her hip and was as cheerful and friendly and charming as you can get. Her enthusiasm for her excellent product created in me a desire I to buy from her – an excellent thing in a vendor. I bought a lovely skein of “Shine,” her fingering weight yarn that is 50% super wash merino and 50% tencel. It has 410 yards and cost $26. Perfect for a pair of socks or a lace scarf or triangle. I’ll let you know. Lorajean also gets my vote for cutest business/postcard, which features a picture of her joyously naked and chubby son rolling around in some of her green yarn. Adorable. Check her out online and at Stitches West, where she’ll also be showing.

I also shopped at Tactile Fiber Arts, where dyer Maia Discoe (do you love that last name?) had her softly luscious yarns hanging on a folding screen of shutters. I chose a 385-yard skein of fingering weight superwash merino in color “Bramble.” It cost $27. As I was paying, Maia said, “You look very familiar to me,” and I echoed that. Turns out she is a K2Tog customer! Maia lives and works in Richmond (or was it Richmond Annex?), which is one town over for us. Now that I know she is a dyer, I plan to bug Ellen about having her at the store for a trunk show. She uses only natural dyes and her colors are soft and she chooses her palette with a very sharp eye. I want more!

More yarn! More Yarn! I was also drawn into the very attractive booth of Sincere Sheep, whose labels proudly proclaim its yarn is “made by hand in the Napa Valley.” Man, who doesn’t have that dream! Sell your stuff, move to the country and dye yarn for a living. Owner and designer Brooke Sinnes is doing just that and I had a hard time picking a skein, her yarns were so pretty and inviting. I bought a skein of “Keen,” a fingering weight super wash (do I sense a pattern?) made from Blue Face Leicester. The color way, “Anja,” is made with indigo, as she uses only natural dyes. It has 465 yards and cost $29.

That’s it for yarn. I also snagged a copy of Churchmouse Yarns and Teas pattern for “Barb’s Koigu Ruffle” (I can’t remember where I bought it!) and another for a simple yet challenging lace cardigan called “Akoya” by Carol Feller. I bought some software, too, that I hope will help me make some charts for my own designs – if I ever do more. It came from Intertwined Pattern Studio. I have not uploaded it yet, so look for a review in the future. And on the way out the door I bought a pair of Laurel Hill wooden  needles, size 4, for lace.

It was a fantastic morning. We went off to lunch in San Mateo, made a stop at Nine Rubies yarn store and headed home. I was in front of the TV watching college football (GO TIGERS!) and knitting by 5. All in all a great day.