Fiddlehead Socks... the teaser

Hello dear readers, who must think I have permanently fallen off the blog wagon.

I am currently in San Diego, land of cactus and persimmon flowers, taking care of my dear son for a while.

Mostly I am knitting up a storm, but finding time to design too.. and this is the latest off my needles, the Fiddlehead Socks:





Pictures were taken in the back yard garden of Kristine Brooks, of Curious Creek Fibers fame. I am indeed lucky to be here in this enchanted spot.

The Fiddlehead Socks will be released in May as part of the Four Seasons Sock Club from Dye Dreams, then in June you can look for the pattern under my name. Lucky sock club participants will be receiving the pattern and the luscious bamboo blend yarn in lovely Fiddlehead teal, which was dyed for me according to my specifications.

Thank all of you who have sent get well wishes for my son Ari, who helped me take the pictures of the socks that you see above.

The Event called Sock Summit

OK.. is there anyone out there who still hasn’t heard of Sock Summit, the event that “takes sock knitting almost too far”?

For everyone who hasn’t drooled over the possibilities yet, Sock Summit takes place in Portland, OR on August 6-9 of this year. You can see all the wonderful details on the website, where the class listings were posted for the first time recently.

And very excitingly for me, I am getting to teach at this fantastic event! Truly, I feel as if I should be the one paying them for the privilege. Once you look over the list of teachers and classes (not to mention the 150 vendors in the marketplace) I know you will agree.

If you would like to take a peek at my class offerings, here are the links to those (and yes, they will be all beads, all the time):

http://www.socksummit.com/classes/beaded_cables/

http://www.socksummit.com/classes/beautiful_beaded_baby_bootees/

http://www.socksummit.com/classes/hooked_on_beads/

I hope you can join me there, in spirit if not in the “socks”!

Clubbed

This must be the Year of the Club for me.

Last year, I had a magnificent introduction into the Mysteries of the Club when Phoenix Rising was the kickoff design for the Year of Lace 2008 club.



The success of that design led me to go.. hog wild comes to mind.. when I started getting requests for designs for this year's club docket.

Already this year I have had two club releases, with several more to come.

Forgive me if I indulge myself with a list of past and present offerings.

The first one was for the Seven Deadly S(p)ins club sponsored by the Unique Sheep. My sin was Envy, and this was my initial design:



The yarn is House Blend from Unique Sheep, a lovely dk-weight alpaca blend. The final design was much prettier... in envy green with beads, of course. Sorry I don't have any pics of the final one to show, but you get the idea.

The next was an installment of the Rockin' Sock Club, a design called the Queen of Beads, or as Tina lovingly embellished the title, Queen of Beads Singing the Blues. I became part of the Notorious Sock Knitters World Domination Tour with that shipment and I must say that this has been the highlight of my year in knitting so far.. Blue Moon does rock, and rock well...

And what's up next, you may ask?

I had to balance the Seven Deadly S(p)ins with something, and this is what it was: The Seven Heavenly Virtues of Lace, sponsored by Woolgirl. Can't expose the work in progress to the public eye as yet, but it will be heavenly, at least I hope so. My virtue is Charity, and we are planning an event along with the installment that will bring out this quality in the best way.

Next up is Dye Dreams' Four Seasons Sock Club, for which I am pleased to be the representative of Spring. Do check out the lineup of designers.. I am flattered indeed to be included in this list of luminary sock designers!

I was given the choice of fibers and best of all, colors in this club, and here is the gorgeous color (and beads) I chose:



Next? Why, the Year of Lace 2009!!! For now, suffice it to say that my design will be the summer installment of this prestigious club.

And last but not least, the Shakespeare in Lace Club from Wooly Wonka Fibers. I have my Shakespearean theme, and the gorgeous yarn and beads in hand for the shawl that shall be the December installment of the club. I do hope that it will be bard-worthy.

Here is the lineup for the rest of the year.. I don't know if subscriptions are still open, but do check it out:

March: Miriam Felton of Mimknits is kicking off the subscription kits with a nod to Othello. She’s taking her design theme from Desdemona’s handkerchief, a strawberry motif, done in a drapey merino blend laceweight dyed the color of (what else?) crushed strawberries.

June: Judy Anderson has chosen a lovely soft periwinkle blue silk/merino laceweight for her A Midsummer Night’s Dream project, a triangular lace shawl knit in fairy lace motifs and sprinkled with sparkling beads.

September: Anne Hanson of Knitspot will be chiming in for her interpretation of Macbeth’s Burnham Wood, with a rectangular stole covered with tree and woods motifs in rich earthy hues on a laceweight cashmere/silk yarn.

December: Sivia Harding has agreed to round out the year for us by taking a cue from As You Like it, following the twists and turns of the plot (which resolve neatly in the end!) in the shawl’s lace patterning, and creating a Faroese-shaped shawl knit in a slightly heavier, fingering weight yarn dyed in a deep blue-black ink color.

I think that rounds out the year quite nicely, what say you?

Design your Heart Out.. Announcing The Spring Workshop!

Hello everyone,

It's almost Spring and lace is blooming! For any of you who may in the
neighborhood (Pacific Northwest), or may be interested in traveling here, I have
a new workshop offering that will take place this May on beautiful Vancouver
Island. This one is especially for lace knitters who have always wanted to
design your very own lace shawl… but weren't sure where or how to start.

Here are some of the details:

Creating Lace Filled Triangles
with Sivia Harding
May 14 - 17, 2009
Cobble Hill, BC, Canada

I will walk you through the design process in an inspiring, safe, and supportive
atmosphere. Bring a variety of yarns that you love, and any stitch dictionaries
that you may own.

The Location
Sage's home is so beautiful and we are very lucky that she is opening it up to
us to share for the weekend. The air is sweet, the view stunning and the
Cowichan Valley area is full of delightful surprises. You may wish to add a few
days to your trip and give yourself time to enjoy the region.


(View from Sage's Porch)

Accommodation
Once you've registered we will give you tips on where to look for places to
stay. There are many lovely bed and breakfast options very close by – several
are within minutes of Sage's home. There are also "budget" accommodations
available, too.. contact Sage for details.

Registration – Don't Wait!!!
Space is limited, so please contact Sage right away if you are planning to
attend. Leave a message at 250-733-2999, or email her

Questions?
Most of the answers can be found by downloading the original poster:

http://www.siviaharding.com/Spring_Workshop.pdf

Or by contacting Sage…

See you in May!!!

The Excitement Builds...

For those of you who for some weird reason have not yet heard about the Sock Summit, which promises to be the knitting event of the century, you can get up to speed here.

The unholy three, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts, and Cat Bordhi, have been planning this incredible thing under wraps.. until today.

The wraps are off! Now it can be told.. the most amazing collection of knitting teachers EVER. Including Barbara Walker, Anna Zilboorg, Priscilly Gibson-Roberts, Meg Swanson, and on and on. See the entire list and their bios (yes, thrillingly to include moi) on Yarn Harlot's blog and the Sock Summit website.

HEHE!!! The fun is set to start August 6, 2009. Get your socks on...

Screen Queen

Some of you may know that I am the designer behind the latest Rockin' Sock Club offering, Queen of Beads. From where I stand, this is kind of like being the mother of a famous child star. I just looked on the Ravelry pattern startup page and this is what I saw:


My pattern is second after a gorgeous and free lace shawl KAL. Wow. I don't know.. does this mean I have "arrived"????

Having just arrived home from knitterly jaunts to San Juan Island and the Madrona Fiber Arts event, I am tired but elated. And now this.. somebody pinch me.

More to come as I sort through all the photographs, papers, and patterns from my trip...

Happy Gloves to You!

The Rolling Thunder Glove pattern is available as a free ravelry download. Some of you already found it on my website as a freebie, but now the rest of the knitting world will be discovering it!

The Rolling Thunder glove is an offshoot of the Rolling Thunder sock pattern that was published in Knitty.com in the Spring 2006 issue. The gloves came about because I wanted to make a new pair to replace the samples that walked away with my mom after she visited me last fall, but I just couldn't quite make myself do the pattern as written... hehe. This familiar to any of you? No, I thought not...

There will be a class featuring these gloves at Three Bags Full knit shop in January, so be sure and sign up for that if you are here in town and you thnk you may be interested... it is a fun glove pattern with a hemmed cuff, beads, and a nicely shaped thumb.

May your holidays be peaceful and filled with joy! All wishes for a happy season of light, from snow blanketed Vancouver...

I Created a Monster

Sometimes teaching people how to make socks is like sowing seeds in the wilderness.. This picture from Susan, brought to me via another student's Blackberry, was one of the best presents I have ever received!

And here's to sockoholic bliss!

Buried Treasure, Unearthed

What is it about cables and beads that is so magical together?

Many of you have been asking about the Buried Treasure Socks pattern that appeared in Yarn Magazine last year, as the magazine is hard to find here in North America.

Good news.. the pdf pattern is now available for purchase on my website and on ravelry!

When I designed this sock, I had wanted for a long time to make intensely cabled socks, and here they are... elegant socks with cables galore, plus a “buried treasure” of glittering beads. The cables cause the leg to draw in more than usual, so the number of leg stitches has been increased to compensate. These extra stitches are then decreased in the gusset with a special technique.

The yarn I used for this pair is Sweet Georgia's Handpainted Sock, and the pattern requires approximately 226 (254) size 8/0 beads. The socks are sized for women’s medium and large. Retail price is $6.00 and download is immediate from either source.

I actually added this pattern to my projects a couple of days ago but ravelry was having a little trouble with accepting pattern uploads then... happy happy, all is fixed now...

New Year, New Lace

Harbour Lights has some new fans over at the IcelandicLaceShawl group on Yahoo. They voted to start a KAL featuring my pattern on January 1, 2009. I have become a member of their group and they are a very enthusiastic bunch over there!

You too can join them if you have been hankering to knit this shawl...

What a great way to start the year...

Rings of Harmonia

Harmonia's Rings is now available!

This newest addition, a warm and graceful cowl design, was born during the One World Moebius knit along that started right before the US election in November.

This is reflected in the name of the cowl, “Harmonia’s Rings," after the Greek goddess of contentment and harmony. The spiral shape of the center and the outlying rings of the cowl look exactly like the ripple effect that happens when a droplet falls into a pool of water…

Thanks to all for their encouraging remarks about the project so far! I love this piece which is quite sculptural and very cozy and warm. It is made in rings of telescoping pleats that arrange themselves cozily around your neck, and the cowl can also be stretched up over most of your head if desired, making it a sort of honorary wimple.

I used two yarns for these samples, Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Peru in Valkyrie (the purplish sample modeled by Christa Giles) and Berrocco Ultra Alpaca in Tanzanite mix (the tealish sample modeled by me). I believe any soft, warm worsted weight yarn would work for this design.

You may notice also that the design features a beaded picot bind off at the edge of the spiral opening. I couldn't resist adding beads, although there aren't many.. but I reserved a place of honor for them.

This is a design that will perplex your knitting (and non-knitting) friends, and I guarantee that no one will be able to figure out how the thing was constructed!!! It will be our little secret. The actual knitting is easy and suitable for beginning knitters. You will need to know Cat Bordhi's Moebius cast on. But you will be a better person for learning this... you can thank me later.

May contentment reign...

More Mystery

It's finished!



Soon, soon, soon... the pattern will be available.

And in other news,

Some of you will have noticed that I have started to design for subscription clubs like the Year of Lace 2008. I had a very good experience with that one, and that has encouraged me to do more this year.

One such club I that will be contributing to in 2009 is the "Embrace the Lace" club from Woolgirl, who is planning a lineup of lace beauties for your knitting pleasure.

The club will run from March 2009 to March 2010, and features a total of 8 shipments, 8 well known lace designers, and 8 different handdyed yarns with custom colorways, all based upon the theme of "Seven Heavenly Virtues" of lace, which include Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Temperance, and Prudence.

Enrollment has been very good, according to Jennifer (Woolgirl's owner), and there is still a little bit of time left if you would like to sign up for the club. Enrollment is open for two more weeks so be sure to investigate the club if you think you may be interested.

I think it has been said that you can never have enough lace projects in the queue...

New Mystery

What happens when you combine a luscious yarn, a highly textured self-pleating pattern, and a mysterious Moebius structure?

Well, this! (Shown in its current, half-completed state...)









It's a Moebius cowl/wimple/neckwarmer with a mysterious beaded spiral in the middle! I am quite pleased with how this version is coming out. (A previous, much smaller version had been distributed to students in my Moebius Knitting classes at Three Bags Full over the last few months).

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Peru in the Valkyrie colorway. Beads: matte raku blue/purple iris 6/0 seed beads from Earth Faire.

I have been so inspired by the response to the One World Moebius KAL on ravelry. Please keep those pictures and posts coming! So wonderful to see you all in Moebius land. If you haven't looked us up, do join in if you have half a mind to do so, and happy knitting wherever you are...

One World

Come and join the One World Moebius KAL, now in progress over on Ravelry here. All are welcome...

And here is my newest Elegant Arrows, in Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn, with a beaded picot edging. The picture was taken by my hubby as a rainy Vancouver dusk was falling outside. How nice to have a new bit of bright color in residence!


With enormous gratitude to Cat Bordhi, who brought us the gift of Moebius knitting... thank you Cat!

As the Moebius Turns...

So turns the world.

Tomorrow the US will have a chance for a new beginning, and I truly hope that the healing can then begin. Read on for a way for all knitters to join in together and help in this process! I have a little *prize* at the end for all of you as well.

I just received a wonderful message from Cat Bordhi about a way to heal ourselves and our very disturbed and torn world through the humble act of knitting a Moebius scarf or wrap... which is one of my most loved and cherished things to do, and I know many of you share this feeling.

For those of you who have always wanted to knit a Moebius but didn't know how to start, Cat has generously provided a video explaining the cast on, which you can view here.

Now I hand the *microphone* over to Cat... please read!!!

November 3, 2008

Heal the Election Wounds and Embrace Humanity with a Moebius

By Cat Bordhi

I awoke this morning realizing that publicly knitting a beautiful Moebius scarf as I begin to float (I live on an island), drive, and fly toward Stitches East on Tuesday would be a beautiful and profound public expression of my hopes and dreams for the world, as well as a symbol of the healing that our country will need after the election.

If you want to follow along, I recently made a Youtube video which will clearly teach you how to knit a Moebius whether you have my books or not. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVnTda7F2V4

So - here is why the Moebius is a perfect expression of the best of humanity, and the healing of the fractured country and world that I trust is coming:

1. The Moebius *appears* to have two surfaces and two edges - ie, polarities such as black and white, right and wrong, good and bad, Republican and Democrat - but when you follow the surface around you will run right into your starting point without ever having changed to the other "side." For there isn't one. Everything flows into itself. Polarities are an illusion. What lies beneath the apparent polarities is oneness, beauty, and grace. In a Moebius you can see it, hold it, be awed by it. Once the frenzy dies down, hopefully those with opposing views will slowly rediscover their common humanity.

2. Like the surface that flows into itself, so too does the Moebius's single continuous edge - thus everything is recycled. In fact, I would not be the least bit surprised if the ultimate alternative energy involves a Moebius form or dynamic. By the way, the recycling symbols (2 are in common usage, one with a single twist, the other with 3) you see everywhere are actually Moebii (too hard to say Moebiuses - try it!). I think we are all hoping for significant and effective new discoveries in alternative energy - and the Moebius would be a great symbol for this global effort.

3. Once you complete the first ring (it takes 2 rings to make a round - watch the video) of your Moebius, you are in for smooth and happy sailing. All you have to do is to knit the stitch in front of you, then the next stitch in front of you, with not a care in the world for what came before or what has shifted into the "future". You'll look at the mysterious shape on your needles and wonder how "those stitches" can ever come to you . . . well, they will, without your needing to understand how. And they will all come in perfect sequence, resulting in a beautiful and graceful Moebius. The Moebius rewards your faith in its mystery with the easiest knitting you will ever do. And the result is always graceful - for this is the very nature of the Moebius. You can knit along while you watch the election results, while walking, while standing in line at the store, wherever you may find yourself during these days to come. You will be knitting the graceful healing and ease that I believe is flowing toward us, requiring only of us that we stay true to the powerful sense of loving kindness that resides in the center of every person. No one could ever possibly understand enough to make the healing happen, but if we all just knit the stitch before us, as they come, marveling at the innocence and sweetness of it all, with our oh so familiar continuous strand of yarn, the healing will happen. We need not understand either one fully - the Moebius or the world. They both operate with inherent grace.

4. I looked through my stash and chose a luminous yarn in deep watery colors from Blue Moon Fiber Arts - LSS (Luscious Single Silk), and did not realize until I looked at the label that the colorway is absolutely apropos: Lunasea. Tina no doubt named the colorway after the moon and the sea - and after lunacy. So let the lunacy of the election months give way to Lunasea - the grace of the moon, the sea, the Moebius, and the beautiful heart of humanity, of all people, the "us" and "them" who merge into one. I shall be winding the skein on the ferry tomorrow, then knitting all the way to Baltimore. I hope to see many, many of you there.

With love from Cat Bordhi

Note: If you alternate sets of knit and purl rounds, you will have purl ridges all around. Then your Moebius will not curl along the edges when you are done.

Now back to me...

In honor of Cat's generosity and the importance of the day, I am releasing a Moebius scarf pattern for you all to enjoy as a free download. I call it Elegant Arrows, and it features a lovely and graceful herringbone rib that showcases many yarns, from simple and elegant (like the one pictured) to colorful. I also include full instructions in the pattern for doing a beaded picot edging, which is a favorite way to bind off a Moebius as it accents the crossing point so well.

Download the pattern from my website here

or from Ravelry here.

I am now doing one in Noro's Silk Garden Sock and I am very happy with how beautiful it is to knit a Moebius and watch the colors changing en route... pictures soon.

I hope all of you decide to join Cat and me in this worthy event, starting tomorrow... Happy Moebius knitting to all!

Lace and Shakespeare

What do these two have in common, you say?

Well, more than you might ever think!

Here is a big, big hint... Design is now is progress!

Yes, that's right, another subscription lace club for 2009! This is another gem, folks, so get over and reserve your spot if you enjoy my designs, and the other stellar lace designers that are slotted for the club in 2009.

I had Great Fun deciding which Shakespearian theme was to be mine, but there was really no contest. I love Rosalind, my favorite heroine in the works of Shakespeare. The new lace shawl will have elements of the best of the story, complicated but with a neat resolution (just like the Bard's plays)...

You articulate, well-read knitters, leave me a line if you love W.S.!!!

Uno Amore, Up Close and Personal

Kristine asked for a closeup of the scarf, so here it is... ask and you shall receive!



Click for bigger.. hope this fills the bill.

She also asked for information on how the beads go into the design. Here is a description of sorts.

First, the beads go across the beaded purl edging. After the edging is complete, the pattern separates into several patterns across the row, of which two are beaded: the right and left cables and the Fan pattern, which only contains 3 beads in itself but after 20 rows becomes the Beaded Center Pattern which features one centered bead every fourth row of the scarf. Most of the 500 beads go into the beaded cables, and you could still get the impact of beads by just beading the center stitch in my opinion. Hope that helps you sort out your bead priorities!

In other news, I have written a draft of the Rolling Thunder Glove pattern but still need someone to test the larger size. Is anyone up for that??? Please contact me here or at my regular email address, siviaharding AT shaw DOT ca.

In other non knitting news, I have taken up learning the ukelele! Hehe... more on that later, perhaps MUCH later...

Happy almost Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone!

Two Lovers

Now available: the Dué Amori Gloves and Scarf.

Two Lovers... Lace and beads provide sinuous lines in this poetic glove and scarf duo. Fan and Leaf lace motifs are framed by twisted ribs in the gloves and mirrored beaded waving cables in the scarf. The gloves are in two lengths, sized for women’s small, medium and large.

The Dué Amori Gloves and Scarf Set is designed for fingering weight yarn and requires 400 yards of yarn for the scarf and 180 (300) yards for the shorter (longer) gloves. I used a US 2-3 (3 mm) needle for the scarf and US 2 (2.5 mm) needles for the gloves, which are knit in the round. The gloves are sized in two lengths for women's small, medium and large.

The set shown above is worked in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction (50% merino, 50% tencel, 400 yds/100 g) in the Quilla colorway. The set required two skeins. The pattern features beads as a prominent part of the design. The scarf requires approximately 500 size 6/0 beads; the shorter gloves, 114 (122, 130) beads. The longer gloves require 134 (142, 150) beads. For the samples, I used off-white pearl finish seed beads.

Below, the longer gloves are worked in Seduction in the Tanzanite colorway with silver lined amethyst beads. The longer pair requires one skein of yarn.

Thank you, Jamie and Francesca, for the modeling, camera clicking and pinch hitting all around!

And especially a huge, huge thank you to my test knitters, Carin and Kat, who are my saving angels and I bow at their feet...

The pattern is available for sale (so far) on ravelry, my website, Patternfish, and the Knitting Zone as a pdf download. More soon I hope!


Happy knitting to all... enjoy.

An Unexpected Pleasure

I just spent most of the weekend in the company of one of the knitting world's most treasured teachers, Susanna Hanssen. And what a pleasure it was.

The West Coast Knitters' Guild sponsored the weekend, and it was superbly organized by their president, the lovely Holli Yeoh and her staff, and well housed in a setting with plenty of natural light and great food.

But the main attraction was, of course, Susanna. She is a great teacher. Now I know what my friends who go to Madrona are going on about when they rave about her. Friday evening was an overview of Norwegian knitting, which has always intrigued and fascinated me. I am considerably more informed now than I was before Susanna's talk, and came away with a wonderful flavor of the past and present traditions. Susanna is a very entertaining speaker, and we were treated to many anecdotes and stories along the way.



Yesterday was the true prize though... a whole day's workshop on the Bohus Stickning company and the legacy it left, crowned by the opportunity to actually view and touch (with white cotton gloves, natch) about ten of the original vintage Bohus garments and accessories. We even got to knit a little wristlet in yarn and colors that are certified to match the *real* Blue Shimmer. Be still, my heart.


Susanna, in her wisdom, allowed us to get right into the knitting first, knowing that as knitters we would be figety unless we could be doing something with our hands. We over ambitiously, as she put it, dove into the tiny skeins and wound them into tiny balls. I looked over and Mel, my workshop mate, had wound hers into the most perfect little balls I had ever seen, so I had to take a picture:



As pleasurable as the knitting was (and it was VERY pleasurable), it was ecstasy to fondle the Bohus garments. Susanna encouraged us to mentally take the sweaters apart and figure out how they were constructed, which wasn't always easy. Those Bohus knitters did things in ways that were designed to be haute couture, not knitterly. But mostly, it was so much fun to imagine the hands that knit the sweaters and other items, and the people who had purchased and worn them. Some of them had been altered by their owners, or replaced parts of them when they were worn out. It was evident that they had been very loved.

















I know... sigh. It was heaven.

What's left to do but knit one? I will saving up for a while to do this myself, but you can go here to order your own beautiful Bohus sweater kits containing the same gorgeous merino/angora yarn that we had for our little wristlets, handdyed to exacting specifications in Sweden by Solveig Gustaffson. We also found out that Susanna volunteers her time to translate the English patterns from their original Swedish. If you would like to "pay it forward" in honor of her dedication and selflessness, you are asked to give a donation to Knitters without Borders.

We also learned that there will be a magnificent museum exhibition about the Bohus tradition next year (2009) in Minneapolis. Do go if you can.

The parting feeling for me was awe in this wonderful company, which schooled knitters in their techniques and left us with an enduring legacy of beautiful, artfully designed and executed garments. A tradition which I can only hope to continue in my own way...

Oh and by the way? I finished the first opera length Due Amori glove...

Sock Summit

You are all now officially invited to the Sock Summit!

If you knit socks or have ever wanted to, this will be THE thing to do next year, hosted by the amazing trio of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Cat Bordhi and Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The unholy trinity of Knitting Out of The Box. Need I say more????

And get a load of this:


Hehe.. more on this as the news breaks!