This hat was designed for the Blue Ridge Fiber Festival 2023. BRFF takes place on the first weekend in June in the town of Sparta, North Carolina in beautiful Alleghany County. This area of northwest North Carolina and Southwest Virginia is deeply steeped in the traditions of the fiber arts. Tradition you can see in both the vendors and attende...

(Kits for this pattern are available at

Start with a light grey and overdye it with a base color. The result will be a beautiful subtle color change. Overdye a medium grey with that same base color and a different tone emerges. Use a darker grey and you add even more depth to that base color. The three shades of grey have a cumulative effect on your original base color.

This pattern was designed in response to knitters whose reaction to the Aerion coat was…

This hat is constructed from the bottom up without shaping until the crown is worked creating a slouched shape when worn. Stitches are picked up around the bottom edge and worked to create a lining for added warmth. An applied I-cord edging is worked for additional color and added stability along the lower edge.

WOW! These are stunning mittens with a 5” cuff to keep out the snow and cold, shaped to fit your hands. The mittens match the Encaustico Hat, and both were designed for us by Varian Brandon.  Varian specializes in gorgeous stranded colorwork.  Her patterns are detailed and well written with good pattern support so fear not! - you CAN do this!

Start with a light grey and overdye it with a base color. The result will be a beautiful subtle color change. Overdye a medium grey with that same base color and a different tone emerges. Use a darker grey and you add even more depth to that base color. The three shades of grey have a cumulative effect on your original base color.

PATTERN PAGE SIZE - 81/2” x 14!!!!

Things to start with…

Things to start with…

A while ago, I was handed two skeins of La Jolia fingering weight yarn by Mira Cole of Baah Yarns. The idea was to create a double sided stranded colorwork cowl that would add a splash of color to the grey days of winter. Carrelage is the result of that colorful handoff.

A coranto is one of a family of fast-paced dances from the late Renaissance and Baroque eras. The name is derived from a French word meaning “running.”

Created with five shades of natural Suri alpaca and one dyed shade, Galliard provides a splash of color and warmth which can be worn around the neck or pulled over the head for added coverage.

Things to start with…

Designed with beautiful colors from Mountain Meadow Yarn, this stranded cowl is knitted in the round with an easy to follow chart as a guide.

Inspired by Celtic copperwork, Criosanna gets it name from a Gaelic word for a woven belt. The name was chosen to reflect the intertwined nature of the Celtic knotwork.

This pattern was designed in collaboration with Serendipity Yarns and Gifts and Mountain Meadow Wool. Matching hat is also available.

This pattern was designed in collaboration with Serendipity Yarns and Gifts and Mountain Meadow Wool. Matching mittens are also available.

This pattern is used in a class exploring the use of steeks as a placeholder for openings in garments that would otherwise have to be worked flat. This method of construction is most commonly used for stranded patterns when it is preferred to keep to “public” or knit side facing the knitter. However, proficiency in stranded techniques is not re...

This wonderfully graceful cowl takes its name from an active stratovolcano in Chile. The hints of color reveal themselves in peaks and glimpses when the cowl is worn doubled around the neck. Knitted in the round with no seams and only two rounds of purl stitches, Melimoyu is great for smooth “mindless” knitting with just enough detail with the ...

Mitts: The mitts are knitted from the bottom up, working the color work patterns in the cuff section. After the cuff is completed, increases for the thumb begins. After the desired thumb length is reached, thumbs stitches are placed on waste yarn as the rest of the mitt is completed. Stitches for the thumb are placed back on the needles and com...

Designed in the pattern tradition of the colorful tents and banners of medieval knights, this equally colorful cowl is knitted in the round from the bottom up. The color patterning is deceptively simple…one round of two stitches on one color and three of the next, followed by a second round of four stitches on one color and one of the next. The...

Beautiful natural colors of alpaca from Long Hollow Suri Alpacas were used for this soft against the skin cowl. A third color, lavender in this case and also from Long Hollow Suri Alpacas, was added for interest. The arrangement of the stranded pattern falls into a 2/4 combination…2 stitches of one color and 4 of another. The changing of the co...

Designed in the pattern tradition of the colorful tents and banners of medieval knights, these equally colorful mitts are knitted in the round from the bottom up. The color patterning is deceptively simple…one round of two stitches on one color and three of the next, followed by a second round of four stitches on one color and one of the next. ...

The color work pattern in this luxuriously soft cowl is worked in a deceptively simple 4-2 stitch pattern. Four stitches of one color then two stitches of the next. The patterns are made when the colors are changed.

Pattern originally accompanied Varian Brandon’s “Shetland by the Colors” article in the issue.

This hat is a great way to learn some Fair Isle and stranded techniques while using up stash yarn. It is constructed with 2-4 inches of lining for extra warm around the head and ears. There is also an option for a shortened version.

This sweater is knitted in the round with a Fair Isle yoke. The body is worked to the armholes. The sleeves are knitted separately in the round and then added to the body. The remainder of the sweater is knitted in the round with a series of decreases that shape the upper portion of the garment.

This lined hat is knitted in the round using two techniques of knitting with color. The knots representing both mistletoe and holly berries require an intarsia method, while the rest of pattern work is worked in a stranded technique.

These colorful mittens were designed to accompany the Maiolica Tam. The design was inspired by the beautiful colors of Elemental Affects North American Shetland Wool.

This colorful tam was inspired by Maiolica, Italian tin-glazed pottery dating from the Renaissance… particularly the colorful dinner plates.

Blue Flame Cowl (21.5 in. x 7 in.) (54.5 x 17.75 cm)…small flash of color. Easy motif. 3 stitches of one color. Followed by 1 stitch of the next color. That’s the pattern! The design is formed by changing colors. Great stash buster. Great beginner project.

This classic sleeveless cardigan is knitted in the round with steeks at the front, armhole and neck openings. Armhole and neck shapings are worked at the same time in mirror images on either side of the armhole and neck steeks. The shoulders are sloped using smaller sized needles so the sweater shoulders do not stand away from natural shoulder ...

This classic pullover is knitted in the round with steeks at the armhole and neck openings. Neck shapings are worked in mirror images on either side of the front and back neck steeks. Sleeves are picked up around the armholes and worked from the top down to the wrist. Sleeve decreases are also worked in mirror images on either side of a central...

A men’s golf vest in Fair Isle pattern designed by Varian Brandon for Jamieson & Smith. This sweater is knitted in the round with steeks.