Inspiration
5 Ideas for Jill Draper’s Delicious Mohonk
One of our favorite games is Perfect Yarn/Perfect Pattern. Finding the good match is always fun, so we hope you find the following episode of Perfect Yarn/Perfect Pattern to be a) inspiring, b) fascinating and c) distracting. (We are all about distraction these days.)
Today, the perfect yarn is Mohonk, a product of the fertile imagination of Jill Draper, who lives and dyes in the Hudson River Valley. Her philosophy is to work with American fibers, minimally processed, and dye them with great care and abandon. This 100% Cormo sport weight yarn (straight outta New York State) is among our absolute favorites.
Here are five of the shades I’ve got my eye on in the MDK Shop.
Idea No. 1: Sail-Away Shawl
First up, we’d be nuts not to suggest Julia Farwell-Clay’s Sail-Away Shawl from MDK Field Guide No. 7: Ease. You may notice that Jill’s Mohonk has a bit of what we call “action”—subtle shifts in color. These variations in color really shine when knitted in a graphic pattern like this.
Two skeins of Mohonk in two shades of your choosing will set you up for a rapturous stripetastic summer garterfest.
My personal pick would be Dark Roast and Bering. Or maybe Bottle and Manzanita for a bright gloom-buster.
Idea No. 2: Edradour
Thea Colman taps into the beauty of Mohonk with her easy, elegant shawl, Edradour. What is Edradour? you ask. Why, it’s the smallest distillery in Scotland. (Anybody who’d name her enterprise Baby Cocktails has an encyclopedic knowledge of beverages. And an instant longlist of potential pattern names.)
Two skeins of Mohonk get you to an Edradour, and you’ll need to add one thin stripe of something on hand unless you feel like adopting a third skein of Mohonk (which you should, honestly).
Manzanita with a slice of Bottle would be great. A bottle of Edradour would make it even better.
Idea No. 3: Stac Shoaigh
Ysolda Teague’s hap-inspired shawl Stac Shoaigh has so many moments of fun: a nice, easy garter stitch start from the top, then petals (I’ve never knit a petal!), and a ramble of feather and fan that ends in a picot edge. Right on! Mohonk in Bottle would make this thing a blast of spring even when it’s, like, ridiculous outside.
Idea No. 4: Triad
From Jill Draper herself comes Triad, a pattern stacked up with threes: three colors, three corners, and a three-stitch i-cord edging. Sometimes you just want to wallow in the splendor of a beautiful yarn. Jill has clearly figured this out, and Triad really lets the texture of this Cormo fiber shine.
Possible Mohonk combos: Dark Roast, Bering, and Bottle. Or whatever you please—don’t listen to me! Picking colors is half the fun of knitting.
Idea No. 5: Humulus
The Champion of March Mayhem 2018 is such a Mohonk-friendly pattern. Isabell Kraemer won the hearts of knitters across the globe with this simple pullover, Humulus. I’m making one using Mourning Dove and Bottle (see the combo up top), which is pleasing me mightily. I think this pattern would look fab in Dark Roast/Creeping Myrtle Flowers yoke, Dark Roast/Bering yoke, or Manzanita/Dark Roast yoke. Or these combinations, reversed. Whatever! Make your own fun!
Hope this has been distraction enough for the moment. I personally am now gone for the day, patting skeins of Mohonk and generally not getting much done.
Thanks, Ann, for this episode of Perfect Yarn / Perfect Pattern. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You have given me food for thought.
Although I have been knitting daily for 35 years and only use a synthetic fiber when knitting for someone who will throw the item in the washer, I continue to marvel at the inate beauty of a natural yarn. OH ! That sounds so nerdy, but at 65 who cares. Knit On. !
More great patterns. The list grows.
Jill Draper is as lovely a person as her yarns are beautiful!
So many fun things to think about! Also, Edradour sounds like a place for Hobbits and Elves.
Someone has to tell us how to pronounce “stac shoaigh”. Such a pretty shawl. It is going into my Ravelry favorites.
I’ve seen it “Stack So-ay” and “Stack Ho-ay”. It is a rocky sea stack near St Kilda and the photos are beautiful. I think I like Kay’s pronunciation the best with the alternate being Steak Shack.
I’m pronouncing it “Shake Shack” but maybe I’m just hungry.
Yikes! You’re giving me an irresistable urge to buy another sweater quantity of yarn…the only thing saving me is my tendency to dither. But then the fear that the colors I want will be gone, inspired by “…knitters have slurped them up like their favorite Icee flavor” may counter the dither…LOVE your inspiring posts.
Am I the only one singing “Mohonk in a Bottle”?
I may have just given you an earworm. Sorry about that. (Not really.)
LOL, yes, you DID! So funny, Subersivesuburban! 😀
Is there a website that I can go to. Very interested in the yarns and how they are made.
Oh ma gah, I heart Jill Draper’s yarn so much. She knows this, but it never hurts to say it again 😀
Where can You . Buy . Them at?????????
Hi Sandra! The patterns are all available on Ravelry–when you click on the pattern name in the post above, it takes you to the Ravelry page where you can buy the patterns.
Mohonk is available here at the MDK Shop: https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/shop/mohonk/
How many skeins of Bottle would I need for Stac Shoaigh? That green is my color!
Two skeins of Mohonk will get you a Shake Shack I mean Stac Shoaigh. That green makes my day too!
I live in the Hudson Valley, in the shadow of the Mohonk Mountain House. Since we’re discussing Mohonk, some of you might consider a knitter’s weekend there (see the link)? It’s a beautiful place. The spa is great.
https://www.mohonk.com/events/music-arts/knitting-weekend/