Inspiration
Summer of Spark
Dear everybody,
In preparation for this post, Cristina put on her hip-waders and delved into the hashtags and MDK Lounge posts and came up with astonishing beauty. It’s been a sparkling summer of knitting Olga Buraya-Kefelian’s gorgeous designs for MDK Field Guide No. 24: Spark. We keep getting distracted by that gallery up top. These are the amazing projects people worked on throughout the dog days—and a few of them will no doubt keep going into the fall on their journey to Finished Object status.
One especially twinkly star was the small, snacky, and eminently wearable Tendril Necklace. We made them at the MDK Knitting Getaway at Shakerag Workshops, we made them on camping trips, and we made them on planes, trains and automobiles. On an early-summer ride on the Long Island Railroad, my derring-do with the double-points brought a nearby knitter right out of her shell to ask me what on earth I was making—and that was the start of a great conversation with a great person.
The Tendril Necklace is just a little bit of knitting—and a whole lotta magic.
The other small projects in Field Guide No. 24 were also hits. The Penrose Tote proved practical in either size …
And the Fortune Teller Cuff was a bauble we could turn out in quantity. The recipe for this miniature sculpture is simple: just increases and decreases—and an exceedingly thin strand of stainless steel.
The Paragon Popover was a puzzle that was fun to solve, and was easy to narrow or widen, lengthen or shorten.
Nell’s scarf version of the Paragon Popover tempted the trepidatious to tip-toe on in—the water’s fine.
But perhaps the most pride-inducing knit of this Field Guide is the one that’s about to be a star of the transitional season between late summer and early fall: the Turnstile Wrap. Knitters who took on the challenge of schlepping a big swath of wool around in their summer project bag are going to be the envy of us all. The many ways to wear the Turnstile Wrap make it an instant, elegant, endlessly versatile classic—just look at the modeled shots up above. Thank you, ambitious summer knitters—it’s your time to shine!
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank everyone who knit along with us this summer. We’ve had a blast and we hope you have, too!
Let’s Celebrate—with a Flash Sale!
While the knitalong for MDK Field Guide No. 24 has wound down officially, we know this to be true: a good knitalong is forever. If you’ve had your eye on one of Olga’s designs for Field Guide No. 24, we’ve got a great deal for you: we’re taking 20 percent off of all the yarns of Field Guide No. 24. No coupon code required, you can find them all marked down right here on the One-Stop Shop for Field Guide No. 24, and also in the MDK Sale Aisle. These are very special yarns, at a very special price, for a limited time—get in on it!
Spark forever!
Love,
Ann and Kay
So wonderful to see these folks!
Seeing the smile on Nell modeling makes a happy day!!! And knitting too;)
Was just on an Alaska cruise with Vogue Knitting and what did I see, and eat dinner with? A lady wearing the Paragon Pop over. So cool to see it made up. She wore it over a black top which highlighted the negative space. Another in our group was carrying a recognizable MDK tote. So cool to see since people came from all over the country for this cruise. There were about 30 knitters, plus several husbands.
Hi Carol! I missed seeing the popover on the cruise. It was a fun time!
Step 1: Signed up for Vogue Knitting Live in NYC.
Step 2: Ordered yarn for the Turnstile Wrap (thank you for the sale MDK).
Step 3: Look forward to wearing the Turnstile Wrap in NYC.
It was so inspiring to see everyone’s work. And I have been thinking about the Wrap ever since it launched. All it took was a bit of encouragement.
We will be looking for you at VKL!
Love these patterns!
I’m a frost to frost knitter, winter the needles and hooks come out. This winter will be fun following your blog. Thank you!
Love, love, love “Sparks #24”. Made two of the necklaces for gifts. Now to make one for me. One more row to do on my Paragon Popover. Anxious to wear it this fall
Meant to write sooner. This is a beautiful roundup of these intriguing patterns. I love to see what other people envision of a pattern. Often completely different. Thank you particularly for Tendril’s different stylings. And the fun of the Paragon Popover. I think it may have befuddled some of us until we saw what other knitters made of it! Love the cruise experience of Carol Minix. That’s when knitters pop up all over the place inspiring other knitters in an intimate setting,
Although I was also bowled over by my only VKL experience. (And hope there will be more!). All knitting settings are spectacular:).
I have a tangled cone of stainless steel yarn. Any suggestions for untangling and keeping it on the cone.