Warm Topological Knitwear for Cool People

Back in early 2017, I was between books. I had just finished Double or Nothing and had yet to begin work on the revision of Extreme Double-knitting. I made a throwback post about an early knitting venture of mine, and a new project teaser, asking people to guess what they thought it might be when finally assembled. As the Extreme Double-knitting project began, I forgot all about this post — and I realize now that I never answered the question.

Now that all my book projects are well and truly done, I have the free time to work on some back-burner projects. You’ve seen a couple already, so here’s another one. It has no title at the moment (I think of it as “Ein Klein Muff”) but it’s part of a series of topologically-inspired projects which will eventually be released as a collection.

This pattern is a klein bottle garment that can be inverted multiple ways: it can be a thick neckwarmer, a hat (sort of), and a muff. The neckwarmer has a moebius twist in it; the muff has a klein bottle twist inside, so that hands inserted in either end cannot easily find each other. The hat, in yarn as bulky as this, is a little ridiculous. But this is a prototype — I think the final version will not be in such bulky yarn.

In other news

I have continued working on the Five Elements hats; people on Facebook and Instagram weighed in on the “fire”-themed hat; someone suggested that I solve my problems with beads. So, with a little help from BeadBiz and Stunning String Studio, I whipped up a swatch with beads — and have now cast on for the final product. At the same time, I have begun experimenting on the “water”-themed hat, and have come up with a very nice water droplet which will get tessellated in a similar way to the fire. I’ve decided to make the slouchy hat with leaves the “earth” hat, and will begin playing with a wood-grain concept for the “wood” hat. Finally, the “metal”-themed hat, which had been escaping me, is starting to take form. More photos as I have them.

Upcoming workshops

There are still plenty of spaces left in my double-knitting intarsia and double-knitting off the grid workshops at Stitches United, happening in Atlanta at the end of this month. There are also a couple of spaces left in one of my intro workshops there.

I don’t have a lot to announce beyond that — I’ll be teaching at two retreats which I believe are sold out, and I have a new LYS weekend in Central MA which has not been finalize yet. I have been tapped for the Red Alder retreat (aka “the new Madrona”) in February of 2020, but no contract has yet been signed there either. For now, check on my events calendar for any updates.

Thanks for your continued interest and stay tuned …

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