Once More Around the Sun

Goodness! It's been a minute or two, hasn't it?

A quick run down of what's been going on around here:

• I had a birthday in mid-February. Adding the digits together I'm once again 10... or 1 if you go all the way to a single digit. Either way I should be feeling much more youthful than I am currently lol 
• I finished the Folklore Cardigan (pattern by Amy Gundersen🔗; link to the MadeleineTosh website pattern page) for Roomie and I think it turned out pretty well 

So that's really the two major things. The weather is trying to decide if it's winter, or spring, or maybe sprinter. That's been fun to navigate. Like not leaving the house for 8 days at a go kind of navigate. Ah well, better safe than in traction.

Speaking of, I should be in a body cast. Or wrapped in bubble wrap. I seem to have sprained or at least reeeeaaallly strained my back. Yesterday. Fiber friends, I would be lying if I said I'm not badly hurting right now. Movement is very gingerly when it happens. Of course this brings out the crack medical team of Drs Jakey and Silver. Dr Jakey is an expert in patient care, while Dr Silver has done very indepth research of healing vibrations. This photo shows Dr Jakey checking to be sure I was resting properly this afternoon:

Dr Jakey takes a very paws on approach with his patients. Needless to say, I'm strictly under my doctor's orders ;)

Onto KDRD news:

I designed and knit the sample for something quick! And there will be more of them!

So a few years ago I knit what you'll find on the interwebs called various things like skating bonnet or cap, headband, earwarmer, etc. And it's something I use frequently in the colder months because it allows me to keep my ubiquitous ponytail, and still cover my ears. The one I knit originally has ties on it, and here's a photo:

It used bulky yarn and equally thick needles, which I confess aren't my favorites. That end of the yarn and needle spectrum tends to make my hands ache. Thankfully it was quick to do. And it's been a wonderful addition to my winter gear.

A few weeks ago we had a bunch of days with wind warnings, and I started thinking it would be nice to have another earwarmer. And with my love double-knitting I thought I could make something thicker than usual without having to resort to thick yarns and needles. 

And me being me, after I charted one idea I had a couple others pop into my head, and eventually I had 4 just awaiting needles and yarn. So this is the first one:

I used DK weight yarn I had onhand and a 3.25mm needle. It used about 140 yards/128 metres in two colors; a little more of the blue than the gray because I did both ties in blue.

Ok, so this one (which is called Sevens) is basic 2 color double-knitting with the addition of paired make 1 increases on one end and paired decreases on the other. That's the trickiest part of this one if you're already familiar with double-knitting.

As I said I have 3 more of these planned. One that adds a third color into the fun, one that has different designs on each side, and one with simple cables and a bit of texture.

I plan to release all 4 together as an ebook September-esque. That's what I'm aiming for anyway. Sometime before the Fasten Off Yarn-a-Long comes back around anyway ;) 

And in other design news, I started the swatch for my 4 color double-knit wrap. I need a ballpark number of yards so I can budget and acquire the yarn needed for it. There's also a "sister" design that's a 3 color 2 pattern wrap of similar size. They're both big. Like completely envelope an adult big. I'm so looking forward to these getting on the go!

That's the current goings on at KDRD :)

Shall we check in with my personal projects? Indeed we shall!

I'm back working on my Jeri (designed by Kat Riddell🔗; link to pattern page in her Payhip shop) again, and it's growing. I'm about 6 inches/15cm from where I split out the sleeves (topdown, non-raglan construction). For my size I need to reach 14 inches/35.5cm according to the pattern, which might be a touch short but thankfully I can try it on at that point and see. I think I'll need another inch but I'll see then. Here's a look at how my Jeri is coming along; keep in mind it's being worked topdown:

In other crafts, I've got a new cross stitch design charted out that I hope to be sharing with you as I make progress. I took the poem Pangur Bán, or more correctly the 1912 translation by R. Flower, and created quite a piece. I'm going to need to stitch it on 28 count Aida, or it's going to cover the wall. Well, maybe 18 count; definitely not 14 lol  

That's all I have current in my personal crafting. I have a stack of WIPs but I think I'll save a run down of those for another day. Be warned: there are a lot lol. I'm talking double digits. It's a lot.

Moving on!

As I'm sure many of you are aware, there's some... how to put this?... concerning talk coming from the leader of the country below mine. (For those who're new here, welcome. I live in the beautiful province of Newfoundland & Labrador, specifically on the island of Newfoundland, here on Canada's most eastern coast. And I'm Canadian by birth and inclination) And that talk is causing a lot of unease, and frankly distrust, of that individual, leading to all kinds of trade and other issues between two, up until this point, closely allied countries. A lot of us up here, myself included, have family and friends down there, and of course the reverse is true. There's been, up until now, a sense of cooperation and camaraderie between the two nations. 

I'm not here to be political, fiber friends, but life itself is political. I live in Canada's youngest province; Newfoundland & Labrador joined Canada in 1949 as the 10th province. Yet there are rumblings that the entirety of Canada, all 10 provinces and 3 territories should, and ludicrously should be happy at the suggestion, become the 51st state of the United States of America.

As we say here on The Rock: no b'y. 

There's a lot going on. Canadians are focusing on buying non-USA goods. Some are cancelling vacations to Florida and other destinations States-side in favor of visiting another province here or going further a field to Mexico, the Caribbean or Europe.

I've really thought about what this all means for my very small business (one woman with chronic pain and insomnia), and beyond. As it stands, I'm continuing to support designers who I know via the internet. As for yarn, I already work with a predominantly Canadian group of yarns just from a financial accessibility standpoint. My current habits seem to already be in line with my conscious. 

As part of my own contributions to small Canadian businesses, I'm going to start highlighting one or two each post. I had been toying with this idea since late last year but now it seems particularly important. Most of these will be designers and yarn dyers; links will be to their own sites or social media accounts. Without further ado, I bring you the first of my Spotlights.

SPOTLIGHT

Beaded Beauties Bracelets And More 

Located in Clarenville, Newfoundland & Labrador, this one woman business run by Krista does just what it says. Fully personalized and customizable, she creates bracelet collections for holidays and bands lyrics, as well as necklaces, keychains, and occasionally earrings. I'm currently sporting a set of 4 players from my favorite hockey team (And with the game being over 10 minutes in: Go Habs Go!) made by her.

You can get an idea of Krista's lovely work in the marked highlight on her Instagram account🔗  (Full disclosure: Krista is better known to readers of this blog as "Roomie".)

Knitjbeale Designs

A transplant to St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador from Canada's West Coast, Jennifer Beale designs breathtaking sweaters and shawls often using stranded colorwork along with lace and/or cables. Truly a feast for knitters wanting something beyond the usual. I have several of her patterns on my must-make list including this recently released gem of an open-front cardigan, Fort Amhurst:

I wasn't kidding when I said breathtaking, was I? You can find this beauty, and many more, on her website: www.knitjbealedesigns.com🔗

Whew! That was a marathon post but I'm done roughly 20 minutes into the hockey game. Enough time to grab links to the various websites, and alt-captions for the photos during intermission! Lol :)

Thanks for sticking with me today, fiber friends! What's on your needles and hooks today? Did you know the most recent issue of Knitty🔗 came out yesterday? Just in time for a new project maybe ;)

Yours in yarn, pain, caffeine, and late night hockey watching (my guys are in Seattle tonight),

Síle

How is it Monday?

More to the point: how is it February?? 2025 is just rolling along even as the world becomes more of a dumpster fire.

Gather with your communities, fiber friends. Whether online or in-person, support each other, hold each other up with love and kindness. And when you've got the energy, however you're able to, be the change you want to see in this world.

I'm going to leave that as it is, for now. I'm still collecting my thoughts, and ordering my words on what's going on with our once-respectable southern neighbour. I will say this though, in true Newfoundland fashion, "Thank god we're surrounded by water!" while still holding as many of you as I can in my heart. 

So beyond the collapse of civility between nations, I managed some pattern work this week. Charts are nearly complete for four, yes, 4!, new designs, and basic pattern writing has begun on them. I plan for these to be a literal ebook: 4 patterns of similar items in one pdf... well 2 really because there will be a "standard" one with both charted and written instructions, and a second presented with low vision accessibility in mind (24pt sans serif font, emphasis shown with bold type instead of italics, minimal abbreviations to be clear with screen reader technology, etc). These four designs cover a number of double-knitting techniques, which I thought was a fun idea. These are quick to knit accessories too so just right to learn/try a little something while still being useful.

On the personal project front, I have 3 diamonds of length knit on Sleeve 2 of Roomie's cardigan now. And I put some rows into the birthday surprise gift too; O! I finally finished the chart for that. Whew! That was a bit of a marathon truth be told. When I reveal it that will make much more sense. I didn't get a start on Clue 2 of Common Thread's Keep It Secret Keep It Safe mkal unfortunately. My hands seemed drawn to DK weight yarns this week ;) I'm using Paton's Astra for both the cardigan and the birthday surprise (It's Roomie, they need to be able to safely go in the washer and dryer), again purchased locally. Top of the hill and around the corner in fact. Very handy.

What's on your needles and hooks, fiber friends? Any FOs (finished objects) from January? 

Yours in yarn and varying degrees of fogged brain,

Síle

Hello!

And welcome to the Stitches & Steps blog :)

I noticed that there've been a lot of new fiber friends checking in here lately, and I thought a little intro post might be timely.

So first off, I'm Síle (pronounced she-la), and the Stitches & Steps blog is where I share all my latest news and chatter on my pattern designs (Knit Dance Repeat Designs aka where the site gets its name), personal crafting projects (heavy on knitting but occasional cross-stitch and crochet forays happen), Irish dance news and inspiration, and the occasional blip about my physical health.

Across the top, you'll also find tabs to: an index of my photo tutorial posts and helpful hints, a gallery with internal links to all of my pattern pages, and a glossary of Irish dance terms that have appeared in my pattern intro paragraphs plus a few from blogposts. (Aside: I'm always happy to add to the glossary, so if there's a term or word you're curious about, drop me a comment in the form in the sidebar, and I'll get it added to the glossary as soon as I can)

Along the sidebar I have links to other places to buy my patterns (Payhip and LoveCrafts), and links to other inspirational fiber folks that you might also enjoy. I try to include clearly marked links to any patterns and/or designers I discuss in my personal projects, and tag them in the post. If I've forgotten a link, don't hesitate to let me know! :) It's always my intention to have links but my brain fog sometimes distracts me before I can hit publish on a post.

So that's a wide net overview of the site :)

Why Knit Dance Repeat? To be honest, I fell into it! I was designing a few little things here and there, and writing them up since 2009. Anchors & Ropes was published on my then-blog I think in December of 2009. Could've been November. Anyway! I wanted to design more. I enjoyed it and it was a great creative outlet from my series of retail and customer service jobs; I've been assistant manager of a dollar store, worked at Walmart as both floor staff and a cashier, worked the drive through of a coffee place, etc...

Then I got hurt, and I was home, in a lot of pain, with only books and my yarn hoard to keep me occupied. Thankfully I had my Roomie for company and awesome support, but even the absolute bestest friends can't fill a void in your own head left by suddenly not having a purpose. 

To say I went through some things in the summer of 2015 is an understatement.

But what did happen was I literally dreamed a pattern coming together. I sat bolt up in bed at like 3:30 in the morning, scribbled down the idea, and went back to sleep. When I woke up later that day I looked at the back of that envelope, and discovered what I'd done.

I had used the math of the music of a reel to outline a cowl. Who does that?! Apparently me lol The thing is, it was solid. The idea was completely knitable. I think I cast-on that afternoon.

But that also got my mind firing. If I could use the time signature of a reel (4/4 for those not familiar traditional Irish music) to come up with a cowl pattern, could I use a similar process to design something for a light jig?

I'll spare you the whole journey, but the answer was yes for the light jig, single jig, slip jig, treble reel, treble jig, and hornpipe.

And that blending/melding/mixing of knitting and Irish dance/music brought to mind what I used to do. I knit, I danced, and then I repeated it over the course of my week. Heck, I often knit while at dance! In the down room before class, and even backstage during rehearsals for performances. A few times backstage during performances to help with nerves if I'm being completely honest lol. Even when my feet weren't dancing, my fingers often were! 

The blending of the two worlds also helped me keep my place in dance when we (my dr and I) weren't sure exactly where this was going to lead. Irish dance was a huge component of my life. Many of my absolute dearest friends came into my life because we met at the studio. The music always spoke to me from the time I was a little girl. The steps always felt like they were meant to be mine...

Ok, not trebles; those never felt exactly right lol I'm a slip jig not a treble reel! Thank you for that line, Bernie!! :)

Where was I??

Oh right! Irish dance and trad music were, and are, a big part of who I am. And at a time that was scary and uncertain, I needed that comfort and stability, even if I could hardly put one foot in front of the other to walk from my room to the bathroom. Especially because of it, really.

And my little niche has allowed me to play with knitting and Irish dance in ways I never imagined. And I continue to play with both in ever expanding ways. I have so many ideas!! 

One thing you'll notice is there's not a firm schedule for when new patterns come out here at KDRD. Where I do everything (with the exceptions of photography and tech editing; shout out to Krista and Heather for providing me with the best of both disciplines!), and from only my smartphone to boot, everything hinges on my pain levels, fog levels, and general "can I knit/write/edit/sit up today?". I do my best to be timely. I don't always succeed but I do try.

One other thing about me: I live on the island of Newfoundland off of Canada's most eastern coast, adrift in the north Atlantic Ocean. This place informs a lot of what I do knitting wise indirectly. And like any good solid Rock, it's given me a pretty steady base to work from. I'd be very remiss if I didn't mention my adopted home. And nothing set in stone but I have an idea or two that'll give my dear island some attention of its own amongst all the dancing and tunes.

So welcome! I hope you'll come back often and see what I'm up to. Comments and questions are always welcome either on a post/page or to the form in the sidebar. 

Ok, so no design news to share this week. I'm still a bit behind in my head from my overnight to Town midmonth to be honest. You wouldn't think an overnight would disrupt so much but here I am. 

In personal projects, I got the first sleeve of Roomie's cardi done. I'm knitting her a Folklore Cardigan by Amy Gundersen🔗 (link to the pattern's page on the MadelineTosh website) in classic cream and black. It's such a great classic cabled cardigan in DK weight; I'm using Patons Astra purchased from a local shop. 

And here's a pic of the sleeve:

I have 1 and a half diamonds done on the second one so it's moving again. I admittedly got a bit bogged down by it for a while because I've been working on it since October. But things are zipping along again, so yay!

The other piece I've put any time into is Nicole from Common Thread Fiber's Keep It Secret Keep It Safe Shawl mystery knit along aka mkal. I finished Clue 1! Clue 4 dropped today lol. Working behind as always lol. I'm using Briggs & Little Heritage which is a wonderfully woolly worsted/aran weight yarn. Canadian too, from our oldest woollen mill in the country. They're Atlantic Canadian neighbors too, being based in New Brunswick :) As I pointed out last post, this pattern is only available on Ravelry for the duration of the original knit along due to the need for sending weekly clue updates, and Common Thread's off-Rav location is on Ko-fi. I'll safe link as soon as I can!

So that's what's keeping my personal needles busy, and I've been doing a wee bit of pattern writing and charting for new designs but nothing I can share just now. Maybe next time I'll have something definitive for you.

I've written a novel this time! Whew! I hope you've had a favorite drink and/or snack to get you through today's post lol

What are you working on, fiber friends? A last minute warm hat or pair of mittens to help stave off the polar vortex that's gripped much of North America? Or are you thinking spring and summer, and have a lovely tee or tank on your needles or hook? I'd love to hear from you :)

As always, I remain

Yours in yarn and really long intros because it's either four words or a novel with me lol,

Síle