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

A FO(!) and New Things at KDR

Pleased to say I have a personal FO this week. I finished the Flax sweater (pattern by Tin Can Knits; link to the pattern page on their site) for Cousin's little guy yesterday and I'm really happy with it.

I think the stripes made it fun. I can say weaving in ends took a awhile though! So I'm going to be staying away from stripes for a bit.

As for my work knitting, the pattern for the Hornpipe Bag will be headed to my techeditor in the next week or so. And if you follow me on Instagram you know I'm doing something with a wide cable panel that needs shaping and I recently posted a photo of it on my head to Instagram:

Yes, this is for a new design and I admit I'm really excited about it. 

I've had the picture in my head for a few years (and copious notes hither and yon lol), for a hooded cloak with a cabled  panel running from the front of the hood, down the back of the neck, and then straight down through the body to the bottom edge. I'm finally getting the shaping of the hood down. 

And while I've made notes and calculations, I'm finding I really need to see how this is looking as it progresses so I grabbed a similar wool to the one I'll be using for the sample (hood swatch is in Briggs & Little Tuffy in the "Blue Mix" colorway) and started playing around. I really like how it's progressing, silly photos included. 

I'm calling this hooded cloak pattern Countess Cathleen, after the iconic slip jig piece in Riverdance, choreographed and first danced by the inspiring Jean Butler. It's my favorite dance/tune in the entire show. And eventually I was going to have a design inspired by Riverdance. One can't ignore a global phenomenon especially in its 25th anniversary season!

I have another design on the needles right now that I can't share with you just yet ;) My goal is to have it ready for announcement in late July/early August. I think it's going to be a fun way to get ready for colder temperatures ;) I can say I'm really pleased with it and it's knitting up fairly quickly. 

What are you working on this week? Anything you're sharing for #WIPWednesdayOffRav? I'm off to scroll Instagram and ❤️ a bunch of lovely projects!

Yours in yarn and cabled hood trying-on,

Síle

Choices

 I've been thinking about choices and options a lot lately. For example, when I'm finished knitting the current prototype I'm working on which of my ideas should I cast on next? Do I still like the color choices I made for *insert particular project* or should I change them up a bit? Does the OXO cable really suit that positioning or should I use a 4 strand braid? Perhaps offer both but show OXO on the children's size and 4 strand on the adult one? 

Decisions, decisions, decisions! I'm not complaining mind you. These are the types of things I like mulling over. And over. 

I hope your weather is good wherever you happen to be reading this from. It's snowing and blowing here today. Perfect stay in and swatch weather. I have plenty of ideas to play with!

Yours in yarn and needles,

Síle

Challenges

 

Today I'm working on a bit of a modification; I'm using a pattern and then diverging from the original. Let me explain.

I've had the pattern "Friesland" by Jenise Reid in my pattern library for a bit. [Aside: She's the designer of the gorgeous "Persian Dreams" blanket that many of us have admired/drooled over.] And it's sat in my library because I am not a stranded colorwork knitter. Quite frankly, I stink at it. 

Now, I've read all kinds of tips and hints, and been given more of the same from other well-meaning knitters. I don't need or want any more. Just as some knitters find lace an incomprehensible tangle, and others fear cables, stranded colorwork and I just aren't ever going to be pals. And that's ok! There's so much knitting inspiration out there! Do what you love doing, be it fancy Fair Isles in 40 colors, or intricate cables in cream coloured wool. That's the beauty of knitting, there's something for each of us.

But, and isn't there always a but that gives us pause and makes us reconsider something? But then a challenge appeared in a crafting group I belong to. And that challenge was to take a virtual trip to Holland, centering on the lovely Rijks Museum, and craft something inspired by your trip. 

I have Dutch ancestry; Belgian ancestry from the Walloon region [Aside: I go through life with an Irish first name and a Belgian/Dutch last name; I am the bane of English pronunciations hee hee!] to be more accurate. And the first thing that came to mind was the lovely blanket pattern in my library that is so reminiscent of Delft tiles and ceramics. And of course the Rijks Museum has some stunning examples of that. I made a collage of some of the pieces found there:

Beautiful aren't they? The detail in each example is absolutely breathtaking. I never could have imagined a Delft violin and yet suddenly there was one in front me! And the birdcage! And...

I know I don't have the skills to knit the entire blanket, especially within the timeframe, but I thought I could try to capture a bit of the feel by knitting two of the hexagons and making them into a pillow. What you see in my top photo is my progress using chart D; I'm on rnd 20 of 39. The other side of the pillow will be chart E. 

And this is why today finds me with stranded colorwork on my needles in blue and white. A little challenge to myself to tackle something different. And get some points for my team in the process.

Also currently being worked on are my Hornpipe Bag and a summer sweater called "Twillingate" by fellow Newfoundland designer Jennifer Beale. Here's a peak at the progress on the Hornpipe Bag:

It looks a bit odd squished up on the needle but you can see the sides are growing. I'm quite happy with it, I have to say.

Yours in yarn and wooden shoes,

Síle

All the Jigs & Reels

I thought maybe some of you might be interested in how my series/ebook came about. What started my knitting-Irish dance "mashup" patterns?

It happened in a dream. That sounds a bit silly but it's exactly what happened! I woke up in the wee hours one August morning in 2016 with the idea of a basic cowl with rope cables and moss st, because rope cables can be 4 stitches wide (each strand being 2 stitches) and crossed every 4 rows/rounds. 4x4 or 4/4, which is the time signature for reels. And the first solo learned in Irish dance is the light reel. By this point I'd grabbed a pen off my nightstand and started scribbling on a sheet of paper. I chose moss st to show off the cables because it shares the 4 rows/rounds repeat. And if I did 7 pattern repeats going around the cowl, that would be the perfect tie in with 7s aka the basic side step in Irish dance...

The cowl took shape in my dark room without any yarn or needles in hand, a first for me. 

After I'd gone back to sleep and woke up properly for the day, I looked over my hastily scribbled night time notes and the idea still had merit. In all honesty, my Light Reel Cowl pattern never changed from that original burst. 

After making a more legible and coherent plan for the cowl, I wondered if I could turn the light jig into a pattern. Jigs have a time signature of 6/8. I took the 6 as 6 stitches, which is 3 strands if they're 2 stitches each. What does 3 strands say to you? To me it was a braid. Braid cables are some of my favorites. What could I make that would highlight the braid(s)? I decided a tam with 8 wedges, using the 8 from 6/8, was the right idea. I played with the placements of both the braids and the decreases. At one point, the lines of the decreases were fighting with the braids; not what I wanted! But what if I flipped it? What if I start at the top and increase each wedge?... That turned out to be exactly what I was looking for! Funny how turning a chart in a different direction can make all the difference. 

So there I was with designs for a light reel inspired cowl and a light jig inspired tam. Could I come up with something for a single jig? Again with the 6/8 time signature. Ah! What if 6 were the number of strands in the cable? There's a classic 6 strand cable that's been published in many stitch dictionaries and patterns, sometimes called "Saxon Braid", "Celtic Braid", etc. Everyone has probably seen it somewhere.

I decided on mittens, with the 6 strand cable traveling the back from cuff to fingers. And if I used the ribbed palm and thumb a lady from the town I grew up in used to make her mittens that I swear every child in the area had a pair of, maybe they'd invoke that woolly hug I remembered from putting hers on. I had the basis for my Single Jig Mittens.

At the point I was coming up with these ideas, I was still waiting to get into physiotherapy for my injury and was using a cane to get around. Because I was also dealing with neuropathy, my hands often felt cold no matter the temperature. Using my mitten idea as a jumping off point, I knit a pair of fingerless mitts, I call them mitties, using DK weight yarn in place of worsted. I really liked them and they made a difference for my hands, especially when going over to the store or post office, so I decided I would release them alongside the mittens. In the actual timeline, the mitties were knit before the mittens!

If I was going to keep going, and it really looked like I was onto something, I needed something for the slip jig. Slip jigs are a completely different animal to the other jigs. First off they have a time signature of 9/8, unique to every other tune/dance the world over! They tend to be a bit... ethereal. Floaty and light. How could I represent that??

I took inspiration from Riverdance, in particular the slip jig "Countess Cathleen". I had wanted to knit a cloak with cables for quite awhile. I decided to knit a cloak that the Countess might wear when she's in hiding. I designed a 9 strand cable to run down the center back, and decided to start at the neck and increase as I worked down...

I started knitting and discovered this was going to take far too long and hold up the rest of the project. In the meantime, I had decided on what I'd do for the treble reel (return to rope cables and moss stitch in a toque/beanie but with short rows to shape the ribbing like I'd done on one I'd knit Dad long before) and treble jig (legwarmers with braid cables and trinity st), and was narrowing down how to look at the hornpipe. I needed an "easier" option for the slip jig!

Somewhere in the back of my mind a word popped up and floated to the surface: lace. Slip jigs are light and floaty, sometimes ethereal, all qualities that describe lace. My first idea was to knit a shawl with increases between panels of a sort of interlocking lace design; sort of like if cables were opened up really wide. At first I was thinking 9 panels in a sort of circular shape. I even tried to draw it out: a circle cut in 12 with 3 slices blacked out. What I eventually settled on is a hexagon missing one piece, so 5 wedges. 

And now you're thinking "5? Where did 5 come from?!" Going back to the slip jig's specialness, that 9/8 time signature means the count for dancing isn't counts of 8 as with the other dances, it's 5. Listen to the song "Rocky Road to Dublin", it's a slip jig and the count is clear in the chorus: "1 2 3 4 5 Hunt the hare and turn her down the rocky road, And all the way to Dublin...". So my using 5 sections makes complete musical, and dance, sense. 

I've had nothing but trouble with the edging for the shawl. I think I've finally stumbled onto the solution but believe me, this is the last time I try designing something with a limited amount of yarn in a discontinued colorway. I digress.

I decided to make a scarf with the basic lace pattern from the shawl so that I could keep the series going in learning order. I knit my Slip Jig Scarf using a gradient dyed yarn in a DK weight, as opposed to the light fingering weight I'm using for the shawl. Two very different looks and feels from the same lace patterning. The shawl will be the last pattern of the nine released.

I've already given you my idea behind the Treble Reel Toque. That was nice and straight forward, and knit up pretty much exactly how I envisioned it. I ran into a bit of trouble with the trinity stitch paired with the braid cables for the legwarmers and after a good deal of swatching (and truth be told, swearing) I came up with what I called a waffle stitch that sort of resembles the bubble (or poodle) socks worn by dancers in competitions. That was originally why I wanted to use trinity stitch but it just never looked right to me.

This brought me up to the last dance, the hornpipe. Hornpipes are another tune with an interesting time signature, most often they're in 2/4. This gave me some trouble because I kept thinking in terms of cables or lace, like the rest of the patterns. Ah, but what if 2 were represented by 2 colors? And 4 were 4 sides? Hmm...

I enjoy double-knitting, which is a method of making 2 "right" sides at the same time, with the colors reversed. For example, a scarf with red flowers on a blue background on side A, and blue flowers on a red background on side B. That's basic double-knitting. There are ways to go about knitting non-reversible things like letters or more complicated things like lace or cables. I recommend checking out the patterns and ideas of Alasdair Post-Quinn (link to his website is in the sidebar) for further exploration. My own design, Rínce Fada, uses these more complex methods. I digress, again.

So hornpipe: 2 colors, 4 sides, double-knitting; what can I do with that? What if I took a basic type Celtic knot, and worked a square in d-k, and then picked up around the edges and worked the sides of a bag upwards in the round? If I made eyelets towards the top, I could thread I-cords through and it would be a drawstring bag!

I had this started and then realized I'd completely goofed by not paying attention to gauge. Knitting is most often wider than it is tall. So if you knit something, for example, 20 stitches x 20 rows, you'll have a nice rectangle not a square. If you've ever put a design on graph paper and then tried to knit it you'll have seen that it looks much flatter or shorter than the graph. This is why there's what is called knitter's graph paper, most often in 18 stitches and 24 rows to 4"/10 cm. I paid no mind to gauge though and charted a knot on standard, square, graph paper. And my bottom square came out as a predictable rectangle. Oops. So now I need to rechart not only the base but the bag sides as well. And then, and only then, can I reknit it properly. But I have a solid idea anyway.

Thus ends the tale of how my series of All the Jigs & Reels patterns came about. We have numbers around us in a lot of our interests, why not use them in a different medium to inspire or teach others? 

Yours in yarn & trebles,

Síle