Brooklyn Tweed, in Portland

Jared Flood announced on his blog that, after 10 years in New York City — and four and a half years producing yarn — Brooklyn Tweed (Jared and the company) is moving back to the Pacific Northwest. He wrote:

Calling the NYC area home for BT’s first four years has brought unique joys and challenges. Living and working in the concrete jungle has been an inspiration on so many levels, and it’s taught us how to survive and thrive in a city where most would say nothing comes easy. As my vision for Brooklyn Tweed has come into crisper focus this year, I’ve continued to examine the question of whether our current East Coast home is still the best place for us to do what we do, in the best way we are able; and I’ve decided the time has come to embark on a new adventure once again.

He says the change in scenery will be good for the company as they become inspired by the new sights and different creative vibe in Portland.

The post is great for its thoughts on creative entrepreneurship and taking chances, and we wish Jared and the whole team the best with the move and whatever is next for Brooklyn Tweed. In the meantime, if you’re in Portland, the company will be hiring when it gets there.

{Photo via Brooklyn Tweed.}

Next Pattern:

I’m honestly not totally sure what to say about the Sun King shawl pattern from Ursa Major Knits other than isn’t this cool? You should probably make one.

This modular design is worked in two parts, the “waxing” and “waning” sections. Both pieces are asymmetrical and use the same yarns in different ways to mix up the colors and make it even more interesting.

You can choose to use two contrasting solid yarns, a solid and a gradient or two complimentary gradients for your yarns. And you can use any weight of yarn and whatever gauge you like to make shawls of different sizes. There are also a bunch of different size options (seven, in fact) that take the project from a little collar like design to something more like a scarf to a large shawl that wraps around the neck to keep you warm.

The sample projects use fingering/lace weight yarn, but you can use whatever you have on hand to make your own beautiful version of this shawl. Using lace weight, you’ll need twice as much of one color as the other.

There are lots of yarn suggestions on the pattern page on Ravelry, and I love the color choices the designer made so much I’d definitely be tempted to use the same colors they did (there are a couple of different versions on the pattern page if you want to see how it looks in different sizes and different colors).

I love the little diamond shapes a the edges of the pieces, which add a little more drama to the project, as if it needed more.

I’m still not sure this boils down to anything beyond this project looks really cool and you should probably knit it, but that’s pretty much how I pick all the projects I share, so I guess that’s fine. You can check it out for yourself and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Ursa Major Knits]

A Shawl to Wear While You’re Reading and Knitting

A Striped Shawl to Celebrate Progress [Knitting]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?