Remembering Pearl Chin

Pearl Chin, owner of the legendary New York City knitting store Knitty City, has died. She was 71 years old and had been battling lung cancer.

Knitty City was billed as a yarn studio when it opened in 2006, and it quickly became a community gathering place thanks to Chin’s welcoming spirit and willingness to listen to her customers and order the kinds of yarn they wanted to buy.

An obituary in the West Side Rag says the shop was a hub for making pussy hats after the 2016 election, and comments on the shop’s Facebook and Instagram pages note Chin’s kindness, openness and generosity as well as her support for independent designers, organization of a men’s knitting night and more to support the knitting community and the wider community.

Knitty City will be closed for a week in her honor.

I’ve never been to New York but I know that so many people found a fibery home at Knitty City thanks to Pearl’s presence, and I know she will be missed.

[Photo via Knitty City’s Instagram.]

Next Pattern:

If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

Next Pattern:

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