Recently, I was scrolling the ‘gram and something grabbed my eye.

I’d never seen anything quite like it. Then I glanced at the account and saw that it was @nancymarchantbrioche – none other than Nancy Marchant from Knit Stars Season 2…

I reached out and asked if we could zoom and catch up, so she could explain about this latest yarn sorcery that she has cooked up!

She calls it “woven knitting.”

“I’m a textile artist. I have a master’s degree in textiles and when I did my thesis on Shibori, I tie-died the image of cloth or ribbons onto cloth. Then after I moved to the Netherlands, I made this woven effect sweater. It had the 1988 shape with the tight ribbing around the cuffs and the body, but this same woven effect that I’m wearing now.”

“I kind of got over Brioche after all those years,” Nancy said (even the Queen of Brioche needs to change it up now and then!). “And I started making cable sweaters, but cables in color. You have those vertical ribbons that interlace and come back, and I would make the cable part in color. And it just sort of started me thinking of woven images, how things are woven. And I started to experiment with that.”

“I do go into rabbit holes. I don’t make just one of something. If I’m going to study lace, I’m going to go through all the different aspects of lace. I’m going to add color or take away color, add extra stitches in between, or whatever. It’s just what I do.”

“So with this woven stuff, I’ve probably made 50 samples of all different kinds of weaves. You have all these horizontal and vertical lines and each can be a different color and a different weave. It’s endless!”

“Color is always intimidating. There’s this thing known as decision fatigue, you know like when you’re buying a house. It’s the same thing when you’re working with color. So I make it like a game. I make rules. I put all the light colors together, the medium and the dark. I take a photo and turn it black and white. Then I’ll make a rule like,  I’m always going to cross a light with a dark, or all lights one way and all darks one way. The rule is about the value of the color. It eliminates a lot of that fatigue.”

“If you make a rule for yourself and stick by it, it usually works.”

@windekei on Instagram used woven knitting to add these amazing sleeves to a jean jacket!

Next, I asked, but what’s your very first step? Do you have a color or color family in mind before you start?

“I know what you mean,” she said. “Right now, I’m trying to use up all my stash. I’ve given a lot away but still have a huge amount. I’ll take all the reds I can find and will make a basket of colors, pull one, add another, and mix around until I feel like those are what I want to use. Sometimes I have a pop color and sometimes I don’t. It’s such a personal preference.”

“It’s kind of a mystery. Like once, I went to Vogue Knitting Live market one day, I’ll never forget this. I was buying for brioche so I would get two skeins at one booth, two more at another, etc. I went up to my room and emptied my bag and it was red and purple, red and purple, red and purple. I still don’t know why!”

Next I wondered, do certain fibers work better than others for woven knitting?

“Not superwash,” she said. “It needs to be kind of a sticky yarn. Because the process of knitting woven images is just like in weaving. You have a warp, the vertical stretched threads that form the base. The threads that go across, over under, over under, are called the weft.”

“The warp yarns have their own bobbins. They’re only worked in their little column, one thread going up. The weft threads are stranded across, you pick up the warp threads as you need them. When you come back you purl the warps and work the weft. They need to be sticky to ‘hold their place..’ Especially when working a more open pattern.”

“It makes the knitting slow, but the end result keeps me motivated. I just can’t wait to see what happens,” Nancy said.

If you’re curious about woven knitting and would like to try your hand at it, Nancy has a fabulous new pattern called “Woven Warmth” available here on Ravelry. The 20-page pattern is just $10 and explains the process, takes you through choosing colors and making a little sample, and then introduces two woven or “tabby weave” patterns – a shawl and a cowl.

Have you always wanted to knit stranded colorwork, but have just been too intimidated to take the plunge?

Well, this is your moment!

We’ve just released our next single, standalone workshop: Casapinka’s Colorwork Made Easy online workshop (from Knit Stars Season 6).

With her approachable, colorful style (and an assist from her snarky cat, Sharon from Security), Casapinka walks you through the simplest possible approach to colorwork – starting with just one finger.

Then she helps you elevate to more advanced stranding techniques, culminating in making the gorgeous “Sushi and Snark” pullover shawl she designed especially for Knit Stars students.

To get Casapinka’s workshop at the special introductory price of just $47, click here.

• Koigu special yarn kits
• Amano Yana Journeys Yarn
• Fur pompoms
• Birch Hollow Fibers kit
• La Bien Aimée Merino Aran
• MollyGirl Yarn Rockstar DK

Photo by cakieshq.com

Dutch Pancakes

We asked Nancy Marchant to share a favorite recipe, and here’s what she said…

“One of my favorite foods in the Netherlands is Dutch pancakes, pannenkoek in Dutch. Pancakes are eaten for lunch or dinner in the Netherlands but not for breakfast. They are often served at kids’ birthday parties or other special occasions.”

“Dutch pancakes are large (they fill the entire plate) and very crepe-like. They are often rolled up like a cigar which makes them easy for children to eat. They can be savory as well as sweet. They can be topped with bacon, cheese, mushrooms, courgette (zucchini), onions, fried egg, or ragout. For sweet pancakes, cinnamon and sugar can be added to the batter as well as fruit such as bananas or apples. Afterward, ice cream, powdered sugar, whipped cream, candied ginger, fresh fruits, raisins, nutella, or even liqueur can top your sweet pancake.”

“My favorite is a pancake baked with shredded cheese then topped with keukenstroop (kitchen syrup-the syrup that is used to make stroopwafels). Cheese and apple, or cheese and bacon, are also good combos.”

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (500 ml0 milk
2 cups (250 grams) flour
2 eggs
Pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix the flour and the pinch of salt. Add the milk and eggs. Mix everything together until there are no more lumps. Melt a little butter, over medium heat, in a non-stick frying pan and wait for it to heat up. With a ladle, spread the batter into the pan and swirl the pan around until the batter is thin and evenly spread all over. Cook until the pancake appears dry on top and releases from the pan, 2-3 minutes. Flip the pancake and cook for 1-2 minutes on the second side until it is golden brown.

At this point, you can add bacon, apple, or cheese to cook atop your pancake. Just like American pancakes, the first one often sticks to the pan so that needs to be eaten right away. In the Dutch kitchen, one would stack the pancakes on a plate, cover with a warm towel, or keep them warm in the oven so that everyone can enjoy them at the same time, together.