D2K Episode 3 - Stitches West 2016 Part 1 & Yarniacs interview

Hi Knitters, we had a wonderful time last weekend at Stitches West. We were able to sit down and talk with some attendees (two came all the way from France!) as well as the podcasting duo, The Yarniacs.  We will be sharing all three of our Stitches interviews with you in the next two episodes.   We hope you enjoy listening to our experiences at Stitches and the special interview with the Yarniacs, enjoy and happy knitting!

Episode 3 Audio

What is in our Lesson Plan today:

Interview with the Yarniacs, Gayle and Sharlene

Photo with the Yarniacs after the interview at Stitches West.
From left to right: Marcy, Kim, Sharlene, Gayle.

Show and Tell:

Marcy is continuing to work on her True sweater by Joji Locatelli. She is also knitting the adorable monster pants for her son;  Das Monster by Hrönn Jónsdóttir. Luckily, she was able to find the last two skeins that she needed in the colors she wanted at SW (Stitches West.)


Kim is knitting on her, "Surprise! I don't know where you came from" socks while recording. These socks are a total mystery with a lost ball band, an intentional forethought heel (evidently!) and maybe a swirl toe?! She has finished: her Mexico socks and a Bankhead hat for her husband.


Kim's WIPs include: The Four Seasons shawl by Alana Dakos of NeverNotKnitting, she's really enjoying knitting this gorgeous shawl and is almost done; and her Cabo socks knit from the so sparkly and pretty FishKnits Panache sock yarn. 

Kim has set some lofty finishing goals for the next week or so (the after affect from all of the yarn fumes from SW?!) and wants to finish her MKAL shawl, Cabo socks and 2nd Cattails sweater in addition to casting on something from  new stitches yarn. 

Marcy wants to finish her monster pants (because they are super cute and almost impossible to put down,) True sweater and a kindle cover she is knitting for her son's daycare provider. Its the Gray Lady Tablet/Kindle case by Pearl Morgan. In addition, she's madly filling up her queu and linking patterns with new Stitches yarn while trying to decide what she will CO 1st!

Field trip Notes: 

We had a wonderful "field trip" to Stiches West in Santa Clara, California last weekend. Here are some of our stash enhancements:


We both bought some Forbidden Woolery Proverbs yarn. Kim chose the Cymbidium color way, which is a beautiful tonal denim and Marcy bought the Earl Grey and Sunflower colors. This is a sport weight yarn and its 60% organic cotton and 40% linen which is perfect for our hot climate. We are both planning on knitting summer tops with this lovely yarn.

We also both purchased the lace weight Anzula Breeze yarn. This yarn is also a great fit for our  climate and is a silk and linen blend. Marcy got the Key Lime color and is going to knit the Nesoi tee by Miriam L. Felton and Kim chose the Irene color and will be knitting a summer tee as well. 

Kim saw, fell in love with and brought home: 
1) a fingering weight skein of  Forbidden Woolery's Pride yarn in the Horcrux color, 2) a gradient color set from Forbidden Woolery on their Fortitude base, also in the Horcrux color, 3) two fingering weight skeins of gorgeous Theodora's Pearls yarn on their sapphire base. One in the Meteor Showers color and the other in the Canyonlands color way. These two will probably grow up to be shawls and may even be knit together. 


Marcy couldn't walk away from these pretties:

Marcy's stash enhancements from Stitches West.

Habu Textiles, A-1 2/17 Tsumugi silk in colors 82, 50 and 29.
Yoth Yarns, Big Sister in the Mandarin color way.
Anzula, Breeze in the Key Lime color.
Hemp for Knitting, Allhemp3 in the Amazing sapphire color & Allhemp6 in Aubergine.
SpaceCadet, Lyra in the Frigia color.

Marcy has plans to knit the Hemp for Knitting yarn in the Allhemp6 base into the Flirty Ruffles Skirt #359 by Lana Hames. The Space Cadet Lyra will grow up to be a super cute and snuggly Linden sweater by Mel Ski. All of that amazing Habu silk will be magically transformed into the League pullover by Veronik Avery and the Yoth yarn will join some of Marcy's stashed yarn and become the super cute Reflected Lines cardigan by Suvi Simola.

The sample I tried on at the Space Cadet booth.
I have to make this pattern in the exact color. 

The back of the sweater is so beautiful,
I am so excited to get this project started.

What's on Our Blackboard?

In our next episode, we'll continue to share our field trip notes from SW and tell you about the podcaster meet up, more about the marketplace, Kim's fiber purchases, a special book Kim bought, and a few misc. items we picked up. We'll have Show and Tell, which I'm sure will include many FO's and many CO new projects with Sw yarn! Finally, we've got two special interviews with attendees that we know you'll enjoy listening to. 

Interview with The Yarniacs:

We both had a great time sitting down and talking with Gayle and Sharlene of The Yarniacs podcast. As we were preparing to start our podcast, they were kind enough to share some ideas with us when we Pm'ed them on Ravelry. Knitters are the BEST! Here are some of things that we discussed in our interview:

Sharlene has attended a TKGA event. The Yarniacs co host a Northern California knitting retreat with The 2 Knit Lit Chicks (Barbara and Tracie are also two of our favorite podcasters and have very kindly shared podcasting ideas when Pm'ed,) which is called "The NoCKR's (Norther Ca knitting Retreat) Retreat." 

Sharlene is slowing dipping her toe into spinning and we talk about the famous Rhinebeck and Black Sheep fiber festivals. 

Gayle is interested in these yarn companies because they offer some unique blends and fibers, such as Cormo: Sincere Sheep, Elemental Affects and Elsa Wool Company.

Gayle and Sharlene met at a gymnastics class that their children took.

As podcasters, they really enjoy and have been surprised by the incredible community that podcasting affords. In particular, they both really appreciate their Ravelry group.

The Swift Stitch is their LYS and Gayle talks about how much she enjoys it and Sharlene really likes working there.

Thanks for listening everybody! Happy knitting and we'll "see" you soon.

D2K Episode 2 - Getting to Know Kim

Hi Knitters we are moving along and figuring out how to Podcast.  We are excited to share episode 2 with you where we interview Kim. Take a listen and I hope you enjoy getting to know Kim.

Episode 2 Audio 

What is in our lesson Plan today:

Show and Tell:

Marcy's knitting True by Joji Locatelli using Grace by Fiesta Yarn.

Kim's knitting her 1st MKAL, the pattern is Four Seasons by Alana Dakos. Kim is knitting with Madelinetosh Tosh DK, she started the project with Cascade Venezia Worsted, but planned poorly and didn't have enough yarn so she frogged it and switched to the Tosh. She is also knitting on her Mexico socks, the pattern she is using is the Hermione's Everyday Socks and she is incorporating the After Thought Heel Socks by Laura Linneman and she's using the magic loop method and knitting them two at a time.  

Kim's interview:

•  How did you get into kitting? Learned to knit at College
•  How long have you been knitting? A Looooooong time! Over 30 years!
• On average how many hours a week do you spend knitting? 10-15??I'd be fun to keep track.
• What are your colors you gravitate towards in yarn and has your color choices changed over the years? My color choices haven't changed much over the years. I'm really drawn to blues, greens, teals, peaches. corals and lots of vibrant colors. I often think of using neutrals for the practicality though.
• Do you belong to a knitting group?  I started one over 5 1/2 years ago and we met at my house and a few weeks after our LYS opened we started meeting there every week and we love it!
• Does Ravelry play a huge role in your knitting? HUGE! I really enjoy it and can't imagine my knitting life without it. 
• Do you have a favorite design/project you have made? Maybe my entrelac bag that I designed after taking an entrelac class a few years ago. Its very hard for me to decide. I often like what I'm knitting at the moment.
• Do you have a favorite designer? There're so many that I like! iJoji Locatelli, Ysolda Teague, Nevernotknitting, Cat Bordhi, Cocoknits and Baby Cocktails. 
• Do you have a favorite yarn you like to use? No specific brand, but I do mainly use DK, sport or fingering weight yarns. I did knit a Viajante by Martina Behm (one of my other favorite designers,) out of a boat load of lace weight yarn!
• Do you knit things multiple times? Yes! For example, I've knit 3 Hitofude and really enjoyed making them. You can find them here: 1, 2, and 3. There's a nice feeling of familiarity when you knit an item again; yet, there're so many things that I want to knit and only so much time! I did go through a little stuffed animal phase last year and I knit the Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is a free pattern on Revelry and is super cute. Then, I crocheted a bunch of adorable little bunnies for gifts.  Last fall, my knitting group went on a little stripped sweater binge. The Cattails pattern is fun and easy. See mine, here and here. 
• Do you gravitate towards certain types of projects? Yes, not many pullovers because our weather is too warm here and I like to wear what I knit. I do have a gorgeous pullover on the needles, Autumn's End, and its got a lot of lace so I think it'll be cool enough. I knit a lot of socks, shawls and summer garments. 
• What is the hardest project you have ever made? Maybe a lace shawl (Bryce Canyon) that I knit about 5 years ago. Knitting charts were newish to me at the time and so it was a little challenging, but not really hard. 
• Are there any other fiber/crafts you do? I knit, crochet a little, weave a bit, and started spinning about a 1.5 years ago. 
• Who are your knitting rock stars that you would love to sit down and have dinner with. She's not a knitting designer, but a spinning rockstar, Judith Mckenzie. I can't choose just one, but here are some of the knitter's that I'd enjoy sitting down with and having a drink: Martina Behm and several of the other designers mentioned above in the favorite designer section. 

      What's on our Blackboard? 

We"ll be going to Stitches West in Santa Clara, California on February 19th-21st. We are excited about talking to and interviewing some interesting fiber folks while we are there. We look forward to sharing those interviews with you in a future episode.

Thank you so much for joining us for our 2nd episode! These first two episodes were special interview eps where we talked to each other to learn more about our knitting history, personality and habits. Next time you hear from us we'll be back from Stitches West with lots of interesting interviews and stories to share with you. We'll "see" you then! Happy knitting.