Hi Knitters, we're happy to share our 5th episode with you. Kim went to the Strungalong retreat where she got to meet and interview Ann Budd. We are continuing to learn about podcasting and we are perfecting our style, I hope you are enjoying our conversations and knitting info that we are always excited to share with our listeners.This is another nice, long, meaty episode; so pick up your knitting, a soothing beverage and settle in for a great knitting session. Enjoy!
Episode 5 Audio
Whats in our Lesson Plan?
- Show and Tell
- Field trip Notes
- Interview with Ann Budd
- We are Uber Crafty!
- Homework/Goals
- What's on our Blackboard?
Show and Tell:
Marcy has been wearing and really enjoying her True sweater by Joji Locatelli. She is currently working on her Casual Kimono pullover by Bonnie Riley. She bought the gorgeous 100% Mongolian cashmere yarn from the Lambtown fiber festival that we attended last fall. The cashmere and pattern are from Stitchsisterz Yarn.
Marcy wanted to pick up and work on the cute Monster pants, but it didn't happen. She finished the Gray Lady Tablet case and is very happy with it. As part of the Stitches West KAL, Marcy is planning on casting on the pretty Be My Angel shawl by Martina Behm using her Huckleberry Knits singular in the winesap color.
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| Kim's Doodler Shawl. |
Kim's other Wips: 1) the Autumn's End pullover by Alano Dakos which is about 3/4 done, 2) the "Surprise! IDK where you came from" second sock (hopefully a horrible case of SSS will not attack her!)
While sick, Kim did some swatching for a few sweaters (there's no better time, right?!)
1) the Breathing Space pullover sweater by Veera Valimaki using Madelinetosh Merino Light and 2) the Heartfelt cardigan also by Veera Valimaki which will be knit out of merino light as well. Both of these sweaters are from the beautiful new book by Veera and Joji Locatelli, Interpretations vol 3.
A good tip when swatching is to tie knots in your yarn tail to remind you of the needle size you used to swatch (for ex, a US size 5 would have 5 knots,) or if you are swatching with multiple sizes, as you change needles indicate the size you used by adding that number of purl bumps to the right side of your work. This works like a charm and your future self will thank you! Also, its always a fabulous idea to wash and block your swatch, especially before investing all of your time and $$$ into knitting a sweater.
A Show and Tell Note, please check out the Sox Therapist's pattern, Fish Lips Kiss Heel because this very inexpensive $1 pattern will help her pay for some of her medical bills as she is battling cancer.
Field trip Notes:
Kim attended the Strungalong retreat last November in Port Ludlow, Washington. She learned about this retreat from reading Spephanie Pearl-Mcphee's blog, The Yarn Harlot. This retreat is held three times a year and each session has a different theme. Last November, the amazing Judith Mackenzie taught the spinning portion, Stephanie taught the knitting and Debbi Stone taught the informative technology class.While at the retreat, it was really fun to meet and interact with the teachers and other attendees. Kim met: Ann Budd, Jennie the Potter and Cecelia Campochiaro who wrote the amazing book, Sequence Knitting, along with many other amazing, smart, fun and creative knitters!
Ann Budd Interview:
It was such a pleasure to meet and interview Ann Budd. You can find all of her books here, and the information about her Knit For Fun retreats here.Ann started working for Handwoven Magazine and moved over to Interweave Press in 1989, first working on the magazine and then as an editor in the book department.
This April's Knit For Fun retreat will be held in Park City, Utah and her guest teacher will be the amazing Nancy Bush. In September, the retreat will be held in Estes Park, Co and her guest teacher will be the talented Galina Khmeleva.
Cindy Hallam is the event coordinator for the retreats and wants to ensure that all attendees will have a ball and that there will be many fun surprises too!
Ann mentions Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee and the lever knitting technique that she teaches. Head on over to Ann's Revelry group and join in on the fun.
Knitting Howlers:
We really like the Knitmore Girls podcast segment, "When Knitting Attacks!" We don't want to steal a segment name from them, so we came up with our own name, "Knitting Howlers." A howler is defined as," a glaring blunder, typically an amusing one." We know that we've had many howlers in our knitting lives and we will continue to do so (for your amusement, dear listeners : ) We also liked the name because knitters typically want to howl when their knitting misbehaves! ***By the way, we very much enjoy the entire podcast experience with the Knitmore's, please go on over and give them a listen if you haven't already.
Here are the Knitting Howlers that we experienced since we recorded last: 1) Kim's vanilla socks had some very stubborn stitches that continually wanted to bale out of the sock experience. Even though she's picked up many, many dropped stitches over the years; these proved to be stubborn due to their placement and the dark color of the yarn. 2) Marcy experienced a massive Howler attack while working on her Casual Kimono sweater. There were multiple frogging sessions and issues with cables and finally, some errata in the pattern. The designer, Bonnie Riley, was very responsive when Marcy pm'ed her on Ravelry. She's back on track now and the sweater is coming along beautifully.
We are Uber Crafty:
Kim spent at least 15 hours over the past two weeks re-organizing her stash in both physical and virtual space. It had been at least three years since she'd gone through her stash, skein by skein, and made sure that everything was photographed, in the proper bin and on her stash notebook on Rav. Its a big process, but well worth it. If you're going to truly use that function on Rav, it can only work for you to its full potential if it's complete, accurate and up to date. Also, it's a great opportunity to de stash unwanted yarn and make sure that there are no critters lurking. |
| The mess that Kim had while organizing her stash. |
Marcy took advantage of a wonderful, rainy weekend to get some sewing in. She was able to use up some fabric that was in her stash and sew up two adorable tops. She used the Simplicity pattern #1589.
Homework/Goals:
Marcy has set an "in general" goal of finishing her Casual Kimono sweater before we record next. Kim, who really likes setting crazy goals and is comfortable with not accomplishing all of them, has decided that she wants to: 1) finish her Autumn's End sweater, 2) finish the "Surprise! IDK where you came from" socks and research and be able to talk to you guys about the whole after/fore thought heel subject, 3) enter her fiber stash onto her Ravelry notebook, 4) CO another sweater, 5) finish her Doodler shawl and 6) pick up her languishing Elsie shawl by Fiddle Knits. Good luck Kim! Stay caffeinated!
What's on our Blackboard?
In our next episode we will be in the classroom all alone and spend the entire hour (or two...) talking about our knitting and crafting. We will also have our 1st installment of the Ravelry research paper series. Thank you so much for joining us! Please subscribe to our podcast and join us next time. Happy knitting!!
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