Episode 7: Get Your Goat On!

Welcome to episode 7 everybody! In this podcast we review our 1st LYS (local yarn shop,) sit down and chat with a few of our knitting group friends and talk about all of our WIP's, Fo's and CO's. Grab your knitting, your beverage of choice and join us!

Episode 7 Audio

Marcy and Kim having way TOO much fun recording

What's in our Lesson Plan?

• Show and Tell (including goals)
• An interview with a few of our knitting group friends
• We introduce our LYS spreadsheet and review process
• An interview with our LYS, Got Your Goat
• What's on our Blackboard?

Show and Tell

We start off with a review of Kim's goals that she set last week:

1. Finish her Autumn's End pullover: Frogged! Sadly due to a huge issue with incorrect stitch counts in ALL parts of the sweater. sigh...
2. Cast on a new summer sweater, possibly the Symmetry in Motion by Vera Sanon using her SW 2016 Forbidden Woolery Proverbs yarn. Done!!!
3. Finish her Invictus B & B socks using an afterthought heel and 2/3 of the stitches for the heel as EZ recommends along with putting in contrasting heels and toes. Done! However, Kim knit the heel at a birthday party and went on autopilot and used her regular flat heel instead. 
4. Sit down at her wheel and spin at least 5 times. Done!



Kim"s Lendrum spinning wheel



Kim's handspun gradient yarn





5. Cast on a pair of socks in a pattern. Done! The Achilles HeAL by Lucia Light using Fishknit's panache sock yarn.

Notes: Kim highly recommends the Craftsy Class, "Drafting from Worsted to Woolen," by Jacey Boggs Faulkner. Also, when frogging her Autumn's End she realized that her UFO's often get into trouble when they are put away for long periods of time. She really likes having a variety of items on the needles with a range of difficulty and techniques; however, when a UFO is not worked into the mix on a weekly basis it tends to  languish and is more difficult to pick up and get back on track with.

Marcy finished her Casual Kimono sweater and is really happy with the fit. She highly recommends the mongolian cashmere yarn from Stitchsisterz. She is currently working on her Be My Angel shawl by Martina Behm and is really enjoying the colors of the beautiful Huckleberry Knits yarn.  Marcy recently cast on the Nesoi Tee by Miriam Felton and is using her SW 2016 Anzula Breeze yarn (silk and lace blend,) in the Key Lime color way. 

Kim was swatching for the Nesoi Tee using her Anzula Breeze in the Irene color during the podcast. She also crocheted a stuffy last week for a baby's birthday gift, the "Crochet Giraffe Pattern,' by Emma Dent. This is a free pattern on Ravelry and was a fast, fun and easy crochet project. She has entered it into the Legacy Knitz (a video cast, go check it out,) "Stuffie Along KAL/CAL."

Interview with Kathy and Linda

Got Your Goat group knitting area.

We sat down and chatted with two of our friends from our knitting group, Kathy and Linda. Kathy is ktspinner on Ravelry and Linda is picking2gogranny. Both women are members of the local knitting guild (Camellia City Stockinettes,) the local spinning guild (Sacramento Weavers' and Spinners' Guild,) and the lace guild (The Lacy Knitters Guild.)

Linda is a new weaver, a knitter and a seamstress. Kathy is an experienced and prolific weaver, knitter and spinner. Linda has the Shapely Tee by Joan McGowan-Michaels on the needles using silky wool and this is a KAL with her knitting guild.

Kathy and her woven scarf.

Kathy has attended SOAR (now Yarn Fest) hosted by Interweave, where she had the opportunity to meet and learn from Judith McKenzie, Sara Lamb and others. Both women have attended Stitches West, Lambtown in Dixon, Ca and Linda will be attending the Meridian Farms event (I couldn't find a  link for this )

Kathy only listens to our podcast (such good taste!) Linda watches The Fat Squirrel Speaks video cast with Amy Beth (she's hysterical, go watch her!) and she listens to the Knitmore Girls audio podcast.

Michelle and her hybrid shawl.

Another knitting group friend joined us at the end and she was sporting her newly finished and gorgeous Four Seasons shawl by Alana Dakos. Michelle, who is scaryhairgirl on Ravelry decided to sew a short seam on the sides of the shawl in order to change it into a hybrid shawl/poncho and it looks great. She knit her shawl out of Malabrigo Rios in a beautiful green color way.

Overview of our LYS spreadsheet and rating process

On our main blog page we have a tab on the top of the page, "Yarn Shop Evaluation" where you can find the spreadsheet that we use to list the aspects that we are looking at when visiting and reviewing yarn shops. We are not critiquing, only listing what yarn options, including fiber and price categories, ease of finding, hours of operation and community outreach among other facts about the LYS. Our goal is to give you, our friend the knitter, an overview of what each LYS has to offer so you can decide if it would be a good fit for you as you travel or are just in the area. 

Interview with Got Your Goat

We sat down and chatted with Teresa (frnd4vr) about OUR LYS, Got Your Goat, in Roseville, Ca. She mentioned that one of the trends that they're aware of at GYG is knitters using smaller gauge yarn as opposed to mainly worsted and chunky. They're bringing in many new and beautiful yarns to meet that need: Erica Knight's Studio Linen, Space Cadet fingering, Ito and Shibui,  just to name a few. This past winter, they brought in Woolfolk, which was a huge hit. 

Also, they have regular KAL's (knitalongs, where everyone knits the same thing at the same time and can get help from the other knitters or the leader of the KAL.) Currently, Teresa is leading a Radian Yoke sweater KAL. The pattern is by Wendy Bernard and there are many great spring through fall yarns to use choose from that have linen, cotton and rayon; for example, Firefly and Soft Linen.

Teresa mentions the LYS in Fresno, "Swatches" and the Mountain Meadows yarn mill in Wyoming which is 100% women owned. 

Got Your Goat has classes on a regular basis, with a short break in the summer. Diane Soucy and Nancy Weisman are regular teachers. Check out their class schedule, here. 

Mo, the beloved shop mascot

One of the fun and unique offerings from GYG is their "Mo's Stash Box." This is a quarterly offering of unusual and special tools, yarn, patterns, etc... that aren't available in the store and that are always packaged in cute and innovative ways. Even if you don't live locally, you can still take part in this fun subscription program because they'll happily ship your box to you! ***Mo is the shop mascot, btw. He's a darling little goat that keeps an eye on all the knitters and their shenanigans!

What's on Our Blackboard?

Kim isn't setting any goals this week because she is heading off to Ann Budd's "Knit For Fun" retreat and has homework to complete. She also has another trip after that so she is working on prepping appropriate travel knitting projects. We will be back with a new episode in two weeks and we'll be sharing interviews and stories from Kim's retreats as well as our WIP's, Fo's, and new CO's. 

Have a fantastic few weeks and Happy Knitting!