Episode 9: Susanna IC

Welcome to episode 9 everybody! We are almost in the double digits and we're excited about that. In this episode, Kim continues to share her experiences from her recent "Knit For Fun" retreat and has a special interview with designer Susanna IC. Enjoy!

Episode 9 Audio

The "Knit For Fun" retreats are put on by Ann Budd and Kim discusses her classes there, which were taught by:

1. Ann Budd: Steek and Zippers and Fixing Your Mistakes.
2. Nancy Bush: Estonian Traveling Stitches
3. Susanna IC: Cables and Lace

Admin notes: We are taking attendance! please join us in our Ravelry group if you are a new or returning "student," we promise that we won't let you sit alone at lunch or play by yourself at recess!

Marcy, Kim and Wilson after recording

What's in our Lesson Plan?

• Lots of retreat info!
• All of my retreat classes
• An interview with the designer Susanna IC

Retreat Info:

1. Goody bag donation items: Cloudborn Fibers, Merino Superwash Sock Twist in the Majestic Purple color, Cloudborn Fiber Alpaca and Highland Natural in the Camel Heather color, Vice blurred Lines in the Canyonlands color way to go with the Park City Cowl pattern by Ann Budd, Elemental Affects yarn and the Midsummer bouquet pattern by Karen Kendrick-Hand and Buffy Ann Designs yarn cozys.
2. The yarn shops that vended at the retreat were: Wasatch and Wool, from Park City, Utah and Blazing Needles from Salt Lake City, Utah.
3. Our fund raiser was the Haapsalu Lace center in Estonia and $1,110 was raised over the weekend!

Kim's cup cozy that has been steeked and zippered!

The awesome goody bag and its' contents

Podcasts hosting sock KAL's: 

There are so many sock KAL's (knit-a-longs) running right now that I thought we'd mention a few for you all to jump in on. Remember that you can double, triple and quadruple dip on these! So, go knit some socks, post some pics and win some prizes!

• The Knitmore Girls audio podcast has an on going KAL, "Operation Sock Drawer". Use #operationsockdrawer on Instagram and you can also post in their group thread. 
• Yarngasm Video Podcast has a year long (until 1/1/17) "Box of Sox" KAL. Use #boxOsoxkal on Instagram and put your 12 pairs of adult socks in a pretty box. 
• Grocery Girls video podcast has a "Fancy Feet" KAL  from 5/1/16 thru 6/14/16 and the goal is to try a new technique. #ggfancyfeet on Instagram. 
• Bakery Bear's Video podcast has a "Summer of Socks" KAL running from 5/25/16 thru 8/31/16. #summerofsockskal on Instagram.
• The lovely ladies from the Mason Dixon blog are having a "One Sock" KAL and 1st time sock knitters are welcome! 5/1/16 thru 5/31/16. Post using the #onesockkal on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or on their Ravelry thread.

Susanna IC interview:

I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with Susanna IC at the Knit For Fun retreat. Susanna is "zuzusus" on Ravelry and her website is artqualia.com. She is very active in her Rav group and hosts at least 2 MKAL's a year in addition to other knitalongs using her gorgeous lace and cable patterns. Susanna has 150+  patterns on Ravelry and more are in the works!

Even though it was a challenge to do so, Susanna did choose a few of her designs as her favorites: Annis, Belarra, Brina and a cardigan, Eadon. Head on over to Ravelry and take a look at all of her beautiful designs. 

***The "Fruity Knitting" video cast was mentioned. Andrea knits lots of Alice Starmore sweaters and does a lot of great tutorials, go check it out!

What's on our Black Board?

In episode 10 we be talking about our knitting (Show and Tell,) and doing a Shibui yarn tasting with yarn that Kim received at the retreat. We'll play an interview with Sandy who was helping us all weekend with our Shibui buying needs : ) . 

Have a great week everybody! Happy knitting!

Episode 8: Snow Dance

Welcome to Episode 8! Kim is back from the "Knit For Fun" retreat filled with excitement and inspiration to knit new things. Both Marcy and Kim have some WIP's to share and are enjoying their knitting. Grab your knitting, fill your thermos with your beverage of choice and settle in for a nice meaty podcast!

Episode 8 Audio

Marcy with her beautiful shawl and
Kim with her howling socks

Whats in our Lesson Plan?

• Show and Tell, including howlers
• Revisiting Got Your Goat LYS
• Field Trip Notes
• What's on our Blackboard?

*** Admin notes: 

• Our podcast is organized around a classroom/school theme: Show and Tell, Field Trip notes, What's on our Blackboard. etc..
• Our original goal was to create a podcast wherein we could share our passion for knitting with each other,  our listeners AND to celebrate Local Yarn Shops (LYSs',) fiber festivals, expos, retreats, knitting groups and anywhere else that knitters gather in the wild.
• We mention "Spinning at the Winery" in Livermore, California at the Retzlaff Winery. 
• Some podcasts that are hosting retreats are: Twinset Designs, Knitting Pipeline, The 2 Knit Lit Chicks and The Yarniacs.

We thanked the 2 Knit Lit Chicks, Tracie and Barb, for the kind words and shoutout on their podcast! Thanks ladies!!! We are thrilled to be fellow Northern Ca podcasters. 

Show and Tell

Kim is continuing to work on her Crazy Zauber Socks knit with Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in the Cafe Flair color. These are knit 2 at a time on magic loop, top down, with a 2 x 2 rib and a 1 x3 rib down the body of the sock. These socks were Kim's Knitting Howler due to the abundance of black yarn which is SO hard to see! She also cast on some "Frankensocks" and is really enjoying knitting those. Finally, she's been working on her Nesoi Tee by Miriam Felton knit out of Anzula Breeze yarn in the Irene color.

Kim's two bobbins are ready to be plied

Kim has been doing some spinning and is still using up her beautiful fiber that has sadly been separated from its bag a/o band. This time she pulled the braid in half and spun 1/2 with intentional barber poling and the other 1/2 without. Then, she will ply these together and hopefully have a spectacular result! She mentioned the Fat Squirrel video cast with Amy Beth who spun a braid in this way and was Kim's inspiration.

Marcy and Kim with their Nesoi Tees

Marcy is also knitting a Nesoi Tee. She's using the same yarn in the Key Lime color way. We are both knitting size medium, but Marcy is using US 4 needles and Kim is using US 3's based on the results of her gauge swatch, which was also washed and blocked. Marcy is also continuing to work on her beautiful Be My Angel shawl by Martina Behm. She's just about done with that and really enjoying the knit.

Marcy's method of stitch markers
 to keep track of her increases and decreases.

We talk about Marcy using stitch markers to keep track of her increases and decreases. Kim mentions the waste yarn method for keeping track of increases, decreases, counting rows and many other uses. She learned this at the Strungalong Retreat from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

We talk about inserting princess seams and lace motifs into a simple tee. We'll keep you posted with our progress on that and post pics, etc... I see a research paper in our future!

Revisit Got Your Goat:

We both felt that we needed to revisit our Got Your Goat yarn shop review that we did in our last episode. We wanted to add more detail to the ratings that we gave and explain more about our spreadsheet and how it can be a useful resource for knitters. You can find that here. We highly recommend that you visit GYG if you are in the area!

Field Trip Notes:

Kim has just returned from Ann Budd's "Knit For Fun" Retreat held in Park City, Utah. It was Ann's first retreat, and she will be hosting two a year: one in April and one in September. These are fun and relaxed events with wonderful instructors and they are all held in beautiful locales.  Ann and Cindy do an excellent job of creating an inviting, friendly and informative event. Kim met and was able to interview Ann last November, you can find that interview here. 

Snow!!! Kim really enjoyed the snow and was hoping for more

At this retreat, the instructors were: Ann Budd, Nancy Bush and Susanna IC. Kim enjoyed all of her classes, met wonderful people and had a fantastic time. We will be revisiting the classes that she took and play an interview with Susanna IC and another with Sandy from Shibui yarns in the upcoming episodes. We want to give them the time that they deserve as we really appreciate them spending time with Kim for an interview.

Some of the amazing women that Kim met at the retreat!

What's on our Black Board?

In our next episode we will revisit the Knit For Fun retreat that Kim attended. She'll talk more about the interesting and informative classes that she took and play an interview with the amazing designer, Susanna IC. 

Thank you joining us today! We hope that you enjoyed the episode and we ask that you  join us on our Ravelry group and subscribe to the podcast. We'll "see" you in a week or so and we wish you happy, well behaved knitting with no howling involved!