Episode 10: Shibui yarn tasting and high fives!

Welcome to our 1st double digit episode! We share our WIP's, several high fives,  do our own mini Shibui yarn tasting and have an interview with the charming Sandy Barnes from Shibui Knits.  It's a hoot, and you don't want to miss it. Grab your favorite WIP, a fun beverage and get comfy!

Episode 10 Audio

Marcy, Kim and marcy's beautiful Be My Angel shawl 

What's in our Lesson Plan?

• Admin notes
• Show and tell
• Shibui yarn tasting
• Interview with Sandy from Shibui

Admin Notes:

1. The show notes from episode 9 contain all of the information (and if its not there, you can find it in the threads on Ravelry,  to which I've linked,) about the sock KAL's going on right now with other podcasts. Get on in there and join, knit some socks and win some prizes!
2. Head on over to our Ravelry group, we are taking roll and would love to get to know YOU! 

Marcy in her Sloping Hem Boatneck sweater

**Marcy mentions her Sloping Hem Boatneck sweater by Norah Gaughan that she knit in 2013 using Berroco Versa yarn. She entered a KAL with the Yarniacs and won a prize, which was very exciting as this was her 1st KAL!

Show and Tell:

1. Kim is working on her Frankensocks and is almost done. She decided to  make them "shorties" because the needles are driving her crazy. These are knit two at a time, top down on magic loop with a true after thought heel. You can find our research paper and discussion about after thought heels here. 
2.  She is continuing to work on her lovely Nesoi Tee by Miriam L. Felton out of Anzula Breeze yarn in the Irene color. She has shortened the tee in several places and has moved 5 stitches from each side of the neck to the shoulders (Marcy has done this as well! Great minds : ) in order to tighten up the boatneck opening.
3. Elsie's shawl is continuing to get some love and is coming along nicely, and
4. The Crazy Zauber socks are still a WIP. but Kim's not thrilled with the combo of the stitch pattern, needles and yarn. She might felt them lightly before putting the after thought heels in. 
5. Marcy is also continuing to actively work on her Nesoi Tee in the Key Lime color and she's almost done too. She's really enjoying the yarn and is looking forward to wearing this pretty top. 
6. Marcy has finished her Be My Angel shawl by Martina Behm. She is super happy with this gorgeous FO and really enjoyed knitting with the Huckleberry Knits Singular yarn in the Winesap color. .

Shibui Yarn Tasting:

At her recent retreat, Kim was happy to receive a bag filled with 9  samples of Shibui yarn along with their "Mix Cheat Sheet," (try saying that 5 times fast!) Kim and Marcy each knit up many samples using a combination of the yarns on a variety of needle sizes. You can get a copy of the mix cheat sheet here. There's really too much information to list about the yarn tasting,  so if you have any questions after listening to the episode, please PM me (Kim, AKA Destined2knit,) on Ravelry and I'll try to answer your questions. We encourage you to try your own yarn tasting at home and preferably with some knitting friends! Using Shibui or other yarns mix it up with a variety of needle sizes and make sure to wash and block your swatches and see what new amazing fabrics you end up with.

Kim's swatches

Marcy's swatches

Interview with Sandy Barnes:

Sandy Barnes is the Sales Manager for Shibui knits which is located in Portland, Oregon. She was kind enough to sit down and talk with me while we were at the Knit For Fun retreat last month in Park City, Utah. The LYS from Salt Lake City, Blazing Needles, was partnering with Shibui during the retreat and we were all lucky enough to have access to this amazing market for the duration of the weekend. 

At the retreat we were treated  to a yarn tasting. We all received a bag with a sample of each of the current 9 Shibui yarns along with their wonderful Mix Cheat Sheet. Sandy tells us that she swatched all of these mixes and the gauge listed there is her's! She encourages all of us to swatch widely while mixing yarns and to always wash and block.

Sandy worked for the Cameron Design Group, owned by Darcy Cameron, for 5 years in their Portland, Oregon LYS, Knit Purl. She's been working on the wholesale side of the business, with Shibui Knits, as Sales Manager, for four years. 

She really likes their new cotton yarn, Rain. It is very unique for a cotton yarn because it has memory. In addition, Rain is a mercerized chainette yarn which adds to its unique qualities as a cotton yarn. Sandy's favorite Shibui yarn is Pebble (cashmere, silk and wool,) which she views as a great year round yarn. She also really likes Twig   (linen, silk and wool,)for summer garments.

We discuss the beautiful, elegant and classic Shibui designs. Sandy tells us that their in house designer, Shellie Anderson, always puts in one special construction element to keep the piece interesting and special, but also relatively simple.

Thanks Sandy! 

Kim's Goals:

Kim hasn't set goals for several episodes and so she decided it was time to get back on that saddle! This time she's set 11 goals:

1. To use scrap yarn as a basting/running stitch in order to keep track of decreases, increases, or rows.
2. Swatch again with Estonian traveling stitches using the pattern from the retreat. Also, work on tinking the traveling sts.
3. CO a pair of Estonian socks that has traveling stitches. 
4. Finish her Nesoi Tee.
5. Finish her Frankensocks.
6. Finish her Crazy Zauber Socks.
7. Spin at least 5 times before episode 11.
8. Pick up and work "heartily" on her Summer Symmetry top.
9. Write up a knitting schedule in order to keep all projects in her active knitting rotation...AND...follow it!
10. Join in on at least 3 of the sock KAL's that are going on on Ravelry and Instagram right now, and,
11. CO a baby blanket.

That's it, good luck Kim!

What's on our Black Board?

In our next episode, Marcy will have returned from her trip to the Pacific Northwest and will tell us all about her experiences visiting LYS's in that area. We'll also have show and tell and talk about our goals and progress with sock KAL's.

Thanks for joining us everybody! We hope that your knitting is treating you well and we'll "see" you next time.