Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Episode 20: Kim's exciting news and avoiding Knitter's Monotony!

Welcome to episode 20 everybody! In this episode we've got a little bit of everything: show and tell, in the library, vacation LYS encounters and we are uber crafty. Grab your knitting, a soothing beverage and join us!

Episode 20 Audio

Marcy & Kim after recording.

What's in our Lesson Plan?

  • Administrati
  • Show and Tell
  • Vacation LYS encounters
  • In the Library
  • We are uber crafty
  • What's on our Black Board?

Administrati

Please join us in our FOFI KAL (finish or frog it.) You can read all about it here and here on Ravelry. While you're there join our Rav group, we'd love to get to know you! Also, start thinking about your end of year knitting wrap up. Did you meet any knitting goals that you set? Are you happy with your making? Would you like to set some knitting goals for 2017? Let's talk about all of that in the group.

Kim shares the exciting news that her oldest son got engaged last week and they are very excited about this new stage of life!

Show and Tell

Marcy is continuing to work on her Om Shawl by Andrea Mowry. She's about 70% done and is loving the shawl and she's looking forward to wearing it during pregnancy and postpartum.  Marcy has a new cast on, the City Cape by Purl Soho. This will be the 2nd time that she's knit this cape, she knit it the 1st time as a gift. 

Marcy and her mom are working together on a joint knit/sew project for a friend's little girl, Kate. Yemma's Dress by Devon Clement is a pattern for a little girl with a knit bodice and sewn skirt. Marcy and her mom are also making a matching, small version for Kate's American Girl doll. Marcy got the idea for the dress from the Just One More Row podcast.
Kate in the first top I knit her.
The joint project dress for Kate
and her American Girl doll.















Kim is almost done with the Down the Chimney socks that she's knitting for her mom for Christmas.  She's using her hand dyed yarn for these and is hoping that they fit well. She finished a 2nd Brioche for Beginners 2 color cowl using some of her hand spun yarn while on vacation and is continuing to love that pattern. Kim is still working on her 2nd Whispers pullover by Veera Valimaki.
Kim's poolside knitting in Hawaii,
the Brioche for Beginners cowl.

Vacation LYS Encounters

Kim and her DH have been on several trips recently and she was able to spend some time in two yarn shops. The 1st one, Miriam's Well, in Santa Fe, NM, is owned by an amazing woman, Miriam, who has an incredible fiber arts knowledge and history. Miriam has taught weaving for many years and she also designs garments and accessories and she sells  the patterns alone and in kits in her shop and online through her website.  Miriam's Well is a comfortable and friendly Lys and you'll find a great variety of yarn and patterns there. If you're ever in the area go in and see this beautiful shop and meet Miriam, you'll enjoy it! For more information about the shop, check out our LYS  evaluation form.
Miriam's Well yarn shop

While on the island of Kauai, HI, Kim stumbled across a LYS. She didn't think that there would be a yarn shop on this small island, but there was and the owner, Warren, couldn't have been friendlier. The shop is The Twisted Turtle and it's located in the town of  Lihue. Sadly, Kim was unable to spend much time in the shop because her DH was waiting on the husband bench out front, but they'll be back and next time she'll get an interview and full overview. In the meantime, if you're visiting Kauai please check out the shop; they've got knitting, crochet, spinning and hand work experience and supplies. 

In the Library


This is a new segment that we'll include occasionally, wherein we'll talk about our leisure reading and knitting library acquisitions. Kim had a wonderful summer of reading and has read 18 books since July. She highlighted a few that she thought listeners might be interested in: 
  1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
  2. Spider Woman's Daughter by Anne Hillerman
  3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Kim has also added to her  fiber arts library with these books:

  1. Hand Dyeing yarn and fleece by Gail Callahan
  2. Yarn . i . tec . ture by Jillian Moreno
  3. The Spinner's Book of Yarn Designs by Sarah Anderson
Marcy has subscribed to the beautiful magazine, Pompom Quarterly. She was also gifted a great 3 month subscription to Jimmy Bean's Wool's Beanie Bags and is really enjoying them. 

We are Uber Crafty

Marcy has been uber crafty recently and is designing and sewing a formal gown for her husband's office Christmas party. Since she's at the beginning of her 2nd trimester, she wanted to look pregnant and not plump and so that influenced her design choices. Her dress is beautiful and she achieved her goal! 

What's on our Black Board?

In our next episode we will be in the classroom and we will share all of our making with you. There will be knitting, spinning, hand dyeing, sewing and maybe crochet! We hope you'll join us.

Thank you for spending time with us. If you live in the US, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope that that'll give you extra knitting time. For all of you, have a wonderful couple of weeks and may your making be howler free!

Monday, November 7, 2016

Episode 19: Marcy's Special Announcement!

Welcome to ep. 19 everybody! We have an "in the classroom" podcast today and so we are talking about our WIP's, FO's, new CO's, Uber Craftiness and...Marcy has a special announcement to make! Grab your knitting, a soothing (or bracing!) beverage, an emergency snack and your knitting and join us.

Episode 19 Audio


Marcy (with her Om Shawl) and Kim (with her
Whispers sweater and Cmas socks) after
roecording.

What's in our Lesson Plan?

  • Administrati
  • Show and Tell
  • Howlers!!!
  • We are Uber Crafty
  • What's on our Black Board?

Administrati

  1. We are starting a new KAL...the FOFI KAL (finish or frog it KAL, worst name ever for a KAL!) Our intention with this KAL is to start 2017 off with clean needles. We can all cast on with wild abandon on 1/1/17! head on over to our group on Ravelry for all of the details.
  2. While you are there go ahead and join our group and introduce yourself.

Show and Tell

Kim has a number of active WIP's on the needles. 
  1. A 2nd Whispers pullover by Veera Valimaki. (Kim's 1st Whispers sweater appeared in ep. 12.)
  2. A Waiting for Rain shawl by Soft Sweater using her hand dyed yarn and a gradient mini set.
  3. Her new CO is a pair of socks for her mom for Christmas using a skein of her hand dyed yarn and contrasting colors for cuffs, heels and toes.
  4. Tim's Brioche Scarf.
Kim also shared a few FO"s:

  1. The Wedding afghan is DONE!!!
  2. Her Spooky Socks  are done. They were knit with a skein of her hand dyed yarn.
  3. Her Down the Chimney Socks are done. They were also knit with a skein of her hand dyed yarn (are you noticing a theme here?!) and contrasting cuffs, heels and toes.
    Kim's "Spooky Socks"
***Kim mentions the Sockmatician's brioche YouTube video.

Marcy finished Wilson's Sock Monkey Earflap hat by Nicole Montgmery. Marcy's 2 year old son, Wilson, wore this for Halloween and it was a big success! She is currently working on the Om Shawl by the popular designer, Andrea Mowry.
Wilson's wondering if he can eat the banana?
Don't we look cute!
















Howlers

Yes, it's sad that this segment is SO big this week that it needs to stand alone...but, Kim has been busy and she wants to make sure that all of you knitters out there know that we ALL make mistakes.
  1. Kim's Waiting For Rain shawl pattern suggested using stitch markers when doing the short rows in the lace section, but she was sure that she didn't need them because she can count to two. Well, no...she can't. HOWLER
  2. After casting on her Fall Whispers sweater, she had set the sweater down on their sectional couch while watching a movie with her hubby and he stretched out to get comfortable and ended up breaking a needle tip. All was well though and she was able to carry on the next morning.  ***KnitPicks interchangeable needle set is mentioned. 
  3. She had several shopping HOWLERS!!! (is that even a thing?!) Kim ordered bare yarn for dyeing and interchangeable needle tips and mistakenly ordered 9 sets of tips. She also saw that (finally!) all of the KnitPicks bare yarn was 15% off and because she hesitated and thought about it, she missed the sale : ( . HOWLER
  4. After many, many years of knitting socks 2 at a time on magic loop, Kim used the wrong working yarn for her sock. Damn, she was sure that this would never happen! HOWLER

We are Uber Crafty

Marcy sewed Wilson's monkey costume for Halloween. The pattern is from Kwik Sew and it's K0133 Ellie Mae Designs Zippity Zoo-Da tops, shorts and pants for toddlers. 

Marcy's Special Announcement: Marcy is contemplating what Christmas dress to sew for her husband's Christmas party and part of decision is that she's 3 months PREGNANT!!!! yay! Congratulations to Marcy and family. She will let us know in the next episode what design she has decided upon for her formal dress and we will look forward to pictures. 

A recent skein of Kim's hand dyed yarn,
"Iris."
One of the skeins of Soft Linen after dyeing.












Kim has been busy spinning and dyeing yarn and really enjoying it. Her oldest son gave her some fiber for her birthday in August from Knitspinfarm and she spun it as a 2 ply and loves it. She's made some singles. In addition to the KnitPicks bare yarn, she also bought some discounted Soft Linen yarn from her LYS and dyed it.
The beautiful Knitspinfarm fiber before and during spinning.

What's on our Black Board?

In episode 20 Kim will share her field trip notes with us from her visit to a LYS in Santa Fe, NM. We will talk about our WIP's, FO's and introduce a new segment: In the Library.

Thank you for joining us! We hope that your knitting is treating you well and that you're enjoying your making. Have a great couple of weeks and we'll see you next time.