Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Episode 21: 2016 Wrap up!

Welcome to episode 21 everybody! In this "in the classroom" episode where Kim and Marcy have show and tell, some uber craftiness and a 2016 wrap up! Grab your knitting, a soothing beverage and join us.

Episode 21 Audio

What's in our Lesson Plan?
  • Administrati
  • Show and Tell
  • We are uber crafty
  • 2016 wrap up
  • What's on our Black Board?

  • Being silly after recording! 
    Marcy is holding her City Cape
    and Kim has her GSB


    Marcy and her cute baby bump!

Administrati

  1. Our FOFI (finish or frog it,) KAL is running through the end of 2016. You can read all about it here, and here on our Ravelry group.
  2. While your are there on our Ravelry group page, we'd love it if you'd join the group and sign in. We really enjoy hearing from listeners and learning more about you and your knitting story or where/how you found out about the podcast, or what you're excited about in your knitting life. 
  3. We'd appreciate it if you can subscribe to our podcast on ITunes, that helps other knitters find the podcast.
  4. Welcome to some new listeners who have signed in on our Ravelry group page: lorak and snappiejax! 

Show and Tell

Marcy is working on her "Snow White" City Cape by Purl Soho. This is a free pattern and she is using Misti Alpaca Maki in the natural color. The yarn is super soft and the stitch pattern is really lovely. 

Marcy has finished her Om Shawl by the hot designer, Andrea Mowry. This project does have several huge howlers though. 1) While flying down south for Thanksgiving, Marcy left her knitting bag on the plane and was very lucky to be reunited with it! Tune in to the ep to hear the whole harrowing story! 2) Marcy played a big game of yarn chicken with this gorgeous shawl, and sadly, the yarn won. She only needed yarn for one more row...ouch! The good news is that the shawl is done and it's lovely and it'll be a wonderful layering option for Marcy as she enters the last 1/2 of her pregnancy.
Yarn chicken, one row short!
This was all the yarn I had left to make one more row, the yarn won.

Kim has finished a few things: g1) A pair of Christmas socks for her Mom that were an early Christmas present. These "Down the Chimney" (this is Kim's hand dyed yarn Christmas color : ) socks were knit 2 at a time (2aat) magic loop, and with contrasting heels, toes and cuffs. 2) Kim also finished her 3rd Brioche for Beginners cowl by Emma Galati. This is a present for her son's girlfriend, Juliet. She used some hand dyed yarn and some unknown deep stash for this project. While knitting this and watching a movie, the yarns were twisted or exchanged which changed the color patterning, but Kim really liked it and kept it and will use it on purpose from now on. 3) To accompany the cowl, she knit a pair of Fetching mitts using the rest of the hand dyed yarn that she'd used for the cowl. This free pattern is from knitty.com and if you haven't knit a pair, you need to! They are fast, fun, easy and beautiful!
Kim's finished Granny Stripe Blanket 

Kim started AND finished  4)  an afghan since our last episode! There are many podcasters that are crocheting a Granny Stripe Blanket and she thought that she was immune. However, after much thought she decided to cast one on and instead of using fingering weight yarn, she used about 6-7 skeins of her earliest hand spun yarn which is worsted-bulky weight. This was a super fast project and was very enjoyable! The early handspun is perfect because it's warm and soft and sometimes a little under spun and thus lofty and fluffy. The two podcasters that really pushed her over the edge and made her want to CO were Sue (knit24) and Andi (andresueknits). They each have their own video podcast on You Tube but they've collaborated on 2 podcasts recently because they are both crocheting a GSB and using the #crochetrabbithole hashtag on Instagram.

**Legacyknitz video podcast
**Andresueknits video podcast

Next, 5) she finished another pair of Christmas socks using Invictus yarns on the Master of my Feet base in the Linear XL Cmas Splash color way. She also finished 6) a pair of neon socks in a black base which she loves. The yarn is from Fishknits and is on their Strong Heart base in the Black Light color. Both of these socks were knit just like the Christmas socks for her mom, above. 

Kim has several WIP's on the needles. 1) Her Fall Whispers hasn't gotten much love, but is up to the sleeves and will be done as soon as all of her Christmas knitting is done. The yarn is Dragonfly fibers on the Pixie base and in the Apollo color. 2) The Waiting For Rain shawl by Sylvia McFadden is very beautiful and Kim has continually mucked it up in the short row lace portion because she can't count to two!!! Ugh! HOWLER! The MC is her hand dyed yarn and the CC's are a set of minis from Fishknits yarn. Finally, 3) she has another Christmas present on the needles, a hat for her future daughter in law, Salina. This is a free pattern on Rav and it's the Easy Ombre hat by Llama Una. She's using a skein of Cloudborn Fibers on the sock twist base in the Majestic Purple color along with a skein of Knit Picks Stroll hand painted yarn.

We are Uber Crafty

Marcy has made several necklaces to gift for Christmas. They're beautiful and she said that they are also fast and fun! She also made a cute wall decoration with her son, Wilson. They painted and stenciled the wooden letters for the word "JOY" and hung them in Wilson's play area.


Kim was very excited when she watched the collaboration episode of Andi and Sue (see above,) and they talked about dyeing and spinning fiber and then knitting a sweater with it. Kim bought a sweater's worth of Rambouillet in October to do that and so now she'll be able to dye, spin and knit-along with these ladies and all of the other amazing makers on Ravelry and Instagram that are joining in! The hashtag is #legacysweaterspin and they both have forums on their group pages on Ravelry (they are linked above.) She has finished dyeing all of the fiber and has separated the braids and made nests that are ready to be spun. So far, she has finished 1 bobbin and is unsure about the color of the yarn that she'll end up with. However, she's not worried because in the spinning and knitting process colors change a lot and if she doesn't like the finished product, she can always re dye the yarn! You can follow along on her progress on her Ravelry project page.

**We mention the Knitmore Girls and their SPAKAL 

2016 Roundup!

We think it's fun to look back over the past year and remind ourselves of all of our wonderful making. Kim made: 12 pairs of socks, 3 blankets, 3 brioche cowls, 1 pair of mitts, 4 shawls, 3 hats and 4 sweaters. There was also lots of (mostly!) undocumented spinning and dyeing. (This really needs to be addressed next year.)

Marcy made: 6 sweaters, 1 kindle case, 2 shawls, 1 stuffed animal, 1 stocking, 1 hat and 1 dress bodice. 

In addition...we made a podcast last year! It was a very fun and productive year of making. How did your 2016 go? Did you meet your goals?

What's on our Black Board?

In episode 22, Marcy will share her field trip notes  and interview from her visit to the LYS Yarn Del Sol in SoCal. We will also talk about our plans and goals for 2017 and share what we've been making over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year! Enjoy your knitting and making.