Episode 32: Heidi"s Yarn Haven

Welcome to ep. 32 everybody! We have a lot of great content for you; including field trip notes, an interview, a research paper, show and tell and more goals! Grab your knitting, a cool beverage and put your feet up  and relax while you join us for this episode.

Episode 32 Audio

 

Pippa is helping me knit at 5 weeks old!

What's in our Lesson Plan?

1. What's on the PA system?
2. Fieldtrip notes: Heidi's Yarn Haven in Ukiah, CA
3. An interview with Heidi
4. Show & Tell
5. Button band research paper
6. Goals
7. What's on our Black Board?

What's on the P.A. System?

We are joining a group of other podcasters and hosting the "Summer Stripe Along CAL." This is a craft along and there are some amazing prizes you can win! Hop on over to the group page for this CAL and read all about it. Happy striping!

Field trip Notes and an Interview

Kim had a wonderful time visiting the LYS in her hometown of Ukiah, CA last week. Heidi's Yarn Haven is a fantastic shop that has an amazing inventory of beautiful yarns. She mainly stocks wool and wool blends and she also has a great selection of fiber, buttons and lots of needles and notions. If you are in Northern California on your way to Mendocino or visiting the wine country, take  a little extra time and visit Heidi; I'm certain that you'll find lots of treasures (like Kim did!) Check out our LYS evaluation spreadsheet to learn more about the shop.

Some local yarn 

Heidi's Yarn Haven, and there's Heidi!

 

So much pretty yarn!

Show & Tell

Marcy has started a new sweater project for the Summer Stripe Along CAL. She CO the ...a hint of summer by Isabel Kraemer. She is using Claudia Hand Painted yarns, Linen in the Lemon Ice and Caribbean Blue colors. The WIP is beautiful and this will be a beautiful striped sweater that is perfect for our climate. 

Yamma's Dress for Zoe.

Marcy has a 2nd new CO; Yemma's Dress by Devon Clement. This cute little girl's dress has a knitted bodice and a sewn skirt, which makes it a quick make and a darling gift. She is using deep stash that is so deep that the yarn isn't even on Ravelry!

Pippa is one lucky little baby, her talented mom is knitting her the cutest little dress; Marian by Taiga 

Hilliard. She is making the 12 month size and using Hedgehog Fibres Sock in the Fly color way. 

Marcy is continuing to work on her Cullum Tee by Isabel Kraemer using KnitPicks Lindy Chain yarn in the Ivy color way. She has made several cute modifications, including adding a lace motif to the back. 

Kim has finally finished her Twigs and Willows cardigan by Alana Dakos. She is tired of talking about it and is certain that you all are tired of hearing about it! The yardage for Stash Dash is 1,100 meters. 

She also finished her 2nd So Faded sweater by Andrea Mowry. She's already worn it and is loving it. This time Kim used Madeline Tosh Dandelion yarn which is a 90/10 wool/linen blend and it was lovely to work with. She used the same modifications as on her 1st sweater and she also played with the stripes a bit more on this one. 

Kim is continuing to work on her St Patty socks and is almost done with these vanilla, 2 at a time on magic loop socks. She also has a new sweater cast on that will be based on the So Faded sweater, but will have many modifications. She is using Cricket yarn for this project. 

Kim and Marcy are doing an informal KAL with the Cullum Tee. Kim got off to a slow start by  not swatching and by casting on with a US4 when she knew that a US3 would be better (it was all knitter laziness!) She ended up having to frog and re knit a portion due to the needle size issue.  Then, she had a huge pile of yarn barf and spent 2.5 hours trying to untangle and finally had to cut the yarn anyway...HOWLER! She is back in the saddle though and is enjoying the knit and looking forward to the FO. 

Kim has finished her sample for her design cowl (no final name or project page for this one, yet,) and is unhappy with the size. She will continue to work on this project and give an update when it's finished. She has also been spending time on other design projects, but can't post anything about them yet. 

Button Band Research Paper

Kim used the "Perfect Buttonholes" tutorial from the book Splendid Apparel by Anna Zilboorg. We will do a book review for this book in a few episodes; its' main premise is embroidering your knits, especially cables and lace. The button band tutorial is very thorough and the finished product is a double layered, beautiful, stable edge that won't flop or pull. I encourage you to check out the book at a library, LYS or other book store. 

A finished, beautiful buttonhole!

Knitting the button band

Kim's finished Twigs and Willows

 

 

Goals

Here's the post mortem for last episodes' goals; Kim wanted to finish:

1. The 2nd So Faded sweater: YES
2. Her Twigs and Willows cardigan: YES
3. Her St. Patty Socks: NO, but almost!
4. The Flutter Sleeve Cardigan: NO, she didn't even touch it : (
5. Knitting the sample for her cowl design: YES

and she wanted to CO or carry on with:

1. The Cullum Tee, to have this cute sweater well on its way: YES
2. Spinning, in order to meet her 10K Stash Dash goal!: YES
3. Weaving (for SD,) either a scarf for her DH Tim or a runner for her dining room table. : NO
4. A new CO using either her hand dyed Soft Linen yarn or her Shibui Linen. Hmmm.....:YES, but the new CO was with Cricket yarn.

Here're Kim's new goals for the next episode:

1. To remember that she has set goals...this helps a person to accomplish them!
2. Weave
3. Finish spinning 2 skeins of yarn
4. Finish her Cullum Tee
5. Finish the St. Patty socks
6. Finish the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan

What's on our Black Board?

In our next episode Kim will share her acquisitions from her LYS visit and Marcy and Kim will review the magazine Making, #3. We will share all of our current WIP's, new cast ons and FO's in addition to any other making that we've been up to.  

We wish you a wonderful 2 weeks with  your knitting and creating and we will see you next time! Thank you for joining us.