Sunday, September 24, 2017

Episode 37: Another Rabbit hole and more Brioche!

Welcome to episode 37 everybody! We are "in the classroom" but out and about today. We recorded  in our Lys and we had little Pippa with us too, so it's a fun and lively time. You'll hear all about our FO's, WIP's and new Co's as well as some uber craftiness. Grab your knitting and a bracing or soothing beverage and join us!

Episode 37 Audio



Kim, Pippa (4.5 months!) and Marcy
after recording
Isn't Pippa the cutest?


What's in our Lesson Plan?
  1. On the PA System
  2. Show & Tell
  3. We re über crafty
  4. What's on our Black Board?

On the PA System

  • Have you ever wondered what your Ravelry number is? Kim heard about this years ago and has wondered about her's ... but could never figure out how to find it! She finally did and she's #39,053, and Marcy's Ravelry #489,236 joined October 27,2009.  Ravelry has 7,340,396 registered users as of  9/24/2017.  915,646 Ravelers have been active during the last 30 days. You can find this information on the Ravelry Statistics page.  Here's how you look it up on Ravelry: You need to be on a computer and you go to your profile page on Ravelry and type in the "Konami" code and it will show you your #. The code = 

  • Marcy and Kim are going to Lambtown in Dixon, Ca. This fun fiber event is on Sat & Sun, 10/7 & 10/8 this year. We're not certain which day we are going yet, but we'll let you know in our next podcast. In addition, we might be having a meet up with the lovely Yarniacs and the 2KnitLit Chicks. We hope to see YOU there!
  • Thank you to our LYS, Got Your Goat, in Roseville, CA for allowing us to record here today!

Show & Tell

Kim has finished another 2 color brioche cowl (her 7th, she's done now!) This one is a gift for her  niece and she used the Brioche for Beginners pattern (free on Ravelry,) designed by Emma Galati. She used a skein of her hand dyed yarn and a skein of MadTosh vintage. She is continuing to work on the socks that will be a gift for her  nephew, but she's not in a big sock mood and they're growing pretty slowly. 

The beautiful Hotel of Bees crochet shawl is moving along. Designed by Christina Hadderingh, this well written pattern is perfect for new or experienced crocheters and is really fun to work on. Kim is using 2 skeins of MadTosh Pashmina in the antler and bloomsbury colors and a skein of her hand dyed yarn. 

There're lots of new CO's. Sadly, the Leaf Pane Hat from the book Woodsmoke (we reviewed that in ep. 36, go take a listen,) didn't work out gauge wise with Kim's 3 ply handspun. This is some of the fiber that she dyed on her bday in August and she had a great time spinning and chain plying it and she was very excited to knit a cabled accessory with it. Both the yarn and pattern are beautiful and will get new partners soon and all will be well.

Kim has been really looking forward to knitting with all of her new handspun yarn that she's created over the past 4-5 months. She cast on a shawl (her own free style pattern,) and has really been enjoying knitting brioche, St. st , garter st and some lacy bits while enjoying knitting with her handspun and hand dyed yarns (that she added in when the handspun skein ran out.)

All of the pretty hand dyed fiber was just screaming to be spun and knit this past month and so Kim prepped the fiber for 3 sweater spins. The 1st is done and has been cast on. She is using the numbers for the So Faded pullover by Andrea Mowry and is not fading it because the yarn has lots of pretty colors already. (You'll hear about the other 2 sweater spins in another segment.)

Finally, Kim has fallen down another rabbit hole! Knitters are super enabling and between podcasts, IG and Ravelry it can be really hard to resist the new and shiny things and patterns! She saw Amy Beth of the Fat Squirrel Speaks video podcast and Kristi Glass, who has a channel on You Tube, both post and talk about their Ninichik Swonchos by Caitlin Hunter and last Friday Kim lost all ability to resist casting on. She's using a skein of her hand spun for the main color and a combination of other stashed yarns for the contrasting colors. 

***We mention the awesome Knit for Fun retreats by Ann Budd, go check them out!

Marcy has finished several adorable crowns for several friend's little girls. The Circlet pattern by Dani Sunshine is free on Ravelry and it's a fun, fast  and cute knit. She also finished the oh so cute Owl Hat for Pippa. This is a free crochet pattern on Ravelry and it's sized baby to adult. 

Marcy is continuing to make great progress on her Cancun boxy lace top and is almost done with the knitting. This is a really pretty pullover that uses the dimensions of the Boxy  by Joji Locatelli and the pattern is based on the Cancun boxy lace top by erin kate archer. She's using Knit One, Crochet Too Batiste and this yarn is just luscious! 

She has also gone down the brioche rabbit hole in preparation to cast on a P Rex. So Marcy is knitting a  Brioche for Beginners 2 color cowl by Emma Galati. She's using leftover yarn, Anzula Cloud in the charcoal and watermelon colors and this yarn is also luscious and amazing! Marcy has caught on to brioche very quickly and is ready and excited to cast on the P Rex by Susanne Sommer. Kim and Marcy are doing an informal  KAL with the P Rex and if you'd like to join us (knitting that poncho or any other brioche item,) join us!

Marcy's friend Brooke made Pippa a few presents, one is the adorable strawberry hat and then she made Susan B. Anderson's Flower Fairy & Leaf Sprite stuffies.

Pippa enjoying her new stuffies!

Pippa in her strawberry hat camping.



We are Uber Crafty
Kim has continued to spin on a daily basis and is having a ball! Buying a 2nd spinning wheel and having both wheels set up and ready to go has really made a huge difference in the amount of spinning that she's doing on a daily basis.  The 1st sweater spin fiber has already been spun and cast on (see above,) and she has finished the 1st bobbin for the 2nd SS.
Skein #1 for Kim's sweater spin #2. This is a chain plied 3 ply.

The mini skeins that Kim spun from leftover singles. The 3 on
 the left are chain plied 3 ply and the one on the right is a 2ply.

All of the SS's will be spun supported long draw and the 1st was a 2 ply. The 2nd will be a  3 ply and she chain (or Navajo) plied it. Now, Kim just needs to spin and ply 6 more bobbins! The 3rd SS will be a traditional 3 ply and Kim has finished 1 full bobbin of singles...so lots of spinning to go on that one.

Last weekend Kim decided to clean off a bunch of her bobbins and she 2 plied and chain plied several mini skeins from the leftover singles. Maybe she'll save these mini skeins to make another crochet afghan next year?

Marcy has been sewing lots of cute baby gifts and items for Pippa. She bought the fabric from Spoonflower and she made a few light weight blankets and crib sheets and changing table covers. She also helped her mom design some fabrics with some artwork that a 10 year old girl did. Her mom wanted to use the artwork to make her some presents. So she worked on Spoonflower to create some fabric, on is of a little girl and one is of a red robin on a tree branch.


What's on our Black Board?
Next weekend Marcy and Kim are going back to where all of this podcasting business started two years ago! We are going to the LYS in Winters, CA, Cloth Carousel. In our next episode we will tell you all about our fun day and share an interview with you. 

Thank you for joining us everybody! We hope that your knitting is going swimmingly and that you're enjoying your making and having a ball. We'll "see" you next time, Happy Knitting!

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Episode 36: Book Reviews & Tons of Spinning

Welcome to episode 36 everybody! We are sweltering here in the Sacramento Valley in Northern California, but we're continuing to knit and spin on a daily basis. Today, we are announcing the winners of the Summer of Stripes CAL, our WIP's, FO's, some uber craftiness and several fun book/magazine reviews. Grab your knitting, a cooling beverage, get comfy and join us!

Episode 36 Audio


Marcy and Kim after recording. Marcy
is holding up her Cancun Boxy Lace
top. Kim is wearing both her new brioche
cowl and her Sternanis hat- you know,
cuz it's only 102 today!
Marcy and Kim. Kim is showing you
her 2 skeins of 3 ply yarn (left,) and
her 1st full bobbin for her sweater
spin. 



What's in our Lesson Plan?

  1. On the PA system
  2. Show & Tell
  3. We are uber crafty
  4. Book Reviews
  5. What's on our Black Board?

On the PA System

  • Thank you for participating in the Summer of Stripes CAL! The CAL is closed and the WINNERS have been chosen! To check and see if you're a winner, head on over to the Summer of Stripes CAL Ravelry thread, here, and have a look. Thanks for participating and we are looking forward to doing more fun KAL's/CAL's in the future.
  • We would really appreciate it if you'd go to ITunes (or wherever you download this podcast,) and rate and review our podcast! This really helps other knitters who are looking for new podcasts to find us. Thank you in advance!!!

Show & Tell

Marcy has finished the adorable Ice Cream Sundae baby shrug by Dani Sunshine. She is very pleased with the FO and is excited to gift it. She is also continuing to work on her Cancun Boxy Lace top by Erin Kate Archer and is loving it. This pattern incorporates Boxy by Joji Locatelli (really just using the shaping for this cute and popular top.) Marcy is writing very thorough notes on her pattern page, so hop on over there and have a look if you're interested in knitting this top. 

Lastly, Marcy is crocheting the Owl Hat by Sarah Zimmerman for baby Pippa. She is using Lion Brand Modern baby yarn in the chartreuse and pink colors and a size I hook. She made several of these cute hats when Wilson was a baby (and for some of the babies in her stroller group,) and they are really fast and fun to make and adorable to wear. 

Kim has several brioche Fo's. She finished her latest Brioche for Beginners cowl by Emma Galati and she loves it! She also finished her 1st Christmas gift of the year, another Sternanis Hat by Katrin Schubert and she's very pleased with the FO. It was fun to use some of her hand dyed yarn in each of these projects.

 Brioche is the bomb!!! Kim and Marcy are planning on doing an informal brioche-along starting mid September. We will knit the P-Rex by Susanne Sommer (SoSu on Ravelry,) and we're very excited to pick our yarn and get knitting. Let us know if you're interested in joining us!

Kim has several WIP's going:
  1. The Hotel of Bees shawl by Christina Hadderingh. This is a crochet shawl and it's beautiful and very enjoyable to make. THe pattern is exceptionally well written.
  2. Socks for her nephew Greg using Regia yarn. 2aat on magic loop, top down and they'll have a true afterthought heel. Sadly, Kim is not in a sock mood and they're not getting a lot of love.
  3. The cute Gilead top by Leila Raabe, which has been overshadowed by all of the greedy brioche projects! 

We are Uber Crafty

Kim has been spinning A LOT! Moving her spinning wheel downstairs and getting a 2nd wheel so that she has one up and one downstairs has made a huge difference. She is spinning everyday and usually several times a day and is really noticing an improvement in her spinning and finished skeins. She recently spun two 3 ply skeins using fiber that she hand-dyed. The 1st was a traditional 3 ply; putting 3 bobbins of singles on her Lazy Kate and plying them together. She is very happy with the finished skein and is looking forward to casting on with it very soon. 
This is the before and after  pic of Kim's hand dyed
fiber and then the finished 3 ply skein. 

The 2nd was a Navajo or chained ply 3 ply. The resulting skein was very interesting; more of an art yarn really! She chain plied the 1st part of the skein with her left hand (bad idea!) and then finished it off with her right hand. The resulting skein of yarn has 1/2 art yarn-isn yarn and the rest a normal 3 ply. Kim wants to play with it and knit a shawl that will highlight the art yarn. We'll see how that goes! 
Kim's Navajo plied 3 ply with the crazy art yarn
on the left and the normal yarn on the right.
She dyed the fiber on her birthday.

Over the past month Kim has hand dyed a lot of fiber. She was excited to start spinning it and she decided to do 3 combination sweater spins. She gathered together all of the fiber she wanted to use, sorted it into "quasi color families," and stripped the braids and batts down into equal sized units and then rolled them into "nests" for spinning. Each sweater's worth of fiber lives in its own bin while awaiting and during the spinning process and all sweaters will be multi colored, but will have many colors in common. The finishing and sweaters to be knit are all TBD.

Book Reviews

We reviewed 2 books and 1 magazine:
  1. making (magazine) No. 3/ Dots. Kim bought this at her LYS in her hometown. This beautiful magazine includes lots of patterns, tutorials and articles about many types of crafts: knitting, crochet, sewing, cooking, felting, drawing, etc... Both Kim and Marcy agree that it's gorgeous and we've added many projects to our "to be made list," and we think you should definitely go take a look.
  2. Splendid Apparel by Anna Zilboorg. The by line on this book is, "a handbook of embroidered knits," it incorporates embroidery into cables, lace, traveling stitches and ribbing. There are so many amazing, in depth sections in this book and the pictures, descriptions and graphics are all excellent. The patterns and styling reads 1990's, but it's easy to accommodate for that. We both really like this book and think that you should take a look. Kim bought this book from Amazon. Marcy went down a rabbit hole looking up embroidered knit wear, check out her Pinterest board where she found some cool items.
  3. Finally, we reviewed a book from KnitPicks that Kim got for free during one of their promotions for their patterns and books.Woodsmoke is a collection of cables and it's beautifully photographed with large charts ( yay!!!) and gorgeous cabled garments and accessories. Marcy and Kim have both found patterns that they want to make. Another winner!

What's on our Black Board?

We are unsure ... but we are certain that there'll be lots of knitting, crochet, spinning and dyeing! 

Thank you for joining us everybody! We hope that you have a wonderful couple of weeks and that you're enjoying your making.  Happy knitting!