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!