Episode 46: 3rd Podiversary and Stitches West

Hello dear Knitters, welcome to ep. 46 and our 3rd anniversary of podcasting! Both Kim AND Marcy did end up going to Stitches West and we will share our fun experience with you today as well as our current WIP's. The amazingly talented designer Alana Dakos features prominently this time. So, grab a soothing/bracing beverage, your knitting and get comfy while you enjoy the podcast.

Episode 46 Audio

Marcy & Kim are holding up their purple tops
they have been working on. 
Marcy's is her Chaleur, Kim's is her Little Bird. 

In our Lesson Plan

1. On the PA System
2. After the Finish Line
3. Show & Tell
4. Stitches West Fieldtrip
5. We are Uber Crafty 
6. What's on our Black Board?

On the PA System

• Kim was having difficulty on Instagram; she wasn't able to 'swipe up' on the stories or to view multiple pictures on the feed. She spent the night at her cousin Denise's during Stitches and her Denise had the idea of deleting the Instagram app and then re-installing it. Et voila! Success! If you're having any issues like this, you can try this too and hopefully it will help to enhance your IG experience as it did Kim's.
  
  
• More IG news, Kim is going to be playing around with posting  more stories. It'll be a learning curve, but that's OK! I hope you can watch them and that you enjoy.

After the Finish Line

Marcy & her husband Mike beer tasting.

Marcy wore her favorite hat, the Spring Cloche by Alana Dakos. She also wore her Cancun Boxy Lace Top by Erin Kate Archer. One of the motivators for Marcy and her Mom and baby Pippa to go to Stitches West was to wear and share their Autumn's End sweaters; how cool is that? Three generations wearing the same beautiful sweater Autumns End by Alana Dakos. They were able to show Alana and it made her day. You can see Marcy's sweater here, and her Mom's here, and Pippa's here. 

Kim wore her Twigs and Willows cardigan by...wait for it...Alana Dakos! At Stitches she wore her Zweig pullover and her P- Rex cape. She wears hand knit socks everyday. During recording she was wearing (and loving!) her oh so soft Sunset Highway and her Find Your Fade shawl. 

Marcy and her mom Terry
and her baby Pippa wearing there
 beautiful Autumns End sweaters

Show & Tell

Marcy is continuing to work on her Chaleur sweater by Julie Hoover. She is using 2 gorgeous Habu yarns, and is enjoying them. Sadly, she had a major HOWLER and had to spend many hours tinking back and re knitting. She is back on track now and is looking forward to finishing and wearing this lovely garment. Guess who designed the Secret Garden shawl that Marcy is working on? You got it, Alana Dakos! She is moving along nicely and really enjoying the botanical elements that Alana is famous for.  Marcy has finished 1 sock from her Olympia Sock Kit by Lara Smoot. She purchased this from Jimmy Bean's Wool and knit on the sock while watching the 2018 Winter Olympics.

She also finished her gift knitting for her friend Gayle, she made a series of St. Patrick Day gifts for them.  She made two St. Patty's Day beer cozies, one 6 month hat with a beard, and one toddler hat with hair.

Pippa inspecting Marcy's Olympic sock.

Harrisson showing off his new beard!

Kim ia continuing to work on her lace weight Little Bird pullover sweater by Veera Valimaki and it seems to be going slowly (maybe because it's lace weight?!?) A wonderful balance to that sweater is her Lissycasey cabled sweater by Kate Heppell. She had a HOWLER and had to fix a cable that was turned incorrectly. She is looking forward to finishing both of these and casting on something new. 

***We mention the wonderful Craftsy class by Ann Budd, "Saving our Stitches:Fixing Knitting Mistakes."

***Alana Dakos had an audio knitting podcast that she is no longer producing; however, you can still listen to and enjoy it!

Stitches West

In our last episode Marcy had said that she 100% was not going to attend SW and Kim was very unsure too. Happily, both were able to go and we were able to hang out together for awhile too.

Resting at Stitches West, look at all that loot in the stroller! Where is Pippa?

One sample Marcy loved called Camaro.

Since Marcy didn't have any lead time before Stitches, she didn't have a shopping list. She decided to focus on patterns and only purchased two sweater set ups: 1) From Forbidden Fiber Co. she bought Proverbs yarn, which is a linen/cotton blend. She is planning on knitting the Driftwood Tee by Mercedes Tarasovich.  2) She fell in love with the Dan Doh booth and bought DanDoh Yarn Cotton Fine and the book Modern Deco by Yumiko Alexander. Marcy is going to knit the Wavelets Sleeveless Tee.  Marcy spent the rest of her time looking at, trying on and photographing designs that she'd like to knit. She made a bundle of all of these on her Ravelry page.

Kim was able to make it to SW for a day and a half. She always enjoys seeing knitting friends there and this year was no different! Knitters are the best! Kim did come home with some beautiful yarn and fiber and will share it all when she knits and spins with it. She really enjoyed trying on the samples in Elizabeth Doherty's booth, Blue Bee Studios. She would like to knit the Archer, Meris, Floriston, and  Point Reyes sweaters. Both KnitPicks and Craftsy were at SW for the 1st time.

Kim's SW yarn haul...
Must Knit Faster!

Kim's SW fiber haul

Did Kim NEED another project bag? Probably not, but how does
one resist this beauty from Busy Bee Studios?

***Podcasters that Kim saw and/or mentioned: Yarniacs, 2Knit LitChicks, The Grocery Girls and the new Grumpy Bagel video podcast, it was so nice to meet you Megan!

We are Uber Crafty

Kim has been continuing to spin on her sweater spins and hopes to be finished soon.

What's on our Black Board?

In episode 47 Marcy and Kim will share all of their FO's, Wip's and new cast ons. I'm certain that at least one of us will be knitting with Stitches yarn! 

Thank you for joining us! We hope you are enjoying your knitting/making and we look forward to spending time with you again in a few weeks.