Episode 11: SO many Howlers!

In this "In the Classroom" episode we talk about all of our FO's, WIP's and knitting in general that we've been involved with over the past three weeks.  We discuss "What's Hot Right Now" and also chat about some Uber Craftiness. Get settled in with your knitting, a soothing beverage and enjoy this meaty episode!

Episode 11 Audio

In our Lesson Plan:

Kim with her Stardust Socks and
Marcy with the start of her cap sleeve lattice top.

• Show and Tell
• What's Hot Right Now
• We are Uber Crafty
• What's on our Black Board?

Show and Tell:

Kim's projects: 

1. Stardust Socks: This WIP is knit 2 at a time, top down, on magic loop with an after thought heel. Using Greenwood Fiberworks in the "Stardust" color for cuffs, heels and toes and Lolo Did It in the "Pretty Young Thing" color way. 
2. Whispers pullover by Veera Valimaki using Dragonfly Fibers in the gorgeous "Walkin' on the Sun" color way. There was a HOWLER with this project when Kim discovered that a stitch had dropped down to the cast on edge while she was on the 2nd row. She had to frog, cast on again and re knit. *** The Knit For Fun retreat and the Fixing Mistakes class with Ann Budd were mentioned.
3. Kim has finished a baby blanket to donate. It was knit using Berroco Comfort Chunky yarn and using a 5 by 5 knit and purl checkerboard and finishing with a simple crochet bind off. There was a HOWLER with this blanket. Originally, Kim had knit two rectangles and sewn them together to make the blanket. She had woven in the ends and washed and dried it in the machine. Sadly, when it came out of the dryer some stitches had unraveled and  a checkerboard square was compromised. She decided to separate the rectangles and make each of them into a blanket by edging them with a crochet border using a blue cotton yarn. 

   

   Kim's finished baby blanket (post Howler!)

4. Summer Symmetry: Kim's Symmetry in Motion short sleeve tee by Vera Sanon using Forbidden Woolery yarn on the Proverbs base (100% organic cotton) in the Blue Cymbidium color way. This had been going along quite nicely and she was really enjoying the yarn, needles and pattern before a HOWLER occured! Kim made the mistake of bringing this project along on a family trip and getting distracted and one of her stitch markers was moved and her increases are off on her sleeve. In the next episode, Kim will talk more about the contiguous sleeve construction method that is used on this tee.
5. Crazy Zauber Socks: These have been frogged back to the cuffs. Knit 2 at a time on magic loop , top down. Kim had wanted to try a 3 by 1 rib and was just not been happy with it. When she got down to the TOE, yes the Toe! HOWLER! ***Jasmin and Gigi from the Knitmore Girls podcast were mentioned. Marcy's mom, Pansy2horses on Ravelry, also had a huge HOWLER a few years ago. She had misread a pattern and ended up putting all of her increases on the front of a sweater and had to frog it. SO many howlers! The sweater is the High Relief Dolman by Courtney Kelley from Knit.Wear, Spring 2013. After frogging and re knitting, she is really happy with the sweater and wears it all the time.
6. Kim has finally finished her Elsie Shawl! The beautiful Itineris shawl by Hilary Smith Callis knit using Anzula Cloud yarn in the aqua and black colors. This shawl was knit as a prayer/memorial shawl in memory of their precious pup, Elsie, who died in 4/2014. There was a HOWLER (of course there was!!!) Kim was sailing along happily knitting on this shawl and ignoring the pattern, when she discovered that she was supposed to be increasing along the end of the edge that would form a nice, small triangle. Well, no more frogging for her! Kim decided to go free form and she used short rows to make the last portion fit the pattern and she loves it!
7. Kim has another FO, her Nesoi Tee by Miriam L. Felton using Anzula Breeze yarn. She made several mods, you can read all about them on her project page. She is really happy with this tee and has worn it several times already. 
8. Kim mentioned the "Crochet Crack Cardigan," (not the pattern's real name!) and you can see her's here, here and...well, nowhere because she doesn't have a project page for the one that she mentioned when she combined crochet and knitting. Sadly, that was before she was consistently making project pages. The yarn she used was Berroco Fuji. 

   

   Kim and Marcy in their finished Nesoi Tees!

Marcy's projects:

Marcy very cleverly added a lattice lace
triangle to her Wind Wave Tee

1. Marcy has also finished her gorgeous Nesoi Tee by Miriam L. Felton. She used the Anzula Breeze yarn in the "Key Lime" color. She made a few mods to her tee as well, you can find all of them on her project page.
2. Marcy has an FO that she finished in record time! Her Wind Wave  tee by Jo Allport was knit very quickly! She used Louisa Harding Azalea yarn (100% cotton.) There were many mods that she made and you can read all about them on her project page. 
3. Marcy has just cast on the Cap Sleeve Lattice Top by Purl Soho. She is using her Forbidden Woolery yarn in the "Earl Grey Rose" and "Celosia" color ways. Many mods to come for this sweater! There was a HOWLER! Marcy had decided to CO and knit a row or 2 using the Celosia color, but ended up casting on with the Earl Grey instead and frogged and CO again. Then, she discovered that she had changed colors on a row that ended up giving her a design element that she wasn't happy with. She decided not to frog her project again, instead she very cleverly knit and turned her work so that she made the wrong side the right side and no one will ever know!

   

   New right side of project, where the purl
   bumps are now showing the connection of
   the gray it's hidden now on the wrong side.
   I think this looks much better!

   

   Original right side of project, purl bumps
   show the connection of yellow to gray.
   I didn't like the look of this as much!

   
   

What's Hot Right Now?

1. Kim talks about Stash Dash 2016. The Knit Girllls sponsor this yearly WIP and Stash "down" KAL every summer and you can read all about it here. 
2. Marcy has read about a really cute crochet top, Amaa Granny Square Top. This is a free pattern on Ravelry and is crocheted using lace weight wool yarn. 
3. Marcy is also eyeing a free pattern from Knitty.com, the Icarus by Leah Goldstein. This cute top is knit using Berroco Fuji yarn.
4. Finally, Marcy doesn't usually knit shawls, but she is really attracted to the Om Shawl by Andrea Mowry on Ravelry. This is a beautiful and versatile shawl that is knit in a rectangular shape and then you place buttons on 2 sides which allows you to wear it in a multitude of ways.  The colors and patterning reference a Southwest aesthetic.

We Are Uber Crafty

Kim has been spinning a lot and really enjoying it. She has spun up all of her bandless/label-less fiber and has 4 finished 2 ply skeins thus far. She has purchased and been watching a Craftsy class on spinning; "Spinning Dyed Fibers" with Felicia Lo. Her 1st spinning class that she watched on Craftsy was; "Drafting from Worsted to Woolen," with Jacey Boggs Faulkner. Kim has a goal of spinning up ALL of her fiber before she goes to the fiber event, Lamb Town, in Dixon, Ca on 10/6/16. Also, her goal is to have fewer HOWLERS for the next episode!

Kim's 2nd finished handpsun skein on the niddy noddy

2 of Kim's handspan skeins drying outside after taking a bath

What's on our Black Board?

In episode 12, Marcy will talk about her visit to Tolt Yarn and Wool in Carnation, WA, and share an interview and a surprise! She will let us know all of the wonderful things that this cute LYS has to offer. 

Thank you so much for joining us! We hope that your knitting has been Howler free and we look forward to connecting with you on our Ravelry group, on our blog and out in wild where knitters gather! We will see you soon.

Episode 10: Shibui yarn tasting and high fives!

Welcome to our 1st double digit episode! We share our WIP's, several high fives,  do our own mini Shibui yarn tasting and have an interview with the charming Sandy Barnes from Shibui Knits.  It's a hoot, and you don't want to miss it. Grab your favorite WIP, a fun beverage and get comfy!

Episode 10 Audio

Marcy, Kim and marcy's beautiful Be My Angel shawl 

What's in our Lesson Plan?

• Admin notes
• Show and tell
• Shibui yarn tasting
• Interview with Sandy from Shibui

Admin Notes:

1. The show notes from episode 9 contain all of the information (and if its not there, you can find it in the threads on Ravelry,  to which I've linked,) about the sock KAL's going on right now with other podcasts. Get on in there and join, knit some socks and win some prizes!
2. Head on over to our Ravelry group, we are taking roll and would love to get to know YOU! 

Marcy in her Sloping Hem Boatneck sweater

**Marcy mentions her Sloping Hem Boatneck sweater by Norah Gaughan that she knit in 2013 using Berroco Versa yarn. She entered a KAL with the Yarniacs and won a prize, which was very exciting as this was her 1st KAL!

Show and Tell:

1. Kim is working on her Frankensocks and is almost done. She decided to  make them "shorties" because the needles are driving her crazy. These are knit two at a time, top down on magic loop with a true after thought heel. You can find our research paper and discussion about after thought heels here. 
2.  She is continuing to work on her lovely Nesoi Tee by Miriam L. Felton out of Anzula Breeze yarn in the Irene color. She has shortened the tee in several places and has moved 5 stitches from each side of the neck to the shoulders (Marcy has done this as well! Great minds : ) in order to tighten up the boatneck opening.
3. Elsie's shawl is continuing to get some love and is coming along nicely, and
4. The Crazy Zauber socks are still a WIP. but Kim's not thrilled with the combo of the stitch pattern, needles and yarn. She might felt them lightly before putting the after thought heels in. 
5. Marcy is also continuing to actively work on her Nesoi Tee in the Key Lime color and she's almost done too. She's really enjoying the yarn and is looking forward to wearing this pretty top. 
6. Marcy has finished her Be My Angel shawl by Martina Behm. She is super happy with this gorgeous FO and really enjoyed knitting with the Huckleberry Knits Singular yarn in the Winesap color. .

Shibui Yarn Tasting:

At her recent retreat, Kim was happy to receive a bag filled with 9  samples of Shibui yarn along with their "Mix Cheat Sheet," (try saying that 5 times fast!) Kim and Marcy each knit up many samples using a combination of the yarns on a variety of needle sizes. You can get a copy of the mix cheat sheet here. There's really too much information to list about the yarn tasting,  so if you have any questions after listening to the episode, please PM me (Kim, AKA Destined2knit,) on Ravelry and I'll try to answer your questions. We encourage you to try your own yarn tasting at home and preferably with some knitting friends! Using Shibui or other yarns mix it up with a variety of needle sizes and make sure to wash and block your swatches and see what new amazing fabrics you end up with.

Kim's swatches

Marcy's swatches

Interview with Sandy Barnes:

Sandy Barnes is the Sales Manager for Shibui knits which is located in Portland, Oregon. She was kind enough to sit down and talk with me while we were at the Knit For Fun retreat last month in Park City, Utah. The LYS from Salt Lake City, Blazing Needles, was partnering with Shibui during the retreat and we were all lucky enough to have access to this amazing market for the duration of the weekend. 

At the retreat we were treated  to a yarn tasting. We all received a bag with a sample of each of the current 9 Shibui yarns along with their wonderful Mix Cheat Sheet. Sandy tells us that she swatched all of these mixes and the gauge listed there is her's! She encourages all of us to swatch widely while mixing yarns and to always wash and block.

Sandy worked for the Cameron Design Group, owned by Darcy Cameron, for 5 years in their Portland, Oregon LYS, Knit Purl. She's been working on the wholesale side of the business, with Shibui Knits, as Sales Manager, for four years. 

She really likes their new cotton yarn, Rain. It is very unique for a cotton yarn because it has memory. In addition, Rain is a mercerized chainette yarn which adds to its unique qualities as a cotton yarn. Sandy's favorite Shibui yarn is Pebble (cashmere, silk and wool,) which she views as a great year round yarn. She also really likes Twig   (linen, silk and wool,)for summer garments.

We discuss the beautiful, elegant and classic Shibui designs. Sandy tells us that their in house designer, Shellie Anderson, always puts in one special construction element to keep the piece interesting and special, but also relatively simple.

Thanks Sandy! 

Kim's Goals:

Kim hasn't set goals for several episodes and so she decided it was time to get back on that saddle! This time she's set 11 goals:

1. To use scrap yarn as a basting/running stitch in order to keep track of decreases, increases, or rows.
2. Swatch again with Estonian traveling stitches using the pattern from the retreat. Also, work on tinking the traveling sts.
3. CO a pair of Estonian socks that has traveling stitches. 
4. Finish her Nesoi Tee.
5. Finish her Frankensocks.
6. Finish her Crazy Zauber Socks.
7. Spin at least 5 times before episode 11.
8. Pick up and work "heartily" on her Summer Symmetry top.
9. Write up a knitting schedule in order to keep all projects in her active knitting rotation...AND...follow it!
10. Join in on at least 3 of the sock KAL's that are going on on Ravelry and Instagram right now, and,
11. CO a baby blanket.

That's it, good luck Kim!

What's on our Black Board?

In our next episode, Marcy will have returned from her trip to the Pacific Northwest and will tell us all about her experiences visiting LYS's in that area. We'll also have show and tell and talk about our goals and progress with sock KAL's.

Thanks for joining us everybody! We hope that your knitting is treating you well and we'll "see" you next time.