Podcasts about Aunt Betty

This is a Fan Fav episode. Ever felt like setting boundaries is just too damn hard? I hear you, and honestly, you're not alone! So many of us women struggle to stand our ground—then end up feeling resentful, invisible, or straight-up used. That's why I sat down with legendary psychotherapist and “Boundary Boss” Terri Cole to break down exactly why we freeze, people-please, and self-abandon—and, most importantly, how to stop. Terri gets brutally honest about the root causes of poor boundaries, from family expectations to people-pleasing patterns, and gives us the roadmap for becoming our own damn advocates. With real talk, tactical steps, and compassion for every woman still learning to use her voice, Terri reveals the warning signs of weak boundaries (they're not what you think!), the power of resentment as your wake-up call, and scripts for even the most awkward family encounters—hello, narcissistic mothers and nosy Aunt Betty! Get ready to ditch guilt, drop the drama, and start setting limits that honor YOU. SHOWNOTES 00:00 – Why boundary setting triggers insecurity, people-pleasing, and self-abandonment 02:29 – Resentment as a red flag: How to spot disordered boundaries in your life 06:44 – Taking responsibility for your “50%” and the art of clear, proactive communication 14:18 – Childhood conditioning, people-pleasing, and the roots of boundary struggles 36:28 – High-functioning codependency: Why “superwomen” still give too much 51:28 – Suppressed anger, the power of naming your feelings, and setting stronger boundaries 1:09:06 – Scripts for handling invasive relatives & rude questions at family gatherings 1:19:33 – Narcissistic mothers: Signs, hard limits, and how to protect your energy 1:28:44 – Relationship boundaries: From stating your needs to enforcing consequences and non-negotiables 1:29:43 – Making boundaries a language—why practice and self-compassion change everything FOLLOW TERRI COLE: Instagram: https://instagram.com/terricole Website: https://www.terricole.com Book: https://boundarybossbook.com Ready to become a BOUNDARY BOSS? Let's go! CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS Vital Proteins: Get 20% off by going to ⁠https://www.vitalproteins.com⁠ and entering promo code WOI at check out.  Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at ⁠https://shopify.com/lisa⁠ BIOptimizers: Head to⁠ https://bioptimizers.com/impact ⁠and use code IMPACT for 10% off.  OneSkin: Get 15% off with code LISA at ⁠https://oneskin.co ⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Max, Jof and Brayden take a look at Aunt Betty's rice pudding range plus a new raspberry Stix product, and call for the return of Jungle Chews.

The owner of Goodlands Food Co, Anna Dausman, joined us to take a more in-depth look into her career and what ultimately led Anna to building a business based on hot sauces.  As a young girl, Anna already showed an entrepreneurial spirit--making her first attempt at a culinary career with a cake-baking business.  Although that initial concept did not pan out, she nevertheless pursued a career which created opportunities for others to build up themselves and their communities.  And as another opportunity knocked, Anna found herself drawn back to the culinary world while growing ghost peppers in her plot of land at her local community garden.  Soon she found herself making hot sauces that everyone loved, and Goodlands Food Co. was born!  Today, you can hear all about Anna's story and what she offers when you tune into the show...and then check out her website to find where her products are sold in your local area!https://goodlandsfood.coInspiration can strike at any point, and Diane Holtaway knows that more than most individuals who start a new business, so after years of helping others build and refine theirs, Diane set out to start a business of her own. Today, Diane owns Heirzoom Bakery which has been steadily growing since its inception.  Her concept was to offer authentic ethnic baked goods the way they were meant to be...meaning she uses natural, quality ingredients without all the chemicals and additives you'll find in store-bought brands and on the shelves of bakeries and/or the baked goods aisles.  Her biggest inspiration was her Aunt Betty, who made Kiffles (a popular Hungarian Pastry) for family gatherings and women's groups and never came back home with any leftovers. Inspired to share the love, Diane pays homage to both her Aunt Betty and the Kiffles via her hand-baked versions called Fennomes.  Today, you can taste those cookies (and more) when you order them online and have them shipped to your door, or by visiting her website!https://heirzoombakery.comfb: https://www.facebook.com/fennome/

When mandolinist Sierra Hull was little, her dad told her she was really good "for a ten year old." The older Hull knew Sierra had a fiery passion for the instrument and he knew exactly how to motivate his daughter. He went on to say that if she wanted to go to jams and porch-play for the rest of her life, she'd learned enough. He gave her realistic advice that, if she wanted to dedicate her life to music, she would have to work really hard. Because "that 10 year old cute thing is gonna wear off." Sierra, who would draw pictures of herself playing at the Grand Ole Opry with Alison Krauss and doodle album covers with the Rounder Records logo, took his advice to heart and got to work.Since then, Hull has shared the stage with more heroes than one could count, she's inspired a new generation of younger players, she's released five albums, and is considered a master of the mandolin. Originally from the small town of Byrdstown, Tennessee, her new album, 'A Tip Toe High Wire,' is set for release March 7. In our Basic Folk conversation Sierra reflects on how growing up in a small town shaped her musical identity alongside bluegrass, gospel, and family traditions. She shares memories of family gatherings filled with music featuring Aunt Betty and Uncle Junior, the profound influence of church hymns, and how these experiences continue to resonate in her playing and songwriting.Sierra also discusses the significance of 'A Tip Toe High Wire,' her first independent release, highlighting the freedom and growth that come with that independence. She emphasizes the importance of authenticity in her music, allowing herself to explore new sounds while remaining grounded in her bluegrass roots. Elsewhere in the episode, she opens up about her personal growth, the pressures of being labeled a child prodigy, and her journey toward embracing imperfection in her art. We also dive into what we'll call her "Stevie Nicks Era" with the amazing cover-art on the new record. Sierra enjoys playing with elaborate styles in her album artwork and red carpet looks (helloooo CMA Awards). With a candid perspective on the challenges of the music industry, she encourages listeners to find joy in the process while appreciating the beauty of vulnerabilityAlso woo hoo!!! Happy Basic Folk 300!!!!Follow Basic Folk on social media: https://basicfolk.bio.link/  Sign up for Basic Folk's newsletter: https://bit.ly/basicfolknews  Help produce Basic Folk by contributing: https://basicfolk.com/donate/ Interested in sponsoring us? Contact BGS: https://bit.ly/sponsorBGSpods Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Aunt Betty's Kickstarterhttps://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/05/06/big-tent-rocker-moves-into-a-big-church-role/https://www.klove.com/music/artists/big-tent-revivalhttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/from-big-tent-revival-to_b_862065https://web.archive.org/web/19991128083040/http://www.bigtent.net/biography.htmhttps://www.instagram.com/wigbone/p/Co2rknCpBWD/https://decentchristiantalk.com/2015/02/18/talking-with-big-tent-revivals-spence-smith/https://archive.org/details/cd_steve-wiggins_steve-wiggins/page/n5/mode/1uphttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_de_Rothschildhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR1ltn3bPT4https://youtu.be/gIhCByVFys0?si=P36dzItFbKE2ESavhttps://youtu.be/bjSpO2B6G4s?si=bAsntrkufGvEDIXChttps://www.amazon.com/Big-Tent-Revival/dp/B000005KV6#customerReviewshttps://web.archive.org/web/20030417060137/http://www.thetent.8m.com/Jonny3.htm https://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/artists/BigTentRevival.asp https://www.grammy.com/artists/big-tent-revival/7622 https://www.instagram.com/bigtentrevival/?hl=en https://www.amazon.com/Big-Tent-Revival/dp/B000005KV6#customerReviews https://www.discogs.com/artist/1428380-Steve-Wiggins-2 https://www.facebook.com/BigTentRevival/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Tent_Revival https://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/cdreviews/Amplifier.asp https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/may/01/almighty-sounds-rap-grunge-and-punk-all-part-of/ https://www.kesherproject.com/ https://decentchristiantalk.com/2015/02/18/talking-with-big-tent-revivals-spence-smith/ https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/may/15/open-all-nite-tour-offers-christian-variety/ https://www.threads.net/@wigbone https://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Steve_Wiggins_One_time_Big_Tent_Revival_frontman_now_a_solo/7990/p1/ https://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Steve_Wiggins_One_time_Big_Tent_Revival_frontman_now_a_solo/7990/p1/ https://www.instagram.com/wigbone/ https://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/products/Big_Tent_Revival/Big_Tent_Revival/5202/ https://www.christianmusicarchive.com/artist/big-tent-revival

Send us a textMegan and Michelle explore near death experiences, medical paradoxes, liars, clinical death, REM interruption, Aunt Betty, and life reviews. Sources:- Lifting the Veil on Near-Death Experiences- The science of near-death experiences- Jamie Foxx reveals details of his ‘near-death experience' in new Netflix special- Near Death Experiences (Wikipedia)****************Want to support Prosecco Theory?Become a Patreon subscriber and earn swag!Check out our merch, available on teepublic.com!Follow/Subscribe wherever you listen!Rate, review, and tell your friends!Follow us on Instagram!****************Ever thought about starting your own podcast? From day one, Buzzsprout gave us all the tools we needed get Prosecco Theory off the ground. What are you waiting for? Follow this link to get started. Cheers!!

Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. 150 Years Ago (December 1874) John McCabe was carting cook stoves to Matteawan when his horses were frightened by an approaching locomotive. The horses raced along the track and a stove fell off the wagon in front of the engine, which demolished it. Lewis Tompkins, of the Fishkill Landing Hat Works, put down one of his prized brown mares after it broke its leg in the stable. It was valued at $700 [about $19,000 today]. Patrick Murphy, who worked at the Gowdy brickyard near Dutchess Junction, was arrested on assault charges. Murphy was absent when John Gowdy distributed wages and later demanded his $28 [$775]. Gowdy said he did not have the cash on him and Patrick, who was drunk, attempted to take Gowdy's horse. When Gowdy resisted, Murphy punched him. Murphy was fined $25, which he had Gowdy take from his pay, leaving him with $3 [$83]. The Matteawan Manufacturing Co. was making 200 dozen ladies' jockeys every day but was still 150 cases behind filling orders. Two sheep owned by Jacob VanWyck near Fishkill were slaughtered in his field and the meat carried off. James Pettigrove moved from Cold Spring to Fishkill Landing to operate Traver's hotel, which had been damaged by fire on Sept. 3 but restored. Several young men in Matteawan formed a gymnasium society. W.H. Mase of Fishkill Landing sold his trotting horse Mountaineer for $6,000 [$166,000]. A Fishkill Landing milkman said he would sell milk through the winter at summer prices of 6 cents [$1.66] a quart. A Matteawan Free School teacher found in an old history book a handwritten copy of a Thanksgiving sermon preached by the Rev. Samuel Prime on Nov. 23, 1833. [In 1840, the young Presbyterian minister left the village for New York City to become an editor at a Christian newspaper where he worked for the next 45 years.] The Seamless Manufacturing Co. of Matteawan received an order for thousands of skirts, in variety of sizes, including what were thought to be the largest ever made in the U.S.: 5 feet, 7 inches long; 5 feet, 1 inch around the waist; 10 inches around the hip; and 16 inches at the bottom. Mr. and Mrs. David Kniffen, of Fishkill, lost two children - their 5-year-old daughter and 2½-year-old son - in the same week to diphtheria. Their third child, an infant, was not expected to survive. When the Albany Post reported that "Aunt Betty," the last known person enslaved in New York state, had died in Cayuga County at age 99, the Poughkeepsie Press reported that an inmate at the Dutchess County poorhouse was older. He recalled being traded for a barrel of rum. [According to research by the New York State Archives, a woman named Sophy, who died in November 1876 in Cornwall, was likely the last surviving person who had been enslaved in New York.] On a late Saturday night train, a passenger refused to pay the fare. The conductor ordered him off at New Hamburg, but the passenger retreated to the toilet and sat with his back against the door. At Poughkeepsie, a police officer ripped off the door with a crowbar. At 3 a.m. on a Saturday, a fire at John Gerow's brick building in Matteawan destroyed everything inside, including the stock of the Noel & Smith clothing store, Hatche's cigar store and Vosburgh's printing office. Frank Timoney, the brick manufacturer, and an employee, William Doyle, were struck by an express train south of Dutchess Junction. Doyle was killed and Timoney was not expected to survive. [Timoney lived another 29 years.] 125 Years Ago (December 1899) A man who missed the last train at Fishkill Landing for Cold Spring hired a wagon. According to the Matteawan Journal, the driver had been on duty for hours and the passenger had not slept for two days, so both fell sound asleep on the journey along the river road. When the horse reached a trough in the village, it took a drink, turned around and returned to Fishkill Landing. There, the passenger and driver awoke and, confused, ...

Should you gift? Should you go? It is all your choice.

Christmas vibes. Birthday vibes!! Cindy and Aunt Betty vibes!!

In this historic first Ryan-edited episode, the boyz discuss the perks of being over 40: back pain. Ryan thinks he can break dance better than Raygun. Also, what happens after death? The men of B&R explore the afterlife and hot- boxing Aunt Betty. Remember:"Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light."Send your thank you letters, fan mail, media awards, or sick burns to burnandravepodcast@gmail.comFollow us here: IG @burnandravepodcastHosts: Ryan Rosenow & Sam Pierstorff (@njapoet)Sound Engineer: Joe ZimmererSupport the show

In the final episode of What Happened In Alabama, Lee considers the man his father became, despite the obstacles in his way. Later, Lee goes back to Alabama and reflects with his cousins on how far they've come as a family. Now that we know what happened, Lee pieces together what it all means and looks forward to the future. Over the last nine episodes, you've listened to me outline the impact of Jim Crow apartheid on my family, my ancestors and me. I've shared what I've learned through conversations with experts, creating connections to how the effects of Jim Crow manifested in my own family.In the process of this work I lost my father. But without him, this work couldn't have been accomplished.My name is Lee Hawkins and this is What Happened In Alabama: The Epilogue Rev. James Thomas: You may be seated. We come with humble hearts. We come, dear Jesus, with sorrow in our hearts. But dear Jesus, we know that whatever you do,dear God,it is for your will and purpose. And it is always good. We buried my father on March 9, 2019. His funeral was held at the church I grew up in. Mount Olivet Baptist Church in St. Paul Minnesota.Rev. James Thomas: Dear God, I pray that you would be with this family. Like you have been with so many that have lost loved ones and even one day we all know we are going to sleep one day.Thank you for preparing a better place for us.Mount Olivet's pastor, Rev. James Thomas, knew my parents well, especially since my father was part of the music ministry there for 30 years. It was a snowy day, but people came from all over Minnesota and from as far away as Prague to pay their last respects. I looked at the packed parking lot and all the cars lined up and down the street, and I felt a sense of gratitude in knowing that my dad had played such a strong role in so many people's lives, not just the lives of his own children and family.Rev. James Thomas: Brother Leroy is probably playing the guitar over there. We can hear him with that squeak voice “yeeeee.” Jalen Morrison: We could talk about Prince, we could talk about gospel music. He was even up on the hip hop music, too, which kind of shook me up. But I was like, okay, Grandpa [laughter] Naima Ferrar Bolden: He really just had me seeing far beyond where I could see. He had me seeing far past my circumstances. He really changed my perspective, and that was just life altering for me ever since I was a little girl. Herman Jones: He just had the heavy, heavy accent. He still had that booooy. But you know,he was always smiling, always happy all the time. You know, just full of life.As I sat and listened to all the speeches that came before my eulogy of my dad, I couldn't help but recognize both the beauty of their words and the extent to which my father had gone to shield so many of the people he loved from the hardest parts of his life—especially Alabama. It was as if he didn't want to burden them, or, for most of our lives, his children, with that complexity. Most people remembered and honored him as that big, smiling, gregarious man with the smooth, first tenor voice, who lit up any space he was in and lit up when his wife, children, grandchildren, family, or friends walked into a room. He loved deeply; and people loved him deeply in return. And though he was victimized under Jim Crow, he was never a victim. In fact, after he sat for those four years of interviews with me for this show, opening up the opportunity for so many secrets to be revealed, he emerged as even more of a victor.In our last conversation, he told me he wasn't feeling well and that he had been to the doctor three times that week, but was never tested for anything. And Dad,  after that third visit, he just accepted it. I do wonder if there was ever a time in those moments that he had a flashback to his mother being sent home in a similar way - 58 years prior - but from a segregated Jim Crow Alabama hospital. I don't know. I'll never know.Tony Ware: Yeah. Mine. You know, I would always ask my mom, you know, about Alabama. You know, she was one of the five that came up here. That's my cousin Tony Ware. His mom was my Aunt Betty. The “five” that he's talking about were my Dad's siblings who migrated to Minnesota from Alabama -  my aunts Helen, Toopie, Dorothy, Betty, and my Dad. Tony Ware: They kind of hung around together and they would always have sit downs where they would talk. Get a moon pie, a soda. Hmm. Some sardines.Lee Hawkins: Cigarettes. Tony Ware: Cigarettes, sardines. And they would start talking. And some white bread. And they would sit there and talk and we would hear some of it. I sat in my mom's lap, and you know, they're talking about this, and it's like they just went into a different world. When I was a kid in Minnesota, I loved when my dad's sisters and their kids would come over. Us cousins would play hide-and-seek and listen to our music while our parents sat around the dining room table, talking and laughing, and listening to their own music. Our soundtrack was always great – Prince, Michael Jackson, New Edition, Cameo – but theirs was, too, with Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Butler, Johnny Taylor, and Bobby Womack. The food was even better. They'd talk over one another, smoke clouding the air under the chandelier, and my allergy-sensitive nose could detect that smell from three rooms away. Sometimes, I'd sneak a quick sip from an unattended can of beer in the kitchen. Despite the bitter taste, getting away with it always gave me a thrill. But then, someone would mention the word “Alabama,” and that festive energy would suddenly vanish.Tony Ware: But I heard Alabama. I heard this. I heard names that I never, you know, heard, you know, because all I knew was my aunt Dorothy, Lee Roy, you know, all I knew was. But then I heard certain names, uncles such and such. And I'm like, Who? Who, what, what? To us as kids, "Alabama" was more than a place—it was a provocative word that brought a suffocating heaviness to our lives. My cousin Gina remembers, even as a child, that mysterious word and the weariness it triggered in her mother. It left her feeling utterly helpless.Gina Hunter: And I would just sit there and listen to them talk about home and all the things that bothered them. Oh, my God. And yeah, it would hurt my feelings because I would see my mom just break out and cry for nothing. They would be talking and a song would be playing and Betty would just kind of get, she'd well up. Lee Hawkins: Yeah. Gina Hunter: And I'm like, Why are they so sad? Why are they so depressed? They they're together. They've got their kids. We're visiting, we're having fun. But it wasn't fun for them.That veil of secrecy our parents kept around Alabama, prevented us from seeing it as anything other than ground zero for, in our family, dreadful despair. Even when they talked about the happy memories— the church revivals that they called “big meeting,”  and picking fresh strawberries right off the vine – it seemed like a thread of fear just wove through almost every story. Tony Ware:I knew something was going on more than what I knew here, you know, at a young age. So. I was always interested in finding out. But through my mom, you know, she she would talk about how nice it was down there, how beautiful it was down there. But she never wanted to go back there.And as Gina remembers– and I agreed– it  colored every facet of how they raised us. As she spoke, I just sat there, marveling at the fact that she could have replaced her mom's name with my dad's name, or any one of those siblings, and her observations would still be spot on. Gina Hunter:My mom was and Aunt Helen, they were super, super close. And there was always just a deep seeded paranoia of people in general, just like everything. And I would think, why are these people why are they so scared and nervous and afraid of life and people and experiencing things? It seemed like it led them to live a super sheltered life.The central question of this podcast is, "What happened in Alabama?"What happened was Jim Crow apartheid—a crime against humanity committed by the American government against five generations of Black families like mine. This apartheid lasted for nearly hundred years, officially ending in 1964, and created generations of people who perished and millions who survived. I refer to these individuals as Jim Crow apartheid survivors. However, America has yet to acknowledge that Jim Crow was apartheid, that it was a crime against humanity, and that the millions of people who lived through it should be formally recognized as survivors.In the prologue, I explained that so-called Jim Crow segregation was not merely about separate water fountains and back-of-the-bus seating. Through the accounts of family trauma I've shared, we now understand it was a caste system of domestic terrorism and apartheid, enforced by a government that imposed discrimination in every aspect of life through laws and practices designed to maintain white supremacy. The myth of "separate but equal" masked a reality far more sinister and pervasive than what most of us were taught in school.We often think of white supremacy as fringe hate groups, but we've overlooked its traditional and far more damaging form—a government-imposed system that oppressed Black people for a century after emancipation. This isn't a distant academic concept or an opinion or a loaded political statement; it's a fact. This is recent American history, and it deeply impacted our families, controlling every aspect of our lives physically, mentally, and emotionally for five generations after slavery.Since 1837, every generation of my family in America has had a member murdered, often with no consequences for the white perpetrator. The fear, caution, and grief were passed down by those who stood around the caskets, including my father. The daily indignities only compounded this grief, leading to accelerated aging and chronic stress that I believe ultimately killed my father. Yes, Jim Crow apartheid killed my father.Still, I'm encouraged because I have the platform to tell this aspect of the story. Sharing this story has been extremely difficult, but I've been lifted not just by my faith and ancestors but also by my family, their support, optimism, and determination. With this new information, we live with the awareness of the effects of slavery and Jim Crow, striving to break their negative cycles and be empowered by the accomplishments of our families who found ways to thrive despite the oppression caused by those crimes. Telling this story has fortified my resolve, reminding me that our past is not just a story of struggle, but of relentless triumph and dignity. For generations, we have managed to thrive together as a family. By infusing even more consciousness and evolution into our families with each generation, we can continue to thrive.That's why I'm grateful for my cousins, including my first cousin, David Stanley, the son of my dad's sister, Aunt Weenie, who articulated this sentiment powerfully during an interview with my cousins, my father's sisters' children.David Stanley: I think it's a new form of freedom, OK. And even though they faced the backwardness of Jim Crow and all those things that our ancestors went through, they still had their dreams and dignity. And no matter what happened, it's not about the environment around you, it's the environment inside of you. ‘You're not going to stop us. We're going to continue to grow. So by doing that, they said, ‘Okay, you know what? We are going to plant the seed, our offspring, okay?' You can do this in our generation during this time, but guess what? There's another generation coming up.' And that triggers all the way to us today. And then you got your nieces and your nephew, and then you got grandkids, et cetera. Lee: Yeah. And your kids have all master's degree and PhDs. And then your wife is a superintendent of a school district. David: That's right. Yep. So they left their seed, they left their vision. And my point is that I believe that they are all up in heaven smiling down on us and really proud of us.David: I have to go and take that trip to Alabama and bring my children with me and my grandkids with me, because it's vital. Because you put that out there, I really appreciate that. That's something that's definitely going to be done ,and I think that's something that we all need to do, to rekindle and reconnect and do those things. The past can't hurt you, but my point is that by being in the present right now, now we can solidify our future, you know what unapologetically. And do the things they were always yearning to do, in their lives. And they couldn't do them. But they can do them through us.Lee Hawkins: A lot of it is facing your parents' fears,that's what it id. for them as well. My dad really loved Alabama. He did. And my dad would talk about that in a very nostalgic way, but also the fear was still there. And so when I started going to Alabama, I was going for him as well. Not to mention, I have had a couple of people in the family say, ‘Oh be careful down there.' And Aunt Toopie even said, ‘You went in that field? You went to that cemetery?' That fear was on me when I first went to Alabama. The last trip that we went to, I did it with family.Walking through the cemeteries and the landscapes of Alabama alongside my family who live there transformed my mission, helping me to finally lay my father's fear to rest. Lee Hawkins: Mary Ruth's Southern Food for Southern People Made with Love. I love that. That slogan. Marvin Smith: Welcome to Mary Ruth's. Thank you for coming. Lee Hawkins: You got some grits on the griddle huh. Marvin Smith: Oh I got it all. Got me some grits, cheese grits, patty sausage, salmon croquettes, link sausage, bacon. Whatever you ask for we'll cook it. Pancakes, whatever. Hey, we aint Burger King but you can sure get it your way though. Group: [Laughter] There's so much energy in the cafe. I feel the family. My family. We spend a couple hours eating together. Mapping family connections. People come into the cafe, some grab their food and take a seat, some join us. A woman walks in the door and she recognizes me…. not because she knows who I am, but because of my resemblance to her husband, he's also a Pugh. Erica Page: Y'all got a line that will not just go away. It's strong genes. You'll have strong and strong. Yes, cause I have a daughter and a grandson. Oh, God. Looks just like him Her name is Erica Page. Lee Hawkins: You know, Uncle Ike Pugh? Erica Page: We went to the house several times.At one point, someone pulls out a family reunion book. It's a laminated, spiral bound scrapbook. Someone put a lot of work into making it. We're flipping through the pages together….Lee Hawkins: My grandma was Opie Pugh.Erica Page: I know the name. Lee Hawkins: She was. Well, she was Ike's sister. Erica Page: I know. I know the name.I means she's in the book. We find pictures of our Pugh ancestors, Uncle Ike and my dad's mom, Grandma Opie. I've seen these photos before through my research into the family tree.But suddenly, Alabama feels different from the times I visited before for research. I am not surprised that the shift in my relationship with Alabama was guided by my family members who chose to stay rather than migrate north. They stayed and evolved Alabama to the point where both Montgomery and Birmingham now have African American mayors. They, and the millions of Black people who stayed, led a movement that benefits all Americans today. In discussing the hardships my family endured there, it is important to recognize that the progress of our people and our nation is largely attributable to the activism of the courageous Black Americans who stayed and fought. These same Black Americans welcomed me back to Alabama with open arms and support, encouraging me to move forward with this project. They reminded me not to be resentful or afraid to come home, to give Alabama a chance, and to offer it the same benefit of the doubt and acknowledgment of complexity that I give my country.Understanding that it was our families, the Black descendants of American slavery, who led the movement that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending Jim Crow apartheid and bringing America closer to liberty and justice for all, reinforces the reality that, despite significant trauma, we have remained a solutions-oriented people, some of the most effective activists this nation has ever known.Their legacy and courage have shaped Alabama and America and their spirit of irrepressibility continues to inspire me.In my forthcoming book, "I Am Nobody's Slave: How Uncovering My Family History Set Me Free," published by HarperCollins, I will strive to capture not just the stories of trauma but how we can continue to conquer it as a family, a Black American community, and a nation. Inspired by the spirit of my ancestors and my father, who transcended the limitations Alabama tried to impose on him, I will continue my journalism on several issues discussed in this series.  These include exposing and addressing the long-term effects of corporal punishment in homes and schools, the impact of childhood trauma on the health and well-being of children, encouraging school districts to implement policies of mandatory consequences for hate speech and harassment, and highlighting economic and health inequities along racial lines. I will also focus on the plight and power of Jim Crow apartheid survivors as they strive to quell the ripple effect of historical atrocities on their families.The question now is, what can we all do as a nation to recognize Jim Crow as a crime against humanity and to support the millions of Americans over 60 who lived in the South during this unfortunate period? How can we make our homes, schools, and society safer for the generations of children and grandchildren coming behind them?Together, we can acknowledge our past, honor the strength of those who came before us, and build a future filled with hope, determination, and joy. Let us rise with the resilience of our ancestors and create a world where every child can dream freely and every family can thrive. Lee Roy: You've run the game and you know the Lord and you're doing your thing, man. And that's the best you can do as far as I'm concerned. You have to keep your heart and your head up. I don't know this thing about being proud. I know the Lord and I know the Lord loves me. So if I'm proud, man, please forgive me and if I shouldn't be, but it is a poor dog that don't wag his own tail, son, when you're trying to reach your goals, I'll put it like that, you know. Lee Jr.: Right on. Well, okay buddy, I'm going to hit it, but I'll be in touch, okay? Lee Roy: Yeah, keep going, man, I'm loving it. I'm loving what we're doing, Lee. Lee Jr.: Okay, love you, Dad. Lee Roy: Okay man. Love you. Bye.CREDITS

Welcome to our OCNJ Summer 2024 chat with Gretchen from BeachBucketLunch.com Ocean City, NJ is home to many great businesses, including Surfer's Supply, Varsity Inn, and Granny's Kettle Corn. The town offers a variety of food options, with Rojo's for tacos and Mario's for pizza being popular choices. Other recommended places include Reddy's for an old-school breakfast, Nauti Donuts for gourmet donuts, and Aunt Betty's for ice cream. In terms of activities, there are events like the health and fitness expo, farmers market, and live performances at the Music Pier. Beach Bucket is a popular lunch delivery service in Ocean City, offering a variety of options for beachgoers and other locations in the town. Keywords Ocean City, NJ, businesses, Surfer's Supply, Varsity Inn, Granny's Kettle Corn, Rojo's, Mario's, Reddy's, Nauti Donuts, Aunt Betty's, health and fitness expo, farmers market, Music Pier, Beach Bucket Takeaways Ocean City, NJ has a vibrant business community with a variety of options for shopping and dining. Rojo's is recommended for tacos and Mario's for pizza in Ocean City. Reddy's is a popular spot for an old-school breakfast, while Nauti Donuts and Aunt Betty's are recommended for donuts and ice cream, respectively. There are several events and activities in Ocean City, including the health and fitness expo, farmers market, and live performances at the Music Pier. Beach Bucket is a convenient lunch delivery service for beachgoers and other locations in Ocean City. Chapters 00:00 The Beach Bucket Podcast and Favorite Guests 05:06 Introduction and Discussion about Uncle Bill's Pancake House 06:20 Old School Bakeries in Ocean City 07:53 Seafood Options in Ocean City 11:30 Other Activities and Vendors in Ocean City 12:59 Discussion about Sandwich Orders

It's that time of year again - the Super Duper Bowl, and we have a super duper podcast to enjoy. Some years ago, we were just starting this research, and the Microsoft found Paul Allen passed away.  So as an experiment, I asked three people we'd spoken to on the flipside, who knew him, to come forward and help us chat with Paul.  At the time I didn't know that we could "invite anyone" - but figured if we could invite Paul, he'd be more comfortable with some of his pals.  Much to my chagrin (It's in the book BACKSTAGE PASS TO THE FLIPSIDE and in the documentary TALKING TO PAUL ALLEN, JUNIOR SEAU AND DAVE DUERSON on YouTube.  Paul Allen showed Jennifer that two football players who had suffered from CTE were there to greet him. Why? Because of Paul's brain institute.  Jennifer didn't know that there was an institute, I did - but they came forward to tell Jennifer that "Joe Namath had cured his CTE using oxygen therapy." She didn't get it the first two times they came through - because she doesn't know football, didn't know the Quarterback they were showing her. It was only after looking up what they were saying "Quarterback" "CTE" did I discover that Joe has done that. Watch the film, it's free. But today, Junior stopped by. As noted, after he showed up initially, I invited his widow Gina to do a session with Jennifer.  Jennifer didn't know who Junior or Gina was - but does so on camera in the film. It's uncanny. I don't expect anyone to race out and watch the film - but one day it will become an important piece of the puzzle.  So we are used to talking to Junior. (Who took his own life after suffereing from CTE. He and his widow had an amazing reunion, and I thank her for letting me film it. She's happily remarried, living a wonderful life, and if she runs across this podcast, this description, she'll know what I'm referring to.  Junior talks about how people on the flipside can attend the Super Bowl, but mostly through the participation of their loved ones onstage.  So if "Uncle Pete" or "Aunt Betty" seems to be rooting for one of the teams from the Flipside, do not be surprised. I asked our moderator on the flipside, Luana Anders if anyone else wanted to come forward; and it was Prince. We haven't had him on the podcast as of late - but he wanted to point out that anyone can connect with him, anyone can call him for assistance. (Junior also said that "anyone can play in his touch (mental) football games" as well. At some point, I asked Prince about helping someone on this side play a song.  Now - if one listens carefully (and ignores me) they can hear Jennifer (who doesn't know chords or how to transpose guitar chords to piano as I do...) She says "He's saying "G" Then E minor.  Then D. (I heard C, but she clearly says D.) Then C.   It wasn't until after the podcast was over that I went to the internet to look for Prince songs that start with "G and then E minor." And then, to my dismay, shock - when I was putting up the subtitles, I could SEE WHAT JENNIFER SAYS. She says "G" then "E minor" then "D" then "C."  (later she adds "B and F) But look it up. G                                   Em     I never meant to cause you any sorrow D                                   C     I never meant to cause you any pain G                                        Em     I only want one time to see you laughing   D                                           G   I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain.   As I was writing this, I wrote to Jennifer and told her what the chords were for and she replied: "He said purple rain - just thought it was... whatever. Amazing!" Yes. It is amazing.  Next time I'll play it properly. Enjoy. #PRINCE #SUPERBOWL2024 #JUNIORSEAU

Content note. This episodes contains a mention of an attempted death by suicide. If you would rather not hear or see that, please skip from 15:15 to 15:45.“When we're stuck in our heads, we don't make advancements. We're not happy. We can't move forward. We're basically fighting all of society when we try to go the opposite direction and say, what's up with my heart?” - Steven KuhnThis week on the Webdelics Podcast, host Scott Mason sits down with the Steven Kuhn, a decorated combat veteran with a fascinating outlook on psychedelics, to dismantle the myths surrounding the alignment of the heart and mind in personal and professional growth. Steven shares his transformative journey through plant medicine and how it reshaped his approach to life's challenges. They discuss the power of intention setting during psychedelic experiences and the profound impact of integrating masculine and feminine energies for holistic development. Steven's unique perspective bridges the gap between the spiritual and the corporate, offering insights on how psychedelics like ayahuasca and San Pedro can catalyze breakthroughs, not just personally but also for leaders in high-stakes environments. Steven is a decorated U.S. Military combat veteran who has been hand-picked to consult with some of the most influential people in the world (rock stars, singers, actors, business leaders, and politicians) about how to expand their brand, build value and loyalty and develop strategies for increasing beneficial relationships and achieving true Quality of Life. He is also the author of Unleash Your Humble Alpha: Own Your Presence in Life and Become the Epic Leader You Are Meant to BeHighlights from the Episode:"In our society, the mind is stronger than the heart." Scott and Steven start the conversation with the challenge of aligning a brain that doesn't feel and heart that doesn't think.When you are signed, you attract people on the same frequency. This isn't just a spiritual idea, but a physiological phenomenon.Plant medicine has a lot of stereotypes associated with them, “loopy Aunt Betty from the outskirts of San Francisco…” for example, and that can be a hard bridge for more business-oriented people to cross. Scott asks Steven how he brings spirituality and psychedelics into a business space.Steven's journey with plant medicine began at a very low point, when he confided in a friend who took him on an ayahuasca journey. The following morning, Steve awoke feeling like a completely blank slate, ready for a reset. He also learned how important it is to have very clear intentions for a plant medicine journey.Humans, animals and plants are all masculine and feminine, including plant medicine. While ayahuasca is a feminine plant, its counterpart is the masculine San Pedro. Steve says: “ if you're not following [Ayahuasca] the next morning with Pedro, you're missing out. Because it's the yin and the yang.”Men and women will have different kinds of experiences taking ayahuasca and san pedro because they're engaging with different kinds of energies.On whether or not people should go on plant medicine journeys: “You've got to be called. If you're scared to do it, don't do it. If you have to think about it, don't do it. It will call you. When the time comes, you'll know.” Steve points out that you will have a breakthrough, it will change your life, and you need to be ready for that. Plant medicine tourism is becoming increasingly popular, and Steven shares some advice for how to make sure you work with a credible practitioner. The environment in which you go on your journey matters. Steve's final thought is that you create what happens to you. Even when we create difficult situations or experiences, Steve reminds us that we must be pretty powerful, and pretty incredible to create this mess. “Incredible can be good or bad. Just make it good.”ResourcesSteven Kuhn on LinkedIn | Instagram | FacebookHumble AlphaQuality of Life EnterprisesWebdelics On the web | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

Bossy reads a letter she wrote to Bootie the year she gave Bootie her family creche. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!"I just learned from Mom that Aunt Betty made our family creche when she was hospitalized and struggling with a deep depression. I know that was a very dark period in her life. I'd like to think making our creche might have had something to do with her recovery. But I am glad to know this now because it reminds us that out of darkness can come an unexpected light, and after despair can come great joy. That is perhaps the most miraculous part of this story--the essence of grace and all that this season is meant to inspire. Aunt Betty probably had no idea how much that gift meant to us and how many memories it would provide, and it means even more now"Show notes at www.bootieandbossy.com

I checked off a bucket list item! I've always dreamed of speaking in front of a church, and Kristie at Kirkpatrick Memorial Church answered my prayers. We talked about many things, from one of my favorite stories about my Aunt Betty to Love Wins.Are you on the hunt to be better? Take a listen; this one fueled my soul.I love you. Be great.

Kelly's backyard suint bath science project, Lambtown, Marsha's sweater is going well, and  lots of other news. Full notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com Join the community on Ravelry or become a patron and support the show on our Patreon Page. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Lambtown Saw lots of fiber friends. Took class from Jacey Boggs Faulkner. Joined the Ply Spinning Guild. Marsha's Projects Flowers from My Garden: Starting a spinning project with fiber I bought at Stitches in March. I've spun five 3-ply skeins. Snowflower: by Heidi Kirrmeier. Using 13 Mile Lamb and Wool for the main color and Brooklyn Tweed Tones for some of the contrasting colors. Finished the first sleeve and now halfway done with the second sleeve. Nanny Meier Tea Cozy: Inspired by Lily Pulitzer colors. Using Cascade 220 in hot pink and lime green. Finished first side. Santa's Laundry Line: by Eleonore von Castelmur. Using Lang Yarn Jawol fingering in red, green and cream and some left over fingering weight gray. Finished his jacket, pants, hat and currently knitting his long johns. Socks: Using Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn in the colorway Sum-Sum-Summertime. Heels and toes will be Dream in Color Mini Smooshy in the colorway Bermuda Teal. Knitting the gusset of the first sock. Daphne's Skull: Very fiddly knitting and, honestly, not that much fun. I was determined to finish it before Halloween but the pressure was too much. I'm working on it but have taken off the pressure of finishing the skull in time for Halloween. Swatching to start another sweater. Either Little Love by Ankestrick using Brooklyn Tweed Loft or Fine Sand by Heidi Kirrmaier using West Yorkshire Spinners Illustrious. Kelly's Projects Finally finished and washed the baby blanket. Now I'm eyeing the rest of that tub of acrylic for a potential next project. Aunt Betty used a really pretty rusty orange for a pumpkin. Maybe I'll find another inspiration or maybe it goes to Goodwill. Suint Bath Update: Took out the dark gray Romney and laid it out to dry. Put in a part of the small Shetland that followed me home from Lambtown. It was in for a week (or two?) and now is out on the drying screen. It was almost dry yesterday, but now it is being drizzled on. By the way, the Romney stayed on the drying screen for about a week or so, getting dry during the day and then coated with dew or drizzle each morning.  Events  Pismo Beach Trailer Rally, November 2-5. Saturday Nov 4 is the open house. Pismo Coast Village RV Park. Winter Weave Along starts October 1 and goes through March 31. Join the fun in our Ravelry group! Seattle Weavers' Guild Thursday, October 26, 5 pm - 8 pm (4-5pm member only shopping) Friday, October 27, 10 am - 8 pm Saturday, October 28, 10 am - 4 pm At Bloedel Hall in St Mark's Cathedral 1245 10th Ave E, Seattle Free admissions & parking Fort Worden Knitters Retreat November 1-5 Port Townsend, Washington Washington DC Adventure Marsha will be in Washington DC from 11/8-11/17 Schedule includes knit night at Fiber Space in Alexandria and a visit to Looped Yarn Works in the city.  

They said my Aunt Betty was DEAD i said she's ALIVE. FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jennifer-mendoza34/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jennifer-mendoza34/support

We remember two great spirits we lost in the past few weeks--Connie Morrison, Bossy's beloved mother-in-law, and our Uncle Harold, who managed to keep up with his wife, the indomitable Aunt Betty. Connie was a wonderful knitter and never failed to keep all six of her children and husband warm in hand-knitted sweaters every year, not to mention baby blankets for her 14 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. She left many to remember her, and she embodied all of the best qualities of a fine knitter--warmth, kindness, generosity, productivity and a wit as sharp as her needles!​Uncle Harold never missed an opportunity to embrace the moment, whether that was sporting buffalo horns or helping Bossy's son climb up the rocks in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He has joined Aunt Betty in the great beyond where their spirits soar on the wings of eagles. ​Our recipe for this episode is family favorite from Connie's Cookbook: Zucchini Casserole. Shownotes, including the recipe can be found at BootieandBossy.com

How did Jason's Q&A session go yesterday with Packers GM Brian Gutekunst? Why is Tausch talking about scorpions and dragonflies? Jesse shares his dilemma during a fantasy football draft last night...And Wilde & Tausch Trivia, with suspense building with a perfect week in reach!

In this episode, Bootie and Bossy remember their beloved Aunt Betty who passed away on June 15th. As Bossy said, the world has lost a beautiful soul. Bootie and Bossy share their love for another Ina Garten favorite: Panzanella. Updates on Bootie and Bossy's knits are also shared. For more information, check out the show notes at bootieandbossy.com

TwoSistas and it's FantabulousFriday, June 30, 2023 Episode #656!  A very Happy Birthday to our Aunt Betty who is celebrating a birthday today - oh what a month for Aunt Betty and Uncle Dom - his birthday was this month as well as celebrating their 66th wedding anniversary!!   It's also the end of the month and for many, it's a way to look back and take inventory of their goals, did you achieve them, what do you need to improve and move into the new month with determination.  What's ahead for the month of July?  Perhaps an “exit interview” is needed!  Also, Twitter updates, another laundry score and tools in your pocket . . .  Let us know what you thought of today's podcast.  As always, we welcome opposing viewpoints!  You can reach us directly through our website by leaving a voice message or through the contact form: https://www.twosistas.online/

We've all been there. You ask a harmless question, and suddenly, it's like you've unleashed a monster. You were just trying to figure out why someone did something or what in the world has them all up in a huff, or worse yet, you are trying to get your partner to be more hands one or to connect with your teenager and then all of a sudden it's like a switch flipped and people are freaking out, shutting down, and getting super defensive. Maybe you were just trying to connect or learn more about someone and how they operate and they were totally triggered, perceiving your questions as judgment or criticism or feeling attacked and therefore becoming defensive. While we aren't responsible for how people react to us there are some ways things we can do to be less triggering in the way we speak.In this episode, I'll be equipping you with two simple yet game-changing phrases that will effortlessly lower someone's guard, making them more receptive to what you are saying and more willing to share their thoughts and feelings. Get ready to transform your conversations from tense standoffs to warmer and more inviting exchanges!So, whether you're chatting with your kids, your partner, or judgy and defensive Aunt Betty, these tried-and-true techniques will help you navigate the treacherous waters of communication with finesse. Once you implement these strategies, you'll be amazed at the connections you can forge and the depth of conversations you can have. So, let's dive in and unlock the secret to skillful communication together. The official Joyful Mamahood Community: www.facebook.com/groups/joyfulmamahoodGet your Joyful Mama Guide here: http://bit.ly/joyfulmamasecretsMy Website: http://kimmaclin.comWork with me:  http://bit.ly/kimmaclinFollow me on Instagram http://instagram.com/joyful_mamahoodFollow me on Facebook http://facebook.com/kimmaclincoachingllcConnect with me at Kim@kimmaclin.com

Does Gen Z even care about Facebook? The assumption of course is no, but is that accurate? And why does Nick recommend facebook ahead of Instagram? Finally, what are the 3 ways in which you should be utilizing facebook as a church in 2023? EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: http://www.hybridministry.xyz/037 YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick FREE EBOOK: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook SHOWNOTES How to Run a Successful Ad: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/009 TIMECODES 00:00-03:35 Introduction 03:35-09:00 Facebook.. Does Gen Z care about Facebook? 09:00-15:11 The History of Facebook and what it is today 15:11-18:36 Reason 1) Create a Facebook Page 18:36-20:59 Reason 2) Link your Facebook & Instagram Accounts 20:59-24:00 Reason 3) Create a Facebook Group 24:00-25:55 Outro TRANSCRIPT Nick Clason (00:02): Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode in addition of the hybrid ministry show. My name is Nick Clason. I, as always, I'm your host, excited to be with you. And in this episode, we are going to be diving into our third platform that you should be focused on as a church in building out the six step framework for social media or churches in 2023. Now, this one, um, is gonna be a little bit of a zig or a zag because my guess is if you, uh, know me, you know my story. I am a youth pastor and so I'm gonna be, I do this a lot from the realm of and um, position of being a youth pastor. And so this one you're gonna be like, wait a minute, what is he recommending before? What other one? Cuz you know, so far we've done YouTube and we've also done TikTok. Nick Clason (01:01): And so probably your assumption would be that we would be moving on to Instagram and if I were to rank platforms in the order of importance, it would go TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and then Facebook. But today we are going to talk about Facebook and there's a few reasons why and we're gonna get to that. So make sure you stick around to the very end of the episode cuz we're gonna talk about the three primary reasons why you should start with Facebook as opposed to Instagram, especially if you're starting from scratch. And those three reasons are also relevant and prevalent. If you are already on both of those platforms. There's just gonna be some things and, uh, some technical, uh, linking things that you're gonna need and want to do that are gonna help you optimize your performance on both of those platforms, Instagram and Facebook. Nick Clason (01:49): All right, um, real quick, let's talk about, uh, before we dive in, you know, too much. I want to remind you, you can head over to our YouTube channel. If you are listening on a podcast, hit the link in the show notes and give us a subscribe there that would help us out tremendously. If you're discovering us and watching us on YouTube, hit the link in the show notes over to hybrid ministry.xyz. That is the homepage and home base for our podcast. And every single episode, including this one, which will have a link to the show notes, has a fully flushed out transcript. So you can go and you can grab the fully flushed out transcript for this episode and any of our past episodes as well as that's where you can get the free download called, have I already Ruined my Church's TikTok account? Nick Clason (02:32): And that is your complete guide to handing your phone to someone and say, Hey, post me a TikTok. And if they have no idea what they're doing, that will walk them through step by step. All of that is available, um, in our show notes. That's also available on our website. So give us a subscribe, give us a rating or a review, we would love it. And follow us in all the places. I personally, uh, am on TikTok and I am on YouTube and I'm trying to grow on both of those places to just the word out to help more people like you, church content communicators, church social media managers, youth pastors, part-time college students who got handed a phone from your pastor and said, Hey, we should probably be on social media. Yes, I am here to help you. And that is my entire goal is to help show you one of the ways that you can approach this in your church, in your life and in your ministry. Nick Clason (03:24): So without any further ado, let's hop into this episode of Facebook, the platform that Gen Z doesn't care about or do this. All right, so Facebook, does Gen Z care about Facebook? So there was an article back in 2015, um, by Pew Research that found that 71% of teenagers from the age 13 to 17 say that they used Facebook. And at that time they easily beat out platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. That's an encouraging number. And so for a lot of youth pastors, a lot of people working with Next generation, a lot of people doing social media, um, it kept the impetus and the importance of making Facebook a priority, making it something that you continually should be investing in. All right? However, back in 2022, which is not that long ago, from the drop of this, uh, podcast or the drop of this videos only a year or so ago, it tells us a different story. Nick Clason (04:26): So that number in 2015 was at 71%, but it has now dropped to that same age demographic. 13 to 17 year olds is now dropped to 32%. Then you might be thinking then like, why in the world are we making this a priority? Obviously it's tapering off with younger people, it's really only relevant for older generations. And while our church may have a good crop of people in older generation who are still using and active on Facebook, the reality is like that is dropping more and more. And that is true, and I will a hundred percent affirm you. And if you do decide that you don't want to take on Facebook as a platform, I totally get that. Um, especially if you wanna trend younger and be more relevant. Because the reality is this is like even Gen Z, or I'm sorry, gen X, uh, millennials, boomers, they use some of the other platforms that we're talking about here. Nick Clason (05:16): They're active on YouTube, some of them probably do have a TikTok account. And so if you want to abandon Facebook altogether, you can. The thing is, reality is probably you as a church, you probably already have a Facebook account. It's already probably been established and it's probably been active for years. And so what do you do and how do in this, you know, ever shifting landscape, do you continue to even use and reinvest in Facebook? I do think that there's a spot for it. I do think that there are some pertinent things that are worth you understanding and noticing. Um, and I'm gonna talk about those and especially in the very final episode of this six step kind of framework, we're gonna, um, put all of these platforms back together, right? And we're gonna gonna say here with all these different platforms, all these different like things we talked about, what is a full fledged church social media framework and strategy, taking all these pieces and putting 'em together. Nick Clason (06:09): So you're gonna see where Facebook fits into that. Um, but the answer to this is why we think we should continue to, um, participate in Facebook. The answer is twofold. So part number one, like we said in the last episode about TikTok, if you only have time to invest in one, invest in TikTok, I say that primarily for younger ministries, youth pastors, but quite honestly, uh, I think I would still say that the purpose for that is, uh, true, uh, for even like a church, not just a youth ministry like church, trying to reach people for their, you know, their community, their town, whatever. Like nothing wrong with just investing in TikTok. Uh, and a lot of the things today that we're gonna talk about are gonna feel like a lot of groundwork. And so that might be boring and you might not yield as many returns on it. Nick Clason (06:52): And so you're probably gonna have to spend a day or a week slow out some of these things, figuring out some of the things. Um, however, if you do wanna build out a fully robust holistic social media strategy, like I said, we're gonna put that together in the final episode of this little mini-series that we're doing. Facebook needs to be a part of it, not necessarily for the reasons that you might think. However, I will caveat this and say in the ranking of importance for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Facebook is very last on my list for the specific platforms to invest in, right? Like I've, I've said, okay, however, your usage on Facebook on meta is gonna be for three primary reasons. And starting with Facebook's GI gives you an easier road, uh, to launch some other social media or, and this part's important or marketing endeavors that you may be interested in or your church or your pastor or your executive pastor might be interested in you carrying out, overseeing and executing. Nick Clason (07:48): All right? And so we're gonna look at this as more of a, um, foundation building as opposed to like a v going viral and, and drumming up a lot of interest and reaching a lot of people. Okay? So be that as it may, Facebook still plays a pretty crucial and important role. Before we go too much further, I do wanna share one last stat with you. 32% of users on Facebook are teenagers. That isn't a lot, but that also isn't nothing. And those teenagers are still users of Facebook. They may not be contributors, but they are as some social media people have dubbed lurkers, which means they are viewing what's going on on Facebook, and they will grow up and they will become, um, the age of the, uh, adults in your church. And in addition to that, a lot of families have parents who spend a lot of their time on Facebook. Nick Clason (08:38): And so if you're a demographic, if you're a church reaching families, you may not be reaching their teenagers, but you may be catering to and reaching their parents and there's um, uh, there is a benefit to doing that. All right, so let's dive into Facebook before the history of it and what it is now. Okay, Facebook before and now let's go back to the beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. Okay, maybe not that far back. Let's go a little further. Okay, let's go to 2004. In 2004, you probably heard of a guy by the name of Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg launched and started Facebook as a social media platform. He launched it in 2004 on Harvard University's campus. He was a sophomore, and his primary purpose there was to connect Harvard students to other Harvard students. And so back in the very original OG Facebook days, it was built primarily for college campuses so that you could see the faces of other college students, know their names, get to know them, but by the end of the year, the almost unimaginable had happened for Zuckerberg and over 1 million users, 1 million users were on Facebook, and the reach had then expanded beyond just his simple campus. Nick Clason (09:55): And the spread was like wildfire. And Facebook changed the game forever. Facebook is often thought to be one of the major contributors of ushering in the, uh, the, the, what am I looking for? The setting or the, the, the, gosh, why is this word so hard for me? I don't know what I'm trying to say, but ushering in the idea of Web 2.0. So Web 1.0 was just basic HTML website's, text on a screen, web 2.0 allowed the users to actually be contributing, formatting, crafting what was being said. We are now, by the way, in a world of Web 3.0 where users can create their own reality. Right now it's primarily through things like vr, but the algorithms which are less social graph and now more discovery based are helping you sort of find and create your own reality, which by the way, I think is a little bit dangerous, especially if you are a pastor and you are anchored in the truth of God's word. Nick Clason (10:53): However, as opposed to bucking that and saying that you need to just ca cast your phone into like a fire, um, and not look at TikTok, I think you need to help people steward that, that they've been given because now honestly, the reality is social media is not very social like it was back in the day. Uh, we've seen that Gen Z has watched millennials and Gen Xers use and, and lean into their community being all digital, and it has honestly yielded not very good results. So I honestly see a good pendulum shift in some of our Gen Z students and people that I interact with because they lean into more real authentic community. So why are they spending so much time on platforms like TikTok and YouTube? They're, they're, they're honestly there for entertainment more than they are for like social connection. And that's the thing, Facebook was built as a platform of social connection. Nick Clason (11:43): And so now it is a legacy platform and it's been around forever and it is still a major player and a major contributor in the game. However, they are having to, having to adjust to TikTok and YouTube have been ushering in, in these last several years that they've seen the younger generations adapt. And because Facebook knows that great Aunt Betty is going to eventually no longer be a user at some point because she's not going to be living on this planet of earth, they need to start catering to the younger generations if they want anyone to even adopt their platform. The reality is a lot of people are not huge fans of Facebook altogether, but whether they know it or not, they're using platforms under the Facebook umbrella. So all that being said, Facebook still remains the number one social media platform to this day based on, uh, based on number of users according to an article, which we will link in the show notes of backlinko backlink.io, I always get that one messed up. Nick Clason (12:38): Backlink io Facebook presently has 1.9 billion daily users, which is 6.89% increased year over year. In addition to the massive usage that is found and seen by Facebook users and contributors. Uh, Facebook has been acquiring more and more products, uh, over their lifetime and life cycle. Here are some of the products that they've acquired. You may be have heard of them, Instagram, WhatsApp, gfi, Oculus, and many more. In fact, if my counting and calculations are correct, Facebook has a total acquisition of over 88 different products, um, or companies or tech like focused things, okay? And the total cost of those acquisitions is estimated to be north of 23 billion with a B dollars. So I will link that, that article as well because honestly, uh, I didn't read all of them to you because you get really bored. There's really only like four or five that you probably actually recognize by name, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus gif, you the rest are like, what? Nick Clason (13:46): And they just absorbed these companies into them and, and stole their intellectual property, not stole, bought their intellectual property to use for their, their behalf and their betterment. Okay? And so as I was first, uh, sitting down to record this podcast and thinking about all this Facebook stuff, um, the reality is this, fast forward to October, 2021, Facebook announces this is the big shift here from Facebook back then to Facebook. Now, Facebook announces a change in their name from Facebook as the parent company to the name Meta. You probably know that if not, you've probably seen it and been unaware that that is, that is where that comes from. All right? And so the name reflects as the company says, um, the name reflects the company's growing ambitions to be relevant beyond just social media. They want to build technology that will help connect people. That's what they say their ultimate goal is. Nick Clason (14:38): Uh, I'll link that article in the show notes, but with the announcement of the name change from Facebook into Meta, this giant conglomerate of products that Meta has acquired over the years, it leads us specifically now to how you in your church can and probably should be using Facebook in your context here in 2023 as a part of the six step Church social medium framework. So without any further ado, let's hop in to reason number one, why you should be using Facebook. Reason number one, and the way in which you should be using Facebook in your church and in your ministry is to create a Facebook page. Now, Facebook page is the corporate side of Facebook. It is where businesses and corporations go to have their hours. It's where they link their website. It's, it's where they, at some point in time, we'll run ads and your church more than likely has a corporate company Facebook page. Nick Clason (15:37): I would recommend that you start with a Facebook page, not necessarily, because I think it's a great strategy for reaching people organically anymore in 2023. However, it is going to help sort of be the anchor for everything that you do on Facebook. And if you start there, especially if you don't have anything already launched right now, but if you start there, then sort of from there, the rest of everything else can kind of spread, which is one of the reasons why I have jumped Facebook over Instagram, for example, because Facebook is the owner of Instagram. And so if you start with that Facebook page, then you can sort of build things out from there. One of the things that you need to know about Facebook is it's not just a simple username and password sort of login. So if you're inheriting a Facebook page, what you need to do is you need to discover who the admin is on the Facebook page. Nick Clason (16:24): The person who has a personal specific profile, their first name and last name, they are an admin to an account. And that is who runs or who is kind of doing the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, um, managing of Facebook pages. That's how Facebook works. So for example, I just moved to a church about six months ago. They had a a Facebook page, and everyone that I asked, I kept asking to try and get login information for it. They're like, oh yeah, the username password should be on this password document sheet that we have. And, and I just was like, no, that's, that's not how it works. Like, it's not just like I log into Facebook, I have to log in as myself, Nick Clason on my Facebook page, and then I have to be made an administrator or an admin or an editor or a moderator or whatever the case might be, whatever the role is that is decided that has to happen to me, my account, not a login into a specific place. Nick Clason (17:20): Okay? So when you start on this place, everything else can sort of be driven from that. The other reason that you would wanna start with a Facebook page is that some point you may want to run ads on your Facebook page. Um, and you may, you can do that either on Facebook, you also can do that through Facebook to your Instagram count if you find Instagram more beneficial to your audience. But you do that through the business suite, the meta suite. And so, um, learning to run an ad is probably one of the most maddening processes, especially if you have no idea what you're doing, what some of the language means or whatever if you're a complete nbe. And so one time I interviewed my friend, former co-host of this podcast, Matt Johnson. He is a marketing freaking guru, uh, and he has done some incredible things, marketing, especially in the ministry space, if you are or have ever heard of or are familiar with the company, dare to share. Nick Clason (18:16): He was behind a lot of what they did and a lot of what got them out, uh, visible to a lot of people out in the world. And so, um, he walks us through in a former episode, not link that in the show notes of how to step, how to set up an ad, step by step, uh, running a Facebook ad. So that's there for you. Hopefully that's helpful to you. All right? Step number two is beyond the Facebook page. You should also link your Facebook and Instagram accounts. This is probably one of the most obvious or low hanging fruit reasons why you should start with Facebook, because once you link them, then it's really no extra work, especially if you start on the Instagram side, which we'll get to that in the next episode. But if you start on the Instagram side posting something, all you do is simply toggle on a switch that says also post to Facebook, and boom, you're posting the same content in two places. Nick Clason (19:08): That used to be a no-no. That used to be something that you shied away from. But now it's actually something that I and many other church social media marketing managers encourage, especially with the current thing that every social media is focusing on short form video content. It doesn't matter if it's also posted on Instagram, on Facebook, I did a thing the other day, we do this stupid game on our, uh, Instagram, on our TikTok, on our YouTube shorts called, um, , it's called ABC Cheese. So we have a little craft singles and we try to bite like just two of us and try to bite out a letter. And the other person was trying to guess what it's, and so I just was like curious and I was like, how many views did this video in total get? And so I, I looked on YouTube, I looked on TikTok, I looked on Instagram reels, and I looked on Facebook reels, and in total we had somewhere between seven and 800 views on just that one stupid video alone by posting it to all those different platforms. Nick Clason (20:05): You know, like one had 600, one had a hundred, one had 300, one had 200, you know what I mean? That kind of all adds up. And you start to think about it, you're like, dang, that's like seven, eight, 9,000 hun. You know, thou not a thousand hundred, 900, a thousand people reach. Like it's a lot, man. Like that's, that's, that's something that churches, youth ministries would've been begging for in years past and before with Facebook pages, primarily as the marketing tool and engine, you had to pay to do it. And you, I mean, you still do if you wanna market stuff, but you can kind of like punch your lottery ticket with any of these reels or short form video and just blow up, or not even blow up, but just get a hundred views across four platforms that adds up to north of 500, north of 700, north of 900 views on any single video. Nick Clason (20:56): I think most people would say that that's worth it. All right? The third and final way and, and um, path that I think you should take on Facebook is create a Facebook group. According to a 2021 study, there were approximately 233 million Facebook users in the US alone. 18.2 of those users belong to the 18 to 24 age group, while 18% of those users are 35 to 34 years old. So in total, you're looking at, almost 40% of your users are between the age of 18 and 44. So while your teenagers, your youth ministry might not be spending a lot of time on Facebook, other platforms, um, other people, older demographics definitely are. And I think that you, one of your largest wins as a church is to create a group because that is where you can make community on social media feel intimate and in, in fact, it's probably one of the only platforms that offers a close sort of intimate community style feel. Nick Clason (21:56): And so I do think of all of the features that Facebook does have to offer. You can have a group. And so again, if you start with a page, then out of that you can create a group that's connected to that page and you can post as the page admin or you can switch your profile and you can be interacting as yourself in the group, and you can make that that switch. And they've started to make that a lot easier. If you go onto the page on your phone or on your browser, it'll give you a little notification in one of the corners somewhere that says you're interacting as the, the brand, you're interacting as the page or you're interacting as yourself. And then it just gives you a button there. Do you wanna switch? And you click switch and it switches over between yours or your page. Nick Clason (22:37): And so you can make some of those things. You also have the opportunity to go to the business suite and schedule some stuff. You can also link and schedule that over to your Instagram. And they now offer scheduling for reels. They offer scheduling for stories, which were not things that they offered previously. All the schedule tools really only posted like static images to pages, um, and your Instagram grid feed. But now they're starting to offer more. Uh, they do, in my personal experience, I've really only been experimenting with schedulers for a little bit here now, but they do seem to choke down your organic reach all of those platforms like it, when you post live time, there really is no way around that. No matter how much you try, no matter how, how much these like schedulers promised you, you're gonna just have better performance on all of your stuff if you are posting it. Nick Clason (23:26): Um, and that, but that's a value proposition that you have to weigh through, especially if you have a million other responsibilities. Is it worth it to peace of mind, have it scheduled and you don't have to worry about it? Or is it something that you should, you know, wade into and navigate choice is yours? It's kind up to you. Um, so one of the best things that can do though as a church is to run a Facebook group. And over time you don't even have to be supplying that with a lot of content. The content hopefully will be generated by the users that are already a part of your Facebook group community. Well, everyone, once again, thank you so much for hanging out for this entire episode. I hope that you found this episode helpful. Like I said, the Facebook, uh, episode's a lot more focused on nitty gritty groundwork, building up some stuff so that you can build up a more robust and full social media strategy. Nick Clason (24:18): We are going to be diving into that in the future episodes. But coming up next, we are finally moving on to Instagram. We're gonna talk about some strategies and some reasons behind how you can be using Instagram effectively as a church in your 2023 social media framework. In addition to that, before we, we get to the very final piece where we put it all together, we are gonna talk email and texting and website. And so those three things are also critically important, I think to sort of serve as a backdrop and or as a lead generator for some of these other social media platforms to your already existing church audience that you have access to through a database and Excel spreadsheet or whatever the case might be in your particular context. Again, excited to be with you and excited to be right here now on the downhill slide of our six part church miniseries on church social media in 2023. Nick Clason (25:13): If you found this episode helpful, do me a favor and please send it to a friend, share it, rate it, review it, all those things are incredibly helpful to me, and they're a free for you to just give back in a very small way to our podcast and the work that we've been doing here at Hybrid Ministry. You can also check out free transcripts that we provide for you for every single episode, and that's over http://www.hybridministry.xyz. Hit the show notes for all the articles that we mentioned for all the other, uh, episodes that we reference for all the other social media places that you can follow me. And until next time, and as always, stay hybrid.

In this episode, Nick unpacks step 1 out of 6, of the church social media framework. He explains why we should start with YouTube, what the best practices are for youtube, including things like compelling hooks, titling, meta descriptions and thumbnails. And how to get started in the event you don't even have a YouTube channel started yet, how to go about doing that. All that and more! All you need and more at: http://www.hybridministry.xyz Follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Keep up with what's happening on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/user/@clasonnick SHOWNOTES MY STUDENT MINISTRY YOUTUBE CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/@crosscreekstudents CHURCH YOUTUBE STARTER KIT: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/033 TRENDS SITE: http://www.trends.google.com TIMECODES 00:00-02:30 Intro 02:30-08:05 Why you should begin with YouTube when building out your Social Strategy 08:05-11:35 Optimal YouTube video lengths and watch time analytics 11:35-14:33 Make your intros compelling 14:33-17:42 The importance of titling and metadescriptions 17:42-18:07 Thumbnails on YouTube 18:07-18:44 How to find keywords based on trending topics 18:44-19:10 Comments and shares on YouTube 19:10-20:38 YouTube Conclusion 20:38-22:15 Outro TRANSCRIPT Nick Clason (00:01): Well, hello there and welcome everybody to the Hybrid Minister Show. As always, I am your host, Nick Clason. So excited to be with you. And if you did not hear the trailer that we dropped earlier this week, we are going to be diving into a full fledged social media strategy. And this is part one of the six part series of putting an entire social media framework and strategy, um, in place for the, for your church, for your ministry, um, and for the people that you are attempting to reach. This is aimed at churches and pastors of what can probably be used and adapted for other places in marketplace and whatnot. And so on. Today's very first episode, we are going to be launching and starting with the platform of YouTube. Yes, we most recently dropped a, uh, episode called Don't Sleep on YouTube, A link to that in the show notes. Nick Clason (00:57): But we are going to be specifically looking at the strategy, um, the social media strategy. And we are starting with YouTube. And you'll see why here in just a minute. But before we dive in, do not forget a rating or review would be amazing. You can head over to our YouTube channel and see this live with some lower thirds and some graphics woven in to maybe help, uh, support some of the arguments that we're making. So if you find that, uh, helpful or interesting, make sure that you head there. Also, as always, you can head to hybrid ministry.xyz, both for our ebook. Have I already ruined my Church TikTok account, which is a complete guide to post any TikTok from start to finish. If you have no idea what you're doing, here're just getting started, this ebook is for you. And if you are a TikTok veteran, probably still for you cuz honestly, I learned some things as I made it. Nick Clason (01:49): Um, and then the other thing is that as always, we provide free a hundred percent free transcript, um, show notes to every single episode. So you can head to hybrid ministry.xyz.xyz. Yes, it is a suffix to a website despite what people might think. Just I like, I actually think it's a creative one, an interesting one. It's very, very like unknown. Um, so if like a.com is taken, I often opt for a.xyz cause I just think it's, it's cool. So anyway, uh, head to those places and, uh, without any further ado, let's dive in. Little break. Let me get some coffee. Let's dive into why we should start with YouTube. Here we go. All right, so why should we start with YouTube? I believe if done optimally, your church social media strategy to borrow from marketing, if you will, um, I'm gonna attempt to create this with my hands. Nick Clason (02:46): So if you're watching on YouTube stream, it's gonna make sense to you, but it's like a funnel, right? And so, especially now in the days of the algorithms where it's discovery, discovery focused as opposed to just following your friends like it used to be, um, you are going to want to, uh, catch people at the top of your funnel. And the top of the funnel is very wide now because of YouTube shorts, because of Instagram reels, Facebook reels, and because of TikTok, you can reach and catch people that you would've never otherwise interacted with. Maybe they're people that are local to you geographically, maybe not. But the reality is, is that you're going to be finding people in the top of that funnel that you never would've had that relationship with before. That's amazing. So that's what churches have been looking for and asking for social media for years. Nick Clason (03:36): How can we expand our reach? How can we share the gospel of Jesus? How can we find different people that we might want to minister to or share the, the truth or love of Jesus with them? However, what are you going to do with them once you get them? And I think, uh, for me, a lot of the, a lot of the question I was even asking, um, Matt, who was former co-host of this podcast, I was even asking him early on, like, okay, great, that's awesome. So we go viral on TikTok, then what? And, and he didn't even know. So that's how new all of this is. It, it all lives within the life of this podcast, which is under a year old, um, by the time of this posting. And so, so once that funnel, once we start catching people who are finding awareness, we need to drive them to something, what are we driving them to? Nick Clason (04:24): I think, and I would propose that the best thing to drive someone to, especially if they're just finding you on social media, is to drive them to listening to longer form, uh, pieces of content. There was, uh, we talked about it in the, the YouTube, uh, trends, the YouTube trends, uh, not trends report. The YouTube Trends podcast I dropped a couple of weeks ago. Um, and I'm trying to look it up right here. Lifetime. So that's why I'm fumbling around. Um, let's see if, uh, I can find it, but I'm probably not gonna be able to find it. But there's a stat that says, um, some percentage that's, that's the sta I'm looking for. I don't know the number, but some percentage of people look up, uh, or use like short form videos in order to find longer form video content or longer form content of some sort. Nick Clason (05:20): So, so, uh, especially the generation, um, that's coming. Gen z, gen Alpha, they might spend time on TikTok, they might spend time on YouTube shorts, see a short snippet of something, and then that might prompt them to go watch something longer. Now here's the thing. Um, no offense, sermons are not, not that new and not that interesting. And so therefore, that may not be the most captivating thing that someone's gonna want to be driven towards. But if they find their way to something creative, something different, or just your pastor's interesting, or the topic that your pastor preached on is interesting, then yeah, I think you are gonna get people to drive towards it. So that's why I say start with YouTube. Now, I I, when I wrote this, I had a very different view of YouTube. We hadn't even started when I, when I wrote this, I wrote this, uh, for a, uh, youth ministry company. Nick Clason (06:15): And so when I wrote it, I, I had not even started practically using YouTube in my ministry yet. And, um, what's crazy is even if you listen back to last, last week's episode on Don't Sleep On YouTube, I said, we now have over 70 subscribers to our YouTube. Since the time of that posting, which, or recording from then to now, which is only a week gap in time, we have grown our YouTube to up to 106 subscribers. So we've had 36 or so subscribers join us on YouTube, which is just bonkers crazy. So why start with YouTube? Obviously, YouTube, uh, is owned by Google, so it has a search engine component to it. Um, in addition to that, it's got long form video content and now short form video content. So you can use the short form to get discovered and gain subscribers to then support and supplement and push to your long form video content. Nick Clason (07:15): I'm gonna recommend that all the other platforms also PO point to YouTube just as a place where your videos and your containers live. And so, um, that is, that is what I think is optimal, opening the top of the funnel, driving them another step deeper. Obviously, the lowest part of the funnel is them making a decision to follow Jesus, maybe becoming a, a full, fully devoted follower of Jesus, um, integrated into the life of your church and attending regularly in person. But going from watching a 62nd clip to a several minute video, that's a big jump. That's a big step. Let's, let's chat through the elements and purposes and, um, reasons why we should start with YouTube and what we know about it today in 2023. Let's go. All right, so let's talk about watch times. We've talked about this a fair bit on this podcast and other, uh, episodes and whatnot. Nick Clason (08:12): But according to backlinko.com, they surveyed 1.3 million YouTube videos, um, to try and better understand the YouTube search feature. And they determined this, uh, fact from their survey. Longer videos significantly outperform shorter videos. Now we're talking long form, wide screen, like typical YouTube videos, not YouTube shorts. It's a completely different section and platform, but longer videos significantly outperform shorter videos. The average length of a first page YouTube video that is indexed on the first page is 14 minutes and 50 seconds. So you're looking in that sweet spot of, I would say anywhere from 12 minutes to 18 minutes is a good length that you want to be shooting for, for your YouTube videos. Now, the question that you might have is like, well, what if I live stream my sermon and my pastor preaches for 35 minutes? Well, that's great, and you can continue to use that and you should continue to put that up on YouTube if you have the live streaming capabilities and whatnot. Nick Clason (09:18): However, in some context, if you're starting from scratch, one of the things that I have been pushing and recommending, and one of the things that we have been doing over at our church Cross Creek students, which by the way, if you want, I'll drop a link to our YouTube channel on the show notes. You can see what I'm talking about when I recommend pre-filing your content. So you don't need a lot, I mean, we use a cell phone, which is the same cell phone I'm using to shoot this YouTube video here. So you can check that out, um, on our YouTube channel. Um, we use that to shoot, I grab the couple of like external microphones just so that the audio quality is above average and that is it, you know, some basic lighting stuff, but nothing crazy. Uh, and that gives us a, a multiple different, like, things to do. Nick Clason (10:06): Like when we preach live, we're probably preaching that 30 plus minute thing or, or at least bumping up right against it, which is not optimal for the YouTube, um, search length. The other thing is that it does give us extra time with our content. If, if we deliver it once to a phone and then once live in the room, like by the time we're live in the room, like we're pretty well versed with what our content is going to be, it's not gonna be a shock to us. We're not gonna get up there and be like, what is this again? Um, especially if you're using curriculum pre can pre-canned curriculum, you can, um, you can fall under the, the habit of not really reviewing it very well and you get up there and you're, you're much more stuck to your notes than you maybe wanna be, or you wrote it a long time ago and you're dusting it off for a new environment. Nick Clason (10:52): Maybe that's exactly what I'm doing all the time. Uh, you know, so, so once YouTube kind of came up with that conclusion, um, that's how, that's how YouTube, uh, chooses what videos get promoted. All right? So the way that they do it is a combination of both overall watch time paired with average percent viewed. So, uh, if it's a 10 minute video and they watch seven minutes, that's 70% of the video viewed. So it turns out that the videos in that 14 to 16 minute range really index well, uh, a couple other factors to help make your videos compelling. Let's check it out. All right, so make the intro of your video compelling. Let's play out a couple scenarios. Scenario number one. Hey everyone, welcome back to church. Excited to be here. Hey, real quick before we dive in, tonight's message, I do wanna remind you about the Churchwide Bake Sale. Nick Clason (11:52): It's coming up this Sunday. If you are interested in earning money toward the mission strip, don't forget you have to be in attendance. If for some reason you can't make it, please make sure to talk to, uh, dear Aunt Betty in the back, she's waving her hand, she's got her plaid apron on, let her know that you won't be at the bake sale. So, to dive into tonight's message, we're gonna be in John chapter one, or scenario number two. What would you do if you won a million dollars? Like, think about it, right? Like if I told you that the message that Jesus is giving supersedes the benefit of winning a million dollars, would you be interested in hearing what that message is? All that and more in this video, make sure that you stick around to the very end, cuz we're gonna give away the $1 million checklist. Nick Clason (12:46): Like see how those are two completely different things when you pre-lim, that's how you can start your video. When you get up live in a room, you, you might get stuck into giving the announcement about Aunt Betty's bake sale. And, and that's not a bad thing. Like that's, that's not, uh, making you a bad communicator or anything. That's part of what it is to be a pastor, to keep people informed and whatever and whatnot. So make the intros of your video compelling. Now what if you are live streaming already and you, you do get the amp Betty Bake sales stuff? I think that you can drop a minute, 32nd to a minute, uh, separate video in front to do that hook stuff. Um, someone who's already maybe previewed or seen the message or someone who knows what's gonna come and you drop that in before you, uh, drop drop in the rest of the, the sermon video. Nick Clason (13:40): Um, now you might be asking like, well, what about worship? I do think that there's pro, there's value in li actual like live, live streaming, like on Sunday morning. But once that's over as far as like posting and indexing to YouTube, I would recommend posting the sermons separately in a separate playlist or a separate video. And when you do that, that's when you can drop that intro video in refrain from the habit of what churches are going to be notorious for, which is like pre-filing one, um, and using it every single week to save on time. I, I would recommend making it custom to what is actually being preached, what is actually being taught so that the hook, the intro is actually relevant to what the actual content of the message is. Not just a generic, Hey, welcome, glad you on our YouTube channel, blah, blah, blah. Nick Clason (14:29): No one cares about that, that's not interesting. They're swiping away to the next one. What are some other YouTube best practices? Uh, titling, titling really matters. So for the longest time I was working at church where we, um, were in different, like we would call them seasons, uh, to, to do the video thing, which was at least good, but we would just title it like, um, our show was called Unscripted. So we were titling it unscripted season two, episode four, um, you know, rubber ducky Night or whatever it was. And that titling sucked . It didn't help, it wasn't searchable, right? YouTube is built by Google. So YouTube is a search engine type of content. So a title like, is Hella Real Place dealing with crippling anxiety or is rest even possible in 2023? You see, all of those are much more captivating titles. And so just, uh, a lot of times you gotta think about this, a lot of times churches create a sermon series, um, with a name that's like got some mystery sort of woven into it. Nick Clason (15:38): Think about the way that pastors communicate, pastors communicate, where they try to hook you in. They try to hook a live studio audience alive, you know, seated, uh, uh, in auditorium type audience in, but they hold their, they hold their main point. They hold the ultimate thing that they're gonna try and the ultimate truth that they're trying to share till the very end. It's like sort of this like grand reveal. That's, that's a strategy for public speaking. However, think about the videos that you watch online. They tell you instantly right at the top what the video is gonna be. They, they leave some mystery still, yes, some intrigue, but they, they don't mess around. They don't start out slow with some story about their dog from the night before, whatever, whatever it is that, that pastors are notorious for doing. And I can say this cuz I'm a pastor, I was trained that way. Nick Clason (16:33): I lean that way. Uh, that's my natural inclination to teach that way. So I'm trying to get better at putting things on the front end as well as titling it. And so, but you'll even see churches like Elevation do this. Um, they'll clip Pastor Steven's message cuz he'll preach for a long time. They'll clip it down to that good window. Um, and then they'll retitle it, even if it's different from the sermon series. Because what you gotta understand is your sermon series may be a good title for an in-person congregation audience, but that may not, that may not index well on YouTube, which is a search platform. So retitling is a helpful, helpful thing. The meta-description matters. So just like the title, the meta description is pulling out keywords and words that you have in there. It plays a huge role in your, your rankings. Nick Clason (17:20): And if you link to things like your church's website or your social media or maybe even some products or things that you talk about in your video, that also helps. Tags are important. Um, they recommend tags that, that are included in your video that can relate back to the topic of your video. So all three of those factors, tags, titles and meta descriptions help your YouTube search content thumbnails. Uh, if you're on YouTube, I'm gonna put the, this screenshot right here. Look at Mr. Beast's, um, thumbnails. Okay? Um, so he actually spent some time crafting these, creating these. Obviously he has a team, but you can put more effort into your thumbnails that is also gonna help the clickability and the search rate. Uh, those, those things matter. Another thing is trends. And you can use a free tool like trends.google.com, uh, to look up some more searchable type words. Nick Clason (18:15): And so, uh, you can take some words and start, uh, playing with them and see how they rank with, with searchability and whatever and whatnot. And that's gonna help you title it. That might also help you, um, as you're titling it, then putting those words on your thumbnail. And so, um, I'll, I'll show a screenshot of what it looks like, um, and, and how that, how that works. But, um, it's just a pretty basic, like, it's just a basic tool where you can compare the searchability of two different types and styles of words. Uh, last thing is, uh, comments and shares. They have a positive corollary effect on your video. So the more that you can, um, encourage and ask for comments and maybe even drum some up is gonna be helpful. So those things help with your videos. Uh, also embedding your videos if you embed your YouTube video onto like, say your church website or something. Nick Clason (19:04): Videos that are embedded YouTube indexes and rates really well. So those things also help a lot. So what's our conclusion? Only conclusion. Uh, according to state of Mobile, 2020 two.com, users spend 23.7 hours a month using the YouTube app. So people in your church are spending time on YouTube. They may not be spending time on YouTube for the purposes of your church and maybe spending time on YouTube to change out faucets and sinks in their house. But nonetheless, you putting your message on YouTube puts you in a, uh, position to be discovered and, um, people to come across your content because we have been tasked with the mission of spreading and sharing God's word and his message to the ends of the earth. And so this me, this method helps really bring your, um, church's message into a hybrid space. Now, beyond just your Sunday sermons, don't forget there are other options of content. Nick Clason (20:05): There are, um, some, you know, like there are some other ideas, there are some other classes, there are some other types of, uh, uh, content that you can produce and create. But I would start at a bare minimum. If you just can start, I would definitely start getting your, your regular messages, the things that you're already spending time doing, as opposed to creating another thing or another piece of content. But the things you're already doing in the regular flow and rhythm of your week. Get that stuff created, get that stuff, um, out there for the world to see. Well, hey guys, once again, thank you so much for sticking around to the end of this video. I hope you found this helpful. Hey, listen, if you did, it would mean the world to me if you would give us a rating or a review or even better share it with a friend and make sure that if you have not yet go pick up our free ebook. Nick Clason (20:56): Have I already ruined my church's TikTok account? A complete guide to posting a TikTok from Scratch. Make sure you grab that. That would be an amazing gift to us. We would love it if you, um, used that and found that helpful in your context, whatever the, your context might be. And finally, make sure you head over to YouTube, subscribe to our YouTube channel There link is gonna be in the show notes because it is under my personal name. It's not under the ministry that is, um, we're just trying some stuff out. We may convert it, we may not. I dunno. We'll see. Uh, I'm not, I'm, I'm not that deep into it yet. Uh, finally, don't forget every single episode we have Transcript Hybrid Ministries, XY Z for that. Excited to be with you on this journey. In our next episode, we are going to be diving in to, uh, I believe gonna be diving into TikTok and talking about that. Uh, and that's where the inspiration from my ebook came from. So excited to have you in for that. Uh, excited to explain to you and talk to you about the ups and downs and the, the wide swirling things of the crazy app and platform known as TikTok. But hey, until next time, my friends will talk to you. Stay hybrid.

Now that you're a niching expert – you're ready to put your head knowledge into real practice - this is where the “rubber meets the road” so to speak. As a financial coach, it's important to niche - and not run away from the idea. It's common to avoid creating a real niche for yourself because you're afraid of someone “missing out” or “not getting help.” Over the years, I've worked hard to niche down, realized it was either too far or not far enough, pivoted, and adjusted - and that's normal. Here's a secret – just because you niche, it does not mean that you can't help people outside of your niche – it just means you won't be marketing directly to them. Niching is a way to make sure that your marketing and your programming are clear, easily understood, and consistent. But if your Aunt Betty recommends you to her bestie (who is NOT in your niche), that's okay. 

GATEWAY TO JOY Pgms...GTJ-15_The Path of Loneliness-1 THE SUDDEN TIDE and GTJ-16_The Path of Loneliness-2 WHAT TO DO WITH LONELINESS. GUESTS: Eileen M. Chambers- Elisabeth addressed tough issues. Steve McCully (Son of Ed McCully who died along with Jim Elliot and three other missionaries in Operation Auca) talks about the impact of Elisabeth's books, about suffering and a special encounter with someone named after Elisabeth, the woman he knew as Aunt Betty. Visit www.ElisabethElliot.org for more lectures and talks, devotionals, videos, Gateway to Joy programs, and other resources.

Happy New Year to our listeners! We have finished projects including a huge completion for Marsha. We've started some projects, plus some discussion about a new e-spinner. Full notes with photos and links and a transcript can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com Join the community on Ravelry or become a patron and support the show on our Patreon Page. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Episode 200 Q and A: To celebrate 200 episodes and over eight years of podcasting, we'll answer your questions. Ask us about yarn, our lives, the meaning of life, Fibonacci, poodle grooming, or whatever… We'll do our best! Send your questions to twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com or use the Ravelry thread, or DM 1hundredprojects or betterinmotion on instagram.  Marsha's Projects:  Ben's Sweater: Whoohoo!! His sweater is finished! January Blanket: Handspun Manx Loaghton, 3-ply aran weight, 1,460 yards. Decided to add one additional 15 stitch repeat so I cast on 192 stitches. I went up a need size to #9 and have knit about 28 inches. Noromania: Bought 18 skeins of Noro Kureyon (Aran weight) to make a blanket for Mark. EEW 6.0 Electric spinning wheel from Dreaming Robots. Kelly's Projects: I finished what I set out in the last episode: the angel from the knitted nativity scene kit, a bumper for Minnie's wool cat bed, and a warp for Monk's Belt dishtowels. I started the Coloresque Wrap Erin Kurup using the Neighborhood Fiber Company rustic fingering gradient set Shades of Turquoise. This was a door prize from the NoCKRs retreat several years ago. I started this project as Stitches West knitting, but couldn't follow the pattern in that setting and gave it up. Then I lost the yarn for at least a year! It is really more of a wide scarf than a wrap, but it might block out bigger than it looks.  I've returned to working on the spirit yarn mohair vest. I will have A LOT of yarn left over. I think I could have made a Garter Squish blanket. Monk's Belt Weaving project: I am making dish towels rather than the placemats in the JST episode. I started with what I thought were neutral gray and brown and once they were put together they look a lot like lilac and orange. We talk a little about the way colors work in weaving and how the brain and preconceived ideas also affect the way we interpret colors.  Patreon Pattern Giveaway  A hearty, year-end thank you to our patrons! Your support has made our show better and our prizes more numerous. Message Kelly with the pattern of your choice ($10 or less). Thank you for your generosity. You've helped to build this community! Winter Weave Along October 1 - March 31 Transcript Full transcript available at twoewesfiberadventures.com Marsha  0:03   Hi, this is Marsha and this is Kelly. We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly  0:10   You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha  0:17   We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly  0:22   And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundred projects and I am better in motion. We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Enjoy the Episode! Marsha  0:42   Hi, Kelly, Happy New Year. Kelly  0:44   Happy New Year to you too, Marsha. Marsha  0:46   Yeah, this is the first time we talked I think since before the holiday. Kelly  0:50   Yeah. How's how's your 2023 been? Marsha  0:53   It's been very nice so far. Because I left New Year's Day for the beach. We went to-- Kim and I went down to the Oregon coast to Cannon Beach. And with the dogs, because the dogs needed a vacation from the stress of the holidays. Kelly  1:10   Only the dogs needed a vacation from the stress of the holidays?  [laughing] Marsha  1:14   Yeah [laughing] So it's nice. We had four nights down there. It was really fun. I don't know if you saw any of the pictures I posted but they had very high tides. So we couldn't really go to the beach in the morning like we normally do. We had to wait till the afternoon till the tide went out. So that was a little bit different. But it was fine. Kelly  1:34   I did see the one picture you posted where there literally was no beach. Marsha  1:38   Yeah, it was hitting the the rock wall they have along in front of the hotel where we were staying. And I actually thought, those really expensive, desirable homes that are right on the beach with a fantastic views? I don't know that I want to stay in one of those.  Kelly  1:54   Yeah Marsha  1:55   I liked being--we had a view. But we were not right on the beach. We were back. We kind of overlooked--It doesn't sound good, But it was it's actually fine--You sort of overlook a parking lot for the park. And so you're back at solid 50 yards probably from the beach, which made me--and we were up on the third floor which made me feel better. I don't think I'd want to be on one of those houses right on the beach. With the bedrooms on the ground floor. Yeah, not during this storm. And, and you're having storms down there too, right? in California? Kelly  2:26   Yeah, we weren't hit as bad as some of the surrounding areas. We but we've had--every time it rains we've had more than an inch, which is really unusual for us to, you know, to get that much rain at a time. We did have one day, it wasn't this most recent storm it was maybe a week and a half ago where the street flooded in front of our house, you know because of the slough, what used to be the slough, running through our yard and through the yards of, you know, all of the the neighbors. It comes right across the street, you know, what used to be the slough. You can see from above you know, it's comes right across our street. And so the street kind of dips down because of the the old slough having been there.  Marsha  3:18   Right  Kelly  3:19   And so that part of the-- that part where the street dips down floods and the, you know, especially if the if the city pumps for the stormwater aren't working properly, then it really floods. Anyway, it got high enough that it went above the curb and was flowing into the old slough in our yard. And so I always like it-- Robert hates when that happens but I always like it because I feel like I'm capturing stormwater for my own yard. Like yay! Extra water! But this year he was worried about it because he said, you know, he didn't want it to he didn't want that water to undermine his his fence posts that he had put in and that didn't happen. It, you know, was nothing huge. But there was some water runoff from the street into our into our little ravine and that hasn't  happened in a in quite a few years. So so yeah, we you know we we didn't suffer much at all. We didn't suffer at all from the from the storm. But like the beach in in the Capitola area, one of the old beaches that I used to, you know, the beach that I used to go to when I was a kid, their whole parking lot is gone. Just destroyed from the from the tides. Robert was showing me pictures this morning. And he's been really watching the weather and you know he's got the Weather Channel and all the places that he used to look when he was working at the agency and needed to keep tabs on what the weather was going to be for their generator system case power-- case of power outages and the storm water. So they could predict and, you know, because the stormwater goes to the treatment plant. Yeah, he was really-- well, he has been sort of obsessing over the   radar and all that. Marsha  5:12   Well and when I was at the beach he texted me that about the light fixtures on the front of the house that I helped him put them up that one time I was down there. And he was-- he put some extra wire on them I think, to secure them because he was really worried about the winds. Yeah, the reason why you got those new ones is the wind had knocked the old ones, had damaged the old ones. So he was really worried about that. They're fine though? So far? Kelly  5:36   Yeah, yeah, they are fine. The only-- his rain gauge, which is a five gallon bucket, the one day that the wind was so so hard I looked out the kitchen window, and this white plastic bucket goes flying across the yard. Oh Okay! So now he's got, he turned our, we have a like a, you know, that teak side table. He turned that upside down, set the bucket inside of the four legs, and then propped bricks around the edge to both hold the table down and hold the bucket firmly inside the table. He's got that sitting outside to measure so he can kind of keep track of the rain. The amount of rain. I measure it by the amount that's in the dog dishes. So I have a 12 hour rain gauge, you know, feed the dogs in the morning and when I go out at night and feed them again I see how much is there. Yesterday, it was about an inch in the 12 hours. It was pretty steady. And not hard rain, but pretty steady all day. Until yesterday afternoon. Today, we have a break. It's really nice. It's um, I can even see blue sky outside. So there was one day that it was so gray. It felt like nighttime all day long. It was  super unusual for us. So anyway, yeah, that's what's been happening here. Aunt Betty had her second cataract surgery and it went all fine. So now we're good. So she's, she's happy. She's able to see. She had a follow up appointment yesterday. So that's all good. So yeah, my 2023 is going pretty well, too. Yeah, well, mine is going pretty well, because I had a nice trip to the beach. And then I'll talk about some other stuff when we get to projects. So should we jump into projects? Or? Well let me just announce about the episode 200 As long as we're stopping for business here. So we are currently on episode 198. Coming up on episode 200. And so we're going to do for episode 200 a listener q&a. So we'll answer your questions. And we've got quite a few questions already between email and the Ravelry thread. But I put up a Ravelry thread where you can ask questions, or you can email us to us at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Or you can message us, you know on Instagram, or you can use our website Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. And there's a Contact Us page and you can use that to send us an email. Lots of ways for you to let us know what your questions are. And then we're going to answer them on episode 200.  Marsha  8:43   Try to answer! Kelly  8:44   All of them. Yeah. And I have been listening to some of the older episodes just kind of going back to refresh my memory about them. At first I was a little worried like oh I'm not sure I want to go back there and see how we sound. You know we weren't that bad Marsha.[laughing] I think we did pretty good. First. I just remember, I do remember when we first started, on every episode, Robert would go to work and he'd listened to it. Then the next day he'd give me a rundown. It helped us get better. I do have to say that it helped us get better. But sometimes it was not a welcome critique. [laughing] Marsha  9:29   Now do you remember? I'm kind of curious, like maybe I shouldn't even ask but I'm dying of curiosity. Like what were some of the critiques that that he would give? Kelly  9:37   He said I repeated myself, which I still do. When I edit sometimes I think oh Kelly, why did you have to say the same phrase three times while you were thinking of the next thing you were gonna say? He also said that I talk slowly. Like I'll be talking along at a normal pace and then he can tell that I'm thinking because I get really slow. So, stuff like that, you know. And then when we started actually recording together, he's like, You guys are much more interesting when you're recording on the phone together. So.. Marsha  10:12   Yeah, I know, I think that changed the dynamic a lot, you know, when we started recording together, but I still listen to myself and every episode I'm critical of myself. Like, I can't follow my train of thought. And I, and I make so many mistakes too, in terms of when I'm describing stockinette, or garter stitch, or making the garter Squish, blanket. like, Ah, god, sometimes I listen back and I roll my eyes, you know, but anyway, we're just human right? Kelly  10:52   Yeah, you need to be kinder to yourself, Marsha. Marsha  10:55   Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yes, I've been reading the questions, and I'm looking forward to answering them. Kelly  11:02   Yeah, it'll be fun. So do do. Send us your questions. And, you know, it could be about anything. So far, a lot of the questions have been about about our lives and our crafting and the podcast, that kind of thing. But, but yeah. Bring them on. Let's see. Marsha  11:27   All right. Okay. So projects. Kelly  11:29   Yeah, so let's go. I can go first. So last episode, I said, I had some plans. I did not have much knitting, but I did have some plans. And I can say that I did what I set out to do, I finished the angel from the knitted nativity scene. I did finish the star the knitting of the star. Now I just have to sew it. It's two pieces and then you sew them together and stuff it. So she's holding on to this stuffed star. So I didn't I didn't get it, but I haven't sewn it together and stuffed it but the angel part is done. I even washed her hair because the the yarn, the yarn that they had for her hair was wound around a cardboard. Most of the yarn was in little, little balls or cakes. And the yarn for her hair. I'm not sure why, was wrapped around a cardboard. And so where it wrapped around, it had like a kink. So her ponytails were very messy. Were curling all--just all different ways. And not curled. But like fish hooked, you know, like kinked.  Marsha  12:47   Yeah, yeah,  Kelly  12:48   The edge of that cardboard. So I wet the her hair. I had to wet it down twice. And then let her dry before before most of that came out, so so she's done. I've knit a bumper for Minnie's cat bed. And it's in there.  Marsha  13:05   Yeah?  Kelly  13:06   So, and I do know she slept in at least one night. During the real rainy days, she sleeps in the-- we have a house out there that I have a woven a wool woven pad in-- the one she used to have-- I put in there. And she sleeps in there when it's rainy, and she needs to really stay out of the rain or it's really cold. I'm not sure where she sleeps all the time, because she's not always on the front porch, especially since we got Beary and he barks at her. Although she doesn't--honestly I say she doesn't sleep there because of Beary. But Beary has been on the front porch coming in, you know, in the morning. And she has been under the car in the driveway on the porch in that same morning and walked up to him. Like, twice. So she's not really afraid of him. Although she-- I don't think she likes the barking. But she's not afraid of him. He's afraid of her. This is funny. You'll you'll get a kick out of this. So one morning, Robert had him and he kind of growled at her as she was walking towards him. And so Robert, you know, corrected him and said no. And so, and he was you know, wiping off his feet and stuff to let him in. And so Beary turned himself around and put his head in the corner of the porch. So you didn't have to look at her. Here's this big dog. He's really kind of afraid of her. He doesn't know what to make of her. And so since he couldn't growl or do anything wrong, do anything aggressive towards her. He had to just put his head in the corner. If you can't see her, she doesn't exist.[laughing] Yeah, so all of that orange wool is gone. And then I had to grab some additional coned wool from my weaving stash. And I knit with it for the rest of the bumper. So I got that done. And then the third thing that was on my list for before was to wind a warp for monks' belt. For the monk's belt project at the Jane Stafford Guild, and I did, I did that as well. And I'll talk more about that at the end of my projects. So I got all of that done. And then I've even returned to working on the mohair vest.  Marsha  15:33   Oh, okay.  Kelly  15:34   Yeah, that's what I have in my lap right now, what I've been knitting on, and I tried it on this morning. And so it's top down. And I have more than 12, about 12 inches from the armholes. So it's kind of at high hip length.  I want it to be longer so I'm I'm continuing to knit down but I'm gonna have so much yarn leftover. Maybe I won't, maybe once I put the ribbing and the the band on. I started with three skeins, I've basically got two balls, which is one skein that I am working on actively and then one skein in the bag  so I don't know. We'll see. So I'm continuing it. Maybe I should have made a blanket, because I think I'm gonna have a lot of yarn leftover but it's back on its-- back in the rotation. And then the other project, I started a new project knitting project. Do you remember the yarn I lost? The neighborhood fiber company gradients? Marsha  16:52   Oh right. Yeah, Kelly  16:54   Yeah. I think I lost it twice. I mean, I think I lost it, discovered it, said oh, okay, that's where it is. And then forgot where it was. And lost it again. I can't exactly remember. But anyway, it's 1250 yards of rustic fingering from neighborhood fiber company. And it's a turquoise it's called Shades of Turquoise. It's a turquoise gradient. And it starts with a really dark dark, almost black, blue, and then changed into a more true-- I don't know if I call it turquoise, I guess I call it turquoise. A more true turquoise. So there's two really dark skeins, then there's like this medium bright turquoise, and then there's two light turquoise skeins. So I'm doing the original project, I looked around for something else. But I thought you know what, I'm just gonna go back to the original project that I selected for this. It's called the Coloresque Wrap. And it's by Erin Kurup. I think her company name is remade by hand. And actually I met her at stitches. And I believe that this was a gift from her, this pattern. And so I started it one year. Right after I think the year after I got it. I started it for my Stitches West project, which was a mistake.  Marsha  18:22   Yes, I remember. I remember you working on it. Kelly  18:26   Yeah, I'm not sure if I had been a little further along when we went to stitches, I think it would have been okay. But it's it's a striping pattern. So as you're using two colors, and it's a striping pattern that has you doing stockinette and then one pearl ridge and then stockinette and then one pearl ridge. And so I was having trouble with that. And then I was also having trouble with the-- it's trapezoidal. So you're knitting together on one side and making one on the other side, knitting in front and back on the other side. So it's going kind of out of slant and like a trapezoid. So that was an issue. Remembering to do that was an issue. And then it has, it's not really a big edge detail. But it has a little edge detail to keep the edges nice and tidy. And that was giving me fits. So I had to-- I came home and it was such a mess that I just ripped it out. But now it's back on the needles and I've gotten a fair ways along I think I'm maybe at about 20 inches. Maybe a little longer than maybe closer to 30 Marsha  19:43   Do you have a project page for this?  Kelly  19:46   Yeah, I just put up a project page but I don't have a picture yet. Marsha  19:50   Okay, oh, let me look here. Oh, here it is. I see. Kelly  19:52   Okay, and then it has lace. The pattern has these stripes and then it also has lace sections. And so it gives me the opportunity to use the colors. And it's kind of--the pattern is nice because it's kind of set up, I mean, they have the pattern, she has the pattern set up where you just follow the pattern with your colors. But then she also has a page in the, I think it's in the pattern, or maybe it's on--also linked on the pattern page. But she has a page where you can do your own color design.  Marsha  19:53   Mm hmm.  Kelly  20:01   And so she has like the template of the of the shawl or wrap laid out. And then she talks about, you know, how you can figure out which colors to put where and, and it does talk about how many grams of of yarn you use for the lace sections, although I added a repeat, so mine won't be following that exactly, you know. The next lace section I do, I'll have to weigh my yarn and then determine how much yarn I need for one of the lace sections. So I've got two lace sections in here now with the striping pattern in between. And I liked the lace section. So I think I'll do more of them than is in their original pattern. Because I kind of liked that. I haven't done lace in a long time. It actually looks kind of like the lace that you have, like little V pattern Chevron.  Marsha  21:19   Yeah, in my blanket.  Kelly  21:21   Looks very similar to the lace in your in your blog. Marsha  21:24   Nice. Well, I'm, I'm interested to see a picture of it posted. But this is a nice looking shawl It's pretty. Kelly  21:32   So I've just been choosing colors along the way trying to keep you know, kind of the gradient idea going from dark to light, but I have the contrast stripes. So I've got you know, sometimes I have two medium colors together in the stripe, sometimes I have the darkest with the lightest, or colors just a couple or one or two shades away. Since I have five colors, I have a lot of choices. And it's coming out nicely. It's looking right now like it's not going to be more than just a wide scarf with stripes and lace combination. But maybe when I block it, it'll be a little bit wider. The original pattern called for I think was about 12 inches wide. And then I added an additional repeat of the lace because I wanted it to be a little bit wider than that. But I didn't want to make it so wide that then I wasn't going to have enough yarn. I wasn't sure how that was going to work. So I'm moving along on it and enjoying it. It's giving me, it's giving me two projects on the go that are knitting projects. So and then I have my my weaving project.  Marsha  22:43   Okay, and let's hear about that.  Kelly  22:45   So I'm making-- I decided with the monks belt that I wanted to make, of course, dishtowels. The project for the Jane Stafford guild is placemats. So at first I was a little worried that maybe it was a weave structure that wasn't a good choice for dish towels. But I found a dish towel pattern in a book I had bought years ago and it was monks belt and turns out it's exactly the same draft as what's in the Jane Stafford guild, which is basically the Marguerite Porter Davison, you know Weaver's bible of stitches. This Monks belt draft is not anything, you know, it's not anything new and improved or you know, combined with other things or whatever. So I'm basically following the information from the episode of The Jane Stafford School of weaving TV Guild and also following the pattern from this book. But the book has only two dish towels in its warp and I put on enough for six dish towels I should have enough for six dish towels so I have a little bit of room to play which will be fun. I did want to talk a little bit about color choice. Because I had decided--I thought I would make dish towels for Sarah for housewarming gift, my niece. And for my mom for her trailer. The new trailer is sort of gray and brown. The floor is tha-- a lot of people have you know the gray like wood floor now is kind of popular? And that is the flooring in the trailer. They don't have carpet they just have the grayish wood flooring and then, you know, kind of brown upholstery and stuff so I thought okay, I'll do neutrals. And I know Sarah, as much as she loves color, is more along the neutrals line for stuff in her house. So I thought okay, this would be good. I'll find some neutrals. So I grabbed-- you remember the yarn that you got me the Swedish yarn that you got me from the goodwill? The weaving yarn came in a bag-- there was a red and a green and a gray. Marsha  25:07   Oh, right. I didn't know it was Swedish but oh yeah, I remember getting that. Yeah, Kelly  25:11   I think it's I think it's Swedish. Anyway. Okay, I took one of the--I decided to use the gray out of that. And then I used one of the cones I have of the Sally Fox Fox fiber, which is a brown is called Sienna, Sierra Sienna Brown. And you know, the color crayon color of Sienna?  Marsha  25:31   Yeah,  Kelly  25:31   Kind of a rusty brown-- a yellow, yellow or orange toned brown. So there's that. And then I saw-- I put those two together. I was like, okay, yeah, this is what I'm going to use it's going to be nice and neutrals, gray, brown. I have a little bit of black. I have oh, I have this other cone of this variegated black and brown yarn that I bought thinking I would knit a linen shawl that I never a lace shawl that I never did. So I got that out. I got them all together. And I wound them. You know, this is great! Neutrals. And the gray looks purple. And the brown looks orange. When you put all those colors together... Marsha  25:38    So interestin! Kelly  26:20   next to each other, you can really tell that this is a gray that leans purple blue, like bluey purple, like a lilac color. It sort of leans lilac. And this brown, of course, leans very orange. And because those were such, you know, because purple and orange are such contrasting colors. I think they're what complimentary colors maybe. Right? It really, it really makes them look like they're--it's purple and orange. So it's okay, it's not the neutral that I was going for. It's really pretty. I really like it. Not sure they'll go to the intended recipients. It depends how. depends how they come out-- what I think once I've got them off the loom. Once I've you know, put other colors in the weft because that tones things down a little bit too. So. So we'll see. Marsha  27:20   I'm just going to interject here about color and weaving. You made me some towels that are actually red, white and gray. And I swear that gray is green. And I think it's because, and I always I use them at Christmas time because to me they look like Christmas color. But it's not green. It's gray.  Kelly  27:40   Right.  Marsha  27:41   So I don't know it's so interesting Kelly  27:43   That same gray? I'm using as a weft color. Okay, and against the other ones. It looks blue. It's like a slate blue. Yeah, Marsha  27:55   yeah. And I have to say in the towels, it doesn't look like Christmas green. But it definitely looks like a green to me, like a forest green. Kind of.  It's not I know, it's I know, it's gray. But Kelly  28:10   Well, and those are the same those. That's the exact same warp as the napkins in the trailer. Okay, yeah. And in the trailer, to me it it reads as gray. Not green, but in the house, it really did look like, it did look green to me, too. Yeah. So it's very interesting. choosing colors-- it's fascinating. I really think it's really an interesting thing. And then and then the thing about weaving that doesn't happen in knitting. Is that optical blending, you know, you get a lot more of the optical blending in weaving because the, I want to say the pixels are so small, right? When you're weaving, your yarn is going over and under each other. The dots of color are about the size of the yarn, unless you're doing stripes.  Marsha  29:05   Yeah.  Kelly  29:06   Whereas with with knitting, your dots of color, the smallest they can be is really a stitch. You know, I mean, even if you're doing mosaic stitch where you're trying to blend optically blend the colors, doing mosaic knitting or slip stitches, where you're trying to optically blend the colors. You're not going to get that kind of blending so much with knitting so it-- Yeah, it's it is kind of funny. And then one last thing about these is the  patterning in them is coming from the color that I'm using for the weft. So I started with a weft of an even deeper rust color. And then a black and then that slate, that slate color that you think looks green, and that I have thought looked blue and I I, I was like, okay, yeah, this will be a good, this will be a good color progression, you know, and I'll just repeat this color pattern. And then I took a picture of it this morning and put it on Ravelry. And when I looked at the picture, I went, Oh, the black and the gray look like the same color in this picture. I think I need to take out the black and go rust, or rather, take out the gray, the slate that I just started because I don't have that much of it. I mean, I have less than half an inch. So I think I'm gonna take that out and go rust, and then black and then rust and then slate. I don't think I want the black and the slate next to each other because they look too much like the same color. Not enough value difference. So anyway. It's one of the things I love about weaving is the the color play that you can do. And I'll do--you know with six towels, I'll get into a lot. So yeah, my purple and orange dish towels. [laughing] I think something--some parts of color also have to do with what color you think something is. That color, I haven't actually looked in I don't know, if it even says on the label what you know, a color away name. I think the label is in Swedish. So I don't know if it says a colorway name. Or often weaving cones just have a color way number. But I wouldn't be surprised if the color name was lilac. And because it was just in a bag with a red and a green. And I can't remember what color it was with. But anyway, the color it was with made me think it was gray. And because I thought it was gray. It looked gray. You know what I mean?  Marsha  31:52   Yeah, yeah. And I think that I'm looking at the gray, red and white. And I think it seems like Christmas colors. So I'm reading it as green because red and green are Christmas colors. I don'tknow. Yeah. Kelly  32:08    It's like once your brain locks on what color you think it is. That's what color you see until something comes along to shock you out of that thinking, like, oh my god, this is purple and orange. Marsha  32:25   Okay, I'm going to look up your picture because you said it's in Ravelry.  Kelly  32:29   Yeah, in the weaving thread. Marsha  32:31   Oh, but here on Instagram, too. Did you post it?  Kelly  32:34   Yeah, I posted an Instagram  But I didn't have much of the weaving done when I posted on Instagram. Ravelry is a better picture, will be on a more recent picture. I don't know if it's better. The more recent picture is on Ravelry. So just an interesting thing, how color works. And how your brain tells you things that aren't really true. Marsha  33:03   Funny, huh? Well, should I talk about my projects and I don't want to interrupt. Are you done? I don't want... Kelly  33:09   No I'm I'm finished. That's enough. You'll hear more about this project. Since it's six towels. It'll be okay. It'll be going for a while. Marsha  33:17   Oh, okay. Well, I have big news. Yeah, I did not finish it between Christmas and New Year's but at the beach I finished Ben's sweater. It is done.  Kelly  33:30   Yay.  Marsha  33:32   Yay. And I will not relive the whole thing. But I did. I think the last episode, I don't remember. I honestly I don't even remember where I was with the whole thing. But I did rip out both sleeves back to the elbow and re knit them with fewer decreases. And I came home from the beach yesterday afternoon. I got home around 4:30 or so. And the first thing I did was wash and block the sweater. Kelly  33:58    Nice.  Marsha  33:59   So it's drying. And I've a few ends to weave in. But I'm calling it done.  Kelly  34:05   Nice.  Marsha  34:05   Yeah. So and it blocked out really nicely. It grew a little bit which is what I wanted. And so I think it's going to be... I'm just glad I'm done. So I'm starting off the new year fresh. So that's all I'm gonna about to say about the sweater. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Done. I'm done. And I will say and a story I will say I finished it at the beach. Now I don't remember now what day it was I finished it and when I bound off this, I finished the first sleeve before I went to the beach and then I finished the second sleeve at the beach and bound off the cuff. And this I was getting like: 10 rows, nine rows, eight rows and seven and getting more and more excited and this huge weight has been lifted off of me by having that done. It's like this is a great way to start the new year. It's done, so I'm excited. So anyway, I worked on my January blanket. And I have knit about 28 inches of it. And I really like it. I think it's turning out really nicely. It feels great. Because it's handspun kind of woolen spun is what I tried. So it has, it's very light. But yeah, it's very nice. And this is really nice yarn. It doesn't. It's a woolly yarn, but it's not harsh at all. It's just super nice. I really like it. Kelly  35:39   It looks really pretty. I like that solid color. I mean,  we've both done so many blankets with you know, colors changing all that. But that is a really nice look  that one solid color with a nice lace pattern. Marsha  35:57   Yeah. And I love the color of this. It's --I never know what to call it. It's sort of Carmel Cafe Au Lait. Yeah. The color of Milk in Tea. I don't know. Kelly  36:11   Yeah, I would say I would say Cafe au Lait  is a good way to describe it. Marsha  36:17   The color of a little brown dog? I don't know. I don't know. Kelly  36:23   It's a little lighter than Orkney. Right? Marsha  36:25   Yeah, yeah. I'll just interject. I remember, I probably have said this before in the podcast, but I worked with a guy who was in a Cajun band. And so he knew a lot about Cajun cooking, because he always would go down to Louisiana. And so I asked him if he had a recipe for gumbo. And you start with a roux, and you cooked the flour and oil together until it was the color of an old hound dog. And I, we worked together and I went up to the receiving area where he worked. And I just on a piece of paper, I wrote down his recipe. And that's what I actually wrote down: cook the roux until it's the color of an old hound dog. So this is like the color of an old hound dog, I guess. Anyway. Anyway, so I'm really enjoying knitting on this. And then, I think, I guess I mentioned in the last episode, because I had it here in the show notes that I bought the Noro Kureyon to make the Noro mania blanket for my brother and I gave it to him for Christmas. And he's thrilled with it. So I'm going to cast that on. You know, as soon as I finish this blanket, I'll start that and do a little figuring about what size I want to make. But my big news is I have a new addition to the the the yarn and  fiber family, which is I bought an electric spinning wheel. Woohoo! and so both Kim and I bought the the it's called the electric eel or the e w 6.0. Technically, from dreaming robots. And I'll talk more about this at a later date. But I we both they arrived in the mail, and we didn't unbox them until we got to the beach and set them up very easy. We watched the tutorial they have on the dreaming robots website. And so we set them up. I should back up and say our inspiration for buying these was our friend Dagmar. She bought one a while ago and she had it at NoCKRs retreat. And I was really interested in it. And when I knew she was going to be meeting us at Black Sheep, I said to Kim, you need to come and check out her spinning wheel, this E spinner because I think because Kim has been adamant she was not going to get a spinning wheel. no, right, just stick with the drop spindle. And I could tell when she was watching Dagmar that she was very interested. So anyway, we had fun. Our four days down there of just playing with the spinning wheels. It was interesting. I had some polworth that I had bought years ago I don't even remember now where I bought it. So I was practicing with that and she also had polworth That was dyed. And so she was practicing with that and it is really interesting to just to spin the same fiber but one's dyed and one's not dyed, how they're different. Because the the technique of dyeing, the roving, it gets a little stuck together kind of. Needs a little bit more pre drafting that has to go on than with an undyed fiber, I think. But they're really, they're great wheels and I think they're really well designed. He's thought of everything. And we also-- it does not come with a battery but you can order a battery that so then it'd be great for...  Kelly, if I go to the trailer rally again, I would actually be able to be easier to transport this to California on a plane or whatever or in the car. And then I don't need to plug in, I can just spin off the battery. So it's going to be great for all kinds of situations. But it is funny, Kim was sitting at the dining room table practicing and I was sitting on the sofa and had the wheel sitting on the coffee table. And underneath the coffee table there was another little shelf and I kept pushing on that shelf with my foot trying just to treadle-- stop the wheel, start the wheel. That was actually amusing to me. I kind of thought wow, this is so nice. I wonder what it's going to be like when I go home and spin on little Herbie. And last night I spun for two hours or so while I watched the news and whatnot. And I love little Herbie. I have not given up my complete love for little Herbie. I love treadling. But this is this is a really nice, it's gonna be great for taking to the beach.  Kelly  41:02   Yeah,  Marsha  41:03   taking to your house, taking to NoCKRs because it's so portable. So I have to thank Dagmar for introducing us to it because it's been great. It's really fun. So I'll report more on it came in, I think gonna get together this weekend to practice a bit more, and I might record a little bit get some of her thoughts, too.  Kelly  41:21   Oh, that'd be cool. Yeah. Marsha  41:23   Yeah, I'll do that. That would be good. I have to say I thought about-- I thought about recording when we were at the beach. But honestly, it was kind of fun just to get lost in it and not have to think about talking about it. Kelly  41:37   Well, you'll have more to talk about once you've been working with it a little bit longer, too. Marsha  41:42   Yeah. It's interesting though, the bobbins. On the website, they say they hold eight ounces of fiber. And so I'm interested to see. I'm spinning up a four ounce skein. And it's, it's about half full. So I'm gonna see if it'll hold the eight ounces. That's, that's a lot. Kelly  42:03   That is a lot. Yeah, it's kind of a double edged sword. It's sort of like ink-- with the fountain pens when you buy ink. So, you know, there are some people who are real big proponents of you know, the ink bottles that come, you know, 50 milliliter, 60 milliliters 80 milliliters, you know, these nice big bottles of ink that you get your money's worth, right?  Marsha  42:32   Right.  Kelly  42:33   The problem with that, or the other side of that double edged sword is that you have all of this ink and then if you want a different color it's hard to justify buying. Well. For some people, it's hard to... for myself, it's hard to justify, I guess, if I were further down this, this rabbit hole, I could have a whole large stash of over 200 inks like some people do. It really ...but it's difficult, it's more difficult to justify buying another bottle of ink in a different color that looks fun and that you want, when you have, you know, 50 60, 70 milliliter bottles of ink that are big. And you don't even use-- I think one time we were talking, I said that it takes like 10 milliliters. It doesn't even take one milliliter to fill most of my pens, I was way off there. So you know, if you're using less than a  milliliter every time you fill your pen, and it takes me a couple of weeks for my pens to run out if I have a couple of pens inked up at the same time. Like not a lot of ink. Right. So so the bobbin.. Marsha  43:50   Yes! Kelly  43:50   Oh, go ahead. Marsha  43:52   Well, I was gonna say if I I'm spinning just a natural colored cream.  Kelly  43:56   Yeah,  Marsha  43:57   yarn or fiber. It's gonna... and eight ounces. That's days of the same thing. You know, so I know what you're saying is you can't... like it's having a smaller bobbin and you get to change a lot. Kelly  44:10   Right? You know, right. And that's part of what I-- that's part of what I like. I mean and you could even spin two eight ounce bobbins if you had 16 ounces. You could spin two eight ounce bobbins and then ply those two together like you could be working on cream colored yarn for what felt like Ben's-- a Ben's sweater worth of time. [laughing] Marsha  44:37   Well, and also Kelly, I'm just going to add this in there too is that I before I went packing for the beach, getting the wheel and getting you know the first thing you pack when you travel is a knitter is all your projects, right? And so I was like what fiber am I going to spin and so I found I had this polworth and me being me, I didn't buy one skein I bought three packages of four skeins each.  four ounces? So how many?  So each package has has four pieces of--hanks of roving, okay, and each one is four ounces so Kelly  45:24   so okay so you have 16 ounces in a bag and you have three bags? Both  45:40   Three bags! [laughing] Marsha  45:42   I'm like that but I do know, I as I say I don't remember where I bought it-- if I bought it at Black Sheep or if I bought it at fiber fusion. I think I bought it at Black Sheep because I don't I don't-- I did not buy it in the marketplace. I remember I bought it from the person with the sheep. Like out in the barn?  Anyway, I bought it and so I bought three bags and there's four skeins in each bag  Kelly  46:05   and it's  all undyed and each is four ounces it's all undyed, natural white.  Marsha  46:12   Yeah, I am. I'm slightly insane. Kelly  46:16   Well, it doesn't all  have to be one project.  Marsha  46:18   Oh, you know me. I always buy a sweater quantity of something. I always buy a big quantity or something. So I don't know what-- I don't know what I was thinking Kelly  46:25   It's a little more than one sweater. Marsha  46:29   Yeah, I know. It's another blanket. Kelly  46:36   Now you're gonna become known as the person who always buys a blanket quantity. Marsha  46:44   Yeah, so I don't know what I'm going to I've just I've I didn't even spin four ounces. Kelly  46:51   It's about like if you bought a fleece and sent it away to be processed. Right? A small fleece and sent it out to be processed.  Marsha  47:01   Yeah, no, I'm just a little insane. Kelly  47:03   I kind of learned my lesson from this six pounds of CVM. Well, I won't say I learned a lesson because I'm pretty sure I didn't. But I do remember being really sick of it by the time I was done, yeah. And I in fact, I found a little scrap of roving from that CVM fleece this summer while I was cleaning up, I found a little bump of it. And I think I ended up putting it. I might have put it in the felting box. But I honestly I might have put it with the stuff that I used to compost. I might have just said you know what? I'm done. I'm totally done with you. And I want this out of my stash. Totally. Not even a little scrap in the felting box. I think I did end up composting it. I mean, it was less than an ounce I think ,but still. Marsha  48:00   Yeah. I mean, I in my defense I have to defend myself just a little bit is that I did buy this early in my spinning life. And when I was in you know new spinners, new knitters, new crocheters, new Weavers, new spinners. anybody new to something, you get all excited about it, and you think you're never going to see any fiber ever again, this is your only chance to buy. And so I yeah, I went a little crazy Kelly  48:27   Well, and you go through it fast. If you're really if you're really spinning, especially when you're a beginner and or if you're making yarn that's thicker, you do go through roving, you can go through roving quickly depending on the, you know, the type of thing you're spinning, but you can go through quite quickly because I remember doing a swap that was 24-- I had to make 24 skeins, each of them two ounces. So that's 48 ounces. So what? That's three pounds, right? So and I remember telling myself at the beginning if I just spin this three pounds, by the time I'm done spinning three pounds of wool, I'll be a good spinner. And, and I cranked through it one summer, you know, just spinning for this. For this swap. It wasn't all the same type of fiber. But I gathered together--basically gathered together three pounds of fiber and and spun it for this for this swap. So you do go through it fast. Yeah, you're a newer spinner and, and I could see why you would think okay, I need more because I'm just a four ounce braid just takes me no time at all. You know. Marsha  49:21   Basically I really love the wheel. I think it's a great investment just for traveling just because there's so many times I've not been able to bring my wheel to visit you because we're to the beach and I have to I'm all engrossed in a project but then I can't take it. Kelly  49:53   That's nice. I'm excited to see it. Marsha  49:55   I have to say we have to finish because my ear pods are failing and the right one is run out of charge. So let's keep moving here before my earbuds fail. Kelly  50:08    Okay,  Marsha  50:10   what else do we have to talk about? Kelly  50:11    Anything else for your projects? Marsha  50:13   Oh, that's it. That's all I have.  Kelly  50:14   Okay, so the only other thing we have to remind our patrons about is the Patreon  giveaway. This is our year-end, thank you to our patrons for their support of our show. And so they should just let me know, email me, email or message me on Ravelry with the pattern of your choice $10 or less, and I will get that pattern out to you. I just want to thank everyone who supports us on Patreon. And if anyone would like to join the Patreon supporters, the link is at the top of our show notes. And it's patreon.com forward slash two ewes and you can become a patron of our show. But yeah, get your get your information to us and we'll get you your pattern choice. Marsha  51:04   Yeah, so thank you. All right. I think that's it, Kelly.  Kelly  51:08   I agree.  Marsha  51:10   I have to go cuz you're fading in the left. You're fading in my left ear now. So okay, I think we talked to we talked too long before we started recording. Kelly  51:19   Right, right. Marsha  51:21   Okay. All right. Well, we'll talk in two weeks. Kelly  51:25    In two weeks. Yeah. Marsha  51:26   All righty. Okay, bye bye. Kelly  51:29   Bye. Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot come. Marsha  51:37   Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am better in motion and Kelly is 1hundred projects. Kelly  51:44   Until next time, we're the Two Ewes doing our part for  world fleece. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Happy Holidays!! Aunt Betty's famous dinner rolls and great small knits, plus memories of Christmas Joys.

Dave talks about Season 10 Episode 3 of the Curse of Oak Island called “Bubbling Over". Topics include a cloak pin, Lidar and Aunt Betty. Please consider becoming a patron of the show. Go to www.patreon.com/digginoakisland to learn more. If you have any questions or comments, please email Dave at DigginOakIsland@gmail.com.

William MacAskill, neurologist and superbrain extraordinaire, comes on the show to chat about his latest project - building a brain-emulating machine! But is it a menace to society, or is there another ulterior motive? Plus, aunty Hilary comes to visit and Lexman hashes out the details of theirs and Aunt Betty's holm.

In Episode 250 available just about ANYWHERE that you get podcasts… And listening to this one is FREE! The weekend and an entry from Wheelersdog.net July 5th 2005. Eugene's Aunt Betty is turning 80 today. Last week's “road rage” encounter. If you have a question, story, or criticism you can leave a message on the Wheeler's Dog Speak Line, 336-422-6006. You can even send a text message and possibly be part of a future episode.

The whole story of signs before my aunt transitioned to the other side. Tune in to to this Spirit stories edition of the Spiritual AF Life Podcast where you will hear signs that Heather Danielle got before her Aunt passed. These signs confirm that there is more to this life (and death) then we know. Episode Takeaways: Share your Story for the Spirit Stories Show on Fridays! Leave a REVIEW for The Spiritual AF Life Podcast Join us for Coffee & Cards for free mini readings every Sunday at 9AM EST. Keep in touch! Connect With Heather Danielle Psychic Medium Website: https://therealheatherdanielle.com Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/riseintoyourpower Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/riseintoyourpower Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spiritual_heatherdanielle/ Email: info@therealheatherdanielle.com

Kelly's restored 1950 Westcraft Coronado trailer, “The Club Car,” finally comes home after snow related delays. Plus, we have project updates and our Summer Spin in starts June 1st.   Full notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com Join the community on Ravelry or become a patron and support the show on our Patreon Page. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Jul Designs coupon code: 15% off with code TWOEWES Marsha's Projects:  Depth Hat by Talitha Kuomi I finished this hat. The yarn is The Fiber Seed Sprout Special Speckles DK, in the colorway Dirty Seahorse. I could not get the yarn to pool in the way that attracted me to the pattern in the first place. The colors spiral, but I still like it.  Meadow Stripe Socks using Patons Kroy Sock in the colorway, Meadow Stripes and Lang Yarns Jawoll Superwash fingering for the heels and toes. I finally found the misplaced yarn for the toe and was able to finish these socks. Garter Squish Blanket On color fourteen of sixteen. I'm ready for this project to be done!  Unpattern Top Down Raglan Pullover by Karen Alfke. I finished the Fibonacci Sequence striping of the body except for the ribbing. I'm waiting for Ben to try on the sweater. Picked up and knit the neck band and started the first sleeve. Troyggja við Mynstur (Sweater with Round Pattern) by Tora Joensen (translated by Kate Gagnon Osborne: I knit my swatch and got gauge with size 8 needles instead of the suggested size 9. I plan to knit colorwork yoke with size 9. I cast on the sweater while at the beach and knit the ribbing, the colorwork and about an inch of the body. Decided the size was too small, frogged, and cast on the next size up. At about 9” I put the body on waste yarn and washed and blocked to be sure gauge and size are okay. The ball of red arrived for Navia that will be in the yoke. I'm spinning a 2lb bag of Manx Loaghton in my stash. This is a protected breed from the Isle of Man. I am using a woolen spun technique and have spun 5 skeins or approximately 400 yards. Spun three more bobbins that are ready to be plied. Kelly's Projects: Finished the Garter Squish blanket using handspun leftovers.  Mother Bear time!  Mielie vest using Schaeffer Yarn Company Little Danya mohair. This sat in the knitting basket for the last two weeks. Color is Rosa Parks and it was spirit yarn from NoCKRs retreat in 2018. Shortie socks out of Tomato and Mink Falkland handspun yarn. 3-ply chain plied yarn.  Suggested podcasts: Hooked and Booked podcast with AJ of KJKrochet, South Africa Crochet Conversations Inez and Mell from Singapore We Want to Hear You! Give us a call and tell us about your favorite LYS!  Go to speakpipe.com/twoewes and leave a message. It will take 90 seconds or less. Or you can use the voice memo app on your phone and email us the audio file. We'll put your voice feedback on the show!   Stash-Busting Blanket Along Ends May 31.  Summer Spin-In  Starts June 1. Goes until September 5. (US Labor Day) Black Sheep Gathering June 24-26 Albany, Oregon Saturday meet-up starts 3:30 Show Transcript Marsha  0:03   Hi, this is Marsha and this is Kelly. We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly  0:10   You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha  0:17   We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly  0:22   And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects and I am betterinmotion. We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Enjoy the Episode! Marsha  0:43   Hi, Kelly.  Kelly  0:43   Hi, Marsha.  Marsha  0:45   Okay, big news. Kelly  0:47   Yes. Marsha  0:47   Talk. Big news.  Kelly  0:49   Big news. So the trailer pickup finally happened.  Marsha  0:54   Yay.  Kelly  0:55   It was so much fun. It was so much fun. So we went up to, no down. South, south of us to Pismo Beach. They have the Pismo trailer rally. And it's Pismo Coast Village, which is an RV park in Pismo Beach. And, oh, it was so fun. It was all vintage trailers, you have no idea how many different varieties of vintage trailers there are.  Marsha  1:29   Mm hmm.  Kelly  1:31   It was amazing. You know, most of the park there was... there are some sections of the park that were just regular modern RVs. And probably the majority of the park was full of vintage trailers of all shapes and sizes. And they have...And one of them, I guess I should be more specific. And one of them was ours, because the people who worked on our trailer go to this rally every year. And it's kind of like NoCKRs, you know, like the retreats where if you go one year, then you have priority to get in and to actually get that same trailer spot the following year. And so, I mean, there are actually people who weren't there. But, you know, bought their spot, didn't cancel and get a refund. So they, so they'll have it for next year.  Marsha  2:25   Okay.  Kelly  2:26   So and there are people who have been going for, you know, 5 6 7 8 years. I don't know how long it's been going on. But you know, they've been going for a number of years and since everybody stays in their same campsite once they get the one they want, they're like neighbors you know. They they know each other there, they know the people camping around them. And so it's this whole community. I was talking to one man, I said, Oh, this is like a giant rabbit hole. And he's like, Oh, you you have no idea how deep this rabbit hole is! [laughing] Marsha  3:00   It's like a version of spinning learning to spin, right? Like they don't even want to drop spindle because they're gonna go down that rabbit hole. So this is this kind of the same thing. Kelly  3:06   And the people there had, like, this was the trailer that they bought to brought to the rally, but the one they usually bring is something else. Or the one they camp in or, or I was talking to one couple and they said, Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna be at the one in November. But we're not sure if we're going to bring this one or we'll bring our other one. So they have like trailer stash. Marsha  3:40   I was just thinking that. Trailer stash. Yeah. [laughing] Kelly  3:45   So yeah, and then people would talk about, well, this is my "forever trailer." So like, you have a trailer, but you have aspirations for a different trailer. And then, you know, you sell one trailer and buy another trailer. And anyway, it's a whole world that I didn't know, you know, we had not ever done rallies before. And so this is a whole world that that we are entering into. And the reason we got to enter into it. I mean, we had talked about going, you know, going to one or you know, getting a reservation or trying to get into one. But we got kind of thrown into the deep end because they were coming down, and they were going to be bringing a different trailer. But since we hadn't been able to pick up ours in April. They said, Well, what if we bring yours down and then we'll just stay, you know, stay in hotel and you can stay in the trailer? So that's what we did. And then they showed it during the open house, you know, so that the public could see it. But we were kind of mean, we didn't have the public traipsing in and out of our trailer.  Marsha  4:56   Well it's like getting a new car and everybody else gets to drive it, right?,  Before you get, right, like you, you don't want people driving it. Kelly  5:03   And so we had, you know, we had barriers. So, and a lot of people, a lot of people in the park did that or at least had one part of their trailer that had barriers. Or like they knew to have, you know, multiple rugs that are normally not on the floor when they are camping, but they use on the public day where everybody was coming in. You know, just to protect their floors and stuff. And we had none of that, because we were just, you know, literally just arriving with the bare minimum camping equipment, so that we could spend the night in the trailer before we brought it home. So anyway, but it was really fun. And so they spent a lot of time with the public and answering questions and all that and Robert and I didn't really have to deal with the crush of people. You know, coming to the coming to the site to look at the trailer, but it was like the belle of the ball. You know, it's the new trailer on the block the, you know, there aren't very many 1950 Westcrafts. And so when a new one is restored and comes out, you know, sort of like its debut.  Marsha  6:13   Yeah,  Kelly  6:14   There's a lot of excitement, there was a lot of excitement at the park. So we had a lot of people coming by. Not during the public open house, but the rest of it. Coming by and talking to us. And we met so many fun people and they, it was just it was a really nice event. So, and the trailer is nice. It's beautiful.  It's so big. I mean, it's not really that big. When I first saw it, I thought okay, good. In my head, it had grown to this enormous proportions. And when I saw it, I thought Oh, good. It is still kind of small. You know, it's way bigger other one, but it's not enormous. Marsha  6:53   Yeah. Yeah, way bigger. So your other one, you know, one person had to sit while the other person moved . Kelly  6:59   Right. Kind of you know, this one, you can both move around without... to me it doesn't feel too big inside.  Marsha  6:59   Like it's not it like those big fifth wheels that people have, you know. Those are huge things that stick... What do you  call those pop outs and stuff. Those become huge, right? This is still really small. Kelly  7:20   Yeah, yeah. Right. But it feels really open. Just like the other trailer, it feels a little more spacious, because of the layout. The other trailer felt more spacious because of the windows. And this one feels that way because of the light wood and and kind of the layout. But anyway, it was a lot of fun. And I think there's going to be there's going to be more trailer rallies in my future. You know, it's not the kind of camping I'm used to, but it was a fun event. Yeah, it's like a big party. Marsha  7:56   Yes. I'd say you're gonna have a whole new set of friends. Right? Yeah.  Kelly  8:01   Work friends.  Marsha  8:02   I'm your your one college friend. Like I guess I'm leftover from college.  Kelly  8:09   Leftover friends. [laughing] Marsha  8:14   you know, knitting-- your work people, knitting people, trailer people, bee people. I'm not sure. Anyway, Kelly  8:23   Just a whole new adventure. And it was interesting how much I learned talking to people who knew a lot more about this particular make of trailer than I did. Robert knew more than than I did. But but we we both learned a lot from people who came by and told us a little bit and and then the people who did their own work on the trailers. Oh my gosh, so impressive. All this work that that people did, you know, on their own in their garage?  Marsha  8:56   Yeah,  Kelly  8:57   You know, so that's a different-- that's a whole different aspect of it from from what we did when we bought it and had it restored. So yeah, it's a whole other world to enter. Which will be really fun. I'm looking forward to camp we're going camping in June. So I'm looking forward to actually camping in it you know, regular camping trip and, and, and just seeing what it's like to be in this trailer. The bed is nice. It's bigger. It's not as big as a regular double bed it's slightly smaller. But it's a lot better than slightly bigger than a single with two people and... Marsha  9:43   So your other was  was it the size of a single bed? Kelly  9:47   It was a little bit bigger than a single bed but not much. I couldn't get  a twin sheet on it.  Marsha  9:54   Really? Kelly  9:54   I mean I can--I could fudge it to get a twin sheet on it, but it was it was deifinitely too big for a twin sheet, but not much. So maybe maybe a couple of inches wider than a twin bed. But this one is is much more comfortable. Marsha  10:11   Yeah. Yeah.  Kelly  10:13   So that's nice. And we have a bathroom. Which is also nice. And the a shower. Which I didn't--I mean, that wasn't something that I really cared about, but Robert wanted the shower. And actually, I didn't know they did this in trailers, but it's like a, like on the train where the whole room, it's called a wet bath. And the whole room becomes the shower.  Marsha  10:36   Mm hmm.  Kelly  10:38   I don't know how that's gonna work. Exactly. But yeah. Marsha  10:42   Yeah. Well, and also you actually have a refrigerator, right? Where your other trailer was an ice box?  Kelly  10:49   That's true. I had forgotten about that. Yeah, that's the other upgrade that we have is from an icebox to an actual refrigerator. It's a small, you know, it's a small refrigerator. But I'm used to a small refrigerator at home too.  Marsha  11:03   Yeah.  Kelly  11:03   Yeah, it runs on the electricity. So if we don't have shore power--its called shore power, where you can plug in--we won't have a refrigerator, because it won't run with the 12 volt or the ... you won't get enough power from the inverter solar power to run the refrigerator. But that's okay. We're used to camping with dry ice and an ice box so we can manage with that. That's not a problem. Marsha  11:33   Well, very exciting. And then. And then I'll see it when you come up to Albany, Oregon for the Black Sheep Gathering the end of June.  Kelly  11:40   So yeah, yeah, we'll be having a get together for anybody who's going to Black Sheep gathering that Saturday. So Black Sheep is the weekend of June 24 through 26th. And so that Saturday, which I guess will be the 25th that afternoon, late afternoon, maybe 3:30 or 4 o'clock, we'll be having a meet up at the-- we're calling it The Club Car. You know, like the trains have a club car. So I... who suggested that... oh, the father of the woman who bought The Clubhouse. He asked me who is your new trailer? Does your new trailer have a name? And I said, No, we haven't really haven't thought about that. And he's oh, you should call it the... first he said you should call it The Caboose. And then he said, No, I know what you should call it, you should call it The Club Car. And so that's perfect. So we're going to be calling it The Club Car. And I've gotten train placemats and couple of train menus. So that stuff has been arriving in the mail. And so it'll have a little bit of a theme, a little bit of a theme. Not as much as as the other trailer was Giants themed but anyway. Yeah, we're gonna have a meet up at The Club Car at the Black Sheep Gathering. So come in, say hi and show us what you bought. And have some food and drink and gather with other crazy yarn people. [laughing] Who are on their way to maybe becoming crazy trailer people. [laughing] Marsha  13:22   Yes. Really Yeah. Yeah! Well, shall we? Should we talk projects or? Kelly  13:30   Let's go ahead and, and talk projects. Marsha  13:32   Do you want me to go first?  Kelly  13:33   Go ahead.  Marsha  13:36   I have a finished project. I wish I could say it was my garter squish blanket. It is not. I needed a break. Because I have to say you remember I think the last time we recorded I was struggling with some of my projects. It's been a couple... it's been months now that I've been struggling with my projects. And I think you said oh, just cast something on. So I cast on the Depth Hat by to Talitha Kuomi. And to remind people this was the yarn I bought at Stitches. And it's the Fiber Seeds Sprout Special Speckles DK and the colorway is Dirty Seahorse. And to remind people it's like they've taken the hank of yarn and dipped one half in solid, solid teal, and the other half is speckled with teal and brown and some black. And so when you knit the hat, it pools.  It's supposed to pool so you have you know, the dark sections going up the side of the hat and the speckled sections going up the front and back of the hat. So let me just say, that did not happen for me. And there's this whole technique that you're supposed to do about how you find the place where you start. You just don't cast on any random place in the yarn, there's description about how, where you're the point where you're supposed to find in the color, I think you're at the halfway point in the solid color yarn is where you cast on. They tell you what type of cast on you do, I did all of that. It's an interesting hat.  You knit I don't remember how many rows, but you knit and then you put in a purl row, and then more and then pick up the the cast on edge. So it becomes-- it's knitted into the body of the hat. I'm not describing Do you know what I mean? I'm not describing that very well. Kelly  15:42   Well, I I sort of saw the pictures. It's folded into a hem, right? Marsha  15:47   Yeah, yeah. So that looks really nice. I like that. I could not get the pooling to work the way they say it's supposed to work. The way I was so captivated by when I saw the yarn and the pattern at stitches. It spirals. And what they tell you to do is to go down a needle size, or up a needle size to control the pooling, so that it all stays in that one section. Kelly  16:17   So like you're switching needles in the middle? Marsha  16:22   Yes.  Kelly  16:22   Okay.  Marsha  16:23   And also and the other technique to do that, is to pull the yarn really tight. So if you're knitting along, when you get to the solid section, pull that yarn really tight onto the needles or go down a needle size, or the opposite, Kelly  16:40   But it didn't tell you to like pull out yarn. If you get to the part that's supposed to be solid, and you're still on speckled yarn, just pull it out to you have solid yarn and knit with that.  Marsha  16:50   No.  Kelly  16:51   Okay, Marsha  16:51   So I'm a little disappointed that I did not get that look. It's a spiral,  it's fine. I mean, it looks okay. Kelly  16:58   Did you swatch?  Marsha  17:00   Yes, because it also said in the pattern, they said you have to swatch and your gauge has to be accurate, because that will affect the pooling? And my gauge? My swatch and the gauge was correct. So I don't know what I did wrong? Kelly  17:15   Probably nothing. Marsha  17:18   Yeah, I don't know. It's like they are individually hand dyed. So maybe that has something to do with it. I don't think so. But possibly. The other thing I would say about this pattern, it does not say... there's no description on the print of the pattern about how the, it tells you how to finish the you know, to close up the top of the hat. But it doesn't give you a description of it. Like when it's talking about like, oh, this hat has a you know, a hem, a folded hem and there's nothing. So in the picture does not show the top of the hat. And the reason I'm saying all this is I had no idea how it was supposed to look. And so what it really is like, imagine you have you're on the top of your head, now you're gonna have 1990s pleated khakis. There used to be a pleat on khakis. And now that is out you know, now it's back. I think pleats are coming back. But it's basically-- it's like you have four pleats on top. So I'm not even explaining right because Kelly  18:19   It's kind of like, I mean, in order to keep the pooling happening. Right? And not change as you decrease, you really can't have decreases. So you have to make the top of the hat like the pussy hat. But then instead of having those points on the ears, on the sides, they have to do something to make it come to and end. Marsha  18:44   So when you get to the part where you're going to close up that hole. You put some of the-- you put  groups of nine stitches: nine stitches on 4 double pointed needles. So you go nine stitches, and then you put 21 stitches on your circular needles, nine stitches on the double pointed needle, nine stitches on a double pointed needle, another 21 stitches on the circular needle, and then another nine stitches on the double pointed needles. You then do a three needle bind off on the first and fourth double pointed needle. And this is where I got screwed up is you you continue on two needles, a double pointed needle number three and number two, excuse me two and three, and knit across to the end binding those off. So they become joined and then you have your 21 stitches on half of the circular needles and the other 21 stitches on the other half of the needle and you do a kitchener stitch too. Kelly  19:55   So that's what's covering up... Marsha  19:58   Yes so... These, these two sets of nine stitch bindoffs then are underneath that 21 stitch flap. I don't know if that makes sense? Kelly  20:09   I think that would be really challenging to actually knit without knowing what it was supposed to be doing. Like now that you're done, and you know what it did. But that would be a really challenging thing to knit without any picture to say, Oh, I'm doing a really thing weird here. Marsha  20:29   Yes, and it looks nice, you know, and to your point, they, it's a great solution to keep that patterning right. Otherwise, if you did, to your point, if you did the decreases, you'd throw off all of the pooling, of which I did not get but anyway. [laughing] But again, a shout out to Ravelry. And all the people who've made this hat who posted pictures of their hat is by looking at their pictures, I was unable to figure out what I had an a visual of what I was trying to do. Where the pattern there's no picture of the top of the hat. Right and no description of it kind of other than just the the instructions about how to close this up. So do you remember I call I think I texted you. Oh my god, this looks odd because I I bound it off. And it looked like a four corner hat kind of. It was terrible. It looked terrible. Kelly  21:27   Basically, it looked like yeah, you had you had like four points. Yes. And a really funky seam.  Kelly  21:36   And they were not even even  Kelly  21:39   Yeah,yeah, they were  Marsha  21:39   Yeah, cuz some were really tight because they were the three needle bind off, the two sets of nine and then the 21 stitches that were Kirschner was all kind of lose because they were kept... not Kershner, kitchener stitch. And anyway, I poured myself a beer got onto my bed with the dog next to me, and started looking at Ravelry to see and there was no notes. But just looking at people's the photographs on people's projects, I was able to figure it out. And so I made myself rip it out, and then re knit up a little bit and then thought okay, I think I understand the concept of what's happening. Anyway. So that's what beer is for. [laughing] Kelly  22:31   Yes, yeah. Oh, my goodness. Marsha  22:34   Okay. So anyway, that's done. But I have to say, again, it sort of goes into this. I was thinking, Oh, I'm just, you know, okay. It's not, I'm disappointed. It's not pooling the way it's supposed to pool. I'm getting this spiral. I can live with it. It's okay. And then that end of the hat, I thought, I really am struggling with a lot of my projects.  Kelly  22:54   Yeah.  Marsha  22:55   Anyway, I will then go on to the garter squish blanket, I have not a whole lot to report on that I am really ready for this to be done. I do apologize too. I was listening to the last episode where I was knitting on it while we were recording. And I was listening as I was walking Enzo and all I could hear with those needles, bang, bang. It's all like they were so loud. So I do apologize for that. So I'm not knitting on that. Now, as I'm sitting here. It is also too big for it to sit on my lap. But anyway, I'm on color 14, about halfway through color 14 of 16.  Kelly  23:31   Oh, you're almost done.  Marsha  23:33   I'm getting close. I'm ready for it to be done. I'm beginning to just hate this project. Because I really like it, but I'm sick of it. I want to move on to something else. So but we have, I'll just put there's a good time to put this in here that the our blanket along ends May 31. So what is today we're recording on today is Kelly  24:03   the 25th of May.  Marsha  24:04   So Okay, not quite a week. So I will get it done. I'm pretty sure I'll get it done. But I'm ready for it to be done. Okay, um, I have nothing new to report on the the unpatterned top down Raglan pullover by Karen Offski that I'm making for Ben. I have nothing to report except he's coming home today. This is the, you know, Memorial. This is the Wednesday before Memorial Day. So he has a long weekend. And so he's coming home today at some point so hopefully in the next couple of days he can put it on and I'm going to say... Kelly  24:40   Yeah, you can pin him down. Marsha  24:43   Yes. To see how it's how the body is and etc. So not much to report on that. Then my next project is the sweater that I'm making for my brother and Kelly and we before we started recording We looked it up on. We Googled that in the end it's "Tro-cha." Kelly  25:06   "Tro-cha minstur" Marsha  25:07    Troyggja Við Mynstur, which we believe means sweater. Kelly  25:10   sweater pattern. Marsha  25:13   sweater with  round pattern and which, I have to laugh because guess what it says in parentheses after Troyggja Við Mynstur, it says sweater with round pattern. So we finally figured out that that's what it is. And if anybody wants to give us feedback, if we're not saying this the correct way... Kelly  25:38   Our foreign correspondent could tell us how to pronounce that in Faroese a little bit better and maybe the translation but we did we did find a Faroese translation site, a pronunciation site online and we're probably not doing it justice but but we're trying! Marsha  26:03   So I just have to give you a little update on this. So I unravelled... Kelly  26:09    How many times have you start restarted this sweater? Marsha  26:15   Well, I will tell you! So. Okay, so we're not counting the Atlas anymore. So I knit the whole body of Atlas. And honestly, I mean, I pretty much knit the whole sweater, didn't I?  Kelly  26:28   Yeah.  Marsha  26:29   Did I do the sleeves? I didn't do all the sleeves I don't think but because he tried it on it was way too small. Moving Beyond that, that's how Cat actually inspired me to look at a Faroese sweater. Since the yarn is Navia Tradition which is a Faroese yarn. So I found this pattern and I did my swatch. I did not get gauge on the nines, it's supposed to use a size nine needle.I did not get gauge with that I got gauge with the size eight. So Kelly, I got gauge, okay! Yes. So I don't know. I don't know what my problem is. So I got gauge and when we went down to the beach, two weeks ago, I guess we were down there, I cast on the size I think it was going to make, I don't know, I don't remember now what size I was going to make for my brother. I've got the pattern right here, it'd be like I was gonna make the medium size. There was like an extra small, small, medium, and then a large and then it keeps going up. I decided I was gonna make it the medium because I thought that would be okay with the with my gauge. So I cast on and I did all the ribbing I did the color work that's just above the ribbing, and I did about an inch of the body and I started looking at it.  I thought, this looks awfully small. So I thought screw it, I'm ripping it out. So I ripped it out and I recast on the next size up. So I'm making the large. So I again did the ribbing, the color work. I knit about I would say probably nine inches of the the body. And when I was home, I decided to put it on waste yarn and wash and block it, which I did. And it's going to fit and be  roomy enough.  Kelly  28:19   Oh. That's good news. Marsha  28:20   Oh my gosh. So now I'm knitting on it. And I have knit about, I think I've knit about 13 or 14 inches on it. And I have to knit till about 18 inches, set it aside and then I'll do the sleeves and attach them. So it's been a bit of a nightmare. I have to say this, this whole project-- I don't know. Anyway. And then the other thing I'll say is that with this sweater, I need four colors. Where with the Atlas I needed three: the main color and two contrasting. With this pattern, Sweater with Round Pattern, I need the main color and three contrasting colors for the color work. And I have the color work as like a light robin's egg blue, and a navy. And the body of the sweater is like a bright grass green, kind of, so when we were together when I was down there, I think for NoCKRs, I think it was , I ordered just a natural color, a white or cream color,  which arrived. And Mark didn't like that. He wanted a color. So I think I have mentioned this before that I ordered that ball from Navia on the Faroe Islands, and it took about a month. But it arrived and he wanted red, it's a bright red. I'm not sure. I have to say I'm not sure I like the red with a bright kelly green. A robin's egg blue and a navy. He really liked it. Kelly  29:57   Havae you put the red in already? Or is it only in the neck color work? Marsha  30:03   I have not put the red in. It's only in the yoke. Yeah, just a couple of rows. It's not gonna be very much. So we'll see. I've got a ways. But I have to tell you about the the package from Navia. It came in an envelope, it was all when I got it, the envelope was wrapped with yarn, instead of twine, and a piece of Navia Tradition yarn wrapped around it and tied with a little bow on the outside of the package. Kelly  30:33   The part that went to the post office, still on there. Wow.  Marsha  30:35   And it stayed on nice. Yeah, it stayed on there all the way from the Faroe Islands. It stayed on there, that yarn wrapped around there and the bow and everything and then opened up and beautifully wrapped in tissue paper with a little sticker on it that said, thank you. It's just super, super sweet and very exciting to get that dropped off on my front porch. So that's what's going on with that. And then I go down every day, I spend for 10-15 minutes, just a little bit on that Manx Loaghtan. But I'm still spinning on that. So and I am Kelly, I am going to bring my spinning wheel to Black Sheep. Because I'm planning on doing... I've never been able to bring it because we've either taken the train or something. I've not had space, but I'm bringing that wheel so I can sit in the spinning circle, or sit by the trailer and spin. So anyway, that's all I have for projects, and I'm really hoping I've now moved past my problems.  Kelly  31:35   Oh, me too.  Marsha  31:36   Do you think? Because I've kind of gone through kind of a hard time. It's been around two months now. It's like, I've had some bad juju. I don't really know what that's about. But it's just,  Kelly  31:48   Yeah, it's been a little bit rough patch with your knitting. Yeah, maybe you need to do some crochet Marsha  31:59   Well, maybe it's like I just crochet placemats or something, you know, or Kelly  32:03   switch to another spinning project? Well, I don't know if you have enough bobbins. But you could get yourself some braids and switch to some different, you know, have a couple of different spinning projects going because it is going to be time for the summer spin in. Marsha  32:20   Yeah, so I think I am going to. I was thinking about that before we started recording. So I'm going to try and finish for the summer spin. And I'm gonna try and finish this Manx Loaghtan. I'll try and finish that, and then I think I'm gonna try and do a combo spin or I have some braids, two braids I was thinking of combining. So do something with that. Kelly  32:40   Yeah, nice. That might be a nice, that might be a nice way to kind of just put an end to the the bad knitting. By not knitting at all. Marsha  32:50   Oh, you know, I think part of it is... I'm gonna say is I think I'm making... It's all making stuff for other people. Yeah, I'm thinking about it. I'm making this sweater for Ben, the sweater for my brother. And then Kelly  33:03   when doing those tea cozies Marsha  33:06   Tea cozies. I have another tea cozy I have to make... and it's like this is knitting for other people. You know? Because like this, I have to say this Navia Tradition, this yarn. I have to put hand cream on when I knit with it, because it's so drying to my hands. It's and I'm not saying that in a bad way. It's just like, this is the type of yarn it is. It's not super pleasant. It's not like, you know that the handspun I was knitting with. I love knitting with it. This is a woolly wool. Kelly  33:36    Right. Right. Marsha  33:39   So it's, it's not a yarn I ever would have purchased. Yeah. So that's sort of part of it, too, I think it's I'm not really, not really into it.  Kelly  33:49   Yeah, I mean, the yarn. The yarn wasn't your choice. The original pattern wasn't your choice. No, yeah. And then with Ben's sweater, you had some challenges with your first pattern. And then you've had some challenges just having him try it. Like knitting for someone who's not there. And I know there are people who do that, you know, they knit for people that they don't have them try it on all the time. But I, I mean, I constantly try things on when I'm knitting for myself.  Marsha  34:19   Yeah.  Kelly  34:20   And so I think that would be really challenging to be knitting something that you know, especially when you're knitting it for the second time because the first one didn't work, and you really don't want to have to rip out again. So you want to make sure it's right. Marsha  34:35   So Mark's I've ripped out twice. So I'm on my third attempt at this sweater for him. Yeah. Okay, that is love or stupidity I'm not quite sure which it is. But anyway, Okay, nevermind my project. Let me hear about your projects, okay? Because you do have... Yeah, let me hear about yours. Kelly  34:54   Okay, it's going. So yeah, actually it's a good thing I have the trailer to talk about because I don't really have much to talk about in terms of my projects. So I can tell you that the garter squish blanket, which was already done, but I have it in the show this time because I actually slept under it. We used it. We used it in the trailer, I brought it for the trailer's bedspread. And I got lots of compliments on it. So some of the trailer people are also yarn people. Marsha  35:30   Of course, of course, there was some overlap. And, yeah, chicken and bees too. I bet. Right. Kelly  35:36   Well, yeah. I mean, I don't know how much of how much of that there is. But there were a couple of people who recognized that I had made it and asked me, Did you make that blanket? And some were working on their own.  Or saw me knitting while I was there and asked about it. So yeah. So yeah, we slept under. It was great. It looks, it looks really nice in the trailer. So I'm super, I'm super happy about how it turned out and being able to use it. I was... Oh, go ahead. Marsha  36:11   Oh, I was just going to say the picture you sent me. The colors work really well in there. Because you have all that sort of light wood with all the panels, the light wood, and then some of the burgundy kind of in there and the floor. And so the colors look really nice in there, I think. Kelly  36:29   Thank you. Yeah. I like it, too. I think it looks good. I actually think you know this, the thing about the Garter Squish, is that they can fit into a lot of different schemes, color schemes. Because you've got those, that one color going, going throughout with all the different colors that you add in. I have not finished the Mother Bear, the headless Mother Bear that I talked about a month ago. She's still headless, because I need to get some stuffing. And I started another one. So I have now have two headless Mother Bears. One flat one is totally flat, and the other one has some stuffing in it. So I need to get get some stuffing so I can finish those up. And what I'm knitting on right now is the mohair vest, which I like it, but then sometimes I look at it and I think is this actually really ugly. Marsha  37:37   And what have you decided, I mean, do you have a definitive answer? Kelly  37:40   No decision or I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure. It's not pooling or anything. I mean, there's a couple of places where it looks darker and a couple of places where the red shows through more, but it's not doing any kind of funky pooling. I'm about now maybe eight inches down from the armhole. And it's just-- it's very hairy. This is a very hairy vest. And I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about the collar. Because I seriously cannot imagine having this against my neck. Like my other vest I wear I zip it all the way up and I have like a turtleneck kind of. I don't think I would ever do that with this one. So I'm not sure. I've thought about using something that's not mohair. But I'm still not sure what I'm going to do I might just get a black yarn and do a, you know, do the border all in black. Which, knitting with black? I'm not sure I want to do that either.  Marsha  38:47   How much... I will say something. Do you think you'll ever wear this?  Kelly  38:54   Yeah, I  do.   Marsha  38:56   Okay. I'm sorry. That's so mean of me. I don't mean to be mean like that. But it's like, Do you love it? You don't know. I mean, you're unsure.  Kelly  39:04   I love mohair yarn. You know that. So I love the yarn. I'm not sure I'm loving how it's knitting up. But I don't hate it either. It's it's just, let's just say it will be unusual. It's not, it's not, you know, "on trend" exactly. It's not the, you know, a strand of kidsilk haze that you carry along with your other yarn. This is full on mohair.  Marsha  39:40   Right. There was a reason why it's in the destash. Kelly. [laughing] Kelly  39:44   Exactly. But I do like mohair and I have in my memory-- one of my fond memories of clothing. I have lots of good clothing memories from my childhood.  In fact I have more clothing memories than I have food memories. So we were talking about that. Aunt Betty and I were talking about that, and I really don't have a lot of food memories from my childhood but I have a lot of clothing memories. And I have the fondest memory of this vest. And I think it was an argyle type pattern that I got in the boys department. When I was in, I think seventh or eighth grade. And it was this kind of full on mohair. Probably not wool mohair probably that Orlon acrylic mohair, because, you know, it was a kid's vest. And I wore that thing all the time. And it was unusual. It was one of those things. It was not one of those things that all the kids were wearing, you know? Marsha  40:51   Yeah. All the cool kids were wearing it. Kelly  40:55   It was one of my, one of my many clothing items that was definitely not on trend. But I really loved it. So I have a feeling that I might, I might not feel quite the same way about this as I felt about that. But it has the same vibe to me. So I think that's why, why I decided to make this vest. And I think it would be good. Like, it'll be warm for sure. I think it'd be good for camping. It'll be good for walking the dogs when it's cold outside. So I think I'll get I think I'll get some wear out of it. I don't know that it will be my go-to piece. So we'll see. But I'm working on it. It's the Rosa Parks colorway from a yarn company called Shaeffer that isn't making yarn anymore. And the the name of the or the type of yarn was Danya mohair. And the really odd thing about it is that it's hardly taken any yarn to make this. I thought I had-- I mean I kind of debated whether I had enough to make to make the vest. But I also am making a vest that calls for, I think, DK and this is at a bulky gauge. So I had, you know, I had to reconfigure the pattern somewhat. So we'll see the, the jury will be out for a while on this one. And I may, it's so hot to knit on. It's not super warm here. But it's you know, it's kind of hot and sticky to knit on and mohair flies up my nose and stuff. So it's not the thing I grab and knit the most often either. I don't have that much to choose from. So that is my only project besides Mother Bears. That was my only project and I wasn't grabbing it to knit. And then I needed something for the road going down to pick up the trailer and bring it back. I thought I would have more time to knit but it was really kind of a whirlwind, looking at other people's trailers, talking to people about the trailer, finding out all the stuff and how it works, you know, all that kind of stuff. So I didn't have much knitting time, but I did bring some leftovers. I have a pair of socks there. Tomato and Mink or Mink and Tomato was the name of the the braid, and it was Falkland handspun and so I have a pair of regular socks out of it, but I had quite a bit of leftover yarn. So I grabbed that and cast on a pair of short socks. So just you know about maybe a maybe an inch and a half to two inch cuff. And then I started the heel and that's about where I am. I think I turned the heel. That's all I've done is a tiny tiny cuff and turn the heel that's all the knitting. And I never--I hardly took out the vest. So I really didn't have much.. Well and the dogs. we had the dogs with us and so I did a lot of walking the dogs at the RV park because they I wanted them to be good and they're a lot better if they've had exercise. And so we did a lot of walking and stuff. Yeah. So anyway, those are my projects, kind of just the vest. Some Mother Bears in the, you know, in the meanwhile. And then the barest start of a pair of shorty socks. So I'm kind of I'm kind of in that place where I don't know. I don't know what to do. I do think... So we sold the other the old trailer The Clubhouse. And this young woman came and she brought her dad because he had the truck with the hitch to pull the trailer home and her mom came too. Really nice people, super nice people. And we got to talking and her mom has this...she said, I have this sweater that I started, but I never was able to finish it, maybe you would be able to finish it. And I at first my thought was like, oh, no, this, you know. Marsha  40:55   Oh no! Kelly  40:55   But, but so I was kind of non committal. I said, Well, you know, I maybe...maybe I would be able to do that. I don't know. And, and then she brought it up again. And finally, I thought, You know what, I'm not super excited about anything I'm knitting. What the hell, you know?  Marsha  43:04   Yeah.  Kelly  43:04   And so and so I said, Yeah, you know, send it to me, and I'll see what I can do. I'm not gonna guarantee that I'll be able to, you know, finish it, but, but send, send me what you have. And I'll take a look at it and and let you know, and if I can't, I'll send it back. And if I can, I'll do it. And she's like, of course, I'll pay you, you know. And so anyway, I haven't heard from her since the trailer sold. And I'm wondering if maybe she feels like, oh, gosh, I was a little bit too forward to do that. Marsha  46:09   Yeah, she thought, Oh, yeah. This woman was just trying to be nice. She's thinking that about you like, Oh, she's trying to be nice, but... Kelly  46:17   One she got home. Or maybe her daughter after they left said, Mom, I can't believe you did that. So I thought, oh, maybe I'll text the woman who bought the trailer and say, you know, let your mom know, if she wants to send that to go ahead. You know, I'm happy to try it. So we'll see. I don't know, it. Just kind of something different. It kind of gave me an idea like, oh, well, maybe that'd be something different and, and fun to do so. And then the other thing that I did, this isn't a knitting project. But I just wanted to give a shout out. We have a new member who joined the the Ravelry group, AJ, and she introduced herself and let us know that she has the Hooked and Booked podcast. And she has a website too. It's called... her name is-- she she goes by AJ, but her website name is KJ Krochet. And the crochet is spelled with a K. And I'll have links in the show notes. But anyway, she's from South Africa. And she has just maybe three episodes, but it's just a cute, it's a cute show. And I listened to it. And I thought oh, this is fun. So I listened to all her episodes. And then she was talking about another podcast called Crochet Conversations. And she's interested, AJ is interested in having more people podcasting who don't have American accents. She said she feels like all of the podcasts, the knitting podcasts that she listens to, and maybe a lot of the other podcast she listens to also, you know, people with American accents, and there's not a lot from elsewhere. And so, so she was promoting this other podcast for these two women from Singapore. And so I went and listened to it too. And it's also very cute. It's called Crochet Conversations. And it's two women, Inez and Mell from Singapore. And the most recent episode, they're taking you through their house, like room by room talking about what crochet is in their house. And I thought that was really cute. So anyway, I'd like to give a recommendation for the Hooked and Booked podcast and Crochet Conversations and I've linked to both of them in the in the show notes if anybody's if anybody's interested. And I thought you know, that's maybe why I said to you, maybe you need to crochet something because I'm thinking maybe maybe it's time for me to crochet something because I'm just not super excited by anything that that I'm working on right now. So maybe I just need a new inspiration. And the trailer is a big inspiration. Because now I can think of all sorts of things that I could make for the trailer you know. So you know like the cover for your toilet paper [laughing] Well, I mean I'm  kidding. Kelly  46:17   Yeah, I got it. [laughing] You need potholders and  hand towels and yeah, and Kelly  49:41   and especially those potholders and like what your great aunt what your your Aunt Ruth made, you know.  Marsha  49:53    Oh yeah, Great Aunt Ruth  Kelly  49:54   1950s style of of crochet potholders, those are really kind of interesting. Marsha  50:02   She did those really cute potholders that I don't know how she did it but there's rick rack in there. So you see part-- you see one point of the rick rack but not the other point of the rick rack. So it makes all these little triangles kind of  Kelly  50:16   Yeah,  Marsha  50:17   yeah, I've never seen a pattern like that but and I was also gonna say too that I've seen I had not seen crochet patterns  for pillows, but knitted pillows I see, you know, covers with color work. And that might be kind of fun, too. Yeah. Because you're going to need some pillows on the sofa.  Knit something--a cover--or crochet something. Yeah, you did the bee pillow, but something like? Kelly  50:44   Yeah, so I think I think I might crochet or weave.  Marsha  50:49   Well, yeah, weaving too. Kelly  50:52    I think I might make -- Robert brought regular bath towels. And we used the shower at the at the RV park, not the shower in the trailer. But one of the issues with the towels is that they take up so much space. And then you have to get them to dry. And Hetti had been talking in the winter weave along about the spa towels that she made. Because in Santa Cruz, it's kind of damp where she lives and she wanted towels that would dry. She was experimenting with different weave structures to see if she could get some towels that would that would dry quickly. You know, be absorbent, but also dry quickly. And then also they take up less space. You know those heavy terrycloth towels. They--not that we don't have the space, but they take up more space. And so yeah, if I could, I could weave something that might be really kind of a cool idea. So So yeah, I have some I have some other inspirations that I haven't had in a while, or haven't ever had really, that's kind of fun. So maybe someone else's sweater and then maybe some crochet and we'll see. We'll see. Check with us next time, listeners, to see if we've improved our attitudes. Marsha  52:21   Yes, I know. Well, I'm hoping my I'm hoping it might... Well maybe it is all my attitude, hopefully my attitude will. It's funny thinking about my attitude because I made the comment that part of all these projects I've been doing have been for other people. It makes me sound so selfish.  Kelly  52:36   But you know it's your hobby. Marsha  52:39   It is my hobby. I've been doing this, but I was down working in the basement and I pulled out because I finished the the socks remember that I had lost the blue, the navy blue for the toe. And I found it in the last episode. So I finished that sock. Oh, I didn't put that in my finished projects. Yes, I completely forgot. I did not put that in my finished objects. But I did finish that. And so instead of putting the Navy away, I knew that I had bought a skein of yarn for my brother, he had picked it out. And the Navy would work really well with it for heels and toes. So I pulled out that skein of yarn and wound it into a cake to cast those on for him. And I'm thinking maybe I should not do that. Given that. Yes, I'm thinking that this is... I should have a conversation with myself. Kelly  53:35   Yeah, maybe you need to do something. Do some self indulgent knitting. Marsha  53:41   Yeah, yeah.  Kelly  53:43   To go with your, your projects for other people. Marsha  53:48   You know what I'd like to knit is I have a combo spin that I made Kelly  53:55   oh yeah, that's a pretty one with silk. Marsha  53:58   I've never knit that up. And I would sort of like to knit that but there you go.  Kelly  54:03   Start that one.  Marsha  54:04   Yeah, there's no, I don't know. Okay. No complaining. Everyone, everybody's gonna want me to finish these projects as soon as possible so they don't have to hear about it anymore. Anyway, okay, next order of business. Kelly  54:21   I'm in the process of getting all of the winter weave along gift cards purchased. So if you won in the winter weave along you'll be hearing from me or getting an email with your gift card information. Either already or very shortly. I also have sent out all of the prizes, finally for the stitches giveaway that we did. I sent them out today. And I think that's the only business that we have. We do still have the SpeakPipe. SpeakPipe, they need to change their name, no one can say it. All right,  Speakpipe.com/twoewes, you can go there and you can leave a message about your favorite local yarn store. Or you can send it to us in an audio file, send it via email. Again, that's twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com, you can email us an audio file from your phone, or your computer or wherever. And tell us about your favorite yarn shop. We'd love to hear all about your yarn shop in your area. So I think that's really all. The Blanket Along ends this week. We talked about that.  Marsha  55:51   Let's just say what's going on. So the Stashbusting blanket along ends May 31. So and then the summer spin in starts June 1, and that, and that will go all summer. So one ends on the 31st. And the next event, or along, or whatever--contest--starts the next day, June 1, and that will go the entire summer and it ends September 5, which in the United States is Labor Day. So we've talked about this before. Memorial Day is sort of the unofficial start of summer, which is in May, and then Labor Day is sort of the unofficial end of summer. And so the summer spin-in will be June 1 through September 5. And then again, we're going to be at the Black Sheep gathering in Albany, Oregon. And that's June 24 through 26th. And that Saturday, we'll have a meet up at the trailer. Yeah. And Kelly, Should we just pick a time? Yeah, Kelly  56:53   Let's say 3:30 or 4:00. Yeah. Marsha  56:57   Yeah. Kelly  56:58   It's not like there's a definite, it's not like, well, you know, it's a party, so come after 3:30. We might not be there if you come before 3:30. Marsha  57:13   Yeah. We know a few people are coming to black sheep.  Kelly  57:15   And maybe we'll see some people who we've met in previous years. Who are going to be there too. They haven't had black sheep for a couple of years. So it will be really good. It will be fun to be back to another fiber festival. Marsha  57:40   Yes. Okay, Kelly, I think that's everything Kelly  57:45    I do too.  Marsha  57:45   Or anything else.  Kelly  57:46   Oh, no, I think that's it. Next episode. I want to talk a little bit more about my plans for the summer spin in. What I'm gonna do with the fleeces in my garage, maybe. But yeah, that's for next time. Maybe I'll have a sweater to work. Yes. Maybe it'll arrive in the mail someone else's sweater.  Marsha  58:08   Yeah, yeah.  Kelly  58:10   Okay. That'll give us something to talk about. Right? Marsha  58:14   Yes, I know. Well, we'll talk in two weeks and we'll find out if you have a sweater. Kelly  58:18   Okay, sounds good. All right. Okay, Marsha  58:21   bye bye. Kelly  58:22   Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Marsha  58:29   Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects. Kelly  58:37   Until next time, we're the Two Ewes  Both  58:40   doing our part for world fleece Transcribed by https://otter.ai  

I believe that solution focused workers don't need to be therapists and they don't need problems to solve. Having had comments both in person and online about my attitude towards traditional therapists and their methods I thought it worth some clarity. I often quote in sessions my Aunt Betty, of course Aunt Betty doesn't exist in reality as a person but she does exist. In fact Aunt Betty might even be you. So before I explain let me tell you something about Aunt Betty. She is an extremely positive person, she is someone who is always fun and reassuring to be around. In a crisis it's aunt betty who remains calm and focuses on the positive. In fact when things go wrong in life then it's Aunt Betty that people gravitate to. People who talk to aunt betty about problems always come away feeling more upbeat and positive about a solution, the problem seems smaller and sometimes afterwards it seems to evaporate all by itself. The funny thing about Aunt Betty is this. She never gives advice or instruction or any of those things. Yes Aunt Betty will tell stories or mention her experiences but never directs them at anyone. Whenever I talk about Aunt Betty then I'm talking about any one of our clients, the social workers, teachers and residential workers whom we train in solution focused working. As i said earlier I could be talking about you. So here's the thing. Aunt Betty isn't trained in the solution focused approach, she certainly never did any therapeutic training either formal or informal. She has no degree's and wouldn't know the first thing about therapy. She has no experience and never wrote a book or paper. However, let me ask you a question Is she the kind of person that you'd prefer to approach in a crisis? Get your PDF here Download the Ebook free here. www.theactionfactory.com/free-book

It's Been A Minute is sticking around, but before our beloved Sam Sanders takes flight we've got news to cover! In Sam's last episode as host, he's joined by NPR Weekend Edition Sunday host Ayesha Rascoe and NPR Congressional Correspondent Susan Davis to talk about the latest in politics news from gas prices to Ukraine to the upcoming US midterms. He then plays a special game of Who Said That? with his Aunt Betty and her friend, Lynette Maxwell.You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.

The Pepper & Dylan show is full of debates and we like to keep track of who comes out on top of them all. At the end of every week, we're going to break down who was right and who was wrong. We started doing it on the last break of the week on the live show, now we're bringing it to the podcast! 1) Can you tell your current partner that your ex was “THE BEST” at anything? 2) If you were visiting a friend who owned a fridge with a touch screen on it, would that be the big conversation piece? 3) Do you dip your entire pizza in the dip or just the crust? 4) Does anyone have an “Aunt Betty”? 5) Is it okay to cancel a first date because you were invited to a hockey game? 6) Does a small part of you smile when something bad happens to someone who did something bad to you? 7) “Admit it! We all pee in pools!”, Right? 8) Does anyone still have a clapper? Find out to see who won the week...

What do we mean by “F” word and “A” team? Should you use Friendors (the “F” word) when planning possibly one of the biggest days of your life? A Friendor is a friend or a family member that you ask (or hire) to take the place of a wedding professional to participate in the planning or execution of events for your wedding. When it comes to weddings, THERE ARE NO DO-OVERS! By the end of the episode, we know you will understand that just because you're hiring your friend or family does not mean you will save money! You will discover by listening that a great wedding planner will bring an “A” wedding team of expert vendors to get you down the aisle and to the altar with all your friendships and family relationships intact.Timestamps: • [1:56] Sharon says: “Well, in my world, I would much rather hear the traditional F word than to hear the wedding F word which is friendor.”• [05:06] Mike explains how there is no recourse when Aunt Betty's cake has collapsed on one side…• [11:53] Sharon makes her point that the bride should not be dealing with stressful decisions on her wedding day…• [14:31] Kristina talks about professionals having the experience and resources to pivot and transition when things don't go according to plan…For more information on The Ring The Bling And All The Things Podcast, visit:https://www.ringblingallthethingspodcast.com/Connect with Us! Website: https://www.ringblingallthethingspodcast.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theringtheblingandallthethingsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theringtheblingandallthethings/The Ring The Bling And All The Things Community Platform: https://www.ringblingallthethings.com/Our vision is to bring vendors, venues, show producers, wedding groups and engaged couples to ONE amazing place! We have built a platform that you can use us to access local vendors, video and photo inspiration galleries, mood boards, wedding stories and articles, engagement stories, exclusive savings, wedding show and expo events in your area, online stores, resources like wedding registries and informative podcasts as well as education events! www.ringblingallthethings.com

UFO researcher Kathleen Marden is the niece of Betty and Barney Hill, who were the subjects in 1961 of one of the best documented of all abduction experiences. Not only were physical traces left behind, Barney remembered much of what happened to them from the beginning. Here, Kathleen describes the moment the phone rang when she was a 13 year old girl, and it was her Aunt Betty on the phone telling her mother one of the most remarkable stories in history. It later became the book Incident and Exeter, and there is now a memorial plaque along the New Hampshire highway where it happened.But Kathleen and Whitley go FAR BEYOND the Hill story, exploring the close encounter experience and what is unfolding now among close encounter witnesses since abductions have become rare.Don't miss a single word of this great interview, especially as they get into the richness of the current close encounter experience and compare it, as really nobody else can, to what has come before. We are waking up, and Kathleen's work reflects that. If you want to get involved with other experiencers who are on a path to awakening about what happened to them, go to The-Awakening-Souls.com and join. Whitley did!Visit Whitley Strieber's site, and consider becoming a subscriber! https://www.unknowncountry.com

Happy Holidays to everyone and we hope you are enjoying time with your families!!! While you travel today to see Aunt Betty and Uncle Jimmy listen to this special episode to hear what the guys do every Christmas! We are honored that you all listen to our show and we can't wait until we unveil our new format for you all to enjoy! See you all in the New Years episode! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jab-cast/support

Ethan (Writer and Editor for f4wonline.com) and Liam (AKA the Hammer) discuss WWE invoking real life firings in their storylines, what appears to be a deliberate fat shaming of a certain lady wrestler, and more. They also discuss Cody Rhodes' crazy table bump, CM Punk's personal history being invoked by MJF, New Japan working w/ NOAH and more! If you like the show, please share and leave us a 5 star review!

How many times have we been too wrapped up in what other people think about us?  Coming off of Thanksgiving, I want to remind you right now how God thinks of you. That's right... not your Aunt Betty, not your second cousin, and definitely not your old high school classmate you saw in the grocery store while home for the holidays.  Let go of all those voices around you, and remember the truth. God loves you. God says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. God says you are beautiful, worthy, and known. Listen to this episode if you'd like to hear some proof straight from Scripture.  Verses mentioned in the episode: Psalm 139:14 Matthew 20:28  Jeremiah 29:11 Romans 10:10 John 1:12 John 8:36 1 John 5:4 1 John 4:4 Phil 4: 13 Hebrews 13:5 Visit my website for freebies at kathylanham.com  

Day 4 of Thirty-0ne Days of Gratitude!  Family.  When I was young, one of my things I loved when it happened was visiting family that was a day travel trip from the small lake side village of Cleveland, New York, to visit family in Syracuse!  Trips to visit and spend time with family, to hear the laughter, to smell the meals cooking, to remember the voices, the laughter, to partake in those meals…to be connected!  Gramma & Grampa Prell, Grampy Louis, Aunt Shirley, Uncle Bob, Aunt Betty, Uncle Dick, Uncle Phil, Aunt Annie, The Heide's The Rivettes's…The Belonge's…The Pacini's all the numerous cousins.  Family.  Always know you are missed and loved!  For you ALL, much gratitude, thanks & LOVE!  The Music Authority LIVE STREAM Show & Podcast...listen, like, comment, download, share, repeat…heard daily on Listen Notes, Google Podcast Manager, Mixcloud, Player FM, Stitcher, Tune In, Podcast Addict, Cast Box, Radio Public, and Pocket Cast, and APPLE iTunes! AND MORNINGS IN CANADA!  Hamilton Co-Op Radio!  https://s1.citrus3.com:2000/public/HCRRadio Follow the show on TWITTER JimPrell@TMusicAuthority! Are you listening? How does and can one listen in? Let me list the ways...Listen LIVE here - https://fastcast4u.com/player/jamprell/ Podcast - https://themusicauthority.transistor.fm/   The Music Authority LIVE STREAM Show & Podcast!  Radio Candy Radio Monday Wednesday, & Friday 7PM ET, 4PM PT, Rockin' The KOR Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7PM UK time, 2PM ET, 11AM PT  www.koradio.rocks  Also, Pop Radio UK Friday, Saturday, & Sunday 6PM UK, 1PM ET, 10AM PT!  October 4, 2021, act one…@Orbis 2.0 - TMA SHOW OPEN THEME@The Groovie Ghoulies - Trick Or Treat@Abbie Barrett (Featuring @Greg Hawkes) - I Will Let You Know @Alice Tambourine Lover - Forse Non Sei Tu@Alice Tambourine Lover - Vorrei Incontrarti@Moving Targetz - 01 Man Machines [Evolver- The Early Adventures of... (1984 – 1985)] (@Bullseye Records Of Canada)@Birrell Or Biscuit - Anthemesque (@whanga Records)@Chris Church - 01 Left in the Summer (@Big Stir Records) (@SpyderPop Records)@Chris Church - 02 Something Completely (@Big Stir Records) (@SpyderPop Records)@Chris Church - 03 Fall (@Big Stir Records) (@SpyderPop Records)@Open Sound - TMA Promo@Open Sound - You're So Fine v2 [Open Sound]@Christopher Thomas - Broken Halo@Def Robot – Underdog@DreamEyes – Heaven@Gavin Eimerman - Losing Ground@Gavin Eimerman – See Through@The Bye Bye Blackbirds - 09 All Our Friends [Boxer At Rest]@Grand Drifter - Haunted Life@Guy Snowdon And The Citizens – Stand Together

My guest today is talking about a topic we've never touched on Good Money before: solitude. Now before you start rolling your eyes thinking of a 7 day silence retreat or taking yoga classes like Aunt Betty, this is absolutely not that kind of solitude.   As an intelligence officer in 3 combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, Mike Erwin shares how the simple art of cutting out the noise transformed his creativity and decision-making—and how it can transform yours too. Solitude can make you more money, and Mike tells stories of how successful business and historical leaders have used it to their advantage. PLUS, I ask Mike his honest thoughts about what's happening in Afghanistan and how we can help.    3 KEYS TO SUCCESS: Solitude can be practiced anywhere  When you practice solitude, you'll be more creative in challenging situations than your peers Start “brainwriting” - ask your team to write out 3 ideas on a piece of paper instead of sharing them out loud in front of the group   Follow Derrick on Instagram for daily money tips! https://www.instagram.com/derricktkinney/  

Wow! The San Francisco International Pen Show! After hearing about all the beautiful pens Kelly saw, we may all want to start collecting a few ourselves. We also learn that pens join knitting, dogs, chickens, and teaching on our Venn Diagram. Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Three Green Sisters prizes: Grand prize is an 18 by 18 pillow using fabric designed by Cheri Magnusson. A fabric designer who is the shepherd of an Icelandic flock in Maine.  In addition to the pillow, they are generously providing their Patty style bag as a prize. One will be used for the Summer Spin-In and one will be drawn from a thread we'll post in the Ravelry group.  They are offering Fiber Adventurers a coupon code EWES2 for 15% off until the end of the year. They also make custom loom totes, spinning wheel carriers and spindle and heddle bags, along with one of a kind styles. Take a look at what Suzanne and other 3 Green Sisters are offering in their 3 Green Sisters Etsy shop. SF International Pen Show Kelly saw lots of great pens and stationery supplies. Bailey got to attend , too. Some favorite vendors were Peyton Street Pens, and Curnow Bookbinding. Marsha's Projects Atlas (Ravelry link) by Jared Flood using Navia Tradition. The pattern is also available at his website. I finished the colorwork yoke and the neckband and washed and blocked the sweater before finishing the bottom and sleeve ribbing. My brother tried on the sweater and we confirmed it was too small. I need to frog it and start over. I'm waiting for Kelly to get here to help me unravel it over a glass of wine. I finished the picot bind off of my Simple Shawl by Jane Hunter. I still need to wash and block it. I cast on the tea cozy pattern, Nanny Meier's Tea Cozy by Amelia Carlsen. I am using Cascade 220 Heather in Red Wine Heather (9489) and green Irelande (2429). Finished my Summer Spin In spinning project. Want to make a sweater for Ben and I am considering these patterns: Thun The Blue Mouse Poche Caitlen Shepherd Phrancko  Frank Jernigan Kelly's Projects Dark Green Forest by Christina Korber-Reith. I am using a terra cotta yarn that is a dark red overdyed over the light brown color of the CVM yarn. Working on the first sleeve but I'm almost done. More dishcloths--I'm now using two shades of variegated green from the cotton that we dyed back in 2015 (I think) Patreon Pattern Giveaway! Patrons get a pattern of their choice up to $8.00. Contact Kelly with your pattern selection!  Patterns people have requested (Ravelry links) OMG Heel Socks by Just Run Knit Designs Beautiful Together by Romi Hill Georgetown by Hannah Fettig Girlang by Linnea Ornstein Friday Tee by PetiteKnit Mosaic Musings by Steven West Avion by Katrin Schneider Stripes! by Andrea Mowry Edie by Isabell Kraemer Songbird Shawl by VeryShannon Derecho by Alison Green Nydia by Vanessa Smith Morning Rituals by Andrea Mowry Riddari by Védís Jónsdóttir for Ístex Sleepy Polar Bear by Susan B Anderson Summer Spin In - Ending September 6th! Get your projects posted this weekend. We'll draw prizes in the next episode. Prizes from Three Green Sisters Full Transcript Marsha 0:03 Hi, this is Marsha Kelly 0:04 and this is Kelly. Marsha 0:05 We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 0:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 0:17 We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly 0:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects, Marsha 0:29 and I am betterinmotion. We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Both 0:36 Enjoy the episode. Marsha 0:42 Hi, Kelly. Kelly 0:43 Hi, Marsha. How are you? Unknown Speaker 0:45 I'm doing well. Kelly 0:46 Good, me too! School has started. Yay! Marsha 0:54 Yay! It's your favorite time of the year. Kelly 0:55 It is it really is. And actually, it's been a lot of fun. The last couple of days I've gotten to meet-- I had, I had some activities that I didn't do in previous semesters. And so I've gotten a chance to meet students online. A little bit, a little bit better than what I've done in previous semester. So yeah, I'm learning. I'm getting better. It's getting to be a little more interesting and fun. And all that training pays off. Marsha 1:25 Yeah. Really. Kelly 1:25 Yeah, really? Ask me again, though in November. Marsha 1:33 Yeah. Yeah. Kelly 1:35 But right now, day three, right. This is Wednesday? Yeah, no, this is Thursday, day, four of the semester, it's going great. Marsha 1:46 It's going so great you don't even know what day of the week. Kelly 1:47 I know, really, this is a good sign. I feel like I'm attached to the hip with my computer between doing all the school stuff. You know, I mean, I don't have zoom class meetings, but jumping on zoom to help students with questions, emailing back and forth to students, putting up assignments to students, grading assignments to students--with-- you know--of students. Checking in to make sure they've done all the things that they needed to do. It has data analytics, so I can see what pages they've been looking at. And, you know, figure out what I need to do like, oh, they're missing this. Students don't seem to be looking at this page. They're missing this information, I need to make sure I put out a notice, you know, all this stuff on my computer. And then when I'm done for the night, well, and then then the morning before I start, you know, I'm looking at the news on the computer, I'm looking at Ravelry on the computer, and then when I done at night, I take the computer to bed and I watch TV, watch Netflix Like this computer is like attached to my-- practically attached to my body. Hmm, I'm going to really be in need of a digital detox at some point. Marsha 3:00 Well. Yeah, maybe someday. Maybe. Kelly 3:05 Yeah, I don't know. It's funny, because I don't, I don't really, I don't really mind. You know, most of the stuff on the computer is, is it's enjoyable, you know, looking at Ravelry and talking to students and all that, watching Netflix or Amazon Prime. You know, it's it's not terrible. It's just-- It's so funny. This one device is doing everything for me Marsha 3:31 That's a lot of time. That's a lot of time looking at that blue screen or whatever it is. Kelly 3:35 Yeah, yeah. That's true. Marsha 3:39 Well, what have you been up to? Kelly 3:41 Since we last talked? Well, I went to the San Francisco International Pen Show! Yay! Marsha 3:50 I saw your pictures. It looks very cool. Kelly 3:53 Who knew? First of all, that there even was such a thing, although I should know that. You know, if there's a yarn conference, of course, there should be a pen conference. I mean, every hobby's got to have their you know, their their get togethers. I saw on Instagram, the like mascot for the pen show was a white German Shepherd. And so on their Instagram feed they were posting pictures, you know, Odin says wear a mask and have you gotten your you know, do you know what pens you're going to be looking at? A picture of the dog with the pen in his paws and, you know, all these different pictures with pens. And then I saw there was a hashtag dogs of the San Francisco pen show. And then somebody said something about, oh, and then one of the posts was, is your pooch coming or something like that? And I thought, Wait a minute, what? Wait, what? Because we were trying to figure out what to do with the dogs, you know, they don't really have a lot of experience being home alone. And that's a you know, that's a distance away for for us so it's going to be all day. And the two together is a lot for Aunt Betty to, to have to deal with. So we were trying to manage what we're going to do and we had thought we would bring them both in the truck, but then it was going to be like almost 90 degrees. And there was covered parking but Robert's truck is tall and so there's always a worry what if it doesn't fit in the covered parking? The old truck didn't fit in covered parking. This one the shell is a little bit lower. He didn't get the, the taller shell. So anyway, there was all this like angst about what we're going to do. And and I had, you know, thought, Oh, I need to call the hotel and get information about their parking structure. Anyway, when I saw that, it's like, oh, she can come to the pen show. So Bailey came to the pen show. It was so fun. Marsha 5:48 Did she by a-- Did she buy a pen? Kelly 5:50 No, I didn't let her have any money. But she was really good. And there were other dogs there. We didn't get to see the white German Shepherd. I guess they were busy running the show. And not you know, didn't have the dog. But But yeah, he was there at the party-- the after party that evening. But we had already gone by then. So Marsha 6:17 The pen show has an after party? Kelly 6:18 Yeah. It's called a pen show after dark. It looks like a lot of fun. Marsha 6:27 It's so clever. Kelly 6:28 Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like, you know, kind of like the lobby at stitches. Marsha 6:33 Mm hmm. Kelly 6:34 So after, you know, after hours, so yeah. I also found out that there's an intersection. Quite the intersection between pen lovers, and knitters. Okay, so I wanted to give a few shout outs to some people that I talked to at the pen show. One of them, her name is Rena. I don't remember her last name. But her Ravelry name is sewwhatsports and sew is an s-e-w. And she actually was telling me that she had written an article for ply magazine. And I don't have this issue, but it's in the electric issue. I was gonna try to get it because I'd love to see her article. It's in the electric issue of ply magazine, which I think was in May or April. And she wrote an article about being a nomad spinner. So she's sold everything and she's just living on the road. And one of the things that she that she's doing as she lives on the road is these pen shows. She was at a booth for a guy, a shop called Toys in the Attic. And so yeah, I bought a pen case from them. Little travel case that fits in the pocket of my briefcase, and she showed me all about it, how it's--you could step on it and it won't crush and and so it won't, you know, my pens won't get smashed in my briefcase, and has a magnet clip that is super strong so that it won't pop open. And but anyway, her article was about how she spins on the road with an electric spinner. Marsha 8:20 Mm hmm. Kelly 8:21 So that was really cool. So shout out to Rena, Ravelry name is sewwhatsports. And then I was at the Peyton Street Pens booth. And Peyton Street Pens is the one that's local to me. It's an online shop, but they are in Santa Cruz. All the pens I've bought, have been from there. Marsha 8:43 Except, except the one from college, right? Kelly 8:47 Yes, the one the one that I bought in college I bought, I did not clearly did not buy from them. But then that inspired me to get-- make a small collection of Sheaffer Targas from that same era, which I bought from them. And then I got the older Sheaffers for Christmas and my birthday. And those were also from them. So anyway, I wanted to meet Teri and introduce myself and say hello and have her put a face to an order blank, you know. Marsha 9:20 yeah. Kelly 9:21 So I went over there to talk with her and helping in her shop is a woman named Elizabeth. And she's like, did you knit your sweater? So I think this actually is what what created my knowledge about this intersection because I wore the Edie my Edie Tee that's that variegated yarn, the turquoise variegated. And so she said, Did you knit your sweater? And I said yes. And then I said, Are you a knitter and she said, Oh yeah. And so she goes to her bag and she pulls out her shawl and, and she was making a beautiful or she had in her in her bag it was finished. It was what she was wearing. She had in her bag, a beautiful, multicolor shawl. So that was really fun to get to meet somebody who--and she's on Ravelry. But I don't, I didn't get her Ravelry name. And then there was another booth where I actually bought a little leather cover for a field notes-- for my field notes notebooks. Marsha 10:26 Yeah, Kelly 10:26 It's what they call a traveler's style notebook where it's a cover with elastics and then you just, you just insert almost as many of these little Field Notes notebooks as you want inside by using these elastics to attach them. So I bought the cover from them and it's Curnow Bookbinding. Marsha 10:49 Okay, Kelly 10:49 And the woman there was also a knitter and I did not get her name, unfortunately. But yeah, she she, she told me her Ravelry name, and I didn't write it down. So I don't remember. But But yeah, that was really fun to meet her too. And I was able to buy the little, the little book and they have-- Curnow bookbinding it's C U R N O W. They have an Etsy shop. And they sell the cutest notebook thing. I didn't buy one at this shop, but I think I might have to at some point go on their Etsy shop. But they take old books. And then they use the covers of the old books. Marsha 11:34 Mm hmm. Kelly 11:35 And they put hand sewn notebooks inside. Okay, so they had Hardy Boys and some other titles that I didn't recognize. But I was just thinking I should go back and look at their site because what a fun gift for someone. You know, if you know that they really loved a certain book when they were young. Like let's say they love Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys and you go on Marsha 12:01 Yeah, Kelly 12:01 and see, you know, that notebook So, so I thought that was very clever. And then they also had wooden notebook covers that were like laser engraved. And there's one with a really cool octopus. Oh, I almost I almost bought the octopus one. And then there was also a woman who made felt art notebook covers and had bowls for your paint brushes. Marsha 12:34 Okay, Kelly 12:34 And and she was like, No, they're not knitting bowls. They're not yarn bowls. Like okay, she knows about yarn bowls? Kelly 12:43 Yeah, really? Kelly 12:44 I guess if you if you craft with felts maybe you do know about yarn bowls. So but they have little lips on them. So you could put your, you know, your watercolor brush on Marsha 12:56 Okay, Kelly 12:56 the bowl edge. So yeah, it's very cool. I so I bought the cover to the note-- the notebook cover. I bought a pen, a really darling little, small, like four-- under four and a half inches. A little orange and black, a 1920s or 1930s pen that fits into my little notebook. So that's really cool. Yeah, I had a great time. It was a lot of fun. I didn't spend all my money. Marsha 13:30 Oh, good. Kelly 13:31 Yeah. Well, Marsha 13:31 I guess that's good. Is that good? Kelly? Kelly 13:33 Yeah, it was fine. I wasn't sure you know, what I was going to see or what I was going to want. And there was there was a lot of interesting stuff there. But a lot of the things I don't feel like I know enough. Marsha 13:46 Mm hmm. Kelly 13:47 You know, so it was mostly, it was more of a learning, was more of a learning experience to go. And yeah, there are a couple things I wanted. I wanted the case, the pen case that I could put in my briefcase to protect my pens. Marsha 14:01 Mm hmm. Kelly 14:02 If I ever get back on campus, if I ever go anywhere. And then I wanted the cover to the field notes notebooks. So, huh. So yeah, but lots of intersection between knitting and this whole pen, pen and stationery world. Marsha 14:23 I remember having this whole discussion about the intersection of knitting and chickens. Kelly 14:27 Yes. Now we can add knitting and pens, knitting and pens, knitting and chickens. knitting and dogs. Marsha 14:34 Yeah, Kelly 14:35 There are a lot of intersections. Yeah. knitting and teachers, pens and teachers. Anyway, yeah, we could go, we could go on. Marsha 14:46 The list goes on. Yeah, Kelly 14:47 yeah. You know, all the cool. All the cool people do all the cool crafts, right. Marsha 14:54 Yeah, that's true. So yeah, well, that sounds like it was really fun and I think you sent me some pictures. Yeah. And the pens, some of the pens are just beautiful. Kelly 15:05 Oh my gosh, yeah, just Yeah, really, really, really beautiful. And some are really, really, really expensive. Yeah. You know, there's a pen price for everyone. That was another thing that was pretty cool to see, you know, really wide variety. Marsha 15:23 Well, and I was gonna say, you know, if you had those really expensive pens, you probably wouldn't want to take it out of your house and bring it to class because it'd be easy to lose something like that, you know. Which it's nice now that you have the case too, because you it's that'll be harder to lose, than a pen, you know, Kelly 15:39 yeah right. And then the case, I've been using the case. I have a bag that I pack in the morning when I go out to the trailer just because it's easier to carry all my stuff. And so I've been using the case in there. And it's really nice, because it just fits exactly in the pocket of my felted bag. And then the flap. The flap closes, because it's magnetic, it closes over the edge of the pocket. So it's really easy to just flip that flap up and grab the pen out and then close it back up. It's not like I have to take something out, take the pen out of that. I could just reach in like, it's become like a... it's not permanent, but it's almost like a permanent pocket. Or, well, yeah, a permanent hard sided pocket in my, in my bag. And that was kind of what I wanted was something that I could just put into my bag. It'll stay in my bag, and then I could just flip up the top and get the pen out. Marsha 16:36 Yeah. Kelly 16:38 So yeah, it was nice. I also saw Marianne, our friend Marianne. Kelly 16:42 Oh, yeah, Kelly 16:43 Arunningstitcher or Mariknitstoo on Ravelry. I think is her her Ravelry name there anyway. Yeah, so that was fun. She was-- she said she was gonna come for the end of the pen show. So we stood around and talked, probably a good 30 to 40 minutes. So I hope she had enough time to do damage after we got done talking. So we were headed out and she was headed to take a loop around and see what she could find So, huh. So yeah, I was really fun to see someone in person. Marsha 17:20 Yeah. Yeah, cuz it's been years. Well, year and a half when we're getting up on it. Kelly 17:28 Yeah, I mean, I haven't.. The last time I saw her it was in February of 2020. At tSitches. Yeah. So it would...that was really fun. To have a chance to meet somebody in person. It was, it was just a fun, fun day all around. Marsha 17:47 Yeah. Good. Yeah. Well, um, yeah. So it's very cool. Next year, maybe I'll come down for it. I'm not, maybe I need, maybe I need to get into these pens. I'm not into the pens. Maybe Maybe there's, maybe I shouldn't be into these pens. I don't know. Kelly 18:01 Oh, it's pretty fun. Yeah, pretty fun. Well, and I've got, okay, we won't to talk a whole lot about this. But I've now got a little system with my notebooks, to help me remember what I have to do for my classes and stuff. And that's been kind of fun to to...You know, we've talked about our lists. And I still have the steno pad that I use to keep lists. But now with that little small notebook cover, I have a couple of notebooks in there and one's for each class. And so I just take and jot little things or have like, I need to make a list of students that I need to contact, you know, like, I can actually write their names down on it. It's all in the computer. But sometimes you just need to write it down, have a list, and then go back to your email and create the email, you know. So I'm using it for all that kind of stuff, just like little scratch notes that I have for my class. So it's kind of fun to have a new little notebook system that I'm developing here. Marsha 19:00 Yeah, yeah. Oh, very cool. Yeah. And what else? Kelly 19:05 Well, I have some knitting. Okay. Marsha 19:07 You want to talk to me-- talk projects, then? Kelly 19:10 Yeah, I do have some knitting. I'm working right now on my sweater. And I'm almost finished with the first sleeve. I have probably 18 to 20 more rows of the cabling, and then the ribbing at the bottom. Marsha 19:30 Wow, good progress. Kelly 19:32 Yeah, it's it's going. It seems like it's going slowly. But that's just because I haven't had a chance to pick it up recently. Or the other thing is, when I've had the chance to pick it up. I've had to then rip back because my problem is that the rows are you know, the rounds on a sleeve are so short. Yeah, I forget to mark them off. Marsha 19:58 Oh, okay. Kelly 19:59 And so I'm going... You know, if it's a longer one and you get finished with it, it's like more momentous, I think. And so you remember to mark it off. I still forget, but I have an easier time remembering in that case. But with this, I'll get to the end of the row and just keep, you know, just keep plowing on. And yeah, keep going. Yeah. And every fourth row, I think it's every, Yeah, every fourth row, I have to do cable crossings. And so I was like, oh, shoot, have I gone three rows? Is this the time for the cable crossing? Or was it only two and I'm trying to count. And then I make the cable crossing and like, oh, shoot. No, that's too small. I needed to go one more or Oh, no, that's too big. Oops, gotta go backwards. So I've done quite a bit of, of unknitting the whole round or going back and just undoing the section of the cable crossing and fixing it. It's, it's a little irritating that I can't count. Marsha 20:58 [laughing] Kelly 21:03 I find it to be annoying. Not so annoying that I've learned to do it. But Marsha 21:10 to do it. Yeah funny! Kelly 21:12 But yeah, it's annoying, I get really irritated with myself. But it's it's well pattern I am I'm enjoying this pattern. I'm really enjoying the yarn. This is my handspun CVM three ply that I overdyed. And the natural color is a light tan. I think when I originally named the the the yarn, you know, in my project page, I called it "have a little coffee with your cream." Because the color of the yarn is if you... we used to have as a kid, I don't know if you guys did this, but my grandma would make us coffee milk. Marsha 21:57 What is that? Kelly 21:58 Well, it's like an inch of coffee. And then the rest of its milk in your cup. Oh, and so it's like you're having coffee with your adult family members. It's like you're doing this thing of having coffee, but you're really just having a glass of milk. So anyway, we used to have coffee milk, not all the time. Special, you know, special treat to have coffee milk. So it reminded me of that coffee milk where you're really just having milk and you're having a little coffee with your milk. And that's the color of the yarn. And then I dyed it with a color, I think it's called dark red dye. And so I've gotten this terra-- kind of orangey rusty terracotta color. So that's the the yarn I'm using, which of course you already know. But I'm letting people people know who might not have listened to before because I don't know if you noticed Marsha, but we have quite a few new listeners. Marsha 22:55 We do. Kelly 22:56 Yeah. Yeah, over the last few months. Marsha 22:59 Welcome. Kelly 23:00 Yeah, Marsha 23:01 all that talking is paying off. [laughing] Kelly 23:07 Well, and I think, I think some of them have come from... I can, you know, I can kind of look at the statistics, the analytics on our on the lips inside, but some of it has come from Spotify. So now that the our podcast has been on Spotify for a while, it's starting to get more more listeners there. And then there's another one called Gaana, which is I think it's in I want to say it's in India, is where that podcast app is used more. Okay, so we have we have some listeners on that app anyway. So yeah, welcome everyone who's new. Nice to see you and I wanted to just make sure you know about my sweater. And the pattern that I'm using. I think I forgot to say that the pattern that I'm using is called dark green forest. And it's by Christina Korber Reith. Or Rieth. Marsha 24:07 and I have a question about your sweater because where are you with the sleeve issue? Because remember, we were talking about this the last time that you think it's going to be okay? That because the color is slightly different but you think the last time we talked, we recorded I think you said we thought was going to be okay. Kelly 24:23 oh yeah, cuz I was only like an inch or so past and I now I'm now I'm quite a ways down and this sleeve is looking fine. Marsha 24:32 Okay, Kelly 24:33 There's a there's a slight change in the in the variation, you know, because then kettle dyed yarn is varied. Anyway, there's a slight change in the variation about the place where I started the sleeve, but there's also a slight change in the variation a little higher where it was within within a single skein. And then there's slight changes in the variation as it goes down the sleeve too. So I think I think it looks pretty seamless. Marsha 25:07 Good. That's nice to hear. Kelly 25:08 Yeah. Yeah, that was, I think that's what kept me from actually putting the sleeves on for so long. I was kind of worried about that. But this one's going well, hopefully the second one will go will go just as well. But I think it's going to be fine. Yeah. Yeah, I'm pleased to say. Marsha 25:29 Very nice it is really pretty. Kelly 25:31 Thank you. Yeah, I'm really enjoying this pattern. I'm glad I found it. It's not a very-- it's not a very well used pattern. I think there were only like, maybe 20 projects. Let me see. There are 25 projects. Okay, so yeah, only only a very few people, two dozen people have made this pattern. So, but I'm having a good time with it. And I think it's really well written. It's very detailed, a little bit daunting when I first opened it up, but once I started actually reading... Kinda like my students and my online class. Once they actually read the directions, Marsha 26:16 yes. It's not daunting at all. Kelly 26:19 It's not so daunting. So yeah, no, it's, it's, it's, it's been really a good pattern, I would, I would highly recommend it. So and then the only other thing that I've been doing is, I've now I finished with the pinkish purple yarn that I was using for those dish cloths. And I cracked open as a couple of skeins of green. So I've got a dark green and a light green variegated. They're really pretty. And I was thinking back to when it was that we did this. I think we dyed this yarn in, like 2015 Marsha. Marsha 26:58 Well, it was... Yes. It was a while ago. Kelly 27:01 Yes. So I'm really glad to be finally getting some use out of it. Yeah. Marsha 27:09 Nice. Nice. Is that it for projects for you? Kelly 27:14 That's all I got. I haven't done any spinning. I haven't touched Faye's blanket. But her birthday is in October, so I'm thinking I'm gonna finish it for her birthday. Kelly 27:24 Okay, Kelly 27:25 That just seemed like a good, A good milestone. Once I passed a certain point, it was like, Okay, now it's just gonna be a birthday present. Marsha 27:34 And it's an achievable goal, right? Kelly 27:36 Oh, yeah. I yeah, I have just the edging to do so it should. The crochet goes pretty fast in October's a month, away. Marsha 27:45 Thinking of October, I was thinking the other day at you know, I think I texted you a picture that I threw out a bunch of yarn, God gave it back to the goodwill... to the universe. And then I organized all my yarn and I also got these little plastic boxes to put the yarn in. And I had extra boxes. So I decided to put my unfinished projects in these clear plastic boxes so that I would see them. Kelly 28:09 Oh, I think I know where this is going. [laughing] Marsha 28:13 And one of my clear plastic boxes that contains my unfinished skull. And I was thinking I think this the third October, but I I yeah, I'm pretty sure it's the third October, Kelly 28:28 I think you're right. Marsha 28:30 Hmm. And I'm not getting... I'm not... well, I don't know. Maybe I'll maybe something will happen and I'll get it done by the 31st. You know, by Halloween. unlikely but I could do it. Kelly 28:42 Didn't you start on the teeth? Marsha 28:44 I finished the teeth on the ...now I can't remember. Kelly 28:51 You finished all the teeth? Marsha 28:53 No, no, no, no, I finished the teeth on the lower jaw. Kelly 28:56 Oh, okay. Marsha 28:57 And now I think I have... And there's how many teeth? Do we have? 32? . I don't know. It has accurate... an accurate number of teeth. So yeah, how many teeth is that? I've done half of them. That's 16 teeth. Kelly is that 16 teeth? Yeah, here's math. Can you divide 32? Kelly 29:17 I can do that math. I just can't count. Marsha 29:21 Anyway, um, and then I need to... so I, so I can... I was looking at it. And I've actually knit all the parts except I have to finish the teeth. And then sew it together. And I have to knit I have to get some dark gray yarn, or black or some dark color to knit like the the, the eye sockets. Yes, if I recall and I never... as I say I didn't get to that part in the pattern yet. But I think what you do is you knit basically like it's a ball kind of, like that's not as... like some like a half circle, kind of that you then push it back into the skull, kind of, to make like the eye So okay, Kelly 30:01 I'm remembering the one I did. I did the mask, The Day of the Dead mask. And it had it had the eye sockets too. And I think it was just kind of like a, it had some short rows in it. But yeah, it was kind of just like making a circle. And then that gets sewed on the back. I should bring you... do you need dark yarn? Kelly 30:23 Yeah. Kelly 30:23 Okay, I should bring you--that's another thing. We haven't talked about that. I'm coming up to see you. Marsha 30:28 Yeah, we'll talk about that in a second. Yeah, I have something to say about that, too. Kelly 30:31 I'll, I'll try to remember to pack... I have some of the that Rambouillet that, you know, the replenish Rambouillet that we have in our shop and I have some samples of that from from Lani. One of them is a dark color, I'll bring that and that might work. Marsha 30:49 Well, the other thing I have, I will get to my projects. But the other thing I have is just I have a lot of fleece, dark brown, black fleece, that I could just spin some and spin a little bit, knir with and... Kelly 31:05 that's, that's another obstacle though, to make it not get knit. Marsha 31:09 I know. I know. So Kelly 31:11 I'll try to remember to pack it, because Marsha 31:14 I will just remind people, because you, Kelly, you said we have a lot of new listeners. But I bought this pattern. So it'll be it was not last Stitches, but it was the Stitches before the Stitches we went to before the pandemic started. Because I can't even remember Kelly, when did the pandemic start? Is that 20 2020 Kelly 31:35 Yeah, it was 2019 when we got crazy about the skulls. Marsha 31:39 Yes. And we went crazy with the skulls and you bought like the Day of the Dead and they're kind of flat? Where mine is actually like, like round three dimensional sculpture. Yeah, that you felt and then you stuff and Kelly 31:51 I have that pattern too, I just never... I just didn't start that one. I got excited about starting the day that the Day of the Dead mask skulls. Marsha 32:00 So But anyway, it's in a clear box, so I can see it now when I go down there. Yeah. into the cellar.... Kelly 32:08 The room under your house? [laughing] Marsha 32:10 Yes. Um, so anyway, and I'm trying to think to remember who the pattern maker was? It's Wooley. Kelly 32:20 Wooley. Wooley Wonders or something. Marsha 32:23 Yeah. Wooley Wonders. Yeah, right. Kelly 32:25 I think so. But you talk and I'll look. Marsha 32:29 Oh, well, anyway, so that's it with that. So anyway, I just I'm bringing that up, because I found that skull down there. And it's, it's October so it just kind of made me laugh again about it. Okay. While you're looking I'm... we'll go back to it. But I'm going to talk about my next project. So Kelly, the last time two weeks ago, we talked about the Atlas, the Jared Flood pullover that I'm making for my brother. And remember I said I was...had some concerns. Kelly 32:54 Yes, about size. Marsha 32:57 I know. So it's too small. I mean, like he can get it on. But he said it's just like it's not there's not enough room through the shoulders. It's like, let me back up. It fits through the body, like the torso, then when you get up onto the the yoke through the the shoulders. It's... he said it just feels tight. Like he can put it on and it looks okay. But he said it's not super comfortable. And he said to me, Well, maybe if you wash and block it, and I said it is washed and blocked. So I think what I just... it's just sitting in the guest bedroom. And I'm thinking about it. And I thought I'm not going to rip it out yet. Kelly 33:38 Yeah. Marsha 33:38 But I think it needs to be frogged. And I and I but what I'm... You mentioned that you're coming up and so I will, I'm going to speak about that now. So you're coming up. You're driving up from California. Kelly 33:49 Yay. Marsha 33:50 Yay. And we're.. we are beyond excited. Kelly 33:52 Yeah. Yes. Yeah. That is definitely fair to say. Yeah. So I, I decided that since I had to endure the pain of teaching 100% online for three semesters now. That well, actually three and a half semesters. This is my, the start of my fourth semester. Let's see spring, fall, spring? fall? Yes. Marsha 34:22 Again. Kelly, again, the counting. [laughing] Kelly 34:26 This is the start of the fourth semester with 100% online. And so I thought if I have to endure the pain of this, I'm also going to get some of the benefit of this. And one of the benefits of teaching 100% online... Which in the... in the before times not very many people at the college had the opportunity to do that. It was not something that was routinely done. And in fact, there were moves towards making it so that people couldn't teach 100% of their load online. So there were just very few people who could do it. But one of the advantages of doing it is that you can teach from anywhere. And so I thought, okay, I could teach from Seattle. And then I could work during the day, and then I could play in the evening. And actually, with online classes, you can play in the day and work at night, you know, you can rearrange your schedule, however you need to. So I thought, I'm going to take advantage of this once in a lifetime, for me, because I don't intend to teach 100% online, ever again, if I can help it, right, Marsha 35:38 right. Kelly 35:39 But I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to teach really remotely, so I'm going to be teaching from Seattle. It's just gonna be so fun. Marsha 35:48 I know. So you're, I'm very excited. So and we have our, we have everything planned, well sort of planned out what we're going to do. Basically, when we're in Seattle at my house, we're just going to sit on the deck and spin and knit. Kelly 36:00 Yep. Marsha 36:01 When you're when you're not working, we're going to be spinning and knitting on the deck, and walking dogs and just playing with dogs. And because you're bringing Bailey, you're not bringing Beary though he's gonna stay home. Kelly 36:13 No he's staying home. In fact, he's having afternoons with Aunt Betty, because because he needs to get practice in staying with her. And he's, you know, for months, he, this pair of dogs are the only dogs I've ever raised where I haven't practiced having them be by themselves. Marsha 36:32 Mm hmm. Kelly 36:33 You know, all the other dogs I raised from puppyhood. And that was just a part of the routine was that they had to get used to being alone. And, of course, Bailey came with her own issues about being alone. And with Beary, it's just, you know, it's harder now because there's two dogs and we're always home. So he really hasn't had a lot of opportunity to to learn to just be the stay at home dog and not have me around not have Robert around. So he's been practicing. Practicing afternoons with Aunt Betty. She gives him cookies. And he's learning to be happy down there. Marsha 37:14 Well, he's a pretty easy going dog. I mean Kelly 37:17 Well, it's funny, because he does seem like that. But he has fears that you just don't notice because of the way he acts. Like he was really afraid to go in the door to her room from outside. I don't know why. There was just something really strange about it. Maybe it felt like going into the basement? I don't know. Yeah, he just had a real fear of it. And so we've had to really work on work on that. And then once he got in, he immediately wanted to go out. And so but you know what? He likes food. And yeah, and so she's been giving him cookies. And he's been, he's been learning that it's a happy place. Marsha 37:59 Mmmhmm. Well, and aunt Aunt Betty is fun. And she loves dogs. And you know, all the dogs love Aunt Betty so he'll be fine Kelly 38:08 Yeah, it'll be, it'll be fine. He'll, he'll be okay. while I'm gone. Yeah, it'll be different for him. But he'll be okay. But anyway. Yeah, I'm really excited to be bringing Bailey on a road trip. Marsha 38:19 Yes. So we're gonna have a week in Seattle. And then we're going to go down for about a week to the Washington coast and do the whole beach thing. Kelly 38:28 Yeah. Marsha 38:28 And so we're excited about that, too. And let Bailey and Enzo run on the beach because Bailey's been to the beach a couple times with you and Robert, right down in California? Kelly 38:38 Once Yeah, we went once. Marsha 38:40 Oh, just once. And so I'm excited about that. Just to the beach... Well, you know, it's my favorite place. A side note, I'm going more and more side notes that we're going down. I will get back to my project. Because we're going to that community called Seabrook where we always go and I've talked about String Theory Yarns, that's owned by Jean. And I noticed that she posted on Instagram that she and her husband bought an Airstream trailer. Marsha 38:43 Oh, wow, Marsha 39:13 For traveling, which is super cool and super exciting. And my first thought was, how are they going to go anywhere? Because she was telling me in the summer, she usually she works like 120 days straight because she has... she's open seven days a week, and she's the only person in there. She doesn't have an employee. And so I thought when's she gonna use that trailer, and I thought I have a bad feeling about this. That she's retiring and she's closing the shop. Kelly 39:42 Oh no, Marsha 39:45 Well, I assume she's closing the shop. They just, she... Seabrook then posted that she's retiring. So I don't know. Honestly, I don't know if somebody has purchased the business from her or what's going to go on with the yarn shop but I'm a little heartbroken. I have to say. Because we love, We love Seabrook, but it was really nice having the yarn shop like we go in there and check in you know, before you go to the beach and say hi and then stop by afterwards and she always had knit nights on Thursday nights and it was really fun just to go there and you met a lot of the people who lived in Seabrook or in the surrounding communities. So I'm a little heartbroken. But she still lives in Seabrook, so I'll see her and that's good. So I'm Kelly 40:29 Maybe someone will buy the shop, and it will continue. Marsha 40:32 Yeah. I don't know. It's, Kelly 40:35 well, it's a difficult I mean, yarn shops are a difficult endeavor At any point Marsha 40:42 Yeah. Kelly 40:42 and then Seabrook is a little place, kind of out of the way, and then the pandemic can't have helped. So I can, I can certainly understand. Marsha 40:53 And I suspect part of it, too, probably is, it's just a lot. You know, your... she has a dog Cooper and she said, it's hard too when she works in the summer, he doesn't get down to the beach at all, because she's working. Yeah. So anyway. But back to projects back to this my Atlas. You're coming up. And I... See everyone probably thought I'd lost my train of thought, thank goodness. [laughing] I went so far off track. No, but you're coming up, and I decide I'm going to wait till you get here to look at the sweater. And look at it on Mark, because I don't know. And I know you've done color work before. I also I need to have Kim come and look at it too. Because as I've talked about in other episodes, this is the first color work sweater I've done in 20 years. And it looks nice, but I'm wondering if maybe my tension is too tight or something? I don't? Because it doesn't seem like it has a lot of give. Kelly 42:02 Yeah. Marsha 42:02 Now I realize it's not going to have this... It's not gonna be the same type of fabric that is on the body because it's color work, right? But I wonder if maybe that might I need to go up a needle size. So the body is worked on sevens, and the yoke is worked on a size up so on eight, and I want to talk to you about it. And maybe Kim. Do I need to maybe go up two sizes on the yoke? Kelly 42:28 Yeah, maybe. Marsha 42:29 I don't know. And listeners can weigh in on this if they want. I you know I bought a color work sweater in Iceland, where it's a it's a cardigan, zippered cardigan and has the same type of concept of like the... at the yolk. And when you feel that, it doesn't feel much different than the body that is not color work. And I'm wondering, is it... if it's I'm getting too tight or something? Kelly 42:56 Maybe the yarn isn't a good match for the pattern. Yeah, it's...Yeah, I'll be happy to look at it and see. It could be any number of things. It could be that the fabric is stiff, because of all the layers and the type of yarn that it is. Or it could just be a tension issue. Yeah, well, and Kim's done quite a bit of color work too. So she... Marsha 43:19 She's done a lot of color work. And then and the other person I thought I should contact too is momdiggity, Joanne. Because she lives just a few blocks from me. And she does a lot of color work too. She might be able to... Kelly 43:34 Yeah, that would be good. Marsha 43:35 Maybe I'll reach out to her and see if she could take a look at it and see because it it. Yeah. Anyway, I need a little bit of help on that. But it does, it needs to be ripped out. And I'm just gonna wait till you get here. And that can be one of our projects as we sit on the deck over a bottle of red wine is rip out that sweater. Kelly 43:55 Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. You need you need companionship for for something like that. Marsha 44:00 Yeah. Well, and you know, the thing is like, it's like it takes... Well, I knit it pretty fast, because I worked on it exclusively. Pretty much. And it's, you know, bigger needles and whatnot, but I don't know, two months. Maybe. I know that it'll take literally 10 minutes to rip that thing out. You know? Anyway. So that's what's going on with that sweater. And then do you remember I've been...? I looked it up. I cast on Simple Shawl back in 2018. Kelly 44:29 Oh, right. Marsha 44:31 And it's been to Scotland twice. I think it has been to Iceland. Anyway. It's a pattern by Jane Hunter. And I finished the Picot bind off. So that's bound off. I've not washed or blocked it yet. Let's see. I cast on a new project. I we have a friend Brian, who likes the tea cozy that I made for my other friend Gary. So I said I would make him a tea cozy. So it's that Nanny Meyers tea cozy by Amelia Carlsen. I've made, I made one for Gary. And I've made two for myself. And it's that one where you alternate, it's all garter stitch, but you alternate, like, six of your main of one color, and then the second color and keep alternating that across. And so and you pull tight, so it it keeps, oh, yeah, these stripes create like ridges, Kelly 45:26 kind of like corrugated right? Marsha 45:28 Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's like corrugated metal kind of. And so I, he looked at all of my spirit yarn, there wasn't any colors that he liked. So I said, let's just go down to acorn street here in Seattle. And what it is is just buy cascade 220. Because it's, it's a good all purpose workhorse yarn, and a really nice colors and stuff. So he went down there, and he couldn't decide what he wanted. He was really attracted to a red and green. And then he also was attracted to a blue and yellow. And you know where this is going, Kelly. I can, as I'm saying it out loud. I'm thinking, don't say it. And then I said it. I said, Oh, just buy all four colors, and I'll make you two tea cozies. So so he's getting... I know... so he's getting two. I've cast on the red and green one and they're there. The cascade... Both... All of these are cascade 220 heather's, and there's one called, the one I cast on is red wine heather. And that's a pretty one, and a green called Ireland with an extra e at the end. So I don't know how you pronounce that. But they're really soft colors. Kelly 46:48 Yeah, I think that red wine heather is the one that I used for my heroine jacket. Okay, a long time ago, this I might even have been kind of pre pre Ravelry. Marsha 47:03 Heroine as in a woman who's Kelly 47:05 Yeah, Marsha 47:07 Not the drug. Okay. All right. Yes. Kelly 47:10 Yes. I can't remember who the pattern designer for that was. But it's a felted, it's a felted coat that you knit with two strands, held double. And then you put it in the washer and felt it and it's double breasted. Anyway, I think that's the color. It's a really pretty color... has some blue, some little blue strands through it. Marsha 47:34 Yeah. Yeah. A really nice, they're really nice together because, yeah, super nice together, the two colors so... But I just thought it, just kind of funny going down there to Acorn Street. You know, of course, any yarn shop, people are super friendly. Right? And, and so we go in there and to figure out colors. And of course, you're you're you're confronted with a wall of cascade 220. And where do you kind of start, you know, and I said, Well, let's, let's just narrow down. We want to do heathers. He was pretty sure he wanted that. And so we were picking out the colors. But this is the part I think is so funny is, you know, everybody gets involved in the project. Righ? What are you making and both the the, the people working there, the shop owners or the clerks but then also customers. So I think it was actually kind of fun, you know, that everybody got involved with picking colors. You know, that's, I think he was surprised. But I also thought it was a really enjoyable process, you know. Everybody has a say. So anyway, I'm working on that. And you knit, sort of the two halves and then sew them together. And I have done, I would say, three inches of the first side. So that's coming along. And then I finished my summer spin-in spinning project. Kelly 48:58 oh yay! Marsha 48:59 Yes, I know I'm very excited. I just dedicated myself to and I have a couple things to say. The first thing I'm going to say about plying is the the lazy Kate that comes with the little Herby spinning wheel, the bobbins are vertical on it. Right? And then there was like a spring and then you screw down a knob to hold it on there. But then that spring provides makes, puts some tension on the bobbin right. So that is just not free spinning off the single is not just free spinning off the bobbin, right? Kelly 49:37 Yeah, because if it if that happens and it gets spinning too fast, then it stops and it starts turning around the other direction and then you have a mess. Marsha 49:45 And then it starts plying on itself kind of the single, right? So do you remember when I bought the that Ashford spinning wheel from was it the 80s and it had never been assembled? Well, it came with a lazy Kate, but the bobbins are on there horizontally. Okay, Kelly, so much better! Kelly 50:11 Oh, good, Marsha 50:12 Because what I found and I think it was when the, when the bobbins are horizontal, the, the single sometimes like the, what I would... what am I trying to say? It's like the, you're putting pressure on it like because you have to tension it right, those springs, but some tension so it's just not free spinning, but it also then sort of pulls the single into the layers of singles that are wound on to the bobbin. Kelly 50:43 Yeah, and then the other thing that happens too is if you're pulling just up and you know it's like it's below you and so on on the wheel attached to the wheel and you're pulling on so what you have to do is you kind of have to put your hand down there and pull out and so it's a real, it's a real technique. And then also when you're pulling up it can catch on the edge of the bobbin which is rough and that will break. There's lots of ways for the yarn to breakwhen you're plying with it. Marsha 51:14 What I found is it was the the single would break but then I couldn't find the end because it got buried into the other yarn wrapped around it. So for this I had the the green and brown that I had made. I use the lazy Kate from the little Herbie and then I think when when the podcast we were talking about this and so I got out the other one from the Ashford where the bobbins are horizontal and so all the brown I... well three skeins of brown I plied with that on the horizontal lazy Kate Totally different experience! My yarn didn't break once. Kelly 51:57 Nice. Marsha 51:58 And so I yeah, I don't it's it's... I love the little Herbie. But that design is not very good. I think it's good if you-- but you're right, you have to keep your hand. Yeah, so it's coming up and then this one you don't have to worry about Kelly 52:12 and I'm not as tall as you know, I'm closer. Marsha 52:17 That's true. Kelly 52:18 I'm closer to those bobbins you know, and and so I just kind of got used to a technique but yeah, it is true. spinning off of a horizontal-- plying jof a horizontal bobbin is very different. Marsha 52:32 Yeah. And then I also remember too, when you were first showing me how to ply the yarn You had me put the the lazy Kate quite a ways away from you know, like several feet away and and I noticed like when I was spinning I just had it you know on the side of my chair blocked by the table leg because it doesn't sit flat either. That's everything that's that Kelly 52:54 yeah, it's designed to attach to the wheel Marsha 52:56 Yeah, the wheel and yeah, anyway, so that was just a cool thing. I just, it's making it much better for me, much easier. And anyway, I've got the two tone one I'm calling it the barber pole is the green and brown together. I have about 950 yards. And I think because it's already in skeins I didn't think of doing the wraps per inch. So it's somewhere between a DK and a worsted. Okay. It might be DK I don't know. And then the the solid Brown. I have 661 yards. That is a three ply plied off of three bobbins and then I had you remember when I first the first time I plied I didn't have three bobbins of the brown so I thought oh well just do the chain ply or Navajo ply, but it's a little bit different. And so if you count that skein in, I have Oh, I'm sorry I have that other way around. I have 536 yards. If you add in that odd skein, I have 661 yards of the brown. Okay. So adding that all up it's about 1600 yards or about 1500 yards you know, so I get... I think I have enough for a sweater for Ben. And so I've been looking at sweaters and I need to do a striped sweater so I have couple-- three options. The first one is a pattern from... it's called Thun T h u n by the blue mouse. And I don't know if you've looked at that Kelly it's Kelly 54:39 I'm looking at it right now.And I'm I'm looking, well I'm trying to look at it, here we go. That's cute. Marsha 54:47 So so it's cute. It shows it's a... it shows on a woman but it's a unisex sweater. What I and it's a striped quite big, so the the yoke is one color, a solid--no stripes, I should say. And then like the the body. And the sleeves, partway down are big, thick stripes. Kelly 55:08 Yeah, I like those stripes better than I like the little stripes in the other pattern that you showed me. Marsha 55:13 Okay. So the only thing I would change about this is it has a split. The ribbing at the bottom is split. And the back is longer, twice as long as the front. The ribbing is twice as long as and I think I would make... that for a man, I would make that without the split. And then the same, you know, Kelly 55:35 right. Consistent ribbing all the way around. Yeah, yeah. Marsha 55:41 Yeah. And then the other one I'm looking at is let me go back. It's called poach pooch, p O, ch, E. And that is by Caitlin Shepard. And it's sort of the same idea. It's saddle shoulders. So the same idea, but you're--You're right, Kelly. It's thinner stripes. And but I thought that was a pretty good. It seems like I have enough yarn for that. And the only other thing I would change too is you...after you've knit the sweater you apply over the left breast a patch, like a leather patch or a fabric patch. Do you see that? I don't think I'd put that on Kelly 56:30 Yeah, I don't like that. No. Marsha 56:31 Yeah. And then the other thing I'm considering, as you remember, the I think it was the last time we went to Stitches. And we were having lunch with a bunch of people friends that we know. And there was a man there named Frank Jernigan, and he has a website. It's Phrancko Ph. r a n k. I'm sorry. That's wrong. ph RANCKO, and he does custom fit sweaters. That's not what it's called but it's that same thing where you put all your measurements in and your gauge and it will create a sweater for you. And so I was thinking I might do that. And he has saddle shoulders. So I was the... I might do his sweater. And then add stripes to it. A basic sweater, because Ben is is very tall, but he's very slender. And so if you just do one of these sweaters is actually designed for your body would fit really well. I would think. Kelly 57:32 Yeah, that might be a good idea. Marsha 57:35 Yeah, so those that's what I'm considering. Kelly 57:39 That sounds good. So you got some choices there. Marsha 57:42 Yes. Kelly 57:44 Well, before you make your your segue Marsha, I just wanted to say while you were talking about your spinning, I went and looked up the skull designer, pattern designer and her name is Ellen T. Sebelius. S i b E L I u s. And yeah, give her patterns I look, you may never want to knit something that fiddle that fiddly. But there may be something that you fall in love with on her yarn pages. Because she has some very cool patterns. So yeah, so yeah. But yeah, with your spinning finished Marsha. I didn't, I didn't finish my summer spin-in yet. Maybe I'll finish it while I'm up visiting you. I'll bring up... bring it with me. I just-- I mostly have plying to do so. So we'll see. Marsha 58:35 We'll just remind people that summer spin-in ends Monday at midnight on Monday, September 6, that's right. Kelly 58:45 So get your new projects into the pages, your your finished spins and also if you made anything using your handspun. And I didn't finish this sweater that I'm that I'm knitting out of my handspun either So this time I was a I was a spin along fail, Marsha? Marsha 59:04 Yeah. Kelly 59:06 There's no failure in spinning. I have a beautiful sweater mostly finished and I have quite a bit of singles on my bobbins so I'm happy with with what I was able to accomplish Marsha 59:17 well, that then, uhhh... Kelly 59:22 Oh, I should say about prizes. And we have prizes for this spin-in that we'll draw on our next episode when I'm up in Seattle. And the grand prize is going to be a pillow-- fabric designed by Cheri Magnussen who is a shepherd of an Icelandic flock in Maine. And then we also have project bags donated by three green sisters. And then we also, for people who aren't spinners who might want to enter, or spinners who want two chances to win one of these bags. We have a thread up in the Ravelry group that you can win, we're going to do a giveaway in that thread for a project bag as well. So and then, if you don't want to wait to see if you won, you can just go and look at her bags. And if you use the coupon code EWES2 e-w-e-s -2, you'll get 15% off all the way till the end of the year. Hmm. So take a look. She has some very pretty bags. . Marsha 1:00:28 Really! Yeah Yeah, really cute stuff. So. Alright. Well, we have one more thing we need to talk about. We want to talk about Kelly 1:00:36 Yes. So we're still having the pattern giveaway for our Patreon sponsors. People have been messaging me about the patterns. You get a pattern of your choice up to $8 and just message me on Ravelry or email. I have one email that I have to get to that I haven't haven't sent out the pattern yet. I'll have to do that tonight after we get finished here. But the patterns that people have selected, so fun to see. It's fun to be able to give a prize to our patrons. It's fun to be able to support designers. But I'll tell you, Marsha, it has also been fun to see all these patterns that people are selecting. Marsha 1:01:21 Yes, a few have gone into my... well....a lot have gone into my favorites. Yeah. Kelly 1:01:27 Yeah. So I've done similar. I've done a similar thing. I have a queue. I keep them in my queue. But yeah. Marsha 1:01:34 Like oh, yeah. So we'll have we have a list of them in the show notes. So you can... so anything that really stands out? Kelly 1:01:40 Well, the the beautiful together shawl, I think is really nice. And I haven't done a lace Shawl in a while. It's a Romi Hill pattern. And I have not done a lace Shawl in a while. And so that was kind of like, Oh, I kind of... I'm now at a point where I kind of miss shawl knitting. I think I need to, I think I need to think about casting on a shawl. So that was one of them. And then of course, I'm just gonna say Edie is a great pattern. Unknown Speaker 1:02:08 Mm hmm. Kelly 1:02:09 I was happy to buy that for someone. Because it's just a great pattern. I love my Edie. I have two of them and I love them both. They get a lot of wear. And I just was happy to see that pattern on the list. What about you? Marsha 1:02:25 Well, there was another cuz I love the Edie as well too. That's a great pattern. I but there's I know somebody else picked a tee Derecho. How is it pronounced. Derecho. By Alison green. That's a really cute t shirt too. Kelly 1:02:40 Yeah, that is. That's cute. Marsha 1:02:45 What else do we have here? There was the well Stripes. I've been looking at this Stripes by Andrea Mowry. That's cute. Kelly 1:02:56 I like the the cropped pullover the Nydia by Vanessa Smith. I I don't really wear clothes that it would work with. But I really like how it has the sweater and the cowl. And so when you wear that, you know... I... growing up in the late 70s I guess it was the late 70s cowl neck sweaters became a big thing. And I've always liked them. And so this you can have a cowl neck if you wear the cowl and then if you take the cowl off, you just have a scoop neck. And it's really I think it's a really clever design. Marsha 1:03:40 There's another cute t shirt the Friday tee by petite needs, no petite knits. Do you see that one's a striped sweater. It's very cute too. Kelly 1:03:50 Let me look. Oh, yeah, yeah, I remember seeing that one. Yeah, Marsha 1:03:55 and did you see the sleepy polar bear? Kelly 1:03:58 Oh my god. That's that. I think I'm gonna make that one when that one went on my list of things to make. I had heard of that pattern. I had no idea he was so big. He's big. Marsha 1:04:14 Yeah, it says here about 17 inches in length. Yeah, so yeah, he's he's a big boy. Kelly 1:04:19 Yeah, Marsha 1:04:20 I'm assuming it's a boy Kelly 1:04:21 A chunky boy. Well, it wouldn't have to be you know, not all polar bears are boys. Marsha 1:04:26 Did you? Did you look at the picture of its rear end. That's adorable. Kelly 1:04:31 It's cute. Yeah. Marsha 1:04:33 And little tail and the little paw is adorable. Kelly 1:04:36 Yeah, it's a cute cute pattern. Susan B. Anderson has some darling, darling patterns. But like you could make it a little color work sweater. You know, it has a sweater on but yeah, it's a plain, kind of a plain sweater. With a marled, looks like the marled yarn. I love the little toe pads on the bottom of its feet. Mm hmm. So but it would be fun to make that and also make it a little color work sweater. Marsha 1:05:06 Yeah, look. Yeah. Well, and then speaking of color work sweaters, there's a beautiful Ridari? Kelly 1:05:15 Yes. Marsha 1:05:16 The Icelandic, the Icelandic one and look at I'm not pronouncing this correctly. But it looks like it's Vetis Jonsdotter. Kelly 1:05:25 That's beautiful. Yeah, that is. So Marsha 1:05:29 anyway, everyone should just take a look at them. Because there's... really they'll end up in your in your queue. Kelly 1:05:35 Yes. Yeah. There's danger there but... Marsha 1:05:38 or not queue, but in your favorites. Or you might even just click the buy button. That's right. Kelly 1:05:43 Yeah, there's danger there. But it's the good kind of danger. [laughing] Marsha 1:05:48 Yeah. Yeah. Kelly 1:05:50 Yeah. Very nice. Yeah. Very cool. So yeah, it's, and this is still going on. So if you haven't contacted me yet, and you're one of our Patreon patrons, just get in touch with the pattern that you'd like, for your special gift. Marsha 1:06:06 So I think that's everything. Do we have anything else we need to talk about? Are we want to talk... any more rabbit holes we want to go down or deep dive? Kelly 1:06:14 We'd better not because I have office hours in about 20 minutes Marsha 1:06:18 Okay. Kelly 1:06:19 I can't think well, I can't think of any real big rabbit holes. I stopped myself from going further into Spoonflower after the last episode. But there's quite a discussion going on about--there was quite a discussion going on about Spoonflower in the Ravelry group. So yes, Marsha 1:06:39 I know. I saw that. So. Kelly 1:06:43 So speaking of the Ravelry group, if you are a new listener, come join us. On the Ravelry group. We have discussions about spinning and weaving the the big discussions going on now are the spinning discussion that's been going since the summer spinning started. We have a winter weave along discussion that's been going on since last October. We're almost ready to start our next winter weave along. And then we have morning coffee, where you can talk about anything. Recent conversation has been about dogs and how chaotic the start of the school year has been for all the different teachers that are there in the session. But yeah, it's fun. I go there every morning while I have coffee. That's why I called it morning coffee. But you don't have to drop in in the morning and you don't have to drink coffee. Marsha 1:07:34 No. Kelly 1:07:35 Yeah. Just a fun way to keep in touch with some fiber friends. Marsha 1:07:39 Yeah, Kelly 1:07:40 yeah. Yeah. So feel free to join us on Ravelry and the discussion and the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group is where you'll find it. Marsha 1:07:48 Okay, any? I guess that's it, though. Yeah. I'm gonna-- I'm gonna let you go so you can get to your office hour. Okay. All right. And then I will... well, I will talk to you in person because you will be here in just a few days. Marsha 1:08:02 Next week, in a few days well, not a few days, but a week. Kelly 1:08:04 Well, less than a week. Marsha 1:08:06 Less than a week. Yeah. Kelly 1:08:07 It's less than a week. You'll be ... very close. Tuesday, I leave. Marsha 1:08:13 So as soon as you finish your office hours, go pack. Kelly 1:08:15 I know. I really, and I'll remember that dark yarn. Marsha 1:08:20 Yeah, yeah.Put it on your list right now. Okay. Use your finest fountain pen and put it on your list. [laughing] Kelly 1:08:28 Okay. Marsha 1:08:30 All righty. All right. Bye. Kelly 1:08:32 Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Marsha 1:08:39 Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects. Kelly 1:08:47 Until next time, we're the Two Eews Marsha 1:08:49 doing our part for world fleece! Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Episode Notes Henrique is dealing with a death in the family. This episode is pretty emotional, you've been warned. Also he installed a Google Nest Thermostat. Email us at ThisShowisAwkward@gmail.com Buy the super awkward t-shirt! http://awkwardstore.launchcart.store Support This Show is Awkward by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/this-show-is-awkward Find out more at http://awkwardshow.com

In stranded knitting what is the opposite of the dominant color?  Is it the submissive color? There are lessons we've apparently not learned about alternating skeins and we have a Patreon patron giveaway! Thank you to all our patrons! You can join them in supporting us at patreon.com/twoewes Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects Atlas (Ravelry link) by Jared Flood using Navia Tradition. The pattern is also available at his website. I have attached the sleeves to the body and have knit about five rows of the colorwork. The Jared Flood video on stranded knitting was great and the tutorial on trapping the floats holding yarn in the right hand was very good except it did not show how to capture the floats with continental stitch. Knitting Help had a very good short video Trapping the Yarn (Continental). Kelly's Projects Dark Green Forest cardigan (Ravelry link) by Christina Körber-Reith. She also has the pattern at her website, Strickhauzeit. The yarn is an overdyed handspun CVM in a 3-ply (fingering to sport weight). I have completed the body and one pocket lining. This is the only knitting or spinning that I've done.  All my creative energy has been going to class materials for my two different online classes for fall. Classes start on August 30.  Patreon Pattern Giveaway! Thank you patrons! We appreciate your generous support! Patrons get a pattern of their choice up to $8.00. Contact Kelly with your pattern selection! Email twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com or message 1hundredprojects on Ravelry or Instagram.  Summer Spin In - Ends September 6th About a month to go! We have prizes generously donated by  Three Green Sisters. They make beautiful bags for your knitting, looms, spinning wheels or travel. They also have now have table linens.  Show Transcript Marsha 0:03 Hi, this is Marsha Kelly 0:04 and this is Kelly. Marsha 0:05 We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 0:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 0:17 We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly 0:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects, Marsha 0:29 and I am betterinmotion. Kelly 0:31 We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Both 0:36 Enjoy the episode. Marsha 0:42 Hi, Kelly. Kelly 0:43 Hey, Marsha. How are you doing? Marsha 0:45 I'm doing well. Kelly 0:46 Good. Do you have wine tonight? Marsha 0:49 No, I don't. Kelly 0:50 It's not morning. So we could be drinking wine! Marsha 0:53 No, it's uh, it's now let's see what time is. It's almost it's a little past five 5:30. Yeah. On Thursday. Yeah. And full disclosure. I already had a beer. Kelly 1:03 Okay. Well, I... that's why I don't have... I guess we're in the same boat because that's why I don't have a glass of wine. Because Robert and I went out to Monterey. And we took the dogs and we walked on the rec trail. And this is the first time I've been out on the rec trail. I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've been out there since since March of 2020. Marsha 1:28 Mm hmm. Kelly 1:29 So it was really nice as a beautiful day. We got to see-- we got to watch... There were two women there with SPCA shirts on. And they had these boxes that were like the pet store boxes like you know, you bring home an animal in with holes in the sides. Marsha 1:46 All right, yeah. Kelly 1:47 And so I saw that and then I saw their shirts and I thought, Oh, I bet they're releasing, releasing something from the Wildlife Center! On the edge of this little point where they were sitting was a gull, a seagull. And they were watching it and so Robert and I stopped to watch too and pretty soon-- and then the bird is making all kinds of noise and you know... And they're just standing you know, just kind of standing back and watching and and finally it takes off. And the one woman says, "Go, Falcon, go! And never come back!" So we watched, we got to watch a seagull be released for you know, who knows what was the reason that it was in the Wildlife Center. But that was pretty cool. And Beary had a good time. We did probably three miles on the rec trail with him. So he's he's doing better. Marsha 2:39 That's good. Kelly 2:40 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's gotten Marsha 2:42 and what's he like on those three miles? Is he huffin' and puffin'? Or is he doing pretty good? Kelly 2:47 He, by the end, he was kind of slow. And we... It was one of those kind of walks where, you know, we weren't just powering through it. We we stopped let him sniff and stopped to look at the scenery, you know. It's that kind of walk. So slower than Bailey would like to go. She's itching to just, you know, I mean, she likes to stop and sniff too, but she's itching to just take a walk where we just move, you know. Actually, I think she would probably like it if I ran. I don't know that that's gonna happen. But I think she would like that. So they had a good time. We had a good time. And then, but the reason I'm not having wine is not because I saw a bird on the rec trail, but because after that, this was our little date day, it was Robert's day off. We went to lunch and wine tasting at Taste of Monterey. We had our subscription to pick up for the month of August. And so Robert made reservations. And it was the first time I've been inside, like inside eating. Marsha 3:51 Oh, yeah? Kelly 3:52 Since, you know, since March. They had probably... it's a pretty good sized space. And they had I would say probably six tables, five tables, maybe was the most they had while we were there. And they had these big fans going and and we were all sitting you know, spaced apart. And you know, of course wearing masks when you arrive but you can't eat or drink wine with a mask. But they don't do wine tasting like where you stand at the bar and do the wine tasting where they pour you the, you know, the six little pours. They're doing flights. So we got our free flights. And oh my gosh! Marsha 4:41 Well, Kelly, I saw your Instagram posts today. And I know there was a lot of wine but there was no food. Did you have lunch? Kelly 4:49 We did! Yes. We started with wine first we had, well, we both had clam chowder, and then they have a like a flat... They have a lot of different food but we got this flatbread pizza. Then we each had a bowl of clam chowder. So, but yeah, I've had my wine for the day because we had the flight. And then one of the ones from the flight, I decided that I wanted a glass of it, but, but it was pretty, pretty generous flight! Kelly 5:03 I sometimes find that the wine tasting is a lot of wine. Yeah, it can add up to several classes. Kelly 5:21 Yeah, no, these were, I think... because they don't have a lot of customers. You know, it's all very restricted. We had to have reservations. And I think it was supposed to be three, two ounce pours, but I think these were more than that. Because they looked like they... they looked like very generous, very generous pours. So, but very good. I had white wine Robert had red. And it was a fun day. We, you know, I haven't done anything like that in a really long time. Well, like everyone else, you know? Marsha 5:53 Yeah. Yeah. Kelly 5:54 So. Marsha 5:55 So are they...? Sounds like they're pretty...they're still sort of strict about masks. And Marsha 6:01 oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Marsha 6:03 Because it's interesting here in Seattle, they're still well, it's like, it's hard to know, people are out walking around without masks on. Kelly 6:11 Yeah, outside was mixed. Yeah. And I don't wear a mask outside unless... There was a couple of places on the trail where it got crowded... that, you know, I put my mask on. Just because there were so many people. Marsha 6:25 It's interesting, where you go in stores, like, I went, Oh, the hardware store everybody's masked up, the grocery store everybody's masked up. I went down...this was a couple weeks ago, I went down to pick up some Thai food, they are a masked up at the Thai place. But right next door, there's a bottle shop and I bought like a four pack a beer. Nobody in there had a mask on. So I don't know. Now that's several weeks ago, and now the Delta variant is now I guess, sort of taking off. Kelly 6:59 Yeah. Marsha 6:59 So maybe people are getting more cautious. I wear a mask. And I'm also trying to wear a mask, too, around... I'm not around a lot of children. But the the little girl across the alley from me comes over a lot. And you know, she's seven, I think right? And she can't get vaccinated. And I hear different stories that even if you're vaccinated, you can carry it. And then I've also heard you can't carry it. So I don't know. I thought it's better just to mask up when Frances comes over. Kelly 7:28 Well, if you're vaccinated, it's rare. It's rare, but you can actually contract it. Marsha 7:33 Right. Kelly 7:34 And if you do contract it, it's not generally as bad. The people who are ending up in the hospital, most of them are, are people who have not been vaccinated. But yeah, while you had it, if you had a breakthrough case, while you had it, you would be infectious. Marsha 7:50 It's not a hardship to wear a mask around Frances. So... Kelly 7:53 Right, right, Marsha 7:54 or out in public at all. So I'm still masking up in store. Kelly 7:57 Yes, me too. But well, I don't go to the store very often. But yeah, I have I have been been doing that. So. But it was nice to get out. Marsha and I were talking about this before the episode started. And she said to me, Kelly, have you been off the property since last March? Marsha 8:13 It sounds like maybe you have not been off? Kelly 8:17 Your answer to that is pretty much no. Where did I go? Oh, I know. I went to meet some work friends. We went to... we got together and we worked on some stuff to get ready for classes. And I mean, we're talking about, you know, Watsonville. So it was not that far away. Maybe 25 miles, maybe 35 miles. I was like, Oh my god, I don't think I've been in the car and gone this far in over a year! I mean, my longest car trip has been like to go pick up groceries or you go to the grocery store, which I don't do very often. That's, you know, during the worst of it, we had it delivered and then and then... or Robert would go get groceries. And then once everybody was vaccinated, Aunt Betty went back to doing some of the grocery shopping and Robert was doing the other grocery shopping so you know, I'm lucky to not have to do that. It's not my favorite task anyway. But honestly, that's the furthest I've gone! Marsha 9:20 You have staff. [laughing] You have staff to take care of you. [laughing] Kelly 9:26 Yes. And so and, and you know, there'll be days where I think oh, I'm going to go I'll go out to Monterey and walk on the rec trail. But you know, like Robert takes the car. The truck is almost always now parked in the backyard. It's a little bit of a... it's not like Oh, just run outside and jump in the car. Right? And then if I'm gonna take two dogs, I can't walk that far yet. So am I going to take one? What am I going to do? Am I going to take Bailey because she can go far? She could do a you know, a normal rec trail walk without stopping at every bush and, you know, lots of breaks. And then I If I leave Bailey home, or I mean, leave Beary home? What am I gonna do with him is Aunt Betty gonna be home? Can she watch him? Or she you know, does she have other things to do? So anyway, it's just my-- you know, it is just become, it's just become so easy to stay at home. So it was...I have to say it was really nice to blow the dust off. Get out and, and actually smell the ocean. Yeah, so that was really, really nice! Marsha 10:28 And dust off your restaurant manners. Kelly 10:31 Exactly. Marsha 10:32 Did you know how to behave? At the restaurant? Kelly 10:34 I did! Actually, yes, yes, I did! Marsha 10:38 I read in the New York Times that a lot of people don't want to go back to waiting tables because people are being so rude. You know, they they're out of practice going to a restaurant I guess. So well, I'll tell you why I had a beer already. I'm making an effort to get out of a certain room that's under my house. The name can't be mentioned. So I went for a hike today. I don't remember if I talked about this or not. But I went to visit. Kelly 11:07 You did, yes. Marsha 11:08 Ben up in Index. Yes, I did. That's what part of the discussion... Anyway, there was a woman who was on that hike with with me. And so I gave her my name and email address and she contacted me. And so we got together today. And we did a hike and a friend, another friend of hers. And so when I got home, I gave the dog a bath. Because he's very dusty. I took a bath. And then I poured myself a beer and I laid on the bed and knitted for a while until it was time to record. So that's why I had a beer so early. But anyway, it was a nice hike. And I'm just gonna say it was... People who live here in the northwest will know what I'm talking about. People who don't live in the northwest will be kind of amused by the name of where I went. Um, so the the hike was to Fragrant Lake. I don't know why it's called Fragrant Lake. It didn't smell bad. It didn't smell good. It just was a lake. But anyway, it's um, near Larrabee State Park, which is on-- this is the part that people are gonna laugh--Chuckanut drive. And so, Kelly, full disclosure, before we recorded we were looking at, I think when we first started when we first called you said what are you doing? I said, I'm trying to figure out why is it called Chuckanut. So and we figure it out. It's a ... it's a native name. Kelly 12:33 Yeah, and Wikipedia says that it's Chuckanut well there's mountain a mountain range and, and Chuckanut is a word for a long beach far from a narrow entrance. Okay, so just south of Bellingham is what it says. Yeah, Marsha 12:55 so it basically connects. It's about about 21 miles long. Oh, Kelly, we can walk it! Kelly 13:02 The trail? Oh, fun. Yeah. Marsha 13:04 21 miles, that's our number. Anyway, the it runs from about Burlington...No it's further north than Burlington up to Bellingham. Kelly 13:15 okay, Marsha 13:15 And it runs along the water so it reminds me very much of.. kind of Big Sur a lane in each direction, you know. Steep wall to one side and steep drop off to the other side down to the water and more trees than Big Sur but it's just as dramatic as that. Really pretty. So anyway, we went on that hike today so Kelly 13:36 but not 21 miles? Marsha 13:38 No, we didn't do 21 miles it's four or something. Kelly 13:41 Yeah, nice. Marsha 13:43 But I have been I have been out and about and I don't know if you saw my Instagram post, but the the in-laws or yeah, the... so well I should say actually, technically my former brother-in-law and sister-in-law and nephew, but they came to visit. And I have to say we had a great time. It was just a fun visit. And we did all kinds of things. But one of the things we did is I, as I talked about in the last episode, Ben is just obsessed with Index, Washington because that's the big-- where all the walls are for climbing. And that's where I had gone two weeks ago for the hike. Well, they were having on Saturday, July 31, they were having a kind of an art festival with music and and all different kinds of crafts for sale and he really wanted us to go up there for it. Okay, whatever. So we went. It was really fun, really good music. They had a brought in a... like a trailer with a woodfired pizza oven on it, you know, so you can get pizza there. And Kelly 13:43 Nice! Marsha 13:48 But so that was really fun. So we walked around, did that and then and then they were really wanting to do a hike. So Paul--no Ben said, Yeah, there's a couple of different hikes but the one I would recommend is one called Lake Serene. Now I know I have listeners that live here in the Pacific Northwest who are hikers, and they'll go, yes, Lake Serene. Ben said, "I don't know," he said. And I said, "How long is it?" He said, "So like maybe like six miles round trip. And you know, the elevation gain," he said, "I think it's less than 2000." Wrong! It's eight miles! I think... now I don't remember if it's 2400 or 2600 feet of elevation gain, they actually... Someone's done a great job on the trail where they've... so it's pretty easy going at the beginning kind of wide. And not a lot of rocks or roots, you know, on the trail. But the further you go, it becomes actually like stairs. Someone's done, built the trail, they've actually taken the rocks and put them in place where they actually form steps that you have to climb up. And then at certain points, they've actually brought up big like four by eight beams and made stairs. Kelly 16:00 Okay, Marsha 16:00 Yeah, it's, it was hard. It was really hard. And we started way too late, because Ben and I got to index about 10 o'clock in the morning. But the... my brother in law and sister in law and the nephew and Paul, they arrived, they got there about 12:15 even though we all left at the same time. They stopped and had breakfast and they did all this stuff along the way. So they were really late. They got there at 12:15. Looked at the Art Festival, then they decided they want lunch. So we get to the trail at 2:50. Which is way too late to be starting. And Kelly 16:33 oh yeah. Marsha 16:34 But I didn't know it was eight miles. Kelly 16:36 Oh my gosh. Marsha 16:37 Anyway, so we start out, it takes us about two hours to get to the top. I arrived at the top at five I think and we hung out there till six. And then we started the the trip back down. And we got back to the trailhead, probably around eight o'clock or 8:30, something like that. Then we had to go from the trail head back into Index. And the thing is, Index is such a small town. There's no restaurants there. And the pizza truck was gone. So we decided we have to find food. Because now it's like we've been out. And now we're you know, we get back in. I mean, now it's like the minutes are just ticking away. Kelly 17:13 Yeah. Marsha 17:14 And it's now like 9:30. And and so I think the only thing we can do is just start heading down the road, down Highway 2 back towards Seattle. And to see what we come up with. Well, everything's closed, right. So the nearest town we can find anything is the city of Monroe, which is... they have fast food and everything. Well, like, and but the thing is, if you're that starving, I don't think you could be that picky. But like nobody can eat McDonald's. Nobody can eat Taco Time. So we end up at this pizza place. But the pizza place is now...it's 10 o'clock and they start, they stop indoor dining at 10. So everybody walks away and I said but the door the door said they're open till 11. Well, they're open for takeout or delivery till 11. I said, let's just order the pizza and we'll just go sit in the car, because now it's Kelly 18:00 The voice of reason, Marsha! Marsha 18:03 I know! So it's now you know, it's like 10, 10:15, 10:30 we finally get this pizza. And my sister in law said to me, Well, are we going to go find a picnic table? Where are we going to eat this? I said, you're eating in the car. We're not finding a picnic table. We're not driving around in that hour of the night looking for a picnic table. And her son, my nephew said, we've got all those chairs in the back of the car that Paul had brought for us to listen to music. I said pull those chairs out. So we pull the chairs out and set them up in the parking lot of the pizza place. And we sit there till about 11:30 at night in a row in the strip mall parking lot eating pizza and salad and having root beer and anyways. I don't know, do you know how... do you ever have that experience where something should be awful, really the idea of being-you're so hungry and you're tired and you know you're super sweaty but now you're just really cold because you're wet and it's cold. But then you end up having like a great time sitting in the pizza place because was because we now we've been fed. And we're laughing and everybody sort of revived. It was like the funniest thing. And then in the middle of all of this, I posted a picture of this on Instagram and the video. It's the streetsweeper. The street sweeper arrived in the parking lot. So we're sitting there now with this truck going around. I don't know, the whole thing was so ridiculous... Kelly 19:28 Funny! Marsha 19:30 ...that I think in some ways it was sort of the highlight of the day in some ways. You know? Kelly 19:35 yeah, yeah, Marsha 19:36 Do you know what I mean. Like something that should be so awful ended up being so funny. Kelly 19:41 An adventure! Marsha 19:42 it's a kind of an adventure. Yeah. And I have to say my nephew is 14 and that's that age. That's the age grumpy and crabby. You know, honestly, and... Kelly 19:54 teenager... Marsha 19:57 Teenager truthfully! That's how they are. He is the most chipper kid! I mean, he's just cheerful. He didn't complain once on the hike. Happy. So it's like, oh my gosh, like, teenagers can be happy? [laughing] So yeah, just really just, he's a cool kid and it was just a really, really fun visit from the family. Kelly 20:23 Nice. That's really good. Marsha 20:24 So, yeah. Anyway, so those are my adventures in hiking. Because I have to get out of... as we know, we have to get out of a certain part of the house. Kelly 20:34 Well, and apparently, I just need to get off of the property. Marsha 20:40 You have to get off your property. Anyway. Well, okay, so we've now... this is... I'm looking at the clock here. That's 22 minutes and we haven't even gotten to fibers. Kelly 20:50 Yeah, I think you have the most interesting things to talk about. Marsha 20:55 So I've been working on, let me say I've been working on the Atlas. It's a pullover, colourwork pullover, by Jared flood. And it's been... it's been really interesting. So since we last recorded, I finished the second sleeve. I stayed up till... because today is Thursday... Tuesday night, I stayed up till 2:30 in the morning, because I became obsessed with the sweater. [laughing] Marsha 21:24 So I attached both sleeves. So as a reminder, this is you know, bottom up. You knit the bottom, you know the sweater from the bottom up, then knit the sleeves and attach them under, under the arms and then do the yoke. And when you Kelly 21:37 when you attach them, it seems like a really amazingly high number of stitches. Marsha 21:45 Seems like an amazingly high number of stitches! And it's also, I have to say, it's really hard to attach. Because you have the big circle of the body. And then you have these two little circles on the sleeves. And it's it's it's hard to get the, the... well, they're not...they're circular needles, but a certain section of the circular needles are straight, right, And it's really hard, it's not my favorite. Kelly 22:14 When I've done a sweater like that I've used two circular needles. So that... so that one of them is going like on the front part of one sleeve, the front of the sweater and then the front part of the other sleeve. And then the other circular needle... Marsha 22:28 Oh, that might be better... Kelly 22:29 ...the back part of the sleeve, the back of the sweater and the back part of the other sleeve. Yeah, I was not able... I did a baby sweater that way because I was trying to understand the construction before I did a sweater than I was making. And when I did the baby sweater I think that that's where I found that suggestion. Because in a baby sweater it's especially hard because the turns are so tight. Marsha 22:53 Yeah. really tight then, you know, yeah. Kelly 22:55 So it was like oh, okay, this is not just good for a small sweater. This would work really well. I was having that same trouble with the large sweater so I so I used the two circular needles. You know, you have to make sure you keep track of where the starting of your... where's the starting row marker supposed to go? Marsha 23:15 Right Kelly 23:16 I suggested that to Aunt Betty on a sweater that she was doing. And she was having a little bit of trouble at first because it was color work too. And so she had to kind of like rethink when the pattern says at the start of your round, the start of her round wasn't between the two needles. The two sets of circular needles. Like it wasn't the middle of the sleeve. If that makes sense? Marsha 23:42 Yeah, no, it does. I should have done that because it was it was kind of a struggle I have to admit it was not really-- but I wrestled it into submission. Kelly 23:50 but you're done, yeah, wrestled it Marsha 23:51 I wrestled the thing. So the sleeves are attached and so I that that night Tuesday as I say I stayed up till about 230 in the morning to attaching the sleeves and then I did two rows of the color work and then I was like okay, I'm still wide awake at 2:30. I thought, you have to go to bed, that's ridiculous Kelly 24:11 Well after that and still being wide awake if you if you did keep going, you could have been awake all night. [laughing] Marsha 24:21 So I've learned... so as everybody knows I've not really done color work. I did years ago and I did it the wrong way. You know, I just kept dropping and picking up the different colors and that's not the way you're supposed to do it. So I talked about this in the last episode, but Jared Flood has a great video which there's a link on the show notes about how to-- about color dominance. So we talked about that. So I do know that the the dominant color is in your left hand and I guess the submissive color... [laughing] is in your right hand. And so then he has a really good video too, about trapping the yarn. And so that that's excellent. What I did not know how to do though in this while I was doing the color work is there are some areas where you are... So let me just say, when the the submissive color is in your right hand you're throwing, right, and the dominant color in your left hand you're picking. I throw when I knit, I don't pick. I don't know what throwing is really called. I always have the yarn in my right hand and I throw and so I don't pick or continental with the yarn in my left hand. So I'm having to learn sort of get comfortable with that. So he talks about picking up or trapping the yarn. But I'm throwing so with the yarn is in your right hand. Kelly 25:52 I mean, it's with both colors in his right hand. Is that right? I think that's what you said. Marsha 25:57 That's true. Yeah, he was demonstrating holding the dominant color in your right hand. But he also does, he said he's more comfortable holding both colors in his right hand. So I had to watch a video, how do you trap the yarn, continental style. And so I put it... There is... I found one a really good one, it's short. It's only a minute long. And it's from knittinghelp.com. And they have a great video. It's just Trapping the Yarn, Continental in parentheses. So I have that in the show notes. So I had to figure that out. And there are you know, all these... Everybody says this, but what did we do before we had YouTube? Because there's so many tutorials, you can get a question answered instantly by looking at a YouTube video. What I'm at now, though, is, and I talked about this before, is the chart tells you...The color work has three colors, and it tells you which is going to be the dominant color each row. But let me restate that a better way. Each row indicates which is the dominant color and which is the submissive color. So and then some of the rows, you have the dominant color in your left hand and some of them you're going to have to submissive colors in your right hand. Okay, yeah, this has got me confused. I'm not sure how you manage, do yarn management, with two colors in your... well with three colors. So one in my left hand and two in my right hand. So I have to... I've stopped because I now need to go watch another... there's got to be a video about how you do that. Yeah, because right now I was started out and I'm just twisting the yarn, I mean, the yarn keeps getting twisted and twisted. And so there's got to be a way, perhaps his technique of holding the two colors where you twist your hand. To watch that again, Kelly 27:48 I had three colors when I did the Orcas Run sweater in some rows, very few. But there were some rows where I ended up with the the white, the dark brown and the beige color of the CVM. And I think I looked up something, but it was really a matter of just kind of like angling your finger one way or the other. Yeah, you didn't really have to twist it. It turned out that you didn't really have to twist anything. I could not describe it to you now. But when I was doing it, I do remember it was kind of like something about the angle of your finger holding the yarn. So yeah, I'm sure you can find something because I must have found it. I must have found it somewhere. Although I'm not... I'm not much of a video tutorial person. I would much rather see the words like a blog post. I'm sure I probably found a blog post somewhere. You know, what people used to do before, before we used to read blog posts. And then before that they had grandmothers and mothers who really taught them I guess or friends. It doesn't involve all that twisting. Although I guess your yarn could get twisted up as you're going but but you really aren't twisting things. Yeah. Marsha 29:04 So I've done...let's see how many rows have I done of this so far? I've done eight rows. Kelly 29:12 Okay. How's the color looking? Marsha 29:16 Oh, it looks pretty good. I've not done-- I've not done really any more than I did. I've not done as much as I did in my sample. Kelly 29:22 Oh, okay. Okay, because I remember with your swatch you were feeling... you were telling yourself to just keep going with that plan, but you were kind of questioning how it was gonna look. So I'm curious. Just, Marsha 29:38 I'm still questioning. But I'm planning ahead. Yeah, yeah. Because I have no choice. Kelly 29:45 Right. You have the yarn. You have the yarn you have. Yeah, Marsha 29:48 I have the yarn I have and I don't and there really are. I think there's only eight colors. And they're really--the only one that would possibly work is maybe like the cream would be more contrast? Kelly 29:59 Right. But that wasn't what Mark wanted. Marsha 30:03 No, and I and I, but everything else is sort of, I don't know, I just don't think that the work. So I'm plowing ahead and I, and I like this yarn. It's very, it's it's a woolly wall, and I'm finding all kinds of things in it. Straw and plastic. I'm not sure where that's from, oh, it's almost like they, they bundled the wool up in a, you know that that plastic, you know, like blue tarps? You know, they're sort of fibrous, Kelly 30:33 Kind of like feed bags. Yeah, this is the reason that you should never if you're a fiber producer, you should never store your fiber in a in a feed bag, those plastic feed bags, because that's basically what they are. They're woven. They're woven plastic strips. Yeah, they're woven out of plastic strips and those plastic strips break off and anyway, it gets in the wool, and that's what you're seeing. Marsha 31:03 Yeah, yeah. Like I and just before we started recording, I pulled this like, little piece and like, Oh, I'm gonna pull that out. Because that can't be comfortable. You know, having it in there. I'll pull it out. It's like, it's like it was about two inches long. Kelly 31:15 Yeah, spun into the wool. It really degrades the price of your of your wool. I can't even remember now where I heard this. It must have been at like a fleece judging where someone was talking about it, and how how bad it is for the price of your wool if you have if you have any of that plastic in it. So. So anyway, that's why when you said that it was like, Oh, I remember. I remember hearing about this stuff. Marsha 31:43 But that's all I have for projects either. Then I have not picked up my socks. I've not picked up my shawl. I have in the evenings in the nice weather, I just been sitting on the deck and spinning for about an hour or 45 minutes or so. So I'm, I'm still spinning but not any... No progress of any significance to report. Kelly 32:05 You still have quite a bit of that spinning to do before you're finished with that project. Marsha 32:09 Yeah, yeah. But I've just been obsessed with this sweater. Kelly 32:15 Well, that's cool. It sounds like it's gonna be really pretty. Marsha 32:18 I think it's gonna be pretty. It's shockingly bright. I mean, I don't think most men want to wear this sweater. But Mark is. He likes color. Kelly 32:29 Yeah, yeah. No, I think it's really it's gonna be really pretty. Yeah. Marsha 32:34 You'll see him on the beach from a mile away. Kelly 32:37 Right! Well, Robert has a couple of T shirts that are bright like that. He has a bright Kelly green one and bright orange. Marsha 32:45 And he likes bright socks too. Kelly 32:47 Yeah. Marsha 32:48 And Mark likes breaks. He likes brown socks too. So anyway. Well, enough of my projects. What about you? What's going on with your cardigan? Kelly 32:56 Well, yeah, I'm also pretty monogamous. And not, not very much has happened. Although I think from the last episode. I have actually finished and bound off the bottom. Marsha 33:11 Oh, wow! Kelly 33:12 Yeah, I think I was in the pockets. Marsha 33:14 Yeah, we were talking about pockets. Kelly 33:17 And so the pockets are, I want to say like six inches deep. I think I might have gone a little too far. I thought I was following the pattern and counting but maybe not. I think I was supposed to have five in the honeycombs. And that's what I have. So I have the the pockets. They're they're kind of... well it's not blocked, so you can't really tell and the ribbing on the top and the cables pull them in. But right now they look like skinny deep pockets. Marsha 33:49 Mm hmm. Kelly 33:50 But I think once it's blocked, they'll be more proportional and they won't... they actually won't look that deep. So I got past the point I finished the pockets. I did the... I think it's a one inch of ribbing or an inch and a half of ribbing at the bottom which seemed too short to me because I always put like... I love ribbing so I just do a lot at the bottom. But I didn't. I thought, This sweater is already long enough. Because it's it's tunic kind of. Well, like a sweater you could wear over leggings and you're behind will not show. Marsha 34:20 Right. Kelly 34:21 So I don't know if you'd call that tunic length but it is long. That was my--that's what I wanted and I looked on the project pages. Oh, by the way, the name of this sweater is called Dark Green Forest. And if you look on the pattern, I think on the pattern page it looks pretty long. But then if you look on the project pages, there are quite a few people who put quite a bit of length into the sweater. I mean it is designed to be long. The woman the the very first picture shows it like below the pocket you know, below the back pocket of a pair of jeans. So anyway, I'm excited about the progress that I've made because I got to bind off the bottom. But then once I bound off the bottom, it just sat for a while. And then the other night I picked it up and I needed something just mindless to do. So I, I work the pocket lining of one of the pockets. So while we've been sitting here, right now, I've picked up the stitches for the other pocket lining. But I'm not very good at counting. I think I've admitted that before. And for these pocket linings, I really want to make sure I do the right number of rows. So I'm not knitting on it right now because I know I would... It's such a short little bit of knitting that I know I would go across and back and across and be like, Oh, wait, am I on this row? Or did I just do two rows? And so I'm not knitting on it right now. I'm just sitting it on my lap and I'm, I'm petting it. But then I have to pick up the sleeves. And I'm gonna admit to something here. So how many conversations have we had about alternating skeins? Marsha 36:16 Oh, my God, Kelly. Don't tell me. Kelly 36:19 So I am alternating skeins. I am! Marsha 36:21 Okay. Kelly 36:22 And what did I tell you about your sweater? How you should like save off some of the yoke yarn for the sleeves. Marsha 36:32 Mm hmm. Kelly 36:32 So that you're not going to start the sleeves with a totally different skein? Marsha 36:36 Mm hmm, Kelly 36:38 Guess what I did not do? I did not save any of that yarn at that level where I separate it off for the sleeves. So I think it'll be all right... Marsha 36:49 Well, we're always good at giving advice, but not following advice, right? Kelly 36:52 Like what's the point of learning from your mistakes? Then after you've learned from the mistake, you make the same mistake again another time. I mean, I felt like I learned from my mistakes because I was able... as they say you know if you can teach another person, then you know something. And I taught you how to do that, I talked about it in the podcast, I taught all our listeners about that. And yet, I just plowed ahead. So there will be a color change mark. But there's a... it's very slight. And there's a color change mark when one of my skins ran out and I had to put another one in. It's just I mean, you know, hand dyed yarn. So I don't know, I'll look for the skein that looks the most. I mean, they all... this is the problem. They all look, they all look exactly the same. So maybe it will be more fine than I think. But I wish I had a few yards of... I wish I had a few yards of the yarn where I left off with the sleeve to blend into the next one. So anyway Marsha 38:05 Lesson learned--again. Kelly 38:07 I know. And I was trying to think well, could I undo it? And like rip back but you can't because if I rip back I'm gonna be ripping back across the body. Not doing that! So we'll see. I'll report back. It's a it's a, but it's not meant to be a you know, go out to dinner sweater. So it's not going to be a big deal if it's terrible. But I don't think it... I don't think it'll be terrible. I just wish I had remembered. It's dumb not to remember that. Marsha 38:39 Yes, it is. Both 38:40 [laughing] Marsha 38:44 But you know what I would have done? I mean, the thing is, you know I made a very similar... I mean, it's sort of the same vein as this sweater that--I don't even remember what it was called. Remember it was--we dyed the yarn at your house? That teal color. Kelly 39:01 Yeah, Recoleta? Marsha 39:03 No, wasn't the Recoleta Looking at my page... looking at this... Oh, here it is Northern Lights. Oh no, I'm sorry. It's called Iba I-B-A by Bonne Marie Burns, or Bonnie Marie Burns. And I called it Northern Lights Iba. And it's very... It almost looks like it's variegated yarn. If you look-- I'm looking at the pictures of it now. And that's what I did is, I knit the whole body and then I went to pick up the sleeves and they're completely different. So I had to rip the whole I ripped it all the way back and just recast on and redid the whole thing alternating. So dumb! Kelly 39:41 Yeah, cuz you didn't alternate at all. Marsha 39:42 I didn't. At all. Yeah, Kelly 39:44 Yeah. Well, at least I at least I managed to do that. And But yeah, I was like, yeah. Oh, well. Oh, well. Well, we'll see. I mean, maybe, maybe you won't even be able to tell I pick up the sleeves, but I think I think you probably will. Marsha 40:06 It's funny. I'm just it's just a comment. I haven't worn that sweater in years. And when did I finish that? 2018. I need to wear that sweater. Kelly 40:16 We should do...We should do a sweater round up on one of our episodes where we just get out all our sweaters. And we just talk about them and why we're gonna keep them, why we don't wear them, or why we don't wear them, what are the ones we do wear? Why do we wear them? That would be very interesting. We should do that. Let's do that next episode. Marsha 40:39 Okay, Let me write this down. Kelly 40:42 Okay. Yeah, I think that would be interesting. I would like to know... Well and the other thing about about skeins and handspun is that I... With a funky grandpa sweater, in that one I was saved by the stripes, because it has those little thin stripes of dyed color. Because that yarn when I... I mean that was a sweaters worth of wool that I carded and spun. And those skeins when I would put a new skein on. I mean, just because of the the variation in the wool. Those skeins were different colors. It was natural. I hadn't dyed it at all. It was just the natural gray but the skeins were different colors. And so even if I were making a sweater out of handspun that wasn't dyed, I might consider alternating skeins. When you have done a sweaters worth from a fleece you know they, the skeins, can be very different. Not the whole skein is different. But the part of the skein where you start the new skein can be different than the skein, the part of the skein, where you leave off, Marsha 42:02 right Kelly 42:03 and it can make a stripe. You know, you can have a sharp division of color. Whereas in within the skein, you have color variation, but it's not a sharp division of color. Marsha 42:16 Yeah. Kelly 42:17 So anyway, that's just a tip, if you're planning to do a handspun sweater with your summer spin in yarn. But that's where I am with my project. That's the only thing I worked on, I did not do any spinning, I don't think since the last, since the last episode. Really everything that I have, all my creative energy has been going toward getting my class materials ready for school. We don't start until... students come back on the 30th of August. So I still have a good chunk of summer left, which feels really good. But you know, we'll be online, I'm online. Our classes are-- they were trying to get back face-to-face with more classes. So they have some that are fully face-to-face. Very few. Some that are hybrid, where students will be on campus, one or two days a week, and then the rest of it is online. And that's that's a type of class we've always had. That's just not in the pandemic, we've always had hybrid classes and online classes. But we have many more online classes, you know, now with the pandemic, and very few hybrid or face-to-face, about maybe 40%, I think. But my classes are all online, because I've worked so dang hard to get them ready. Plus, plus, I am not confident that-- I'm not confident that we're going to stay. Marsha 43:48 Oh, in class? Kelly 43:49 ...any of the... Yeah, yeah, I think that at some point during the fall semester, it's likely that we might have to close down the face-to-face classes. So I didn't want to be in a position to have started with plans to do face-to-face and then ended up online anyway. So I just elected to do... I selected online classes. So anyway, I've been working on those. And actually, it's been fun. I've been enjoying that work. And it's been a long time since I've thought it was really fun to get my classes prepared. Yeah. So, you know, I've had some professional development and some of the things that we've done in these workshops, I'm now getting to implement and I'm feeling more comfortable with the system that we're using. So anyway, it's just been, it's been really fun. And it's quite a creative process because you have to create all these materials, you know, all the things I would have told... All this is obvious but but when you really think about all the things you would have told students while you were in class, because I'm doing an asynchronous online format. So everything I would have told students in class now has to be created to be provided to them on the, the, you know, the learning management system. So that's a lot of content creation. But it's creative. I mean, it feels creative to me. So it's been, it's been really, it's been pretty fun. Marsha 45:22 That's good. Because it, it didn't start out so fun. This whole online thing. So I'm glad you're having fun. Kelly 45:29 Yeah, then I won't go into a lot of detail about my pain. Everyone's heard it. But yeah, I'm getting some of the... I'm starting to reap some of the benefits of the learning that you know, all of that learning that I had to do. And so that's nice. It's nice when you move from rank novice, to feeling like you actually have a little bit of expertise. That is a good feeling. Marsha 46:00 Yeah. Kelly 46:01 It's taken a while, but, but I started to feel that way. So ask me again in November. [laughing] Marsha 46:09 Okay. Kelly 46:12 We'll see! We'll see whether I have progressed from rank novice to having some expertise or not. When it's not hypothetical, so. So anyway, yeah, that's all my all of my projects, I am going to just talk briefly about one of Robert's projects, because it's so interesting. So we have a toilet, that is 1938. I think the date stamped on the toilet is 1938. Purple. And it hasn't worked for a while. The mechanism on the inside was leaking. And he tried to get another one and it was still leaking. And so for a while we were using it like, turn the water off at the wall after using it, go back in to use it turn the water on at the wall, use it, turn the water off. Which is was terrible because the thumping in our pipes, I mean, something about that particular valve made that thumping sound happen in the pipes almost every time and sometimes it was like, Oh, my Gosh it's gonna shake them loose, and they're gonna break and that can't be good. So he took it out and put in a more modern toilet. Oh, the idea was, we're going to do this for now and then see what we can do with this. So anyway, he's been cleaning it out. Well, okay, it was not, it was not a dirty toilet. We-- it was cleaned before it was taken out of the house. So, but he's been cleaning off all of the deposits, mineral deposits from you know, since 1938. And so he's been working on this project for about, I don't know, five days, with different kinds of products. First starting with vinegar, and then moving on to hydrochloric acid. He brought me in a chunk, I took a picture and I showed it to Marsha, when we were first starting to get ready to record. He brought a chunk of this in that had just come off. And he said there were like four or five of them. It's like three eighths of an inch thick of calcium deposits. Marsha 48:22 It's shocking.I had no idea. Like, I.. Kelly 48:25 We'll put a picture in the show notes. Yeah. We have hard water. And then think, you know, 80 some years of hard water deposits. It's a, it's a chunk, a good three eighths of an inch thick, and about four inches long. And he said there were, I think at least four of them that came off like that. Four big pieces like that, plus a whole bunch of other, a whole bunch of other little bits that came off. But yeah, Marsha 48:56 yeah, who knew? I mean, it's just amazing. It really is kind of, I mean, Kelly 49:00 So and I could do the math, I'm kind of curious. I'm not-- I can't do it in my head here during the podcast. But you know, think about the circumference of the of the pipe, you know, where it flushes. The circumference, and think about going in three eighths of an inch all the way around. Like how much smaller that is. How much that restricts the flow. So anyway, very interesting. It's been an interesting project, he's found a place to get the interior workings of the toilet. He found out the model number. He's going to be able to I think get the interior workings but they're backordered. It's not the same kind of interior workings as a modern toilet has. So anyway, I'm excited about this project but very gross. The calcium I mean, it's just calcium, but Kelly 49:43 It's calcium, yeah. Kelly 49:59 But it's just it's, it's gross. Marsha 50:04 I find it less gross as more just sort of amazing. Well, what I want, I was like, what does it do to your insides? Like you're drinking that water? Right? Is it just passing it through? Kelly 50:18 Yeah, it doesn't sit. It doesn't just sit there. Well, it's calcium. Your body uses it. Marsha 50:22 Oh, that's true. Well then you're absorbing it I guess. Kelly 50:25 I think, yeah, yeah. I would think, I don't know. But this little chunk, it has all these striations like, archeology, Marsha 50:34 you need to count all those and see the rings. So yeah, like I like how many years is that? 1938 to 2021? Kelly 50:43 It's over eighty years. Marsha 50:45 Oh see this is why your the math teacher. Kelly 50:46 Yeah, it's over eighty years. Marsha 50:48 So you have like, in theory, you got 80 layers. Yeah, you need to get a bandsaw, cut it in half and count all the layers. Kelly 50:57 Yeah, when I was in, when I was in junior high we... I grew up in Fremont. And in Fremont. Well, right now it's the Tesla plant. But it was the GM plant, there was a GM auto plant there. And when I was in junior high, I took a class, a plastics class. And so we got to use all the like, tools, you know, lathe, and bandsaw, and sanding and all that, like they do in woodshop in metal shop, but it was with plastic. And one of the things that we got to work with, which was I thought was really fun. And it's the same idea. It's all the auto paint that had built up on the pipe over the, you know, there's like piping over the, I want to say conveyor belt, I don't know if that's the right, the right word, but in the, Marsha 51:45 in the assembly line, Kelly 51:46 assembly line. Yeah. So there's like a pipe and the paint spray. So these layers of paint build up on these pipes, and then they would crack them off. And you'd get this big chunk of layers of paint. And then, and then you could sand it down and make things out of it. So you know, people make rings or small things, but, but it was about probably, maybe three quarters of an inch thick. And round, you know, like, round on one side, because they've been attached to a, like a pipe. And then, and then you sand it down and shape it and all that. And it was really fun, because you could get some really cool colors. And you could see the rings, like the, the rings of, you know, in wood. And it was all different colors, depending on what they were painting. And so, so. So that's kind of cool. And it was, you know, kind of ugly at first because it was all rough you know. But I don't think you could polish this calcium. I don't know, maybe you could I'm not gonna do it. Marsha 52:55 Well, it'll be interesting to see, you know, if once he gets the new mechanism, how well it works, you know, because it probably was so constricted. There's no flow, you know? Kelly 53:05 Yeah, no, it didn't work very well before. But But I can Yeah, I can see why. So anyway, that that that's not my project. But it's something that has been going on here that I think is interesting to share. So all right, well, we do have the summer spin in and that ends in about a month. So keep spinning. And we are going to have prizes, we're going to have prizes provided by Three Green Sisters. And so get your finished objects into the finished object thread. There's one for skeins, finished skeins, and one for finished projects made out of handspun. So we don't have as many people participating as last year. But we do have quite a few people participating. And we do have a lot of people who are still weaving from the winter weave along. So that's kind of fun, to still be going into the winter weave along thread and... saying I have to get going to my Marsha 54:07 I have to get going on my spinning project. I have to finish it by the sixth. I have to get going. Kelly 54:12 You have a month. Yeah, well, you have time, you can do it, you have time. And then the other thing is we wanted to take some time to thank our patrons. So we have a Patreon account. And that's a way that listeners can contribute to the podcast if they like to, you sign up to be a patron at a particular a particular level and then you just, you, know make that contribution monthly. The idea of it is it's a, you know, monthly monthly contribution for however long you would like to support us. And we have some patrons that I want to thank so I'm going to just read off the names and then we also have a Patreon Patreon patron giveaway. So I just want to make sure that we thank Connie and Cheryl and Jan and Heddi, and Jane and Colleen, Mindy, Eman, Amy, and Patti and Joan. And we have Tammy and Teresa to thank and Kathy. And Nathalie, thank you so much. Martha, Melody, Angie, Joanne, JoyLaine. Thank you! Gretta, Barbara, Rachel W., Angela, Vicki, Charlene, Erika N. Debbie, Erica J, Rachel S. Pat, Carin, Catherine, Jenn, and Janine. So yeah, thank you so much. I really appreciate all of the support from our patrons and the funds that come in through the Patreon account go to our hosting fees, prizes, or shipping costs. All of those things. Our transcribe, transcribing to make the transcript. We have that expense. All that is covered by our patrons. So we really appreciate it! Yeah, we really appreciate all they do for the podcast, making it available to everyone. Marsha 56:12 So thank you. Kelly 56:13 Yeah. So what we're gonna do... Marsha 56:16 we're not done? Kelly 56:18 We're not done, Marsha 56:18 we're thanking them but we're thanking them in another way, too. Kelly 56:22 Exactly. any of our patrons can get a pattern of their choice up to $8. So all they have to do is contact me on Ravelry. Let me know what your pattern selection is. And you can... then I'll just go ahead and and get that pattern dropped into your Ravelry-- your Ravelry inbox. So yeah, we just want to let people know how much we appreciate their support. Marsha 56:48 So start looking at your patterns. Pick your favorite pattern and let us know! Kelly 56:52 Yeah, it's always interesting. We did this last summer and it was really interesting to see what people were were choosing. I got a few things added to my queue. . Marsha 57:01 Oh, yeah, dangerous. [laughing] Kelly 57:03 Yeah. Inspirational you could say, Marsha 57:06 Okay, well, anything else? Kelly 57:08 No, I think that will do it for us, Marsha. Marsha 57:11 Okay. Well, I'm gonna go back to my sweater. Kelly 57:16 Okay. Marsha 57:17 Get lost in color work. Kelly 57:19 Yeah, that sounds fun. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing it. Marsha 57:23 Hopefully, well...Hopefully when we record in two weeks, I'll have the yoke done. We'll see. Kelly 57:28 Oh, that'll be good. Yeah. See, anyway. Marsha 57:31 Alrig`ht. Kelly 57:31 Okay. Marsha 57:32 Okay. Well, we'll talk in two weeks. All right. Bye. Kelly 57:36 Bye bye. Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Marsha 57:44 Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects. Until next time, Both 57:53 We're the Two Ewes doing our part for world fleece! Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Wool fiber carding and preparation is our topic in this episode as our Summer Spin In continues. Current spinning and knitting projects along with a couple of rants are also on the program! Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects I frogged the foot of my Drops Fabel sock, turned the heel and I am knitting the gusset. Picked up a long dormant shawl called Simple Shawl by Jane Hunter that I started in March 2018. Using Michael CWD in the colorway San Francisco Fog. Cast on the pullover Atlas by Jared Flood for my brother. The yarn I'm using is Navia Tradition. My gauge is 20st/4” instead of 24st/4” so I am making the smallest size. I have knit about 7” of the body, excluding the ribbing. Because I cast on with a provisional cast on and the body is all stockinette it is very curly. It looks like a holiday wreath! In the last episode, I mentioned that the color work chart distinguishes “dominant” color and I was guessing what this meant. Thank goodness for YouTube and Jared Flood who has a great video explaining why we want to pick a dominant color and the technique for doing this. I'm still spinning on my green/brown merino.  Hidden Brain: This is the link to the website. Then search for the episode, “Why We Hold Onto Things” from May 31, 2021. I was unable to put a direct link to the  episode. Kelly's Projects I finished carding about 400 grams of Oxford batts and sampled them. Yes, actually sampled! I made two small skeins of about 20 g each. One is 2 ply and the other is 3-ply. Since the fleece was slightly sticky I used boiled water to put in the wash bowl and they both washed up nicely. I like the 2 ply best. It is softer and fluffier. I now have a full bobbin of singles all spun up. Here is the project page for this handspun.    I started a handspun sweater! I am using a new pattern called Dark Green Forest (Ravelry link) by Christina Körber-Reith. She also has the patterns at her website, Strickhauzeit. Her website also has both measuring/fitting and bust dart tutorials.  Summer Spin In Topics Don't forget your tetanus shot! From Nathalie (SuperKip) Two additions that might be helpful: Don't prep fleece when you're pregnant (toxoplasmosis is a danger) For ‘rescue'-fleeces, a flick-carder is also very helpful, this also gets rid of many waste types of yarn. Carding Fiber preparation tools: Hand cards, flick carder, mini combs, combs, drum carder, blending board Hand Carding with Beth Smith Spin Off Free Guide to Wool Carding and Combing Skirting How to Skirt a Fleece by the Spinning Loft How to Skirt a Fleece Video by Rayne Fiber Arts Mill processing Fiber Shed Mill Inventory Producer Directory Fiber Prep Ravelry Group: Fleece Processor List Mendocino Wool and Fiber Valley Oak Wool Mill Morro Fleece Works Full Transcript Marsha 0:03 Hi, this is Marsha Kelly 0:04 and this is Kelly. Marsha 0:05 We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 0:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 0:17 We blog and post show notes at toTwo Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly 0:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects, Marsha 0:29 and I am betterinmotion. Kelly 0:31 We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Both 0:35 Enjoy the episode. Marsha 0:43 Good morning, Kelly. Kelly 0:44 Good morning, Marsha. Marsha 0:45 Well, how are you today? Kelly 0:47 I'm doing fine. I'm out in the trailer. I've been complaining about how cold it is here. It's in the 60s again, again every day. Well, not right now it's less than that here now. But I'm wearing an undershirt, a long sleeve shirt, a flannel shirt. And on top of the flannel shirt I have a shirt jacket that will probably come off as we go. But it's cold here. Marsha 1:19 Well, it's cool today. I don't know what the temperature is. But it's it's overcast. And the wind is blowing. It's very cool. And I but I have to say I'm not complaining. It feels very nice. After that hot hot weather we had Kelly 1:29 Yeah. Marsha 1:30 It was like 110. Like, I still, even now two weeks later, people are still like how'd you do with that heat, right. But everybody's asking, but so it's nice. And it's overcast and breezy and cool. But that's how it was yesterday morning. And then it turned out to be a beautiful day it was actually quite warm. So yeah, sort of typical for us is cool, and overcast and sort of misty in the morning. And then Kelly 1:55 Yeah, it's been wet almost every morning here for the last week. So it's been cold in the house. And of course I'm not going to-- I am not running the heater in July. That's ridiculous. Marsha 2:10 I don't know if they have this in other parts of the country. But there's a group in in Seattle, all the neighborhoods have a group in this way. It's called Buy Nothing. And it's basically where you can't sell anything. You just post everything out for free. So I've been posting up things like yesterday, well, the one that I thought was so interesting is--I think I got it as a Christmas gift years ago.It's a, it's for grilling, it's a fork, but also has a thermometer in it. Like 10 people wanted it. So I just had to pick somebody. And then other stuff nobody wants, you know, but it's kind of fun. I mean, you know, Kelly, remember you were talking about in front of your house, because you do live on a high traffic street. You just were putting stuff out in front and then and then it was fun to see how fast it went. And then you started going around looking for things to give away. It's kind of like, it's like now I'm very motivated. And I'll tell you why I'm motivated in a second. But anyway, someone's coming today to pick up--I have an old ice cream maker, you know that we had probably in the 60s, right? That we used to make ice cream. It's the hand crank kind that you put ice in and the rock salt and stuff. And so and she's all-- this woman is super excited about it, because she's gonna use it for their Campfire or Girl Scout troop to make ice cream, which is really fun that's going to get used, right? Kelly 3:33 Yeah. Marsha 3:33 it's it's kind of fun. It's a little addictive. And you know how I am. For years, I've had such a hard time getting rid of stuff. But people are so excited about it. You know, and this other woman, you know, she's excited because I just posted up-- I have a, you know, a large, really large stainless steel mixing bowl. And I posted that up and she's like, Oh, I'm a baker. And I said I'm a baker too, you know. So I thought maybe I'll meet my neighbors this way. Because it's just, you have to be in a certain block radius. So, um, so probably I think it's, I think it's nationwide. Kelly 4:11 I don't know. Marsha 4:13 So I will... let me just say why I'm doing this as is. You know I've...as you know, the listeners now I have my house that I've had in Ballard for many years. I'm getting that ready to rent. I moved into the house I was growing up in. I've had to combine two households. And I've done really well getting rid of stuff. But there was that last stuff that you know, that you hang on to. You think maybe I'll use it, right? Maybe I will make ice cream in the hand crank ice cream maker. And I've been thinking that for how many years? My mother had it in her basement and I thought it's never going to happen. So and if I do get a wild hair that I am, I will go buy one again but I'm probably never going to miss that thing. So I'm...and I had a...Yeah, there's all kinds of things I'm getting rid of and little things but they'll just make space and so I'm now motivated. In the basement because... and Kelly you know this and people if you're following my Instagram feed, you probably know what I'm doing. But I took everything in the basement.. The basement is divided into half. One half is...there's a rec room with a fireplace and a bedroom. And the other half we always called it the dirty part of the basement. But that's where the washer and dryer is and the workbench and stuff, the furnace, hot water heater. So I took everything out of that dirty part of the basement and put it into the rec room. Then I had the wiring redone the plumbing redone for a new hot water heater, new washer dryer, new sink. And then we painted the walls because it was just bare concrete walls. Well actually, they've been painted with calcimite which is like, almost like a chalk like substance, and it doesn't... you can't paint over it. The paint just peels off, so I had to wash down all the walls. Scrub the floor, degrease the floor. So I painted the walls, the trim on the windows, I painted the floor... two coats of concrete paint on the floors. So now I... last night I started moving things back. But Kelly, did you look at my Instagram post this morning? Kelly 6:20 No. Marsha 6:21 I think I posted it last night of the shelving unit, Ben shaking it. He said they're not safe. So I ordered last night, I just saw that you can go and order and pay for stuff at Home Depot and just go pick it up. So I ordered it and I get a text in about 15 minutes that it's ready. So Ben went over and picked up the shelving units and we built three shelving units. So today after we finish recording, I'm going to now start putting things that I'm keeping back on the shelf. And my plan is, if it doesn't fit on those three shelving units I'm not keeping it. Kelly 6:55 Oh, that's a good idea. it will keep you honest Marsha 6:57 And my other plan . Yes, and this is my other rule. Nothing sits on the floor. If it sits on it, I can't keep it if it sits on the floor. It has to go up on a shelf. Is that a good plan? Kelly 7:11 Yeah. Marsha 7:12 Do you think it's attainable? Kelly 7:14 I don't know. We'll see. How many people want your free stuff? Marsha 7:22 Yeah. Kelly 7:26 Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Marsha 7:28 So anyway, and I will put a... Well I think I got kind of motivated too because pulling everything out... when I saw all of the stuff in the rec room my thought was, I'm one item away from being a hoarder. One more item and it might be at the tipping point. And then as Ben said to me, you know, a lot of stuff is not my stuff. A lot of it is stuff that is other people's stuff that I inherited. So like, I've talked about this before, but you know, 10 sets of dishes that were all inherited from various relatives that I didn't buy, I don't want them, but I now have them. And I don't know what to do with them. And so and then along those lines, having that conversation with Ben sort of motivated me. It did, it sort of did motivate me and then also, he recommended the podcast Hidden Brain. I think the show airs on NPR, but it also is in the form of a podcast and he had an episode and I will try and find a link to it. I forgotten the name of it. But it's something basically about why we keep things and a lot of times it has no monetary value but it has sentimental value. And how do you and how... Which is true. Like I have these...I talk about all these dishes I have. That old treadle sewing machine... things I don't necessarily want. But the people who gave them to me really wanted me to have them. My aunt really wanted me to have that treadle sewing machine but I don't use it. So it's silly to keep it but I feel sort of duty bound to keep it, you know, and all the family history and photographs. I don't want them. And so I've decided I'm going to contact other members of the family and see if they want them. So they can store them and not me. Kelly 9:18 You should just do like my aunt's have done and... Marsha 9:24 just put it on their porch... Kelly 9:27 Grab a batch of pictures, stick them in a bag and just either put them in the mail and send them or, well, like my my aunt will send something home with Aunt Betty or my mom drops something off when she comes here. It's like you start divesting yourself by giving the stuff to to other people. So yeah, like zucchini. You can just drop it on their porch. [laughing] Marsha 9:54 And you speed away. [laughing] Maybe I should put my family photos on Buy Nothing. if you want instant family. Kelly 10:02 Funny! Marsha 10:02 No, I just think... and like the other thing too is I have been saddled with things. I adored my aunt. I loved her, my dad's sister, but she did all the family history. And I have three banker boxes full of all of her research, two trunks full of photographs. And I don't know how many plastic bins full of photographs. And I got, well, chosen or saddled with the family history stuff. And I, the truth is, I don't really care that much. And I know that's terrible to say, because everybody's doing all this family research, but somebody else in the family who is more motivated and cares more than I care should probably do it because I... My aunt, I think thought I cared a lot more than I really cared about all the family history. So anyway, way too much information about what's going on here. But I'm in purge mode. Kelly 11:05 All right. Marsha 11:07 So, Kelly, yes. Should we talk about, like, fibery things now? Kelly 11:11 I think so. Marsha 11:12 Okay. Kelly 11:13 You're not purging any of that. Right? Marsha 11:19 Well, I know I'm not yet right. Not now. But I do need to figure out a different way of storing. Kelly 11:23 Well, that's a perpetual question. What do you do? Yeah. How do you store those? Yeah, yeah. Marsha 11:28 So let's get to projects. Do you want to go first? Kelly 11:31 Sure. I'll go first, because mine is short. Oh, first of all, Marsha 11:35 is that good? Kelly 11:36 I don't know. Well, it's fine. It's, it's kind of normal. It's kind of the way it's been recently. But I finished carding about well... I'm gonna say finished because the Oxford fleece was in two bags. And I finished one bag of the Oxford a fleece and it's about it's about 400 grams. And so then I sampled. So I, I made a two ply, about 20 gram skein, I think, of two ply and a small skein also of three ply to see which I liked better. And I was, I was thinking I was gonna like the three ply better, but I liked... I actually liked the two ply better. It's fluffier, part of it might just be the amount of twist that I put in the three ply. Even though I like a nice round three ply. This particular yarn that I made, it feels sort of buttoned up. It's kind of like, you know, it's round. And, and, and, you know, bouncy, like a three ply is, but it feels kind of just too much twist. There's just too much, too much twist in it. And it just really wants to be a little looser. At least that's what I'm thinking. If I had done the three ply, with less twist. I mean, normally, you put a little more in, because you're going to be untwisting a little bit more when you ply the three ply. And so I think that might be what happened. I wasn't intentionally doing that, but maybe that's what happened. Anyway, it just feels a little too tight. And the other one feels nice and fluffy and loose. And so think I'm gonna do a two ply. And so I started a bobbin. Last-- yesterday, and I managed to spin an entire bobbin, most of a bobbin, of this Oxford fleece. So I'm still keeping my options open that I may opt to do a three ply. You know, I'm not gonna ply it right away. Think about it, and I'll do a second bobbin first before I decide, but I'm pretty sure I want to do a two ply with this. So it's nice, it's it's springy. It's softer than I expected it to be based on when I was carding it. Marsha 14:06 Mm hmm. Kelly 14:08 But it's like a medium You know, kind of a medium workhorse kind of fleece but softer than the Perendale. That Perendale that I talked about a couple of episodes ago, that blue and green one. Blue, green and yellow from the prepared fiber that I bought from Sheep Spot. The Oxford is a little softer than that. Actually is quite a bit-- it feels quite a bit softer than that now that I'm spinning it. Now I think I mentioned that I didn't do the best washing job when I first washed it, so it's a little sticky. So I just when I washed it, I just used boiling water in the bowl, along with some soap and washed the skeins and they came out really nice. So I wasn't too worried about it. I had done that before. So I wasn't too worried about the, the fact that it was a little sticky spinning. And it's perfect for spinning now. Because even though you know, even though the weather is cool here, you know, it has been in the high 60s. So if I sit in a little sunny spot and spin, it slips really nicely. You know, it's more lanoliny than sticky once it gets a little warmed up. So I mean, I'm not, this is not spinning in the grease by any means. It's... Marsha 15:32 Right. Kelly 15:33 It's, it's clean, but it's still got more lanolin in it then I really liked to have. So that's one thing that I'm working on. My spinning project. But I also started another project for our spin-in which is, you know, making something out of your handspun. So I started a handspun sweater. Marsha 15:59 Oh, Kelly 16:00 So I spun the yarn years ago, well, over several years. Maybe people who've been listening for a while might remember. It's the CVM fleece and I had it processed at Yolo fiber mill which is now Valley Oak Wool Mill, a different owner. But it's up in Woodland, California. And I had it when we first moved here to this house, so that would have been '05. I'd had the fleece for at least at least a year, maybe came from the fair in 2004. Sat around here for a while before I sent it away to be processed. And then once it came back, I started spinning it and I used that same fleece for the... There was like six pounds of it. And I used that same fleece that sort of taupey beige fleece for the Orca sweater, the Orcas Run sweater, my big, bulky sweater. But this is a fingering weight, three ply, and then I dyed it red over the kind of beige color. So that made it kind of a terracotta, rust, I don't know what you would call it exactly. But it's real pretty. The dye color was called dark red. And I found a pattern. So, again, I had talked many times about what pattern I was going to use, right? I had a couple of choices in my queue that I was pretty sure I was going to use one of them. And then finally I just decided you know what I'm going to go looking again. And so I found a pattern called Dark Green Forest. And it's by Christina Korber-Reith. Korber-Reith is her last name, k o, r, b e r, dash r, e, i, t, h, she's German. And I actually looked up how you how you pronounce it. Marsha 18:17 Mm hmm. Kelly 18:17 In German. And...but I can't say it that way. I did the best I could. But she has, she has some really interesting patterns. Nice, kind of the long sweaters that I like, cozy and casual. The one I'm using has a cable like a honeycomb cable down the sleeve. It's got a saddle shoulder, which... I don't know if I've ever done an actual saddle shoulder before. But I think this is a saddle shoulder because the cable comes down from the collar and then goes down, down the top of the shoulder and then down the arm. The collar is a square collar. I don't know that it would be called a shawl collar. But it's nice. It's...you start at the... you start at the collarr and go down and it's it's one of those collars that folds over and is just square. You know, it's just Marsha 19:22 like a sailor's collar. Is that what they call it? Kelly 19:24 Yes. Yeah, I think that is what you would call it. That is what it's like, exactly like that. And it has ribbing on it. So I've gotten... I've gotten down... I'm in the the arm hole increases. Marsha 19:43 Mm hmm. Kelly 19:45 But I got messed up somehow. And I need to... I'm trying to decide whether I want to go forward and see if I'm in the right place for the cable. You know that cable crossing, or do I want to rip it back again, because I already ripped it back once to to get back to where I thought I knew where I was. And now it's not looking right. So. So I have to decide what I want to do. Do I want to forge ahead? Assuming that I'm right?Or, or did I somehow make a mistake again, not paying attention and get an extra, you know, an extra row in there. So. So anyway, that's where I am with that. But I'm really liking the pattern. It's fun. It's well written. I've made good progress, but with a collar that big. I still haven't gotten that far down, you know? Yeah, I'm in the, in the yoke. A little bit below what she calls the yoke in her pattern, so. But I'm excited about it. I have a sweater on the needles again, something more than a dish cloth. Marsha 20:55 Mm hmm. Well, I was just looking at the pattern. I think it's a very nice pattern. And I love the color. That terracotta color, I think is really nice. Kelly 21:03 Thank you. Yeah, I'm really pleased with it. I was laughing because somebody, I was talking to somebody about making things. And I suddenly realized, I like everything I make. I mean, it's good, right? I'm making it so it should be made the way I like it. But, but it was kind of funny. This person that I was talking to was much more critical of her stuff than I am. I'm like, you know, Oh, I like that. You say Oh, I like the color. I'm like, yeah, isn't it great? Oh, I like how your sweater turned out! Yeah, yeah, isn't it great? [laughing] Marsha 21:48 That's interesting. I'm trying to think... do I like everything I make? I like most things. I've had some. I say I like everything I've made. I like the yarn and the color and stuff. Sometimes. They don't fit right. Kelly 22:05 Yeah, I have some. Yeah, I have some fit complaints about some of the things I've made. Mostly related to raglan sleeve shaping that has the raglan part starting at like two stitches. And yeah, my top of my shoulder is much broader than two stitches. So unless we're talking about, you know, a totally high neck collar, that's not enough. But even those, I mean, I yeah. I guess it has to do with when, right? Especially when I'm making it or when I first finish it. It's like, Oh, I love this! Once it's in my drawer or closet for a while I sometimes realize oh, I don't love this as much as I thought I did. You know? Marsha 22:56 Yeah, Kelly 22:56 I--you know, I noticed because I don't grab it out as much. Marsha 22:59 Yeah, yeah. Kelly 23:01 But yeah, no, I'm not very critical of my own work. There's, I've made-- I did make one hat that I thought okay, this is really ugly. Marsha 23:12 Was that the charity hat you made? That you were talking about in the last episode or two episodes? Kelly 23:17 Oh, no, I, well...I guess I could count that one. I think that one's kind of ugly. And oh, well, not ugly, just not the best thing I've ever made. So maybe two things. No, this is one I made a long, long time ago. And I was going to a meeting and I just had to grab stuff to make a hat. You know, I knew I was going to be sitting in a meeting for a long time. So I just grabbed yarn. And the colors didn't really go together. And then I decided to make stripes. Because I thought oh, if I if I make the stripes of this way, it'll look better the colors will actually go together. One was like a teal and the other one was like a rust color. And they just didn't, you know that can be... that could be a really pretty combination. But this particular teal and the particular rust just wasn't wasn't a good mix. So I know that that hat sat in my stash for a long time with me thinking, well, maybe it's not so bad if I look at it in a different light. Oh, I think it's all right. Or then I thought, oh, maybe I'll just overdye it and I thought you know, I just just put it in the bag of goodwill stuff. Marsha 24:26 Mm hmm. Kelly 24:28 So I finally did get rid of it. And one of my, you know, times of going through the closet and getting rid of stuff that hat went in. So yeah. Anyway, but those are my only two. Really my only two projects at this moment are the spinning project and the new sweater on the needles. So... Marsha 24:48 Well, very nice. You're busy. Kelly 24:50 Yeah, I had hoped to wash fleece. And I won't go into a lot of gory detail but my top load washing machine from 30 years finally died. So... Marsha 25:06 Yes, so did you get another top load? Kelly 25:08 Yeah, yeah, it's another just basic washing machine. So it's coming on Friday. Marsha 25:14 30 years. That's actually a really long time for... I mean today for appliances, Kelly 25:21 The one we just bought will not last 30 years, I'm sure. Marsha 25:24 Well, good. Kelly 25:25 So we'll hope it works. Nobody at the place knew anything about, you know, things like can you just... Marsha 25:32 can you wash a fleece in it? Right?They really couldn't answer that question. [laughing] Kelly 25:34 Will it just spin and drain? Oh, you know, can you open it up in the middle of the cycle? You know, all that stuff. They didn't know anything about it. So we'll see. I have my fingers crossed. I think I'll be able to use it. I'll be able to figure something out. It has a pause button. So you know it locks but it does have a pause button. So I should be able to... Yeah, I should be able to do something with it. I don't know. But it doesn't have... it has an automatic water level. That might be a problem. Marsha 26:08 Oh, yeah, cuz you want to Kelly 26:10 Yeah, cuz I wanted to fill and then put stuff in. So I need-- I might need to figure out how to make it fill with nothing in it. Stupid. I don't know why they can't just make a--Well, I won't go into a ramt. It just, it's just ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with a regular washer. And I you know, I was reading through all of the things and oh, you know, you need this washer because it's gonna make your clothes last longer. I'm sorry. People don't want their clothes to last longer. People want to go shopping and buy a new outfit next month. It doesn't make any sense. Marsha 26:51 Actually, that's a really good point. I never thought about that. Because that was the the selling point of those front load front load washing machines is they're more gentle on your clothing because there isn't the agitation. But to your point, we don't want our clothes to last because we buy clothes are so inexpensive that we just buy new clothes. Kelly 27:11 And honestly, my clothes have gone in a... Now I just sound like an old lady on a rant but my clothing has gone into a top load agitator washer for 60 years. I have never felt like my clothing wore out too fast from going in the washing machine. Never! Not once have I had something that I thought, oh my god, it just wore out so fast from going in the washing machine. Marsha 27:40 Okay, so since we're on rants, I'm going to add my little rant to this. It's not about washing machines and appliances, which that could be a whole--that's a whole nother podcast of ranting! Light bulbs. So Marsha 27:54 Oh no Marsha! [laughing] Marsha 27:57 I'm gonna say... [laughing] But here's the thing. I remember when they came out with the LED light bulbs. And the big selling point of those light bulbs is that they were going to last 25 or 30 years. So I had all these random light bulbs, and I discovered most of my lamps are three way. So I bought all new light bulbs. Because I as I say had all these different light bulbs. And so I bought all new three way light bulbs. Put them in probably two months ago, and two of them have burned out. Now, I think... And I clearly sound like a conspiracy theorist when I say this, but I don't think I am. I think it's the truth. I think they're designed to break because it's not-- it doesn't make any sense. It's not a smart business model to make light bulbs that last 30 years right? Because nobody's gonna go buy your light bulbs. They won't buy them again for 30 years. Kelly 28:50 right Marsha 28:50 So the business model is they use less energy, which is good. But they cost more. Like I don't know, they cost more to make? I have no idea. They cost more to buy which is good for the manufacturer. And you have to buy them just as frequently or more frequently than an incandescent bulb so it's a great business... it's a business model that makes sense. You don't want them to last. Planned obsolescence. You don't want things to last, you want things to slow down. You know, you want things to break and wah, wah, wah, wah, wah. Old lady, old lady Failor here! Kelly 29:30 And old lady Locke here having our rants Marsha 29:34 Okay, does that make me sound like a conspiracy? Kelly 29:38 No, why would you make something-- Why would you make something like a light bulb that would last for 25 years? Because yeah, once people... Marsha 29:47 It's a bad business. Kelly 29:48 It's not an appliance. I mean appliances don't even last 25 years! Marsha 29:53 Your furnace! The furnace doesn't last. I mean it's funny, the the oil furnace that was in the house. This house was put in 1929 and my parents took it out in the 70s so that still forty... but there was nothing wrong with it they just wanted... they were sold a bill of goods that electric was better which is ridiculous. Kelly 30:14 Okay, now, last one last rant! That big green furnace in the basement that I loved the look of? We had replaced and it had, I mean it had had trouble and it was inefficient and eventually we did end up getting a new one last year because our furnace had gone out a couple of times. Remember it was out for a while last November a year ago? So it had died. This is again a 1920s furnace they had to cut it up to get it out of the basement because it was so big. So we get a new one and it has a thermostat on it with a programmer, right? Prrogrammed thermostat and Roberts like okay, we have to do this because programming your thermostat is really really more efficient because you know you you have a timer, blah, blah... I said it's not more efficient because if you have it on a timer it's going to come on whether or not I'm cold. If I'm cold I turn it on and when I'm not cold anymore I turn it off and that's more efficient. He's like, no no it's much better... Guess what! Even though our furnace is much more efficient then the old one was, because we had it on the timer for the winter our heating bill was more! Marsha 31:37 Oh yeah? Kelly 31:38 I'm turning that off so now I'm only going to turn it on when I'm cold and turn it down and not turn it on in the morning you know before you get up. It just... Marsha 31:53 Yeah. well I say that's an interesting point because I know that they...The reason they say that you should have a program is that then you're not like, oh I'm cold turn it up and then it's putting all this energy into heating it up. You know it's just like it keeps it at this constant temperature but to keep it the constant temperature you're using energy, right. So I can see there are these things we accept as the truth that are not necessarily the truth. Kelly 32:18 Yes. Marsha 32:19 Well... furnaces. I go back to furnaces. My friend Susanna she has a house built in like 1900, I think. Here in Seattle, and she has the original furnace. Yeah, and it works. Yeah. So think how old that furnaces like over 120 years old. Kelly 32:35 Yeah, very cool. Marsha 32:36 And it works fine. So and I've spent evenings in her house and it's a lovely temperature. So there you go. Okay, and enough ranting Where are we I think because we got sent we went down this rabbit hole of ranting I believe I'm talking about my projects. Kelly 32:50 Oh my gosh, yes, you are. Quickly. [laughing] Sorry. Marsha 32:55 I have to get through these fast. Okay, so my socks. I frogged my socks because, remember the socks I'm making. I forgot to turn the heel. So I rip that out and I turn the heel and I'm now working on the gusset. Kelly 33:07 Oh, good. Marsha 33:08 I'm working intermittently on my Simple Shawl that I started years ago but I work on that periodically. I'm still spinning the green brown Merino. Nothing new to report on that. So I will.. don't need to talk about that. Since we talked too much on our rants, I won't go into all of that. But I did cast on the pullover Atlas by Jared Flood for... And I'm making this for my brother. And the last episode I had swatched. I talked all about swatches. And so I'm not getting gauge. I'm getting 20 stitches in four inches as opposed to 24 stitches in four inches. Okay, so based on his size and my gauge, I'm making the smallest size. And that's... and so he brought back the the other Jared flood sweater I made for him and which we talked about. Is it Cobblestone? Yeah, he brought that back and I measured that and it's the same, it's gonna be a little bit bigger, maybe about an inch bigger, which I think is good because he doesn't want... he wants it more slim. As I talked about in the last episode, he wants it a bit more slim fitting, I don't think it should be super slim fitting based on the weight of this wool. So I think it's gonna be the perfect size. Kelly 34:22 Well, that's good. Marsha 34:24 So that's good. I do have... But now I want to talk about the color work. I do have some concerns about the color work, but I have to let it go. Because... well I shouldn't even say this, it's perfect. I know I'm just kind of concerned. So the body of the sweater is this very bright grass, Kelly green kind of. And then the color work is in a navy blue and kind of a light like a sky blue robin's egg blue. My concern is, you know, when you...when you talk about, like you take a picture of your color work and put it in black and white, and you see how the colors work then and what stands out? My concern is that the, the...when you look at them together, the light blue and the green, sort of blend together a little bit. There's not as much distinction between the Navy and the green or the Navy in the light blue. I'm, I'm committed to using these colors. So I don't I mean, I'd have to buy a different color. And looking at the colors. I... there's like there's not, there's not a huge range of colors in this yarn. So my options are like red, brown, white, gray. And that's... I'm kind of wondering if maybe, like the white would be, I don't know. I think I'm just gonna start knitting it and see how... because just looking... because I didn't complete the whole color work pattern. And maybe it will all be fine. In the end. I don't know. Kelly 36:04 Well, and Mark chose those colors, right? Marsha 36:08 Yeah, well, Yes, he did. Kelly 36:13 Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's what he wanted. Marsha 36:17 Yes. But I think there's one thing picking the colors. And then picking colors for color work. Kelly 36:21 Yeah. Marsha 36:22 Right. Because I don't know that much about it. And he knows nothing. Well, he knows a lot about color. Don't get me wrong. He knows a lot about putting colors together because of his background in design. But a knitted fabric? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I don't know. Kelly 36:38 He was looking at the pattern. I remember him looking at the pattern and right, and looking at the colors that he selected. So I don't know, anyway. Yeah. Marsha 36:49 So yeah. I'm not gonna worry about it. It's just something that's just is flickering through my brain. I wonder, huh? Wondering. And but again, when you complete the pattern, it might be fine. Just doing... I think I did 10 rows of the pattern. And the whole colorwork thing is well over that. So anyway, but the other thing I want to say is, do you remember in the last episode, we were talking about that in the pattern, it's a very well written pattern. But when you get to the color chart, it actually tells you on each row, which is your dominant color, and I had no idea what they were talking about. And so I said, I'm assuming the dominant color is going to be you knit..., you hold it in your dominant hand, in my case, that's my right hand. That's completely wrong. [laughing] So anybody who listened and knows anything about color work will know that that's wrong. This is what happens when you have no information, but you act like you're an authority. So I anyway, I... Kelly, you had pointed out that Jared Flood actually has a good video on explaining dominance. And so I put a link in the show notes about that, you actually are supposed to hold the the dominant color in your left hand. And I would I recommend the video, there's other videos out there too, but explains why you want to pick a color as a dominant color. And then also how you use it. Typically, people hold the dominant color in their left hand, he is not as fast that way. He actually holds both colors in his right hand. But he has this very interesting technique, which he demonstrates in the video of twisting your hand, so that you have the two different different yarns available. And he also talks about, there's another video he does about stranding and how you capture the floats in the back, which is very good. And this is all common knowledge for people who do a lot of color work. Not having done any color work, this is really informative. So I'll put, I put a link in the show notes on the video about dominant color. And then also in their patterns, they tell you which is the dominant color. But he said most color work patterns, they don't tell you. So also techniques for deciding which would be the dominant color. Kelly 39:04 Oh, that's good. Because Yeah, I have noticed that that's not something that's usually in the in the description. Yeah, at least in the description. Like, when you read the pattern, the pattern page, you know the description in the pattern page, you don't see it. Maybe in the written pattern, it will tell you but but yeah, that's good. Marsha 39:24 And then he and then even to the point to where the dominant color may change throughout the pattern. So you know, like in so like... Kelly 39:35 interesting. Marsha 39:36 Yeah, so yeah, so that was just very interesting, something I knew nothing about and I made that offhand remark and I realized like I was wrong! So I just want people to know and I, I did there were some comments in the show notes and people had posted. One listener posted a video, a link to a video in there. So all that was really helpful. So I just wanted to share that That's so... That is it for me with projects. Kelly 40:03 All right. Marsha 40:04 Oh, and I should say too about this sweater, and I talked about this before--that you're supposed to do a tubular cast on. And then knit two and a half inches of ribbing, and then start the body. And as I talked about in the past, and in the last episode, I'm doing a provisional cast on and just starting with the stockinette. And then I'm going to go back and do the ribbing. So I have done about seven inches of the stockinette. If I had included the ribbing, I'm supposed to knit it from the cast on with the ribbing, I'm supposed to about 10 and a half inches of the body where I then start doing shaping though, Kelly 40:41 So you're close to shaping. Marsha 40:43 Yeah. This, if I subtract the two and a half inches, I need to knit eight inches, and I'm about at seven inches now. So another inch and I'm going to start the shaping. When you do this technique, it's very curly. It's like I'm going around and around and around and it never seems like I'm getting anywhere. Yes, it looks like it looks like a holiday wreath because it's bright green. And it's just basically a big log, I mean and a big umm... Yeah, it's like, it's like a wreath, kind of. Around and around. It never seems to grow. So and I think I may have done this with his other sweater too, is that when I finished the whole sweater, I will probably wash and block it before I go back and do the ribbing. Because it is so curly. I think it's gonna be very difficult to measure how it should be. Kelly 41:34 Yeah. Marsha 41:37 So, but I'll report in on this. So as I say that's it for... that's it for projects for me. Kelly 41:44 Good. Sounds like you're making good progress. Marsha 41:49 on some projects, yeah, not so much on others. Kelly 41:53 Well, the summer spin is moving along. And it's also Tour de Fleece. I forget what day we're on now, I was doing pretty well at the beginning of it. Accounting for what I was doing each day that had to do with spinning. I had a couple of days that I didn't card or spin or anything so I got kind of off. But anyway Tour de Fleece is going on. The summer spin in is going on. And in this episode, we're going to talk a little bit about fiber preparation. Marsha 42:27 So and Kelly, you mentioned this last time, but we'll mention again. Don't forget your tetanus shot. Kelly 42:32 Oh, yeah. And then we had some feedback, too. Marsha 42:34 Yeah. So Natalie, Superkip. She added don't prep fleece when you're pregnant. And because toxoplasmosis is a danger and I'm not sure what that is. I honestly did not Google it. All I know is, it's a danger. So okay. And I did watch a video to where she said she always wears gloves. Just latex gloves on. So that's probably smart to do too. And then Kelly 43:00 I have to say I wouldn't do that. Yeah. I like the feel of it. I know. But if you're squeamish about about touching, yeah, I guess. Marsha 43:13 Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, so I wanted to mention that. Kelly 43:19 And then she also mentioned about when we talked a little bit about the rescue fleeces that might have more stuff in that, you know, bargain fleeces that might have stuff in them, more so than something that you'd buy at a fiber festival. And she mentioned a flick carder being really helpful. And I had forgotten to mention that but yeah, that is a good example. Its a good use for flick carder, if you can somewhat keep the locks of your fleece intact. When you wash it, if it's the type of fleece where that happens. Then you can kind of just brush them out with a flick carder, brush out the ends and you can get out a lot of the waste that way. Marsha 44:02 The first thing I was just going to mention is if you if you get a raw fleece and you know we've talked about washing it, but what we did not talk about was skirting. And so I was just gonna mention, we won't go into great detail but the concept of skirting as you lay the fleece out with the cut side down, and the so called dirty part up and then you just go around and you pull out areas that are matted, or areas where the fibers look like they're broken. If there are manure tags on it, or bad stuff that you just don't want in there. Probably as we talked about in the last episode if you've bought a fleece at you know like from a show it probably will be pretty well skirted, but it's a good idea just to go through it again. The other comment too on the video Well, I'll just say I put a link in to a video by Rain Fiber Arts. That was very good. And she is talking about how to skirt a fleece. And she also talks too, if you see if there's any signs of eggs, or moths or something, and just don't even let that into your house. Kelly, you can add something to this too, about, what are your thoughts about things to look for, when you're skirting that you'd want to pull out? Kelly 45:30 Usually the parts that you don't want are around the edges, you know, so like the, if the fleece has been rolled up, and you can unroll it and see kind of, you know, depending on how it's been rolled, and how well you're able to unroll it, you might not exactly be able to see the shape of the sheep. But you know, like the manure tags would be in the back edge, the britch wool, which is the wool on the backs and kind of toward the backs of their legs, is more coarse, usually and that's towards the edge of the fleece. If they have, you know, the fleece around their legs might have been, well, like the fleece that I was carding the Oxford, there were some sections of that fleece, some pieces of that fleece that had dark hairs in it from the leg. Dark leg hairs in it, which really, if I had been doing a better job, I would have, I would have skirted a little bit better and taken taken that out. And that would have been around the edge, as well. Yeah, sometimes, sometimes around their neck, you'll find a lot of hay from, you know, from eating. And so you can take some of that out, if you want to, you know, be real harsh with your skirting and get out the most of the veg manner. So a lot of it is around the edges. The other thing that I wish I had done more of with this fleece that I have, is... and I did a little bit of it when I was picking and carding. But a lot of times you can shake the fleece, if you can shake the fleece. Especially if you have... I would love to have a table that was like mesh. Because the second cuts, any second cuts, well, you know, a lot of that will fall away, a lot of the veg matter will fall away, some of the things that you don't want will fall away and, and you can see it a little bit better if you shake it, you can see, you know, where are those areas where you have second cuts and those little short bits. So I need to do a better job of that. My habit is, you know, to look at the fleece when I first get it home, and then roll it back up and put it away and then I get on a tear about washing and I just grab some of it, you know. What I really should do is lay it back out, sort it. Look for places where the fleece is really nice and put all that together. And wash just that section and be really intentional about what parts of it you wash, as opposed to just, you know, grab a piece of it that's going to fit in the washer and wash it. So you can be intentional about your fleece, if especially if you get a nice one, right? Where you want to keep the nicest bits together. If it's a fleece like a lot of the... And maybe this is why I do it. A lot of the bargain fleeces that I've gotten, you know, they're just jumbled in a bag. And there's no knowing what what part of the fleece is what. So that's how I got my start and maybe that's why I have some bad habits when it comes to grabbing out bits to wash. Marsha 48:56 Yeah. The first fleece I bought was actually a Shetland fleece. And I just took it out of the bag and I put it i... like tore it in half or smaller batches and just washed the whole thing. Yeah. And that was a mistake because what... and now this is specific to Shetland, but I took a class by Judith McKenzie about taking a Shetland fleece and because the fiber so different depending on where it is on the sheep, you really don't want to take the... You can do anything you want to do, but it's better to separate out the different fiber, different textures and fibers because-- and I didn't know that about a Shetland. So I just, you know... but I think in any fleece there are going to be different textures depending on where it is on the sheep. So I did that. I just washed all of it and carded it and started spinning it. Is it bad? No, not necessarily but it could have been better. Kelly 50:00 Yeah, it's just different. You know, if you if you want a really super... if you want to get like, every type of yarn you can get from a fleece, then you have to be more intentional about it, right? You'll find the finest part and you'll make a nice yarn that's fine and soft. With the more coarse part, you'll make something that's a more workhorse yarn. But, but if you want to just make a sweater, you just mix it all together and make a sweater. I mean, there's nothing wrong with doing that. Yeah, right. Marsha 50:36 Well, and I was... the other thing I was gonna say about skirting is sort of, for me, you know how I am. It's like, I want to use every bit of it. Because this precious thing I bought, I want to use every bit of it. Yeah. And it's okay to be aggressive, you know? Yeah. Well, you don't need to save all of it. It's okay. Kelly 50:53 I think I've told this story before about the, I think it was like 40 pounds of fleece that I got from... I was at a spinning day and somebody said, Oh, you know, my brother in law has fleece in his barn. Would you be interested? I'm like, of course! So I went and got this 40 pounds of fleece. And I'm pretty sure that's what it came out to be. And anyway, I opened it all up on my lawn and made piles. And I found myself at the end, even though I had so much of it, I found myself going back to the trash pile and taking taking bits that I had skirted out and putting them back. So yeah, you know, it's hard. It's greed. Fleece Greed is a real thing. Right? So, but but some people are better at that than than others. And then there are some people who keep their carding waste. You know, when I'm carding, and I clean off the carder, the waste that's on the small drum of the carder, I toss it. But there are people who save that and use it for something else, you know, and you can do that. But I, that's not something I do. I think about it. [laughing] And then I tell myself how much fleece I have in the garage. And I toss it in the bin. Marsha 52:23 So about carding, let's talk a little bit about carding, then, oh, as I say, it's a huge subject. So and we can't go into the minutiae of it. But let's just talk sort of, in general about carding. The different tools and whatnot. Kelly 52:33 Well, I put a couple of links in the show notes about it, I have a drum carder, and I, one of the things that I can say for sure, whether using hand cards or a drum carder, is that you really want to not overload, you know. Less is more. You really can go faster if you don't try to put too much in. And I have also learned that it's faster for me, even though it doesn't seem like it, if I do some picking first, which is like separating all the fibers. And so I'll just, you know, stand at the table and pick a whole bunch of, you know, like a whole box of fiber, one of those, you know, reams of paper boxes. I'll take a bunch of fiber, and I'll do the picking until I've got a good amount in one of those boxes, and then I'll start carding. And that really helps because it's already-- the fibers already separated and doesn't get clumped and stuck in the drum carder, and then I usually do two passes. With this fleece that I have, I did the first pass and got a bunch of batts. And then I pulled off strips from each one of those bats and blended them you know, blended them together and did a second pass. I've done with some fleeces depending on how, how much what kind of fleece it is and how it looks, I might do a third, a third pass. Or if I'm blending two colors together. I'll do, you know, I'll do each color that I'm blending, each part that I'm blending separately. And then I'll pull strips off and weigh them and run them through the carder together and then probably have to do a third pass to get them better blended. The first pass usually isn't very well blended and then the second one is much better. So I do a first one to just kind of get everything organized separately. And then a second one to blend and then a third one to finish the blending if I want the blending to be more even. So you can do the same thing with the hand cards, the blending. I've done that before. It's not so... I don't do so much weighing when I use the hand cards, I just kind of eyeball how much I'm putting on. I might weigh it ahead of time to say like, I want 70% of this and 30% of that. And so I have my two piles. But then when I put it onto the cards, I'm not weighing each time I use the hand cards, I'm not weighing these. So yeah, that Carding is... I enjoy it, it seems like it will be a slow process. But actually, that 400 grams that I carded, you know, went through the carder, I picked it, and then it went through the carder twice. And it was a, you know, a couple of hours, maybe two or three times during the week. So I mean, that's not that much time. It didn't seem like it was that much time. Marsha 55:53 No, it's not bad. You just listen to podcasts or watch TV or something. Yeah, Kelly 55:58 yeah. Or listen to a zoom meeting. [laughing] Kelly 56:09 So that's um, that's how I card. Now, the flick carder, we talked a little bit about that already. That kind of requires that you have the lock structure still intact in your fleece. And then I just put it on my lap on top of like a magazine on top of my lap and just brush out the end of the of the, the tip end of the fleece and then turn it around and brush out the the back end of that lock and then set it aside and start another one. And that works really well. I don't have mini combs. And I kind of would like to have mini combs. I have the big combs that you clamp onto a table and I took a class on using those, which was really good. But I haven't really used my combs much since then. They're I mean, they're really a nice piece of equipment. But for some reason I'm not... I'm just not in the habit of getting them out and using them. And I think mini combs might be something that I might like to have. Because, just because they're something you can just sit and do. Marsha 57:17 Right, right. Kelly 57:19 So I'd be interested to hear what people think about mini combs. And then the other thing I have not used is a blending board. And I know most of the time people are using a blending board with fiber that's already processed to to you know, mix colors together and make interesting rolags or punis. So, but that's not something that I've ever done. So I'd be interested to know how many of our listeners have used either a blending board or mini combs and whether they think either one of those things is kind of an essential, an essential tool. Marsha 58:04 How big are mini combs? Kelly 58:04 About, probably about, I would say the ones I've seen, maybe about two and a half to three inches across. They're smaller than hand cards. Marsha 58:16 Okay. Kelly 58:17 But they they have the same kind of, you know, like, the same kind of tines as like the bigger combs. I think two rows of tines. And you use them the same way where you put them perpendicular to one another. Like you put the fiber on the one comb and then you... Marsha 58:35 Oh here I'm looking online at them right now as we speak. Kelly 58:39 So I've been thinking about maybe getting a set of mini combs, because that is one type of preparation that I haven't ever done. And I know there are a lot of people who really like it and you can get a lot of the garbage out of your fleece that way. Moreso than with carding. More waste, you know, there's more waste, but you get more of the best part of the fiber. Marsha 59:12 Right. Yeah. Okay. Kelly 59:15 So, anyway, so that's my, my experience of of carding and combing fiber preparation. So and I have a couple--Like I said, I have a couple of links in the show notes for that. Marsha 59:28 Okay, good. The other thing that we I just I thought that we decided we should talk just touch on, too, is also mill processing. You don't necessarily have to process this yourself. And so we have some links in the show notes. Fibershed did a mill inventory of mills across the... Well Fiber shed is a California based group. So they show one mill in California, they show mills across the country, but they don't have them listed by name, so. But the link is in there, it's interesting to look at. There's also a link to the producer directory. And that Kelly too, we were talking about that before we recorded. That has not just mills, but people who are producing fiber. And also on Ravelry there's a Fiber Prep Ravelry group. And they don't have mills listed in like a central location to go to see all the mills that are listed. But in the discussion thread, people are talking about the different mills. Yeah, I think my sense is, what you have to do is you just have to Google mills for processing, wool, alpaca, whatever and search for the mills. I know some of the mills popped up. But I know the three that I know, fairly locally to me. They're processing their fiber for their own yarn. They're not processing fiber anymore for people who just want to have a fleece processed. So yeah, there are mills out there. I think though, you have to just Google and start searching. As we said, there, it's difficult to find one location that just has a list of all of the mills doing small batches of in the United States, right? Kelly 1:01:21 Yeah, Valley Oak Wool Mill is the one that that I've used in California. And then there's also Mendocino Wool and Fiber Company. Again, this is just California. I think the eastern part of the United States has a couple of really well used mills and there are a lot. There are more of them in that area. But yeah, Mendocino Wool and Fiber is the other one. I haven't used them but their website, I can put their link in the show notes as well. mendowool.com is their website Marsha 1:02:01 When we... what we talked about in the last episode is you know if they can't... most not all, but mills can either just wash it and and prep it for spinning or you can just have it processed into roving or you can have it processed into yarn if you want to do that. But that's another resource. Kelly 1:02:23 And it is true there are a lot more of them that process your wooll into fiber preparations. Morro Fleeceworks is another one in California that I was forgetting. A lot more of them process into roving than process all the way to yarn. There's a real lack of mills, small mills, that process your wool all the way to yarn, and a lot more of them just the process or fiber. Marsha 1:02:58 Yeah. So I just wanted to mention that. All right. Um, so let's just briefly talk about carding. I, you know, I have a drum Carter, I have the carding the combs that I use. I don't have a blending board, which would be kind of nice because I do remember I bought... I think it was up on Whidbey Island at the Whidbey Island spinners... little packets of mohair locks that were dyed. And those are great to blend in. So I was thinking I should probably get it. It'd be nice to get a blending board but all in good time. Right. Kelly 1:03:45 Mm hmm. Well, you can do that blending with your with your drum carder too. Marsha 1:03:51 Yeah, that's how I've done it in the past, because I did some at your house with your drum carder. So I should, I should try it here. Anyway, so anything else we need to add to this topic? Kelly 1:04:06 Um, I think if you are going to go look at the fleece processor list in the Ravelry group that we've posted, if you are going to go look at that list, I would suggest starting at the most recent posts. Because the thread has been going for like six years or something. So you know, something you get out on page one is maybe not even...Maybe not even there anymore. Marsha 1:04:34 Yeah, yeah. Kelly 1:04:36 Yeah. So Well, I'd be interested in hearing what other people do and also you know, if you have a mill that you've used to process fleece that we haven't mentioned. Maybe we could start a list. Marsha 1:04:53 Yeah, there you go. Maybe. Yeah, we should! I know like some people have used Shepherds Wool that does Crazy that we like so much. People have had yarn prop don't Kelly 1:05:07 Stone Hedge Marsha 1:05:08 Stone Hedge. That's the one! That's the name of it I want to say because they make shepherds wool their worsted weight. Yeah. So I know that they've had them. So maybe we should start a list Kelly. if nobody's done it, maybe we need to. Kelly 1:05:24 Yes. Well, we can start by-- we can start by asking our listeners to provide us feedback. With mills that they've used or that they know of in their area. We've got three California ones listed on our show notes for today. But yeah, we need to put in some other states. Yeah. All right. Project. Project. Yes. Just what I need. [laughing] Marsha 1:05:53 So anyway, but the summer spin-in goes through Labor Day, which is September 6. Kelly 1:06:00 So and we have two finished object threads. One is for finished spinning. And the other one is for finished projects. So if you're making something out of hand spun, you can join us. You don't have to be spinning this summer to join in. Marsha 1:06:15 Yeah. Kelly breaking in while editing 1:06:18 Oh, coming in from the future, to say that we forgot to tell you that we will have prizes from Three Green Sisters again this year! We'll talk more about that next episode. Marsha 1:06:31 Okay, Kelly. So and then do we have any more housekeeping? Kelly 1:06:34 I don't think so. Marsha 1:06:36 All right. Well, then, I guess we'll say goodbye. Kelly 1:06:38 All right, Marsha. Marsha 1:06:40 We'll talk we'll talk to weeks. Kelly 1:06:41 Okay. Bye bye. Marsha 1:06:42 Alrighty. Bye bye. Kelly 1:06:43 Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit to Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com Marsha 1:06:50 Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects. Kelly 1:06:58 Until next time, we're the Two Ewes doing our part for world fleece! Transcribed by https://otter.ai  

How to select a wool fleece and where to purchase a wool fleece are today's topics. This might cause money to fly out of your wallet so beware! Also, some interesting pooling shows up in an FO. Show notes with photos and links, as well as a full transcript can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects I have a finished project! I finished my Walk Along Tee by Ankestrick. I love it and it fits so well. I highly recommend this pattern. I had knitted halfway down the foot of my second Drops Fabel socks when I realized I had not turned the heel. So now I need to frog to the heel flap. Not happy with myself. Picked up a long dormant shawl called Simple Shawl by Jane Hunter that I started in March 2018. Using Michael CWD in the colorway San Francisco Fog. Started swatching for the pullover Atlas by Jared Flood for my brother. The yarn I'm using is Navia Tradition. It is a very wooly wool. Mark likes his sweaters to be slim fitting but I think this sweater should have some ease. Also, I'm not great at colorwork so this sweater is going to be a challenge. I'm still spinning on my green/brown merino.  Kelly's Projects I finished a Perendale braid from Sheep Spot. I spun 3-ply and used a fractal technique. I split the fiber into 3 pieces lengthwise. Spun the first one, split the second one into two and split the third one into three.  Found two more bobbins with Santa Cruz Island singles. I have some carded fiber left so I guess I should spin the rest of it onto a third bobbin and ply it off.  No knitting or crochet this week, but lots of dog training! Beary is doing great, his thyroid is stable and he's lost twenty pounds in the 8 weeks that we've had him.  Summer Spin In Topics Don't forget your tetanus shot! Selecting a fleece what to look for http://livestockconservancy.blogspot.com/2019/07/selecting-raw-fleece.html Spinner's Book of Fleece, Beth Smith The Great Fleece Makeover, Emonieiesha Hopkins, SpinOff Magazine A great article on how a fleece that is not a coated, prize-winning, spinner's fleece can still be a good experience and make good yarn.  Where to buy a raw fleece Wool/Sheep Festivals: Black Sheep Gathering: Show cancelled for 2021 but there is a list of producers selling their fleeces. Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival: Festival also cancelled this year and there is also a list of vendors selling raw fleeces Oregon Flock and Fiber 2021 in Albany, Oregon, October 23-24 Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival 2021, October 2-3 Natural Fiber Extravaganza, July 9-11, Lebanon, Tennessee Knitters Review Fiber Festival directory Check out your county fair website Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em directory Direct from farms:  I did a quick internet search and found these Nistock Farms: Still have 2021 fleeces available. Informative website. Located in the Finger Lakes region of western New York state. Sanctuary Wool/Homestead Wool: Located in Wisconsin. Their fleeces are from rescued sheep. Also, Fibershed Directory for California For example, Red Creek Farm, Peggy Agnew emailed her for information about purchasing.  On Etsy: Lots for sale by the pound or the entire fleece Check out your local spinning guild! Sources for braids and roving--including my most recent purchases: Huckleberry Knits  Sheepspot has dyed fiber braids using less common sheep breeds.  Sincere Sheep Fiber is locally sourced (California) Valley Oak Wool Mill has roving. Show Transcript Marsha 0:03 Hi, this is Marsha and this is Kelly. We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 0:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 0:17 We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com Kelly 0:22 and we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects Marsha 0:29 and I am betterinmotion. Kelly 0:31 We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Both 0:36 Enjoy the episode. Marsha 0:42 Good morning, Kelly. Kelly 0:43 Good morning, Marsha. Marsha 0:45 Well, how are you today? Kelly 0:46 I'm doing fine. As we were talking about earlier before we started the podcast. I thought I'd have a nice quiet morning to record and apparently the city has to come inspect our roof work that we had several weeks ago now, maybe months ago. Anyway, so there may be someone on the roof outside my window looking in as we're recording. Marsha 1:10 Okay. Kelly 1:11 If I suddenly scream in surprise, that's what happened. Marsha 1:17 Well, I have lots going on too. We were a little late recording because I was on the phone with the plumbers. I'm having the plumbing redone in the basement. Well not completely redone but I had a leaky waste pipe. So I have that replaced and I'm having a new washer dryer delivered in July. And so they had to redo the plumbing for that. I'm relocating them and that's been quite an endeavor. But the big waste pipe was leaking. So I was all excited to go down there the first they came. They were here two days. And the next morning I go down there look at the floor to see, Oh, it's gonna be all nice and dry and everything. I won't have to have my five gallon bucket there anymore. And there's a cascade of water down the Kelly 2:03 No! Marsha 2:04 So I called. I thought well maybe just one of their seals didn't seal or something. Come to find out that it's actually the the four inch waste pipe that goes up. The vertical one that goes up between the two bathrooms. So I now have a hole in the wall in the main floor bathroom, and I cannot use the second floor bathroom. Which is the one I use. So they're coming Friday. This is what? Wednesday? They're coming Friday to fix the pipe in... the big four inch pipe in the bathroom wall on the main floor. Kelly 2:42 That's not too long. Marsha 2:44 No it's not too long but it is a challenge living with it. I didn't realize... okay this is gonna... This is gonna make me sound very elitist when I say this and very privileged what I'm going to say. I haven't lived in a house with one bathroom and multiple people for a long time. And so you know I I'm living with Ben. He's living with me right now. And so I have to run down in the morning. You know, I have to run down to the bathroom, but he's in there. And so what do you do? Well, Kelly 3:17 coffee can in the basement! Marsha 3:20 Worse than that! Kelly 3:22 Backyard! Marsha 3:23 Backyard! I went out in the bushes in the backyard and tried to find a place where the neighbors wouldn't see me but I thought afterwards maybe I should not have worn my bright red bathrobe! Kelly 3:35 Right exactly. Like when we used to go to hunt tests. I learned when we used to go to hunt tests that that was when I did not wear my white underwear. That's when you have your darker colored underwear so that you're not flashing white in the bushes! [laughing] Marsha 3:51 Do you remember your Civil War socks for Robert? Kelly 3:54 Yes. Marsha 3:55 Wasn't that part of the things-- they had to be a dark Kelly 3:57 yes Marsha 3:57 you didn't want to take your boots off and then be seen and shot... so anyway... Kelly 4:03 You need a camo bathrobe. [laughing] Marsha 4:05 That's probably way too much information. But anyway, I was delayed because I my point of bringing all this up as I was delayed this morning because I was on the phone with the plumber. So yeah. Anyway, Kelly 4:15 well, yes. This is the old house version of the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Marsha 4:21 Yes, I know. Anyway... Well, that probably was probably the whole world did not need to know that but desperate times call for desperate measures. [laughing] Kelly 4:36 Exactly. Marsha 4:37 Well, after all of that, let's get to the projects, shall we? Kelly 4:42 Yes. And you have some big news, huh? Marsha 4:45 Yes, I have big news. I finally finished the Walk Along tee! Kelly 4:48 Yay. Marsha 4:50 Yay, very excited. It fits great. And I really recommend the pattern. Now. It's true. I didn't do it exactly. Actually, I really didn't modify it that much. I just really what I did is I made the sleeves a little bit longer, not the, because the pattern is either like cap sleeves or full length sleeves. I just made the sleeves a little bit longer, but not full length. And then I just didn't add the sort of the look of having the sweater under a sweater. Marsha 5:19 Oh, yeah, Marsha 5:19 I didn't do that. But it's very nice. And I I really like it. Marsha 5:24 All right, I saw the pictures. It looks really nice, I think. Yeah, I love the color. You have to wear it. You have to now wear it to Seabrook. Marsha 5:34 Yes, I will. I'll wear it Kelly 5:35 Down to Mocrocs. Is that the the name of the town or the beach? Marsha 5:41 Well, the official town, I think Seabrook is actually in Pacific Beach is the name of the town, but the actual beach that I believe Native American name is Mocrocs. Kelly 5:53 Okay. And that's the name. I mean colorway. Yeah, that's to let everyone know why I suddenly made this divergence. Marsha 6:02 So Kelly, I just wanted to.... are you on Ravelry? Can you see my... Marsha 6:07 Oh, no, I am not. But I can get there soon. Keep talking. Marsha 6:11 Well just... I want you to take a look at my picture. And I look at it and I really love the T shirt. But it does.... We've talked about this before. I believe I have a little pooling on the left breast on this one. [laughing] Remember, I was talking about that in something else? Kelly 6:11 Yes. Marsha 6:11 So just take a look at this. Let me... nobody's commented, but I look at it. Now when I wear it, I will not see it because I will be wearing it. But when I look at the photograph,[laughing] Kelly 6:44 oh, yes, you do. [laughing] Kelly 6:54 Okay, so pooling on the left breast and peeing garden. In the same episode. [laughing] Marsha 7:01 Oh my gosh, [laughing] Kelly 7:03 we might have to have a an explicit rating. [laughing] Marsha 7:11 But wasn't there something I've ... Kelly 7:14 You have a little matching pooling going on the right hand side, too. [laughing] Marsha 7:22 I started laughing because I thought, do you remember the endless discussion about how I was blending the yarn? Kelly 7:30 All the yarn management! Marsha 7:35 So much yarn management. And I have Kelly 7:38 but it's really pretty. And I don't t hink it's a big deal. I mean, when you look at the picture of it hanging kind of flat on the on the dress form, it's different than when you actually are in it. Marsha 7:50 Yes. And I think I'll have to actually try it on and post another picture because that mannequin is not my dimensions necessarily. Oh, well, that's life. Kelly 8:05 It just goes, it just goes to show you that that sometimes all that yarn management turns out to be no different than if you had just worked from one skein? I mean, who knows? It might not be but Marsha 8:21 yeah, cuz it's, you know, it's hand dyed. Kelly 8:23 Mmm hmmm. Marsha 8:24 And you can actually, if you look at it sort of below the pooling, there's a little sort of diagonal striping going. Do you see that? Kelly 8:32 Yeah. Marsha 8:32 It's just so again, it doesn't really bother me. I just think it's... I find it kind of amusing. And I, I really don't understand how it happened because I was so careful. And I had labeled everything. And that part where it happened is I'm not doing any shaping. at that point, right, I'm just going around. And I also use that great technique that helical knitting where you... Now the helical knitting, I will say, You're... the point where you change yarns keeps moving around the sweater. So because you're in that point where you change. Yeah, Kelly 9:14 So that makes it a little different than if you had always changed in the same spot. Marsha 9:19 Yeah, and I don't know if that has something to it. Kelly 9:21 Yeah, I don't know. The people who do planned pooling might be able to tell you more about that. But I've never done it. Marsha 9:27 Planned pooling? Kelly 9:27 Yeah, there's I mean, there's patterns for that where you... remember we saw at Stitches Marsha 9:31 Your, your sock? Well, yes. And then your socks. You did the Kelly 9:35 Oh, right. For Dennis, the Bengal socks? Marsha 9:39 Yeah. Kelly 9:40 Yes. Now those were a little different because it was planned pooling but then you also did short rows to turn around and go back the other way to make this to make the point at the end of the stripe, like so where the where you you know, because the tiger stripes have don't go all the way around the tiger. You know what I mean? So anyway, yeah, very interesting. And I think your sweater, your your tee, looks really nice. Your sweater turned out really good. All laughing aside. Marsha 10:15 Oh gosh. Okay, and then um, so I'm still spinning on the green and brown Merino. I've just been working on the brown. Then what else? Oh, I started knitting Well, I've been continuing to knit on the...my Drops Fabel socks. But the other night I finished the Tee shirt and so I thought Okay, I'll go pick up my socks and start knitting on them. I thought... I went to measure them against the... I'm halfway down the foot of the second sock. And I went to measure it against the first sock to see how much further I had to go. And I thought that's weird. Like the heel looks different. And then I realized I didn't I did not turn the heel. Kelly 10:57 Oh, no! I've done that before. Marsha 11:02 And it's like, What is wrong with me? Like I like how did I not do that? I that's so weird. And I what's also really weird about it is I remember my when I did the gusset. My numbers were way off. Anyway, I should have known. So now I have to rip back. Kelly 11:21 Oh, well. Marsha 11:22 Yeah, that's something to keep me busy. You know, start again. It'll keep me off the streets, you know, out of bars. And then I... Oh, I forgot to put this in the show notes, Kelly. But what I'm knitting on right now is... I had to look it up. I cast this on probably two years ago. It's a shawl. It's just called Simple Shawl. Oh, yeah. It's from hedgerow yarns. This was yarn that I bought down in San Francisco. Kelly 11:50 And I'm looking at it right now. That's pretty Marsha 11:52 Yeah, it's a... Kelly 11:53 Kind of denim looking. Marsha 11:55 Yeah. And it's... I bought this at Atelier Yarns in San Francisco. Actually, I bought it in 2017. And I think that was the time when I met you for Stitches West. And then I went into San Francisco, right. And just went to some of the yarn shops and I think that's when I bought that. Anyway, the colorway is called San Francisco Fog. That's why I love the colorway. And it was hand dyed. And it just says on the label Michael's CWD so I don't know anything about them. He's not you know, in that there's really no information about that company but anyway, it's very nice. It's kind of like denim, it has... okay, it reminds me of dirty jeans. You know, muddy jeans because it has that denim blue, but it also has some brown. Yeah, kind of a cocoa brown in there. Like you have mud on your jeans. Kelly 12:49 Yeah. And it's pretty I like it. It's a pretty color. Marsha 12:52 it's really nice. And it's kind of... what I think is kind of nice about it is it's it's quite a kind of a neutral yarn, where a lot of the shawls I make have lots of color in them. Yeah, this one's kind of neutral, which I think will be a nice. Kelly 13:07 Yes. Marsha 13:08 Let's see, when did I cast this on? Oh, I cast on in 2018. Kelly 13:14 Yeah, well, it'll be nice. Your your point about it being a neutral is, is a good one because I have a shawl that I made... Oh, man, way back when I started-- first started to spin. And I didn't even really know how to make a shawl. I mean, I didn't have a pattern. I started at the bottom and then I just made increases on the sides. Like I was doing... I had a dish cloth pattern that did that. And I thought oh, I could do this for a shawl. So I did. So it's with my handspun but it's like three different colors of blue. That kind of blue gray, Blue, a blue gray, and then a more tealy kind of a blue. Anyway, it turned out really good. And I use that all the time. That shawl. I mean it just it's just a good color with almost anything I'm wearing. I can grab it. Yeah, I think you'll be really happy with it once it's done. Marsha 14:04 Yeah. Yeah. Kelly 14:06 It's probably happy to be out of the knitting bag! Marsha 14:09 I know. Well, it's been... you know, it's funny, because it's been to Scotland. And it's been... I took it to Iceland. Kelly 14:15 Oh, it's kind of like the Pismo Beach socks. Yes, you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to bring it with you now everywhere you go. Marsha 14:22 Yeah. And then I started swatching for another project. And it's the Atlas pullover by Jared flood. And this is for my brother. Do you remember when you were up here? I think for the dye workshop that we did. And we went over with our friend Janis over to Tolt and Mark was our driver. And he bought this yarn for me to make a sweater. And so it's Navia Traditions. Kelly 14:51 Yeah, that's gonna be a really pretty sweater. Color work yoke. Marsha 14:55 Yes. And so he he likes color. So I think a lot of people would have reversed these colors, but he's using a really bright kind of grass Kelly green for the body. And then the color work there's the color work is in that grass green. And then two other colors. In his case he picked navy and a kind of a bright blue light, like robin's egg blue. And so I did the swatch I not really proficient color work. So I'm going to need a little help on this. I think I'll be asking questions probably. You are great though. Because I called you other night when I was doing the swatch because they said obviously you want to do the swatch in the stockinette, which is the main body of the sweater. And then it's a color work yoke. And then you want to do a swatch in the color work, which I did. But I was swatching, you know, color work knit side and then purling back color work. And I said... my comment to you was isn't my my gauge going to be off? Because the whole... when I do the sweater, the color work is all done in the round. In stockinette. So all on the knit side. And so you said what a lot of people do is you knit on the right side, then slide your swatch to the other side and leave a huge long loop in the back and pick up the yarn and knit again. Yeah, so that's what I did. And it worked out a lot better. I do think-- I think doing color work in a swatch is going to be very different than doing the actual sweater. It was very slippery. Because I you know, it's I mean, I made a pretty sizable swatch, but it's still not like having all of that weight of the sweater and all those stitches, you know, to get any kind of rhythm. Yeah, so but it looks pretty good. And I think this is a very well written pattern. And I-- and also when you get to the part where you're doing the color work, it tells you of the three colors that you're using, which one is supposed to be the dominant color. I'm assuming, and listeners can give me some feedback, that I'm assuming that the dominant color is the one that you're going if you are throwing the dominant colors in your right hand. I'm assuming Kelly 17:21 Yeah, I don't know. Marsha 17:23 I have to read up on that. Or as I say if anybody wants to weigh in on it. The other thing about this sweater, too, is Kelly you and I talked about this. That Mark likes his sweaters to be very slim fitting. He's slim and he likes slim fitting sweaters. I think because this wool is it's worsted weight and it's it's a very woolly wool. The kind I think you probably want to wear over a flannel shirt. Yeah, I think he's gonna want more ease in it then he thinks he wants because it does... what does say the pattern say? Three to five inches of positive ease and I think he's gonna want that. So we're having some...we're in discussion right now. Marsha 18:09 And then and I'll talk more about this too when I start doing it but I think Jared Flood is also the designer of the other sweater that I made for Mark which I am now drawing a blank on it. What was that that blue one I made for him? Oh, here it is Cobblestone. The sweater is designed that you you you do a tubular cast on at the bottom of the sweater, do the ribbing and knit up to the armholes. Put the body aside, do the same thing with the sleeves and attach them and then do the yoke. But I found I did not do that with cobblestone. What I did is I provisional cast on for the body, knit up to the armholes, provisional cast on for the sleeves, did stockinette up to the armhole, attach the sleeves, did the yoke and then I went back and I actually had to knit some stockinette down before I did the ribbing to get the correct length. And because what I find interesting about this method that the pattern says is how do you know where the armhole is going to fit? Is it gonna be you know, an inch from the armpit or two inches from the armpit? So and that makes a difference on how long the sleeve is going to be? Right, depending on where the armhole hits on your body. So I don't... I can't really wrap my head around doing that method. I think. So. I'm going to do this method. Kelly 19:34 Yeah, I think worked with the other. I think it's a good idea that you had when you did that last sweater. Mm hmm. Marsha 19:41 So anyway, that's what I'm going to do on that one. And then that's it for me for projects. Kelly 19:46 All right. Well, you have more than I do. I did spin a four ounce braid, which was good. I had done a little bit of spinning for the last episode with that Santa Cruz Island which I need to talk about a little bit more, but I had a Perendale braid and Perendale is kind of a medium, I would say a medium to long wool. A little more woolly than Corriedale, which I consider to be usually like a medium. Or a little less against the skin than a Corriedale. I probably wouldn't make a hat out of this. But it's... but it's not. It's not as coarse as I thought it was going to be just based on what I had read about Perendale. And when I got this braid from Sheep Spot, and she has a lot of interesting breeds to select from. And I bought this last year, I think I bought it when I was buying prizes for the for the spin in and I bought it for myself. But anyways, blue and yellow. And then of course green where the blending happened in the braid, and I decided to do it as a fractal. It's a three ply fractal spin. So just to describe what that is, the way I got ready to spin this... For those of you who don't know, I divided the braid into three parts, because I was going to make a three ply. So vertically stripped it into three parts, vertically. And then one part I just spun it straight from the from the start to the finish, you know, I didn't do anything different, I just spun that. And so that gave me relatively long color repeats. My sections of color were were pretty long. And then the second bobbin, I took one of those strips that I had stripped out and I had weighed them and they were all roughly the same weight, I had to make a little bit of an adjustment as I was pulling it apart to make sure that I got this, you know, equal, kind of equal sizes. The second one I then split into, I split that one into two pieces vertically. So I had thinner strips, and I spun. And so I spun those. And I spun, you know, the first one end to end and then got the second one end to end. And I kept track of what order, you know, what was the start of it, and what was the end of it? Marsha 22:15 Right. Kelly 22:15 And so my color repeats are less, right? They're smaller. Because the fiber was... the piece of fiber that I was spinning from was was more slender. And then the third bobbin, I did exactly the same thing. But this time I did it in three, three parts. Yeah, three parts. And so it was 1/3 of the braid, split lengthwise, and then I took that 1/3 and I divided it again into three parts. Marsha 22:47 Okay, Kelly 22:48 And spun that. So now my color repeats are even smaller. So I've got one bobbin with longer color repeats, one bobbin with a little bit shorter color repeats, and then one bobbin with even shorter color repeats and I a plied those together. And that's what they call fractal spinning. I'm really pleased with the skein. I'm not sure it looks any different than if I just like, spun randomly, and then plied it together. But when it's stripes up, when you when you knit it up, it does have a different... I've seen in a couple of books or articles about fractal spinning compared to other ways of managing the color in your braid. It does look a little bit different when you knit it up. So it will be a little bit stripy, when I knit it up, but pretty blended. I mean, there's a couple of sections that are all blue and a couple of sections that are all yellow, and mostly it comes out... it reads green even though the the braid by itself just looking at it was more blue. This this yarn actually reads more green when you look at it, but it came out really nicely. And I plied it kind of loosely. I didn't i didn't ply too tight. Like I usually try... I usually like to ply tightly. But since Perendale is kind of a longer staple, I thought, Well I'm gonna ply it more like a longwool without so much twist in it. So that's what I did. I'm really happy with it. So that was kind of a fun experiment. And then I took what was left I'm not sure I'm gonna have enough to really be able to tell... but I took what was left over after the first bobbin ran out. And then I just plied a two ply because I want to do a little swatch of each and compare the two ply fractal to the three ply fractal spin. But I am going to do a little swatch of both of these so that people can see the difference and I can see the difference between a two ply fractal and a three ply fractal. The one thing that you will definitely be able to tell is there's not as much color variation in the two ply. Partly because it was only two bobbins worth of color playing together. Marsha 25:04 Right. Kelly 25:04 And partly because there was only a very little left on the bobbin. So you know, it didn't really have enough yarn to get all the way through all the different colors. But anyway, it'll be an interesting little experiment to make a swatch with both of those and compare them side by side. Yeah, so that was my spinning. Going back to the Santa Cruz Island, fleece. I was so excited because I had emptied bobbins of the Santa Cruz Island. And it's like, okay, I can call that finished, you know, even though I still have some fleece left, but it's like, okay, I can call that spinning project finished, right? Marsha 25:42 Yeah, Kelly 25:43 I was looking around in my stash for what else I had that I could just do a quick little spin with. And I found two about third full bobbins of Santa Cruz Island singles. Two, not three, two. And it's... I want to make, you know, to match the yarn I already had, I wanted to make it... I would make a three ply. Not that I really need any more of that. I was gonna make socks with it. And I have plenty for a pair of socks, but just kind of like Oh, no. So now, I do have some more fiber that's already carded. I did find that too, when I was digging around. So I will spin the yarn that I have, or the the fiber that I have that's already carded, and spin the third bobbin. And I just want to be done with this project. But you know, the little bits that I didn't want to throw away on those other two bobbins are insignificant compared to the mountain that's on these two bobbins Marsha 26:49 right, right Kelly 26:50 In comparison. I could have easily thrown that away. But anyway, I I now have another Santa Cruz Island job to do. So. I will do that. I like that fleece. It's really fine. It'sjust, it's tricky to spin. I mean, I have to do... I talked last time how I really am doing kind of an inch worming technique. And then I had to stop and pull out little neps of tangled fiber every so often. So it's not it's not exactly rhythmic Zen spinning. Marsha 27:26 Yeah. Kelly 27:27 So I did no knitting and crocheting. In my... since the last time we talked, I mean, I didn't even do any. I finished the last dish cloth. And I didn't even... I didn't even get any more on those. So that's kind of strange, but I've been doing a lot of dog training. Nothing formal, and not any real formal stuff, but you know, walks and, and trying to keep them from fence fighting. And so Beary's here sort of crunched into the corner where I'm recording right now. So you know where I am Marsha in the dressing room. Right? Well, he could be lengthwise and have plenty of room. But he's crosswise. So his head is jammed up against the cabinet. And his rear end is jammed up against the closet. The size of him is you know, the whole width of this little dressing room area. So, but he's, he's snoring. So he's happy. He doesn't mind being crunched in the corner here. Marsha 28:40 Well, and he can probably curl up into a tighter ball now because he's lost so much weight. Kelly 28:44 Yes, yes. He had a vet appointment last week. And so we got to, you know, get him weighed and get his result of his thyroid test and all that. He had a new thyroid test. But yes, he lost. He's now 113 pounds. Marsha 29:00 Wow. So that's amazing. Kelly 29:03 Yeah. Yeah. So just just to kind of recap for people. When he got to the ASPCA in January, he was 163 pounds. When we brought him home, he was 133 pounds. And now he's 113 pounds. In like ...it was about seven weeks, seven and a half weeks that he lost the 20 pounds. Marsha 29:27 Wait a minute, I say 50 pounds. Yeah, he's lost 50 pounds. Kelly 29:31 Yeah, he's lost 50 pounds. So he's got another probably 10 to go maybe. Maybe? I don't know. At first I thought he would... He was you know, he was shepherd and just heavy and needed... He could be probably 90 pounds would be his his final weight. But he may be crossed. Well, we talked about that. Marsha 29:54 Yeah, he's big, big boned. You know Kelly 29:58 He's got something in him that makes him bigger so it may be that he only has another 10 or so pounds to go so we'll see. But But yeah, the vet was really happy and his thyroid is stable. It's good, it's all in in the good ranges and the vet said keep doing what you're doing which is a lot of exercise and training and organized, you know, chewing activity like the frozen Kongs filled with dog food mush, doggy milkshake. Marsha 30:36 Did you like my comment? You posted that on Instagram. And it was like everyone thought Oh, it looks like milkshake. Yeah, but knowing what's in it, I think it looks disgusting. But the dogs love it. Kelly 30:48 Yeah, it is. It is pretty disgusting. I have some turkey fat from Aunt Betty made a turkey. Like a turkey breast roast last night for dinner. So I have some turkey pan drippings that are gonna go in the next version, the next round of the of the frozen Kongs, and it's funny because you know, I had to I wanted that magic bullet so that I could, you know, make smoothies and stuff. And I got it one year for Christmas. And I did use it for the first year. But, you know, before we got Bailey, it hadn't been out of the cupboard for months and months and months. And now that's what I use it for. Making dog milkshakes to pour into the Kongs to put in the freezer. So anyway, yeah, the dogs are getting healthy. I don't know about me, I'm not having my kale smoothies anymore. [laughing] Marsha 31:44 That's really good news. Kelly 31:45 Yeah, yeah, Marsha 31:46 It really is good news. Because he's just... I'm sure he feels so much better and you know he can move so much better. Kelly 31:55 He had the the senior dog blood panel because we know they told us he was eight at the ASPCA. But I have never had an eight year old dog acting this lively. And I'm pretty sure he's not eight. I mean, just watching him with Bailey and the, the constant playing that they do and all his I mean, just the things that he's doing now it's like, Okay, this dog is not eight, I just can't believe it. And his teeth. I mean, you can't always tell by their teeth. You know, we had one dog whose teeth were good for her whole life. And then the other dogs, you know, their teeth got bad right away. So you can't really tell. But his teeth are good. And his his energy level is high. So I just think he's not eight. But there's no way to know except, Marsha 32:48 yeah, Kelly 32:48 how long he lives, you know? Yeah, if he lives another 10 years, then he's definitely not eight. Marsha 32:54 Yes. Yeah. Kelly 32:55 But we won't know that. Yeah, so huh. So anyway, yeah, Beary's doing great. He starts obedience class at the SPCA on Saturday. And I got an email with homework that was like 10 videos. I was like, Oh, my God, I have to watch 10 videos, because I am not a video learning person. But I did. I watched them. They were all really short. But they were good. So I have homework before we go to our class. So he's supposed to be doing his name. And, you know, responding to his name and a couple of other things that I need to do. I have been working on down with him, but he doesn't like to lay down. I mean, he lays down fine when he wants it. Marsha 33:42 Yeah Really! Yeah. Kelly 33:43 But he's not he doesn't follow a treat to go down, which I've never had a dog that wouldn't do that. Marsha 33:51 So that's interesting. Yeah. Kelly 33:53 He, he pops up. And I've tried all kinds of different ways to keep his rear end from popping up. And it doesn't seem to work. So I need some tips and tricks from the from the trainer on that when we go to class, maybe. I've been just waiting. Mostly just waiting until he's tired. And then I tell him to sit and then I just stand there. And then when he does finally lay down, I tell him down. He's getting there, but that's going to be a tough one. Marsha 34:22 Yeah. So anyway, he doesn't really like to be told what to do. Kelly 34:28 Right. That is true. Yeah, he's getting better. But yeah, Marsha 34:33 He didn't come that way. We know he's learning. But Kelly 34:36 yeah, yeah, he's already... he's doing some crate training now, too. He's doing great now that he can, you know, he's thin enough that he can actually turn around in the crate. He's using the Wolfhound crate, and he fits great. And he goes in there just fine and he's quiet. And he doesn't break the crate. Marsha 34:54 Yeah. Kelly 34:56 So that's a nice fresh breath of fresh air compared to Bailey. Marsha 35:00 Well, good. That's really good to hear. I mean, I think that that's just really good news that he's lost so much weight and his panels are all good. Kelly 35:06 Yeah, his health is great. Yeah, his health is doing really well. So, yeah. Well, now that we've talked about all our projects, including our plumbing and dogs and all of that kind of stuff. We have a summer spinning topic for everybody. Marsha 35:21 Yes. So we thought we would talk about the whole process of selecting a fleece and where to buy a raw fleece. And so let's just dive right in. Okay. Kelly 35:33 And before we do that though, I just want to remind people that if you are going to be working with raw fleece, you should just make sure that your tetanus shot is up to date. Marsha 35:46 Oh, that's a good idea. I wouldn't even have thought about that. Kelly 35:49 It seems like every time you have an injury of any kind that could be tetanus related they give you a tetanus shot anyway, even if you're ...even if you just had one almost But you should have had a tetanus shot, I would say, because it's easy to... it's easy to have a puncture wound, using carding equipment or wool combs or being stuck with a sticker in your fleece. It's easy for that to happen. So anyway, Marsha 36:21 that's a good idea. Yes, that's good, because I would not have thought about that. So and you probably just get that at the pharmacy. Don't you think? You can get so many vaccines now just at the pharmacy? I mean, if you can get a tetanus Kelly 36:33 maybe, Yeah, probably. Marsha 36:35 I don't know. I have to look into that. Okay, so I have about selecting a fleece. How do you start just buying a fleece? What do you look for? Kelly 36:42 Well, Marsha 36:43 Kelly, any thoughts? Kelly 36:45 I tried to buy a fleece this morning from Instagram. And I don't think I'm going to get it because there was somebody else who was interested in it before me. But so what did I look for? Well, it was Wensleydale, a Wensleydale cross, which means it was a long wool, which always attracts me seeing those long curly locks. Just gets me. So that's what I look for. It was six pounds, which is a decent size. Again, that's what I look for. I am not... I'm not wanting to buy fleece, you know, oh, I'll just take a pound of that. Or, Oh, is it three pounds fleece? Now six pounds is a good size for a fleece. It's kind of like cones of yarn, you know, big and juicy. So, so that was an attraction. And then, and then it was gray, which is also an attraction for me. So long wool, gray, six pounds. And the price was right, it was priced at $50, which is about $8 a pound. And I think that's pretty... I think that's that's excellent. And then plus shipping. So for for a long wool that's a good price.You're not going to find... you're not going to find Merino at that price. But Marsha 38:14 Right, right, Kelly 38:15 But for a long wool. So that's what I look for. I wasn't thinking of a project, I wasn't imagining what I was going to do with it. Nothing like that. It was just like, oh, pretty long, curly, good pric-- buying! Marsha 38:33 Well, I will confess, before we really get into this, I will confess that online, doing some research, I was looking at producers and Etsy and there was many that I wanted to click buy. But I had to restrain myself. And what really gets me in this is excellent marketing. And if there's any producers who listen to this, this is excellent. This is how you get people to click buy. If you have a photograph of the sheep that the fleece came from, or just the name of... just the name of the sheep makes me want to buy because there's like this... I don't know it's just sort of... it's very... it's like a story and anytime there's a story about a product I get more and more tempted to buy it. Kelly 39:26 Yeah, well it's the same as a yarn having a name like Mocrocs Beach as opposed to you know the colorway Kelly 39:36 or San Francisco Fog. I bought San Francisco Fog because I liked the name. Kelly 39:39 as opposed to color number 5973. Marsha 39:44 Or I remember at... now we're getting a little off of the topic of buying a fleece but I remember one time at stitches. I do not need another skein of hand dyed sock yarn, but I bought one because the name of it was It Was Comic Con and I Was Drunk. I had to buy it, right? So, yeah, so if there's a backstory or something it's really very appealing for me anyway, personally. But so anyway, but what I was gonna say the first thing is... I was gonna say is online, there's... The Livestock Conservancy has an article about selecting a raw fleece. And I would really recommend that, because it talks all about staple length, coated versus not coated. What else Kelly? Kelly 40:38 it talks about the health of the lock and looking at health, the strength of the lock or the health of the sheep. It talks about the different breeds. Marsha 40:49 And so I-- that's just a great source, I think just start there. You get much better information than well, we could, and concise information to what we could give in just the podcast. But I think that's excellent. And the other thing we were sort of talking too before we started recording about-- let me just back up. When I, the first time I bought a fleece, I was like, Oh, I want it. This is what I want to make out of that fleece, I'm going to buy that. I think I bought a Shetland fleece at Black Sheep gathering. And I didn't know anything. No, I take that back. It wasn't, it was I split it with a woman down there. And it was now I don't remember now I think was like a Merino Corriedale mix, I think or something. And I didn't know anything. And I just thought, Okay, I'm gonna buy this. And then this is what I'm going to make out of it. Well, I don't think that really is. ..Maybe if you're really knowledgeable, you can get to the point where you can say-- you can look at a fleece and know how it's going to spin up and know how you're going to-- what you're going to make. Yeah, but I kind of think I think as a beginner, you probably just have to buy the fleece that you will like, and after you wash and card it and spin it. It will then tell you what you should make out of it. Kelly 42:00 Yeah, that's true. Marsha 42:02 Because you may have an idea that you want to have yarn, a yarn that really blooms, but that particular fiber is not going to do that. So it doesn't mean that it's going to end up being a bad yarn. It's just a yarn that's not-- it's gonna be a beautiful yarn that's for another purpose. Kelly 42:23 Yeah, yeah, that's true. I mean, so my love is when I see fleeces that are silver, silver gray longwool. Marsha 42:37 Yeah, Kelly 42:37 So I that would not be a good choice if what I wanted to make was a you know, a light fluffy cardigan. You know, like my Funky Grandpa sweater. If that was what I wanted to make, that would be the wrong choice. If I'm going to buy a romney for example long wool, I might be able to make like a coat kind of sweater, cardigan. Or blanket, or you do some weaving with it, weave a blanket, but I'm not going to be able to make a light fluffy cardigan out of a romney wool. So a lot of it depends on on what it is you want to do with it. I mean, you know, my, my advice is you just spin to spin, right? And see what happens. And so my advice would be for first spinners it would be to try all the ones that you just you look at it and you love it. Yeah, if it sings to you, and you go, Oh, my God this is so gorgeous. Get it! You know, if the price is right, and you're up for the adventure, I would say just go ahead and get it. And then you'll see what what the yarn is that it makes. And you don't have to spin the whole thing. You can, you know, and you don't have to buy the whole thing. Sometimes you can split fleeces with somebody. Or you can, I know on Etsy you can buy... sometimes people are selling them by the pound and so you can buy just a pound of a particular kind of fleece. So Marsha 44:08 If you do buy a whole fleece though, I think there's a couple things to sort of keep in mind. Find out if it's been skirted. And that's when they remove all of the wool that's not really usable and the tags which is manure. And you can buy a fleece that has all of that, but just know that you're paying. You're gonna be throwing away a lot that you're paying for. Kelly 44:29 Right right. Yeah, so if you're searching on Etsy, I would say one of the things to put in your search is spinning or hand spinning. Just to make sure that you know you're going to... you're going to get something that people are at least calling a hand spinners fleece. Although we will talk later, I found a great article on those bargain fleeces or free fleeces and how do you, you know, make sure that you can use a fleece like that. So, yeah. Marsha 45:03 And then the other thing and I, I've never had this experience, but they talked about it when we went to the Black Sheep Gathering. Well what they had said and people who were there, the general consensus is if, if you're buying a fleece that's been part of a show, you're going to get a good fleece. Just because people have carefully prepped them for showing Kelly 45:27 And spent money to put them in the show. Marsha 45:30 Right? Yes, there's an investment to show them. And so you really couldn't go wrong buying any of those. We did have though, do you remember the one judging where the fleece had an odor to it, like a sour odor or something? And they said that it was, I don't know, I don't remember now what was wrong with it. But I guess what the general... what I would take away from that is smell the fleece. If it just doesn't smell like that delicious, wonderful... which we like. Some people hate but we like that lanolin woolly smell. Then avoid that one. If it has any kind of weird sour or off putting odor that doesn't smell right. Kelly 46:15 A dirty dish cloth. Marsha 46:16 And so anyway, I was gonna say that the... I think that the Livestock Conservancy website is really good. And we'll have the link in the show notes. Yeah. And also the spinners book of fleece by Beth Smith is really good. Kelly 46:27 And that can help with you know, like, what kinds of fleeces will do what kinds of thing. What breeds will do what kinds of things, you know. Is it a medium, fleece? Would it make that fluffy cardigan? Is it better for outerwear? Will it be just good for rugs and blankets? It will give you a good idea of of that. Yeah, the other thing to think about too, is what kind of preparation you're going to work on. What kind of ability do you have to wash it. So like, if you're gonna buy... If you don't have a good capacity to wash a fleece and you're gonna have to wash it, you know, little by little, and you're not sure how it's going to work, you might not want to buy a Merino--a really greasy fleece like a Merino. You might, or you might want to, if you do buy a fleece like that, you might want to have someone else do it, have it processed. Marsha 46:45 Yeah, Kelly 47:21 Or even just washed by a processor. I mean, that's a possibility. That you can have a processor just wash your fleece and send it back to you clean. Just because that that does take a lot of water, a lot of soap, a lot of time to get all that grease out of the fleece. And so depending on what your washing situation is, you might be better off having a fleece that's not quite as greasy. So the article that I did find about the kind of fleece that I've always liked, the bargain fleece, is called The Great Fleece Makeover. And it's by Emmioneisha Hopkins in Spin Off magazine. And she talks about three different fleeces that she had and, and they were, you know, dirty in different ways. They were flawed in different ways. And yet she was still able to make beautiful yarn out of them. Time, you know, there's a time investment to that. If you have, you know, flaws. So for a lot of people any kind of veg matter in their fleece: stickers, hay, anything like that is just a no go. And I've never been like that. That has never been something that I totally just you know been put off by and I think partly because when I started spinning, coated fleeces were very rare. And so you know, you always had some of that in your fleeces, but now with coated fleeces, you can get, you know really pristine fleeces without any of these problems. But you pay the price, right? So if you get a free fleece or you have the opportunity to get some fleece for a very good price, I would really recommend this article The Great Fleece Makeover. So you can see, you know, what kind of things does she look at? And what kind of things does she do? Wool combs are what she uses, because they take out a lot of the garbage you know, the short cuts of wool, the really short pieces, you know. If the shearing is inconsistent, they take out a lot of the vegetable matter if there's a lot of that, and they make a really nice preparation. So wool combs are a really good thing to have if you're interested in working with the bargain fleeces. A carder also gets out a lot of the stuff that's in it. A drum carder, or hand cards, but not as much as combs do. So anyway, that's a good article that I would recommend to people looking for a fleece. But there is just something about walking around a fleece fiber festival looking at all the fleeces and just falling in love with one. And and if, if that doesn't happen to you, then maybe you're just not a spinner for fleeces, for raw fleeces, right? If you can walk through a fiber festival and you don't feel pulled... drawn to fork over money for at least you know, three or four of them and have to rein yourself in, then, you know, maybe braids are your are your jam. And that's okay. You know, yeah, processed fiber might just be what you are in love with. Marsha 50:41 Well, and the thing about the processed fiber you said about time and like, you can just start right away. I like that. And that's nice. Like I've used... it's all been, you know, the commercially processed roving that I've used for the combo spins. Kelly 50:51 Yeah, Yeah, I'm in a really bad place right now because this Perendale was my last... was my last dyed braid. I have a couple of braids of Coopworth that are natural color. And that's it. So you know, I don't have anything that I could just grab. Which is kind of on purpose because I have a lot of stuff that I need to process. [laughing] So how do you buy one? If you are going to fall in love? If you think you might fall in love, where would you find those fleeces? Marsha 51:34 Well, so the first place I know where I bought all of mine was going to some sort of festival. So now, the pandemic has, has changed all of this because a lot of these festivals are not happening. So Black Sheep Gathering is always in June. That's also been cancelled. But a lot of them have online sales. Kelly 52:01 yes. Marsha 52:01 Or a list of the producers and you can contact the different producers. So we have links to the Black Sheep Gathering in the show notes. There's the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Kelly, you added the Ore`gon Flock and Fiber in October is that on? Kelly 52:16 Yeah, in October, it's on. And they moved it to Albany so it's in the same location where Black Sheep Gathering was the last time we were there. Marsha 52:26 Oh, Kelly! Kelly 52:27 I know. Marsha 52:29 Maybe! Kelly 52:29 It's a possibility. Marsha 52:33 Oh, but school's in session ... Oh, no, but you're Kelly 52:35 Yeah, but I'm online. Marsha 52:37 Ah. Oh Kelly! Kelly 52:38 So I yeah, there's, there's a possibility. Yeah. Marsha 52:45 Okay. Kelly 52:48 Vermont Sheep and Sool festival is also happening in October, according to their website. They have dates in early October. So and then I found another one that's actually happening coming up fairly soon. That's the Natural Fiber Extravaganza in Lebanon, Tennessee. And it's July 9 through 11th. It's a mostly alpaca. It's put on by an alpaca association. But that looked, that looked interesting if you're in that part of the country. And then I also found Knitters Review has a fiber festival directory. Now I put the link to that in the show notes as well. A lot of them when you go to the website you see the 2020 information and you see "cancelled" but if you're willing to like search out your area. If you're looking for a particular area you can in a particular month you can narrow it down pretty well to just look at the ones that are, you know, pertinent to you and see if they have them. And then our county fair last year I kind of spaced and didn't even think about it but the Monterey County Fair last year they had their wool show, their wool auction, they just had it online. Marsha 54:04 Oh yeah? Kelly 54:06 So and then you had either pickup or shipping of the fleece that you had bought. I didn't even know about it until after it was already done. It was already done is when I realized. Marsha 54:20 Yeah, and I know the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival that one actually I think that was in May. It didn't actually happen but it was all online. But there you could check it out and see if there's still things available. And as I say, they all have vendors listed that are still selling their fleeces. Kelly 54:37 Yeah, the listing of vendors is the nice thing. Yeah, in these websites, so. So yeah, check out your county fair website. And then the other thing I just put in there, I know we've talked about the Shave 'Em to Save 'Em, and that's through the livestock Conservancy. The same website that Marsha mentioned about selecting a fleece. But they have a directory. And you can find different, you know, the rare breed fleeces there. And then also, there's the Fibershed directory. California has the Fibershed, I think Canada, Canada has a Fibershed organization. I don't know if other areas have a Fibershed organization. But if you have a Fibershed in your area, you can look at their website. And they usually will have a directory of producers of all kinds of things, not just wool. I think there's a, there's a hemp farm, and a flax farm on the Fibershed directory. And so there are some other websites, so lots of resources in this set of show notes. Marsha 55:45 So I just, I also just googled where to buy a raw fleece, you know, and the first one that came up was a farm in, it's in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York State. It's called Nistock farms. And they--you have to reserve the fleece. But they still have some available. But it was interesting. They have an interesting website just to read it too, because they they have a lot of information about processing your...washing fleeces. They also are part of the Livestock Conservancy. And they're members of the livestock Conservancy. And they talk a lot about how their... how important is to keep their their flock healthy. So they no longer take their sheep to to be judged at shows because they don't want to expose them to all the different diseases that sheep can get, apparently, and they don't bring in rams from outside the farm for breeding. They just have their own rams. And then, and now I'm getting into something I really don't know anything about. But the breeding of sheep. You can't breed them too many times because you have to bring in new Kelly 57:08 Right, genetics. Marsha 57:09 So when they do bring in a new ram, they have to be quarantined, they're tested and then they have to be quarantined for a certain merit amount of time before they enter the breeding program. Very, very interesting. I mean, if you if you want to go really deep into it, it's a very interesting website. And then the other one I found and I just think this is just sweet. And Kelly, you said we had talked about this before but the Sanctuary Wool website. They're located in Wisconsin, and their fleeces are from rescued sheep. This is the one where they have their pictures. And you know... Kelly 57:45 Which, I'm looking at them right now. Oh my gosh. Marsha 57:49 I know. Kelly 57:52 Good looking fleeces, too. I know when we first mentioned them, one of the caveats was, you know, we had not bought fleeces from them. And I don't know if they even had a website at that time or I don't think it had any pictures. So it was kind of, you know, I don't know what this will be like, but here's some information about it. But these look beautiful! East Friesian Polypay. And that's another thing! That.. so that's another thing that gets me-- a breed I haven't spun before. Yes, when I see a breed-- that's how I ended up with the Santa Cruz Island fleece. Marsha 58:31 Right. Kelly 58:31 It's rare, and I had never spun it. And it was just intriguing. And this one is also intriguing East Friesian Polypay. Marsha 58:41 Huh? What is that? I know there's Friesian horses. I think they're from Holland. Kelly 58:47 You're asking me a question I don't know the answer to. I really don't know what East Friesian sheep is. And I don't... I know Polypay is is a relatively newer breed. Anyway, one pound six ounces for $18. Wow. Add To Cart! Tthe lambs fleece, the locks average four inches long and there's very minor debris remaining to remove. So I anyway, I would say take a look at this. If you don't worry about the danger to your wallet, take a look at this website. [laughing] Marsha 59:06 Well, and there was another. I don't know if was this website or there's another website I was looking at. And what I wanted to put in the cart the name of the sheep was something like Big Gal, something like that. Anyway, but she was an older sheep and so they said as she's gotten older, more and more gray hair is in the fleece. Oh and that one I just like oh, I want it! Yeah, because of her story, she's just this old lady, you know, and I kind of wanted the old lady fleece. But anyway... Kelly 1:00:08 Sally's Fox on her Vriesis website would sometimes have her older sheep fleece. And she would describe it in such a way that just made you want to buy it. Marsha 1:00:22 Yeah, yeah. Oh my god very good marketing. Kelly 1:00:25 Yes. Marsha 1:00:26 For those of us with no self control, Kelly 1:00:29 I'm clicking closed now. I'm having self control, because I already tried to buy one this morning. I do not need any more fleece. How many do you think I have in my garage? Marsha 1:00:43 I don't know. Because I know how many I have. Kelly 1:00:45 I think I might have I think ten. Marsha 1:00:48 Oh Kelly, I think I have eight. Kelly 1:00:55 You know that True Confessions will be next next episode. [laughing] Marsha 1:00:59 Actually, I take that back. I think I have nine because I think I'm not counting the... my friend of mine in the knitting group gave me the alpaca fleece. So I don't think I'm counting that one. And that thing's a monster. It's huge. I didn't know alpaca had such big fleece but this thing seems huge. I don't know what I'm going to... I don't know but I was hoping during this our summer spinning that I would.. I obviously I can't wash and card all of it. But just some of it. Just because I've never spun alpaca. So anyway, the other place to buy, too Kelly, is... I didn't even think about this. You recommended it, Etsy. So that was another thing that I started sort of doing a deep dive into Etsy and there's tons and tons and tons of fleeces on Etsy Kelly 1:01:46 And if you know the name of the farm, that's a good way to look online. I follow some farms on Instagram. And so you know i've been, I follow them for you know, they might have lamb for sale, or they might just post nice pictures, or but some of them if you go to their website will have, you know, might have some fleeces for sale or might have processed fleece for sale. So that's another resource, too. If you're still not able to find a fleece, there's another way. Marsha 1:02:22 Anything else you want to add about where to buy a fleece? Kelly 1:02:26 Another thing to look at is fiber ills. So Valley Oak, she's the one that that posted this morning about the fleece that I almost bought. Marcaile at Valley Oak Wool Mill, but she also has roving that she sells, you know. She doesn't usually sell fleeces. She's helping someone else sell a fleece. But she does have roving. And so if you have a wool mill, that you know about, near you, or you know, that that you follow on Instagram or whatever, check out their website and see if they have their own roving for sale, and you can buy already processed fleece from them, you don't just have to buy a fleece and send it to be processed, you can just buy wool that's been been processed. So you know, your local, if you have some local mills, you can take a look and see if they have anything on their website. But then there's also those people who you know, there's a real nice thing about grabbing a braid and starting to spin. And I just my recent purchases, I mentioned Sheep Spot already. And I purchased a couple of braids of fiber the other day, which I think are going to be prizes, from Sincere Sheep. Her fiber is locally sourced. And then I also love the colors of that Huckleberry Knits has. That's up by you. Up in up in Washington, and there I mean, there are lots and lots of other people who have braids, but these are some examples of places that I've recently purchased. Marsha 1:04:10 The other thing I forgot to mention this is spinning guilds. Sometimes somebody will have something that they want to sell, or they know a producer that has too many and they're just looking for like, maybe they'll give it to you but if you pay for the shipping, right? So but that's also a resource. So I belong to the Northwest Spinners Association here in the Pacific Northwest and they have a Facebook group. And lot of times they're posting things.They post things, you know, funny articles, funny spinning cartoons and stuff, and interesting articles. Sometimes the equipment for sale, and then sometimes there's been fleeces too, that's another good source just to find, you know, they're all good sources. Kelly 1:04:58 So yeah. Yeah, we have lots of ways to make your money fly out of your wallet. . Marsha 1:05:05 Yeah, really. [laughing] Anything else on this topic, Kelly 1:05:10 I think just the main thing is that, you know, if you're interested in, in that process that you know, fleece to fiber, that whole, you know, the whole spectrum of the process, I would say it's, it's definitely worth doing once. And after you do it, you'll know what parts of the process you like, and what parts of the process you don't like. And then you can you know, you can decide. No, I'm just going to buy already processed braids of fiber, or I like washing fleece, but I have to wash it in small batches. So I'm only going to buy fleece by the pound I'm not going to buy entire fleeces. Or you could be like me, and if it's 10 pounds, that's even better. And so you really want, the bigger the fleece, the more attractive it is. Marsha 1:06:04 That is true. Like that was when we went to, I don't remember, I think it was the Monterey County Fair. And they had the auction. We got a really good deal on those. Like remember, we got a 10 pound fleece or something or a 12 pounds. I mean, it was a huge fleece that we got. And it was really quite inexpensive. And part of the reason is because it is so much for a hand spinner, right for hand spinner to go through 10 pounds Kelly 1:06:31 Really, Yeah, Marsha 1:06:32 Now granted... Oh, I one thing we didn't say is when you do buy a fleece, too, that when you wash it, you do lose. The weight will go down, right, because that weight is debris in the fleece Kelly 1:06:44 And when you card it, when you card if you do your own processing, or if you send it out to be processed, when you card it, there will also be waste. So you could lose, you know, you could lose as much as half by the time you have, or more, by the time you skirt it, wash it and process it and have it ready to ready to spin. Marsha 1:07:10 Because every time you do something to it, you lose. Right? Kelly 1:07:13 Right. So like I carded yesterday, I have an Oxford fleece that I started carding yesterday. I didn't put that in my projects. And I carded. I picked which means you pull the fiber apart. I picked and put through the drum carder what was 100 grams. So I decided I was just going to do it in 100 gram batches. So I did 100 grams. And then I put it through the carder. And when it got through the carder, it was only...When it got, you know, done being carded the first time, now it's only 95 grams. And I'm going to put that through the carder probably two more times, just to get it really nice. And by the time I do that, I'll probably be down to, you know, 75 or 80 grams. But yeah, the big fleeces are attractive to me. But they're not attractive to everyone. You know, it's helpful if you have a friend who will split it with you right, Marsha? Marsha 1:08:09 Yeah. So I'm always, I'm always willing to split. Kelly 1:08:15 So. All right, well, I think that's a, I think that's a good amount of information for someone who was interested in how to go about purchasing a fleece for the first time. And what are we going to talk about next time. Do you remember? Marsha 1:08:33 So the next episode, we're going to talk about carding of fleece, blending, prepping and process. Okay. So that's the plan. Kelly 1:08:41 All right. Marsha 1:08:43 So good. We have to do some research. Yes. Kelly 1:08:46 Well, I have one on the carder too right now. So I'll start now. I'll do my research. Partly do my research that way. Marsha 1:08:54 Okay, cool. All righty. Okay, well, with that we'll say goodbye. Kelly 1:08:58 All right. Marsha 1:08:59 We'll talk. Kelly 1:09:00 Okay. Bye. Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Marsha 1:09:08 Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects. Kelly 1:09:16 Until next time, we're the Two Ewes doing our part for a world fleece. Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Your chaotic gays back again with Karen, oh sorry.. Kevin. This week hear us talk about all the things that make you heated; even SUVs. Like, subscribe, and share the love bitches. XOXO

In this week's episode, Will tells of haunted houses in Dublin, Ireland from a book called True Irish Ghost Stories by John D Seymour. Hear about Aunt Betty would loves a good smack across the face. Promo: Seriously Sinister  Please Subscribe, Rate & Review! Why not support the show on Patreon? Get Bonus Episodes & Extra content. Just head over to www.patreon.com/mysteriesoftheunexplained  Follow us on Instagram! www.instagram.com/mysteriesoftheunexplainedpod

Lots of ends to weave and finished objects to discuss this week. Plus we announce the winners of our Winter Weave Along.  Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha’s Projects Walk Along tee by Ankestrick (Ravelry link) Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde (Ravelry link) Almost done.  I started the heel flap on the pair of socks (Ravelry link) for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.   Spun three more skeins of merino green and brown three ply. Have a total of five skeins and 716 yards Kelly’s Projects  Finished! Iced Matcha socks (Ravelry link) from the Coffee Socks Collection by Dots Dabbles Designs. I used Invictus Yarns Seraphic.  Finished! Frog and Toad (Ravelry link) from frogandcast.com.  Finished! Reading in Bed blanket (Ravelry link) Started the Huck weaving sampler from the Jane Stafford Guild Winter Weave Along The Weave Along is over and we drew winners! Listen to see if you won! Extremities Knit/Crochet Along This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns: Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah It ends on April 25, 2021. Knit anything for your extremities (hands, arms, legs, feet). Full Transcript Marsha   Hi, this is Marsha Kelly    and this is Kelly. Marsha   We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly   You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha   We blog and post show notes at to Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com Kelly   and we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm  1hundredprojects  Marsha   And I am betterinmotion. Kelly   We both look forward to meeting you there.  Both   Enjoy the episode. Marsha   Good morning, Kelly.  Kelly   Good Morning, Marsha. Marsha   How are you today? Kelly   I'm doing all right. The sun is finally coming out. I would say if you want to travel to my neck of the woods don't come in April. April's not-- I don't think April is that good of a weather month for the Monterey Bay Area. It's cold. It's very coastal feeling this morning that cold ocean breeze and overcast and the sun is now finally coming out. So maybe I'll get my hat and my fleece vest off att some point today. Marsha   Well, we are having beautiful weather in Seattle. Kelly   That's good. Marsha   I haven't checked the temperature but warm, you know, Sunny blue sky. Yeah, no rain in the forecast. I think it's gonna be up to 70 Kelly   Oh, nice. Marsha   I'm sorry. I don't know what that is in Celsius for those who are on Celsius. Kelly    30? Somebody in the Ravelry group posted and they said they have like milestones, like body temperature is 37. Marsha   Okay, Kelly    I think they said 30 degrees was like a 70 degree day. Now, I may be totally wrong on that. But but that's-- I'm just doing that from memory and then you know, zero is freezing. And below zero is nobody wants to, nobody wants to feel that! Marsha   Anyway, Well, anyway, it's beautiful. So I have Mark came up and helped me move the patio furniture app onto the deck. So we've been sitting in the furniture and we got the umbrellas out yesterday  Kelly   Wow! Marsha   and, we've had so and I'm... you probably saw my Instagram post that I painted the south side of the garage. Well, primer and first coat yesterday. I have to do the second coat today Kelly   You and Robert so I just have to ask. Did you vacuum it before you primed it? Marsha   Well, Ben power washed it for me. [laughing}   Kelly    Okay. Because I looked out at one point when Robert was... and he's got the vacuum up on the roof of the garage and a paintbrush, like to brush off cobwebs and stuff like that. Oh my gosh, he is meticulous. Marsha    He is meticulous but he's doing it the right way.  Kelly   Yes, yeah. No, I have no complaints. I just laugh when I see. I mean like, Who in the world looks out the window and sees someone vacuuming the garage wall? [laughing] Marsha   Well, I have to say I did not vacuum it but I, as I say Ben went out and power washed the south side. And then what started this whole thing, I probably talked about this but what started the whole thing is he was super excited about power washing and he powerwashed the driveway and I said well why don't you power wash my pots, my the planter pots, which he did. And then on the south side of the driveway where I have the tomatoes, the neighbors have a fence so it creates shade like from the pots down. And so it's super mossy, there was like an inch of moss over there. And he was--can hardly wait to get over there and attack the moss. He powerwashed that whole walkway, power washed the pots. I said Well then, if I'm pulling the pots away... Because they're so heavy, I take all the soil out, which is now piled up in front of the garage so I can't get my car in the garage. If we're going to do all this I should paint the garage because the garage has not been painted in, I don't know, 15 or 20 years? I don't know. A long time. I don't remember when it was painted. Kelly   Well that's what led Robert to paint was that the he wanted to get the garage painted before the grape came back. You know, he pruned it. So it was all pruned back and you can actually see the garage wall. And, and he knew you know, within a couple of weeks that was all going to start leafing out again and so he's like Okay, I gotta get this garage wall painted. Yeah. So so good to do it while the pots are out of the way. Marsha   Yeah, but then I have a tendency, well I was like, just put the paint on there. It's okay. And it's like no, my father was a painter. And I can't, I can't do that. So I, as I say Ben power washed it, I primed it. I put my first coat on. So and I'm gonna go put the second coat on. So that's the right way to do it. Now, all of this, that was just one side of the garage. I have, you know, it's a rectangle. So I have three more slots. [laughing] Kelly   Yeah, that's the west side. So that's one of the sides that gets the most Marsha   No, it's actually south side.  Kelly   Yes. The South Side. Yeah.  Marsha   But I, you know, my parents built that garage. And my father taught me how to put the shingles on it. So it has cedar shingles from probably 1968. And he showed me how to nail shingles onto the side of the garage. So when I was-- okay, let's see. I was probably 10. And I sided, at the age 10, I sided the south side of the garage.  Kelly   That's cool.  Marsha   Yeah. Anyway, and he told me how, like you put a double row at the--the first row at the bottom is a double row, double thickness. And then and how to use the now I don't even know what they're called. Is it a snap line? Chalk line?  Kelly   Oh, yeah.  Marsha   You know, to to get a, to, so that they're all even. And so I was out there painting them. I thought I did a pretty good job at the age of 10. Kelly   That's nice. Yeah.  Marsha   Child labor.  Kelly   Exactly. Exactly. Marsha   But I remember as a kid thinking, it was really fun. It was, yeah, it was super fun. So he left, he showed me how to, he showed me how to do it and then he left me on my own out there one day, and I just did the whole thing. But I will say, I'm not 10 anymore. [laughing] And  painting, so you know, primer, and then the first coat, my right hand holding the brush. I can't hold-- I in fact, I intentionally did not buy as big a brush as my dad would have used. He had like an eight inch brush, they would use like my hand can't hold that you know. So I have a smaller brush. But by the end of the day, my right hand was really sore and my left elbow. I pinched a nerve or something in their, I--or done something. And I think what it is now with my left hand is or my left elbow is from holding the paint pot. You know, just imagine holding something in your hand.  All day,  Kelly   Right Marsha   So it's-- I think it's affected my elbow. Yeah, I'm a wreck. Kelly   Well, even with all of that you still are able to knit right? Marsha   Yes, I'm working on socks right now as we're recording. So I'm still able to knit. Yeah.  Kelly   All right.  Marsha   Anyway, enough home improvement. Should we talk knitting?  Kelly   Yeah. What are you working on? Marsha   Well, I'm working on my socks. Just the you know, vanilla socks. In fact, I don't even have it in the show notes. It's the What yarn is this? It's the Fabel yarn that I remember we bought it down-- I reaching over to my bag to grab a label--when we went to San Luis Obispo years ago for the yarn crawl. Kelly   Oh, right. Marsha   And this is Drops Fabel Print. I've talked about this before, but not for a while. This is the second sock and I'm just starting the heel flap. It's you know, it's an easy project.  Kelly   Yeah. Marsha   So since I'm talking about these should I just talk about my projects? Kelly   Sure! Yeah, that's a good idea. Marsha   Because I don't have much to report. Marsha   I've been periodically picking up the Walk Along Tee by Ankestrick. And I have-- I really have not progressed much since we last talked. In fact, I have to tell you, I listened to the last two episodes while I was painting the garage. And knowing that we were going to record today, thinking Well, there's not much more to report. I think I've knit four more rows since we last talked. So but as I say, there's been so many projects here. Oh, and I should say too. Not much knitting got done last week because Ben had his wisdom teeth taken out. And so,last Wednesday, a week ago, so there was a lot of up and down the stairs changing ice packs making milkshakes and getting him to take pain meds. He alternated between ibuprofen and Tylenol. So yeah, I have not made a huge amount of progress on that and then the Abington Mitts also haven't... Kelly   Oh no! You jinxed them when you said you hope they're not like your skull. [laughing] Marsha   They are like my skull but as I said, again as I'm out there listening to the podcast the last episode while I was painting, we reiterated the deadline for the extremities, extremities knit crochet, macrame along. And I need to get going. Kelly   Yes. April 25th, right? Marsha   Yeah. So I need to get going. So I'm so close. I just have to do the thumb. Kelly    Right! So yes, Don't jinx yourself. Marsha   Yeah. You know what I also, when I listened back to myself, I always, this is what I always say. "I'm going to do that tonight." [laughing] I'm not saying that. That seems to jinx me too.  Kelly   Okay. Oh my gosh. Marsha    But the one thing I have been working on though, is the spinning. So I plied... have made three more skeins, I plied three skeins of yarn. So I now have a total of five, which is a little over 700 yards. And I think I'm going to get at least two more skeins, and maybe a bit more. But I had the idea that I was going to make a sweater out of this the green and brown three ply. But I'm not going to have enough. So I do think I will have more of the brown left. And even if I don't have enough of it. I can order more. Which I should probably do that sooner than later. So I was thinking well maybe I would just add stripes to the sweater. Kelly   Yeah. Marsha   To to extend it. So I think that will look okay. If I have like that barber pole yarn mixed with a solid but it's that same, the same color. I think it will be okay. Kelly   Yeah, I think that would be really pretty. Marsha   We did have a conversation though. Just thinking about spinning. We did have a conversation. I called you. Do you remember I called you last week, I think or this week that?  Kelly   Oh, right. I want to know how that how that went. Marsha   Yeah, well, so I'll tell people what happened. So and this probably happens to a lot of people, is that you're single is-- you're plying and one of your singles will break. And then you can't find the end on the bobbin. And that's what happened. And so I called you and I said because you know, you have been spinning a lot longer than I have, you've probably had this experience too. And you said a couple of things to do. One of them is put the bobbin back on the spinning wheel and spin the opposite direction that you plied it. But, and but loose. I mean, you don't have the yarn coming--well, because you're trying to find the end, right. So you just let it spin on there. And it will sometimes just fly out. Kelly   Right Marsha   That didn't happen. Kelly   I don't have too much luck with that. I haven't had too much luck with that technique either about Marsha   that didn't happen. But I think what it did is it must have loosened it some way because I finally took it off. And I just took it out in the sunlight. And I actually found the end Kelly    Oh, nice. Oh, that's good. Marsha   So because I had done that before I took it outside in the light and I could not find it. So I do think that that spinning, did must have jarred it some way that I could find it. But just the other advice you gave me too. And this is not-- this doesn't help find the end. But just when you're spinning, don't let the singles pile up too high as you're spinning across the bobbin and keep moving at across the hook sooner. Because I sometimes you know, as I'm watching TV, or I'm talking, I lose track of what I'm doing. And sometimes they get a little too high and then they can fall down onto the next row is that the right way, how would you describe it? Marsha   Kind of like the next layer the way I would... Marsha   Layer,  right.So I'm going to keep that in mind for next time. Because that has it's happened to me more than once that Kelly   And a lot of people use something called a Woolly Winder. And Robert from the very beginning, when I first got my spinning wheel, he was like this needs to have something where it's you know, laying the laying the thread down or the yarn down, going evenly all the way across and then coming back. Like you know, like a fishing reel. And I said, No, you just move the yarn on the hooks. And then I discovered, you know, this was back in 98. And then I discovered that there was this thing called a Wooly Winder that I think that's what it's called, that does do that it it winds your yarn onto a bobbin more like a fishing reel would do so you're not moving the hooks yourself.  Marsha   Make sense. Kelly   Yeah. I like to move the hooks because it helps me remember not to sit in one position. Not to put my hands in one position. Not to, you know, not do things that could give you a repetitive stress injury, the more adjustments that you make to your body, the better. But a lot of people like to have that and just be able to get into that rhythm. And, and it, you know, people think it helps, and it probably does helps them make a more consistent yarn to, because every time you stop and start again, you have the possibility of your yarn not being, not being consistent. But I'm old school enough to think that that moving the yarn from one hook to another is, is good for you. But I also am guilty as you are forgetting and then, Oh, no! And the finer you spin, the worse it is, the more careful you have to be about that happening. Marsha   Yeah, and I also think, too, is if you, if you have the the single on the bobbin. And you  just went and decided that you were going to wind it into onto another bobbin or something. Not that you would do that. Like so you're just going to take it from the one bobbin and put it onto another bobbin...  Kelly   People do that. They put it onto like a storage bobbin. Marsha   Right, I think then you might not have as much of a problem. But when you put it on the the lazy Kate, it has to have some tension on it.  The bobbins that you're plying off of have to have some tension. Otherwise, if they move too fast, then it all starts twisting back onto itself.  Kelly   Right, right.  Marsha   And so I think that tension also then forces the single down into the layers.  Kelly   Yes. Marsha   And I don't know how to get around that other than, as you said, spin... change more frequently.  Kelly   Yeah. And the other thing that I have done with my lazy Kate, when I wanted to make a super, you know, try to be super consistent in my plying, I was taking a class and I was trying to follow you know, the instructions of the class. And so, on our wheel, the lazy Kate on the little Herbie, is connected to the wheel. And I mostly ply from the Kate on the wheel. But if I have a yarn that I think is going to be really temperamental, what I learned in the class I took a while back, is that if you have the Kate away from you, it gives you the chance, it gives the yarn a chance for the twist to even out in the singles. And so if I have something that I think is not going to behave nicely, I'll take my Kate off. And, you know, put it behind me, like four or five feet. Kind of prop it up behind me four or five feet. And that does, that does help. Because it doesn't get so tight. You know, you know that that that tightness when you're when you're trying to pull it up, up from the bobbin instead of out from the bobbin. Marsha   Yes and I--and so we have the same wheel and I find that I tried plying with the lazy Kate attach to the wheel the way it's designed. It was a nightmare, because I, it kept...Yeah, I was not able to do it. So you had shown me that trick. And so now I always like I sit in my chair in the study, you know watching TV,which is probably part of my problem [laughing]  with my applying and then I put the lazy Kate behind me and I block it with the table leg to try and hold it up. So, because you want it to stay upright and not have the bobbins hit anything. So that stops them. The other thing is Kelly, you remember when I got the Ashford wheel?  Kelly   Yeah, Marsha   It came with a lazy Kate.  Kelly   Oh okay. I don't remember that. Marsha   And so I tried that too. And it's, it's basically it's like two posts that stick up. Wood posts that stick up and then the bobbins go in there. Ours are put in perpendicular to the ground, right?  These bobbins are parallel. But there is nothing to slow them down. So they just--and I tried I thought, well maybe it'll be easier. No. It did not work at all. It's-- I think that's just going to be for storing bobbins because they look pretty. Kelly   So my my Wyatt wheel has a Kate like that built into the wheel and it does not have a tension--any tensioner on those bobbins. And so what I've done is I've taken the springs, the springs that do the tensioning for the Herbie and I just put them on there so you might try it. It might not fit the same springs or those springs might not be long enough. It depends on how long the, what are they called, the sticks that go through the bobbin are. But if you can find springs to go on the end of them to provide a little bit of tension.  Marsha   Yeah, I could just go to the hardware store probably and get something.  Kelly   That might be a better Kate because you're not pulling up from the bobbin you are actually pulling out from the bobbin. And it's a little bit, it's a little bit easier to keep your attention even in that case. But you have to, you really need to have some tension on the bobbins in the Kate. Marsha   Right. I think I'm going to, I'm going to bring that lazy Kate from the Ashford to the hardware store, because what I've discovered? Men love anything to do with spinning wheels. They'll be like, oh! Yeah, they're gonna love it. It's engineering, right? Kelly    Yeah. Get some assistance with those springs for sure. Marsha   So that's it for me with projects. Kelly   Okay. Well, I'm glad you didn't have to waste yarn, you know that you didn't have to cut through your yarn. Because just to finish that conversation, the last resort to try to find your end is really just to cut the yarn and start spinning, or start unraveling. I've just cut the yarn and then started plying, from that, you know from that section just to wait to see what happens. And sometimes it makes a tangle. And then you have to cut even more off. And sometimes you found the end and sometimes. And sometimes you end up, you know, your cut end you ply back to the one that was hidden. And then you can find where you need to start up again. So but that's not much fun, because you often will end up having to unwind a lot of yarn. Marsha   Yeah. Before and put it in a compost pile. And that's and I was really hoping and I'm glad it didn't happen because I want to use every bit of yarn... Kelly   your already short Marsha   ... that I can  Kelly   Yeah, yeah. Marsha    In fact, I even like I've had some sections that have, you know, when you're plying, and you get the twist in one of the singles, but you can't get it out, it ends up just plying into the three. And that's not nice. I cut some of those out but I saved them. Just in case I need it for some something and then also when you skein the yarn on the niddy noddy, and then you have to tie it in four places. Well you don't have to, but I do tie it in four places. I have some waste yarn of some other commercial waste yarn that I tying the little... because each one say it's four inches, right? How many stitches how many knit stitches is four inches? You know, like maybe I could get the maybe that four inches what I'm gonna need, you know,  Kelly   Your yarn chicken stitches.  Marsha   Yeah, so I have my little stash set away.  Kelly   Yeah.  Marsha   And also, you know, on the niddy noddy, too, it doesn't always-- as you're winding, it doesn't always make-- two ends don't always meet so sometimes you have to unravel a bit and so that'll be 18 inches, 20 inches or something. And so I've been saving all of those.  Kelly   Sometimes what I do there is I'll take waste yarn and tie it. It depends on how precious the yarn is. Most of the time, I don't do this, but if I'm trying to keep as much yarn as possible, I'll tie waste yarn to the end of my handspun and then use that waste yarn to finish the, to finish the loop around and then tie it to the starting end. Marsha   Oh, that's a really good idea too. Kelly   That saves you. It saves you, you know, a yard  or less than a yard. Saves you Marsha    yeah  Kelly   Saves you from having to throw that little piece away. So so you maybe haven't had a lot happening with your knitting, Marcsha, but I had a Finish-a-Palooza! I'm sure you can see it in the in the show notes finished, finished finished! Marsha    Mm hmm.  Kelly   So the biggest finish of all was Frog and Toad. Frog and Toad are finished and delivered. Marsha   Well, and I want to ask you about that too. Yeah. So Kelly   they turned out so cool. I was so happy with how they turned out. And I I definitely have somewhat of a desire to knit them again. We'll see if that actually comes to comes to pass but Marsha   so and will... and were they a big hit? Kelly   They were a big hit. Yeah, so I had my I've had my second vaccination. And that was right before Easter. And then so I was gonna deliver them on Easter but I didn't feel well. So I just stayed home that day and laid low. And you know, the reaction wasn't fun, but it only lasted a day and I think if I had been--if I had been a little more, a little less stubborn, the nurse at the vaccination site, she said, you know, if you're not feeling well after the vaccine, you know, go ahead and take a Tylenol or, you know, go ahead and take Tylenol or Advil, you know, that's fine. And, and I know when they did the trials, they didn't tell people, you know, don't take anything after you have the vaccine. And so I'm sure people did who didn't feel well. And, you know, the vaccines are 95% or 90%, something like that, effective. You know, in the trials with people possibly taking something afterwards, but I had gotten it into my head that you, you know, you want your immune response to kick in, and I don't I, in talking with one of my colleagues, she said, You know, that's not really logic. That's not really that logical, even though it seems logical. It's not, it's not really the way the body works. But I had kind of thought, Well, you know, when you're sick, you kind of want that response to happen.  Marsha   Mm hmm.  Kelly   And, and so you know, as much of your immune, letting your immune system deal with the problem as you can is good. And so, you know, maybe not take something right away. So I didn't, and I think I would have felt much better if, as soon as I started feeling a little sick, I had taken something and for some reason, I thought, No, I should probably let my body just do this. Anyway, I don't think that's, that's not really good biological logic, according to my biology teacher friend at school, and the nurse at the at the vaccine clinic. So if anybody has their next vaccine coming, listen to what they say.  Marsha   Yeah. Kelly   And they tell you if you don't feel well, to take something, I would say take something. But anyway, enough of that. I didn't get to deliver them on Easter. But on Tuesday after Easter, we were, my mom who has been vaccinated fully and met her 14 days. She had like her freedom... what my aunt Pat calls her freedom day when her vaccine was, you know, fully the 14 days afterwards after her second vaccine. And Aunt Betty had passed her Freedom Day and Dennis had passed his freedom day. And Kye, who who runs the Post No Bills brewery,  my nephew, he'd had his freedom day. Anyway, so we all met at Post No Bills. Even though I really hadn't had my freedom day. We all met at Post No Bills, and Sarah brought the kids. Of course Post No Bills is a is a, you know, brew house. So we sat outside, they couldn't even come up on the patio. So they were down. They were down, out, you know, out from us a little ways. But I went out there with them and gave them their presents. And, and Faye was really happy with her Frog and Toad. She had never read the books before. So she was excited about that. And and then, of course, there was a little bit of throwing of Frog and Toad between her and her brother. Which I knew was gonna happen, I mean, their stuffed things. So it doesn't really matter. But it was kind of funny. That's the first thing they do is start throwing them back and forth. And then, you know, taking off the clothes, putting on the clothes, she was having a good time with them. So So yeah, very big hit. This Frog and Toad project was a very big hit. So she's now taking them to the grocery store to teach them how to grocery shop, according to Sarah. Because they've never been to the grocery store before.  Marsha   Mm hmm.  Kelly   So anyway, she's having fun with them Marsha   very cute  Kelly   Yeah, yeah. And I had a great time making them so. Lovely pattern Really well, really well done. Yeah. So. Marsha   So I'm looking at your picture on Ravelry. They're very cute. And their mouths, their mouths and their eyes it's very... well and their little toes and it just.. Kelly   Yeah, there's every little detail about them is fun. And every time I do a little detail, it was just, it made them even better. So it's a really-- I think they're really fun. It's a really fun knit. And there are just so many things. I just kept telling Aunt Betty, Oh my gosh, I'm so delighted by this. She's like, I don't think I've ever seen you so delighted by your knitting before. But the little knees and fat little calves and anyway... Very cute project and well received. So I finished that. I finished the Iced Matcha socks last night. So they're done and I did have to redo the toe on one of them. Thinking of sock toes and Robert, it kind of made me laugh. I decided I was going to just follow the pattern and not just do the toe I always do. And it's slightly different. I mean, it wasn't wildly different. So I don't think it was the pattern. I think it was more that I jumped the gun on how... Well I think there's two things. I think I jumped the gun on how soon to do that first toe, which often happens to me. It's like, Oh, yeah, they're far enough. I'm ready to do the toe. And really, they couldn't use another quarter inch of length. And then I want to say,  I can't remember exactly in the pattern, but the number of stitches that people typically decrease to before they Kitchener I've actually found that I like to have more than that. So like I'll use at a minimum 16 stitches on my needles when I Kitchener. So and I think like when I was first making socks, I want to say they were having me go down to like 10 or something.  Marsha   Yeah, Iusually leave 10. So what is, why, what was your thinking? Why? Kelly   [laughing] It just, it cramps my toes. Marsha    Oh, okay,  Kelly   They just seem a little smaller. I just like the I just, I just like to have a more blunt end to the toe. Here we back... Marsha   You don't like looking at the pointy toes in your drawer. The dresser drawer. Kelly   Yeah. Except it's, you know, my eye. For some reason, it just feels more comfortable on my foot to have a little bit wider. Like they're not, I don't think of myself as having particularly wide feet. Especially when I was younger, but I do have now on one foot a pretty good size bunion. And so maybe that's why, you know, maybe that my foot is just wider at that. At that.  Kelly   Yeah,  Kelly   Now and so. So anyway, I took that one sock out and added to the toe. And now I'm and now I'm done. So the pattern's very cool. We talked last time about how I was gonna-- thinking about making a pair of them inside out.  Marsha   Right.  Kelly   But the thing I didn't think about is when you stretch them over your feet. That ribbing doesn't look the same... that wobbly ribbing isn't wobbly anymore. Okay, so if you stretch them over your over your leg, it would just look like a one stitch stockinette ribbing. So I don't know I would use... I would use that reverse pattern on something that didn't have to stretch. Because then you could actually see how that ribbing wobbles in and out. But the right side of my socks, I really liked that. I really liked the pattern. I think it would be a good one for a highly variegated yarn. Mine is a little bit variegated. It's a little more variegated than tonal. But it's not--it's not a really wild variegation. But I think in a you know, pretty wildly variegated yarn, this would make a good pattern for that too, because it would break up that, you know, it might break up the... not that pooling is bad, but it just kind of gives another texture to the way the yarn is is changing. So those are done in time for the Extremities Knit Along. Kelly   And then I finished the reading in bed blanket.  Marsha   Oh, nice.  Marsha   Correct. Yes. Kelly   Yeah. And Robert will say it's not entirely finished. Because, I'll tell you why. Because I washed it. And this is a little bit of a cautionary tale for people who want to weave with different yarns. Like when I do the blanket with the Gotland yarn that you bought, I really won't have to worry about this so much. Even if I'm doing wide stripes. It's all the same yarn.  Kelly   It's dyed different colors, but it's all the same yarn. But as you know, different yarn felts in different ways, right. And I always like to full a blanket so it doesn't feel like and look like burlap. I like the all the yarns to kind of snuggle together and I maybe like it a little more felty then fulled. I don't know. I just I like that look of you know, nice well fulled blanket. And what that means is that some of them had the tendency to shrink in more than others. So the one of the yarns in there was the Tasmanian Comeback and that shrunk up more than the other yarns did. And so I have a stripe--well, I have different stripes, but like I have a five inch stripe and a two inch stripe of the Tasmanian Comeback. A couple different stripes. And those stripes shrunk in so on the edges you could see it pull in. So I laid it out on a table and I stretched, pulled those out. So they were even, you know, I did a pretty significant like block, you know, stretching that part out. I tried to get all the edges as even as I could. And I did a pretty-- I thought I did a pretty good job. But I didn't want to leave it on the table to dry. It was a nice breezy day. And I thought I'm going to hang it up. So I took it out and I hung it up in the tree and then it blew. And so anyway, it ended up with like hanger marks. So  Marsha   Oh  Kelly   Even though I had made the edges straight, once I hung it up, now my edges... One edge is kind of wobbly. So it's not permanent, I have to just wet it and do that blocking process again, let it dry flat, so it'll be straight, and it won't have little bumps where the clothespins were.  Marsha   Right?  Kelly   But so that's what Robert was saying is, well, it's not done because did you rewet it and straighten it out? No.[laughing] But I'm really happy with it, it's got a nice drape to it, I used a twill threading, a point twill threading, so  that it's like denim. Right, twill is like denim. So the the diagonal goes up and then turns around and comes back down for a point twill. So it's got some diagonal interest in it. And then I have the, you know, the horizontal stripes of the different colors. And if I wanted to avoid that, that differential shrinkage, what I think would have been a good strategy would be to, first of all have more shuttles than I have. So that I could stripe the yarns in a small, smaller section. So like to, you know, throw two weft picks of one color, throw two weft pics of another color, throw one or two weft pics of a third color. You know, just alternating like I did in the warp. The warp doesn't have any one thread more than a few times in a row. Marsha    Yeah.  Kelly   And if I had done that with the weft, I wouldn't have had any worry. But because I had a limited number of shuttles. I thought I'll just use this one, I'll just use this one shuttle. And you know, fill it with one color, use it up, fill it with another color use it up. And so that's what I did. So in stripes, but super happy with it. I twisted the fringe. That took a while. But I you know I did like, you know, a certain number of strands twisted one way, another group of threads twisted the same way, and then ply them back on each other and knot it. So I have, I don't usually do things with fringe. But I have a fringe on this blanket. So yeah, I'm super happy with it. I have not yet used it to read in bed. But maybe tonight. Marsha   And you don't have a finished picture of it. Kelly   I know. I don't! I have to take a picture of it.  Marsha   That's funny. I guess he's using that as you know, all the last little bits that you have to do before the project is actually finished. That's funny.  Marsha   And then I also, I thought when you were talking about Robert about like saying that it's not really completed. I thought he said something the other day and I thought what was it about weaving in ends and I looked and it's on Instagram. He said the front the garage is complete and complete is in quotes. And then in parentheses, he says "I do have a few ends to weave in." Marsha   Yeah, yeah. Anyway,  Kelly   That's a good, it's a good expression. Marsha   Yeah, no, it is. Kelly   At least we all know what he means when he says that. His family's probably What! Marsha   Yeah. Anyway, so yeah, he's picked up he's picked up our jargon. Kelly   Yeah, just a few ends to weave in Marsha   And, and then anything else? Have you started anything? Kelly   I haven't started any... Well, I haven't started any new knitting projects. I still have the crochet blanket and I've been off and on working on that. You know, nothing really new to say there for a while. I'll just be working on squares and octagons. But I did start, once I got the blanket done, I thought okay, I'm gonna put the  next Jane Stafford project on my table loom. So I had already wound the warp for it. And so I put it on, and I did a little weaving. I did a little weaving of the sampler. In fact, I'm knotting, I'm knotting ends right now. It's a seven yard warp. So I cut off I think about it's a little more than a yard that I've woven so far. It's a purple silk. It's the same purple the coned purple yarn that I used for that sweater that Cherry Vanilla.  Marsha   Yeah Kelly    that I made, I held a strand of this, along with a strand of gray linen. I think those were the two yarns I used for that sweater. And I love that sweater. And I've had this yarn, my God, for a long time. I think I bought it in the early 2000s. And I thought, Oh, I'll just, I think I'll use this. The the sample that that Jane is weaving is a purple bamboo. And it just reminded me that I had this yarn, so I went got it. And that was the yarn I wound for the warp. And I also used it for the weft. And it's the the weave structure that I am practicing is called Huck. And it's a lace weave structure. And I don't have a picture of it either. I'll take a picture for you to see while we're talking here.  Marsha   Oh, yes,  Kelly   Huck lace is related to Canvas, we, which is the last week the last episode. So it was kind of similar. It has kind of a similar look, there are some differences. But this was you know, just a little experimental piece that I've done. And so now I'm knitting the fringe on this. I'm not actually sure I'm going to leave it with fringe or if I'm going to hem it. It's just a sampler. It's long enough that it could be a scarf, but I don't typically wear-- I don't typically wear scarves. I mean, I may give it away to somebody at some point, but I think I just might keep this as a sampler and hang it on the wall in the studio.  Marsha   Yeah, yeah. It's nice.  Kelly   So I have a lot of... maybe, six more yards, I think. Yeah, I think was a seven yard warp so I, I have five to six more yards to play around with. I don't have enough of this yarn to continue using it for very much longer as weft. So I'm going to have to get creative with what I use as my weft yarn, which could be kind of fun. So but yeah, I'm keeping up with the Jain Stafford Guild, which is, this is a first. I've never... This is the first year I've ever woven along and not just watched the videos for you know, while I was knitting or you know, before bed or whatever. So yeah, I'm actually doing what the what the video is talking about. So that's been fun. But that's it. So I have a kind of alarming status have nothing on my knitting needles. I do have ends to weave in and pictures to take for a couple of projects. my sweater, for example, that striped sweater, the striped pullover. I still have ends to weave in there.  But yeah, nothing is actively on the needles. That's a little odd. Marsha   Yeah. Kelly   So well, stay tuned. There'll be something next time. Marsha   Yeah. Well, since we've covered projects, we should talk about the Winter Weave Along since we've been talking about weaving.  Kelly   Yeah, Marsha   It actually ended. And should we say anything about it? Before we talk about our prize winners. Kelly   Well, just that it was really fun. And we had, I think over 600 posts in the chat. Of course it was going on since, you know, November. But lots of really good discussion in the chat. And some people that... I always like it when like an episode will strike a chord with somebody and somebody who's never posted before will post in the episode thread and say, Oh, I was just listeni ng. And you said such-and-so.  It's always fun to hear from people. I mean, of course, it's fun to hear from people that  I feel like I know online already. But it's it's fun to see new faces show up. And this year, in the Winter Weave Along, there were a lot of new faces who showed up. And that was fun. It was nice to get to know some people that you know, have not participated in the Ravelry group until now. So that's been fun. Marsha   So should we just start with our prize winners then?  Kelly   Yeah, let's do that. Marsha   Okay, so I'm going to go first. Before we go on, we should just say, too, that we pick names with the random number generator. Kelly   And mostly from the finished object thread, although I did, I did also select one from the chat thread. Marsha   Yeah. So this is gonna--The first three are from the finished objects. And our first winner is number two, which was JoanneCarol. Joanne from Santa Cruz. And I want to make a comment about this too, that she made woven potholders with a potholder loom. And I had one of those as a child and I had a huge bag of the... they kind of remind me like, hairbands kind of there, that you stick on that loom and then I think you crochet around the edge to finish them. And I remember I had one of those and I made so many of them that I started walking around the neighborhood knocking on doors, trying to sell them. You would never let your child do that now. But anyway, that's what I did. Kelly   Did you actually sell any?  Marsha   Yeah, I did but I can't believe that, you know, in this day and age, you would never let your child just go and walk around the neighborhood and knock on random, I mean, neighbors we didn't know.  Kelly   You know, we did that all the time selling Girl Scout... you know. Well I wasn't in Girl Scouts, I was in Bluebirds, Campfire. Selling campfire Mints. Oh my gosh. And then the number of candy bars that we sold for school things. Yeah, we did that all the time. Marsha   Yeah. So I was in Campfire, and we sold Campfire Mints, and we actually literally just went knocked on people's doors. And  now nobody does that at all. They're all you know...Anyway, but that's another rabbit hole conversation that we won't go down. But anyway, so congratulations, Joanne. Yeah. And Kelly, do you want to announce the second winner? Kelly   Yeah. So the second one is a weaving book. And I haven't, I haven't purchased it. I'll go ahead and and purchase it and have it sent directly. And since we had quite a few Weaver's using rigid heddle looms, it's a choice one of two books, either the Marguerite Porter Davison red paperback book, which is the paperback version, newer version, of the one that I always use to find interesting weave structures. So that's for a four harness loom. And then or there's a  Liz Gipson rigid heddle book that has 17 projects in it. And so depending on which kind of Weaver you are, and which book you would like, I will send you one of those two books. So the winner of that number 40. Teaandknittingtoo is Colleen in Ohio. And she made napkins as her first double heddle project. And I think she has rigid heddle loom and bought a second heddle is what she did. Because I did see she was weaving on a Cricket in one of her project pages. And then she also made a scarf later on in the weave along and has  posted that as well. So congratulations, Colleen and just let me know what which book you would like and your address and I'll get that sent along. Marsha   And I have to just interject I made a mistake on the first prize winner. Joanne I didn't say what she won.  Kelly   Oh, how do they do that on the on the game shows?  Well tell Joanne what she won!  Marsha   Yes, Joanne, I do apologize. I'm sorry. I actually am reading notes believe it or not. [laughing].  So a pair of Christmas dish towels that Kelly that you wove. Joanne, also I know you'll contact us and send us an email or through Ravelry and we will get your address and get those to you. So okay. And then I will... the third one is a class that was generously donated by Erica at Weavolution. And she has a great website for weaver's with projects and discussions and classes and lots of resources. And the winner of that is number 51 Heddicraft and she is also in Santa Cruz. We have a little bit of a Santa Cruz... Kelly   We had a large Santa Cruz contingent in the weave along this year, I have to say. Marsha   But Heddi made, she made, she entered a lot. She had quite a few projects but the number 51 was some spring tea towels that she made. Kelly   So she was a weaving machine!  And I think she's new to having a floor loom if I'm remembering correctly, she's a relatively new weaver and and maybe it was weaving with a rigid heddle at first or or maybe last summer and then started and then got... I'm, I'm mistaken. I think she has a table loom that she bought a stand and treadles for because I was asking her about her stand and how she liked it. Because I have also a table loom and I was trying to decide do I want to buy a stand or do I want to put it on just a card table or do I like having it on the six foot table that I just cart in from the garage when I need it. But yeah, I think I do think she's a relatively new weaver as well. So all right. And then the next prize is a gift certificate, a $70 gift certificate for the Jane Stafford guild or for the Jane Stafford website. You can use it toward whatever you like. You can use it toward a guild subscription. You could use it for yarn or kits. She has equipment on her site has quite a few different things on her website. And so I'll give certificate for her site is going to CindyQ, our friend in Washington, yes. Now CindyQ, she made a queen size blanket. She had had a large collection of handspun. Sounds familiar. And over the years, you know, had just been spinning and you know, certain handspun she didn't have a purpose for and so she just been collecting it. And she put them all together and made a beautiful blanket. Sort of, I want to say purples, blues, grays all from her stash. And yeah, that was a fun project to see. And she finished it fairly early in the Weave Along. If I'm remembering correctly, she talked about it, you know, from the, from the stage of getting out all the yarn and identifying what she had, and then planning the project and everything. But but once she got going, she really got that done quickly. And yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah, it's really nice, huge. Marsha   It's huge. Yes. Kelly   Queen size bed blanket. So, very inspirational there. So Cindy, let me know, I, I actually I think I have your your email address, but just confirm for me your email address so I can get that gift certificate. It's like an E, you know, an E card, gift certificate that will be emailed to you. So all right, congratulations.  Marsha   We also have a drawing for the chat thread, we're going to pick out-- we've picked one person from the chat thread. And they're going to also win a pair of Kelly's Christmas dish towels. And the number we drew is number 538. And that's Cian also known as Suzanne in Florida. And she posted a canvas weave sampler. So congratulations to everybody who participated. A couple things I just wanted to note about I went through, you know, I've been following everybody and noting what they were saying about their projects. And it seems like a lot of people were new, that was like the first time waiting on their new loom. In fact, it sounds like Suzanne, that she just got a floor loom and that's what she was weaving on, her new loom. And there was also making things I hadn't thought about making out of handspun-- or I'm not-- sorry, out of hand--excuse me. Hand woven material. Sorry. Um, the one thing is a lot of people made dish towels, right. And I was struck by Kelly11 that she made potholders where she doubled up the fabric and then put an edging around it. And really cute potholders and they are... Kelly, you told me this, it's called overshot is the technique. Kelly    Oh, yeah,  Marsha   Really beautiful! And the other thing she did too, was she made tote bags, a tote bag out of the dish towels. Which I thought was a really clever idea. Kelly   Really clever. I have a dish towel addiction. And that means that my dish towels take up two drawers in the kitchen, plus a part of a shelf in the upstairs linen closet. And so yeah, that's a really  good idea for a dish towel warp, if I feel like making dish towels, but I don't I don't find another drawer to put them in. Yeah, that's a good idea.  Marsha   And then the other person that was was interesting, too, was MissIssabel. And she made shawls using an elongated hexagon pin loom. Kelly   Mm hmm. Marsha   And those were really interesting too. And a pin loom is something that is not a huge investment. You can just make one. I actually watched a YouTube video about how you can make your own pin loom, so that was interesting. And then oh, and then Seine1. She talked about was the first time seaming a weaving project. I never really thought about that as I am assuming, Kelly, you know more about this. It's where you're taking two pieces, I guess. And you're seaming them together to make a larger... Kelly   right.  Marsha   Then to make like a blanket or an afghan Kelly   Something wider. Yeah, like Stella last year made a baby blanket seaming the two strips. Well Heddi made panels that-- she didn't seam them, but she hung them as a as a closet door.  Marsha   Yes, Kelly   That was interesting. But yeah, even when you have a narrow width loom, you can still get a wider width piece of fabric by seaming them, by seaming them together.  Marsha   It was, it was very interesting what everybody was doing. I enjoyed seeing all the finished projects.  Kelly   Yeah, I did too. I have to say this year... I've never I've never really been a big fan of overshot. I always think... Well, I have some scraps, some overshot quilt scraps or you know, coverlet scraps that I bought at the quilt show. Gosh, a number of years ago, the Pacific international quilt show. They had a booth that was selling all kinds of things, but one of the things that they were selling, they had this big bin of, of cut up pieces of old coverlets, hand woven coverlets and that those are traditionally done with overshot and I like, I like it for that look, right. For the sort of bedspread, old fashioned colonial style coverlet look. But I had never really thought Oh, I would love to weave something in overshot. But the projects! There were several overshot projects this year. I think there was a class going on that people were taking And out of those several projects it's like okay, this is kind of inspirational. This is not, this is not your grandmother's overshot.[laughing] So I I'm like, Okay, I'm looking forward. I don't know when we'll do overshot in the Guild, but I may just put something on the lumen and work on overshot. The only overshot that I've ever woven was some potholders, some Christmas potholders. So real small project that, you know, just took me a couple of weeks at the weaving class. I wasn't really studying it or anything, I think the loom was actually maybe already even warped. You know, I was just weaving off an old warp from someone else. So it wasn't like I really learned anything. I mostly just followed the directions. But I was really impressed with the kind of versatility of overshot that I didn't really think of. So, yeah, it was fun.  Marsha   Another year. We'll start  Kelly   And now we're ready to start our, uh... not quite yet. But pretty soon we'll be starting our summer spinning.  Marsha   Yes. We'll talk more about that later on. But we're planning on doing that again this year. Kelly   Thank you to everyone who participated, it was a lot of fun. I learned a lot. I think a lot of people learned a lot. It was really informational and educational, and fun to get on the thread every morning and read what people were doing and making. So thanks to everyone!  Marsha   And so just a reminder, we talked... we touched on this briefly earlier, but our Extremities Knit Crochet Along or any other type of crafts you want to do for your extremities. And that is underway and that ends April 25. And the prizes are the pattern for the Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde and the Coffee Socks Collection by Dotsdabbles Designs. Marsha   So get your finished objects in I and I'm saying that to myself. [laughing] Kelly   Let's see what's today? Today's the 14th so you have 11 days Marsha.  Marsha   Yeah,  Kelly   And how many rows? Marsha    Five Kelly   And how many stitches?  Marsha   12.  Kelly   So 60 stitches in 11 days. You all you have to do is six stitches a day.  Marsha   Well, maybe tonight.[laughing] Kelly   All right. You officially jinxed yourself. [laughing] Marsha   I know! It's not it's not happening tonight.  No, you know what I need to say is I am not doing that tonight. Right? Kelly   That's right! I have too much going on. I'm not doing that tonight. Marsha   I am not doing that tonight. So we'll see what happens now that I've put that out there. We'll see what happens tonight. Kelly   Oh my gosh!  Marsha   Anyway, Do we have anything else? I don't think we do. Kelly    No, I don't think so either.  Marsha   Well, I will get off the phone and I will go put that final coat of paint on my garage right? Kelly   Yeah, I have papers to grade Whoo hoo. Marsha   Put on your...put on some latex gloves. Kelly   Well, actually, yeah, no, they're not really papers. But yes, I have  Marsha   Oh, they're not real actual paper.  Kelly   I have virtual papers. I have grading. okay. That's what I should say. Yeah, integration practice to grade. So. All right.  Marsha   All right.  Kelly   It's been fun.  Marsha   We'll talk in two weeks! Kelly    All right.  Kelly   Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com/ Marsha   Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects. Kelly   Until next time, we're the Two Ewes Both    doing our part for World Fleece!

If you’re someone who’s serious about raising big amounts of capital, then you need to know how to present yourself in a professional way.Gene Guarino has sold over $150 million in products and services, plus he’s personally raised over $50 million in hard money, and he’s bringing together the best of the best for “Pitch Masters Academy”.On April 18th-20th at this LIVE event in Scottsdale, Arizona, Gene is going to teach you:—How to effortlessly teach, speak, and present your business ideas.—How to communicate with bankers, investors, and lenders.—How to raise money, LOTS of money.In this intimate and exclusive event, you’re going to have the opportunity to prepare your pitch, perfect your presentation, and get direct and personal feedback from massive investors like Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank and Shaun McCloskey, the coach of coaches.“Pitch Masters Academy” has a limited number of seats available only to investors who are serious about raising more money than Aunt Betty can give you, so reserve your spot today for a chance to rub shoulders with big-hitting investors.What's Inside:—Gene shares a one-minute pitch formula so you can stop giving terrible pitches.—Learn how to stop killing a deal in the first five minutes.—Gene’s going to teach you how to tell a story that sells your product or services.Click here to Sign Up for Prepare To Pitch Summit or go to: http://PrepareToPitch.com/

Season 2 Episode 2 Dan turned 25 on March 6th, Ryan turns 30 on April 1st, Dan & Ryan discuss their birthdays reflecting on birthday memories, who they share birthdays with, what songs were #1 hits on the date of their births, Dan worked on his birthday at the hospital he was born in, the boys discuss their Aunt Betty's cakes from birthdays in the past, all while living an hour in the future thanks to Daylight Saving's but also why is this still a thing? Tune in

Will the vaccine make me sick? Can I see grandma if she's vaccinated but I'm not? And what's the deal with double masking? Listeners had questions about the coronavirus and vaccines, Sam and NPR Short Wave host Maddie Sofia have answers. Sam also talks to his Aunt Betty about her experience getting her COVID-19 vaccination. Then, the view on coming out to the other side of the pandemic with health journalist Bridie Witton in New Zealand.— Learn more about masks: A User's Guide To Masks: What's Best At Protecting Others (And Yourself)You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.

Whether you’re looking to integrate a new dog into your home permanently, foster peacefully, or just get through the weekend with Aunt Betty’s 4-legged hell-raiser, this episode on introducing dogs is a must. Continue ReadingDog Intros

Brought from the dead in hospice, my account of the true story of the miracle and fun jesting time of good will landing --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jennifer-mendoza34/message

Join Jay and Clifton as they get knocked down by Rock and a Bomb from the prolific musician and songwriter Michael Knott.You can buy Michael Knotts Music here:https://michaelknott.bandcamp.com/musichttps://blondevinyl.bandcamp.com/Knotts Facebook page, where you can also find his paintings for sale:https://www.facebook.com/michael.knott.779Sources:http://www.christianhumanist.org/2017/09/a-primer-on-christian-alternative-rock-michael-knott/?fbclid=IwAR1bEeV3F-UJ3nfLS-QUH5HLl1uD4vV6jlBS4fWlVJNbuk-GG9bW4CDUm-whttps://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/products/Michael_Knott/Rocket_And_A_Bomb/3787/https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/377-rocket-and-a-bomb-michael-knott/

When I was young, whenever my doting Aunt Betty visited, it felt like Christmas. She’d bring Star Wars toys and slip me cash on her way out the door. Whenever I stayed with her, she filled the freezer with ice cream and never cooked vegetables. She had few rules and let me stay up late. My aunt was marvelous, reflecting God’s generosity. However, to grow up healthy, I needed more than only Aunt Betty’s way. I also needed my parents to place expectations on me and my behavior, and hold me to them. God asks more of me than Aunt Betty. While He floods us with relentless love, a love that never wavers even when we resist or run away, He does expect something of us. When God instructed Israel how to live, He provided Ten Commandments, not ten suggestions (Exodus 20:1-17). Aware of our self-deception, God offers clear expectations: we’re to “[love] God and [carry] out his commands” (1 John 5:2). Thankfully, “God’s commands are not burdensome” (v. 3). By the Holy Spirit’s power, we can live them out as we experience God’s love and joy. His love for us is unceasing, but the Scriptures offer a question to help us know if we love God in return: Are we obeying His commands as the Spirit guides us? We can say we love God, but what we do in His strength tells the real story. Winn Collier

SAINTS AND SINNERS!!!This has been the longest 2 weeks. We have missed you all. Devinair and LaniBlu discuss the happening from the previous week. From the Queen Bey in the MCU to Disney Princesses, you don't want to miss this episode. Have a question for the hosts? Call or text them at 251-265-3118 or email them at andthatsong@gmail.comFollow OnG! on social media too! This episode is dedicated to none other than Aunt Betty Jean. Your smile, your aura, just the essence of your being - YOU WILL BE MISSED. From your loving nephew,  Devinair  Betty Jean Franklin Wyatt (February 7, 1939 - June 10, 2020)

This week James and Jumpman deliver the culture. Jumpman runs down the week in Black Lives Matter, Social Injustice, and Police Defund. Also the crew talks the current state of COVID-19 in America, James gives us his comedy top 5 and James reviews the 5 Bloods from Netflix. All that and more on this weeks episode. Please leave a review kickinshitpod@gmail.com follow us on IG @kickinshitpod Thanks for listening

There is so much to unpack in this current moment. Sam has a candid conversation with Aunt Betty about how history has shaped her view of the current protests, and he walks around downtown Los Angeles to get the perspective of people he meets. Sam also talks to BuzzFeed News reporter Melissa Segura on her recent reporting about police unions and what they mean for reform, and Morning Edition executive producer Kenya Young about being a black parent during this time and the 'talk' she has to give her sons.NPR has curated a podcast playlist to amplify conversations about law enforcement, racial injustice, and the black American experience. You can stream this playlist via Spotify and NPR One.'It's Been a Minute' is produced by Jinae West, Anjuli Sastry, Andrea Gutierrez and Hafsa Fathima. Our editor is Jordana Hochman. Our intern is Hafsa Fathima. Our director of programming is Steve Nelson. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin.

There is so much to unpack in this current moment. Sam has a candid conversation with Aunt Betty about how history has shaped her view of the current protests, and he walks around downtown Los Angeles to get the perspective of people he meets. Sam also talks to BuzzFeed News reporter Melissa Segura on her recent reporting about police unions and what they mean for reform, and Morning Edition executive producer Kenya Young about being a black parent during this time.

We’ve seen, and been in, a lot of weddings.  We have stories to tell. Judgey stories mostly, but those are the most fun, aren’t they?  So sit back and listen while we talk about whale songs, Vegas, literal bats in literal belfries, how to prank your loved ones on the most important day of your life, and ... Aunt Betty (cue creepy music). Our drink this week? The Old Fashioned!.  You can find the recipe at www.alwaysneverright.com (http://www.alwaysneverright.com/) . And don't forget to check out our social media sites: https://www.facebook.com/groups/alwaysneverright/ http://instagram.com/alwaysneverright http://twitter.com/alwaysnvrrigt

I spent so many years binge eating my way through November and December, vowing to start over again in the new year. When the new year came around I was already 15 pounds heavier because of that decision. ​​​​How many years have you binged your way through November and December?It’s like “I’m nowhere near my goal weight and I can’t change much in two months or one month, so fuck it. I’ll just get back on the wagon in January.” Except that’s what you tell yourself every year…so you essentially are gaining and losing the same 15 pounds over and over again and beating yourself up because you feel like a failure. Listen. It’s not so much about the abundance of holiday comfort food that leads to the weight gain. It’s about the emotional bullshit that comes up when Aunt Betty makes passive aggressive comments about your weight in front of the entire family. It’s about your asshole drunk uncle and his off-color remarks that fill you up with embarrassment and rage. It’s about feeling obligated to buy gifts for people who don’t really give a shit about you. It’s about you not actually enjoying the holiday season because of all that. Dive into this episode to learn how to stop losing control during the holidays. Join the Irresistible You Membership for $29/month: https://sso.teachable.com/secure/24212/checkout/1280759/irresistible-you-membershipJoin the free podcast discussion group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/IrresistibleYouRead the Podcast Show Notes.

In todays episode of Money Talks, Greg and Dan introduce the Three-Legged Stool of Retirement Income: Personal Savings, Social Security, and Employer Contribution Plans.    Dan gives us a little history and statistics about why pensions have fallen by the wayside and how responsibly has become that of the employee’s to save for their own retirement. Dan gives a quick explanation of different types of Employer Contribution Plans, touching a little on what a Retirement Date Fund plan is versus an Asset Allocation Fund, and if these plans are not offered by your employer, remember you always have the option of opening your own IRA.    Sound confused? Don’t be! Dan uses simple examples and explanations that even your Aunt Betty would understand.   But whatever you do- Save Early, Save Often.    

Dr. Snuggles and friends return for episode 53 of your guide to the truly astonishing world of softcore films, and the world’s number one podcast on that subject! We’re heading back to that familiar old story, of a hotel, in a town called Desert Hot Springs, run by two siblings named Randy and Kat. See, they were living by themselves in a flat, when they got a telegram telling them that their rich Aunt Betty had died, and left them a hotel. A Hot Springs Hotel. What a tale! What a concept for a softcore comedy TV show! This time, we check out episodes 7, 8 and 9: Rock Star, Bachelorette Party, and Theo and the Model. Yes, finally Theo gets his time in the sun! And as a bonus: the rock star in episode 7 plays a 1983 Casio DG-20 Digital Guitar. Just like Brett in that one episode of Flight of the Conchords! Plus, we talk about the life and career of episode 7’s titular rock star, guest star Phillip Rhys. After Hot Springs Hotel, his career went from strength to strength: he was intergalactic pop star Proto Zoa in the Disney Channel movie Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (still the role he’s most recognised for apparently), was in season 2 of 24 (one of the better seasons, for what it’s worth), and was just recently in George R.R. Martin sci-fi series Nightflyers (unclear if anyone has watched the entire series though). Also, he went to school with Jamie Oliver, and was on an episode of Heston’s Feasts. Hey, why not call us on our hotline? (724) 246-4669! Check out the other Compañeros Radio Network shows: Movie Melt Songs on Trial

Dr. Snuggles and friends return for episode 50 of your guide to the truly astonishing world of softcore films, and the world’s number one podcast on that subject! We’re continuing with our current big project, an episode by episode look at the story of two siblings, Randy and Kat. See, they were living in a flat, all by themselves, when they got a telegram that informed them of the death of their Aunt Betty, and said they should come and run her hotel. Her Hot Springs Hotel. And so, we’re looking at episodes 4, 5, and 6: Movie People, Corporate Raiders, and Beauty Pageant! There’s some fun to be had, particularly in episode 6, but also episode 4 is by far the worst one of the series, so there’s that as well. To balance it out, we invited our friend Jimmy Ether on to help lighten the mood! Plus, we look at the life and career of one of the guest stars from episode 4, the great Alan Palmer. He’s best known for two things: his long running one man shows Fabulous Divas of Broadway and Fabulous Divas of Hollywood, and his 10 episode run on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, as Corcus, the Black Ranger from a planet called Aquitar, who was part of the Alien Rangers team drafted to fill in for Earth’s Power Rangers when they were rendered powerless and transformed into children by Master Vile. Seriously, he’s very in demand to speak about the latter. Power Rangers fans are super enthusiastic. He helped us out by doing a little email interview with us, which is definitely the only time anyone has ever bothered him to talk about Hot Springs Hotel. So, thanks Alan! Hey, why not call us on our hotline? (724) 246-4669! Check out the other Compañeros Radio Network shows: Movie Melt Songs on Trial

Dr. Snuggles and friends return for episode 47 of your guide to the truly astonishing world of softcore films, and the world’s number one podcast on that subject! It’s time for our next big project, and this time we’re heading to the world of late ‘90s softcore TV, with James Dudelson’s Hot Springs Hotel, and we check out the first three episodes: Money Trouble, Cheerleaders, and Travels with Travis. It’s the story of two siblings, Randy and Kat, living in a flat - all by themselves. Then one day they get a telegram, which tells them that their Aunt Betty had passed away, and they they should come and run her hotel. Her Hot Springs Hotel. Hot Springs Hotel. Once you hear the theme song, you’ll never be able to get it out of your head. Sorry about that. Plus, we talk about the life and times of its star, the great Samantha Phillips: actor, model, radio talk show host, reality TV host, and film producer! She was in Phantasm II and said she didn’t really get it at the time (understandable, honestly) and also did music videos for everyone from Van Halen and Mötley Crüe to Simply Red and Weird Al! Also: literally has not aged in 25 years. Hey, why not call us on our hotline? (724) 246-4669! Check out the other Compañeros Radio Network shows: Movie Melt Songs on Trial

Pacheco and Kevin get to talking about St. Patty's Day! It is a going to be a green old time filled with talk about the scandalous Aunt Betty and the action packed Captain Marvel.Music Credit:"The Two Twenty" Music By The Passion HiFiwww.thepassionhifi.com

Church stories. Warning, not for you great Aunt Betty's listening pleasure.

Mourning the death of his Aunt Betty, Luigi and his friend Bellie attempt to contact her using a Ouija board. When they create contact with the other side, the message they receive is scarier than death! 

Hosts Colin Flynn & John M. Craig. John steals beer. Colin makes up a new relative.

As you settle in this Christmas season, after a long night of wassailing, caroling, and ushering Aunt Betty to bed after having had too many slices of rum cake…We’d love for you to take a listen as the guys discuss two distinctly different Christmas topics (Hence, the bi polar Christmas designation); the importance of establishing family Christmas traditions and how to handle unruly family members. 

Combo-spin mania has overtaken Marsha and meanwhile, Kelly is weaving again.   There's also some knitting.  In the pet arena, Marsha and Enzo have earned their Canine Good Citizen Award and Kelly has a stray cat that seems to have adopted her family.  Marsha's Projects Marsha continues working on the Recoleta by Joji Locateli and she is having no difficulty following the pattern.  It isn't social knitting, but it isn't as hard as she first thought.  Her Among the Shadows by Kelene Kinnersley continues to get a little work as well, but most of her time is being taken up by Combo Spin Mania!  She has completed two skeins of 3-ply yarn and is beginning a third.   The Two Ewes talk about all the variations on the theme of the combo-spin, including using only warm colors or only cool colors, or randomly selecting not only colors, but different fibers.   This reminds Kelly of an artist, Amanda Salm, who wove many different variations of horsehair baskets while they were in weaving class together.  Amanda's work explored seemingly endless variations in the types of vessels possible with horse mane and tail hair as the medium.  Here is a link to her work. Kelly's Projects Kelly has a mistake in the Summer Fjord by Trin-Annelie that has to be ripped back before she can go any further. Meanwhile she has finished some woven dishtowels in preparation for the Winter Weave Along. It is so fun in weaving that a change in weft yarn will make a big difference in the finished projects.  Kelly also gushes about the Leg Warmers/ Boot Toppers that she's making with the Shetland yarn available in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures shop.  They are 2x2 rib tubes that will be folded down to make cozy cuffs to go with her red/orange boots.  The yarn is silky and softer than she thought. This project is a quick one for the Single Shot KAL that is going on for the month of October.  There is a thread in the Ravelry Group where listeners can chat and participate and a winner will be drawn on November 1 from that thread.  Aunt Betty is also making a Single Shot project from yarn in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures shop.  She chose the merino and it is a beautiful, soft yarn in gray and pink.  She made a cowl and has almost half the skein left. Besides the Single Shot KAL, the Two Ewes also have a long-term Winter Weave Along.  The weave along will be a 6 month experience that will include pdf lessons that will be delivered via the podcast app if you are subscribed, or by clicking the direct download link in the Winter Weave Along episodes on the show's libsyn website.  Last week's lesson included weaving vocabulary and instructions for weaving a pouch on a cardboard loom. Next week's lesson will have more vocabulary and discuss yarn selection for weaving projects. There is a Ravelry thread for the weave along where participants can chat, ask questions and show off their projects.  There will be a Finished Object thread from which the Two Ewes will select winners.  The Weave Along goes from October 1 through March 31.

Our adventures continue. Marsha has a revelation about lace and another about her mama bear ferocity. :-) Listen to us discuss current projects, bees, a puppy, and some "Fiber in the Wild"! Kelly continues the Star Wars crochet saga and has finished Luke, Han, Leia, and Jabba. Creating tea cosies would be a similar sculptural activity and Kelly recommends a look at the work of Loani Prior , an Australian knitter who is also on Instagram as @queenoftheteacosies. She has also finished the Wensleydale yarn she is making for her Aunt Betty to use for a Simply Garter Vest. The yarn is loosely spun and plied--a good way to make sure that the longer, courser wools don't end up feeling like wire. In fact, the yarn is shiny, silky, and very spongy in the skein. For the Spring Fever Free-for-All Kelly has "chained up" the Latticework Cardigan by Michele DuNaier. At this point she is almost ready to separate the sleeves. The crocheting is fun and fast. It would be even faster for an experienced crocheter. This is Kelly's first crochet garment, so learning the construction and fitting methods has been interesting. Marsha finished the knitting of her Edie Tee by Isabel Kraemer. Next is weaving in the ends and washing. The Two Ewes discuss the sweater's short rows and Kelly recommends the free Craftsy class by Carol Feller. Marsha hasn't had time to spin more of her Shetland fleece but she did spend some time carding. Marsha contacted Michele Wang, the designer of the Fairfield Cardigan, after she got stuck on the double yarn over. Michele was so kind to send photos of the how to work the stitch and now Marsha is back on track. Marsha discusses two books she is reading by Clara Parkes. The Yarn Whisperer: My Unexpected Life in Knitting and Knitlandia: A Knitter Sees the World. She also talks about two articles she recently read in the New York Times. "The Sock Queen of Alabama" is about an "artisan" sock manufacturer in Fort Payne, Alabama with two sock lines called Zkano and Little River Sock Mill. As more and more manufacturing is moved offshore, it is interesting to learn how one mill is thriving. The second article, "A New Breed of Opera Diva: Sheep", is about the staging of Louis Andriessen's "De Materie", a Dutch avant-garde work that features a flock of 100 sheep! We cannot find a video of the sheep but here is an audio of the opera. Click here to go to the blog, or here to go to the Ravelry group for the much discussed picture of Gary wearing undergarments crocheted by a co-worker. Don't worry! The picture is work safe. :-) You may remember Gary from the Kilt Hose interview in Episode 5. The Two Ewes Spring Fever Free-for-All is underway. You are encouraged to cast on a project for spring but casting on is not required to play. (But really, why would you pass up an opportunity to cast on?) The project can be anything that feels like spring to you. Maybe a Tee or lightweight sweater, spring colors or maybe you want to learn a new technique for a new season. It can be knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving--or just talking about the above. Finishing is DEFINITELY NOT required! Isn't spring fever the urge to be irresponsible? ;-) We have a discussion thread called Spring Fever Free-for-All on Ravelry. The winners will be selected by random number generator, so the more you participate the more chances you have of winning. If you're on Instagram we're using the hashtag #twoewesspringfever. Contest ends at midnight on May 4th. Marsha plans to cast on a shawl for the Spring Fever Free-for-All with Friea in the colorway Melon. Here are some of the patterns she's considering. A couple of them she would need to combine with a complementary yarn.   Shetland Crescent - Kieran Foley Hanami Stole - Melanie Gibbons Non Troppo - Asa Tricosa Merlin - Kieran Foley Havasu Falls - Alison LoCicero Windward - Heidi Kirrmaier    

In this episode Julia talks about a colleague of hers who was reluctant to get a reading because of what she had been taught. Fear had been running the show for a long time, and it wasn't until she came for a reading with Julia that she was able to finally let go of it all. Listen to this amazing story of how a beloved aunt and sister came through with specific messages for two of her favorite people in the whole world! Please share this podcast so that others may begin to realize the miraculous ways that their loved ones, angels and guides can connect with them. And be sure to subscribe, rate & review! Don't forget to come and connect with Julia on her website!  www.juliatreat.com

The Two Ewes want to shine a spotlight on Front Range Bags by Nancy Totten. Nancy has generously offered a project bag from her shop to a lucky Two Ewes listener. Kelly has one of her bags in SF Giants fabric and it's great! High quality, nice and roomy, and lots of handy features. It was the perfect bag for the Crackerjack Cowl project during baseball season. To enter, take a look in the Front Range Bags shop and report back to the contest thread in the Ravelry group. Tell us which bag you like best (exclusive of the custom orders) and let us know about your favorite features in the project bags you use. A winner will randomly selected during our podcast episode 30. Thank you Nancy! We appreciate the opportunity to spotlight your bags and your shop! Marsha finished her Antarktis Shawl by Janina Kallio. The color is brighter than any photo can show! Marsha continues to work on her Lanata Cardigan by Amy Christoffers and her Virus Shawl for the Two Ewes Crochet Along. Kelly is continuing her crochet along project which she is calling Hippopotamine. She is using the Happypotamus pattern by Heidi Bears. She is also obsessed with finishing A Bigger Affection using the Color Affection pattern by Veera Valimaki. A big oops! on the Crazy Vest needs to be repaired with surgery. It's the Mielie pattern by Hilary Smith Callis. Kelly's only finished project is a swatch of 2-ply, handspun Wensleydale for the Knit British Breed Swatch Along. Here is a link to the Knit British podcast episode and blog talking about the Swatch Along. Kelly's swatch is also a sample of yarn she is now making for her Aunt Betty for a vest from the Wensleydale. Marsha had a few "advent-ewes," one of which was Fiber Fusion, where she watched the fleece judging and succumbed to wool fumes and bought two more fleeces! One is a silver Gotland and the other is Romeldale in a variegated color. On the second day of Fiber Fusion, Marsha attended a class on how to select a fleece. The class was taught by Judith McKenzie (a national treasure if ever there was one!). Marsha also visited Yarnia in Portland. At Yarnia customers create yarn by combining strands from multiple cones into one one-of-a-kind yarn. Kelly had an "advent-ewe" of her own at the Pacific International Quilt Fest. This included a giant exhibit of mind-blowing textile art! A photo gallery will be posted in a separate blog post. Meanwhile, here is a link to this year's competition winners!  

Lively banter ensues as Michael Knott interviews his friend Brian Healy to celebrate new DAS album “Kissing Strangers.” – In Frontline Rewind Episode 51 lively banter continues between Brian Healy of Dead Artist Syndrome and Michael Knott (LifeSavers, LSU, Aunt Betty’s). In this session Knott interviews Healy about the recent DAS release, Kissing Strangers.

Aunt Betty gives background on her niece, Deborah B. Ford, who is the new Director of Library Outreach for Junior Library Guild and introduces a new JLG Service.

After Buzzwords, Pastor gives Evan his next TI (theological interview) question. Then they respond to listeners and play 10 commandments in the news with the Casual Apologetics Conversation Game.