Podcast appearances and mentions of jared flood

  Thank you for tuning in to Episode 284 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. Full show notes with photos can be found on my website.    This week's segments included:   Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Brainstorming From the Armchair Some Years Later In my Travels KAL News Events Contest, News & Notes Life in Focus On a Happy Note Quote of the Week   Thank you to this episode's sponsors: Woolen Women Fibers, Bronwyn the Brave Designs & Chit Chat Knits Designs   Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins   Farmhouse Pumpkin Pattern: Farmhouse Pumpkins by More Dreams Less Life. $4.25 crochet pattern available on Ravelry. Yarn: KnitKraft Wintuk Yarn in the Rust Colorway Hook: F (3.75 mm) Ravelry Project Page   Rest Relax Recharge Socks Yarn: Hypnotic Yarn: Plush Sock in the Rest Relax Recharge Colorway (from the March 2023 Yarnable Box) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page Check out my Yarnable Unboxing Playlist on YouTube Get $5 off with coupon code BOSTONJEN using my Affiliate Link   Urth Yarn Turn a Square Hat Pattern: Turn a Square by Jared Flood ($5 pattern available on Ravelry & Brooklyn Tweed website) Yarn: Urth Yarn Uneek Worsted Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) for ribbing. US 7 (4.5 mm) for body. Ravelry Project Page Started August 5th but never talked about on the podcast. Purchased during Cape and South Shore Yarn Haul a year or two ago.  Ended up being about 48g. Still have about 56 g leftover so I will make another.   On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins   Owen's Christmas Stocking Pattern: Christmas Stockings to Knit and Crochet from Family Circle Magazine. Available in this web archive link. I've also saved it to my podcast Gmail Google Drive in case it disappears! web.archive.org-Christmas Stockings to Knit and Crochet from Our Archives.pdf Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Cherry Red, Hunter Green and White Hook: G (4.0 mm) Ravelry Project Page Progress: 2 pieces done, seamed up and working on the cuff. I need to finish the cuff, create the appliqué, sew on the name the hook.   Peace & Light Socks Yarn: Woolens & Nosh SW Targhee Sock in the Peace & Light Colorway Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page About the yarn: 6 stripes in blues/teals, 3 in creams/yellows- Pigskin Pro Shop Sponsor Purchased from Michele at VT Sheep and Wool. Wound up the yarn on Sue's ballwinder the next morning and knit most of the leg of the first sock on a boat on Lake Champlain with Sue & Dave Stokes, Paige and Paul Miller and Rachel!! Woolens & Nosh is a Pigskin Pro Shop Sponsor   Dirty Crayon Box Socks Yarn: Fiber Stash Strong Toes Sock (80% SW Merino/ 20% Nylon) in the Dirty Crayon Box Colorway Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page I bought this yarn at a festival a long time ago. Speckly with an overall purple tone. Progress: cuff done and a few inches of the first leg.   Dream Big Socks Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Strong DK (75% SW Merino/ 25% Nylon) in the Dream Big Colorway (Fundraiser for our FearLESS Living Fund) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) Ravelry Project Page 48 sts cuff down Cast on in June but haven't talked about on the pod before. leg of the first sock is nearly done: About the colorway: larger stripes of blue, green, orange. Smaller stripes of orange, purple, gray.  Fibernymph Dye Works is a Pigskin Pro Shop Sponsor   Vegas Baby Socks Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in the Vegas Baby Colorwork Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page   Welcome to Litchfield Hat Pattern: Citrus Hat by Laura Treadway (free knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Yarn: Handspun (Ravelry Project Page)- Into the Whirled; 2 braids Texel & BFL Tussah Silk in the Welcome to Litchfield Colorway + Traveler colorway on Cheviot base to make a 3 ply yarn Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) & US 6 (4.0 mm) Ravelry Project Page   Brainstorming   I fell in love with the Love Today Cowl by Knit Sisu that I saw at a VT Sheep and Wool. I found some of my handspun (Ravelry page here) that I thought would work, wound it up and then did a wraps per inch test and its too thin. I went back to the handspun bin, and found another skein (Ravelry page) and now I'm thinking they'd be nice in the Inclinations Cowl by Andrea Mowy (Ravelry | website). The goal of this cowl was for a potential Christmas gift even though I'd like it for me, but I think with these 2 skeins of handspun I want to keep it, so we'll see if I cast these on now or let it marinate, because I also want to cast on a sweater for me, and more socks and hats for Christmas gifts. I swatched for a sweater with yarn from VT Sheep and Wool. More on that next time.   From the Armchair The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link.   Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.   Some Years Later   I've been wearing lots of woolies lately as have my loved ones! Same as It Ever Was by Sarah Jordan (Pigskin Sponsor)- Ravelry Project Page Dad wore his Musselburgh to Topsfield Fair- Ravelry Project Page Megg also wore Nanaimo Cardigan to Mamma Mia- Ravelry Project Page I also have 2 Nanaimos that I've been wearing- the original one I knit is in earthy oatmealy tones and the other in gray- Ravelry Project Page 1 & Ravelry Project Page 2 here. I'm also wearing a lot of wool socks, especially with wool clogs. I need more supportive clogs for walking. Any suggestions for me?   In My Travels   Check out my VT Sheep and Wool Vlog Video on YouTube. Patrons, check out the video linked in your feed for more photos and no ads. I talked about the following makers: Woolens & Nosh,  Wooly Thistle, KnitSisu, Junction Fiber Mill, Jennifer Steingass's Silverlining Sweater- available on Ravelry.   KAL News Pigskin Party '24 #DCSPigskinParty24 Event Dates: Thursday September 5, 2024- Monday February 10, 2025 Find everything you need in the Start Here Thread in the Ravelry Group Official Rules Registration Form  (you must be Registered to be eligible for prizes) Enter your projects using the Point Tally Form Find the full list of Sponsors in this Google Doc. Coupon Codes are listed in this Ravelry Thread Exclusive Items from our Pro Shop Sponsors are listed in this Ravelry Thread Questions-  ask them in this Ravelry Thread or email Jen at downcellarstudio @ gmail.com Our Official Sponsor for Q1 (October) is The Little Wolf Knits. This means you've got a challenge that can earn you more points and entry towards a cool prize. Check out the challenge details in this Ravelry post Q2- November- sneak peek- sponsor= Twin Mountain Handcrafts- using buttons! Commentator Mary Klute's report: The first quarter challenge has really inspired pigskin partiers! There has been a lot of chatter in the huddle thread about the new techniques folks are planning to meet the requirements of the challenge!   Some players are planning to tackle knitting techniques that they have never tried before like half fisherman's rib, colorwork, intarsia, magic loop, a new cast on or bind off, and brioche. Others are trying out a new tool like an i-cord maker or a new knitting app Others are trying new kinds of projects: a garment with lace down the side, joggers, knitting a shawl for the first time, knitting a shawl with an unusual construction, and colorwork socks A couple of people have mentioned joining mystery knit a longs for the challenge Others have mentioned using varieties of yarn they've never used before like boucle yarn or non-superwash wool. And a finally a bunch of players are planning crochet projects--some who have never successfully crocheted before and others who want to grow their crochet skills by moving beyond granny squares or learning how to join crocheted pieces. This challenge is really motivating players to step out of their comfort zones!  If you still haven't decided what to do for the quarter 1 challenge--head on over to the huddle thread for some inspiration!    Events NY Sheep & Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck): October 19 & 20, 2024 in Rhinebeck, NY Fiber Festival of New England- November 2 & 3- Mom, Riley and I are going on Sunday November 3rd Maryland Alpaca and Fleece Festival: November 9-10, 2024 in West Friendship, Maryland For more West Coast (US) event- check out the Seattle Knitters Guild Site.   Contest, News & Notes   My friend Linda is looking for donations of warm handknit/crocheted items for adult and youth homeless in Massachusetts. They set up tables on Thanksgiving and put all of the handmade items on the fence outside the First Church in Woburn, MA. Calling for all makers who want to donate. PM me on Ravelry or email me at downcellarstudio at gmail.com and I'll give you the address to send them to. Any fiber type welcome. Hats, scarves, mitts, shawls, blankets. Anything warm is welcome!   Life in Focus   2024 Word of the Year- Heart   2024-  Goals: Use my podcast/YouTube/Instagram following to raise money for the FearLESS Living Fund (details in the Ravelry group- and email if you're one of our regular sponsors) Make & assess goals every month in 2024 Monthly review of number of workouts + weigh on at least twice a month. Stretch/Theragun 2-4 times a week   24 for 2024 List Updates Get 2 massages beyond the one per month at Massage Envy (1 at Oasis in July, 1 scheduled Oct had to move. scheduled 2 more) Read more books than you did in 2023 (50) 45 as of now Knit at least 1 finished project with handspun in progress Knit/crochet myself a new sweater swatched Make a Christmas afghan for the living room- in progress Try a new local restaurant - Lolita (want one even MORE local)   On a Happy Note   Mamma Mia + dinner at Ruka beforehand October 4: we celebrated my dad's birthday with an evening cookout and swim! Dad left the pool open while mom was in the hospital, and heated it back up to a warm 88 degrees for us to all enjoy one last swim. VT Sheep and Wool!!! Mom, Dad, my Uncle Bob and Aunt Wendy all went to the Topsfield Fair. Beautiful quilts, handknits, emotional support chickens. Live Laugh Love cross stitch- live, laugh, love. Mom got some blue tinsel in her hair! Adorable. Saw everyone's photos of the Northern Lights on Facebook on the way home so I had to take a few! Baby Jane- adapted for the stage by my Mom's friend Michael Hammond for Company Theatre- Marybeth in it.   Quote of the Week   Bob Dylan on the advice his father gave him: "Even if you don't have all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you don't want."   ------ Thank you for tuning in!   Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link FearLESS Living Fund to benefit the Blind Center of Nevada Music -"Soft Orange Glow" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.  

  Thank you for tuning in to Episode 280 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. Full show notes with photos can be found on my website.   This week's segments included:   Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Brainstorming From the Armchair Crafty Adventures Knitting in Passing In my Travels KAL News Events Life in Focus On a Happy Note Quote of the Week   Thank you to this episode's sponsors: Stitched by Jessalu   Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins     Silver Spoon Socks Yarn: A Whimsical Wood Yarn Company Pixie Toes Socks in the Silver Spoon Up My A$$ colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry ) Ravelry Project Page About the yarn: peaches and pinks with gray/taupe. At my gauge it is striping (~2 rounds per color). I purchased this yarn at Yarncentric event in Maryland. Started in May 2023. Finished on June 28, 2024 Total for Stash Dash: 262 meters   Baby James' Cozy Clusters Blanket Pattern: Cozy Clusters Baby Blanket by Leelee Knits (free & paid options available on the LeeLeeKnits website) Yarn: Caron Cinnamon Swirl Cakes in the Slush Colorway (purchased 3). 1 skein of Loops & Threads Impeccable in Colorway 01110 [Navy] for the border Hook: I (5.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page Bobble Border instructions from this blog Finished size- 30.5 inches wide by 38.8 inches tall (not including the bobbles) Finished on July 2 Total for Stash Dash: 1,010 meters (833 meters Caron Cakes [2.25 skeins] - 178 meters Loops & Threads- less than 1 skein)   Trish's New Orleans Socks Yarn- Cat Tails Yarn in the Chartreux Base (75% Superwash Merino, 15% Nylon, 10% Silver Stellina) in the Christmas Bonfires Colorway (part of the Down in New Orleans Collection) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry ) Trish purchased in New Orleans in 2024 (exclusive colorway for the Quarter Stitch). $34. Finished on July 3 Total for Stash Dash: 259 meters   American Ewe Turn a Square Hat Yarn: American Ewe Worsted Tweed in the Terrace Mountain Colorway Pattern: Turn a Square by Jared Flood ($5 pattern available on Ravelry & Brooklyn Tweed website) Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) & US 7 (4.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page About the yarn: 3 ply Merino/Rambouillet Shaniko Wool (89%) with 6% acrylic and 5% rayon flecks. The colorway is a natural with brownish tweedy bits. I purchased the yarn for $15 at Adventures in Knitting in Harwich, MA on the way to visit friends who were staying in Wellfleet. They had a cool display of "used needles" for $4 each. I bought bamboo US. Modifications: I use worsted weight yarn and knit the smallest size, omitting the increases after the ribbing. I knit 6 inches before the crown decreases. Total for Stash Dash: 99.8 meters (109.2 yards), 51 grams   Portland Socks Yarn: Urth Yarns Uneek Fingering in Colorway 3024 Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry ) Ravelry Project Page About the yarn: self striping yarn- cornflower blue, dusty orange, yellowy green, peach, magenta and purple. I purchased the yarn at Knit Wit Yarn Shop in Portland, Maine. You can purchase the same yarn online from them. I held a strand of navy blue nylon thread along with yarn for the heel flap and gusset to give more strength to the heel. I used the Lemonwood Mini Minder (also purchased at Knit Wit) and knit the vast majority of this pair of socks in 2 days walking around Portland, visiting breweries and hanging out with friends. You can see a video I made of this project on Instagram. Total for Stash Dash: 254.7 meters   Welcome to Litchfield Spinning Project Fiber: I purchased two 4oz braid of fiber from Into the Whirled in the Welcome to Litchfield colorway (1 braid Texel & 1 braid BFL Tussah Silk) along with 1 gray  (The Traveler on Cheviot base) braid to ply them together. Twist direction: singles = Z plied = S This means when I'm spinning, my wheel is spinning clockwise and when plying my wheel is moving counter-clockwise. Ravelry Project Page I didn't fully spin the gray Traveler colorway braid. Finished Project- 3 braids of 3 ply yarn: 184g= 252.2 meters (275.9 yards) ~Aran weight Total for Stash Dash= 252.2 meters x 4= 1,008.8 meters   Book Holder Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Roving Stripes in Daisy & 1 other mystery colorway (lost the ball band), Premier Yarns Parfait Chunky (mustard) & Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted Ravelry Project Page Hook: 9.0 mm (M/N) I took inspiration from this pattern on Ravelry. (Boho Book Nook crochet pattern- but I was using MUCH chunkier yarn and I didn't want to use the same textured stitches) I chained 21 sts and worked with 20 hdcs across each row- working in the third loop after the first row. I wasn't going to have enough of the Lion Brand Roving to make the whole thing, so I held the Wool of the Andes double for the part that would be covered. I worked a single crochet around the edges, and then sewed the front to back in just 1 spot on either side. I used a chain for the loop to tack it up on the wall. Total for Stash Dash: 128.1 meters   Declan's Adrift Socks Yarn: Patons Kroy Stripes in the Adrift colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry ) Ravelry Project Page About the colorway- short stripes (about 3 rounds each) with 3 shades of blue- navy, denim and cornflower plus orange and brown. Total for Stash Dash: 278.2 meters   Deschain Pattern Deschain by Leila Raven Needles: US 9 (5.5 mm) Yarn. Rowan Creative Linen. Colorway 00624-   Gray. Worsted weight 50% Linen / Flax, 50% Cotton. 200 meters / 100 grams. Bought 4 skeins. Used a little more than 2 Size: Smallest (54 1/4 in bust) Calls for 16-22" positive ease. I should have around 19" Ravelry Project Page Originally finished July 10, 2021. I ripped out in 2024 because the back was far too short. I ripped out the sleeves (tossed) and unseamed the back and front. The instructions call for the back to be 12 inches but the front falls about 17 inches from collarbone to the bottom hem. I knit about 14 inches on the back and then worked a few sets of German Short Rows before the bottom hem instructions. I tried a few options for sleeves and then decided I"d just sew up the ends in a way to tuck/hem the ends under and I love that. In the end I made the body longer and the sleeves shorter Total for Stash Dash: 424.0 meters (463.7 yards), 212 grams   First Point of Libra Cowl Pattern: First Point of Libra Cowl by Laura Aylor Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) Yarn: Barnyard Knits, Fuse Fiber Studio, One Twisted Tree (shop formerly own Prairie Girl Danie) + other leftover sock yarn Ravelry Project Page Yarn purchased at Vogue Knitting Live January 2020 with Lauren. Planned to make a 2 color shawl. Cast on My Cryptonite by Melanie Berg and never got more than a couple inches in. Here's the Ravelry Project Page for the shawl that's now frogged. I started in October 2022. My November 2022 notes say- I'm losing mojo on this and I don't think it has to do w/ the pattern or my yarn. I like it... but its not getting finished before my trip to the UK so I will need to find other wooly accessories to bring with me. I picked up again July 2024 and it flew off the needles! Modifications: In Section 4, I skipped adding color 4 & 5 (1-3 only). Skipped Section 5. Finished size: 21 inches around. 15 inches tall. Total for Stash Dash: 406 meters   Vera's Christmas Stocking Pattern: Christmas Stockings to Knit and Crochet from Family Circle Magazine. Available in this web archive link. I've also saved it to my podcast Gmail Google Drive in case it disappears! Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Red, Everglade Heather and White Hook: F (3.75 mm) Ravelry Project Page Total for Stash Dash: 456.5 meters   8,353 meters for Stash Dash Over 4,500 meters added since the last episode!   On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins   Wool Ease Hexagon Blanket Pattern: Basic Crochet Hexagon Pattern & Tips from Make Do and Crew Website & YouTube Tutorial Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick. Centers in colorways- Fern, Coney Island, Seaglass, Slate. Borders- Wheat & Oatmeal Hook: 10mm (N/P) Notes: started in April 2022. I never talked about it on the podcast.  Inspired by an instagram post from Lion Brand. This WIP has been taking up a ton of space in my craft room ever since. When the pump in my dehumidifer went and we had to move some things to get at it, I decided I had to get this WIP done. 2 rounds of color- 1 round of wheat or oatmeal 18 were done. 30 finished now   Berry Bliss Socks Yarn: Hypnotic Yarn Plush Sock (75% SW Merino/25% Nylon) in the Berry Bliss Colorway (May 2024 Yarnable Box) & Legacy Fiber Artz Glitzy Toes (pink mini from 2023 Advent Calendar) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page About the yarn- lemon yellow, sherbet orange and pink. I worked the first heel in a pink sparkle yarn from Legacy Fiber Artz because I have some spiral striping going on and didn't want to disrupt it. Progress: I've finished the heel on the first sock.   Rafa's Hat Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in the Cielo y Tierra colorway Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) Pattern: Rafa's Hat by Joji Locatelli (free knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Ravelry Project Page: About the yarn: blues/tans that is almost striping at my gauge. The hat is a 1x1 rib that has a cool purl ridge detail. Progress: I've worked two repeats of the pattern   Cold Goat Farm Spinning Fiber: Cold Goat Farm Batt- I believe its Merino/Mohair but there are no details on the business card in my bag. I think I purchased it at Rhinebeck 2023. Twist direction: singles = Z plied = S This means when I'm spinning, my wheel is spinning clockwise and when plying my wheel is moving counter-clockwise. Ravelry Project Page   Brainstorming Connections socks! Have you heard about them? You take your Daily NY Times Game- Connections Results and put them into colorwork socks. Suzanne told me about them- and recently saw and loved Wendy's! Here's a link to Wendy's Connection Socks Ravelry Project Page.   From the Armchair Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. I'll Just Be Five More Minutes (and other tales from my ADHD brain) by Emily Farris. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. Feed by M.T. Anderson. Bookshop Affiliate Link (not available). Amazon Affiliate Link. Briefly Perfectly Human by Alua Arthur. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link.   Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.   Crafty Adventures I found a small hole in my Mabel Style cross body sling bag and decided to use embroidery floss for a better hold and to add a bit of visible mending color. I received great customer service when I reached out to them! I'm in the midst of a massive studio clean out. It started w/ issues with my dehumidifier and it's really spiraled from there. I'm excited to see how it all comes back together.   Knitting in Passing   Aila FaceTimed me from a friend's house after buying a crochet dinosaur kit at the dollar store. The next day after pool day and dinner we practiced chain and single crochet.   In My Travels Dan and I spent a long weekend in Portland, Maine to celebrate our 20th Anniversary. I was able to go up a night early to attend the knit night at Rising Tide Brewery. I loved meeting Heather from Rising Tide and Jenn & her husband Chuck from Knit Wit. Friday morning, I visited Knit Wit Yarn Shop's new location and then walked around. Dan, Dana and Sheri arrived and we met at Duck Fat for lunch before showing them around to some of our favorite breweries. Saturday we visited local shops and more breweries before going to see comedian Kathleen Madigan. Sunday, I did some shopping while Dan watched soccer then we enjoyed some drinks together and ended up back at Rising Tide where there was a 6p Burlesque show so Dan got us tickets. Really fun end to an awesome weekend.   KAL News Pigskin Party '24 will kick off in the fall (specific date TBD). We're looking for Sponsors for this season. Interested or know someone who is? Sign up for my email newsletter and click the box saying you're potentially interested in sponsoring events and you'll get first dibs on spots. And/or email me for details!   Other current & upcoming events: Summer Bingo with Monica & Cortney of the Craft Cook Read Repeat Podcast Colors of Fall with the Yarniacs Podcast Group. June 20- September 22 Summer Spin In with the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures Podcast Group- May 27 - September 2 Summer Sock Camp with the Crazy Sock Lady The Knit Girllls are hosting their annual Stash Dash Event from May 24-August 31,2024. Here's a chatter thread for stash dash 2024! Stash Dash will run from May 24th-the end of August. Craft all the things and see how your FO pile grows! This is a competition only against yourself. Discord link: knit girllls discord Jasmin (of the Knitmore Girls Podcast) & I are competing again this year. Check out my Stash Dash Spreadsheet here     Events Flock Fiber Festival- August 9-11 in Seattle, WA FIber Revival: August 10 in Newbury, MA Adirondack Wool & Arts Festival; September 21 & 22, 2024 in Greenwich, NY (GREEN-Witch) Vermont Sheep & Wool: October 1 & 2, 2024 in Tunnebridge, VT NY Sheep & Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck): October 19 & 20, 2024 in Rhinebeck, NY Sierra Nevada Yarn Crawl, (CA and NV) - Sept 12-15, 2024 Cape & South Shore Yarn Haul (MA) September 14-17, 2024 Lambtown, Dixon, CA - Oct 5-6, 2024 For more West Coast (US) event- check out the Seattle Knitters Guild Site.   Know of an event I should spread the word about? Let me know!   Life in Focus   Tune in for a health Update on BostonJensMom   On a Happy Note Dan and I took vacation the first week of July. Monday after Portland we just chilled. Tuesday I took Mom for whole brain radiation, then to visit my grandmother (her mother) and out for lunch. Wednesday/Thursday we visited friends renting a house in Wellfleet (Cape Cod) and Thursday/Friday we visited friends in Falmouth. Friday morning we picked up Riley from Camp and brought her to our house before she and I headed to Hornstra to get ice cream for lunch (because that's what vacation is for!) and over to my parents to the pool for the day. Monday 7/8- I met up with my friend Megg to do a 5+ mile beach walk before she headed out to Ireland for the month. Wed 7/10  Mom and I stayed in Boston to save her the back & forth daily for treatment. We met her friend Jacky for lunch. I went back to work in the afternoon. After work, we cooled off in the hotel pool and then had dinner, played Uno and bar trivia at The Hill. We stunk but it was fun! Sunday July 14th pool day at my parents. Jenna, Dave, Gabriella and Zach came over. Within a few hours they were both jumping off the diving board! July 17-18th Mom and I stayed in Boston again after her Radiation treatment. We hit the pool and fared slightly better at trivia but it was hard to be out as long. Mom's energy was much lower, she was coughing more and couldn't speak above a whisper. July 21st we had a pool day at my parents. Jeff, Millie and Garret, Jenna, and the 2 kiddos, Kris, Will, Aila and Matt. We celebrated Will's 17th birthday. Mom's hair had started falling out and the blank spots at the back of her head looked like a butterfly! Mom told us to go find some Sharpies and color it in! It was a hard day for her and by extension us, but this added a bit of fun and whimsy to it! Millie even attached little plastic gems to parts of the butterfly. After the "temporary tattooing" we shaved off the rest of her hair to help w/ the shedding. July 23rd- Mom's last day of Whole Brain Radiation! Coming home to a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Dan. Getting 2 massages this month after missing my scheduled on in June for our Portland trip! I always feel like I need it but I've been going up on weights at the gym and my upper body was screaming!   Quote of the Week “I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.” -Emily Dickinson   ------ Thank you for tuning in!   Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link FearLESS Living Fund to benefit the Blind Center of Nevada Music -"Soft Orange Glow" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.  

This week's episode is sponsored by:   Ready for some retail therapy with a side of laughter and community? Look no further than Erin.Lane's monthly live sales! Each sale features a fresh theme (think whimsical unicorns, sassy llamas, you name it!), and you'll be the first to snag brand spankin' new fabrics. Who knows, you might just find your new favorite bag too.   Make sure to never miss a minute (or fabric) by signing up for the newsletter, and keep up with us in real time by with our Facebook community, Erin.Lane Bag Buddies. Bag buddies always get first access to new bags and fabrics, because who doesn't want to share the love of their besties?     Have you ever had to frog because you forgot a step several rows back? Or lost your spot because you dropped your magnet board or lost track with your highlighter tape? Instead of wrestling with paper, use the knitCompanion app. It keeps you on track so you can knit more and frog less. knitCompanion works with ALL your patterns and is available for Apple, Android, and Kindle Fire Devices                   Are you feeling dis-GRUNT-eled about your stash? Are you browsing Insta-HAM looking for knitting inspiration? Is color "kind of a PIG deal" in your life? Oink Pigments offers over one hundred forty PIG-ture perfect colorways to make you SQUEAL with delight. For a limited time only, bring home the bacon with code KNITMORE and get fifteen percent off in-stock yarns and fibers at oinkpigments dot com. Shop soon, because these pigs will FLY!   Seismic Yarn & Dyeworks, based just outside of San Francisco, CA, creates color for people who love bold, saturated yarn and fiber as well as for those who might be *a little* afraid of wearing color.   We dye a large range of colorways from neon and black light/UV reactive colors all the way through to deep, rich semi-solid, tonal, and low contrast variegated colorways. Of course, we only use the softest and most exquisite bases!       Seismic Yarn & Dyeworks - color to rock your world!   On the Needles :(0:39) Gigi ; Meadowlands  blanket no 11. Color way Babar : gray, navy, and blue. Body is finished, started crochet edging Jasmin finished the steeking and zipper installation on her  Patons Perfect turtleneck in La Bien Aimee “Floro Morganite”. Gigi: knitting socks for college bestie. Second sock, turned the heel, waiting for foot outline to get correct fit Jasmin is on the 2nd part of her Ribbon Wrap in Neighborhood Fiber Co's Neon mini skein set ; Jasmin added a 7th color- a transition between hot pink and orange. Rex's classmates have helped Meadowlands 12, color way Golem, lavender, pink and purple. Working on second triangle Jasmin swatched for Paton's Urban Aran in Mitchell's Fiber Arts “Cajun Zaza” colorway; here are Jared Flood's adjustments to the pattern Gigi: working on Lazersheep sparkly yarn to knit socks for myself and anklets for G Jasmin swatched for the cover sweater from Knitting for Radical Self- Care by Brandi Cheyenne Harper Jasmin mentions the Lemon Tart colorway from Lolabean Yarn Co Jelly roll socks #3 for Genevieve: variegated white grey and black, with red contrast Jasmin: started the Pockets Full cardigan by Tina Tse Knits in Oink Pigments “Bee's Knees” Gigi: finished last bit of seaming on a meadowlands blanket, no crochet border   Mother Knows Best:(18:18) Work Comfortably Knitting Comfortably by Carson Demers  Alpenglow Glider Swift  Dyson Solar Cycle lamp Dryer sheets that remove pet fur (Bounce Pet Hair and Lint Guard) When Knitting Attacks:(33:01) Gigi: Lazer Sheep sparkle yarn. Decided to frog it, to knit it on size 1 needles, so much better  Knit more, know more: (35:00) A segment about Persian culture, history, or just generally cool stuff about Persian people. Elections are coming up. Also: new clothes for New Years Sketchers Flats Last Sewist Standing Challenge Bay Area Yarn Crawl Leila, Chai and Conversation  Straw into Gold:(44:19) Jasmin is beading the fringe on the houndstooth wrap, in grey and yellow in Tess Yarns Silk Chenille.  Wove it on the Schacht Flip loom with - 160 ends.  Fire Mountain Gems Oral B Superfloss And Sew On:(54:14) Jasmin: More small mends and repairs.  Panel panties The New Look, Apple TV+ series about French designers during WW2 Knitting Show from Denmark (The Great Knit Off )

  Thank you for tuning in to Episode 259 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. This week's segments included:   Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins From the Armchair Some Years Later Crafty Adventures KAL News Events Life in Focus Ask Me Anything On a Happy Note Quote of the Week   Thank you to this episode's sponsors: Enchanted Etchings   Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins   Shock Star Hat Yarn: Spun Right Round Squish DK in the Shock Star colorway Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) & US 7 (4.5 mm) Pattern: none Ravelry Project Page About the yarn: cream base with small bits of neons + black. 92 sts 130.5 meters for Stash Dash   Watermelon cozies Pattern: Ball Band (free pattern on Ravelry & LoveCrafts) & Ball Band with a Twist ($2 crochet pattern on Ravelry & LoveCrafts)  by Jennifer Lassonde Yarns: Loops & Threads Capri Eco Cotton in Colorway: Cranberry. Loops & Threads Everyday Cotton in Jade. Leftover scrubby yarn for lighter green Hooks: 3.75 mm (F) & 4.25 mm (G) Ravelry Project Page Inspiration- Ali (starryeyesali) posted a watermelon bowl she made with leftover yarn on Instagram Small Jar cozy (16 oz wide mouth Mason jars). All sc (like the original ball band pattern). 7 rounds of Jade, 2 rounds of light green, 9 rounds of red. Black "seeds" sewn in later. Large Jar cozy (24 oz wide mouth Mason jars)- following Ball Band with a Twist instructions. 6 rounds of bottom section in Jade. 2 rounds of light green and the rest in Red. Black "seeds" sewn in later. Large Jar cozy #2  (24 oz wide mouth Mason jars)-  rounds of Jade, 2 rounds of light green,  rest was done in red. Black "seeds" sewn in later. 156.4 meters for Stash Dash   Woolens and Nosh Socks Yarn: Woolens & Nosh Targee Socks- 2022 Advent Calendar Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams ($5 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page 20g mini in dark purple; used for cuff and heel. 285.8 meters for Stash Dash   Zebra Stripes Socks   Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry ) Yarn: Patons Kroy in the Zebra Stripes Colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page 273.6 meters for Stash Dash   Children of Time Spinning Fiber: Into the Whirled Cheviot (4 oz) in the Children of Time colorway Twist direction: singles = Z plied = S This means when I'm spinning, my wheel is spinning clockwise and when plying my wheel is moving counter-clockwise. Ravelry Project Page 1 ply of Wool of the Andes in 2 colors of blue + 2 plies of Into the Whirled Skein 1= 94g. 116.91 yards or 106.9 meters Skein 2= 82g  120.3 yards, 110 meters Total meters of yarn 216.9 For Stash Dash= 4 x 216.9 = 867.6 meters   Purple Spring Spin Fiber: Fluffypuf #130 Hand Dyed Roving Batt Purple/Pink. 1.4 ounces. 50% BFL, 40% merino, 10% Tussah Silk. Twist direction: singles = Z plied = S This means when I'm spinning, my wheel is spinning clockwise and when plying my wheel is moving counter-clockwise. Ravelry Project Page 2 skeins of finished yarn with Fluffypuf & Kingdom Fleece & Fiber Works Skein 1- 66g. 80.97 yards or 74.04 meters Skein 2= 66g. 79.44 yards or 72.64 meters Total Meters= 146.68 I still had singles left of the Kingdom Fleece & Fiberworks fiber, so I plied that with some mystery purple singles. Skein 3: 28g. 54.44 yards or 49.78 meters Meters for Stash Dash- 49.78 x 4= 199.12 Total Meters for Stash Dash for all 3 skeins = 795.84   Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.   On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins   Mini Skein Hexagon Blanket Pattern: Basic Crochet Hexagon Pattern & Tips from Make Do and Crew Website & YouTube Tutorial Hook: F (3.75 mm) Yarn: Mini skeins from 2022 agirlandherwool Advent Calendar, 24 Days of Cheer Swap minis + other scraps/swap yarn Ravelry Project Page I've been closing the end of each hexagon with this join- link to Instagram post 4 rounds per hexagon. 3.75 inches each. Likely need over 300 Twin sized blanket is 60x80 inches. 17x22 hexis- 374. Learned double magic circle from this YouTube video. The trick is to know how to pull both loops to tighten the loop. As of 7/25/23- 51' wide by 58" long. (13 x 17 hexis)   Silver Spoon Socks Yarn: A Whimsical Wood Yarn Company Pixie Toes Socks in the Silver Spoon Up My A$$ colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry ) Ravelry Project Page Progress: on the foot of the first sock.   3 Christmas Stockings   Pattern: Christmas Stockings to Knit and Crochet from Family Circle Magazine. Available in this web archive link. I've also saved it to my podcast Gmail Google Drive in case it disappears! web.archive.org-Christmas Stockings to Knit and Crochet from Our Archives.pdf Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Cherry Red, Hunter Green and White Hook: G (4.0 mm) Ravelry Project Page Progress: I have 3 of the 4 front/back panels I need for the frist 2 done. The forth is onto the leg. I am going to crochet up 2 more and then iron them, and start seaming them.   Rainbow Crochet Crop Pattern: 100% improvised. Yarn: Lion Brand Re-up. Colors: Ecru, Red, Orange, Sunflower, Lime, Aqua, Lilac and Raspberry Hook: E (3.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page Wide, oversized crochet top that I completely improvised on the go. Thought I'd do all granny squares but didn't think I'd have enough yarn. Originally finished in June 2022, but it was too short and I only wore it once. Had hdc rows in rainbow colors at the bottom. Ripped all of that back and instead of doing 1 round of each color, I did 2. Extending beyond blue to include purple and pink.   My Little Unicorn Socks Yarn: Andre Sue Knits Sock Blank in the My Little Unicorn colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry ) Ravelry Project Page Gray background with white and pink unicorns that look like My Little Pony. My inner 80's child loved this one.   From the Armchair The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. Recommended by Dan's cousin Melissa Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link.   Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.   Some Years Later Mom sent 2 socks to be repaired. Her Knit Picks Felici Zen Socks had a hole in the foot. It was easy to repair with a bit of yarn. I washed them and they're ready to give back. I only finished these in May 2022, right before Mother's Day so these haven't held up very well. Click here for my Ravelry Project Page. I also did a blanket repair on a knitted blanket a friend's mother asked me to fix. I was assuming it was crochet, so the fact that it was knitted was a surprise. The section that was torn was part of a very long strip of knitting that was knit on the bias, so it was a little tricky but it was in garter stitch and I did a good job of pulling the stitches back up. Its not 100% invisible, but I'm happy with it. I have it washed and ready to return.   Crafty Adventures   Resin adventures with Gayle & Meagan for their Bucket List with a Twist. They made us aprons to wear while working that Bucket List with a Twist!   KAL News   Splash Pad Party 23: May 26-July 31, 2023 Sign up using this Google Form. To confirm you're signed up, check the Stats/Registration Spreadsheet here. Click here for the full list of Sponsors with all the links you need to their websites & social media. Many of our Sponsors are offering coupon codes. Find them here- Google Doc or Ravelry Thread. Tune in to hear if you won a participation prize. End of the event winners will be announced in Episode 260   Events   Stash Dash, hosted by Leslie & Laura of the Knit Girllls Video Podcast starts May 26th and runs through August 31, 2023. Check out details in the knit girllls discord My total as of this episode: 8,140 meters You can check out my Stash Dash 2023 Progress on this Google Sheet. Legacy Fiber Artz Knit Your Stash MAL- check out the details on the Treehouse Fiber Arts website Runs May 29- September 4, 2023 #legacyfiberartzknityourstashMal and #flashyourstash Crafty Bingo- Craft Cook Read Repeat Podcast May 26-September 4, 2023 Grab the Bingo card over on their Instagram feed The Grocery Girls are hosting Hot Granny Square Summer MAL. Check out details in their Ravelry Group & in Episode 183 on their YouTube Channel. Summer Sock Camp hosted in the Crazy Sock Lady Ravelry Group 5/26- 8/31/2023 Vermont Sheep & Wool: Sept 30 & Oct 1 at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds Check out some West Coast (US) Events on the Seattle Knitters Guild site (thanks Kristen- kips206)   Life in Focus After 3+ years I got Covid. Mom's July MRI & CT Scans show that the cancer has not grown/changed! Great news!   Ask Me Anything Tune in to hear my answers to these questions: AnnahB wants to know how many UFOs I have. (12 somewhat active + hibernations) MaysMomNH- How your Mom is doing. Elisa.Knits- How you pick yarn for sweaters and cardis please. Nali_Knits- what motivates you to keep knitting/podcasting after so many years? KGZKnits- Can we watch instead? Red-Christina- trying to knit men's cardigan for my grandpa- any suggestions? Classic Cardigan by Tin Can Knits. $8 knitting pattern on Ravelry or Tin Can Knits website. Slade by Michelle Wang (for Brooklyn Tweed). $10 pattern available on Ravelry; $9 on Brooklyn Tweed Website. Reading Cardigan by Jared Flood. $16 knitting pattern available on Ravelry & for $15 on Brooklyn Tweed website) DogMomKnits- Fall Knitting Plans- Pigskin Party (if there will be one) info? There will be a Pigskin Party. I'll be planning it very soon!   On a Happy Note After a day of resin crafts and pool time, Mom, Dad, Gayle, Meagan, Liz and I headed out for ice cream and then back for 2 round Tock match (Meagan & I won one, Gayle & Liz won one). I went to Minute Clinic to confirm I had Covid, but mostly to see if I also had strep throat, and was treated by my childhood bestie, Maribeth! Grateful for my own craft room with a comfy chair in a cool part of the house. Perfect for isolating and making sure Dan didn't get sick. I did go outside a bit on the weekend days. Dan brought up my wheel. I still spent a lot of time lying down between projects but it was nice to get out. I missed our nephew's 16th birthday pool party, though, so that was a bummer. Jeff was able to get an extra ticket for me to join he and Riley to see Lainey Wilson at the Mohegan Sun casino on Friday night! We had dinner, loved the show, got a cool Watermelon Moonshine Stanley Tumbler, and then I slept over at their house. Hung out with Riley & Millie in the morning, singing Hamilton as Riley made us homemade waffles.   Quote of the Week   The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving. –OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, SR ------   Thank you for tuning in!   Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link Music -"Soft Orange Glow" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.  

Thank you for tuning in to Episode 239 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. For Full Show notes with photos check out my website. This week's segments included: Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Brainstorming Knitting in Passing KAL News Events Contest, News & Notes On a Happy Note Quote of the Week Thank you to this episode's sponsors: Woolen Women Fibers Cniotáil Láimhe Designs- Ravelry Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Recollection Blanket Pattern: Recollection by Deanne Ramsay ($6 crochet pattern available on Ravelry & Etsy– written in both US & UK Crochet terms) Yarn: Various full skeins and 20+ gram fingering weight yarn stash. Hook: J (6.0 mm) Ravelry Project Page Cast on with US K. It was still a little too tight but it works. Body done in a US J (6.0 mm) Blanket is 56 inches wide (not including the fringe).  6,576 meters for Stash Dash Baker Street Socks Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams ($5 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in the Baker Street Colorway My Ravelry Project  278.6 meters for Stash Dash Hat for Dad Pattern: Turn a Square by Jared Flood ($4 knitting pattern available on Ravelry & on the Brooklyn Tweed website) Yarn: Fingering held double. Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in the Wellies Heather Colorway (black) & YarnBaker Fingering Weight Yarn in the Blazer colorway (blue) Needles: US 5 (4.5 mm) and US 7 (3.75 mm) My Ravelry Project Page 225.6 meters for Stash Dash. On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Solstice Socks Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in the Solstice Colorway Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams ($5 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page Mermazing Socks Yarn: Hypnotic Yarn Plush Sock in the Mermazing Colorway (April 2022 Subscription Box) Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams ($5 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Ravelry Project Page Check out my Unboxing Video Here The Shift Pattern: The Shift by Andrea Mowry ($7 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry & her website) Yarn: 3 Skeins of my Handspun Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) Ravelry Project Page Swatched- US 5, US 4 and finally US 3 LOVE working with my handspun. Cloudy + Rainbows Spinning Project Fiber: 4oz braid of BFL from Frabjous Fibers in the Rainy Day Rainbows Colorway Description- long stretches of light gray punctuated with shorter blips of rainbow colors Twist direction: singles = Z plied = S This means when I'm spinning, my wheel is spinning clockwise and when plying my wheel is moving counter-clockwise. Plans: will likely ply with another braid.  Brainstorming I should start 2 crochet stockings that I need to have done by Thanksgiving. Planning another Shift Cowl for me!  Yarn recycling. Do you know of any options besides mailing scraps to Hedgehog Fibres?  Knitting in Passing Package from Sarah- the martini knitter . Fiber fill and yarn 2 blues Knitting will Millie megg and Hattie over the weekend.  KAL News Pigskin Party'22: Official Hashtag is #DCSPigskinParty22 Pigskin Landing Page on the Down Cellar Studio Website. Start Here Thread in the Ravelry Group Link to the Official Rules Player Registration- Google Form Check out our amazing Sponsors! Click here for the Google doc with their websites and Instagram profiles.  Check out the list of available Coupons from our amazing sponsors- Ravelry Link Check out the Pigskin Exclusive Items in this Ravelry Thread Tip from Sarah- Imagined Landscapes- on Watching or Ignoring Team Threads: You can set Ravelry Threads to watch or ignore. Watching a thread means it will pop up to the highest point under the stickied threads if there‘s a new post. Ignoring a thread means you never see it again – I use it to clear up teams I‘m not on so there‘s less visual clutter for my PSP. Check out this page on Ravelry for instructions on how to Ignore a Thread. Fist Bumps & Fives Challenge– check out this link for details. Complete this challenge anytime between 9/20-9/30 and enter on the Points Tally Form to earn 100 bonus points. You'll need a link to your Ravelry or Instagram Post for validation. Enter for points between 9/23-9/30. Virtual Kick Off Weekend-click here for the schedule Events Stash Dash (Hosted by The Knit Girllls) ended August 31st My final tally- 27,546 m  Compare to previous years My best year ever! Beat 2020's total by 71 meters) 2021- 16,696.  2020-27,475 2019- 16,355 Funny how I bounce between 16k one year and 27 another!   32 projects 12 crochet. 14 knit, 6 skeins handspun Crochet- 20,679 meters Knit- 3,819 m Spinning- 3,046 m Types of Projects 11 pairs socks 6 skeins handspun 5 Blankets (18, 524 m) 4 cozies 2 Tops (1 crop, 1 tunic bathing suit cover up) 1 hat, 1 tie, 1 shawl, 1 toy,  Jasmin ended this year with 10,838 Meters. I beat her by 16,707 meters!!! Jen's Stash Dash Spreadsheet Tracker- Google Doc Jasmin's Stash Dash Spreadsheet Tracker- Google Doc Cape & South Shore Yarn Haul- Thursday 9/29 through Sunday 10/2. Check out their Event Website for details. Facebook Page available here. Pro Shop Sponsor Anne Beady will be at Salt Yarn Studio on Thursday 9/29 with her beautiful bags & design samples! Greater Boston Yarn Crawl– is also being held Thursday 9/29 through Sunday 10/2 EarthTonesGirl Falling Leaves Sock KAL runs 9/15 through 11/15 Check out this Instagram Post for details.   Contest, News & Notes Check out my Stash Dash projects in a 2 part series on my YouTube Channel- click here for  Video 1 & Video 2 September Yarnable Unboxing Video can be found here. On a Happy Note A quick visit from Laura in from NYC. Dan and I did a big cellar clean-out over Labor Day weekend.  We enjoyed a big pool day (Oisin and Eme practiced their diving, Hattie practiced her swimming with Auntie Di) over Labor Day Weekend. We followed that with a clam bake, a belated birthday celebration for Oisin who turned 14 in June (while still in Ireland).  Oisín working with Dan in the yard again this fall. They uncovered an impromptu pumpkin patch that sprung up next to our deck! We had our first fire of the fall. Pizza and beer after the boys were done working. Hattie (age 4) asked “are you gonna knit with me?”  I asked if she was going to knit with ME! And she did.  We enjoyed our last pool day and family trip to Hornstra for ice cream!  Quote of the WeekAt some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.–TONI MORRISONMusic -“Soft Orange Glow” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/——Thank you for tuning in.Remember show notes for this episode can be found at www.downcellarstudio.com/#If you have a moment to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, I'd greatly appreciate it.I can be found on Ravelry as BostonJen and I'd love it if you came over to join our lively and engaged Down Cellar Studio Ravelry Group.Check me out on Instagram at BostonJen1 if you want to see what I'm up to between episodes.Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube ChannelEmail me at downcellarstudio@gmail.com For website:Thank you for tuning in! Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link Music -“Soft Orange Glow” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Thank you for tuning in to Episode 238 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. For full show notes, check out my website. This week's segments included: Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Brainstorming From the Armchair Crafty Adventures Knitting in Passing KAL News Events On a Happy Note Quote of the Week Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Uneek Christmas Socks Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams ($5 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Yarn: Uneek Sock Yarn. Colorway 25- Xmas Limited Edition. 2 cakes 220 yards/200 meters each.  Ravelry Project Page 289.4 meters Tweed Tie Pattern: Tweed Tie by Jem Weston- 4 GBP (around $5 US)  Needles: US 2. (2.75) for body, US 3 (3.25 mm) for cast-on Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in the Flagstone Heather colorway. My Ravelry Project Page Omitting all increases//decreases to keep the bottom at the end of the tie flat not pointed.  Finished tie is over 60 inches long.  126.6 meters  3 skeins in my Candombe Project- check out my Ravelry Project Page 2 skeins of 2ply yarn. Wool of the Andes Unspun Roving. Colorway: Delft Heather (100 grams) 100% Peruvian Highland Wool. & Malabrigo in the Candombe Colorway 2 ply-60 inch loop. 242 wraps.12,762 inches or 410 yards. 324 meters. Stash Dash- 324 x3= 972 meters 2 ply-59 inch loop. 81 wraps4,779 inches or 133 yards. 121 meters. Stash Dash= 121 x 3= 363 meters 1 skein of a 3 ply. those 2 singles plus 1 other random tan colored singles.  60 inch loop 38 wraps.2,280 inches or 63 yards. 57 meters Stash Dash= 57 x4= 228 meters Stash Dash Meters for this project: 1563 meters. All measurements taken after washing skeins 1 skein of yarn in Greens & Blues Blues: Included singles from  Kingdom Fleece & Fiber Works 100% Tunis Pete's Fleece Greens: Malabrigo Nube Roving  Ravelry Project Page 3 ply yarn 62 wraps around knitty noddy. 28 inches wide (or 56 inches around) after washing. 3,472 inches total or 96 yards or 88 meters 88×4 for Stash Dash = 352 meters Scrappy Hexagon Blanket Pattern: Basic Crochet Hexagon Pattern & Tips from Make Do and Crew Website & YouTube Tutorial Hook: F (3.75 mm) Yarn: Knit Picks Hawthorne Marl Sock Lab in the Grey White Marl Colorway, Patons Kroy in the Gentry Colorway + fingering weight scraps Ravelry Project Page Mapped out gradation plan in Excel. 21 rows total. 12 or 13 hexis depending on the column.  SCing them together with 2 strands like I am for the hexagons themselves. A great way to use up very small scraps because I only ever seam 3 sides together.  Working my way from the dark side to the light side when I pulled some hexis out of the bag where I was storing them- and pulled out a huge piece which I had forgotten I'd seamed together. It was the far right column and part of the top row of the light side! At least I realized it when I did, and only had to rip back a small bit of what I had already done.  I used safety pins and paper with notes to indicate which hexi was the start/end of each column. Worked like a charm and I didn't have any other issues after that.  Border- 1 round SC, 4 rounds HDC around.  switch light to dark gray to match blanket. Size (before washing) 45 in wide by 66 inches long 1976 grams total- almost 20 skeins of yarn!  Marled= 400 grams Patons= 450 grams 1126 grams of everything else 7,176 meters On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Recollection Blanket Pattern: Recollection by Deanne Ramsay ($6 crochet pattern available on Ravelry & Etsy– written in both US & UK Crochet terms) Yarn: Various full skeins and 20+ gram fingering weight yarn stash. Hook: J (6.0 mm) Ravelry Project Page Cast on with US K. It was still a little too tight but it works. Body done in a US J (6.0 mm) MC- 3 strands of gray Blanket is 56 inches wide (not including the fringe).  Baker Street Socks Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams ($5 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in the Baker Street colorway with Stroll Tonal in Navy for cuffs, heels & toe My Ravelry Project  Hat for Dad Pattern: Turn a Square by Jared Flood ($4 knitting pattern available on Ravelry & on the Brooklyn Tweed website) Yarn: Fingering held double. Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in the Wellies Heather Colorway (black) & YarnBaker Fingering Weight Yarn in the Blazer colorway (blue) Needles: US 5 (4.5 mm) and US 7 (3.75 mm) My Ravelry Project Page Brainstorming Rhinebeck sweaters. Wave of Change Jacket by Denise Bayron to match the one I made Mom for Christmas 2020. Check out the Ravelry Project Page for her sweater.  Use up some handspun for us to wear. Thinking of The Shift (Cowl) by Andrea Mowry (available on Ravelry & on the Drea Renee Knits Website for $7 US) From the Armchair Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases. Crafty Adventures Decorations and costumes for Megg's Gatsby party.  Bought nearly all of it second hand. Gold and silver candles, candle holders, vases and glasses.  Got pink feather fan looking things on Clearance at Michaels along with what looks like sparkly crystal pink gravel. Put on silver and gold chargers under/around candles.  Spray painted feathers and sticks. Put in a large silver vase and added pearls strung through for centerpiece.  Knitting in Passing This week, I shared a story about a man I encountered on the train who talked about his family's history with fiber arts and the sewing he did in the Army. KAL News #DCSPigskinParty22 Pigskin Landing Page on the Down Cellar Studio Website. Start Here Thread in the Ravelry Group Link to the Official Rules Player Registration- Google Form Check out our amazing Sponsors! Click here for the Google doc with their websites and Instagram profiles. (COMING SOON) Check out the list of available Coupons from our amazing sponsors- Ravelry Link Check out the Pigskin Exclusive Items in this Ravelry Thread Sponsors Signed up (so far) Pro Shop: agirlandherwool Anne Beady Designs JDStudios480 Imagined Landscapes Charming Ewe Adoreknit Knit Style Yarns Knitters Brewing Company Jennifer Lassonde Designs Snack Shack Sunsoakedyarns Shanalines Designs KnittenKristen Designs Maple Roots Creative MollyHatChick  Christen Clement Designs Fitness by Mara  Desert Vista Dyeworks Mcknits Virtual kick off events Friday through Sunday 9/23- 9/25. Stay tuned for details! Welcome to our 3 new Commissioners this season! Heather (zoomdogknits) Emily- (ElsaandEm) Alicia (almariecraft) Teams will be announced 9/5 Tailgate Talk Challenge– runs 9/9-9/23. Stay tuned for details Events Stash Dash (Hosted by The Knit Girllls) will be hosted on Discord again and will be from May 27th-end of August. Discord link: knit girllls discord Current standings with Jasmin Jen: 20,465 meters (Jen's Stash Dash Spreadsheet Tracker- Google Doc.) Jasmin: 10,838 meters (Jasmin's Stash Dash Spreadsheet Tracker- Google Doc) Rhinebeck – NY Sheep and Wool Festival. October 15 & 16. Wool & Folk Event– October 14th from 12p until 7p in Kingston, NY.  Tickets still available. $45. On a Happy Note Mom's August scans look good despite having to come off her gene therapy medicine because of severe and painful issues with the skin and nails on her hands.  Dinner with my parents, brother and grandmother for her 87th birthday! Visiting Dan's friend Perry's for his 81st Birthday. We found a local bakery that makes delicious pies. Great find. Pool Days! Queen Cover Band at South Shore Music Circus, after which my brother stayed over. He, Dan and I stayed up late talking.  Mid-week trip out to Northampton with Kris & Megg for the Indigo Girls concert! We bought matching tank tops & wore them hiking the next morning. Every person we saw commented on them and asked if we were in some kind of club!  Megg's Gatsby Party! Hiking in Wompatuck w/ Megg now that she's back from Ireland. Shopping at Ollie's with Mom, Trish and Theresa. It's very similar to Building 19 which is an old-school New England favorite for bargain shopping. Watching Aila dance in the Cabaret show and Hattie (age 4) cheering her on (and having to stop her from dancing too much in the audience). I also got to see Eme for the first time since they got back from Ireland.  Mom's eBay New England Seller's Meet Up Group met for the first time since Covid this week! Had fun catching up with her crew. Check out their Facebook group here. Quote of the Week Yet occasionally we discover in the folds of an old handkerchief a shell or insignificant stone that had once embodied our happiest of afternoons. –PATTI SMITH Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link Music -“Soft Orange Glow” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Thank you for tuning in to Episode 231 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. For full show notes check out: www.downcellarstudio.com/231  This week's segments included: Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Brainstorming From the Armchair Some Years Later Knitting in Passing In my Travels KAL News On a Happy Note Quote of the Week Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Wordle Pattern: Wordle by Ham & Eggs (free crochet pattern available on Ravelry) Yarn: Knit Picks Brava Worsted in Peapod (Green), Loops & Thread Impeccable in True Gray, Rowan Purelife in Alder Buckthorn (Mustard), Red Heart Super Saver in White Hook: D (3.25 mm) Directions tell you exactly how to make the format they show in the pattern or you can create your own. I chose to use one of the Riley's actually Wordle days using a screenshot she sent me. I did the bottom row as one strip instead of five squares. When I joined the columns, I ran a slipped stitch down the existing stitches to match where I seamed up the previous rows I didn't weave in any ends. I tucked them inside snd tied some of them together. I did one round of white to edge the front piece. Then seamed together the front and back together with sc with right sides facing out. I made the back piece in gray. I dont think that's what was called for in the pattern. He has safety eyes and two little white arms. Riley is calling him Stove- after the winning word I based it on. She wants me to embroider STOVE on the back so we don't forget his name Perry's Hat Pattern:Turn a Square by Jared Flood ($4 knitting pattern available on Ravelry & on the Brooklyn Tweed website) Yarn: Berroco Vintage in the Dungaree Colorway Needles: US 5 (4.5 mm) and US 7 (3.75 mm) My Ravelry Project Page I realized i don't do all the decreases correctly. I work them every other round until the end.  On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Wool Ease Hexagon Blanket Pattern: Basic Crochet Hexagon Pattern & Tips from Make Do and Crew Website & YouTube Tutorial Hook: 10 mm (N/P) hook Yarn: Wool Ease Thick & Quick- Solids, Stripes and Prints (colorways used, Wheat, Seaglass, Slate, Fern, Coney Island and  Ravelry Project Page My hexagons are 3 rounds each- 2 with color (earth tones, mostly gray/blue/green), last round with Wheat.  Brainstorming I'm looking for a necktie pattern to knit up for my friend Liz. She'd like one with a squared off bottom (not the V bottom) From the Armchair Weaving the Rainbow written by George Ella Lyon & illustrated by Stephanie Anderson-Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link  If you're looking for a great book for a child in your life- check this out. It's beautiful! Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases. Some Years Later April 2015- I knit the sample for my Trickle Shawl pattern.Ravelry Link. LoveCrafts Link. $5 US Knitting Pattern  Knitting in Passing Riley wore her Everyday Cardigan in Merino Number 5 by Loopy Mango. Click here for my Ravelry Project Page. Aila love her A's Scrappy Dance Shoe Legwarmers My Ravelry Project Page I shared a story about knitting with Eme's roommate Zi. In My Travels Visit to the Berkshires with the kiddos for Riley, Aila & Eme's birthdays We visited Hancock Shaker Village Baby animal petting through May 8, 2022 Riley, Aila and Eme wanted to record a bit to tell you about our adventures. KAL News Splash Pad Party '22  Official Rules- Google Doc Participant Sign Up- Google Form Check out our Sponsors- Google Doc Want to be a Sponsor? Please email me before 5/5- downcellarstudio at gmail dot com On a Happy Note Date night with Dan the local Brewery. Day trip to Visit Eme. Dan drove. I knit on the way there and then was motion sick the whole way home! Easter! Ihecked out nail salon near my house and they were great. Dinner with Mom, Dad & Mom's eBay friends.  Quote of the Week “Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.”  -Raymond Joseph Teller Thank you for tuning in! Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link Music -“Soft Orange Glow” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Thank you for tuning in to Episode 230 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. Check out show notes with photos on my website. This week's segments included: Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins From the Armchair In my Travels KAL News Events Ask Me Anything On a Happy Note Quote of the Week Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Kim's Christmas Stocking Pattern: Christmas Stockings to Knit and Crochet from Family Circle Magazine. Available in this web archive link. I've also saved it to my podcast Gmail Google Drive in case it disappears!  Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Cherry Red, Hunter Green and White Hook: G (4.00 mm) My Ravelry Project Page A's Scrappy Dance Shoe Legwarmers Pattern: Dance Shoe Legwarmers by Sherry Katherine Vernon (free knitting pattern) Yarn: Various Fingering Weight leftovers including Knit Picks Felici Needles: US 1 5(2.5 mm) My Ravelry Project Page Kris' birthday socks  Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams ($5 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Yarn: Berocco Sox in the Rosehearty colorway  My Ravelry Project Page Eme's Unicorn Macaron Amigurumi Pattern: Unicorn Macaron Amigurumi free crochet pattern by Anitha Domacin available on their website. Yarn: Knit Picks Brava Worsted in white and various other colors. Small bit of silver metallic yarn from Stash Hook: C (2.75 mm) My Ravelry Project Page On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Pumpkin Patch Socks Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams ($5 Knitting Pattern available on Ravelry) Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Yarn: Hypnotic Yarn Plush Sock in the Pumpkin Patch colorway (October Yarnable Subscription Box Colorway). Click here for my YouTube Unboxing Video. Curious about Yarnable? Consider checking out my Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link. Use Coupon Code BOSTONJEN for $5 off your first box. Perry's Hat  Pattern:Turn a Square by Jared Flood ($4 knitting pattern available on Ravelry & on the Brooklyn Tweed website) Yarn: Berroco Vintage in the Dungaree Colorway Needles: US 5 (4.5 mm) and US 7 (3.75 mm) My Ravelry Project Page Spinning: Wool of the Andes Unspun Roving. Colorway: Delft Heather (100 grams) 100% Peruvian Highland Wool.  Spun one braid. I have one more to go. Malabrigo Nube. 113 grames Combed Top 100% Merino Wool in Colorway 809 Solis.  Planning to ply these together with Rhapsody Fiber Arts- 2oz 50% Angora/50% merino no colorway- lighter blues. Already plied some of this with two other singles.  Riley's Christmas Cardigan Pattern: Everyday Cardigan in Merino No. 5 by Loopy Mango Needles: US 15 (10 mm) Yarn: Bernat Blanket in Misty Green (sage color) My Ravelry Project Page From the Armchair Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases. In My Travels Tune in to hear about our trip to Newport, Rhode Island for my cousin's wedding  We enjoyed a visit to Newport Vineyards for cocktail hour Friday night. We got breakfast at Diego's on Saturday morning. Tip: get a reservation and order the Diego's Huevos I wore a fabulous dress I got second hand at the Second 2 None Consignment Shop in Hanover, MA KAL News Splash Pad Party '22 Call for Sponsors! Sponsor Call: Deadline 4/25/22 Want to sign up (after you read the details)? Please fill out this Google Form Info Page for Sponsors on my Website- click here  Kick Off Date- Monday 5/30- Memorial Day. Virtual Events.Sign ups for Participants coming soon Events The Knit Girls Stash Dash usually starts in May! Stay tuned. Ask Me Anything I received a couple questions asking about how Mom is doing after her lung cancer diagnosis in December 2021. Tune in for more. You can also check out the video we shared in March, if you want to hear/see more. On a Happy Note My friend Laura came for a visit. We celebrated our friend Kris' birthday with shopping and dinner. I went for my annual physical and mammogram! PSA- don't put off those doctor's appointments. It's important. I am enjoying the signs of Spring! Went for mani pedis with Mom and Trish My Cousin's Wedding in Newport! I booked weekend getaway with Riley and Aila for their 14th and 13th birthdays.  Wordle text chat with my family Quote of the Week Learning how to be still, to REALLY be still and let life happen- that stillness becomes radiance. -Morgan Freeman  Thank you for tuning in! Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link Music -“Soft Orange Glow” by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.    

A little heavy on chit chat and dog stories but also a lot of finishing! We catch up after a little too long between episodes! Join us as we discuss our finished projects and give updates on projects in progress. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects Garter Squish Blanket by Stephen West. Finished! Size 60” x 72”. Quick Switch hat by Abbyeknits using Madelinetosh Tosh DK in the colorway Cousteau. Finished! Atlas (Ravelry link) by Jared Flood using Navia Tradition. The pattern is also available at his website. Still need to knit a swatch with #10 needles and then determine my next steps.  Nanny Meier's Tea Cozy by Amelia Carlsen. I am using Cascade 220 Heather in Red Wine Heather (9489) and green Irelande (2429). Nothing to report here. Still waiting for Brian to measure his teapot so I know when to start decreasing for the top of the tea cozy. Nanny Meier's Tea Cozy by Amelia Carlsen. Started a second tea cozy as a Christmas gift for my friend Susannah. Her kitchen is yellow so I am using Cascade 220 Yellow (9463) and Orange (9668).  Meadow Stripe Socks using Patons Kroy Sock in the colorway, Meadow Stripes and Lang Yarns Jawoll Superwash fingering for the heels and toes. Finished the first sock and cast on the second. Paving Mitts (Ravelry link) I didn't have yarn in my stash I wanted to use so I bought Lang Yarns Jawoll Superwash in the pink and gray. Kelly's Projects Pebblebrook Beanie by Wish Upon a Hook (Ravelry link). I've now made three of them. Two with the leftover acrylic and one with the leftovers of the targhee lamb fleece. I finished the Sundowner shawl by Tanja Steinbach. (Ravelry Link). I'm using NoCKRs spirit yarn. Wollmeise twin 80/20 in two different brown variegated colors. Used every last bit of the Wollemeise yarn. I put in an extra wedge and then made the ribbed ruffle a little wider. Then I ran out of yarn about two thirds of the way through the bind off. I ended up using a black mercerized cotton for the end of the bind off.  I'm still working on a pair of socks in Bob Ross Happy Little Mistakes yarn from Weird Sisters Wool Emporium in Aberdeen. This is the yarn Marsha bought for me while we were in Seabrook.  Plied the fringe and washed the baby blanket using spirit yarn (Ravelry link) I love twisting fringe and watching how the colors work in the plied fringe.  Dark Green Forest (Ravelry link) by Christina Korber-Reith needs the sleeves to be evened out before I put the ribbing on them. Crochet Crochet Along Dates November 1 through Jan 10. There is a crochet bundle in the Ravelry group. Winter Weave Along Starts October 15 and goes through the end of March.

A spirit yarn start-a-palooza is underway! The stresses of life call for self-care and for the Two Ewes that means starting new projects. 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. Still need to knit a swatch with #10 needles and then determine my next steps. I'm headed to the beach on November 15th for a week and I may bring this. Nanny Meier's Tea Cozy by Amelia Carlsen. I am using Cascade 220 Heather in Red Wine Heather (9489) and green Irelande (2429). Nothing to report here. Still waiting for Brian to measure his teapot so I know when to start decreasing for the top of the tea cozy. Garter Squish Blanket by Stephen West. I am getting close to the end. Started ball #9, and last, of the main color gradient and knitting with contrasting color #8 of 15. I'm making the contrasting color repeats shorter so I can be sure to use all 15 colors. Meadow Stripe Socks using Patons Kroy Sock in the colorway, Meadow Stripes. Working on these when I have a few minutes. The navy I plan to use for heels and toes is Lang Yarns Jawoll Superwash fingering. Cast on Quick Switch hat by Abbyeknits using Madelinetosh Tosh DK in the colorway Cousteau. Hat has a fun zig zag effect. Paving Mitts (Ravelry link) I'm thinking of making these crocheted mitts as part of our Crochet Along. Kelly's Projects I have a start-a-palooza!  I bought the pattern for the Pebblebrook Beanie by Wish Upon a Hook (Ravelry link). I'll be using it with my Knit Picks Brava worsted leftovers to make at least one multicolor hat, and if it's fun I can make many more. I have the equivalent of about 5 skeins leftover from the blanket. I started the Sundowner shawl by Tanja Steinbach. (Ravelry Link). I'm using NoCKRs spirit yarn. Wollmeise twin 80/20 in two different brown variegated colors.  I started a pair of socks in Bob Ross Happy Little Mistakes yarn from Weird Sisters Wool Emporium in Aberdeen. This is the yarn Marsha bought for me while we were in Seabrook.  I started and finished weaving a baby blanket using spirit yarn (Ravelry link) I used a twill pattern--nothing fancy--and was able to thread and weave in just a little more than one weekend.  I finished two more charity hats (Ravelry link). I have one or two more I can make with the yarn. It was also NoCKRs spirit yarn. Super Yarn Mart! German Town.  Speaking of Super Yarn Mart!, I couldn't figure out the exact vintage of the German Town yarn. But I found an obituary for the founder, Irving Hershey Gold from 2013 and Ellen Bloom's blog from 2006 reminiscing about the good old days of Super Yarn Mart!  "Super Yarn Mart was the ONLY place where we could find a variety of yarn to buy. Oh sure, you could find a few skeins at Woolworth's, Sears, Fedco and even the May Company, but Super Yarn Mart was the best. They even imported yarn from Europe! There were locations all over the Southland. The aisles were wide, the stores were huge. There were samples of afghans, sweaters, baby clothes hanging from the rafters. They gave you these patterns for free. Everything was pink. All of the ladies that worked there were old, wore lots of lipstick, drank coffee all day and smoked in the store. Ahh, yes...those were the days of acrylic heaven." Dark Green Forest (Ravelry link) by Christina Korber-Reith is at the stage where I have to make sure that the sleeves are the correct length before the ribbing. I think one sleeve is not the same length as the other--due to my counting issues possibly!). Once I've sorted out the length equality, I'll be ready to put on the ribbing and the knitting will be finished.  Crochet Crochet Along Dates November 1 through Jan 10. There is a crochet bundle in the Ravelry group. Winter Weave Along Starts October 15 and goes through the end of March.

We have a Crochet-A-Long starting and project updates and we reconnect after a hectic month. 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 made the tiniest bit of movement. JoAnn (momdiggity) came to my house to offer help with my colorwork. She was a tremendous help and it was lovely to finally meet her. My plan is to knit a swatch with #10 needles and then determine my next steps.   Nanny Meier's Tea Cozy by Amelia Carlsen. I am using Cascade 220 Heather in Red Wine Heather (9489) and green Irelande (2429). Nothing to report here. Still waiting for Brian to measure his teapot so I know when to start decreasing for the top of the tea cozy.   Garter Squish Blanket by Stephen West. I am obsessed with this project! Knitting with main color #7 of a total of nine and started repeating the contrasting colors. I'm knitting #2 of the second set of contrasting colors.   Cast on a pair of basic socks using Patons Kroy Socks in the colorway Meadow Stripes. Kelly's Projects Faye's Flower Blanket, made with the Persian Tile Blanket pattern by Jane Crowfoot is done and delivered.    Another finished project, already mailed and no pictures! Fennec hat by Alicia Weisberg-Roberts and worsted booties from a free Bernat pattern. Used Invictus Yarns Captain Superwash in the Driftaway color. From the Heavyweight yarn club, September. After I finished those I used acrylic scraps from the blanket to make a slightly larger striped hat and a pumpkin hat.    Dark Green Forest by Christina Korber-Reith. The yarn is handspun and overdyed. It's a 3-ply made from CVM fleece from deep stash (2005 ish). Crochet Crochet Along Dates November 1 through Jan 10. The new Crochet Magazine, Moorit Magazine, has launched! We're having a Crochet-A-Long to celebrate Alyson Chu's great adventure! (Alyson of Keep Calm and Carry Yarn podcast).    If you need Crochet Along ideas: Tiny Spider by Anastasia Kirs. Crocheted with thread on 0.4 or 0.5 mm hook! Postmortem by Ann Wanamaker. It's a coffin shaped piece of crocheted lace with a skeleton inside. Ana Wanamaker has some interesting Victorian creepy doilies. If you like Blue Willow or Calamity Ware, check out the Deathware pattern. Marsha should make it to hang on Mark's wall of Blue Willow. Pebblebrook Beanie by Wish Upon a Hook has an interesting stitch pattern and would look good with multiple colors.  Bees in Clover by Michele duNaier I wear my Habitat Cardigan a lot! Daydream Shawl by Toni Lipsey. An Aran weight big chunky fringed shawl in Tunisian crochet. Check out all her patterns!  Winter Weave Along Starts October 15 and goes through the end of March.  

Moorit, a new crochet magazine and the Garter Squish obsession are the topics this week. Plus, the Two Ewes are back at their respective homes and we talk about how it is going now that we are back to our “real lives”.  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts We still have a 3 Green Sisters  coupon code EWES2 for 15% off.  Marsha's Projects Atlas (Ravelry link) by Jared Flood using Navia Tradition. The pattern is also available at his website. No movement on this project. Nanny Meier's Tea Cozy by Amelia Carlsen. I am using Cascade 220 Heather in Red Wine Heather (9489) and green Irelande (2429). Bought shorter straight needles because mine were too long and kept hitting the arms of my chair. Bought needles at Seattle Recreative located in the Greenwood neighborhood that sells used crafting materials. I need to borrow Brian's teapot to know when to start decreasing for the top of the tea cozy. Garter Squish Blanket by Stephen West. Lots to report here! I am knitting with the third of nine balls of the background gradient and the seventh contrasting color. This blanket is so addictive! I needed to dye about 600 more yards of yarn of the contrasting color so bought 3 skeins of Cascade 220. I dyed them yesterday afternoon and I think the colors are gorgeous. Kelly's Projects Dark Green Forest by Christina Korber-Reith. I'm making progress on the second sleeve. Faye's Flower Blanket, made with the Persian Tile Blanket pattern by Jane Crowfoot is almost done. I have an October 6 deadline for the birthday girl! I have triangles to crochet onto the edges and then the border. New Crochet Magazine Moorit Magazine has launched! Crochet along to celebrate Alyson's great adventure! (Alyson of Keep Calm and Carry Yarn podcast) Winter Weave Along Starts October 15 and goes through the end of March. Three Green Sisters 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.

Summer Spin-In winners announced! The Two Ewes are together for two weeks so this is a quick, unedited episode to announce the winners and give a brief update on our Washington adventures. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts We drew prizes for the Summer Spin-In. Also, the 3Green Sisters giveaway thread is still going! If you didn't win yet, go try that thread! You can also shop 3 Green Sisters with a coupon code EWES2 for 15% off.  Marsha's Projects Marsha bought a fountain Pen: we found the Pilot Metropolitan at the UW bookstore. We also found J. Herbin ink  and we try to pronounce. Finished the socks that I had been working on for awhile. Used Garnstudio Drops Fabel. Atlas (Ravelry link) by Jared Flood using Navia Tradition. The pattern is also available at his website. Kelly and I had a long discussion about the sweater while poor Mark had to wear it and listen to us try and figure out what I need to do.  Still knitting 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). Garter Squish Blanket by Stephen West. Wanted to use “spirit yarn” to make a blanket for my brother that he had seen at Close Knit in Portland called Noromania Blanket. Turns out we remembered the blanket very differently and he was correct. So, that will be another blanket project. Decided to go ahead and dye the yarn for my second Garter Squish. Kelly helped by dye all the yarn. The main color is a gradient of a terra cotta. The contrasting yarns we dyed with short color repeats and long color repeats.  While Kelly was in meetings I drove into Aberdeen, Washington and visited Weird Sisters Wool Emporium owned by Megan Blackburn and Chelsea Barr who dye all the yarn. Megan used to own Little Fish Stitches. I made a pair of sock and the Walk Along tee with her yarm. Bought a skein of sock weight yarn for Kelly from the “Bob Ross: Happy Little Mistakes” bin. Their shop is a little hard to find on the second floor of a business office but do persevere or check out their website. Also visited Harbor Bead and Craft in Hoquiam, Washington. A nice craft store also a bit hard to find but worth the effort. 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. Spinning wheel came with me on the trip and I've gotten a little spinning done on my Oxford singles. I think they will become a two ply.  Patreon Pattern Giveaway! Patrons get a pattern of their choice up to $8.00. Contact Kelly with your pattern selection! This is going on until the end of September. Three Green Sisters 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.

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

The Summer Spin ends in less than a month so we discuss knitting with handspun. Plus, we have great prizes for the Spin In provided by the Three Green Sisters and we have our Patreon Pattern Giveaway. 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. They are very interested in supporting this new 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. We talk about Cheri Magnuson who has created fabric that will be in one of the prizes. She is a shepherd who had become a fabric designer. Coldstream_Ice Spoonflower fabric shop. 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. Now I'm worried it is too small. I need to get my brother over as soon as possible to try on the sweater so I know what my next step will be. I discussed a technique for knitting with three colors in one row that my friend told me about. Unfortunately, I cannot find a YouTube video demonstration but I will describe it. You knit the row with the dominant color and one background color, slipping the stitches that are the second background color. When you finish the row, you knit the row again but this time you knit the second background color stitches you slipped, and slip all the dominant color and first background colors. Hope that makes sense. I also picked up a skein winder or spinning weasel from our listener Nanci (Nan4Nan). It was lovely to meet Nanci and so generous of her to pass along the skein winder. It does not have a brand name on it so if listeners know, please pass on that information. I've been watching YouTube videos to learn how to use it. Kelly's Projects I have been knitting dishcloths at night and weaving during the day. I had a previously wound warp for the Huck Color and Weave project from the Jane Stafford guild. I decided to put it on the loom.  Huck is a weave structure with floats. You can have horizontal floats along with plain weave on the front, you can have vertical floats along with the plain weave, or you can have both vertical and horizontal floats that make a kind of lace. Color and weave refers to alternating colors in both the warp and the weft. Depending on the sequence of light and dark threads (LDLD… or LDDL-LDDL… or DLDDL-DLDDL…) the colors will interact with each other to form interesting patterns. A gamp is a sampler that allows you to systematically pair every weft choice with every warp choice.  It was my first time warping back to front on the floor loom. I used the instructions from season one of the guild. It was easy to wind on by myself! Robert doesn't really enjoy helping me wind on. Once it was on the loom I got obsessed and wove it off in about 4 days. I did 4 different gamps and then I just played. The gamps became napkins (they were a good size for that) and the rest of the sampling became dishtowels.  The fabric really changes when it is washed and curved sections become visible.  I'm not ready to do another one of these lace projects, but I got inspired to put a stash busting baby blanket on the loom.  Spinning Topic--Handspun sweaters Kelly: Laceweight camel and silk featherweight sweater, Funky grandpa sweater, Orcas Run sweater, Dark and Stormy, Dark Green Forest sweater. Four are natural colored (one of them with overdyed stripes). The current one is overdyed. The yarns  are:  Two ply--one ply camel and one ply silk for a laceweight yarn. Spun first, then decided what to do with it. Featherweight sweater. Medium fine wool (breed unknown) (Charlotte) two ply fingering weight. Spun first, then decided what to do with it. Funky Grandpa sweater. CVM bulky two ply--spun on purpose for the sweater. Orcas Run sweater Targhee lamb three ply (worsted to aran)--spun for a sweater, chose sweater based on gauge. Dark and Stormy sweater. CVM three ply in a sport weight--started spinning first, then decided to make a sweater and selected based on gauge. Dark Green Forest Sweater. Also used Charlotte carded with a little bit of brightly dyed silk noil to make a vest for Robert. Yarn is a heavy, dense 2-ply that is probably aran weight or larger (early spinning). The vest is quite large (gauge swatch? no!) and you can see stripes of the various natural colors of Charlotte in it from uneven carding.  Marsha: I have made two sweaters with my handspun. Both were combo spin methods. Beeline by Heidi Kirrmeier. For this sweater I dyed the roving in really bright colors.  Simple Summer Tweed Top Down V-Neck by Heidi Kirrmeier. All the roving I bought at shows and did not dye any. Lots of fiber types...wools, silk, alpaca. Really fun to spin all the different fibers, With both sweaters I did not alternate skeins on the body, but I did alternate for the sleeves. Patreon Pattern Giveaway! Patrons get a pattern of their choice up to $8.00. Contact Kelly with your pattern selection!  Summer Spin In - Ends September 6th Less than a month to go! Prizes from Three Green Sisters Full Transcript of show: 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 0:43 Good morning, Kelly. Kelly 0:44 Good morning, Marsha. I thought we would be ready to go early. And then I got going doing the dishes and looked at the clock and went oh my gosh. It's time to record. Marsha 0:57 I know. Well a little late start for me too. I was a little late today. So but here I am I have a cup of coffee. Kelly 1:03 All right. Marsha 1:04 I have to just before we get into-- well, we always have our first you know 20 minutes of non fiber related conversation. Here's my non fiber related conversation. I had some friends over last night for dinner. And one of the women that came does not like dogs. And she especially does not like poodles. Kelly 1:26 Like actively doesn't like dogs? Not just isn't a dog person? Marsha 1:30 She's not a dog person. And she's she's afraid of them. And kind of leery of them, I think not flat out afraid. But she just doesn't like them and would prefer not to be around them. And she especially does not like poodles. And she especially doesn't like black poodles. What do I have? Kelly 1:46 Yes. Okay. Marsha 1:47 And the. And the reason she doesn't and I can understand this, the reason why she doesn't like them is that she some family member has poodles and they jump on her. So I understand that. And so I know this about her and so whenever... So anyway, I won't make this a long story. So when they arrived, I had Enzo on leash, even though he doesn't jump on people. He does want to go over and say hi. And some people don't like that. And so, and that's fair. So I just, when they came to the door, I had him on his leash, and kept him on a short leash. And then we went out in the backyard to sit and have a drink and, and then I said-- Well, I left them out there. There's some other people there too. But I I said I had to go in because the timer went off and the food was ready. I had to go get it out and put it on the table. And I said, you guys just sit there. I'll just do this on my own. That's fine. And I told Enzo, he's down on the patio and I'm up on the deck and I use the hand signal down and stay. And they gasp because he does it and I'm like I'm 15 feet away. And and I go in the house and I get the casserole out and I toss the salad, I slice the bread and I open the wine and come back out and he's still sitting there. 15 minutes later. Kelly 2:07 What a good boy. Yes. Marsha 2:14 What a good boy. And that's why we train our dogs, right? Like, I Kelly 2:58 yeah, so they can live with us. Marsha 3:08 Yeah. And then they can be around people who are not comfortable around dogs too. You know, that's, I said to you that as why I wanted all the training that I was going to do with Enzo. The whole purpose is I wanted him to be a good representative of, you know, a good ambassador for dogs and his breed. Because it does seem like with poodles that some people really like poodles, and some people don't like poodles, they've had bad experiences with them. I don't know why. I mean, I don't you know, he's, I think he's fine. But it's all about training. Really, you know, it's just, it's not the dog. It's the dog owner. But anyway, they were very impressed. I was even I was impressed. I know, I wasn't saying I was, I kind of figured Kelly 4:00 You were proud of him. Marsha 4:02 I was proud of him. Yeah, I wasn't surprised. I was proud of him. And he and and they were like kind of surprised, too, you know, and so I yeah, so anyway, Training pays off. Yeah. Kelly 4:14 Yeah, it does. My niece has a new rescue Pitbull. And she's been working really hard with her. And she, you know, like any dog that you don't have from puppy hood. And some that you do have from puppyhood? Marsha 4:28 Yeah, really! Kelly 4:29 You know, she has some things that she needs to-- some challenges that she needs to work on. And, and so she's been, you know, texting me and stuff and, and she texted me the other day about a good event. You know, how something that worked kind of like what you were talking about, not not anything as big. Because she's still you know, in the baby step stage. I think she's had her two and a half or three months about the same amount of time we've had Beary, a little less. But she texted me to say, Oh, this worked and it was so great and it's so nice to have a dog that does things that fit into my life. And, you know, so anyway, I thought that was really cool to hear. It's nice when they are able to, they're able to be a part of your life because they know how to act. Marsha 5:14 Yeah. And the thing is, like I mean, I knew he would stay there. So I wasn't-- that wasn't what I was concerned about. But I, I, I don't normally have to do that, like on a Saturday when, you know, my brother comes over and Kim and Gary and they usually because they they're used to dogs, they're used to Enzo. They're not afraid of him or, and I can't say she's afraid of him, that's too strong. She just doesn't want to be around dogs. She just doesn't like him. And so when you have somebody like that you want-- you're extra careful about how your dog behaves. Kelly 5:48 Right. Marsha 5:48 So that's why I was I normally on a Saturday night I don't have to make him on a down stay right when I go in the house because I just go in the house because there's other people you know, watching him and usually he just goes and lays down anyway on his own. But no, I was I was really proud of him, his behavior. And then when we came in the house and had dinner, you know, he just went lay down in the entrance hall and like and how can you not like a dog that's just a flat dog? Kelly 6:16 Right. Marsha 6:17 looking beautiful. Or just spread eagle on the in the middle of the living room floor, you know, ignoring you. So a good a good ambassador. Kelly 6:27 Yeah. Marsha 6:27 So should we talk projects or? Kelly 6:32 Yeah, let's go ahead. Actually, before we talk projects, let's talk a little bit about the prizes. Marsha 6:37 Oh, yeah. Kelly 6:37 For the spin-in. So we have been talking about them, just sort of generally. But I want to talk a little bit more specifically about the three green sisters prizes that they've offered us very generously. So there's a grand prize that is an 18 by 18 inch pillow. And it's made from fabric that's designed by a woman named Cheri Magnussen, and she's a shepherd of Coldstream Icelandic sheep in Maine. And she was an engineer and she's retired and has been, you know, living her dream, she says of, of being a shepherd with these Icelandic sheep. So I'll read a little bit from her bio in a minute, but. So three green sisters has met her and is interested in supporting her work that she's now doing. Because she's had to stop. She's had to stop, you know, stop doing doing the shepherding work. She has a few older sheep that she's keeping, but but she's not able to keep breeding sheep and working with sheep. So anyway, so let me tell you a little bit about Cheri Magnussen, again Coldstream Icelandic sheep in Maine. Her farm she says Kelly 7:55 "My farm has been a journey filled with unspeakable joy and grief so raw, I felt as if my heart was being torn apart. The year my first lambs were born, my son took his own life. I'm still grieving within. There are still times when sorrow washes over me like the waves of a cold dark winter sea. As I awaited this year's lambs, my heart was full of expectation. Joy filled my heart as the lambs grew within my ewes ever expanding bellies. Now lambs are playing and bouncing about and hope has welled up in me again, and life has promised." Kelly 8:25 So she started her journey with sheep with that combination of, of sadness and hope. And now, she's actually been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and so she's had to stop working the sheep but she's begun doing fabric design and she says, "My fabric design began just a few months ago, I watched a design show where people made their own fabric. It's like a light turned on in me, I can do that! I see designs in everything, the woodland streams, flowers, skies and of course, my sheep. So using the forest, a mossy log, some gnarly roots wrapped around rocks that I can work with, and I have some of the proceeds that I received from my designs are donated to suicide prevention and shelters, both human and animal." Kelly 9:11 So she's now doing this fabric design. And the three green sisters have met her and are are using some of her fabrics for their bags. And then they also have this pillow that they've offered with the with the sheep fabric. So that's one of the prizes. And let me just tell you, I put a link to Spoonflower in the show notes Marsha, and I... In particular, the Coldstream Icelandic shop, but what a rabbit hole! Oh my gosh. I had heard about Spoonflower before, but Marsha 9:51 as you're talking, I'm looking at it. So this is dangerous. Okay. Kelly 9:55 Yeah, we'll have to have a conversation about Spoonflower when we're done with this. So Getting back to our prizes. So we have the pillow. And then addition, in addition to the pillow, three green sisters are also generously providing their Patty style bag as prize. And we're going to have one of them for the summer spin in. And then one of them, I thought it would be nice for the people who are not participating in the summer spin to also have an opportunity to go check out their Etsy shop and have a possibility of winning. So I'll put a thread up in the Ravelry group where I'll have you go and look at her shop and answer some question, some prompt. So I'll put a thread there that I will have just a regular giveaway thread. And then we'll have one of these bags as a prize for the summer spin-in. And then in addition to that, they're also offering us a coupon code for 15% off and this goes all the way to the end of the year. The coupon code is EWES2 and it's all caps. That's the coupon code. And so you can use that for 15% off and they have free shipping in the US on most items. They also make loom totes and spinning wheel carriers. I know you talked about the bag you bought Marsha, I think maybe you you accidentally bought a spinning wheel carrier! It's so large. [laughing] Marsha 11:18 I think I did [laughing] Kelly 11:19 yeah. And then they also have spindle bags and bags for your heddles. Those of you who have rigid heddle looms. And so they have lots of variety on there. Three green sisters Etsy shop. So coupon code, EWES2 for 15% off in that shop. So thank you to the three green sisters for supporting our spin in again this summer. We only have a-- we have less than a month to go. Marsha 11:53 I know! Well, I have to talk about that. Kelly 11:55 The summer has gone by so fast. Marsha 11:58 I know. Where I am in the process. But anyway, we'll talk about that when we get to projects. Yeah. Kelly 12:04 By the way, have you ever seen Spoonflower before? Marsha 12:08 No, I have not. And I'm, as I say I'm looking at it now. And it's Kelly 12:13 so you can design a fabric and then once you design-- the premise of it, you can design a fabric and then once you design the fabric, you can also make it available for other people to purchase. But you can find fabric with anything on it. Honest to God, anything. Marsha 12:32 So I can find something with poodles. Kelly 12:34 Oh, it's quite I'm sure you could find a million things with poodles. So this morning I put in-- I was trying to find her shop, just without going to look up the link. And so I just put in Icelandic for example. And there's fabric with four breeds of Icelandic dogs on it. Like that's, that's very niche. Marsha 12:55 Yeah, Kelly 12:56 There's millions of fabrics with puffins. There's fabrics with the the country of Iceland. There's... What are they called? runes, the the characters you know, that like letters? Marsha 13:12 Oh. Right! Kelly 13:12 I think they're called--are they called runes? I don't know that sounds right, Marsha 13:17 yeah. Kelly 13:18 Anyway, they're, they're the language characters like the alphabet. They have, I mean, put in something and you can find-- I'm pretty sure you can find a fabric that has something to do with that thing. You know, my my most recent obsession of fountain pens and ink, I'm sure you could find fabrics with that. Just anything you're interested in. Somebody has a fabric, and if you can't find it, you could design your own! Marsha 13:46 Design my own. So I'm looking at-- Oh, and here's-- Okay, we are getting off topic now and are down a rabbit hole! But I just put in poodle. The style that that Cheri is using is, it's like that mirrored image kind of thing. So it looks like you know, when you look through like a kaleidoscope? Kelly 14:11 Yes, Marsha 14:11 that's kind of what it looks like? And she-- some of her fabric, she has sheep in there. And then you can sort of make them out and so but just now I was looking at poodles. And there is a poodle. Like that thing where you're looking through the kaleidoscope so you see the poodle upside down and backwards. So there's all kinds of poodle fabric, so yeah, yeah. Anyway, very, very fun. Kelly 14:38 It makes me want to sew something. Marsha 14:41 Yeah. Oh my god. So cute. Yeah. Oh, here's one with the black poodle. And lattes, a black poodle and lattes. Kelly 14:49 There you go. Marsha Marsha 14:51 What's the connection there. Kelly 14:56 That would make a cute knitting bag. You could sew yourself a knitting bag with poodles. Marsha 15:00 Yes. Here's a very stylized one. Oh, interesting. Kelly 15:07 Okay, so this is enough. This is an audio podcast. We can't be showing you pictures of all these different fabrics. But...But take a look. If you have not ever gone down the rabbit hole of Spoonflower proceed at your own risk. Marsha 15:24 Well, and I looked at Cheri's fabrics, and she has really interesting fabric. They're beautiful colors. And they're very sort of geometric that like I, like I say, it's like you're looking through a kaleidoscope. That's how, yeah, very, very interesting. Kelly 15:40 Yeah, some of them, you have to really look at them more closely to see that they're actually sheep, that the fabric is created from, from sheep. So very interesting and a cool, a cool project that she has now to do. Designing fabric. Instead of her shepherding duties. And she says "My focus now is writing books and designing fabrics. This is not difficult for me and brings me so much joy. I foresee many years of design and writing ahead of me." So yeah, take a look at her shop in particular. It's Coldstream Ice Spoonflower fabric shop. We'll have it in the show notes. But also just dig around in Spoonflower for a while. You'll be inspired, I'm sure. Even if you don't sew you'll be inspired. All right. So what are you knitting on Marsha? Marsha 16:36 Well, right now I'm sitting here knitting on-- in fact I just was rustling the paper. It's called Simple shawl. It's I've been working on it for, Kelly 16:47 I don't know, three years? Marsha 16:49 Three years! Anyway, so I'm just just knitting on that. And so there's not much more to report on that. I'm just, I've talked about that in the past. So I won't discuss that. But I'm doing that. I'm now far enough along I'm doing the border, there's some-- the whole shawl is garter stitch, and then you do a border. I've done one row of eyelets, and I'm just knitting a row, and then I'm going to start another row of eyelets. Okay, and then you do a, I do a little bit and then you do a Picot bind off. But that's what I'm working on. Marsha 17:23 But let me just say about spinning. I have been spinning a little bit every night. But it suddenly dawned on me. Oh my goodness. It's gonna end! This contest is going to end. Oh my God! The summer spin-in is ending on September 6, I have to get my myself moving on this project. So I've got two bobbins are complete. And I've done a quarter of the third bobbin of the brown and I'm spinning them to do the three ply. So I'm going to get moving on that. Because I have to. Because I have a deadline now. Kelly 18:00 Yeah. Marsha 18:01 The other project I just want to talk about is I've been working on the color work sweater the Atlas by Jared Flood I'm making for my brother. I finished all the color work. And Kelly, remember last time we talked I was having to figure out how to trap the floats. With continental stitch, I had to look that up. Kelly 18:22 Right. Marsha 18:22 The next thing I-- issue I had is that there are several-- I think the whole pattern repeat the whole pattern of color work is 42 rows. Of that about 10 you actually have three colors in the row. Marsha 18:36 Yeah. Marsha 18:37 Oh, and so I wasn't sure. We had a whole conversation in the last episode about color dominance. And but what do you do if you have you know, you have your dominant color. And then you have two other colors that-- we were calling them the submissives. They're actually called the background colors, I should say. That's what they're really called. But if you have two background colors, how do you manage that? Because I can understand the concept of you know, you have your dominant in your left hand and your background color in your right hand. But if you have two background colors, how do you handle it? And so the first row I had, I just would, you know, of those two background colors I would just drop one and pick up the other one and drop one and pick up the other one. Well, what happens is then, it keeps twisting your balls of yarn, your the yarn coming off the ball keeps twisting and twisting. So you then have to spend all this time undoing it, untwisting it. And so we, Kim and I, had a trip planned down to the Portland area. And in the car I was talking to her about it. Telling her this because I was working on my sock because I can't work because I have to... I thought there must be a technique. I'm gonna have to go on YouTube and figure out technique and she said, there is a technique! And I don't know what it's called. And I in before the show we post, I'll see if I can find a tutorial about this. But basically, what you do is you have your dominant color in your left hand, and you pick one of the background colors. And you do the pattern with just those two colors. When you get to a stitch that is supposed to be the third color or it'd be the the background color that you're not knitting with. You just slip that stitch. And so you work all the way around just using the dominant and the first background color, slipping the stitches that are the second background color. Then when you get to the end of the row, you finish that you then go and you knit with only the second background color, the one that you did not knit with the first pass through, and you knit those slipped stitches, and you slip the other stitches that you knit. Does that make sense? Kelly 21:01 Yes. So you're, so you're knitting two of the three colors. You're knitting with... you leave those other stitches just slipped. And then you go back and you knit them separately. So, your one row... to do one round, you have to go around twice. Right? Marsha 21:17 So the row, you have to knit the row twice. Kelly 21:18 That's cool Marsha 21:20 It's very cool. And then there's not this issue with the yarn twisting and having to do all this yarn management. The other thing, and I think this is more important, is with the way I was doing it, where you were drop a, color pick up a color, is I believe it throws off your tension. And so-- because you're not getting any kind of rhythm. And I think that I... and I can tell a difference in that row that I did one row, quote unquote, wrong way, Kelly 21:49 Interesting Marsha 21:50 because there really is no wrong way, but differently, differently. And so if you do it, this technique that she suggested, your tension is better. I think there's less chance of pulling the yarn too tight. That's all. I'll see if I can find a YouTube tutorial about this. Because I think it's brilliant. Kelly 22:13 That is cool. Yeah, yeah. That's very cool. Marsha 22:19 So now that I say all of this, about tension, so as I finished the color work, I finished the neckline, and then I washed and blocked it. And I think this is where I'm going to say is because I don't do color work. I've not done very much. And this is like a given you know, it doesn't give the way... Kelly 22:42 Yeah, Marsha 22:43 if you're just using one color, right, right. And so I, my brother needs to come and try the sweater on before I go any further. Because so now basically the body and the sleeves are almost done, I just have to have him try it on and figure how long to make the sleeves. Because now I remember I did a provisional cast on the bottom of the sweater and the sleeves. So now I have to just pick up those stitches and knit down the correct length for him. And so he does to come in try it. He needs to come and try the sweater on. Kelly 23:15 And you have the sleeves. I mean, the body is almost all done. You just have to put like, if it needs any additional length plus the ribbing, right? And the sleeves, the same thing, right? They're already... Marsha 23:26 Right Kelly 23:26 approximately sleeve length. And you just need to see if you need to add in anything and put on the ribbing.? Marsha 23:32 Right. But I'm a little concerned that it's going to be small, because that that that color work has really no give. Not like the bottom, you know, like Kelly 23:42 Yeah, Marsha 23:43 Do you know what I'm saying? so it feels... and also you know, it's it's heavier too. Like that any time you do a sweater like that it's going to be Kelly 23:51 kind of like three layers of yarn. Marsha 23:53 Yeah. So I don't know, I'm a little concerned. But I also I have to remember he likes things more slim fitting. Yeah, he's also male, so he doesn't have breasts. So even though I try it on and I'm like, ugh! I tried it on, I'm like, I don't know. When he tries it on, it's gonna be completely different because he has a completely different body than I do. Marsha 24:14 Right. Marsha 24:15 So and I do have gauge so... And it's... let's see. He's 38 and this is 41 inches. So he wanted about three inches of ease, his other sweater has three inches of ease. So it should be fine. Right? Kelly 24:32 Right, It just feels different. Marsha 24:34 It feels Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kelly 24:37 Well, I will be interested to see how, how it fits on him and how he likes it. What would be your alternative? If it's too tight? Would you go back and do a larger needle size or you really couldn't add stitches, right? Because it's... Maybe I shouldn't even bring it up. Sorry, I shouldn't even bring this up! [laughing] Marsha 25:00 Well, I, I'm laughing because I thought about this. It's like, What do I do? If it doesn't fit? What do I do? One thing is I can just finish it and give it to somebody that it fits and make him another sweater. The other option is just to rip the whole thing out and make the larger size. Kelly 25:21 But the bottom part would fit. Marsha 25:24 In theory... Kelly 25:25 okay. Marsha 25:26 Allegedly, I don't know. You know. Or I just rip out the color work and do the color work again. Kelly 25:36 Yeah, like the first time you do something? Marsha 25:38 Yeah. Like it's, it's like, you know, you burn the first pancake? Kelly 25:41 Yeah. And you're more tense. And yeah, you're gauge might be different. Yeah. Marsha 25:48 So you know, maybe it's something that I do I if it doesn't fit... I'm just thinking what my... Is it maybe I rip it out and I go up a needle size or because the body was knit on sevens and the yoke the color work was on eight. Kelly 26:08 Yeah, Marsha 26:09 I don't know. listeners can weigh in, I guess the first thing is find out if it fits? Kelly 26:14 Yeah. I mean, we're, I really shouldn't have even said anything because I'm borrowing trouble. There are enough things wrong in the world without me manufacturing something that hasn't even happened. Marsha 26:30 I have just that... This just popped into my head Kelly. This is now off topic, but about listeners weighing in. The one thing we do need to address and I forgot that we need to address this in this episode. In the last episode I started the conversation at some point I said to you, about how you had not left your property. And Pat one of our listeners and good friend of ours commented in the thread. "Didn't you go visit Marsha?" Kelly 26:58 Yeah. [laughing] Marsha 27:03 So it must not have been It must not have been a very memorable trip. [laughing] Kelly 27:06 I know. It was very fast. Fast. Yeah. totally forgotten. Yeah. Marsha 27:11 That's why we forgot. Yeah. And I'm the one that said.... I think I'm the one that said you had not left your property. Kelly 27:16 Yeah. And to be fair to myself when I was thinking about leaving the property, and when I talked about going to visit, going to you know, visit a colleague's house. I haven't driven.Llike the trip to Seattle, I didn't drive. I just sat as a passenger. I honestly have not driven probably more than five miles at a time. You know, myself behind the wheel of the car. Yeah, I've, you know, I've gone places with Robert, not very many. But I have gone places with Robert, but actually putting myself behind the wheel of the car on the freeway. You know, for a significant length of time? More than five or 10 minutes to get to the store? It was weird. It was a weird feeling to be in the car for that long driving myself. Marsha 28:03 Yeah. Yeah. Kelly 28:04 So to be fair to myself, that was what I was thinking of but yes, it is true. I do leave the property. Marsha 28:12 So, but I had to laugh when Pat said that. Because our listeners, our listeners hold us accountable. Kelly 28:21 We can't get away with anything.[laughing] Marsha 28:25 And also, they pay attention. Kelly 28:27 Yes, they do. Marsha 28:31 So funny anyway, so that's it for me for projects. I don't have much more going on in that. That's it. Kelly 28:39 Well, I didn't have much going on. But this morning, because I felt a little bit guilty and because I really didn't have anything to knit while we were recording. I did actually get the yarn wound up. And I'm started on the sleeve of my my sweater the Dark Green Forest pattern that I'm doing. Marsha 29:04 Oh right. So we have to talk about this. Well, yes, Kelly 29:07 I'm gonna I've gone about... 2-4-6-8 rows. I've got almost eight rows, and I don't I don't see a bad stripe. Unknown Speaker 29:20 Oh, this is good news. Kelly 29:21 So I think that might be good news. There's a little bit I mean, I see some but I'm alternating skeins. And so we'll see. I think it might work. Marsha 29:33 And um, the other thing we talked about too and we did not talk about this in the podcast in the last episode, but after we finished recording, I said if there is a strong variation, can you just knit the whole sweater and then over dye it? Remember we had that conversation? Kelly 29:50 Yes, yeah. Marsha 29:51 And like just doing a very low percentage solution of like the terracotta or another color or something and and that might even it out. We had that conversation. But Kelly 30:02 yeah, so I think... I mean, I will I'm not going to pass judgment yet. I don't want to jinx myself. But I do feel like it's, it's... I do feel like it seems to be working. Okay. Marsha 30:19 Okay. Kelly 30:19 Again, I haven't gotten... sometimes you can't tell til you... Actually, sometimes you can't tell until you take a picture for Instagram. [laughing] Marsha 30:27 Yes. Yes. Kelly 30:28 And so, so we'll see. But I am working on it right now. And, and so it's back in the rotation. It's got, you know, when you have to wind yarn and join on, pick up the stitches, so that it was just sitting in a bag because of that. But I have, now I've done those things. And so it's back in the rotation. It's in a place where I can grab it at night and knit on it. I had been knitting dish cloths at night when I needed something to knit. So yeah, I'm back working on this sweater. This is again, the Dark Green Forest sweater. And the pattern designer. Oh, here it is. Christina Koerber Reith, strikhauseit is her Ravelry name, I think. So that's going well. But the other thing I did that was really super fun was I did a weaving project. So right after we recorded I last week, I-- not that same day, but maybe the next day--I decided Oh, you know what I really want to do? I have this warp that I've wound already that's ready to go, I should put it on the loom. And my original thought was I should put it on the loom, you're gonna laugh, so that I can have something that I can just take a break from prepping for classes, and go weave for a little bit. Or once classes start, I can take a break from you know, the first week of classes hecticness and go weave for a little bit. I have this on the loom. So I put it on the loom. It's a huck color and weave project from the Jane Stafford guild, season five, which is this year's season. And I had hesitated about it because I really didn't like the look of her sample that she did with the two high contrast yarns, a black and a white. And then she calls it a zinger. And she had this green, this lime color. She called it Pale Limette as the zinger. And I just really, I know I get to choose my own colors, but but that just didn't speak to me in the, in the, in the videos, and so I wasn't really excited about it. And also I think of huck as a solid color, like beige table linens. Huck is a lace, a lace design, a woven lace. So I always think of it as like beige, you know, that's kind of the color I think of doing, an all solid. So anyway, finally, I decided, let's just put this on the loom and do it. Get out of your comfort zone. And I had warped it already, I had chosen not quite as high contrast as hers. But I did use white and gray. It's actually a kind of a steel blue-gray color, and white. And then I used red as the contrast color. So I put it on the loom and got it all--it took not so long to thread it. I warped back to front for the first time, which was really cool. Well, for the first time on the floor loom. I think I might have done it at some point on the table loom. But anyway, it it worked out really well. I didn't have to get Robert to help me. Which, you know, winding on-- Do you remember that part of the process where one of us is holding all the yarn threads and the other one is winding it onto the loom? He does not like helping with that process. So, so it was nice to have a technique that I could use and and successfully wind it on myself. So the way you work front to back is normally I would sit at the front of the loom and I would thread it through the reed. You know that's that the part where you that you beat with, and then I would thread it through the heddles and then once it was threaded through those two things, I would then tie it onto the back end wind and on. So while you're winding it's having to go through the reed and through the heddles. Right? And tangles can happen, which is what Robert doesn't like. It just-- I think it offends his sensibilities of order. He feels like if I was doing it right it would just wind on with no tangles, Marsha 35:04 But another way of looking at it is the reed and the... it's it's putting it in order. Kelly 35:12 Exactly. Right, exactly. Marsha 35:14 He has to look at it a different way. Yeah. Yeah. Kelly 35:19 So this way weaving or warping back to front, what you do is you skip, you skip over the--you don't put it through the reed, you don't put it through the heddles, you stick it on this thing on the top of your loom called a raddle. So you like kind of line them up in a semi organized way, more than semi organized like a three quarters organized way. And then you wind it on to the back beam, where it's just going through this thing that's not enclosed. It's just like, basically, it's a, it's a long stick with nails poking up from it. And you have like four threads, four or five threads in each little slot. And so it's just going through that, so there's a lot less potential for tangling. So anyway, you wind it on, you have this--there's more to it than that. But that's the idea, you wind it all onto the back first. And then once it's all wound onto the back, then you thread going the other direction. So you sit at the-- I sat at the back of my loom and threaded through the heddles and then through the reed. Some people sit at the front of the loom and pull it forward through the heddles and then through the reed. But I can get closer to things if I sit at the back of my loom. So that's what I did, I sat at the back of my loom and and put it forward. So anyway, I had not done that before on the big loom, the the four harness floor loom. It was very successful. And then so then I started weaving and of course, you know what happened then is I just kept weaving till I was done. I became obsessed. I really did. [laughing] Kelly 37:02 So Huck is a structure that has well like your floats in colorwork. You have you know, those yarn, yarns that are floating on the back? Well in huck you have floats, but they're on purpose. And they're part of the design. So you have these floats floating horizontally across the surface of the fabric. You have plain weave, your regular woven fabric, but you also have these floats floating across the surface of the fabric horizontally. Or you can have plain weave, and floats floating vertically across the surface of the fabric. And basically, if you look at the fabric, on`e side has one and one side has the other so it depends on what's your front, right. So if you have horizontal floats on the front of your fabric, on the back of your fabric you're gonna have vertical floats. Marsha 37:52 So I'm I'm looking on Ravelry at the fabric. And look, but the floats are relatively short. They look like they go over maybe like three or four, threads? Yes, like three or four threads? Kelly 38:05 Yeah, it depends on the way that you-- It depends on the way that you thread it, you know the pattern that you're using. But yeah, it goes i think in this one, it went over 3 or five, I think it went over three or five. Marsha 38:21 Yes, because some are shorter that I see. They're three, Yes. Kelly 38:25 Okay, so this was a sampler, so it had a little bit of each. And then there's another fabric that you can make that's called Huck lace, where you have floats, you have both floats at the same time. And so it makes a really lacy open fabric. And so the the project for this was to do something called a gamp. And a gamp is where you can-- Well, let me let me stop and go back a little bit. So the other thing, the thing I really objected to about this project, and I was leery of, was this thing called color and weave. And color and weave is where you alternate colors in some kind of color sequence. So you alternate colors in the warp. But you also alternate colors in the weft while you're weaving. So you might have a sequence of colors where you go light, dark, dark, light, and you just keep going that pattern over and over again. Or light, dark, light, dark, light, dark, light, dark, alternating, and that's the pattern. So some kind of sequence of lights and darks that you're repeating over and over and over. Again, so they're you know, there's a lot of different sequences that you can use, right? I mean, make them up! You can just combine lights and darks in any kind of way. Well, what what we were doing in this project was something called a gamp, which allows you to systematically pair sequences in the warp--all the different combinations that you have in your project--with the sequences in the weft, all the different combinations. So if your warp is going light, dark, light, dark, light, dark, light, dark, you can have your weft then also doing light, dark, light, dark, light, dark, but then you can also have your weft doing something else. And so I had, I don't know, like five different sequences. And then I paired them with the same five sequences in all different combinations. Marsha 40:21 Okay, so let me go back. And so that's why-- is that why it sort of looks like it's forming squares? Kelly 40:28 Yeah, it's like, okay, each one of those squares is a different combination of the different sequences. Marsha 40:35 Okay, yeah. Kelly 40:36 And that's called a gamp. And you can do that with the sequences, you can also do it just with colors. So like you have yellow in your warp. And then you can pair it with yellow in your weft, blue in your weft, red in your weft, green in your weft, and you can see all the different combinations, what they do with each other. And so, so there's all kinds of different gamps in weaving where you can test things. So that's what I did, I made, I made three different gamps. And then because they, you know, I was following a pattern. When I got done with the pattern, I had something that was not dish towel size, which is what I like to make. But turns out it was like napkin size. So what I did was I made I made-- I'm going to make them into napkins, these gamps. So yeah, and then I made a couple of dish towels. So I had fun. It's not my favorite look, it's a little busy, I think. Kelly 40:38 um, well, let me say I like it. I. But I like I guess I like busy. Well, I like color too. I understand what you're saying about you like, you don't like high contrast? Kelly 41:48 Yeah, Marsha 41:48 I'm probably-- well, I don't know enough about weaving. So I'm going to say something. Bear in mind. I don't really know what I'm talking about. But I wonder if she has used the high contrast so you can see the difference between the different sequences in the pattern, right? Is that why? Kelly 42:04 Yeah, because the whole idea of this project was not to make something. The idea of the project, well, it was to make something, it was to make gamps. And then you would keep a set of gamps in your studio so that you can then go look at them for inspiration, and say, oh, which one would I like to put into this project? Oh, I really like the way this little square looks. Okay, I'm going to use this. What was this? This was this combination paired with that combination. Okay, now I know what I'm going to put in my project. Kelly 42:34 And I didn't want to do that. I don't want to have a pile of gamps. I wanted to make napkins or something you know, that I can use. And I can still go and look at them. If I keep them, I can still go and look at them. But yeah, but that's the idea is you were making something that you could then use as a sample to see what you'd like to do in your next project. Yeah, so. So that it does make sense that that's why you would do the high contrast, because you can see, you can see better, not only can you see what, what's going to happen, but you can also see better to look at it and say what, wait, what was this combination? Again? You know, if your colors are so close, you might have a harder time figuring out what was I did in this little square? So I mean, you could label everything. She has these beautifully labeled gamps that she shows us on the on the, you know, the videos, they tell you just what it was in the warp and what it was in the weft. And, you know, that yeah, they're teaching tools, right? So she has them all really well laid out. And, and I just want to weave dishtowels! Marsha 43:53 Well, I I sort of, I understand. It's like I, I like to make something that's useful. Mm hmm. The idea of making something. I understand why you make something that's a sample, right, I understand that. But I still would like to be able to use it in some way. You know, yeah, I get that desire. Kelly 44:13 If I were maybe more of a weaver or, or if I did weaving to make things for sale, or like she you know, if I was a weaver for my job, maybe I would make a bunch of gamps and have them there for inspiration when I needed to kind of come up with an idea for a project. I don't know. I'm not there yet, where I want to make things, gamps just to have gamps. But I did-- I mean, I did make a couple. I do have a sample, a sampler from one of the other episodes, that is just hanging in the studio off the side of the shelf. So I guess I'm kind of there, not quite there But I don't think I'll ever wear it as a scarf. Yeah, it's just hanging as a decoration. So Marsha 45:05 Well these are-- it's very pretty, I think. Kelly 45:07 Thank you! Yeah, it was fun and and then when you wash it... Ao the pictures you're seeing are unwashed. I now have pictures of them washed, which changes it because instead of being vertical and horizontal threads, all sort of stiff, and burlap-y in places, they all sort of nestle into each other, and you get these nice curves. So you get some interesting curved designs in your, in your weaving that you wouldn't get you know, you don't see until you wash it. So I'll put up the before and after pictures in my project page, because I that I think is really cool, how it changes. So and then once I got done with that, the other project that I have is that I just wound a warp for baby blanket. My cotton-- the all the cotton yarn was sitting there in the studio as I was weaving, and I kept looking at it and thinking I should do something with this spirit yarn. And so last night I I just wound it. It's not on the loom or anything. It's just a warp chain that's sitting on the... sitting on the... changed in form from being yarn and balls in a bag to being yarn in a warp chain on the shelf. But now, when I'm ready to weave again, I have, you know... That part of the process is done and I can just start by putting it on the loom. Marsha 46:32 Mm hmm. Kelly 46:33 So those are my two. Those are my projects. I was pretty industrious this week. Pretty, I should say, obsessed this week. With the weaving. Marsha 46:41 Yes. Well, they're pretty. Kelly 46:43 Thank you Marsha 46:44 Someday, maybe. Well, I always say this. That when things calm down here, project wise. House project wise? This winter weave along coming up I will. Maybe I'll actually weave something. Kelly 46:58 Yeah, I it's another another rabbit hole. Marsha 47:01 Well, and I don't have as much yarn now because I got rid of so much. Did you see that? This is just a side note. Did you get the picture of my yarn stash. Kelly 47:10 Yes, I did. It looks very well organized. Marsha 47:13 I should put a picture of it in the show notes. I I have everything now in boxes organized by weight. I have like three, you know those bags that like down comforters come in. I have three of those, and two have the yarn from the two trips to Scotland. And the third one has the yarn that I purchased on the trip to Iceland. But I--when I sent you the picture, I think my comment was there's absolutely no reason for me to buy any yarn ever again. But I will! And the other thing I did do Kelly is I because I had all these little boxes. They're sort of like the size of like a shoe box. They hold about six skeins of fingering weight yarn approximately. And then I had like, again, like those plastic bags that sheets come in or whatever I have like the quantities of yarn, like if I have a quantity of for a sweater, and the sweater I know that I'm gonna make I printed out the pattern and I stuck it in that project in that bag with that yarn. So I'll know what I was planning. Kelly 48:28 yeah, Marsha 48:29 And then the other thing too is I have a lot of unfinished projects. Like I have the skull and the rabbit. And I bought yarn to do to knit a poodle. And remember, I started that color work tea cozy, it was sheep. I've not finished it and they're all stuffed in bags, you know that all stuffed in the closet. And so I took those out and I put each one in its own little box and labeled it. So now I see them. And so hopefully I'll get back to working on them. And yeah, and not let them just languish because, you know, out of sight out of mind. Kelly 49:04 Yeah, it's inspiring when you see it. I mean, the floor of my studio has just-- I brought down. I don't know why I did. But I brought down the bags. They're the same comforter, kind of bags. Of cotton yarn that I had upstairs and I brought them down, and I put them in the studio. I don't even remember why I brought them down. Maybe because I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for that color and weave. Maybe at that time I brought them. Anyway, I haven't put them away. They're still sitting there. So the whole time I was weaving they were sitting there, right. So you could just call it a mess because I haven't put stuff away. But because I hadn't put it away and I could see it, the whole time I was weaving I was kind of in the back of my mind mulling over what I could do, and kind of getting inspired. So yeah, for me that that is very definite. The fact I have to have things in sight. So and it's true even in other parts of my life, the desktop on my computer, most people look at it and go, Oh my God. In fact, I, when I first started doing zoom, and I didn't know how to make it so that the students couldn't see my whole desktop. Before I learned, you know, how you can, how you can manage that, I took all the things on my desktop, and I just dumped them all in one folder. To put them away, because I didn't want them put away put away. I just wanted them temporarily put away like you run around your house grabbing things to put in the closet. And then you just shut the closet door when guests are coming. That's what I did with my desktop on my computer, because I normally have a lot of things out. And the reason they're out is so I don't forget to use them, you know, have them out for a purpose. They're not just sitting there on my desktop for no reason. So some things are... And some things that sometimes I go through and I clean out, I get rid of stuff that I don't need anymore. I or I do put it in a particular place. But if I need to, if I want to save something, it's like, oh, I automatically save it to my desktop. And then I figure out what I want to do with it. So. So the out of sight out of mind thing for me is really bad. I like to have everything out where I can see it. I can see why you Marsha 51:23 Yeah, but that does not... I have to say I will take a picture and post it in the show notes of how I've got everything organized. I will say though, it is not the fleeces that I have. Right? That was another place. So there's another that's another whole Kelly 51:42 Well, that's a different stash. Marsha 51:45 Yeah. Yes and you know what I've always anyway always said about my stashes, you can't think of it like is... Everybody seems to be sort of embarrassed or feel guilty about their stashes and like it's it's, you know, a painter wouldn't say that about their paints. That's what we have to remember. It's like artists supplies, our supplies. Yeah, it's our supplies. Yeah. But anyway, okay. Kelly 52:09 So Marsha, we have a spinning topic for this week. And what I wanted to talk about this week was our handspun, the knits that we've done from our handspun and just kind of, is there anything in particular that people might be interested to know about them? So I'm gonna just talk about my sweaters. And then you can talk about the stuff that you've knit with your, with your handspun the very first handspun sweater that I knit, was the featherweight. And I, I had this yarn, it was laceweight, probably laceweight. I used camel, one of the plies was camel and one of the plies was silk. I actually spun that yarn without knowing what I was going to do with it. And then and then once I had it, I thought oh, I I think I can make one of those featherweight sweaters. So that's what I did with that one. And that was interesting to knit with because it was so light. And that sweater is nice, because it's really super light. Yeah, I mean that the featherweight sweater was designed to be. It's a Hanna Fettig pattern, I think. It was designed to be light. But then using laceweight yarn using such thin yarn for it. And then also the fact that it's camel, not wool-- and silk. It's just a super, super lightweight sweater, but really warm. I like that sweater a lot. And then another sweater that I knit, where I did not spin the yarn particularly for a sweater-- in fact, I've spun the yarn for a blanket and then I never made a blanket was the Funky Grandpa sweater that was a second one that I knit out of hanspun. And I used--it's mostly natural color. But some of the some of the yarn was over dyed and that was the idea was I was going to make a striped blanket with the gray yarn and the overdyed. And so that was the that Funky Grandpa sweater with the stripes. It has stripes down the sleeves and stripes on the body. Both of those were two plies. I know you spin--the sweaters you've made have been three plies, right? Marsha 54:22 Yeah, they've all been three plies. I'm not sure why but they all have. Kelly 54:27 Well, three ply yarn is nice. Nice and round. And so yeah, so I can see why why you would do that. I think because I made the yarn before I decided what to do with it. They particularly were two ply. Marsha 54:42 What I what I like about the, well, the featherweight is the camel and silk that is very lightweight because it's laceweight. Right? Because that's what you just said. But the Funky Grandpa I don't know what weight would you say that yarn is. not worsted. It's like DK or sport? Kelly 55:00 It's probably fingering weight to maybe sport in some places. It's very uneven. So there were places in the sweater where I was afraid. Like, oh my gosh, this is so thin. It's going to look holey. Yeah, moth eaten before it's even done! Because it was, you know, it was my... It was a fairly early spinning. It was not. It was not spun in recent years. I knitted it not that long ago, but it was spun....Well, it was done more than 15 years ago, because I spun most of it, I think, I spun maybe all of it at the last house. Marsha 55:42 Okay, yeah. Well, what I was gonna say about it, though, it's very lightweight. It's a very light feeling sweater, you know, and I and I don't know if that's because it's it's the wool or if that's because it's two ply, but my sweaters are more dense, kind of. I don't know if that's my spinning technique. I don't know if that.. Kelly 55:58 I think it's the type of prep. I think it's more the type of yarn and the preparation of the fiber. Because all of well, the the funky grandpa sweater, the one I'm knitting on right now...actually, I think all of my sweaters have been from fleeces. So it's all been carded preparation. None of it's been from top, you know, commercial top, which gives you a much smoother yarn. But also more dense yarn. Marsha 56:33 All I have to talk about, I have handspun I've made some socks for Ben. I've made a couple hats out of handspun. But I say I really only made two sweaters. Both of them were spun with a roving, commercially prepared roving, and one the first one was corriedale top, which is very smooth and and then the second one remember I combined different fibers. I had different wools I had silk and I had alpaca. Kelly 57:03 Oh, yeah. Marsha 57:04 Which also is going to make a denser. I think the alpaca and silk is just gonna make it denser. You know? Kelly 57:10 Yeah. So yeah, so they're different, you know, different styles of yarn will give you a different different sweater, all of my sweaters...Let's see the other sweater. I am just thinking about what else I have. Oh, the bulky, the bulky CVM that I made the Orcas Run sweater. Yeah, that's a that was a carded preparation. And so a light, kind of a light yarn, real puffy. And then I have that targhee lamb, three ply. That's the first one I did with the three ply was that one that I did last summer, for the summer spin in. That the brown, the Dark and Stormy made from the brown targhee lamb, that one I actually spun on purpose for the sweater, and then the Orcas Run. That's that big Cowichan style sweater. I also spun that one on purpose for that sweater. So there have been a couple of of sweaters where I actually spun the yarn, particularly for the sweater but most of mine have been yarn I spun and then later decided to make a sweater out of. And the same thing with this one that I'm working on. Now when I started spinning the CVM, and this one is a is a three ply-- This is the first-- Oh, this is the second three ply. This is about a sport weight, I think this Dark Green Forest that I'm doing now in the terracotta color. I started spinning that yarn without having any idea what I was going to do with it. And so I had several skeins of it and then I thought oh, I guess I can make a sweater. So that's when I started, you know. I think I I finished up the skeins knowing that I was going to make a sweater but when I started most of the spinning I had no idea what I was going to do with the yarn once I was done. Marsha 59:04 Yeah. Well I have to say my two sweaters that I made I knew I was gonna, I wanted I wanted a sweater quantity. But I didn't know what sweater it was and then... I say this is the beauty of Ravelry as you don't need to know. You don't have to spin to the pattern because I just did a swatch and figured out my gauge and then I started looking for sweaters and that gauge and then something that would--a sweater that was mostly just stockinette that did not have a lot of patterning in it. Because the combo spins are the pattern kind of. Right? all the different coloring. I didn't-- they would-- that would-- you know any kind of lace or cables we get lost in that. So yeah, so then... So anyway, but I'll say the two patterns its kind of funny because the two sweaters that I made one--The first one was called Beeline and that's interesting. It's a top down raglan sleeve pullover and I think it's called Beeline because it has-- it does have I say lace detail. It's not really lace it just yarn overs that makes these little holes that run from a sort of like the like on either side of your hip. You know, I take it back. They run from under your arms, and they go in an angle down to the front of the sweater. So has this detail. And I figured it was not--it's not like having lace or cabling, its just a little tiny detail. So it's not super noticeable. I think if it had been a solid color would be more noticeable. But Beeline and then the second one I did was the pattern is Simple Summer Tweed Top Down. And both of them... Kelly 1:00:51 That name! Marsha 1:00:53 I know, that name. Both of them I realized today when I was making the notes are by Heidi Kirmaier. I didn't realize that. But nice patterns. But that's what's so great about Ravelry is that if you have a yarn you do a swatch, do your measurement, and then you can figure out a sweater based on that gauge. Yeah, yeah. So easy to find a pattern. Kelly 1:01:18 Well, yeah, because I was... For the Dark and Stormy and for this one, I had an idea of what pattern I thought I might use. But then once I once I did my gauge swatch, there was no way I could use that pattern. So I did the same thing you did. Make a gauge swatch and then go searching. But in the back of my mind, I had a pattern. Like this is a like fingering, the one I'm knitting now is like a sport weight, you know, maybe fingering to sport weight. And I thought, oh, here's a sport weight sweater that I really like. But I didn't have the right gauge. So I had to go searching for something else. Oh, I should say. We talked a little bit about beginner yarn. And you know, people wanting to make things with their, with their first yarn. And that, you know, you had made a hat that weighed five pounds. Marsha 1:02:13 Yes. Kelly 1:02:14 So I wanted to say I was thinking about this and I thought oh, I should talk about Robert's vest. So I made a vest for Robert. Same yarn as my... same fleece as the Funky Grandpa. So it was a very early fleece and I made yarn out of it. And it was so dense, and also thick, you know. It was a probably an Aran weight yarn, maybe bigger in some places. And I found a vest pattern and of course at that time, you know, this is the probably the late 90s early 2000s I you know, just started knitting and I found a pattern that I wanted to make because I didn't know anything about gauge swatching really. so I didn't gauge swatch. I just thought, Oh yeah, I have this. It looks like the size of regular yarn. Like in my head You know, there was a size of yarn like regular yarn, probably worsted weight was my thought process. But you know, yarn had a regular size. [laughing] And so this looks like regular sized yarn. So I I can make a vest out of this. I got the pattern. I got the needles that they said and I knit him this vest. And it was a... it's a it's a gray yarn, two ply. And when I carded the wool I put little pieces of silk noil that I had dyed there's a bright pink and a bright turquoise and a dark blue in there and so that was there... little specks you know, like little little dots. Pops of color in the yarn. So I made him this vest. It's so heavy and dense. And he likes it. He wears it but it's also so big. Like its huge on him. Because I didn't know anything about gauge I just knit. You know, knit the pattern and look like it was right so anyways, I like it and he looks good when he wears it. But when I feel it you know it's like No wonder he's so hot. He's like, I can't wear this very often because it makes me so hot. And no wonder he's so hot. It's like wearing a bulletproof vest. Marsha 1:04:37 Well as you say imagine how hot it would be if it had sleeves. Kelly 1:04:39 Exactly, exactly. Yeah. So but it's but it looks nice. It looks nice on him. He wears it. He'll wear like a lot of times he'll wear it on Christmas Eve or you know if we go out in the winter time, if we go out to dinner somewhere he wheres that vest and it's gotten it's gotten quite a lot of quite a lot of wear. But yeah, it it definitely was a different yarn than what I'm what I'm spinning now. So anyway, I thought this would be kind of a fun thing to just think about all the different sweaters that that we've made and you know if there was anything about them that maybe would be helpful for people. Thinking about what they're going to going to do with their with their yarn. Marsha 1:05:27 Yeah, I did look up-- for some reason I thought with the the two sweaters that I made because they're combo spins, I thought I had alternated skeins on the body. I did not. I just knit. Which I was surprised. I mean, I was looking at them, turned the sweaters inside out this morning to look at them and and no evidence and I went I looked at my show notes and no, I don't mention it. So I don't think I did alternate skeins on the body. I did alternate skeins on the sleeves though, because there was more striping going on. Because you know you're talking about a much smaller circumference circle for

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

Heritage sheep breeds, ink as the new souvenir sock skein, and Marsha's realization that she needs to get out of her basement are all on the agenda this week. Plus, a reminder that we have just over a month left of our Summer Spin In. 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 Spinning the brown and green merino.  Atlas (Ravelry link) by Jared Flood using Navia Tradition. The pattern is also available at his website. I have completed the body to the armholes and almost completed the first sleeve. I've washed and blocked it to  see how it looks and to be able to measure the body. Kelly's Projects I'm continuing the Oxford spinning. I am still keeping my options open for a 3-ply where I'm more careful about the twist. I'd like the yarn to be more loosely plied than my 3-ply sample. I have almost three full bobbins of singles and plenty of fiber left. I carded about 400 grams. Here is the project page for this handspun. Information about Oxford fleece: Livestock Conservancy status is “watch.” Fewer than 2,500 annual registrations in the United States and an estimated global population less than 10,000.“ originated as the result of crossing Cotswolds and Hampshires. imported into America in 1846. one of the largest breeds of sheep and is only surpassed in body weight by the Lincoln. Not only does it lack uniformity in body type and size, but there is also considerable lack of uniformity in color markings and in the weight and quality of the fleece The new breed that we know as Oxford today is a bit smaller, only 200-250 pounds, a result of that push in the 1930s for a more compact animal followed by the resurgence of the older type. staple length, generally around 1-2”. remains rare in the United States, having been supplanted by the Suffolk. This situation is difficult to explain, as research has shown time and again that the Oxford excels as the sire of market lambs and the breed's overall profitability may be second to none. I've made good progress on the Dark Green Forest cardigan (Ravelry link) by Christina Körber-Reith. She also has the pattern at her website, Strickhauzeit. I'm using handspun 3-ply (fingering to sport weight) from a CVM (Romeldale) fleece that I overdyed. I've gotten down to the pockets. The sweater has a ribbed front band and honeycomb cable down the sleeve and on the pockets. It has saddle shoulder construction and a square “sailor” collar that also has ribbing.  Information about CVM sheep: status is “threatened” with fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States and an estimated global population of less than 5,000. American fine wool breed, and the California Variegated Mutant, or CVM, is its multi-colored derivative. Romney-Rambouillet crosses were bred for several years and became known as Romeldales. colored lambs appeared in the Romeldale breed. Glen Eidman became interested in these sheep and linebred them for several generations Sheep breed resources: Livestock Conservancy, Oklahoma State Breeds Directory. Other Discussion  Marsha talks about mistakenly donating some of her favorite children's books by Bill Peet.  Ella Elephant, Jennifer and Josephine Great documentary on Netflix by the actress Geena Davis about equality in the media. Here is a link to the YouTube trailer of This Changes Everything. Pens--SF Pen Show August 27-29. Held about 35 miles south of SF in Redwood City,  Kelly and Robert will be there Saturday, August 28. Summer Spin In - Ends September 6th Just over a month to go! Prizes from Three Green Sisters Full Show Transcript Kelly 0:03 Hi, this is Marsha 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 to use fiber adventures.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 0:43 Good morning, Kelly. Kelly 0:44 Good morning, Marsha. How are you? Marsha 0:46 I'm doing well. Kelly 0:47 Good. I want to ask you a question. Okay, so Marsha, what knitwear Are you wearing today? Marsha 0:55 Not a stitch? Kelly 0:57 Not a stitch of knitwear. Kelly 0:58 No. Kelly 0:59 Well, now, that actually makes sense. Because what season are we in here in the Northern Hemisphere? Marsha 1:07 High summer? Kelly 1:08 Yes. Marsha 1:10 And... but not where you are I take it, based on this question. Kelly 1:13 And I'm not complaining. I'm just providing you information.But I am currently wearing ...although probably some of it will come off. Marsha 1:23 Wait a minute, let me get a pen. I have to write this down. Kelly 1:25 So I'm currently wearing from head to toe... I'm currently wearing my Rikke hat. I'm wearing the Habitat sweater that I crocheted. And I'm wearing handknit socks. Marsha 1:40 Kelly Kelly, you need to book a flight ASAP to Seattle. Kelly 1:43 I heard that, that there's, you know, all this heat going on all around the country. And I feel bad for everyone who is you know, going through all the heat and the fires and, and, and then there's, you know, flooding. I hope that all of our listeners in Germany are okay, so I don't want to complain about my lot in life. But let me just provide you with some information. Anybody who's suffering from heat should come to Monterey County, because in the last month... I looked up the history in the last month, we've had two days above 70 degrees. Marsha 2:22 Oh, my goodness. Kelly 2:23 And guess how high we got in those two days above 70 degrees? Marsha 2:25 71? Kelly 2:29 Yes. And 72. Oh, my God, it was a heatwave. Yes. So yeah, we do have some higher temperatures coming. Next week, we get one... But by the time it gets here, the the prediction of these high temperatures almost always goes down by about four degrees, four or five degrees. So we have 80 predicted for Tuesday of next week. So we'll see if that happens. You'll have to check back. Good thing I have knitwear that's all I have to say. Marsha 3:06 It was interesting thinking about these changes in the weather because it's happening around the world and and some terrible, terrible things are happening. But that heatwave we had here in Seattle, where it was you know, 110? There's been many effects of it. I mean, people died. That's terrible. But I was listening to our local NPR station. And they were saying that over 50 people have become ill by eating shellfish. Because it got so hot. There's a bacteria that forms in shellfish in hot weather. People have been getting sick because the temperature is so high. They also lost a lot of oysters and other shellfish because they literally cooked in their shells because it was so hot. Kelly 3:59 Oh my gosh. Marsha 4:01 So it's really... There... that heat way we had is going to have a real impact on food production here in the Pacific Northwest, just those few days now. Kelly 4:12 Yeah, Marsha 4:14 It's really interesting the impact that Kelly 4:16 well, not just the shellfish. I know when we have had high temperatures here, they typically will come in, like in September, sometimes even as late as October. But when we get those high temperatures in September, we've had apples on the trees, and they're like applesauce. I mean, if you don't have the apples off the tree by that time, then after those couple days of you know, high 90s or mid 90s. Those apples are terrible. So I can imagine the impact that has had. Marsha 4:53 Well I wonder if this cool weather you're having is going to have an impact impact on production because you live in an agricultural country community, right. And they're kind of cool weather crops. Kelly 5:03 Yeah. Marsha 5:04 But this is awfully cool for them. Kelly 5:07 So we grow a lot of strawberries here. Lettuce is not having any problem. There are... there are more and more berry fields-- regular berries. And I don't know, I don't know if the lack of heat has has affected them at all. We have an apricot tree and a plum tree and the apricot are just now starting to get ripe, which I think is really late for apricots. I don't know because this tree hasn't produced very well in the past. So I don't know what its typical timing is like, but I seem to remember apricots being a more early summer fruit when I was a kid. We had an apricot tree when I was growing up. It's probably not super abnormal, honestly, for us to have this kind of weather here in Salinas. I mean, it's not-- I don't think it's normal, normal, but I don't think it's super abnormal. If I went back and looked at the history, I mean. I remember when I first moved here, I didn't take off a sweatshirt all summer long. It was-- I was freezing to death all the time. And that's kind of how I feel this year. And maybe I just like to complain! Well, and the house would be warmer if I closed the windows, but I have to have open windows in the summer. [laughing] And that's dumb because it's not warm outside. But that's just the way it is in summer you open the windows and sleep with the windows open. So anyway, yeah. Marsha 6:42 Okay, this leads me to something Kelly. Because we are...are we complaining? Kelly 6:49 No, Marsha 6:50 a little? Kelly 6:50 I'm not gonna... we're not... Marsha 6:54 just a tad. Anyway. So I I have something just I have something to say. So the last episode, I was walking Enzo and listening to the episode. And about halfway through the beginning before we got to any fiber stuff. I texted you. And my text was, Oh my gosh! Shut up about your basement! Marsha 7:24 And I was... I don't remember know what your response was. But anyway, I went back and it was like 10 minutes, Kelly, that I talked about my basement. As I was walking along my thought was first like, Oh my goodness, shut up about that basement! Nobody cares. And my second thought was, You need to get out of that basement. Kelly 7:44 Marsha, get a life! [laughing] Marsha 7:47 And so I'm here to announce. This is the last time I'm going to talk about my basement. It's not healthy. And I got out of my basement and I went last Tuesday or this... Tuesday of this week. This is Friday that we're recording this. Tuesday, I went up to Index, Washington and for people who are out of state, that's a small former mining town up on highway two. It's near-- on the way to Stevens Pass, which is you know, big mountain pass Kelly 8:17 And north on you right? Marsha 8:18 North of me. Yeah. And the reason I went up there is Ben, my son is working up there on and off during the summer. He met up... Well, I should back up and to say Index was originally a mining town. That's how it started. But now it's become a huge destination for climbers. And apparently it's world renowned, this area, for climbing. They have great rock. Like I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm just quoting Ben, because I'm not a climber. Kelly 8:49 Yeah, like what makes a great rock as opposed to just a rock? Marsha 8:55 So anyway, he goes up there and climbs. And there's a guy who lives here in Seattle who goes up there all the time and climbs. A guy named Richard. Apparently he bought a house up there, a small cabin. And so Ben has been going up and helping him fix it up, make it sort of... It's it's kind of rough. And so he's been helping him and so he goes up there for about five days at a time and then comes back. So I thought a nice outing would be to go see Ben in Index and do a hike. So I went up on Tuesday, I finally found Ben. That was kind of, well, I will, well... Do you want to hear the story about how I found Ben? Because he said to me, Index is really small. I have no idea what the population is. A tiny, tiny town and there's like two streets when you come into town. You can go left or you can go right and so he says, when you come into town you go left and you just go down to the--you know, keep going down the road and you'll see the house. I go into town. I go left. I can't find the house. I'm driving all the way almost to the end of the road, I'm now getting into Forest Service land. I'm going-- I go back. That can't be right, I go check again. So I go up and down this road about three times trying to find him and I finally gave up and thought, I'm just going to go walk the dog around the town and check it out. And then I'm going to go do my hike. And I was just getting ready to leave when I get a text from him because there's very poor, so there's no real cell service there. It's very hit or miss, I get a text like, I'm glad you're coming. You'll see the house. It has a whole bunch of free stuff out on the road. So I'm like, Okay, well, I'll go down this highway, you'll go left down this highway, which I did. And I finally see some free stuff by the side of the road. But it looks like it's been there for a long time, because there's like weeds kind of growing through it. And I don't see his car at that house. But I see there's like a driveway and kind of a long like alley kind of thing. And so I decided to go down that maybe the house is down that road. And I go down this little driveway and I see a guy working on a house or a garage or something and I just get out and I said, Are you Richard? And he said No, I'm not. And I said, Oh, I said. Well, do you have a minute to hear my story? And he's kind. He said, Yeah, I have a minute to hear your story. And so I said, Well, my son is up here working for a guy named Richard from Seattle who bought a house and I give a little story because there's a little story about how he got the house and who used to live in the house and how they got that person out of the house. And he says, Oh, I know that house. Because it's a tiny town anyway. You're probably ahead of me in the story. It's that when you come into town you turn right. Not Left. [laughing] Kelly 11:51 Right. Oh my god. Marsha 11:53 The details, right? Kelly 11:54 Yes. Marsha 11:55 So I go. Oh, I know. Yeah. So anyway, I and I, because I said to him, Well, it's a small enough town. I figured somebody would know the story. And he said yeah, I know the story. That was really funny. Anyway, I went back the correct direction, found Ben, immediately saw the house. We chatted for a little bit and then I went on my hike. So I did do a hike. So that was really nice to see. So this is the point of my story it's-- what's the phrase? Oh, the devils in the details? Kelly 12:27 Yes. Marsha 12:27 That's the phrase? Yeah, yeah. Kelly 12:30 Yeah. Well, I'm glad you got out of the basement, Marsha. Yeah. So it sounds like you had a nice a nice little outing. Marsha 12:37 Yeah, it was really nice. And it's beautiful up there. Really, really beautiful. And, yeah, so that's the last time that wore is going to cross my lips in this podcast Kelly 12:49 Ok, right! Good to know. Marsha 12:54 Let's see if I can do it now. Kelly 12:57 Oh, funny. Anyway, all right. Well, okay, since you aren't going to talk about the thing that will not be named. What about your projects? Marsha 13:09 Well, I...not a lot, well, not a huge amount to report. I've been spinning. So I have ... I'm almost done with a second bobbin of the brown for that brown and green that I'm making. Okay, and so I have one more bobbin that I need to spin and then I can ply that together. So I work on that in the afternoons. You know, sit out on my deck, and spin for a little bit. And so I'm making progress on it, but it's not, I'm not working on it exclusively. And then I do have progress to report though, on the Atlas pullover that I'm making for my brother and I have knit the body. Keep in mind though, I have not done the ribbing yet, because I did a provisional cast on. But I've knit up to the armholes and then set that aside. I did wash it though, and block it. Because as you know what we talked about the last episode, it looked like a holiday wreath, a big sausage tube kind of. So I did wash and block it and I can... now it's laying flat, so it'll be much easier to measure. And then I did a provisional cast on for the first sleeve. And I'm almost done with the first sleeve I have about 10... Let me look at my pattern. I have about six more rows. And then I will set the sleeve aside and start the second sleeve. So it's going pretty quickly. I think because it's on size seven needles. I find it's not really...maybe it's because I am normally working on three to five somewhere around... or socks or on ones. Yeah, I find it's a little more challenging to knit with. It's like, I've heard this before. Sometimes with larger needles and thicker yarn, like this is a worsted weight. You're a little harder on my hands and there's something about this yarn too. It's a little hard to knit with in the sense that it doesn't really slide along the needles very well. And it's interesting. Kelly 15:29 You have you have metal needles? Marsha 15:32 Yeah, right. Kelly 15:33 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Marsha 15:35 And it's much better. I'm doing okay, Kelly, I'm drawing a complete blank. What's the technique called where you have the long circular needle? Magic loop! Oh, my God. Okay, now I remember that. Magic loop. [laughing] I'm doing that and that's pretty easy. The body was I was kind of struggling with it. I finally put it on long a longer cable and it seemed easier, you know, having a longer cable for some reason. They seem like they slide it slid better along the needles. I don't know why that would be. Kelly 16:06 Well, maybe because they're just not so tight. I don't know. Marsha 16:09 Yeah, maybe. I don't know. It was interesting, too. This is, I don't think I mentioned this in the other episodes that the, I've mentioned, the name of the yarn is this Navia or Neyvia? tradition. But it's from the Faroe Islands. Oh, and I, which I had forgotten. And when I looked at the label, later on, I realized that and when I washed it, it kind of bloomed. It's still a woolly wool. You know, you definitely would want to wear this over like a flannel shirt or something. But it's, it feels a little softer having been washed. A lot of dye came out of this yarn, too. This is a bright green and a lot the water it just--the water was almost the color of the yarn. It really lost a lot of dye Kelly 16:58 Did it fade? Marsha 17:02 It didn't fade. It had excess dye. Which might affect the feel of the yarn.It had excess dye in there. So it feels it feels different. It's it's never gonna, I mean it's softer. It's never gonna be a soft yarn at all. Kelly 17:20 right Marsha 17:20 I mean, you're always gonna have to wear a shirt, you know, under this, but, and it kind of bloomed. It's very hairy, kind of. It's really it's really nice yarn. And I think it's gonna be super durable, too. Kelly 17:34 You'll have to put a picture in your project page, as I'm looking at your project page right now and you just have the wreath. I guess you'll need to take some more pictures now that it's been blocked and flattened. So you can actually see it's a sweater. Marsha 17:49 Yeah, I'll do that. And I'll put the sleeve in there too. I did think I was talking to Mark and we were talking about the sweater and I said this sweater is going to be the kind of sweater that you wear to the beach. You wear it when you work in the garden. I mean this is gonna be a working sweater. Just like, remember the sweater that you made for gardening at 90? Kelly 18:09 Yeah, Marsha 18:11 Yes. And I said to him, You cannot-- you not cannot save this sweater for something nice. Not, you know, I don't just mean to abuse it because you never abuse anything but it's not going to be a fine sweater that you save. You go out and you chop wood in this sweater. Actually it would be too hot chopping wood. You go sit outside Kelly 18:34 during Snowmageddon in this sweater. [laughing] Marsha 18:36 Yep. Anyway, no this--it's like it's a working sweater is what it is. Kelly 18:45 Yeah, nice. That'll be really nice. Anyway, looking forward to see to seeing it. Marsha 18:51 So that's all I really have to report. I've not picked up my socks and not picked up my simple shawl at all. So nothing to report on those. Kelly 18:57 All right. I had thought the last time we recorded that I would get the blanket finished. The Faye's Flower blanket, that Persian Tile Blanket, by the next episode because I wanted to be able to talk about it but I did not. I've been screaming along on my other project. So the sweater. The blanket is just still sitting with not very much left to do in terms of sewing it together but then quite a bit of edging to do but none of that happened so I probably shouldn't even be talking about it. But what I have done, worked a lot on, is the the sweater that I'm making out of handspun it's... The pattern for that sweater is called Dark Green Forest. And it's by Christina Korber-Rieth or Reith, I think is the way it's pronounced and it has that square... What did you call it? Sailor collar? Marsha 20:04 Mm hmm. Kelly 20:05 Which I think is the right way to describe it. Saddle shoulders with the cable. Anyway, I am all the way down to the pockets. In fact, I'm right now I'm working on it. I'm on the third of the honeycomb cables that goes down the pocket. So I think I have maybe... 2-4-6? I maybe have about six or eight more rows to go before the pockets are finished. Marsha 20:37 Wow! Kelly 20:37 I know! Yeah. I'm excited about how fast it's going. And so then once I finished the pocket... Its top down. So once I once I finished the pocket, or you know, the body down to the bottom of the pockets. I think there's a there's no ribbing at the bottom. I should have looked. Let me just check here. Yeah, there's the regular, you know, the the ribbing on the front band. Oh, yeah, there is a ribbing at the bottom of this sweater. So the pocket cables, open up into a ribbing. So that's all that will be left. Once I finished the pocket. All that will be left is the ribbing on this on this sweater. And then of course finishing the sleeves. Marsha 21:32 So I guess I'm not understanding. Are the pockets are knit separately and attached to the sewn on front of.. the front side of the sweater or is that pocket the front side and there's a piece in the back? Kelly 21:45 Yeah, I'll have to go in the back and make the back part of the pocket. Oh, you open up a slit. Marsha 21:54 And okay, I do have to say I have never made-- I've never made pockets before. Kelly 21:56 I haven't either. Well, no, that's not true. I made pockets in the orcas run sweater. That's the only sweater that I put pockets in. But I did make pockets there. I do have to talk about something odd in this pattern. Not, not bad. Just it cracks me up. I don't understand it. You do the colla, gotten done with the collar and the yoke, the yoke of the sweater, you're into the body. So you divide it for the sleeves, separated the body and the sleeves. And then you get into the step that's called "finish the body." Step six. So you do like three and a half inches under the... after the underarm after you split. And then it says, "set this aside and prepare the pocket edgings." And I thought well, that's weird, because the pockets aren't until you get to the bottom of the sweater. So I was confused about why you would do that. I read it like, I don't think I have to set this aside now and do the pocket edgings. So when I got to the place where I needed to put in the pockets, I went to do the pocket edgings the pocket edgings are literally four rows of ribbing that you then attach. You like split for the pocket. And then on the-- you put some of the stitches-- at the top, you put some of the stitches at the top of the pocket hole on waste yarn, and then the bottom of the pocket hole you attach this ribbing so that it kind of the ribbing kind of pokes up above where the hole of the pocket will be. Marsha 23:32 Mm hmm. Kelly 23:32 Why would you set aside your sweater at the armholes, do four rows of ribbing twice, then set them aside? If you're me, something that small could actually get lost doing it so much..so early. Like, I don't understand it! Marsha 23:53 because you don't need it for I mean, how many more inches? Kelly 23:55 For another like 12 inches? Or ten inches at the least. Marsha 24:00 I have a... I have a theory, okay. Maybe it's like, you know, when you're doing socks, you know, you do the ribbing and you do like top down, you do the ribbing. You do the ankles, you know the length of thing and then just as you're getting bored and sick of that you start doing the heel flap, maybe and then we and then when you get tired of all that detail of heel flap, turning the heel, the gusset Oh, you get to back go back to that mindless stuff. Kelly 24:27 Maybe it's to give you a break. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. My original thought was that it was to prevent you from you know, have you do it early so that you wouldn't just skip the pockets because you were afraid do you have enough yarn. But they're only four rows. I mean, this would not even get you... four little rows. This wouldn't even get you... this much yarn wouldn't even get you one round. Right? It wouldn't even get you all the way around the sweater. Marsha 24:56 Yeah, maybe it's a joke. Yeah. It's maybe the pattern designer thinks, You know what, I'm going to mess with you! Kelly 25:03 Yeah. She's messing with my mind. Because literally, that when you get to the body, you work three and a quarter inches like this. And this is for all sizes, you work three and a quarter inches after the armhole. You know, after separating. That's step 6A and finish the body. And step 6B is prepare pocket edgings. And then you go to Step 6C and that's when you do your shaping and knit for rows and rows and rows and rows and rows and rows and rows before you get to the pockets. It's a mystery. But, but I did them when I needed them put them on. They look great. Because I always like everything I knit, right?[laughing] It all looks great. So I'm really happy with this. I'm really happy with the progress. It's going really fast. Seems like it's going really fast. So yeah, I'm loving this handspun sweater it's going to be another one of those sweaters, I think, that gets a lot of that gets a lot of wear. Marsha 26:08 Mm hmm. Kelly 26:09 The only other thing I've been working on....Oh, let me just say a little bit about this. I will put some information in the show notes about the two different sheep breeds that I'm working with. Since it is the Summer Spin In. I put some information... But this is CVM. And that stands for California Variegated Mutant, which is the multicolored version of the Romeldale. Remember the judge Mark Eidman. I think his first name was Mark, Marsha 26:41 Who just passed away? Kelly 26:43 The one who passed away. It was his father who discovered some colored lambs that were appearing in his Romeldale flock, and instead of culling them they actually bred them for the color. And so that's where the California Variegated Mutant comes from. And I have a CVM fleece in the garage, it's a darker than this one, it's more of a, it's more of a dark gray. This one was more of a beige that I overdyed. But I really like it. It's not, you know, they call it a fine wool. I wouldn't say it's like, a super fine, at least not this one. It's not a super fine wool. It's a little it's a little more fine than like a Corriedale. It's gonna be a nice sweater, and I like CVM to spin. And then the other thing that I have been spinning is Oxford. And I have a little bit of information about the Oxford sheep also. They were imported into the US in the 1840s. And it says that it's one of the largest breeds of sheep, only surpassed by the Lincoln. Although this fleece was quite small. I think it was quite small. It's probably about five or six pounds. And that's I mean, if I when I bought a Lincoln fleece, they've been bigger than that. So skirted heavily, or maybe a smaller or younger Oxford sheep. I don't... it didn't say lamb, but it was in the market class, I'm pretty sure. Anyway. The staple length is one to two inches, which is true. That's what I'm finding in this, this fleece that I have. So it's one of the livestock Conservancy breeds as well as the CVM is also a livestock Conservancy breed. So... but I've been spinning that I'm, I'm on my third bobbin. I decided to spin all my singles first and then ply them, which I hardly ever do. But I still was kind of undecided. Remember, I talked last time about how the three ply seemed too tight. I mean, that's kind of silly, because I can just ply it more loosely. That's not a characteristic of three ply, so much as it is a characteristic of my spinning. So I'm still, I'm still debating whether I'll make a two ply or a three ply with this. But if I do a three ply, I want to experiment and, you know, ply it loosely. I don't want to ply this really, really tight. I want it to be kind of a fluffy, fluffy yarn. So I have enough bobbins, I think, that I can just spin the... well maybe not the rest of this, but I can at least spin four bobbins and then I can either ply three of them together or I can ply them two and two so I think that's what I'm planning to do is spin four bobbins and then decide whether I'm going to make a two ply or or three ply. So yeah, I'm I'm making good progress on that spinning, it's a little bit boring because it's a white. It's a white fleece. I think I'll dye the yarn when I'm done. Well, that's it for my projects, Marsha. I know that you aren't going to talk about a certain part of your house, but you were doing some cleaning out. And I have a question about that. So you posted on Instagram that you were taking two big garbage bags full of yarn to destash at the Goodwill. And I just thought it would be interesting to hear, like, how did you decide what you were going to get rid of? Marsha 30:42 Well, it actually was pretty easy. I'll tell you what I got rid of. It was spirit yarn that I got from the Goodwill. Kelly 30:50 Okay, Marsha 30:50 Those days when I would go to the Goodwill. I have used some of it. Like, for example, I remember I was getting all kinds of worsted weight yarns for that Afghan that I made that I used my dad's old sweater then took apart and combined it with other yarn. Kelly 31:09 Yeah. Marsha 31:10 So a lot of that worsted weight Goodwill yarn went into that. Kelly 31:14 Yeah, it wasn't that wasn't that blanket, like five pounds or something? I remember you weighed it. You went to the pet store or the vet. Yeah. [laughing] Marsha 31:19 Yeah. Yes. I went to the vet to use their scale. Because my scale wouldn't hold it. It wasn't big-- you know, the scale, my bathroom scale wasn't big enough to hold it. But I and then I still kept a lot of that worsted weight yarn that I got at the Goodwill because my plan was to make an afghan for my brother. And I'm still determined to do it. If I don't do it in the next couple of years, then I'm going to have to just get rid of that yarn. Kelly 31:47 Oh, okay. Marsha 31:48 And then a lot of it came from the destash room. So if Gayle and Charlene and Barb and Tracy are listening to this... Do you remember the first year we went to the knockers retreat? And I could not believe! I could not believe people were giving away yarn for free, I could not believe it. And I was like going in there and like, feeling guilty that I was taking it and they're all laughing at us because we-- I was sneaking in there Every time I left the room. Kelly 32:15 Every time you couldn't see Marsha it was like, Oh, where's Marsha? I bet she's in the destash room. Marsha 32:24 Well, here's my takeaway. There's a reason why all that yarn was at the Goodwill. And there's a reason why it was all in the destash room. But I was just, you know, I was so excited. And I had all these possibilities of things I was gonna make and how could anybody possibly get rid of it? It's so wonderful. And I have used a lot of it. I have to say I did use a lot of that yarn. Kelly 32:48 Yeah. Marsha 32:50 And there's some things I did. But I thought, you know, I've not used it in how many years? And I have so much yarn that I purchased at Stitches, and yarn crawls, and two trips to Scotland and a trip to Iceland. And I'd rather be knitting with that yarn, that I've invested money and it's beautiful yarn. Kelly 33:12 Yeah. Marsha 33:12 And so I thought it was pretty easy decision to make... to decide. But I did think it was funny people's reactions to the Instagram post about what I was getting rid of. Because one person's comment was, "Is it wrong that I'm trying to read the labels?" So funny. [laughing] And somebody also wanted to know what Goodwill I was dropping it off at, you know. And then it was interesting, on--because I have it set up when I post something on Instagram it posts to Facebook. And there was one woman that commented that-- I can't remember how she worried but basically, oh, that I've reached that age where? Because I think my comment in my post was-- and I was joking. I truly was joking when I said this-- I won't live long enough to knit all that yarn. She really thought.. like her response was, Oh, you've reached that age where... and that, you know, I'm preparing for my death by clearing out my house so that my heirs won't have to deal with it. And it's like, okay, I never--that is not what I was thinking at all.[laughing] That is not at all what I was thinking I don't consider myself to be that age. I just tried to lighten my load and I somebody else should have it. Kelly 34:35 Yeah, who who is this person? A friend? A friend would not consider you to be old! [laughing] Marsha 34:44 Anyway, so it was... that was amusing to me that comment because that's not how I see it. You know, I was really... I guess you have to be careful. what I think is funny is not what other people think! Kelly 34:56 Right? Marsha 34:57 Or some people think when I say things I think are funny, they take it literally like I'm preparing for my death. Kelly 35:04 Right, right. Well, thinking about the the feeling of being so excited about all the yarn at the destash room at the NoCKRs retreat and how there's a reason some things are in destash. I remember when I was doing the Master Gardener class and they started having, cutting, you know, cutting giveaways and seed giveaways, and they started encouraging us to bring things that we were...you know, bring cuttings and so they'll put stuff out in the patio, and oh my gosh, it was like, you had to be careful not to get elbowed in the ribs or, or knocked aside, when all these gardeners would just, like, practically make a run for the patio. And, I mean, honestly, it looked like a bunch of yard waste. [laughing] Marsha 36:02 Yeah, Kelly 36:02 You know, I mean, that's literally what it was, was people's yard waste. And, and, and I just... I was right in there, you know, getting excited and throwing elbows to get my thing that I needed. And then I found out about this cutting day that they had in Monterey and I went to that and I got some of that, you know, some of the stuff that people were giving away and when you plant it, you realize why they're giving it away. Like not not that they're getting rid of it out of their yard. Marsha 36:36 Mm hmm. Kelly 36:37 But the reason that they can give you all these cuttings is that it's super invasive and spreading all over, they have to dig it up every year to get rid of some of it. Like Alstroemeria was one of them that, you know, there was just always always somebody bringing Alstroemeria And anyway, I don't have to go into all the... Marsha 37:02 I have it in my alley. That alstromeria in the alley and is it just takes over you know, yeah, it takes over. Yeah. Kelly 37:09 Which is good in some settings, but, it's just kind of funny that it's the same, you know. Yeah, free plants. Destashing plants causes the same sort of frenzy. Marsha 37:23 The other thing I was gonna say about the NoCKRs retreat, and that was the first time I experienced that people are just giving this yarn away and my... But many of the attendees didn't even go in the room. Right? Or they went in the room to put their stuff there and they never went in, or they just go in there casually look. And, and I really, but now I understand. They were able to do because they have so much at home, but they could exercise restraint, probably because they had so much. Kelly 37:52 And maybe had done the same kind of clearing-- done the same thing. Marsha 37:56 Yeah. So I'm sure at the time, people were like, Oh, yes, she will learn. Kelly 38:02 Right, right Marsha 38:03 Give her a few years. And she will learn! Kelly 38:05 Yeah, everybody's at a little bit different, different stage in that in that process. Marsha 38:11 Yeah. But I will say though, I did order plastic boxes. Well, I should say I had all my yarn in, you know, these plastic like drawers. I got them at the Goodwill. And when my stash... and I had one and then a my stash got a little bigger and then I found another one, it got bigger. So they're all from the Goodwill. Anyway, I just pulled all the yarn out. And the stuff that I decided I was going to keep I just temporarily put it in paper bags labeled it and then I ordered plastic bins and those arrived actually just yesterday. And so last night I started putting my yarn in there and then I'm gonna be... because some of the...I will say some of the wool, one batch, like a sweater quantities worth of yarn, actually, I discovered had some moth damage. So I I just threw that in the garbage. And I didn't even give that away. I just threw it in the garbage. And then I... so I have cedar and lavender which I'm going to put in those bins to protect it somewhat. It'll be much easier to see what I have, too, because some of the bins were clear. Some of them that I had before, and some were not clear. It was in bags, it was just all kind of random. So now it's going to be much more organized and I can actually can see what I have, visually being able to see everything every time I go down into that place in the house because I can't say the word. Both 39:39 [laughing] Marsha 39:45 Oh no, I'll call it the cellar. There we go! When I go down to the cellar. I think then it it'll be reinforcement. No you don't need to buy anymore. I really don't need to buy any. So like I'm going to show up at NoCKRs... Kelly 39:58 We'll check back! Marsha 39:59 Yes, I'm going to show up at at Stitches when it happens again. And when Black Sheep happens again, I'm going to show up, but I am really going to try not to buy anything because I seriously have enough yarn. And it's a crime to just buy something and put it in your stash and not use it, I need to use it. It's not a crime, that's too harsh, right? Kelly 40:20 It's just, it would be nice to use it. if it's a crime. everyone listening to this is a criminal. [laughing] Marsha 40:29 That's true. That's too harsh. It's not a crime, but it'd be nice to knit with it, you know? So anyway, Kelly 40:36 And if you truly aren't going to knit with it ever, and you know, you're not going to ever get to it, then yes, it is. It's time to get rid of it. It's the whole, you know, I mean, that's what all those seed packets and cuttings represented. And that's what yarn in the destash room represents. It's like, hope and possibility. You know, I can... I mean, I still have that have that feeling about some yarn that's been sitting in my stash forever. And like, really? Is there still a possibility or a hope that I'm gonna use it? Um, yeah, maybe? Marsha 41:16 Yeah, I think that's hope. And I think also a lot of it, I was just inspired by it. Oh, just, you know, oh, this is... I have these ideas about what I was going to do with it. And it'll go to somebody else's idea. So, right. Well, and what about you? I see we have a note here about fiber books. Kelly 41:37 Yeah, I still...So there's the inside studio, it's been painted, there's a bookcase there now. Actually, yarn shelving that, you know, that was was put in. It's still not painted, but I've got my stuff on it. But the boxes of stuff that came out of there, I still haven't put away. They're still sitting in the living room. And I was looking at them the other day thinking, Okay, I've got to do something with this. And, you know, there's not enough room on the shelf, the shelf unit, to put the books and the yarn. So now I have to make decisions about about books and, and some of them are not knitting books. And those are going to be hard, hard decisions to make. But I have a whole box...probably box and a half maybe--of fiber books. And so I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with them and whether I'm going to destash them. What am I going to keep. Marsha 42:39 Do you look at them? Kelly 42:43 Some of them. Yes. Like, I know for sure I have the book. It's old. It's called Socks, Socks, Socks. And it's just a whole bunch of different sock patterns. I have. And I've made, I've made quite a few pairs of socks out of it. And then I used it a lot before I really was experienced knitting socks to know like, how many stitches should I cast on given the given the, you know, the height of the sock or the type of yarn, you know, I go and look at the cast ons for the different socks to know how many stitches I should cast on before I just kind of got to the point where I just know what to cast on. But I think I'll keep that one because because I've used it so much. And so there's not just there's not just useful information in there and patterns that I might use again, or patterns that I might use. But there's memories about my early knitting days connected to that book. So like that book, I'll keep but I bought, I bought two really nice hardback books by Nicky Epstein of edgings. So one is called like knitting on the edge. And the other one is called something else. So there's, there's two different types of edging, I can't remember now. There's, like edgings that are part of the garment and edgings that you add to the garment. It's kind of like a stitch dictionary, but of edgings. And they're beautiful books. I've never looked at either one of them past, you know, just like flipping through when I first bought it and then flipping through when I put it in the box to put it away. And will I ever really use that to create an edging on something? And probably not, you know, but then I think oh, but there's so many really cool things I could do. And then I keep them so... And they're really pretty books. Marsha 44:35 And they're so small and you have a big house. Kelly 44:37 Oh, they're not small. These books are not small. They're a lot more like coffee table Marsha 44:40 They're big and you have a big house. Kelly 44:43 They're more I mean, they really are like the coffee table. They're an odd size. Actually they don't fit on the bookshelf there. They're like legal size length. sideways. Like they're oh they're wider than they are tall. So they're an odd shape. They don't fit on the bookcase. So they'll probably end up going, but but you know, there's a lot of things kind of in between that spectrum of I'll definitely keep this and, and these books are pretty, but I will never use them. Marsha 45:17 Yeah. Kelly 45:18 And so I have to make some decisions there about what I'm going to do with them. So I kind of don't want to even open the boxes. Because I know I mean, I know that the number of books that I can actually keep on that shelf is, is small. And they've been in boxes for like, two years. Three years, maybe. Yeah, I haven't missed them. Yeah, right. So yeah. And then I have the other books. I have a box of dog books. Dog Training books, dog picture books, dog breed books from, you know, the, when we had labs and water spaniel, and, and there's just too much emotional connection to all that stuff that I know I don't really want to think about it, but I don't need it. I clearly don't need those books. They've been in a box for a really long time. There's been only a very few that I've dug into the box to get. Marsha 46:24 Yeah. Well, I mean, I in terms of books, I have cookbooks, you know, my cookbooks. and then combined with my mother's cookbooks, and I some were duplicates. So I got rid of duplicates, obviously. But... Kelly 46:39 And those are possibilities and hopes of what you could cook. Marsha 46:42 Exactly. And and I you know...But there's I don't know, like I...the truth is, honestly, there's just certain cookbooks, I make stuff out of all the time I go back to. The rest, I don't really look at that much. And then a lot of times I get inspiration. It's like, Oh, I have these ingredients. What can I make out of it? And I just do a little Google search. Right? And so I'm actually using the internet a lot more. Kelly 47:10 Yeah, Marsha 47:10 but I....ugh... someday. I'm not ready. Kelly 47:14 Right, right. Marsha 47:14 I'll go through them and get rid of things. Kelly 47:16 Yeah. But you have a...you have a bookcase for them. Right? They're all sitting on the shelves. Marsha 47:22 Yeah, they're all in the library. Kelly 47:25 I knew when I got rid of those shelves, that I was gonna have to get rid of a lot of books. And I did. But it's gonna take me several rounds of destashing to get rid of the number of books that I need to get rid of. Because they're just... there's... Yeah, there's some emotion attached to them. So... Marsha 47:45 Well. All in good time. Kelly 47:47 Yeah, yeah, that's true. That is true. The the closet behind me got cleaned out. I don't know if I was talking about that I wanted to do that. But the closet behind me here in the... where I record, the dressing room in the other bedroom? We got that cleaned out and I got it put back together, there's a lot of room in there now. I could put the boxes of books in there and not think about them for another three or four years. [laughing] And at which time that I might be ready to get rid of them. We'll see. Marsha 48:20 So I just... I just... as we're talking about this, I'm just thinking about emotional attachment to books. And I I've gotten rid of pretty much all of Ben's books that he had when he was a little kid you read to him and he had a lot of books because I worked in a bookstore, right? So I would just buy stuff, which I realize now in hindsight, I should have just gotten them from the library. But there were some books that I hung on to because I loved reading them to him so much. And all this whole series of books by the author Bill Peet. Do you know him? Kelly 48:53 That doesn't ring a bell, no. Marsha 48:56 Last name is P-e-e-t. And he was the author illustrator of these books. And I love the the art, the illustrations, I love them. And then the stories were great. Like there was-- Ella was one of them. And Ella was an elephant from the circus. And she she lives in... she was very pampered. And she got a little bit too big for her head and decided to to leave. Run away from the circus. So she runs away from the circus. And she gets captured by a farmer who realizes that this is really great to have this elephant you can work on the farm, to work on the farm. And it's a story basically, you know, sort of be grateful for what you have, because it's not necessarily greener on the other side. So there's that story. There's another one that we loved to read called is Jennifer and Josephine. And now I can't remember which one was which. I think Jennifer was a cat. And she lived in this old car. Kelly 49:57 Oh, I see the illustrations. I went to his website. And I'm looking at the illustrations, so cool. Marsha 50:02 Yeah, anyway, Jennifer and Josephine and I think Jennifer, as I say, was the cat. And Josephine was the car. And it's like an old Model T. The cat, this is her home, and some salesman comes and buys the car, and they throw some new tires on it. And Josephine is shocked that she's now being driven. She's been sitting for years in this junkyard, and the cat's distressed and driving crazy and the salesman is just a horrible person. He treats Josephine the car terrible, he doesn't realize the cat's in the car. And he crashes the the car, and it goes into the river. And so the cat goes and sees a farm, goes to the farm and gets... draws attention...A little girl, the farmer's daughter goes out and finds the car, tells the dad. The dad comes and gets the car and pulls the car out of the river. Saves the car, saves the cat. They're excited to have this cat now. And he's excited to have this car because he couldn't afford a car. So he he now fixes the car up and Josephine the car is super happy because she's never driven over 15 miles an hour. I don't know. They're such charming stories. He was so charming. Anyway, I'm going off on this, telling about these stories, about the this author Bill Peet but I used to read those to Ben all the time. And there was another one Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. Kelly 51:42 Oh, yeah. Marsha 51:42 I don't remember the author. But Lyle is a crocodile that lives in New York City in a bathtub in some family's apartment. And he's very erudite and and is a good conversationalist. And that people invite him to tea parties and cocktail parties and stuff. This crocodile. And we would read those all the time. And so when I moved, I had saved those books to come to the house. And there's bags of books to go to the Goodwill and of course, you're ahead of me. Mark took them all to the Goodwill. All the Bill Peet books are gone and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile are gone. And I was devastated. I'm still kind of devastated by it. Now the reality is, am I ever going to read those books again? Probably not. Kelly 52:27 And some child is getting to read them. Marsha 52:30 Yes, exactly. Kelly 52:31 Which is what books should have. A book that's not being read is sad. Marsha 52:36 Yeah. Right. Kelly 52:37 I mean, I don't know if books actually feel sadness. But... Marsha 52:41 You know, anyway, they were just...Maybe what I should do is just go out and buy a copy of Ella and Jennifer and Josephine, because those were kind of my two favorite from that. Those books anyway, of that from that author, anyway, Kelly 52:55 Well, I'll put the pages in the show notes. Okay, because I was just looking at the pictures while you were talking. And they are. They are really cute. Very cute. Marsha 53:10 And since we're talking about it, since I was not planning on making a book recommendation, but I here's that that was a recommendation. I've been watching Netflix and working on Mark's sweater. And I watched a documentary the other day, which I just wanted to mention that because I thought it was really interesting. And it's called, people have probably heard of this. But if you haven't, it's called This Changes Everything. And it's a documentary made by the actress Gina Davis. It says here in 2004, Davis launched the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which works collaboratively with the entertainment industry to dramatically increase the presence of female characters and media. So this documentary talks about her, why she started this institute. And then different actresses' experiences female directors' experiences trying to make it in the film industry. And how most media are... a lot of the entertainment that we watch in the United States and around the world is coming out of Hollywood and how women are portrayed on film. And how... so it's it's an excellent documentary, and I highly recommend it. It's really good. I will say the one thing that sort of...At the end of the film...One of the things they talk about is how difficult it is for women directors to get jobs, directing films. And they actually have lists of when studios are going to make a film. They have lists of directors that they pass around that you know who's made it. This is who you want to consider first, this is who you would consider second. If none of those are are available, way down the bottom of the list are these, are the people you might want to consider. And one of the women--who is way, the only woman on the list--who was way down at the bottom was Kathryn Bigelow, who won an Academy Award for The Hurt Locker. So she's an Academy Award winning director, but she's at the bottom of the list, right? Because men are getting the these jobs. Anyway, this does not take away from how good the documentary is. But at the end, I'm reading the credits. And you know who directed the documentary? Kelly 55:24 A man? Marsha 55:25 Some guy named Tom! And I'm like, I'm sorry, what? Kelly 55:34 Oh, yeah. Marsha 55:36 Now, that doesn't take away from it really, because it was an excellent, excellent series or documentary. I recommend it because it really sort of opened your eyes to how women are portrayed in film and in television shows. And how many women who when they do get a chance, how much money they're making for the industry. Kelly 55:54 Yeah. Marsha 55:56 Interesting. You know, but they still selected the man. Not to take away from the man either right? He did a great job, but it's just humorous to me. But anyway, I'll put a link in there. Kelly 56:09 That'd be good. Marsha 56:10 What else we got going on here? Are you going anywhere at all? Or? Kelly 56:13 Well, in August, I am going to be at the San Francisco International Pen Show. Marsha 56:21 Yeah, who knew? Kelly 56:22 I know. Well, you know, they have a conference for everything. Marsha 56:28 Right. Mm hmm. Kelly 56:30 I'm sure that the pen people would be surprised that there's something called Stitches. Marsha 56:35 Yes. Right. Kelly 56:36 So I'm going to go check it out and see, see what that... see what that world is like. And I'll be there on the Saturday. It's in Redwood City, which is actually south of San Francisco. That's actually really nice. It's it'll be an even an easier drive to get there. But yeah, we're planning to-- planning to go and take a look at the the pens and if any of our listeners are going, also planning to go to the Pen Show I'd love to love to see you will have to let me know. Marsha 57:13 Say Kelly, pens don't take up very much space in your house! Kelly 57:17 Yeah. But you know, what's funny, is, you know, the the sock yarn skein that you buy the souvenir sockyarn? Apparently, in the pen world, the equivalent of that is ink. I saw an ink cupboard on Instagram yesterday. Like, oh my gosh, that is definitely more ink than you could use in a lifetime. I mean, because every time you you put your put ink in your pen, I don't know, three to five milliliters, I think. And these, you know, jars of ink are like 20 milliliters, 30 milliliters, some of them are like 70 milliliters. Marsha 58:06 Wow. Kelly 58:07 So definitely more ink than you could use. It's definitely an ink collection. As opposed to a stash of ink for use, I think. But yeah, you know, because you can buy a bottle of ink depending on the ink you can buy a bottle of ink for you know 10 bucks. Whereas a pen Marsha 58:26 Cheaper than... cheaper than yarn! Kelly 58:29 And, and then you know, some of the pens are some of the pens are quite inexpensive. Some Chinese fountain pens are quite inexpensive, they're you know, their pens, you definitely... you can get for under $20. But a lot of pens are more expensive than that. And so yeah, if you don't have... if you can't satisfy your collection urge by buying a pen, you can get a souvenir. You can get a souvenir bottle of ink wherever you go. So anyway, that's on my that's on my agenda for August. And I'm really looking forward. Really looking forward to it. Marsha 59:12 Yeah, it'll be fun. Kelly 59:15 It'll be interesting to see another, you know, another world. So another hobby world. Marsha 59:22 Mm hmm. Kelly 59:23 But my box of pens, my one cigar box that I converted into a pen box is full. And so I'm calling my collection complete. Marsha 59:34 But I happen to know that you have more than one cigar box. [laughing] Kelly 59:36 I do. Yes. And actually. Well and that Mark. Mark did yeah, I have three of them. So but only one of them has been outfitted to hold the pen so far. Yeah, but we did go to dinner with a work friend the other night and he gave me, he gave me a Chinese fountain pen that he had, like, Oh, this is really nice. And he's like, yeah, I think it was about five bucks. And I can't believe you bought this pen for only $5. He's like, why don't you take it? So, so in full confession, I do have one pen that doesn't fit in the box. So I could start a second box, but I will not do that anytime soon. So, but I might find something that I like at the pen show. We'll see. Yeah, yeah, I'll definitely bring home a souvenir bottle of ink Marsha 1:00:39 Well, I guess the last thing that we need to talk about Kelly is the summer spin in. Just to remind people it's going on. And it... we just have about a month to go before it ends. Labor Day, which is September sixth. We'll have some prizes from Three Green Sisters. And we'll have more details. But... Kelly 1:00:59 Yeah, and I have also some fiber from Sincere Sheep. That will be... I never took a picture of it and put it up on the thread. But I also bought some fiber from sincere sheep. That'll be our prize too. Marsha 1:01:11 Okay. All right. Yeah. So keep spinning. Yes. All right. Well have fun at the pen show! Well, I'll talk to you before that. Kelly 1:01:17 Yeah, it's not till the end of August. We'll record again. Marsha 1:01:19 Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, then I will let you go so you can get out there and start spinning. Kelly 1:01:24 All right. Marsha 1:01:26 All righty. Kelly 1:01:26 Bye bye. Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Marsha 1:01:34 Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects. Both 1:01:41 Until next time, 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

Thank you for tuning in to Episode 194 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. This week’s segments included: Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Brainstorming From the Armchair Crafty Adventures Knitting in Passing KAL News Events Contest, News & Notes Life in Focus On a Happy Note Quote of the Week Thank you to this episode’s sponsors: Cookie and Bees, Knit Wit Yarn Shop, Fibernymph Dye Works & AdoreKnit Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Bella Cosa Shawl Pattern: Bella Cosa Shawl (free crochet pattern on Ravelry) by Stitch with Passion Crochet Hook: J 6.0 mm Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK. No colorway listed.    Autumn Garland Acorns: Ravelry Link, Website Pumpkins: Ravelry Link, Website  The September Leaf: Ravelry Link  Oak Leaf: Ravelry Link, Website  Materials: Yarn: DK & Worsted scraps Hook: C (2.75 mm) or D (3.25 mm) Gnoel Gnome Pattern: Gno Fun Like Gnome Fun by Sarah Shira, Imagined Landscapes (Pigskin Pro Shop Sponsor). Ravelry Project Page Link. Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm). Hook: C (2.75 mm) Yarn: leftover worsted & DK weight from stash. Crocheted the body (dusty pink yarn), and stuffed. Knit hat top down as written using a mustard color from Gale’s Art (DK). Stuffed and sewed to body. Knit beard and arms per pattern and sewed on. Gnori Gnome  Pattern: None; crocheted. Improvised Hook: C (2.75mm) Yarn: Leftover DK weight yarn in stash Link to my Ravelry Project Page Pumpkin Jar Cozy  Pattern: Ball Band by Jennifer Lassonde (free crochet pattern)- Ravelry Link or LoveCrafts Link. Hook G (4.25 mm) & F (3.75 mm) Yarn: Lion Brand Re-Up in the Ecru & Orange Colorways Sewed on crochet appliqué I’d already made. Check out the Ravelry Project Page for that FO. Nanaimo Cardigan (Ravelry Project Page) Pattern: Nanaimo Cardigan (website link) by Tara-Lynn Morrison US 15 (10.0 mm) US 19 (15.0 mm) Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick  I saw Arthella from Best Day Ever Crafting Podcast working on hers. She saw it on the Knit State of Mind Podcast (Episode 16) when Wanda recently finished hers.  Declan 1st Socks (Ravelry Link) Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams Yarn: Patons Kroy in the Grey Brown Marl Colorway with Flax for heel Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Christmas with the Gilmores Socks Yarn: Area 51 Fibres in the Christmas with the Gilmores Colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams Ravelry Project Page #gilmorealong2020   Black is the New Orange Socks- Ravelry Project Page Link Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Yarn: White Birch Fiber Arts 80/20 SW Merino, Nylon Self Striping in the Black is the New Orange Colorway Nanaimo Cardigan (Ravelry Project Page) Pattern: Nanaimo Cardigan (website link) by Tara-Lynn Morrison US 15 (10.0 mm) US 19 (15.0 mm) Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick in the Blackstone Colorway Brainstorming Tara, Arianrod on Ravelry, PMed me about the Continuous Mitered Square Blanket by Kara Gunza. DK weight crochet blanket. Looks like knit mitered squares. Ravelry Pattern Page / Direct website link Scandinavian Gnome by Lizz Jelsma. Crochet pattern available on Ravelry & on MakeItSewCrochet website. Starting kids Christmas toys. I need silver glittery yarn for Oisin’s custom alien. Ideas?  From the Armchair Brenda Dayne– The Cast On Podcast is returning after 5 years!  I met Brenda at Web’s Yarn Store in 2012 which I discussed in Episode 6 of this podcast. You can listen to back episodes of this podcast on The Podcast App– available for Apple + Android. The Home Edit. Netflix & their Master the Mess series on YouTube Obsessed. Crafty Adventures Rubber Stamping & Embossing. Made some gift tags and Christmas cards. They all need some finishing touches and parts are for a surprise gift so I’ll share later in the season but it felt great getting back into a hobby that I started 25 years ago!  Check out my first ever Day in the Life Vlog on my Down Cellar Studio Podcast YouTube Channel   Knitting in Passing I wore my Ninilchik Swoncho to Joann’s. The cashier at Joann asked if I minded sharing where I bought my sweater because she loved it and wanted to buy one. I told her I knit it. She’s just learning to crochet. I told her, she could definitely do this. Just keep learning. Dan got a nice text from his friend for whom I crocheted a baby blanket when their first granddaughter was due this summer. He thanked us again for her blanket saying it’s her favorite. So sweet. KAL News Quarterly Quests! Get all of the details here. Quarter 4: October 1- December 31, 2020: Slay The Stash. Of course we still want you to slay your stash so we added it to the very end. Use up any skein purchased prior to 2020 all the way down to the last 3 yards. Again, older than 5 years (as of the start of 2020) gains you an extra entry.Check out the Ravelry Thread.  Thank you Quarter 4 Sponsors: APLCrafts, AdoreKnit, Jennifer Lassonde Designs- Ravelry Link/LoveCrafts Link Pigskin Party ’20 Check out all of the details you need to know either in the Start Here Thread  on Ravelry or on my website.  Important Links: Rules– see what’s new and exciting this year.  Sign up Form– get your name on the Roster! Points Tally Form– earned some points? Get credit! Support Request Form– mixed up something when entering points. Let us know. Scoreboard List of Pigskin ‘20 Sponsors Pro Shop Sponsors Exclusive Items Coupon Codes Prize Thread Questions Thread End Zone Dance– come celebrate each other’s finished projects (this is not where you enter your FOs for points in the 2020 season. See Rules for details) October Interception For this Interception you’re going to blend two (or more) colorways together in one project. You can marl them, use stripes, use one as an accent against a main color. You decide how to pair them up. A 2 color shawl, socks with contrast cuffs/heels/toes, a striped hat. As long as it’s at least 100 yards, it counts for this challenge.  To be eligible to win Complete a project of at least 100 yards that uses the 2 colors. If you want to make multiple small projects, the total must be over 100 yards. Project must have been cast on on/after 10/1/20 and completed by 10/31/20 Post your FO with a description and/or photo that shows how you’re meeting the challenge. 1 entry for your FO (or group of small FOs). Post your FO in the October Interception Thread in the Ravelry Group.  Players not on Ravelry can post on Instagram with #DCSPigskinComeTogether. You may only enter in one place- Ravelry OR Instagram.  1 additional entry in each place if you use one or more colorways from Holly Press Fibers.  Total of 2 entries Max per player (1 for your FO + 1 for using Holly Press Fibers Yarn) Prize: $30 Holly Press Fibers Gift Certificate (note- no additional points will be offered for completing this Interception. You can still enter for points for this project as usual). Pop-Up Events 30 Day Tailgate Talk Challenge Over on Friday! Did you like it? Should we do it another? For points? Or not for points? Kick Off Challenge- 50 pts for each FO you cast on in first 2 weeks of Pigskin Party. Limited time to enter for these points. Check out Details on Ravelry or on my website. Ravelry User VTKimmyKim is hosting a Netflix Party Movie Night on November 7th at 8:00pm EST. Movie TBD. Check out this and other pop-up events in this thread in the Ravelry Group— or host your announce and share it here. Events Tune in to hear about my classes with Virtual Vogue Knitting Live– October 9-11 Virtual Kick off event Thursday evening with Josh Bennett and London Kaye. Lots of fun.  Keynote on Saturday with Jared Flood. Friday, October 9, 2020 Beginning Brioche- Faina Goberstein. Saturday, October 10, 2020 Brioche and Beyond- Olga Jazzy. Sunday, October 11, 2020 Inclusive Size Shawls – Kim McBrian Evans. Operation Sock Drawer Book Launch Zoom Party hosted by the Stockinette Zombies. Jasmin & Gigi of the Knitmore Girls came on and talked about how the book came together and selecting the patterns, and then several of the designers shared more about themselves another designs. Watch the replay on YouTube. Shetland Wool Week. Replays on their Youtube Channel. Asking for donations if you find them valuable. Kino knits. Dumpster Fire 2020 Ornament & KAL along. BIPOC Make Along 2020 Festive sock along with Amy Florence of Stranded Podcast. Stay tuned to her podcast Ravelry Group for details. October 1- December 1  #Festivesockalong2020  Beth MDQuilter (Instagram) and Abigail Covert_Knits (Instagram) teaming up for gilmorealong2020. Starts 9/22. I bought yarn from Area 51 Fibres. Can’t wait!  Knit All the Yarn Podcast #stockingstuffersmal2020 Check out the details in the Knit All the Yarn Podcast Ravelry Group. Runs from October 1 – December 31, 2020. No wips. Any craft is welcome! Contest, News & Notes Call for Testers-want to knit a sideways fingering weight shawl that calls for 20 calls/ 200g total? Message me! Life in Focus I’ve had a tough couple weeks with pain. Lessons learned: Listen to your body. Adjusting your plans/goals to be kind to the only body you get is absolutely OK. Don’t skip stretching. It’s important! Adjusting my routine can and often is a good thing. Waking up early to walk in the summer because it was light already and would be too hot later was a good idea. Now its dark at 5:45a… Its time to adjust. It shouldn’t take THIS hitting me so hard to get me there, but it sorta did. I’m just getting back to things now but I’m going to start thinking about what my routine looks like. I’ll be active and I do like having a routine. Habits work well for me… but that can look different in different seasons.  On a Happy Note A 2 hour deep tissue massage with my favorite massage therapist. Ordered a Theragun Pro with permission of my Rheumatologist using Flex Spending money. Not sure what a Theragun is- check out this article from CNet.  Home delivery from our local dairy Hornstra Farms! Outdoor get together for Dad’s birthday at my brother’s & watching Riley and Millie in their neighborhood production of Our Little Mermaid. I checked my ballot status- it has been mailed to me! I look forward to submitting it! Go out and Vote! Quote of the Week “Our political leaders will know our priorities only if we tell them, again and again, and if those priorities begin to show up in the polls.” -Peggy Noonan “Not Voting is not a protest. It is a surrender.” -Keith Ellison Contact Information: Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Twitter: Instagram: BostonJen1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio!

I Have No Idea What I’m Doing Bite The Hand chords by boygenius Jared Flood knitting patterns Tweet: “you think anyones ever gotten a lap dance to the national” Strip club stock footage Transcript available here. Music by YuriBeats Art by Katie Rose

Book Talk at 11:10     Lists from Book Chats: May 5 Amy Hewgill: Heather--possible method for re-knitting/mending your sweater.  -- Alternatively a “Tamborine Darn” as illustrated in this book.  Lina:  Lina: Black Books on Amazon -  Globe Theater link -  Frankenstein Link -  Ann: Henry Cabot Lodge/Teddy Roosevelt “…Hero Tales…” , Ken Burns Roosevelt documentary , Charles de Lint “Moonheart”  Tuesday May 12 5/12/2020 Heather. Ordover : Micarah Tewers makes a stunning gown out of bedsheets (pretty much)  Lina Bergsten : calming videos, woman farming in China, this one is “So …it goes like…the life of peas!”  Amy Hewgill : OPI episode: “Every Little Thing” episode “Nail Polish Naming” Podcast recommendations from everyone:  Jigsaw puzzle episode:  Amy:  and books  aimed at maybe 9 yrs old + Also the podcast 20,000 Hz:  Laura has been listening to the old radio show:  Heather (as always) recommends Dr Floyd for kids AND parents:  Ann is reading “Number the Stars” Lois Lowry - Tween book (little like “The Devil’s Arithmetic”) And we all agree that Elizabeth Peter’s books  (the Amelia Peabody books) are fine on paper, but they are spectacular as read by Barbara Rosenblat (sadly she does NOT read all of them) Tracee: still reading Love Warrior: A Memoir Kindle Edition by Glennon Doyle  - Blurb: The highly anticipated new memoir by bestselling author Glennon Doyle Melton tells the story of her journey of self-discovery after the implosion of her marriage. (her new book is “Untamed” - Blurb: In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, bestselling author, and “patron saint of female empowerment” (People) explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us. ) Laura Ricketts vest rec for Amy:  Tuesday May 19th, 2020 Amy Hewgill: Lori Gottlieb - “Maybe you should talk to someone” - she is a shrink - stuck with one patient w/ cancer through whole ride (ebook) -  Chanel Miller - “Know My Name” -  Heather. Ordover : Podcast recs from last Thursday - “Wind of Change” and “Imagined Life” Evie: Moonstone - structured like Woman in White - Phoebe Reads a Mystery - Moonstone -  Toshi: Kate Davies - Deco Cardigan -  pattern for contiguous sweater  free contiguous method tutorial  Amy Hewgill : diy corona pinata -  Heather. Ordover :  Heather. Ordover :  Ann Blanton:  - Bride of the Rat God Paperback – by Barbara Hambly - Great narrator Heather. Ordover :  Id: Invaded (new and...interesting...Anime)  Toshi: Avenue 5 (v funny / Hugh Laurie)  What we Do In The Shadows - tv show -  and the movie  Ann:  Grimm - Great to binge Thursday 5/14/2020 and 5/21's Book Chat notes Dianne: Ruth Galloway series - forensic archaeologist in Norfolk - 10,000 Doors of January” Alex E Harrow - little Jasper Fford-y (victorian/strong female/escape) Susan B Anderson’s Moose Pattern (Making Magazine) + change of clothes (Go to her company website for the patterns - SO CUTE!!!!) also making a large lace-weight circular shawl, Jared Flood’s Permafrost Toshi - Podcast, “Offshore” (public radio station show out of Hawaii - first episode about Mauna K’oa) (sp) (+ Marshall Islands/ adoption) Heather. Ordover : Safe for Tweens book - “Charlie Thorne & the Last Equation” Lise Mendel’s Ravelry - check it out for the lace weight wedding shawl for her daughter currently reading 2nd book in the Apocalypse Triptych series (The End is Near) () Regina - 7 Seeds -  Things in Jars - Jess Kidd (Victorian/strong female - ) Aimee Woolwine : “Bookmarks are for Quitters” T-shirt (finishing William Monk series, book 23) AWESOME PODCAST -  The song if you need to know:  Also, “Imagined Life” podcast - (SO GOOD - H.O.)  Tracee - Love Warrior + next (new book) “Untamed” Glenon Doyle Melton - Brenee Brown interviewed her on the podcast:  And her original blog:  Joyce Fisher: (Zebra Drive) Lifespan “chapter 8 - ready for the worst” - about a pandemic Mary Snellings - Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist () + Lean In  Thursday 5/21/2020 First - a few links on Science and Faux Science Heather. Ordover :  - How FAKE SCIENCE Can Fool You – Wisecrack Edition Toshi : Gwenyth Paltrow is Insane and Goop is hurting everyone -   Flat Earth: What Makes REAL Science? – Wisecrack Edition Toshi :  Podcast on what happens when you are sad and lonely and go online as a young white man in America Toshi :  - Yes so the podcast goes from the main study person being a Obama stan, to a Stef Molineaux fan, to a Gaving McGuinnes (sp) fan, to a contrapoints fan Heather. Ordover :  - Heather. Ordover :  Heather. Ordover :  Heather. Ordover :  ALL SYSTEMS RED (The Murderbot Diaries) by Martha Wells Jennifer: Hardcore History podcast -  WWI - excellent (per Jennifer Gordon)  They Shall Not Grow Old doc from Peter Jackson How did we get to WWI - Ken Follett -  Dorothy sayers books in order -   - Margery Allingham Books In Order  by Ngaio Marsh BJ is doing The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb by Agatha Christie -  Lise -  - Jane Darrowfield, Professional Busybody by Barbara Ross All in agreement - this wins the BEST TITLE award for the night Heather. Ordover : How to cope with being stuck inside (H.O. - I love every video this guy has done) CGP Grey -  Vickie - the book woman of troublesome creek - by Kim Michele Richardson - historical fiction -  History links: Vickie & Jennifer):  Heather. Ordover :  - The Danelaw - Alfred vs. Guthrum - Extra History - #1  In Our Time Lise: Daniel Silva -  The Dutch House: A Novel Hardcover – by Ann Patchett -  And some Anime links !  - Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (Anime) Toshi: Found it: The disastrous life of Saiki K - . THIS IS AMAZING from Tammy C: 1621 - the new anatomy of melancholy Robert Burton -  Heather. Ordover : Make fun of Heinlin video from Overly Sarcastic Productions -  Regina: Shtisel on Netflix   

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my campaign to raise funds for ovarian cancer research by Dr. Katherine Fuh. I am knitting Cobblestone #4 by Jared Flood. I knitted 2 Toadstool Dolls by Susan B Anderson for my granddaughters to play with at Christmas and Miss Marple by Nadia Crétin-LéChenne for my 2 year old granddaughter. I also share books I’ve been reading with an unintentional indigo theme. This episode is sponsored by Quince & Co. Knitting Pipeline is a Bluprint Affiliate. Bluprint offers affordable online classes and supplies. When you use the link in the sidebar on my blog before purchasing I receive a small percentage of your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Show notes are found at www.knittingpipeline.com. You can find me on Ravelry as PrairiePiper and on Instagram and YouTube as KnittingPipeline. There are two groups on Ravelry, Knitting Pipeline and Knitting Pipeline Retreats. Come join us there! Haste ye back!  

Please consider donating to fund ovarian cancer research by Dr. Katherine Fuh at Washington University, St. Louis MO. Make check payable to Washington University. Your donation is tax deductible. Mail to Knitting Pipeline, PO Box 549 Washington IL 61571. You can follow me on CaringBridge. Thank you to the knitters at the Knitting Pipeline Maine Retreat for starting this fundraiser! My husband joins me in this episode. I finished Cobblestone #3 by Jared Flood and am abandoning my Northeasterly (any takers?) New projects are Toadstool Dolls by Susan B Anderson and Miss Marple by Nadia Crétin-LéChenne. Book Review on To the Point: The Knitted Triangle by Leila Raven. Quince & Co 2019. Bob gives a lesson in triangles. We also blether about nature. This episode is sponsored by Quince & Co. Knitting Pipeline is a Bluprint Affiliate. Bluprint offers affordable online classes and supplies. When you use the link in the sidebar on my blog before purchasing I receive a small percentage of your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Show notes are found at www.knittingpipeline.com. You can find me on Ravelry as PrairiePiper and on Instagram and YouTube as KnittingPipeline. There are two groups on Ravelry, Knitting Pipeline and Knitting Pipeline Retreats. Come join us there! Haste ye back! Paula

Thank you to all of you for your prayers and well wishes! Also, thank you for coming back to listen after my surgery and last 3 treatments. Your support means so much to me and my family! I share modifications that I made on my first Cobblestone and I am halfway through Cobblestone #2 by Jared Flood. I share a knitting disaster with my husband’s Norwegian Ljuskofte. My husband joins me for Nature Notes, The Blethering Room, In The Pipeline, and High note Low Note. This episode is sponsored by Quince & Co and Knitcircus Yarns. Knitting Pipeline is a Bluprint Affiliate. Bluprint offers affordable online classes and supplies. When you use the link in the sidebar on my blog before purchasing I receive a small percentage of your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Haste ye back! Paula

Learning new things as adults can be challenging, but also fun. Besides the usual topics, Marsha learns how much fun driving can be. 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 email us at twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com or contact us on our website. Project Updates Marsha finished the pullover Cobblestone by Jared Flood for her brother. She washed and blocked it but he want the sleeves 1” shorter so some ripping back will have to be done. She used New Lanark Mill DK she bought in Scotland last year. It is nice to knit with and and becomes more beautiful after washing. She also made progress on her T-shirt, Lace Market by Marie Greene. She finished the yoke and joined the body. She is using a linen yarn call El Linio by Schoppel Kelly has been working on the Assam by Laura Chau. She is using Sockotta held double.  It looks like she will have enough yarn. She also finished a pair of shortie socks. Other News Kelly had some sad news to report. She had to say good-bye to her almost 15-year old yellow lab, Ruedy. Anyone who has lost a pet knows how hard this is, but it was time. While Marsha's car is in the shop she ended up with a Dodge Challenger as her rental car. Who knew driving a muscle car was so much fun! Events (K)Not Along! The Two Ewes will be starting a challenge for fiber projects that are NOT knitting, crochet, spinning, or weaving. The NOT (or KNOT) Along will start on May 31 and goes through August 31.

A fabulous knitting retreat contrasts with a horrible injury, but the fun outweighs the pain in this episode. 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 email us with your thoughts at twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com  or contact us on our website. Project Updates Kelly is plugging away at  Koru by Aroha Knits using the Dragonfly Fibers Dance Rustic Silk. It is in timeout due to a dropped stitch and will need to have about 4 to 5 rows ripped out and reknit. Meanwhile Kelly started some shortie socks with her Bee Yarn (Sunflower colorway from Duren Dyeworks). She will finish them before the episode goes live.  She also is knitting a The Double Trouble Reversible Beanie by Petite Knitter. Kelly is experimenting with color changes in her version. Marsha has made progress on the T-shirt called Lace Market by Marie Greene and she is using Schoppel El Linio (linen) in Indigo. She finished the body of the pullover Cobblestone by Jared Flood, finished the first sleeve and started the second sleeve. She is using the New Lanark Mill DK she bought in Scotland last year. Other ways to play with string...A Not Along (or is it Knot Along?) The Two Ewes will be starting a challenge for fiber projects that are NOT knitting, crochet, spinning, or weaving. The NOT (or KNOT) Along will start on May 31 and goes through August 31, so think about what you want to be working on this summer that is NOT knitting, crochet, or weaving. Retreat Fun We had a great time at the NoCKRs retreat. Lots of relaxing (at least when Marsha wasn’t fetching ice, etc. for Kelly!) lots of good food, lots of friends, and some learning.  Monica (Kirbymo) taught us how to make Beeswax Wraps that are an alternative to plastic wrap. There are lots of YouTube tutorials, but this was a good one and included links to purchasing supplies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_bsxrqAF-s There were some great designers in attendance at the . Do check out their patterns on Ravelry. Celia McAdam Cahill Brenda Castiel Heddi Craft gave a demonstration on sock machine knitting. Her book is CSM: The Cookbook Elizabeth Doherty gave a talk on short rows. Recommendations Kelly: Don’t carry a bunch of crap when you walk up the stairs in the dark! Marsha: Spicy Red Lentil Soup from The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Weekends adapted by Nancy Leson food writer at the Seattle Times.

  I am almost finished with the Cobblestone by Jared Flood. My husband and I talk about our nature walks, activities we did when our family came to visit, and some of what we are watching. This episode is sponsored by Quince & Co and Knitcircus Yarns. Knitting Pipeline is a Bluprint Affiliate. Bluprint offers affordable online classes and supplies. When you use the link in the sidebar on my blog before purchasing I receive a small percentage of your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Show notes are found at www.knittingpipeline.com. You can find me on Ravelry as PrairiePiper and on Instagram and YouTube as KnittingPipeline. There are two groups on Ravelry, Knitting Pipeline and Knitting Pipeline Retreats. Come join us there! I'll be having surgery so will be taking a break for the next 6 weeks or so. https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/paulaemons-fuessle. Haste ye back!  

  In this episode I talk about progress on the Cobblestone by Jared Flood using Elizabeth Zimmermann Percentage System; the classic Tomten Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmermann; and Millie Doll by Susan B Anderson with Quince & Co. This episode is sponsored by Quince & Co and Knitcircus Yarns. Knitting Pipeline is a Bluprint Affiliate. Bluprint offers affordable online classes and supplies. When you use the link in the sidebar on my blog before purchasing I receive a small percentage of your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Show notes are found at www.knittingpipeline.com. You can find me on Ravelry as PrairiePiper and on Instagram and YouTube as KnittingPipeline. There are two groups on Ravelry, Knitting Pipeline and Knitting Pipeline Retreats. Come join us there! Haste ye back!

Celebrating member weaving projects and highlighting the work of designers who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. You’ll definitely add patterns to your queue after this episode! Doing our part for World Fleece! 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 email us with your thoughts. Use email twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com or contact us on our website. Project Updates Kelly is plugging away at  Koru by Aroha Knits using the Dragonfly Fibers Dance Rustic Silk. The patterned sections have become almost routine and she is approaching the length where she will begin armholes. Kelly also finished a small shawlette/cowl out of handspun.  The project was started and finished in one weekend trip to San Francisco to see the musical Hamilton. Marsha has cast on two projects. The first is a T-shirt called Lace Market by Marie Greene and she is using Schoppel El Linio (linen) in Indigo. She also cast on for her brother the pullover Cobblestone by Jared Flood using the New Lanark Mill DK she bought in Scotland last year. Celebrating Weaving The Two Ewes celebrate weaving with a review of member weaving projects. Lots of members are weavers and participated in the recently finished Winter Weave Along. Besides looking at the finished object thread the Ewes went to the Ravelry advanced search, selected the “projects” tab at the top, selected “weaving” as the craft in the filter boxes on the left, and selected “Groups” from the very last filter box with additional characteristics.  This allows you to select a Ravelry Group, for example Two Ewes Fiber Adventure. Once you do that you see a page of all the weaving projects by group members. Gorgeous and inspiring! A Diversity of Designers The Ewes highlighted patterns from the Designers of Color Bundle that was created by the Solidarity Swap Ravelry Group. Some of the patterns are: Lesedi Shrug by Noma Ndlovu, Mermaid Top by Rebecca McKenzie, Summertime Tee by Toni Lipsey (crochet) Inseparable Cowl and Shawls by Tami Gore And many, many others (over 70 pages of patterns!) The Two Ewes dare you to look at this bundle and not add to your project queue! Other ways to play with string...A Not Along (or is it Knot Along?) Group member Jill contacted Kelly about punch needle rug hooking. Kelly has been planning a project for awhile, but hasn’t gotten started. Jill also wanted to do a punch needle project.  So the Two Ewes will be starting a challenge for fiber projects that are NOT knitting, crochet, or weaving. The NOT (or KNOT) Along will start on May 31, so think about what you want to be working on this summer that is NOT knitting, crochet, or weaving. Recommendations Kelly recommends  Fiber at the Speed of Life podcast by Erica (Weavolution) and Michele.  They just published their first episode.

Thank you for tuning in to Episode 152 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. Full show notes with photos can be found here.   This week's segments included:   Off the Needles On the Needles Brainstorming Crafty Adventures KAL News Life in Focus On a Happy Note Quote of the Week Off the Needles   Crocheted Garland for Aila     Matt's 2018 Christmas Hat Yarn: Berrocco Vintage in the Dungaree Colorway Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 7 (4.5 mm) Pattern: Turn a Square Hat by Jared Flood   Turquoise Stripes Socks Yarn: Patons Kroy Needles: US 1.5  (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel by Megan Williams On the Needles   Rock You Like a Hurricane Socks Yarn: Freckled Whimsy yarn in the Rock You Like a Hurricane colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern- OMG Heel by Megan Williams     Dan's 1st Felici Socks Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in the 8 Bit Colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern- OMG Heel by Megan Williams     Christmas Pops Socks Yarn: Holly Press Fiber Works SHEEPish in the Christmas Pops Colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern- Non-Euclidian Heel by Sarah Jordan   KFI Scrappy Socks   Yarn: KFI Luxury Indulgence Cashmere in Colors 601 + 602 ( 70% Merino, 25% Nylon, 5% Cashmere goat)- DK Skacel Kenzie- worsted: 50% Wool, 25% Nylon, 10% Alpaca, 10% Angora, 5% Silk Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm) Pattern: OMG heel by Megan Williams Cast on 48 stitches.   Brainstorming Worsted Weight Boxy for my friend Laura Raw Honey by Alicia Plummer Baby Knits for Friends Honey Pie by Lisa Chemery Winter Storm Hat by Gabreille Vezina Worsted Entechat Bonnet by Lisa Chemery   Crafty Adventures Mom and I (mostly Mom) made a fascinator for a wedding I was attending.     KAL News Slay the Stash 2018 Each month you can declare a skein of yarn to knit/crochet/weave to its very end (within 3 yards) . Let’s use up those older special skeins that are soooo pretty we don’t want to touch them. Finish up that skein and maybe win a new beautiful skein of yarn from one of our sponsors along the way! Full details and rules can be found here. December Post Use and follow #slaythestash2018 on Social Media December Sponsor: Sunsoaked Yarns Slay the Stash Sponsor List- 2019 Official Rules for 2019  January- Fish Belly Fiber Works February- KnitCircus Yarns March- Holly Press Fibers April- Fibernymph Dye Works May – Another Crafty Girl  June- Flying Finn Yarns July- Sponsored by WindsweptMonique– yarn TBD August- Knit Style Yarns September- Artistic Lilly  October – Infinite Twist  November- 716 Knit  December –  Hypnotic Yarn   Pigskin Party Wondering what this crazy KAL is? Check out this page which gives you the best overview with all necessary links. There’s also a helpful “Start Here” Thread in the Ravelry Group Check out the Rulesbut if you still have questions, come over to the Questions threadand ask. We’re happy to help. Put your Name on the Roster then claim your spot in the End Zone Dance Threadwhere you’ll track your points. Continue to update your post with all of the points you earn during the KAL For every 100 points, you’ll earn an entry into the drawing for the Grand Prizes Check out our amazing Sponsors;if you use their products, you’ll earn more points per FO Some of our Pro Shop Level Sponsors will be creating exclusive items for Pigskin Party participants. They may come out at different times and will likely be limited in quantities, so keep your eyes on this Exclusive Items thread in the group for all the latest news Scope out the prizes!Some will be given out during the KAL; some will be part of the Grand Prizes. Don’t forget to use #DCSPigskinParty18 on Instagram so we check out what you’re doing and you can be eligible for participation prizes. Don't forget about the  December Interception: Craft a Team- sponsored byImagined Landscapes for Sponsoring. We also have the WIPs Interception running through 2/4.     Life in Focus Tune in to hear my review of my 18 in 2018 project I also talked about how I do my Year in Review:   Reviewed 2018 by theme: work, personal, podcast/design, finances, health + fitness What am I most proud of? What results did I get? New Skills or Knowledge? Things and People that brought me happiness Top 5 things I'm grateful for Habits + improvements I've incorporated   I will talk more about 2019 Planning in the next episode. On a Happy Note Met my friends for knitting, chatting and dinner!   Aila performed her first piano recital! Wedding fun with friends! We thought we should have been at table 9- 9 Ladies Dancing! Christmas Eve with my cousins! Christmas! My best friend gave me a jewelry hanger from Pottery barn    Quote of the Week Whence all this hurry to arrive at a state? Are you not already face-to-face with the eternal mystery? Take it easy for a while; just watch the snow falling or the kettle boiling, and not so much hurry. – Alan Watts           ------     Thank you for tuning in!   Contact Information: Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Twitter: Instagram:BostonJen1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletterto get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio!    

Come knit with me while I take you through my FO's (finished objects) and WIPs (works in progress) for the month of May 2018! My stash is 23 skeins lighter!!Halo by Jared Flood - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/halo-6Brooklyn Tweed Loft in Fossil from Beehive Wools in Victoria, BCConnect-a-Rug Anti-Fatigue Mats - https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.connect-a-rug-anti-fatigue-mat-with-borders-in-black-4-pack.1000830730.htmlVertices Unite by Stephen West - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vertices-uniteMy Vertices Unite - https://www.ravelry.com/projects/chrissythegreat/vertices-unite-2The Doodler by Stephen West - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-doodlerMy Doodler - https://www.ravelry.com/projects/chrissythegreat/the-doodlerKnitCompanion is the knitting app I talked about (again - I just love it so much!!)Romi Hill 2018 Mystery Shawl - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/romis-mystery-shawl-2018Ninilchik Swoncho by Caitlin Hunter - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ninilchik-swonchoMy Ninilchik - https://www.ravelry.com/projects/chrissythegreat/ninilchik-swonchoZweig by Caitlin Hunter - future handspun sweater plans - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zweigEwesful Creations Fiber - BFL I plan to marlHello Yarn Fiber Club - April 2018 - Moon on BFL

Work in progress Jenny The Sweater (Windfall by the amazing and wonderful Melissa Kemmerer) Ginny's Cardigan by Mari Chiba from the unofficial harry potter knits special issue of interweave  zigzagular socks by prairie girl susie Safe Harbor socks by Amy Rapp in Yarn Geek Rocketeer Weezie Vanilla socks using Berroco Sox Master Knitter mitten More vanilla socks in Berroco Comfort Sock Ilene Bag by Hannah Mason in FibraNatura Flax Cait Curious (Socks of Wonderland by Lisa Ross) in Hedgehog Fibres Twist Sock Longline Cardigan by Joji Locatelli in madelinetosh Euro Sock Firedrake socks by Sarah Wartofsky in Wisdom Yarns Angora Lace & Knit Picks Stroll Plotting and Scheming Jenny Fimo (polymer clay) accessories (Mentioned Charmed & Dangerous, Sucre Sucre) Weezie #spin15aday organize the stash Cait Herbology OWL plans Maybe Wintery Octagon Mandala blanket by Tatsiana Kupryianchyk or Dahlia Pillow by Sylwia Kawczynska cabled yarn Ta da!! Cait Helen Joyce Dress by Taiga Hilliard for Lily in Cascade Ultra Pima Safe Harbor socks by Amy Rapp in handspun Targhee from Essential Fiber Revenge of the knits/ 99 problems and a stitch ain’t one Jenny the Ginny sweater rip-out Cait seed stitch is like ribbing - drop a needle size! Oooh, Shiny! Weezie Emporeio by the AMAZING Mona C. NicLeoid Cait Jeanette's Scarf by Brenda McCunn Jenny Frabjous Fibers yarn in the exclusive LYS Day colorway Fluff n Stuff Cait Electric Eel Mini Spinner was painted and named! Imaginary Internet Points Weezie Better be... Hufflepuff! Jenny Better be... Gryffindor! Cait Better be... Ravenclaw! Through to Round 4 of Sock Madness (Mentioned Harry Dresden books, Crazy Harry the Muppet, Casey the Code Monkey, Jared Flood, and Boo Knits) In the Deep End Crafting in warm weather Light weight yarn Plant fibers Small projects lace? weaving Juno sweater by yellowcosmo Medallion Lace Cardigan by Shiri Mor Mark's Scarf from Rent Tahki cotton Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig amigurumi Events/News Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival, Lexington, May 19 & 20 Another Pints & Purls soon? Wampa Stomp Shearing Day, Cox's Creek, KY, May 26 Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival, Franklin, IN, June 1 & 2 Southern Indiana Fiber Festival, Corydon, IN, October 20 & 21   The Charmed Knitters are participants in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

2018 Rosemary (Romi) Hill Mystery Shawl Knit Along 2018 - https://www.ravelry.com/projects/chrissythegreat/romis-mystery-shawl-2018Sweet Georgia CashLuxe Fine - WisteriaSweet Georgia Tough Love Sock - SmittenHalo by Jared Flood - https://www.ravelry.com/projects/chrissythegreat/haloBrooklyn Tweed Loft - FossilVanilla Socks - https://www.ravelry.com/projects/chrissythegreat/vanilla-socks-3The Easy Bulky One by Joji LocatelliTolmie by Josee PaquinMiranda by Josee PaquinCustom Woolen Mills Mule Spinner 2-PlyKnit Companion App - https://www.knitcompanion.com/Woolith Fair - https://www.woolithfair.ca/

Sometimes we forget that those behind some of the biggest names and companies in the industry are just that; people with a vision, makers with a mission and entrepreneurs with a passion and will so strong. Jared Flood is the force behind one of our favorite companies, Brooklyn Tweed. What started out as an idea, quickly grew into something much greater than even he anticipated. Backed by an incredible team and american wool, he’s paved much of the way for modern domestic yarn production and quality knitwear design. It was a pleasure to get to sit down and hear his story, and I hope you enjoy listening in. You can find Jared at brooklyntweed.com and on Instagram @brooklyntweed and @jared_flood / listen / You can also and listen and subscribe on iTunes and Stitcher. / notes & resources / Brooklyn Tweed / Guest site / giveaway / This weeks giveaway is sponsored by Brooklyn Tweed and they’re giving away a knitting kit of your choice! To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on the blog post makingzine.com.  / sponsors / This episode is brought to you by our lovely sponsors. The Net Loft in Cordova, Alaska. thenetloftak.com @thenetloft My Sister Knits in Fort Collins, Colorado. mysisterknits.com @mysisterknits    

This week Felicia is joined by Sivia Harding, a knitwear designer who has been working with fiber and art ever since she can remember. As a youth she became obsessed with the fiber arts and dabbled in weaving, spinning, and dyeing as well as other activities. She finally came to knitting in the year 2000 and almost immediately began to design. Sivia is best known for exceptional lace and bead designs. Her patterns also include accessories, garments, and Möbius creations. Sivia has been widely published in books and collections including Jared Flood's Wool People series, Twist Collective, and Knitty. She also self-publishes as Sivia Harding Knit Design. Since 2009 Sivia has also been travelling  and teaching at larger venues and shows. Please join us as Felicia and Sivia chat about how to add a little extra splendour to your knits with beads! In this episode, we talk about: 1:43 Felicia and Sivia reminisce about when Siva used to live in Vancouver, BC and Sivia's first big venue teaching gig at Sock Summit 6:33 Sivia chats about her love of fiber arts from an early age and how she got into knitting and design 13:20 Felicia asks Sivia how she got into what she is best-known for: beading in knitting 17:50 Felicia asks for tips for knitters who want to add beads to their projects but feel a little apprehensive 22:15 Sivia gives us a glimpse into the history of the bead industry and how some bead companies specifically advertise to fibre artists who work with beads 24:20 What kind of designs Sivia is focusing on presently 26:30 Felicia asks about the current trend of knitters moving away from lace weight yarn into thicker yarns 29:50 What classes and retreats Sivia has been teaching, including her time at Vancouver's own Knit City 36:25 Felicia asks about the knitting community in Portland 39:40 Felicia's final notes and podcast giveaway! Links and Things Here's where to find Sivia online: Website: www.siviaharding.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/siviaharding Facebook: www.facebook.com/siviahardingknitdesign Ravelry Group: www.ravelry.com/groups/sivia-harding

Hello and welcome to the CLN podcast. Today’s show is part of the Cottage On Tour series where I leave the cottage behind for a little adventure. So grab that cuppa and settle in to hear those voices of Knitbritish, Jared Flood, Carol Feller and Tin Can Knits to name a few. Today’s show is […]

If you’ve been under a rock lately or haven’t listened to our latest episodes of the podcast, EYF of course is the Edinburgh Yarn Festival, the 2017 edition of which wrapped up this past Sunday. We were there and back in a whirlwind of 4 days and have so much to tell you about, including an interview that we were lucky to have with Aimée Gille, owner of L’Oisive The and La Bien Aimée in Paris. We’ve also got the wrap up of the Blacker PodKAL, some upcoming events to keep an eye out for, and an update on what we’ve been working on and what’s making us happy.  Blacker PodKAL wrap up It was amazing seeing so many gorgeous handknits in person in the Blacker Yarns Podcast Lounge at EYF. The Blacker stand was pretty spectacular too! We’ve come away with samples of Blacker’s latest yarn Samite that we talked about on the last episode and we’ll be working with that and reporting back on what it’s like to work with. Huge thanks to Sue and Sonja from Blacker for supporting the Podcast Lounge, and for putting up a prize skein of Samite for our winner of Team YITC for the Blacker PodKAL! We’re delighted to announce that HDayananda – Helen – was our winner on Ravelry and that she picked a gorgeous colour of Samite (and an accompanying skein!) to work up into a shawl. We can’t wait to see what you make Helen – maybe at this year’s Yarn Crawl? News and Events Don’t despair if you missed EYF, there’s plenty of woolly things coming up to tempt you… Week of 20 March: Countess Ablaze is re-opening her studio in central Manchester. We’re getting an advance sneak peek and will report back to you with all of the Countess’ colourful news. 8 April: the new Spring into Wool show is happening in Leeds 22 - 23 April: Wonderwool Wales on April 22 and 23. Come join the London Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers who have organised a coach again this year on Sunday, 23 April 2017. Tickets will be £39 for round-trip transport and entry to the show. Tickets can be booked via Paypal, and all are welcome!  9 September: the 5th anniversary of the Great London Yarn Crawl will happen on Saturday, 9th September. Tickets will go on sale on July 1st and as in previous years all monies raised after expenses will be donated to Refuge, a UK charity that supports women and children who are victims of domestic violence.  Make Happy - #yitcmakehappy Allison's Sooper Secret Project is SO close to being done! Her alternate project is the Koolhaas Hat by Jared Flood. Rachel started the Because Sock Yarn scarf for Dev’s birthday We’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about the Edinburgh Yarn Festival and the glowing yarn fumes and delirium that we seem to have come away from the weekend with. If social media is any indication, there are a lot of yarn lovers and vendors still on a high from the weekend and slowly coming down to reality this week. Things we loved about EYF: Meeting folks and catching up with everyone (although there are still so many we missed!) The ceilidh YARN! The Blacker Yarns Podcast Lounge (and huge thanks to Louise Scollay for organising it so we could be there) The volunteers and their smiling faces An interview with La Bien Aimée EYF was also a great place to see yarns and chat with vendors that we don’t get to see very often, like Aimée Gille, an American transplant to Paris who has been running Paris’ most popular yarn shop, l’Oisive Thé for the last 9 years. Two years ago Aimée and her business partner Hiroko Payne started dyeing their own line of yarns, called La Bien Aimée, which have exploded in popularity thanks to social media. We had a chance to sit down with Aimée while we were at EYF. Here’s that interview. You can find La Bien Aimée/L'Oisive Thé on their website, on Instagram, on Twitter and on Facebook. Wrap up Many thanks to Aimée for joining us on the podcast and congratulations once again to Jo and Mica on a successful show. ou can find the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio and us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, in our Yarn in the City group on Ravelry, or in person on Wednesday nights at our knit night at The Goat on the Rise between 7 and 10pm. Everyone’s really friendly and we hope to see you there! Have a great couple of weeks and we’ll chat with you soon!  Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Ridiculously Happy (feat. Twilight Meadow) - Owl City

Announcements!•Shout out to Vick from Ohio! Please introduce yourself in the Ravelry group. •Congrats to the Knitmore Girls on their 400th Podcast episode and congratulations to Boston Jen from the Down Cellar Studio Podcast for reaching 100 episodes. •If you enjoy the show, or any other podcast, please leave us an iTunes review. It helps other listeners find us. On the Needles: Anna is working on a basic sock in Pagewood Farms “Crayon” colorway, the Kelpie shawl by Jared Flood and surprise baby knits for a friend. Bethany is working on the Coffee Date Shawl by CC Almon, Shrowl by Stephen West, a vanilla sock in an Opal sock yarn with a Fish Lips Kiss Heel, the Antler Toque by Tincan Knits in Cascade 220 Superwash and the Vertitwist hat by Stephen West in Cascade 220 Sport. Off The Needles: Anna has finished One! One Basic sock! Ah! Ah! Ah! (That’s how Anna wrote it on her outline. XOXO Bethany) Sew A Needle Pulling Thread: Anna is sewing some Halloween/Autumnal curtains. Spinning: Bethany has been spinning more long draw with a border leicester cross. Knetflix and Knit: Anna has been watching Supernatural and Bob Ross. Bethany has been watching The OC season 1, Beverly Hills 90210 season 3, Parks and Recreation, Gilmore Girls, and NBA basketball. In rehearsal/In performance: Bethany’s Nic is designing sound for A Piece of My Heart at the Dukesbay Theater and he is designing lights for Dracula at Tacoma Little Theatre. Events: #BSKPHAMILONG!! This is our first knit-a-long inspired by the Broadway hit musical Hamilton. It will run from January 1 to February 28. Post finished objects in the thread and on Instagram using the hashtag #BSKPHAMILONG. There will be prizes!! If you want to donate prizes for our KALS and giveaways please PM Bethany on Ravelry. She is Bizzle87 on Ravelry. “When You Help Others, You Can’t Help Helping Yourself” This is our charity knit-a-long. Commit to using your crafting to making the world a better place. Post pictures of finished objects or of you giving your time in the finished object thread. Anna will be at Knit Fit at the Ballard Community Center November 12 and 13, 2016.Some combination of Bethany and Anna will be at Madrona in Tacoma, Washington February 16-19, 2017Bethany will be at Stitches West in Santa Clara, California February 24-26, 2017Bethany and Anna will both be at the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, Washington March 2-5, 2017 Please follow or like us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Periscope. Please join our Ravelry group! Introduce yourself and we’ll give you a shout out!!

Announcements!•Shout out to Vick from Ohio! Please introduce yourself in the Ravelry group. •Congrats to the Knitmore Girls on their 400th Podcast episode and congratulations to Boston Jen from the Down Cellar Studio Podcast for reaching 100 episodes. •If you enjoy the show, or any other podcast, please leave us an iTunes review. It helps other listeners find us. On the Needles: Anna is working on a basic sock in Pagewood Farms “Crayon” colorway, the Kelpie shawl by Jared Flood and surprise baby knits for a friend. Bethany is working on the Coffee Date Shawl by CC Almon, Shrowl by Stephen West, a vanilla sock in an Opal sock yarn with a Fish Lips Kiss Heel, the Antler Toque by Tincan Knits in Cascade 220 Superwash and the Vertitwist hat by Stephen West in Cascade 220 Sport. Off The Needles: Anna has finished One! One Basic sock! Ah! Ah! Ah! (That’s how Anna wrote it on her outline. XOXO Bethany) Sew A Needle Pulling Thread: Anna is sewing some Halloween/Autumnal curtains. Spinning: Bethany has been spinning more long draw with a border leicester cross. Knetflix and Knit: Anna has been watching Supernatural and Bob Ross. Bethany has been watching The OC season 1, Beverly Hills 90210 season 3, Parks and Recreation, Gilmore Girls, and NBA basketball. In rehearsal/In performance: Bethany’s Nic is designing sound for A Piece of My Heart at the Dukesbay Theater and he is designing lights for Dracula at Tacoma Little Theatre. Events: #BSKPHAMILONG!! This is our first knit-a-long inspired by the Broadway hit musical Hamilton. It will run from January 1 to February 28. Post finished objects in the thread and on Instagram using the hashtag #BSKPHAMILONG. There will be prizes!! If you want to donate prizes for our KALS and giveaways please PM Bethany on Ravelry. She is Bizzle87 on Ravelry. “When You Help Others, You Can’t Help Helping Yourself” This is our charity knit-a-long. Commit to using your crafting to making the world a better place. Post pictures of finished objects or of you giving your time in the finished object thread. Anna will be at Knit Fit at the Ballard Community Center November 12 and 13, 2016.Some combination of Bethany and Anna will be at Madrona in Tacoma, Washington February 16-19, 2017Bethany will be at Stitches West in Santa Clara, California February 24-26, 2017Bethany and Anna will both be at the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, Washington March 2-5, 2017 Please follow or like us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Periscope. Please join our Ravelry group! Introduce yourself and we’ll give you a shout out!!

On the Needles: Anna is working on a pair of basic socks in Pagewood Farm Sock Yarn in the Crayon colorway. The Kelpie Shawl by Jared Flood and a secret baby project for a friend. www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kelpie-2www.pagewoodfarm.com/index.htmBethany is working on her Shrowl by Stephen West. Her Coffee Date Shawl CC Almon and a pair of vanilla socks in a Halloween colorway from Opal Yarns. She is using her Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown project bag from Otterly Adorable Knits. www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shrowlwww.ravelry.com/patterns/library/coffee-date-shawlwww.amandasartyarn.comfrabjousfibers.com/wonderland-hand-dyed-yarns.htmlwww.etsy.com/shop/OtterlyAdorableKnits?ref=search_shop_redirectOff the Needles: Anna finished her Norwegian Pirate Mittens with a modified thumb. Bethany finished her 1776 socks and her Pokeball hat that is a pattern of her own creation. www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pirate-mittens​www.etsy.com/listing/237916813/lady-purls-doctor-who-knitting-pattern?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=Lady%20Purl&ref=sr_gallery_1Sew a Needle Pulling Thread: Anna cut out two dressed for her on-going life long project/goal to eventually have 31 Halloween themed dresses. Spinning:Bethany did a little bit of spinning on her wheel and her Turkish drop spindle. Knetflix and Knit:Anna is watching Supernatural, "The Murdoch Mysteries and Merlin.Bethany watched both the Presidential and Vice Presidential debate. (Please, please vote!!) www.usa.gov/register-to-voteShe is also watching Ghostbusters (2016), Friends, Full House, Big Bang Theory and Parks and Recreation. In Rehearsal/Performance: Bethany's boyfriend, Nic, is designing the lights for Tacoma Little Theatre's production of Dracula. He is also designing the sound and promo art for Dukesbay Production's production of A Piece of My Heart. www.tacomalittletheatre.comdukesbay.orgEvents: Bethany, her sisters and Anna had a very positive experience at Geek Girl Con on October 9. PNW Yarn Crawl October 21-23, 2016Knit Fit November 11-13, 2016Stitches West February 24-26,2017geekgirlcon.comwww.pnwyarncrawl.comwww.knitfitseattle.comwww.knittinguniverse.com/West2017/Find us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Periscope as Backstage Knitting Podcast. Please join the Backstage Knitting Podcast group on Ravelry. Introduce yourself and we'll give you a shout out!!

On the Needles: Anna is working on a pair of basic socks in Pagewood Farm Sock Yarn in the Crayon colorway. The Kelpie Shawl by Jared Flood and a secret baby project for a friend. www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kelpie-2www.pagewoodfarm.com/index.htmBethany is working on her Shrowl by Stephen West. Her Coffee Date Shawl CC Almon and a pair of vanilla socks in a Halloween colorway from Opal Yarns. She is using her Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown project bag from Otterly Adorable Knits. www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shrowlwww.ravelry.com/patterns/library/coffee-date-shawlwww.amandasartyarn.comfrabjousfibers.com/wonderland-hand-dyed-yarns.htmlwww.etsy.com/shop/OtterlyAdorableKnits?ref=search_shop_redirectOff the Needles: Anna finished her Norwegian Pirate Mittens with a modified thumb. Bethany finished her 1776 socks and her Pokeball hat that is a pattern of her own creation. www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pirate-mittens​www.etsy.com/listing/237916813/lady-purls-doctor-who-knitting-pattern?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=Lady%20Purl&ref=sr_gallery_1Sew a Needle Pulling Thread: Anna cut out two dressed for her on-going life long project/goal to eventually have 31 Halloween themed dresses. Spinning:Bethany did a little bit of spinning on her wheel and her Turkish drop spindle. Knetflix and Knit:Anna is watching Supernatural, "The Murdoch Mysteries and Merlin.Bethany watched both the Presidential and Vice Presidential debate. (Please, please vote!!) www.usa.gov/register-to-voteShe is also watching Ghostbusters (2016), Friends, Full House, Big Bang Theory and Parks and Recreation. In Rehearsal/Performance: Bethany's boyfriend, Nic, is designing the lights for Tacoma Little Theatre's production of Dracula. He is also designing the sound and promo art for Dukesbay Production's production of A Piece of My Heart. www.tacomalittletheatre.comdukesbay.orgEvents: Bethany, her sisters and Anna had a very positive experience at Geek Girl Con on October 9. PNW Yarn Crawl October 21-23, 2016Knit Fit November 11-13, 2016Stitches West February 24-26,2017geekgirlcon.comwww.pnwyarncrawl.comwww.knitfitseattle.comwww.knittinguniverse.com/West2017/Find us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Periscope as Backstage Knitting Podcast. Please join the Backstage Knitting Podcast group on Ravelry. Introduce yourself and we'll give you a shout out!!

Hallöchen!Hier habe ich Folge 17  für Euch, viel Spaß beim Zuhören!                    I. Fertig:Natsumi von Yoko Hatta aus Holst Samarkand (nicht mehr erhältlich)II. Aktuell:Lila Light von Carrie Bostick Hoge Socken aus Lang Yarns Magic und Opal Der Kleine Prinz und die Rose Interweave Knits Favorite Socks III. Vernünftiges Stricken:Beatnik von Norah Gaughan aus Holst Supersoft in SunriseFlight von Sarah Pope IV. Unvernünftiges Stricken:Agnes von Jared Flood 

Bethany and Anna introduce themselves. They talk about how they met, started in theater and started knitting. On The Needles: Anna is knitting for her Etsy shop. She is also working on a Sky Scarf from the book "Knit The Sky" by Lea Redmond Bethany is knitting a vanilla sock with the Fish Lips Kiss heel by the Sox Therapist with Madeline Tosh Sock yarn in what looks like the Magic color way She is also working on her Coffee Date Shawl by C.C. Almon of the Geeky Girls Knit Podcast Bethany is also working on some Christmas knitting. Off The Needles: Bethany finished her first of the Madeline Tosh vanilla socks. In Time Out: Anna frogged the sweater that was knit for her trip Edinburgh this past May. She also has a Tomten sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman that is in time out too. Anna dubbed Bethany the Knitting Whisperer due to Beth's amazing ability to coax cranky projects into behaving.Bethany has nothing specifically in time out. Except for a very old Harry Potter sweater from "Charmed Knits" that has been in time out since 2011. Netflix and Knit: Anna just finished watching Season 2 of Penny Dreadful. She also recently started Season 3 of Ripper Street, season one of Charmed and a general re-watch of Once Upon A Time. Bethany is watching Season 5 of Gilmore Girls, Season 7 of Friends, Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Series 2 of Doctor Who. She recently saw Finding Dory with her boyfriend, Nic. In Rehearsal: Anna is starting rehearsals for Three Poets later in August. She will be costuming this production and probably stage managing. Bethany's household is starting rehearsal for "6 Characters in Search of an Author" on Monday. She will be running box office and designing sound for this production. Events: Bethany and Anna will be at Stitch 'N' Pitch at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington on July 19, 2016. Check out Anna's Instagram (persephone-vesper) or Bethany's (stage.knitter) for day-of location info! We would love to meet you.List of Repeat Projects: Anna loves Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket.Norah Gaughan's Droplet Hat.And Kelpie, A Modern Hap Shawl by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed. Bethany has recently knit two versions of the Mermaid Tail Lap Blanket. And The Force Awakens HatBooks we also love and continue to knit from:Ann Bud's "Handy Book of Patterns" The "Handy Book of Sweaters" And Debbie Stoller's "Stitch N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook."

Bethany and Anna introduce themselves. They talk about how they met, started in theater and started knitting. On The Needles: Anna is knitting for her Etsy shop. She is also working on a Sky Scarf from the book "Knit The Sky" by Lea Redmond Bethany is knitting a vanilla sock with the Fish Lips Kiss heel by the Sox Therapist with Madeline Tosh Sock yarn in what looks like the Magic color way She is also working on her Coffee Date Shawl by C.C. Almon of the Geeky Girls Knit Podcast Bethany is also working on some Christmas knitting. Off The Needles: Bethany finished her first of the Madeline Tosh vanilla socks. In Time Out: Anna frogged the sweater that was knit for her trip Edinburgh this past May. She also has a Tomten sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman that is in time out too. Anna dubbed Bethany the Knitting Whisperer due to Beth's amazing ability to coax cranky projects into behaving.Bethany has nothing specifically in time out. Except for a very old Harry Potter sweater from "Charmed Knits" that has been in time out since 2011. Netflix and Knit: Anna just finished watching Season 2 of Penny Dreadful. She also recently started Season 3 of Ripper Street, season one of Charmed and a general re-watch of Once Upon A Time. Bethany is watching Season 5 of Gilmore Girls, Season 7 of Friends, Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Series 2 of Doctor Who. She recently saw Finding Dory with her boyfriend, Nic. In Rehearsal: Anna is starting rehearsals for Three Poets later in August. She will be costuming this production and probably stage managing. Bethany's household is starting rehearsal for "6 Characters in Search of an Author" on Monday. She will be running box office and designing sound for this production. Events: Bethany and Anna will be at Stitch 'N' Pitch at Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington on July 19, 2016. Check out Anna's Instagram (persephone-vesper) or Bethany's (stage.knitter) for day-of location info! We would love to meet you.List of Repeat Projects: Anna loves Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket.Norah Gaughan's Droplet Hat.And Kelpie, A Modern Hap Shawl by Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed. Bethany has recently knit two versions of the Mermaid Tail Lap Blanket. And The Force Awakens HatBooks we also love and continue to knit from:Ann Bud's "Handy Book of Patterns" The "Handy Book of Sweaters" And Debbie Stoller's "Stitch N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook."

Hallöchen!Hier habe ich Folge 16 für Euch, viel Spaß beim Zuhören!1. Fertige Projekte:a) gestricktHugo von Veronik Avery aus Holst Coast in der Farbe JayEarl Lenmeyer :D :D :D von Craftyshanna aus Wollrestenb) genäht3x Aurora von SeamworkBettine von Tilly and the Buttons2. Aktuell:Natsumi von Yoko Hatta aus Holst Samarkand inkl. Nahaufnahme der Sonnenblumen-Aurora 3. Geplant:Agnes von Jared FloodBrooklyn Tweed LoftRowan Felted TweedGeilsk TweedFairalpaka

  Sponsor: Every year there is a special place, on a lake in New Hampshire, where people gather to explore their creativity, healing and community. This place is called Squam. Behind this goodness is one remarkable woman by the name of Elizabeth Duvivier, someone who’s sought out to find her path and enlightenment in this creative world, bringing souls together and taking just as much away from each experience as those who attend. The FALL SQUAM RETREAT is taking place this September, complete with twinkle lights, generous teachers, sweet walks through the woods, vintage cottages, laughter on the dock, some very incredible workshops and ending with a Gather Here Bash pre-fair party and the SQUAM ART FAIR Saturday night. Join classes with incredible fiber folks like Maryanne Moodie, Anne Wood, Arne + Carlos, and Norah Gaughan – also on hand will be Jared Flood, Tif Fussell, Jaime + Amber of Fancy Tiger and so many other lovely spirits. There are still a few spots open so if this has been calling to you there is still time to register and make your travel plans to attend. Visit squamartworkshops.com for full details. Fiber folk: It’s always inspiring to receive emails from young fiber folks finding their way in this fiber world, hearing […]

Word of the Day - Faith Definitions of faith, aspects of faith, faith in the future because of young people, faith in religion, faith beyond religion, personal ideas about faith, leaps of faith, Biblical quotes on faith.  “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche A Little Sweet... New Yarns are selling well at Greenberry House and on the web site. Olde Liberty Fibre Faire Leslie is still working on the border of her hap shawl, Quill by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed's Spring Thaw Collection, but life keeps getting in the way. Beth talks about book shows she has attended and a special early Florida postcard she has for sale. Leslie is well stocked at the shop on vintage books about religion. “Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right.” - Max Lucado “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” ― Mahatma Gandhi “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson Book and Art Sale at the Reynolds Homestead, featuring Beth and her siblings book, beginning Sunday, June 5, and continuing through the following week. A Little Tart.... Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom "Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe." - Mitch Albom Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippett Songs: "Great is Thy Faithfulness" "Keeping the Faith" "Faithfully" A Little Unexpected... Mabry Mill is open in Meadows of Dan Raps Orchard Gap is open and looking for help. Leslie is doing a dye workshop with the Reynolds Homestead Rug Hooking group. Leslie is also heading for Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! Your hosts wrap things up and will be back with a new word in a couple of weeks. Music Attribution Reverie (small theme) by _ghost featuring Pitx ccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389 CC Attribution (3.0)

Word of the Day - Walls A little politics, definitions, and a lot about relationships Leading Roll, recorded by Sammy Shelor Ally McBeal “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”  ― Rumi “Her heart was a secret garden and the walls were very high.”  ― William Goldman, The Princess Bride A Little Sweet... Beth took a Reynolds Homestead group to the Moss Arts Center to see the Celtic Group, Danu. Leslie has been shearing her angora rabbits, with some difficulty.If you work with animals, get a tetanus shot! Video by Dave Miller Leslie has finished the feather and fan section of her hap shawl, Quill by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed's Spring Thaw Collection and is starting the final knitted on border. She has also finished the Kathleen sweater again, using a slightly modified version of the Tender Hoodie by Kristen TenDyke. Kathleen seems pleased. Beth and her sister presented their siblings book, Stories of a West Virginia Family, to one of our local book clubs.  The Reynolds Homestead is ready to open, thanks to the hard work of Beth and her associates and volunteers. Leslie plans to open Greenberry House on April 8, depending on how the weather behaves.  A Little Tart... The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls “Sometimes our walls exist just to see who has the strength to knock them down.”  ― Darnell Lamont Walker, Creep “There are four kinds of people in the world, Ms. Harper. Those who build walls. Those who protect walls. Those who breach walls. And those who tear down walls. Much of life is discovering who you are. When you find out, you also realize there are places you can no longer go, things you can no longer do, words you can no longer say.”  ― P.S. Baber, Cassie Draws the Universe "To Althea, From Prison" by Richard Lovelace, written in 1642 "Stone Walls" by Jim Croce A Little Unexpected.... Woodberry Inn Toy Time Folk Toy and Science Museum Nascar in Martinville Mabry Mill History Around Us, Reynolds Homestead "Sidna Allen's Dream" Your hosts wrap things up and will be back with a new word in a couple of weeks. Music Attribution Reverie (small theme) by _ghost featuring Pitx ccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389 CC Attribution (3.0)

Word of the Day - TouchDiscussion about touch, meanings and our experience.Touched by an AngelTeaching touch to a hearing aid dog. The importance of the touch of a loving animal.He Touched Me performed by Elvis Presley. Thanks, Nancy Anne Loudin!A Little Sweet...Leslie has finished the center section of her hap shawl, Quill by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed's Spring Thaw Collection and is starting the next section. She has also started the Kathleen sweater again, using a slightly modified version of the Tender Hoodie by Kristen TenDyke. Leslie is also spinning merino to ply with her angora.Beth has been working on postcards and talks about novelty postcards. She is on eBay as hemlockWV. Mattie B'sHonduras Coffee ShopA Little Tart...."Touch has a memory." - John Keats"See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. O, that I were a glove upon that hand That I might touch that cheek!" - William Shakespeare"Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey. At other times, it is allowing another to take yours." - Vera Nazarian "It is touch that is the deadliest enemy of chastity, loyalty, monogamy, gentility with its codes and conventions and restraints. By touch we are betrayed and betray others - an accidental brushing of shoulders or touching of hands...hands laid on shoulders in a gesture of comfort that lies like a thief, that takes, not gives, that wants, not offers, that awakes, not pacifies. When one flesh is waiting, there is electricity in the merest contact." - Wallace Stegner"Your hand touching mine. This is how galaxies collide." - Sanober KhanA Little Unexpected...Winter weather in Meadows of Dan.Your hosts wrap things up and will be back with a new word in a couple of weeks.Music AttributionReverie (small theme)by _ghostfeaturing Pitxccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389CC Attribution (3.0)

Word of the Day - Astonish, Wonder and WhyOur special guest is Kathleen.Lansing, IowaDriftless areaHorsfall's Lansing Variety Store"To be astonished is one of the surest ways of not growing old too quickly." - Colette"Because today, I think I'm leaning on the side of wonder." - Melina Marchetta, from Beth's morning series of Facebook posts."He who has a why to live for an bear almost any how." - Friedrich NietzscheRunaway, as performed by Del ShannonI Wonder Why as performed by Dion and the BelmontsWhy me, Lord by Kris KristoffersonA Little Sweet...Leslie has 40 more rows to complete in the center section of her hap shawl, Quill by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed's Spring Thaw Collection. She also had a mitten disaster. Beth has been putting postcards up on eBay. Beth's user name is hemlockwv if you want to go check them out.Kathleen finds projects challenging.A Little Tart...Joss Whedon"Mrs. Pontellier gave over being astonished, and concluded that wonders would never cease." - Kate Chopin."Wonder is the beginning of wisdom." - Socrates"The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe around us, the less taste we shall have for destruction." - Rachel Carson"Words are like nets - we hope they'll cover what we mean, but we know they can't possibly hold that much joy, or grief, or wonder." - Jody Picoult"The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest wonder." - Celia GreenCotton Candy Sock Yarn from Unplanned Peacock StudioUnplanned Peacock Studio's Tailfeather's Yarn Club.A Little Unexpected...Kathleen's astonishing and wonder filled vacation in Florida.    Home Security IP Cam: Alfred"When a human being is born the first thing he does is crying. The rest of his life he'll spend discovering why." - Erik TangheMany thanks to Kathleen for joining us! Your hosts wrap things up and will be back with a new word in a couple of weeks.Music AttributionReverie (small theme)by _ghostfeaturing Pitxccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389CC Attribution (3.0)

Hallöchen!Hier habe ich Folge Nr. 12 für Euch. Ich wünsche viel Spaß beim Zuhören!Begleitende NotizenI. Fertige Projekte Socken-Knit-Along vom Knitting Expat Podcast Socken aus selbstgefärbter Sockenwolle und weißer Meilenweit Merino als Kontrastfarben.Socken aus Regia Flourmania in der Farbe Neon RainbowViajante von Martina Behm  aus 300g Zitron Filigran in der Farbe RauchblauImogen Wool von Carrie Bostick Hoge aus 220g Meilenweit Merino in WeißII. Aktuelle ProjekteViajante aus Wollmeise Pure in der Farbe Grapes for SheriHugo von Véronik Avery aus Holst Coast in der Farbe JayIII. Zukünftige ProjekteDessine-moi un mouton von La Maison Rililie aus Holst Coast in der Farbe SkylightWestbourne von Isabel KrämerQuill von Jared Flood aus Finkhof Merinowolle dünn 

Word of the Day - TimeDiscussion about the meaning of time and some science fiction creeps in.Art is how we decorate Space. Music is how we decorate Time.(If anyone knows where this lovely phrase comes from, we would love to attribute it.)The Outlander Series by Diana GabaldonThe Time Machine by H. G. WellsThe Danny Dunn Series by Raymond Abrashkin and Jay Williams. Boy scientist books for children.Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852), the daughter of Lord Byron and considered the first computer programmer. And the Sphinx."It seems fair to say that human history can be viewed as a sort of ongoing experiment of the effects of the interaction of time (whatever it is) and the collective human consciousness." - Lamont WoodTime is "a big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey - stuff." -Dr. Who in Blink"A man is the sum of his misfortunes. One day you'd think misfortune would get tired but then time is your misfortune." - William Faulkner"It has been said 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone." - Rose KennedyHappy birthday to Beth's son, Taylor!A Little Sweet...Leslie is still working on her hap shawl, Quill by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed's Spring Thaw Collection. Only 90 more rows to go in the center section.Beth is putting together a trip to VirginiaTech, planned for March, for a group to see Danu, a Celtic band performing at the Moss Arts Center. Time returns to the conversation with the History Around Us program at the Reynolds Homestead on February 3, featuring Marvin Keene and his presentation, Patrick County Then and Now.A Little Tart...A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'EngleA Time to Kill by John GrishamThe Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey NiffeneggerThe Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice BurroughsFun science fiction movies and TV shows: Back to the Future, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Star Trek."Being with you and not being with you is the only way I have to measure time." - Jorge Luis Borges"There's a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go." - Tennessee Williams"There is no wrong time to do the right thing." - Charles M. Blow"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want." - Bill Watterson"The words 'bad timing' came to be ghosts haunting our every move in Birmingham. Yet people who used this argument were ignorant of the background of our planning..they did not realize that it was ridiculous to speak of timing when the clock of history showed that the Negro had already suffered one hundred years of delay." - Martin Luther King, Jr., Why We Can't WaitA Little Unexpected...Firefly Fare, Roanoke, Virginia Excellent food and a great place to gather with friends.The Patrick County ProjectFrom Africa to Appalachia featuring Cheick Hamala Diabate, Sammy Shelor and Danny Knicely.Virginia Folklife Program, with a documentary about the show. Mill Mountain StarCamYour hosts wind things up and head out into the snowstorm until next time!Music AttributionReverie (small theme)by _ghostfeaturing Pitxccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389CC Attribution (3.0)

Word of the Day - SpiritTalk about definitions of spirit, biblical references to spirit, The Holy SpiritWarning! Knightley puts in his two cents by barking at around 9 minutes into the sessionThe Shack by William P. YoungA Little Sweet...Quill center section showing provisional cast on. Garter stitch in wool yarn.Leslie is working on Quill by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed's Spring Thaw Collection. A little about provisional cast-ons. Beth is bringing in the New Year at the Reynolds Homestead with lots of events planned, including a youth art show in March and April.A Little Tart...Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town That Talks to the Dead by Christine Wicker.SpiritualismThe Greenberry House GhostQuotes:“Age has no reality except in the physical world. The essence of a human being is resistant to the passage of time. Our inner lives are eternal, which is to say that our spirits remain as youthful and vigorous as when we were in full bloom. Think of love as a state of grace, not the means to anything, but the alpha and omega. An end in itself.” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez“I was reminded of the Four Immutable Laws of the Spirit: Whoever is present are the right people. Whenever it begins is the right time. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. And when it's over, it's over.” - Anne Lamott“We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.” - Hermann HesseA Little Unexpected...A visit to Galax, Virginia.Twisted Fork on Oldtown StreetFabric postcard by Galax local artist Linda HudsonChestnut Creek School of the ArtsFactory Man by Beth Macy WHEO radio in Stuart, Virginia.Your hosts wind things up and chose the word of the day for next time.Music AttributionReverie (small theme)by _ghostfeaturing Pitxccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389CC Attribution (3.0)

Hallöchen!Dies ist die letzte Folge für 2016. Ich hoffe, ihr hattet viel Spaß und wir hören und nächstes Jahr wieder!Link zur TonspurBegleitende NotizenI. Fertige Projekte1. Lobelia von Meghan Fernandez aus Wollmeise Pure in Gloire de DijonCalla von Rachel Coopey2. Lieblingspulli von mir, angelehnt an Oshima von Jared Flood aus Drops Lima in der Farbe MoosgrünII. Aktuelle ProjekteImogen Wool von Carrie Bostick Hoge aus Meilenweit Merino in weißKnit Pro ZingIII. Rekapitulation von 2015Die GroßprojekteSummer Flies von Donna GriffinBraidsmaid von Martina Behm Ava von mir angelehnt an Grettir von Jared FloodIV. Geplante Projekte für 20161. Viajante von Martina Behm aus Zitron Filigran in der Farbe Rauchblau2. Pachelbel von Carol Sunday in Drops Cotton Viscose in der Farbe Grau    Hitofude von Hiroko Fukatsu3. Lace Cardigan von Simona Merchant-Dest aus roter Schachenmayr Baumwolle4. Westbourne von Isabell Krämer aus Ito Kinu in der Farbe Persimmon5. Beatnik von Norah Gaughan aus Holstgarn Supersoft in der Farbe Sunset6. Hugo von Véronik Avery aus Holstgarn Coast in der Farbe Jay7. Sandbank von Lea Viktoria aus DyeForYarn Mulberry Silk in der Farbe Dead Walnut Wood8. Featherweight Cardigan von Hannah Fettig aus Atelier Zitron Filisilk in der Farbe Anthrazit9. Dagmar Sweater von Handy Kitty aus Wolle Rödel Siena in der Farbe Kirsche10. Natsumi von Yoko Hatta11. Dessine-Moi un Mouton von La Maison Rililie12. Quill von Jared Flood13. Marco Polo von Ela Torrente

Word of the Day - CelebrateWhy Leslie thinks it is silly to be offended when someone wishes you a happy holiday."Breaking Up Christmas" - An Appalachian traditionOld ChristmasAppalachian Christmas FolkloreChristmasWhen Americans didn't celebrate ChristmasHanukkahKwanzaaBoxing DayYuleYaida and MithrilDōngzhi FestivalA Little Sweet...Leslie is working on Quill by Jared Flood from Brooklyn Tweed's Spring Thaw CollectionHap Shawl historyA Little Tart...Stories of a West Virginia FamilyA celebration of family and childhood in the 50s and 60s in West Virginia.Quotes:“When we are content and secure in ourselves, it leaves with having no desire to set ourselves up as superior to anyone else. When we simply celebrate our own individuality we allow others to do the same.” - Angie Karan Krezos“The role of Cherishing in Bereavement - I think that the key to healthy grieving is to cherish those who have passed on, so that you celebrate their lives and the times you did have together with thankfulness, instead of trying to cling on and wish that things were different. I believe that you should let them go in peace with love, not try to hang on to their spirits, just hold the precious moments gently in your heart.”   - Jay WoodmanA Little Unexpected...A profound joke and a special Christmas letter.Your hosts wind things up and Beth gets put on the spot for the word of the day for next time.Music AttributionReverie (small theme)by _ghostfeaturing Pitxccmixter.org/files/_ghost/25389CC Attribution (3.0)

Baby goat update (and jumping). A new shawl and the five shawls I wear the most (even if I say their names wrong repeatedly). Finished:Handspun socks from Three Waters FarmThe Doodler, Steven West Mystery KALIn Progress:Bedford by Michelle Wang in Jill Draper Makes Stuff, Hudson, colorway LilacHandspun socks in Into the Whirled5 Favorite Shawls:Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnston in Madelintosh Tosh Merino Light colorway AfternoonMagic Ruffle Cake Shawl by Paula Emmons-Fuessle in a magic cake from a friendJuneberry Triangle by Jared Flood in Knit Picks Andean TreasureAdirondack by Sarah Punderson in Miss Babs Yowza, Babette colorway Treasure ChestColor Affection by Veera Valimaki in Knitting Notions Classic Merino SockKSF Shop - free shipping (US) with coupon code PRINTUS. $4 off International shipping with code PRINTINT. Good until 12/23.

Hallöchen!Hier habe ich Folge 10 für Euch. Ich wünsche Euch viel Spaß beim Zuhören :)Dunaway von Julie HooverSchal aus Drops Nepal in der Farbe DunkelgrauOshima von Jared FloodLobelia von Meghan Fernandez aus Wollmeise Pure in der Farbe Gloire de DijonMinas (Knitting Expat) Viajante in Grapes for SheriWollmeise Twin in der Farbe FlaschenpostWollmeise Pure in der Farbe Grapes for SheriBig Herringbone Cowl von Purl SohoIndie Design Gift-A-long Piet on Point von Nandy WhitmanImogen Wool von Carrie Bostick Hoge aus Lana Grossa Meilenweit Merino Buch: Die Knooking-Socke Santa Maria del Pí von Danielle Kassner

We've had our last event of the year, the Bath Christmas Craft Crawl, which has inspired us to think about knitting gifts and gifts for knitters. News and Events The Bath Christmas Craft Crawl Recap! 5th December - Knit for Peace Knit-in at the Barbican 11th December - PPQ Christmas party   London Craft Guide Update Now with the designers, and looking at an end-of-2015 or very-early-2016 release date. Thank you all for your patience and our apologies about the continued delay! Important note: if you preordered the book at the Yarn in the City Pop Up Marketplace, please email us!!!   What we’re working on Rachel has almost finished two sets of fingerless mittens in Mind the Gap sport weight, and has decided (for the moment) that the other presents aren't due until just after Christmas, and can therefore wait. She is madly and obsessively working on Dark and Stormy by Thea Colman in SweetGeorgia Superwash Merino in Wasabi. Allison is making great progress on Grettir by Jared Flood, and is almost at yoke. She's finished a quick, made up cowl with Porpoise Fur handspun from the Lab Goddess Fibre Club, and has a pair of socks for her dad to work on; pattern is from Kate Atherley's new book.   2015 Gift Guide – Tiny Treats Yarn bowls - Emily Cross Ceramics, Little Wren Pottery, Hadley Clay, Earth Wool & Fire, and Kingfishersblue. Sheep Shawl sticks by JUL Designs. Sirka counter, available at YAK or Meadow Yarn. Moth cards by Max Alexander, available at Prick Your Finger or Max’s World. Silver crochet hooks by Lyn Roberts at A Yarn Story Knitters Keep from Coco Knits at A Yarn Story Project bags - The Little Grey Girl, Nicsknots, BritYarn Knitters jewellery - Hello Sunshine, Max's World, SIlverdashery John Arbon's fabulous wool and alpaca socks Grounded by Heather Ordover Off the air, you can find us on Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Please leave a review for us on iTunes or listen to us on Stitcher Radio, and don't hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback with us. We are always out and about, so come say hi at any of the events we're attending if you get a chance! Everyone is also more then welcome to join our Wednesday night knit group from 7-9 pm (or longer) upstairs at The Goat on the Rise, Clapham SW11 1EQ.    Music credits (all available on NoiseTrade)Santa Clause is Strumming to Town - The Winter FailureThis Christmas - Paste Holiday Sampler 2014Christmas is All Around (Love Actually) - Sleeping at Last

Hallöchen!Hier  habe ich Folge 9 für euch! Ich wünsche euch viel Spaß beim Zuhören :)Portland Gussets von Yarnissima  aus selbstgefärbtem GarnOshima for Him von Jared Flood Drops Nepal in DunkelgrauDunaway, sehr wohl von Julie Hoover ;)Drops Lima in MoosgrünDrangey von Stephen WestRedford von Julie HooverRift von Jared FloodTrent von Martin StoreyDrops Lace in grauMein Westbourne aus Ito Kinu / Westbourne von Isabell Krämer Kammzug aus 100% Merino von der Kleinen Wollfabrik in der Farbe Bloody Maryhttp://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/Schwanengesang/336593816/kammzug_medium2.jpgLang Jawoll Magic 6-fach in der Farbe 4123Beaverslide Dry Goods: 3-ply heavy fishermen weight in der Farbe Winter RosehipJamieson's Heather and Marl in der Farbe Cardinal Merinowolle dick von Finkhof in der Farbe rot meliert

We are still enjoying the month long celebration of all things sheepy that is Wovember, In this episode, we have some shout outs, some exciting news and events, a few FOs and gift knitting underway, and a fabulous interview with Louise Scollay from Knit British which continues the theme from last episodes chat with Rachel Atkinson of My Life in Knitwear about the UK wool industry. News and Events: 14th November - the release of Rachel's collection for The Fibre Co., and the kick off of A Yarn Story's Winter Cables KAL! You can find the collection on Ravelry, and join in the KAL with us on the A Yarn Story board. 25th November - will be a special Knit Night at The Goat. We'll have some snacks, some yarn to tempt you from Lola at Third Vault Yarns and maybe even a Secret Santa! We'll also collect any handknits and unwanted yarn or tools on behalf of Knit for Peace. Since this will be a little different than our regular knit nights, please RSVP on the thread in our Ravelry group if you'd like to join us. 28th November - the Bath Christmas Craft Crawl! Now with all the details on the Event Page. 5th December - speaking of Knit for Peace, they're holding a Knit-In at the Barbican in London from 10:30am to 5:30pm. Why not come and knit for a bit and contribute by knitting a square for a blanket? They'll also be accepting handknits and materials if you miss bringing them to us at knit night.  What we're working on: Rachel finished her Angostura vest by Ysolda Teague, in Blacker Yarns Cornish Tin, and is so pleased with it! She's now moved on to some fingerless mitts for her kids out of Trailing Clouds Stratus sport in "Mind the Gap" of course. Allison has a bunch of projects on the go: she's finished the first sleeve of Grettir by Jared Flood, and should have the second done this week. She's also been working on her Quaking Aspen Shawl in The Fibre Co Acadia, and has started Hamlet the Cheetah from Edward's Menagerie. Also on the list of WIPs is the hoodie for a small boy in Canada that needs to be finished ASAP. On the spinning front, she's spun up her Alpha, Beta, Gamma Finn from the Lab Goddess Fibre club into singles and is going to ply them soon. Woolly Wovember, Part Deux: Louise Scollay is the British wool enthusiast behind Knit British. What started as a year-long challenge to knit only with British wool has grown into an ongoing exploration of local yarns, sheep and wool that has spread far beyond the UK. Louise talks with us about the ongoing Breed Swatch-along that kicked off at the beginning of October, about Wovember and the development of this year's theme of the Small Producer, and about her response to Rachel Atkinson's Fleeced blog post. *** Off the air, you can find us on Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Please leave a review for us on iTunes or listen to us on Stitcher Radio, and don't hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback with us. We are always out and about, so come say hi at any of the events we're attending if you get a chance! Everyone is also more then welcome to come join our Wednesday night knit group from 7-9 pm (or longer) upstairs at The Goat on the Rise, Clapham SW11 1EQ.  Music credits (all available on NoiseTrade)Morning Light - The Dirty Guv'nahsLoneliness & Alcohol - Jars of ClayHands & Hearts - Katrina Stone

Hallöchen!Hier habe ich Folge 8 für euch! Ich wünsche euch viel Spaß beim Zuhören :)Show Notes:Oshima for Him von Jared FloodPiet Mondrian: Composition II in Red, Yellow and BlueLana Grossa Meilenweit Merino / My first RegiaSupergarne Aktiv Piet on Point von Nancy WhitmanArt Along von Em Galati Portland Gussets von YarnissimaLobelia von Meghan FernandezRückwärts strickenBeatnik von Norah GaughanNatsumi von Yoko HattaBoxy von Joji LocatelliBrooklyn Tweed ShelterHugo von Veronik AveryHolst SupersoftHolst CoastTichiros Auflistung von TweedgarnenHolst SamarkandDye for Yarn Mulberry SilkFairy SnowCapDrops NepalLang Donegal Debbie Luxury Tweed AranRowan Felted TweedMarie Wallin *Hiermit reiche ich die fehlenden Begriffe nach: Rechteck, 3-D, Raute, nach oben geöffnete Parabel, nach unten geöffnete Parabel. Damit keiner denkt, ich hätte in der Unter- und Mittelstufe geschlafen :/ :P

It's November folks, and that means it's time to celebrate ALL THINGS WOOL! In this episode we update you on events for the rest of the year, reveal details about the Bath Christmas Craft Crawl, make a brief foray into the realm of holiday knitting, and have a chat with Rachel Atkinson of My Life in Knitwear about shepherds, the UK wool industry and being informed consumers. News and Events: 1st - 30th November - Wovember, a celebration of wool spearheaded by Felicity Ford, Tom of Holland and Kate Davies. 5th November - the kickoff of Curious Handmade's Knitvent 2015! YITC listeners can get a 15% discount on the collection by using the code "YITCknitvent15", which is good until 30th November - signups will open on 3rd November. Thank you Helen! 10th/17th November - Anna Maltz, aka Sweaterspotter, is teaching a lace and colourwork class for her popular Solja sweater at Wild & Woolly. 14th November - A Yarn Story's One Year Anniversary Party. 14th November - We will be at the Porpoise Fur booth at Festiwool, at North Hertforshire College in Hitchin. Also exhibiting are a number of vendors from the Pop Up Marketplace (Travelknitter, we're looking for you!), and our Knit Night compatriot Third Vault Yarns. 15th November - Clare Devine, of Yarn and Pointy Sticks, is teaching "2 at a time anything" at Knit with Attitude. 15th/22nd November - Brioche Stitch Basics with Renée Callahan of East London Knit at Loop. 28th November - the Bath Christmas Craft Crawl! Now with all the details on the Event Page. What we're working on: Allison has a bunch of projects on the go: she's finished the first sleeve of Grettir by Jared Flood, and should have the second done this week. She's also been working on her Quaking Aspen Shawl in The Fibre Co Acadia, and has started Hamlet the Cheetah from Edward's Menagerie. Also on the list of WIPs is the hoodie for a small boy in Canada that needs to be finished ASAP. On the spinning front, she's spun up her Alpha, Beta, Gamma Finn from the Lab Goddess Fibre club into singles and is going to ply them soon. Rachel has finished a Lush cardigan for her new niece, and some fingerless mitts from some handspun Suffolk in the "Flamingo" colourway. She is now onto the front of her Angostura vest by Ysolda Teague, in Blacker Yarns Cornish Tin. On the spinning front, she has been spinning like a possessed thing trying to get enough yarn to weave a bunch of scarves for Festiwool, and has spun up 8 oz of Corriedale, 4 oz of BFL and 4 oz of Fibre Club in the past couple of weeks.  Woolly Wovember: Rachel Atkinson published a post on her blog recently titled "Fleeced" in which she talked about a side of the UK wool industry of which many wool-using crafters may be unaware. We got a chance to talk to Rachel about her story, and discuss where the project is going and what we, as consumers, can do to help. Many thanks to Rachel for taking the time to speak with us, and we will be following along with her project with great interest!   Off the air, you can find us on Ravelry, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Please leave a review for us on iTunes or listen to us on Stitcher Radio, and don't hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback with us. We are always out and about, so come say hi at any of the events we're attending if you get a chance! Everyone is also more then welcome to come join our Wednesday night knit group from 7-9 pm (or longer) upstairs at The Goat on the Rise, Clapham SW11 1EQ.  Music credits (all available on NoiseTrade)Morning Light - The Dirty Guv'nahsLoneliness & Alcohol - Jars of ClayHands & Hearts - Katrina Stone

Hallöchen!Hier habe ich Folge 7 für euch - viel Spaß beim Zuhören!Clara Dress Rico Design Creative Sport DKLumberjack von Marzena KrzewińskaDrops Cotton Merino in der Farbe DunkelgrünBeatnik von Norah Gaughan Holst SupersoftBerroco Remix Oshima for Him von Jared FloodHedwig and Friends von Karin Michele Airy Lace Panel Socks von Nicole NanceOwls von Kate Davies

Vi berättar om Kate Davies, Ysolda Teague och Jared Flood

Hallöchen!Ich bin total aufgeregt, weil ich euch heute Folge 1 meines Podcasts präsentiere!Es ist alles noch verbesserungswürdig, ich werde mir insbesondere in Zukunft Mühe geben, die Muster besser zu beschreiben, aber ich hoffe, es gefällt euch trotzdem :)Zu finden ist der Podcast auf Soundcloud.Show Notes:Grant Park Pullover von Saleena LeeDrops Muskat Braidsmaid von Martina BehmWollmeise Blend PuderdöschenWollmeise Blend in unbekannter Färbung Wollmeise Lace Olio Vergine, Krokodil und Ruby Thursday (und nochmal die Blend)Viajante von Martina BehmDas Angoragarn von meiner SchwiegermutterDrops Sale bei WollengelBoden von Amy MillerQuill von Jared FloodWestbourne von Isabell KrämerHolst Coast in JayAlecia Beth von Justyna LorkowskaAisé von Espace TricotLace Lux von Lana Grossa in Taupe SilverSawyer von Julie HooverAlbion von Michelle WangBradbury von Julie HooverRift von Jared FloodRedford von Julie HooverDunaway von Julie HooverBei Fragen dürft ihr mir gerne einen Kommentar schreiben und ich antworte dann entweder direkt oder im nächsten Podcast :) PS: Mein Lieblingswort ist wohl "total" ;) Und das deutsche Wort für "Chevron" ist "Winkel" :D