Ep 175: Falling for a Sweater

Happy New Year to our listeners! Mother Nature had other ideas for how Two Ewes would spend the holidays but we still had fun. Listen as we discuss project updates and planning for future projects.

Full notes with photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of  our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com Join the community on Ravelry or become a patron and support the show on our Patreon Page.

We have a full transcript at the bottom of the show notes. 

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Marsha’s Projects

Nanny Meier’s Tea Cozy by Amelia Carlsen. I finished the tea cozy for Susannah in time for Christmas. I used Cascade 220 Yellow (9463) and Orange (9668) and she loved it. 

Nanny Meier’s Tea Cozy by Amelia Carlsen. I am using Cascade 220 Heather in Red Wine Heather (9489) and green Irelande (2429). Brian left his teapot with me so I can properly fit the cozy. I have finished the first side and knit about an inch of the second side.

Meadow Stripe Socks using Patons Kroy Sock in the colorway, Meadow Stripes and Lang Yarns Jawoll Superwash fingering for the heels and toes. I’m knitting the second sock.

Quick Switch Hat by AbbyeKnits. My son liked the hat so much I cast on another for him using Meeker Street Olives Outerwear DK in the colorway Sage.

Phrancko Designs crew neck. I’m using my green and brown handspun merino. I measured Ben and submitted the information on Phrancko.com and printed the pattern. This is a top down pullover that looks like it has set in sleeves. I’m really interested to see how this sweater will turn out.

Embrace Octopus Sweater This is the sweater that so distracted me that I slipped on the ice and took a tumble. My first knitting related injury. ;-)

Kelly’s Projects

Dark Green Forest by Christina Korber-Reith is now finished! All ends are woven in and it is ready to be washed and blocked. The yarn really does need to relax into the stitches. 

Pebblebrook Beanie by Wish Upon a Hook (Ravelry link). I’ve now made a total of 9 of these. And I decided to start a new one today with some of my Invictus club yarn from last year. It’s a green and gray and yellow variegated yarn so this will be my first variegated version of this hat. 

I’m still working on a pair of socks (Ravelry link) in Bob Ross Happy Little Mistakes yarn from Weird Sisters Wool Emporium in Aberdeen. I’ve finished the first sock and have started on the second. I’m using the stitch pattern from Blueberry Waffle socks. 

So just two active projects. 

Crochet

Crochet Along Dates: November 1 through Jan 10. There is one thread for chatter and FOs. We’ll draw prizes at our next episode. 

There is a crochet bundle in the Ravelry group. 

Winter Weave Along

Starts October 15 and goes through the end of March.

Full 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 100 projects

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 0:43
Hi, Kelly.

Kelly 0:44
Hi, Marsha.

Marsha 0:46
Well,

Kelly 0:47
yes, we are not together. We thought we would be together for this episode. But Mother Nature had other ideas.

Marsha 0:56
Yes. So we did not announce this to people. But I was planning on going to visit you and Robert for New Years. My plan was to leave December 26 and drive to California. But yeah, Mother Nature had other plans. We were hit with a big storm here in Seattle, and very, very cold temperatures. And so I had the car packed on the 26th. And I got up and I went to get gas at eight o'clock in the morning to get onto the freeway. And I never even got onto the freeway! I went on to the on ramp and saw that there's cars just sitting there and people out of their cars looking at something and I... there's nobody behind me. So don't do this if there's people behind you, but I just backed up on the on ramp and turned down a side street and went home. Yeah. And, and I was had been looking at the weather and I knew there were storms in southern Oregon and northern California. And we talked and then I decided I was going to leave dry and go the next day. Monday the 27th and I got in the did the same... got in the car and I went out there and I just thought I can't do it.

Kelly 2:16
Yeah,

Marsha 2:17
Yeah, I don't want to do it. So I called you and I said I'm not coming down. So I'm really bummed.

Kelly 2:23
I know. Yeah. But Robert was really glad you decided not to come. He was worried about driving in all that. Yeah.

Marsha 2:34
Yeah, I was worried too, that I was gonna be doing it on my own and having spent time going to college going over passes to go after Christmas break to go to school and being stuck 10 hours at the pass. I can't I can't make myself do it. You know, well, my car's really good in the snow. But I just... it was too much. So I did miss Robert's last day of work he now has retired and I missed New Years and I missed... What I was really looking forward to is your co-workers did the tamale making party.

Kelly 3:06
Oh, yeah, that was fun.

Marsha 3:08
Yeah, so don't tell me how fun it was Kelly because it's just gonna upset me. Okay. [laughing]

Kelly 3:12
I know, But the good news is... the good news is while it is a lot of work, and while there is, in certain circles, a lot of judgment about tamales, and how well you make them and how thin you get them and all of that... Oh, it is kind of a myth that it's so difficult. It's a lot of work. It's not difficult. And if you don't care, you know that you're making stained glass masa that you can see through when you hold it up.

Marsha 3:47
Yeah,

Kelly 3:48
You know and you don't have you don't have your, your grandma giving you rules about how the tamales need to be. According to my friends, you you know you can make them thick. You can pile on the masa, you can make them thin, you can make them inconsistent. Or some parts of them are thick and some parts of them are thin. It's not something... it's not like like... I had this idea that they were really hard to make. And that it was sort of like I don't know making one of those things on the Great British Baking Show where you know you're you're in danger of the whole thing just going awry and it doesn't taste good. It doesn't look good. It's just a mess. And it turns out that tamales are not like that.

Marsha 4:38
No. I have watched people make them on cooking shows and I... you know I have cookbooks with how to make them. But what I was really seemed to me is one of those things that you have to make the commitment to make them because it is a bit labor intensive and you make large amounts of it and you you don't make just 12 tamales you make 100 tamales, is that right? Maybe that's an exaggeration. Make a lot because, yeah,

Kelly 5:03
There is a lot of, there's a lot of prep work to do. And if you're going to it's kind of like weaving. You know, if you're going to do the prep work, if you're going to wind a warp and thread all those threads through the heddles, you know, people think to themselves, well, I'm going to put on a long warp and make multiples of whatever I'm making. But even that you don't have to do. I mean, I just made a baby blanket where all I put on the loom was just the yarn for that one baby blanket. Might not be the most efficient way to go, but it was...it was certainly okay, you know. So anyway, they don't seem as daunting to me anymore. They're delicious. Delicious.

Marsha 5:49
So when I come down-- so next next time!

Kelly 5:55
I've only had reheated tamales, I've never had them right out of the pan, you know, the pot. And oh my gosh, delicious. So well, next time you come down, well, maybe we'll even save some because I have some in the freezer that are not cooked. That's the other thing you can do that I found out. You don't actually need to steam them when you make them. So you know, I've had them frozen that you then reheat. But these are frozen in my freezer but not even cooked.

Marsha 6:31
So you would just steam so they'll be steamed and they'll be freshly steamed?

Kelly 6:36
Now, I don't know what the freezer...you know what being frozen does? Does that change? You know, is it different from the fresh ones just made? But anyway, it was a fun day. And I can definitely... we can definitely reproduce that. Next time you're here, you're here for long. Yeah.

Marsha 7:00
Yeah, yeah. So that was a bummer. And I, but I thought to myself, I guess better to stay home. So I can go another time, right, than start out and have something bad happen so

Kelly 7:15
Or even just be stuck. I mean, if you're going to be stuck, right? If you're going to be snow bound, better to be snow bound, surrounded by all your own yarn and, and food and drink, then to be snow bound in some motel somewhere. Right, right or snowed in your car on the side of the road...

Marsha 7:36
Well, yeah, on the mountain pass. Well, and I'll tell you another reason. There was many, many reasons why I made the decision that I made. But one of them was you know, I had lighting that I was bringin down. Some was for the house and some was going in the trailer. And I thought, oh my gosh, what if I got like rear ended or in an accident and the car's totaled? It would total all the lighting. And I was like, yeah, so that was another reason why I thought, you know,I'm just gonna wait, just gonna wait. So, yes, but anyway, I've been home and I did take your advice, because you remember what you said to me is that the time that I would have been with you in California, what we had planned on doing was just sitting in the either your living room or the sunroom or someplace warm and just knitting and talking and eating and drinking. And then that was going to be speckled with trips to the beach, taking the dogs to the beach. So you said I had to sort of take this time to just hang out in it. So that's what I've been doing. And I've cast on some projects, and I've been working on projects and I didn't take the tree down. I did... and you told me I was not allowed to entertain anybody.

Kelly 8:52
I did tell you that. Yes.

Marsha 8:54
You did tell me that. And I didn't follow that. Not exactly. I had my friend Kim and Joanne momdiggity over for knitting.

Kelly 9:05
Oh, that's good. I approve of that.

Marsha 9:10
Okay, so that was fun. And and then last night, I was planning on spending New Year's Eve on my own. And then Kim and my brother just came by and we just ate leftovers. It was very, very simple. Nice New Year's Eve. Yeah, it was at the last minute they just decided to come over. So but yeah, it's been a good good time here at home too. So

Kelly 9:33
Well good. Yeah, I've actually I mean, it would be nicer if you were here, but I have actually been enjoying myself with Robert home. Because he usually works the holidays, you know, when he works. So his last day of work was the 28th. And then Wednesday and Thursday are his normal days off. So Wednesday and Thursday he kept saying, Well, I'm not really retired. This is just like my normal day off. And then when the 31st came that was like his first actual...that was his actual retirement date and the first actual day that he would have had to be at work. But then he's like, well, but this is a holiday. So you know, I could have had the holiday off. So I'm not sure when he's actually going to start to feel like it's really retirement, not just days off.

Marsha 10:21
Yeah.

Kelly 10:22
But it's been... Yeah, we've been just kind of sitting. We went for a walk yesterday and took the dogs out and did six miles. And Beary was... he did great. It was on hills at Fort Ord and and he didn't have a sit down strike or anything. He went the whole way. He was. He was a lively the whole way. So yeah, so he's really, he's really come along. So anyway, we've been having a good holiday week. So with all your sitting and knitting, what have you been knitting on Marsha?

Marsha 10:56
I will tell you what I've been knitting on. I finished something!

Kelly 10:59
Yay!

Marsha 11:00
I finished one of the nanny Meyer tea cozies the one I was making for my friend Susanna out of the yellow and orange. I finished that and I think I brought it over to her the day before Christmas Eve. So the 23rd I think I dropped it off and she made a pot of tea. We put it on the tea pot.

Kelly 11:18
Oh, nice!

Marsha 11:18
And do you remember I was talking about should I sew it up? Or should I not sew it up? When I got to her house, what I did is I sewed up what I thought was going to be the right size. And I left the ends loose. I didn't knot it or weave in the end. So when I got there, I could fit it on the tea pot. And it was pretty good. I think I just made a couple extra little stitches. And then I wove in the ends. So that worked really well. That's good. Yeah, so I delivered that. And then the other Nanny... to give everybody an update on other Nanny Meyer tea cozy that I'm making, the one for Brian. Because there's been all this discussion about Brian, like if you if you can't give me the measurements, you know, don't work on it, don't do anything. Don't call him. I have not called him and then he came. We got kind of..we've been sort of fouled up on our dates. It's been a while, you know, between episodes, but he came at some point he came and had dinner and he brought his teapot. And he left the teapot. So I have it and I today I finished the first side and I cast on I've knit about inch and a half of the second side. So I'm hoping to finish that in the next couple of days.

Kelly 11:42
That's good is that the red and green one? Or the burgundy and green one?

Marsha 12:34
Yeah, yeah. So I'm glad he finally brought that tea pot. I was I thought it was his only teapot. But he says he has another one. So that's good that I can just keep it for a while. Yeah, fit it on there. So and then what else I still working on my socks, the metal striped socks. And I got sort of, you know, involved in other projects. So it's kind of gone by the wayside a little bit, but I pick it up periodically and work on it. And then I did cast on another Quick Switch hat by Abby Knits.

Kelly 13:15
I say that that's as bad as Garter Squish.

Marsha 13:18
I know. In fact, I have to tell you, I was listening.

Kelly 13:22
Garter Squish.

Marsha 13:23
I was listening to our last episode when I was walking Enzo the other day. And I was trying to say, garter stitch blanket. And I couldn't say it and then I went to correct myself and I said... I listened to myself carefully. And when I'm trying to correct myself, I said garter switch. Even when I corrected myself, so garter stitch, and quick switch hat! Anyway, Kim and I had gone hiking, I guess it was the Wednesday before Christmas, I can't remember. Anyway, we afterwards we were near Issaquah and that's where there's a yarn shop called Nifty Knitter there and that's where I had seen the pattern for this hat. And so I went in there and I bought three skeins of yarn because my Ben he wanted a hat and then his friend, Ben, who also named Ben, I think I mentioned this... that I always refer to my... when they're together it's... my son is Ben the younger, and his friend Ben is Ben the elder because he's 31 and my son is 24. That's not his name. His last name is not Elder, but I always refer to them as Ben the younger and Ben the elder. Anyway, both Bens like the hat and want one of them. So I got yarn for both of them. And then my brother really liked the hat and I so I've got a color for him. So the one I'm making for Ben is Meeker St. Olives Outerwear DK in the colorway Sage, and let me grab the other two. I'm making... the one for my brother is Meeker St., the same yarn, and it's called Dragon's Breath. And it's like an orange. It's a very cool color. I love it. And then the other Ben, Ben the elder, I bought Dye House DK. It says here Serial Knitters Underground, and I didn't know what the color is called. Oh, Reindeer. And it looks sort of like, no, it's funny. My brother looked at it and says he sees purple. I think it's like fig.

Marsha 15:36
Oh, Reigen

Marsha 15:37
You know that...It's like it's brown, it's not really purple?

Kelly 15:39
Yeah, that figgy, purpley brown

Marsha 15:41
It's really nice.

Kelly 15:42
Puce [laughing]

Marsha 15:44
Puce I guess, yes.

Kelly 15:47
I only say that because all those years that I had an Irish Water Spaniel. That's what they say in the in the breed standard. Something about puce as their as the color. It's kind of like... none of these dogs are puce. But then that yarn, the one I like that's been discontinued that I really want to get.

Marsha 16:10
Oh, right

Kelly 16:12
Druid Hill, right? Druid Hill, from neighborhood fiber company. It's that same that same kind of color that purpley brown Yeah,

Marsha 16:24
You first think it's brown. But the more you look at you realize it has a little bit of purpley mauve tones to it because I made a sweater out of that colorway.

Kelly 16:34
Oh, that's right. Yeah, it's not a golden brown at all. Yeah.

Marsha 16:41
And I have to say, too, do you remember, and I was talking about this hat, when you are to create this pattern of the stitches leaning to the right. And then to leaning to the left, you knit through the second stitch on the left needle first, either through the front or the back, depending on which way the stitch is going to lean and then through the first stitch. And, and then you just keep going around. But when you get to your end of row marker, you keep moving it. You knit to one stitch before the marker, and then you move the marker, one stitch to the left, or excuse me to the right. And then that's when you start your new row. And remember, I was saying in the first hat, I could not wrap my head around that. It's like now it seems really simple to me, and I understand it. But the first hat I could not understand. It was so funny. And so now I understand. So this hat looks a lot better than the one I did. But the one I did is okay, but I can tell there's somewhere, that beginning of row, there's a little kind of funky stitches. I always put that in the back. But this one I'm making for Ben now is is much better. So I've learned what I'm doing.

Kelly 17:53
That's cool. Yeah, sometimes, sometimes you have to, I don't know, you have to actually go through the process before you kind of understand the logic and the stages. And I feel the same way about weaving too. It takes me a few inches, at least, of weaving till I'm like, Okay, I see the system or the logic, the rhythm, the pattern of what's happening. Good.

Marsha 18:17
I think I think my first hat is sort of like in sewing you do... you make a dress or something out of muslin first.

Kelly 18:25
Right.

Marsha 18:26
You know, I think that's how I'm considering my hat is the muslin.

Kelly 18:29
Your muslin. That's cool.

Marsha 18:33
So anyway. And then but the other thing I cast on, and I'm really excited about this, because I've been talking about this for a while. But the handspun, the green and bitter sweet chocolate that kind of barber pole handspun that I did. I want to start a sweater for Ben. And I've been searching because I didn't have enough of the green and brown. I bought more the brown and I spun that as a solid. And so I was going to make stripes to extend that yarn. So I've been looking at patterns. And I think I talked about this in the last episode that I went to phrancko.com. And that's P h r a n c k o.com. And Frank Jernigan is the designer, and he does a really interesting pull over where it looks like it has set in sleeves. But they're they're not they're all... it's knitted top down. And you just shape those quote unquote set in sleeves with increases. So it's like a raglan. It's basically a raglan sleeve really is the technique but the way he's designed it, it ends up looking like a set in sleeve. And I thought... I was having difficulty finding a pattern for the gauge of the yarn. And so I thought, this is great because you just you measure, I measured Ben. His site is is similar to Amy Herzog's site. The custom fit site is like that concept. And I don't think she's doing that anymore, I heard. But it's the same idea. So you just take these certain measurements of, you know, chest and arm length and neck and all this stuff. And then you do a swatch, and figure out your row height, and your gauge, or your stitches per inch, and your rows per inch. And you enter all of that into the the website. Also, if it's a standard yarn, say, for example, if it was Cascade 220, it has, as people have been putting in their yarn, he saves all that information. So if I had made the sweater out of Cascade 220, or think of another brand, and it was already in there, it can, it adds it, has the calculation about yardage. You can put all that in there. Otherwise, if you don't, then you have to put in your... if it's not in the system, you put in your own yardage. So this is nice, I could put in the, the, the number of ounces of yarn, I have either ounces, or grams, and then you put in the number of yards you have, or meters that you have, and then it will... And then with all of this information, it prints out the pattern for you. So I cast on I started it and I first I have to say I love knitting with my handspun. There is something about handspun. Yeah, that is very, very satisfying to knit with. And I can't explain what it is.

Kelly 21:46
Maybe this is not the the part of it that's so satisfying. But it just has a life to it. That handspun yarn just has a vitality to it that, you know, a commercial skein doesn't have.

Marsha 22:03
Yeah. And also, I guess, too, because I am... I'm not a very... What would I say, even spinner or something? It has a little... I mean, I can see where there's parts where it's a little thin and thick. You know, as we've talked about, once you knit it up, you know, it's not really a huge deal. Right? But it does give it some sort of textural interest, I think. Yeah, I like yeah, like I don't think it's a bad thing.

Kelly 22:28
No, I agree with you. Yeah, yeah.

Marsha 22:32
So anyway, but I was knitting along and I thought to myself, gosh this thing, it looks so small. I mean, it's supposed to fit him right. And I'm.. and I should also say, what I should say too is that you can pick if you want, like slim fitting, regular fitting, roomy, extra, like, how it's going to fit and how much ease you're going to have. And so for an extra dollar, you just get all three. You can get all the sizes. So I just thought I'll just do that. So I'm making the the size, the largest size, the roomiest size I can make with the amount of yarn I have, which should give him about four inches of positive ease because Ben's a skinny guy, right? So

Kelly 23:20
That'll be nice.

Marsha 23:22
So but I thought to myself, it looks so small. So and then on New Year's when my brother and Kim are they're, like it's too small Marsha. I'm like, but you know, math doesn't lie. Right? I'm going by the math. It has to be right. So, but Frank does... on Saturdays he does a Zoom meeting with all of these people. So anyway, I went today. Just before we recorded I went I showed up at the meeting and I said to him, I have to ask you a question because it looks like it's too small and two people last night said this is too, it looks too small. And everybody on the Zoom call started laughing.

Kelly 24:02
Oh, really?

Marsha 24:03
Yes. Because apparently, this is what everybody says. It's too small. It looks too small. And he said it will be fine. He... you know that it's because what I'm doing is he said you have to remember this is not like a like a raglan sleeve. Because the technique is like a I don't want to say that the technique is like a raglan because it's making it look like a set in sleeve. But the technique is basically a raglan sleeve, you just start making increases, right and that's what forms the shape. But that doesn't have a line on the top of your shoulder where the second sleeve is right right. Like where is the top of the shoulder there's no demarcation really where the on a raglan sleeve. This one actually has kind of a demarcation. I can't really explain it the right way. But he said that's actually further up on your shoulder and so as you start making the increases for the so called, he calls the sleeve cap at that top part over your that's where all your increases are going in. And he said it will work. They all were like, sort of not laughing at me. Not at all. But they're laughing with me like, no, they all have been through this. The first one they made like, small. So I'm really, really interested in seeing how this sweater turns out. Its fascinating. It's just a fascinating process, you know that.

Kelly 25:23
Yeah. A custom design pattern is really a cool idea. Mm hmm. And his patterns are primarily for men, correct?

Marsha 25:34
Yes. And I have to learn more. And I did not have a lot of time to stay in the on the call, because we were getting ready to record. I want to ask them, because on his Instagram account, he shows people who've made cardigans. And I don't know if it's from the website, if you can design a cardigan from the, the website, or if someone's just made a pullover and steeked it, you know

Kelly 26:02
Interesting!

Marsha 26:03
I don't know, And then he was showing us, too, he's working on a sweater that has cables going down the front like... Cuz, you can either pick a crew collar or a V neck, and the one that he was working on was a V neck with cables going, like around the neck and then down the front of the sweater. And I'm not sure how you I'm not sure how that works? How you get cables in there, how you design that? Or does he do that? Or is it something you get the basic pattern and then you figure out the cables? Or could you use this pattern for a color work project?

Kelly 26:38
I think in the custom fit, the custom fit site, you could add cables, you could say you were adding the cable, and then you'd have to give some... I think you had to give some information about them. But there was like a formula for for how the gauge changed because of you know, pulled in because of the cables. There was something embedded in the embedded in the... how to make it. So I would imagine he has a similar thing. Yeah,

Marsha 27:11
Yeah, I have to do.. I'm really talking about too soon because I need a little bit more research. And I'll find out more on the next call and kind of peruse around on the website. But I do remember with Amy Herzog's site, I made two sweaters, I believe, with her site. And the first one we made together. Remember, it was the Acorn Trail?

Kelly 27:31
Yeah.

Marsha 27:32
And that one is that she had the pattern, but then she would custom fit that pattern to you and it had the cables in it. And then I did another custom fit cardigan, like an open front cardigan kind of thing that had no cables in it. But I remember you could select the length, you could select the the length of the sleeves, the shape of the sleeves, because I did kind of like a bell shaped sleeve.

Kelly 27:55
Yeah, interesting. Yeah. My second one, too, was freeform. It wasn't a pattern that she already had that was converted to the custom fit. It was, what kind of sweater do you want? What kind of features do you want? Kind of like yours? And I did something wrong and ended up with a pattern that was way too small. And then I had to end up recalculating,

Marsha 28:22
And both of mine the sleeves were too tight. Yeah, right. We've talked about that. You know,

Kelly 28:27
I think that's, that's a feature. I just really think that's a feature of women's pattern grading right now. Oh, well, maybe not right now. Because bigger sleeves are more in fashion. I'm seeing patterns with wider, with more puffier sleeves, wider sleeves. But I think there for a while. I mean, it was kind of like well, if you're doing this size, this is how many inches around you need your sleeve to be in. And to me, they were just too tight. Because I want I mean, I want a sweater to go over the top of something. And I don't want to have to like do the opposite of peel myself into it. You know, whatever that word is that's the opposite of peeling it off, where you're, you know, getting yourself into the sweater. Yeah, I have a few

Marsha 29:18
You don't want to grease up your arms to get your sweater. [laughing]

Kelly 29:20
Yes, I have a few sweaters that are like that. I feel like I practically have to grease my arms to put them in. Oh my gosh. [laughing] And then we've we've talked on it. I won't go on and on about this. But we've talked on and on about the depth of the I think it's called the armscye. And it's like okay, that is just unrealistic. But I also think I'm more sensitive to that feeling of having my arm my sleeves tight around my around the top of my arms too. So anyway, we won't go into my little...

Marsha 29:57
Moving on! Well, anyway, I will report in how this turns out how this sweater turns out because I am really interested. Yeah. And I will join the group next time and, and talk to them. So that was really fun. Anyway, I have another story to tell you though. I have a... I found a sweater that I want to make someday. But I have to tell you about the sweater because I had a knitting related injury.

Kelly 30:30
So that sounds ominous!

Marsha 30:33
I'm fine, everybody's fine. But you know we have all this snow. And so I took Enzo for a walk. And I'm walking down the street and there's a young couple getting out of their car. And they're unloading some boxes, and this woman has on this most amazing sweater. And I started looking at the sweater and then slipped on the ice and fell down on my hip and my elbow.

Marsha 30:56
Oh, no!

Marsha 30:58
Because I was so... what is the sweater she's wearing? It's so cool. Anyway, it's called Embrace Octopus sweater. And it's... How would you...? Because you looked at it Kelly. It's very... it's so... it has an octopus that's like up on the right shoulder. Like the head? Is that what you call it? The bulbus part of the octopus? And then all the tentacles come down around the chest and they wrap around the back and they wrap around down the arms. And if you if you look at the projects, there are 599 projects. It's amazing. And it's really interesting to look at the projects because also the octopus is very much it looks like like a pen and ink drawing. Right?

Kelly 31:47
Yeah, there's lots of detail, lots of little pixels of stitches that make it look... It kind of reminds me of, what is it, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Like that style of drawing. And I don't I don't know what type of drawing it would be. I don't know that the book even has drawings, but kind of that era, you know, that the movie was set?

Marsha 32:12
Yeah.

Kelly 32:13
In that era. You know? Sort of old times, and the sweater in the pattern page is black and white. It looks it really does look like a black and white, a black and white drawing of an octopus.

Marsha 32:24
Yeah, so it's really so a lot of a lot of people have done the octopuses in the light color and then the bodies in like black or navy. But then other people have done other ones. Like okay, there's one here that she's done that the octopus is like white or cream. But then the body of the sweater is a brown kind of a chocolatey brown. That is really beautiful. There's one where the sweater's blue but the octopus is in like a gold.

Kelly 32:53
Oh, I see that one, yeah, that's pretty.

Marsha 32:56
CandyAndy did one. It's two shades of green. That's beautiful. Another one. MissMay. Hers is like teal and then the octopus is in orange. Do you see that one?

Kelly 33:10
Yes.

Marsha 33:11
Further down. Yeah, there's one where it's like a blue but a pink octopus. I mean, they're just really really what it looks like. It's a dark gray with an orange octopus. I just think it's a fantastic sweater. Yeah,

Kelly 33:23
No, it is a fantastic sweater. You need to this sweater.

Marsha 33:28
You need to make this sweater. You've got an octopus right?

Kelly 33:32
Yes, I do. I yeah, I do.

Marsha 33:36
I love it. I think this is just a fantastic sweater. If I get good at color work then I think I want to make this sweater so...

Kelly 33:41
This would be is this like intarsia? it's probably... like it might be intarsia?

Marsha 33:49
I don't think it is really.

Kelly 33:55
There's quite a bit of patterning so I guess oh here it says it's stranded

Marsha 34:02
Yeah, I'm looking at the details. It says it's worked straight up in the round using stranded colorwork on circular needles.

Kelly 34:08
So there's enough detail all around the sweater and then at the back you've got tentacles on the back and tentacles on the arms and wow that's really something that would be akin to the detail of the the bee blanket that I want to make. Yes. With all the patterning. Oh, very cool, Marsha.

Marsha 34:32
But it made me fall! But then I have to tell you something about this. So I fell and then this young woman she came over and she said to me, are you okay? And I said yeah, I'm fine. I said, I was looking at your sweater. And anyway, she said she had knit it and so that's why I went on Ravelry and found it and I thanked her for checking on me and everything. But the funny thing is I got home and I thought, Where's Enzo's poo bag? Anyway, I think when I fell it must have just gone flying. And then I just got up and walked off. So somewhere over there is this poo bag. [laughing] I, I went a different route today. I'll need to go retrace my steps and collect his bag. But anyway, that was kind of funny. So, but anyway, I think it's just a very cool pattern. Yeah, someday. But anyway,

Kelly 35:27
Like one of the fantasy patterns I have in my queue. I have in my queue a tag called fantasy, all the things that I have illusions of making. But, but, but also know, I probably won't. You know.

Marsha 35:40
I just realized I didn't say the name of the designer. It's must be Maiae-- M A I A E. Sirnes S I R N E S. In fact, I'd never... this is also really bad podcasting. I never looked...Oh, she only has one design. And it's this pattern. Yeah, and actually, if you click on her on the one of the photographs of her sweater, you could see the chart with the octopus design on it. And it's kind of amazing.

Kelly 36:12
Oh, yeah, that's kind of scary. Look at the chart.

Marsha 36:17
That's intense. But anyway, wow.

Kelly 36:23
That's cool.

Marsha 36:25
Anyway, how about you?

Kelly 36:27
Well, right now I have in my on my project page, I was in a finishing binge. And the one thing I didn't finish was weaving in the ends of my pullover that's been done for months. It I called it finished a long time ago. But I still need to weave in the ends of that green striped Rachel pattern. That was the only thing that I was trying... thinking I would finish before the end of the you know, before the end of 2021. My sort of finishing frenzy that I didn't get done, but I got, I got all the ends woven in on a whole bunch of hats and I got my sweater, my handspun, the terracotta CVM handspun sweater that I've been making using the Dark Green Forest pattern. I got it finished!

Marsha 37:25
Woohoo! Yay!

Kelly 37:27
Finally! It's been lingering, lingering, lingering for a while. I think when I last spoke about it, I had tried to even up the sleeves and actually made the sleeve that was too short too long.

Marsha 37:40
Mm hmm.

Kelly 37:41
And so finally I just I didn't even bother blocking it. I just put it on I looked at it. I kind of said okay, I think it needs to go here. And I ripped it back to there. And then I just put in the ribbing. So it's great. It came out good. I definitely need to wash it and block it. The one I finished last year the the Targhee lamb, that Dark and Stormy? I never blocked it. I just started wearing it because I finished it and it was cold and I was out in the trailer. And so I just put it on and I've been wearing it ever since. So I never blocked that sweater. And it kind of didn't need it. It was kind of already you know, bouncy and relaxed. But this one is... it feels a little... You know how you say my sweaters are so light?

Marsha 38:31
Mm hmm.

Kelly 38:32
It feels a little dense to me. I think some parts of the yarn were a little thicker than what I used to make my gauge swatch. So there's parts of the sweater that feel a little dense, and they... So they feel a little tight like it just needs a little water to kind of go ahhhhh, you know and all the all the yarns kind of settle in with each other and

Marsha 38:56
It needs a spa day!

Kelly 38:57
It does! [laughing] It needs a spa day. There's a little bit of tension in that sweater that needs to be released. So it's sitting here right now but I'm really happy with it. I like the pattern. I like the size of it. I like the length of it. I like the pockets. So I you know had to sew the backs on the pockets and I've done pockets before but not like this. I like the pockets. They're really not large. Robert said, well do your hands even fit in there and I said these are not pockets for my hands. These are pretty much not pockets for anything. Because it looks frumpy, you know? If you... well, because what I stuff into pockets are my keys and Kleenex and then yes, big lump on the side of your body. So I don't think I'm going to use the pockets. And also, if you do use keys in your pockets in a knit sweater like this you wear a hole in the bottom of the pocket. So I don't intend to use these pockets very much at all, but they do look nice. There's nice detail on the front of the sweater. I love the square collar, the cable detail on the sleeves is nice. And it's just enough. You know it's not like... the Dark and Stormy had cable detail on the back and this one doesn't. It's just solid on the back. But it's nice. I like the cable down the sleeves and then a little touch of that same cable at the pockets. So yeah, I finished it. Very excited. Yeah, so that's done. And then I've also been... I just kind of gone...I've just kind of gone crazy on that Pebblebrook Beanie by Wish Upon a Hook. I made nine of them total, I think,

Marsha 40:49
Oh, wow.

Kelly 40:49
You know, I had started making them out of the leftovers from Faye's blanket the last time we talked and then I went on to use some of that German town. Super yarn Mart! with an exclamation point, German Town worsted. I used up... I had a I had a skein, like a skein and a half of that, maybe two more skeins. Anyway, it takes more than one skein to make a hat so so I had a skein and a little, at least a little bit more than that. So I made one hat in that solid. I made another hat with the yarn from the Dark and Stormy that's leftover. I have so much leftover handspun. So I did that. I found singles yarn that I had spun and dyed in this kind of ice blue color and I finished that hat. And then yesterday I just decided I was going to make one last one. And so I cast on. Actually I guess it was the day before yesterday. I cast on the one last hat of 2021 and it's out of the color, and my project page doesn't show it, but it's that teal green Chickadee that I have that I got from NoCKRs destash. I think I got it from Julie JChant. Yeah. So I used that up. I just was kind of going to town using up using up scraps. So I got a lot of those done and I'm now currently knitting on one more...

Marsha 42:30
You're knitting?

Kelly 42:30
Or crocheting, crocheting rather Yeah, crocheting one more out of a skein of Invictus worsted weight yarn that I got from the the yarn club that I was in. It's a gray and kind of teal, green, and yellow. Pretty color. And it's the first one that I've made out of a variegated yarn. So I've done solids, I've done stripes. I've done small stripes. I've done big stripes. Now I'm doing variegated. So yeah, I'm a big fan of this, of this hat pattern. And I just I mean, it takes about a skein to make one hat depending on the size of the skein. It takes about a skein, yeah, to make one hat and, and I've just been going to town! So I've got only two active projects right now. One is this hat that I just started today as we were getting ready to record and then I have a pair of socks that I'm working on that's out of that Bob Ross happy little mistakes yarn from the Weird Sisters Wool Emporium in Aberdeen. So those are my only two active projects that I have. Yeah, I pretty much cleaned out the project page. By the end of the by the end of the year, which was kind of fun.

Marsha 43:48
Yeah, well, that's it for projects. We need to talk about our, our alongs we're having.

Kelly 43:56
So yeah, Marsha, you're right, we do need to talk about our alongs. For example, our crochet along. It's ending on the 10th of January.

Marsha 44:07
Yes. I better get going. [laughing]

Kelly 44:15
I've knit, er, I've crocheted enough of these pebblebrook hats for the both of us I think. [laughing]

Marsha 44:22
Well, my plan was that when I arrived--but my plan was to be down there in California to have you help me with the the mitts, the paving mitts but that didn't happen

Kelly 44:34
And I didn't dig out my Tunisian crochet, double ended Tunisian crochet hook which I'm not sure where it is. But I will talk about this in our next episode -- I am doing sort of a tossing of the stash and reorganizing of all the bags with bits and bobs from previous projects and stuff. So I will find them at some point. But I don't even know where they are. So even if you were here, I'm not sure I would have been able to help you with the with double ended hooks because I don't know where I put them

Marsha 45:10
The next crochet along, maybe then I'll get those mitts done, because I do like them. But anyway, okay. So shall we let's talk about the crochet along. Yeah, that's so that actually it started in November. And as you said it ends January 10. And should we talk about some of the things people have been doing? So yeah, because people have been doing some pretty interesting things.

Kelly 45:35
Some kind of inspiring things too. I've got some ideas for after the crochet along is over of things that might do with some of my stash. There's been a couple of really interesting baskets. So SuperKip, she made a crochet basket. And then JoyLaine also made a crochet basket. She used scraps in hers and I was thinking, Oh, that might be kind of nice. A nice way to use them. A lot of my spirit yarn. So that might be something in my future, one of those crochet baskets.

Marsha 46:13
Did you see PurpleDogwood and all the Santa hats?

Kelly 46:17
Oh my gosh, yes. And she also made pumpkin hats. Yes, all those baby hats for the hospital! That was very cool to see her project. Yeah, the Santa and pumpkin has are super cute. Quite a lot of toys. We had KnitnAround make a rabbit toy. And the vbirdflies, she made a hedgehog. Super cute hedgehog and a dinosaur. Triceratops maybe? I can't remember now which kind of dinosaur but so that was cute, to see those toys. You know, I'm a sucker for crochet toys. In fact, on Christmas day, my my brother-in-law, he thanked me again and told me how much he appreciated the Star Wars characters that I made that one year. All those little Star Wars characters. So yeah, he... and and the funny thing is he he said, I don't think he listens this far into the show, but he did say that he likes to listen to our banter at the beginning.

Marsha 47:25
Oh, yeah?

Kelly 47:25
So Ron, Ron listens to the first like 10 or 15 minutes of our podcast. Enough time. He doesn't stay for the knitting, but he likes to hear the little, all the stuff that's going on. So anyway, I thought that was fun. But yeah, crochet toys are a lot of fun. And, and we got a few of them in the in this crochet along. So that was kind of cool to see.

Marsha 47:51
Well, and super Kip also made the really cute activity cube. Did you see that?

Kelly 47:56
Yes, yes. In fact, when she first started and she said she was making the Moses basket, and she was gonna make a baby toy. I'm like, Oh, is there an announcement? Do you have an announcement for? But, no, it's a friend's baby. But yeah, that's a really cute idea. With the little things hanging down and a little... like a little ring crocheted onto it and little rattle crocheted into it. It's very... Yeah, when she first talked about it, the activity cube, I've seen like puzzle cubes. That's what I was thinking she was making till I saw the the finished, the finished result. I've seen they have these like three dimensional puzzles, where all the pieces fit together into something you know. That like they make a circle or, or maybe they make a cube. I don't know. I just I when I was looking at baby toy at one point I saw all of these baby toys. Crochet baby toys where the pieces all fit together into a like a puzzle into a different shape. And I thought, Oh, that'd be kind of fun to to make, but I haven't ever attempted anything like that. And then yeah, Mary, she made a dog bed.

Marsha 49:19
Mm hmm.

Kelly 49:20
It ooked really super soft and cuddly. Oh, maybe Minnie would like that. Our cat would like that.

Marsha 49:28
Yeah, there's a really cute things.

Kelly 49:32
Oh, you know what else I need to mention. It's a Misnim. She's making a crochet cocoon, which is like a sweater. Kind of like my Habitat sweater. I don't even know how to describe it? As kind of like a big shrug? I guess it's a good way to describe it. Full size, you know, full sweater size shrug. Anyway, she's making it but she's making it out of the Stonehedge Crazy yarn. She has all the skeins in the picture and it just made me think of when we were in Eugene. And we had all that yarn all over. [laughing]

Marsha 50:22
Yeah those... they were so sweet to us because they didn't... they said they knew that because no two skeins are alike. So everybody just basically pulls everything out of the shelf and lays it on the floor, which is what we did so. So I saw her picture, but I didn't realize that's what she was made. Yeah, so, Oh, yes. Very cool. Nice colors, too. I love that yarn.

Kelly 50:24
I know, it kind of made me think about... kind of me think about going and buying some more of that yarn. Because that was really, that was really fun yarn to knit with. And then MimiFan, she made a bathroom mat that she's actually not sure she likes. I don't know, she was threatening to rip it out. And, I said, Well, you know, if you decide you don't like it, you could always just give it to the dog as , you know, a dog bed. To stick it on like a little blanket on the dog bed or a pad inside the crate if she crates her dog. Anyway, yeah, it was, um, it was kind of funny because she was like, I'm not sure I like it but I finished it. Not sure I like it. But at least it's finished. So that's good. Yeah, you can decide if you like it enough to keep it or if you want to do something else with it. But I have had projects like that. Not too many. But I have had projects like that where it's like, okay, I'm just glad this is finished. And I don't think I even...

Marsha 51:48
I'm gonna, I'm actually gonna quote from her. She says, I've been working on this bathmat for 11 months. I hate it so much. That's more dramatic than the way you described it. [laughing]

Kelly 52:03
I was trying to be gentle. [laughing]

Marsha 52:09
She says I hate it so much. But it's done except for weaving in ends. And I used up every bit of yarn that I bought. My bathroom is small, and it's a weird shape. So many errors. I may just end up throwing it away. But I'll give it a few weeks since it took so long to make. It needs some ends woven and some washing to flatten it out. I'm so happy it's done. Anyway, that's funny to me

Kelly 52:33
Yeah, I think everybody can relate. Everybody's got one of the projects that like just became an albatross, you know, after a while. And it really, yeah, it's so funny. I had a weaving project, a linen weaving project. And I forgot how furry the linen was because it's a real rustic linen. And so you know, there's a technique where you, you soak it in gelatin to kind of make all that stick down.

Marsha 53:05
Oh, right.

Kelly 53:05
So it doesn't rub on the heddles and stuff. And I had forgotten about that technique. So I got it all threaded. Now starting to wind on and the little threads were catching everywhere. And I thought oh yeah, I need to do this technique. Well, I didn't want to unthread it, right? So I soaked it in gelatin while it was on my loom. But I also didn't look up the real recipe for the gelatin that you make. I just use the gelatin packet like gelatin. And so when I got done and I like squeezed it all out, it became like these like solid... You know, like each group of maybe 20 or 30 threads became like this solid rope of stuck together.

Marsha 53:54
Yeah. Yeah.

Kelly 53:55
And so then it sat on my loom like that for about four months, maybe longer. And it's like, well, I have to do something with it because it was destash I mean, it was you know, it was spirit yarn. But like it's linen, you know. And finally I forget what whose project I read about, but it was like... I was like okay, yeah, I need to soak it in water. Get some of that extra gelatin out. Let it dry again. I don't want to pull it out because it's all threaded on the loom. Oh you know, so I'll just try to do it around my loom and then finally I thought you know what? I'm just done. I cut the thing off. I threw it all away and I felt so good. I felt... I didn't even try to salvage it. I just cut the thing off and threw it in the garbage or threw it in the compost. I don't know, probably the compost because it was linen but like, I felt so good. It was so such a relief to get that dog off my loom. I mean, it was terrible. That project was a terrible thing. And I was dumb. I should have, you know, I could have... I thought I was saving time by not taking it off and redoing it. I could have redone it 17,000 times in the time that it sat on my loom preventing me from working other projects. So anyway, I can feel for for you, MimiFan. I don't know what the status of your bathmat is now but I do understand the sentiment.

Marsha 55:30
You have permission to throw it away if it'll make you feel right!

Kelly 55:33
Exactly. It does feel good sometimes. Yeah. So yeah, the crochet along is going really well. I have to say, I miss Amy. We lost her last year. She died. And she's really missed in the the thread, GreenHook. She was always a big poster in the crochet along thread and just in the in the Morning Coffee and different threads, she would post her crochet projects. And that loss is... It was a year, a little over a year ago that she died. And yeah, I miss her right now.

Marsha 56:05
That loss is felt.

Kelly 56:15
Yeah, yeah. So, but our crochet along ends January 10. We'll be drawing prizes in our next episode. So you still have time to get a project in. So get out your hook and make a project. There's one thread. here's a chatter thread and I just I just added the FOs to that chatter thread. So if you've been waiting for a finished object thread to post in, you can just post in your pictures and your information in the chatter thread and we'll draw prizes from from that. It's small enough that... you know the the number of participants is small enough that I think it will just be better to draw from the from the chat thread. Yeah, so make sure you post your your finished object pictures in there. And come chat about people's crochet in the next couple...week and a half or so.

Marsha 57:11
Yeah. And then we just have to mention that the winner weave along is still going on and ends the end of March. Okay, well, I think that's about it. Is there anything else we need to talk about?

Kelly 57:23
i don't think so.

Marsha 57:25
We could go on another hour.

Kelly 57:27
knowing we could next episode, I'm going to talk a little bit about my sort of reviewing last year. And then some things that I want to do. Because I just started today with that tossing of my stash, you know, going through my yarn and coming to realizations about what I do have and the real truth about the yarn I have as opposed to what I think in my head when I'm not looking at it all. So so that'll be next. Now I'll, I'm going to do some reflection on that. And we'll talk a little bit about that next time. So I don't know you've, you've looked at your yarn recently and gotten rid of a whole bunch of stuff, so I don't Yeah,

Marsha 58:17
I did a big I did a big tossing of the stash and that's another reason why I've been kind of fun to be down there is to help you do the tossing of the stash.

Kelly 58:25
The possible tossing out of of the stash [laughing] Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. But right now I just... we'll talk more about it. But you know, you get inspiration when you look at it. So I've got it out so I can look at it all and see if I come up with some inspirations. And then I'm some of my inspirations might be similar to that bathroom mat and my gelatin weaving my gelatin linen weaving project. We will see!

Marsha 58:58
You have permission to put it in the compost pile. [laughing]

Kelly 59:01
Well, I will report. I will report back in two weeks what the status is of some of that. Of some of that stuff. I've already started throwing away the little like, you know, you have a walnut sized ball of yarn.

Marsha 59:18
Oh, right.

Kelly 59:19
Yeah, really? Do I need to save a walnut sized ball of yarn?

Marsha 59:24
I don't know. Kelly. I have a whole box of walnut sized bits of yarn. [laughing]

Kelly 59:30
Bits of string to small to use.

Marsha 59:33
Yes. And and they're actually in a box labeled "too small to use." [laughing]

Kelly 59:38
Yes. Okay.

Marsha 59:42
All right. All right. We're gonna go. I really have to go now because Enzo is now sitting here at nudging me. It's dinner time. Yeah, it's dinner time. So all right. Okay. We'll talk in two weeks about what's going on with that stash. Okay.

Kelly 59:55
And Happy New Year to you and Happy New Year to everyone listening!

Marsha 1:00:01
Yes, Happy New Year. Alrighty. Bye!

Kelly 1:00:03
Bye bye.

Kelly 1:00:04
Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com.

Marsha 1:00:11
Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects.

Kelly 1:00:19
Until next time, we're the Two Ewes

Both 1:00:22
doing our part for world fleece!

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

 

 

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