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The episode was recorded "on location" in Marsha's weaving studio (aka dining room) in Seattle. The Ewes talk about Marsha's first weaving project from start to finish. As a beginner, Marsha asks questions and provides insights into the experience.
03 Sep 2022
Summer Spin In Ends September 5th
01:07:20
This is the last weekend of our Summer Spin In. Be sure and post your finished object in our Ravelry threads and Instagram using #summerspinin2022 by September 5th.
I finished spinning the two 8 ounce braids I bought at Black Sheep Gathering. A Corriedale cross and 70/30 merino/silk. I have seven skeins (two ply of each single) and have about 1,790 yards/16.6 ounces. I think it is fingering weight or a very light sport.
Happinessby Kyle Kunnecke using Yarn Snob PowerBallin the colorway Happiness. I have finished the front and have knit about 3” of the back armhole.
Spinning: I have started spinning the Manx Loaghton again. I have spun 768 yards, or 15.2 ounces, of a 2 pound bag of roving. I’ve started spinning on this again. This spinning project is going to be in the works for a while.
Kelly’s Projects:
Finished spinning and plyingyarn from a black Shetland. This fleece was purchased in 2017 at the Monterey County Wool show. I got 1,290 yards out of 19 ounces.
I’ve continued carding theWensleydale X Cormofrom Black Sheep Gathering in 2016. On average the fiber is about 4 inches long and very fine. It isn’t carding up like a long wool at all. The staple length is longer than the Shetland, but the batts are super dense and puffy like a cormo or a merino would be. I won’t be spinning this right away since I need a break from spinning black yarn!
I'm still considering which of these blankets to make, but now I'm leaning toward the knitted Creeper.
“Hi there! Love your Podcast...you asked about my LYS...well, I live in New York but my favorite LYS isRiver City Yarnsin Edmonton, Alberta, Canada...the owners, two sisters, (Barb and Cynthia) have been absolutely wonderful at creating, and maintaining, an amazing fiber community which has helped sustain its members throughout this pandemic. Most of us have never met and live thousands of miles apart...yet, we are friends....I will be forever grateful for friendship, the tutorials, knitting supplies, quick shipping and fiber information as well as the ongoing Monday evening Zoom meet-up. Check out theirPodcast on YouTube. They deserve to be recognized.
They have online classes going almost every week with nationally recognized instructors, constant KALs and this summer they assisted with and participated in an online summer-long yarn store crawl wherein each Sunday 4 yarn stores are given 15 minutes each to introduce themselves and their specialty areas. Except for River City Yarns, all of the stores are located in the US. Through this program, I discovered a weaving supply shop in Texas; through which I placed and already received my first order... I've knit a lot of years and I've never seen store owners work this hard to inspire and motivate people.”
Thank you Wendy for letting us know about Barb and Cynthia and their yarn shop. Listeners may message us stories of their favorite LYS or send an audio story viaSpeakpipe.
Wool Show judging at the Monterey County Fairgrounds: Kelly attended the judging and tells us about the variety of fleeces she has her eye on when the auction takes place September 4th.
Started June 1 and goes until September 5. (US Labor Day)
If you are on Instagram use #summerspinin2022. You can also post in the Ravelry group.
We have a new prize of Gotland Yarn and Roving from Sarah Sousa of Wandering Fleece Fiber Mill in Massachusets. Check out her shop to see yarn, fiber, gifts and housewares.
Other Prizes:
Shibui yarn hat kit donated by Dagmar (Dagger51)
Alpaca sample fiber set from Cathy (Straightfork) and a pint of maple syrup from Cathy,
A 3 ounce braid hand painted wool/flax blend in the colorway Key West by Purple Fleecefrom Sarah (Salpal1)
Fleeber Farms Breed Study Sampler from Marsha (betterinmotion)
14 Jan 2018
Ep 84: Fiber Friends and Sweater Study
01:09:33
The Two Ewes are both in Seattle! Assembling spinning wheels, meeting listeners, weaving, knitting, and comparing notes on sweaters are just some of the activities from their fun week.
Marsha has also finished a project already this year. In fact, it was finished in two days! Her first weaving project was a huge success. There will be more information about this in the next Winter Weave Along episode.
Kelly is almost exclusively working on the Indigo Frost by Isabell Kraemer. The Ewes are definitely enjoying her patterns these days! Kelly's version is a vivid spring green cormo yarn from Sincere Sheep in the Virid colorway. The color work portion is being done with handspun left over from her Funky Grandpa cardigan. This will guarantee that she will stand out in a crowd!
She also has weaving as her first finished project of 2018. The woven pouch is finished, sporting one of her favorite buttons from the button stash. The directions for the woven pouch can be found in the first Winter Weave Along lesson.
Fiber Adventures
Marsha's new/old Ashford Traditional got a good spin at the Spin-In. Many interesting wheels were there, including an interesting Dutch Moswalt wheel and an antique Norwegian Wheel with matching spinning chair that was for sale.
Kelly was delighted to find that a new mill with spinning capability has opened in California. Valley Oak Wool and Fiber Mill in Yolo County is now the only mill in the state that spins yarn. This article details the story of the mill's owner and its recent opening. Stay tuned for more about this exciting development!
When Robert’s Uncle Phillip died, his dad gave him an envelope of family pictures that Uncle Phillip had. The eggnog recipe was in the envelope so presumably it was part of Uncle Phillip’s things. Uncle Phillip and Uncle Jerry had lived together for some years before Uncle Jerry died so we call it The Uncle’s Eggnog. We really don’t know where it came from or how they used it. I cut it down to a household size that makes about two quarts before you add in the eggwhites. After adding in the eggwhites it makes about 3 quarts, but if it sits in the refrigerator for a time before you give it away to friends the eggs will deflate and you can use the third quart to make the first two quart jars full again.
Syllabub
This recipe came from a story Robert heard on NPR in 2009 aboutmaking Syllabub at Colonial Williamsburg. We made this over the holiday season and were enchanted. It is pretty magical how it turns out. I highly recommend this for dessert on New Year’s Eve. If you wanted to bring a gift of syllabub you could make it in some glasses that you would give to the recipient filled with the finished dessert. Here are three different recipe versionsfrom the Colonial Williamsburg website.
Podie’s Manhattans
The key is a 2:1 ratio of bourbon to vermouth. Another key part of this recipe is to keep the whiskey in the freezer so it doesn’t get diluted by ice when mixing! Robert also keeps the glasses chilled when he is planning to make Manhattans. Podie taught him to use Maker’s Mark, but he also uses Bulleit Bourbon to make them. The cherries that Robert uses areTillen FarmsBada Bing cherries.
Tree Trimming Drink for Kids of All Ages
When I was a child, our family tradition for tree decorating was a punchbowl full of 7-Up and lime sherbet. Robert and I continued this tradition for years but it became more and more difficult to find lime sherbet. And, let’s be honest, we found other drinks! But if you can find the sherbet, or if you want to make your own lime sherbet, put it into a punchbowl and pour cold 7-Up over the top. It’s pretty and festive and makes an occasion out of tree decorating!
Thank you, Robert, for contributing to this bonus episode!
Thank you all for the reviews on Apple Podcasts! It’s so nice to hear from you! Marsha and I will be back next week for a regular episode.
19 Jul 2020
Ep 141: A Break from Deck Building
00:55:07
Negative test results, a DIY deck, walking, spinning, and knitting, and an updated shop are all on the show this week. Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Join the community on Ravelryor become a patron and support the show onour Patreon Page.
Marsha’s Projects:
Summer Fjordby Trin-Annelie using Quince & Co Sparrow in three colors. I finished the body and decided not to put in the short rows to make the back longer. I now need to pick up for the sleeves. I had planned to make the sleeves longer but think I will wash and block the Tee before making my decision about the sleeve length.
I spun two skeins of Huckleberry Knits (40/40/20 Targhee, bamboo and silk) and Sauked in Farm (50/50 alpaca/Babydoll Southdown Wool). It is a three ply with two singles of the multi colored Huckleberry Knits and one of the solid Sauked in Farm. Based on weight and ounces completed so far, I think I will have about 900 yards of DK weight. Enough for a vest?
Kelly’s Projects
TheMariannes CardiganbyTrine Bertelsen is still on the needles. I’m ready to be done and have challenged myself to have this finished by the next episode. That will give me time to wear it during summer weather.
I’m continuing withRobert’s Pandemic Socksusing Twist Fiber Studio Pisgah Fingering and Drops Fabel (same combination as the Paving Mitts). Robert and I have a different view of what looks like running out of yarn and what looks intentional. I wanted to add stripes in the contrast color. He says just start the contrasting toe color in the middle of the foot when I run out of the multicolor. Since his version is easier, that’s what I’m doing.
I finished the rug yarnCombo spinusing Lincoln roving. I have about 900 yards.
I started a Columbia fleece to yarn project. I washed and carded about half of the 3 lbs of fleece that I have and I’ve spun one bobbin. I’m planning a 3-ply in this fluffy woolen spun yarn.
Summer Spin-In
We have lots of new spinners in the Summer Spin-In. Quite a few of the veteran spinners shared pictures of what we made with our first handspun yarns--several spinning oil pouches and a couple of coasters/hot pads.
Our shophas new colors in fingering plus two new bases of Climate Beneficial(™) Replenish Rambouillet!
We have a new sport weight 3-ply Replenish Rambouillet. Marsha created these colorways as part of the Iceland Collection
We also have an Aran weight 5-ply Replenish Rambouillet, in a variety of greens. Look for more colors in the future.
Besides the Replenish Rambouillet, We have silver gray Romney and a white Corriedale/Romeldale cross milled by Marcaile at Valley Oak Wool Mill. These are Aran to Bulky weight yarns with a nice ply twist for a durable yarn. Both are currently available as natural colors, with some dyed versions available in the future.
In this bonus episode Marsha and Kelly talk about fleece washing. Kelly runs through the steps she uses and does a little myth busting about the delicacy of wool fleece and fabric.
We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We recap our holiday with stories of cooking turkeys and cranberry sauce. Plus, updates on projects and a challenge for our Winter Weave Along.
Emotional Support Chicken: by Annette Corsino. I finished the body but still need to knit wattle and comb. I’ve been making “rope” with French Knitter and about halfway done. Plan to make a hat and chalk bag. Found tiny carabiners online.
Graphito: by Heidemarie Kaizer. Using Purls Before Swine Robusta in colorways Good Jeans (blue) and Toxic (pink). I finished the yoke and divided for the sleeves. I’ve knit about an inch of the body but I’m going to wash and block the yoke to be sure it fits and the patterning looks good.
Ames Beanie: Stephanie Larson. Using Purls Before Swine Hometown Worsted in colorway Seaglass. I was about to start the decreases when I noticed I had crossed one of the cables the wrong way. I need to rip back.
Socks: Using Regia 4-fadig by Arne & Carlos in colorway 03760. Finished first sock.
Weaving Studio: I got the warping board back from Kim and everyday plan to wind the warp for four tea towels. Too much Thanksgiving preparation so I didn’t get anything done. Maybe today??
Kelly’s Projects
The woven squares blanket is almost finished! All the squares are sewn together and I just have a few more ends to weave in. Debating a crochet border edging.
Suint Bath Shetland Project is finished. The two skeins are almost identical. The one that was spun greasy is slightly finer. I think it is easier for a default yarn to be spun thinner when spinning in the grease. But it puffs up when washed and I don’t think the skeins are any more different than any two handspun skeins. They could easily be used together in the same project with no problem.
Fleece prep: Dyeing and carding the 2018 CVM. I’ve been putting batches in the crockpot with random dyeing while I do other things out in the yard. I’ve also been carding intermittently and have quite a few batts through their first round.
Got down to the back ribbing on the Maple Vest. I won’t have enough yarn. Trying to decide what to do. Pattern repeat on the ribbing gives me limited choices for shortening.
Winter Weave Along
Going until March 31. Show us your projects in the Ravelry thread. If you aren’t on Ravelry consider joining just so you can talk with us about your weaving!
Challenge: Between now and January 1 do a kind of weaving that you haven’t done before. Possibilities:
New to you weave structure, different form of loom, make something you never thought of making before, e.g. decorative braids or shoe laces, use a fiber you haven’t used before, use a wet finishing method you haven’t used before. End 2024 with a new weaving skill.
15 Apr 2017
Ep 64: We're on a Dye-It!
01:01:46
A fabulous yarny time at the retreat and then a trip to a fiber mill and more time playing with newly milled yarn and dye pots. The Two Ewes are on a Spring Break adventure!
Kelly's Projects
Kelly is making great progress on the Edie tee-shirt that she is making with Linen Concerto yarn she bought at Stitches West. She is also moving along on the Havannah tee that she is making with Dragon Fly Fibers Rustic Silk Dance yarn.
The shawl is Among the Shadows by Kelene Kinnersly. She is using a very recent purchase of Feederbrook Farm yarn that she got during her post Stitches trip to SF.
Advent "ewes"
First there was the wonderful weekend at NoCKRs, the Northern California Knitters Retreat, held by the Yarniacs and 2 Knit Lit Chicks podcasts. Held at the St. Francis Retreat Center, it was a relaxing and fun time catching up with friends and meeting new friends. Lots of knitting and food and drink and laughing!
Then we visited Ranch of the Oaks to pick up Kelly's yarn order. On the way we had to stop at Yarns at the Adobe, the yarn shop across from the mission in San Luis Obispo.
Finally, we spent the last few days of the visit dyeing the yarn that had just been milled. So much fun!
06 Sep 2020
Ep 144: Home Improvement Before Knitting
01:10:40
Lots of home improvement talk (and some power tool noise) before we get down to the knitting this week. Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.. Also, we have a coupon code for3GreenSisters Etsy shop.Visit their site and use the code TWOEWES to get 15% off and free US shipping.
Marsha’s Projects:
The deck project is moving along, but it’s slower than we originally thought.
I’ve been busy knitting on Holey Comfortcardigan by Hinterm Stein using Elemental Effects Cormo. I joined the body and have knit about 6”. Really fun pattern and interesting details.
Almost done with the bobbin of cotton fiber. Kelly and I discuss plying options and decide that it would be best to put the fiber on two bobbins and ply from the two bobbins. Singles management can be tricky with cotton, especially for a beginning cotton spinner.
I’ve finished the knitting for the Targhee Lamb handspun sweater using the Dark and Stormy pattern by Thea Colman. Weaving in ends, sewing on the vintage buttons that I found in my stash, and blocking will happen this week.
I cast on another pair of socks from handspun as we are finishing up the Summer Spin-In. I’m usingthe yarn I spun out of the Shaky K fiberI got at Stitches this past February. This might be one of my fastest purchase-to-FO conversions if I keep moving along on an don’t stall out on the sock.
I also cast on a charity hat using the same purple and pink yarn that I used for the Raticorn. I’m holding the yarns doubled. One is a hot pink Stunning Strings fingering weight and the other is a sport weight merino cashmere. Both of these yarns are left over from Robert’s neon argyle socks.
Summer Spin-In
The Summer Spin-In ends this Monday! (Sept. 7). We will announce winners in our next episode.
This is our best “along” yet with 34 posts in FO made with handspun thread and 144 posts in handspun yarn thread.
Two people will win bags from3 Green Sisters. Check out their shop! They make project bags, spinning wheel bags and loom bags. Even if you don’t win a bag as a prize,they are offering a 15% savings for any bag in their shop. Use the coupon code TWOEWES. They also provide free shipping in the US.
Here is some information from the3 Green Sisters: My sisters and I have been making purses and bags, knitting bags and project totes, loom carrier totes and spinning wheel bags for 19 years.
We come from a long line of seamstresses. My great grandmother, Cecilia, sewed sequined and fancy dresses for the elite in San Francisco in the early 1900's. Cecilia passed down the craft to my grandmother, who taught my mother, who taught us. We take great pride in the quality of work-woman-ship in every product we make.
Our bags are made from recycled, upcycled, repurposed, vintage and rescued fabrics. We have many sources to obtain our fabrics including an incredible fabric shop in NYC which lets us "dumpster dive" remnants, generous upholstery and drapery making shops who save their scraps for us, yard sales, Estate Sales and of course, second hand shops. Each bag is a one of a kind. This is our small way to give back to Mother Nature.
Our shophas new colors in fingering plus two new bases of Climate Beneficial(™) Replenish Rambouillet!
We have a new sport weight 3-ply Replenish Rambouillet. Marsha created these colorways as part of the Iceland Collection
We also have an Aran weight 5-ply Replenish Rambouillet, in a variety of greens. Look for more colors in the future.
Besides the Replenish Rambouillet, We have silver gray Romney and a white Corriedale/Romeldale cross milled by Marcaile at Valley Oak Wool Mill. These are Aran to Bulky weight yarns with a nice ply twist for a durable yarn. Both are currently available as natural colors, with some dyed versions available in the future.
Marsha and Kelly catch you up on all the things that have been going on with them over that last month. New projects, new goals, new items in the Ravelry queue, new excusespets family members, and new realizations about time management! Press play and listen as we talk about our fiber adventures!
Kelly has one newly finished project, Toddler hats that she made for Robert's co-worker's daughter. One is plain stockinette with some embroidered flowers and the other has a texture pattern. Neither was made using a pattern, but information about them is on Kelly's Ravelry page.
She also has a newly started project. She made Yoda from the Star Wars Crochet kit. The designer is Lucy Collin and between her blog and the Flickr account she has with all the different Star Wars figures (some not in the kit) there are enough ideas for an entire galaxy of figures!
Speaking of Big Sur, Kelly met her two-week goals with respect to walking. She repeated the same goal for the next two weeks and will check in again. The training for the Big Sur 21 Miler is going well. The other two-week goal, finishing three skeins of the yarn for her mom, was not so successful. She has finished one skein.
The Two Ewes blog can now be found using the url http://twoewesfiber.com or http://twoewesfiberadventures.com Also, you can now find Two Ewes Fiber Adventures on facebook. The new episodes will be published there in addition to this blog, iTunes, and Stitcher. If you enjoy listening, please join us at our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures Ravelry Group.
Marsha and Kelly discuss spinning the batts of California variegated mutant (CVM) that Kelly has made and is sharing with listeners. The breed is often available at the Monterey County wool auction, but is classified as critical by the Livestock Conservancy. The wool and mohair blend is spinning up easily, but does have some vegetable matter. It makes a nice, lofty, woolen-spun yarn, but has some sheen due to the mohair.
Marsha finished her Mystery Wool Cardigan made from coned wool she found at the Goodwill. The pattern is #241 Neck Down V-Neck Shaped Cardigan by Diane Soucy from Knitting Pure & Simple. She loves the fit! Marsha talks about the process of washing the finished cardigan.
She continues to work on her Striped Study Shawl by Veera Valimaki. She is worried she won't have enough yarn to finish the pumpkin stripes.
Marsha's BIG news is she got a standard poodle puppy named Sovereign's Formula One or "Enzo". He was born December 5, 2015 and joined our family January 29, 2016. Marsha is looking forward to long walks with Enzo. A new puppy is a huge undertaking so Marsha has not met her goal of walking three times a week.
Kelly recommended the dog training book by the Monks of New Skete. A terrific book!
The Two Ewes are excited to offer CVM and mohair blend batts, as well as the handspun mini-skeins made from them, as premiums for any listeners who would like to support the podcast! Visit our blog at http://twoewesfiber.com and click the donate button to contribute.
14 Feb 2021
Ep 155: Extremities Knit or Crochet Along
00:52:07
Lots of tangents and a new KAL/CAL inspired by some new patterns for your hands and feet generously donated by the designers as prizes. Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.
I’m still working on thepair of socksfor myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.
I’m back to working on theWalk Alongby AnkeStrick and I’m using Little Fish Stitches fingering. I was having problems where I was alternating skeins at the beginning of row which was at the back of the sweater. A huge thank you to MyBlueGirl and Sarahjhill for suggesting Helicalknitting. This solves the problem of the messy looking change.
I started a spinning project with olive green merino roving I bought at the Whidbey Island Weavers meet up in April 2019. Combining it with another merino I ordered from Paradise Fibers in Spokane, Washington in a dark brown called Bitter Chocolate. Making a 3 ply with two green and one brown single.
Kelly’s Projects
Finished! I hemmed the Christmas Candy dishtowels and put them away!
I also finished With Friends Pulloverusing the patternRachelby Josée Paquin. It still needs ends woven in and blocking. I’m really happy with how it turned out and I’m looking forward to wearing it.
ThePersian Tile Blanketis coming along, but I didn’t work on it as much in the last two weeks. Instead I started a pair of socks for Robert. I’m using leftovers of Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper, Independent Will colorway. I had 90 grams left after using it for argyle socks for my brother-in-law. Not sure I’ll have enough but I’m planning to use toes and heels of a different yarn.
Extremities Knit/Crochet Along
This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns:
It starts now (February 2021) and will end on April 25, 2021. Knit anything for your extremities (hands, arms, legs, feet). Some examples include socks, leg warmers, mitts, mittens, gloves, and wristlets. There will be a giveaway thread in the Ravelry Group for you to post your FOs.
Winter Weave Along
You can join in with your weaving projects anytime until March 31. We will have prizes, including a class generously donated by Erica atWeavolution. Check out this great website for weavers with projects, discussion, classes, and lots of resources. The website has a handy Weaving Calculatorthat you can use for project planning.
11 Jan 2021
Ep 153: We're So Predictable
01:06:38
The solace of creating order, a nice button band technique, and plans for 2021. Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.
Finished the body and ¾ of the sleeves of Holey Comfortcardigan by Hinterm Stein. Bind off is a really nice I-cord bind off. Sleeve width seems okay but need to decrease faster on the way to cuffs. It will be touch and go with yarn amount
Working on foot of firstpair of socksfor myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.
Swatched with Little Fish Stitches fingering for a Tee called Walk Along by AnkeStrick.
Techniques for neat button bands:
pick up stitches with #1 needle and then knit with pattern size - Cocoknits
Pick up exact number of stitches in body and then decrease to number of stitches called for pattern.
I’ve been working a lot on thePersian Tile Blanketfor my grand niece. I’m following the color choices (sort of) of a project byJenasaurusWakethat I saw while watching FO radar. I’m using Knit Picks Brava Worsted in lots of fun bright colors and making color choices to make all the octagons look like they have different sized flowers in them.
The weaving is finished on the Ribbon Candy Christmas dishtowels and they have all been washed, but not yet hemmed. I had a rocky start, but was able to correct a warping mistake that made one of my white stripes bigger than the others. I also was inspired by the Jane Stafford Guild videos to go off my pattern and play with some twill treadlings.
Plans for 2021
We talked about our 2021 plans and discovered that we are oh, so predictable. You don’t even really have to listen to this episode! We said exactly the same things inEpisode 106in January 2019 andEpisode 127in January 2020.
We are giving away two items to one lucky winner!Two Sheeps Calendar: A Celebration of Independent Yarn Dyers. Each month features an exclusive skein from an indie dyer and the link to order the yarn.It’s not just a calendar!
To enter, answer this prompt: How do you keep your plots and plans straight? Paper, digital, other? Do you use a calendar? What kind? A notebook? What kind? Do you use a notebook for your projects or just Ravelry? When do you use paper and when do you use digital? Enter in thethread in the Ravelry group, or you can send acomment from our website, you can send us an audio file by emailing ustwoewes@twoewesfiber.com, or send us a dm on Instagram From all the responses we’ll draw a winner on January 20 and you’ll hear the winner during the second January episode.
20 Mar 2022
Stitches West 2022, What Marsha Bought Doesn't Count
01:05:00
We had so much fun at Stitches West 2022! We have lots to share about our experience at the show, the people we met, the vendors we loved, and lots of prizes to give away.
Fabrics–jelly rolls, fat quarters and other fabrics. Japanese fabrics,
Trends–red, black, grey combinations are in every booth. This is not something that we saw a lot before. Another color trend: orange. Another one but a little less is petal pink, often looking like it was overdyed on a natural colored fiber or with a darker color overwash or glaze over the pink–or maybe that was just something I was drawn to this time.
Feels really safe in the convention center, checked Vax card and ID upon entry, name tag has distance declaration sticker code–hugs ok, elbow bump only, and 6 feet distance please. Crowd was light at the Thursday preview. Hotel lobby bar people are drinking and eating so many fewer masks.
Friday's crowd was also light, but there were some crowded booths. Everyone seems so happy to be buying yarn. One vendor said sales were fewer, but the average sale was higher.
Saturday was the busiest market day as usual. But the market was smaller and we had finished looking at the whole thing, plus visiting with people we saw there, within a couple hours of entering.
Listen to hear if you won in the Patreon drawing. Thank you to all our patrons! We appreciate you! To become a patron, visit the Two Ewes Patreon site.
Stitches West 2022 Celebration Giveaway:
This is on both Instagram and Ravelry and ends April 15. For IG–Enter to win by commenting on Kelly’s or Marsha’s post announcing publication of Episode 180. For Ravelry there will be a thread with a prompt. Answer the prompt to be in the drawing.
Two Ewes’ Hand Dyed Cotton Yarn and Dishcloth Pattern Giveaway
Listen to hear if you won a prize. Below are links to some of the patterns:
Give us a call and tell us about your favorite LYS! Go tospeakpipe.com/twoewesand leave a message. It will take 90 seconds or less. Or you can use the voice memo app on your phone and email us the audio file. We’ll put your voice feedback on the show!
28 Mar 2023
Recap of Stitches West 2023
01:20:01
We had a fantastic time at Stitches West 2023 in Sacramento, California and have lots to report. Plus we have prizes!
Noromania: I have a total of 24 skeins of Noro Kureyon (Aran weight) to make a blanket for Mark. I’ve knit 20 inches and used 10 balls. I think I need to buy more yarn. This is a fun project.
Anzula Socks: Using two shades of Anzula Dreamy (blue) and Squishy (coral) that I bought at Stitches 2022.
Considering A Little Love by Ankestrick use Brooklyn Tweed Loft
Kelly’s Projects
Finished but still need to block the Coloresque Wrap Erin Kurup using the Neighborhood Fiber Company rustic fingering gradient set Shades of Turquoise.
Finished and washed In Threes baby sweater.
Finished half dozen dishcloths
Started socks for Robert out of Purls Before Wine (From Purl 2 Walla Walla). Colorway is called Glamping so I had to buy it!
On the loom: Crackle lesson from Jane Stafford Guild. 7 yard warp instead of 10. Made the outer stripes wider because of the way I fold towels on the towel rod in our kitchen. Using the two cones of 8/2 cotton that I bought at stitches from Meridian Specialty Yarns
Stitches West
Prizes: We will draw from our Patrons and our Ravelry thread in the next episode.
Knitting and spinning are so therapeutic for the difficult times in life. They also bring joy and a community that enhances the good times. Join the Ewes in this episode that includes a little of each. Plus, they talk about the Two Ewes Shop and some of their learning experiences with this labor of love connecting local shepherds, mills, and small-batch yarns to knitters and crocheters.
If you read these show notes on your podcast app and want to see pictures, go to our complete show notes here.
She also finished the black Molly hat for her sister using spirit yarn from Marsha's stash. That leaves her with only one active knitting project, the Indigo Frost poncho.
Marsha is also down to one active project. She's almost finished with her Opteka sweater. This is a pattern by Isabell Kraemer and it has an interesting hem detail that was fun to knit.
The odd line in the photo is the demarcation between the part that was washed and blocked and the new knitting that has been done since then. Marsha washed and blocked the partially completed sweater to double check that she was getting the same gauge as her washed swatch.
Both Marsha and Kelly are thinking about next projects. Kelly is swatching with some deep stash to see if it will work for the Knit it Down sweater. Marsha is thinking about either Vintersol or Snowflower for her next sweater knit.
The Ewes are excited about some upcoming events. They will both be at Stitches West, Feb 22-25. Kelly is taking an Argyle class and they will both be spending plenty of time in the market. They will be attending the meet-up in the lobby of the Hyatt (conference center hotel) on Saturday starting at about 2 pm.
Marsha is visiting Scotland for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival March 15-17, plus some "fringe events" on Sunday, March 18. There is a podcaster lounge and she'll spend some time there as well as with the enticing vendor exhibits.
In April Marsha will return to California for the annual Northern California Knitting Retreat, hosted by the two podcasts the Yarniacs and The 2 Knit Lit Chicks.
19 Dec 2015
Ep 32: Happy B-Day to Ewe!
01:04:17
In this episode Kelly takes over the beginning of the podcast to throw Marsha a surprise virtual birthday party! After some fiber adventuring friends send along Birthday wishes, the episode resumes with our knitting, spinning and yarny adventures, including finished objects, current projects, and a fun trip to Portland for Marsha.
Ep 2: 5 Yarn Shops, 2 Adobes, and a Trailer named Clyde
00:42:34
Marsha and Kelly talk about the SLO Yarn Crawl and their trip to San Luis Obispo.It was a great fiber adventure! Kelly talks about what knitting patterns she has on her queue, some of them that are coming soon and some that are "fantasy" knits. No spinning on this episode.
03 Jul 2017
Ep 70: That Old Black (Sheep) Magic
01:17:20
The Black Sheep Gathering 2017 was so wonderful the Two Ewes can't stop talking about it! The wool judge was Judith MacKenzie so of course it was such a learning experience. There are also a few finished knits, some new fiber, yarn, and, you guessed it, FLEECE!
Kelly arrived in Eugene after a long hot drive through the northern California heatwave. Marsha and Kim came down from Seattle on the train. They met and prepared for the opening of the show the next day. Marsha and Kelly spent Saturday in the fleece judging, soaking up all the information that Judith MacKenzie so generously shared with the audience.
On Saturday, there was a side trip to two Eugene yarn shops. Cozy is a newly opened shop in the old downtown area near the train station. Youthful and spacious, this shop really showed off the many indie-dyed striped and speckled yarns in its stock. It also had a good stock of Flax by Fibra Natura and Marsha snagged some for a linen tee. Then on to Soft Horizons Fibre. This shop is in an old house filled with yarn. The attraction for the Two Ewes and their friend Kim was the Stone Hedge Fiber Crazy yarn. It has the largest selection of this yarn of any yarn shop in the northwest.
Back at the fleece barn, Kelly found a gem of a fleece had gone unsold so she bought it. She also found some interesting breed blends at the Homestead Hobbyist booth. Both Marsha and Kelly found plying silk on wood bobbins and Marsha also found some batts that she loved.
As for the knitting, Marsha made good progress on her Twice Born shawl by Magdalena Lorentz. Friends helped her determine that the Easy Folded Poncho is finished and doesn't need the cowl neck.
Kelly worked on an OLD project, her Playground Shawl, a pattern by Justyna Lorkowska. Started in August 2015, this shawl has been in hibernation since early last spring. Now it is back out and on its way to being finished.
16 May 2021
Ep 162: Knitting with Handspun
01:08:28
In this episode we discuss knitting with handspun yarn, including estimating yardage, picking needle size, and selecting potential patterns.
Walk Along tee by Ankestrick(Ravelry link) I’ve put the body on waste yarn to check length. I’ve decided to move on to the sleeve which will stop just above the elbow instead of ¾ length.
I started the gusset on the second sock of apair of socksfor myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.
Still spinning the green and brown three ply.
Kelly’s Projects
Ripped out the Bear Brand Yarn socks and will be starting them again with no pattern.
Faye’s Flower Blanket. All Octagons and squares are done. One more triangle to do. Then 4 corners (small triangles).
Topic: Knitting with Handspun
Selecting a needle size to swatch
Selecting potential patterns
“My yarn isn’t good enough”
The allure of spinning thin
The allure of spinning smooth, worsted style yarns
Measuring yardage in a skein
Good first projects
Good projects for textured yarn
More intermediate to advanced considerations
Do these yarns/fibers go together?
Summer Spin In
Memorial Day - Labor Day
May 31st - September 6th
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 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 0:35 Enjoy the episode!
Marsha 0:43 Good morning, Kelly.
Kelly 0:44 Good morning, Marsha. How are you?
Marsha 0:45 I'm doing good.
Kelly 0:47 Good.
Marsha 0:47 How's the newest member of your family doing?
Kelly 0:50 Oh, he's doing great. Beary is fitting in pretty well. He's walking up to about a mile now. He lags toward the end of a mile. But he's been able to go a mile. The first week... So a week ago he was at the vet. And he got his thyroid medication lowered. That's good. So now he's only on a point eight-- I think it's milligrams-- pill once a day instead of twice a day. So that's good. And he lost. He had lost last week he had lost three pounds.
Marsha 1:28 All right. So and that's really not with any diet change. That's just the walking right?
Kelly 1:32 Yeah. Well, more activity. I was trying to feed him the same amount that he had at the at the SPCA--hat they had told me they were feeding him. I was trying to feed him that same amount. It actually was a little bit less food than normal, because he wasn't really eating. And, you know, my dogs eat!
Marsha 1:56 Yes.
Kelly 1:57 Even Bailey. You know, she's, well, she had Nash to contend with, she had a lab to contend with. So she knows you put your nose in the bowll, and up until it's gone. And I don't know if she was like that before we got her. But she learned to be like that, at least having Nash around. And he wouldn't, he would eat a little bit. And then he'd walk out a little bit into the yard and then he'd pee. And then he walked back and he ate a little bit more. And then he like, walked over kind of towards Bailey to see if maybe she had something better. And I was like, okay, you're not gonna-- if you're not going to finish this, I'm going to pick it up because it's gonna cause a problem. So he wasn't finishing the whole amount. So then I started feeding him lunch, I thought, you know, I'd feed him lunch to help keep his metabolism high. And so I was doing that. But he wasn't really eating lunch. You know, he wasn't seeming hungry. And so he was getting a little bit less food. But anyway, yeah, he lost three pounds. And I don't know how much he's lost since then. Bu t I do think he's lost a little bit. His feet. [laughing] He looks like he's lost weight in his feet.
Marsha 3:12 Oh, really?
Kelly 3:13 That seems really strange. But that's the only place I can kind of tell. They look less puffy. Like his feet were really round, not like a shepherd. And the vet said she thinks he's mixed with Tibetan Mastiff.
Marsha 3:28 Okay. That's very specific.
Kelly 3:31 Yes. But I went and looked at their pictures. And he does kind of, he does kind of look like that. They have a tail that kind of arches over their back. And he doesn't have that. But they have the like, they call them cat feet in the standard. where, you know, their feet are round and tight. And the shepherds feet are more elongated.
Marsha 3:56 Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 3:57 So anyway. And his feet were like round and tight. And they still are, but they're less round. Like they look less round on top, you know?
Marsha 4:07 Well, I mean, maybe he was retaining water or something. his ankles were swelling, you know, like my grandmother, [laughing] and, you know, with all this activity, things were moving, maybe.
Kelly 4:17 Yeah, it's hard. It's really hard to tell. And you know, of course we can't weigh him because you can't pick him up and step on the scale with them the way you could with a smaller dog so so he'll have to wait till he goes to the vet again, for us to know for sure. I'm hoping I can get the vet to let us bring him just for our weight check. Because I don't want him to lose weight too fast. And that's part of-- that's part of regulating his thyroid if he is losing weight too fast. That could be an indicator that his thyroid medication is too high. So so I'm hoping the vet will, you know, say we can bring him in like every two weeks or something for just that. for free, just let them take him in and weigh him and bring him back out.
Marsha 5:01 Enzo's vet you could just bring your dog in any time because they just have the scale there in the lobby. So you can just go weigh your dog. In fact, that's where I went. Remember that the big giant afghan?
Kelly 5:16 Oh right! [laughing]
Marsha 5:17 I went and weighed it on that scale.[laughing]
Kelly 5:19 Marsha went to the vet to weigh her blanket!
Marsha 5:26 Yeah, but now with the pandemic, you can't, I can't go into the lobby,
Kelly 5:30 it's a little more of a thing of a production for them to come to them and get in weighed. So. But things are supposed to open here in California on June 15. And I don't know if that means everything. Like from then on. I actually think that the vets are probably secretly glad that no owners are in the office when they do their vet checks. Because dogs are always worse when their owners are around in situations like that. I think, I mean, they're probably-- I wonder if they'll... Well, I don't know what they'll do. But yeah, there's probably been some some added convenience to just picking the dog up in the parking lot and taking it in.
Marsha 6:16 Well, and then you don't have all the animals in the lobby, too, because that's another thing, too, is altercations in the lobby. So yeah, well, that's exciting news that he's he's making some progress. Now. The thyroid medication, though, that's not because he's overweight, but he is... he will even if he loses weight, he'll be on thyroid medication.
Kelly 6:40 Yeah. A weight gain is probably due to his thyroid issues. Okay. I mean, some of the weight gain might be other reasons. But some of it, I mean, definitely for a dog to be as overweight as he was, there was a thyroid problem there. That's what the vet said anyway.
Marsha 7:01 And then, I'm assuming, given what you know about his history, which is very little, I'm assuming that the thyroid medication started after he went to the SPCA.
Kelly 7:11 Yeah, they, they noticed that. They, they stitched him up from his wounds. And then they noticed that he wasn't kind of bouncing back. And he was very lethargic. And then, you know, the vet first thought it was just because of the what had happened to him and then being in the shelter. And then she decided, no, it's, he needs to have a blood test. So they did a blood test and his thyroid was was extremely low. So he's progressing nicely. He now lays on a pillow, it takes me about 10 times of putting him back before he is convinced that I mean it and just stays there. Or maybe he's just too exhausted. That's how I feel at the end of it! [laughing] Too exhausted
Marsha 8:00 that you need to go lie down.
Kelly 8:02 But the other day, I even I even came in and took a nap. And brought them back in with me during the day and you know, closed up the bedroom and, and took a nap for about an hour and a half and he was quiet in the bedroom. So he's got the routine, you know, the the normal routine plus, He knows, in this location, this is what I do. So that's good. In the backyard he's been fence fighting with the neighbor dogs, him and Bailey. So that's not good. But we're working on that.
Marsha 8:31 And he and Bailey are doing well together.
Kelly 8:33 go Yeah, they're having a great time. You know, they've had a couple of little tips, little fights, but nothing major. He's learning how to get into the truck. And in fact, that's one of the fights they had. He has decided that the truck belongs to him. And if she tried to get too close. If the door opens up on the truck in the backyard and she tries to get too close to it. That that's the two times they've had fights--it has been around the truck. So now I have to really watch when the truck gets opened that, you know, he...that the two of them are not real close to the door. Because he he now thinks that the truck belongs to him and she's not allowed to get near it. He loves his truck, which is good. That's what we wanted, but not quite.
Marsha 9:22 He loves it a bit too much. So possessive of it. Okay, well. Sounds like making lots of good progress
Kelly 9:26 Yeah, yeah, we have
Marsha 9:31 So that proves that you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Kelly 9:33 Yeah. Yeah. [laughing]
Marsha 9:35 Fitting right in and learning that learning the routine. Hmm.
Kelly 9:38 Well, I think the routine is the biggest part of it, you know, just having that. Like, this is what we do every day. And not necessarily always at the same time. But, you know, these are the, these are the things that we do. And then you gradually we've been gradually increasing what those things are. So, luckily the weather's been good and we've been able to use a lot of the outdoor space. School's almost over.
Marsha 10:04 Oh, how many days?
Kelly 10:06 I mean, well, I'm not... I wasn't counting it in days. But I guess I could now because we're in the middle of the second of the second to the last week. Next week is finals week. I'm so glad. This week though, I'm, packed with student appointments for them to go over things and do review and such.Mostly out of guilt. Because it's the end of the semester, and I haven't been able to do as good a job as I wanted with this online stuff. And so now I'm feeling like, Okay, well, I need to make up for that by by allowing for all this extra makeup work and all that. So yeah, a teacher's life! It's never good enough.
Marsha 10:56 I thought of you because the other day this was oh, maybe two weeks ago. Ben had his-- one of his his instructors had office hours. There were three hours long office hours. And Ben was in the office for three hours.
Kelly 11:12 Wow.
Marsha 11:14 So like, yeah, I guess, all these students were coming in and going, coming in and going out.
Kelly 11:19 Right.
Marsha 11:19 But I thought of you and it's like, that was a long time to be in a meeting, you know. I thought of you when he was talking about this,
Kelly 11:34 I think we all do it.
Marsha 11:35 I'd have to go take a nap after that.
Kelly 11:36 Yeah, I think we all do it at the end of the semester, you know, we want to give students all the opportunities that we can to get the material and yeah, and I, you know, I had such high hopes at the beginning of this semester that, you know, this time I was going to get the online thing. The second time around doing an online, I was gonna get it right. And of course, it doesn't feel like I got it right at all. But it was better than last time, I'm trying to have a growth mindset. [laughing] It was better than the last semester. So I have one class that's a repeat of the class I had last semester. And that class is better. And then this class, the calculus class I had last spring when we were half face to face and half online. And I have to say that the online portion of it, this spring is better than the online portion that I did last spring. So I have improved, and I have high hopes that it will be even better. In the fall semester where I'm online. I'm teaching both of these classes again. So totally growth mindset. I'm gonna be better. I haven't mastered it yet. But I will! You know, that kind of that kind of thing. But then there's a little bit of aspect of guilt, because you haven't done as good a job as you want to do so. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, that happens to me every semester, whether we're online or not, it's just a little bit exacerbated in the online environment. I always felt like I could have done better. Well, I tell new teachers, teaching is a black hole that you could pour all of your time in and never be good enough. So you can't be a perfectionist and do this job. Or you'll burnout. You know, you have to be--you have to be willing to say, Well, that was good enough. And I'll do better next time. Or I'll try. I might not, but I'm gonna try. So anyway, I'm just glad the semester is almost over.
Marsha 13:40 Yes. And you have the whole summer to look forward to.
Kelly 13:43 Mm hmm. And our summer spin-in.
Marsha 13:48 So summer spinning! Should we get to get to the knitting and the fibery portion, the playing was string portion of the podcast?
Kelly 13:57 Yeah.
Marsha 13:58 So do you want to talk about your projects or...
Kelly 14:00 Sure I am making really good progress. In fact, I'm crocheting on it right now. I'm making really good progress on the Persian tiles blanket. And I'm making it for my grand niece and calling it Faye's flower blanket. I don't have the name in the shownotes of the designer, but it's called Persian tile blanket. If you want to, if anybody wants to go look at it. And then I have it in my projects as Faye's flower blanket and that will be linked to in the show notes. But I've got all of the octagons done--20 of them! Which that was exciting when I got that last one done. In fact I almost made a 21st not remembering that I was--that I had been on 19 and 20 was done and then I reminded myself. So I moved to finishing the squares and all the squares are done. And then what I'm crocheting on right now is the last row of the last triangle. So now all I have to do are the four corners, which are also triangles. But this is lik-- it's called a triangle granny square, or granny triangle or something. So I'm on the last row of the last one of these. All I'll have are the four corners. And then
Marsha 15:24 I'm looking at the projects on Ravelry. Then do you have you have to sew them all together? Right?
Kelly 15:28 Yeah. And then I'll be all done. I'll be all done except for this big huge project and sewing them all together. [laughing]
Marsha 15:35 Sorry to bring that up. But then it looks like it has a border around it to then do.
Kelly 15:43 Let me look, I have the pattern right here. You know that I haven't...
Marsha 15:46 By the way, Kelly, there's a border. [laughing]
Kelly 15:51 [reading pattern] Once these are together you will have uneven blanket edges. To make an even edge you need to work around of stitches. So I do four, five, six rounds of edging!
Kelly 16:07 Oh, no wonder I have so much yarn left! [laughing]
Marsha 16:10 Yes.
Kelly 16:17 I'm thinking, Oh, my God I have so much yarn left over. But it's gonna take a lot of yarn to go all the way around that blanket. I might have to buy more. [laughing]
Marsha 16:27 And you made it a little bit bigger, you put some more squares on it.
Kelly 16:30 Right. Yeah.
Marsha 16:32 Um, also I'm sorry to be...
Kelly 16:37 No, this is funny. This is an example of why you should read all the way through your pattern.
Marsha 16:44 So but then also, what I was going to say is, I'm looking at the... I don't know if you're on Ravelry. But I'm looking at the other projects. Some of them have just the way you described. It looks like it's a very sort of simple border. But I'm looking at one and it's it looks like KayVicknits. And she has like a, like a lace border around it. I mean, an interesting...
Kelly 17:07 Oh, wow.
Marsha 17:08 And let's see if she has anything in the notes
Kelly 17:10 I don't think I'll be...
Marsha 17:12 But yeah, all the way around it. It's got like a triangles all the way around it. It looks like
Kelly 17:18 Oh, interesting. Oh, I see. Yeah. So Oh, that is pretty. Yeah.
Marsha 17:23 So if you really want to use up your all that yarn,
Kelly 17:29 I actually...now that I'm looking at the border, I might have to buy, I might have to buy more yarn. But we'll see. I have an I have an awful lot of it left. I think I will just do the plain border though. On the edge. We'll see. I don't know. Getting it all sewn together is going to take a while. And the version that I'm doing will look more like the Eastern Jewels version. There was a kit, apparently, for this. There was the regular Persian tile blanket where it's all the same. Every octagon is the same. And then there was the eastern jewels version that had all the octagons different it looks like it's all different sizes of flowers. And that's the look I'm going for. And I think I've accomplished that.
Marsha 18:22 Okay, Kelly, now go. I'm sorry, go look at the projects. Go look at bytheseashore, her project. And she has a very interesting border on hers. And in the show notes it actually said that she did the zigzag edging from LillaBjorn crochet.
Kelly 18:42 Oh, so that is cute. She did.... So there's a little--there's a stitch in the octagon and the triangles, where you make a criss cross of treble crochets
Marsha 18:53 Mm hmm.
Kelly 18:54 And it looks like that's a criss cross. She's used that criss cross of treble crochets all around the edge. That is nice. Yeah. Huh. Okay, I'm gonna favorite her project. Because people who are listening, if you have not discovered this, if you save a project in your favorites, then on your project page, it will show those favorites in the lower... well for on the computer, it's in the lower right hand corner. So anything that I like the the comments on or that I'm interested in--I favorite that project and then that makes it pop up in my project page. Take a look at it. It's a nice, it's a nice feature because I've been... I've in the past had to kind of like you know, make a list of links of the ones that I wanted. And then I realized, oh, if I just favorite them. They show up at the bottom of my project page and I can get to them easily. So yeah, I'm really happy with it, I think it's turned out really nice. I am not looking forward to sewing it together. But I am looking forward to seeing it kind of come together. I've laid it out on the table. And I really like the way it looks. Yeah, it's really nice. It's like a riot of color.
Marsha 20:23 Yeah. Well, it's
Kelly 20:24 And I know there are people who say a riot is ugly, no matter what kind of riot it is.
Marsha 20:34 Well, I think it's such an interesting project. Because as you say, it is a riot of color. But everyone's done such different things where it's like you're doing it, it's like, well, a riot of color. And then there's other ones that I think are equally beautiful, but they're very different, where they make every square, or whatever the main one is, exactly the same. And those are so it's very geometric. And it's and those are beautiful too.
Kelly 21:01 Sort of Islamic or Moroccan looking. Yeah, like or well, Persian. It's called Persian tiles.
Marsha 21:12 Right. And so the one I'm going on right now is KoKoRoRoknits And that's--she's done everyone exactly the same. And it's, it's very pretty, it's very geometric. Just a completely different look, you know?
Kelly 21:26 Mm hmm. And actually kind of reminds me of Mexican tiles. Yeah. The the Mexican tiles that some people have on their houses or, you know, on on their steps,
Marsha 21:37 Something to think about...your edging.
Kelly 21:43 Yeah. I'm gonna have to reorganize the yarn and see what I have left and see what I can still do. Yeah. So anyway, that's, that's one project. And then I did make a couple of charity hats, a couple of nights where I didn't feel like crocheting. So I used som-- I have fingering weight yarns that I've kind of put together in a little kit, to use doubled for charity hats. So I just worked on those mostly--purples and pinks. And then the other thing is just the, I'm getting ready to start the socks out of the Bear Brand. Caprice yarn. And I wanted to mention, speaking of that yarn, we talked about that Bear Brand Caprice vintage yarn a few episodes ago. And just to remind you, that's the one that it says it's 100% virgin wool. But it really feels elastic. Like it's got some kind of elastic in it. And it looks like there might be an elastic ply. If you look really closely, there's a really thin ply. That looks like it might be elastic. So I think when they say...I don't know, it doesn't say 100%, it might say all, all virgin wool. I think they're referring to all the wool that's in it is not recycled. But it doesn't say on the label that the yarn is all wool. But anyway, we talked about this in a previous episode, how interesting this yarn is, and I am going to make a pair of socks out of it. I've ripped it out, ripped out the last pair and I'm going to restart them. Maybe today. I have a meeting this afternoon. It might be good meeting knitting, because I'll be done with my crocheting, most of it.
Kelly 23:33 I got a message from Jane Haskell about our conversation of the bear Brand Yarn. She says "I heard you mentioned Bear Brand. Attached are copies of covers of two books. One has many socks, including Argyle circa 1950" and then she has in parentheses, "or MCML" because that's the way it was listed in Roman numerals and
Marsha 23:56 Oh. [laughing]
Kelly 23:59 If you can read Roman numerals. [laughing]"The other is circa 1939. Both were my grandmother's and have her notes in them. I have many more vintage books of my two grandmother's and two grand Aunts and possibly one great grandmother's that I am yard saling this summer." I would like to go to her yard sale
Marsha 24:23 Yeah really!
Kelly 24:23 [continues reading] "I do not have any bear Brand Yarn from stash that I inherited or if I do I've already sold or goodwilled it. I copied the inside of the cover of the 1939 books so you can see what it says." And she sent me that copy. "There are other pages about blocking, measuring, showing illustrations of measurements, and darling little swim costumes and so on." So she says she she loves our show and listens while she's driving. She lives on an island on an island in Maine's Penobscot Bay, where there is a knitting retreat this summer sponsored by Portland's, Maine yarn.
Marsha 24:52 Okay,
Kelly 24:53 So thank you, Jane for sending that information. The copies that sh sent me, were really interesting to look at about this yarn and I'm gonna, I'm gonna print it out and stick the page inside of the bag that I have the yarn in, so I won't forget,y ou know, what kind of yarn it is and where it came from. So that was interesting to get some information about my vintage yarn.
Marsha 25:24 Yeah. Interesting. Well, yeah, maybe we have to get on a plane and go to her yard sale. [laughing]
Kelly 25:33 Go and buy more knitting knitting books. I just got rid some a few years ago
Marsha 25:39 I know, I just got rid of a whole bunch. But that doesn't stop me from dreaming.
Kelly 25:44 I know. I know. There's so interesting to look through those, through those old fashioned, old fashioned books. That's the end of my projects.
Marsha 25:53 Well, I don't have a lot to report. I'm knitting on my sock, right now as we're talking. The Drops Fabel Print that I've been working on a really long time. And I'm working on the gusset. I have one more decrease round. And then I'm just going to be doing the foot. So I don't know, maybe in two weeks, I'll have finished it. I don't know, it's sort of my you know, the mindless knitting that I do.
Kelly 26:23 Yeah.
Marsha 26:24 Then my Walk Along Tee. Um, you know, in the, in all the past episodes I've been talking about how I'm a little anxious about the quantity of yarn, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, last night, I knit to about 11, I think was about 11 and a half inches of the body, which they say to knit. And then what you are supposed to do is then you bind off, but then pick up stitches in the contrast color to make it so it looks like you know there's a T shirt under a T shirt, which I'm not going to do. But if you do that, it's more of a tunic length. And I don't want it tunic length. So I decided last night to put it on waste yarn and try it on. And I think I'm at the length I want. I'm so this is my... Well, I still have to do about a half inch of ribbing. And then what you're supposed to do then is, as I said, you bind that off and then pick up stitches to knit in stockinette in the contrasting color. What you do on the neck edge, and the sleeves, the cuff of the sleeve is you knit in ribbing, and then you change to the contrast in color and you just do, I believe it'd be reverse stockinette. So then that contrasting color sort of curls back and makes like a tube kind of you know, and so I I have to make some decisions. Do I put that same detail around the bottom of the sweater? Now I know a lot of people are saying, well, you don't really want to have a line around the widest part of your hip. I'm not too concerned about that. That never really bothers me having stripes. But I'm.... So I've decided how I'm going to do that. I'm also trying to decide should I just finish the sweater now? The bottom? Or should I just leave it on the waste yarn and go and do the sleeves and finish the sleeves? And then think about the bottom? That'll give me more weeks to think about it? Or do you know what I'm saying?
Kelly 28:30 That's what I would do?
Marsha 28:31 Okay,
Kelly 28:31 Yeah, that's what I would do.
Marsha 28:33 And then what I had planned on doing with the sweater is to make three quarter length sleeves. I may have enough yarn for that. Because I have... I just-- I had to put-- I have just two balls left I mean, so it's basically roughly a little less than one skein left because as I've talked about endlessly that those skeins I split into half into two cakes. So one of the cakes I've used maybe a quarter of it. The other cake, I just maybe did two rows of the body with the second one. So I think between the two of them, I would have enough to do three quarter length sleeves. But now I'm trying to think. I'm beginning to think I don't want three quarter length sleeves. I think I just want short sleeves, not cap sleeves, but just come down like mid because three quarter length would come down.
Kelly 29:24 Like past your elbow.
Marsha 29:30 Past my elbow. So I don't know. That's what I think.
Kelly 29:31 that's what I think too.
Marsha 29:32 And so I'm thinking maybe I just want it to come down. maybe longer like this. The the pattern shows that you just knit a few rows and then you start all of the ribbing and the contrasting reverse stockinette. So it's more of... it's like a short short sleeve. I'm wondering if I want to have it come down just just right before the break in my arm kind of, or above that.
Kelly 29:55 Yeah. Yeah,
Marsha 29:57 I have to do some thinking.
Kelly 29:58 It's best not to have your... like they say you don't want to stop something at the widest part. And so it's best like not to have your sleeve stop at the biggest part of your bicep.
Kelly 30:13 Okay.
Kelly 30:15 So to either be up a little higher or down a little lower.
Marsha 30:18 Okay, why is that?
Kelly 30:19 I don't know, I guess it has to do with, like, to look flattering, you know? And I have no idea if it makes it makes it look smaller or if it just makes it look more balanced. You know, I don't know if it has to do with... When you say flattering a lot of times flattering is a euphemism for skinnier. Oh, yeah. That makes you look thin, right? And that's not what I mean.
Marsha 30:51 Right.
Kelly 30:53 So I don't know if that rule applies because it does make you look thinner, and that's what they mean by more flattering, or if it actually has to do with the aesthetics of it. And kind of the balance of the garment.
Marsha 31:07 Do you remember that the T shirt you made? I think it was the Havasu Falls. And don't the sleeves hit...
Kelly 31:13 I didn't make that.
Marsha 31:15 Oh, what's the one?
Kelly 31:17 Oh, Havana? I made one called Havana. Is it brown?
Marsha 31:22 No, the one that was like, oh, and maybe it is brown. The pattern the
Kelly 31:28 Summer Fjord? That's the one you made. That's my gold one.
Marsha 31:35 No, no. Okay, I'm wrong on that. This is where we have the bad podcasting where we go down these rabbit holes that were not prepared. Let me look at...let me look at your projects.
Kelly 31:52 I'm guessing it's probably Havana.
Marsha 31:54 I think it is Havana.
Kelly 31:58 It's a kind of a pale Brown.
Marsha 32:00 But you made that quite a while and I'm having to scroll down through all of these. All of your projects. Oh, yeah, Havana? Yes, that one. Okay, so let me look at that one. Let me look. Oh, yeah. So those sleeves hit you right above the elbow kind of. You know, they're a little bit..they're not cap sleeves, but they're not three quarter length.
Kelly 32:23 Right. Yeah, they're .... I put them... I made those end at the elbow, like right above my elbow.
Marsha 32:31 Do you think that's a flatteringlook? I'm looking at the pin. Yeah,
Kelly 32:33 I like it. Yeah. I like those sleeves a lot.
Marsha 32:37 Okay.
Kelly 32:39 I like that sweater a lot. I think it's a really flattering sweater.
Marsha 32:41 Okay, so then my question is ...,
Kelly 32:44 And by flattering. I don't mean it makes me look skinny.
Marsha 32:50 Okay, so now I'm looking at Honey of a Tee and you have three quarter length sleeves. Do you like... are you happy with that?
Kelly 32:58 Yes.
Marsha 32:59 Well, you're no help because you like both of them. I
Kelly 33:03 Well, it depends. I like those because... I like those because I think of that as a warmer sweater. Even though it's made out of cotton. I don't-- I don't think of wearing that sweater when it's warm out. The way I do the Havana, that one I wear when it's warmer. I actually think just looking at the pictures. I think that Havana sleeves look better.
Marsha 33:31 So then this is my other... the question I have to then in my mind about this is a merino wool t shirt. So am I gonna wear it in the summer? So do I...? That's why I think I want a little bit longer sleeve than what they're showing in the picture. But I don't know. Yeah, I don't I don't want full length I've decided. But I am thinking... maybe that's why I was thinking originally three quarter length sleeves because it is a wool sweater. I don't know that I'd be wearing it in the summer.
Kelly 34:07 But I think probably if I had made the sleeves on this-- the Lavender Honey is the pattern. I think if I had made the sleeves on that a little bit shorter, it would look a little bit less like my sheet sleeves are just too short. Oh. I like this sweater a lot. And I wear it a lot. But it does...Looking at the picture, it does look like maybe my sleeves are just a little too short. More than that I purposely made them that way.
Marsha 34:41 Okay.
Kelly 34:42 I mean, I don't think it's ugly. I like it. But it does. It does look like an odd length
Marsha 34:48 I think... okay, well that helps
Kelly 34:49 If you made them--if you made these sleeves, the longer sleeves I would say have them stop right after your elbow. Whereas mine go like halfway between my elbow and my wrist.
Marsha 35:03 Yeah. And that's the thing with three quarter length sleeves, too, is you have to find that length that where it looks finished and not like I ran out of yarn.
Kelly 35:16 Yeah, that... I mean, that is kind of the danger. You want it to look like it was on purpose. Yeah.
Marsha 35:24 Anyway, so I'm making progress on that. And then the other thing I've been working on is spinning. And so yesterday, we had a beautiful day and I had been painting at the other house and I came home and I sat on the on my deck, yay! And I've got my--I've got my pots planted. And I've got the umbrellas out there. And so it's a very different, very different experience than a year ago at this time where it was a dust pit back there, no deck. But anyway, I was working on spinning. So I'm almost done. I think the... Okay, the last time we recorded I had ordered more fiber of the bitter chocolate, the dark brown. And I have that. I have not opened the package yet, I have probably another just 12 inches of the brown roving to spin, and a little bit of the green. So my plan is to ply that last of that green with the three ply with the three ply with the brown. Then all the brown that's leftover, I'm just gonna do a three ply of the solid brown. But I haven't finished plying the green and brown together yet. So I'm going to... I still have that to do. But I'm making progress, you know?
Kelly 36:41 Yeah, that's a that's a big... I mean, it's a big spinning project to make a sweater.
Marsha 36:46 Yeah, it is.
Marsha 36:48 And I have not had... and honestly, I've just not had a lot of time to spin, or the time that I've had to spin, I've been so tired that I just get into bed and you can't spin in bed.[laughing]
Kelly 37:01 Right.
Marsha 37:02 Right. Anyway. So that's it for me for projects. I think it's a nice lead in to--talking about spinning a nice lead in to a question that we have from a listener.
Kelly 37:13 So yeah, one of the questions that I've had was about knitting with handspun. And so I wanted to talk a little bit about you know, what, what has been our experience knitting with handspun and some things that especially new spinners can think about or use as tips or, or tricks or strategies or whatever. So one of the things that I kind of don't like to see is when people talk about how much handspun they have, and that they've never knit with it. Like, oh my gosh! You have to have to knit with your handspun. But now, if you were to ask me that when I first started spinning, I had no desire to knit with my handspun I just wanted to make yarn. And then of course, you know, the knitting and the weaving were partly self defense against all the yarn I was making. My main goal was to make yarn but but it is really satisfying to make something out of your own yarn. I think I always really enjoy it. So one of the things I just wanted to mention is how I select a needle size to swatch and I learned this a long time ago. And I usually, I mean I usually do this as a way to kind of identify what needle I'm going to start with. I get out my needle gauge and I double up the yarn and I poke it through the holes in the needle gauge and I look for one where it it goes through pretty easily. It isn't like scraping the edge the whole time. It's not so big that, you know, it doesn't touch at all. Where does the yarn doubled fit through the needle gauge the best? And that's where I start and then I usually swatch one down, one needle size down from that and one needle size up from that and then I look at my fabric. And then if if I think, oh, maybe I want to try a little bit looser or a little bit tighter I'll, you know, I'll go even further up or even further down but usually one up and one down gives me three choices. And one of those three choices is a fabric that I like and a gauge that I like and then I'll go look in Ravelry and use the gauge as one of the filters in the advanced pattern search. I think I've talked about that before--how I use that in the advanced pattern search.
Marsha 39:42 and I'm just.. This is not about... This, my comment, too This is just about doing swatches. And this is not about handspun this was all swatches. And people probably know this but I had not known this and I think my friend Kim told me this, is that when you do your swatch, like if you're going to do three different... I just, I don't make three individual swatches, I just do--I make it all one. I just chang the needles. But to keep track of which swatch is which size needle, you put holes in there for the size needle. So if you're knitting on size three needles, you put three, you know, three yarn overs, knit two, and then knit two together, yarn over, knit two together, yarn over, knit two together, so you get three holes. So then when you look at your...right at the beginning of the swatch, so then when you wash it, you know which, which one is which. Yeah, so five yarn overs for if you're using five, size five needles, etc. Do you do that?
Kelly 40:41 Yes. The only time that I haven't done that is been has been when my needle size is so big that I don't have enough. I don't have enough stitches on my swatch. And instead of making a bigger swatch, you know, wider swatch, I have just used a different technique, like, you know, make a little note or, or tie a little string on it with the right number of knots, or something like that. So, but yeah, I do use that technique a lot. You have to make sure that you swatch long enough if you do that. Because if you make little, you know, four row swatches, and one of your rows is holes. That's not going to give you a very good idea.
Marsha 41:27 Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 41:29 But, I like to, I like to make a good size swatch. And then I always wash the swatch too, just to see what that does to see what the fabric looks like. So yeah, and then I just select the pattern based on based on those patterns that match my gauge. Because I don't, I don't like the game of trying to get trying to get gauge, I'd rather get a fabric I like and then find a sweater that uses that gauge, then try to get a gauge that my yarn is not going to want to do.
Marsha 42:03 Well and then also select a pattern that, beyond gauge, a pattern that will work with the type of fabric that you've created or what type of... because you know even with with handspun, but even commercially made yarns, some work in lace, some don't some work with cable, some don't. Some you know, some work with texture, some don't. So that's why another reason to make kind of a large swatch too is that you get a better sense of what it's going to look like. If you were to do cables, or
Kelly 42:39 Yeah, like a really textured yarn. Don't bother with a really patterned a really detailed pattern like cables or, or... Well, that's sort of what happened with those socks, right? I was trying to, it wasn't handspun. But I was trying to use the Matcha pattern that had, you know, some texture to it, with a yarn that already had texture. And it was pointless.
Marsha 43:05 Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 43:06 So you do have to be be aware of that. So, but we've had a lot of people make things out of their very first handspun in the summer spin ins that we've had in previous years. So yeah, so I think I think we do have a good, a good track record of helping people and supporting people. And the group of people who are who are chatting in the thread, also giving a good, good amount of support to people who want to make something out of their handspun. Yeah, it's always fun to see that happen.
Marsha 43:40 Yeah.
Kelly 43:41 Now you've knit with your handspun. I mean, you're not a new new spinner, but you knit with your handspun. And right away.
Marsha 43:48 Well, my very first one that I made, I think it's still in a ball. And then I'm like, Oh, I'm going to spin some yarn and I'm going to make a hat for Ben. That thing is like it weighs... It feels like it weighs a pound. I should weigh it. It feels like a weighs a pound. Super dense. super heavy. But you know, I will never throw it away. And then I... so this kind of leads into another thing we were just going to mention. But anyway, I said I was gonna make him a pair of socks. And out of my handspun. And I was going to try, I was trying to spin fingering weight or sock weight you know, but it's worsted weight. And so these are very heavy, heavy socks and they're... and I got the... You wouldn't think that I would get the stitch count off given that they were so big. There wouldn't be that many stitches for a worsted weight pair of socks. But one of them I got this. I don't know how I did it, but I have too many stitches. So one is significantly larger than the other. So but I still have those But just a side note about the comments about the yarn isn't good enough and the allure of spinning thin. One of the things like I talked about that a lot, I don't seem to be able to spin... To date, I have not been able to spin yarn that's finer than DK, perhaps. It's always ends up being worsted weight
Kelly 45:28 Well, and you always make a three ply. Right? I mean that you could make it... you could, you could have a fingering weight yarn if you use the singles. At this point,
Marsha 45:41 yes, yeah, yeah. ,
Kelly 45:45 or maybe only two ply,
Marsha 45:48 yeah. The but then I've made I guess I've made two sweaters with my yarn, right? Did I make two sweaters? Because I did the, I can't even remember!
Kelly 46:01 You made two combo spins.
Marsha 46:02 I did the combo spins. And I made two. And I really I have to say I just really like knitting with the handspun. It's a different experience knitting with handspun. Because there is, because I I'm a newer spinner than you are. And that first combo spin I think was the first time I had spun a sweater quantity of yarn. And so because it is handspun, there is variation. And that's actually kind of fun to knit with to see. I found it enjoyable. It just yeah, it felt really good to knit with my handspun and I don't know, it just... it's it's because of the irregularities it's just much more textural and but when you actually knit..
Kelly 46:52 There's so much more life. So yeah, there's some element of life to it, that...
Marsha 46:58 it has a bit more soul to it.
Kelly 47:01 And also, I mean, it has a little bit more spring to it, too. I mean, really, I mean literally has more spring in it, I think, than a commercial yarn. Its more elastic. I mean, it depends on what you're spinning, but for the most part, I think my handspun is much more elastic than than any commercial yarn. Yeah.
Marsha 47:27 Yeah, I just like it. It was very enjoyable to knit with.
Kelly 47:29 Your first project wasn't a sweater, but I know of people whose first project has been a sweater. And I, you know, I'm not gonna say... I'm not gonna stop anyone from jumping in feet first like that. But I think some good first projects are like what you mentioned. A hat is a good first project. I made potholders out of the the really ropey heavy, dense yarn that I made originally. I made potholders, I made a little bag for my spinning wheel oil, and the potholders I felted. So they were really nice and thick. So those are good, some good first projects. But a hat is a good project, a cowl is a good project. Socks, I think probably better if... One of my first projects was socks, too. And they were super dense. In fact, I, I couldn't I could barely knit two together. Because the yarn was so thick, and my needles were so small. And they you know, I just, I had an impression of how thin the yarn was, when it really wasn't, you know.
Marsha 48:43 And, and that was my experience with the socks that I made for Ben. It was so dense that it's very difficult too. My hands hurt and knitting together for the decreases was really, really challenging.
Kelly 48:59 Yeah, so probably, I mean, probably you were using needles more along the lines of sock needles, using a yarn that was closer to worsted weight.
Marsha 49:08 Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 49:09 And so slipper socks would be a better, a better choice, you know, a worsted weight pair of slipper socks would be a better a better choice probably then. Just for ease of, ease of knitting. But yeah, there are a lot of I mean, there are a lot of good projects for handspun. And this idea that your yarn isn't good enough. I mean, a lot of people will say that, you know, I want to get better before I use my yarn. I would say... I would say your yarn is good enough. It's a matter of the right, you know, finding the right project for it. And it's only the super early yarn that is so dense and ropey. I mean, people quickly, I think, move from that sort of ropey plying, really dense plying. And that happens pretty quickly.
Marsha 50:02 Well and that ropey hat that I made. You can see, you know, when you when you're plying and you get those little corkscrews, that you can't undo and lots of that! And so and you can... so many of you can actually see it in the finished project. But you have to start somewhere.
Kelly 50:23 That's right. That's right.
Marsha 50:25 But I have to say, with the two sweaters that I made, as I say, the yarn is, has character, you know, they have thin bits and thick bits...
Kelly 50:38 Beautiful!
Marsha 50:39 Oh, yeah. They're, I think they're really nice. The, but what I was going to say is that, and we've talked this about this before, but you have thick and thin bits in the single, but then when you ply it, that changes. But you still may, even if you still have thick and thin bits after you ply it, that all changes again, when you knit it up.
Kelly 51:02 Yeah.
Marsha 51:03 And so those thick and thin parts really begin to sort of just disappear, I think. And worst case scenario, if you have one, that's just one spot that's super, super thin or super, super thick, you cut it out and just
Kelly 51:17 Right,
Marsha 51:18 spit, splice the yarn together and keep knitting, you know,
Kelly 51:21 if you have a bad spot, or if you have one of those pigtails from plying that you don't want to be in your...
Marsha 51:27 Oh, that's what it's called?
Kelly 51:28 The pig tail is what I call it. I don't know if it's...I don't know if that's what it's called or not, but that's kind of what I call it.
Marsha 51:39 So, um, but then Kelly, uh, how about measuring the skein?
Kelly 51:44 Oh, yeah, that's the other thing that happens when you're new, is you have a misperception about how much yarn you made. And, and there does seem to be not so much anymore. There used to be a lot of, a lot of I don't know, like, you know, the social media kind of pressure about spinning that I didn't have, because there wasn't social media. Right? I didn't know what other people's spinning looked like, you know, other than when I went to guild meetings and saw it on, you know, saw what they were working on. But I didn't do that very, I didn't do that that often. And Spin Off had episodes, they had issues where they started to after-- I'd been spinning quite a while-- they started having issues where you would send your yarn to them, and they would photograph it and they would put the skeins in the magazine, the photographs. And that was the first time that I really had a ton of exposure to other people's yarn. And that wasn't even, you know, real life exposure, but picture exposure. So I didn't have you know, the pictures that people will post. And I'm not, I'm not criticizing people for doing this. But I think somebody, the way people perceive it is different, like people will post pictures, and they'll put a coin along with yarn, right. And the idea is to give you some some element of scale, you can tell how, how thick or thin the yarn is. But sometimes I think when I see, you know, some of these pictures are especially... it used to be more common. I would see I would see these pictures or I would hear people talking about how thin their yarn was. And it was like that was the only thing that was valuable was the thin yarn. Like if it wasn't thin it was not worth spinning or doing anything with and you had to try to get as thin as possible. Well, there's a use for thin yarn. But I don't knit with lace weight all the time.
Marsha 53:47 Right?
Kelly 53:48 So like, what are you going to do with, you know, dozens of skeins of lace weight and thinner. So you know, make the yarn that's going to fit what you're going to... what you're going to make. And so if you like knitting with DK weight yarn, then that's the weight that you should try to spin for. If you like fingering weight yarn, then you can try to spin for fingering weight and that'll you know, that'll mean your plies are a little thinner. But experiment, you know, with thick yarn and thin yarn. And there's nothing inherently better about spinning thin, I guess is my my point. And then the other thing that's also true is the worsted yarn. A lot of times I'll see at a spinning event that, you know, people are spinning like this. They call it inchworm style. And again, there's nothing wrong with spinning in that in that way. It makes it very smooth, compressed yarn, because you're only letting a little bit of fiber out and then you're smoothing it down before you advance it. So it makes it very smooth, and also very compressed yarn. Which is fine if you're wanting worsted style yarn, right? That's what worsted style is. Very smooth and compressed. But if you want something fluffy or light, then you know use a different spinning style. And you'll have fluffier yarn or it'll have a halo to it. And there's something nice about about the fact when you wash it, it gets a little bit fuzzy, you know, more fuzzy. So I guess... I guess the point I'm trying to make is that, I would suggest if you're a new spinner, just spin and see what happens. I mean, it's... Yeah, it's good to have goals. And it's good to try things like to give yourself a lesson or a challenge. You know, for learning. But when you're first spinning, I think, just spin and see what happens. And some fibers are going to want to be more smooth and other fibers are going to turn into a yarn that's really fluffy. And sometimes you're going to get a yarn that's thick, and sometimes you're going to get a yarn that's thinner, depending on the, the, you know, the fiber that you're using. And that's how and then you can kind of learn what they say, like what the fiber wants to be. And then don't try to make fiber be a way doesn't want to be.
Marsha 56:25 Right.
Kelly 56:27 So anyway, that's... Yeah, I think that's kind of an important thing to think about.
Marsha 56:33 But we started this about measuring the yardage. And so Kelly, you want to talk about how you how you measure or how you taught me to measure the skein?
Kelly 56:42 Yeah, How did I get from... because you said that already...measuring the yardage. How did I get off...
Marsha 56:47 I know, I'm trying to guide you back on topic graciously, but I don't think I did it very graciously. [laughing]
Kelly 56:55 No, that was nice, Marsha. Thank you. [laughing]
Kelly 56:59 Measuring the yardage. Be careful when you measure on the niddy noddy because it's going to be stretched. So like I have what's called a one yard niddy noddy. And it's not actually one yard. Like if I, if I measure a piece of yarn that goes around, even if I use like cotton string that doesn't stretch at all, and I go around my... or if I take the tape measure and go around my niddy noddy, it's not quite a yard. It's a little short of a yard even though it was advertised as a one yard niddy noddy. And then if I wind the yarn on to it, of course, it's tight. So just counting how many times... Actually it's a two yard... Sorry, it's a two yard niddy noddy. So just counting the number of times I went around doesn't really give me the yardage that I have. That... I did that, I made that mistake. I made that mistake before. Thinking I had way more yarn than I actually had. Yeah. So now what I do is, after I've washed it, skeined it up and washed it, I just lay it out kind of flat on the ironing board or on the table. And then I just measure, I just measure how long that skein is kind of, on average, like I put the tape measure, kind of in the middle of each end and and measure. And then I just you know, and I count how many, how many threads there are.
Marsha 58:21 Now you do that though, after you've washed the yarn.
Kelly 58:25 Yeah, I do it after I've washed it. And, and I don't count it while I wind it on because I can't do that. You know, I could count and say, Oh, I went around, you know, 300 times as I'm winding it on. I don't usually do that. I usually count them after it's been washed. Just because I know I'm not going to keep track while I'm winding.
Marsha 58:50 Okay, well, do you want to know what I do?
Kelly 58:52 What do you do
Marsha 58:53 So because you gave me the niddy noddy, your extra niddy noddy and so I think we have the same one it's the two yard one. So in theory, what I do is I do count as I wrap around the niddy noddy I count up to 20 and then make a mark on it on a piece of paper.
Kelly 59:11 You're much more disciplined!
Marsha 59:12 And then because I could not count 300 I would lose track right? But if I just count to... and if I'm really distracted I just count to 10 but I count around 20 times mark on a piece of paper or 20 times mark it so then it ends up being... say I have it's I've wrapped around 80 times it usually ends up being an odd number you know 87 times. Then what I do is I multiply that by two and then I measured the length, I take it off the knot and I don't stretch it really tight but I just hold it straight out and I measure it usually it ends up being 30 inches
Kelly 59:48 yeah mine's somewhere around there.
Marsha 59:51 So what I end up doing... but I haven't washed it yet though. So what I do is I then my math is you know the number of wraps-- times I've wrapped around, say it's 87 times, times the length, which is 30 inches, then doubled times two, then I divide it by 36.
Kelly 1:00:11 Right.
Marsha 1:00:11 And that tells me how many yards I have. Approximately. Now, I have not. So this the yarns that I'm working on now, I then I put a tag on it. You know what the fiber is, how many yards, approximately, I think I have based on that, then I weigh it to figure out how many ounces I have. You could also do grams too, but how many ounces that skein is. And then in the lower right hand corner of the tag, I put a one and then a slash, you know, like if you're gonna do percent, one slash, and then when I'm all done... So you'll have one, you know, a skein one, skein two, skein three. And then when I'm all done, I fill in how many skeins I have. So it's one of ten, two of ten, three of 10. Don't ask me why I do that. Just because I'm I, it might be kind of weird. But then I know what was my first skein. And what was my last skein. And I was thinking the reason I... Well, actually I do, actually, you can ask me why I do that. Because I do have a reason why I do that.
Marsha 1:01:17 Why do you do that Marsha?
Marsha 1:01:19 So that my theory is, when I start, say I'm going to knit a sweater, then I can knit with my first and my last skein. Maybe alternate my first and last skeins. And so that is because there is going to be variation, I would think because you are like, for example, this green and brown that I'm spinning, it's it's over a period of months that I'm spinning it. And sometimes I take a week or two weeks break that I'm not doing anything. So there is going to be variation between the first skein and the last skein just because, yeah, weeks, months or years have gone past, right. So that's sort of my idea is well if I then can blend them, keep track of those skeins, I can blend them as I'm knitting, alternate those skeins.
Kelly 1:02:05 That makes sense. I think you would especially if you were a newer spinner, it might get finer as you go, even if you're trying to keep it consistent. And even if you have a control card, you know, or a piece of yarn that you're using to spin to, it's very likely that you are going to get better, your spinning is going to improve. And and a lot of people when their spinning improves, they do end up you know, they have more facility with drafting and they do end up with a thinner yarn. Yeah.
Marsha 1:02:36 And then the other thing I do is I... So with that first skein, so I know I have say 150 yards and it weighs two ounces. I know that my... so then I then I can figure out well, how many yards am I getting per ounce?
Kelly 1:02:53 Yeah.
Marsha 1:02:54 And so, and I have... I'm starting with this many ounces of fiber, it gives me a little bit so it's not accurate, because it's only my first skein. But it gives me kind of a sense of like, well, how much yarn do I think I'm going to get, how much yardage am I going to produce out of so many ounces of yarn. And then as I say, then I add in skein two, skein three, and it's to see... And it's pretty accurate from that first skein, even as I started adding and doing the math to see how many ounces or-- excuse me-- rephrase that. How many yards per ounce I'm going to get. It stays pretty consistent as I started adding in the skeins. Does that make sense what I do.
Kelly 1:03:37 Yeah. And then that gives you an idea whether you have enough fiber or do you like in this particular sweater quantity that you're spinning right now. You decided you needed to buy more fiber, because you knew you weren't going to get the yardage that that you were hoping for. Yeah, no, I think that's I think that's really good. I think those are kind of our main thoughts about knitting with your handspun. Or crocheting, doing any kind of working with your handspun. like, how do you find...
Marsha 1:04:05 Or weaving?
Kelly 1:04:06 Yeah, yeah, we didn't even talk about weaving, weaving is a great thing to do with your handspun. because textured yarn makes really nice weaving projects. And you don't need to worry about gauge.
Marsha 1:04:24 So what are what are what are good projects for textured yarn, in knitting or crochet, do you think?
Kelly 1:04:34 Um, I Well, I think the the slipper socks is a good one because it will be... they will be nice and squishy and I think a nice cowl would be good in a textured yarn. You know, for for knitting or crocheting.
Marsha 1:04:50 What about people who are more advanced and you start doing sort of like those, what's the word... Art art yarns, you know. Like they actually spin...that's what I was thinking of like when you spin in, you intentionally spin like thick and thin, exaggerated...
Kelly 1:05:11 Yeah, I've seen some really pretty sweaters with the slubby yarn, you use kind of a loose gauge and that way the the real slubby parts can, can show up. Well, like my Sonny Bono jacke is at a really loose gauge, and that yarn is definitely art yarn, you have all those locks sticking off the yarn. So I do think a looser gauge is best for those kinds of yarns. And you could use them as... I've seen people use them as like the, the, you know, brim of a hat and then the rest of the hat is ... like the the part you fold, or like a cuff, you know, on a sleeve or a yoke like a stripe in the yoke. So you could use your handspun along with something else. And that's a really nice way to to use up just a one skein, you know, one small skein of yarn? Yeah, in a project that's not a handspun, not fully a handspun project.
Marsha 1:06:17 Do you have anything more you want to add on this topic?
Kelly 1:06:18 I don't think so today. I think that's, that's good. And then we'll add other topics. And we're interested in knowing... I put a question in the summer spin in chat thread, to let us know if you know if there's anything that you would want to hear about during the spin in. The topics that you'd like us to talk about in spinning on the podcast, you can do that. You can send us an email, you can contact us through our website. Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. We have a Contact Us page, you can contact us there. You can contact either me or Marsha on Instagram, through direct message and we can add your your question to our to our topic list.
Marsha 1:07:01 And we'll talk more. Hopefully, we'll get a lot of good questions. And we'll add some. We'll talk about spinning over the next few months. Because just a reminder, the summer spin in starts. It's Memorial Day through Labor Day, which is May 31 through September 6. And so we'll be talking more about spinning over the summer months.
Kelly 1:07:23 Yeah it's a good three months, a little more than three months of spinning.
Marsha 1:07:28 By September, people will be saying, please stop talking about spinning! You've spun us dry. [laughing]
Kelly 1:07:40 Anyway. All right.
Marsha 1:07:41 So I'm excited about projects plans. So anyway,so Kelly, do we have any anything else we wanted to say?
Kelly 1:07:51 I don't think so.
Marsha 1:07:52 Should we say goodbye?
Kelly 1:07:53 Yeah. Yeah. Let's say goodbye. We'll see everyone in two weeks. We'll talk to everyone in two weeks. All righty. Bye. Bye.
Marsha 1:08:04 Bye.
Kelly 1:08:04 Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit to Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com
Marsha 1:08:12 Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects. Until next time, where the Two Ewes doing our part for a world fleece!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
05 Oct 2019
Ep 121: Knitting Funk vs. Inspirations
00:52:30
Reviewing the WA Coast Meetup, a fiber mill, inspirations to cure a knitting funk, weaving plans and patron appreciation prizes round out this episode. Full notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shopwebsite:TwoEwesFiberAdventures.comCome join the community on Ravelryor become a patron and support the show onour Patreon Page.
Thank you to Jean Chambers at String Theory Yarn and Fiberfor helping us put on the Washington Coast Meetup! We had a great time meeting new fiber friends who felt like old friends right away. The unexpected theme of the meetup was dogs! All the attendees were dog owners, the shop has a new puppy, Marsha brought Enzo, and two of the attendees also had their dogs with them. So a beach run with the dogs was a highlight of Saturday afternoon.
On our way to Seabrook we stopped byOlympic Yarn and Fiber Millfor a tour by the owner Lynn Lipski. She is also the creator ofLina Yarns. We toured her current mill and had a sneak peak at the new fiber spinning mill that she is opening in Cosmopolis, WA. Her operation is very impressive and her vision for providing a mill for local fiber and helping to build the fiber supply chain is definitely infectious.
I startedShared Ribby Anne Hanson back in February. The pattern is for a scarf, cowl, or infinity cowl. I’ve knit about 4” of the scarf but think I’m going to rip out and knit the cowl instead. The yarn is fromOld Maiden Auntfingering that in the colorway Crimson Lips that I bought at theEdinburgh Yarn Festival.
Halloween is coming! I'm thinking about making the Daphne’s Skulldesigned by Ellen Sibelius owner ofWooly Wonders. To hear more about her designs check out Episode 109.
Kelly’s Projects
I’m participating in the Oh Gnome You Didn’t MKALby Sara Shira. I was keeping up with the clues until I went off to Washington for the meetup. The clue that week involved stuffing the gnome so I put the project on pause for the trip and I haven’t picked it back up. The mystery KAL is now over so I know how the gnomes look and they’re very cute. I’ll finish my two in time for Christmas and add a couple more traditional looking gnomes to the bunch, but right now I’m not in the mood for small pieces, stuffing or sewing.
I did start a pair of socks at the meetup. They are out ofLittle Fish Stitches yarnin the Seabrook Sunset colorway that is exclusive toString Theory Yarn and Fiber. It’s a very pretty orange and purple combination.
Other than that, my knitting has hit a stall. I'm in a funk. Maybe that’s for the best since it’s almost time for the 19-20 Winter Weave Along! It will start on October 15th and go until March 15th. For handouts from the last two years, go to the pages section of our Ravelry Group.
Third Quarter Patron Appreciation drawing!
We so appreciate all of our generous patrons who support us with monthly contributions through ourTwo Ewes Patreon page. We have patron tiers starting at $3 per month. The money is used to help pay our hosting fees, as well as to pay for the purchase and shipping of podcast prizes. While we always appreciate prize donations, we also like to support makers and purchase their wares as prizes for our giveaways. Patron support contributes to our ability to do that. Thank you so much for your support! We announce two winners in the patron appreciation drawing!
We also appreciate the support we receive from listeners in the form of podcast recommendations to others, prizes, donations, and participation in our community on Ravelry!
24 Jul 2024
Alaskan Advent-Ewe!
01:11:10
Marsha is home from her Alaskan Advent-Ewe and we have lots to catch up on. Join our discussion of project updates and spinning for our Summer Spin In.
Poppy Tee: by Jo Cottle. Cast on using Rowan Purelife Revive in the colorway Loam. Picked up in the NoCKRs 2024 destash room. Cast on and worked on this almost exclusively on my Alaska trip. I have completed the yoke and about 5” of the body.
Pinot Noir Purchase Targhee: Started spinning the giant (2.2 pound) ball of Targhee roving I bought from an attendee at last fall’s Fort Worden Knitting Retreat. You know I cannot resist those large balls! The woman I bought it from said she got it from a weaver’s estate. It seems pretty dusty and I was sneezing like crazy last night. I’ll have to wear a mask while spinning.
Kelly’s Projects
Finished: Pride dish towels in German Birdseye weave structure. I used three variegated skeins of fluffy cotton singles plied with a thin thread of something else (polyester or nylon?). For the stripes around these three I used cotton or cottolin yarn in red, orange, green, and blue. I used all those solids as warp and also used a royal blue cotton, a brick red cottolin and some bobbin leftovers from the last project. I ended up with 5 dishtowels and a square. I love these towels and can’t wait to do another stash busting warp like this.
Two skeins of Jazzman (CVM x Merino x Columbia) are finished. I’m in the process of topping off the bobbins before doing more plying. It’s turned out to be a lighter yarn than I expected–fingering weight. It didn’t plump up as much as I thought it would after washing.
Use all the Spinning Tools Challenge: I’ve finished and wound off a second ball of the green singles from the tahkli. I’ve been taking it with me in the car and to dog class where we have a break between classes.
I also spun up small samples (about 6-8 grams) on the other two spindles. Still to go: Charkha, Salish Spinner, Great Wheel, and Norwegian
Found buttons for Marsha’s baby sweater. Have three baby items to make–two for baby boys and one for a baby girl.
Anna sent me information about a colorwork sweater that I should make for myself. It used to be called Choose Your Own Adventure, now called Your Outdoor Adventure.
Summer Spin In
Started Memorial Day - Ends on Labor Day
May 27 - September 2
Two Ewes in Walla Walla, Washington
September 26-30
Alaska Advent-Ewe
Met our ship Noordam in Vancouver, BC
Ketchikan: Took a city tour and visited Potlatch Park.
Juneau: It was pouring rain but we did a city tour and drove to Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and hiked to the waterfall and to the glacier viewpoint.
We’re back! The Two Ewes have been missing in action with work, travel, a vintage trailer rally, a knitting retreat, Thanksgiving, and a nasty cold. We have lots to talk about including project updates.
Snowflower: by Heidi Kirrmaier. Finished! Used 13 Mile Lamb and Wool for the main color and Brooklyn Tweed Tones for some of the contrasting colors. It fits great and I think I did a great job on the colorwork yoke.
Ames Beanie: by Stephanie Larson. Finished! Made for Madi using Cascade 220 Superwash Merino in Summer Sky.
Nanny Meier Tea Cozy: Inspired by Lily Pulitzer colors. Using Cascade 220 in hot pink and lime green. Finished first side.
Santa’s Laundry Line: by Eleonore von Castelmur. Using Lang Yarn Jawol fingering in red, green and cream and some left over fingering weight gray. Finished his jacket, pants, hat and currently knitting his long johns.
Socks: Using Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn in the colorway Sum-Sum-Summertime. Heels and toes will be Dream in Color Mini Smooshy in the colorway Bermuda Teal. Halfway down the foot of the first sock.
Fine Sand: by Heidi Kirrmaier. Using West Yorkshire Spinners Illustrious in the colorway Claret. Almost done with the body. Working on four garter stitch rows for edging and then bind off.
Kelly’s Projects
Continuing to work on Purple/Gray socks for Robert. These are the ones that I had to stop working on during the last episode because I forgot to turn the heel. I pulled the needles out and put them back in the bag to fix later. Later turned out to be a month later. I now can’t remember what yarn this is. I got it at the very last Stitches West ever in 2022.
Continuing to work on Dozens of Little Squares. I’ve washed 83 squares and have another 21 finished. So I’m at over 100 squares so far.
Started Club Car Curtains. This is for the back window of the trailer in the bedroom.
Events
Winter Weave Along starts October 1 and goes through March 31. Join the fun in our Ravelry group!
18 Jan 2016
Ep 34: What's New with Ewe?
01:02:19
Knitting, some spinning, lots of yarn project planning, and some fiber processing are the highlights of this episode. Kelly and Marsha do some goal setting with two-week goals and discussion of long-term projects.
Second, Kelly finished the Niebling Doily Herbert Niebling lace patterns have an Arts and Crafts era style that is very distinctive. The Doily Head blog has a great collection of Niebling eye candy for your enjoyment! Kelly started her doily on Christmas day 2014 and finished it just over a year later. It was a fun and challenging project and there will definitely be another Niebling on the needles at some point.
She is also considering three T-shirt patterns for her next project. Edie by Isabell Kraemer, Brandilyn Top by Quenna Lee, and Ricky for All Seasons by Veera Sanon.
Marsha made two goals between now and the next Two Ewes episode. She will walk three times a week and add her training schedule to her calendar. Big Sur 21-Miler, here we come!
Her long term project goal is to complete the Garter Squish afghan by Stephen West. This means unraveling the sweater she made for her father years ago to use as the main color. She has been collecting various colors of worsted yarn, plus some blank yarn to dye, to use for the second color.
Kelly has two new projects on the needles. She is making a stockinette scarf for her husband. It is being made with a LUSCIOUS merino and silk laceweight yarn from Bumblebirch. Good thing the yarn is nice, because the project is on size 3 needles!
Kelly's two week goal is to walk the correct mileage during the next two weeks. No cheating on the training schedule. She will also finish spinning 3 skeins of the Corriedale yarn that she is making for her Mom as a substitute for Shibui Pebble. Long-term, Kelly will be working on putting together the quilt that she started in high school over 30 years ago!
Join our Two Ewes Ravelry Group to become part of the wonderful and supportive Two Ewes community and participate in knit or crochet alongs. Contribute to the continued running of the podcast and get batts or mini skeins by clicking the donate button on the right side bar of the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures blog and making a contribution of $15 or more.
Give us a call and tell us about your favorite LYS! Go tospeakpipe.com/twoewesand leave a message. It will take 90 seconds or less. Or you can use the voice memo app on your phone and email us the audio file. We’ll put your voice feedback on the show!
Marsha’s Projects
Nanny Meier’s Tea Cozyby Amelia Carlsen. I am using Cascade 220 Heather in Red Wine Heather (9489) and green Irelande (2429). I have finished both sides and am ready to sew together and make pompoms.
Phrancko Designscrew neck fromPhrancko.comby Frank Jernigan. I’m using my green and brown handspun merino. Finished the ribbing but I’m waiting for Ben to try on the sweater before binding off. Frank says to use the invisible ribbed bind off, but with the warning that it is difficult to frog, so I want to be sure of the length. Started first sleeve
Finished my spinning project with merino roving from The Weaving Works that I bought at a gathering of spinners on Whidbey Island several years ago. I have a one ounce ball of green (Amazon), blue (Cornflower), light blue (Rain), and mauve (Plum). I cast on for a cowl and am using the helix knitting technique with four colors that our listener Rochelle (Reecreates) suggested. Here is a link to thePurl SoHovideo.
Found a 2lb bag ofManx Loaghtonin my stash. This is a protected breed from the Isle of Man. I am using a woolen spun technique.
Kelly’s Projects
I’m still working ona pair of socks(Ravelry link) in Bob Ross Happy Little Mistakes yarn fromWeird Sisters Wool Emporiumin Aberdeen. I’m using the stitch pattern from Blueberry Waffle socks.
I started a Garter Squish blanket to use the handspun leftovers from my tossing of the stash. I’m about to the halfway mark and I’m almost done with the natural white Columbia and Oxford that I’m using as the base color. I’m going to have to spin more.
Winter Weave Along
Starts October 15 and goes through the end of March.
Two Ewes’ Hand Dyed Cotton Yarn and Dishcloth Pattern Giveaway
January 13 - February 28
Drop by our Ravelry thread and let us know your favorite dishcloth pattern and you will be entered to win a skein of our hand-dyed cotton and a Two Ewes’ dishcloth instructions. Never made a dishcloth? Tell us if you are a dishcloth newbie.
Stash-Busting Blanket Along
Starts now, ends May 31. There will be prizes.
12 Oct 2024
Technical Difficulties with Knitting Content
00:20:08
Just the chat today. We had some technical difficulties with the knitting part of the show. We'll try to troubleshoot once Marsha returns from Rhinebeck. If you like the chat, welcome! If you're here for the knitting, we'll see you in episode 235.
15 Aug 2024
Remember, This is A Knitting Podcast
00:58:51
We have lots of discussion about dogs and house projects, and yes, knitting and spinning. Our Summer Spin-In is underway for a few more weeks.
Socks: The Artful Ewe Clackamas. Finished first sock and about halfway through leg of second sock.
Emotional Support Chicken: by Annette Corsino. I’ve knitted a bit on my chicken. About to start the second stripe.
Poppy Tee: by Jo Cottle. Using Rowan Purelife Revive in the colorway Loam. Picked up in the NoCKRs 2024 destash room. I’ve knit about 10” of 13” total for the body.
Pinot Noir Purchase Targhee: I’ve been spinning the giant (2.2 pound) ball of Targhee roving I bought from an attendee at last fall’s Fort Worden Knitting Retreat. Last episode I talked about how the fiber made me sneeze. I removed the outer layer of roving and started spinning again with no sneezing.
Kelly suggested I dye some of the roving so I’ve dyed 4 oz each burgundy and green. The roving is very thin and delicate. I wound the roving on the knitty noddy and tied it in six places. I tied the roving more tightly than I would for yarn, but I wanted to be sure the weight of the water didn’t felt or pull the roving apart. I plan to dye more colors.
Kelly’s Projects
Finished: 13.8 ounces of Jazzman (CVM x Merino x Columbia) 3-py.
Use all the Spinning Tools Challenge: Wyatt Norwegian wheel is now spinning a Greenwood Fiber BFL braid. School House Rock colorway. It will be a three-ply fractal that I plan to use for socks.
Also started: Desert Lavender socks out of Smirligan’s yarn. Soft green, purple and natural white variegated yarn.
Purl 2 Walla Walla has closed so we will not have a meet up there. ☹️
Wool Auction September 2
Monterey County Fairgrounds
26 Aug 2018
Ep 96: School Days Learn Along!
01:01:06
Marsha is knitting, Kelly is swatching crochet techniques, and the Ewes are planning a Learn Along that will last through November. For full show notes with pictures, visit the Two Ewes website.
Marsha is working along on her Iba by Bonne Marie Burns. She's using textured Rambouillet yarn from the same batch that is in the Two Ewes Shop. She loves the feel of the wool and the fit of the pattern.
She also has the Elinya shawl on the needles for social knitting.
Kelly has no knitting or crochet in progress, but she is swatching and practicing filet crochet in order to make Papel Picado. The real papel picado is a traditional Mexican decoration for Dia de los Muertos. Kelly found a pattern for a crochet lace version and has visions of making enough to string across an entire room.
She is also looking for a sweater pattern for some coned cashmere fingering and some Chickadee sport weight to combine into one cardigan. A listener suggested Brise, a cute sweater designed for linen yarn. Another one the is in consideration is Running Water.
One of Kelly's projects from last year was entered in the Monterey County Fair and won Best in Show! If you are coming to the fair, August 30-September 3, look for the Cowichan Sweater in the Wool Room.
The Two Ewes are starting a "School Days Learn Along" that will last until November 30. To join, just participate in the chat thread in the Two Ewes Ravelry group and post your finished objects in the FO thread. All finished objects should be things for which you had to learn something to complete them. For example, Kelly will be learning some crochet techniques for the papel picado and Marsha will be taking a colorwork class so she can make a tea cosy that isn't too tight to fit over her teapot! Knit, crochet, weave, spin--all of those are eligible!
Kelly and Marsha are knitters and spinners who are celebrating the first anniversary of the podcast! To celebrate they first talk about all their knitting, spinning, and crochet projects and plans. Then they have a conversation about the podcast and the past year.
During the last year of podcasting, the Two Ewes have both seen their fiber art and their thinking grow and change. The podcast has also grown, and the Two Ewes talk about some of the interesting podcast and blog statistics over the last year.
Listeners on iOS are warned that the upgrade to iOS 9 has caused the podcast app to fail on some devices. Users with an especially large library of podcast subscriptions are most susceptible to this problem.
Finally, as a way to celebrate International Podcast Day on September 30, the Two Ewes urge all listeners to leave a rating or review for your favorite podcast. It helps the knitting podcasts rise above all those other hobby podcasts.
To see photos and the full show notes visit our blog.
I’m close to finishing the crocheted sweater! It’s the Habitat Cardigan, crochet cardigan by Jess Coppom. I’m making it with the Lion Brand Heartland that is called for in the pattern. The sleeves are on the hook right now and it should be done by the end of the weekend.
I’m still hooking along on the Dew Drop Shawlcrochet shawl by Silke Terhorst. My projectis using a gradient handspun that I made from a Loop Bump in teal, purple, and gray. Once the sweater is finished I’ll work on this more and get it finished.
Stashbuster Weaving. Warp problems are fixed! Crowd-sourcing works! Several listeners helped with this problem. The bottom line is that when warping multiple threads at the same time I need to make sure they don’t twist as I put them on the warping board. Winding onto a warping reel rather than a warping board can somewhat alleviate this problem, it seems. That would explain why the warping process in the video didn’t talk about this potential problem. I could also use a warping paddle as another potential solution. Or I could go back to warping with one or two threads at a time instead of 4.
Never Have I Ever Socks--Fix or Nixproject: I have resurrected and fixed these instead of nixed. I am knitting them in tandem on dpns and making them longs socks using a larger stitch count to fit on my calves. So far I am really enjoying them. The double sock blank gradient from Invictus Yarns was too beautiful to nix and destash.
Marsha’s Projects
I finishedShared Ribby Anne Hanson as a cowl and love it! The yarn, Old Maiden Auntfingering in the colorway Crimson Lips, is wonderfully soft.
I finished the first sock of myJohn O Groats Socksand have knit about 2” on the second sock. I’m usingYarns From the Plainsfingering weight in the colorway Cumbrian View. I bought the yarn from the dyer at the Caithness Craft Retreat in May. The pattern I’m using is the sock recipe from Nancy Lindberg, NL7 Knit to Fit Socks.
I’m getting ready for my Iceland trip from January 17 to February 3. I’m still mulling over what clothes to bring, but I have my projects ready to go!
I’ll be bringing a sweater called Seven Sistersby Sarah Pope using Dovestone Baa Ram Ewefrom my stash. Pattern starts with a tubular cast on and is straight stockinette until I stop, knit the sleeves and join them to body and begin the yoke pattern. Should be good airplane and talking knitting.
Also bringing a shawl, Dusk Into Twilight, by Rosemary (Romi) Hill. I’m using ourTwo Ewes Fiber Adventures Replenish Rambouilletin fingering weight. It's a three color shawl and I'll use Falling Leaves (multi), Bourbon and Suede (Rust), and Aquamarine (aqua). I think the pattern will also be good for knitting and talking.
Because I was in the mood to cast on a sweater and use my stash, I cast on a second sweater called Isle au Haut Pulloverby Beatrice Perron Dahlen. The stash yarn I’m using isColumbia from Imperial Yarns. It will be an unusual project for me: an aran weight pullover with a high collar.
Daphne’s Skulldesigned by Ellen Sibelius ofWooly Wondershasn’t been worked on at all since we last recorded. I thought I would set a goal to finish it by Stitches West the end of February. But that’s unrealistic since I will be in Iceland. I will be lucky to get it done in time for the NoCKRs retreat. If I do, I can bring it to Kelly’s and use her washer to felt it.
Giveaway Winners!
Fix It or Nix It Winner won a pattern of her choice up to $12.00
Quarterly Patreon Drawing winner won yarn from Quintessential Knits: Intrepid Otter northwest dyer, Superwash merino sock yarn. Green with navy speckles. Colorway “12” referring to the Seattle Seahawks football team.
Thank you to patrons who supported us in 2019. Thanks also to the newest patrons Nathalie and Martha. To support us on Patreon go topatreon.com/twoewes.
There are threads in the Ravelry discussion board if you have questions that you would like us to answer. Also, we are soliciting ideas for the kind of contests and “Alongs” that you would like to see in 2020.
Events
Winter Weave Along--Started October 15 in the Two Ewes Ravelry Group. This weave along goes until the end of March so you have plenty of time for weaving projects.
IcelandJanuary 17-February 3 Marsha and her friend Kim will be travelling to Iceland with Janine Bajus, who will be replacing Cat Bordhi as our guide and teacher on this trip.
Stitches Westis February 20-23 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. There is a podcaster meetup hosted by Yarniacs and 2 Knit Lit Chicks on Saturday the 22nd in the lobby bar area of the Hyatt (connected to the Convention Center).
24 Sep 2017
Ep 76: Raw and Unfiltered
01:02:26
An unedited episode full of knitting, dyeing, spinning, weaving, and future escapades! Enjoy! Click here to visit the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures shop where you can support the show and get beautifully sheepy yarn at the same time.
Projects
Kelly is almost done with the body of the linen Summer Fjord. The pattern has a drop shoulder and no sleeves. She is thinking about picking up stitches and adding a sleeve.
She has also been working on charity hats. One hat, Molly, has been finished. It's a simple textured stitch background with one large cable going up the hat. The second hat is her own pattern started flat and then joined in the round after doing a button tab brim. Both hats are made from leftovers in the stash.
Weaving off a cotton dishtowel warp that's been on table loom for almost 10 years.
Marsha has made good progress on her Recoleta by Joji Locatelli and has starting the waist shaping.
Marsha has been sidetracked knitting by her new obsession: combo spinning. She did not have any dyed braids but had 24 ounces of roving in her stash that she dyed. She then divided the roving equally by color and put in bags. Each bag is filling a bobbin with a bit of fiber left over. Very interesting project. So interesting, that not much is getting done around the house!
Advent-ewes
The Two Ewes are planning a Winter Weave Along!
It will be a 6 month learning adventure with weaving. It starts on October 1 and will go through March 31. It will include weaving instruction for beginners. Weaving information will start at the beginning so don't worry if you are new to the craft. Marsha is a beginner so she will be learning along, too. Handouts in pdf form will be delivered through the podcast feed to all the podcast subscribers. (If you aren't already subscribed there are links to subscribe on the sidebar of the shownotes. Or use your favorite podcatcher app.) The Ewes are also planning some short video tutorial. There will be a project discussion thread with weaving help and community.
Any kind of loom will work, rigid heddle, floor, table, potholder loom, cardboard loom, loom made with wallboard and nail, etc. An FO thread will be available later in the year and there will be a giveaway at the end.
There is also a Single Shot project along! Quick and satisfying like a single shot. This is for that small project around 200 yards or less. The perfect fun and done project for a palette cleanser. Knit or crochet something quick and satisfying. Prize thread in Ravelry group. starts now ends Nov 1.
Dyeing
While Marsha dyed roving, Kelly dyed Shetland yarn for a project and put some extra in the shop. Check it out at twoewesfiberadventures.com!
Here is a link the article about natural dyeing in Mexico from the 9/19/17 issue of The New York Times.
Future Escapades
Kelly will be going to Lambtown in Dixon, CA October 7-8.
Marsha will be traveling to Scotland for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March 2018. She is looking forward to meeting any UK listeners who will be going, too.
And of course, the Two Ewes will be at Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA in late February.
25 Apr 2015
Ep 16: Fiber Friends and Feathered Co-Hosts
00:47:34
In this episode Marsha and Kelly talk about the the Northern California Knitters Retreat (#NoCKRs on Instagram for more photos). The FABULOUS and FUN retreat was held at the St. Francis Retreat Center. We had such a great time! Thanks to the organizers and to Duren Dyeworks and Kicks and Giggles for donating the door prizes that we won. Thanks also to Dizzy Blonde Studios, Miss Babs,
We had fun knitting and meeting new friends. We also found treasures in the destash room and made some stitch markers.
The charity for the retreat was Knitted Knockers. Participants donated over 90 of them for women who have had mastectomies.
There was a show and tell of knitwear that led us to yet another discussion of fit! We know we said we wouldn't discuss it again for awhile, but we learned some interesting things by looking at all those sweaters.
More discussion about shots (not from a glass) and needles (not for knitting). Sorry! We finally get down to knitting, bored dogs, and new projects. We end by laughing at own ridiculousness when read in a transcript. Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.
If you’d like to become a patron and support the show financially, visit ourPatreon page.
I’m still working on thepair of socksfor myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.
I’ve knit about 6” of myWalk Alongtee by AnkeStrick and I’m using Little Fish Stitches fingering. Beginning to worry if I will have enough yarn.
Spinning on and off with olive green merino roving. We had one beautiful sunny day this week that I could sit on the deck and spin. Heaven! I’m combining it with another merino I ordered from Paradise Fibers in Spokane, Washington in a dark brown called Bitter Chocolate. Making a 3 ply with two green and one brown single. I’ve spun two skeins.
Swatching to make the Abington Mittsby Jennifer Lassonde as part of our Extremities Knit/Crochet Along. Using Dale Garn Helio that I got from Kim’s bag of yarn headed to the thrift store. Enough yarn for a brown and a burgundy pair.
Started theIced Matcha Socks by Dots Dabbles. I’m using handspun wool mohair yarn that I spun from batts I carded. The wool is Charlotte (a gray sheep whose fleece I bought twice in the early 2000s). The mohair is a similar vintage mohair fleece that I bought and dyed.
Both of these patterns are from the designers who have donated prizes for the Extremities K/CAL.
I also started Frog and Toad fromfrogandcast.com. I’ve finished Toad and now need to start Frog. Then there are clothes to make.
Extremities Knit/Crochet Along
This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns:
We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by.
Kelly00:10
You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string.
Marsha00:17
We blog and post show notes at TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.
Kelly00:22
And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects,
Marsha00:29
and I am betterinmotion.
Kelly00:31
We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there.
00:36
Enjoy the episode.
Marsha00:43
Good morning, Kelly.
Kelly00:44
Good morning, Marsha. It's Friday. Yeah. I'm not sure Friday means much to to a lot of people during a pandemic, but it means a lot to me.
Marsha01:01
Yeah, it doesn't really mean... it doesn't mean... Friday, in fact, well, yeah. Friday doesn't mean that much to me anymore. But yeah, if you're retired, yeah. And you know, Ben does his own school thing. Idon't... I'm not involved in that. And and
Kelly01:14
I hope I should hope not.
Marsha01:16
I know at the age of 23. I should not be involved in it. I'm not. Such a relief.
Kelly01:23
I have students whose children are involved in their college education, helping them but
Marsha01:31
Oh, yeah, yeah,your children appearing in zoom meetings and stuff. Zoom.
Kelly01:35
That too. Yeah. I have a couple of students that come to my office drop in hours, and their children are usually in the background, or you can hear you can hear the schooling going on in the background, while the children are on their own zoom, their own zoom meeting. So. So yeah, I have a class for kind of a beginning level math class, you know, basically no prerequisites. You know, anybody can take it. And some of those students have their kids helping them. "I got confused, and I watched your video, and then I got my kid to help me."
Marsha02:14
So yeah, it's a family, a family affair. Sweet.
Kelly02:20
When parents talk about, you know, having school and kids and all of that, I always, I always tell them how, how much I think it's great. Because it's such a role model for their children, you know, that you continue to learn, but it's rough. I can't imagine the students I have, who are, who are parents who are going back to school, who are working, who are helping their children do their school, I always admire, you know, the parents who are coming back to school and the amount of work that they have to do. But in this pandemic, it's just been, like magnified. Yeah, very impressive. Yeah. their commitment to education.
03:01
Oh, yeah.
Marsha03:02
It's a struggle, but it'll be worth it in the end, you know?
Kelly03:07
Yes. And some of us in the struggle, I'm not including myself in that us really, some people in the struggle will be able to talk about it in the same way that, you know, of the sacrifices that people made during war time. Or, and some people are not, are not stepping up in that way. I sort of wonder what it would be like if they were having to live through war time, or, you know, like, the Greatest Generation they talk about, that, you know, lived through World War Two and made all those sacrifices. And our society is not quite measuring up, I don't think, to that standard.
Marsha03:47
Well, I don't know. I mean, well, you mean, in terms of wearing masks?
03:52
Willing make a..? Being willing to make a sacrifice?
Marsha03:55
Oh,
Kelly03:56
for the good ofeveryone.
Marsha03:59
It may sort of depend on where you live.
Kelly04:01
Yeah. Yeah.
Marsha04:02
You know, because if you're talking like masking specifically, everybody masks up. In fact. I mean,here...
Kelly04:10
what I'm specifically talking about here, I guess I should I should be clear. What was specifically talking about here in California, is all of the complaining about teachers not going back and the teachers unions not wanting to go back and parents can't get their kids back in school. And, like, I understand that, I understand that it's hard. But you don't get to have your same old life. Right? I mean, this is what I want to say to people, right? You don't. None of us gets to have the same life we had last February, none of us does.
Marsha04:16
My mind was going... Well. And I say even with the vaccine, it sounds like we're not going to have our same lives, right?
Kelly04:55
For a while at least.
Marsha04:56
it's going to be a different version of our of our of our same You know, yeah, so,
Kelly05:02
I think I talked about the whole, you know, push to get teachers vaccinated which is happening, and that's really good. But what was being said about what was happening and what was really happening were two different things. And so it makes it seem like, you know, well, all of you teachers are all vaccinated. So why aren't you wanting to come back? Well, we're not all vaccinated. I have my appointment, though.
Marsha05:26
That's good.
Kelly05:27
Yeah. Quick shift of the subject to be more positive. Okay. Just to be clear, I was finding myself going to an ranty place and I don't want to do that. So
Marsha05:45
well, just before you shift, let me just say here, like, I think that where I live in Seattle, everybody's wearing a mask. And so like, it seems to everybody's very compliant. I'm not going to restaurants. Stores that I've gone to, I always go in and say like, you check, how do you want me to do this? Everybody seems very on board with this in my world. In fact, so much so like, when I take Enzo for a walk, I always bring a mask with me. Because even though I don't come in contact with anybody, everybody's masked up even walking through the neighborhood. Yeah. Which I don't even know how necessary that is. But I think it's sort of it's becoming kind of a sign of solidarity, you know, but anyway, yeah. Yeah. But yes, on to more positive things. You're getting your vaccine. Yay.
Kelly06:27
Yeah, yeah. So my first dose is the 13th. And honestly, it felt like I was trying to get concert tickets. We had multiple alerts coming out on the faculty email at work, saying, Oh, I just checked the site, and they've got vaccine appointments, and then I go and no appointments. And when I got up in the morning, I get on the computer, I always check and I go through the whole thing. And the dumb thing is that you had to go through the whole process of putting in all this information. Not all of your information, but you had to click a whole bunch of places, just to be told that there were no appointments available. Like, okay, I'd rather on the very front page, right when I, you know, right, when I click on to the front page, you tell me there's no appointments available. But anyway, I do that every morning, and nothing would be available. And then the other morning, the other morning, I got on and I checked, and there was nothing. And all the dates were old. And I mentioned to Robert Oh, they haven't even updated this website yet. You know, they've still got all the old, all the old dates, they don't have the newest dates. And so then I went on to do my you know, play on the computer, read Ravelry, read my email, that kind of stuff. And I'm reading my email and one of my colleagues had emailed that there were now-- there was-- our county office of education was hosting a vaccine site. And so I went to that. So get this. She, she so it came on, it came on the screen, sometime in like a 10 minute timeframe of when I had looked and when I got the email that it was there. So I went there. It was I mean, at most 10 minutes after it had been live on this website. They had multiple appointments, like six to eight appointments every four minutes, from 10 until 4pm.
Marsha08:32
Mm hmm.
Kelly08:32
So that's a lot of appointments.
Marsha08:34
Yeah.
Kelly08:36
And I made mine. So I got it. I was like, Okay, I'm going to pick a time that has, you know, five appointments available as opposed to two because I don't want to be cart-jacked. You know, I don't want to get to the end and find out my appointment was already taken. So I do that. And then I texted some other people to let them know. And then I went back to look and they were all taken.
Marsha09:01
And you were cart-jacke? I mean they took that one.
Kelly09:05
Oh, no,no, no, I got mine. Okay. But I I texted and then I went back to check on it to see to see like, how many more appointments there still were, and nothing! Okay, so like within 15 minutes. All those appointments, you know, eight, five to eight appointments every four minutes, from 10am to 4pm. All of those appointments were taken within probably 15 minutes. Wow. It felt like I was... or like I was trying to get yarn from a super super popular dyer! Wake up in the middle of the night when the update happens and like in the early days, the Wollmeise I think was one of them. Yeah. You know, people used to get up in the middle of the night to try to get Wollmeise yarn. And anyway, I felt like that as I was trying to get my point. I've never been this excited for a shot in all my life, not even a shot of bourbon!
Marsha10:07
So then, so you'll have, I'm assuming this is the two part vaccine.
Kelly10:14
Yeah, yeah.
Marsha10:15
So then how do you know when you get your second one?
Kelly10:18
I don't know. Yeah.
Marsha10:20
Okay, how that's gonna work?
Kelly10:22
I'm not sure how that's gonna work. Yeah, I'm assuming that the same site will have the second round. And then all of us who got appointments for that first site will go to the second site, go to the second round at that same site, but I don't know for sure. I don't think we know for sure.
Marsha10:41
I was gonna say the thing about the websites, too. So let me just say, you know, in the state of Washington, I don't know what this is, all states have this. But we have Find Your Phase where you can go and find out. And you know, I'm not...I'm not eligible yet. But I went back. They say, well, they will, they will email me when I'm eligible. And I've not received any notification. So I thought, well, I'll go back and to see where I am. Maybe there's more. Because it said, when I when I registered for it, they said they don't know when my category would be eligible. No information, check back. So I thought I'll go check back. You have to register again, there's no way to go in and just log back in and find your own status, even though I've registered. And so this is a long way of saying I think they've... they've thrown these websites together as quickly as they can. And they didn't have I think... Normally with websites don't they go through for companies, they go through testing, right? Everybody uses them to check them all out. I don't think they've had any time to do that. And so there's problems in the system. Yeah Because I have no idea. You can't... Right now, I'm sure if anybody lives in the state of Washington, any of our listeners, they can tell me what's really going on but I couldn't find my status in there. I just had to reregistered again. So and then just add to all of this hearsay, rumor, confusion. Um, my brother registered in Find Your Phase and never got notified. But he's he has medical insurance with Kaiser Permanente. And so he went to the website, and he just started poking around and, and he was able to make an appointment through their website to get the vaccine. And he's never been notified that he was eligible by the state of Washington. Yeah. So I don't know. And he said, also their website, too, again, I think that they are doing the best they can sort of getting something in place, right? But he said that there isn't, like, on the website, if you want a vaccine, click here and make your appointment. He said, You have to dig down through the site, you actually have to say that you want to make an appointment to get like a flu shot or any kind of shot. And then you have to go through the and then it gets you to the part where say what I want is the COVID-19 vaccine.
Kelly12:33
Yeah, like they should have just a big button right on the front, a big button that you push to...Yeah, right. So I bet you're right. I mean, I'm complaining.
Marsha13:08
No, I mean, I mean,
Kelly13:10
it's something that had to be put together quickly.
Marsha13:13
Well, and I should say cuz I'm not... I have no idea. Now. The President came out two or three days ago saying that pretty much everybody who wants a vaccine will have it by May. So I think I will get it soon. I mean, I just it's just a matter of being patient. But I will say again, rumor hearsay, guessing, all this. It is interesting like people posting on Facebook or Instagram that are getting the vaccine. There's somebody who posts on Facebook, I know who posted that she was getting the vaccine. And as far as I know, she doesn't meet any of the criteria-- multi generational household, age, underlying health, as far as I know. And so like, how did she get it? I don't know. It's like, you know, let it go. Just let that go.
Kelly14:08
It's possible there's something you don't knowabout?
Marsha14:10
It's possible there's something I don't know. Because like, it could be an underlying health condition that I don't know about. So. So it's not about-- you can't sit there going like, well, how come they got it? You know, but yeah, that's-- Yeah, we're human. And that's where our mind goes, right? But it really, you know, vaccinate as many people as possible it doesn't really matter even.. you know?
Kelly14:33
I'd be and in my thinking,...Gosh, we've been on this topic for a long time. Sorry, everyone.
Marsha14:39
Yes, I know.
Kelly14:40
But my thinking you know, at first was well, I'm not in contact with anyone. I'm not teaching face to face yet. I don't really need to get the vaccine. You know, I wasn't too worried about jumping.... I wasn't sitting on the computer like it was a rock concert that I wanted tickets to or you know, Hamilton or something big. Cuz I thought well I'm home, you know, I'm not teaching face to face, I'm not going to be teaching face to face in the fall. I don't have to rush. But what you want is everyone, everyone who can, to get it.
Marsha15:13
Yeah,
Kelly15:14
Everyone who can get who can't who can, by whatever means really should get it because that's how you get immunity in, you know, community wide, right. So in the mathematics, there's an interesting-- there was an interesting article about mathematical modeling. And the mathematical model was, what if we do it in phases versus what if we do it as whoever wants it, come and get it? And it actually was more effective in the mathematical modeling, to make it available, you know, to make whatever was available available to whoever wanted it.
Marsha15:52
I know, that's what I was kind of wondering if that would actually make more sense.
Kelly15:55
It was, mathematically, it was more effective. Yeah. But politically, you know, like, I'm getting the vaccine, even though I'm not going to be back in the classroom. Robert goes to work every day. He doesn't work directly with the public, but he goes to work every day, and he's not eligible yet. Yeah. But politically, I mean, they're not distinguishing between educators who are going back to the classroom and educators who are not, it's just easier not to do that. And they, you know, and the the political reality is they needed to make sure that educators got vaccinated because there's such a pressure for our schools to reopen the K 12 schools to reopen. So anyway, yeah, this is a long topic. We're probably, we're probably, we're probably treading on the boundaries of what our listeners are wiling to listen to
Marsha16:46
people are gonna be listening to this walking the dog driving the car going. "Oh, for goodness sakes, stop talking!"
Kelly16:53
Where's the knitting?
Marsha16:54
Where's the knitting? Well, yes, while we wait... So anyway, patience is a virtue. I will get mine soon. I I'm looking forward to it. My vaccination. I'm excited. So anyway, and grateful that we have one. Yeah, pretty speedy the process.
Kelly17:12
Yes,so...and apparently CVS, this part of the email I got this morning. The CVS website is already doing appointments for the Johnson and Johnson one shotvaccine. So all right. That was cool to see. Yeah. That's a lot of very fast science.
Marsha17:30
Yes. Yeah. Okay. Ah, so we talk knitting?
Kelly17:37
Yeah. That's what they're here for. Right?
Marsha17:43
Yeah.Let's give...
Kelly17:43
Sorry, you guys!
Marsha17:44
Let's give them what they want!
Kelly17:46
Yes.
Marsha17:48
Okay, so how about you? Do you want to talk about your projects?
Kelly17:51
Sure, yeah. Okay. So I finished Robert's socks. They turned out really nicely. I'm actually Oh, I'm calling them finished. And I'm actually weaving in ends right now. But, but they're finished. And I've marked them as finished in the project page. He hasn't worn them yet, because I haven't woven in ends. But he tried them on. I did end up making the toe of the first sock bigger than I had done before. The look so funny! I, I have a picture of them. And because of the toe is made from my hand spun it's thicker. It's a little-- it's not quite fingering weight. It's a little bit heavier than that. Plus, it's a, it's a denser yarn. They have the most bulbous toes, but they're not pointy. So he loves them. And I'm like, they look so big. And he said, No, no, they look perfect. So
Marsha18:51
yeah. Are they comfortable? The
Kelly18:52
Yeah, he likes them.
Marsha18:53
The big poofy toes. Yes, he has room for his for his toes. So they're not
19:00
pointy, and they and they are big enough, but they do kind of bulge out while the sock is ribbed. So that's part of it, too. So the ribbing sucks in the foot of the sock. And then I added stitches when I made the toe because it was too dense and stiff and tight. So anyway, yeah, it's they're interesting looking.
Marsha19:25
Well, you'll have to share a picture of them.
Kelly19:27
So I will Yeah, the leading men fiber arts yarn is really nice. I'm gonna get myself some more of this. Maybe not this color. I don't know. I like this color! But it's just a really nice sock yarn. This is-- I think this one might be bfl sock, I can't remember now. But it just it feels nice. It was nice to knit with and the put up is very large. You get a lot of yarn in a skein of this.
Marsha19:59
[Laughing] Okay. Sorry, I'm interrupting. I'm just looking at the
Kelly20:04
you see what I'm talking about?
Marsha20:05
Yes. Yeah.
Kelly20:10
The toes are quite bulbous.
Marsha20:11
Yeah, but they look comfortable.
Kelly20:14
Yes. And they aren't--I mean, they aren't baggy when he wears them. They actually do fit it. Yeah, it's really more of a function of the, the ribbing on the foot, making the ribbing skinny
Marsha20:25
It's when they're lying in repose. [Laughing]
Kelly20:31
But they don't have pointy toes when you fold them top to bottom. [laughing]
Marsha20:36
Yeah,
Kelly20:37
Speaking of starting socks, I did start the Iced Matcha socks by Dots Dabbles. And the yarn I'm using is a handspun. It's a gray. It was... the sheep was Charlotte and I bought her fleece a couple of times. It's the same fleece that I used for the funky grandpa sweater.
Marsha20:56
Okay.
Kelly20:57
And I finally had used both. I bought two of her fleeces two different years back in the early 2000s, late 90s. And I finally spun up the end of it a couple of years ago with some mohair. So these are mohair wool. It's only a two ply. So I don't know how hard wearing they will be. But the mohair should help. It's probably a little bit thicker than a fingering weight. But not not, not so much bigger that I won't be able to use like a size one needle. And I usually use size zero, I'll probably use a size one. And anyway, I decided to make the iced matcha sock pattern. It's like ribbing, you know, has kind of a ribbing effect, which I like. And then it has a little bit of detail, but not so much detail that I won't be able to knit on them during school meetings and that kind of stuff. So and then I'm going to start another pair of of socks. I don't know which ones. I think maybe one of the cabled pairs from either from this collection, or maybe one of the Louise Tilbrook. I have quite a few of her patterns. And I have one pair of socks that I really like that was one of her patterns. So I might make one of hers. They're very involved. So, so the the Iced Matcha of socks will be sort of a medium-involved. Not not super involved, which will be good. So I'm enjoying, I just barely started those. So that's there's not much going on there. Except basically a cast on. I did also finish another Ice Time hat. The first one that I made I don't remember if when I talked about it last. But the first Ice Time hat that I made her pattern. This is from the pattern is by Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar studio, BostonJen. And she gave me as a gift, a copy of this pattern. And so I thought, oh, I'll try it. And I mean, I used two variegated yarns. And I looked on the pattern because it came out a little small, my gauge, you know, I usually knit pretty tightly. And so I thought, Oh, this is a little small. But then I looked on the pattern, and she has as the head circumference 18 inches, I think, which is smaller than what I normally do for a hat. Plus the cross stitches, I think have a tendency to make it tighter. Yeah. And plus, it's like a beanie.
Marsha23:41
Yeah.
Kelly23:42
And so, so I thought, Okay, well, this is good, because it's the size for a kid and that was my plan. But I want to make a bigger version. So first, I was gonna, I was gonna just add, you know, like, one pattern repeat or two pattern repeats. And, and then I thought, well, it's when -- when you do the decreases, you divide it into fou. Into four groups to do your decreases. And so like the decreases make an X on the top of the hat. And I thought, okay, that's going to make those four groups different sizes.
Marsha24:18
Yeah.
Kelly24:19
And I just thought, you know what, I'm just going to add four repeats, because 18 inches is small to me for hat circumference.
Marsha24:26
Mm hmm.
Kelly24:27
So that's what I did made it a lot easier to do the decreases and then made the slouchy version, which is more like the kind of hat--again, this is nota hat that I'm going to keep-- but more like the kind of hat that I wear. Doesn't smash your hair as much, you know, hat head. So anyway, I really like it. It came out really great. And so now I have a pair like a mother and daughter a pair of hats.
Marsha24:57
Sweet
Kelly24:58
Yeah, in purple. purple and yellow.
Marsha25:02
So I don't they're not in your project page yet, though, right?
Kelly25:06
Oh, you know, the first one I finished a long time ago. And I just put the second one in the same. So it's farther down on the project page. Oh, I'm, I'm suddenly distracted, because there's someone on the roof right outside.
Marsha25:19
Oh, really?
Kelly25:22
We had the roof put on. And then they had to replace some flashing and replaced--we have these like scupper boxes that the water goes down. They replaced those. And so apparently they're here to do something else with with the flashing. So I suddenly looked up, and there's a stranger on my roof. Right outside the window. Because the
Marsha25:49
and he's wondering why you're talking to yourself?
Kelly25:51
Yes. [laughing] Because the kitchen window or the kitchen roof is right outside the vanity area where I record so anyway. Life at the Locke household!
Marsha26:03
Yes.
Kelly26:05
So both of the designers, dots dabbles of the Iced Matcha socks and Jennifer Lassonde from this Ice Time hat have donated prizes for our extremities KAL that we'll talk about. So it's fun to be using. It's fun to be using their patterns. Although a hat does not count for the extremities KAL.
Marsha26:25
Yes.
Kelly26:27
I looked it up. It's not an extremity. several I looked actually I looked at several dictionaries. When you you know, I looked at I put in extremities and then I looked under several online dictionaries. And none of them included heads. So
Marsha26:46
it's a headless knit along.
Kelly26:50
Exactly! I started something really fun.
Marsha26:54
Oh, yes.
Kelly26:55
Yes. Frog and Toad. Oh my gosh. So cute. And you know, I was talking about socks. The socks being only medium-level involved. Then I started with toad. that's involved! Okay, that kind of knitting is involved, right? I mean, it's kind of sorta like your rabbit.
Marsha27:20
Yeah, lots of increases, decreases. And it's just like a blob until you... it starts. And then they begin to take shape. But originally, initially, you don't really know what you're making,
Kelly27:31
Right!
Marsha27:31
you know, it's the legs but what?
Kelly27:34
It's pretty much one piece, you do have to go and add the arms at the end. It's pretty much one piece. So that was good. You don't have a lot of sewing to do for the extremities. But you do have to do sewing for the eyes. Okay, and you do, you do like afterthought heels where you cut your knitting to make the holes for the eyeballs.
Marsha27:58
Oh, Dear!
Kelly28:00
Yeah, so it reminds me of... I looked at the pattern and it reminds me of when I did the afterthought buttonholes. Because it's a real small thing that you open up, you know, you cut open a piece of your knitting. And
Marsha28:14
so this type of knitting I have to say I'm, I always think the same thing. The mind that can think this way. , To create these very--just adorable and just so creative. I mean, to think like, they can figure out you have to put your decreases here, your increase there and your short rows here and like how they can do all that? How many frogs did the designer make to get the final pattern? You know?
Kelly28:45
Right.A lot of experimentation.
Marsha28:47
Yeah.
Kelly28:48
In the creation process. In fact, her website is frogandcast.com. So as of today, March, what is it March 5 2021. The front page of her website is this little bear and the whole article is about about how she, how her design process for this bear worked. So I highly recommend it as a very interesting read. And it's also a cute pattern. But I'm not going to make this bear I'm going to stick to my Frog and Toad. So I've made toad. And I'm going to.. I want to start on frog soon. I'm gonna wash him, the toad, because I'm using the Ruama. Now I can't remember how that is pronaunced. Finnulgarn
Marsha29:42
Oh, right, right, right
Kelly29:43
that we bought. So this is yarn that Marsha and I bought at stitches one year because we, I was taking the Argyle sock class and so at lunch during my class, during a break, and Marsha and I went down to the floor of the marketplace. And we just started putting color combinations together. And it's Ruama Finnulgarn is what I'm using. The frog is going to be our Toad is in a brown color. And then I have another one of these Ruama Finnulgarn that is alpaca and I have a green, like a limey, goldie... Lime is not the right word, kind of a goldy, green color, kind of an avocado. You know, like 1960s, avocado, refrigerator look or something. Anyway, it's kind of a goldy green that I'm going to use for Frog. And I have the books. And I've been getting the books out and comparing the pictures on the book to the My yarns and stuff to to try to get the right combination. So but this yarn is the the one I use for Toad that doesn't have the alpaca in it is a little bit. It's toothy. You know, it's a woolly wool. And so I know those soften up when you wash them, so I'm going to block him before I stuffed him. And also the yarn will kind of bloom and help keep the anything is stuffed, you know, help keep the stuffing from showing. So yeah, but I'm using size zero or size one needles. I think I'm using size zero and the let me just double check. Yes, it calls for size one. And I'm at I'm using a size zero needle because my yarn is a little thinner. The pattern calls for a DK yarn. And I'm using a thinner yarn its more like a sport.
Marsha31:43
I'm sorry, it calls for DK and size zero needles?
Kelly31:47
It calls for size one needles.
Marsha31:50
Oh one, ok.
Kelly31:50
and it has a I mean,
Marsha31:52
that's still that's really small. Because it's you want to have a really dense, right?
Kelly31:56
Right, , so the stuffing doesn't show. Yeah, so anyway, I went down to size zero. And actually it was worked out well, because the size zero needles that I have are short. And the size one needles were longer. And it's so tiny, that it's really nice having the I don't know, they're just like maybe four inch needles, double points. They're they're small. They're small double points. And, and I don't use them. I can use them on socks. Like I bought them for socks. And I use them for socks for me. They're not my favorite sock needles, because I like using the wooden ones. But I can use them for socks for me. But for socks for Robert. With 72 stitches. They're just too, they're too short. Yeah, but they're perfect for this. I think magic loop would work. You know, you just have to keep track of where where she says to place the markers. Yeah. So that you can make all the all the little adjustments. Yeah, but super fun. His little fingers! You do little you do on his on his on his hands. You do little PicoT bind off. So you get little fingers. It's so my gosh, so cute.
Marsha33:20
Again, Igo back to what I said. It takes a certain kind of mind. Yes, like amazing mind. This kind of stuff
Kelly33:27
His little knees. He has nice has a little frog legs have little knees. So very fun. Very fun. I can't wait to start Frog this weekend. I'm hoping I'm hoping maybe I can have I can have them done by Easter would be kind of a fun thing to do for to give to Faye for Easter. So yeah, that's kind of my that's kind of my plan. We'll see if I am able to do it. But but that's what I'm hoping. fiddley definitely worth it. So that's my, that's the extent of my projects Marsha.
Marsha34:08
Well, and I just have to ask the the, the Afghan the Oh,
Kelly34:14
I have been working on it. The last the last time we recorded I hadn't done any significant work on it at all. But I have been working on it.Now I've made probably maybe five of the squares.Not the big octagons. But the smaller, the smaller ones that can connect and kind of... I made about five of those. And then I made another I have I have done one of the octagons but then.. I was... One night I was just focusing on something simpler. And so it's basically just a granny square. And then it has an edge that has a little bit of detail something a little more complicated. So I was just doing the basic granny square part and I did about I did about five of them and then I started...Another day, I picked them back up and started doing the outer edge of each of the squares. So yeah, I made made some progress on that. So maybe sometime in the late spring, I'll be done. I'll be done with that one. But I'm not going to make any promises.
Marsha35:15
Yeah. Yeah. Never make promises.
Kelly35:20
So what about you?
Marsha35:21
So my Walk Along Tee, I've knit about six inches of the body. And I love the technique that we have discussed the Helical, right, we discussed? It's, it's great. There's some times when I get to the... there's fake side seam on the sweater and where you do you hold the yarn in front, and then slip the stitch through the back loop. And sometimes if you have any details, something like that, that's just not straight stockinette then you have to do a little fiddling around. Yeah. So like, as I said, in previous episodes, you know, this would not work for cables, or Yeah, this technique, it just has to be stockinette. But so I'm, that's just sort of my knitting when I watch Netflix. I just go around and around and around and around on them. I think you do about... you start doing increases on the way down. And I think I talked about this before, I'm not sure if I'm gonna put all of them in it. It ends up being a total of 20 stitches, which is fair amount, so I may not put all those in. I'm also beginning to worry about if I'm going to have enough yarn.
Kelly36:37
Oh. Another one of those
Marsha36:41
I know. It could be just illusion.
Kelly36:44
Yeah, yeah.
Marsha36:46
Because I have now... I had three skeins which I divided into half, right. So I had six cakes. I've used up two cakes. And I am probably halfway through the second set of two cakes. And I'm six inches of the body. And then I also have to do sleeves. So I-- but I'm going down to-- we're going down to Seabrook. I think we leave the 13th. So and that's where I bought the yarn at the string theory yarns in Seabrook, Washington. So I'm, when I'm down there, I'm going to have a better idea and I can maybe pick up another skein. I'm hoping I don't have to, but we'll see. Anyway, so I'm making progress on that. And I've been spinning on and off on the olive green Merino roving that I have that I'm combining with the dark brown, that's called bitter chocolate. And I've I had made two skeins and now I'm just filling up the bobbins again, so I filled the two green and now I'm filling up the brown bobbin. So I had-- it was-- we had a couple of nice days this week. And so I think it was Wednesday. It was nice. And I just sat on the deck. My new deck.
Kelly38:13
Yeah.
Marsha38:15
And spun. By the way, thinking that I was sitting out there spinning, Did you see my Instagram post of Enzo, staring at the dog.
Kelly38:26
Yes. Yes.
Marsha38:27
Isn't that the funniest thing that was so cute. Anyway, if you don't know what I'm talking about, go to my Instagram. And you'll see the picture of Enzo looking at the neighbor's dog. But the neighbor's dog is in the window peering out and they stare at each other for a good 15 minutes. It was pretty funny.
Kelly38:45
I feel bad for Bailey because I think she's, I mean, she spent a good a good part of her life before she came to live with us living at a dog boarding kennel right? Doggy daycare and boarding kennels. So, so she was around other dogs all the time. And now it's you know, it's just her. And we have neighbors and they have... one of our neighbors has dogs that they fence fight, which I don't like so I keep her away from that. But the other neighbor has a lab that sometimes I can't find her in the backyard and I go looking for her and she's down at the fence and they are just like nose to nose at the fence talking to each other. Like, you know, not barking. Just like somehow communing. They're like keeping company with each other next to the fence. I feel like ohhh.
Marsha39:36
I was gonna ask that, put this question out to people and to our listeners later on in the podcast, but since we're on this topic, I'm just going to mention it. Because Enzo has been acting really weird recently. I've been doing long walks, I take him out and he just drags towards the end of his walk. I have to pull him along to get him home. And he's very lethargic. So I thought and I was like.. I wonder if I had to take him to the vet, you know, he's not it. Maybe there's something wrong with him. I finally thought, I think he's bored.
Kelly40:08
Mm hmm.
Marsha40:09
His life is basically sleeping around the house while I do things. One long walk during the day, and then back to sleeping around that house.
Kelly40:16
Yeah, he doesn't want the walk to end.
Marsha40:19
Yeah, that's what I'm kind of wondering. And so I, I'm varying the route. I also am playing with him every day because I realized I wasn't playing with him. And Ben doesn't live with me now who would have time playing with him. So I, every day I take, I either chase him around the house, chase him around in the backyard, which he loves. Or I, the other thing I do, which he loves is that down in the basement, I take the ball and he stands at the top of the stairs, I throw the ball up to him, and then he kicks it, he knocks he pushes it down the stairs. And then I throw it back until we do that for about 40 minutes, 45 minutes, depending on how long we want to do it. And then I also decided to get him back into agility. But I'm having a difficult time getting him into class because I think so many people have dogs now. I went like all of the... We've done all the obedience classes, but they're all full till April or May. And so I signed him up for agility, but I can't get in until I think the end of April. Yeah. So I'm going to put it out to listeners if you have any ideas what to do to keep him... because he does seem depressed, kind of or bored.
Kelly41:30
I'm going to give a suggestion. I am interested to hear what people have to say, but I'm going to give a suggestion. tricks. Teach him tricks.
Marsha41:40
Oh, yeah.
Kelly41:41
Well, you took a class, right? You did a trick class.
Marsha41:44
Yeah. But I can't get into it now. So. Oh, but I can just do it on my own.I don't need to go.
Kelly41:51
Yeah. So I mean, yeah, you know how to, I mean, you have some ideas for how to teach some of this stuff. But it's kind of fun. Is it a little more entertaining? I'd do that, at least for me, it'd be a little more entertaining than throwing the ball up the stairs for 40 minutes. Yes, for the human part of the partnership, it's more interesting
Marsha42:13
well and use his mind more you know, I because that also, you know, he just needs to use his mind. But like, my brother came by yesterday said what's wrong with the dog? And so like he saw I was like, okay, you're here. He's usually excited. He's super excited to see Mark. But he was excited and then like, laying on the sofa. And then Mark came back in the house and he didn't even get up off the sofa. I have a towel down on the basement sofa and doesn't even get up to the greet him. He's like, That's weird. I mean, cuz he usually... Like they say poodles are smart. I sometimes wonder because he's super excited to see you. You go out to the garage, you come back into the house, and he's like, Oh, you've been gone. He's so happy to see you. Like literally two minutes, but, okay. Yeah, so anyway, people, listeners, if you have suggestions for how to get my dog, I don't think he's really depressed. But I think he feels like he's depressed and bored. And like the rest of us in the pandemic, you know. But anyway, yeah, so I'll go back to projects. so I've been spinning and I'm enjoying that I just find the spinning so meditative. And just that one day where I was able to sit out there on the deck was so nice in the sun. It just sort of gives me hope that spring is on its way. And then I, as we're talking I am swatching to make the Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde and as we talked in... that's our segue into our, the knit along. But I just tell you, the yarn I'm using is Dale Garn Helio.
Kelly43:53
Is that like a Dale of Norway yarn?
Marsha43:54
Oh, I'm sorry. It's it's a Heilo. It's H E I L O, and it's a, I believe it's DK weight, which is what is required for the mitts.
Kelly44:04
Something from your stash. Okay. Your Spirit yarn.
Marsha44:07
No, no, it's not from my stash. It's from Kim's stash. I went and had dinner with her one night and she had a bag of yarn that was going. She had gone through her stash and she had yarn that was going to the Goodwill. And I said do you happen to have anything that's this weight because I don't need a lot for the mitts and I don't really want to go out to a store so... and I didn't have... I have DK weight but I didn't have anything that was not painted. I want a solid or semi solid. I thought it would look better with this pattern. And so she had this yarn, a whole bag of this yarn in two colors. The one I'm going to use is kind of milk chocolate color, brown, like a natural color. And then also she has another color in here a kind of a burgundy. So I think there's another yarn I can make two pairs, one in each.
Kelly44:59
Oh, that's fun!
Marsha45:01
So anyway, I'm swatching for that. And so for our knitalong, so we should talk about the knitalong
Kelly45:08
So we are having an extremities knit along, and it was inspired by two offers of prizes. One is the Coffee Socks Collection that I already talked about, by Dots Dabbles Designs, Deborah. And the other gift that we got-- offer of a prize--was the Abington Mitts that Marsha is making. And so with these prizes when they came at the same time, and one was for feet, and one was for hands, and so we just decided, oh, let's have an extremities knit along/crochet along so you can knit or crochet anything for your hands, arms, legs, feet.
Marsha45:45
We've had lots of discussion about this, but it's not your head. Because Kelly did lots of research and your head apparently is not
Kelly45:55
according to the authorities on the internet [laughing]
Marsha45:58
Yes. According to the internet, your head is not an extremity!
Kelly46:02
That's no no hats in this time. Yeah, but legs, feet, arms, hands, you know, there's lots of lots of possibilities there. Mitts, socks are the most...
Marsha46:15
And even though we're saying it's called a knit/crochet along you can weave, you can macrame.
Kelly46:24
Okay, I don't know macrame sock? That
Marsha46:28
Yeah. Interested in any you know, like any? We were also talking in the last episode, what is it called the
Kelly46:35
Nalbinding. Now, that's how you say it? That's a that's a close facsimile of how it's pronounced at least. Oh,
Marsha46:45
you know what I think would be really cool. Do you know those lace the little lace gloves that Ruth Bader Ginsburg would wear?
Kelly46:53
Yeah,
Marsha46:55
That'd be really fun to make.
46:56
Oh, you know, as we're sitting here, I'm sitting in the vanity area of our spare bedroom. And at the vanity table normally... not right now because I move everything when I want to record. But at the vanity table, I have a little, one of those little vanity mirrors with perfume bottles. And then I have a pair of crochet gloves. Do you remember Marsha when I bought those at the antique store?
Marsha47:24
Yeah,
Kelly47:25
I have no idea how old they are. But they're teeny tiny still little crochet stitches. And they have the little buttons. They're long gloves though. They go up your arm and they have the little ...they have the little buttons and the buttons are crocheted. And the little button loops are all crocheted. The button holes don't go all the way up the gloves. Like the whole gauntlet part of the glove doesn't open up. There's just a section of buttonholes. Yeah, that would be fun. A knit or crocheted set of fancy, old fashioned.
Marsha48:01
They were kind of like fishnet kinda.
Kelly48:04
Yeah. Like afternoon tea gloves.
Marsha48:06
Mm hmm. I'm as we're speaking, this is bad podcasting, but I'm just looking at online and there's like a, there's a crocheted pair. From J and P coats. It looks like it's very old because it's a black and white photo with an old car. Okay. I don't know if they're Yeah,
Kelly48:25
that's a that's a company that makes like the crochet cotton. Yeah. Oh, that would be fun. Well, and you know, the other thing that I thought of is our we had bought the silk to make silk socks. Last year at Stitches. I haven't started those yet either. But I'm gonna-- I'm gonna stick to the socks that I have for right now. But yeah, the mesh gloves. There's there's a lot.
Marsha48:50
We'll search, Yeah. And apparently you can buy this on on Amazon. It's not that old a book. It was published in 2009. I guess that is old. Well, no. That's right.
Kelly49:03
I'm thinking of like, gloves from the 1950s or something.
Marsha49:08
Yeah, that's what it kind of looks like but it's a it's like those lace gloves like she wore in that really fine cotton. And so and there's other patterns here too. So
Kelly49:15
cool.
Marsha49:16
Yeah, I don't know. Okay, well, we went we went down a rabbit hole on that. Okay.
Kelly49:23
But you know, you can have a, you could have a nice pair of gloves for Easter. So lots of possibilities. Join us. There's a chat thread and there's a finished object thread. Quite a bit of chat going on about the projects that people are doing not very many finished objects yet but there are a few I noticed.
Marsha49:42
So,
49:43
and then our Winter Weave Along, not much time left. I have hopes of getting at least something else started if not finished. But we'll see. The only reason I still have hope is because I have spring break. Coming the third week of March, so two weeks, two weeks from now I have spring break. Yay. So maybe I could do something during spring break in terms of the weaving, but otherwise, I'm almost, I'm almost sure that I don't I, I'm almost sure I won't get something finished. But I might get something else on the loom. Because it ends March 31. So another year of weaving coming to an end for us. But if you're in the Jane Stafford Guild, her year of weaving is just starting. So that's kind of fun.
Marsha50:37
Okay, one ends and one begins so you get you get to truly a full year. Well, I guess it's been a full year.
Kelly50:44
I haven't ever kept up with hers. And like woven the thing, the projects in the guild, at the time that everybody else, you know, at the time that the the videos come out? I wanted to do that this year, but I'm not sure. I don't know. This might not be the year teaching online. It's getting better. I have to I have to admit it is getting better. But well, you know. It's it's not my favorite thing.
Marsha51:11
Well, we should not end the podcast on the same vein as it started. Listening to Kelly rant about stuff she doesn't like! Yes. So anyway, the winter weave along is, is ending March 31. So get your projects in, put them in the finished objects thread. Then we'll be doing a drawing and one of the things that we have as a prize is a class that was donated by Erika from Weavolution. So. And then the other thing that I just wanted to say, before we end is I wanted to thank our new patrons! We have three new patrons. Jane, Heddi, and Jan since the last time I mentioned new patrons. So if you'd like to be a patron, how you do that is you go to patreon.com/twoewes. And you'll see our... I guess it's a channel or a page. I don't know, our account. And then and you can you can become a patron and support the show. So really, thank you so much Jane and Heddi, and Jan for for contributing to the show. It allows us to provide, you know, the podcast hosting and prize mailing and all those kinds of things and something new, Marsha! Something really exciting that we're able to do because of the patrons. Transcripts. Oooh! Oh, yes.
Kelly52:41
So we now have a transcript of our podcast. Having used the transcription service for my classes, I learned a little bit more about the company that's powering the transcriptions for our for work on our classes. It's otter.ai. And so I went to their website, and they have regular accounts for regular people. And not you know, not just education and and such. And so I found out a little bit more about it. And so we just when the when the podcast is done, you submit it, it creates a transcript. You have to edit it because it's not entirely... It's not entirely accurate. It doesn't always understand when Marsha and I talk over each other. So there is a little editing to do for that. But But now we have a transcript that is attached. It's in the show notes at the end. So we have our regular show notes posted on the blog. And then at the end of that show notes post is the transcript. Okay, I have to say it is almost as an nerving to read as my math. My teaching transcript. I don't know if you read if you had a chance to read?
Marsha54:06
I didn't read it. And now actually as you were talking about all this I was sort of thinking to myself, I don't know that I want to read it because...Oh, here it is. Okay. Here. I'm sorry. I think this is what we say every every episode. Kelly: hi Marsha. Marsha: Hi, Kelly. Kelly: How's it going? Marsha: Pretty good. Kelly: Good.
Kelly54:28
Yes. It doesn't... I have to say, yeah, it made me laugh to read how it sounds, but it makes it available to people that wouldn't be available to otherwise.
Marsha54:41
So Kelly, we need to edit this. Because you say you know "good," and then I say "had pretty exciting weather here in Seattle. A little unusual for us that we had a huge snores" Oh! This is what I said "Excuse me, snore a huge snowstorm came through. [laughing} I did actually say that! Okay, [laughing]
Kelly55:06
yeah.
Marsha55:07
Okay, This is terrible. This is embarrassing. I'm gonna have to do a much better.
Kelly55:14
So now remember when we talked about how I was like, Oh my god, how could I have been teaching this long and not make any sense?
Marsha55:23
Yes. Well, what I'm just laughing about is is that it was not the episode where I'm trying to explain helical knitting. Yeah, and I'm waving my hands around in the air trying. Yeah, but so
Kelly55:39
it's been an interesting process, we'll probably get better. The transcripts will probably get better as we go along. But, you know, I become more aware, it would never have occurred to me a year ago, two years ago, it would never have occurred to me that you would need a transcript for a podcast. My thinking would have been well, why would someone who can't hear even think to listen to a podcast? Right? And, and my, my eyes have been opened, you know, having to make my class accessible to my students. And then other things, you know, the conversations about racism and structural, structural racism. And all of those conversations have just kind of opened my eyes and made me think about things that, that I didn't think about before, I would not have thought about a reason for making a podcast, an audio experience, available to someone who couldn't hear.
Marsha56:40
So I'm not.[laughing] I'm sorry, I am not laughing about what you're saying. Just so you know, I'm sort of chuckling because I'm listening to what you're saying. But I'm also kind of scanning the transcript. So I'm sorry, I am not laughing at all at what you're saying.
Kelly56:52
What are you laughing about now?
Marsha56:54
Okay, so um, so it was very pleasant to sit out there on a snowy day because you have heat but anyway, period. Then that night, it just started coming down and it snowed all day period. I mean, all Friday night, Friday morning, or excuse me, Saturday morning, all Saturday into Sunday. Just It never stops. And we have I mean, eight someplace about eight inches probably at my house. Snow, that's a lot of snow for us. We don't usually get that much. But of course then Sunday, late Sunday afternoon or evening. It just turned around. [laughing]
Kelly57:36
Marsha, this is what we talk about.
Marsha57:38
Oh my gosh. [laughing] And then it just became soup out there. You know? Kelly? We have to do a better job. This is terrible! So eye opening what sounds okay in normal conversation is not okay. The transcript it's unreadable. Pretty much. Oh, my gosh, it's too funny. [laughing] Well, anyway, I have work to do. On clarity,
Kelly58:15
We both, we both do, I think, having having read through it last last time to do the editing. Yeah, we both do. So anyway, now we have transcripts. And I'm very happy that we're able to do that. And it's thanks to the contributions of our patrons. So thank you very much for contributing to the podcast.
Marsha58:41
I'm still laughing I'm sorry. I will stop laughing.
Kelly58:48
Okay, Marsha. [laughing] Are we done?
Marsha58:54
This reminds me of those times over the course of our friendship where we'd have those laughing attacks.
Kelly58:59
Yes.
Marsha59:00
And have accidents. So I better get off the podcast. We better get off the phone before I have an accident.
Kelly59:07
All right. Bye! [laughing]
Marsha59:13
Okay, bye bye. [laughing]
Kelly59:16
To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com.
Marsha59:21
Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects
59:29
until next time, we are the Two Ewes doing our part for a world fleece!
16 Dec 2023
Just Make It Happen
01:07:52
Christmas knitting and some finished projects. Wishing everyone a happy holiday and a peaceful New Year.
Santa’s Laundry Line: by Eleonore von Castelmur. Finished! Used Lang Yarn Jawol fingering in red, green and cream and some left over fingering weight gray.
Camella Hat: by Katie Pomper. Using Meeker Street Olive’s Outerwear DK in the colorway Dragon’s Breath. Cast on for Mark but changed my mind and cast on a different hat.
Ames Beanie: by Stephanie Larson. Using Leading Men Fiber Arts Box Office (worsted) in colorway Spiced Apple Cider. Making for Mark. I bought the yarn at the much missed String Theory Yarns.
Nanny Meier Tea Cozy: Inspired by Lily Pulitzer colors. Using Cascade 220 in hot pink and lime green. Finished first side.
Socks: Using Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn in the colorway Sum-Sum-Summertime. Heels and toes will be Dream in Color Mini Smooshy in the colorway Bermuda Teal. Halfway down the foot of the first sock.
Fine Sand: by Heidi Kirrmaier. Using West Yorkshire Spinners Illustrious in the colorway Claret. Finished the body and need to pick up stitches for sleeves. The sweater is on hold while I work on Christmas gifts.
Kelly’s Projects
Continuing to work on Purple/Gray socks for Robert. These are the ones that I had to stop working on during the last episode because I forgot to turn the heel. I pulled the needles out and put them back in the bag to fix later. Later turned out to be a month later. I now can’t remember what yarn this is. I got it at the very last Stitches West ever in 2022.
Continuing to work on Dozens of Little Squares. I’ve washed 83 squares and have another 21 finished. So I’m at over 100 squares so far.
Club Car Curtains. This is for the back window of the trailer in the bedroom.
Winter Weave Along starts October 1 and goes through March 31. Join the fun in our Ravelry group!
31 Mar 2019
Ep 111: Dyeing Techniques
01:05:02
The Ewes talk knitting and then have a discussion of dyeing techniques in answer to a listener question. A little Enzo and a little bee news round out the episode. Full notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shopwebsite:TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Join the community on Ravelry or email us with your thoughts.twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.comis our email address or you click contact us on our website.
She is still looking for a pullover pattern for her brother using New Lanark Wool & Textiles DK that she bought at the mill in New Lanark, Scotland last March.
She ripped out the mistake and is now making good progress. She alsofinished 5 hatsfrom spirit yarn (destash yarn): Caron Simply soft Mardi Gray. Variegated gray with soft pink, yellow and green. Acrylic yarn, called Mardi Gray. It was a full bag of 4 balls, 150 yards in each ball.
Dyeing Techniques Discussion
The Ewes answer a dyeing questionMomdiggity/Jo Ann, who asked, “I would love to hear you talk about your fiber dying techniques.”
Kelly and Marsha talk about choosing and blending colors, the different techniques they’ve tried over the years and in particular under-dyeing and over-dyeing. Kelly tells about her natural dyeing experiments and Marsha found two dyeing classes onCraftsy (now Bluprint) that she thinks she may try. Both are taught by Sarah Eyre.
Professional Yarn Dyeing at Home: dyeing solids, semi-solids speckled, and variegated. Discusses yarns, dyes, mordants, safety, gear and studio set up.
Next Steps in Dyeing: gradients, sock blanks, self-striping, hand-painted, dyeing fibers.
Twenty Stitches Notecard Giveaway
The Two Ewes are having a giveaway for notecards that they received as a promotion from the Twenty Stitchesbooth at Stitches West. Twenty Stitches has beautiful cards, tags, gift boxes, and kits to make them. Here is an description of the product from the website.
Clear instructions, pre-cut and perfectly spaced embroidery holes, a #20 Chenille needle, and all the necessary thread and adhesives are included in our kits, making it easy to create perfectly embroidered notecards, tags, and giftboxes. Our book artsinspired samplers are a fun way to practice or learn twenty embroidery stitches.
Head over to the Giveaway Thread in the Ravelry Group to see how to enter. The giveaway thread will be open until May 8 when we will draw a winner for a pack of notecards to embroider.
Winter Weave Along ends March 31. Don’t forget to enter your weaving projects in the FO thread. Next episode will be a celebration of weaving and a drawing for prizes.
I finished a pullover called Seven Sistersby Sarah Pope using Baa Ram Ewe Dovestone. Love the fit!
I made lots of progress on my Dusk Into Twilight Shawlby Rosemary Hill. I’m using Two Ewes Fiber Adventures Replenish Rambouillet fingering dyed by Kelly in three colors, Bourbon and Suede, Falling Leaves, and Aquamarine. I cast on the night before I left for Iceland and it was bus knitting. I am a little over halfway done. The shawl is going to bebigusing 1,500 yards.
First, my newest project: Bailey, a 1-year-old German Shepherd (possible German Shepherd mix). We adopted Bailey in January and we’ve had her a little over a month. She had a rough first 11 months with about half of them spent fostering in a boarding kennel after the first half of her life landed her in the shelter with no hope of being adoptable. She is doing great and making remarkable progress. She is also a lot of work! But I’m ready to play dog games again and I’m looking forward to having a young dog in training. We’ve started doing some training, but we start class next week.
She likes listening to the podcast! Thanks to whoever it was at Stitches who suggested it as a solution for her anxiety in the crate when the house is empty.
It’s been a long time since I’ve reported in about my fiber adventures. I finished myHabitat Cardigan, a crochet cardigan by Jess Coppom that I made with Lion Brand Heartland. I finished it in time for the first day back for spring semester for professional development. I got more compliments on this sweater than I have on anything in a long time. I wore it belted and with boots. I’ve since also worn in around the house unbelted and to work with and without the belt. It’s a great sweater!
I also finishedNever Have I Ever Socks--Fix or Nixproject. I decided to Nix the socks I had started, but instead of destashing the gradient sock blank, I decided to cast on a bigger sock cuff (80 stitiches) and make them long socks. So I started with 80 stitches and decreased with a little calf shaping and they are now finished. I used almost all of the sock blank. What is left is going to be used to reknit the foot of Robert’s SF Giants argyles from my argyle class at Stitches 2018.
Since the last episode I was in I’ve started and finished aHat for Walkingout of a mini-skein set that I got as a door prize at the retreat. It’s a sockhead hat using the full amount of slouch so I could use as much of the yarn as possible. It is replacing my old sockhead hat that is faded and developing holes from sun damage.
While at Stitches I made great progress on theMariannes Cardiganthat I am making as a tee. It is a pattern by Trine Bertelsenthat combines crochet and knitting. I’ve split for the sleeves and I’m several inches down the body. The pattern calls for no waist shaping and I’m thinking about whether to do a little bit of increasing for a slight A-Line.
Stitches West 2020
On our way to Stitches, we stopped in San Jose to visitFillory Yarns, owned by Andrea Haws, who was on Marsha’s Iceland trip.
We had a great time! We met fiber adventurers and connected with friends from previous years.
The marketplace was great again this year. The vendors we spoke with said yellow and orange were the most purchased colors this year. Dusky burgundy continues to be popular.
Some of the booths we thought were interesting were:
We also met Frank Jernigan ofPhrancko Designs. He has designed a program to create a custom fit sweater pattern using a top down, seamless “set in” sleeves. On his website is a video explaining the process. There is also avideoof Frank being interviewed by Suzanne Bryan.
Apple Fiber Studio donated a skein of their Cosmic Crisp yarn. Participate in the prize drawing by going to the thread on Ravelry. We’ll draw prizes during our first episode in April.
30 Jul 2023
Why Block A Sock?
00:59:21
Why do some knitter's block socks after washing? We don’t and are wondering if there is an important reason to do so. We need input from our listeners. Plus, project updates, and lots of spinning as part of our Summer Spin In.
Noromania: I am using 42 skeins of Noro Kureyon (Aran weight) to make a blanket for Mark. I’ve knit 70 inches and used 37 balls. I’m beginning to feel the end is in sight.
Flowers from My Garden: Starting a spinning project with fiber I bought at Stitches in March. I’ve spun three 3-ply skeins and am back to spinning singles. Spun one bobbin
Bankhead Hat: Using Dimond Laine Elmer Tweed worsted from Lamb & Kid in the colorways Fir and Farmhouse. Here are links to the tubular cast on tutorials from Brooklyn Tweed and Purl Soho. About to start decreases for the crown.
In planning stage of Snowflower by Heidi Kirrmeier. Bought a different fourth color…rose! Also bought lime green and hot pink Cascade 220 to make a Lily Pulitzer inspired tea cozy to go with my Lily Pulitzer tray. Also bought Lang Yarn Jawol fingering in red, green and cream to make Santa’s Laundry Line by Eleonore von Castelmur. Suppose to use sock scraps but I don’t have any in Christmas colors. I do now!
Kelly’s Projects
Finished socks for myself using the yarn from Purl 2 Walla Walla called Epicurean Kitchen.
I finished spinning the Corriedale x Targhee x Merino fleece where I dyed the wool and then carded. This is a Black Sheep Gathering fleece from 2017. I still have about 2 lbs of this fleece left and I was losing about 10% in the carding process on this fleece.
I’m still working on processing a Corriedale x Border Leicester from 2016. I’m flicking the locks before I feed them into the drum carder, trying to keep the fibers as aligned as possible (as is done in combing). With this fleece I’m pulling the batts off the carder through a diz and making nests of pseudo-combed top. This process has resulted in about 20% loss.
I worked on the quilt and completed the eleventh circle of quilting out of twenty.
Events
Summer Spin In: Memorial Day - Labor Day, May 29 - September 4
Two finished projects and an almost finished project are the big knitting topics this week. Marsha continues to combo spin and Kelly starts a weaving project. Thanks to all who visited the Two Ewes Shop during the Shop Small sale and supported the making of this podcast!
Marsha's second combo spin is underway. She thinks the skeins look similar to her last one even though her color planning was very different. These skeins will have a variety of fibers, including silk, and the yarn is quite lustrous.
Kelly's Projects
Kelly is almost finished with her Handspun Cowichan sweater. It is the Orca Run by Beth Brown-Reinsel. She is adding an applied i-cord edging to the fronts to give the sweater a little more room, provide a neat zipper placket, and give the whale snouts a little more room.
Winter Weave Along
Marsha has her yarn ready to go, but realized there is no reed in her loom. She'll be using worsted weight yarn so a 10-dent reed is the best choice. Kelly will be visiting soon and the Ewes will get Marsha started on her weaving. Meanwhile Kelly has wound warp for green and red dishtowels.
Marsha and Kelly will be attending the St. Distaff Day Spin-In on January 6, 2918, at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, Washington from 10 am until 4 pm. Here is a link with further information.
On the next day, Sunday January 7, The Ewes will be holding a Crafternoon starting at 1 pm. Refreshments, a spirit yarn table, and other surprises will make for a fun afternoon! Bring your knitting, crochet, or spinning and join the adventure. Contact us on Ravelry (1hundredprojects or betterinmotion) or email us at twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com for location information.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everyone!
21 Jun 2017
Ep 69: Come See My Vacation Slides
01:17:42
Are you old enough to remember vacation slides? Did you ever go to someone's house for dinner and see their vacation slides? If so, you know exactly what you're in for in this episode. If not, don't worry, once you've listened you'll understand exactly what the experience was like!
Marsha and Kelly were both on vacation. So, in addition to sharing their current projects, they share some information about their vacations. Kelly was in in the Texarkana area, visiting cemeteries in Red Lick, Texas and Lockesburg, Arkansas to see Robert's family graves. She also visited Civil War sites and stayed in an antebellum home in Vicksburg, MS. Marsha spent some time on the Washington coast with her brother and Enzo.
We’ve got the holiday spirit! Wishing everyone a peaceful and happy holiday and New Year. We talk about project updates and plans for our next projects.
To celebrate 200 episodes and over eight years of podcasting, we’ll answer your questions. Ask us about yarn, our lives, the meaning of life, Fibonacci, poodle grooming, or whatever… We’ll do our best! Send your questions totwoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.comor use the Ravelry thread, or DM 1hundredprojects or betterinmotion on instagram.
Marsha’s Projects:
Ben’s Sweater: I thought the end of this project was in sight but boy was I wrong. I had finished both sleeves down to the cuffs and was waiting for Ben to try on to see if the length was good. When he tried it on we discovered the sleeves are too tight from the elbow to the cuff. Argh!!
January Blanket: Handspun Manx Loaghton, 3-ply aran weight, 1,460 yards. Decided to add one additional 15 stitch repeat so I cast on 192 stitches. I went up a need size to #9 and have knit about 13 inches.
Noromania: Bought 18 skeins of Noro Kureyon (Aran weight) to make a blanket for Mark.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, What Child is This?, Angels We Have Heard on High, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Christmas Tree, O Holy Night (longest song), Away in a Manger (with chords), Auld Lang Syne, Grand Old Flag
Patreon Pattern Giveaway
A hearty, year-end thank you to our patrons! Your support has made our show better and our prizes more numerous. Message Kelly with the pattern of your choice (up to $10). Thank you for your generosity. You’ve helped to build this community!
Winter Weave Along
October 1 - March 31
11 Oct 2014
Ep 3: Two Ewes, One Sweater
00:38:06
Kelly and Marsha talk at length about their experience knitting the Acorn Trail sweater as a Custom Fit pattern. They gush about how great the Custom Fit process is and they rave about their sweaters and the experience! Marsha also shares a couple of tasty recipes she has recently made. Join us!
08 Jan 2023
It's a N-EWE Year!
00:51:54
Happy New Year to our listeners! We have finished projects including a huge completion for Marsha. We’ve started some projects, plus some discussion about a new e-spinner.
To celebrate 200 episodes and over eight years of podcasting, we’ll answer your questions. Ask us about yarn, our lives, the meaning of life, Fibonacci, poodle grooming, or whatever… We’ll do our best! Send your questions totwoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.comor use the Ravelry thread, or DM 1hundredprojects or betterinmotion on instagram.
January Blanket: Handspun Manx Loaghton, 3-ply aran weight, 1,460 yards. Decided to add one additional 15 stitch repeat so I cast on 192 stitches. I went up a need size to #9 and have knit about 28 inches.
Noromania: Bought 18 skeins of Noro Kureyon (Aran weight) to make a blanket for Mark.
I finished what I set out in the last episode: the angel from the knitted nativity scene kit, a bumper for Minnie’s wool cat bed, and a warp for Monk’s Belt dishtowels.
I started theColoresque WrapErin Kurup using the Neighborhood Fiber Company rustic fingering gradient set Shades of Turquoise. This was a door prize from the NoCKRs retreat several years ago. I started this project as Stitches West knitting, but couldn’t follow the pattern in that setting and gave it up. Then I lost the yarn for at least a year! It is really more of a wide scarf than a wrap, but it might block out bigger than it looks.
I’ve returned to working on thespirit yarn mohair vest. I will have A LOT of yarn left over. I think I could have made a Garter Squish blanket.
Monk’s Belt Weaving project: I am making dish towels rather than the placemats in the JST episode. I started with what I thought were neutral gray and brown and once they were put together they look a lot like lilac and orange. We talk a little about the way colors work in weaving and how the brain and preconceived ideas also affect the way we interpret colors.
Patreon Pattern Giveaway
A hearty, year-end thank you to our patrons! Your support has made our show better and our prizes more numerous. Message Kelly with the pattern of your choice ($10 or less). Thank you for your generosity. You’ve helped to build this community!
Marsha 0:03 Hi, this is Marsha and this is Kelly. We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by.
Kelly 0:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string.
Marsha 0:17 We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com.
Kelly 0:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundred projects and I am better in motion. We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Enjoy the Episode!
Marsha 0:42 Hi, Kelly, Happy New Year.
Kelly 0:44 Happy New Year to you too, Marsha.
Marsha 0:46 Yeah, this is the first time we talked I think since before the holiday.
Kelly 0:50 Yeah. How's how's your 2023 been?
Marsha 0:53 It's been very nice so far. Because I left New Year's Day for the beach. We went to-- Kim and I went down to the Oregon coast to Cannon Beach. And with the dogs, because the dogs needed a vacation from the stress of the holidays.
Kelly 1:10 Only the dogs needed a vacation from the stress of the holidays? [laughing]
Marsha 1:14 Yeah [laughing] So it's nice. We had four nights down there. It was really fun. I don't know if you saw any of the pictures I posted but they had very high tides. So we couldn't really go to the beach in the morning like we normally do. We had to wait till the afternoon till the tide went out. So that was a little bit different. But it was fine.
Kelly 1:34 I did see the one picture you posted where there literally was no beach.
Marsha 1:38 Yeah, it was hitting the the rock wall they have along in front of the hotel where we were staying. And I actually thought, those really expensive, desirable homes that are right on the beach with a fantastic views? I don't know that I want to stay in one of those.
Kelly 1:54 Yeah
Marsha 1:55 I liked being--we had a view. But we were not right on the beach. We were back. We kind of overlooked--It doesn't sound good, But it was it's actually fine--You sort of overlook a parking lot for the park. And so you're back at solid 50 yards probably from the beach, which made me--and we were up on the third floor which made me feel better. I don't think I'd want to be on one of those houses right on the beach. With the bedrooms on the ground floor. Yeah, not during this storm. And, and you're having storms down there too, right? in California?
Kelly 2:26 Yeah, we weren't hit as bad as some of the surrounding areas. We but we've had--every time it rains we've had more than an inch, which is really unusual for us to, you know, to get that much rain at a time. We did have one day, it wasn't this most recent storm it was maybe a week and a half ago where the street flooded in front of our house, you know because of the slough, what used to be the slough, running through our yard and through the yards of, you know, all of the the neighbors. It comes right across the street, you know, what used to be the slough. You can see from above you know, it's comes right across our street. And so the street kind of dips down because of the the old slough having been there.
Marsha 3:18 Right
Kelly 3:19 And so that part of the-- that part where the street dips down floods and the, you know, especially if the if the city pumps for the stormwater aren't working properly, then it really floods. Anyway, it got high enough that it went above the curb and was flowing into the old slough in our yard. And so I always like it-- Robert hates when that happens but I always like it because I feel like I'm capturing stormwater for my own yard. Like yay! Extra water! But this year he was worried about it because he said, you know, he didn't want it to he didn't want that water to undermine his his fence posts that he had put in and that didn't happen. It, you know, was nothing huge. But there was some water runoff from the street into our into our little ravine and that hasn't happened in a in quite a few years. So so yeah, we you know we we didn't suffer much at all. We didn't suffer at all from the from the storm. But like the beach in in the Capitola area, one of the old beaches that I used to, you know, the beach that I used to go to when I was a kid, their whole parking lot is gone. Just destroyed from the from the tides. Robert was showing me pictures this morning. And he's been really watching the weather and you know he's got the Weather Channel and all the places that he used to look when he was working at the agency and needed to keep tabs on what the weather was going to be for their generator system case power-- case of power outages and the storm water. So they could predict and, you know, because the stormwater goes to the treatment plant. Yeah, he was really-- well, he has been sort of obsessing over the radar and all that.
Marsha 5:12 Well and when I was at the beach he texted me that about the light fixtures on the front of the house that I helped him put them up that one time I was down there. And he was-- he put some extra wire on them I think, to secure them because he was really worried about the winds. Yeah, the reason why you got those new ones is the wind had knocked the old ones, had damaged the old ones. So he was really worried about that. They're fine though? So far?
Kelly 5:36 Yeah, yeah, they are fine. The only-- his rain gauge, which is a five gallon bucket, the one day that the wind was so so hard I looked out the kitchen window, and this white plastic bucket goes flying across the yard. Oh Okay! So now he's got, he turned our, we have a like a, you know, that teak side table. He turned that upside down, set the bucket inside of the four legs, and then propped bricks around the edge to both hold the table down and hold the bucket firmly inside the table. He's got that sitting outside to measure so he can kind of keep track of the rain. The amount of rain. I measure it by the amount that's in the dog dishes. So I have a 12 hour rain gauge, you know, feed the dogs in the morning and when I go out at night and feed them again I see how much is there. Yesterday, it was about an inch in the 12 hours. It was pretty steady. And not hard rain, but pretty steady all day. Until yesterday afternoon. Today, we have a break. It's really nice. It's um, I can even see blue sky outside. So there was one day that it was so gray. It felt like nighttime all day long. It was super unusual for us. So anyway, yeah, that's what's been happening here. Aunt Betty had her second cataract surgery and it went all fine. So now we're good. So she's, she's happy. She's able to see. She had a follow up appointment yesterday. So that's all good. So yeah, my 2023 is going pretty well, too.
Yeah, well, mine is going pretty well, because I had a nice trip to the beach. And then I'll talk about some other stuff when we get to projects. So should we jump into projects? Or?
Well let me just announce about the episode 200 As long as we're stopping for business here. So we are currently on episode 198. Coming up on episode 200. And so we're going to do for episode 200 a listener q&a. So we'll answer your questions. And we've got quite a few questions already between email and the Ravelry thread. But I put up a Ravelry thread where you can ask questions, or you can email us to us at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Or you can message us, you know on Instagram, or you can use our website Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. And there's a Contact Us page and you can use that to send us an email. Lots of ways for you to let us know what your questions are. And then we're going to answer them on episode 200.
Marsha 8:43 Try to answer!
Kelly 8:44 All of them. Yeah. And I have been listening to some of the older episodes just kind of going back to refresh my memory about them. At first I was a little worried like oh I'm not sure I want to go back there and see how we sound. You know we weren't that bad Marsha.[laughing] I think we did pretty good. First. I just remember, I do remember when we first started, on every episode, Robert would go to work and he'd listened to it. Then the next day he'd give me a rundown. It helped us get better. I do have to say that it helped us get better. But sometimes it was not a welcome critique. [laughing]
Marsha 9:29 Now do you remember? I'm kind of curious, like maybe I shouldn't even ask but I'm dying of curiosity. Like what were some of the critiques that that he would give?
Kelly 9:37 He said I repeated myself, which I still do. When I edit sometimes I think oh Kelly, why did you have to say the same phrase three times while you were thinking of the next thing you were gonna say? He also said that I talk slowly. Like I'll be talking along at a normal pace and then he can tell that I'm thinking because I get really slow. So, stuff like that, you know. And then when we started actually recording together, he's like, You guys are much more interesting when you're recording on the phone together. So..
Marsha 10:12 Yeah, I know, I think that changed the dynamic a lot, you know, when we started recording together, but I still listen to myself and every episode I'm critical of myself. Like, I can't follow my train of thought. And I, and I make so many mistakes too, in terms of when I'm describing stockinette, or garter stitch, or making the garter Squish, blanket. like, Ah, god, sometimes I listen back and I roll my eyes, you know, but anyway, we're just human right?
Kelly 10:52 Yeah, you need to be kinder to yourself, Marsha.
Marsha 10:55 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, yes, I've been reading the questions, and I'm looking forward to answering them.
Kelly 11:02 Yeah, it'll be fun. So do do. Send us your questions. And, you know, it could be about anything. So far, a lot of the questions have been about about our lives and our crafting and the podcast, that kind of thing. But, but yeah. Bring them on. Let's see.
Marsha 11:27 All right. Okay. So projects.
Kelly 11:29 Yeah, so let's go. I can go first. So last episode, I said, I had some plans. I did not have much knitting, but I did have some plans. And I can say that I did what I set out to do, I finished the angel from the knitted nativity scene. I did finish the star the knitting of the star. Now I just have to sew it. It's two pieces and then you sew them together and stuff it. So she's holding on to this stuffed star. So I didn't I didn't get it, but I haven't sewn it together and stuffed it but the angel part is done. I even washed her hair because the the yarn, the yarn that they had for her hair was wound around a cardboard. Most of the yarn was in little, little balls or cakes. And the yarn for her hair. I'm not sure why, was wrapped around a cardboard. And so where it wrapped around, it had like a kink. So her ponytails were very messy. Were curling all--just all different ways. And not curled. But like fish hooked, you know, like kinked.
Marsha 12:47 Yeah, yeah,
Kelly 12:48 The edge of that cardboard. So I wet the her hair. I had to wet it down twice. And then let her dry before before most of that came out, so so she's done. I've knit a bumper for Minnie's cat bed. And it's in there.
Marsha 13:05 Yeah?
Kelly 13:06 So, and I do know she slept in at least one night. During the real rainy days, she sleeps in the-- we have a house out there that I have a woven a wool woven pad in-- the one she used to have-- I put in there. And she sleeps in there when it's rainy, and she needs to really stay out of the rain or it's really cold. I'm not sure where she sleeps all the time, because she's not always on the front porch, especially since we got Beary and he barks at her. Although she doesn't--honestly I say she doesn't sleep there because of Beary. But Beary has been on the front porch coming in, you know, in the morning. And she has been under the car in the driveway on the porch in that same morning and walked up to him. Like, twice. So she's not really afraid of him. Although she-- I don't think she likes the barking. But she's not afraid of him. He's afraid of her. This is funny. You'll you'll get a kick out of this. So one morning, Robert had him and he kind of growled at her as she was walking towards him. And so Robert, you know, corrected him and said no. And so, and he was you know, wiping off his feet and stuff to let him in. And so Beary turned himself around and put his head in the corner of the porch. So you didn't have to look at her. Here's this big dog. He's really kind of afraid of her. He doesn't know what to make of her. And so since he couldn't growl or do anything wrong, do anything aggressive towards her. He had to just put his head in the corner. If you can't see her, she doesn't exist.[laughing] Yeah, so all of that orange wool is gone. And then I had to grab some additional coned wool from my weaving stash. And I knit with it for the rest of the bumper. So I got that done. And then the third thing that was on my list for before was to wind a warp for monks' belt. For the monk's belt project at the Jane Stafford Guild, and I did, I did that as well. And I'll talk more about that at the end of my projects. So I got all of that done. And then I've even returned to working on the mohair vest.
Marsha 15:33 Oh, okay.
Kelly 15:34 Yeah, that's what I have in my lap right now, what I've been knitting on, and I tried it on this morning. And so it's top down. And I have more than 12, about 12 inches from the armholes. So it's kind of at high hip length. I want it to be longer so I'm I'm continuing to knit down but I'm gonna have so much yarn leftover. Maybe I won't, maybe once I put the ribbing and the the band on. I started with three skeins, I've basically got two balls, which is one skein that I am working on actively and then one skein in the bag so I don't know. We'll see. So I'm continuing it. Maybe I should have made a blanket, because I think I'm gonna have a lot of yarn leftover but it's back on its-- back in the rotation. And then the other project, I started a new project knitting project. Do you remember the yarn I lost? The neighborhood fiber company gradients?
Marsha 16:52 Oh right. Yeah,
Kelly 16:54 Yeah. I think I lost it twice. I mean, I think I lost it, discovered it, said oh, okay, that's where it is. And then forgot where it was. And lost it again. I can't exactly remember. But anyway, it's 1250 yards of rustic fingering from neighborhood fiber company. And it's a turquoise it's called Shades of Turquoise. It's a turquoise gradient. And it starts with a really dark dark, almost black, blue, and then changed into a more true-- I don't know if I call it turquoise, I guess I call it turquoise. A more true turquoise. So there's two really dark skeins, then there's like this medium bright turquoise, and then there's two light turquoise skeins. So I'm doing the original project, I looked around for something else. But I thought you know what, I'm just gonna go back to the original project that I selected for this. It's called the Coloresque Wrap. And it's by Erin Kurup. I think her company name is remade by hand. And actually I met her at stitches. And I believe that this was a gift from her, this pattern. And so I started it one year. Right after I think the year after I got it. I started it for my Stitches West project, which was a mistake.
Marsha 18:22 Yes, I remember. I remember you working on it.
Kelly 18:26 Yeah, I'm not sure if I had been a little further along when we went to stitches, I think it would have been okay. But it's it's a striping pattern. So as you're using two colors, and it's a striping pattern that has you doing stockinette and then one pearl ridge and then stockinette and then one pearl ridge. And so I was having trouble with that. And then I was also having trouble with the-- it's trapezoidal. So you're knitting together on one side and making one on the other side, knitting in front and back on the other side. So it's going kind of out of slant and like a trapezoid. So that was an issue. Remembering to do that was an issue. And then it has, it's not really a big edge detail. But it has a little edge detail to keep the edges nice and tidy. And that was giving me fits. So I had to-- I came home and it was such a mess that I just ripped it out. But now it's back on the needles and I've gotten a fair ways along I think I'm maybe at about 20 inches. Maybe a little longer than maybe closer to 30
Marsha 19:43 Do you have a project page for this?
Kelly 19:46 Yeah, I just put up a project page but I don't have a picture yet.
Marsha 19:50 Okay, oh, let me look here. Oh, here it is. I see.
Kelly 19:52 Okay, and then it has lace. The pattern has these stripes and then it also has lace sections. And so it gives me the opportunity to use the colors. And it's kind of--the pattern is nice because it's kind of set up, I mean, they have the pattern, she has the pattern set up where you just follow the pattern with your colors. But then she also has a page in the, I think it's in the pattern, or maybe it's on--also linked on the pattern page. But she has a page where you can do your own color design.
Marsha 19:53 Mm hmm.
Kelly 20:01 And so she has like the template of the of the shawl or wrap laid out. And then she talks about, you know, how you can figure out which colors to put where and, and it does talk about how many grams of of yarn you use for the lace sections, although I added a repeat, so mine won't be following that exactly, you know. The next lace section I do, I'll have to weigh my yarn and then determine how much yarn I need for one of the lace sections. So I've got two lace sections in here now with the striping pattern in between. And I liked the lace section. So I think I'll do more of them than is in their original pattern. Because I kind of liked that. I haven't done lace in a long time. It actually looks kind of like the lace that you have, like little V pattern Chevron.
Marsha 21:19 Yeah, in my blanket.
Kelly 21:21 Looks very similar to the lace in your in your blog.
Marsha 21:24 Nice. Well, I'm, I'm interested to see a picture of it posted. But this is a nice looking shawl It's pretty.
Kelly 21:32 So I've just been choosing colors along the way trying to keep you know, kind of the gradient idea going from dark to light, but I have the contrast stripes. So I've got you know, sometimes I have two medium colors together in the stripe, sometimes I have the darkest with the lightest, or colors just a couple or one or two shades away. Since I have five colors, I have a lot of choices. And it's coming out nicely. It's looking right now like it's not going to be more than just a wide scarf with stripes and lace combination. But maybe when I block it, it'll be a little bit wider. The original pattern called for I think was about 12 inches wide. And then I added an additional repeat of the lace because I wanted it to be a little bit wider than that. But I didn't want to make it so wide that then I wasn't going to have enough yarn. I wasn't sure how that was going to work. So I'm moving along on it and enjoying it. It's giving me, it's giving me two projects on the go that are knitting projects. So and then I have my my weaving project.
Marsha 22:43 Okay, and let's hear about that.
Kelly 22:45 So I'm making-- I decided with the monks belt that I wanted to make, of course, dishtowels. The project for the Jane Stafford guild is placemats. So at first I was a little worried that maybe it was a weave structure that wasn't a good choice for dish towels. But I found a dish towel pattern in a book I had bought years ago and it was monks belt and turns out it's exactly the same draft as what's in the Jane Stafford guild, which is basically the Marguerite Porter Davison, you know Weaver's bible of stitches. This Monks belt draft is not anything, you know, it's not anything new and improved or you know, combined with other things or whatever. So I'm basically following the information from the episode of The Jane Stafford School of weaving TV Guild and also following the pattern from this book. But the book has only two dish towels in its warp and I put on enough for six dish towels I should have enough for six dish towels so I have a little bit of room to play which will be fun. I did want to talk a little bit about color choice. Because I had decided--I thought I would make dish towels for Sarah for housewarming gift, my niece. And for my mom for her trailer. The new trailer is sort of gray and brown. The floor is tha-- a lot of people have you know the gray like wood floor now is kind of popular? And that is the flooring in the trailer. They don't have carpet they just have the grayish wood flooring and then, you know, kind of brown upholstery and stuff so I thought okay, I'll do neutrals. And I know Sarah, as much as she loves color, is more along the neutrals line for stuff in her house. So I thought okay, this would be good. I'll find some neutrals. So I grabbed-- you remember the yarn that you got me the Swedish yarn that you got me from the goodwill? The weaving yarn came in a bag-- there was a red and a green and a gray.
Marsha 25:07 Oh, right. I didn't know it was Swedish but oh yeah, I remember getting that. Yeah,
Kelly 25:11 I think it's I think it's Swedish. Anyway. Okay, I took one of the--I decided to use the gray out of that. And then I used one of the cones I have of the Sally Fox Fox fiber, which is a brown is called Sienna, Sierra Sienna Brown. And you know, the color crayon color of Sienna?
Marsha 25:31 Yeah,
Kelly 25:31 Kind of a rusty brown-- a yellow, yellow or orange toned brown. So there's that. And then I saw-- I put those two together. I was like, okay, yeah, this is what I'm going to use it's going to be nice and neutrals, gray, brown. I have a little bit of black. I have oh, I have this other cone of this variegated black and brown yarn that I bought thinking I would knit a linen shawl that I never a lace shawl that I never did. So I got that out. I got them all together. And I wound them. You know, this is great! Neutrals. And the gray looks purple. And the brown looks orange. When you put all those colors together...
Marsha 25:38 So interestin!
Kelly 26:20 next to each other, you can really tell that this is a gray that leans purple blue, like bluey purple, like a lilac color. It sort of leans lilac. And this brown, of course, leans very orange. And because those were such, you know, because purple and orange are such contrasting colors. I think they're what complimentary colors maybe. Right? It really, it really makes them look like they're--it's purple and orange. So it's okay, it's not the neutral that I was going for. It's really pretty. I really like it. Not sure they'll go to the intended recipients. It depends how. depends how they come out-- what I think once I've got them off the loom. Once I've you know, put other colors in the weft because that tones things down a little bit too. So. So we'll see.
Marsha 27:20 I'm just going to interject here about color and weaving. You made me some towels that are actually red, white and gray. And I swear that gray is green. And I think it's because, and I always I use them at Christmas time because to me they look like Christmas color. But it's not green. It's gray.
Kelly 27:40 Right.
Marsha 27:41 So I don't know it's so interesting
Kelly 27:43 That same gray? I'm using as a weft color. Okay, and against the other ones. It looks blue. It's like a slate blue. Yeah,
Marsha 27:55 yeah. And I have to say in the towels, it doesn't look like Christmas green. But it definitely looks like a green to me, like a forest green. Kind of. It's not I know, it's I know, it's gray. But
Kelly 28:10 Well, and those are the same those. That's the exact same warp as the napkins in the trailer. Okay, yeah. And in the trailer, to me it it reads as gray. Not green, but in the house, it really did look like, it did look green to me, too. Yeah. So it's very interesting. choosing colors-- it's fascinating. I really think it's really an interesting thing. And then and then the thing about weaving that doesn't happen in knitting. Is that optical blending, you know, you get a lot more of the optical blending in weaving because the, I want to say the pixels are so small, right? When you're weaving, your yarn is going over and under each other. The dots of color are about the size of the yarn, unless you're doing stripes.
Marsha 29:05 Yeah.
Kelly 29:06 Whereas with with knitting, your dots of color, the smallest they can be is really a stitch. You know, I mean, even if you're doing mosaic stitch where you're trying to blend optically blend the colors, doing mosaic knitting or slip stitches, where you're trying to optically blend the colors. You're not going to get that kind of blending so much with knitting so it-- Yeah, it's it is kind of funny. And then one last thing about these is the patterning in them is coming from the color that I'm using for the weft. So I started with a weft of an even deeper rust color. And then a black and then that slate, that slate color that you think looks green, and that I have thought looked blue and I I, I was like, okay, yeah, this will be a good, this will be a good color progression, you know, and I'll just repeat this color pattern. And then I took a picture of it this morning and put it on Ravelry. And when I looked at the picture, I went, Oh, the black and the gray look like the same color in this picture. I think I need to take out the black and go rust, or rather, take out the gray, the slate that I just started because I don't have that much of it. I mean, I have less than half an inch. So I think I'm gonna take that out and go rust, and then black and then rust and then slate. I don't think I want the black and the slate next to each other because they look too much like the same color. Not enough value difference. So anyway. It's one of the things I love about weaving is the the color play that you can do. And I'll do--you know with six towels, I'll get into a lot. So yeah, my purple and orange dish towels. [laughing] I think something--some parts of color also have to do with what color you think something is. That color, I haven't actually looked in I don't know, if it even says on the label what you know, a color away name. I think the label is in Swedish. So I don't know if it says a colorway name. Or often weaving cones just have a color way number. But I wouldn't be surprised if the color name was lilac. And because it was just in a bag with a red and a green. And I can't remember what color it was with. But anyway, the color it was with made me think it was gray. And because I thought it was gray. It looked gray. You know what I mean?
Marsha 31:52 Yeah, yeah. And I think that I'm looking at the gray, red and white. And I think it seems like Christmas colors. So I'm reading it as green because red and green are Christmas colors. I don'tknow. Yeah.
Kelly 32:08 It's like once your brain locks on what color you think it is. That's what color you see until something comes along to shock you out of that thinking, like, oh my god, this is purple and orange.
Marsha 32:25 Okay, I'm going to look up your picture because you said it's in Ravelry.
Kelly 32:29 Yeah, in the weaving thread.
Marsha 32:31 Oh, but here on Instagram, too. Did you post it?
Kelly 32:34 Yeah, I posted an Instagram But I didn't have much of the weaving done when I posted on Instagram. Ravelry is a better picture, will be on a more recent picture. I don't know if it's better. The more recent picture is on Ravelry. So just an interesting thing, how color works. And how your brain tells you things that aren't really true.
Marsha 33:03 Funny, huh? Well, should I talk about my projects and I don't want to interrupt. Are you done? I don't want...
Kelly 33:09 No I'm I'm finished. That's enough. You'll hear more about this project. Since it's six towels. It'll be okay. It'll be going for a while.
Marsha 33:17 Oh, okay. Well, I have big news. Yeah, I did not finish it between Christmas and New Year's but at the beach I finished Ben's sweater. It is done.
Kelly 33:30 Yay.
Marsha 33:32 Yay. And I will not relive the whole thing. But I did. I think the last episode, I don't remember. I honestly I don't even remember where I was with the whole thing. But I did rip out both sleeves back to the elbow and re knit them with fewer decreases. And I came home from the beach yesterday afternoon. I got home around 4:30 or so. And the first thing I did was wash and block the sweater.
Kelly 33:58 Nice.
Marsha 33:59 So it's drying. And I've a few ends to weave in. But I'm calling it done.
Kelly 34:05 Nice.
Marsha 34:05 Yeah. So and it blocked out really nicely. It grew a little bit which is what I wanted. And so I think it's going to be... I'm just glad I'm done. So I'm starting off the new year fresh. So that's all I'm gonna about to say about the sweater. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Done. I'm done. And I will say and a story I will say I finished it at the beach. Now I don't remember now what day it was I finished it and when I bound off this, I finished the first sleeve before I went to the beach and then I finished the second sleeve at the beach and bound off the cuff. And this I was getting like: 10 rows, nine rows, eight rows and seven and getting more and more excited and this huge weight has been lifted off of me by having that done. It's like this is a great way to start the new year. It's done, so I'm excited. So anyway, I worked on my January blanket. And I have knit about 28 inches of it. And I really like it. I think it's turning out really nicely. It feels great. Because it's handspun kind of woolen spun is what I tried. So it has, it's very light. But yeah, it's very nice. And this is really nice yarn. It doesn't. It's a woolly yarn, but it's not harsh at all. It's just super nice. I really like it.
Kelly 35:39 It looks really pretty. I like that solid color. I mean, we've both done so many blankets with you know, colors changing all that. But that is a really nice look that one solid color with a nice lace pattern.
Marsha 35:57 Yeah. And I love the color of this. It's --I never know what to call it. It's sort of Carmel Cafe Au Lait. Yeah. The color of Milk in Tea. I don't know.
Kelly 36:11 Yeah, I would say I would say Cafe au Lait is a good way to describe it.
Marsha 36:17 The color of a little brown dog? I don't know. I don't know.
Kelly 36:23 It's a little lighter than Orkney. Right?
Marsha 36:25 Yeah, yeah. I'll just interject. I remember, I probably have said this before in the podcast, but I worked with a guy who was in a Cajun band. And so he knew a lot about Cajun cooking, because he always would go down to Louisiana. And so I asked him if he had a recipe for gumbo. And you start with a roux, and you cooked the flour and oil together until it was the color of an old hound dog. And I, we worked together and I went up to the receiving area where he worked. And I just on a piece of paper, I wrote down his recipe. And that's what I actually wrote down: cook the roux until it's the color of an old hound dog. So this is like the color of an old hound dog, I guess. Anyway. Anyway, so I'm really enjoying knitting on this. And then, I think, I guess I mentioned in the last episode, because I had it here in the show notes that I bought the Noro Kureyon to make the Noro mania blanket for my brother and I gave it to him for Christmas. And he's thrilled with it. So I'm going to cast that on. You know, as soon as I finish this blanket, I'll start that and do a little figuring about what size I want to make. But my big news is I have a new addition to the the the yarn and fiber family, which is I bought an electric spinning wheel. Woohoo! and so both Kim and I bought the the it's called the electric eel or the e w 6.0. Technically, from dreaming robots. And I'll talk more about this at a later date. But I we both they arrived in the mail, and we didn't unbox them until we got to the beach and set them up very easy. We watched the tutorial they have on the dreaming robots website. And so we set them up. I should back up and say our inspiration for buying these was our friend Dagmar. She bought one a while ago and she had it at NoCKRs retreat. And I was really interested in it. And when I knew she was going to be meeting us at Black Sheep, I said to Kim, you need to come and check out her spinning wheel, this E spinner because I think because Kim has been adamant she was not going to get a spinning wheel. no, right, just stick with the drop spindle. And I could tell when she was watching Dagmar that she was very interested. So anyway, we had fun. Our four days down there of just playing with the spinning wheels. It was interesting. I had some polworth that I had bought years ago I don't even remember now where I bought it. So I was practicing with that and she also had polworth That was dyed. And so she was practicing with that and it is really interesting to just to spin the same fiber but one's dyed and one's not dyed, how they're different. Because the the technique of dyeing, the roving, it gets a little stuck together kind of. Needs a little bit more pre drafting that has to go on than with an undyed fiber, I think. But they're really, they're great wheels and I think they're really well designed. He's thought of everything. And we also-- it does not come with a battery but you can order a battery that so then it'd be great for... Kelly, if I go to the trailer rally again, I would actually be able to be easier to transport this to California on a plane or whatever or in the car. And then I don't need to plug in, I can just spin off the battery. So it's going to be great for all kinds of situations. But it is funny, Kim was sitting at the dining room table practicing and I was sitting on the sofa and had the wheel sitting on the coffee table. And underneath the coffee table there was another little shelf and I kept pushing on that shelf with my foot trying just to treadle-- stop the wheel, start the wheel. That was actually amusing to me. I kind of thought wow, this is so nice. I wonder what it's going to be like when I go home and spin on little Herbie. And last night I spun for two hours or so while I watched the news and whatnot. And I love little Herbie. I have not given up my complete love for little Herbie. I love treadling. But this is this is a really nice, it's gonna be great for taking to the beach.
Kelly 41:02 Yeah,
Marsha 41:03 taking to your house, taking to NoCKRs because it's so portable. So I have to thank Dagmar for introducing us to it because it's been great. It's really fun. So I'll report more on it came in, I think gonna get together this weekend to practice a bit more, and I might record a little bit get some of her thoughts, too.
Kelly 41:21 Oh, that'd be cool. Yeah.
Marsha 41:23 Yeah, I'll do that. That would be good. I have to say I thought about-- I thought about recording when we were at the beach. But honestly, it was kind of fun just to get lost in it and not have to think about talking about it.
Kelly 41:37 Well, you'll have more to talk about once you've been working with it a little bit longer, too.
Marsha 41:42 Yeah. It's interesting though, the bobbins. On the website, they say they hold eight ounces of fiber. And so I'm interested to see. I'm spinning up a four ounce skein. And it's, it's about half full. So I'm gonna see if it'll hold the eight ounces. That's, that's a lot.
Kelly 42:03 That is a lot. Yeah, it's kind of a double edged sword. It's sort of like ink-- with the fountain pens when you buy ink. So, you know, there are some people who are real big proponents of you know, the ink bottles that come, you know, 50 milliliter, 60 milliliters 80 milliliters, you know, these nice big bottles of ink that you get your money's worth, right?
Marsha 42:32 Right.
Kelly 42:33 The problem with that, or the other side of that double edged sword is that you have all of this ink and then if you want a different color it's hard to justify buying. Well. For some people, it's hard to... for myself, it's hard to justify, I guess, if I were further down this, this rabbit hole, I could have a whole large stash of over 200 inks like some people do. It really ...but it's difficult, it's more difficult to justify buying another bottle of ink in a different color that looks fun and that you want, when you have, you know, 50 60, 70 milliliter bottles of ink that are big. And you don't even use-- I think one time we were talking, I said that it takes like 10 milliliters. It doesn't even take one milliliter to fill most of my pens, I was way off there. So you know, if you're using less than a milliliter every time you fill your pen, and it takes me a couple of weeks for my pens to run out if I have a couple of pens inked up at the same time. Like not a lot of ink. Right. So so the bobbin..
Marsha 43:50 Yes!
Kelly 43:50 Oh, go ahead.
Marsha 43:52 Well, I was gonna say if I I'm spinning just a natural colored cream.
Kelly 43:56 Yeah,
Marsha 43:57 yarn or fiber. It's gonna... and eight ounces. That's days of the same thing. You know, so I know what you're saying is you can't... like it's having a smaller bobbin and you get to change a lot.
Kelly 44:10 Right? You know, right. And that's part of what I-- that's part of what I like. I mean and you could even spin two eight ounce bobbins if you had 16 ounces. You could spin two eight ounce bobbins and then ply those two together like you could be working on cream colored yarn for what felt like Ben's-- a Ben's sweater worth of time. [laughing]
Marsha 44:37 Well, and also Kelly, I'm just going to add this in there too is that I before I went packing for the beach, getting the wheel and getting you know the first thing you pack when you travel is a knitter is all your projects, right? And so I was like what fiber am I going to spin and so I found I had this polworth and me being me, I didn't buy one skein I bought three packages of four skeins each.
four ounces? So how many?
So each package has has four pieces of--hanks of roving, okay, and each one is four ounces so
Kelly 45:24 so okay so you have 16 ounces in a bag and you have three bags?
Both 45:40 Three bags! [laughing]
Marsha 45:42 I'm like that but I do know, I as I say I don't remember where I bought it-- if I bought it at Black Sheep or if I bought it at fiber fusion. I think I bought it at Black Sheep because I don't I don't-- I did not buy it in the marketplace. I remember I bought it from the person with the sheep. Like out in the barn? Anyway, I bought it and so I bought three bags and there's four skeins in each bag
Kelly 46:05 and it's all undyed and each is four ounces it's all undyed, natural white.
Marsha 46:12 Yeah, I am. I'm slightly insane.
Kelly 46:16 Well, it doesn't all have to be one project.
Marsha 46:18 Oh, you know me. I always buy a sweater quantity of something. I always buy a big quantity or something. So I don't know what-- I don't know what I was thinking
Kelly 46:25 It's a little more than one sweater.
Marsha 46:29 Yeah, I know. It's another blanket.
Kelly 46:36 Now you're gonna become known as the person who always buys a blanket quantity.
Marsha 46:44 Yeah, so I don't know what I'm going to I've just I've I didn't even spin four ounces.
Kelly 46:51 It's about like if you bought a fleece and sent it away to be processed. Right? A small fleece and sent it out to be processed.
Marsha 47:01 Yeah, no, I'm just a little insane.
Kelly 47:03 I kind of learned my lesson from this six pounds of CVM. Well, I won't say I learned a lesson because I'm pretty sure I didn't. But I do remember being really sick of it by the time I was done, yeah. And I in fact, I found a little scrap of roving from that CVM fleece this summer while I was cleaning up, I found a little bump of it. And I think I ended up putting it. I might have put it in the felting box. But I honestly I might have put it with the stuff that I used to compost. I might have just said you know what? I'm done. I'm totally done with you. And I want this out of my stash. Totally. Not even a little scrap in the felting box. I think I did end up composting it. I mean, it was less than an ounce I think ,but still.
Marsha 48:00 Yeah. I mean, I in my defense I have to defend myself just a little bit is that I did buy this early in my spinning life. And when I was in you know new spinners, new knitters, new crocheters, new Weavers, new spinners. anybody new to something, you get all excited about it, and you think you're never going to see any fiber ever again, this is your only chance to buy. And so I yeah, I went a little crazy
Kelly 48:27 Well, and you go through it fast. If you're really if you're really spinning, especially when you're a beginner and or if you're making yarn that's thicker, you do go through roving, you can go through roving quickly depending on the, you know, the type of thing you're spinning, but you can go through quite quickly because I remember doing a swap that was 24-- I had to make 24 skeins, each of them two ounces. So that's 48 ounces. So what? That's three pounds, right? So and I remember telling myself at the beginning if I just spin this three pounds, by the time I'm done spinning three pounds of wool, I'll be a good spinner. And, and I cranked through it one summer, you know, just spinning for this. For this swap. It wasn't all the same type of fiber. But I gathered together--basically gathered together three pounds of fiber and and spun it for this for this swap. So you do go through it fast. Yeah, you're a newer spinner and, and I could see why you would think okay, I need more because I'm just a four ounce braid just takes me no time at all. You know.
Marsha 49:21 Basically I really love the wheel. I think it's a great investment just for traveling just because there's so many times I've not been able to bring my wheel to visit you because we're to the beach and I have to I'm all engrossed in a project but then I can't take it.
Kelly 49:53 That's nice. I'm excited to see it.
Marsha 49:55 I have to say we have to finish because my ear pods are failing and the right one is run out of charge. So let's keep moving here before my earbuds fail.
Kelly 50:08 Okay,
Marsha 50:10 what else do we have to talk about?
Kelly 50:11 Anything else for your projects?
Marsha 50:13 Oh, that's it. That's all I have.
Kelly 50:14 Okay, so the only other thing we have to remind our patrons about is the Patreon giveaway. This is our year-end, thank you to our patrons for their support of our show. And so they should just let me know, email me, email or message me on Ravelry with the pattern of your choice $10 or less, and I will get that pattern out to you. I just want to thank everyone who supports us on Patreon. And if anyone would like to join the Patreon supporters, the link is at the top of our show notes. And it's patreon.com forward slash two ewes and you can become a patron of our show. But yeah, get your get your information to us and we'll get you your pattern choice.
Marsha 51:04 Yeah, so thank you. All right. I think that's it, Kelly.
Kelly 51:08 I agree.
Marsha 51:10 I have to go cuz you're fading in the left. You're fading in my left ear now. So okay, I think we talked to we talked too long before we started recording.
Kelly 51:19 Right, right.
Marsha 51:21 Okay. All right. Well, we'll talk in two weeks.
Kelly 51:25 In two weeks. Yeah.
Marsha 51:26 All righty. Okay, bye bye.
Kelly 51:29 Bye. Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot come.
Marsha 51:37 Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am better in motion and Kelly is 1hundred projects.
Kelly 51:44 Until next time, we're the Two Ewes doing our part for world fleece.
I cast on Summer Fjordby Trin-Annelie using Quince & Co Sparrow in three colors. Kelly and our friend Janis both have yarn to cast this on, too. We got it last summer in the clearance bin at Tolt.
I’m working on foot of firstArne & Carlossock. These ultra bright socks are for my brother, Mark.
I recently picked up a Simple Shawlby Jane Hunter that I started March 2018! UsingMichael’s CWDin San Francisco Fog, to put it back in the knitting rotation, but I haven’t made much progress since the last episode. This will probably stay on the back burner for awhile since I am swatching with Elemental Affects Cormo for the Holey Comfortcardigan by Hinterm Stein
Kelly’s Projects
I’m still working on the handspun Babydoll Southdown socks. I’m not really enjoying the feel of the yarn, though. It’s a good workhorse yarn and the gauge is nice and tight for a hard wearing sock. It’s 100% wool--no nylon, silk or mohair for added strength, so that’s good. But the fabric doesn’t have the bounce of the yarn as I knit it.
I finished plying theFleeber’s Farm Tasmanian Comeback. Light brown wool overdyed with red-orange. It’s 210 yards and 129 grams. That sounds like a heavier weight than worsted but it also feels like a heavier fiber--more like a longwool.
I startedspinning a brown targhee lambfleece that I had carded and ready to go in the stash. I’ve spun about 1000 yards of a 3 ply (DK to worsted). It was two boxes of carded batts. Now I have to card more of this fleece to get enough for a sweater. I’m thinking of knitting The Grandpa Cardigan by Joji Locateli. Also a possibility, but not quite as high on the list is Que Sera by Kirsten Kapur. This spinning (and now carding) project is really inspiring me for the Summer Spin-In.
Show us your pattern!
This giveaway is closing June 4th! How do you use your patterns and how do you store them? Check out the Ravelry groupto participate in the thread. We will be drawing winners on June 4th for some beautiful Duren Dyeworks worsted weight skeins.
Summer Spin-In
Starting on Memorial Day (celebrated this year on May 25 in the US) we will have a Summer Spin-In. Join in the chat thread and show off your finished projects in the FO threads. We will also include a thread for knitting with handspun. So non-spinners can be included, too.
Other News
Kelly is doing an online dog training class withFenzi Dog Sportsand one of the things she is learning is how to do shaping with Bailey.This videoshows a dog that is already skilled at figuring out a shaping training session learning how to do the shaped skill of putting two feet into a box.
28 May 2017
Ep 67: Real, Fantasy, and Travel Knitting
00:55:57
It's been a wild week, but some real knitting, a little fantasy knitting, and lots of travel-knitting planning are all in this episode.
Kelly finished the Havannah. This pattern by Heidimarie Kaiser is a great casual tee. Put in the beads that are called for in the pattern, or replace them with yarn overs for a more lacy style.
Marsha is on track to finish the Easy Folded Poncho in time to wear it for Black Sheep Gathering at the end of June. It is knit in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that she found at the Goodwill.
She also finished the Meret Beret but this one might be frogged because the yarn and pattern don't seem to be a good match.
The two pairs of socks that have been discussed in past episodes will also need to be frogged and restarted. Neither the striped socks out of CoBaSi, nor the short socks on 9-inch circulars actually fit. Oh well. It's not sock failure, its a learning experience!
Kelly's fantasy knitting and trip planning leads to a trip through her Ravelry queue. Most likely to be cast on are the Lavender Honey tee from an interesting cotton yarn in red and gray and a Mohair Bias Loop from two Habu yarns in red and eggplant.
Part two of the Mega Episode! Marsha's projects, an upcoming trip, and hopes for the New Year. If you haven't heard episode 126, please go back to get all the fun! Full notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shopwebsite:TwoEwesFiberAdventures.comJoin the community on Ravelryor become a patron and support the show onour Patreon Page.
When last we heard from the Northwest heroine she had a dilemma. To rip back and use the correct needle size or keep going and bind off, leaving a mistake that probably no one would notice. What did she do? Read on and find out!
Marsha’s Projects
Almost done withShared Ribby Anne Hanson as a cowl. Old Maiden Auntfingering in the colorway Crimson Lips. I finished the six rows of ribbing and was about to bind off when I realized the ribbing was suppose to be worked with the smaller needles. Ripped back and knitted ribbing again.
Daphne’s Skulldesigned by Ellen Sibelius ofWooly Wondersis not quite finished.I haven’t picked it up since we last recorded. I’ve set a goal to finish it by Stitches West the end of February because KnittyBarb wants me to bring it to the show.
I’m about to start the toe decreases of the first sock of myJohn O Groats SocksusingYarns From the Plainsfingering weight in the colorway Cumbrian View. I bought the yarn from the dyer at the Caithness Craft Retreat in May. The pattern I’m using is the sock recipe from Nancy Lindberg, NL7 Knit to Fit Socks.
Thinking about casting on a sweater either using New Lanark DK or Dovestone Baa Ram Ewe. Need a project for my trip to Iceland in January.
Fix it or Nix It Ended the first of January. Neither Marsha nor Kelly got their button bands reinforced, but there were a few fixes for each and Kelly nixed a few pairs of half-finished socks.
Events
Winter Weave Along--Started October 15 in the Two Ewes Ravelry Group. This weave along goes until the end of March so you have plenty of time for weaving projects.
Stitches Westis February 20-23 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. There is a podcaster meetup hosted by Yarniacs and 2 Knit Lit Chicks on Saturday the 22nd in the lobby bar area of the Hyatt (connected to the Convention Center).
Fiber Goals--do you have them?
Kelly is interested in the tension between goals, challenges and to-do lists, and the idea that fiber crafts are a hobby that we do for fun. Do you have more fun when you have goals and challenges or when you have wide open choices? We can discuss this on the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures Group on Ravelry. Come join the conversation!
Marsha’s Hopes for 2020
Health (weight, walking, core, knees, vitamins, attitude)
In this part of the conversation we talked a little about developing habits and the book The Power of Habit
Fun (fibery stuff, travel, cooking, agility)
Fiber (colorwork class, Mark’s afghan, spinning, more projects for others)
Here Kelly said that she is looking for balance in her hobbies so that she is able to do all of them.
Decreased governmental chaos
Marsha's distress and anxiety over the state of the country transcends political "sides" and led Kelly to add the following resource.
Bryan Stevenson on Hope
To hear an excellent discussion on hop by Bryan Stevenson, jump to about 55:30 in this episode of the Stay Tunedpodcast. Bryan Stevenson is a death penalty attorney who founded the Equal Justice Initiative. He is the author ofthe book Just Mercy(also being made into a movie). Kelly highly recommends listening to this short discussion on hope.
17 Feb 2024
Weaving or Taxes? What Will She Do?
01:14:47
Progress on the woven square blanket, some trip knitting, a couple new sweater patterns in the queue, adventures in weaving, and we leave you with a cliffhanger.
Alpaca Shawl: I found four errors in my threading. Had a discussion with Kelly. Couldn’t find any information on treadling for a Rosepath warp. All this led to my decision to remove Rosepath threading and rethread with straight draw. I’m getting back on track.
Socks: The Artful Ewe Clackamas. I don’t know the name of the colorway but it's red…again.
All the squares are sewed into 20 strips of 14 squares. So Dozens of Little Squares is actually 280 squares. Four strips sewn together already and it’s going quickly.
I badly need trip knitting ready to go since I leave on Sunday for an all day flight to Florida! I’ve had The Drifter by Tamy Gore, Narrow Path Designs in my library for a while waiting to use two particular yarns. I’m using Invictus Yarns, Master of My Feet in New Jeans along with Stitch Stuff Yarns Plumpy Stuff in Off the Grid. The Stitch Stuff was a gift related to the conference I’m going to, so it seemed perfect to use it now.
Other designs in Tamy Gore’s portfolio are calling to me. London Dusk is a unique take on the colorwork yoke. My attention was also caught by Trelawny, a short sleeve sweater with the wider neckline I like. In both of them I prefer the low contrast versions.
Ravelry Tips and Tricks
Yarn Shop Directory (1 shop within 10 miles of my hotel in Orlando) and Road Trip Planner (57 yarn shops between Salinas and Seattle, all within 5 miles of the main route).
Out-of-Hibernation Along
February 1 - June 1. Have you started? Find something that has been in hibernation and get it out and do something. Back to active status, frogging and reclaiming yarn, giving away, throwing away, composting–this is spring cleaning for your project list. Check in with your progress in the Ravelry thread.
Events
Winter Weave Along starts October 1 and goes through March 31. Join the fun in our Ravelry group!
08 Jan 2024
2023 Project Rev-EWE
01:19:23
Happy New Year! The Two Ewes recap their projects from 2023 and look forward to a productive and yarn-filled 2024.
Ames Beanie: by Stephanie Larson. Finished! Used Leading Men Fiber Arts Box Office (worsted) in colorway Spiced Apple Cider. Made for Mark. I bought the yarn at the much missed String Theory Yarns.
Flowers from My Garden: Finished! Eight skeins and 1,758 yards. Finished yarn may be worsted or DK.
Malabrigo Nube Merino Braids: Have two braids in the color way 855 which is a blue green. The first braid I split into 10 individual rovings and the second braid I plan to split into half. I will then ply the two singles together.
Nanny Meier Tea Cozy: Inspired by Lily Pulitzer colors. Using Cascade 220 in hot pink and lime green. Finished first side.
Socks: Using Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn in the colorway Sum-Sum-Summertime. Heels and toes will be Dream in Color Mini Smooshy in the colorway Bermuda Teal. I finished the first sock and am about half way down the leg of the second sock.
Fine Sand: by Heidi Kirrmaier. Using West Yorkshire Spinners Illustrious in the colorway Claret. I washed and blocked the body. Seems okay but I would like it a bit roomier. I’m still thinking about what I want to do next.
Kelly’s Projects
Continuing to work on Purple/Gray socks for Robert. These are the ones that I had to stop working on during the last episode because I forgot to turn the heel. I pulled the needles out and put them back in the bag to fix later. Later turned out to be a month later. I now can’t remember what yarn this is. I got it at the very last Stitches West ever in 2022.
Continuing to work on Dozens of Little Squares. I’ve washed 83 squares and have another large batch finished. So I’m at almost 200 squares so far. Time to start sewing them together!
Events
Winter Weave Along starts October 1 and goes through March 31. Join the fun in our Ravelry group!
Kelly at a Florida conference, Orlando, 19th through 22nd.
27 Dec 2020
Ep 152: The Port Side of a Tea Pot
01:05:37
Holiday fun has exhausted Marsha while Kelly has been busy making a butt-shaped divot on her couch. Plus we have a patron giveaway and a surprise Winter Weave Along prize today! Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.
Marsha’s Projects
I haven’t knit a stitch on the Holey Comfortcardigan by Hinterm Stein, but I did wind the fourth skein. I plan to bring it on a New Year’s trip and make some good progress. But I am the boss of my knitting, so I might choose to work on something else instead!
I turned the heel and started the gusset of a pair of socksfor myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought at the San Luis Obispo yarn crawl back in 2014.
I also finished a holiday tea cosy in red and green using the patternNanny Meiers Tea Cozyby Amelia Carlson published by Fiber Trends. I used spirit yarn from Sears!
Finally, I’m swatching with Little Fish Stitches fingering for a Tee called Walk Along by AnkeStrick.
Kelly’s Projects
I’ve been working a lot on thePersian Tile Blanketfor my grand niece. I’m following the color choices (sort of) of a project byJenasaurusWakethat I saw while watching FO radar. I’m using Knit Picks Brava Worsted in lots of fun bright colors and making color choices to make all the octagons look like they have different sized flowers in them.
With Friends Pullover. I’m using two patterns: Rachelby Josée Paquin, andFreshby Josée Paquin. I’ve put the hem on waste yarn and picked up for the first sleeve. I’m going to start with the dark green at the top of the sleeve and then move into the stripe colors. I’ll do the sleeves similarly to the Fresh pattern where the sleeves are mostly one color and then there is a little bit of striping.
I finished 14 dishcloths in the Triple L Tweed stitch from thePurl Soho Slip Stitch Dishtowels pattern. I cast on a multiple of 3 stitches +1. It’s usually 34 or 37 stitches because I like a compact dishcloth. I totally used up four different 108-yard skeins of Tahki Cotton Classic
Ongoing Giveaway--Paper, Planning, and Plotting
Enter onRavelry, through the websitecomments page, or through email (twoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com) by Jan 20th. Or email us a voice memo and we’ll play your response on the show!
The winner will get:
Two Sheeps Calendar: A Celebration of Independent Yarn Dyers. Each month features an exclusive skein from an indie dyer and the link to order the yarn.It’s not just a calendar!
From twosheeps:
Working with each dyer, we have obtained a limited supply of each exclusive colorway. The yarn in each month’s photograph is available for purchase on the first day of that month.
We are grateful to each dyer for creating, dyeing, twisting, and labeling these amazing skeins and are thrilled to showcase their talent in our company’s first calendar!
From Field Notes: We’ve limited this 49th Quarterly Edition to 33,333 3-Packs. Each Memo Book cover features a unique snowflake illustration rendered by our friend and co-conspirator,Brendan Dawes. Each snowflake is different, so every book is different, and so for the first time in a Quarterly Edition – we’ve individually numbered each book.
To enter, answer this prompt:
How do you keep your plots and plans straight? Paper, digital, other? Do you use a calendar? What kind? A notebook? What kind? Do you use a notebook for your projects or just Ravelry? When do you use paper and when do you use digital? Marsha and Kelly will put up a thread in the Ravelry group, or you can send a comment from the website, you can send us an audio file (for example using voice memo phone app and emailing it, send us a dm on Instagram or email ustwoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.com. We’ll draw a winner on January 20 and you’ll hear about it during the second January episode on about January 25.
Patron Appreciation Time!
Stuck at home we are reliving memories of travels. For the next few months we will be having a once a month patron giveaways to remind everyone of faraway places.
The prize is a hat kit from Marsha’s trip to Iceland. It is from theUppspuni Mini Mill. The yarn is black with purple contrast color.
If you’d like to go back and listen to the Iceland dispatches they are inEpisode 129andEpisode 130.
The winner of the Icelandic yarn is Barbara G., a patronsince January of 2019.
Winter Weave Along
We're brightening up the winter by having a giveaway from the Winter Weave Along chat thread.
Nan4now is the winner of a cone of Sally Fox cotton. Contact me ASAP as her 2020 stock is dwindling!
You can join in with your weaving projects anytime until March 31. We will have prizes, including a class generously donated by Erica atWeavolution. Check out this great website for weavers with projects, discussion, classes, and lots of resources. The website has a handy Weaving Calculatorthat you can use for project planning.
To honor her memory, we are having a Caps for Kids KAL from now until February 15th, to knit or crochet caps in any washable yarn, any pattern, any size, and donate them to a kids charity. Please post a photo of your cap(s) here before donating them.
21 Jan 2019
Ep 106: Schemes and Dreams for 2019
01:10:03
Scheming and dreaming about all the yarn and fleece projects for 2019. Did you know Marsha and Kelly both love the smell of fleece? Have you heard about the woven ruana and the sheep tea cozy a few too many times? What does it mean to raise your default level? It’s all in this episode. Full notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shopwebsite:TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Join the community on Ravelry or email us with your thoughts. Email us attwoewes@twoewesfiberadventures.comWe’d love to hear your 2019 Dreams and Schemes!
Project Updates
Marsha continues to work on Cloud Coverby Heidi Kirrmaier. It has an unusual construction. Knit yoke, then sleeves, then body, then collar. Marsha is hoping she doesn’t run out of yarn before that big shawl collar is done.
Marsha has carded a bunch ofWensleydale x Corriedale x Merinofleece and has been spinning it. This fleece is a gorgeous dark espresso color! More spinning is in Marsha’s plans for 2019.
Kelly has also been mostly monogamous on the knit front with the Mystery Knit Along with Cozy Up Knits. She’s using theTwo Ewes Replenish Rambouilletand loving the feel of the yarn. The shawl pattern is interesting and will result in a 3 color shawl in 5 weeks. No pictures of the full project because it’s a mystery!
2019 Dreams and Schemes
Kelly and Marsha are both training for distance walking this year. Kelly will be walking the Big Sur 21-Miler in April with her Dad who will turn 79 in March. Marsha got a copy of her training schedule and plans to follow the training, but not do the event. Join in the Ravelry group discussion if you have a fitness goal for 2019 and want some structure and encouragement or want a place to brag!
A little knitting and a lot of planning for upcoming events on today's show. Plus a couple of knitting tips, the perfect spirit buttons, and some bee talk. To see these show notes with photos, go to our website.
Marsha's Projects
Marsha started her second combo spin sweater so she'd have something going when the Opteka is finished. She is quite close to finishing Opteka.
Kelly's Projects
Kelly continues to work on the Indigo Frost poncho. Another careless moment led to a mistake. Instead of ripping back 8 rows of over 300 stitches, she attempted to rip out and re-knit only the section of 66 stitches that contained the mistake. It worked really well and the poncho is back on track.
Since the poncho had a mistake that needed to be repaired in a quiet time period, Kelly pulled the linen Summer Fjord top back out and put about an inch on it. It has a few inches to go before the bottom ribbing and will be finished in time for warmer weather.
Kelly also found the perfect buttons for her Curious Cardigan. They are buttons from Marsha's mother's button tin and they'll be perfect!
Bee Update
Kelly and Marsha talk about the bees. Kelly did some honey harvesting since the bees aren't going to need their honey for the quickly retreating California winter. Kelly also suggested that people who want to plant for the bees consider trees, or at least shrubs for their concentrated volume of nectar or pollen. Xerces society has plant lists for different areas of the country if you are interested.
18 Dec 2016
Ep 57: Percolators, Ponchos, and Pendleton Woolens
01:04:45
Podcasting about percolators, ponchos, and Pendleton woolens. Plus, we have two giveaway winners!
Marsha's Projects
Marsha is making good progress on the Rodeo Drive poncho by Staci Perry. She has been focused on this one project and is making good progress. This despite a cabling accident caused by "knitting while podcasting" two weeks ago.
Kelly's Projects
Kelly is continuing with the Curious Case of the Crazy Stitch Cardigan by Michele DuNaier. She can't figure out why it seems to have two sides (since it is crocheted similar to the way garter stitch is knitted, doing the same thing on each side), but she thinks she now has it back on track.
Kelly has also been doing a small amount of spinning while sitting in the living room enjoying the Christmas tree.
"Advent-ewes"
Marsha visited the Pendleton Woolen Mill in Pendleton, Oregon. She tells us all about the history of the company and the tour she had of the facility.
The wool that Pendleton uses is scoured in Texas--probably at the same facility that scoured the wool for the fabric in the fabric CSA that Kelly has purchased. Here is a link to the scouring company and here is an article about the expansion of their scouring operation.
Marsha took lots of pictures of the Pendleton Woolen Mill and the milling process.
Marsha also discovered that the Beach Boys wore Pendleton shirts and called themselves the PendleTones. Marsha's brother Mark splurged and bought a Pendleton blanket.
Marsha was able to visit the mill because she was spending the weekend in Walla Walla, Washington, where she and Kelly attended Whitman College together. She and Kelly reminisce about some of the familiar places and their college days.
Giveaway!
Two winners were drawn. One lucky winner will be getting a skein of Countess Ablaze yarn and a totebag that the Countess was kind enough to throw in with Kelly's order. The other will take home three skeins of Blacker Yarns from the Woolly Thistle Shop. These skeins were contributed by Claire of the Woolly Thistle and the New Hampshire Knits podcast.
Upcoming Events
Kelly and Marsha will be attending Stitches West! It starts on February 23, 2017 and that is also the deadline for the Great Poncho Adventure.
Share Us!
If you enjoy the podcast, please share it with a friend! Just tell them TwoEwesFiber.com! On the blog, the white box below the post has little buttons for sharing by mail or social media. If you are reading shownotes from your podcast app, use the podcast sharing button. Thanks!
25 Oct 2014
Ep. 4: And Thus Began Our Adventures
00:53:23
In addition to talking about current and recently finished projects, Marsha and Kelly talk about how they started knitting, spinning, weaving, and loving the fiber arts.
28 Oct 2018
Ep 100: A Long Stockinette Tube
01:07:28
Creativity, productivity, and community are three big benefits we've gained from 4 years of podcasting. In our 100th episode we have our usual project updates and then we spend some time reflecting on the experience of the last four years. Come join the community on Ravelry!
Marsha's Update:
I have a lot to say about my Afterthought Socks! It's a looooooooong stockinette tube and I'll be putting on cuffs, toes, and heels. We had quite a discussion about how to measure the spot for the heel. I'm sure some of our listeners can set us straight. Leave a comment here or join in the discussion in our Ravelry group.
My other active project over the past two weeks is the Slacktide Scarf. It has a nice interesting stitch--the perfect antidote to a long, boring stockinette tube. I'm also planning for the Rabbit by Claire Garland and have ordered the yarn called for in the pattern.
Kelly's Update:
I'm running out of yarn on the Running Water cardigan. I'm almost done with the collar band and then will start the sleeves. Meanwhile, I've started two new pairs of socks. One pair is using the Humble Bee pattern by Sara Bauer of the Yarns at Yin Hoo podcast. The other pair is variegated argyle socks using the chart I created on Stitch Fiddle. Start with row 71 to get 2 diamonds on the leg (one front and one back) and one diamond on the instep. All three projects are right at a part where I have to pay attention so I'm not able to knit at all during this recording.
A HUGE thank you to all our listeners! We never would have arrived at Episode 100 without you. You're feedback, encouragement, compliments, and suggestions have been so important to us. You have enabled us to create a wonderful community.
Visit the Two Ewes Shop featuring locally produced yarns, from soil to skein. Small-batch, overdyed Romney and Shetland yarns grown and processed on the west coast, and the climate beneficial Replenish Rambouillet from Bare Ranch, a northern California ranch using carbon farming practices.
26 Apr 2020
Ep 135: Finished Knits and Spins
01:03:26
Recording with a Zoom audience again this time! Two finished knitting projects, some “show and tell” and some finished spinning. Full notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Join the community on Ravelryor become a patron and support the show onour Patreon Page.
This was another live episode so Kelly had the opportunity to “show and tell” her1958 Lace Cardigan. This sweater was started before I was much of a knitter and had to be put away for quite a long time while my knitting skills caught up to my plans!
I finished my Dusk Into Twilight Shawlby Rosemary Hill. I used Two Ewes Fiber Adventures Replenish Rambouillet fingering dyed by Kelly in three colors, Bourbon and Suede, Falling Leaves, and Aquamarine.
Finished the heel flap of secondJohn O Groats. Using Yarns From the Plain sock yarn.
Finished Goro Anamarahat by Valeria Garcia. Using Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd’s Wool Worsted.
Correction: Frank Jernigan’s website isPhrancko.comthis is a correction from a previous episode show notes. Frank upgraded my account to premiere and I can get custom patterns for $1. Thinking of using Frank’s program to make a sweater for Ben out of North Ronaldsay yarn.
Kelly’s Projects
I’ve finished my spinning using a mixed wool roving fromShaky K fibers. It was a multicolor braid or Corriedale, Columbia and Rambouillet. Such a bouncy blend of fibers and the colors worked well for a 3-ply.
I’ve also finished spinning a two-ply of merino and silk fromAlexandra the Art of Yarn. It is burgundy and gold and as I started spinning I noticed that the singles matched well with two skeins ofWandering WoolUdaipur (also a merino silk) in Cranberry Bog. So I think this spin will join those two skeins and become something. A sweater would be nice and maybe it would be my first wool pullover?
The Mariannes Cardigan, a pattern by Trine Bertelsenmay not be completely fine, unlikeEleanor Oliphant. I tried it on and although the “seam” where I am alternating skeins starts out under the arm, it seems to be skewing and twisting so that the seam is more to the front of my body down at the bottom of the tee.. Will this block out? Do I want to find out the hard way? Or do I want to rip back to the underarms and try again? If I put a faux seam on each side I could more easily hide the place where the skeins alternate and the “jog” happens.
Duren Dyeworks Spring Skeins Drawing
Laura from Duren Dyeworks was having a sale AND she threw in an extra skein. The yarn is targhee heavy worsted to aran weight. We’ll be using it for prizes for a new giveaway. In the Ravelry thread show us how your used patterns look and tell us how you store your patterns. Marsha’s patterns are folded and mutilated by the end of a project. She has friends who keep their patterns pristine. Check out the Ravelry groupto participate in the thread.
Summer Spin Along?
Fiber Adventurers have been talking about the possibility of a summer spin along. We both have plenty of fleeces and think it’s a great idea since we have so many fleeces needing to be processed and spun. There’s currently a thread in the group for planning for this. It will start at the end of May so there is time to think and plan.
12 Mar 2018
Ep 87: Argyle is the New Combo-Spin
01:07:03
No show notes this time. We talk about what we finished to wear at Stitches West and then we talk about our fun weekend. Since this is late getting out to listeners, we are dispensing with show notes to just get this episode out!
16 Dec 2020
Ep 151: Tea Cosy Crazy
01:08:18
We celebrate the life of a fiber adventurer we've lost, plus we talk paper, planning, and plotting. How do you keep your life in order? Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.
To honor her memory, we are having a Caps for Kids KAL from now until February 15th, to knit or crochet caps in any washable yarn, any pattern, any size, and donate them to a kids charity. Please post a photo of your cap(s) here before donating them.
Marsha’s Projects
I haven’t knit a stitch on the Holey Comfortcardigan by Hinterm Stein, but I did wind the fourth skein.
Finishedsocks for myselfusing Tilli Tomas Artisan Sock in Coconut Grove.
Started anotherpair of socksfor myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.
I have the book, Tea Cozies 3by Sian Brown, Alison Howard and Vanessa Mooncie and have made thePineappleand knitting Devon Violets. Started another tea cosy in red and green using the patternNanny Meiers Tea Cozypublished by Fiber Trends. Using spirit yarn from Sears! Made the same tea cozy for my friend Gary.
I started the Persian Tile Blanket for my grand niece. I’m using Knit Picks Brava Worsted in lots of fun bright colors.
I’m continuing to knit dishcloths using my favorite stitch pattern, the Triple L Tweed from thePurl Soho Slip Stitch Dishtowels pattern. I cast on a multiple of 3 stitches +1. It’s usually 34 or 37 stitches because I like a compact dishcloth. I’m using four different 108-yard skeins of Tahki Cotton Classicand I’ll make as many as I can with this amount of yarn.
I have my table loom dressed with one of the Christmas dish towel warps. It is a red, white, and green warp that reminds me of ribbon candy. The pattern I’ll be using is Textured Stripe from the Marguerite Davison Handweaver’s Pattern Book.
Two Sheeps Calendar: A Celebration of Independent Yarn Dyers. Each month features an exclusive skein from an indie dyer and the link to order the yarn.It’s not just a calendar!
From twosheeps:
Working with each dyer, we have obtained a limited supply of each exclusive colorway. The yarn in each month’s photograph is available for purchase on the first day of that month.
We are grateful to each dyer for creating, dyeing, twisting, and labeling these amazing skeins and are thrilled to showcase their talent in our company’s first calendar!
From Field Notes: We’ve limited this 49th Quarterly Edition to 33,333 3-Packs. Each Memo Book cover features a unique snowflake illustration rendered by our friend and co-conspirator,Brendan Dawes. Each snowflake is different, so every book is different, and so for the first time in a Quarterly Edition – we’ve individually numbered each book.
To enter, answer this prompt: How do you keep your plots and plans straight? Paper, digital, other? Do you use a calendar? What kind? A notebook? What kind? Do you use a notebook for your projects or just Ravelry? When do you use paper and when do you use digital? Marsha and Kelly will put up a thread in the Ravelry group, or you can send a comment from the website, you can send us an audio file (for example using voice memo phone app and emailing it, send us a dm on Instagram or email ustwoewes@twoewesfiber.com. From all the responses we’ll draw a winner on January 20 and you’ll hear the winner during the second January episode on about January 25.
Winter Weave Along
You can join in with your weaving projects anytime until March 31. We will have prizes, including a class generously donated by Erica atWeavolution. Check out this great website for weavers with projects, discussion, classes, and lots of resources. The website has a handy Weaving Calculatorthat you can use for project planning.
06 May 2018
Ep 89: Spirit Dress Forms and Uncanny Coincidences
00:58:31
The Ewes are back to regular episodes with prize drawings, weaving, a couple stories and, of course, our knitting.
The weave along ended with some prizes. One of the prizes is a Sweetheart Loom from Hazel Rose Looms. The Sheep Thrills KAL prize was also drawn in this episode.
Marsha made good progress on her Little Wave cardigan by Gudrun Johnston. She has knit the body up to the armholes and has finished the first sleeve. When the second sleeve is completed both will be attached to the body and the yoke and saddle shoulders worked. This is the first sweater Marsha has made with this technique.
Marsha cast on for the Summer Fjord by Trin-Annelie. This is the same Tee Kelly is making and like Kelly, Masha is using a different weight of yarn. She is going up to DK with Fibra Natura Flax (100% linen) and Kelly is going down with lace weight Sincere Sheep Linen. Lots of swatching, washing, measuring, and math went into the decision of sizes to make. There was pronounced biasing on Marsha's swatch so the Summer Fjord seemed a good choice with the different stitch patterns breaking up the stockinette. Kelly's Summer Fjord has the body finished and is waiting for some work on the neckline and sleeve caps to be finished.
Kelly has been a little slow on her projects, although she did finish the Christmas dishtowels that she recently put on the LeClerc floor loom. The towels are all variations of Swiss Twill from the Marguerite P. Davison weaving book.
Kelly has also cast on the Sommer tank by Mari Chiba. The yarn is some of her oldest stash, purchased in 2007 for a tank top shown in a magazine in May of that year. That sweater never got made and the yarn has narrowly escaped destash for a few years. Once again some math and pattern adjustment was required since the gauge of the pattern isn't the gauge Kelly got in her swatch. She is "test knitting" this for a friend who might also want to make it.
Marsha's has completed three skeins of her Combo Spin #3. Kelly and Marsha have a discussion on the math required to determine the final percentages of fiber in the finished yarn from the various fibers that were used.
Marsha was unusually restrained in the destash room at the NoCKRs retreat in April with the exception of a large "friend" that drove home with Marsha. Kelly and Marsha tell the story of "Blithe Spirit" and her impact when was discovered napping at the NoCKRs retreat.
Marsha tells the story of a very strange coincidence. Her son's girlfriend needed a bookcase so Ben and her dad went to the ReStore to look for recycled materials to build a bookcase. They came back with a chest that unbelievably had belonged to Marsha's mother Podie! The chest had been left in the house by the previous owners and Podie had used it in her sewing room for notions for over 50 years. They added the bookcase to the top, painted it green, and added the bead board to the back. Marsha had given the chest to the Goodwill over a year ago and the universe sent it back for Ben's girlfriend!
Spirit Yarn charity hat (gray wool/acrylic blend) started at the retreat.
About a half dozen dishcloths from spirit yarn–royal blue and a sunny yellow and orange variegated cotton yarn. Using Triple L Tweed stitch. Some have been given away, some will stay with me. Almost finished with them.
Spun on two different projects at the retreat. Using up the last of the Wensleydale x Cormo x Merino from last summer. I had forgotten I still had a box of batts so I brought them to the retreat to spin with some purple silk held along with the fiber. The other project was spinning some gray Corriedale/Merino roving. One bobbin into the first project, two bobbins into the second project.
Spring Buckens and Owls (Ms and Os): One towel to go! Maybe a second small one depending on how much loom waste I have.
Winter Weave Along
We’ll draw prizes next episode when Marsha is back home.
10 Jun 2017
Ep 68: Experiment in Time Travel
00:41:52
This episode is an experiment in time travel. Because Kelly's Dead Relatives Tour conflicted with the recording schedule, the Two Ewes prerecorded this episode.
Marsha shares her experiences of the shops she visited on the Puget Sound LYS Tour.
The two patterns Marsha bought are a poncho called Stone Point by Courtney Kelly and a cardigan called Harebell by Amy Christophers.
She bought a skein of Madelinetosh Twist Light call Void to pair with her Apple Fiber Studio MacIntosh in the color way Moss on a Rock. She also purchased a giant, luscious skein of Done Roving Yarns DK Frolicking Feet Sweater pack. The skein is 1500 yards and weights over two pounds!
You'll all hear more about Kelly's Dead Relatives Tour in Episode 69. Stay tuned!
16 Apr 2022
Live, But Not From the Road
00:53:51
Lots of the fun at the Northern California Knitting Retreat affectionately known as NoCKRs. Plus project updates, announcement of the winners of our Stitches West 2022 Celebration Giveaway, and a JUL Designs discount. We are still recording together at Kelly’s house in California so no editing again this episode.
I’m spinning a 2lb bag ofManx Loaghtonin my stash. This is a protected breed from the Isle of Man. I am using a woolen spun technique and have spun 5 skeins or approximately 400 yards
Mielie vestusing Schaeffer Yarn Company Little Danya mohair. Considered bulky so I did some modifications to the pattern. Color is Rosa Parks and it was spirit yarn from NoCKRs retreat in 2018.
We Want to Hear You!
Give us a call and tell us about your favorite LYS! Go tospeakpipe.com/twoewesand leave a message. It will take 90 seconds or less. Or you can use the voice memo app on your phone and email us the audio file. We’ll put your voice feedback on the show!
Stitches West 2022 Celebration Giveaway:
The giveaway ended on April 15. Thank you to everyone who participated. Listen to this episode to hear who won.
Stash-Busting Blanket Along
Ends May 31. We talked to so many people at NoCKRs retreat who were also blanketing along with us. Our friend Heddicraft actually finished her crochet flower blanket while at the retreat. We joked that she could use the Winter Weave(-In) Along to weave in all the ends.
Black Sheep Gathering
June 24-26
Albany, Oregon
We will be at the event with details to follow.
06 May 2017
Ep 65bee: Best Bee Weekend Ever.
00:37:37
This bonus episode is all about bees. Our regular knitting, spinning, and fiber adventures episode will be published in Episode 66 on the weekend of May 12/13.
Kelly picked up two packages of treatment free bees to add to her apiary. They rode home in the car and were successfully installed the same day. She is so happy with the improvement of her beekeeping skills since 2015. Click here for video of the package installation.
The next day the existing hive that had been cut out of a drain pipe and had been progressing well swarmed. She saw the swarm from start to finish and describes the incredible experience. Click here for video of the swarm experience.
These are my first attempts to create YouTube videos. We won't be changing the podcast to video, but it was fun to document the experience for a YouTube supplement.
04 Nov 2024
We're Back in Action!
01:21:12
Technical difficulties in the last episode meant we lost half of the audio. We’re back and announce the winners of the Summer Spin In and discuss project updates. Marsha shares details about her trip to upstate New York and the New York State Sheep and Wool Show.
Auckland Bound: by Maddie Mo. Finished. Used Alaskan Yarn Company DK in colorway Spruce.
Auckland Bound: by Maddie Mo. Finished. Used Hazel Knits Cadence DK in colorway Wonderland Trail.
Emotional Support Chicken: by Annette Corsino. I’ve knitted a bit on my chicken. Decided to make a rock climbing chicken for Ben. Found tiny carabiners online.
Sockhead Slouch Hat: by Kelly McClure. Using Done Roving Yarns Frolicking Feet in colorway Irish Moss. Hibernating.
Why Knot?: by Rachel Illsey. Using Weird Sisters Wool Emporium Carroll in colorway Westport Treasures. This project is on hold. I cast on and ripped out twice as the unusual stitch patterns made me completely confused. Hibernating.
Graphito: by Heidemarie Kaizer. Using Purls Before Swine Robusta in colorways Good Jeans (blue) and Toxic (pink). Cast on just before I left for New York. Got stuck on the brioche. Too much drinking and talking. Now that I’m home I’m back on track.
Ames Beanie: Stephanie Larson. Using Purls Before Swine Hometown Worsted in colorway Seaglass.
Kelly’s Projects
Finished Desert Lavender socks out of Smirligan’s yarn. I’m thinking about starting a new pair for watching the election coverage. Purl2W2 Coconut Tree.
I’ve split off the sleeves and finished the body of Graphito by Heidemarie Kaiser. I still have to try it on before I decide to start the bottom ribbing or knit it a little longer. The yarns are Seismic Yarns Butter Silk as the contrast yarn and Invictus Yarns Seraphic as the main yarn–both fingering weight.
I started the Maple Vest to have something to knit in the car for the reunion trip. Interesting pattern. I joined under the arms and then split again after about two inches. I’m all the way down to the ribbing on the front panel. Had to rip back a couple of rows this morning because I made a mistake on the cable crosses in one of the pattern repeats.
Winter Weave Along
Nov 3, 2024 - March 31, 2025 Join in with your weaving! Share on our Ravelry group!
Marsha's New York Trip
October 9-22, 2023
New York and the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival
In this episode you will only hear one half of the Two Ewes. Kelly finished up the school year with a cold and wasn't able to record. We didn't want to miss reaching out to everyone so it is short episode with Marsha. Well, Kelly does make a short appearance at the end of the podcast since at editing time she had a little better voice!
Kelly has finished two projects! She decided that a good day to bind off the I Love My Husband scarf was their 32nd anniversary. It was one of the projects that she brought on the camping trip they went on. She also finished the Edie tee by Isabel Kramer. She decided not to add the neckline edging, but she did add a moss stitch edging to the hem and sleeves. The yarn fabric washed up nicely in a cold water machine wash and a trip through the dryer. The hem and sleeve edges are rolling up, so it will need a bit of ironing there.
She continues work on the Latticework Cardigan and hopes to finish before the Black Sheep Gathering. Breaking News! The sweater is finished!
The end of the semester prevented her from selecting a spirit yarn project (although Pi Baby from last episode was made from spirit yarn). Now that school is over and the grading is done, she will be searching through stash for a good candidate.
Marsha has not picked up her Fairfield Cardigan by Michele Wang for weeks since she has been working on other projects.
She is almost to the bottom edge of her Ricky for All Seasons by Vera Sanon. She want the T-shirt to be a little longer than the pattern is written. She plans to put the bottom edge on waste yarn, finish the neck and sleeves and see how much yarn she has to make the Tee longer.
Yarnia in Portland, Oregon was awesome and sent her 2 ounces more yarn to finished her Striped Study Shawl. Thank you so much Yarnia!
Marsha is still working on her Spirit-Yarn-a-Long project, a shawl called Sunny Delight by Brian Smith.
She has been spinning and carding the Merino fleece she bought last year at the Black Sheep Gathering. Marsha promised herself she cannot by more fleece at this year's gathering until she spins what she bought last year!
Fiber in the Wild:
Marsha visited just two yarn shops, Tolt and Quintessential Knits, during the LYS Tour of shops in the Seattle area. At Tolt she bought baa ram ewe Dovestone DK from Yorkshire, in a light grey/blue call Brambly Bath . The yarn is 50% Blueface Leicester, 25% Wensleydale, and 25% Masham. Marsha had not heard of Masham so had to buy the yarn!
We have a discussion thread in the Ravelry Group for the Spirit Yarn Along. Use your spirit yarn (whether de-stash or DEEP stash) to make something between now and June 30. Talk about it, show us pictures, and share the creativity. Winners will be selected randomly from the thread.
Kelly attended the Spinning at the Winery on June 4, held by the Treadles to Threads Guild at the Retzlaff winery in Livermore. What a fun event! In addition to spinning a braid from Woolgatherings, there was much spinning encouragement going on. Dagmar got going with her new wheel and Jennai actually won a wheel in the raffle! Woohoo! What a great day!
Going to the Black Sheep Gathering? If so, we have a meet-up planned for the afternoon/evening of Saturday, June 25. We hope you can join us. Listen to the show and check out the Ravelry Group for more details.
In this episode Kelly and Marsha give updates on finished knitting projects, ongoing knitting projects, and other fiber projects that are in the the planning stages. They also talk about Marsha's spinning class, crochet, Kelly's new beekeeping adventure, and her upcoming fellowship in Washington DC.
Kelly has one sleeve done and the other moving along on the purple sweater she is making. The project uses the Cherry Vanilla pattern by Thea Colman. She battled the sleeve slog by starting a new project! The Ava Tunic by Jade Fletcher is a chevron striped dress or top for a little girl, size 18 mos. to toddler. She is knitting it in Spud and Chloe Sweater in teal and yellow.
Marsha finished her Neskowin Shell by Kay Hopkins that she made as part of our Warmth of Summer KAL. She finished the body of her Juno Cardigan by yellowcosmo and started the first sleeve. Marsha is concerned the sweater may not have as much positive ease as she had hoped, but she was limited by the amount of yarn she had. Blocking will probably relax fabric the the sweater may be perfect. The continuing mystery of fit!
Marsha is thinking of next knitting the Wispy Willow Cardigan by Cheryl Beckerich using the coned blue yarn she picked up at the NoCKRs Retreat. "middleagepearl" made this darling cardigan for our Warmth of Summer KAL. Or she is thinking of making Lanata, a pretty lace cardigan by Amy Christoffers using Limbo that a friend gave her.
Marsha reports on the first half of an introductory spinning classes she is taking.
And then we talk about bees! It is swarm season and Kelly talks about the public perception of a swarm vs. the reality of a swarm. Here are a couples websites that provides more information about swarms. Habitat for Honeybees and the Seattle Urban Bee Project. If you want to get even more scientific, check out Honeybee Democracy by Thomas Seeley of the Cornell department of neurobiology and behavior or read this shorter article on the topic (the article has a great picture of a swarm). Fascinating! If everyone had this information, no bee swarms would ever face extermination!
The documentary about bees that Marsha mentions is More Than Honey (2012) by Markus Imhoof.
Here are some others that Marsha has not watched but sound interesting.
If you are interested in bees and pollinators other than honeybees and some information on "bee-positive" plants and gardening, check out the UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab.
And finally, if you're wondering why Marsha was at Steven's Pass for six hours, click here to see why. For obvious reasons she will only watch his videos when he is home safe. Don't watch if you don't want to hear a teenage boy swear. ;-)
24 Jun 2020
Ep 139: Cotton Spinning, Camel Spinning, and Tunisian Crochet
00:57:40
Another fun episode recorded with live visitors. We have big spinning plans and a finished Tunisian crochet project. Full notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Join the community on Ravelry to participate in the conversation.
Marsha’s Projects:
I am continuing to knit on Summer Fjord by Trin-Annelie using Quince & Co Sparrow in three colors.
I finished a camel, merino and silk braid from Huckleberry Knits for our Summer Spin-A-Long.
I also started another spinning project with Huckleberry Knits 40/40/20 Targhee, bamboo and silk and Sauked in Farm 50/50 alpaca/Babydoll Southdown Wool. It will be a 3-ply yarn when I’m finished.
Kelly’s Projects
I finished the Paving Mitts by Ellen Silva (twinsetellen). This is a fun, fast, Tunisian crochet pattern for mitts with a thumb gusset. Two thumbs up!
I’m back to work on the Mariannes Cardigan by Trine Bertelsen. The faux seam is working to hide the alternation of skeins better than when I didn’t have the faux seam.
I started a pair of socks in handspun (Falkland in a colorway called Tomato and Mink.) I spun the yarn in a long color repeat fashion. Just end to end from one end of the roving to the other. It was chain-plied to preserve the colors and there is a nice color division between the rust and the gray. The stripes are very large.
I re-started and finished spinning a tricolor cotton roving. I spun about 4 oz. and I already had some from previous spinning. Plus I found another skein as I was preparing to record. It’s about 2 oz. I have a total of about 8 oz and 1600 yards that I plan to weave into fabric.
I am planning more cotton spinning since I have such a large (and old!) cotton stash. A good portion of my cotton stash is Sally Fox Foxfibre. Sally Fox is a very interesting woman and you can hear an interview with her on the Weave Podcast Episode 52 or a two-part interview with her on Yarn Stories episode 201 and episode 202. Definitely worth a listen if you are interested in fiber and recent fiber history. Sally’s current farm is growing test crops of cotton, organic wheat for flour, and merino sheep. Check out her Vreseis website to purchase any of her products, including yarn, roving, and fabric.
Finishing Cotton Yarn
I finished my cotton yarn by bringing it to a full boil and then turning it down to simmer for about 30 minutes. I had Borax in the water to make the solution more basic. Baking soda and washing soda are other alternatives. A basic pH can intensify the color of the natural cotton. The Ask the Bellwether blog has an informative post on finishing cotton handspun. Schacht Spindle company also has an informative post on spinning cotton and includes some information about finishing the yarn by boiling.
Bellepoint Rescue Farm--Wool Available
A listener shared that Bellepoint Rescue Farm in Ohio has fleece that they would like to get rid of. The owners are willing to give it away if the receiver will pay for the shipping. They have a Facebook page where you can contact them for more information. Or contact me and I will put you in touch. Free fleece can be a lot of work, but it can also be a great fiber adventure. I made lots of very usable yarn from some free fleece from meat sheep that a farmer once gave me because he wante to get rid of it.
Patron Appreciation!
All patrons active as of the beginning of June get a Ravelry download pattern of their choice up to a $7 value. Contact Kelly through Ravelry, Patreon or email.
Jul Designscoupon code: 15% off with code TWOEWES. They have a wide variety of shawl pins and cuffs, and clever screw-on leather and metal closures.
Marsha’s Projects:
Garter Squish BlanketOn the tenth color. Realized I wouldn’t have enough contrasting colors. Searched my stash but couldn’t find any solid worsted weight yarn! Bought two skeins of Cascade 220 (teal and coral) so now have sixteen contrasting colors.
Unpattern Top Down Raglan Pulloverby Karen Alfke. I finished the Fibonacci Sequence striping of the body except for the ribbing. I’m waiting for Ben to try on the sweater. Picked up and knit the neck band and started the first sleeve.
Troyggja vi Mynsturby Tora Joensen: I was inspired by Cat (Catitude) who shared with us her audio about touring yarn shops on the Faroe Island. I had knit for my brother, Atlas by Jarod Flood, but the yarn I used, Navia Tradition, is too bulky for the pattern and the sweater is too small. I’ve decided to make a traditional Faroese sweater for him.
I’m spinning a 2lb bag ofManx Loaghtonin my stash. This is a protected breed from the Isle of Man. I am using a woolen spun technique and have spun 5 skeins or approximately 400 yards. Spun three more bobbins that are ready to be plied.
Kelly’s Projects:
The Garter Squish blanket using handspun leftovers. I finished the skein I was using at NoCKRs and spun another. I finished plying my last (?) skein of yarn last night. Washed it and got it wound to knit with while recording today.
Mother Bear time! I worked on a Mother Bear in the car yesterday as we drove to pick up bees. She has red boots, a multicolor handspun skirt (red, yellow, magenta) and a purple leotard. Right now she has no head. I hope I have enough brown for her whole head. If not she’ll have some gray curly hair on top using a thick and thin handspun for top of her head.
Mielie vestusing Schaeffer Yarn Company Little Danya mohair. This sat in the knitting basket for the last two weeks. Color is Rosa Parks and it was spirit yarn from NoCKRs retreat in 2018.
Winter Weave Along Prizes
Listen to hear the names of winners and their prizes.
We Want to Hear You!
Eva from Ireland (Evaliz on Ravelry) sent us this message aboutThis is Knit, a yarn shop in Dublin.
Give us a call and tell us about your favorite LYS! Go tospeakpipe.com/twoewesand leave a message. It will take 90 seconds or less. Or you can use the voice memo app on your phone and email us the audio file. We’ll put your voice feedback on the show!
Stash-Busting Blanket Along
Ends May 31.
Black Sheep Gathering
June 24-26
Albany, Oregon
Saturday late afternoon meet-up.
12 Jun 2022
Go Go Boots and Vinyl Pants
01:13:13
We have winners for the Stash Busting Blanket Along! Plus project updates, camping in the Club Car and some clothing memories.
Thank you to our patrons. To become a patron visitPatreon Page.
Marsha’s Projects:
Unpattern Top Down Raglan Pulloverby Karen Alfke. Ben tried on the sweater and it is too big. Designers instructions were misleading so I ended up with too many stitches for the body. Need to rip back to correct number of stitches because the sweater is too big and I don’t think I will have enough yarn to finish. Very frustrating. This project need to be set aside for awhile
Troyggja við Mynstur(Sweater with Round Pattern) by Tora Joensen (translated by Kate Gagnon Osborne: I have finished the body and the first sleeve. Washed and blocked the sleeve to be sure the size is correct because it felt tight unwashed.
I’m spinning a 2lb bag ofManx Loaghtonin my stash. This is a protected breed from the Isle of Man. I am using a woolen spun technique and have spun 5 skeins or approximately 400 yards. Spun three more bobbins that are ready to be plied.
Happinessby Kyle Kunnecke using Yarn Snob Power Ball. The skein is massive, weighing 500 grams and 2,187 yards. I wound into three cakes and labeled yarn ends 1-6 so I can keep color order. In order to pull from the outside of cake, which I prefer, I am starting with #6 and working backwards.
Kelly’s Projects:
I’m a little more than halfway done with theshortie socksout of Tomato and Mink Falkland handspun yarn. It’s a 3-ply chain plied yarn. I can really see the variations in thickness since chain ply has a tendency to exaggerate the differences. I also have an overplied and unbalanced yarn. This is good for durability in socks, but is also something that can happen in a chain ply. While your fingers are doing the chaining, sometimes your feet don’t slow down.
I also have a new spinning project with the remainder of theColumbia fleece. I blended this with tussah silk top that I had in my stash. It is spinning up thin so I think I’ll make a 3-ply with this.
Stash-Busting Blanket Along
Listen to the episode to hear the winners.
Summer Spin-In
Started June 1 and goes until September 5. (US Labor Day)
Saturday June 25 meet-up starting about 4-4:30. We will supply snacks and beverages. We can’t wait to meet you!
We Want to Hear You!
Give us a call and tell us about your favorite LYS! Go tospeakpipe.com/twoewesand leave a message. It will take 90 seconds or less. Or you can use the voice memo app on your phone and email us the audio file. We’ll put your voice feedback on the show!
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, 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 Good morning, Kelly.
Kelly 0:44 Hi, Marsha. How are you?
Marsha 0:46 I'm doing well.
Kelly 0:47 Good.
Marsha 0:48 Well, not really, though. Not really.
Kelly 0:50 Oh, really?
Marsha 0:51 Well, I'll talk about it when I get... oh, that's my teaser. But anyway, I want to hear how you're doing. Because I know you went on a camping trip. The first real camping trip in the trailer, not the show but a real camping trip. And I want to hear about it.
Kelly 1:10 Oh, okay. Well, we got home yesterday. It was a short trip. Because by the time I made the reservations there weren't a lot of sites. You know, the sites that we liked, that we know we liked, that we were familiar with, because we wanted to make sure that it was an easy trip. The sites that we were familiar with were only available until Friday. So we left Tuesday, spent Tuesday night and Wednesday night and then came back yesterday. So it was a fun, quick trip. The weather was gorgeous, gorgeous weather. The campground that we like to go to is called Mount Madonna. And it's on what I think is called Hecker pass, it's a mountain pass through the Santa Cruz Mountains. The the far southern end, I would say, of the Santa Cruz Mountains between Watsonville and Gilroy.
Marsha 2:08 Okay.
Kelly 2:09 And, and I... the reason I'm making the point about where it is is because I have an idea to to float that we'll probably talk about later on in the podcast. But anyway, the trip was great. The, you know, getting in and out of our driveway part of it was successful, then we stopped at his work to let people take a look at it. And the guys that he works with were really, you know, I mean, it's it's kind of like the .... I don't, I kind of don't get it the same way. Because to me, it's about the camping experience. I mean, I think the trailer is beautiful. But I don't have like, you know how when, when men, and probably some women too... But a lot of times you'll see a classic car. And then there's all these men gathered around the classic car looking at things that I've no idea what they're looking at. Like, that's kind of the way people are when they look at the trailer. And so, you know, going to his work when he got a chance to show it off to the people that he used to work with. And they were super impressed. They'd heard a lot about it, you know, because it's been being worked on... it had been being worked on since well... We got it in December 2020. So you know, it's been a long time coming.
Marsha 3:27 Yeah.
Kelly 3:27 They'd heard a lot about it and seen pictures and stuff. So they wanted to see the finished trailer. So we stopped there on our way up to to mount Madonna. And the second day, the you know, the only full day that we were there, my mom and Dennis arrived with snacks to christen the trailer and, you know, visit with us because they like camping up there too. But they weren't able to camp that particular weekend because their trailer needs to go in for some work. But they did come up and visit. And I took the dogs on lots of trails and sat and spun. I basically brought my spinning project that I'll talk about and sat in the sun and did some spinning and we ate cheese and crackers when we arrived so we ended up not having dinner that night. And then my mom and Dennis they came with snacks the second day. So we had snacks and didn't have dinner the second day. There was very little cooking we didn't have to do any. Oh, I made tuna sandwiches because I had made some tuna you know some tuna salad was already prepared for the first night and we didn't eat it. So the second night when we were supposed to have barbecued hamburgers. After my mom and Dennis left a little while later we were kind of hungry. So we had tuna sandwiches and so it was easy in terms of, you know, we didn't do the eggs and potatoes or pancakes for breakfast we didn't do barbeque for dinner. There was not a whole lot of cleanup because it was mostly cheese and crackers and chips and salsa and yogurt for breakfast. And so there was lots of time to just sit around and spin and take the dogs for walks. And they did really well. It was Beary's first real camping trip. And he did great. So yeah, it was really fun.
Marsha 5:32 So and then where you camp at Mount Madonna. Is it...Do you plug into services or?
Kelly 5:39 Yeah
Marsha 5:40 Did you have to bring your own water? Okay, so you have water and electricity.
Kelly 5:43 Right.
Marsha 5:43 Well,okay.
Kelly 5:43 Yeah, they have hookups. They call them partial hookups, it doesn't have sewer hookup. You dump the sewer, and gray water, black water and gray water tanks. When you leave, there's a dump station where you do that. So we got to do that for the first time. Because we didn't have that in our old trailer. You know, our gray water just went into a five gallon you know, a five gallon... It wasn't a bucket, it was like a jug. You know, grey water went into a five gallon jug and we didn't have a bathroom. So there was no black water tank. So but yeah, we had electrical hookup. And we had water hookup. City water, they call it. So yeah, we had all the all the hook up stuff that we needed. Today I'm sitting in the trailer to record. I don't, I probably won't do this a lot, because we did get a cover for it. So he's going to keep it covered. But I thought oh, I'll record in the trailer today. It's beautiful outside. It's actually a little warm in the trailer because Robert had some of the windows closed but it's going to be in the 80s today, maybe it already is. So anyway, I'm sitting at the trailer table and and I'm testing out the inverter because I've got my phone plugged in and I've got my computer. It's the first time I've plugged in something more than a phone, which you can charge off of the 12 volt system battery. So right now I'm running my computer, it's it's plugged in and it's being you know, being powered by the solar.
Marsha 7:31 Okay, pretty cool.
Kelly 7:33 Robert's got a small solar power panel that he uses for what he calls trickle charging when it's just sitting in our driveway. So the batteries don't get overused but they also don't go dead. And then we have the larger solar panel that we haven't used in a camping trip yet. We didn't need them because we had power hookup at Mount Madonna. But Mount Madonna also has tent campsites and we went around and scoped out the sites with no services. I mean they have they have bathrooms, obviously, and they have water but you have to go to the place where the faucet is and fill up and bring it back. And we went and scoped out those areas to find some of the sites. We marked down some of the sites that are long enough for, you know, for our trailer and the truck to both be off the road, off the main road. So those campsites there were a few that we're going to probably try out if, you know, the main area is full or if we just want to get into a more quiet area or just to try it because we haven't
Marsha 8:49 yeah you can go off grid you're self contained so to speak.
Kelly 8:55 Yeah we don't need the electricity or the water so yeah, yeah, it should be really fun.
Marsha 9:04 Well I thought it was really cool, too, that, you know, the one thing that you have not finished for the trailer is the curtains that are gonna go at the windows. That's down the line but the... your sort of... your stop gap measure is you put up all your vintage linens like tablecloths and stuff as sort of temporary curtains. I thought they were so cute.
Kelly 9:27 Yeah, in fact I have the one sitting here. I'm gonna have to prevail on my more experienced weaver friends and some of the people who do more technical work because (and I'll put a picture in the show notes, in fact I'll text it to you while we're talking maybe). So this one tablecloth and I think this is one that came from the batch that you gave me when you were going through all of your all of your stuff.
Marsha 9:56 Oh, right.
Kelly 9:57 It's so... it's it's linen. It's a small tablecloth, a small table tablecloth, but every corner has this really interesting detail. And some of it is actual like cut out and and then bound. Or I guess it's possible that it's not cut out. That just the warp and weft threads are just bound to make pretty good sized, like quarter inch square, holes. And then some of it is just in the hemstitch, which I haven't ever done. But I'd like to try. I think that it's not that difficult. And I know I can find instructions for it. And then there's also this other mesh detail that is... I've done some woven lace, but this is actually with thread you come back after the fact. And you use threads to wrap the warp threads and the weft threads so that you've got these holes. Like it pinches in.
Marsha 11:07 Yeah.
Kelly 11:08 It pinches in the warp threads and it pinches in weft threads and then you get these little holes. So anyways, very interesting construction. And I'd really... there's not enough. I used this one tablecloth in one of the windows, like folded over. But there's not enough even for that one window. Well, I guess... I guess there would be for that one window. But I would like for the two windows that are across from each other in the bedroom to be at least similar.
Marsha 11:43 Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 11:44 So and I don't think I want to cut this one up, because it's just pretty. But anyway, I'd like to reconstruct this fabric or do some kind of facsimile of this, of this sort of fussy, fussy work. Weave something and then try that. I think it would be really kind of a fun challenge for those two bedroom windows. And then the kitchen window--and I'm not sure where it came from, it might have been a piece that I bought somewhere else. It's like a table runner, but it only has lace on one lengthwise edge. And so I don't know maybe like a buffet? You know, something that was against the wall, you would put it on that and it would hang with the lace part hanging over the front. And I just sewed a little sleeve for the for the curtain rod and used it as a kitchen curtain. The kitchen window has two crocheted lace panels that are sewn between linen fabric. And it's really cute, it's a bit too long. And I think when I'm going to do... I didn't... All I did was put a sleeve in the top of it for the rod. So it's just one panel, one piece going across the whole window. And I think... I can't decide whether I want to do it as a valance and just have one piece going across the top of the window as a valance or if I want to cut it down the center and be able to split them for the kitchen window. But I think that one will stay. I think that one in some form. Not the form is in now, but in some form that one is going to stay
Marsha 13:26 okay
Kelly 13:27 in that kitchen window because it is really cute. And it's the perfect size whether I make it into a valance or split it down the middle. It's it's really the perfect size. So that one will stay and then the other one that I thought was really funny is there's a dresser scarf and I think the dresser scarf also came from the stuff that you gave me.
Marsha 13:51 Okay.
Kelly 13:52 And one edge of it has crocheted lace that says Mother and so I hung it up in the window with the side that said Mother facing into the bedroom and my mom was laughing. She's like, I'm not sure you want your mother in the bedroom. [laughing]
Marsha 14:14 Yeah, really. But you can't get into too much trouble on that bed, Kelly! [laughing]
Kelly 14:23 With the word mother right over your head. [laughing]
Marsha 14:26 Yeah, really.
Kelly 14:29 It was really... it was... it's a really cute piece and it has plain lace on the other side. So the outside of the window had the plain lace showing. The inside of the window had the lace that had the word mother on it. So very fun. And then I used one of my I... wanted to cover the front window. Well really I wanted to keep the curtain rod from falling out. And so I put another vintage tablecloth in. I had one with flowers on it in the front window hanging up, and you know, a floral one, and then we just used that one on the table while we were, you know, while we were there. So yeah, yeah, we had a really a really good time. So the thing...Oh, Bailey's barking in the background because the mailman just came. The thing that I was thinking as we were there, because they do have the tent sites. And they also have yurts for people who didn't typically do camping, but I was thinking it would be fun to have a little camping meet up.
Marsha 15:39 Oh, yeah.
Kelly 15:40 And, and we could provide, again, for people who didn't necessarily do camping or have camping equipment. You know, we could do you know, here at the, at the trailer, we do coffee in the morning. And so people have their coffee, and then we could do dinners. You know, barbecue dinners, and some people would, who didn't camp typically could, you know, still eat. [laughing] We wouldn't need to worry about you know, about bringing a camp stove or, or that kind of stuff. You could get by with minimal equipment. You know.
Marsha 16:16 Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 16:16 That's what I was thinking. If you wanted to you could rent one of the yurts, or get one of the tent sites, or if you have an RV, bring an RV. So, you know, I don't know how many people that would actually turn out to be. Probably not very many. But I thought that might be kind of a fun thing to look into.
Marsha 16:33 So, yeah, we'll think about that.
Kelly 16:35 Yeah, yeah. I really enjoy that campground, because it's very close to our house. And, you know, it's in the woods. But it's not like the wilderness. And then on our way...I won't get off the camping thing! But on our way to Black Sheep gathering we're going to stay at a couple of Harvest Host sites. Kelli, that we met at Stitches, had recommended Harvest Host and I looked into it and decided to get a membership. So we're going to be staying at two places. One is a rice farm on the way up, and the other one is a winery. So I'll have to report back on how that goes. But that should be fun. It'll be at first. I've never done that kind of camping, where you just pull up at somebody's business and park in their parking lot. So yeah,
Marsha 16:45 It'll be interesting.
Kelly 16:57 Yeah, yeah,
Marsha 17:07 How fun.
Kelly 17:37 I'll definitely report back.
Marsha 17:39 So yeah, well, I remember Kelli talking about it. She was really excited about it. She said it was just really, really fun. So
Kelly 17:47 It's perfect for a trip where, you know, where you're on the go, because it's a one night experience. You don't stay there multiple nights. And that's not something that we've done a lot of either. You know, the trip up to Black sheep is probably the one of the those... that's one of the only types of trips where we've done the camp one night, then pack up and go kind of camping. We usually, wherever we're staying, we stay a little longer than that, even if we're moving on, you know?
Marsha 18:18 Yeah. Well, I'm excited because I will see it at the end of this month, just two weeks, I think, or so I'll see it.
Kelly 18:26 Yeah, yeah.
Marsha 18:27 Anyway. Okay, should we move on? I don't want to cut this off, because it's super interesting and fun, but I don't. Should we move on? Move on to our next topic?
Kelly 18:39 Yes. Let's move on to our next topic. There was some fiber content in there though. I have to say because I did talk about lace curtains and possible weaving. [laughing]
Marsha 18:47 Yeah, Yeah, it is. Well, I think the trailer is just, it's just fun. It is just super fun. So. Okay, so before we get to projects, we just want to mention that Jul Designs coupon code for 15% off any of their products is still available. It's still going on. And just go to Jul Designs website, there's a link in the show notes and just use the coupon code TWOEWES and that's all caps. And so check that out. Did you buy your...
Kelly 19:24 No I have not yet. I keep thinking I need to go in there and do it and I haven't done it. But I was looking there today as I was putting my stuff in the show notes. And I found a couple of things that I like, so I'm going to do that before we-- before I put the computer away today. And then also I noticed that she has a blog post series. Laura Bellows who has Jul Designs. She's an anthropologist, I think, and anyway, she has this blog post series on wearing a Balinese sarong and I saw the title and I saw the pictures and I bookmarked it, because I want to go back in and read it. It looks like it's like three, three or four posts on the different aspects of of that and I thought, well that's very interesting. Because, again, fabric right?
Marsha 20:17 Fabric
Kelly 20:20 So, so yeah, take a look at her her blog posts and take a look at her-- all of her different shawl pins and shawl collars and different closures and, and such. And thank you to her for providing this coupon code for for our listeners. Well, and speaking of thanks, Marsha, we have another thank you to do.
Marsha 20:45 Yes
Kelly 20:45 Our patrons from Patreon. We just want to want to give them all a shout out because we're so appreciative. These patrons that provide the funding that supports the prizes, they support the podcast hosting, all of our community events, you know. The the Alongs that we do, we are able to have prizes, you know, in the abundance that we do because of the support of our patrons. So we wanted to thank them. And our most recent patrons are--so thank you to them--Christina Y, Kelly B, Laurie M, Francesca Q, and Shelly M. They've all joined Patreon and become patrons in 2022. And then we also have Pamela R, Connie L., Cheryl C., Jan H., Hetty C, Jane H, Colleen G, and Mindy C. Thank you for your sponsorship of our podcast.
Marsha 21:56 Okay, and we also have Eman, Amy L., Patti B. ,Joan B., Tammy S, Kathy M., Natalie, Martha P., Melody W., Joanne Y., Greta. H.
Kelly 22:17 Okay. And also thank you to Joylaine O., Barbara G., Rachel W., Joyce G, Angela D, Laurie L, Charlene, and Erica N.
Marsha 22:34 And a thank you also to Debbie F., Erica J., Rachel S., Patricia E., Catherine K., Karen B., Jenn N., and Janet S. Thank you, everyone!
Kelly 22:51 Yes, thank you! We really appreciate your support. And the other members of our community also appreciate your support. Because, again, it allows us to do the kind of the kind of events and alongs and prizes. Oh, and I see I just scrolled down to the next page. Ann Gi is also a patron. Thank you, Ann Gi! She's been a patron for quite a while. And so sorry that she was missed!
Marsha 23:20 Sorry. I didn't scroll down far enough. So sorry, Ann Gi.
Kelly 23:24 All right. Well, with that said, What about your projects? Marsha? We'll go from up note to maybe a down note?
Marsha 23:37 Oh, yes. So here's what I have to say about both my projects. The first one. So I'm going to talk first about the sweater I'm making for my son. And I'm using my hand spun. And have you ever heard Kelly of the law of attraction that you say, you tell, you say something out to the universe, and the universe gives it back to you. You have to be careful what you say because it can give you positive things, it can give you negative things. So I'm sort of laughing about this because one of the things I kept saying is how much I enjoy knitting with my handspun. But well, the universe has given me the gift of knitting the sweater for the third time. So I will just back up and just say So, bottom line, I'm taking this sweater and I'm setting it aside for a while. And I just did a note, too, about my brother's sweater. I'm kind of setting that aside for a little bit too. So the sweater I'm making for my brother, or excuse me for Ben. This is the... Do you remember? Not to rehash this whole thing but first I started making the phrancko.com sweater that didn't work out because of my gauge. So I now started doing the unpattern by Karen Alfke. And this is the raglan pullover from the top down, where you actually just take your measurements. And basically, it's the same idea of what Frank Jernigan is doing, or Amy Herzog used to do, where you, it's like, you know, the computer does the math. In this case, I'm doing the math. But we talked about this in the last episode, about the pattern. When you get to the part where you're, you're increasing for the sleeves and the body. There's an error in the pattern. I'm calling it an error. Somebody else may not say it's an error. But when you're figuring out how many stitches to have on the arm and have for the body, it says, you do your math, and times the gauge, you know, whatever it equals and then it says front or back goal stitches: 176.
Kelly 25:48 Yeah.
Marsha 25:49 And I kept knitting beyond I kept knitting. Because it said front and back.
Kelly 25:56 No, it said, front or back.
Marsha 25:58 Right, it said, front or back. I read that as I needed 176 stitches on both the front and the back.
Kelly 26:05 Each, right? 176 stitches each.
Marsha 26:08 Yes. Each. For the front, 176 stitches and for the back. What it really should be, instead of saying front or back goal stitches, it should say front and back, right. So I need a total for the whole body, front and back combined of 176. I have, because we caught this when I was down there for when I was down in California at your house going to
Kelly 26:37 stitches or NoCKRs?
Marsha 26:41 I believe it was NoCKRs. And you said, we decided, we added up my stitches, and I have 224.
Kelly 26:49 Right. And we caught it because you were so far down. It was like you had... you still weren't ready to split for the split the arms off of the body. But you were far enough down that it looked like you should be splitting the arms off the body.
Marsha 27:07 If I continued to the point where I should split the arm holes I would be at the waist. Right?
Kelly 27:13 Almost.
Marsha 27:13 That's an exaggeration. But that was right. That was the-- that was our clue.
Kelly 27:18 And then you said, wait a minute, if I keep going, this is going to be way too long. Right? And then we started looking at the pattern.
Marsha 27:26 And right and you caught the the mistake and the pattern. So but we had that conversation, you know that moment? And you have this conversation? We convinced each other? Yes. So they should just stop and keep going. Right?
Kelly 27:42 Because how many stitches did you have on each?
Marsha 27:45 I had 224 total for the body combined. And if I had continued What's two times 176? It's 252?
No, it's more than it's more than 300.
Yeah, that's right. And so,
Kelly 28:07 So you said so you were supposed to have 176 all the way around, and you had 224 all the way. So you had essentially you had about 50 extra stitches. Yes. How did we can convince ourselves that was ok?
Marsha 28:24 Well, and this is what I'm gonna... so this is what I'm gonna say. To finish it, we convinced... we have this conversation. You're like you said I think it's going to be okay, .
Kelly 28:34 How far would you have to rip it back?,
Marsha 28:35 But it will be ok.
Kelly 28:38 Oh, that's too far to rip back. That, you know, oh, that would be unpleasant number of rows to rip. So
Marsha 28:46 So. Yes, I should have just ripped back then. Because I knit the entire body.
Kelly 28:52 Right.
Marsha 28:53 And half of the first sleeve by the time he came home. And I tried it on him.
Kelly 28:59 Yeah.
Marsha 28:59 And it's way too big.
Kelly 29:03 Well, and to be fair to you, he gave you a sweater that he liked as a template. And holding the sweater you were knitting up to the sweater that he liked as a template, they looked about the same size.
Marsha 29:21 Yeah.
Kelly 29:21 But the sweater that he liked as a template is alpaca and drapey and thinner machine knit. And it's fine yarn--alpaca.
Marsha 29:31 And it's also that style where it's basically you know, the body is a square, and then the and then the arms just stick off and so here's my the moral of the story. When you have that feeling, and you know what you should do, you should just do it then.
Kelly 29:49 Yes, when you have that feeling and you say, Oh, I Oh, gosh. ripping all of that out. I really don't want to do that. I think it'll be okay. That phrase, I think it'll be okay. Should be a trigger. It won't be okay. You need to rip it out.
Marsha 30:07 Yeah.
Kelly 30:08 I'm so sorry.
Marsha 30:10 I know. So he tried it on. I don't know now, it was two weeks ago or so when he was here.
Kelly 30:17 Yeah, right after our last episode, I think.
Marsha 30:19 Yeah, it was Memorial Day weekend, I think. You know what, I don't remember because I was so upset that I sort of had to go to bed. No, I'm kidding. But I did I have that feeling like-- that feeling like, I'm gonna cry. Yeah, I feel like I'm gonna cry. And I think I should go get in bed and cry. But no, I'm a I'm a, I'm a grown woman. And I'm going to now go out and take the dog for a walk or do something else. And I'm just gonna set it aside and not think about it for a while. And then I have to just, I was and I was very angry at Karen. And it's not her fault, because well, I don't know if it's... No, I can't blame her. But it's just the way the pattern is written. It's not-- it is not clear. It's a mistake in the pattern. And I didn't catch it. You know?
Yeah, you have to actually be thinking, I mean, you have... Because I just couldn't figure out how you could have gone so wrong from the pattern. And then, so then I took the number of stitches that were supposed to be what I thought just the front and divided by your gauge to see how many inches that was supposed to be. And realized it was the 40 inch circumference that you needed. Yeah, like, Okay, well, if it's not an error, it's at least a place where things are unclear enough that it should be changed. Yeah, but
So, Karen lives in the Pacific Northwest. And I know she's a friend of my friend Kim. And so if I ever see her, I promise I will be nice to her. [laughing]
Kelly 31:55 Your mad won't last too long.
Marsha 31:58 It won't last and honestly, the truth is, once I rip the sweater out, yeah. for the second time.
Kelly 32:05 Yeah.
Marsha 32:05 And reknit it for the third time...
Kelly 32:07 Karen, if you're listening, Marsha will be okay.
Marsha 32:10 I promise I'll be kind but... And as I say, once I rip it back and start over again I now it's really clear what my mistake is. Okay, I'm crossing my-- you can't see me but I'm crossing my fingers. Kelly. Hopefully I'll be okay. And I won't have to knit it again.
Kelly 32:28 Yeah. Knock on wood right now. So
Marsha 32:32 yeah, knock on wood.
Kelly 32:34 Everybody out there. Knock on wood for Marsha.
Marsha 32:36 It's funny because I was reading the our posts in on Ravelry in the discussion thread, like when you posted the episode, and then people make comments, and I don't remember now who it was, I'm drawing a blank. Someone said, I'm so sorry that Marsha is having these problems that I talked about in the last episode with my brother's sweater. And I was laughing. I thought, you don't know the half of it. I had been. Yeah. Anyway, I will have the joy of knitting with my handspun a third time.
Kelly 33:08 It's a good thing you like that yarn. [laughing]
Marsha 33:10 Yeah, really? But I'm not going to say that anymore. Because it got me into big trouble. I think. So anyway. Okay, so now moving on to my other sweater that's a problem. And this is the sweater with round pattern. Or Kelly, how are you pronouncing it?
Kelly 33:30 Well, we have a pronunciation audio from Cat. And it actually isn't sweater with round pattern. It's well, she'll, we'll play it. So we'll put the audio in right here.
Cat 33:42 Hi, Kelly. Hi, Marsha. I believe it's "Tro-cha vee min-stur" Trocha: sweater. Vee: with. Min-stur is pattern. And I looked it up in the Faroese dictionary and I'll send it to you. Mynstur means any pattern, not necessarily a round pattern. It could also mean a pattern for for weaving, for embroidery. Depending on the context. In this case, it would be a pattern for knitting.
Marsha 34:12 Okay, so, Cat, thank you for that. Yes, that really helps us out. Okay. What's going on with that sweater? I have, as you know, now, this is the second time I've, I mean, I switched to this pattern. I've knit the body up. This is a bottom up. So I've knit up the body up to the armholes. I've set that aside and started the sleeves.
Kelly 34:34 and you've blocked it. Washed it and blocked it and checked it out that it fits.
Marsha 34:37 Yes. Yes. And so I did it halfway through so that's why the pictures of it in Ravelry there's this weird line. Okay, body set aside. I started the first sleeve. Didn't like it because I was... oh, let me back up. The sleeve you're supposed to cast on and knit the cuff. Then you do some color work, work in stockinette, right above the cuff, and then you knit the main color up to the armhole, set that aside, do the same thing with the second sleeve, then attach the sleeves to the body and knit the yoke. My concern about that is, once that's done, you cannot adjust the length of the sleeves
Kelly 35:18 without ripping everything out
Marsha 35:20 without having to rip out the yoke. Yeah. So I what I decided to do is a provisional cast on with one row of the one of the contrast. The colorwork... the cuffs are supposed to be in the navy blue. So I decided to do one row of the navy blue and then start the colorwork. And that was a disaster because you're doing it, you know, magic loop. And the tension was terrible. It was all over the place.
Kelly 35:51 And you have no base to hold on to while you're doing the colorwork. Yeah.
Marsha 35:55 Right. So I ripped that out. I cast on again, provisional cast on. I did three rows of stockinette in the blue, the navy blue, which is going to be the cuff color, because I thought, what will... and then I knit the color work. And I did about an inch of the main color. And I realized, I don't like the color work because the everything is knit on size eight. But what I've decided to do with the yoke, is I'm going to knit that on nines, and I forgot to switch to nines for the color work sleeve. So I ripped it out back to the... it was not as horrible, but I had to rip it back out to the three rows of the Navy of the stockinette. And then I reknit the color work on nines. And then I switched back to eights and I've done most of the sleeve, I would say it's three quarters done. And I thought it feels a little tight.
Kelly 36:57 Oh no.
Marsha 36:59 I don't know what's gonna happen. But I decided I'm putting it on waste yarn, and I washed and blocked it. So I did that yesterday. So it's sitting there drying. And so I I just want to make sure.
Kelly 37:12 Yeah.
Marsha 37:13 I don't want to finish that sleeve and do the second sleeve and have them too tight. So
Kelly 37:20 oh my gosh!
Marsha 37:22 All I can say is, what the hell? [laughing] I hate... I hate these projects. I hate these projects. So just to help myself I...So Ben's sweater's being set aside for a while. My brother's sweater is going to be set aside for a while. I just need to take a break from it. And anyway, I decided to cast on something else. So Kelly, guess what I cast on.
Kelly 37:53 Something for you.
Marsha 37:55 Something for me! And just the name alone is gonna make me happy. It's called Happiness.
Kelly 38:00 Yes.
Marsha 38:00 And the designer is Kyle Kunnecke and I'm using the big giant baby that I bought at stitches, Yarn Snobs Powerball, and it has all these colors in it. It's so interesting. I will post pictures, too. It weighs... this skein of yarn weighs 500 grams, it's 2187 yards and it was a bit of a challenge to get it onto the swift. And then I wound it into three cakes and what I did is because if you-- if you break it, well... First of all I have to say this is amazing yarn. I'm kind of curious how he's able to get 500 grams and over 2000 yards with not a single break and there's no knots at all and so it's a continuous piece of yarn. I don't know how he dyes it so beautifully given that it's so thick. I mean he's got the color goes all the way through. It's amazing how it's clearly when you open it up into the hank it's it's that's how it was dyed. it was not dyed in another form and then wound into that hank, you know. You can see it's been dyed in that hank.
Yeah. Is that was not reskeined.
No Yeah. Well anyway, so
Kelly 39:23 Hard enough to skein it in the first place before you dye it!
Marsha 39:28 So what I did is... I... but I wanted... It may not be important to keep the color order given the way this thing is sort of this very, very crazy, chaotic color, you know, it may not be necessary.
Kelly 39:40 I think it's necessary.
Marsha 39:42 Well, I wanted to keep the color order. So what I did is I wound it into three balls, but I put a piece of tape like painters tape on the beginning of the yarn, but as I started taking it off the swift I put it in-- I labeled that end 1 and I put it in so the end 1 now is on the inside of my cake. And end 2 is on the outside of my cake. Right, so then I break that, and then I put a tape on the next the piece that's coming off of the swift, that's 3 that's now wound on that's on the inside of a cake, and 4 is on the outside of my cake. And then the third one, end 5 is on the inside. And end 6 is on the outside. I like to pull from the outside. So I can't pull from the outside of the first cake that is labeled one and two, because two is on the outside. So I'm starting at the very end. So I'm starting with the third cake, which is end starting with six, which then five will be in the center. Then I'll go to two, 4, which is on the outside. 3 is on the inside. And then the last cake 2 is on the outside and 1 is on the inside. Does that make sense?
Kelly 41:06 Yeah. And that's I think going to be really important because the cakes of yarn actually look very different.
Marsha 41:14 It's true. And the the first one I wound off and the last one I wound off look the most similar. The one that's right in the middle is darker, it has more black in it. So I think I think it is important to keep the order.
Kelly 41:32 Yeah, because that way you don't have to alternate skeins, it'll just go along the patterning of the skein. And whatever the differences are, they will change naturally, the way the skein changeds as opposed to abruptly if you weren't going in that order. So I think that's a smart way to do it, Marsha.
Marsha 41:55 Yeah, so I already started knitting on it. I'm so much happier. It's on size four. So it's a nice, it's a smaller needle. Because the other thing I need to mention that I did finish my garter squish blanket over Memorial Day weekend, the deadline to finish it was May 31. And I believe I finished it on May 30 with a day to spare. But that was knit on 13s and that's like, it really feels you can't really get a rhythm knitting with those, because they're so big. So I'm very happy with this so far. And I've just knit. Let's see, I'm knitting on it now. And I have to do two inches of ribbing, and then I'll switch to stockinette. And so I...this is what I'm planning to bring to Black Sheep Gathering the end of the month. So I can just knit mindlessly on it and talk to people and not look at those other two sweaters.
Kelly 42:52 I think that's a really good plan. And the thing about this one is that it's a nice kind of boxy sweater with a lot of positive ease. So that's a lot of stitches going around and around in stockinette. So it'll be it'll be perfect knitting for a long time.
Marsha 43:12 Yeah.
Kelly 43:14 And I think everybody probably has the size needle that they feel the most comfortable with. Or the range of needle size that they feel the most comfortable with. I really like my sock needles at the low end. And then I like threes. Like threes, fours. That's a twos threes, fours that's a really nice size for me. It feels they feel right in my hand. Where when I'm knitting with five fives or sixes for a hat, it's not that I don't enjoy it. But it's always nice to get back to my little needles.
Marsha 43:49 Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 43:51 So that's that'll be good, too. It's right in your your comfort knitting zone. Yeah, well, that's good. I'm excited about it. I think it'll be I think it'll be a good project for you. It sounds like you're excited about it. The colors are great.
Marsha 44:07 And then I have been spinning on the Manx Loaghton. And I've been spinning on that and I'm planning on bringing my wheel and that to Black Sheep Gathering and mostly spinning, I think.
Kelly 44:21 Oh, good.
Marsha 44:22 That's it. And then as I say finished project, I finished my garter squish. That's my only finished project.
Kelly 44:27 and it turned out nice.
Marsha 44:29 Yeah. It's nice.
Kelly 44:30 How do you-- have you put it next to your other two? To like, see how it compares and what you like? Like, how do you like them compared to one another? Or are there like, this is the first one that you've done with flat colors?
Marsha 44:47 No, it's the second.
Kelly 44:48 Oh, the second one. That the first one you did was also was the Cascade.
Marsha 44:54 The first one was flat. The main color was like a blue like a I don't know what color blue you would call that one
Kelly 45:00 Not quite navy-- kind of between the Navy and kind of a darker royal blue? Not so bright as a royal blue, but not so Navy.
Marsha 45:10 And and then this one, it had brighter colors more. Not really natural colors. The contrasting one? And then the second one I did is when we dyed all the yarn so we had the gradient and then all the painted variegated. And then the this one that I just completed the background was a brown, then all the colors are like sage and orange. And I don't know, it looks more like the first one.
Kelly 45:43 Yeah.
Marsha 45:44 And ironically, I what I really would like to do is I would like to do one where the the, the main color is just a cream or a natural color like yours. That's what I-- but I found that's what I wanted to do. But you know, I had all that yarn. The first one it was using the yarn from my dad's sweater. And then the one that I just finished, I had a lot of just undyed yarn, and I dyed it because I
Kelly 46:16 because the solid was the brown. Like you've always had a different solid.
Marsha 46:21 Yes. But actually now I'm kind of thinking I could have. Well, no, that really wouldn't, because even the natural colored yarns were all slightly different. I didn't have a consistent... I was thinking what I could have done is just reversed it. And the one that yarn that was sort of the... No, I did it the right way, because the yarn that I dyed for the background was all kind of camel colored, right? It wasn't natural. Yeah, yeah. So anyway.
Kelly 46:44 Well, you'll have to put a fourth one on your needles
Marsha 46:49 I cannot do a fourth one, ugh!
Kelly 46:50 No, you know what you should do? The next one you do, because I think there will be another one in your future at some point. Not in the near future. Yeah, I'm sure there'll be another one. Do that one that is the, I think it's called the sediment throw. Where you go corner to corner?
Marsha 47:07 Yes. Um, I was thinking about that. And then the other one I'm thinking of is, there's the one for my brother that he wants.
Kelly 47:19 You're not doing any projects for other people for a while.
Marsha 47:22 No.
Kelly 47:23 I'm gonna lay down that law for you, Marsha. [laughing]
Marsha 47:25 I know. But the one I really want to make is... I'm sorry, I should have been... because I didn't know we were going to be talking about this in depth. Let me look at my patterns...
Kelly 47:37 Well, a lot of people did the habitation throw.
Marsha 47:42 I'm looking for the one that I... because I've been pulling out yarn for it. Anyway, there's the one for my brother. And that's all with the Noro. And I don't really have I don't have any Noro. So I have to figure that one out. I was scrolling through my patterns. I can't find it. It but anyway, basically, it's like chevrons, kind of, you just use sock weight yarn that you and so that's when I was sort of thinking of using that. And I was actually thinking because I have so much sock weight yarn like scraps. But I also have a lot of sock weight yarn that I bought single skeins, that I don't really like them. I don't want a shawl out of them. I don't want to make socks. I was thinking I would put that all into the blanket, but I have, you're supposed to use about 500 grams. To make the blanket. Total to make the blanket. I was sort of thinking maybe what I would do is hold the sock weight yarns double and go up a needle size. And so I could use some of those one off skeins that I don't really like very much. So anyway,
Kelly 48:52 I think it's a perfect solution. Holding yarn double is a perfect solution to using the partials or well, partial skeins that are leftover but also full skeins of, of yarn that you bought that you don't need another pair of socks or you weren't in love with it anymore.
Marsha 49:13 Yeah. I'm hoping I get my Juju back.
Kelly 49:15 Well, focus on your sweater first because that is, I think, that is just such a fun pattern. That sweater is cute. The yarn is great. It's comfortable knitting because you just start doing stockinette around and around until you're sick of it.
Marsha 49:36 Yeah. So I think I have these you know, my brother's sweater and Ben sweater are sitting in my bedroom in their project bags. I think I'm gonna go put them in the closet.
Kelly 49:44 I think you should. Yes, put them away where you don't have to look at them and feel any kind of guilt or?
Marsha 49:49 Yeah. Anyway. So let's go into more positive things. We'll finish my projects and go into your projects.
Kelly 49:57 Okay, well, there's not much to say This will be short. I'm making a pair of shorty socks. And I'm using a hand spun yarn that I've that I've actually used before for socks. It's out of a fiber was Falkland, which, it's not as soft as I would expect Falkland to be. But there's not, you know, it's not horrible. Just when people talk about Falkland a lot of times they talk about how soft it is. But anyway, it's Tomato and Mink, or Mink and Tomato was the colorway. I don't now remember where I got it. But it was a number of years ago, maybe 2013 or 14, something like that. And I spun it up and last summer or the summer before I made a pair of regular socks out of it. And I had spun it for socks, I made a three ply, so it's long color repeats, it's a chain ply. One thing I will comment about chain ply because there was a little bit of discussion about it on the Ravelry group this morning. One thing about chain ply, it definitely magnifies your inconsistencies. So I have some places where this yarn is super, super thin, like a lace weight. It's a three ply, but super, super thin, because my fiber got thin. And then you're putting the three thin fibers together and you do the chain ply, so it's thin. And then in the thicker area, you know, because when you're chain plying, you're plying areas that are close together, I'm plying three, three thicker strands. And then I've got a thicker yarn, so it's more like a sport. So this yarn varies from a really thin lace weight to about to sport weight. Which is fine, it makes a nice sock. It's not you know, it's honestly this is one of the things I try to tell people is that those kinds of inconsistencies, you think they look big in the skein or in the yarn, but once you knit with them, even in stockinette, I'm really not seeing that kind of inconsistency in my knitting. So it doesn't show. The other thing about the chain ply is you have a tendency to over spin it. Because your feet... you need, you really need as your hands slow down if you get, you know, stuck or you miss the chain, or you just need a little extra time. And you don't also slow down your feet, you get it over spun over plied. And this yarn is pretty overplied. I mean, it's like kinking on itself as I'm trying to knit with it. And you know, it's been washed. And a lot of times when you wash an over plied yarn, it does relax quite a bit. But this I'm a lot of times having to, you know, pull out the kinks, as I'm knitting. The places where it's pigtailed onto itself. That's really good and I did it on purpose. Well, it's a it's a good feature to have for sock yarn, because it makes the sock yarn more durable. But it is a little bit annoying to knit with. And it is a feature of chain plying, if you're not really careful, you can get you know, you can get things over plied when you don't mean for them to be. But these are just a pair of shorty socks, and they're not going to match because they're with the leftover balls. And these are... so one of them has a gray cuff, the other one has a gray and orange striped cuff. And then half the foot is gray and other half the foot is orange. And this one I've got a gray cuff and an orange part of the foot. And then I have only gray left. So it'll only have one orange stripe or the other one has, I think two or three places on it that there's orange. So these are really long pattern repeats which again is another one of those features of chain ply is that you can get those long-- or not pattern repeats, color repeats, you know, long stretches of color. So they're self striping, but the stripes are about four inches in some places. Yeah. So that's my socks. And then I have a new spinning project. So I'm using up the remainder of the Columbia fleece. I had been using the Columbia and the Oxford.
Spinning those up, I spun those all. I had spun those in the past two summers and then used them for my garter squish. And then I I'd used up all of the Oxford in the final part of my garter squish. And so then I started with the rest of the Columbia fleece and I carded it and I added in tussah silk. So I have this tussah silk top I had bought like a pound or eight ounces of it or something a long time ago. It was in my stash, I got it out and I just, you know, blended that in as I was carding, and it is nice. This fiber's really nice. I have these batts. And you can see, like, I blended the silk, I tried to blend this out pretty well. But there are places where you've got like this strand of like silk fiber running through it. That's just super pretty and fun to spin. There's a lot of silk content, I tried to get 50/50. But I couldn't. I only wanted to do three passes through the carder, and I couldn't get 50% silk into the fiber in just three passes. So that's alright, it has enough silk in it. It's going to be really nice. And it's spinning up pretty thin. So I'm probably going to make it into a three ply, but I don't know, I might two ply it and use it for a shawl or something. I'm not sure how much I'll have when I get when I get done.
Marsha 56:04 Yeah.
Kelly 56:05 And I think in this case, I am going to spin all the singles first and then decide if I want to do I want a two ply. Or do I want a three ply? How much yarn? How much of this yarn do I want? And then I think I'll also dye it after the spinning is finished. Because that'll be interesting because the dye will take differently on the silk and the wool.
Marsha 56:26 yeah, interesting.
Kelly 56:28 And I cleaned up my wheel, took it all apart, washed it, oiled it-- well, washed it, polished it, put it back together, oiled it. It's spinning so nicely.
Marsha 56:41 So I have a question. I don't see your mohair sweater on here.
Kelly 56:45 No, that's put away for a little while. It's been kind of warm. I haven't knitted on it since I think I was knitting on it at the last episode when we recorded and it's still sitting up in the in the guest room vanity area from that day. I haven't touched it since then. I got really into the carding that was the main thing and then the socks are just something that I started at the Pismo rally trip to have something to knit in the car and then I brought them with me in the car to this, you know on this trip, but I haven't made a whole lot of progress on them.
Marsha 57:23 Well, I have a comment about it. When I was walking Enzo and listening to the last episode, you were talking about the sweater and how you had had that sweater in the 60s. You-- the mohair sweater that you bought in the boys department.
Kelly 57:41 Yeah,
Marsha 57:41 And I was walking along and I of a sudden I thought, why was that sweater in the boys department? I mean like because it was hairy right? It was like a hairy mohair sweater.
Kelly 57:52 It was a vest.
Marsha 57:52 A vest Yeah, I mean a vest but like it was in the boys department? Like what boy was wearing? Was that a style to have those hairy vests or? I think that's what just struck me is like, what boy was going to be wearing that?
Kelly 58:07 Yeah, I know. I don't know. Well, I told you it was unusual. I it was an unusual piece of clothing.
Marsha 58:15 I know so you always think of the boys department having...You know when Ben was born and Iwould go to get him some clothes and and all these--so much variety and interesting things with for girls. And the boys it was all like Navy and brown. Like there was nothing fun really with boys clothes. And so that's why I'm like, What boy was going to be wearing that hairy vest? [laughing]
Kelly 58:44 Well, and this was ...I wonder if I have any pictures with me wearing it? This was tan, kind of a tan brown color. And they had a... I don't think the whole vest was Argyle. I don't think the pattern was totally Argyle but it had a thin orange like thin orange diagonal striping like an argyle. I just remember the thin orange stripe. I don't really remember if the whole thing was Argyle. If it was, it was muted, you know, it was like a tan and a light brown or something. It wasn't wild colors. But yeah, it was... It wasn't, you know, totally hairy like my Sonny Bono jacket. You know, it wasn't like that. But it was definitely hairy.
Marsha 59:37 You know, I guess I'm out of touch. I'm out of touch with what boys were wearing in the 60s and this
Kelly 59:42 Well, let's see, when would it have been? Late sixties or early seventies.., depending on when I had it. I think I had it in like middle school. We don't have middle schools here but-- or we didn't have middle school where I was but it would have been like middle school age, maybe fifth sixth, seventh eighth somewhere in there. So it would have been the early 70s.
Marsha 1:00:09 Yeah, yeah.
Kelly 1:00:10 No, I can picture it... I can kind of. Yeah, I think it could have been like maybe something the Monkees wore maybe.
Marsha 1:00:20 Well, you know, I mean, I don't know. I, since we're on this topic, I remember it was very popular for girls when I was in middle school. Well, elementary school, but like late elementary, like, sixth grade or something, but those crocheted vests. All the girls wanted, like, crocheted vests and it was like those granny squares, right. And my my aunt made one for me, my great aunt made me one of those vests and then
Kelly 1:00:55 It would be right in style now if you still have it. [laughing]
Marsha 1:00:58 Yes. And then also do you remember Go Go boots?
Kelly 1:01:01 Oh, yeah.
Marsha 1:01:01 Did you have the white Go Go boots?
Kelly 1:01:03 I didn't have them for regular life. Wehad white boots for my baton. My baton group.
Marsha 1:01:11 Oh, I had gogo boots and white gogo boots that I wore to school because everybody wanted them and I my parents bought me a pair, probably at Sears. And they were like vinyl. Yeah. And my feet practically rotted off in those.
Kelly 1:01:30 Yeah.
Marsha 1:01:32 Well, between you know, nylon socks and plastic boots. I remember a my mother finally said you just can't wear them because my feet were I was getting like, like athlete's foot or something and just sitting in that moisture all day long. So she said you can't wear them. So I was only to wear them like once a week or something.
Kelly 1:01:51 That's funny. Yeah, we had them for baton, for parades and stuff. That was part of our parade uniform. And, and the other part of our parade uniform was vinyl. And it was like a cowboy vest with a suede. It was the beige cowboy vest with a suede star on it and suede like edging. Right. And then the bottom part of it was these vinyl bloomers.
Marsha 1:02:24 Bloomers?
Kelly 1:02:25 Bloomers
Marsha 1:02:25 Pants.
Kelly 1:02:26 Like, bloomers! [laughing]
Marsha 1:02:32 They wouldn't they have no drape or anything, right? I mean, they must have been...
Kelly 1:02:37 there's no leg, right? So they're just bloomers. So they like they just, I mean, I maybe I'm not using the right word. They were like they're like the shape of underpants. [laughing]
Marsha 1:02:51 Oh my gosh. [laughing]
Kelly 1:02:54 And I, honestly this is terrible. This is maybe too much information. But I remember one parade thinking of the you know, the, the vinyl and the not breathing and the... But I remember one parade where the edge of the vinyl the unsewn seam edge. Because my mom made them, right. Somebody in the troop made them and most of the girl's parents or moms made them but then there were some moms that didn't sew. But my mom sewed so she made ours. But the seam allowance wasn't covered. And I had oh my god, the most painful, painful raw area
Marsha 1:03:36 down there.
Kelly 1:03:38 From marching with that seam edge of this vinyl rubbing on my leg. For the whole parade. It's like oh my god. When I think back on that. Yeah. And then we had the white, the white boots. And we had cowboy hats. Oh, it was cute.
Marsha 1:03:58 But painful, but very painful.
Kelly 1:04:01 Well after that one parade my mom did fix it. She... I don't know what--she covered the seam allowance in some way. But yeah. Oh my gosh, I should look for it. I should look for a picture.
Marsha 1:04:14 Yeah, yeah,
Kelly 1:04:14 To put in the show notes. I don't know if I have time to do that. But yes, funny, cute. They were cute. But when I think back... So that's the end of my projects, Marsha. That's why we're talking about so much random other stuff that's not knitting. [laughing]
Marsha 1:04:35 I know. Well, hopefully things will start looking up for me and so that we'll have better things to talk about in terms of projects. But anyway, moving along. Let's talk about the Stashbusting blanket along because that is done. It ended on May 31. And we have winners.
Kelly 1:04:55 yes.
Marsha 1:04:56 So so let's just say what the prize is going to be
Kelly 1:04:59 okay.
Marsha 1:04:59 We debated a long time about what the prize should be. Because we thought of yarn, getting people a-- but then this was all about stash busting right? You could look at this both ways. Oh, they didn't want any more yarn because they were working to get rid of yarn out of their stash. Or you could look at it as everybody got rid of the, the yarn in their stashes that all the stuff they used, it was really a Stashbusting. And they need some yarn. So we couldn't make up our minds. We finally decided to go in a completely different direction. And everybody who the winners will receive a pattern of their choice up to $10. So that's going to be the prize. And we have five winners. So Kelly, yes, so we'll list them. Let's say who it is.
Kelly 1:05:44 Our first winner is michembry, Michelle, and she made the Habitation Throw. And I really liked that pattern. I'm gonna, I think I might at some point, make one of those because it turns-- a lot of people did them and they all turned out really, really nicely. So congratulations, Michelle.
Marsha 1:06:04 Yes. And our second winner is cattitude. Cat. And she made the sunburst granny square throw.
Kelly 1:06:14 Yeah, congratulations, Cat. She's our Faroese interpreter.
Kelly 1:06:23 Our third winner is iheartbooks. And she also made a garter Squish, blanket. It turned out really nicely. I just have to say that is the best pattern. I really think that pattern is so versatile. So congratulations, iheartbooks, and I didn't say what her real name is. I don't remember if that's because it wasn't there. Or if I just forgot, but iheartbooks, Congratulations!
And Laura Sue also made a garter squish. And Kelly, you have a note here accursed Romney?
Yes. She she made a post in one of the-- I think this one was from the discussion board. I drew from both the discussion, and the fo thread to get the winners. And she was using this what she called the accursed Romney that she was trying to get rid of. But she also knit this during the caregiving and loss of her mother, and talked about how soothing it was to, to knit, you know, that garter stitch pattern. And to just-- kind of like what you were talking about with the sweater you're doing. You can just knit and knit and knit and not have to really think too much about it. So yeah, she got she got rid of a Romney fleece that she'd had forever and had been probably she felt like it was multiplying in her stash because I have that feeling about some of my yarn. Like, wait a minute, I thought you were gone.
Marsha 1:07:55 Yeah.
Kelly 1:07:57 And then our last winner, also with the habitation throw is Starwood knitter. So congratulations to Starwood knitter
Marsha 1:08:08 and to all the winners. It was a really fun along
Kelly 1:08:12 Yeah, it was it was.
Marsha 1:08:14 I would consider doing another Stashbusting blanket along next year. Yeah. Different pattern though.
Kelly 1:08:23 That's good. Give everyone some time to think
Marsha 1:08:27 and build up their stash.
Kelly 1:08:28 Build up or go through their stash and get ideas. Get some creative ideas. Because honestly, when we started this, I didn't think I had the right... I knew I had stash. But I didn't think I had the right yarn to make one. And it wasn't until I put it all out. And looked at it for a couple of weeks with different ideas before I thought, Oh, I know what I could do. I could combine these and yeah, so. So yeah, well, so definitely have to do that again. It was really fun. Yeah, we'll need to have some time in between to do something other than blankets.
Marsha 1:09:08 Yeah. So as I mentioned before, the prize is a pattern of your choice up to $10. And Kelly, we're gonna have people contact you.
Kelly 1:09:20 Yeah, through Ravelry or, two ewes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com, the email address, Instagram, any of those ways, just get in touch with me. All I need is to know your Ravelry name and what pattern you want. And if you're not on Ravelry and there's a pattern you want that I can get to you some other way let me know that too, because I've been able to do that for some other people.
Marsha 1:09:50 All right, and then the Summer Spin In is underway. It started June 1 And it goes until September 5 We've talked about what we were spinning
Kelly 1:10:04 I put up the thread. So there's a thread on Ravelry and I have a hashtag summer spin in 2022.
Marsha 1:10:13 Okay,
Kelly 1:10:13 so if you want to post, if you have Instagram and you want to play, post on Instagram. Go ahead and use the hashtag summer spin in 2022. And there's no, I have no punctuation in that summer spin in, there's no dash or anything. It's just three words summer spin in and 2022.
Marsha 1:10:34 And then the other thing Black Sheep gathering we've talked about mentioned it during this episode, but just the details: Black Sheep Gathering is taking place in Albany, Oregon on from June 24 through the 26th. And Saturday, June 25, we will have a meet up at the trailer starting around 4:00 or 4:30. And so we'll have some snacks and beverages and if you are at the black sheep gathering, stop by and say hi.
Kelly 1:11:06 yeah.
Marsha 1:11:09 So I should say too, Kelly, I did sign up for a class. You will laugh about this one. I'm going to take a color work. Finally. So I'm actually excited about that. Hopefully, I'll learn some good tips and techniques. So and then our last order of business is we want to hear from you. So we've done this before where people have been sending us audio recordings about their favorite yarn shops. And so just go to speak pipe.com forward slash two ewes and you can leave a message up to 90 seconds. And they've been fun, the ones that we've been using.
Kelly 1:12:04 So yeah, we haven't received anything in a while. So yeah, send in your your information about your favorite local yarn store. And you can also use the Voice Memo app on your phone and email it. That'll work too.
Marsha 1:12:19 I don't think we have anything else. Is there anything else we need to say?
Kelly 1:12:22 I think that's it, Marsha.
Marsha 1:12:23 Alright, I'm gonna let you go. I'm gonna go walk the dog now. Okay, he's in his usual position while we record, laying flat on the on his back legs splayed. Sound asleep. He just got groomed yesterday. So he's, he's got fresh poodle parts as I say. Anyway, okay, we'll talk in two weeks.
Kelly 1:12:46 All right Bye bye.
Marsha 1:12:48 Bye bye.
Kelly 1:12:49 Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com.
Marsha 1:12:55 Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects.
Kelly 1:13:04 Until next time, we're the Two Ewes
Both 1:13:06 doing our part for world fleece!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
25 Sep 2018
Ep 98: Sloshing the Pickle Jar
01:09:13
A nasty fall has Marsha under the weather, but the knits, crochet, and weaving talk goes on. Besides a sweater project for each, the Two Ewes talk about future fiber plans, the Learn Along, and some new fall colors in the shop.
No full show notes this week, but do check out The Small Bird Workshop pattern page on Ravelry. Catherine has generously donated five patterns as prizes for the Learn Along. Her patterns are great. Take a look!
Keep on Learning!
10 Jul 2022
Happiness is a Neutral
01:12:53
So much to discuss in this episode! We met at the Black Sheep Gathering, in Oregon for a weekend packed with friends, sheep, and fiber. Plus, hear about Harvest Host camping experiences, our ongoing Summer Spin In, and project updates.
On the drive to the Black Sheep Gathering, Marsha stopped at theWillamette Heritage Centerfor a mill tour.
Marsha’s Projects:
Happinessby Kyle Kunnecke using Yarn Snob PowerBall. I finished the back of the sweater, set it aside to start front, and realized I did the ribbing wrong. It should be a broken rib and not a 2/2 ribbing. I had the, “Ithinkit will be okay” conversation with myself, and decided to unravel and start over. I have knit front and back and joined in the round. Need to knit 9” until I reach the armholes where some shaping will begin.
Spinning: I’m still spinning the Manx Loaghton. I have spun 768 yards, or 15.2 ounces, of a 2 pound bag of roving.
I’ve been playing with my new blending board fromCelestial Farms. I can make a rolag but cannot pull the fiber off the board with a dizz to make roving the way shown in YouTube videos. I still have some learning to do but it sure has been fun.
Finished theshortie socksout of Tomato and Mink Falkland handspun yarn.
Trip Knitting/Crochet: I started and finished three hats using Invictus Yarns worsted weight yarn. I finished the two flat mother bears and made a third.
I started plying theColumbia fleeceblended with tussah silk top. I was planning to spin all the singles first, but I plied one skein of 3-ply at Black Sheep Gathering so I could start spinning a new braid of fiber.
That new spinning project was 70/30 merino silk from Eugene Textile Center that I planned to ply with the merino silk that I bought from theHuckleberry Knits fiber close out. I had finished the Huckleberry Knits at BSG and wanted to start spinning a companion braid to ply it with. I am now starting to ply this yarn and I love the way it is coming out.
Summer Spin-In
Started June 1 and goes until September 5. (US Labor Day)
If you are on Instagram use #summerspinin2022.
Prizes: Shibui yarn hat kit donated by Dagmar (Dagger51), Alpaca sample fiber set from Cathy (Straightfork), pint of maple syrup from Cathy, plus other fibery surprises.
08 Aug 2021
Ep 167: Dominant and Submissive Colors in Stranded Knitting
00:58:01
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
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 videoTrapping the Yarn (Continental).
Kelly’s Projects
Dark Green Forestcardigan (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
26 Jul 2021
Ep 166: Shut Up About the Basement
01:01:51
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.
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 theproject 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.“
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 theDark Green Forestcardigan (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
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
21 Sep 2015
Ep 25: What's in Marsha's Suitcase?
00:45:34
In Episode 25 we discuss the purpose of Marsha's visit to Kelly....The Monterey County Fair Wool Auction! This is a great destination for all knitters, spinners, and wool lovers!
Kelly discusses attending the judging that occurred the week prior to the auction. She explains the history of the wool auction, the judging categories and the criteria that the judge used. She also talks about how the wool is classified-the Bradford (or spinning count) system, the American blood system, and micron measurement.
Marsha and Kelly discuss what they were looking for in fleeces, how they decided what to bid on, and the stress and strategies of a live auction!
If you are interested in an upcoming wool judging, Lambtown in Dixon, California will have their judging at 10:00 on Saturday, October 3, 2015. Mark Eidman is the judge there, too.
Don't forget about the Crochet-Along that starts on October 1. Information is in the Ravelry group.
23 Oct 2022
Adult Layettes: Are We Starting A Trend?
00:40:08
We have finished projects to report, plus lots of excitement for Marsha’s upcoming visit to Kelly’s.
I finished Happinessby Kyle Kunnecke using Yarn Snob PowerBallin the colorway Happiness. The ends are woven in, the sweater is washed and blocked, and I sewed in my label.
Finished spinning the Manx Loaghton. I have 16 skeins, 1,463 yards, or 31 ounces.
Cast on aSocks for MarkusingWeird Sisters Wool Emporiumfingering weight called Luke in colorway Mermaids of the Black Lake with heels and toes inDream in Color Yarnfingering called Mini Smooshy in the colorway As A Bird. I finished the first sock and about to start heel flap of second sock
Kelly’s Projects:
I continued working on the Adult Layette shortie socks. One sock is finished and I am on the heel of the second sock.
Swedish Lace weaving for curtains is moving along. The sample is done.
Before the project talk, we spend some time talking about the protests for justice for Black Americans and against police violence that were sparked by the murder of George Floyd. Since we recorded there have been even more protests and maybe even some signs that maybe this time, change really is on the horizon. To find a list of organizations involved in this fight, check out the Ravelry front page dated May 31, 2020 with links to places you can contribute. And be sure to vote!
Marsha’s Projects:
I continue to work on Summer Fjordby Trin-Annelie using Quince & Co Sparrow in three colors. I’ve finished the yoke and knit about 8” of the body.
I’m working on foot of firstArne & Carlossock. These ultra bright socks are for my brother, Mark.
Simple Shawlwill probably stay on the back burner for awhile since I am swatching with Elemental Affects Cormo for the Holey Comfortcardigan by Hinterm Stein. I haven’t measured my gauge for the swatch yet, but will be doing that and starting the sweater soon.
I spent a glorious afternoon with my spinning wheel out on the deck. I am spinning a camel, merino and silk braid from Huckleberry Knits for our Summer Spin-A-Long.
Kelly’s Projects
I finished the Babydoll Southdown socks. I am much happier with the finished socks than I was with the knitting. The fabric is sturdy and warm, and I love the color.
I also started, finished and even wore my Handspun Targhee Hat. This hat may end up in the donate pile since it was slightly tighter than I like for a hat. It’s nice and warm, but I find that a looser hat prevents “hat hair.”
I thought I finishedspinning a brown targhee lambfleece that I had carded and it was ready to go in the stash. I’ve spun about 1500 yards of a 3 ply (DK to worsted), although I lost about 100-200 yards in shrinkage when it was washed. I was thinking of knitting The Grandpa Cardigan by Joji Locateli, however, I’m unable to knit a swatch with the correct gauge and I’m not willing to do the modifications needed to use my tighter gauge for the pattern. So, I’m going to be swatching in stockinette and looking for a new pattern.
I started thePaving Mittsby Ellen Silva (twinsetellen). This is a fun, fast, Tunisian crochet pattern for mitts with a thumb gusset. This is a great pattern for using scraps, although I’m using two yarns from my stash.
I finally ripped and restartedMariannes CardiganbyTrine Bertelsen. I’ve added a purl stitch in the center of each group of underarm stitches. This purl stitch will continue down the side of the top as a faux seam and will allow me to hide the alternating of skeins. The area where I was alternating skeins before was turning out to be very noticeable.
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.
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 shop3 Green Sisterswith a coupon code EWES2 for 15% off.
Marsha’s Projects
Marsha bought a fountain Pen: we found thePilot Metropolitanat the UW bookstore. We also foundJ. 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 Cozyby 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 visitedWeird Sisters Wool Emporiumowned 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 theirwebsite.
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 Forestby 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 Sistersare 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 their3 Green Sisters Etsy shop.
09 Oct 2017
Ep 77: Well, They Have No Choice!
01:02:39
Combo-spin mania has overtaken Marsha and meanwhile, Kelly is weaving again. There's also some knitting. In the pet arena, Marsha and Enzo have earned their Canine Good Citizen Award and Kelly has a stray cat that seems to have adopted her family.
Marsha's Projects
Marsha continues working on the Recoleta by Joji Locateli and she is having no difficulty following the pattern. It isn't social knitting, but it isn't as hard as she first thought.
Her Among the Shadows by Kelene Kinnersley continues to get a little work as well, but most of her time is being taken up by Combo Spin Mania! She has completed two skeins of 3-ply yarn and is beginning a third.
The Two Ewes talk about all the variations on the theme of the combo-spin, including using only warm colors or only cool colors, or randomly selecting not only colors, but different fibers.
This reminds Kelly of an artist, Amanda Salm, who wove many different variations of horsehair baskets while they were in weaving class together. Amanda's work explored seemingly endless variations in the types of vessels possible with horse mane and tail hair as the medium. Here is a link to her work.
Kelly's Projects
Kelly has a mistake in the Summer Fjord by Trin-Annelie that has to be ripped back before she can go any further.
Meanwhile she has finished some woven dishtowels in preparation for the Winter Weave Along. It is so fun in weaving that a change in weft yarn will make a big difference in the finished projects.
Kelly also gushes about the Leg Warmers/ Boot Toppers that she's making with the Shetland yarn available in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures shop. They are 2x2 rib tubes that will be folded down to make cozy cuffs to go with her red/orange boots. The yarn is silky and softer than she thought. This project is a quick one for the Single Shot KAL that is going on for the month of October. There is a thread in the Ravelry Group where listeners can chat and participate and a winner will be drawn on November 1 from that thread.
Aunt Betty is also making a Single Shot project from yarn in the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures shop. She chose the merino and it is a beautiful, soft yarn in gray and pink. She made a cowl and has almost half the skein left.
Besides the Single Shot KAL, the Two Ewes also have a long-term Winter Weave Along. The weave along will be a 6 month experience that will include pdf lessons that will be delivered via the podcast app if you are subscribed, or by clicking the direct download link in the Winter Weave Along episodes on the show's libsyn website. Last week's lesson included weaving vocabulary and instructions for weaving a pouch on a cardboard loom. Next week's lesson will have more vocabulary and discuss yarn selection for weaving projects. There is a Ravelry thread for the weave along where participants can chat, ask questions and show off their projects. There will be a Finished Object thread from which the Two Ewes will select winners. The Weave Along goes from October 1 through March 31.
13 Aug 2016
Ep 48: Epic Projects and She Should've Worn Camo Underpants
01:00:55
Civil War Socks, two epic projects, and a few rants from the Two Ewes are on the episode this week!
Kelly has started working on her long-term project, too. It is a quilt top that she started while in high school. Since the last episode she has made progress on this quilt, which she is planning to use as a queen-sized bedspread. It is a hand pieced quilt in the "Split Rail" design and is made from sewing project scraps from her childhood and teen years. For example, one of the fabrics is from the "Swirl Skirt" that Kelly had in the 1970s.
Kelly has also started a Mesa poncho for her sister. She discusses the yarn structure and how that is affecting the knitting in an interesting way.
Another NY Times article details the use of the crystals on the leotards of the US Gymnastics Team. This led Marsha to a rant about women's athletic uniforms in the Olympics, but don't worry, Kelly derailed her before she started in on the Beach Volleyball uniforms!
13 Mar 2023
Dispatch From Seattle
00:40:18
This week it’s a dispatch from Seattle as Marsha and Kim discuss their northwest fiber adventures.
Marsha participated in the large Pacific Northwest LYS Tour 2015 . The tour was five days and 26 yarn shops from Bellingham to Kent. Marsha had limited time so picked four shops she had never visited.
Her first day she visited Tolt Yarn and Wool in Carnation. This shop specializes in local yarns. Marsha bought Tracie Too in Autumn Rust from Imperial Yarn and a worsted yarn in sage green from Thirteen Mile Lamb and Wool Co. She also went to Quintessential Knits in Duvall.
Kelly is continuing her work on her Grape Vanilla sweater (using the Cherry Vanilla pattern by Thea Coleman . There are also a couple of pairs of socks that get an occasional row. Speaking of occasional rows, her SF Giants cowl, I Don't Care if I Never Get Back, is looking great! Two rows get added after each game so this is a fun way to commemorate the season. This project uses the Crackerjack cowl recipe by Stacey Simpson Duke.
Kelly's bees have been in the hive for about a month. What an obsession they have become!
We had a winner in our giveaway of the book Wanderlust: 46 Modern Knits for Bohemian Style, by Tanis Gray, published by Interweave/F+W. Listen to find out who the winner was! Thanks to all who entered the contest in our Ravelry Group!
Some other links that came up in our conversation: KnitSpinFarm Podcast by Joanna Spring who has Clun Forest sheep. These are one of the breeds of sheep that Marsha spoke about. Nuno Felt is the name of the felting that is done with fabric. Here is a tutorial website with lots of photos of projects.
More sweater knitting for the end of summer. Two kinds of linen and a cotton/llama blend--we're trying all the fibers! We also talk about organizing strategies for the transition into the school year.
Marsha's Projects
Marsha has started a new shawl with her Stonehedge Crazy! The yarn is fabulous.The shawl is the Among the Shadows and she is making it for the second time.
Marsha has also finished her sweater using the pattern 221 Summer Cardigan by Diane Soucy. And since she has finished one sweater, she is ready to cast on another using the linen that she has been swatching. After swatching the linen biased so she is looking for a pattern that will mitigate the tendency to bias.
Kelly's Projects
Kelly has finished very little. One Mother Bear and one swatch of handspun are all she has to show for two weeks. The swatch will be submitted along with her county fair entries. It is a precursor to the Orca Run sweater that she has planned once the fair is over in September.
She has started a new linen tee since the last episode. She is making the Summer Fjord and the construction is really interesting.
The Two Ewes also talk organization. Kelly celebrates New Year when school starts in the fall and gets structure and organization back into her life. Calendars and steno pads are her main supplies for organization.
This is the first of three parts detailing Kelly's fiber adventures while she is in DC as an E. Kika de la Garza Fellow with the USDA. She talks about what she is knitting during her travels, and she reviews the the current exhibit at the Textile Museum associated with The George Washington University. She also talks about textiles at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Due to length restrictions of Garageband for iPad, her portion of the episode is broken into three parts--20a1, 20a2, and 20a3. Marsha was also traveling for fiber adventures this week and the Two Ewes hope to be able to post "the B side" of episode 20 as well!
This series is brought to you raw and uneditied because we couldn't wait until we got home to share our adventures with you! So if you are a new listener, first of all, welcome! But also you may want to start with a more typical episode. Also, be sure to listen to these segments in order, starting with 20a1. Don't forget to visit our blog at http://twoewesdyeing.blogspot.com
20 Apr 2022
Bonus! I forgot something!
00:01:37
Many messages this week that I forgot to announce who won the third Instagram prize. Listen here to find out who the mystery winner is. Goodness! I need to go back to podcaster school.
07 Dec 2014
Ep. 7: #knittedmemories
00:52:18
Kelly and Marsha both talk about knitted items and gifts that have special memories for them. Marsha talks about her finished custom-fit cardigan, The St. John Cardigan and the skeins of handspun and hand-dyed yarn that she has made since getting her new spinning wheel. The Two Ewes also announce a contest for listeners to post photos of knit or crocheted items with the theme #knittedmemories.
14 Sep 2024
A Dog With Two Legs
00:46:02
We have lots of discussion topics this week ranging from Kelly’s dogs now having two legs, the fleece auction, to Marsha’s cast on frenzy.
Socks: Regia Design Line by Arne & Carlos in colorway Garden.
Emotional Support Chicken: by Annette Corsino. I’ve knitted a bit on my chicken. Knit through the third stripe. Not sure I like the colors I picked.
Sockhead Slouch Hat: by Kelly McClure. Using Done Roving Yarns Frolicking Feet in colorway Irish Moss.
Auckland Bound: by Maddie Mo. Using Alaskan Yarn Company DK in colorway Spruce.
Why Knot?: by Rachel Illsey. Using Weird Sisters Wool Emporium Carroll in colorway Westport Treasures.
Kelly’s Projects
I’ve split off the sleeves and am knitting down the body of Graphito by Heidemarie Kaiser. Calling it my NoCKRs Sweater since both yarns are the retreat yarns (2023 and 2024). Seismic Yarns Butter Silk and Invictus Yarns Seraphic–both fingering weight.
Still working on Desert Lavender socks out of Smirligan’s yarn. Soft green, purple and natural white variegated yarn. One sock is finished and I’m knitting slowly down the leg of the second sock.
Wool Auction
Bought only one fleece! Was joined by Emily and Sonia from work and Micheline from the Bay Area. Also saw Alene that we met at the NoCKRs retreat. Between us we supported a lot of wool growers! I bought a Romeldale, 5.5 lbs. (white)
Summer Spin In
Announce winners in next episode
Two Ewes in Walla Walla, Washington
September 26-30
Purl 2 Walla Walla has closed but they will have a pop up shop in partnership with Old Homestead Alpacas at the:
Maker Market
Showroom on Colville
70 N. Colville Street, Suite 105
Walla Walla, WA 99362
September 28, 12:00pm-6:00pm
September 29, 12:00pm-4:00pm, We’ll be there around noon on Sunday.
05 Oct 2020
Ep 146: Inspiration from the Summer Spin-In
01:09:32
We chat about bonsai trees and sled dogs, recap the Summer Spin-In, and draw lots of winners! Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section ofour shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.
Also, we have a coupon code for3GreenSisters Etsy shop.Visit their site and use the code TWOEWES to get 15% off and free US shipping.
Marsha’s Projects
Thedeck projectis almost done. Just those last pesky details.
I’ve been busy knitting Holey Comfortcardigan by Hinterm Stein using Elemental Effects Cormo. Knit about 12” of the body.
Knit an1898 Hatfor Dave who came and helped on the deck. Used Hazel Knits Cadence (worsted) in the colorway Atmosphere.
Kelly’s Projects
I started and finished aDissent Cowlin memorial to Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Pattern by Clarissa Browning.
I also knit another charity hat using scraps from my stash--this one with colorwork. I used corrugated ribbing, lice stitch and then did stripes on the crown.
I finished the second sleeve of theSonny Bono Jacketand have clipped it in place, ready to be sewn in.
The Summer Spin-In has ended and there were so many participants! Thank you!
Two lucky winners were announced from the Summer Spin and one additional winner was drawn from the Patreon patrons to win bags from3 Green Sisters. If you didn’t win you should still check out their shop! They make project bags, spinning wheel bags and loom bags. They are offering a 15% savings for any bag in their shop. Use the coupon code TWOEWES. They also provide free shipping in the US. The coupon code is good until December 31.
We also offered three $25 gift certificates atSheepspot. She’s a great source of dyed fiber from the more unusual breeds of sheep. All winners should contact me so we can get you your prizes.
15 Jun 2023
Special Guests: Weird Sisters Wool Emporium
01:10:55
Chelsea and Megan of the Weird Sisters Wool Emporium sit down with us for a fun interview. Hear about their shop, how they began dyeing, their fandom inspiration, and much more. We also talk about our own projects after the interview.
Marsha interviews Chelsea and Megan of the Weird Sisters Wool Emporium in Aberdeen. Check out their shop and get a 13% discount with promo code: TwoEwesAndWeirdSisters. Coupon code is good through July 31.
Marsha’s Projects
Noromania: I am using 40 skeins of Noro Kureyon (Aran weight) to make a blanket for Mark. I’ve knit 50 inches and used 25 balls. This started out fun but at slightly past the halfway point, it is becoming a slog. Stella’s (notenoughtime) is to knit the blanket in two halves and kitchener together. That way I will reduce the bulk while knitting the blanket.
Anzula Socks: Using two shades of Anzula Dreamy (blue) and Squishy (coral) that I bought at Stitches 2022. Working on the foot of the second sock.
Flowers from My Garden: Starting a spinning project with fiber I bought at Stitches in March. I spun three bobbins each holding a 4 oz braid. I have plied two skeins so far.
Bankhead Hat: Using Dimond Laine Elmer Tweed worsted from Lamb & Kid in the colorways Fir and Farmhouse. Here are links to the tubular cast on tutorials from Brooklyn Tweed and Purl Soho. I’m about half way done. Using 2 stripes Farmhouse and 5 stripes Fir.
Started the color work portion of the Summer Fjord by Trin-Annelie. Main color is Quince and Co. Sparrow in an icy gray blue called Birch. I’m striping in some spirit yarn Louet linen in navy. I started working in the deep orange as the third color and I’m starting to second guess both the textured stitch patterns and the color. The pattern is a 3 stripe repeat and I’m at the end of the second stripe.
I have two new projects, too. I started a pair of socks for myself using the yarn from Purl 2 Walla Walla. It’s a pale gold, wine, and rose that looks like it has been overwashed with a pale gray. It reminds me of wine and a charcuterie board. It’s called Epicurean Kitchen and is named for a TMACs Epicurean Kitchen on N. Colville. That’s the same street as the Kirkman House where I lived for my senior year. In fact P2W2 is just down the street, too.
My other new project is spinning. I started spinning the braid I bought from Wonderland Dyeworks. The colorway is Summer Bliss and it is green, gold, and deep purple. I’ve spun up the 5 oz. of singles with a fractal technique and I plan to make a 3 ply.
Coupon Code
Remember to check out the Weird Sisters Wool Emporium shop and get a 13% discount with promo code: TwoEwesAndWeirdSisters.
Summer Spin In
Memorial Day - Labor Day
May 29 - September 4
12 Aug 2018
Ep 95: Alaska, Socks, and Fresh Starts
01:25:52
Knitting and weaving, plus Alaska, sock recipes, and fresh starts in this longer-than-usual episode. For full show notes, including all pictures and links visit the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures website.
Kelly has finished almost all her works in progress (WIPs) and is contemplating a clean slate on her Ravelry project page. She finished the woven blankets, using over 4400 meters of yarn in the process. She also finished the Sockhead Cowl that she had been working on last episode. She still has one Sockhead Cowl on the needles and plans to finish it by the end of the weekend before classes start on Monday. The yarn is Tassie Merino from Handmade Travels and it is so nice to knit with.
Kelly plans to rip out the socks she's making from a sock blank and give that yarn a chance to be something that will better show off the long gradient. She also contemplates ripping out the small start she has on the Coloresque Wrap. But that will have to wait until she can find it. The yarn for that project has gone AWOL, perhaps because it really wants to be something else! The pattern is still intriguing, but she'll plan it with a different yarn combination.
Marsha finished her Summer Fjord T-shirt by Trin-Annelie knit with Fibra Natura Flax. The top fit beautifully and the 100% linen is cool and comfortable.
Marsha started a new cardigan, Iba by Bonne Marie Burns. She is using the textured Raucus Rambouillet yarn from the Two Ewes Fiber Adventures shop and loves knitting with it.
If you'd like to support the show make a contribution at our Patreon page or purchase something from our shop. Thanks so much for listening and supporting the show!
25 Jan 2015
Ep 10: Adventures Abound in 2015
00:57:12
Marsha and Kelly talk about their Cast On Five challenge and all the knitting and weaving that has and hasn't happened yet! Kelly talks about knitting lace and the progress of her Niebling piece. Marsha talks about her spinning and the handspun and hand-dyed yarn that she has been knitting with. The Two Ewes announce contest winners, and Marsha talks about her adventures outside of the fiber world.
13 May 2017
Ep 66: Projects and Plans
00:56:13
This episode is all about the knitting projects and the plans. Kelly continues to work on two summer sweaters and has cast on a couple new small projects. Marsha finished a small project while keeping up progress on her stockinette rectangle!
Marsha's Projects
The Easy Folded Poncho project continues, but meanwhile Marsha started an finished the Greenery Beret by Melissa LaBarre. She is having difficulty getting project pictures without someone to take photos of her during the daylight hours. She is planning the next sweater and has been swatching, but so far hasn't made a decision.
Kelly's Projects
A conference and a weekend with Dad means that Kelly has made good progress on both Edie and the Havannah tee shirts. Meanwhile, she started a pair of socks with the turquoise and orange CoBaSi yarn that came from Maker's Mercantile. The stripes have a small slip stitch detail and the colors are fabulous together.
Kelly visited Yarnitudes in Sebastopol when she picked up the bee packages. The yarn shop was conveniently just down the street from Bee Kind. While there she picked up cotton blend yarns for more baby sweaters.
Despite multiple signs saying "Yarn," a customer came in and wanted to know where the antiques were. Trudy, the proprietress, said it happens all the time!
Marsha had another call from the GoodWill and she left the shop with Madeleine Tosh and some Buffalo Wool. The Tosh was what she used for the hat and she is considering some options with the Buffalo Wool. It is a Canadian unspun wool yarn used for Cowichan-style sweaters.
Upcoming Events
Marsha and Kelly will be at the Black Sheep Gathering June 23-25, and there will be a Two Ewes meet-up on Saturday, June 24. No trailer this year, but we will definitely have a get-together with our fellow fiber adventurers. More details in the Ravelry Group and on the podcast as the event gets closer.
31 Dec 2017
Ep 83: One Ewe's Year in Rev-EWE
00:39:12
Kelly looks back over the year 2017 and shares her best projects, the most popular podcast episodes, and interesting facts about the listener base. Marsha has a bad cold with a cough, not a good mix with podcasting.
The shop is back open after a short break for the Christmas holiday.
Upcoming Events January 6, 2018: The St. Distaff Day Spin-In at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, from 10 am until 4 pm.
January 7, 2018: Seattle Crafternoon starting at 1 pm. Contact us on Ravelry or email us here for location information.
February 22-25: Stitches West in Santa Clara. On Saturday afternoon the Yarniacs and 2 Knit Lit Chicks meet-up will be in the hotel lobby of the conference hotel.
March 15-18: Edinburgh Yarn Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Marsha will be attending and is hoping to meet some of our UK listeners!
Kelly's project year ended up with 23 finished projects and 5 of them are adult sweaters! A 6th should be finished by the time we ring in the new year. The Handspun Cowichan was finished in time for the camping trip and it was so nice and warm--the perfect camp sweater. This was The Orca Run by Beth Brown-Reinsel. Kelly's camping trip knitting was the blue crochet cardigan that she stalled out on some time ago. The pattern is The Curious Case of the Crazy-Stitch Cardigan by Michele DuNaier . She made great progress and hopes to have a finished sweater by New Year's Day. Other camping knitting included a charity hat out of some alpaca spirit yarn. It will be really warm. Happy New Year everyone!
11 Apr 2015
Ep 15: Fits about Fit
00:53:42
In this episode Marsha and Kelly have a phone conversation about Marsha's finished knitting projects, both of their current knitting projects, Marsha's new interest in baseball, and the ever-perplexing topic of the fit of a knit garment. The Custom Fit patterns are a huge breakthrough and are teaching knitters a lot, but there are other components of how a sweater fits. For example, the texture of the yarn and what the wearer is comfortable with.
23 Oct 2023
Her Headstone Will Read, "I'm Not Buying a Fleece"
01:07:42
Kelly’s backyard suint bath science project, Lambtown, Marsha's sweater is going well, and lots of other news.
Saw lots of fiber friends. Took class from Jacey Boggs Faulkner. Joined the Ply Spinning Guild.
Marsha’s Projects
Flowers from My Garden: Starting a spinning project with fiber I bought at Stitches in March. I’ve spun five 3-ply skeins.
Snowflower: by Heidi Kirrmeier. Using 13 Mile Lamb and Wool for the main color and Brooklyn Tweed Tones for some of the contrasting colors. Finished the first sleeve and now halfway done with the second sleeve.
Nanny Meier Tea Cozy: Inspired by Lily Pulitzer colors. Using Cascade 220 in hot pink and lime green. Finished first side.
Santa’s Laundry Line: by Eleonore von Castelmur. Using Lang Yarn Jawol fingering in red, green and cream and some left over fingering weight gray. Finished his jacket, pants, hat and currently knitting his long johns.
Socks: Using Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn in the colorway Sum-Sum-Summertime. Heels and toes will be Dream in Color Mini Smooshy in the colorway Bermuda Teal. Knitting the gusset of the first sock.
Daphne’s Skull: Very fiddly knitting and, honestly, not that much fun. I was determined to finish it before Halloween but the pressure was too much. I’m working on it but have taken off the pressure of finishing the skull in time for Halloween.
Finally finished and washed the baby blanket. Now I’m eyeing the rest of that tub of acrylic for a potential next project. Aunt Betty used a really pretty rusty orange for a pumpkin. Maybe I’ll find another inspiration or maybe it goes to Goodwill.
Suint Bath Update: Took out the dark gray Romney and laid it out to dry. Put in a part of the small Shetland that followed me home from Lambtown. It was in for a week (or two?) and now is out on the drying screen. It was almost dry yesterday, but now it is being drizzled on. By the way, the Romney stayed on the drying screen for about a week or so, getting dry during the day and then coated with dew or drizzle each morning.
Events
Pismo Beach Trailer Rally, November 2-5. Saturday Nov 4 is the open house. Pismo Coast Village RV Park.
Winter Weave Along starts October 1 and goes through March 31. Join the fun in our Ravelry group!
Schedule includes knit night at Fiber Space in Alexandria and a visit to Looped Yarn Works in the city.
02 Mar 2015
Ep 12: Let the Yarn Season Begin!
00:50:54
Marsha and Kelly provide an update on their fiber projects--finished, current, and planned. In addition to knitting, dyeing, and spinning, Marsha has an upcoming sewing adventure. Kelly went to Stitches West and tells all about that adventure. Stitches is the beginning of the Two Ewes' Yarn Season, with the Rose City Yarn Crawl next weekend and the Northern California Knitters Retreat in April. Want to see show notes or find out about our Ravelry Group? http://twoewesdyeing.blogspot.com/
27 Feb 2016
Ep 36: Hipsters, Knitterati, Friends, and the Allure of Gray
00:54:31
Kelly and Marsha talk about Kelly's recent weekend at Stitches West! One of the year's biggest West Coast yarn events was more than a shopping trip, it was a chance to meet listeners, podcasters, and other yarny friends. The conversation ranges from the items on the sales floor to tattoos, from purchases to civil war era yarn, and from starstruck silliness to the appeal of the collaborative business model. No show notes for this special episode. Links and photos will be included in show notes for our next regular episode, due out soon. http://twoewesfiber.com
28 Jun 2021
Ep 164: Pooling on the Left Breast 2.0
01:09:25
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.
I have a finished project! I finished my Walk Along Teeby 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 Shawlby Jane Hunter that I started in March 2018. Using Michael CWD in the colorway San Francisco Fog.
Started swatching for the pulloverAtlasby 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.
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
28 Mar 2020
Ep 133: It Takes a Long Time to Talk About Nothing
01:00:59
Our first episode recorded while livestreaming! It takes a really long time to talk about nothing… Because we are recording live people will actually see how long it takes!
I’ve knit a bit on my Dusk Into Twilight Shawlby Rosemary Hill. I’m done with the short row shaping and on the last row of stripe before I start the final stripe of lace. I’m using Two Ewes Fiber Adventures Replenish Rambouillet fingering dyed by Kelly in three colors, Bourbon and Suede, Falling Leaves, and Aquamarine.
No knitting on myJohn O Groatssocks since we last recorded. Using Yarns From the Plain sock yarn.
Learned from a listener Sarah (salpal1) that the correct pronunciation of Isle au Hautis “eye la hoe”. The pattern is by Beatrice Perron Dahlen. I’m usingImperial Yarn Columbiawhich is an aran weight in the color Juniper Green. We discussed in the last episode that the yarn haslotsof knots. About 10-15 per skein. I learned from a listener, Sue, that the ranch no longer owns the yarn line. It’s great to get listener feedback! Since the last episode I have finished both sleeves, attached them to the body and knit a little over half the yoke. I added eight stitches to the body for 4” of ease and I then had to remove those stitches in the yoke. The yoke has raglan shaping with a two stitch decrease at the four raglans which equals 8 eight stitches. Perfect! I did one extra row of decreases at the beginning of the raglan. Should be hidden there.
I decided to keep going on the Mariannes Cardiganafter looking closely at the place where I am alternating skeins. It actually is under my arm when I try it on and it looks ok. It is a pattern by Trine Bertelsenthat combines crochet and knitting.
I’ve made great progress on the Cotswold Ruanaand may even finish in time for the Winter Weave Along end (March 31). I have about 18 inches to go before it is ready to come off the loom for finishing. That will go fast since there are only about 8-10 picks per inch. Then I will hem it and wet finish it. I might not finish that part by the end of March.
I started another scrap hat using sock scraps. I’m down to very few tiny scrap balls. But I have some larger sock yarn leftovers. I’m using the rest of the skein ofLittle Fish StitchesSeabrook Sunset yarn that I got at Seabrook and holding along with a cream colored sock yarn that I’m surprised I have in my stash.
Winter Weave Along--Started October 15 in the Two Ewes Ravelry Group. This weave along goes until March 31, so it ends in just a couple days.
Marsha and Kelly are taking an online dog training class from Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. It starts on April 1.
23 Jun 2015
Ep 20a3: Textiles in My Travels (part 3)
00:11:33
This is the third of three parts detailing Kelly's fiber adventures while she is in DC as an E. Kika de la Garza Fellow with the USDA. She talks about what she is knitting during her travels, and she reviews the the current exhibit at the Textile Museum associated with The George Washington University. She also talks about textiles at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Due to length restrictions of Garageband for iPad, her portion of the episode is broken into three parts--20a1, 20a2, and 20a3. Marsha was also traveling for fiber adventures this week and the Two Ewes hope to be able to post "the B side" of episode 20 as well!
This series is brought to you raw and uneditied because we couldn't wait until we got home to share our adventures with you! So if you are a new listener, first of all, welcome! But also you may want to start with a more typical episode. Also, be sure to listen to these segments in order, starting with 20a1. Don't forget to visit our blog at http://twoewesdyeing.blogspot.com
14 Jul 2015
Ep 21: Cool Knits and Big Wins!
01:12:06
Marsha and Kelly both finished knitting their sweaters and both are big wins! (At recording time we both had a little left to go, but now that the episode is published we are finished). Marsha's Blue Juno sweater fits even better than she thought it would.
Kelly's Purple Cherry Vanilla sweater is the perfect sweatshirt alternative and used yarn from her extensive stash of rescued weaving cones. Double win!
Marsha is planning to finish her son's tricolor socks before the month of July is over. Inspired by others in the Warmth of Summer KAL, Marsha has started a Wispy Willow Cardigan using a spring green CoBaSi yarn from Hi-Koo. She has also been busy spinning some of the CVM fleece that Kelly gave her to try, and is making plans to wash and card the fleece that she got from The Black Sheep Gathering.
Kelly has also been spinning a bit since returning from her trip and has some plans for Tour de Fleece. But mostly she has been finishing up current projects that she brought with her--a Rikke hat, for example.
The Two Ewes review a wonderful first book by designer Corrina Ferguson. Review copies were kindly provided by the publisher, Interweave/F+W. Interweave also provided this information about the book:
Knitting is not just for cold and snowy climates! For anyone who has ever stopped to wonder what knitters in the South are wearing—and knitting—for the changing seasons, Florida designer Corrina Ferguson has set out to show us in her new book, Warm Days, Cool Knits: Lighter Designs for Every Season (Interweave/F+W; $24.99; June 2015).
“In the South we love to knit. And we want to knit pretty wearable things, not just accessories and household decorations,” explains Corrina. “That’s why I created this collection of patterns to showcase the knitted seasons of the South, with projects that are fitting for any climate.”
Marsha and Kelly had almost an identical list of favorites from the book, including the tank shown on the book's cover. Kelly has started swatching already for one of the other tops in the book. Another big win! This book is full of great knitting patterns for warmer coastal climates like the Salinas and Seattle areas--not just the south.
A copy of this wonderful book is awarded as one of the two prizes for the Warmth of Summer Knit Along that just ended. Check the episode to hear the winners.
12 Mar 2016
Ep 37: March Meanderings
00:55:09
Marsha and Kelly start off talking about Kelly's beautiful commute down the Salinas Valley (aka John Steinbeck's Long Valley). She hasn't stopped to take photos, but here is an example of what she sees two days a week.
As she commutes, she has been listening to podcasts--many of them non-knitting related. One that she discovered and just had to try because it sounded so unusual is the Chameleon Breeder Podcast . The topic of raising chameleons led to the topic of raising bugs and this week's episode is about stick and leaf insects.
Even more fascinating is the discovery that there is such a thing as the Ovogram insect egg swap service. Insect breeders use it the same way knitters use a mini-skein swap!
Marsha finished spinning our Two Ewes premium CVM and mohair that Kelly sent her to test. It's beautiful and the mohair reflects the light to give the yarn a luster. Marsha has about 200 yards.
Marsha continues to work on her Edie T-shirt by Isabell Kraemer in Hempathy. She's making good progress in spite of the puppy responsibilities. ;-)
Marsha's puppy, Enzo, is doing well and getting BIG...over 24 pounds! Marsha talks about puppy class and Enzo's progress. If you want to see more pictures of Enzo check out his Instagram feed @enzo_fuesel or Marsha's @mfuesel.
The Two Ewes are excited to offer batts, as well as the handspun mini-skeins made from them, as premiums for any listeners who would like to support the podcast! There is a limited amount of CVM and mohair still available for premiums of either batts or mini-skeins. There is also the gray fleece from Charlotte (that Kelly is using for the Funky Grandpa) that has also been blended with mohair. Any contribution of $15 or more will qualify for the premiums. Kelly will contact you to determine whether to send fiber (two approximately 1-ounce batts) or mini-skeins (two approximately 80-yard minis). If you are interested, please click the donate button at the show notes!
05 Oct 2021
Ep 171: Garter Squish Obsession
00:49:00
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”.
Nanny Meier’s Tea Cozyby 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 atSeattle Recreativelocated 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 Blanketby 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 issoaddictive! 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 Forestby Christina Korber-Reith. I’m making progress on the second sleeve.
Faye’s Flower Blanket, made with the Persian Tile Blanketpattern 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.
Starts October 15 and goes through the end of March.
Three Green Sistersare 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 their3 Green Sisters Etsy shop.
The tour was originally planned with Cat Bordhi leading it but the tour leader was changed toJanine Bajus, Pattern Designer. She designed some patterns that the group can knit along the way.
The group spent a day atSalt Eldhustaking cooking classes while the wind howled outside. The view was beautiful and they were able to see the windstorm while they cooked lunch.
Events
Winter Weave Along--Started October 15 in the Two Ewes Ravelry Group. This weave along goes until the end of March so you have plenty of time for weaving projects.
Stitches Westis February 20-23 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. There is a podcaster meetup hosted by Yarniacs and 2 Knit Lit Chicks on Saturday the 22nd in the lobby bar area of the Hyatt (connected to the Convention Center).
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