Good Morning! I’m looking for some podcast and videocast suggestions, please. Mainly knitting, as that’s where my heart lies. But non-knitting can also fill my stream.
Likes:
BIPoC
Irreverent
Multi-craftual (I knit, embroider, crochet, do wordwork, attempt drawing)
Dogs
Chickens
giveaways
KALs, MALs, CALs, etc.
A bit abot the podcaster, or location, or …
non-Standard format
Dislikes:
watching people make their tea/coffee
seeing the woods around a podcasters house with music
Loud music/quiet podcaster
“Standard Format” of WIPs, FOs, Acquisitions (I follow a bunch that do this. It’s fine. It’s just not my preference to watch.)
It’s true, sadly. While I can get down with a whip cream covered pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice isn’t my jam. I’ll take a maple latte over pumpkin spice most days.
And yet when I realized I was gonna need more handspun for the super simple rustic garter shawl I’m working on, I went with very autumnal colors. Admittedly, the choice wasn’t entirely random. These are the Wilton food colors we haven’t used on cookies! Yellow, brown, burgundy, and I want to say a different brown. Blargh!
But somehow, I didn’t mind the initial look of the hank (it was in a crochet chain when dyed in a dedicated catering pan on the stovetop).
Definitely not hating it.
Kinda like the look of the spun up single.
Handy sticks courtesy of my child making her own broom for Halloween.
Ok, I actually LOVE the look of the spun up singles. I don’t want to wear orange, but apparently I want to spin it!
I have about a half more of the hank un-dyed and I’m super tempted to do more pumpkin spice. Though maybe I can use some of the regular liquid blue food dye to mix up the look. At any rate, rather in love with this un-repeatable colorway and looking forward to seeing it plied up.
Speaking of plied, I do intend to do that, too, on my EEW Nano. That’s why I usually do my bobbins pretty light.
I mentioned this over on Instagram, but I wanted to prattle on a bit more about it.
I was listening to the Knitpicks Podcast and they brought up “Knitting Mistakes.” It’s an intersting topic as we’ve all made them and it happens even when you are the acknowledged expert, like the Yarn Harlot.
In the podcast, they say there is no wrong way to knit (ie. Continental, Eastern, etc) but then they jump into twisted stitches, saying it, too, is not wrong. I contend it is. If you are trying to make a knit stitch and all your stitches are twisted, it’s wrong. It’s as wrong as if you were trying to make stockinette and you ended up with garter. If you are intending to knit stockinette and you twist your stitches, you are doing it wrong.
Here’s the thing, though. It doesn’t make you a bad knitter. It doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s just one more thing to learn. And much like garter, it’s a really useful stitch! It’s just that if you are trying to do one thing and you end up doing something else, you’re doing something wrong.
It’s ok to be wrong.
One of the podcasters, though, mentioned she was teaching and realized IN THE MIDDLE OF FILMING that she was twisting her stitches. If you do not know enough to know you are twisting stitches, you should not be teaching. You should not be writing patterns. I found an adorable airplane beanie, the designer had a bunch of cute patterns, but they would have been WAY better if she’d gotten more experience and not twisted her stitches.
I realized this is also why I’m turned off by what is otherwise an adorably spooky new podcast. The hosts seem so sweet. But they are hustlers. Maybe it’s generational? But as soon as they learn a new skill, they put it in their etsy shop. Dude. Dude, you aren’t an expert. What you have done is nice. But you’re selling sub-par work based on your brand. And that’s not cool. People assume you know what you’re doing if you sell stuff. And this is your first attempt. You are not an expert. You are not experienced. Get some work under your belt.
Spent some time painting on the current household obsession – gnomes! Fond a great tutorial from Tracie Kiernan of an adorable fall gnome.
I am not a painter. I can copy ok, but whew, this took a lot of concentration and about 2 hours (her video is about 40 minutes). But it was a fun afternoon and a good test for doing this with a couple of socially-distant friends for Halloween since we wont’ be trick-or-treating this year.
I’m continuing on in my attempts to spin different fibers. Above you can see Superwash Merino on the Dreaming Robots Electric Eel Wheel Nano 1.0. Targhee on the drop spindle. And kool aid dyed Superwash Merino with stellina from Webs on the bobbins.
I also tried Rambouillet fleece that I washed (ish) and spun on a drop spindle. Got this from the SB Fiber Arts Guild annual sale. (Had this not been this year, I was thinking of joining.)
So.
I did a bit of shopping on Etsy. I acquired some LongWool in that weird mustard color (I was hoping for a dijon/pink/green blend. It’s not that). It’s not my favorite, though I’m glad I got to try it.
And some Corriedale, which is toothier than merino, but that color, right!
I’ll admit that the original Superwash merino from Direful Yarns is still top of my list. I’d ordered some seconds/ends and it was delightful fun.
Though now that I’m able to spin finer, I would like to try the Targhee again. It seems like a good cross between toothy/workhorse and softness.
It’s a small step, but I moved my free Mellifont Cowl off of Ravelry and to this website. I loved Ravelry and everything it has done. Unfortunately I am one of the people who get eyestrain and migraines from using the site. I’ve mostly mitigated that by changing to dark mode, but the fact that every individual user has to do that is a real problem, particularly from a site known for inclusion.
I continue to love my Electric Eel Wheel Nano! I’ve been spinning this braid from Direful Yarns, 100% superwash merino (I think). It’s incredibly soft.
It’s turning out much better on the Nano than my original Superwash Targhee spin from Lady Llama Fibers.
But I am super excited because I just ordered superwash Corriedale & Longwool to try, too, from Etsy.
