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Writer's pictureBobbie Olan Casiano
Mar 2, 202245 min read

#012 - Magazines, being polygamous, and other vlogs

So much to share, so little time! We have a look at a few new magazine acquisitions and the patterns within; all the knitting and crafty things I'm working on or have finished (including my first yarn!); chat more about other vlogs, and; I share a couple of knits I'm designing.





Transcript

Greetings! Welcome to a another episode for Bobolog - of Bobolog. I'm so happy that you're joining me again today while I talk about knitting and all of my other crafty endeavors, but mainly knitting. My name is Bobbie Olan. I am a crafter living here in Victoria, Australia. My partner and I live on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples and I would like to pay my respects to them and their elders, past, present and future, and also extend that respect to all Aboriginal peoples across Australia.



Eye Candy

I have a lot to get through today. So I'm going to skip the chit chat and just get straight into talking about knitting. The first thing that I want to talk about is yesterday, I sort of ventured out into the world for the first time in quite a while. I caught up with my crochet friend who I've talked about a couple of times before, Hannah. We visited a couple of yarn stores here in Victoria. She got a voucher to one of them for Christmas so we thought we'd go and see if she could spend that. And my intention was to not buy anything because I'm really keen to go to the Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo for the first time this year. I tried- well, I bought tickets last year and then it got cancelled at the last minute. Like, it literally got cancelled the day before. I, like, lots of vendors had already completely finished setting up their stalls and then they got cancelled which was really sad, and we all got refunded our ticket prices. But I really want to try to go again this year. It's taking place in mid July. I haven't bought my tickets quite yet, but I am planning to go.


So I told myself that I would happily go with her to shop at the stores but I didn't want to buy anything because I am saving up all of my spending for the Sheep and Wool Show to try to find some local goodies and some nice yarns and I'm probably going to make a list of things that I want to buy from there. But yes, I had intended not to buy anything. But when we went they had a couple of magazines that were on my list to buy.

So the first shop that we went to was Maker Maker and they had a small shelf of magazines and my, the main knitting magazines that I like to get are the Making magazines which I have talked about before. I've shown some of the magazines that I have before. But I really like those ones because while their main focus is knitting, they do explore other crafts. So that's one where I am kind of interested in getting all of the magazines if I can but that's, yeah, that's gonna, that's- I'm sure that's going to be a bit hard to do because the past, the old ones are not in print anymore and it's hard to find shops that still have them in stock, still have the older ones in stock. So I'm kind of alright getting the new ones. But the other problem is that for a few months, just because of all of the shipping difficulties and extra costs that are involved, Making have actually stopped shipping to Australia. I have no idea, actually, if they're still shipping wholesale. They probably are because I'm sure that's more affordable than for retail individual purchases. But I'm unable to purchase a whole backlog of magazines from them. And all the yarn stores that I looked up here in Australia that stock Making didn't have any of the older issues.

So long story short, at Maker Maker they did have a couple of Making issues that I don't already have. So I purchased those. So I got the Making... What is this? Making number seven, Desert, and Making eight, Forest. So I'll just pop number eight down first.


Making 7: Desert

So, like I said, for the Making magazines, I kind of just want them all because I want to just, I just like having them. I like seeing all of the other projects that are in them. And I have, you know, seen them around on Ravelry and stuff, the individual projects. But the main one that I am interested in, in this Desert issue is called the Mariposa Jacket by Helga Isager and it's that one there. I just really like (trying to get in focus), I just think that's a really interesting texture on that, on that cardigan there. So I quite like that one.


And then another one that I am interested in is this Huala Tee by Paula Pereira and I think that's just so interesting and pretty and, you know, most of it is pretty simple, but then it's got that really interesting colourwork textured panel there that I'd like to make. So they're probably the top two patterns in this one that I am interested in. And then, you know, they've got a few other sewing bits and pieces that I think are nice. And yeah, I kind of just like having a flip through these. They've got some cooking recipes, this one's Mexican stuff, sauces and pork carnitas and things like that. So I, you know, I may try other projects that are in here but I am mainly a knitter. So it is mainly the knitting patterns that I look at in these magazines. So that is the Desert issue there.



Making 8: Forest

In the Forest issue - I really, really like this issue. It has a lot of non knitting things that I'm interested in making. But the main knitting thing that I would like to make is the Hytte Pullover, H-Y-T-T-E, again by Paula Pereira. I did not realise. I must like this designer, but it's that one there. And I I really like these circular yoke designs that aren't floral. I'm really drawn to the ones that are leaves or birds or some other kind of motif that isn't floral. I quite like the geometric ones too. But I think this one with the, it looks like oak leaves to me, is, is really nice.

And then I also kind of like the - where is it? - the Growth Rings Shawl. So it's growth rings, kind of like how trees have, you know, a ring for each year of their life if you cut them down. So it's that one there and I'm kind of surprised that it's one that I like. It's, it's pretty, it's pretty simple, but I think it's just really interesting and effective. I'm not sure that I'd ever actually make it because I don't even want to know how many stitches there are in the outer circumference of these. But I don't know, you never know. I think it's quite nice and it's really interesting. And, like I said, this one has a few other non knitting things that I'd like to make. At the start of this year, I mentioned that I'm sort of kind of starting to get interested in quilting. So that's one quilt there that I might make since I have the pattern for it. And another one that I think is really cool is this Wood Carrier Bag. Not sure if and how I'd use it but I think that's, I think, just think that's neat. Probably won't make that unless I have a need for it. I thought that was pretty cool.

So those are the two Making magazines that I bought.



Pom Pom 32

And then we went to a another yarn store called Woolarium. Both of these are stores that I haven't been to before. My friend Hannah has, but they're, they're kind of in her area. They're not really in my area so I hadn't visited them before. But again, surprisingly, this one had a magazine that was on my list of magazines that I want to get. So actually, only quite recently, I had a look through all of my favourites to see which which patterns are from knitting magazines. And then I made a list of them, the magazines. Like, the issues that they are, especially ones where I had favourited more than one pattern. Because I, aside from Making I'm not really interested in just accumulating magazines. I want to know that there are things in them that I want to make. The trouble with that is I, they're all- Excuse me one moment. Because I'm looking at them sometime after all of the issues have come out it's you know, I assume that it would be quite difficult to find them all. So I think on my list of magazines that I want to get there are a couple of Laine ones, there's one Amarisu issue, there's, and there's a couple of Pom Poms. I think I think that's it. Yeah, I think that's it that's on my list of ones that I want to find and I was really pleased to find that Woolarium had one of the Pom Pom issues that I want to get.

So it is this one here. It is the issue number 32 Spring 2020. And I believe that's a design by Joji Locatelli on the cover. This one, the main pattern that, the pattern that was in my favourites and the main one that I am interested in making is called Aubade by Natalia Sinelshchikova and so sorry if I'm mispronouncing that. The link for the patterns with all the designer names and everything will be in the YouTube description below as well as on my website where I put transcripts and all of the links to everything that I talk about. Anyway, the Aubade sweater is this one here. I can see, you can kind of see it best in - which way am I going? - in that dark version there. I just think that is such a pretty and interesting colourwork design. Plus, you know, I'm not really - oh there, you can see that there too - I'm not really, like, that into pink which I have said before. But you also just, you know, I mean - that's a close up and it's cropped so you can't really see the full pattern anyway - but I've said before I'm not really into pink. So I mean, who knows what colour I'm gonna make it into. I kind of, I kind of try to resist knitting patterns in the colours that they're presented in. And quite often I also don't use the same yarn just because I'm using what's available to me here in Australia or what I already have in my stash that I think is suitable. So yeah, so really happy to have my first issue of a pom pom magazine. So that is, that's that publication right there.

So they, they're the only purchases that I made. My friend Hannah bought some yarn for her crochet projects and I stuck with the magazines because as I said I'm - excuse me, sorry about that - as I said, I'm wanting to be able to get a few things from the Sheep and Wool Show in July. So just magazines for now.


Handy Dandy

So let's move on to talking about the things that I have been knitting on.


August Sock KAL

To continue on from the previous episode, I'll just close off with mentioning the August Sock KAL by Roxanne Richardson that I have been working on. So that is one of those tutorial recipe type patterns that goes through custom fitting socks for your feet. And so I came up with five variations that I wanted to make using different sock constructions, heel constructions, and just yet different ways of increasing the stitches or what have you to get the right stitch counts for my partner's feet. So I had also, I've talked about this previously, and I don't have them here because I've already gifted them to him. So I'm not going to go into a lot of detail. But aside from all of those different construction methods, I also used different cast on methods for each one. So they are all done now.


I managed to get five pairs of ankle socks out of three balls of the Wendy Happy yarn which is a bamboo nylon sock blend. I was saying when I in previous episodes when I made them that I was pleasantly surprised at how elastic and springy the fabric turned out to be. But once I finished them and I was looking at them all together, I was thinking that I am a bit concerned about how the ribbing on the cuff will actually hold up. I am concerned that that might lose its elasticity fairly quickly, but I guess we'll see.


One thing that I didn't mention previously that I kind of just want to touch on is the swatching that I did for these. So I have a feeling I must be a somewhat tight knitter. I, I never considered myself that way because I always seem to be on gauge for yarns. So I'm pretty on gauge for whatever tension is listed on the ball band. So I kind of, yeah I, I never really thought I was much of a tight knitter or loose knitter. I just thought I was pretty in the middle. But anyway for, for this one I did do a couple of swatches. Part of that was because with all of the vlogs that I've been watching lately, I've been hearing a lot of people say that they often do socks on 2.25mm needles. And I've generally done socks on 2.75mm needles. So I did - I just realised I pulled the cards where I wrote the notes of what, how I worked each swatch out of these two swatches, but I should still be able to tell which is which.

Yeah, so let's see this swatch here. They're kind of on an angle because I swatched based on a specific sock pattern that I, that I want to do that is kind of done on the bias like that. But you know the, it's ,it's stockinette stitch so it's pretty vanilla except for, you know, the edges where you make it go on the bias. But this one here I had done on 2.25mm needles and a quite like how firm that is. And it's got, it's still got a bit of give there. And then I did another swatch on 2.75 - which, like I said, is what I usually use -with the same yarn, same stitch counts and everything and it has quite a bit more stretch to it. So I, I measured these and interestingly enough, they actually give me the same stitch count. So they are both 32 stitches in 10cm. I mean, these aren't quite 10cm long. I think they're just a bit over five, but they would give me that tension of 32 stitches in 10cm. So it's the same, but the one on the bigger needles- I don't know if I can get this working but the one on the, the one on, this is the one on the smaller needles. It's got a bit of stretch, but the one on the bigger needles has even more. And I did, I used the, the, the stitch count based on the pattern that, that this swatch is for.


And I slipped both of them over my partner's feet. Over, over the same, I slipped them both over the same foot. And because of the extra stretch-stretch of this one, of the one on the bigger needles, it did just fit better. This one was just a little too snug. So I ended up sticking with the 2.75mm needles when I knit the August Sock KAL. So I just thought that was interesting. I would, it would be good to make socks on the firmer gauge I think. But I would wait to do that until I'm using wool yarn again. So that's main, that's the main thing that I sort of wanted to discuss with the August Sock KAL since I'd already discussed them quite a bit in previous episodes.



Baby Lamb

The next thing that I want to talk about is the Baby Lamb pattern by Lorraine Pistorio. So I have talked about these before as well. I had, I think the first time I talked about them was in the previous episode, and I had knit - These are the two front legs or, and legs and hooves. I think they're so cute and they've come out so well. And I had started on the hind hooves. I think I had gotten to about there on each leg. And as you can see I have now joined those two and started knitting the bottom. So I'm halfway through working the short rows to make the bottom. They are done using shadow wrap short rows which I had never done before. They're not too... I don't find them too bad. The main difficulty I have with them is just that because of the nature of this yarn, it's just so difficult to see the stitches so sometimes it's just really hard to identify what strand is what. But other than that I'm really enjoying making these. It's also coming out bigger than I had expected it to be. So I'm hoping that I have enough yarn because I just bought the one ball which should just be enough based on the meterage so I'm kind of playing yarn chicken with that there.

So that fluffy yarn is the Scheepjes Sweetheart Soft Brush in colour 532. And that's 100% polyester. And I'm knitting that one at quite a tight gauge just to make sure none of the stuffing is going to fall out. And then the hooves are done in Scheepjes SoftFun which is the Crepe colourway. Yeah, and I'm really pleased with how things are turning out.


I am using yarn scraps and fabric scraps to stuff them. Not going to try to- I was going to pull a bit out and show you but I think I had better just leave it alone. So what I'm doing with those is I'm getting all of the light coloured ones that I have mainly and cutting them all up really, really, really small. As small as I can stand to cut it up and then I'm using that to stuff them. And it, you can kind of feel if you, if you give it, like, a decent squeeze you can kind of feel firmness there that I'm sure if you were using proper hobby fill type stuff I don't think it would be quite as firm as that. But you are supposed to stuff these quite firmly as well and they are still soft and squishy. So I think it will turn out fine. And, you know, then those scraps aren't becoming waste which is always a good thing to not contribute to more landfill and to reuse where possible. So that's my progress on the Baby Lamb pattern. I have kind of put them on hold now for a while because I'm focusing on another project which I'll talk about in just a little bit. I- This is for a newborn baby and I didn't start until after they were born and yeah, so there isn't really like a hard deadline for these anymore. So that's that one there.



Daniel's Hat

For the same baby, I have knit the Daniel's Hat by Ysolda Teague. I had knit this pattern before but I wasn't able to show it to you at the end of last year because I gifted it immediately. That one I had done in a yellow and a cream and this one is in blue and white. So it, the blue and cream yarns that I started with are the 4 Seasons Superwash Merino, which is a discontinued DK yarn thatI got from Spotlight which is our big box craft store here in Australia. One of them. So I was hoping I'd have enough but I think, you know, in the back of my head I think I knew that it really was not going to be enough but ,I I just figured I went for it anyway and I, I knew I had other yarns in my stash that I could use. So - oh, I should also say that the the colour variation that you can see in it - so the 4 Seasons are solid colour yarns, and then the lighter blues and the greens that you can see in there are actually a strand of mohair. So it's the Lincraft Winter Warmth mohair, which is also discontinued yarn. But I held that throughout the whole thing so no matter which colour I was working with, I held the mohair with it. And I thought that would just be a really nice way to sort of make, make the yarns work, just work a bit more fluidly together, or something like that. So yeah, I'm really pleased with how that turned out.

I did run out of the navy yarn first, but I am hoping - if I just hold it out again for you to see - I am hoping that you cannot tell where I started using a different yarn. That is an extremely similar colourway. It is the Sudar- Sidar- Sirdar Click, yeah, I believe, which is also a DK weight yarn, but it has acrylic content in it. So when I ran out of the merino yarn, I just started using that and I don't think the recipient, or the recipients parents I should say, are going to be able to tell.

The one that is more obvious is I ran out of the the cream coloured 4 Seasons merino and - let's see if I can find a good spot - you should be able to see because the yarn that I replaced it with is again another one from Spotlight. It is the 4 Seasons Marvel Magic Stripe in, I think it's the Bubbly colourway that I used. And I picked, I didn't really have another. I had, I had a white yarn in this Sirdar Click but it was just too white. I felt like it would have been a really obvious contrast from the original yarn that I was using. And then this self striping yarn, this coloured yarn that I used was in really soft colours that had, like, blues and light greens in there. So my hope was that it would blend more invisibly. And I, and I think that it did. If you look at it from a distance, I don't think you can really tell. But of course, if you look at it up close - let me stretch it a bit and show you that there. Can you kind of see how it's like, that's white, and then up there the white bit's like light blue? I feel like it's more obvious in real life. But anyway, that has five different yarns in it.


And it being brioche, it's reversible. And so the transition from the the rib to the brioche is neater on this side. This is the right side but I actually quite like how the inside of it looks. I like the brightness of having the, the white yarn as the dominant colour. So yes, so I, that didn't take me long to do.

And then I thought I'd make a pom pom for it. I didn't want to use though, I didn't want to use the Bubbly yarn colourway that I had used to replace the white at the top of the hat because it just wouldn't, the whole thing just wouldn't have matched as well. But I had some extra, some leftovers of that Marvel Magic Stripe yarn in a different colourway. I can't actually remember what this one is called but I think it matches so well. So it doesn't, it actually doesn't match quite as well on this side. But let me show it to you. I still think that's pretty good, right? And that, so that's another self striping yarn. That is only that self striping yarn. None of the yarn that is in this is in the pom pom, but look how well that matches. And then I think it matches even better with the wrong side, with the inside of it. And I just think that's just so perfect. I mean, the greens aren't an exact match for each other. I mean, nothing is an exact match, but it's so close. I think I'm just so pleased and impressed with how well those go together.

So on this pom pom I have a button so they can just attach that to either, to either side depending on - I've made the pom pom a bit full and the hole a bit tight, but yeah - they'll be able to attach that to whichever side that they want to use, or leave it off if they'd rather just have the little baby just wear the beanie. So I'm really pleased with how that one has come out. So that is the Daniel's Hat by Ysolda Teague. I might one day actually make one for myself because they do have it in from sizes baby right up through adults. So I might make that a third time. I really like that, that pattern. Their instructions, especially for the decreases are just done so well. So that's that one there. Let me pop that aside.



Star Illusion Blanket

Next up is - ah yes. So I've said that I've kind of put the Baby Lamb on hold because I want to focus on a, on a different project. So my sister in London is due, she's actually due today, that, this day that I'm filming which is Sunday the 27th of - oh my gosh, what month are we in? - The 27th of February. She's due today. Haven't heard anything so I assume she's still just waiting. But my parents have bought, have booked flights to go over there in two and a half weeks. Yikes, two and a half weeks! So I thought I would try to see if I could make the present for that baby in time for them to take up on their flight. If not, I mean, of course that's totally fine. I had planned to ship this present plus a couple of other knitted items that I'm making for them and just pay for the shipping but if I can send things over in their luggage and save money then obviously I would rather do that.


So the blanket is, it's called - I mentioned in the, I showed it in the previous episode - It's the Star Illusion blanket by Katie Ahlquist. And I chose it because I'm interested in trying illusion knitting. So I can show it to you, but one of the comments for- that I read of someone else who had made this pattern is that you kind of just have to trust the pattern and you just have to be really careful that you're following the chart and following the pattern exactly because it's kind of hard to see where you've made mistakes and it's hard to see the pattern. So this, I'll show you what I've got so far. That, so it kind of just looks like stripes. I mean you can kind of see, like, in this - can you see how, like, the- here and here the dark stripes are kind of more prominent, and then in this bit here, the lighter stripes are more prominent? But you can't really make out what they are.

So the idea of, of the illusion knitting is that when you have it - this is going to be so hard to show, I don't think I'm going to be able to show - but you can kind of see when you, when you're looking at it on an angle then that colour dominance is more apparent. And your, you should be able to see what you're making. Gosh, very difficult. Anyway, really hard to see what it's going to be. That's the back side of it. You can kind of also see it there without having to, you know, put it on an angle but yeah.

The colours that I have on at the moment aren't incredibly exciting. The brown isn't super exciting, but I am using gradient cakes for these. So I'm using gradient cakes plus matching solid ends. I'm using the Scheepjes Whirl Fine Art yarn. And they have, they match the colourways, match the Scheepjes Merino - is it Soft? - Merino Soft. Yeah, the Scheepjes Merino Soft yarn. So they're intentionally made to match each other so that you can get a colour to match each end in case you just need a little bit extra which is what I have done. So that's the blue colourway there which is my background colour. So I haven't actually started using this cake because I'm use- I've started with one of the lighter colours that matches the outside of it. And then for the contrast colour I've started using this cake here. So I started from the centre of that. The centre, the centre colour of this one didn't have a matching solid outer colour. So, which I'm totally fine with because I like the yellows a lot better. So with the blue cake, I got one colour of the, one extra colour, one solid colour of the inside and one solid colour of the outside. And with this one I got two solid colours of the outside. So Scheepjes Whirl Fine Art and the matching Merino Soft, and it's so soft.

This is 50% superwash merino, 25% microfibre - which I'm so interested in and which I'm sure lends to how incredibly soft this is - and the other 25% is acrylic. So it's, it's, it's a really interesting knit. Yeah, it's, I have more trouble with it than I expected to just because I - how do I say this? - So you have quite longish sections where you're doing one type of stitch. So you've got more than, you've got, say, 15 knit stitches and then 15 purl stitches and then 15 knit stitches or something like that. And I just have, I don't know, I just get I just get into the rhythm of it. And I'll be counting my knit stitches 1-2-3-4-5 and I just get so into the rhythm that I start getting up to 20-21-22 and then I realise, "Oh, no, you were meant to switch to purl stitches like five stitches ago." So I'm constantly doing that. I'm knitting past where I'm supposed to change the stitch that I'm doing, having to tink back a little bit, and then do it again. And I just keep doing that over and over and over again and it's incredibly frustrating. But, you know, I've got to get better at it or I've just got to deal with it, because I don't really have a choice. And yeah, I'm really excited to see how that turns out.


A couple of other things that I want to mention about it is I am using a row counter that I bought from Twill and Print who are in Canada, I believe. So I bought three of their enamel pin row counters last year. And for this project I am using this 'Stay Cozy' one which is their Winter edition. I'm using, I've chosen this one because the pattern is stars in the night sky so I thought this was a really nice match for that. I like being able to match my my notions to my knitting where I can.


So I, I've kind of also matched the stitch markers that I'm using to the project but not in a very obvious way. For the the start of the odd numbered rows I do have one star stitch marker there that my crafty aunt made for me. And then all of the other stitch markers are Harry Potter ones that I got from Etsy. So I have chosen...these aren't really an obvious match to the project because it's not the pattern that I am matching them to. I'm matching them to the recipient. So like I said, these, this blanket is going to be for my sister's first baby, and she and I both love Harry Potter so I've chosen them for that reason. And I am using the villains of Harry Potter because my sister has always liked the bad boys. The most distinct example I can remember from our childhood growing up is in Grease she had a crush on B.B. So she's, she's always been drawn to the, the villains in, in shows and things like that. So I've used the bad guys from Harry Potter as the stitch markers for, for this blanket here. And I'm getting that into a nice tangle so I'll leave that there and I will move on.



Other vlogs

Before I continue to talk about other projects that I am working on, I do just want to give a brief little update on a couple of the vlogs that I mentioned in the previous episode that I've been watching.


Rose Hip Island

So I am still watching the Rose Hip Island vlog which is Hanna who is down in Tasmania. She is a knitter and a yarn dyer. She has a yarn dyeing business. And it's, it's quiet - like I said in the previous episode, I have to watch things from the very beginning. So because Hanna had started her vlog a number of years ago, when I watch these ones that are spanning quite a long period of time so that I can catch up, it's always really interesting to hear them talk about their lives and realise that you, you're watching them from when they had a one year old baby and now it's five year old or something like that. It's just kind of really interesting to be along for the ride a little bit and, like, having their kids grow up in the background. It's kind of fun.

The other thing that, that I just thought I'd mentioned about Hanna that I really like is, so there are a few vlogs that I watch and I haven't really come across any that have made the same things as me. Which isn't a surprise at all. It's not something that I am expecting, because there's just so many patterns out there. But so, it was kind of fun that, that Hanna did actually make a couple of things that I, well one thing that I had made, and she's used yarn that I have used. The yarn isn't as unique a match, I guess, especially watching all the Aussie vlogs. We've all pretty much used yarn from the Bendigo Woollen Mills. But I guess because with Hannah, it was a yarn that's more unique that she had used for a sock project that I had also used for a sock project, I, it just, it just gave me a nice little warm feeling inside to know that there are sort of experiences that we've shared. So the sock pattern that I had made, which was actually the first pair of socks I had ever made, she also made a pair of those socks. And they are the 'Skype' or 'Skip' socks by Adrienne Ku and I really liked that pattern. I'd actually be interested in making them again. Adrienne has a Skyp Socks pattern and a Ribbed Skyp Socks pattern and I have made both of them and I would be interested in making both of them again, because it was a really fun stitch to do. So it was nice that Hannah had made that sock and I felt a kind of sort of like connection with her because of that.

And then - last episode I realised when I was editing that I kept clearing my throat because I forgot that I had a drink right beside me that I could use to wet my throat so I'm making an effort to drink more while I'm filming. Anyway, the yarn that we had both used which I believe is discontinued now is the Lorna's Laces Solemate and it has the fibre in it, I'm totally going to get this wrong but I think it's called Outlast. And it's something that was actually developed, I don't know if it was developed by NASA and for NASA, but the concept of it was that it, it adapts to your body's needs, and I have no idea how that works. But I guess it's kind of like in the same way that people talk about wool. I mean, I know that wool is generally thought of something that's going to keep you warm, but people do also talk about its breathability and that it's moisture wicking, and all of that kind of stuff. So I believe this Outlast fibre, it's meant to do something about keeping you warm. It's good for keeping you warm when it's cold, but it's also good for breathability and keeping you cool, or allowing you to stay cool, when it's hot.


So - I'm sorry - I've heard about it from a pod- another podcast and I hunted it down and I found a skein and I made a pair of socks for my best friend who lives in Sydney. So yeah, so I had just used a plain white colour to make the socks that I had made. Which are the Lingerie socks. And again, it's another pattern that I, I think I'd like to make again for myself. I said at the time when I finished making it that I think it was, it's the prettiest thing that I have ever knit. And actually, I still think that's true. I still think it's the prettiest thing that I've ever made. And I'd like to make a pair for myself. So, anyway, Hannah used a colour - I can't remember if she used just a variegated colour or self striping colour... Anyway, she used colours but she has also used the Solemate yarn, which you can't get any more unless you find it in a destash. So I thought that was another really nice thing to share.



Fibre Bound

The other thing that I wanted to sort of touch on - so last episode when I was talking about the Aussie vlogs that I had watched so far, one of them was Fibre Bound, who is Aleksandra who is based in South Australia. I realised when I was editing that I kind of just mentioned it, her vlog, and then didn't really, like, talk about it. I don't, I don't know, maybe I was in, I felt like I was in a rush or something that I skipped over discussing her, her vlog in more detail like I did with the other ones that I talked about.

So one thing that I do want to say about her is that she just she just has a really sort of calming presence. I find the way that she talks about things, it's just really relaxing and comfortable and, yeah, calming. Like, it's just very soothing and it was just really nice to watch. Yeah. She makes a lot of socks. She participates in a knitalong that is a sock a month. And on top of that she makes other socks. She also had a go of making her own stitch markers using polymer clay and they were so cute. They were really adorable. So that was really fun to see.

But one other thing, one thing that really struck me when I was watching hers was how many project bags she had. And it seemed like she just kept accumulating more project bags. And I've never really seen anyone who was that into project bags so I found it quite interesting. And I, I don't have that many myself. I've never gone out and purchased a project bag specifically. I have one here that my crafty aunt had made for me as a knitting project bag and there's a note- notions pouch that, it's not attached at the moment but it can go inside and kind of divides the bag into two different compartments. So if you're doing colourwork or if you just want to separate things inside it can be used for that. And it also has, like, two loops inside it for holding yarn. So keeping your yarn separate again if you're doing colourwork or something like that. So that's actually the only project that bag I have that was specifically made for knitting. All of my other projects are pretty much just tote bags.

Yes. But mainly, I use bowls. I use bowls because I mostly do my knitting at home. I don't, I don't often, I very rarely take my knitting out and about with me. So I often have them in bowls. So they're like, they're just easier to grab and go inside the house. I don't need to, like, open it up to start working with it. Not that that's hard. And I mean, really, that does protect the contents better than just having an open bowl. Anyway, I digress.


I was really interested in how many project bags Aleksandra had. And in the same way that I match, that I like to try to match my notions to my project, she matches her project bags to her project, which I thought was such a cool idea and it makes me want to have more project bags. So that may be something that I look out for when I go to the Sheep and Wool Show and I may just stop using random tote bags and what have you. I mean, most of the tote bags, I don't have many, but the, they're generally from yarn stores when I bought yarn and they've put, they've put the yarn in there. Well, I mean, you have to buy the tote bag. But my favourite one is one that I've kind of displayed in the background on previous episodes when I haven't had other things to display. I think it's one that says something like, "I'm not a hoarder, I'm the curator of an extensive fibre/yarn collection." Or something like that. A quote along those lines. And that was from one of my local yarn stores which is called Craftee Cottage. So yes, I quite like that one. But I have a couple others that are from yarn stores and then I do have a couple of other tote bags that - I may show them to you sometime - that I got from other various things that I just thought were nice. They weren't just ordinary tote bags. I'll show you them to you some other time because I haven't pulled them out now and I'm wary that I am just talking and talking and talking.



Multicrafty

Anyway! So I decided as well that, being inspired by all of Aleksandra's project bags, I decided I would make my own. So I have a few sewing bag- So I have a few project bag ideas that I want to sew, patterns and ideas that I want to sew.


Boxet Bag

But there is also a bag/basket/tote type thing in this issue of Making which is Making number 5 Colour. And this was, was already actually in my queue. It was already something that I was interested in working with. So I thought, "Well, since I want bags I'm going to take this opportunity to make it."

So this is the bag here. It is by Cal Patch. It's called, it's called the Boxet Bag. And I really love how they've used colour in it, how they've stopped and changed and mixed and matched colours and it's not all just solid. However, I am not... I don't feel quite creative enough in my crochet to do that and I didn't want to have to weave in that many different - where have I put it? - that many different colours. So I'm, I'm not doing that. So the whole thing is made using two strands of yarn held together. And the idea is that sometimes you're just holding two strands of the main colour and sometimes you're holding a strand of the main colour with a contrast colour and you change it up as you go.


Anyway, like I said, I don't, I can't be bothered with changing it up. So I'm kind of just doing each panel - so it's knit in panels, and then it's going to be crocheted together - so I'm doing each panel in a different colour. So I have in my stash - before I really knew anything about yarn and fibre content and that kind of stuff, and when I was still pretty new, I went to a trash and treasure market where someone was getting rid of a whole lot of yarn which included some of, some rug wool. And then it also had some, some... I don't, I don't have any of the labels here for - this one's another rug wool - but it also had some that didn't have labels on it or I think it had just hand written labels that were like 'Plant Craft Cottage, RGB- RBG", or something like that. And I did a bit of Googling and from what I could ascertain it's the Royal Botanic Gardens' Plant Craft Cottage where they had classes in, I think it was natural dyeing. So I think most of what I have left is the rug wool and I never knew what to do with it because it's too rough for next to skin. It's far too rough for that. But then it occurred to me that I could use it for this bag. So I have started doing that.

So the pattern calls for two strands of worsted weight yarn held together and worked with a 6mm crochet hook. I don't have a 6mm crochet hook. I have 5.5 and then I have 8. And I did do a little bit of a swatch in both of those sizes. And while the one on the 5.5 was really nice and firm, I actually like the feel, the texture better on the 8mm crochet hook so that is what I'm using. So the first panel that I made is this one. It's going to be the bottom of the bag. So I should say, I don't think I can recall that this yarn had information about gauge on it. But I did, you know, wrap it around a ruler and see how many wraps per inch I was getting and the- it comes out to a DK weight. So I'm using a finer yarn on a bigger crochet hook. But I'm not finding that it's really, like, loose and hole-y. Like, it still feels pretty solid to me. Plus I might try felting it when it's done too. We shall see. So that, anyway, that's the bottom panel.

Like I have said many many times I am not that into pink. So I have used the pink colour on the bottom panel because it's the one that I'm not really going to see, or the one that I'm going to se the least of. The main colour that I'm using is the brown because that is the one that I had the most of. I had four skeins of that. I think I had - was it just one skein? Yeah - just one skein of the pink and I do still have some of the pink left over so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that. So I finished the bottom panel and I have finished one of the narrow, one of the end panels, so one of the narrower side panels. So that is that one there. And the interesting thing is, even though I'm not that into pink when I was working on this I was thinking, "It actually looks so pretty. It's so lovely and so nice." But then I started knitting this one and I was like, "Oh, yes. Oh, I love how vibrant it is." And I just thought it was so much prettier than the pink and that just goes to show I am really more into the cooler colours than the warm. So this is a lovely bright blue.


So I - there were about one and a half skeins of this - so I have made one end panel and I've only just made the smallest start of the second. So yes, so the two end panels are going to be blue and again, I'm certain that I'm going to have leftovers of blue yarn. I have three skeins of this yellow. So they are going to be the wider side panels, the ones with the handles on them. I'm pretty sure three skeins will cover me but if not, or if I run out of the brown which is the main colour, I have one final colour which is this grey here. So I will use that somehow if I need to. And if not, then I've just got that for something else.


The last thing that I want to mention about this crochet project is my crafty aunt gave me this ring quite a long time ago. So it is for tensioning your yarn and it's for crochet. So what- I find it so handy. When I've crocheted it in the past, I've always been really scared of losing the last stitch that I made. Because of, if, you know, the hook slips out of it and it pulls through it's just... I, yeah, you know, I usually, I think I just stuck the hook into the work but then sometimes the loop would still slide off it and then I'd lose where I was. Anyway, I find it actually a really handy use of the ring to just slip it on the end there and that's just not going to come off.


But really when you work with it, you kind of have it on your fingers. So this one is kind of on the inside, on the inside and you, like, you can adjust it so you can, you know, squeeze it smaller and stretch it out a little bit and you have the yarn - I still haven't completely quite got the hang of it - you have, you have the yarn - this is really hard. I'm just gonna twist it around more. There we go. Then it's not in the right spot. So this is harder to show than I had expected it would be. Trying to cover my face. There we go. Okay, that's, that's the best you're gonna get sorry about all of that. But yeah, you, you, you have the yarn tensioned around the neck of the swan. It's a bit fiddly to use. And you can, you can have the other end of the yarn wrapped around the tail or just loose or I don't know. I haven't quite got it.


And I, and I don't - I have a couple of, I have a couple of these type of rings for knitting as well. And I don't really use them because I just feel like I don't have the same amount of control as when the yarn is running over my fingers and I can feel it. Yeah, I just feel like I can't control it as well when I'm using the knitting rings and this is kind of the same. But because this yarn is so rough, I actually am preferring to use the ring just because I don't have it, you know, coming over all my fingers and pulling through. I kind of just have it over the swan neck and I'm just holding it loosely in my other hand and that, that works fine for crochet and for this yarn. So - oh no, I've nearly lost my loop. Yeah, so that's that's my crochet project.



My first yarn

The other thing that I'm super duper super really excited to share with you is my yarn. Where did I put it? So last episode - it was either last episode or the previous episode - I showed you that I've had a go of spinning on my Turkish spindle that my uncle 3d printed for me. So I did, since I showed you that I did this, I did make a third spin. I did spin a third single. And then I plied them together. So I wanted 3 ply yarn just because I like the characteristics of that better than a 2 ply. It was a bit fiddly holding the three little tiny cakes in my hand to do the plying, but it was really fun and satisfying and seeing the result was just such a thrill. I just can't- I think I'm really going to like spinning.


I think the, the spindle that I've got at the moment isn't great. It's fine for beginning and practicing. But I do- that's definitely something that I want to look out for at the Sheep and Wool Show is a, is a nice wooden Turkish spindle.


Anyway, so I plied the three yarns together. I wound it on onto my swift here. So what I actually did was I got a tape measure and I, I put a clip around it so that it was making a loop that was 1m and then I pulled this out so that it was giving me that 1m circumference and then I wound the yarn that I had plied around it. And that way I was able to know how long a bit of yarn I had made. It was nine and a half metres. So I did that. I tied it in four different places. And then I put it in a bowl of water to soak for about 15-20 minutes and then I pulled it out gave it a gentle squeeze to get all the excess water and hung it up. And I've made yarn. It's so exciting and it's actually, like, it's come out so much better than I had expected. It's just really exciting. I just - so let me undo this little skein - so that's my first skein of handspun yarn and I have put these into my hand spinning projects in Ravelry which was really exciting to do.


There are - I mean, most of it, as you can see, is quite fluffy - but there are some bits that are kind of more like I guess what I would like to aim for, I think. Let me see if I can... How can I show this you? Think I need to like hide my face. Can you see that? Anyway, there are some bits of it that are better than others, of course. But, you know, this is just my first time. I'm bound to get better with more and more practice and I have plenty to practice with. Like I said, I had bought this roving to make a chunky, super chunky blanket. And I bought way too much. I made two blankets out of it which I gifted and I've actually got, like, I weighed it the other day. I've got 2.3 kilos. So I have a lot of roving to play with. Again, not the best quality but fine for a beginner. And it's just exciting. Yeah, so super happy about that. And very keen to make make more and get better. So I have skeined that really badly, but that's all right.


So the thing that I can't decide with this is, I mean, I'll probably just leave it in the skein for a while, but I can't decide if I want to knit a swatch and have it as a keepsake in swatch form. Or the other idea, which my crochet friend Hannah really likes, is I kind of want to do a little weaving project where in a year, every yarn that I spin I'll put a little bit of it into a weaving project so that I have, you know, a woven item that is, that kind of shows my progression of all the yarn that I make. And I kinda like that idea. But I also kind of want to see how it knits up. So I'm not really sure what to do. What do you think? What would you do? What do you think? I just I don't want to leave it in skeined form indefinitely because I want to see what it's like to work with it. I don't know. I really want to see how it looks knitted up and I want to, like, feel, I want to feel how it knits up. But I think a weaving project would be quite pretty. Maybe I'll save the weaving project for when I'm better and I'm doing more exciting things and then I can have, you know, projects that I've made out of my handspun and then also a, a woven thing that shows them all and maybe I'll knit this up. I might do that. Yeah. But you know, let me know in the comments, which which one you like or if you have another idea of how I can use and, and document my handspun. So that one is that one there.



Aster top

The last Multicrafty project that I'll just mention - I don't really want to talk about it because it's nothing to do with wool and yarn and knitting - but it is this top that I am wearing. So I did mention it on a previous top that I was in the middle of sewing this Aster pattern which is from Seamwork. So I'll stand up a bit. So... let's see... a bit awkward. It's got a nice pleat in the back, which I'm not sure you saw because I'm spinning around. But yes, so that is the Aster top. It's not really my colours, but I still think it's quite nice and yeah, I'm pretty proud of having made this. So yeah, that's my sewing project. And it is a little bit on the loose side. If I make it again, which I'm not sure that I will, I might go down a size. But who knows. We'll see. So that is the sewing project.



Craft for Thought

Oh gosh, I did want to have a little bit of a Craft for Thought chat, but I'll try to keep it brief because this has, this episode has gone on for quite a bit already. I just wanted to mention that I, part of, when I first started this vlog, one of the reasons that I said that I did it was because I want to try designing my own knitwear. And I thought that having a vlog would sort of push me to do that. And it didn't. And towards the end of last year I started saying to myself, "Well, why do I want to design really? There are so many lovely patterns out there. There are so many amazing designers. Do I really want to add to, do I want to add to that pool?" And especially if I wasn't really inspired, like, do I want to try to force myself to come up with design ideas when I wasn't having them? And I was sort of giving up on the idea.


Oven mitts

And then my knitting friend Hannah, who I'm talking about quite a bit in this episode, made me, well she gave me this beautiful tea cozy that she had made, that she had crocheted. She gave it to me for Christmas last year. And she told me that she was going to give it to me so I thought, "I have to make her something. I have to knit her something in exchange." So since she has given me a practical kitchen item, I wanted to do the same for her. So I decided that I'd make her oven mitts, or an oven unit. And then I wasn't finding one that was exactly what I wanted on Ravelry so I decided that I would design my own.

The idea that I had was to - sorry, I think some of the fibre from my spinning got in my eye - but my idea was to try to do a fabric that was thick, so that it wouldn't need to be lined. So I came up with an idea, I did all of this swatching with acrylic yarn. She's vegan so I wasn't going to use wool anyway, but I just did swatching with acrylic yarn just to play with the stitch pattern and the idea that I had and to figure out numbers. And that was all working and then I made it for her in the yarn that I wanted to use, and I bought this online so I had no idea what it was like in real life. And the yarn was just ropier than I had hoped for. So I wanted to use something that was 100% cotton. And I have worked with cotton before that's like, fluff- like, fluffier. It's kind of like acrylic yarns that you get, like, it's got airiness to it. And this one was kind of just more like cord. I still really liked it and I still really wanted to use it. So I just went ahead with it and I did it. And as you can see it didn't quite turn out all that great. The shape is completely off. I don't have it here because I gave it to her yesterday. And then I ended up having to line it because when I tried, when I tested it out in the kitchen, I mean, I could take something out of the oven but I had to put it down straight away. It wasn't as heat resistant as I would have liked.

Since then, I have done another swatch and, sort of, I'm working on changes to the design to get a better shape. But I've done another swatch using wool yarn. And I have tested that and I was able to hold something fresh out of the oven for quite a long time. And I just put it down because I was like, "I'm never going to hold anything out of the oven for this long." But I could have just kept holding on to it indefinitely, it feels like, and without any lining. So I do think this is a pattern that I'm going to want to develop.


First (adult) sweater design

And then at the start of this year while I was watching Joji's Journal, which is the designer Joji Locatelli's vlog, she shared a sock pattern which just had the tiniest little bit of like a zigzag or something to it. And, and I suddenly, like, had ideas of, of a pattern that I could do. And I, you know, did some sketches and all of a sudden I was inspired and I was, I had this idea in my head. This is the first absolutely terrible swatch that I did, just to try to, like, play with them. Just to try to figure out if what I wanted to do would work. And some of it did. Some of it didn't. But this was enough to sort of help me figure out and see what was working, what wasn't working, and what I could incorporate into the pattern and how I could make a pattern work. So I wrote up another chart and I have started making this other swatch for it which is working so well. And I'm really excited to write this up into a pattern.

So I've kind of done this in three different panels that are slightly different. So that's one, that's one, and that's one. They're all just slightly different from each other, the way the stitches are done. And I kind of did this size because I was, I had the idea that once I'm done with the swatch, I can just turn it into - I've got, I've got a clip at the back of my head so it's not really gonna fit right - but I figured, you know, I could turn it into a beanie once it was done and it wouldn't just have to stay as a swatch. But now we'll see. I still have, like, another section to do so it's going to be a long beanie but not quite loose enough to be called a slouchy beanie.

What was that? A stitch marker fell off. And a stitch. Oh, no. Let me just fix that. Oh ho, can't dropped stitches. It was just the one so that was lucky. Okay, I'll get my stitch marker back on.

Yeah, anyway, so, so that, I'm really excited about making this pattern. And I do want to get this pattern out before I do the mitten pattern because I'm more excited about this. And I want this to be my debut pattern on Ravelry. So I'm really super excited about that. Anyway, that's all I'll say about that because I should start wrapping up.



Stat Chat

Just a quick little Stat Chat. So I found it really interesting - last year I was really a monogamous knitter. I really only ever worked on one project at a time and I'd get so into it that I just couldn't even think about another project until it was completely finished. And this year started off that way as well. Especially with that August Sock KAL where I was making the five socks because I was so keen to see the result and be able to compare all five socks. So since that has finished, I found it really interesting that I've moved back to being a - I don't know if, what you would call it - but I'm just, I'm not monogamous anymore. And I found that really interesting.


So at the moment, I have four knits on the go. So the Star Illusion Blanket, the Baby Lamb... Do I have four? Do I only have three? I have, I'm knitting up a little bit of a sweater surgery thing for a sweater. I just need to make the front of it longer. I'm working on that. Oh, so I actually, I might - Oh, the swatch. The design swatch, obviously. I'm counting that as one. So that's four knit. I've got one crochet project on the go. I have two needlework items that I am working on. One is the cross stitch that I showed in the first episode for this year. And another one is just a really simple hand quilty inspired kind of project that I haven't shown you yet and I may one day. So two needlework projects. And then one sewing project. Which technically I don't know that I'd count that as something that I'm currently working on. I started it last year and then I put it aside and I've just, since I finished this top I've taken it out of the cupboard and I'm going to start work on it. But I'll count it.

So that's eight different projects on the go which is quite a change from just one at a time last year. And it does, I'm sure that the, it's, it's definitely got to do with me being more multicrafty this year. Definitely has a lot to do with that. And I'm not counting a spinning project because this one's done and I haven't started the next one. But yeah, eight projects on the go from one, maybe two, patterns on the go at a time last year. I just thought was really interesting.



Heart Full of Craft

So since I've mentioned spinning even though I'm not doing anything at the moment, I do want to say that the thing that I am grateful for in the past couple of weeks, the thing that I am most grateful for is just some YouTube - YouTube in general for tutorials and how to's and things like that, but especially Jillian Eve's channel. Jillian Eve is a spinner who also knits and does other crafts but is mainly a spinner. And I- she's just really great to watch. She's really warm and friendly and happy and just, she's just a joy to watch and to listen to. And she has a lot of knowledge and she, you know, explores lots of things within spinning and I, I search through her channel first when I'm trying to find something on spinning and I've just found her really great. Just for watching and as, as a teacher, I guess. So the Jillian, Jillian Eve has been really great for my spinning jour- journey. And if I ever get through all of the knitting vlogs that I want to watch, I definitely want to go through and watch her vlog from start to finish as well.



Thanks!

So, ah gosh, I felt like I rushed through everything a little bit because I knew I had a lot to get through. So hopefully that wasn't too much of a gallop for you and was all okay. That brings us to the end of it now.


If you're still watching, thank you so much for staying through right to the end. I really appreciate you spending your time with me. I really like having this time to sit down and share my knitting and crafty adventures so I hope you've enjoyed it too. If you have, I'd really appreciate it if you gave this video a like and I'd also really love it if you subscribed to my channel, my Platypus Knitting channel so that more people can find me. And I'd also really appreciate any comments on this video as well. I'd love to know who you are. And just any feedback that you might have on my vlogs. So yeah, that would be lovely.

You can also find me on Instagram @PlatypusKnitting, and I am on Ravelry under my own name, Bobbie Olan. I don't actually know if I introduced myself at the start of this. Let's hope I did. I'm Bobbie Olan. Hello! So that's my username on Ravelry. And I look forward to seeing you again in another fortnight.


Fare thee well.


Transcribed by https://otter.ai


 

Resources


Mentions

Woolarium (LYS)

Chilean Hands (HP stitch markers)

Aster by Seamwork


Patterns (on Ravelry)

Mariposa Jacket by Helga Isager

Huala Tee by Paula Pereira

Hytte Pullover by Paula Pereira

Growth Rings Shawl by Ashley Yousling

Aubade by Nataliya Sinelshchikova

August Sock KAL by Roxanne Richardson

Baby Lamb by Lorraine Pistorio

Daniel's Hat by Ysolda Teague

Star Illusion Blanket by Katie Ahlquist

Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku

Lingerie by Maria Näslund

Boxet Bag (crochet) by Cal Patch


Yarns (from my LYS, or on Ravelry)

Wendy Happy

Scheepjes - Sweetheart Soft Brush, Soft Fun, Whirl Fine Art and Merino Soft

4 Seasons Superwash Merino

Lincraft Winter Warmth

Lorna's Laces Solemate


Comments

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