For once, my other crafts outnumber knitting! Ok, ok - it's actually an even split considering one of those 'other' crafts is designing (ergo also knitting) a sweater. I discuss those two knitting WIP's, plus share my progress on spinning and the finally truly finished item I've been crocheting. There are also 4 recommendations for other knitting-focused media you can consume. And lastly, a little chat about stress in an attempt to let others out there know they are not alone.
12:51 Multicrafty
12:59 - My second spun yarn
23:03 - Boxet Bag
26:20 Out of My Mind
36:43 Eyes and Ears
42:26 Craft for Thought
49:40 Heart Full of Craft
52:18 Thanks!
Transcript
Welcome to Episode 15 of Bobolog. Today I have to share with you one work in progress, one design in progress and a couple of multicrafty FO's, or pretty much finished objects. I'll also be sharing a few of the vlogs and podcasts that I have been watching and listening to lately. So let's get to it.
Greetings. Thanks for joining me here for another episode of Bobolog. My name is Bobbie Olan and this is my vlog where I come to share my knitting endeavours as well as any other crafty projects that I have been doing if I have been able to take myself away from my knitting, which isn't often.
You can find on Instagram @PlatypusKnitting. I am on Ravelry at BobbieOlan or under BobbieOlan. You can also find transcripts for these episodes on my website, which is linked below. Also in the YouTube description below will be the links to all of the projects, all of the patterns, yarns, and anything else that I mention throughout these vlogs.
So I am coming to you from Victoria, Australia where I live with my partner. We are on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people and I would like to acknowledge them and pay my respects to them and their elders past, present and future and also pay my respects to all Aboriginal peoples throughout Australia.
If you've watched the last two episodes, you will have noticed that I keep talking about little changes and tweaks that I'm trying to make to these videos just to try to make them a bit more smoother and possibly not as lengthy as they have been getting this year. I'm still working on that but I've decided I'm just going to stop talking about it and I'm just going to try them out and once I find something that works, then I'm just going to stick with that format and I don't need to announce it and share that thought process with you.
Handy Dandy
So I am going to jump straight into Handy Dandy for this episode. There is actually only one knitting project that I have been working on in the last couple of weeks.
Luna Lovegood's Spectrespecs Gloves
So in the previous episode, I brought up the- some of the yarns I had naturally dyed at Tarndwarncoort for their natural dyeing workshop that was at the start of March, or mid March. And I was trying to find a project to use some of those yarns with, and I came across one that to me seemed perfect just in terms of how the colours were used together. And by that I mean, I had three fingering weight yarns. Two were pretty much dyed solidly using one type of plant. And then the third yarn was a variegated yarn that used both of those plants and then was over-dyed in indigo.
So the pattern that I chose from my library was Luna Lovegood's Spectrespecs Gloves by Stephanie Lotven. And that one I just thought was brilliant because the gloves pretty much had the same background colour, but a separate contrast colour for each one. And I just thought that was the perfect sort of way to show off these colours that I had and sort of also show the relationship between them.
But I had realised that the contrast wasn't ideal for the way that I had wanted to use it. And I ummed and ahhed and I asked around. I did a few, like, little fake swatch type things just to try to see how the colours would play together. And in the end, I just decided to go ahead and do what I had originally planned. So because the reason that I chose this pattern is because of those yarns and how I wanted to use them that was more important to me for this particular project than ending up with the ideal perfect finished object. So I guess you could say that for this particular one, I'm- I'm more about the process than the product and generally I sort of am more of a product knitter than a process knitter but this one is very much sort of about the process for me. And that is why I chose the pattern in the first place coz how- of how it used the yarns and that is why I decided to stick with my original placement of those colours.
So I can show you those gloves here. Sorry for a bit of noise. They're in this beautiful ceramic bowl that I was given as a gift and I love using it as a yarn bowl.
So I will show you the first that has the better contrast. So that is how far I have come on it. So I chose this - this one with the yellow - with the lighter coloured yarn that gives a better contrast as my left hand glove. A) Because it's lighter and will therefore - I'm right handed so it's less likely to get dirty, it's not going- it hopefully won't get as dirty as the right handed glove. So the lighter colour goes on this hand in an attempt to keep it cleaner, I guess. So that is where I have gotten to so far there.
I love the cuff. The contrast on the cuff is beautiful. And I guess because the main- my background colour is variegated, it sort of does muddy up the design a bit. Which I think works especially in relation to the other glove, which is a lot less clear than this one here. So as you can see, I have done the hand and one thumb and one- and the pinky finger. So I did actually have to stop the hand chart a few rows short, otherwise the fingers would have started too high up and it wouldn't have fit me well. As it is, I think it's pretty much spot on.
The only thing that I would change if I were to do this again in the future is, I'd probably skip the first few rows of the colourwork. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see here but the gusset for the thumb doesn't start immediately. So there's the little bit there where it's just normal knitting. It's just straight and then you start the increases. So that is actually a little bit long for my hand. That goes down into wrist territory. And I think it would just fit a bit more comfortably if that wasn't there. So if I make these again, that's something to consider.
I am also using a different weight yarn than the pattern calls for. So it calls for a light fingering and I'm using a fingering so I have just used smaller needles. And I didn't gauge swatch. I just figured I'd go for it because if these didn't fit me, then that's fine. Like I said, it's more about the process than the product and I would be happy to just display these if I couldn't wear them, but they are turning out to fit quite well.
One other thing that I have had to change is, with the fingers there is supposed to be the colourwork section and then there's meant to be a few rows that are just solid main colour. But my pinky- fingers are so short that I just went straight into the decreases when I finished the colourwork section. I probably could have done one row before jumping straight into the decreases but I think that's fine as it is and I'm sure it will also stretch a bit in- once I have blocked it. So I'm really happy with how these are fitting.
I have never done gloves with fingers before and they're quite fiddly. I have to say I'm not loving doing them in colourwork. I think I wouldn't have as much of a problem if it was just a solid colour. But I love how they're looking. I love how they're fitting, just how that hugs and is nice and snug around my pinky and my thumb. Just- It just feels really great to have something that's custom fitting for my hand it just feels wonderful. So that is the yellow glove there with a better contrast.
So now to show you the glove that has the less good contrast. There we go. So if you look at it carefully enough, you can still make out the pattern there. It does help that there's this big motif in the centre that has more of the contrast colour - that has a more solid section of the contrast colour - so that you can- I think it just helps to differentiate. But if you compare the two side by side, it's- it's- I mean it really is hard to see in the right hand glove - in the orangey reddy glove - than it is in the yellow glove. But I'm still really happy with how those are turning out.
And the final change from the pattern that I- that I want to mention is that I I did the pinky first. So in the pattern, I believe, once you finish the hand you cut all of the yarns and then you start at the index. But I didn't see the point in cutting the yarn sooner than I had to. So the start of the round was here. So instead, I just went straight ahead and did the pinky and then I, you know, obviously that yarn had to be cut because that's not going to connect to anything at the end of the pinky there. So the next thing will be to go back to how the pattern is done and start from the index finger and work my way across the rest of the fingers.
So those are my Spectrespecs Gloves. It is kind of annoying as well just how poorly that sits on top of a chunky Apple Watch but that's alright. I can live with that. I can just not wear the watch maybe on days that I wear these gloves or else I can try to wear it further up my wrist which would be weird but yeah, those are my Spectrespecs Gloves and I'm really happy with how they are turning out.
And that is actually the only project that I have been working on. Since- since I filmed the last episode I haven't made any progress on my Baby Lamb pattern. I started doing a bit of the ripping out of the Greenwich sweater but not really. Just sort of trying to find the ends that I wove in and undo all those. And I have not touched my Star Illusion Blanket in a while. So that is the only project knitting project that I am working on.
There is another one that I'll talk about later. But as I've said previously, I like to categorise that one as as a design project rather than a knitting project. So I'll talk about that one later on.
Multicrafty
Next up is Multicrafty.
My second spun yarn
And I'm really pleased to share with you my spinning. So I can't remember if it was last episode or the previous episode where I showed my latest foray into spinning on a Turkish spindle. I believe it was the previous episode. But I had had a go at hand blending a couple of different colours of wool roving together and then I spun those into a single and it was just waiting to be plied.
So I did that a few days ago. I plied it and it's - I'm still so new at this, this is only the second yarn that I have plied - that it still just really thrills me and amazes me what a difference plying makes to yarn.
And I have to say I am realising that I am definitely not a fan of singles. I've never worked with a singles- a singles yarn before. And I have - I after doing this little tiny bit of spinning I'm not really sure that I ever would be interested in in working with a singles yarn. Maybe just to try and see what it feels like but to me, at least with my spinning, it just doesn't look complete. It just doesn't look quite right, looking at a single on it's own. It's- It's - I just dropped that - It's not terrible. It just doesn't feel like yarn to me. It kind of just feels like cord. And it's so twisty, there's so much energy in it, that it just, you know, it just twists up so much on itself that I can't imagine that I would like working with that.
But- So I- Okay, so I spun this and it was really such a thrill seeing how it looks once it's plied up and then and how it just really looks like actual yarn once that process is done. It's, yeah. It's just- it's just really joyful for me. So this is it here.
So this one, I tried chain plying. So my previous yarn that I had made was just a bit less than this but I had taken three separate lots of 5 g of wool roving and split them up into separate singles and then I plied those together. With this one, I blended about 20 g of the roving and I spun that into one single and then I chain plied that. I am not going to try to explain how chain plying works. There's lots of videos and actual spinners who know what they're talking about there who can tell you what that is in all corners of the internet, so I won't explain it.
At first, I didn't like it. But I had watched the videos on how to do it maybe a week or two before I actually went to do it. And I didn't really watch them before I started because I felt like I understood the concept. And I was trying it and I was really not enjoying it. But then I thought, 'Maybe it's my technique.' So I went back and watched those videos again and I picked up a few tips on just how to hold the yarn, how to position your hands, and I went back to it and I love it. I love chain plying. I think- I think it's just easy. And, like, it just looks really good.
I mean, I don't know if it actually looks any better than plying three singles together. My first yarn obviously isn't going to be great for comparison because I'm still just such a beginner that I'm sure there's no technique there. But with this one I'm just- I'm just so happy with how it has turned out.
So I'll put- I'll try to put a photo - hide my face, hide my face behind it - I'll try to put a photo - trying to go to the side so that I can put a photo up here so that you can compare what the single looked like to how the plied looks like and hopefully you can- you can see the difference in the video.
So the other thing is, it was really interesting to see how my thickness had changed over time. So I started plying from the centre of the centre pull ball that this makes and it was thick. It wasn't ridiculously thick, but it was thicker than what I had expected. Because obviously, the last bit of spinning I had done on the single was at the other end of it and I- I had felt like my yarn was getting finer at that point. So when I went back and started plying the start of it, I was surprised at how much bigger that part of the spinning still was. So that was kind of interesting to see.
And then this was the spin as well where partway through it, I felt like I was finally actually getting the hang of short forward draw, which is a worsted, I believe, a worsted draw. It's a- it's a draw that produces a worsted yarn. Don't quote me on that.
But anyway, so I was spinning that and so the first section of it, I felt like it was still going to produce the same weight yarn as my previous yarn, which I'm guessing is around an aran or worsted. And then there was a section where it got noticeably finer. And it was quite a nice weight. More- More like a weight that I'm going for. I'm trying to aim for a DK, or sport I guess but a DK really. And most of the yarn is fairly consistent at that weight. And then the last bit of it, it's- it gets even finer again.
So I still need to take this out of the spindle obviously. I need to - I will wind it around my swift because I don't have a niddy noddy and then I'll tie knots around and give it a gentle wash and - I don't know what the term is for it but I'm gonna call it thwacking, where you kind of just like... Can you tell what I'm- what I mean? I don't have a skein of yarn here that I can show you what I mean. But you kind of just - like you're not - because you're- you're not stretching it. You're just giving it little bursts of, like, of stretching, I guess, to- and you do that, like, going around it to try to even out the twist.
I am explaining this all really badly but like I keep saying I'm a beginner spinner. But yes, I'm really excited to see how this turns out once it has been washed because the first yarn that I made really bloomed when I- after I washed it the first time. So it'll be interesting to see how much this one does. And particularly because at the moment, it's looking like it's the weight that I want it to be, but I'm sure once it blooms, it's going to be a bit thicker. So yeah, I'll be keen to see what happens there.
And then I guess I will move on to the next spinning adventure. So I'm trying to do- try- I'm- I'm trying - My aim is to try something slightly different with each of these practice spins that I'm doing but I'm also not really sure what else there is. I think maybe for the next one I'm going to try to see if I can do short backward draw. I had the sense - as I got more comfortable with the short forward draw doing this one - I started getting the sense that this roving actually wanted to be a woollen yarn, not a worsted yarn. So I believe I should try short backward draw next. Not sure how I'll ply that. I might just stick to chain plying since I like that. But short backward draw and then maybe long backward draw but I'm not sure if that really works on a spindle. But those are my plans for my spinning and I'm really happy with how this one, this little turtle, has turned out. Just one last look at it there for you.
Boxet Bag
The next Multicrafty project that I'll talk about, I won't really talk about in a lot of detail because I presented it as a finished object in my previous episode. But I decided that I wanted to do a little bit more to it.
So it is the Boxet Bag by Cal Patch that I have been crocheting. And this is it here. So last week, it didn't have this blue line running along the top of it. Lemme take out this bag that I've got in it for now so you can see it a bit better. So I'm really pleased with how that has turned out.
So not only did I unravel one of my design swatches so that I could reclaim this blue yarn and have it going along the top of it. I also chucked it in the washing machine in on a half hour cycle. And I think it just felted beautifully. I mean you can see that it's still quite a bit- a big bag, but it doesn't feel ungainly anymore. Unfortunately I didn't measure it before I felted it. Which is a real shame but whatever. I forgot to do that, that's my own fault, and it doesn't really change anything anyway.
But previously it felt insanely huge, ridiculously huge, possibly too huge for comfortable use. And because I had used a much larger hook than the pattern called for it felt really loose and like it had too much stretch as well and it wasn't holding its shape. So now that I have felted it, it is holding its shape better. It feels a lot sturdier. I think it looks much better. I think I quite like the texture and it's interesting on this blue one how you can kind of see the rows. Snd I think maybe, like, you kind of can in the yellow one too. But it's less apparent, I think just because the handles are there so there's more- there's more stretch, there's more weight, so you can't see it. And then there's the pink.
But yeah, so that's the Boxet Bag finally actually really finished finished. And I'm really pleased with that.
So as you can see I have stuff in it. And what I have in here is the sweater that I am designing. So this- this bag is turning out to be a great size for a sweater project. So I have in here - if I put this back I have in here, six of the Bendigo Woollen Mills balls of yarn. So they have their giant balls of 200 g. So that is quite a lot of yarn in here. So that all fits in there really comfortably with extra space to still fit a couple more balls if I really needed to.
Out of My Mind
So I guess- I guess we're moving into a new section. I'm just moving design talk out of Multicrafty into a new section that I'm calling Out of My Mind. So I have made more progress on that sweater design.
I am finally out of the swatching stage, which I have showed previously - I went through four different swatches to- before I felt like I could finally start writing up the pattern. So I have been doing that.
I do have to say I didn't start writing or figuring out the calculations quite as soon as I had planned to after the previous episode. Because a day or two after - I think the next day - I think the day after I filmed - before the episode had actually gone out - I received a shade card from Bendigo Woollen Mills. Once you have opted in to receive those shade cards you just get them regularly for each year and when they bring out new products, which is wonderful. And they have some really nice new colours in their main bases.
But I was really really disappointed and crushed to see that two of my favourite yarns from them have been discontinued. So that is the Tweed yarn which I have two sweater quantities of in my stash, and Rustic. And the Rustic is the one that I am using for this. So let me pull out one ball for you.
So this is the first time I have used their Rustic yarn and I have loved using it. I love, like, the heathery-ness of it and I really appreciate that it's not superwash. Their other two main yarns - the Classic and the Luxury - are superwash which, you know, there's always a reason for superwash. But I- I'm more interested lately in using non superwash yarns. So I'm really disappointed that this is dis- being discontinued.
The note did say, being discontinued 'for now'. I'm not really sure what that means, but I guess we will find out as time goes on. But I was- I got really disheartened by hearing that. So it put me off actually getting down to writing the pattern, because then I wasn't sure if- if that felt right, that I would be putting out my first pattern in a yarn that has been discontinued.
I put out a post in a Ravelry group - that is, I think, Budding Designers Down Under - just asking people's thoughts on discontinued yarn. One person responded and said that they thought listing a specific yarn in the pattern was less important because a lot of patterns these days will tell you the weight and the meterage and yardage required for that weight of yarn, as well as telling you the yarn that they actually used and how many skeins or balls that took. Which is something that I've really appreciated in patterns because I quite often do not end up using the specified yarn, just because I'm- I'm limited by what's available here in Australia.
So I really appreciate when I see patterns that say, it was made using this particular yard or you can use this weight yard and this many metres of it. So the person who responded to my Ravelry post basically just said the same thing, that they think that that's the more important information to put into a pattern and it would just be nice to say the pattern that I used, but not have it as the yarn for the pattern.
I hope- I hope I'm explaining that well. I feel like I'm saying it in a very long winded way and there must be a more succinct way to say it. But anyway. So- So I had been thinking along those lines too, but it was nice to get confirmation from somewhere else that that- that they thought that that would be okay to do as well. So I got that back. I felt a bit better. And I really did want to use this because I really liked how it looked and I bought it all for this.
So the only thing is then once I have done the pattern, I think I will still try to apply for pattern support from Bendigo Woollen Mills to try to get the cost of the yarn that I use back. It was part of the reason why I chose using a Bendigo Woollen Mill- Mills yarn for my first sweater design, but I'm not hopeful that I will actually get pattern support for a yarn that has been discontinued.
So yes, I finally started doing all of the calculations, and I'm- I started writing out the pattern for my size to test my size first and I got- and I didn't write out the whole pattern. I kind of just wrote a good chunk of it and thought once I get to that stage, and I know that that has worked, then I'll get to writing the next stage. So anyway, I made a start knitting up what I had written and I got this far. So this is going to be a bottom up sweater worked in the round. So just - it doesn't want to - giving me lots of trouble. Ah, goodness...
That's the bottom of it there, more or less. So these triangles are sort of my - they were kind of like the main idea that I had for this pattern. So they're kind of the hero feature, in a way, and then I have just started going up into this bit of colourwork here that will just repeat all the way up the body. I'm really pleased with how it's coming along.
But then, you know, I continued to, like, do more research, just on fit and that kind of thing. And I came across an article by Amy Herzog on fitting for a drop shoulder sweater, which is what this is going to be. And it was a great article. It had a lot of information - a lot of really useful information there. But it made me completely rethink how much ease was in my pattern. And also this- the shape that I had originally planned to go for. So I- I stopped knitting there. I put some stoppers on the end of the cord for the interchangeable needles that I was using on that and I went back to my calculations.
I did a lot more work on redoing everything right from the start. And I have cast on again, version two. I didn't want to undo that first one just in case I decide to go back to it down the line. But I did go ahead with two new balls of yarn, and I haven't made much progress on it. But I'm showing you the back. But yeah I've just gotten to the- to the very start of the colour work. And that's that's it for now.
Yeah, so hopefully they're- Oh shoot. My needle has slipped out. Bad idea, Bob. I've really got to get some of those ones that you can- the- the stopper things that you can sit on the ends of the needles. I really should get some of them. All right. I think we're all good. I forgot what I was saying.
Yeah, I think I was just saying that I hope I don't come across any other information that's going to dramatically change the design. And I'm hoping that what I have planned will work and hopefully progress goes fairly quickly from here on. And I think that was all I had to say for now on- on my sweater design.
I still haven't completely settled on a name for it yet. I've got a few ideas in my head. But if you have any ideas yourself from the little you have seen of the pattern then I would appreciate hearing those too. Just leave a comment in the YouTube description down below or message me on Instagram or Ravelry. I'd really appreciate that.
Eyes and Ears
Next up is a another new section. So I am calling it Eyes and Ears. I had previously included chat about things that I've watched or listened to in Craft for Thought or in Eye Candy. I think it's just going to be simpler to have a separate section for them. So Eyes and Ears: things that I have been watching or listening to. And I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about these. I'm just going to let you know what they are for the main part.
So for vlogs, I completely went through all of Mad About Ewe's podcast. So that is Madeleine who is currently in Queensland, I believe. She has travelled around a bit, but she has a great vlog that she started a few years ago. And there's one episode where she has a travel vlog where she travels around Europe and visits different yarn stores and I thought that was really great. One of my favourite phrases of hers is, she describes patterns or projects is being 'potato chippy'. Which always tickles me when I hear it. I have used 'moreish' myself sometimes when talking about knitting, but I quite like 'potato chipppy' as well and I might- I might steal that. So yes, that is Madeleine.
The next vlog that I have watched after Mad About Ewe was the Wattle and Wool channel. So that is Astrid who is in Western Australia. And I have to say she's definitely the most enthusiastic and energetic of all of the vlogs that I have watched so far. She- She just has that kind of personality that's... I mean, I think I get so excited by so many thing, but the way that she gets excited about so much - about everything - is just so much more vibrant than the way that I feel like I get excited about everything. It's, yeah. It's really- it's really great to watch. I- Her- Her energy is just joyful. So that is Astrid from Wattle and Wool.
For listening, I went back and I finally got completely up to date with the Yarniacs podcast. So that is Sharlene and Gayle and they are in the United States. I can't remember where but somewhere in the Bay Area. And they- I mentioned in my previous episode Love Your Stash, and I couldn't remember if that was Stash and Burn or Yarniacs and it's actually Yarniacs. So they have- they have that which - I think it actually happens throughout the year and not just once a year.
And they also do the Colours of Fall knitalong which I was aware of before because I've listened to their podcast before and I've always wanted to take part in it. And there was one year where I actually posted in their group on Ravelry about the yarn that I was going to use and the project that I was going to make but then I just didn't get to it during that knitalong. So this year, I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for the colours of fall from Pantone to be announced so that I could finally take part in their knitalong.
Next up is a new to me podcast called I Thought I Knew How, which is Anne who is - I think she's in the US as well. But I'm still in the earlier episodes of her podcast. And she talks about traveling to Shetland. She talks about going there for Shetland Wool Week and she has gone to a few other fibre festivals in - yeah, just a few other fibre festivals as well and talked about them. So that has been really great and really informative. She's also going through the Master Hand Knitters program. So I've found her podcast really educational. She talks about things that she learns along the way. And I really- I really really really like vlogs and podcasts that I feel like are helping me to become a better knitter. And who knows if I'll even remember all of the tips and techniques that she mentioned. But I- I just do- I do feel like my knowledge base is growing and- and improving because I'm listening to her podcast.
So I highly recommend all of the above. And yeah, that's all that I had to share for Eyes and Ears.
Craft for Thought
So Craft for Thought. I wasn't actually sure that I was going to include a Craft for Thought in this episode. And I may still cut it out. But I have- I kind of just wanted to talk about stress and crafting and productivity.
So life just gets stressful, you know? And the last couple of weeks just have kind of - well longer than a couple of weeks really. The last few weeks have just been a little bit stressful in my life. And I just feel like it has made me more prone to stress and anxiety. Not in a big way. But I just have felt like... I just- I just get more easily stressed.
I just keep using the same words. I'm not - clearly I don't have a great vocabulary. I'm not great at talking about what I mean. But one- one of the ways in which that came out is, after I filmed the previous episode, I was really excited about getting started on these Spectrespecs Gloves. And I was sure that I was going to start them a lot sooner than I actually did. And when I finally sat down to do them, I was sort of just overwhelmed by stress about them. I started knitting and I couldn't help but think, 'I should be so much further along in this. I should have gotten so much more done on this, and I'm only up to here.'
And it was too much for me that I- I did one row and then I had to leave. I had to put it down, went into a dark room and lay down and just tried to calm myself down. I was that stressed about it. And after a while, you know, my partner came up to check on me and we sort of talked it through and I felt better but yeah. It's just not a fun thing, obviously. But I- I also really thought that I was past productivity stresses. I- I know that knitting isn't a race. I know that I am only doing it for myself. I- the only deadlines and pressures on my projects come from me. So I really should not be stressing about them. And yet I was and I think it was one of those things where the fact that I was stressing was stressing me out, on top of the stress - on top of the original stress - and it just snowballed a little there.
So I kind of just wanted to- to- to bring that up and, yeah. I know- I know that I'm not alone in this and I guess... Yeah, I'm not even really sure what I want to say about it. But I guess I kind of just want to reassure anyone else who is out there and does get stressed about their knitting that- that, you know, it's- we're not machines. It's okay to- it's okay for projects to take time. It's okay to not have as much time as you would like. That's just the reality of life to not have as much time as you want for all of the things that you want to do. It's not a comment on you. It's not a comment on your value as a knitter or a crafter or whatever other labels you place on yourself. And yeah, just- it's just...
I don't even know. I don't know what I'm trying to say. I just- I hope that everyone... There are enough stresses in life that can't be controlled without bringing them to your crafting which is supposed to bring you peace and happiness. So I just thought I'd put that out there. And, you know, if anyone else has had similar experiences, and would like to share how they've overcome them or if you're still struggling with it... Yeah, I have just found that talking things through really does help me.
And it's not like the stressful things have gone away. I have still felt very up and down the last couple of weeks and there have been new things going on that have added to all of that. But it's- it just really concerned me when it touched my knitting. And I'm sure it's something that I'm going to continue to struggle with here and there. But I'm just trying to be gentle with myself and take it easy and remind myself that it's not- it's not the most important thing in the world if I don't get my knitting done by my own personal deadlines. Like, what does that really matter? Nothing really, except to me. And I- you know, there's other things going on in my life and in everyone else's lives that are much more important. Not that knitting is- isn't important. It is very important. But it doesn't need to carry my anxiety. And I think that's enough about that.
Heart Full of Craft
Heart Full of Craft. I am really grateful for the vast abundance of knitting media that is out there, all of the vlogs and all of the podcasts and everything. It's- It's so great to be able to have all of the different types to draw on and to go to for different times in your life.
So, like I said, Astrid of Wattle and Wool is extremely enthusiastic and energetic, which I loved. I really love watching that. But with some of the things that have happened recently that have brought me down a bit lately, I was not in the mood for that kind of energy. Which is nothing on Astrid, obviously. I- you know, when I'm- when I'm over this sort of funk that I'm in, I will be more than happy to go back and finish watching because I really enjoyed watching her. I really enjoyed her enthusiasm. It just wasn't right for... it just isn't right for where I am right now in my life.
So that was when I moved back to listening to podcasts rather than watching vlogs. And I finished the Yarniacs - or I got up to date with the Yarniacs. And I started the new one, I Thought I Knew How, and it was just what I needed. Not in a way that, like, 'Oh, it's cured me of my anxieties,' obviously. It was just- it was just the right level of introspection and education and discussion and music that- that I need right now.
So I'm grateful that there's so much out there. That there are so many other people out there sharing their knitting stories and interests, their crafting stories and interests, that I can just jump around and find what I need at any given time. And that's- that's- that's pretty great.
And that is all I have to talk about today.
Thanks!
If you are still watching, I really appreciate you sticking around for this messy episode. I hope that you're all taking time to take care of yourselves and those around you, and that you're finding time to do the things that bring you joy or comfort or whatever it is that you need right now.
So yes, like I said at the start of the episode, you can also find me on Instagram and Ravelry. I'm on Instagram @PlatypusKnitting and I am on Ravelry under BobbieOlan. I would love to hear from any of you on either of those platforms and here on YouTube if you want to leave a comment down below as well. Again, you can also find transcripts on my website, which is linked down below. Links to all of the things that I have talked about are down below. And if you liked this episode, then I hope that you give it a like and I hope that you consider subscribing to my channel, Platypus Knitting.
Thank you so much for spending your time with me today. I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Fare thee well.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Resources
Mentions
Chain Plying on a Drop Spindle by Fibers of Mine
Fab Drop-Shoulder Sweaters by Amy Herzog
Mad About Ewe vlog
Wattle and Wool vlog
Yarniacs podcast
Pantone colours of fall
I Thought I Knew How podcast
Patterns (on Ravelry)
Luna Lovegood's Spectrespecs Gloves by Stephanie Lotven
Baby Lamb by Lorraine Pistorio
Greenwich by Martin Storey
Star Illusion Blanket by Katie Ahlquist
Boxet Bag (crochet) by Cal Patch
Yarns (from my LYS, or on Ravelry)
Tarndwarncoort yarns from polwarth sheep
Bendigo Woollen Mills yarns