I've finally gotten back to working on my Flared Pullover for the Colours of Fall KAL! You'll also find some follow up for Lempster and Lantern Moon. There are two Patricia's in my recommendations. I'm doing a giveaway for reaching 100+ subscribers. And last but not least, I share a kind gift from a wonderful Aussie maker.
28:44 - Lempster
43:39 Eyes and Ears - Cereal Sewist (& Knitter) and Kamay
55:09 Heart Full of Craft
58:14 Thanks!
Transcript
Greetings knitting neighbours and crafty comrades. We are back with another episode of Bobolog. Welcome to all of you lovely viewers and friends out there. To anyone who is returning - thank you for joining me again. And to anyone who is a new viewer - thank you for giving me a chance. I hope that you like my videos, my- my little crafty knitting vlog here.
I should introduce myself. My name is Bobbie Olan and I am a knitter and fibre crafts explorer in Victoria, Australia. I live with my partner on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people and I would like to acknowledge them as the traditional owners of the land on which I live in create. And I would like to pay my respects to their Elders past, present and future.
I'm not sure if you can hear it but it is a wet day today and the rain is coming down - not too hard so hopefully it's not interfering too much with my audio and you can hear me fine.
What else do I do at the start of my videos? Some housekeeping. I am also on social media. You can find me on Instagram @PlatypusKnitting. I am on Ravelry at Bobbie Olan. And I also have a Kofi shop / account thing. If you want to check that out, all of those are links down in the YouTube description below.
Handy Dandy
Flared Sourcebook Pullover
Jumping straight into it - I have a Handy Dandy to share with you and that is the Flared Pullover by Norah Gaughan. If you are wanting to find it on Ravelry, it is called the Flared Sourcebook Pullover because it's come- because the pattern is in her book, the Knitted Cable Sourcebook. That is this here. I think that is coming up reverse on the screen. So I'll have to see if I can flip that for you guys.
But anyway, the sweater that I am knitting is this one on the back here, which has a back piece that kind of flares out around the hips. I think it's a really interesting construction. It's one that I haven't done before and I am making it for the Colours of Fall knit-along which is by the Yarniacs. And... I have- I am making a few changes to it. So if I just find the pattern for you to show you.
As you can see here, the the lower back panel is all in stockinette stitch. I decided that I wanted to do something different with that. So I had a look through this book and I found - this is it here. This is called the meander cable and originally I had wanted to do this cable here because I just thought it was so pretty. I mean, they're both such pretty cable patterns. I kinda like the busyness of this one, but for various reasons I decided that this one would actually work better. The main reason being the length of it, because it had to- this is only going to be half of the back panel. And this one would have been too long to- to do it twice and still fit the schematic that it should be. Anyway.
It also turned out that this cable pattern matches the pattern that I've chosen for the front of the sweater - so this motif - because again I have to change things up. And I have chosen a different cable chart - again from this book - to replace all of the cables on the front of the sweater as well. So this one matches the one that I've chosen for that better.
And part of- Another part of the reason why I switched to this pattern is because I really wanted to put pockets onto this sweater. So yeah, I just think sweaters should have pockets. I think everything should have pockets. Pockets are just great. And clearly because this- this chart has all of this stockinette stitch here, you can more easily put a pocket onto stockinette stitch then you can on to a really- a somewhat complicated pattern.
And so I really wanted to go for a simple pocket because I think I've only ever knit one pocket before and it was for a kid's jumper and it was- it was like a... not- not a kangaroo pouch. Or maybe it is a kangaroo pouch. It was one of those big pockets that's in the front and it's got the two openings on the side but you could like slip your arm like all the way through.
Anyway, I wanted to put pockets in this - just one pocket on each side, which means just one pocket on the end of the panel here. And I had to elongate this section here so that I could get the depth that I need to put a pocket in. So I had to do all of this math to figure out, 'Okay, what is my gauge on this cable.' Or at least what can I guess my gauge is on this cable because I didn't actually swatch this cable. I swatched the cable that I'm putting into the front of sweater. But I am assuming that this is going to be a similar gauge because it's similar-ish sort of pattern.
So I just assumed that gauge. I looked at what you know my row gauge is. I looked at the schematic and how wide - or how long, whatever you want to call it - the lower back piece is, what half of that would be, how many rows it would take to get that half length, and then I had to see how much length I could add to this section here so that I can fit a pocket but not have to do any tricky, chopping off the top of this chart or anything like that.
It was- It was really complicated and I got very confused and I... Anyway, I got there in the end and I managed to figure out how much longer I had to make this section. And to get the depth of the pocket that I want - which is a depth that would fit my phone - I... I- I elongated it just the minimum amount just so that the pocket would cover up my phone because that... How do I want to say this?
Okay, so I elongated that and I had no room left to do any repeats or any extra rows or anything once I got to the middle of the back, because by the time I got to the end of the whole chart for this meander cable, I would have been exactly at the middle back. Like it actually just worked out perfectly that I needed something like - not including the ribbing - I needed something like 143 rows (I think it was 143 rows) of cable pattern. And adding the extra repeats of this section here and then getting to the end of the chart was exactly 143 rows - or whatever it was.
I hope this is making sense. As usual, I feel like I can't explain things really well and I get really lost and confused. But anyway, it just worked out perfectly that mid back equaled end of chart. And it was all going to work out and yeah. So I was really happy about that for one thing.
So I just started going through it and this- this is- this is it here. I have actually finished the lower back panel. So just to- just to take you through it from end to end. There is that. My beautiful pocket. These are the first inset pockets I have ever done (I think) and I'm really happy with how they have turned out. It's catching on the book. That's the- the gorgeous cable there.
And then let's see, where is it? So this bit here. I don't know if you can see the blue thread that is running through but that was the lifeline that I put in for the end of the chart before I started working the rest of the chart. And there was a point when I was getting towards this middle section where I had realised - my original plan was to work each side from the bottom from the ribbing and work to the centre and then graft them together. But before I got to the middle section, I realised that if I'm grafting them together, then just because of the way that knit fabric works, the stitches would have been offset by half a stitch. So that wouldn't have actually worked because my cables wouldn't have all lined up really nicely because they would have been half a stitch off.
So I had to just keep working in the one direction and initially I was really- I got a bit concerned about that because I was thinking, 'Oh my goodness, am I going to have to like re-chart the whole thing to get it going in the other direction? Like how is this gonna work? Is it gonna- Am I gonna be able to make it make sense?' But then I realised that charts are brilliant. All I had to do was turn it upside down. So that was- that was really great. That was one thing that was really, really excellent.
And I have to say as well - when I was doing the pocket I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish the top of the pocket. And my first idea that I had is - so this strip here, the repeat is just one of these little - I don't know what you call it - circle-y bit thingies - and my first idea was to have that across the top so that it would match. But then I wasn't sure if I should... if ribbing would just work better. So the other idea I had was to match this ribbing at the bottom of the pattern.
And I put a call out on my Instagram stories. I had a poll. I said, 'Should I finish it in ribbing, in cables, or in garter stitch?' Because I've seen garter stitch pocket tops and it wasn't my favourite option, but I just thought I'd throw it out there and see what people said. And - Oh my gosh.
This all this is by Norah Gaughan, who I think is a genius and she's wonderful. And she commented! She commented on my Instagram post. And I was so giddy and excited and I just- I could not believe it and I was all fluttery and yeah. That was just kind of incredible that she had seen it (I mean, I probably tagged her in it, but anyway), that she actually commented back.
Anyway, if I look at the poll, ribbing did actually win. Ribbing then cables, and then garter stitch was a pretty clear loser. But Norah Gaughan's comment was that I should do 1x1 ribbing. Instead of this 2x2 ribbing that was at the bottom. And for some reason I had never even considered 1x1 ribby- ribbing. I was like, it should match this or it should match this or it should just be something completely different, which would have been the garter stitch option. And she said do it in 1x1 ribbing so it doesn't match, and of course I felt like I just had to do what she said. She's, she's Norah Gaughan. This is- This is- These are her charts. This is her pattern. She's just brilliant. She's a brilliant designer. So I had to- I had to do her suggestion.
So I did do 1x1 ribbing obviously as you can see here. I did it in a half twisted rib just so that it would match even less, I guess, or something like that. It would stand out even more. But yeah, I still can't believe that. She commented on my post. I'm still so excited about that.
But I am really happy about how that looks. So that is wonderful. Yes, the heater has just come on. I hope you can't hear it but I guess I'll find out when I'm editing. Anyway. What else do I wanna say? I feel like I'm just sort of- I did make notes but I'm kind of jumping around all over the place with all the things that I'm talking about because - I don't know - I just feel a bit scattered today. More scattered than usual. Anyway.
So another thing is - when I got to the centre - or when I was getting towards the centre section here - I realised that the pattern repeat, it wasn't like- like it wasn't like centred on one of these motif type things here. It kind of like was something like from there to there. So I realised that this centre bit wasn't actually going to have the same flow as the rest of it. And I did decide that I would just go for it and just do a reverse, because there's cables on every second row. So I didn't want to- I felt like I couldn't actually mess with it. I felt like if I wanted to change it so that it was a really clean, round and- really clean like chart repeats, I would have to change the whole thing completely. And I was already so close to the middle back and I didn't want to do that. It just would have been too complicated and too much work and I feel like I've already put enough work into this already. So I decided that I would just completely reverse it.
One thing is when I got a little bit of the way past the centre thing, I didn't like how this section here was working. There was just this weird little like funny diamond thing here and I just didn't like how that was looking. So I actually ripped back to a couple of rows before my lifeline here and- and reknit that so that this was a nice clean diamond and I'm a lot happier with how that looks. So that was one thing that I had to fix.
I did also find an error in the chart. There's an error, and there are a few inconsistencies as well.
So these bits here, there was one section where - I wonder if I can find it. I think it's here where... See how this line kind of breaks there? There's a cable going over it. According to the chart for this particular section, this line actually continued through but as I got further up, all of those other sections that were like that had this cable going over the top and this cable going underneath. And that was the only spot where it didn't do that. And when I knit that section, I did actually think that it was odd that there wasn't a cable there, but I just followed the chart. I didn't think to refer back to this photo of a sample of it and see that it does actually do the crossover thing. So I was like way beyond it when I realised that that error was there, so I was not going to rip back all that way and fix that.
So instead what I did is - I did a little duplicate stitch fixing of the cable there and I followed a tutorial from Roxanne Richardson, which I will link in the video description down below so you can see how to do that. And if you look at it really closely, it does look odd and flat and not quite right. But from a distance, you can't- you can't tell and it looks like how it should look. That was the one error.
The other ones that I say that I found that I'm calling inconsistencies are just because- so I'm think- I'm calling them inconsistencies because the chart doesn't necessarily match the- how like the way that the cables are crossing in this sample here. So... Let me pull it down so you can see. So I'm calling them inconsistencies - not errors - because I feel like it can kind of be a user's call on whether... So this is the centre of it, right, and you can choose whether the cables are mirrored or whether they're all going in the same direction.
So I chose to mirror them rather than have them going all in the same direction. I can't remember which way the chart had it going in which- you know. But that's the way that I chose to do it. And then when I got to the centre I also decided that not only would I mirror them this way, I would also mirror the whole lot length- lengthways. So that was another design - design desiz- design decision there. And I got through the rest of it completely fine and I am so so so happy with how it turns out- how it turned out.
One other thing that I do want to mention is - I really appreciate that she has treated the two sides of this differently. So there's the one edge here that has a- it's really like sort of clean and flat and just an interesting sort of pattern. And then this side here that is a bit sort of simpler, I guess, and this is the side that you pick up on - that you pick up to knit- knit up the rest of the back. And then this bit here gets seamed to the front. And then these are your open edges - your actual edge- edges of the piece. So I really appreciate that they're given a really nice clean finish.
Okay, what else did I have to say about this? That might actually be it for now.
I'm super, super excited with how- how it's- how it's looking and how it's coming along. And I'm also pretty excited that the next bit is gonna be some nice, easy stockinette stitch. Just gonna pop the book away. If I can pick it up.
So how it is gonna work is - I have already picked up for the upper back. So that's the stitches that I've picked up here. So this is kind of how it's going to hang. So what is- what is on the cable needle here is what's going to be knit up the back and then these bits that are just hanging - they're going to connect to the side and then so I will have- I will have my pockets. So if it is hanging like that, I have my right hand pocket and I'll have my left hand pocket and I'm so so happy with how this is working out.
The last thing that I will say about it is - I was so excited to get working on this. But I did put it aside to work on the Lempster - which I showed in my previous episode - because I needed to get that done by a particular- by a deadline that was coming up sooner than the knit-along for this. So anyway I put this away to work on that and then I was really excited to come back and work on this one - because this one is going to be for me and I'm really excited about that. I'm really excited about participating in the Colours of Fall knit-along.
Anyway, I did find that when I was working on it I wasn't enjoying it as much as I enjoyed working on the Lempster. The Lempster, I seriously found addictive. Like I found it a thrill and a joy and I just wanted to work on it all the time and I could not put it down. It was making me so happy. And this one I thought it would give me more of that because it's cables - which I love doing - and it's using tweed yarn - which is my favourite type of yarn. And it just- I don't know why it just wasn't giving me that same feeling. And you know, it's a really interesting nice cable and I just felt like it wasn't popping as much as well.
And then when I got to the centre back, I ran out of yarn and had to join another ball and I realised when I was doing my join - because I did the, I think it's called the Russian join where you kind of sew the ends in together - I realised that this yarn is actually... Not sure if you'll be able to see it. You should be able to. Let's get it on a clear bit here.
This yarn is actually 2 ply, and they are two very loosely spun plies as well. So I'll just undo them there for you. So it's a 2 ply yarn, as you can see there. It's 2 ply and it's loose so it's not going to have the best definition for cables. What you want for cables is at least a 3 ply yarn because it's rounder, so it's going to give you more of that texture pop. The 2 ply is flatter, which is great for lace work and that kind of thing. But that is why my cables weren't popping as much and probably why I wasn't finding it quite as addictive as the previous one - because I wasn't getting that same immediate sort of textural gratification. I don't know what you want to call it.
But yeah, that was really interesting and it's not something that I've ever really paid attention to before in choosing yarns. And it is something that I have learned since learning how to spin yarn - is how those plies actually can affect what you're working on. So I'm really happy that I'm, you know, learning all these things. I've just got to learn to apply them to what I am working on.
Yeah, it's- it is- it's- it is a really nice yarn to work with. I do really like it. I love the colours. It is discontinued. So it's the Bendigo Woollen meal- Woollen Mills tweed, and it's discontinued, which I'm sad about but I do also have some- another sweater quantity in my stash in another colourway. So I still have more of it to work with.
But I think what I am going to do is - when I have finished working on this - if I have any of this yarn left over - this yellow yarn - which I'm kind of doubting I will - I think I am going to run it through my e-spinner and increase the twist on it to give it more twist. Over twist it. And then you can kind of see the effect here. And then I want to take two strands of the over twisted yarn and ply them together. So it will kind of feel- kind of be something like- like that, if you can see that well enough there. So I believe that is called a- a cable yarn. And it will give a much better stitch definition for working cables, surprisingly enough.
And yeah, I kind of just want to see how that works out. I mean this tiny little sample of it here I think looks really interesting. And it's a nice plump yarn. But obviously I can't do that to all of the yarn that I have for this because it'll change the weight of the yarn itself and I wouldn't have enough left to knit a sweater. So yeah, so that's just something that I've sort of been thinking about with that there.
Okay. I think that's all that I actually had to say about this one. All right, moving on.
Lempster
I did want to say a couple more just really quick little things about the Lempster. It is blocking. You can just see the sleeve of it there on my blocking mat and it is still damp so I can't pick it up and show it to you here right now. But I just wanted to mention a few other things that I missed in the previous episode because I think it is important to talk about mistakes and share mistakes and not just come to you with, 'Oh look at this amazing new finished object that I've got. Aren't I fabulous.' Anyway, just really, really quickly touching on those points because I don't want this to drag on.
I found it really interesting that that beautiful motif on the front, like it was a slightly more complicated cable because it wasn't like a repeating thing like the honeycomb stitch throughout the rest of the sweater. And I was mostly fine with that. I did have one issue with it which i'll talk about next. But I was completely fine working that whole section of the sweater. And then when that was done, and I was up to knitting the bottom of it - because it's- it was a top down raglan and I was just doing the honeycomb stitch and it was so easy. It was stockinette and honeycomb and just so simple and really easy to read and know what you're doing next.
That was the section where I kept making mistakes. I was just constantly making mistakes. And I like- it was meant to be the easy part. And I just kept stuffing up.
I think after knitting the big motif, I kind of just went into some kind of autopilot and I got complacent because I told myself, 'Oh, this is an easy section. I'll just breeze through it.' So I kept forgetting to do the cabling on the cable rows, and missed crossing things, and just yeah. Just kept stuffing up and I thought, 'Huh, that's interesting.'
The one hiccup that I did have with knitting the motif is - so in Norah's book, she recommends that you- that you- I'll show- I'll show you kind of what she was- what she was saying. So usually when I am working on a- on a- working from a chart - this by the way is for a sweater that I knit many many years ago and isn't from Norah Gaughan's book so I don't feel like I'm giving any of that away. Anyway.
Usually when I'm knitting on a chart, I cover up the- the- from the bottom so that I know what I'm knitting. I can see what I'm knitting next and it's just sort of underlining the row that I'm working on. And as I move up, working the chart you know I just move upwards. In Norah's book, she recommends actually doing the opposite. She says - cover up from the top instead from the bottom because then that way, not only can you see the row that you are knitting on, you can also see what you have actually already knit. So you can more easily see exactly where you are. Because when you look at your knitting and when you look at this bit that you have exposed they're gonna match.
Which I thought was brilliant, but it did get me in trouble with the Lempster because there was a section where I was just knitting merrily away and sort of intuitively in some parts - just moving the cables in the directions that I figured that they should go - and there is actually an error on row 65. So because I had covered up - I was doing what she had recommended in her new book and covering up from the top - I knit row 65 and I crossed my cables in the way that I thought that they should go, based on what they had done previously. And then when I finished that row, I looked at the chart and I realised that a couple of the cables were actually going in the opposite direction. And I thought, 'Oh, that's odd. There must be like a turn that I just didn't remember from what I remember of how the motif looks.'
And so I undid that row up to, you know, the first mis-crossed- mis-crossed cable and I reknit it according to- according to the chart. And then I kept moving up and I realised - I think on the next cable crossing row when... So say the cable was going in this direction - so knit that way, and then the chart said to go that way for a bit, and then the rest of it went that way again. So it kind of did like a weird zigzag thing. Actually no, not even a zigzag because it's like- it's like that. And then there was one bit in the middle of it that just went that way. So it just looked wrong. That's how it was according to the chart.
So I actually looked at the photos of the pattern and I looked at the whole chart. And if I had looked at the whole chart before re-knitting what I thought I had done wrong, I would have really easily seen the flow of what that should have been and realised that I had actually done it right the first time and I wouldn't have reknit it and it would have been fine.
So that was just another little hiccup. And the lesson there is trust yourself. But also - if you think that you've made a mistake, actually check and make sure that you have made a mistake before you go back and fix it.
And again, if I had looked at Ravelry comments, I would have seen a lot of comments saying that there's a row- there's a- there's an error on row 65 of the chart.
Okay, so that's that. And then the very last thing that I wanted to say - which I promise is just a really quick note on the Lempster - is the pattern says to- when you're doing the neckband, the pattern says to pick up so-and-so number of stitches around the neck- neckband. And then the next row is you knit, or you purl, or whatever it was telling you to do. So I took that as gospel and I just picked up. And that was a nightmare.
Picking up stitches on the honeycomb sections was so difficult and such a nightmare. I kind of had the idea that picking up and knitting would be better, but I was trusting to the pattern. Which is quite old. And it's a free pattern. And that's not to say that, you know, free patterns are less- aren't as good quality as paid patterns. But it was- I had the idea that I should have picked up- picked up and knit, but I trusted to the pattern and I just picked up instead. And it was a nightmare and I really think picking up and knitting would have saved me a whole lot of a headache and it would have looked just as good. So again, trust yourself. Yeah, that's kind of just basically it.
And in case you don't know what the difference between picking up and knitting is, I can kind of show you on this here because I have just done picking up and knitting. If I can get myself organised. Alright, so. Take the stopper off here.
I'm just going to do it in a random stitch here. So picking up and knitting is when you have your yarn, you go through the stitch on the edge that you are wanting to pick up work, and you knit the new yarn through that edge. This is picking up and knitting.
If you are just picking up, this yarn doesn't come into it yet. You just- Instead, you pick up the strand from the knitting. So you pick up those strands, whichever strands you need to pick up. And then on the next row - on the first row that you're actually working - you knit them. So that is picking up, and this with the new yarn is picking up and knitting.
So I'm sure you can see how just picking up on a cable - a very dense cable - would be very, very difficult.
That is it for all of the knitting.
Craft for Thought
Revised review of Lantern Moon
While I've got this out, actually, I did want to sort of revise my very early review of the Lantern Moon. I still like them. But I don't love them as much as I did in the previous episode. So when I knit this whole panel, I had one needle on the- on the cable that I was using, I had one needle tip that was my Foursquare interchangeable needle and then I had the other tip as one of the Lanten Moon's, just to try it out.
And I'm sure this is not recommended practice to be knitting with two different needles. I mean, I did all of my swatching with this - all of my gauge measurements and everything was based on the Foursquare knitting needles. And then I threw in a Lanten Moon. I don't think it affected it too greatly. I mean, they're both wood and I think the material is probably a pretty bigger- is probably a bigger factor than the shape of the needle.
Anyway, so I was using these, pretty much. And as you can see here - I am rotating this around and you cannot see any markings on it. They are already gone. I mean, I know that this is a big piece of knitting. But that has rubbed off really quickly. So all of that text telling you what the size is - that's gone. It's already worn off. So that's not great.
The other thing is these cables - they're not the best connection really, where the cord meets the metal bit. I mean, right now I'm running my finger on that and I can't- right now I can't feel it. And for most of knitting this whole long piece - it was fine. I like- I didn't have a problem with it all. There were a few, you know, like every now and then I could feel a little catch, but that's never really bothered me.
I mean, these Foursquare needles, some of them as well - the connection where the wood meets the metal is a little bit off and you can feel it and the wool will catch on it slightly but it never actually snags it. It still, you know, travels across from the cable to to the needle tip. You kind of just feel a tiny little catch - a tiny little like tug and then it just keeps going. It's never really bothered me.
It bothered me with these cables. When I had gotten - I don't know why. When I had gotten towards the end of this, it was- it started bothering me. It started catching a lot more where this cable meets the metal bit. And I did also notice as well that - I don't know if you'll be able to- to get this - but can you kind of tell how it's like- it can move in and out a little bit? I don't know if that was contributing to the little snagging that was happening. But yeah, I actually started finding that really annoying and it's made me question whether I will actually get more of these.
I am now considering trying the new Mindful swivel cables and seeing if they will fit my Foursquare needles and how they work too. So I'm just waiting for one of my local yarn stores to get them in because I actually want to bring my Foursquare's into the store and check that they will fit my tips before I commit to that.
Anyway, right now... Like it's not snagging. Once again, it is not snagging on the cables and I can- I mean I'm not gonna pull that off because I'm working on it but it's fine. I'm not having an issue with it, right now. So I don't- I don't know what was going on before when I was knitting but it was really snagging and I don't know. I'm sure it will again. So we'll just have to see what happens with that. Yeah. So that's a bit of a shame.
I'll see how the Mindful ones go. I do like the colour of them. So you know, that's not going to be an issue. But yeah, I guess we'll just see. We'll see. We'll see how it goes. And I'll keep you updated on what I think- on what I think of them. I like- I don't regret buying these. I would still prefer this cable - this swivel cable with its little bit of a snag every now and then - to the nylon cables that came with the Foursquare. So that's saying something.
Anyway, that's it for that. What is next?
Eyes and Ears
Next up is I have some Eyes and Ears for you. I have a couple of Eyes and Ears for you. So I- There are a couple of new vlogs that I have been watching on YouTube. And both are fairly new.
Cereal Sewist (& Knitter)
The first one that I'll mention is Cereal Sewist & Knitter - who is Patricia. She is in New South Wales, I believe, and she's got a few episodes out. She has a lot of shorts that are- of YouTube shorts that are unboxings, which is kind of fun. And her actual vlog episodes - she- she- I feel like she's got quite a calming, soothing nature, I found. And I mean she's got her beautiful backdrop as well but just the way that she speaks... Yeah, I find her calming so- so that's nice.
She has also recently started- well, for the last couple of episodes that she's done, she's split them into two parts so that you're getting shorter episodes if you're not able to like sit down and sit through an hour long episode (like mine usually are). Which I think is interesting because I have- I did try that once. I tried splitting one episode up into a two parts and I found it didn't really work for me. But excellent that it's working for her. And it's nice to have those shorter formats. Just sit and watch.
I mean, I watch knitting vlogs when I do knitting. And I like to do that when I have big chunks of time to knit. I'm not the type of knitter that - at least not yet, anyway - I'm not the type of knitter that will just knit a row here and there while I'm in the middle of doing something else. I like to be able to commit time to it. So for me, having really long episodes isn't an issue. It's actually my preference. Which is probably why I let mine get so long. So hopefully that isn't an issue for you as well. But I also don't have a problem with just pausing, stopping watching in the middle of an episode, and picking it up again. But it is- I think it is nice to offer this like sort of more bite sized - or snack size or whatever you want to call it - episode. So that's Patricia - Cereal Sewist.
Kamay
The other one that I want to mention is also a Patricia, who is also in New South Wales, I believe. She's a fellow Filipina so that was really nice. She's only done one episode and I should actually tell you her YouTube is called. It's Kamay, which is 'hands' in Tagalog.
Every time our heater comes on, it distracts me. What was I saying?
Yeah, so her channel's Kamay. Again, everything will be linked below. And she actually does- she actually did hers in a 'vlog' format, which I found really, really enjoyable to watch. It- yeah. It was just different. And just really I found it really engaging. And I guess the way that she does it, she's just super like- just casual. Just like sitting on her- sitting on her chair and just like talking to you and it feels really sort of informal and just like catching up and it's just- I thought it was really nice.
And also I did- I said it's a 'vlog' format in rabbit ears because I kind of think of... Well for me, vlogs are videos. Vlog is a video log. So to me what I am doing is a vlog, not a podcast. To me, podcast is audio. But I know that most people - or I assume most people out there - think of vlogs as those type of videos where you get like all of these different snippets, and you put them together into one video. So I guess that's why I say that hers is the vlog format because you're getting bits of videos from different days and, you know, like different shots and all this kind of thing and they're put together. Anyway, it's- it's really nice to watch. And I wish I could do something like that. But I feel like I would just always forget to film it.
Anyway, check out the Patricia's!
100 subscribers giveaway!
Next up I am very, very excited to present you with a giveaway because I have now hit over 100 subscribers! I did actually get to over 100 subscribers before the previous episode went out, but when I had filmed it, I was just under so I saved the giveaway for this episode.
And like I said in the previous episode, I wanted to give you options for what you could win. So I am only doing one giveaway prize, but there is going to be an option for wool and there's going to be an option for cotton. So let me just pull them out here for you.
Alrighty, so wool first. Let's look at wool. So this is what I have here. I have two balls of Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic in the Broadleaf colourway, which is gorgeous. What kind of green would you say that is? It's kind of like a foresty green but it's like a medium foresty green. It's not super dark. It is the same yarn and colourway of the Split Hem Cable Pullover that I mentioned - I think it was in the previous episode. These are two fresh balls of- they're the same dye lot. As you can see I've highlighted there. And yeah, so they're in the wool one.
And you can- you will also get this skein here of Tarndwarncoort 4 ply in The Ciderhouse Red colour.
Now, full disclosure. This is- When I was knitting the Redford sweater for my partner, I did knit like almost the whole back section and then I realised that my gauge was wrong and I started again. So that was actually knit with this yarn here. So as you can see, it's not super noodle-y because when I unravelled it, I did give it a wash to try to reset the twist and remove all of the kinks. So I soaked that and I hung it up for a while to remove all of those kinks but about half of this skein had been knit up and then undone. So sorry about that.
But it is still like really great yarn, really good integrity. It's a beautiful colour. And I've just realised I'm offering somewhat Christmassy- a slightly Christmasy themed set here for the wool lovers of you out there. Anyway - you've got some Polwarth, you've got some wool. So that is one of the giveaways that you could win.
And the cotton option - let me put these away. The cotton option is this one here. This is - what is this? This is Bali, 100% cotton by Garnmanufaktur. And it is- So I had purchased this one to do a test knit and I had purchased it as a lace-weight yarn to do a test knit that called for lace-weight yarn. But when I got it, it just seemed so much finer than I had expected. And only then did I think to look it up on Ravelry and according to Ravelry it's a thread weight. So it this quite fine and I wasn't able to use it for the test knit.
I do think it's lovely. But I just I haven't been able to find a project that uses this much yardage at that fine a gauge, which is a shame because I really would have liked to use this. Anyway this is what I'm offering if you prefer a- a plant fibre option. If you- If you don't really want to work with wool or if you just prefer this.
It is a lovely gradient. It's got you know a medium grey on the outside and then it goes into like a really light grey on the inside there. There is a section in the middle of it that has a bluish tone. At least to me, it's a bit of like a light bluish grey. But I don't know how much you want to trust me on describing that colourway to you because I did see the dress as blue, not white. Interpret that how you will. So yeah, this lovely thread weight cotton is also in the running for the giveaway.
So if you would like to enter to win either of those packs, then it's open to anyone worldwide. It's- You have to be a subscriber to my channel. And also just leave a comment on this video in Youtube. And let me know which of the sets that you would prefer - if you have a preference - and also let me know what your favourite material is to work with. So whether, you know, if you really love working with bamboo or cotton or wool or, you know, if you even want to let me know what your favourite sheep breed to work with is and that would be really fascinating to find out. And also just introduce yourself. If you haven't already. It would be lovely to get to know more of you.
So yes, just comment below. And this will- the giveaway will end at the end of September. So Friday the 30th of September at midnight, it will end and I will- I will draw a winner from the comments on the 1st of October. Yeah, so I'm super excited about doing my first giveaway. I hope you like the options that I have for you and I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Heart Full of Craft
Now the last thing that I have to share with you is my Heart Full of Craft and I am grateful for- I'm grateful for finding and making friends, new friends, and for the generosity of people. And in particular all of this is directed towards Sarah Taylor of the Taylor Made podcast and The Maker's Corner because Sarah - lovely, lovely Sarah - you should check out everything that she does if you haven't already - she gifted me this gorgeous skein of yarn from her label, Yarn To Dye For that she naturally dyes- that she dyes using natural plants and things.
So this one - I feel like this is so extra special because it is dyed from eucalyptus - from a eucalyptus tree that is on her property. So I think that is such a nice personal touch that it kind of it just feels like she's giving more- I mean, she's obviously giving her, you know, her- her artistry and her work. She's putting her artistry and her work into - and you know, her intention and everything - into the yarn that she dyes and sells. But it really- I feel like it really does make it feel so much more personal and a more meaningful connection to know that the plant matter that was used to dye this she harvested from her own land. That's what I'm trying to say. So thank you so much, Sarah.
That is her card there. And I also got this cute little fibre-y keyring. I am a bit wary of putting it- putting my keys with it because I don't want to ruin it. But you know it should get used. Maybe I'll just clip it onto a project bag or something. Yeah. Thank you Sarah. I love it. Thank you so much.
Oh, this is on her The Guidwife base which is Peruvian Highland, 4 ply, 100g. And yeah, oh, the colourway's honeycomb. That's the other thing that I wanted to say. So yes, thank you, Sarah. I'm so happy with that. I have some ideas of what I want to use it for. But I don't want to reveal those yet, because I'll probably change my mind.
Thanks!
And that is all that I have for you today. Thank you for joining me for this ramble.
I hope you've enjoyed everything that I've had to share and everything that I have shown you in this episode. If you have, then I'd really appreciate if you gave me the old thumbs up. And if you haven't already subscribed, then I hope that you consider doing that. Please check out my Ko-fi - my Ko-fi shop where I've just made a few little bits and pieces for sale. And spread the word if you think that you- that there's anyone else you know that may enjoy these videos that I am making. And I think that is enough plugging. Yes, so yeah, that's all that I have to say.
Thank you for joining me. Take care. Find joy. Make things. Spend time with your loved ones. And yeah, I just hope you're all doing well, staying safe, and all of all of that.
So I feel like... I kind of feel like I've gotten worse at signing off rather than getting better. But anyway, thank you for joining me. I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Fare thee well.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Resources
Mentions
Yarniacs podcast
How to Fix Mis-crossed Cables Using Duplicate Stitch, by Roxanne Richardson
Lantern Moon knitting needles
Knit Picks Foursquare
The Mindful Collection (knitting needles, etc)
Cereal Sewist (& Knitter) (vlog)
Kamay (vlog)
Patterns (on Ravelry)
Sourcebook Flared Pullover by Norah Gaughan
Lempster by Norah Gaughan
Split Hem Cable Knit Pullover by Gayle Bunn
Redford by Julie Hoover, Brooklyn Tweed
Yarns (from my LYS, or on Ravelry)
Bendigo Woollen Mills yarns
Tarndwarncoort yarns from Polwarth sheep
Garnmanufaktur, Bali