Episodes
Friday Sep 03, 2021
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Friday Nov 06, 2020
Episode 59 - Face the frog
Friday Nov 06, 2020
Friday Nov 06, 2020
Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 59 – Face the frog
My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet. It’s a community for people that like to support their fellow humans regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, size or age. I hope you feel the welcome embrace and love of the Crochet Clan. Come on in and stay awhile.
In this episode, I cover: Life; Old Dog New Tricks; En Route; Feeding the Habit, Quick News Beats, Big Up and J’adore.
This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co.
Thanks to everyone who tunes into the podcast whether it is through Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon, iTunes or the YouTube Channel. Your support and engagement are really appreciated and makes running a podcast very special and worthwhile.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do that through Patreon:
1 – Life
So, since February this year, we have been getting our house ready to put on the market. It went up the day before lockdown in March and we accepted an offer when we came out of lockdown.
I honestly believed I would be recording this new podcast from the new house. For those that are watching, that clearly hasn’t happened and I am still here in my lovely studio which I am really going to miss.
I can’t complain in the grand scheme of a pandemic and world politics, but all the same, I am utterly frustrated.
You know when you keep on looking at the photos of the house you are moving to and you just want to be there, unpack and enjoy your new space? That’s where we are right now.
The worst bit is that I don’t have ready access to my stash. I miss it and the ability to just dip into it and be enthused by wool.
I put several things on hold while we dealt with the move and at the weekend I decided that life can’t really go on hold anymore and that I just need to crack on with things.
One of those things is to try out some new podcast equipment. I am using audio, lighting and visual equipment today, and I would love to know what you think.
I’m trying to use less kit, so save space and also create better light to get over the Winter gloom in my studio.
I already have my podcast space worked out in the new house and it is all flooded with light, so will be much brighter at some point in the future. My fingers, toes and legs are crossed.
Please bear with me a little longer if I’m not about so much on social media and have fewer projects to show off. I promise to be back to full volume as soon as I can, but moving house takes priority over all else until we have moved.
I don’t recommend trying to move house in a pandemic – it adds a whole new level of crap to an already crappy situation.
2 – Old Dog New Tricks
I have two old dog new tricks for you today.
The first is to show that you can make your own yarn colour blend. I have been working on my Color Pop Sweater and unfortunately ran out of yarn.
Not wanting to try to match the third colour to fade in via online shopping, I started playing around with twisting two 4ply yarns together to make a DK weight yarn in the right colour. Amazingly, it worked rather well.
It’s easy to blend two strands together to get an idea of whether the colours will work or not. I used a solid yarn and a heavily variegated yarn, testing a couple of variegated colours to see what would work best.
I even worked the samples into my project to see whether they would fade well with the existing yarn.
My one word of caution would be to try to get a blend that creates a similar fabric to the work you are trying to match to. If not, you might create something that is stiffer and doesn’t drape so well or kicks out slightly at the ends because the combined yarn is thicker, or pulls in because the combined yarn is thinner.
The second en route is a quick and neat way of frogging projects. Roll the project you want to frog into a sausage, leaving the ‘live’ end towards you, and start to frog.
You have a much smaller surface area to contend with and won’t do half as much yanking at the yarn to get it to come loose. It also means that you can keep on moving your hand down the yarn sausage as you frog.
3 – Final Destination
I literally have nothing that I can show you. I have finished so many things, but they are all commissions.
At some point in the future, I will be able to show you the four shawls, hat, mittens and baubles that I designed – just not yet!
4 – En Route
I have made some decent progress on my Color Pop Sweater by Julme Conradie (link) who is on Instagram as @mysquarehat (link).
I had 4 skeins of DK variegated yarn that I wanted to use as a mirrored fade front and back and because this design is worked vertically from side to side, I thought it would work a treat with my yarn choice. And it did until I ran out of yarn!
The jumper has a really interesting construction where you work up the sleeve in rounds and then create a chain length from your underarm to whatever length you want for your jumper and then you work down the chain, around the sleeve and back up the chain before you turn to do the next row.
This helps to make it a really speedy make that is easy to customize.
That said, I am about to frog my initial version because:
- I have run out of yarn, even with the extra that I added in as my new blended colour.
- When you have sewn the two back panels up you can try it on and I hadn’t made the shoulder to neck piece long enough.
- I also didn’t make the overall piece long enough, even though I was aiming for a cropped jumper.
- I brought the front neckline down too far.
- I honestly think I would get more wear out of a self-coloured version. I was pushing myself with these colours and it was a mistake.
This is an extra top tip for you. If you are going to rework an entire jumper in new yarn because you didn’t like the fit of what you did the first time, don’t frog the initial one until you have made the second one. That way you have it as a frame of reference for all the things you want to change and can assess them side by side.
Also, if you’re not that keen on what you are making, you probably won’t wear it so you may as well frog it.
It's called frogging because you ”rip it/ribbit” out.
I am also working on a Tower of Strength Skirt by JimiKnits (link) @jimiknits on Instagram. The pattern can be found here as an individual pattern (Ravelry link) or as part of her design collection Jimi Knits Volume One (link). It is only sized from XS to 1XL, but I am still making it because, it is honestly, the easiest project to change the size on and Jimi gives information on that within the pattern.
Before I packed up the stash, I went stash shopping for a soft, but hopefully hard-wearing wool and came out with some wool that I bought in New Zealand a few years back.
It’s Ashford Tekapo 8 ply (link) and although it is labelled as a DK, at 200m per 100g it’s more of an Aran/Worsted weight. This is the same Ashford that makes spinning wheels and looms.
The wool is a blend of Corriedale, which is soft, and Perendale which gives a bit more structure and bounce and should lend some durability to the fabric, stopping it from pilling of felting when I sit down.
I am using Shade 227 Slate (link to UK shop selling this wool) and Shade 207 Natural (link to UK shop selling this wool).
The third wool I am using is a random skein from my stash. It has no label but the colours were good and it felt like the right weight of yarn in my fingers!
I’m taking my time with this make. I deliberately kept it back as a project to work on during the house move shenanigans because I knew that the pattern would be easy to memorise and I could keep on knitting until I ran out of yarn and got my desired length. A good pick-up and put-down project.
5 – Feeding the Habit
As part of the destash sale I did last month, I did a yarn swap with my friend Lisa and got a skein of Studio Donegal ‘Darnie’ (shade 8808 link) in a bright turquoise shade with mustard coloured flecks.
I have some other Studio Donegal yarn that I am hoping to mix this with and suspect it will make some rather lovely new cushions or seat pads for the new house.
It’s 100% lambswool and a 4 ply at 410m per 100g.
6 – Quick News Beats
1 - Global Hook Up – The November hook ups are scheduled for:
Saturday 21st at 8pm GMT and Sunday 22nd at 9am GMT.
The meeting ID number is 475-047-5819 and you will need to join via Zoom which you can do here: https://www.zoom.us/join if a password is required, it is WOOL.
If you are joining on your phone or tablet you will likely need to download the software in advance. If you are joining from a PC or Mac, you can join via the link above. Everyone needs to use the same ID number to get into the session.
2 – Thanks to the folk that got in touch regarding Evernote not working for them either. I have tried to fix it but am struggling to find what the problem is and to create a solution. I will keep on plugging away with it. It matters less for this month given that I have no FOs to share with you and therefore, no project pages to create…
3 – Thank you for supporting me on Patreon. I cannot tell you what a difference it makes to me and my ability to deliver this podcast. If you want to investigate becoming a Patron, you can see what it means via this link. At the moment, I am pooling all of the Patron money and will add it to the money I generated from my yarn and craft supply destash. In the new year, it will all go towards buying a second-hand Mac which will allow me to have my own place to edit the podcast. Since I started the video part of the podcast, I have only ever been able to edit on Matthew’s Mac when he isn’t using t for work. This usually means starting editing on a weeknight after 8pm and continuing into the early hours so that it can upload while we sleep. Having my own Mac will give us both a lot more flexibility and allow me to do more with the podcast.
7 – Big UP
I am going to give a massive shoutout to Claudia, @sunbirdcrochet
She is a huge part of the Crochet Clan, is always upbeat and working on some crafty magic somewhere. If you don’t already follow her on Instagram, I encourage you to seek her out. Claudia is a multi-crafter and can turn her hand to pretty much anything.
She also created a crochet colourwork cowl pattern and called it the Fay Cowl! As a child, I was always dismayed that I could never find keyrings or fridge magnets with my name on them and if I found one, it was ALWAYS Faye with an E on the end! So, for Claudia to have created a cowl and call it Fay is really special. I will be making one, just as soon as I can get into my stash, which currently looks like this:
Claudia has also started podcasting about her makes and you can see them on Youtube (link). As if she isn’t busy enough, she has also been designing a load of colourwork crochet patterns and has been adding them into the Crochet Clan Mighty Network where you can download them for free!
8 – J’adore
This is just a quick one to say that as the Pandemic rumbles on I have noticed a general trend within the Crochet Clan of people saying that they aren’t doing the things that they routinely used to do that made them happy and was for them rather than family or friends.
So, if you need somebody to tell you to look after yourself and out time into you, I am here to do that. Supporting others is tiring and energy-sapping and you can only do that if your own foundation is solid.
Go for a run, have a long bath, eat your naughty food, start all the projects. Do whatever brings you joy, tops you up and strengthens your foundations. It’s not selfish, it’s essential.
You have been told! 😊
I’ll be back on 4th December.
Fay x
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Friday Oct 02, 2020
Episode 58 - Declutter, destash & simplify
Friday Oct 02, 2020
Friday Oct 02, 2020
Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 58 – Declutter, Destash & Simplify!
My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet. It’s a community for people that like to support their fellow humans regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, size or age. I hope you feel the welcome embrace and love of the Crochet Clan. Come on in and stay awhile.
In this episode, I cover: Old Dog New Tricks; Yarn Review; Final Destination; En Route; feeding the Habit; Quick News Beats and J’adore.
This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co.
Thanks to everyone who tunes into the podcast whether it is through Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon, iTunes or the YouTube Channel. Your support and engagement are really appreciated and makes running a podcast very special and worthwhile.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do that through Patreon:
1 – Old Dog New Tricks
I have been having a good old sort out these last few weeks. One of the rooms to be sorted was my Stash Palace…
It is the smallest room in our house but it is absolutely crammed full of all my crafting materials and equipment. These have mainly been collected in the last six years and my tastes have changed. They haven’t changed drastically ‘cause British breeds and proper woolly wool have always been part of my crafting DNA, but I have things in my stash that I know I’m never going to use.
If you are in a similar position, the chances are that you have spent hard-earned money on those items and you would quite like to get some value back for them.
So here are some ways that you can deal with your stash based on three levels of stash love:
1 – You bought it/were given it and you aren’t that fussed about trying to get money back for it.
This is ideal for passing on to charity shops. All of my local ones love having crafting things passed to them so long as they are good quality. They don’t want ratty balls of tangled yarn. They may also be interested in partial projects, so long as the pattern/instructions are in the bundle and ideally the equipment required too.
I have also just passed a load of my commercial wool onto a friend. Her daughter crochets blankets for charity and is going to make good use of that bag of yarn to help keep someone warm in Manchester.
2 – You want to at least try to get some value from these mid-range items if you can.
This is the kind of thing that I try to sell on Ebay. Lots of commercial yarn is sold on Ebay and it’s a great platform for selling it on because the chances are that the buyer already has a knowledge of that yarn brand, so have the confidence to buy from that platform.
3 – These stash babies can’t be given away, you really need to try to recoup some of the money you spent on them.
This is the level where you are best off going to a specific platform to sell it. Whilst I see more hand-dyed skeins of yarn appearing on Ebay, I still think that Instagram or Facebook Groups are a better option for resale.
If you have a large enough following, doing a destash on stories can be a great way of selling your unwanted yarn and equipment.
Your other option is to join some of the many Facebook groups for reselling yarn. They can be country-specific, so if you don’t want to pay high postage costs, try to find a group in your country. I am a member of the Yarn Snobs – hand-dyed yarns FSOT group on Facebook. It is mainly made up of UK folk and it’s easy to work out whether the yarn is available from the UK or elsewhere.
In non-COVID times, I would also recommend hosting a yarn swap at your local crafting group. I usually hold one twice a year at Woolgathering Sandbach and it gives you the chance to refresh what is in your stash without spending a penny.
Having sorted through all of my stash in the last few days and moved a lot of it into the three categories above, I feel a lot better. The sheer amount of ‘stuff’ was weighing heavy. To be fair, we have been decluttering the entire house and so unless an item is useful, beautiful, or sentimental, it has been moved on to a new home and it feels REALLY good.
So on that note, I will be having a bit of a destash sale on Instagram on Sunday the 4th October. I will be listing books, yarn and material, so if you fancy seeing what is on offer, come and see from 12pm onwards (BST).
2 – Yarn Review
The good folks at John Arbon asked if I wanted to have a play with their new Alpaca Supreme yarn. It has been given a bit of an update with some delicate new colours to complement the existing neutral palette.
I’m on a bit of an alpaca kick at the moment and so it was an obvious yes, please!
I asked Sonja to surprise me with the colour and I’m very pleased that she sent me Morganite. It’s a proper dusky, old rose pink. I’m not a massive pink fan, but this has such a lovely vintage vibe to it and I love it.
The blend is 40% Superfine Alpaca (UK grown), 40% Organic Falklands Merino and 20% A1 Mulberry Silk.
Alpaca fibre is generally graded into six different categories and depending on which website you are looking at, Superfine Alpaca is either grade 2 or 3, so right up there at the lux end. Here is a link to the suggested six grades for alpaca fibre (link).
A1 Mulberry Silk is basically the highest quality you can get for yarn. Mulberry has an extremely high lustre to it and the A1 refers to the fibre length and lack of neps from the cocoon.
If you have ever used their Knit By Numbers, you already know how gloriously soft their Organic Falklands Merino is.
I am crocheting up a Positivity Spiral with this skein and it is super soft and luxurious to work with. I’m using a 3.75mm hook and the fabric I am getting has a gorgeous drape and a fluidity to it. I actually keep stroking my face with it, it’s that soft.
If you are after a really special skein of yarn for a project then I thoroughly recommend Alpaca Supreme. It’s sportweight/heavy 4 ply, so 333m per 100g. That’s enough to make a one skein shawl with, or a hat or mittens. It would also make a really beautiful shawl.
I want to make mittens, a hat, bed socks and a drapey cropped cardigan with this yarn. All the lux things.
Here are my five words for Alpaca Supreme:
lux, shiny, delicate, super-soft & drapey
3 – Final Destination
I have a few finished bits this month. First up is my Encanto Not Wrap. I used Claudia’s Encanto Wrap pattern (link) to create a cowl and since I finished it, I have barely taken it off.
I used some gorgeously soft Brenel Alpacas 100% alpaca yarn (link) that I bought in a yarn shop in Aukland, New Zealand.
Claudia’s pattern is fab and it’s really easy to make it bigger or smaller, depending on what you want to make and how much yarn you have.
I also had two designs in Inside Crochet this month. The Jewel Office Set is made from Erika Knight Gossypium Cotton (DK) and has a pattern for a desk tidy, coaster, pen pot and set of three bowls. It’s made with a mixture of intarsia and tapestry crochet.
Photo from Inside Crochet
My final finished object is called the Igam Wrap. It’s made with naturally dyed yarn from Helen of Nellie and Eve (link). Helen lives on the side of a mountain in Wales and forages locally for the plant items she uses as dye stock and even uses mountain spring water for dyeing with. She has a lovely Instagram account (link) if you fancy getting to know a bit more about her natural dyeing process.
Photo from Inside Crochet
The wrap is sized from a small to a 5XL and the size I’m showing used just under 200g of 4 ply (400m/100g) yarn. It’s a blend of 75% Bluefaced Leicester and 25% Masham. The colour is called Juniper and it’s a beautifully soft, blue/steel grey colour.
What I really love about this wrap is how versatile it is. It has a double button band so that it can be worn as a cowl, wrap, poncho or twisted wrap.
I also have a pair of knitted socks. I really lost my crafting mojo for a few days. It’s unusual for me to not pick up a hook, needles or thread at some point every day and after six days of no crafting passed, I knew it was time to kickstart it somehow.
Off to my Stash Palace I popped and found my already caked Indian Giant Squirrel by RiverKnits. This yarn has all of the autumnal colours in one and it was just what I needed to get my mojo back. I knitted my good old plain socks so that the yarn wasn’t competing with a pattern. They make me smile and they brought my mojo back.
4 – En Route
This is a bit of a cheaty one because I haven’t actually started the project yet, but I have printed off the pattern and chosen my wool. I’m going to crochet the Colour Pop Sweater by Julme Conradie (link) who is on Instagram as @mysquarehat (link).
I really love Julme’s designs and her pattern writing is good. I have 4 skeins of DK variegated yarn that I want to use as a mirrored fade front and back and because this design is worked vertically from side to side it will work a treat with my yarn choice.
It’s also in linen stitch which I love. After finishing my Esja Sweater, I swore to never do another long jumper that had a horizontal linen stitch body because I don’t think it has enough integral structure to it for the weight of the yarn.
My suspicion is that a vertical stitched, cropped version will be fine, and we are going to find out aren’t we!
One of the beauties of side to side vertical construction is that I can put colours that I wouldn’t want right at my face, into the arms instead. I have a deep orange/red that I wouldn’t normally wear in a jumper. I love the colour, I just don’t think it does anything with my pink complexion.
The other thing to say about the Pop Colour Sweater is that of course, I am going to fiddle with it. I’m going to knit the ribbing rather than crochet it, which means adding all of it at the end and therefore playing around with the pattern a little. You would expect nothing less of me!
So, more actual progress on that jumper next month. Even though it’s DK, there is no way it will be finished.
4 – Feeding the Habit
I am fresh back from a lovely weekend away with a couple of my yarny friends. We couldn’t get our money back for our Yarndale weekend, so still went to Skipton and had a weekend of watching movies, eating good food and crafting.
We took along yarn that we didn’t want anymore and swapped with each other for things we would use.
So, I have three new skeins of yarn in my stash that I didn’t really pay for and have decluttered some of the yarn that I know I won’t use. Result!
The yarns are John Arbon Textiles Exmoor Zwartbles in a DK (link), Lain 'Amouree 100% Merino (link) and a skein of unknown goodness!
5 – Quick News Beats
1 - Global Hook Up – The October hook ups are on:
Saturday 17th at 8pm BST and Sunday 18th at 9am BST.
The meeting ID number is 475-047-5819 and you will need to join via Zoom which you can do here: https://www.zoom.us/join if a password is required, it is WOOL.
If you are joining on your phone or tablet you will likely need to download the software in advance. If you are joining from a PC or Mac, you can join via the link above. Everyone needs to use the same ID number to get into the session.
2 – A group of amazing crocheters and I are part of a Vogue Knitting Live panel on the 8th October called “Crochet in the UK”. It’s part of Vogue Knitting Live form the 8th – 11th October (link).
We will be chatting for an hour about how the UK is pushing crochet forward and hopefully showing off contemporary crochet and why it isn’t second fiddle and deserves its own seat at the crafting table.
As I get more details on how to join, I will add them to the show notes and get them out on Instagram.
All of this is being pushed by Claudia from Crochet Luna podcast. The panel was her idea and she has brought together a fabulous group to represent the UK crochet scene.
3 – Somebody got in touch to say that they were having issues getting into my project notes in Evernote. If anyone else has had issues can you please let me know? Equally, if you managed to get into the notes can you let me know?
4 – Thank you, thank you, thank you for supporting me on Patreon. I cannot tell you what a difference it makes to me and my ability to deliver this podcast. If you want to investigate becoming a Patron, you can see what it means via this link.
5 – Just a bit of a heads up that I may not be around much this coming month. Have no fear, I will be back next month but it may be a bit of an amalgamation podcast as I am going to have to record bits and pieces as I can throughout the month.
There is rather a lot going on at Chez Dashper-Hughes at the moment, so I am going to have to squeeze things in when I can.
6 – J’adore
I have a new to me podcast to recommend for you today and it isn’t specifically about crochet, but there is a connection. I am really interested in where my food and resources come from, how it is produced and the people behind the production. I should imagine that is fairly obvious from this podcast.
Through my friend and stockist Maria or Dodgson Wood, I came across an audio podcast called Rock and Roll Farming (link). Will is a beef, arable and egg farmer in North Wales and has been delivering a weekly podcast since April 2017, with well over 100 episodes to listen to.
I know this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but here in the UK, small scale farming is integral to our landscape, food chain and textiles industry and Will offers a broad overview of the UK farming scene through his podcast. I promised you will be interested in some if not all of it.
If you want to dip your toe in gently, start with the Herdy Shepherd interviews (part 1 & part 2). If you were ever of the opinion that farmers and agrics weren’t impressive folk, think again.
I’ll be back on 6th November in some form or not – possibly a hologram.
Fay x
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Friday Jun 05, 2020
Episode 55 - Harder than you think
Friday Jun 05, 2020
Friday Jun 05, 2020
Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 55 – Harder Than you Think.
My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet. It’s a community for people that like to support their fellow humans regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, size or age. I hope you feel the welcome embrace and love of the Crochet Clan. Come on in and stay awhile.
In this episode, I cover: Old Dog New Tricks; Final Destination; En Route; Designs in Progress; Quick News Beats; Big Up and J'adore.
This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co.
Thanks to everyone who tunes into the podcast whether it is through Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, iTunes or the YouTube Channel. Your support and engagement are really appreciated and makes running a podcast very special and worthwhile.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do that through Patreon:
1 – General Update
I am stood at my desk as I type this and it’s really difficult to find the ‘right’ words. I’m not even sure there are ‘right’ words. The world seems to be on fire. People are being killed, simply because of their skin colour.
This episode was nearly called “Inconsequential” because that is how I felt about podcasting over the last few days – who cares about a crochet podcast when people are being killed, simply because of their skin colour.
This crochet podcast is also a platform for morals, beliefs, community and showing solidarity.
So, instead, it is called “Harder Than You Think”. Besides being the title for my favourite Public Enemy song (because it has lyrics that speak volumes to me (link)), it is also a reminder that life is harder than you think.
It’s particularly hard on people that face oppression, brutality, racism and inequality on a daily basis. That is what hard looks like.
So, if you want to be part of the change, to support your fellow humans then know that there is hard work ahead and it will be harder than you think. You will most likely take a step back at some point and think about your former actions and words and feel disgusted with yourself for not having done better. You will make mistakes that you can learn from.
I put three actions on Instagram (link). Three simple things that can be your starting point if you are now ready to be part of the change:
1 – Listen to the experiences of others and get angry about the injustices that they are made to suffer day after day and do something positive with that anger without being performative or centring it around you.
2 – Talk to your friends and family about diversity and inclusivity. Keep having the conversations. Keep pushing for solidarity over oppression.
3 – Your money makes a difference. Donate money to organisations that make a difference such as ROTA in the UK (link) or National Bail Out in the US (link). These are just two examples, there are many great organisations out there that you can donate to.
Let’s be part of the change. Complacency is not an option.
2 – Old Dog New Tricks
I just have a quick one for you this month because time is utterly against me this week. You may have the same issues I have when I go above a 5.5mm crochet hook. I find that the hook gets too heavy and it can be difficult to manoeuvre and ultimately make your hands or wrist hurt.
I have some large plastic hooks in my hook case but I really don’t enjoy working with them and I find it difficult to get my tension right. Instead, have a try with bamboo hooks. They are lightweight, slippy enough to tension with and I find them comfortable to work with.
So, if you have previously been put off working on larger gauge projects because of the hooks you, why not try a bamboo.
3 – Final Destination
I have finished things!
Scrapvent Blanket is finished and I love it! I’ll be writing up this pattern shortly. My lovely friend Bec is working up a DK version with an advent yarn calendar she got last year. I have never been that fussed about crocheting blankets, but I think the flood gates may have been opened. I definitely prefer thin fabric without holes.
Image text: The left side of my bone coloured linen sofa has blue cushions and my Scravent Blanket draped over the arm. A medley of 24 different coloured yarns with a peachy cream border.
Matthew called my Scrapvent Blanket “fugly” – how rude! So, to get my revenge I used loads of the yarns craps from the blanket in a pair of Fugly Socks that he has to wear. The truth is that I didn’t want to add a load of little yarn scraps back into my stash and I used up all the remnants of nine of my blanket colours in his socks. I will use some of the other scraps to also make myself a pair of Fugly Socks.
Image text: A pair of scrappy, hand-knitted socks in stripes of forest green, acid green, teal, navy, grey and aqua. The socks are placed on bone coloured linen sofa seat pad.
Last month I showed off some slubby/thick and thin yarn that my friend Claudia sent me from Germany. I crocheted it into a cushion cover using a 10mm (bamboo) hook and linen stitch. I chose linen stitch because it makes a nice flat fabric which has a decent amount of stretch which you need in a cushion cover. Eventually, the cushion will go into my Stash Palace, but for now, Matthew is using it on his stool when her delivers training. Who knew that metals stool seats aren’t that comfortable?!?
Image text: A close up of my bone coloured linen sofa has blue cushions and my new slubby crocheted cushion cover at the front. It has a light sky blue, olive green, spring green and white running through it and is nobbly because of the slubby yarn.
I have also been trying out wood whittling, and I love it. I have concentrated on shawl sticks so far.
Image text: Five hand whittled shawl sticks are placed on bone coloured linen sofa seat pad. The sticks have a skeletal quality about them because of the blonde wood and finger-like quality of their shape.
4 – En Route
It is time to think about crocheting summer tops! This has been on my to-do list for weeks now and I finally found time at the weekend to search for the right top.
I was specifically looking for a top that had been designed by a BIPOC/BAME designer and was size-inclusive (up to a 60” bust).
So, where do you start? Well, you go to the BIPOC in Fiber website (link) because it is an amazing resource that is easy to navigate and gives the details and links of BIPOC/BAME in all sorts of categories such as crochet designers, hand-knit designers, yarn retailers, photographers, podcasters – basically every element of our fibre community is covered and categorised, ready for you to search.
There were three pages of crochet designers for me to go to and they all link to website or Ravelry pages where I could see their full designs line-up.
Because I was looking for a size-inclusive garment, that narrowed the field but I enjoyed going through all of the designer profiles, many of which I was familiar with because of the work that Claudia from Crochet Luna vlog cast had been doing.
So, I settled on the Zig-Zag-Zummer top (link) by Sandra at Nomad Stitches (link). You definitely will have seen Sandra’s work before. She is the designer behind the Taroko and Aztec Sweaters.
Image text: 1 - Boen coloured linen seat pad with a ball of olive green yarn to the right, the very beginnings of a top and an orange crochet hook. The yarn has a sheen to it because it is pure linen. Image 2 - White wall with Sandra's torso showing. She is wearing her Zi-Zag-Zummer crocheted top which has filet zig zags at the bottom, working up to a plain v-neck top. The top is a mid-dusky rose pink.
Image text: Dusky pink background with a white polaroid cut out and Sandra from Nomad Stitches as he photo held up with clear washi tape. Sandra has mid-length brown hair and is wearing a crocheted top with love hearts at the bottom. She is also wearing a big smile.
I plan on using my Rowan Pure Linen stash which is 130m/50g because it will ake for a nice cool summer top.
I haven’t really made much progress on the top because life, but have a deadline of the 1st July because I am joining in the @promised.fiber (link) Make IT Inclusive MAL (link).
If you fancy joining in too, it is open to crocheters, knitters and sewers. Wouldn’t it be amazing if lots of Crochet Clan people searched out a BIPOC/BAME designer from the BIPOC in Fiber website and joined in?
I also wanted to highlight a couple of other sources:
1 – Lisa (LisaRaspCrochet on Ravelry) has made a bundle which has 133 different size-inclusive garments.
2 – Yelley (Yelley on Ravelry) also has a bundle with 158 size-inclusive crocheted garments.
Find the person on Ravelry, click onto their favourites and then you can search their ‘bundles’.
5 – Designs in Progress
I have finished all of my Positivity Spiral samples and have updated the pattern. If you have already bought it or buy it in the future, it now gives options form heavy laceweight up to bulky/chunky weight. I have added in estimated circumference and depth measurements so that you can choose how many stitch repeats you do to get the measurements you want.
The updated version will be going out next week.
I also have the rights back for Omni and that has already been uploaded onto my website and Ravelry. Again, that works in all weights between heavy laceweight and aran/worsted.
6 – Feeding the Habit
There is no Feeding the Habit this month. I have been buying sewing books, but no yarn.
This will not last for long because this weekend is the John Arbon Textiles Mill Open Weekend. I should have been vending and instead, we are doing it all virtually from Friday through to Sunday.
I know I am going to buy yarn. Especially because I got to design my own colour. More on that in J’adore.
As part of the Virtual Mill Open Weekend, we are having an online crafting session – much like the Global Hook Up. Do come and join us on Sunday 7th June at 2pm on Zoom (same joining details as below for Global Hook Ups). It will be some of the Mill Folk form John Arbon, Katie Green, me and hopefully, lost of friendly faces joining us.
7 – Quick News Beats
1 - Global Hook Up – The June hook ups are on:
Saturday 27th at 8pm BST and Sunday 28th at 9am BST.
The meeting ID number is 475-047-5819 and you will need to join via Zoom which you can do here: https://www.zoom.us/join
If you are joining on your phone or tablet you will likely need to download the software in advance. If you are joining from a PC or Mac, you can join via the link above. Everyone needs to use the same ID number to get into the session.
2 – Lots of yarn shows are moving to virtual events. Obviously it is nice to meet face to face, but the beauty of a virtual event is that you can o to ones that were previously out of your reach. Look out for Woolfest, Yarndale and others in the UK.
8 - Big Up
This one has to go out to the BIPOC in Fiber team. The website that has been created is a wonderful resource. You may not be aware, but the person behind the website development is actually Alyson from the Keep Calm and Carry Yarn podcast. Alyson has and continues to do an amazing job on the site.
7 – J’adore
My love affair with John Arbon Textiles continues. When I first started crocheting and getting into really lovely wool and yarns, I dreamt about having my own yarn colours.
I was asked to design my own for the Virtual Mill Open Weekend in their Yarnadelic range which is my current favourite wool of theirs.
Image text: Image split into two but features the same yarn, Another Friday Night. The yarn is dark, dusky blue with slivers of silver through it. It’s like the night sky when the starts just start twinkling but not all the light has disappeared. In the left picture, skeins of the yarn are on a table with a chair tucked underneath. On the right, the yarn is wound on colourful plastic cones and bundled inside a large white industrial bag.
Obviously, I was tempted to do a mustard but they already have an amazing mustard in that range. Instead, I went for a dark, dusky blue with slivers of silver through it. It’s like the night sky when the starts just start twinkling but not all the light has disappeared. I LOVE IT. If you want some too, be quick (link).
I’ll be back on the 3rd July.
Fay x
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Friday May 01, 2020
Episode 54 - Simple, Soothing Stitches
Friday May 01, 2020
Friday May 01, 2020
Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 54 – Simple, Soothing Stitches.
My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet. It’s a community for people that like to support their fellow humans regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, size or age. I hope you feel the welcome embrace and love of the Crochet Clan. Come on in and stay awhile.
In this episode, I cover General Update; Old Dog New Tricks; Final Destination; Designs on Progress; Quick News Beats and Big Up.
This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co.
Thanks to everyone who tunes into the podcast whether it is through Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, iTunes or the YouTube Channel. Your support and engagement are really appreciated and makes running a podcast very special and worthwhile.
If you would like to support the podcast, you can do that through Patreon:
1 – General Update
I know that globally, we are all on different states of stay at home/lockdown. However, the reality is most likely a little like eat, sleep, distance repeat. I’m used to working from home and probably only go at a handful of times a week anyway. I’m a bit of an introvert, so although I am very happy in my little home bubble, I am starting to miss my people. It would have been Wonderwool Wales this weekend. It’s easily my favourite show of the year. I get to catch up with lots of my yarn buddies, many of which I won’t have seen since the end of September. It’s a chance to check-in and hug your friends. So, I’m missing all of that.
I can only imagine that if you are a social butterfly this must be really tough for you.
I know that many of you are being directly affected by the virus and have family members that are ill or have sadly died. I am sending tender love and hugs.
2 – Old Dog New Tricks
This month’s top Crochet Clan tip is from Caroline (Soltra on Ravelry). Her tip is to regularly push yourself to try something new with crafting. It could be a new technique, a new type of craft, just something that keeps pushing you forward. Caroline references the fact that when she learned to do Tunisian Crochet, she made blanket after blanket and sickened herself by only doing blankets for 18 months. It was only when she joined in with a Tunisian CAL that was all about skill-building that she really moved on with her Tunisian crochet skills and has worked her way through 13+ projects.
It’s really easy to stick to what you know and feels comfortable. And I know that I have called this episode Simple Soothing Stitches because I don’t currently have the mental capacity to work on really complicated things, but new techniques and skills don’t have to be complicated.
I don’t know how many times I have told myself “oh, I’m not good enough to try that technique out yet”. It’s folly to think that way because you are just holding yourself back. Dive in, if it works first time – great, if it needs a bit of extra practice then that’s also great because you are really getting to grips with the new thing. If it doesn’t work then maybe it’s not for you. Often, that’s my favourite outcome because I can cross it off my list and move onto the next technique. You will never see me do crocheted cables. I hated doing it. It’s just not for me, but because I now know that, I’m never swayed to those projects and I let something else pique my interest instead.
3 – Final Destination
Let me introduce you to Heulwen. It’s a laceweight shawl using Garthenor wool (link) and is in this month’s Inside Crochet (Issue 125 (link)). Heulwen means sunshine in Welsh which is very apt given the design and that Garthenor is a Welsh-based wool company.
Heulwen is made from 2 x 50g of Gathenor’s Number 1 Laceweight Wool which is undyed Shetland (link) and 1 x 50g of their plyed laceweight, Pennine, in colour Tilia (link).
The entire thing weighs about 120g and although it’s lightweight, it’s nice and cosy.
Image text: Image 1 - An undyed grey, Shetland wool shawl is displayed along with a wooden fence post with bright yellow oilseed rape flowers and woodland in the field behind and cow parsley in bloom in the verge in front. The shell has details of the sun in the same yellow as the oilseed rape. A semi-circle for the sun with beams of yellow coming off in fan stitches. Image 2 - a close up of the shawl showing how fine the lace wool is with the yellow fan/sunbeam details. Oilseed rape flowers and a blueish sky are visible behind.
I have been hooking up many Positivity Spirals (link to Ravelry, link to my website, link to Etsy). This month I have made one from:
John Arbon Textiles Exmoor Sock 4 ply, 50g/200m, Mackerel Sky (link).
John Arbon Textiles Knit By Numbers DK, 100g/250m, KBN111 (link).
John Arbon Textiles Harvest Hues light Aran/worsted, 100g/200m, Bracken (link).
Gathernor Number 5, Chunky, 100g/70-100m, Pewter Jacob (link).
Image description: Four different versions of Positivity Spiral Cowl lying over each other. L-R is an undyed Jacob, chunky version in a Pewter Grey, Then a rusty orange Aran weight version, an aquamarine 4 ply version and a long thin DK version in lovely dirty mustard colour.
I have one more to do and then I can update the pattern giving options for a wider range of yarn weights. If you have already bought Positivity Spiral, as soon as it has been updated, you will receive a new copy with all of the weights on it.
I also set myself a design challenge last month to get a design, knit and publish a pattern inside of seven days. I managed it by the skin of my teeth and it was intense! I created a stranded colourwork knitted hat called the Coho Beanie (link to Ravelry, link to my website, link to Etsy). I also used it as a chance to document my design process, the tools I use and the amount of time that is involved. If you are interested in seeing that process, head over to my design Instagram account @faydhdesigns (link) and look for the videos.
I used John Arbon Textiles Yarnadlic 25g/83m Minis (link) in colours Indigo Dust, Of my Hand, Woman in Blue and Ordinary Joe for the four-colour blue version and Harmonium, English Sparrows and Ordinary Joe for the three-colour green version.
Image description: Image 1 - me with my long brown hair down looking back over my shoulder beside a large pool of water. I am wearing the M/L, four-coloured, knitted Coho Beanie which ranges from dark teal through to a warm cream and has feature scallops in stranded colourwork.
Image 2 - The five different size version of the hat laid out on a large mossy trunk, surrounded by nettles. L-R they go from L/XL adult (green), M/L (teals), S (teals), XS/Child (teals) and toddler (green) sizes. The green version is three-colours, ranging from a mid-forest green to bright spring green to the same warm cream. Some of the hats have pom-poms on them.
Me being me, I knitted it up in five different sizes, so it’s available from toddlers up to a L/XL adult.
So whilst I haven’t yet managed to whittle any wood – that’s my challenge for this weekend – I have managed to sew my first ever garment. I managed to get some organic cotton from Fabworks (link) and used the Elise Tee from Fine Motor Skills (link) which is a free sewing pattern. I really enjoyed this as a first attempt and I’m happy to be wearing it as I record. I even regraded the pattern to make it a little bigger because it only goes from S-L. Plop! There I go down the sewing rabbit hole.
My Nana used to sew all of her own clothes. Don’t think tea dresses, think fine tailoring pinstripe suits with satin and chiffon blouses. Elaine Dashper was a woman with very defined tastes and standards! I am hoping I have inherited some of her sewing DNA.
4 – Designs in Progress
I have almost finished my Scrapvent Blanket. Lots of work has gone into this month because although I am trying to set myself challenges to keep focussed, I am also really drawn to simple soothing stitches. I just don’t want my crochet time to be challenging too and the blanket has been perfect for that.
Image description: Cream background with my Scrapvent Blanket coming in from the right having been artistically 'dumped'. It has a cream border and 24 different stripes (6 rows per colour stripe) ranging from peachy creams to mustard, greens, teals and finally, dark plummy purple.
Why not head to your stash and see if you have 24 x 20g leftovers or minis in 4 ply and 100g for a border? Get them bagged up and put away for 1st December 2020.
I’m so pleased with the way that the blanket is coming together. There are a couple in there that I maybe would swap out in hindsight, but as soon as I attached the border, it really helped to bring the whole piece together. For me, it was well worth pulling together the 24 colour sequence. Even if I did think I was drunk when I added the acid green in that I now rather like!
This will be finished next month, with a pattern to follow shortly.
I was working on a laceweight version of Positivity Spiral with Organically Farmed Merino, 50g/650m, natural white (link) but I just can’t do it. It’s too fine and I’m not enjoying it. Given what I said in Old Dog New Tricks, I definitely know that cobweb lace is a step too far for me.
I know that I keep on saying I don’t like laceweight, but clearly I must like it a little bit because I keep on going back to it.
So, my alternative laceweight version of Positivity Spiral is in Garthenor’s Number 1 laceweight in Smoke, which is undyed Shetland, 50g/350 (link).
Image description: Image 1 - cream background with a cake of fine undyed, grey laceweight wool to the top left and a bundle of barely started crocheted rounds in the middle. A pink metal crochet hook lyes to the right. Image 2 - School green background with a photo of Jonny and Sally from Garthenor Organic. Jonny with his arm around his Mum, Sally, as they stand in front of Niagara Falls.
5 – Feeding the Habit
I am a very fortunate person. I had three parcels turn up from lovely Crochet Clan folk. Each parcel arrived just when I needed a little boost!
I received some beautiful seaweed yarn and skeins of hemp from Rachael. She has also requested that I do a bit of a feature on vegan yarns. I have one planned and have lots of yarns to go through but don’t quite know when I’m going to get to it – someday!
Three skeins of hemp yarn in an acid green, rusty brown/orange a dark lavender blue/purple lye diagi=onally beside a card with a crocheted hexagon and cake of seaweed yarn.
Rica sent me through loads of German marzipan ( I even let Matthew have some) and yarn from her global travels. So, I now have yarns from Germany, Iran, India, Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Peru and Bolivia in my stash. I need to spend some proper time looking at the construction of the wools to see if there are differences from country to country.
Image description: cream background with lots of different yarns from around the world. Fluffy blue mohair from India, perfectly spun pecahy brown wool from Bolivia, loosely spun green wool from Iran. The different plying methods from different countries is evident.
Claudia also sent loads of marzipan from Germany. If you have never tried marzipan with calvados, you are missing out! I have a new favourite. My parcel from Claudia was full of all sorts of lovely goodies including some amazing art yarn which I think I am going to make into a cushion, using the mustard coloured buttons that she popped in the parcel.
Image description: A large hank of art yarn that goes from thick to thin and ranges from sky blue to bring green and a slurry green /brown.
I can’t show you any marzipan because we have eaten it all! Nom, nom, nom.
Given that I was buying design wool from Garthenor, I also treated myself to a little set of 10g mini skeins from their little shop update. Often small companies have small updates that go out to newsletter subscribers first. That’s what Garthenor and RiverKnits do. John Arbon Textiles do their Mill Membership for special access. It’s definitely worth subscribing to your favourite small businesses.
Image description: Five mini skeins fo wool, each bound in the centre with a kraft paper label. The skeins are different types of wool and move from light grey/brown through to a dark chocolate, peaty colour.
6 – Quick News Beats
1 - Global Hook Up – The May hook ups are on:
Saturday 23rd at 8pm BST and Sunday 24th at 9am BST.
The meeting ID number is 475-047-5819 and you will need to join via Zoom which you can do here: https://www.zoom.us/join
If you are joining on your phone or tablet you will likely need to download the software in advance. If you are joining from a PC or Mac, you can join via the link above. Everyone needs to use the same ID number to get into the session.
7 – J’adore
Going back to the premise of simple and soothing, I have been going back to gardening and growing more of our own food. The current pandemic has given me a bit of a jolt to look again at my environmental impact and what is important to me.
My plan is to grow and make even more of our own food (we already do a fair bit) and to really work towards a handmade capsule wardrobe.
I don’t think I’m the only one using this strange time to reassess what they want from this one life.
I have also been looking backwards through “The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady” by Edith Holden. It’s an illustrated nature journal, documenting what Edith saw in the English countryside month by month. I grew up with this book and bought my own second-hand copy at the beginning of the year. Every month, I go to it and look at Edith’s writing and illustrations for that month. One of May’s mottoes is “Shear your sheep in May and shear them all away”.
Image description: The book is open at pages for May with beautiful handwriting on the left page and a delicate illustration of May flowers on the right.
I‘m basically taking pleasure from the simple things. I hope you are too.
I’ll be back on 5th June.
Fay x
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