Episode 56 - Social Network

Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 56 – social network.   

 

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; 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.   

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1 – Old Dog New Tricks

I have two for you today.  This first is a great podcast hack for YouTube.  Some of you watching me may struggle to deal with my soft Scottish accent and the speed that I talk.  I discovered that you can change the speed setting of videos on YouTube.  If you hover your mouse done at the bottom of the video, a settings cog will appear.  Click on that, click ‘Playback Speed’ and then choose whether you want to speed the video up or slow it down. 

There are a few podcaster’s whose content I love, but their delivery is just to slow for me to enjoy.  By bumping them up to 1.25, the podcast is delivered at a rate that I enjoy and I can get through more podcasts. 

I’ll take you through my second new trick in FOs. 

 

2 – Final Destination

I finished my Zig-Zag-Zummer top (link) by Sandra at Nomad Stitches (link), using my Rowan Pure Linen stash which is 130m/50g.  I used 250g in total to make a size 3 with modified sleeve caps and I am really pleased with the result. 

   

Image text 1: Wooden floorboards with my finished Zig Zag Zummer top on them.  The back of the top is up to show the back V is lower then the front neckline V.  The top has plain rows of Htr (hdc) at the top and a filet crochet zig-zag pattern from the bust down.  The yarn is pure linen and dark olive green. 

Image text 2: A close up of the armhole of the top showing my addition of dc2tog, rows to pull in the gape that occurred at the bottom of the armhole, above the bust. 

Image text 3: Upper part of my torso stood in my kitchen.  I am wearing the top to show the left armhole which is gaping and the right armhole which I have made the dc2tog adjustments to and has a lot less gape.

 

Usually, I would upload my FOs as a project to Ravelry, but I’m not going to do that anymore.  I will be talking about that during Quick News Beats and sharing details of what I’m working on instead. 

I found that when I had finished the top, there was a fair bit of gape at the front at the top of my chest.  I think I have a way of dealing with this during the actual crocheting of a top like this next time.  I didn’t know it was going to gape until I had sewn it all up, so needed a quick solution for reducing it.

Attaching my yarn to the bottom of the yarn holes, I just did a series did 2 dc2tog, dc, ss, turn 4 dc 2 tog, dc, ss, turn and continued working in rows in this pattern until I had decreased the armhole gape to my satisfaction.  This only worked because I had spec in the armhole to build up extra rows – had I not, I would have had to rip back and worked a different solution. 

My second FO is a stone!  I have been looking to make a paper/pattern weight for when I am working outside and cutting out sewing fabric.  I wanted something pretty that would look ornamental even when not in use.  So, crocheted cotton over a stone.  The pattern is from ‘Making’ magazine, Issue no.4 – Lines.  I have been eyeing up this pattern for some time…

Image text: Very pale pink background with a collection of brown, terracotta, grey and white pebbles.  One large pebble is in the middle of them all and is has been covered in light blue cotton with crochet.  A double teardrop shape runs down the centre with surrounding rounds of dc (sc) and htrs (hdc).  To the left of the pebbles are three balls fo cotton - the blue used on the stone, a pale greyish pink and a dark grey.

What I would say is that it is probably better to have a collection of stones that you can try to fit the crochet to.  I can see me creating a collection of these for various different uses.

 

3 – En Route

My one en route this month is the  Belladere Bobble Pillow from the Modern Crochet book by Debrosse (link).   I am using Rowan Big Wool in a now-discontinued colour (shade 068) and a 10mm hook.  I am creating a specific size to fit around some of our living room cushions. 

 

Image text 1: White background with a piece of crocheted fabric, a ball of chunky wool and a 10mm bamboo crochet hook.  The crochet os being worked up in bobble stitches so has a lot of texture.  On each row, the bobbles alternate spaces so it is building up a honeycomb pattern which is perfect for the mustard wool.  

Image text 2: Pale pink background with the Modern Crochet book front cover showing.  The book has a black binding band and a picture of a white and wood rocking chair with a white sheep rug and a white textured cushion on it.  It's the same cushion I am crocheting.  The top of the book has " MODERN CROCHET" in bold black print.

 

These are the projects I am going to work on during my Pod Holiday:

1 – Encanto Wrap by Claudia – Crochet Luna (link)

2 – Textures Tee V2 by Tina - Tigers Eye Handmade (link)

 

 

Image text 1: A photo of smiley Claudia wearing her first-ever design, the Encanto Wrap is on the left and on the right is her wrap on a mannequin wearing a black dress.  The wrap shows a central purple, pink and black panel in a more solid crochet stitch and open crochet stitches for the left and right panels which are in purple and bright green.

Image text 2: Tina is stood outside a house with long dark, wavy hair and hands-on-hips to show off the details of her crocheted top.   The top is a light grey colour and looks like it is made on the vertical for the top of the torso and horizontally for the waste band.  The crochet has lacy details.

 

4  – Feeding the Habit

I don’t have any yarn to share with you this month.  I am still very much trying to work through some of my oldest stash and I do have rather a lot due from John Arbon Textiles.  On that note, I know that quite a few of you bought Another Friday Night at their Open Weekend.  I would love to know what you are going to make with it.

 

Image text: Mercahndise from Lady Dye Yarns on a pale pink background.  A bleached cotton drawstring bag with "badass crocheter ladydyeyarns.com" and a skull with crochet hooks for cross-bones is being hugged by the sleeve of a raglan long-sleeved t-shirt.  The raglan portion is a dark denim blue and the mani body is a light blue/grey.  It has the same wording and emblem screen-printed on the front. 

What I did receive were some goodies from Claudia in the form of a ‘badass crocheter bag and top’ from Lady Dye Yarns (link).  I love them!

This also means that I have a top-up of Claudia’s button badges which I will be adding to the shop next week.

 

Image text 1: Five skeins  of mohair are piled up on a light background.  The mohair is characteristically showing flyaway fibres and a beautiful lustre and the nettle dye stock with iron modifier has created a steely green colour that is really difficult to describe!

Image text 2: Five skeins of merino-silk 4 ply yarn on a light background. The middle skein is a darker green and was dyed with dock roots, all of the outer skeins were dyed with dock leaves and are semi-tonal sage greens. 

 

I have also been naturally dyeing some mohair with nettles adn iron modifier and merino/silk using dock leaves/roots and an iron modifier.  I didn't get the colours I expected but with the addition of iron sulphate as a modifier, I got some beautiful greens.

 

7 – Quick News Beats

1 - Global Hook Up – The July hook ups are on:

Saturday 25th  at 8pm BST and Sunday 26th 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 – I am going to take a Podcast Holiday in August.  I have to reasons for doing this, the first is that I am absolutely shattered and don’t feel like I am bringing my best work to the table at the moment.  The second is that viewer and listener numbers dip in August because people are off outside doing other things – all power to you. 

This makes it the best time for me to have a month, recharge, do a load of podmin and come back as energised as ever in September.  I will still be on Instagram and other places, but there will be no Global Hook Up in August.

3 – Let’s talk Ravelry.  I’m sure you are aware of the utter debacle that has been Ravelry’s bizarre process to move to a new-look website.  This has caused lots of issues, making many people ill with headaches, migraines and seizures. 

As ever, I like to focus on positive actions.  Hand in hand with the Ravelry changes being poorly executed is that fact that I really hate the forums function and consequently, never want to go in there.  That means that I’m not properly interacting with all of you and that’s not on. 

So, myself and a small core of the Crochet Clan have been testing other web/app options for ways that crocheters can congregate and chat together, show off FOs, WIPs – basically all the things that occur in the Ravelry Group. 

We think we have found a really neat solution in the form of Mighty Networks.  It’s free to join, very intuitive and much more fun to use.  If you want to come and take a look, just follow this link:  https://crochet-clan.mn.co/share/qXbA1tZnaHSae3Ek?utm_source=manual  You will have to sign up to Mighty Network but it is free of charge, is available as a mobile device app and a webpage.  You can give me feedback in that community forum or email me directly (fay@provenancecraft.com).  So far so good on the usability but I don’t want to move the forums from one problematic site to another, so your feedback is needed.

Needless to say, part of my Pod Holiday will be spent over at Crochet Clan on Mighty Network to make sure that it works.  When I say I have looked at many other options, believe me, that I have spent the last two and a half days trying to find a viable Ravelry alternative.  My fingers are crossed that we have something that is better.

4 – My patterns are still up on Ravelry and will most likely remain there.  However, I will be putting renewed emphasis into patterns on my website and am also looking at Folksy as an option because Etsy feels like a waste of my time because I am UK based.

You may find that your favourites designers have disappeared from Ravelry or won’t be adding new patterns.  Many are either setting up their own sites or using platforms like Payhip to creates simple sales pages.  I already had my patterns over at Provenance Craft Co. (link) so won’t be adding Payhip to my list of sales options for the time being. 

 

8 - Big Up

This one has to go out to the core of people that have been giving up their time to help test out Crochet Clan forum options.    You know who you are – it has really made the option of stepping away from Ravelry a lot less daunting.  I am truly excited that we can create something brilliant from a very cruddy situation. 

 

 

I’ll be back on 4^th September.

Fay x

 

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