Episode 85: Autumn Ramble

Nicole's done with jury duty, and Jenny's back from vacation!

What Jenny knit on her vacation:

• Karabella Rings in Artfibers Kush
• another finished Liesl

Off the cold sheep: check out Jilldrapermakesstuff's handspun

Nicole's sad socks

Knitter's Book of Wool! 

• Tibetan Clouds Beaded Stole (rav link)
• Lillian Hyrna Shawl (rav link)
• Prairie Rose Shawl (Brainylady's shawl)

Tanglewood Fiber Creations

Music:

Continental: "u dot"
The Replacements: "Left of the Dial"

Episode 84: Beyond the Sock

Music:

• Continental: u dot
• Miles from Minnesota: Lower 48

Episode 83: Single Skein Synopsis

Single Skein September!

• Single Skein picture thread (rav link)
• Girl Friday
• Madelinetosh worsted in thunderstorm
• Ishbel
• owl hat
• smith the hedgehog
• elephant hat
• kettering hat (rav link)
• green squirrel hat (rav link)
• opus spicatem hat
• damson
• boy hat
• meret beret (rav link)
• Aeolian shawl
• Jenny's liesl
• Nicole's liesl

Going cold sheep- a recipe for disaster?

• extreme yarn dieting- a year without yarn shopping?!
• rav discussion thread
• Jenny's cold sheep exceptions: stitches west, UFO finishing reward, gift projects
• Nicole's strategy: a month at a time
• Elsa Wool Cormo
• must have cardigan (rav link)
• Beaverslide McTaggert's Tweeds
• Urban Aran
• maryink t-shirts

Music

• Udot: Continental
• Don't Honk This Place: Rural Alberta Advantage

Episode 82: Convalescence Comeback

Jenny is recovered and back for a chat. We talk about what were knitting, buying, and wanting lately.

Shetland Triangle (Rav link)
Wasonga
Ishbel
Koigu Mori
Wool Peddler Shawl (Rav link)
Karabella Boise
Mara (Rav link)
Lisa Souza BFL Mars Quake
Myrna Stahman's Faroese Shawls book
Eco-craft Challenge (Rav link)
Plarn
Piper hat
Beaverslide
Elsa Wool Company
Knitting Nature
Knitting Classic Style
A Fine Fleece
Knitting from the Top
Amanda (Rav link)
Earth Girls are Easy
Liesl (Rav link)
Riata
Mini-sweater (Rav link)
Miss BB
Aphrodite
Norwegian Woods
Single Skein September thread (Rav link)

Music

U-Dot, Continental
M.I.A. Wanted Dead or Alive, DJ Schmolli (via Mashuptown)

Episode 81: The One Without Jenny

Jenny is sick this week, but Nicole forges on alone! We are having a contest for Single Skein September. Nicole talks about some good single skein patterns, briefly talks about the new Twist Collective and Ysolda Teague's new book, then wraps up with a brief update on her knitting.

Follow along with the single skein projects talked about on this episode here on Ravelry
Fall 2009 Twist Collective
Artfiber's Carezza
Ysolda Teague's Whimsical Little Knits 2
Liesl
EZ's Seamless Hybrid

Intro: U-dot by the Continental
Exit music: Casbah Girls by Team 9

Episode 80: Autumn Sweaters

Jenny and Nicole review the fall IK 2009 and Knitscene Fall 2009.

Music
U-dot, Continental
People Say, Portugal. The Man

Episode 79: Out with the Old

Out with the old, in with the practical
We discuss the moral conundrum of getting rid of our unloved knits. What makes us want knit them and then get rid of them?

Jenny's Backgammon Sweater (Rav link)
Ribbon Xback (Rav link)
BSA Cropped Cardi (Rav link)
Caramel Cap (Rav link)
Veste Everest (Rav link)
Fitzgerald (Rav link)
Corset Pullover (Rav link)
Iceland (Rav link)
Cocoon
Sunrise Circle (Rav link)
Carolyn
Cassidy
Bianca Jacket
Ashbury
Cathode (Rav link)

Music
U-dot, Continental
Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, Das Racist

Episode 78: Sweater Smackdown!

Vacation
Nicole went on vacation and all she brought you was this travelogue.

American Visionary Art Museum
Women's Industrial Exchange
Brooklyn General Store
Purl
Spud & Chloe
Barn Raising Quilt
Stitch DC

Sweater Smackdown!
Jenny's back to knitting and we are both knitting sweaters like tomorrow is the first day of winter!

Amelia
Madeline Tosh Worsted
Leisl by Ysolda Teague
Brooks Farm Riata
Lake of Woods
Moch Cardi (Nicole's version) by Gudrun Johnson/The Shetland Trader
Mirasol Tupa
Nicole's Moch Cardi (rav link)
28Thirty by ZephyrStyle
Shibui Merino Worsted
Nicole's 28Thirty (rav link)
Japanese Vest and Another Japanese Vest (rav link)

Winner of the Crochet books: AmyP and Prairie Poppins!

Music
U-dot, Continental
Heartbeat, Nneka

Episode 77: Multi-Crafting

Crochet away
When we were at Stitches earlier this year we talked to crochet maven, Edie Eckman, about her awesome crochet motifs book. We ramble a bit and talk some about Berroco's spring yarns.

Edie Eckman
Beyond-the-Square Crochet Motifs
Cool Wool by Lana Grossa (rav link)
Knitalong by Larissa Brown
Fannie's Fingering Weight
Carolina Homespun
Sock Summit
Moch Cardigan by Gudrun Johnston
Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
Norwegian Woods by Sivia Harding
Alchemy Haiku
Kid Silk Haze
Berroco Pure Pima
Berroco Naturlin
Berroco Latitude
Berroco Mica

Sew Distracting
We have been spending some time at our sewing machines these days. Here are some of the links that have been inspiring us:

Purl Bee
Sew Mama Sew
Spring Ruffle Top
5-Minute Skirt
Jenny's sewing links
Nicole's sewing links

We will be gone for a little while, in the meantime enter to win your own copy of Beyond-the-Square Crochet Motifs and give a listen to Craftsanity.

Episode 76: The East Bay Way

The Yarn Boutique
Zuma bag (scroll down)
Bob's Entwined Cables Pullover
Stone Mountain & Daughters
Superwash Merino Fingering No. 9
AVFKW Merino/Yak in Queen of Hearts
Artfibers Yarntasting
Elizabeth's photos
Moch Cardigan (also available via Ravelry!)
JMS (on Ravelry)
Alice Cooper (on Ravelry)
Judy Greer (on Ravelry)

Music:
U-Dot, Continental
Dance Dance Dance, Lykke Li

Episode 75: Summer Patterns

This week we talk about summer patterns, deliberate over what Nicole should knit with her new yarn, and talk about Jenny's awesome dive into weaving.

Interweave Knits Summer 2005 (Rav link)
Interweave Knits Summer 2009 (Rav link)
Vogue Knits Summer 2009 (Rav link)
Knotions Summer 2009
Target Practice
Mirasol Tupa (Imagiknit and Yarn Boutique)
Dress Nicole is making
Viennese Shrug
Little Peacock
Dawn
Plath Cropped Cardigan
Jenny's weaving: Baby mat and Noro Silk Garden Sock Scarf
Hands on Heddle Weaving by Betty Davenport
Ashford Rigid Heddle Book
Sonora Fiber Retreat
Knitting in the Sun

Closing Music:
Coast of Carolina, Telekinesis

Episode 74: Make it work

This week we talk about making a pattern work for you in a number of ways, then we say a few words about what we're up to and why.

Working a pattern

You have a pattern that you love and a yarn that you love, but they don't match! How can you make it work?

• Scrap the match. In this case, you can just start from scratch. Browse Ravelry for patterns that match the yarn or if you are in a spending mood find a yarn that matches the pattern.
• If you really like the pattern there is probably another pattern similar but in your gauge. Ravelry is fantastic for that--use the advanced pattern search function and you will find something.
• Do some math. For some patterns this is easier to do than for others. If you are making a scarf (see Nicole's Alhambra) then the gauge is not essential, but if you are making a sweater that's a different story.
  • For a scarf a simple algebraic equation should work. If the original scarf was knit at 24st/4 inches with a cast on of 48st, but your gauge is 20st/4 inches then you can use this formula: your gauge/original gauge=your cast on/original cast on. In this case 20/24=x/48 or 24x=960, giving you x=40 st cast on
  • You can do this with a sweater and the equation is the same, you just need to do it more often for the various cast-ons, increases, and decreases.
• Start from scratch. 
  • Custom Knits
  • Handy Book of Sweater Patterns
  • Big Girl Knits
  • Knitting from the Top Down
• Some work arounds
  • Play with your gauge
  • Take out a few stitches
  • Add ribbing at the sides

Poutine
Jeff Lemire
Mesilla
Schacht Flip Loom

Winners
Knitting sampler: ErinAmelia
Spinning sampler: Adrienne

Music
U-Dot, Continental
Learn to Surf (acoustic demo), Superchunk