Meg & Drea Might Buy An Alpaca Farm

Tina says they have a lot to cover! First things first, a moment of silence for Joann's closing down - a U.S. based craft store retailer that has been in business for over 80 years. Don't worry, Meg's mom is buying her quilting fabric online now, so she's all good! Tina discusses the fake funny story how Michaels and Joann's were once a married couple, fought about what a craft store should be, and they got divorced and made their own stores. Jess reminisces about "cosplay" days to grab fabrics for different costumes. Drea mentions she is making out well with the yarn sales from the liquidation. Meg offers the idea of giving turtles to random people to help with Drea's excessive crochet turtle problem.

Tina asks our listeners to send in questions they may have about our different projects we work on such as yarn dyeing, pattern designing, and podcasting to help us create mini bonus episodes to sprinkle into our regular episode releases. You can send these questions in through our website using on contact form found at the bottom of all pages.

Next, Tina brings up questions and topic suggestions the cast has received from Discord and email submissions. They go through lots of different questions and ideas, and also pick some to save for a full episode later on!

Find out more about the podcast as well as our cast Meg, Drea, Tina, and Jess at our website pardonmystash.com. Our blog has information regarding our current patterns and yarns being used for projects. Leave us a comment on your thoughts on our episode blog posts, or through our social media accounts!

This episode was sponsored by Jimmy Beans Wool found at jimmybeanswool.com.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I'm Drea.

(00:01):
I'm Meg.
I'm Tina.
And I'm Jess.
And this is Pardon My Stash.
Welcome to Pardon My Stash, a podcast about crafting within the fiber arts and how awesome
it is.

(00:21):
Before we get started on today's topics of interest, let's find out what everybody is
working on today.
Meg.
I am working sort of.
I've been really like, listen, listen, sort of, listen.
As I said last year at the beginning of the year is really, really bad for me with crafting

(00:43):
and sticking to stuff.
So let's be impressed that I've made it this far.
No, no, no, it doesn't.
You said let's be impressed.
Let's be.
I'm impressed.
I'm not going to be cautiously optimistic that I'm, I'm still working on the same project.

(01:04):
I'm working on Malvara Rosa by Candy Key of Expression Fiber Arts.
I've been working on this for about a month.
You can't tell because I'm getting about maybe a quarter of a row per day at this point on
average.
But you know what?
I'm still doing it.
So busy.

(01:24):
You're still doing it.
I don't have the drive in the first few months.
I actually was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day.
We were talking about projects coming up.
Mary, who listens to this podcast, and I showed her a shawl that I want to do and I'm like,
I have the yarn.
I want to do it.
And she's like, well, you should probably wait until after school because you want to

(01:46):
avoid that, that early year curse.
And I'm like, look at that.
People remember that I do.
I really struggle at the beginning of the year.
Everyone's keeping up with the lore.
Oh, God, it is.
It's so bad.
But yeah, I am.
I am still working on it.
I'm making it out of Critical Hit Dyes Warlock in Vishka.

(02:07):
I'm still liking it.
It's showing up all the cat hair, unfortunately.
I'm going to need to take a strong roller to this when I'm done.
But so far, so good.
I'm just going.
We'll see.
Hopefully, hopefully it'll get done.
We'll see.
I'm proud of you for sticking with it, even if it's a stitch a day.

(02:28):
I'm very proud of you.
It's been a rough couple of months.
Like, OK, so so much going on.
And winter, I don't know, you would think winter is a good crafting time.
And for me, it just is not at all.
Yeah, just with your teaching schedule and all that.
It's yeah, it's just a lot like and then come summer.
I'm like, OK, I can do stuff.
But then it's hot.
So go figure.
I'm an anomaly.

(02:51):
Drea?
I am making a banana saurus.
I'm very excited because you have a half done one.
It looks like his legs.
It's got feet.
Oh, my goodness.
It does have feet.
I am very excited.
Your foray into crochet.
So I have made like eight turtles.
I don't have a pattern for it.
It just it came with that kit.
I keep making the turtles.

(03:12):
They're making me really happy.
Army of Turtles is coming.
This is a crochet pattern.
I'm impressed that you're reading crochet pattern, man.
I can barely read those like at all.
It is so hard.
Very fortunate that this is a very simple pattern.
Amigurumi's are usually written out.
Oh, that's nice.
Yeah.
Charts.
I know.
No, that's nice.

(03:33):
Not doing charts.
I'm not ready for that yet.
But I only had to learn nothing.
Actually, I already knew how to do all those.
That's awesome.
Hey.
So is this like a stuffy or is it like?
It's going to be a stuffy.
It's going to be a stuffy.
Christopher, actually, my brother Christopher sent me a picture of a Bananasaurus with no

(03:53):
comment.
He would.
He would.
And I decided that I was going to go online and I found the pattern.
And whenever this is done, I'm just going to put it in the mail and in a box with no
comment.
I'm not even going to tell him he's going to get it.
Perfection.
That's great.
A plus.
A plus.
Now, yes, I had to rip this back like two or three times because one time.

(04:15):
And two of the feet were inside out.
And then I fixed it, ripped it back, put them all on again.
And I didn't actually turn the feet right side out.
So you ripped them out and put them back the same way.
That sucks.
I did.
Oh, that sucks.
But I had a really fun moment with my therapist because I was on I was on a zoom with my therapist

(04:40):
and I was talking to him about the Bananasaurus as well.
And he was like, oh, no, that must be so heartbreaking.
I was like, actually, Bruce, look at this.
And I just ripped it out with him watching me and he goes, oh, that looks so cathartic.
And I'm like, yeah, it is.
Look at me.
I'm learning.
A plus therapeuticness.
Yeah, that's a lot there.
And I'm not afraid to like screw up and then go back and do it again.

(05:02):
That's good.
Yeah.
That's really a positive.
I know.
I'm waiting for that knitting any day now.
Any day.
It's easier to.
I think it helps.
It just it comes up so quick.
It's a more controlled frogging than knitting.
Yes.
It's way more controlled.
Yes.
I actually love frogging crochet.
You can't accidentally mess up the whole project when you can't accidentally go down three

(05:25):
rows on one stitch, but not any of the others.
There's none of that.
You're just spiraling, man.
Oh, I love it so much.
It's a good spiral.
I want to frog all of my crochet projects.
You got to crochet a frog and then frog it because that would be hilarious.
I might actually.
So this is the Bananasaurus crochet pattern by Emerald Rose Crochet.

(05:50):
I am using Joanne Fabrics Big Twist in Baby Bear.
Nice.
I love it.
This is like super cozy.
And just so you know, in case you're wondering, the colorway is yellow, as you would expect.
Excuse me.
It is sunshine.
It's so squishy.
My bad, guys.
And I'm also using cream.

(06:12):
Oh, OK.
For the inside of the banana.
For the banana, yes.
The Saurus part, if you will.
I made banana leaves.
I already made the peel.
I'm very excited.
This is going to be big.
Like I'm looking at it.
It's going to be really big.
You know what the best thing about these things are is you can change your sizes just on the

(06:37):
weight of yarn you use.
So you could totally just make a mini one.
Or you could make a gargantuan one.
I made a mistake and I bought really bad yarn for it.
It looked like it was little yarn and it looked like it was all held together.
And then I got it home and I started working with it and it was like 12 ply.
And I was like, why did they make this?

(07:01):
Like I wasn't the one that bought it.
Someone else's fault.
I know, I made all of the banana peels for that one and decided that I hated working
with that yarn.
So that's fair.
I got the big one.
I got the big yarn instead.
There you go.
So it's going to be a big banana source.
I'm very excited.

(07:21):
Jess?
I am still working on the catnip pullover by Andrea Rangel.
It's slow going.
My crafting hyper fixation I had last year died.
Damn you ADHD.
It died in a flood of Legos.

(07:44):
I mean sort of.
In a flood of Legos.
It did.
So I'm working at it.
I'm trying to at least keep it, you know, the embers going on it.
So I'm getting some stuff done, but it's slow going.
Yeah.
I like the crochet blanket is probably not going to be done in time for fair.
I'm still working on that too.

(08:04):
I considered working on that tonight, but that I have to read a chart for and I didn't
feel like doing that right now.
I mean, I'm reading a chart for this one, but it's a color work chart and it's easier
to read.
So I figured that was the better plan for tonight.
But yeah, so I am, I am slowly, slowly working on stuff and keeping it going.
And it's just, it's just one of those, one of those things that happens when the fixation

(08:30):
just dies.
I'm sure everybody, the nerd divergence right now is going, I feel that.
And it stinks when you're in the slump.
It's so inconvenient.
You you, you, you, you, I have a name.
I know, I know.
I know I'm kidding.

(08:51):
I am working on the Northward Beanie by Tin Can Knit.
I'm using sugar maple fibers in their bulky single ply in colorway sugar maple.
And I'm almost done with it actually, because I'm, I'm on like the last cable before the

(09:13):
decreases.
So I should start decreasing soon.
Yeah.
And again, I brought this because like, like Jess mentioned with her project, this is just
easier to work on while we're podcasting.
I have paused on the wedding shawl that I mentioned a few months back.
And that's just because the wedding ceremony, like they're married, but the ceremony piece

(09:38):
got postponed to like the fall.
So I have more time with that.
So I'm just going to like, if that's, if anyone was like, oh my God, the wedding, I'm like,
no, I have a lot more time now.
And I have like a bunch of projects set up with like yarn and bags and ready to go.
But I just need a quick win right now.

(09:58):
So I'm going to do this one first.
That's it for me.
Shout out to our sponsor, Jimmy Beans Wool for continuing to support us in our podcasting
journey.
You can check them out at jimmybeanswool.com.
And for more information about our projects, patterns and yarns, and also to find more
stuff about us.

(10:19):
We have a bunch of different information that you can find on different pages, as well as
our blog that has details about every single episode we do in different posts.
So if you're looking for that information, you can find that there at our website at
part of my stash.com.
All right, I feel like we have a lot to talk about this week.

(10:43):
Maybe because there's just been a lot of happenings in the fiber world anyway.
And before we get started, I just want to take a moment of silence for the US based
craft store is to retailer Joann's.
They were recently bought by a liquidator.

(11:04):
And they are going to officially officially close down for good.
Pour one out for for the Joann stores.
Meg, where's your mom going to get all of her?
Oh, no, my mom moved on.
She buys it all online at this point.
Or there's there's actually this really massive fabric store in Maine where she goes on retreat.

(11:25):
Because I said the same thing.
Trust me.
I was like, what are you going to do?
You're good, mom.
And she was used to work at Joann's years ago.
She picked it up as a second job when I was younger and she was really good at it.
But you know, she probably spent most of her paycheck there.
As we all would if we worked in a yarn store.
So no, she she she does it because I said the same thing.

(11:46):
And she, you know, after she finished calling me a smart ass, she told me she buys most
of it online at this point.
So she's good.
But yeah, but it is kind of like that.
She did say it's going to be a lot more of a pain in the neck to buy like, for example,
she buys a lot of white thread for her quilting.
And that's something like you could easily jet into any single Joann's and grab a whole

(12:11):
bunch of them.
But now, you know, buying it online is you got to wait.
So yeah, there's not really a lot of like fabric type shops out there.
Yeah, I don't even like I'm thinking about Michaels and I think Michaels has embroidery
floss, but I don't think it has thread.
Oh, by the way, Michaels was quoted about the Joanne situation by saying, I win.

(12:36):
Wait, where was that?
I just made that up.
I don't know if you guys ever heard about the whole like made up story of Joanne and
Michael being a married couple and then they divorced and not hear that.
OK, so there is this random story that I've seen on the Internet thrown about a couple
times where the theory and lore behind Joanne's and Michael's is that they were once a married

(13:00):
couple.
They fought over what a craft store should be.
And Joanne's made their own and Michael's made their own and they are now divorced.
So it's again, Michael's Michael's is pretty happy.
The major the major difference between the two is that Joanne had fabric and Michaels
does not correct.

(13:21):
They both have about the same other departments like I'm trying to think about something that
one has that the other doesn't.
Michaels has a lot more kits.
So like if you want, that's true.
Random like kits about like, I don't know, beading or like embroidery kits, like all
the they have a bunch of those.
I would say more selection than Joanne, but they have no fabric.

(13:45):
No, there is no fabric.
And honestly, I was like kind of disappointed in their embroidery section as well.
Like they have the floss.
Yeah.
If you need floss or needles, like great.
But if you're looking for like patterns, they don't have those Michaels doesn't even the
hoops.
They don't have that many sides.
They don't have a ton of different size of hoops or either.
So I'm feeling kind of away though, because like I don't really go to Joanne's that often,

(14:11):
but it was a big part of my growing up because we went there all the time when I was a kid.
Because that was before, you know, before we had the internet and before my mom discovered
online shopping and we went to Joanne's and we went to this place called the fabric place,
which is long out of business.
Um, that's kind of sad.
Like for the cosplay days, where could you go and get some fabric real quick?

(14:34):
Oh, those days where can you find something that kind of looks like leather, but isn't
it?
Yeah.
Because I don't want to wear leather and is definitely on clearance.
You go to the curtain section by the way, the upholstery section.
Oh, those are the days you get their foam.

(14:56):
Yeah.
It is too bad, but I have to say I'm making out like a bandit right now because I'm getting
all the big twist.
Yeah.
I am.
That's good.
Do you know how many plushies I have in me?
Hey, that's I don't know yet.
That's good.
I mean, don't ask me what I'm going to do with them because I don't know who cares.

(15:18):
Just going to make who cares what you listen.
Do you know how much stuff Jess makes and it never goes anywhere?
She's just having fun making it and just making it like it's okay.
I am running out of room for turtles, but you know what?
Sorry Frank.
I still, the army is growing.
I still got to make them.
I still got to make them.
He's like, but you could stop buying the yarn, but Frank, I don't think Frank would tell

(15:48):
me not to buy more yarn, but I'm definitely buying more yarn.
There's a lot of, there's a lot of turtles in here.
I feel like that would be like the extent he wouldn't be telling you not to make them.
He would just bring up that there's a lot of terms.
I like Meg's idea about just leaving turtles random places when you have too many turtles.

(16:08):
I'm just imagining like you go into the bank and there's like, no, no, no, no, you go into
the bank, you ask the teller and then you're just like, that's for you.
No, no explanation.
I think if the turtles were small, I would do that.
If I knew you were small, you have big turtles.
I have big turtles.
Okay.
But that's even funnier.
Even funnier.
Pull this massive turtle out of your bag.

(16:28):
This is yours now.
This is for you.
What you really freak them out is like, if you know that's where you're going, but like
embroider the bank logo on it real quick before you go.
If you want to drive your waiter nuts at the restaurant, instead of leaving a tip, you
could leave a turtle or leave it with the tip.
I would leave it better on the tip.
Don't say don't stand at the tip.

(16:49):
Just put yeah, turtle and then a tip.
These turtles are going to go places.
Hey, I don't know where they're going, but they're going where they're going to be.
And with this liquidator, I'd also like to point out that they are the type not to do,
you're not going to see, I don't think there's going to be like a 75 or 80% off on the yarn.

(17:10):
It's just not going to happen because this liquidator enjoys going to about 40, 50%.
And then at that point, they close everything down and then they're going to bulk sell to
like either an ocean state job lot or an Ollie's or some kind of bulk liquidator that will,
you know, it's one think of, I don't know what you have near you, but it's basically

(17:33):
the store that you go to that has all the odds and ends from other stores overstock
and stuff like that, some kind of discount store.
So you could also hold out for that too.
I know ocean stage job lot tends to end up with a lot of lion brand.
I actually randomly found lion brand there all the time.
So but if you're hoping to see like this huge massive sale, I don't think you're going to

(17:58):
see it on higher ticket items that can sell well at other places like the yarn.
The fabric, I don't think so either, but I think like you're going to see that eight,
like the 75% off on like furniture or like storage things or like things that are harder
to sell in other capacities.
So I think too, like thinking back to the borders liquidation back in 2011 and yeah,

(18:25):
right.
And you know, a lot of people like they kept holding out saying like, oh, I'm going to
wait.
And by the time things actually did like start hitting rock bottom prices, like everything
was gone.
Right.
Yeah.
Like I remember going there with, um, with a friend and people walked in there like,
oh, no game of Thrones.
It's like, yeah, that would have been the first thing to go.

(18:45):
Like, I remember hearing people saying that and it was just, of course it's all gone.
Like people are going to go in there and even if it's not at rock bottom price yet, they're
going to, they're going to grab it now.
Even the 25% that they got going right now is still a pretty, that's a decent price.
Yeah.
Based on that they usually have 20%.
So you're 25 is still better than what you would normally do.

(19:07):
I am very happy getting all this.
Yeah.
Especially if you're going to use it, if you're going to use it and you know you're going
to use it, you might as well just go now.
Yeah.
But if, um, if you're just buying to buy, then just, you might as well just wait and
see what's leftover, but I'm telling you right now, you're not going to be happy with the
leftovers.
Yeah.
But yeah, poor one out.

(19:28):
Joanne.
And be nice to the people who work there.
Yes, please.
Because that's a hard time for them.
Don't be going in there demanding things.
Okay.
They're just trying to like, they're just trying to live their lives guys.
Just, just let them be nice.
Yeah, it's a tough time.
Lead with kindness, please.
It's really hard to continue working knowing that you're not going to be working there.

(19:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Definitely.
We all just need to lead with kindness in general.
Now that we've somberly gotten sad, I don't know how to transition from that.
I have mixed feelings though.
What's your mixed feeling?
Like I'm sad that they're going out of business, but I'm also thrilled that I'm getting such
a good deal.

(20:10):
No, I mean like, I'll be honest.
I really just personally very rarely go to Joann's.
The only time I go to Joann at this point is like when they had the sale on the storage
stuff.
Like stuff that I know I'm definitely going to use.
I'm not buying Joann yarn.
I just, to be honest, from my perspective, I end up with a lot of that yarn at Yarn Saver.

(20:34):
It sells.
People buy it.
Yeah.
But if I want it, like honestly, I could probably just dip into my own inventory if I really
wanted to.
But it's pretty, big box yarn ends up being a lot of the close out and sells that I get
at Yarn Saver.
So I'm not running to Joann's for yarn.

(20:55):
But like I said, if you have something that you know you use, like Dre does with her crochet,
then go there.
Pick it up now.
Don't wait because it's probably going to end up, I wouldn't be surprised if it's already
starting to sparse out.
We've been talking about, I wanted to ask a question to our listeners because we've been
talking about doing like these mini bonus episodes.

(21:19):
So sometimes we get questions about how some of our separate business entities work, such
as yarn dyeing or pattern designing, just how to podcast sort of thing.
So basically what we are asking is if you guys are interested in learning about either

(21:42):
how to do a podcast or questions that would be prevalent to critical hit dyes or yarn
saver or pattern design in general, graphic art design, feel free to send those questions
over through our website.
You can just use the regular contact form at the bottom of the page and let us know

(22:03):
what those questions are.
And we may use them for short bonus episodes that we will release through the regular podcast
feed.
They'll be marked as bonus so that you know that they are a bonus episode.
And there'll be a slightly different format, probably more in like an interview style where
we're talking with, if it's say critical it dies, we'll be talking with Meg and Jess and

(22:24):
asking them different questions that have come up about how their business functions.
So send those questions in at your leisure.
I had posed questions to our discord.
If you don't know that we have a discord, we do.
We have a discord.
It's basically if you don't know what discord is, it's an online forum that you can go on

(22:47):
and there's different threads and channels that you can go into and talk about different
topics.
For people our age, think old school chat rooms.
Yes.
Chat rooms or even just like forums, like remember like just forums in general, like
that's very similar.
So we had the discord when we had a membership system.

(23:08):
We don't have a membership system anymore, but we had no reason to get rid of the discord
because it doesn't cost us anything to keep it up.
So if you want to get to our discord, if you go to our website, either at the top of the
page or the bottom of the page, there is a discord button.
If you click on that, it will open up our server.
You're only going to see one channel if you haven't been given a listener role and it's

(23:32):
called open general.
And all you need to do is go into open general and say, I am a human.
I am not a robot.
And that's basically the sanity check to make sure that you're not a spam bot.
That's exactly what a robot would say.
I know.
I know.
It's fine.
I mean, you could, you could even say like, oh, I really enjoyed this up, whatever.
Let us know that you're a real person.

(23:55):
And then we'll, we basically edit your role, give you a listener role.
And then all that does is just open opens up all the other channels that you can chat
in.
We have a channel for part of my stash content for the make-alongs, random topics like yarn
and patterns and what we're working on, like different whips.

(24:19):
But in the, in the discord, we had asked about like a month or so ago about things that our
listeners would be interested in us talking about.
And so think of this as like a Q and a to a degree.
But some of these are, I, some of these, I think we could do full episodes on, but some
of these, I think we can kind of gather together and chat about it today.

(24:44):
So I'm going to throw out some of these suggestions and questions and you guys let me know what
you think.
All right.
So I'm going to do this one first cause it's fun.
I love llamas and alpacas.
Can you take Dre to an alpaca farm and live stream it?
Yes.

(25:04):
Is that even a real question?
No, I don't think it's a real question.
I just, I'm going to take that as a heavy suggestion.
And yes, absolutely.
Sign me up.
Yeah, we got to, we have to locate an alpaca farm.
If you're an alpaca farm or a llama farm in Connecticut, like send us a DM or a message
so that we can get Dre over to your, to your farm.

(25:24):
We will proudly advertise your farm.
I will happily bother all of your small farm animals.
There's one large farm animals.
I'm like the border of like Morris and Litchfield and I'm talking like four or five, six.
No, it was longer than that.
Mary wasn't alive yet.
Years ago we were driving.
And we were literally driving down this road and we passed this sign.

(25:46):
And I mean, I, I like slammed on the brakes and we both look at each other and we're like,
did that say yard sale or yarn sale?
We never reversed so fast.
And we like turned that car around and we went back and it definitely said yarn sale
and we're like, well, we're going to that.
And it was, it was an alpaca farm.
So I clearly couldn't touch her by any of the yarn.

(26:08):
But we did get to go see the alpacas, which was fun.
I don't know if they're like open to the public most days though.
I think they're not.
But that was so funny.
I mean, both of us saw it at the same time.
And when I, I hit the brakes without even saying anything to her and then we'll look
at each other.
Like they also, there was one time we were there and they proposed us buying it.

(26:33):
Yeah.
But they wanted like a whole lot of money.
Yeah.
They were, they were.
So they weren't like, I don't think they were like ready to sell or anything like that,
but they were talking about like some day, but they also proposed an amount of money
that we would never have.
Yes.
So I just have this visual of every time they have a customer, hello, do you have millions
of dollars to buy our farm?
I mean, you think about it, it probably was worth it.

(26:55):
I mean, you think, think about the area and the number of alpacas and property too.
Right.
So probably completely worth it.
Girl, I don't got that money.
The yarn that they were selling was inside the house.
Yeah.
The house was nice too.
Like we went, we went in, I got to look at it, couldn't touch it.
Um, but yeah, I could, I could definitely see, I mean, you think about it also, you

(27:16):
already have the stock and they're fully grown to the point where you're able to shear them
and get the wall.
Like there's a lot of money in, in that.
So yeah, that was funny.
Yeah.
That, that sounds like a fun fiber dream that I cannot afford.
So yeah, that would be really like really affordable is just visiting one.

(27:42):
Yes.
We can visit.
We are down for that.
Yeah.
We will, we will put it in as a note and we're going to look at our calendar and figure out
a day we all can go and check that out.
Um, all right.
So other, um, comments that came up, um, the spouse cameos and interviewing Frank and Pat

(28:03):
about their yarn knitting knowledge.
Um, and I think we chatted about this off, uh, off recording and it, the idea of interviewing
Frank and Pat is kind of hysterical.
Um, so I think, um, that's definitely something that we can do, but again, we would have to
like plan it and figure out when we can get them up here to start recording.

(28:26):
There was also a lot of questions about interchangeable needles.
I kind of want to upgrade from what I have now, but I am also hesitant to shell out for
a premium set if it doesn't make that much difference in comfort or outcome.
Um, another one I'd like to know more about interchangeable needle sets and any unique
fiber contents.

(28:47):
Um, love to learn, hear more about specific parts of knitting, especially needles.
I'd like to hear an option on needle sets.
I'm thinking of buying a short set for hats, do sock sets exist?
Um, so a lot of needles, everyone's got questions about needles people.
So needles are tough because they're so individual.

(29:08):
And I think you don't really get to know what you like unless you've tried a whole lot of
different kinds.
If I was ever going to give anybody advice about buying a needle set, it would be try
out a whole bunch of different solo brands and yeah, and not splurge on a big set until
you know you like the feel, you like the points, you like the weight.

(29:33):
Some needles are a lot heavier than others.
Um, all four of us have very different needle preferences.
Yeah.
I mean, Jess and I share needles a lot just because it's what we have, but she would prefer
sharper needles if given the option.
And I don't because I'm, I'm a push knitter, not a pull knitter.
And I just wind up hurting myself.

(29:55):
Same.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It honestly, for me, I'm not loyal to any specific set.
It really just depends on what I'm working on.
So I feel like I have, um, if you have a very specific project you're trying to work on,
I could give you a recommendation, but based on what I like, but I'm also, um, uh, how

(30:16):
did you reference it, the difference between you and Jess and how, oh my God, push versus
pull.
Yeah.
Push versus pull.
Yeah.
So I'm definitely more of a, um, pull.
So I would, there's certain sets that make sense, um, in my, in my case than others.
And just like for the record, when I say like a push knitter versus a pull knitter, what

(30:37):
I'm talking about is like when you finish the stitch, you either like kind of slip the
stitch off the needle with your finger and like pull it off or you push the needle through.
I push it and I found that out the hard way when I was knitting bobbles with an extremely
sharp tip and I ended up having to like bandage my finger because it had like a callus from

(31:00):
the amount of times I pushed the sharp point to it.
So I know I brought that up on a podcast episode like two and a half years ago, just, just
for people that are sitting like, what the hell is a push versus a pull net or like what
is going on?
Yeah.
Look it up.
It's actually really interesting because no, that there's a difference.

(31:21):
Like I never thought about it until I looked it up because I'm like, how are you a pull
now?
Like how do you get that to work?
You need some really slidey needles for that and people do it and so fast.
And I am also pushing it or which is why I don't know why I like the, the sharp needles.
Um, I just have callus fingers.
I feel like with Portuguese style, um, it's just more, um, it lends itself to pull.

(31:47):
Um, you just don't, I don't know why, but it actually to do the push part, it would
actually be put my hands in an awkward position.
I mean, that's fair.
And I think it's just a lot of like what you're used to.
If I had to, I mean, honestly, if I had to pick a set carbons is my favorite, the Knitter's
pride carbons.
I'm, I'm an aficionado.

(32:07):
I've had two sets of them.
I just got another one for Christmas and I was pumped.
Shout out to my mother and father-in-law.
Um, but I just like those.
I like the feel of them.
I like they've got a midi tip, so it's not too sharp.
It's not too blunt.
They're not bad.
I like them.
Yeah.
And then I don't think that they're super heavy and they're certainly not slippery or

(32:28):
sticky.
So that would be my choice, but that's me.
I usually get the meditation lace, I think from Knitter's was it Knitter's pride?
Yeah.
Um, I have, uh, held the, what is it?
It's like the lantern moon needles and they're so nice, but they're way outside my budget.

(32:50):
So I don't actually own any of those, but they're a nice feel.
I would say if you have the option, if, if the place you're going to gives you the option
to, um, hold the needle, see what they feel like in your hand, see even to sometimes they
will put like a little, you know, like yarn out there, like knit a row or something with
them, see how they, they work for you.
If that's an option, honestly, that's why, um, my crochet hook that I got, um, they did,

(33:15):
they did that and now I'm completely forgot the name of the company.
I'll try and do it for the blog, but, um, they had a whole selection and, um, they were,
they like handmade the handles, so they were all a little bit different.
So they encouraged you to hold each one and kind of crochet with it a bit to see if you

(33:35):
like the grip, if you like the feel.
Um, and it was really cool and they were also interchangeable hooks, which is nice.
So you would get the, the handle and then you could buy the hook heads to go interchange
with it.
So that was neat.
Um, so yeah, if you find a place that gives you an option before, because sets are expensive,
um, see, yeah, see if you try it, see if you like it before you commit to a whole set.

(34:00):
Because oftentimes they are, they are expensive, but if you like them, they are definitely
worth it in my opinion.
Now I'm just sitting there thinking about like yarn stores.
Why haven't you gotten on like a sampler box of needles, like of all of the brands that
you offer, like such a good idea, like offer like, I mean, I imagine it wouldn't be cheap,

(34:21):
but like, no, yeah.
Well, they all have like those little singles, just one signal of each in like a size eight
just to be or six or something.
And just, yeah.
And let, yeah.
I just thinking about that because it is, it's, it's so funny how like back when I first
started knitting, I bought like all my needles were wood.
I can't stand knitting with wooden needles now, but at the time that was what I thought,

(34:44):
you know, I would like, you really don't know what you're going to like until you start
knitting with it.
So or crocheting or whatever the heck you're doing.
I swear by the squares.
I know you love this.
I can't stand the squares.
I had one, the Cubics, right?
They're called Cubics.
I think they're knitters pride.
I bought one set because I was desperate and that was what the store had in the size and

(35:06):
the length of the cable I needed.
And I only was able to knit.
Like I think I only had to knit like 10 rows on it before I split for the sleeves.
And I was like, God, this is awful.
I hate this so much.
I think I gave it to you.
Actually, I think I did because I was like, I will never use it.
And I didn't like my hands like recoiled at it.
But that's, but you love it.
I mean, that's the thing.

(35:27):
It's like you got the preferences.
I like Cubics for certain.
Again, I'm like project specific, but like I like Cubics for certain type of things too.
Not for super bulky.
It's personal.
It's almost like like asking people what glasses brand they wear or sneakers or something like
that.

(35:47):
Like I would say that my most versatile set that I can use for like the most amount of
projects and it doesn't drive me nuts is my Chiagoos.
There's a couple of reasons why I like them as a set is because their range is a lot bigger.
So like my Chiagoos set starts at two.
Oh yeah.

(36:08):
And it goes up to 15.
Oh, that, that is a big range.
Usually you don't get a range.
No, it's usually four to 11.
Yeah.
Or like one to five or something like that if they're doing the lower sizes.
Yeah, no, it's, I don't know.
I'm sure if I'm sure someone's going to tell me that that's like called the full set or
something, but there is a set from Chiago that lets you do that wide range.

(36:31):
And the reason why I like it a lot is because the case that it comes in is extremely compact.
So it's, and it's not bulky.
So if say you were traveling and you don't know what size needles you're going to need
for specific things and you want to work on multiple projects, that's probably the most
versatile set that you can take with you and you'll have the most needle sizes that you

(36:53):
would use.
And then in terms of like, I do like wood needles for certain things.
I've talked about this before, but nitpicks, I like nitpick needles and they have a cubic
set and I really like their cubic set.
They also have just like a regular like rounded set.
I like, but if I do the rounded set, I like the short tips, especially, I don't know why

(37:16):
it just, even if I'm working on a project that doesn't call for it, like I have enough
room to use a regular size needle, I'll use the short tips.
But yeah, it is very, very, very specific.
I can't see you in the short tips.
See I know that's what I mean.
Like it's so specific.
It's all personal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you're not going to know unless you try.
So even if you have some friends that have different sets, cause they have different

(37:38):
preferences, like ask your friends to like, Hey, can I try like with your Knitter's Pride
and then with your Chiagoo's and with your, and also shout out to Addie Turbos.
Nobody's talked about Addie Turbos.
Addie's Turbos, I'm using them right now on, I like them for super bulky.
They're much more blunt.
So they don't like destroy these single ply bulky things.

(38:00):
Um, think, think of like a Malabriga Rasta, like you're, you don't want sharp needles
for that.
It's going to destroy it.
Um, so, but yeah, Addie Turbos are great for, I, I ended up getting like one of each
of the fixed cord, um, in, uh, the 16 inch length because I do so many hats.

(38:22):
Um, and I like to do the hats with the Addie Turbos.
So, um, I, but again, like project specific hats, Addie Turbos, you know, everything else
is like different.
Um, but yeah, so I hope that answers your needle question in some kind of capacity for
all those who asked us about needle sequins, but long story short, go ask your friends,

(38:45):
try something out, ask the yarn store to like try stuff out.
Um, let's see.
Um, there was someone who asked, who wanted us, wanted to ask us about our craft focus
or intentions for the year.
I, that might be something that we want to talk about at a longer length or if you guys

(39:08):
want to chat about it now, we can.
Um, I think this year I'm just taking things as they come.
Um, obviously I have picked up crochet.
I'm enjoying it, but I'm not setting goals for myself because I fail miserably every

(39:29):
time I set a goal for myself.
So,
Um, my intention is just to enjoy, so kind of in a similar boat, you know, no hard deadlines,
no hard, nothing.
I'm just gonna, I want to make a hat today.
I'm going to make a hat today.
I don't, I don't set the project goal on Ravelry anymore.
It's too stressful.

(39:50):
I don't want to.
I forget to update my Ravelry if I were honest.
Yeah.
And I only update my Ravelry anymore if I finish something.
That way I can just put it all in once and mark it as 100%.
And then, um, little shot of dopamine because I finished something.

(40:14):
That's fair.
Makes that portfolio look a little bit more up to date.
Yeah, I get it.
I'm trying really hard to be very, um, intentional this year.
Um, one of the things I really struggle with every year is like lots of staritis, um, casting
on a bunch of projects because I'm not satisfied with how things are going out or I get distracted

(40:36):
or, um, honestly in later years it's been like, oh, I dyed it new color and now I want
to knit with that color and throw everything else aside and, um, focus on that instead.
Um, and that results in a lot of projects getting started and a minimum of projects
getting finished.
And I find that very frustrating.

(40:56):
So, um, a lot of what I've been trying to do this year will kind of like the conversation
I had with Mary a few weeks ago, um, is if I really, really want to knit something and
I'm really excited about knitting it, putting it off until I am absolutely positive that
I am ready to knit it, um, instead of just casting on the minute that I think of it,

(41:20):
the minute something crosses my mind.
I've also been trying really hard to knit from stash this year instead of, you know,
what I did last year and the year before, which was like, Hey Jess, can you dye me up
a whole batch of this because I want to knit with that now.
Um, I do have that shawl project that I want to do.

(41:40):
I have the yarn that needs to be dyed for it.
Um, but I'm again, I'm putting it off until I'm ready to do it.
Um, and honestly, like I started embroidering over the Christmas holiday.
I am enjoying that.
I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself to do it.
Um, because I found in the last few years, I do put a lot of pressure on myself with

(42:02):
knitting, you know, to knit to a deadline or, um, you know, you've, you've, you've cast
this on now.
You have to get it done.
The nice thing about the embroidery is that, um, unlike a knitting pattern, every time
I pick it up, I don't have to go back and like, look, where was I?
What row was I on?
Like it's pretty easy to tell what I was working on or what needs to be done.

(42:23):
Um, so I find it a lot easier to pick it up whenever I feel like it.
And I haven't been putting the pressure on myself to like finish projects and they're
actually getting done.
I finished, um, one whole embroidery sampler.
I'm about three quarters away done with the second one.
And I've just been kind of doing that as I feel like it.
And it's actually been really helpful for like the pressure is just, you know, I pick

(42:48):
it up when I feel like it, if I want to.
And it's nice.
And I'm trying that too.
Like if, if this is done in time for Ryan Beck, that's cool.
But if it's not, that's okay.
I didn't have a sweater last year either.
I wore a shawl.
Yeah.
Thank you.
If all the turtles away, I thought you were going to say, what if I wear the turtles?

(43:09):
Oh my God.
Turn them into a scarf.
Oh my God.
Really big turtles guys.
Turtle sweater.
I'm not doing a turtle.
But you don't have to make it permanent.
Like she's saying with the scarf, you could literally just like pin them together.
I will literally die.
No, here's what you do.
Here's what you do.
Okay.
You get one long string and you thread the turtles on them.

(43:31):
And as people show up, you pull them off and hand them away.
It's a shrink.
We could put like T Y tags on them with names.
You get Bernie.
I should name them.
You should name them.
No, but then you'll want to keep them.
Yeah.
That's the tough part.
Oh no.
I will enjoy giving away turtles with these weird ass names.

(43:54):
I'm not even going to preview what's in my head.
Sweet.
I can't wait.
I'm pea soup.
It's going to be great.
It's going to be so funny.
Tony the tiger, man.
Who knows?
Who knows how many turtles I'm going to make?
And I also really hope that I do not lose the turtle spark because that will be very
disappointing.
So here's the thing though.

(44:15):
Now you can't really make enough turtles because there will be plenty of turtles to give.
Yeah.
So now you don't have to feel guilty about making tons of turtles.
I won't.
I mean, I wasn't going to feel guilty.
I mean, I hear you on the Reinbeck feeling though.
I did that last year.
If I finish, if I finish it, I finish it.

(44:35):
I finished it.
I finished.
So this is the end when I was like, like a week out from Reinbeck.
I'm like, okay, I literally have two rows left on the shawl.
If I don't finish the shawl in time, I'm going to be really ticked with myself, but I'm also
not going to like, I'm not going to stress myself out.
Like this is a hobby.
I had my years of saying like, my goal is to finish this many projects or my goal is

(45:00):
to learn this many skills.
And I'm not going to lie.
My mind is in so many directions right now.
I don't have the, I don't have the space to be chastising myself because I didn't knit
two rows today.
Yeah.
I'm just not there right now and I really don't want to be there again.
So that's where I'll be.

(45:21):
Jess, I mean, if I finish this sweater, that'd be awesome.
I think you're going to finish that sweater.
But look at my smug cat.
And that's why I think you're going to finish it because you love the cats and you want
to wear it.
I don't know what I thought you were making, but it wasn't a kind of curious what you did
think she was making.
I don't know.
Like maybe it was a cow or something or I'm enjoying the ghost cats on the back.

(45:42):
Well, she made, she made the sweater of swords a couple of years ago and she vastly underestimated
the amount of weight she was going to lose.
And she's tried to wear that sweater since.
And it's basically like, it's yeah, I mean, it's off the shoulder.
I heard that's in this year.
So she doesn't technically have a knitted sweater that fits her that she's made.

(46:04):
So all the other sweaters you made were like little kid sweaters.
I don't know why I didn't realize that that was a sweater.
Because Jess doesn't knit sweaters very often.
I usually don't.
Like she did the sweater of swords and she knit a couple little ones for Mariel and,
but I saw the cat.
It's great.
Yeah, it's great.
I love it.
I just, nobody thinks of Jess and sweater.

(46:25):
It's a cowl.
I mean, it could have been a cowl.
It's fair.
It would have been a really big cowl.
Especially last time we got together, it did.
It was like in the shape of.
Right.
Yeah.
It's, it's a, I've gone through a couple of inquiries for us since then.
So I see that now.
It's just got little Francis's on her sweater.
Francis's little Francis's little ties.
Little Tristan's.

(46:45):
Look, I have orange cats.
Okay.
Guys, I am astounded at my inability to pay attention to anything.
That's all good.
Well, on a completely different note, someone's still waiting on the mashup of every time
the cast declared jeans.
I mean, that's on you.
It is on me.
And I just want to let this person know.

(47:08):
I totally forgot about that.
I really did.
I forgot about it until I was actually listening to that, that episode the other day when,
um, cause I was taking a walk.
I was listening to that episode when, when the cats ate the shawl and we talked about
the jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans.
All right.
So I'll put that on my to-do list to go through all those episodes.

(47:30):
The jeans, man, that's going to, I hope you guys enjoy that one.
I feel like that's going to, that's going to take a lot of editing.
Um, that's going to be a holiday special.
You know what?
That might be the holiday special.
The whole thing.
And now the sound of Dreya saying jeans.
No, everybody, everybody.
I bet you could do it into a Christmas like song.

(47:51):
Oh, like jingle bells or something.
Jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans, jeans.
Um, thanks for that laugh because that made me giggle because I totally forgot about that.
Um, let's see.
Uh, someone mentioned that they really enjoy, um, the would you rather and also the would

(48:12):
you rather episodes, um, which we got to enjoy our first episode back with Dreya doing kind
of a this or that, which was a similar kind of feel.
Um, and then, um, the other one was pattern and design ethics.
They really liked us when we talked about that.
Um, I don't know how we would extend that further, but, um, we could definitely, I don't

(48:37):
know.
You guys tell us if there's like a different type, she wants to talk about ethics.
I guess we could talk more about that if you want.
I feel like, I feel like it might be, uh, us just going, ah, like just for 10 minutes
scream into the void.
That's it.
That's all we're going to do.
Um, this one says, um, can we talk more about picking wools and yarns?

(49:00):
Yeah.
I mean, I think that's like back to personal preference again.
No, I don't think it's back to personal preference.
I think it's, it's what you're making.
Like, um, the certain yarns are going to be better for certain products and certain yarns
are going to be awful for certain projects.
So, um, I mean, I think the, the one like definite is if you are purchasing yarn and

(49:26):
if the feel of it, like the softness makes a difference, check out the micron count of
the yarn.
A micron is a, um, it's a unit of measurement equal to one millionth of a meter.
Um, the micron count of wool is the average diameter of the wool fibers.
So the lower the micron count, um, the finer and softer the wool is going to be.

(49:53):
Um, so if you have a high micron count, that's going to be good for like your more durable
projects.
Um, but maybe not great for next to skin soft.
The caveat for a lower micron project is that that is going to have a higher tendency to
pill.
And fall apart.
And fall apart on repeated washings.

(50:15):
So, um, you know, you have some people that are like, Oh, I always want like the lower
micron.
I want everything like next to skin soft.
Um, and, and that can be great, especially for things like accessories, something you're
going to wear like right next to your skin.
Um, but if you were buying the same kind of yarn for everything, you're going to be disappointed

(50:36):
at some point, depending on the construction of the garment that you are knitting with
and how you use it.
Right.
So like, um, I have very large arms.
If I use, if I create a garment for myself with extremely soft yarn, I will have holes
in my armpits and under my triceps within two or three uses.

(50:58):
Cause it's just going to fall.
I have so much abrasion from the amount of flesh for lack of a better term that's going
back and forth.
So if you, you don't have that issue, then you're probably not going to encounter a similar
kind of issue.
But you, that's what to keep in mind.
You have to really think about who's using it, how they're going to use it, if they're

(51:19):
able to like the maintenance piece of it.
And then that should all factor into what you end up making.
So if I'm making a sweater for my kids, it is a hundred percent machine washable acrylic
because I cannot, I just can't, I'm not, I don't mind if I do wool, but my kids won't
wear it because it's too itchy.

(51:40):
So I, it has to be like some kind of soft blended acrylic that's machine washable because
they're going to destroy it.
And if I want it to last more than like a wash, I need, I need it because they're running
around there.
And if they tear it, if they tear it up, I'm not going to die.
Cause I'm going to be like, it's okay.

(52:01):
It's all right.
You know?
Um, so really just the end, but then again, you make something for yourself.
You know, you're going to take care of it.
You know, you're going to like wash it, like do all the hand washing and make sure that
it's cared for in a good way.
So maybe then you can, yeah, use that softer yarn and something a little bit more delicate.
So yeah, it's, it's unfortunately, it's not as cut and dry as like, this is always the

(52:23):
yarn you should be using.
This is the preference you should have.
I mean, you always go by preference.
I mean, I mean you could, right?
Exactly.
Like if you want to like, to be perfectly honest, I love Rios, I love my Albrego Rios.
Um, you could make a sweater out of that.
It's going to be super soft.
It's going to be, you know, washable.
Um, Rios does also, it's very, very soft.
It has a tendency to pill.

(52:45):
If you're okay with that, like do it, like don't, don't let somebody tell you not to
obviously, but be aware of what you're doing before you go into it.
Um, and what the caveats are for those things kind of like, you know, using a, um, a single
ply to make socks.
Oh, don't do that.
Right.

(53:05):
Um, some people might want to, but at the same time it's not going to wear as well or,
or using a sock yarn for tall socks that doesn't have nylon in it.
Those are going to fall off your calves.
Or using a sock yarn to make a three X top.
Pour one out for the Silva Cammy.
It never got finished.

(53:26):
It is, you can, you can, you can in theory, you can use any yarn you want, but, but be
aware that the inside thoughts take over, but be aware of, you know, what could happen?
You know, being aware of what the yarn will do.
And again, there's where I'm going to say, make a swatch, make a swatch.

(53:50):
I have gotten better at swatching.
You have, yeah.
And that one project where it really made a difference.
Yep.
Did make a, I'm very proud of myself.
I think I hear some listeners asking me to boo boo boo.
Okay.
I'm done.
That's I'm done watching.
That's just for, just for all y'all that don't like swatching.
I mean, we've gone over this watching thing before.
I like watching.

(54:11):
Look, I hate swatching.
I will do it.
If I absolutely have to agree.
Honestly, I don't swatch for everything.
I really don't know.
I don't either.
It's I'll be honest.
I didn't swatch for this hat.
I'll tell you right now.
And sometimes I'm, I'm unpleasantly surprised.
And that's how that goes.
But listen, I made my half swatch, which I steep.

(54:31):
Did you try to put the hat on over the headphones?
I did. And you know why?
I saw that.
Because I am like, I said I didn't swatch, right?
And I'm like 90% sure this is going to be too small,
but that's okay. I'm just going to keep making it.
You haven't blocked it.
Yeah. True.
Also, since you didn't swatch,
you have no idea what that yarn is going to do.
Yeah, I know.
So the reason why I don't usually swatch

(54:53):
when it comes to a hat, because if it's too small,
I give it to my kids.
If it's too big, I can wear it.
And then if it's just the right size,
I can give it to Patrick.
There you go.
Well, that's the thing also.
Like if you know enough people in different sizes
and you don't care about giving stuff away.
Oh, I made this for you intentionally.
Totally.
Do you know how many kid hats
or have mistakes that I just went through?

(55:14):
Dude, I make hats that fit me.
And Mariel's like, oh, that's for me now.
And it's way too big, but she takes it anyway.
Like she has like half of my hats.
She does. At this point.
Actually, this kind of flows into this comment that says,
I think it'd be fun to,
would be fun to hear more about why you choose to knit
what you do and, and, or how you search for things to knit.
Maybe how to avoid being knit fluenced instead of influenced

(55:38):
in a bad way.
Oh Lord.
Well, cause I, you were saying how like,
one of the comments you just made was about like how,
you know, it's your prep, like your preference.
Right. What you want to do.
Right.
And I think even as we talked about the wools
and the needles and all of that, the wools, wow.
The wools.
I just said that the yarns and the needles and all of that,

(56:00):
that it's such a gray area.
And that if a knit fluencer or other,
whatever you want to call it,
I think it's funny that you used it fluence.
If anyone's telling you to do this or that or the other,
and it's a very black and white response that,
that is probably the bad way.
Yeah. I think, I think a lot of it is like,
and I don't even have a problem with like people who follow

(56:20):
the trends or whatever.
Like I really don't,
I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing.
I think the only thing that would be,
would be bad per se quote unquote is spending your time
working on something you don't really want to do.
Right. Right.
I don't understand that.
This is a hobby.
Like we're doing it for fun.
If you enjoy the trends, then yeah.
Sure.
Like if you're like, it's trending,

(56:42):
the panatone colors, it's this like poop brown.
I guess I have to be, make everything in poop brown.
I don't know if you saw the panatone color this year,
but it's like brown. Yeah, it's like mocha something.
I think. Yeah.
All right.
Well, I guess everything has to be brown.
That like, if you don't like brown, it's okay.
You can. Yeah.
I think.
You can make pink.
Pink can always be your color.
I think that's kind of like a everyday life sort of thing.

(57:03):
Like I feel like we're all getting older,
maybe not, you know, the viewers at home,
but we're all getting to the point where it's, oh my God,
I do not have time to do things that are in fashion.
I don't have time to do things that don't bring me.
Well, that too.
It's, I don't, I guess this is not the venue from,

(57:26):
in my opinion, your mileage may vary.
This is not the venue for,
I need to be doing what everybody else is doing.
And I don't know a lot of knitters or crafters
that are doing that.
I mean, there's sure, there's the make-alongs
where everybody's making the same project,
but I don't consider that like.
That's still a choice.
Yeah, exactly.
Like you're choosing to partake in that.

(57:47):
Nobody's forcing you to make the same sweater
or the same hat or whatever as anybody else.
Yeah, I don't know.
I guess like if I'm picking a project,
I usually start with the yarn.
I know some people start with the project,
but I generally start with the yarn.
And I look at the yarn and I'm like, what do you wanna be?
And then I look on Ravelry until I find the project

(58:08):
that I want it to be.
Yarn next to the computer screen.
Yeah, no, not that one.
No, I do, totally.
See, I'm the complete opposite.
Yeah, see.
I will go on Ravelry and I'll be like,
what looks fun today?
Yeah.
And then if I find something that looks fun today,
I will go into the stash and I will see
if I have the yarn to make it.
Right.
If I don't have the yarn to make it,

(58:29):
I go, well, that's a bummer.
And then I find a new thing that says,
what do we wanna make today?
And that's two different ways of approaching the same issue.
I feel like I do both depending on,
like if I really wanna work with this yarn,
then I'm gonna find something with it.
I feel like it would be a lot better to choose
based on the yarn that you have.

(58:51):
I don't know.
Because I spend a lot of time looking at patterns
that I do not have the correct yarn for.
Okay, to be fair though,
like dying yarn has made that totally different
because at this point,
I've got a pretty big selection of what I could
possibly have for yarn.

(59:11):
It usually turns into Jess,
dye me this please.
I don't always have it on me.
Your way is probably better in the respect of like
actually working with what's in your stash
instead of like,
I could have this in my stash.
Cause it's like I'm going to the store all the time.
When you have an inventory of fiber.

(59:34):
I don't have stuff that's hand dyed,
but like when you have an inventory of fiber,
the same rules apply.
You don't mess with your own stash people, okay?
You don't do it.
You don't use your own.
No, that's for the store.
This is for you.
If you have a pattern and you're gonna make something,
you gotta like do like, that's a separate thing.

(59:56):
I am very fortunate in that all of my stash is just for me.
Yes.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm not gonna lie.
We use our own yarn.
We dye our own yarn all the time.
I mean, either way you're spending money.
Correct.
And the yarn we buy is wholesale
and we're dying it ourselves.
So it's not like I'm going to the store

(01:00:17):
and buying new yarn every single time
that I make a new project.
Sometimes I do it in advance.
Like we're making a color and I'm like,
I really want to make something with that.
Can we make like a few extra skeins
and I'll just use that later.
But I am, like as I said earlier,
making a conscious effort to not do that as much this year.
Trying not to do that.
Well then you guys gotta stop putting out color ways

(01:00:38):
that I like, that's all I gotta say.
Cause you put out that minty one and I was like, come on.
Come on.
It's really nice.
Thank you.
I usually go in and I type in dragons.
And I see what pops up.
If I don't see anything I like,
sometimes then I'll change it to dragon scales.

(01:01:00):
And then if none of those look appealing,
I'll just do a whole search on complicated patterns.
And so oddly specific.
But you know what, looking at her projects,
it explains a lot.
Oh my God.
It explains so much.
If I see something in complicated patterns,
then I try and find that and make sure it's not AI

(01:01:21):
because that's becoming an issue right now.
That's driving me crazy.
That is becoming an issue.
Yes.
But yeah, but then I usually save it
and eventually I come back to it sometimes.
I hate going back over your saved patterns
and you're like, who was that person that saved that?
I am never gonna knit that.

(01:01:41):
I will go in, I'll be like, why?
I got rid of so many patterns in my Ravelry.
Who was this person?
This person was not me.
This person was like 2008, Dreya.
I'm not the same person I was
when I filled up this favorite slit.
Oh man, the amount of scarf patterns I had
from back in the day and I was like,

(01:02:02):
dude, I have never finished a scarf.
That is not true.
I finished my shield scarf.
But no, other than that,
I have never finished a legitimate scarf in my life
and I had like 20 saved.
I got rid of like three pages in my Ravelry.
Sorry guys, it wasn't you, it was me.
Like the scarves are still beautiful, but.

(01:02:22):
I created my Ravelry account in 2013
and I still have patterns and like cute projects from 2013.
Yeah.
And I just don't feel like cleaning it up.
I just don't feel like going back and going through it.
Cause you know what?
The second I do, I'm gonna be like,
wait, what was that thing I picked out literally 10 years ago?

(01:02:45):
I actually might want to do that now.
I went through my favorites the other day
and there were literally patterns
that had been taken off Ravelry
that like they were no longer available on Ravelry
and they're still hanging out in my favorites queue.
Like, yeah, it is.
But you're a different person.
Like you change or you go through a period
where you're like, I'm just throwing out there.
Like I'm really enjoying knitting this thing with bobbles.

(01:03:07):
Let me add a whole bunch of bobble projects to my favorites.
And then you finish the project and you're like,
if I ever knit another bobble, I'm gonna kill something.
And then you, you know, three years later,
you go through the queue and you're like,
which jackass put all these bobble projects
on my favorites list?
Like maybe that's just me.
I don't know.

(01:03:27):
I have done that.
Yes.
Who hacked into my library owes me.
Since you go through a period
and you're like, I'm really loving this one thing.
And then years later, like the other, like few years ago,
I very cathartically took out all the sock patterns
that I had saved.
Cause I'm like, I do not enjoy knitting socks.
I'm not gonna knit socks anymore.
I found so many sock patterns that are perfectly fine.

(01:03:51):
The patterns are perfectly lovely,
but I had a very, very, very short-lived idea
that I was going to be a toe up knitter for socks.
Oh.
Didn't like that, huh?
And I didn't like it.
I did, I did a sock.
I never finished it.
Like I did learn how to do it.

(01:04:13):
It was not for me.
No, that's fair.
But man,
You were convinced.
The ambition was there.
And do you know how many of those patterns I went into
going, oh yeah, that looks good.
Let's do this.
And then you go in and it's like, oh, toe up.
Why?
Why is that there?
In 2017, I added like at least 50 shawls to my favorites.

(01:04:36):
Tina.
Cause you go through a phase where you're like,
this is what I want to knit.
And then like, but then I still look at them
and I'm like, I still kind of want to make that.
Not right now.
You know what?
You don't get rid of it until you're positive.
You're never gonna do it.
I know.
And I'm just like, no, I'm gonna keep it.
Sometimes there's ones that may still happen,
but it's like, you're still,
listen, I have a stained glass shawl in there

(01:04:56):
that I keep looking at because it looks awesome.
And at the same time, I'm like,
I don't know if I have the wherewithal for that.
There are paid patterns in my raffle reads
and I am not me.
Yeah, no, same.
Hey, listen, I went through a period a few years ago
when I was just adding tons of sweaters to my list.
And I'm at the point now where I'm like,
I have no interest in knitting a bottom up sweater.

(01:05:19):
Oh, I did one.
Mariel's outlet sweater.
That's maybe the, if I ever were to make that again,
I would do it.
I do not enjoy bottom up sweaters.
I want top down.
I don't know.
It's just my preference.
But yeah, I still have them.
Well, a lot of stories short,
we, well, there's our rhyme and reasons.
And you can always use this.

(01:05:40):
They're all over the place.
You can always use Jess's.
Keywords to just go on a dragon journey.
A complex dragon journey.
Cause you have the complex pattern.
Yeah.
I feel like that should be the title of her autobiography.
A complex dragon journey.
A complex?
I feel like that would work.

(01:06:00):
Okay.
Wow, that's slick.
There we go.
I love it.
Jess, a complex dragon journey.
There you go.
You're welcome.
A word by a red dragon.
That's it for today's episode for additional content
and opportunities to connect with us.
Me.

(01:06:20):
No, not just you, us, all of us.
Fine.
Check out our website at partinmystache.com.
You can tune in next time for more laughs, tears and drama.
Oh, I'm sorry, Drea.
It's me.
Jess at partinmystache.com.
I'll see you next time.