October 10, 2019 • 60 mins
What does knitting and crochet do for you?
This year has taken me on a journey of discovering my place in the community and figuring out how my strengths and values can enrich someone's life. Although knitting and crochet affects many areas of my life, at it's core, the process is what fuels me the most.
Yarn does more for me than just make a pretty thing.
That has become a mantra for me and you'll hear me say it more and more as B.Hooked grows and develops over the next year. Until recently, I haven't been able to put my finger on how I came to this realization. That is until I started reading Vickie Howell's new book, The Knit Vibe.
She's on the show today to talk about that, what's in the book and so much more.
About The BHooked Podcast
Brittany's primary goal is to inspire you and help you grow in your craft with The BHooked Podcast. Through her own stories and the stories of each special guest, you'll discover tips and tricks to improve your crochet and knitting skills and find inspiration to achieve your hobby goals. When you want to kick back and learn from yarn industry experts, grab some yarn and turn on The BHooked Podcast. There's never a shortage of all things crochet, knitting or yarn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brittany (00:00):
You're listening to The Be Hooked Podcast, episode
137, with Brittany.
Hey there, welcome to anotherepisode of the Be Hooked
(00:34):
Podcast, the place where we loveyarn, we love to learn, and we
truly believe yarn can do morefor us than just make pretty
things.
And boy oh boy, do I have atreat for you today.
So I've been keeping a tinylittle secret from you for over
a year now, and I am bursting atthe seams and over the moon
(00:55):
excited to share that secretwith you today.
And to help me share the secretwith you is Vicki Howell.
She's returning on the show totalk about her new book, The
Knit Vibe.
This book is my jam right now.
Now I'll let Vicki do thehonors in sharing what this
(01:17):
secret is, so keep that in mind.
But before we get to that, Iwant to let you know that she
has also offered a giveaway toone lucky listener.
So you'll want to stick to thevery end of the episode.
We'll go through theinstructions of what to do and
what you could potentially winas you participate in that
(01:37):
giveaway.
Also, keep in mind that theshow notes can be found at
BeHooked.com slash 137.
You'll find all of theinformation that we talk about
there and all of the informationfor the giveaway on that page.
So keep that in mind.
And let's get to my talk withVicki.
Vicki Howell, welcome back tothe show.
(01:58):
How are you doing this morning?
Wonderful.
Well, I'm pretty pumped to haveyou on the show for a second
time, but I'm extra excitedtoday because I get to share a
little secret with my audiencethat I've been keeping from them
for over a year now.
Do you want to do the honors?
Vickie (02:17):
Why, yes, I will.
That's so cute that you keepthings like that you have
secret.
I don't think that I keep.
I mean, unless I'mcontractually obligated.
I feel like every part of likethe process of anything I do is
is public.
So, I mean, yeah.
That's awesome that you dothat.
So I have my 13th book iscoming out or is out as of the
(02:42):
8th, October 8th.
It's called The Knit Vibe, AKnitter's Guide to Creativity,
Community and Wellbeing for theMind, Body and Soul.
And it is a huge book thatencompasses sort of like all the
That is our community and it'ssort of a love letter from me to
(03:02):
the knitting and crochetcommunity.
And as part of that, I have awhole section featuring
different designers of all sortof like, you know, from
different places in the worldand also different parts of the
industry.
And you are one of thosedesigners featured.
Brittany (03:22):
I am so ecstatic.
Actually, you know, I don'tkeep a whole lot of secrets
because I'm really not great atthat.
But I was...
I
Vickie (03:31):
mean, you're the only person in the industry that
nobody knows your last name.
I know.
That's a pretty good secret.
Brittany (03:38):
You know, that was something that was just a choice
that my husband and I madereally early on.
And...
Now it's just become a thing.
So I'm
Vickie (03:48):
just saying that that takes some fortitude.
So give yourself credit wherecredit is due.
Brittany (03:53):
Yeah, it's not difficult.
And it's not that I'm trying toconceal my identity or anything
like that.
I just I don't know.
It's kind of hard to explain,to be honest with you.
I like to just keep it simple.
Keep the focus away from me andon the craft as much as
possible.
So.
Vickie (04:09):
Well, you don't owe anybody any explanation for why
you do what you do.
I just think that it's prettyamazing that you've been able to
do it was my only point becausethere isn't a lot of anonymity
in general, but also when youare the face of whatever it is,
your own brand, your own site,whatever somebody else's brand,
it becomes exponentially harder.
(04:30):
So good job keeping yourintegrity at the level that you
want
Brittany (04:36):
it to be.
Well, I appreciate that.
You know, I didn't– I think Imentioned it in passing to my
husband when we first connectedabout this because that was just
like– I kind of had just acrazy geek out moment there
because I was so excited to beable to connect with you.
So I'm sure I mentioned it tohim, but I haven't said anything
(04:56):
to him until recently the bookarrived.
And I had it on the counter forwhen he came home.
And I was like, I'm in thisbook.
It's so much fun.
So he kind of flipped throughand was reading it.
And it was just kind of a...
Just a really surreal momentthat I got to connect with
somebody who I have alwaysreally considered a mentor.
And to actually be a part ofone of your publications is just
(05:21):
amazing.
So first of all, I want to saythank you for choosing me to be
in the book.
But I definitely want to getinto some of the details of it
because since I've had this inmy possession, I can't put it
down.
There's so much interestingstuff in here.
So much...
information that I am reallyinterested in, topics we've
(05:44):
talked about here on the showbefore, so I know my audience is
interested in it as well.
So let's just dive into it.
First of all, the name isreally intriguing.
What's the story behind that?
Vickie (05:58):
Well, originally, this book was a at least two years,
if not longer, in the making.
I knew that I wanted to workwith Abrams, the publisher.
They're putting, hands down,putting out the most beautiful
books right now in the craftcategory.
But I wasn't sure what it was.
I didn't really think that Iwanted to do another
(06:19):
straightforward knitting book.
I had some other ideas.
And then the knit showhappened, and so we decided that
we would just do a knit showbook.
And And in case your listenersdon't know, I have a 10-episode
series that is on Roku and alsoon YouTube featuring 20 guests,
(06:43):
and it's a proper sort ofknitting and crochet show.
So we started...
doing that, just sort ofencapsulating the community that
was involved with that and sortof the zeitgeist of what went
into that show.
And just slowly, it kind ofmorphed into its own thing.
And it was actually my editor,Shauna Mullen, who changed the
name.
She just, after seeing thecontent, seeing just sort of the
(07:06):
breadth of material and not...
not just the amount, but justsort of the range of what I'm
trying to convey, she came upwith the title.
And I had to sit with it for abit.
I wasn't sure if it was right.
And now I can't imagine itbeing anything different.
And as we've sort of progressedwith the book, and now
(07:29):
obviously that it's out, itreally has become...
sort of my catchphrase for whatI'm talking about in the
entirety of this book.
And for me, what the knit vibeis, is that sort of intangible
feeling that being a knitter orcrocheter, or as a side note,
(07:53):
whatever your creative, youknow, outlet is, happens to be,
it doesn't matter if you writepoetry or paint or play music, I
believe that how you'recreative really crafts the lens
through which you see the worldand also is a conduit for how
(08:13):
you communicate, how you're anactivist or not, how you serve
others, how you have fun.
And so that really, as far asthis book goes, is what the Knit
Vibe is.
It's the nest.
It's the essence of being ableto create.
It's the essence ofcommunicating with other people
(08:37):
whether it's virtually throughRavelry or in a Facebook group
or in a Knit Hive or Stitch andBitch group, or even if it's
just you're on a subway andsomeone strikes up a
conversation with you becauseyou are physically making
something and they see that asan in to talking to you about
some memory that they have.
(08:59):
So it's that, but also...
Some people, and we'll talkabout this in a little bit, use
their craft to get in touch withtheir spirituality a little bit
more.
There have been severalarticles over the past, I don't
know, maybe five years about howknitting and crochet are really
(09:22):
good for our mental wellness asa stress reliever.
So we talk a little bit aboutthat.
And really just...
how the knitting and thecrochet is, yes, it's a ball of
yarn and a hook or needles, butit's not, that's just the
jumping off point.
It really is the opener.
It is the window that we allclimb through for all of these
(09:45):
other things that surround us.
And so that is the knit vibe.
And so that's sort of theevolution of both the book and
the name all wrapped up in one.
Brittany (09:58):
Yeah, I absolutely love it.
I connect with that so muchbecause for the past, I would
say this year, I have reallytried to hone in on my place in
the community.
What am I here for?
What do I have to offer?
And the discovery of that waslike learning a lot more about
(10:20):
myself.
What is it that I get out ofthe craft and how is it that I
can share that with somebodyelse.
So I started thinking about it,jotting some ideas down, and
what it boils down to for me isthat yarn does more than just
make pretty things.
And so that's sort of become asaying now that I've mentioned
(10:40):
here on the show, I've mentionedit in my YouTube videos, But
because I love the process somuch, for me, working with yarn,
whether it be knitting orcrocheting or just randomly
dyeing yarn for fun because it'ssomething different, the
process for me is what is acraving, I guess.
(11:01):
And it does more for me thanjust create that end result.
And for the longest time, Ihaven't had a really great way
of explaining that.
And I think that's why I'm sodrawn to this book and the knit
vibe as a whole.
I think it really explains whatI'm trying to portray or
(11:23):
helping to explain to the worldhow to express what yarn does
for you.
Does that make sense?
Vickie (11:36):
Yeah, I think for me, incorporating some form of
creativity, even if you consideryourself not to be creative,
which I fully believe is not athing, in some way is extremely
important for our sort ofpersonal growth and the
(11:57):
evolution of our community.
Because when you're creative,there's an openness.
Creativity creates thatopenness.
And when there's an openness,then you will actually be See
more things be willing to listento more people and if you're
listening and seeing more Thenmaybe then then you can have
these conversations that arereally important that you may
(12:18):
not have had if you didn't havethat openness And so for me,
it's a building block you know,you may find yourself at a you
know at a knitting table with agroup or at a yarn store with
people whom you would never havecrossed paths for any other
reason and And that might bejust geographical.
(12:39):
It might be because you're atdifferent socioeconomic levels.
It might be because you'redifferent from different
political sides of the fence.
It might be differentreligions.
It might be it could be anyages.
It doesn't matter.
Gender, sexuality, sexualexpression.
It really doesn't matter.
But you found yourself in thisspace because of knitting or
(13:02):
crochet.
And that is a gift.
Because that is an opportunityto open your world, to open your
eyes, to have conversationsthat you may never have had the
opportunity before.
And I believe that our place onthis earth is to experience it,
to experience relationships, toexperience the different levels
(13:23):
of living.
And you can't do that withoutbeing open.
And so it's like, you know,it's like a, if we're looking at
a graph at a chart, it would bean arrow in a circle, you know,
one begets one thing begets theother.
And so that's sort of the, Idon't straight up talk about
that specifically in the book.
(13:44):
It's what I'm hoping will beclear by within its pages by the
content and the people who area part of it.
Brittany (13:51):
Yeah.
When I was listening to whatyou were saying, it reminded me
of something you say in theintroduction where you say, for
me, life is about showing up forwho and what you love.
That really reminded me ofthis.
Is that sort of what you had inmind while you were writing
that?
Vickie (14:10):
Yeah, it is.
Let me see if I can edit thisso it's a little more PG rated.
I have a personal motto.
Um, and it's essentially showup and don't be a jerk.
And I really think that that'slike, those are like, those are
the two things that I live bythe most in friendship and, you
(14:32):
know, in career in family andfor knitting, you know, you and
I are both in the industry andit is an industry that struggles
largely knitting and crochet isstill considered, you know,
quote unquote, women's work,using that as a derogatory term,
there is not the value placedon knitwear designers that there
(14:58):
are on, say, fashion designersor chefs or musicians or anybody
else who is creating somethingfor someone else.
And often, our industrystruggles, as I just mentioned,
but also as in many differentindustries right now, because of
(15:22):
the way that media isprogressing, we're all having to
sort of grasp at straws to fitin.
And so for me, showing up forthe craft means to be out there
talking about what the actualbenefits are beyond creating
(15:43):
these beautiful wearablegarments or home decor.
To me, it's using my voice toshare what's past the tip of the
iceberg.
And so that's how I hope thatI'm showing up so that I can
help fellow designers, yarncompanies, yarn dyers, and just
(16:07):
hobbyists who really getsomething emotionally and
physically and mentally fromthese crafts, I hope that I can
help them rise together.
I hope that we can all helpeach other rise together.
Brittany (16:21):
Yeah, that makes sense.
I think we all have a commoninterest, which is yarn.
And we all have a commoninterest, which is to help our
industry succeed so we can allkeep doing what we love doing.
And I think that's important toremember that.
So I love that that's themessage that you're sharing
here.
I think we need to be remindedof that every now and then.
(16:44):
Well, I'm going to do it a lot.
Well, I will be here helping youbecause I'm sure you've heard
the quote, and I've said it hereso many times, a rising tide
lifts all boats.
It's almost said so much thatit has less meaning, but it's
really so true.
Yeah,
Vickie (17:03):
it's actually in my mission statement for my
subscription box company, YarnYay.
We are a rising tide company,and that is the Actually, that
is the platform for which therest of the business stands.
Brittany (17:18):
Yeah.
Well, talk about a woman ofintegrity.
You are practicing what youpreach.
That's the showing up part,right?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
I love how that comes fullcircle.
It's admirable to...
really have all of that figuredout.
I'm sure it wasn't somethingthat just happened overnight,
though.
You've been in the industry forso long.
(17:39):
I mean, not so long.
We don't have...
Well, that's true.
I'm not trying to...
I'm just teasing you.
I'm just teasing you.
Well, I guess in terms of howlong I've been doing it, I feel
like it's just been a couple of
Vickie (17:55):
years.
100%.
100%.
I have been in this industryfor...
16 years, 17 years, somewherearound that.
Um, so yeah, I've seen a thingor two.
You've seen a lot of changes.
You've
Brittany (18:10):
kind of rode the waves with it.
Vickie (18:12):
Yeah.
I mean, I, I really, reallyhave done my share of pivoting
over the past decade and a halffor sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, you have to be verycreative to be in our industry
and that creativity has nothingto do whether or not you know
how to design it's it's, It'sliterally creating a career that
Brittany (18:36):
is sustainable.
a big part of that is knowinghow and when to pivot.
Vickie (19:04):
Yeah, for sure.
I think that I get a littlefrustrated when I hear, you
know, they're being blameplaced, but, you know, and this
could be from yarn stores orthis could be from, you know,
any, anybody in the industrywho's frustrated and that
frustration is absolutelyjustified.
But I feel a little frustratedmyself when I hear it being
(19:28):
blamed on, you somebody elsedoing something that's hurting
somebody else's businessinadvertently, not maliciously,
but you know, somebody elsestarting an e-commerce site for
their shop.
Well, that's taking away, youknow, somebody else's shop
business or somebody else, youknow, we can't do this because
we can't compete with Amazon orwe can't do this or we can't.
And, and for me, that's wastedenergy.
(19:51):
What we need to do is find out,like value ourselves enough to
really know our Followers,subscribers, customers,
audience, whatever it is, andknow what they want from us and
lean into that and do more ofthat and less of the other thing
that we feel like we're failingat instead of placing blame on
(20:11):
other people for things notworking.
Because we are in the Wild Westright now.
We're still only about20-something years into the
internet, first of all, which islike infancy for technology.
And social media really...
Real social media, how it isnow, is really only about seven
years old, eight years old.
So we're all here.
(20:32):
And you have to be flexible.
You have to be pliable.
And for me, I try to think ofit and think of it as an
opportunity.
We're pioneering.
Yeah, we have to be creative.
And to speak to the point of itnot necessarily being about
(20:52):
what we make, being the way thatwe're creative.
You're a great example of that.
You started your career by notmaking anything at all.
And we talk about that in yourfeature in the Knit Vibe, how
you started by just having abeautifully curated Pinterest
board, well, several of them,account would be a better way to
say it, of other people'sstuff.
(21:13):
And it has morphed into youteaching and designing and being
an influencer and that kind ofthing.
I mean, that That takesstrategy, and strategy is a–
even if it was unintentional,strategy takes creativity as
well.
Brittany (21:29):
Yeah.
I would like to say that therewas a lot of strategy that went
behind that, but honestly, I'mnot sure that I can.
I mean, obviously, I knew Iwanted to keep making things,
and eventually I wanted to sharewhat I was making.
And because at the time Ididn't know how to read a
pattern, I was– sort ofdesigning even though I wouldn't
(21:49):
really call it designing I knewI wanted to share those things
and in order to share that stuffwith other people you have to
have a community of people so Imean there was a little strategy
but I didn't consciously thinkabout that knowing what it was
going to be I just looked at thesituation that was in front of
(22:11):
me at that moment and figuredout the best way to accomplish
that one goal.
And that was just to share whatI was creating with somebody
who was as ecstatic about thatproject as I was.
Vickie (22:24):
Yeah, and I think that that's a good point, too.
It's really important.
I mean, yes, having some formof strategy is important.
But what's also important isthe again, the pliability to be
open to I'm back to being opento whatever that morphs into to
the opportunity that might cometo you that you might attract by
(22:45):
just following that one nuggetof passion that you have.
And then just sort of likeletting, letting things happen,
you know, finding that balanceof forcing things happen through
strategy, and letting thingscome to you that might not be
what you would have seen, butend up being what is actually
(23:06):
right for your path.
Brittany (23:08):
Right, that I would have never seen for myself.
Right, right.
Yeah, that's so true.
And it makes me think of howthings are still changing and
evolving right now.
I'm a little bit of, I wouldn'tsay I'm a control freak.
Have you ever heard of GretchenRubin's Four Tendencies?
(23:28):
You ever heard of that?
Okay, so she has a way ofcategorizing our tendencies,
right?
And I feel like I am, I kind ofskate between two.
And I think I lean more towardswhat she calls an upholder.
And that's somebody who canachieve outer and inner
(23:49):
expectations with noaccountability.
I say all of that to say that Ilike to know what's going on.
I like to have a plan.
I like to have a process, aroutine, like all of this stuff
scheduled and And mapped out.
But you can't really do that somuch in business.
(24:10):
And to relate it back to whatyou were saying, when we have a
goal in mind, it's great to havethat to strive towards.
But what ends up happening isusually different than whatever
that goal is.
And a lot of times it's betterthan what we could have
imagined.
Because like you said, we don'talways...
(24:32):
have that vision for whateveris coming about.
Vickie (24:36):
Yeah.
I mean, I, an example, apersonal example is that I had
never planned to have asubscription box business that
is not even just running a smallbusiness other than, you know,
just obviously it's a business,just being a host and
spokesperson or whatever, but anactual, you know, retail small
(24:58):
business was not ever somethingthat was in my plan.
Although I did think that theretail aspect was the big
missing piece in my overall sortof career.
But it was doing the show thatwas my true passion, the knit
show, that attracted the companythat helped me start Yarnier,
the subscription box company.
(25:18):
And now Yarnier is like 80% ofwhat what eats up my time that I
wear my focuses because itcombines a lot of the things
that community design, um,supporting other designers,
supporting other smallbusinesses, um, you know,
empowering people to becreative, also bringing in, you
know, money for the family thatis not reliant on any, uh,
(25:39):
anybody else cutting me a check,you know, all these things.
Um, and it was not planned atall, but because I was, you
know, I've, did what I reallywanted to do.
And I made my own show on, youknow, on my own.
I mean, with a productioncompany, but you know, without
any other backing, that that hasattracted a few different
(26:00):
things that I hadn't intended,but have been really good, if
nothing else, stepping stones towhatever the next big thing is.
Brittany (26:08):
Yeah, I think to summarize, just to experiment
and try and see what works, Ithink us sharing these two
stories, the thing that tiesthem together is we just tried
something.
And it's okay if an experimentdoesn't work.
One of the things that I'm sortof playing with right now is
(26:29):
different types of formatting ofvideos on the YouTube channel.
And that's part of anexperimentation process to see
what works.
I like to see what my viewerslike to watch.
And some things won't stick,and some of it will.
And I think that is a great wayto help find your place, but
(26:50):
also find what lights you upcreatively.
Vickie (26:53):
Yeah, it's really important to note that you can't
be an entrepreneur withoutrisk.
And risk involves trial anderror.
So it's not always going to gowell.
That's just not how being anentrepreneur works.
But if you can go into itknowing that, that gives you a
little bit of a pass for thingsto not work until they do.
Brittany (27:18):
Yeah, very true.
Well, to circle back around,there are a couple of topics in
the book that I really want toget your thoughts on because I
know that there are a lot ofmaker businesses here I kind of
want to touch on.
both of these areas.
So I appreciate the wisdomthere on trial and error and
(27:39):
figuring out what works and theencouragement behind that
because that's really important.
But underlying that, we all arecreators and we can't ever make
any of those things, our goals,our businesses, we can't ever
make any of that a reality untilwe really check in with
ourselves, set our intention,and really hone in on what this
(28:04):
craft does for us because I feellike that is the thing, that's
the driving force to keep yougoing through all of this hard
stuff.
Because being an entrepreneuris wonderful and I wouldn't
trade it for the world, but it'sharder than any job I could
have ever picked for myself.
And if it weren't for thiscraft and what I love and the
(28:25):
benefits I get from it, I'm notsure that I would have it in me
to keep going.
So you talk about differentareas, different intentions, and
I would love to kind of focusin on that right now.
Okay.
Well, you know, there are acouple of areas that I know I'm
super passionate about.
Yes, I want to
Vickie (28:45):
hear it.
I'm really interested to seehow this resonates with people
because there's not...
I mean, I could be wrong, but Idon't think there's another
book out there like this in ourgenre.
And so there's so which is, youknow, obviously good for for
many reasons, but it's also andwe're here we are back to it.
It's also risky.
(29:05):
Am I going to be able to conveyeverything that's in this book,
you know, so that people getit, you know, because people
don't buy pattern only books theway that they used to because,
you know, we're back to theInternet.
And also, I mean, I reallyfought for the subtitle that we
had to sort of fit as much in aswe could, you know.
(29:28):
So it's an experience.
This book, as everything in mycareer, to be frank, is also
somewhat of an experiment.
I don't know if it's going toresonate with people.
It's just sort of my truth, youknow.
Brittany (29:41):
Yeah, I love that.
And I think that is what peoplewill resonate with the most,
because although we might notrealize it, All of this stuff is
going through our mind.
I'm a strong believer in that.
One of the areas that I haveexplored this year is yoga to
help me with the constantpressures of having to turn
(30:03):
projects.
I mean, think about it.
If somebody is, well, if I werenot a business owner, I would
not pressure myself to make asmany projects in a year that I
do because it's hard.
It's difficult to make anentire blanket in a week or two.
It's not necessarily healthy totry to do that.
Vickie (30:24):
Girl, I'm making an eight foot by six foot version
of the cover, crocheted versionof the cover of my book right
now.
I hear you.
It's not good for your body.
Brittany (30:33):
No.
And so I have experienced someissues with, I mean, obviously
wrist and hand.
I feel like that just kind ofcomes with it.
Vickie (30:41):
Yeah.
That's part of the territory.
Brittany (30:43):
Yeah.
So for the last year or so, Ihave been struggling with
shoulder problems.
Yeah.
I hear that a lot.
Yeah.
It's so weird.
It's off the wall.
You wouldn't think that yourshoulders would be affected by
it.
But I guess because I sort ofhunch forward as I'm like
looking at my work, my posturehas been affected.
(31:04):
And therefore, I don't want toget too technical about it, but
basically the nerves and thearteries that run through my
collarbone that innervate myhands and arms, they are getting
pinched.
And that's a reallyuncomfortable situation to be
in.
So I turned to yoga.
because I didn't know what elseto do.
(31:25):
I tried physical therapy for awhile and I thought just...
Vickie (31:28):
Is it helping?
The yoga?
Brittany (31:31):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
If I miss more than a couple ofdays of just doing stretches,
mainly focusing on my upperbody, my arms primarily, and my
back, I feel it.
I feel it when I work thestitches.
It's almost like little...
pins and needles.
I feel kind of up and down myarms.
(31:51):
So I know this has helped me.
And it hurts to see commentsthat come through that say, I
really want to do this, but ithurts so bad.
This is something that peopleneed to be aware of, that there
are stretches that you can dothat are not difficult.
I'm not athletic.
I would not consider myself anathletic person and I'm not
(32:11):
flexible either.
So I can get down on the floorand I can see a big difference.
Vickie (32:16):
Flexibility is so important for aging bodies too.
And, you know, we're bothrelatively young, you're much
younger than I am, but this isthe time that you have to start
preparing your body.
You know, flexibility is, isone of the big factors in my,
you know, elderly people breaktheir hip fall and break their
hips and all that, you know,like that.
(32:36):
And, And, you know, strengthand it's important now.
And we're being harder on ourbodies then.
I mean, not than athletes, mostcertainly, but we're definitely
harder on parts of our bodiesthan some people for sure.
And it's so important.
And we do talk about that inthe book.
And there are I focused fortheir yoga.
I focused on shoulder openersand wrist exercises mostly.
(33:00):
But I'm a huge proponent ofstopping every 20 minutes and
stretching your arms.
With the clavicle area.
So that area on the front sideof your shoulders, and then and
your wrists, and also stoppingand icing them, which is not
something I got into in thebook, but it's really important
for the long haul, not just forgetting through one project, but
for being able to, you know,still make things 20 years from
(33:23):
now.
Brittany (33:24):
Yeah.
Oh, that's interesting.
I haven't heard of icing.
So you're just putting itdirectly on your wrists?
Vickie (33:29):
Oh, yeah.
You have to.
Yeah, you have to.
Brittany (33:31):
I'm going to have to try that.
So every 20 minutes, do you letit sit for a
Vickie (33:35):
few minutes?
Oh, so I don't do this.
I don't ice it as often as Istretch.
So stretching, you stop every20 minutes.
I will ice at the end of thenight sometimes if I've had a
long session or if I notice thatthere's sort of the beginning
of pain.
It helps a lot.
I'm definitely going to have totry that.
(33:56):
I would also like to say that Ihave like I have a zero medical
background.
I'm just telling you what hasworked for me.
Brittany (34:03):
Yeah,
Vickie (34:03):
I think practical advice is the best kind.
So there's there's some yoga inthere.
And there's also my formertrainer.
So I've been doing Pilates,yoga.
on and off, mostly on forprobably seven years.
And that's what I do.
I do do some yoga, but reallyPilates.
So there's the strengtheningaspect too, is a big focus for
(34:24):
me.
And my former trainer, when Iwas at a gym versus just a
Pilates studio, is also in thebook.
And she also did some segmentson the Knit Show.
And she really focuses on corestrength, because you need your
core to support your spine,right?
You want to not have backaches, right?
And so that sort of, itinvolves so much more than just
(34:46):
taking care of your wrists ifyou want to continue on knitting
and crochet.
Like having a strong core meansthat your back is supported so
that you can sit and knit orcrochet for longer.
So that's another part of sortof the physical well-being
aspect of the knit private.
Brittany (35:01):
Yeah, that makes sense.
And that is something that Icould probably focus a lot more
on because you don't realize howmuch your core is involved in
your posture.
Vickie (35:11):
Yeah.
Brittany (35:12):
Oh, yes,
Vickie (35:13):
absolutely.
And that is just– that'ssomething that Pilates and yoga
instructors both really try andfocus on is how important that,
you know, that ab strength is.
Brittany (35:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Now, something else youmentioned too, and this was–
it's so– obvious yet so subtle.
You wouldn't think of it, butyour diet and how that plays a
role in your bone health, yourjoints and muscles and all of
that stuff.
That's like the next step.
(35:44):
You want to keep yourselfflexible and keep everything
moving and strengthened, but thebasis of all of that is your
diet and how you're fuelingyourself, how you're fueling
your cells.
Vickie (36:00):
Yeah, so I've mentioned that sort of at the very heart
of this book is community.
And I really reached out to myown community for many aspects
of the book.
So the yoga instructor in thebook is actually my brother's
wife.
The trainer, as I mentioned,was my former trainer.
And the nutrition informationcomes from Dr.
(36:21):
Michelle Lane.
And she is a professor ofnutrition.
She helped heads up thenutrition team.
department at Texas StateUniversity and she also happens
to be my neighbor and so we havetalked she also crochets too
and we have talked at lengthabout the subject of nutrition
(36:42):
as it affects the body for manydifferent things and so I asked
her if she would speak directlyabout bones, joints and muscles
you know the things that we ascrafters rely on the most and so
she put together I mean, she'sa professor, so she wrote it up
like a paper.
I asked her for a blurboriginally, and it is a very
(37:04):
in-depth two-page spread onomega polyunsaturated fatty
acids and calcium and vitamin Dand the foods that you can get
all of those nutrients from forphysical health.
Brittany (37:25):
Yeah.
And I think that's relatablefor everybody, too.
I mean, we all have our own,you know, dietary restrictions
and that sort of thing.
But at its core, these arereally basic elements.
Yeah.
And I think that no matter howyou like to eat or what you can
and can't eat, I think there's away that you can incorporate
(37:48):
all of these into your diet. Didshe share any personal stories
or anything like that about howincorporating these has helped
her personally?
No, because
Vickie (38:00):
I think that this has just been her life for so long.
Like, I'm not sure that shelike this is like this is what
she practices.
And it's not just like shefocused for me on these
elements.
But, you know, she spent.
years and years studyingvitamin A and also D.
This is her life's work.
So that in and of itself hasbeen the effect on her life.
Brittany (38:24):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's interesting.
Another area that I think iskind of winding us down this
journey, this is the one that Iguess is really relatable to me
because I I mentioned earlier, Ireally enjoy the process, maybe
more than the finished project.
And mindfulness is really apart of the process.
(38:50):
And you talk about that in thebook as well.
So what did you learn aboutmindfulness as it relates to us
as knitters and crocheters?
Yeah.
So this
Vickie (39:01):
is another time that I reached out to my community, um,
And this is actually a womanthat I practiced Pilates with
for years.
We were in the same class forFor years, my friend Chelsea
DeCroft, and she is apsychotherapist.
She's also a life coach andspiritual leader.
And so she really, and she alsohappens to be a knitter.
(39:25):
And so she talks about a coupledifferent things in the book.
One is a little more technical.
She talks about theneuroscience of creativity and
how just being creative affectsyour brain.
But then she moves over tomindfulness.
And not only how knitting andcrocheting can influence
(39:46):
mindfulness but also how the waywe approach our knitting and
crochet can be more mindful andshe says it a lot more
eloquently that I'm going to butshe's essentially saying give
yourself a break like stopfocusing on what you're doing
wrong breathe and just let theprocess happen um and so um
(40:10):
That's a really interestingcouple pages in the book as
well, is just sort of reallylearning about not only the
benefits of the craft, but justalso how you can change your
perspective just a scoach to geta more mindful and meaningful
experience out of it.
Yeah.
(41:54):
I'm curious.
Do you practice meditation?
I would say, so the truthful answer is not really.
The in earnest answer is Ireally intend to.
My intention is to bring more.
And then the expansion on thatis, I do a little bit, but just
(42:19):
not in the way that people thinkof.
I'm not sitting necessarilycross-legged in a room and
focused.
A lot of what I do arerepeating phrases to myself, or
as I'm drifting off,hyper-focusing on gratitude and
what I want and what I havealready received.
So not in the technical sense,but...
(42:41):
In the very general sense, yes.
Brittany (42:44):
Yeah, I can relate to that so much.
I think meditation is differentfor every person.
That's something that I havereally explored quite a bit this
year as well.
Well, I guess starting lastyear, I started with Headspace,
which is just your traditionalmeditation app that you can get.
That's an app that people canget.
They have a sort of like afreemium app.
(43:06):
model you can get a few guidedmeditations for free and then
you pay on a monthly basis and Ireally wasn't invested enough
to pay for it so I listened towhat I could for free and moved
on to something called the Musewhich is a and again this comes
from my technical sciencebackground it's a device that
(43:27):
you wear that gives you instantfeedback of whether or not
you're doing it right.
Based on the weather.
Vickie (43:35):
So we're back to being perfectionists.
Brittany (43:37):
Right, right.
It's a common theme for me.
But what I learned throughhaving that device is that
meditation is different foreverybody.
I think you spelled that out sowell with explaining how you
practice meditation.
Now, today for me, I would sayI am much more doing– practicing
(43:59):
meditation kind of like youare.
I use the Muse device lessbecause I feel like I know what
it's supposed to feel like tocalm your mind.
For me, that was just acompletely, that was something
that didn't exist.
I didn't know what it was liketo not have thoughts.
And the Muse certainly helpedme with that.
(44:20):
But I also think that there isa strong sense of of meditation
while we're creating and we maynot call it that or we may not
know that we could be meditatingbut I think a lot of us are as
we're either zoning out whenwe've got a pattern that's
really easy to work with or whenwe're hyper focused on what
(44:44):
that pattern is.
Yeah, I agree.
Maybe it's the word that'sassociated with it that makes it
sound and feel different.
But I wanted to highlight thatin the book because I think it's
something that we should allcheck into and see if perhaps we
might be practicing and reapingthe benefits of the craft and
(45:08):
through meditation.
Vickie (45:11):
Yeah, and just to sort of like put a– or period on it
is that, or underline it a bit,is that knitting in itself can
be meditative, as you mentioned,and often for me, I would say
that that's probably, obviouslynot on big deadlines or
whatever, but happening a lotbecause I choose to not do
(45:33):
really technically difficultprojects most of the time
because I want to be able tosort of let my mind wander.
And so...
I think for me, you know, I hada hard time.
My whole reason for startingknitting, you know, years ago
was that I don't do well justsitting still.
And that was a way for me tosort of like channel that energy
(45:54):
and sort of kind of calm mymind enough that I could be
tuned into whatever else wasgoing on with the family or in
life.
So I think that there aredifferent definitions and
different ways that people canincorporate meditation into a
life.
Brittany (46:09):
Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
That's a great way to put it.
So there's a couple of othersections in here that I was, I
just thought were really cool.
And I just wanted to highlightthose areas of the book because
to your point earlier, it'ssomething that's very unique in
what is available right now.
There's a section I thought wasreally fun, astrology for kids.
(46:31):
knitters.
And now I want to say it's notjust knitting.
It's not just knitters.
The book isn't for justknitters.
It's knitting and crochet aswell.
But there's a section calledknitters astrology.
And I thought that was superfun to sort of just read through
if that's something that you'reinto.
Vickie (46:47):
Yeah, it was meant to just, you know, just just be
fun.
And again, it's justunderlining that point that
knitters you know, when you lovesomething, you incorporate it
in every aspect of your life.
And so this was, this was areally great thing that I was
thrilled to have as a part ofthe intention section.
Carrie Ann Godwin is anastrologist.
(47:08):
She's I believe she'sAustralian, but she lives in the
UK.
And she used to write theastrology or the knit astrology
column for a magazine that nolonger exists that I used to
write for called Knit One.
And it was through that, TriciaMalcolm, who is the former
editor-in-chief and editorialdirector of Vogue Knitting, she
(47:30):
put us in touch for this book.
And so I was thrilled thatCarrie-Anne was willing to write
up some books.
some fun blurbs for all of thezodiac signs for this book.
Brittany (47:42):
Yeah, I thought it was fun.
And just to share with mylisteners here.
Now, actually, I heard a whileback.
Now, I'm not typically intoastrology.
It's not something that I keepup with.
But I remember hearing a whileago, did they end up changing
the date ranges?
No, that was like
Vickie (47:59):
a thing for, I think, a blink in time.
And here's the other thing.
True astrology, like, as itwere, involves so much more than
just your actual birth date.
It's like location and timezone and time and there's so
much more.
So this is just the mostsurface of surfacy levels.
But it's meant to be just forentertainment purposes.
Brittany (48:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, from an entertainmentstandpoint, I definitely enjoyed
reading I'm an Aquarius.
So the amazing Aquarius was wasthe section that I read.
Vickie (48:37):
Yeah, it was it was the woman who wrote the mindfulness
and neuroscience book.
section that you related to orfelt a connection to, she is
also an Aquarius.
Brittany (48:51):
Okay.
That's interesting.
Vickie (48:52):
So there you go.
Brittany (48:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Another really fun section Ikind of wanted to just breeze
over real quick is the knittingand numerology.
That's something I have neverheard of before.
So I went through...
Numerology or putting themtogether?
Either.
I went through and I found thatI am a...
Was it a...
(49:13):
a life path number nine.
Speaker 02 (49:17):
Okay.
Brittany (49:17):
So you have a, like a little swatch for all of the
different life paths.
And I thought that was reallyfun.
I want to knit up that swatch.
I think it would be really fun.
Vickie (49:28):
This is another, just like my intention was to be fun.
I actually had a numerologyreading with Dr.
Felicia Bender myself as partof my, my last birthday was a, I
did all of this sort of likeintrospective stuff.
Um, I had crystal readings.
I had a numerology reading.
I had Diva Zappa, who's alsofeatured in this book.
(49:49):
She did a tarot reading for me.
I did all of the things.
And after that, I asked her ifshe would be willing to let me
excerpt parts of of both herwebsite and one of her books.
And then tie it into knittingsome way because there's so many
(50:09):
numbers in knitting and crochetthat I just thought it would be
fun to sort of link themtogether.
And so they're not actually,like knitting and numerology
isn't actually like a thingthat's out there.
I just thought it would be funand she was up for it.
So she gave me all of thedescriptions for the life path
numbers and the instructions onhow to calculate it.
And then I went and found...
(50:29):
stitch patterns that had thecombination of using the same
number of either stitches orrows or both, and also had
fabric characteristics thatlined up with the personality
traits of each life number.
So it was kind of a fun littleexercise for me.
(50:50):
And I'm actually doing a coupleof events.
I know I'm definitely doing itat Craftcation in April, but
where we And I'm hoping to doone in Denver where Dr.
Bender is located, where it'sjust sort of a fun thing where
people come and they figure outtheir life path number and then
they make the swatch thatcorresponds with it.
(51:12):
Just a light event that I thinkcan be a lot of fun.
And again, it's just looking atthe craft in a completely
different
Brittany (51:20):
Right, right.
It's just another way for us toconnect the dots and make it a
little bit more meaningful forus.
Vickie (51:28):
Yeah.
Brittany (51:28):
Now, outside of all of that, there's so much more in
this book that we haven'ttouched on.
You mean the actual knittingand crochet?
Yeah, that's only half of thebook.
You have so many patterns inhere.
It's amazing.
And they are both knit andcrochet.
Again, it's not...
Vickie (51:47):
It's not only, but we should be fair.
The majority of the patternsare knit because I don't want to
misrepresent to my crochet-onlyfriends.
But there are several crochetpatterns for sure.
Brittany (51:59):
Okay, yeah.
So I think this is a...
Wonderful book to pick up.
I would love for you to sharewhere my listeners can pick up a
copy.
And I'm on page 40, which I amlike ecstatic to be able to say.
But aside from that, like Isaid, there's so much goodness
in here.
So where is it available forthem to pick up?
Vickie (52:20):
It's everywhere.
I mean, they can get it onAmazon.
They can get it from theirlocal independent bookstore.
If your yarn store doesn'talready carry it, ask them to.
That would be great.
I sell it on my e-commercesite, yarnyay.com.
I mean, really, you can get itwherever you like to shop for
(52:41):
books.
And if you'll tag at VickiHowell in anything that you do
from it or anything thatresonates from it, I would
really appreciate that becauseit takes a village to get the
word out.
about a book these days.
Brittany (52:52):
I've heard that as well.
It's difficult.
Also, reviews, I know, are areally big part of that, getting
the word out.
I know there's a lot of us,myself included, I I like to buy
from Amazon.
And so leaving a review onAmazon, I think would also be
really helpful for you.
Vickie (53:11):
Yeah, that's a great, that's a great thing to mention.
I appreciate just as much youleaving me a five star review as
you not leaving me a review atall.
If you did not love it.
Consider that a service ifyou're not into it.
Brittany (53:30):
Yes.
Okay.
Well, I will have a link to thebook on Amazon again, because
that's sort of where I like topurchase.
Now, once again, I was given acopy of this because of being a
part of it.
But we should also give one toyour audience too, if you want.
That would be really fun.
Could we do that?
I don't see why not.
All right.
So let's come up with agiveaway here on the fly.
(53:52):
It will work best...
over podcast if we can sendthem back to the show notes page
for this episode it's bhooked.com slash 137 and let's
have them leave something in thecomment section and i'll just
pick a random winner after say aweek does that sound good to
you.
(54:46):
Okay, so leave that in thecomments section on the show
notes page, behooked.com slash137.
And I have to ask too, arethere any restrictions for
location?
Are you able to ship worldwideor just certain countries?
I
Vickie (55:00):
think that we can ship worldwide.
I know that it's also out in afew English-speaking countries,
so I think that we candefinitely handle UK or US.
Because I know that and we'redoing this on the fly, let's say
UK and US.
Brittany (55:15):
Okay.
Sounds good.
And I will contact that winnerjust completely at random.
It's not going to be based onwhat the comment is because
they're all valuable.
It'll just be totally random.
That sounds good.
And I can also communicate withthat person through the
comments and I will share myemail address and say, Hey,
(55:35):
yeah,
Vickie (55:36):
do that.
Let's do that way.
That usually goes better in myexperiences.
If you give people an emailaddress to send you their
information too.
Brittany (55:43):
Okay.
That sounds good.
So that's what we'll do leaveyour comment I will pick someone
at random or just a comment atrandom and I will communicate
with you via that same page.
So you'll get the reply therefrom me and then I'll have you
send me an email with yourcontact info so that way we can
(56:04):
get your book to you.
So thank you so much for that.
I know that that'll be a realtreat for somebody in the
audience because like I said I'mreally really enjoying this
book right now and I just wantto say thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure to chatabout this.
I know there's so much morethat this book goes into and And
we can only scratch thesurface.
(56:25):
But now you just got to get thebook because it's wonderful.
Vickie (56:28):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Brittany (56:30):
If somebody wants to connect with you after hearing
the episode, I'm sure they canprobably find you if they type
in your name in Google.
But what's your favorite placeto connect with people in the
community?
Do you like to use Instagram?
Vickie (56:45):
Instagram is fine.
It's just at Vicki Howell orFacebook, which is just also
Brittany (56:49):
at Vicki Howell.
All right.
Wonderful.
I will send people there.
I'll have that information foryou in the show notes page so
you don't have to remember that.
And Vicki, thank you again.
It's been a real pleasure.
Vickie (56:59):
Thank you.
Brittany (57:01):
All right, just to recap that giveaway, the
information there.
If you are listening to thisbetween October 10th and October
17th, 2019, and you want totake part in this giveaway, head
over to the show notes page,behooked.com slash 137.
Scroll down until you see thecomments section and tell us
(57:23):
your story of what knitting orcrochet has done for you.
That will be your entry intothe giveaway.
And on the 18th of October,2019, I will just randomly
select a comment and reply tothat.
So be sure you check back atthe show notes page on the 18th
(57:46):
to see if I have replied to yourcomment.
If so, that means you were therandomly selected winner of
Vicky's book, The Knit Vibe, andI will need you to email me so
I can get your information so wecan get the book out to you.
Now, as Vicky mentioned, sheknows she can ship anywhere in
(58:06):
the US and the UK, so we will belimiting the giveaway to those
regions.
So keep that in mind as youmake a comment.
And good luck.
I know this is a wonderfulbook.
It's something you totallycould hear that I am really
excited about that right now.
I love the information that'sset out.
(58:28):
I think it's such a valuableresource for the community to
bring some awareness to some ofthese things that I know we're
all struggling with and goingthrough.
but we don't have any guidanceon that.
I feel like that's what thisbook is certainly doing for me
right now, giving me thatguidance that I need to make
(58:49):
sure my body, my mind, my healthare where they need to be so
that I can continue to reap thebenefits of my craft.
Now, this isn't a sponsorshipor anything like that.
I'm just really on fire forthis book right now.
So if you do want to pick up acopy, It's available pretty much
(59:10):
everywhere.
I will have a link to where youcan purchase on Amazon on the
show notes page.
And like Vicki mentioned, ifyou do end up picking up a copy
of this book, snap a photo,share it with her on social.
That is really helpful for her.
And of course, those reviewsare always very valuable to help
(59:31):
spread the word about a newbook.
All right, now that'll do forthis episode of the Be Hooked
podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme this week.
Thank you so much for listeningevery week, for subscribing,
for leaving reviews.
All of that stuff really,really helps the show.
It helps keep me motivated.
It helps me in so many ways.
(59:52):
So I just wanted to say thankyou for that.
And I'll see you next week, myfriend.
You're listening to The Be Hooked Podcast, episode
137, with Brittany.
Hey there, welcome to anotherepisode of the Be Hooked
(00:34):
Podcast, the place where we loveyarn, we love to learn, and we
truly believe yarn can do morefor us than just make pretty
things.
And boy oh boy, do I have atreat for you today.
So I've been keeping a tinylittle secret from you for over
a year now, and I am bursting atthe seams and over the moon
(00:55):
excited to share that secretwith you today.
And to help me share the secretwith you is Vicki Howell.
She's returning on the show totalk about her new book, The
Knit Vibe.
This book is my jam right now.
Now I'll let Vicki do thehonors in sharing what this
(01:17):
secret is, so keep that in mind.
But before we get to that, Iwant to let you know that she
has also offered a giveaway toone lucky listener.
So you'll want to stick to thevery end of the episode.
We'll go through theinstructions of what to do and
what you could potentially winas you participate in that
(01:37):
giveaway.
Also, keep in mind that theshow notes can be found at
BeHooked.com slash 137.
You'll find all of theinformation that we talk about
there and all of the informationfor the giveaway on that page.
So keep that in mind.
And let's get to my talk withVicki.
Vicki Howell, welcome back tothe show.
(01:58):
How are you doing this morning?
Wonderful.
Well, I'm pretty pumped to haveyou on the show for a second
time, but I'm extra excitedtoday because I get to share a
little secret with my audiencethat I've been keeping from them
for over a year now.
Do you want to do the honors?
Vickie (02:17):
Why, yes, I will.
That's so cute that you keepthings like that you have
secret.
I don't think that I keep.
I mean, unless I'mcontractually obligated.
I feel like every part of likethe process of anything I do is
is public.
So, I mean, yeah.
That's awesome that you dothat.
So I have my 13th book iscoming out or is out as of the
(02:42):
8th, October 8th.
It's called The Knit Vibe, AKnitter's Guide to Creativity,
Community and Wellbeing for theMind, Body and Soul.
And it is a huge book thatencompasses sort of like all the
That is our community and it'ssort of a love letter from me to
(03:02):
the knitting and crochetcommunity.
And as part of that, I have awhole section featuring
different designers of all sortof like, you know, from
different places in the worldand also different parts of the
industry.
And you are one of thosedesigners featured.
Brittany (03:22):
I am so ecstatic.
Actually, you know, I don'tkeep a whole lot of secrets
because I'm really not great atthat.
But I was...
I
Vickie (03:31):
mean, you're the only person in the industry that
nobody knows your last name.
I know.
That's a pretty good secret.
Brittany (03:38):
You know, that was something that was just a choice
that my husband and I madereally early on.
And...
Now it's just become a thing.
So I'm
Vickie (03:48):
just saying that that takes some fortitude.
So give yourself credit wherecredit is due.
Brittany (03:53):
Yeah, it's not difficult.
And it's not that I'm trying toconceal my identity or anything
like that.
I just I don't know.
It's kind of hard to explain,to be honest with you.
I like to just keep it simple.
Keep the focus away from me andon the craft as much as
possible.
So.
Vickie (04:09):
Well, you don't owe anybody any explanation for why
you do what you do.
I just think that it's prettyamazing that you've been able to
do it was my only point becausethere isn't a lot of anonymity
in general, but also when youare the face of whatever it is,
your own brand, your own site,whatever somebody else's brand,
it becomes exponentially harder.
(04:30):
So good job keeping yourintegrity at the level that you
want
Brittany (04:36):
it to be.
Well, I appreciate that.
You know, I didn't– I think Imentioned it in passing to my
husband when we first connectedabout this because that was just
like– I kind of had just acrazy geek out moment there
because I was so excited to beable to connect with you.
So I'm sure I mentioned it tohim, but I haven't said anything
(04:56):
to him until recently the bookarrived.
And I had it on the counter forwhen he came home.
And I was like, I'm in thisbook.
It's so much fun.
So he kind of flipped throughand was reading it.
And it was just kind of a...
Just a really surreal momentthat I got to connect with
somebody who I have alwaysreally considered a mentor.
And to actually be a part ofone of your publications is just
(05:21):
amazing.
So first of all, I want to saythank you for choosing me to be
in the book.
But I definitely want to getinto some of the details of it
because since I've had this inmy possession, I can't put it
down.
There's so much interestingstuff in here.
So much...
information that I am reallyinterested in, topics we've
(05:44):
talked about here on the showbefore, so I know my audience is
interested in it as well.
So let's just dive into it.
First of all, the name isreally intriguing.
What's the story behind that?
Vickie (05:58):
Well, originally, this book was a at least two years,
if not longer, in the making.
I knew that I wanted to workwith Abrams, the publisher.
They're putting, hands down,putting out the most beautiful
books right now in the craftcategory.
But I wasn't sure what it was.
I didn't really think that Iwanted to do another
(06:19):
straightforward knitting book.
I had some other ideas.
And then the knit showhappened, and so we decided that
we would just do a knit showbook.
And And in case your listenersdon't know, I have a 10-episode
series that is on Roku and alsoon YouTube featuring 20 guests,
(06:43):
and it's a proper sort ofknitting and crochet show.
So we started...
doing that, just sort ofencapsulating the community that
was involved with that and sortof the zeitgeist of what went
into that show.
And just slowly, it kind ofmorphed into its own thing.
And it was actually my editor,Shauna Mullen, who changed the
name.
She just, after seeing thecontent, seeing just sort of the
(07:06):
breadth of material and not...
not just the amount, but justsort of the range of what I'm
trying to convey, she came upwith the title.
And I had to sit with it for abit.
I wasn't sure if it was right.
And now I can't imagine itbeing anything different.
And as we've sort of progressedwith the book, and now
(07:29):
obviously that it's out, itreally has become...
sort of my catchphrase for whatI'm talking about in the
entirety of this book.
And for me, what the knit vibeis, is that sort of intangible
feeling that being a knitter orcrocheter, or as a side note,
(07:53):
whatever your creative, youknow, outlet is, happens to be,
it doesn't matter if you writepoetry or paint or play music, I
believe that how you'recreative really crafts the lens
through which you see the worldand also is a conduit for how
(08:13):
you communicate, how you're anactivist or not, how you serve
others, how you have fun.
And so that really, as far asthis book goes, is what the Knit
Vibe is.
It's the nest.
It's the essence of being ableto create.
It's the essence ofcommunicating with other people
(08:37):
whether it's virtually throughRavelry or in a Facebook group
or in a Knit Hive or Stitch andBitch group, or even if it's
just you're on a subway andsomeone strikes up a
conversation with you becauseyou are physically making
something and they see that asan in to talking to you about
some memory that they have.
(08:59):
So it's that, but also...
Some people, and we'll talkabout this in a little bit, use
their craft to get in touch withtheir spirituality a little bit
more.
There have been severalarticles over the past, I don't
know, maybe five years about howknitting and crochet are really
(09:22):
good for our mental wellness asa stress reliever.
So we talk a little bit aboutthat.
And really just...
how the knitting and thecrochet is, yes, it's a ball of
yarn and a hook or needles, butit's not, that's just the
jumping off point.
It really is the opener.
It is the window that we allclimb through for all of these
(09:45):
other things that surround us.
And so that is the knit vibe.
And so that's sort of theevolution of both the book and
the name all wrapped up in one.
Brittany (09:58):
Yeah, I absolutely love it.
I connect with that so muchbecause for the past, I would
say this year, I have reallytried to hone in on my place in
the community.
What am I here for?
What do I have to offer?
And the discovery of that waslike learning a lot more about
(10:20):
myself.
What is it that I get out ofthe craft and how is it that I
can share that with somebodyelse.
So I started thinking about it,jotting some ideas down, and
what it boils down to for me isthat yarn does more than just
make pretty things.
And so that's sort of become asaying now that I've mentioned
(10:40):
here on the show, I've mentionedit in my YouTube videos, But
because I love the process somuch, for me, working with yarn,
whether it be knitting orcrocheting or just randomly
dyeing yarn for fun because it'ssomething different, the
process for me is what is acraving, I guess.
(11:01):
And it does more for me thanjust create that end result.
And for the longest time, Ihaven't had a really great way
of explaining that.
And I think that's why I'm sodrawn to this book and the knit
vibe as a whole.
I think it really explains whatI'm trying to portray or
(11:23):
helping to explain to the worldhow to express what yarn does
for you.
Does that make sense?
Vickie (11:36):
Yeah, I think for me, incorporating some form of
creativity, even if you consideryourself not to be creative,
which I fully believe is not athing, in some way is extremely
important for our sort ofpersonal growth and the
(11:57):
evolution of our community.
Because when you're creative,there's an openness.
Creativity creates thatopenness.
And when there's an openness,then you will actually be See
more things be willing to listento more people and if you're
listening and seeing more Thenmaybe then then you can have
these conversations that arereally important that you may
(12:18):
not have had if you didn't havethat openness And so for me,
it's a building block you know,you may find yourself at a you
know at a knitting table with agroup or at a yarn store with
people whom you would never havecrossed paths for any other
reason and And that might bejust geographical.
(12:39):
It might be because you're atdifferent socioeconomic levels.
It might be because you'redifferent from different
political sides of the fence.
It might be differentreligions.
It might be it could be anyages.
It doesn't matter.
Gender, sexuality, sexualexpression.
It really doesn't matter.
But you found yourself in thisspace because of knitting or
(13:02):
crochet.
And that is a gift.
Because that is an opportunityto open your world, to open your
eyes, to have conversationsthat you may never have had the
opportunity before.
And I believe that our place onthis earth is to experience it,
to experience relationships, toexperience the different levels
(13:23):
of living.
And you can't do that withoutbeing open.
And so it's like, you know,it's like a, if we're looking at
a graph at a chart, it would bean arrow in a circle, you know,
one begets one thing begets theother.
And so that's sort of the, Idon't straight up talk about
that specifically in the book.
(13:44):
It's what I'm hoping will beclear by within its pages by the
content and the people who area part of it.
Brittany (13:51):
Yeah.
When I was listening to whatyou were saying, it reminded me
of something you say in theintroduction where you say, for
me, life is about showing up forwho and what you love.
That really reminded me ofthis.
Is that sort of what you had inmind while you were writing
that?
Vickie (14:10):
Yeah, it is.
Let me see if I can edit thisso it's a little more PG rated.
I have a personal motto.
Um, and it's essentially showup and don't be a jerk.
And I really think that that'slike, those are like, those are
the two things that I live bythe most in friendship and, you
(14:32):
know, in career in family andfor knitting, you know, you and
I are both in the industry andit is an industry that struggles
largely knitting and crochet isstill considered, you know,
quote unquote, women's work,using that as a derogatory term,
there is not the value placedon knitwear designers that there
(14:58):
are on, say, fashion designersor chefs or musicians or anybody
else who is creating somethingfor someone else.
And often, our industrystruggles, as I just mentioned,
but also as in many differentindustries right now, because of
(15:22):
the way that media isprogressing, we're all having to
sort of grasp at straws to fitin.
And so for me, showing up forthe craft means to be out there
talking about what the actualbenefits are beyond creating
(15:43):
these beautiful wearablegarments or home decor.
To me, it's using my voice toshare what's past the tip of the
iceberg.
And so that's how I hope thatI'm showing up so that I can
help fellow designers, yarncompanies, yarn dyers, and just
(16:07):
hobbyists who really getsomething emotionally and
physically and mentally fromthese crafts, I hope that I can
help them rise together.
I hope that we can all helpeach other rise together.
Brittany (16:21):
Yeah, that makes sense.
I think we all have a commoninterest, which is yarn.
And we all have a commoninterest, which is to help our
industry succeed so we can allkeep doing what we love doing.
And I think that's important toremember that.
So I love that that's themessage that you're sharing
here.
I think we need to be remindedof that every now and then.
(16:44):
Well, I'm going to do it a lot.
Well, I will be here helping youbecause I'm sure you've heard
the quote, and I've said it hereso many times, a rising tide
lifts all boats.
It's almost said so much thatit has less meaning, but it's
really so true.
Yeah,
Vickie (17:03):
it's actually in my mission statement for my
subscription box company, YarnYay.
We are a rising tide company,and that is the Actually, that
is the platform for which therest of the business stands.
Brittany (17:18):
Yeah.
Well, talk about a woman ofintegrity.
You are practicing what youpreach.
That's the showing up part,right?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
I love how that comes fullcircle.
It's admirable to...
really have all of that figuredout.
I'm sure it wasn't somethingthat just happened overnight,
though.
You've been in the industry forso long.
(17:39):
I mean, not so long.
We don't have...
Well, that's true.
I'm not trying to...
I'm just teasing you.
I'm just teasing you.
Well, I guess in terms of howlong I've been doing it, I feel
like it's just been a couple of
Vickie (17:55):
years.
100%.
100%.
I have been in this industryfor...
16 years, 17 years, somewherearound that.
Um, so yeah, I've seen a thingor two.
You've seen a lot of changes.
You've
Brittany (18:10):
kind of rode the waves with it.
Vickie (18:12):
Yeah.
I mean, I, I really, reallyhave done my share of pivoting
over the past decade and a halffor sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, you have to be verycreative to be in our industry
and that creativity has nothingto do whether or not you know
how to design it's it's, It'sliterally creating a career that
Brittany (18:36):
is sustainable.
a big part of that is knowinghow and when to pivot.
Vickie (19:04):
Yeah, for sure.
I think that I get a littlefrustrated when I hear, you
know, they're being blameplaced, but, you know, and this
could be from yarn stores orthis could be from, you know,
any, anybody in the industrywho's frustrated and that
frustration is absolutelyjustified.
But I feel a little frustratedmyself when I hear it being
(19:28):
blamed on, you somebody elsedoing something that's hurting
somebody else's businessinadvertently, not maliciously,
but you know, somebody elsestarting an e-commerce site for
their shop.
Well, that's taking away, youknow, somebody else's shop
business or somebody else, youknow, we can't do this because
we can't compete with Amazon orwe can't do this or we can't.
And, and for me, that's wastedenergy.
(19:51):
What we need to do is find out,like value ourselves enough to
really know our Followers,subscribers, customers,
audience, whatever it is, andknow what they want from us and
lean into that and do more ofthat and less of the other thing
that we feel like we're failingat instead of placing blame on
(20:11):
other people for things notworking.
Because we are in the Wild Westright now.
We're still only about20-something years into the
internet, first of all, which islike infancy for technology.
And social media really...
Real social media, how it isnow, is really only about seven
years old, eight years old.
So we're all here.
(20:32):
And you have to be flexible.
You have to be pliable.
And for me, I try to think ofit and think of it as an
opportunity.
We're pioneering.
Yeah, we have to be creative.
And to speak to the point of itnot necessarily being about
(20:52):
what we make, being the way thatwe're creative.
You're a great example of that.
You started your career by notmaking anything at all.
And we talk about that in yourfeature in the Knit Vibe, how
you started by just having abeautifully curated Pinterest
board, well, several of them,account would be a better way to
say it, of other people'sstuff.
(21:13):
And it has morphed into youteaching and designing and being
an influencer and that kind ofthing.
I mean, that That takesstrategy, and strategy is a–
even if it was unintentional,strategy takes creativity as
well.
Brittany (21:29):
Yeah.
I would like to say that therewas a lot of strategy that went
behind that, but honestly, I'mnot sure that I can.
I mean, obviously, I knew Iwanted to keep making things,
and eventually I wanted to sharewhat I was making.
And because at the time Ididn't know how to read a
pattern, I was– sort ofdesigning even though I wouldn't
(21:49):
really call it designing I knewI wanted to share those things
and in order to share that stuffwith other people you have to
have a community of people so Imean there was a little strategy
but I didn't consciously thinkabout that knowing what it was
going to be I just looked at thesituation that was in front of
(22:11):
me at that moment and figuredout the best way to accomplish
that one goal.
And that was just to share whatI was creating with somebody
who was as ecstatic about thatproject as I was.
Vickie (22:24):
Yeah, and I think that that's a good point, too.
It's really important.
I mean, yes, having some formof strategy is important.
But what's also important isthe again, the pliability to be
open to I'm back to being opento whatever that morphs into to
the opportunity that might cometo you that you might attract by
(22:45):
just following that one nuggetof passion that you have.
And then just sort of likeletting, letting things happen,
you know, finding that balanceof forcing things happen through
strategy, and letting thingscome to you that might not be
what you would have seen, butend up being what is actually
(23:06):
right for your path.
Brittany (23:08):
Right, that I would have never seen for myself.
Right, right.
Yeah, that's so true.
And it makes me think of howthings are still changing and
evolving right now.
I'm a little bit of, I wouldn'tsay I'm a control freak.
Have you ever heard of GretchenRubin's Four Tendencies?
(23:28):
You ever heard of that?
Okay, so she has a way ofcategorizing our tendencies,
right?
And I feel like I am, I kind ofskate between two.
And I think I lean more towardswhat she calls an upholder.
And that's somebody who canachieve outer and inner
(23:49):
expectations with noaccountability.
I say all of that to say that Ilike to know what's going on.
I like to have a plan.
I like to have a process, aroutine, like all of this stuff
scheduled and And mapped out.
But you can't really do that somuch in business.
(24:10):
And to relate it back to whatyou were saying, when we have a
goal in mind, it's great to havethat to strive towards.
But what ends up happening isusually different than whatever
that goal is.
And a lot of times it's betterthan what we could have
imagined.
Because like you said, we don'talways...
(24:32):
have that vision for whateveris coming about.
Vickie (24:36):
Yeah.
I mean, I, an example, apersonal example is that I had
never planned to have asubscription box business that
is not even just running a smallbusiness other than, you know,
just obviously it's a business,just being a host and
spokesperson or whatever, but anactual, you know, retail small
(24:58):
business was not ever somethingthat was in my plan.
Although I did think that theretail aspect was the big
missing piece in my overall sortof career.
But it was doing the show thatwas my true passion, the knit
show, that attracted the companythat helped me start Yarnier,
the subscription box company.
(25:18):
And now Yarnier is like 80% ofwhat what eats up my time that I
wear my focuses because itcombines a lot of the things
that community design, um,supporting other designers,
supporting other smallbusinesses, um, you know,
empowering people to becreative, also bringing in, you
know, money for the family thatis not reliant on any, uh,
(25:39):
anybody else cutting me a check,you know, all these things.
Um, and it was not planned atall, but because I was, you
know, I've, did what I reallywanted to do.
And I made my own show on, youknow, on my own.
I mean, with a productioncompany, but you know, without
any other backing, that that hasattracted a few different
(26:00):
things that I hadn't intended,but have been really good, if
nothing else, stepping stones towhatever the next big thing is.
Brittany (26:08):
Yeah, I think to summarize, just to experiment
and try and see what works, Ithink us sharing these two
stories, the thing that tiesthem together is we just tried
something.
And it's okay if an experimentdoesn't work.
One of the things that I'm sortof playing with right now is
(26:29):
different types of formatting ofvideos on the YouTube channel.
And that's part of anexperimentation process to see
what works.
I like to see what my viewerslike to watch.
And some things won't stick,and some of it will.
And I think that is a great wayto help find your place, but
(26:50):
also find what lights you upcreatively.
Vickie (26:53):
Yeah, it's really important to note that you can't
be an entrepreneur withoutrisk.
And risk involves trial anderror.
So it's not always going to gowell.
That's just not how being anentrepreneur works.
But if you can go into itknowing that, that gives you a
little bit of a pass for thingsto not work until they do.
Brittany (27:18):
Yeah, very true.
Well, to circle back around,there are a couple of topics in
the book that I really want toget your thoughts on because I
know that there are a lot ofmaker businesses here I kind of
want to touch on.
both of these areas.
So I appreciate the wisdomthere on trial and error and
(27:39):
figuring out what works and theencouragement behind that
because that's really important.
But underlying that, we all arecreators and we can't ever make
any of those things, our goals,our businesses, we can't ever
make any of that a reality untilwe really check in with
ourselves, set our intention,and really hone in on what this
(28:04):
craft does for us because I feellike that is the thing, that's
the driving force to keep yougoing through all of this hard
stuff.
Because being an entrepreneuris wonderful and I wouldn't
trade it for the world, but it'sharder than any job I could
have ever picked for myself.
And if it weren't for thiscraft and what I love and the
(28:25):
benefits I get from it, I'm notsure that I would have it in me
to keep going.
So you talk about differentareas, different intentions, and
I would love to kind of focusin on that right now.
Okay.
Well, you know, there are acouple of areas that I know I'm
super passionate about.
Yes, I want to
Vickie (28:45):
hear it.
I'm really interested to seehow this resonates with people
because there's not...
I mean, I could be wrong, but Idon't think there's another
book out there like this in ourgenre.
And so there's so which is, youknow, obviously good for for
many reasons, but it's also andwe're here we are back to it.
It's also risky.
(29:05):
Am I going to be able to conveyeverything that's in this book,
you know, so that people getit, you know, because people
don't buy pattern only books theway that they used to because,
you know, we're back to theInternet.
And also, I mean, I reallyfought for the subtitle that we
had to sort of fit as much in aswe could, you know.
(29:28):
So it's an experience.
This book, as everything in mycareer, to be frank, is also
somewhat of an experiment.
I don't know if it's going toresonate with people.
It's just sort of my truth, youknow.
Brittany (29:41):
Yeah, I love that.
And I think that is what peoplewill resonate with the most,
because although we might notrealize it, All of this stuff is
going through our mind.
I'm a strong believer in that.
One of the areas that I haveexplored this year is yoga to
help me with the constantpressures of having to turn
(30:03):
projects.
I mean, think about it.
If somebody is, well, if I werenot a business owner, I would
not pressure myself to make asmany projects in a year that I
do because it's hard.
It's difficult to make anentire blanket in a week or two.
It's not necessarily healthy totry to do that.
Vickie (30:24):
Girl, I'm making an eight foot by six foot version
of the cover, crocheted versionof the cover of my book right
now.
I hear you.
It's not good for your body.
Brittany (30:33):
No.
And so I have experienced someissues with, I mean, obviously
wrist and hand.
I feel like that just kind ofcomes with it.
Vickie (30:41):
Yeah.
That's part of the territory.
Brittany (30:43):
Yeah.
So for the last year or so, Ihave been struggling with
shoulder problems.
Yeah.
I hear that a lot.
Yeah.
It's so weird.
It's off the wall.
You wouldn't think that yourshoulders would be affected by
it.
But I guess because I sort ofhunch forward as I'm like
looking at my work, my posturehas been affected.
(31:04):
And therefore, I don't want toget too technical about it, but
basically the nerves and thearteries that run through my
collarbone that innervate myhands and arms, they are getting
pinched.
And that's a reallyuncomfortable situation to be
in.
So I turned to yoga.
because I didn't know what elseto do.
(31:25):
I tried physical therapy for awhile and I thought just...
Vickie (31:28):
Is it helping?
The yoga?
Brittany (31:31):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
If I miss more than a couple ofdays of just doing stretches,
mainly focusing on my upperbody, my arms primarily, and my
back, I feel it.
I feel it when I work thestitches.
It's almost like little...
pins and needles.
I feel kind of up and down myarms.
(31:51):
So I know this has helped me.
And it hurts to see commentsthat come through that say, I
really want to do this, but ithurts so bad.
This is something that peopleneed to be aware of, that there
are stretches that you can dothat are not difficult.
I'm not athletic.
I would not consider myself anathletic person and I'm not
(32:11):
flexible either.
So I can get down on the floorand I can see a big difference.
Vickie (32:16):
Flexibility is so important for aging bodies too.
And, you know, we're bothrelatively young, you're much
younger than I am, but this isthe time that you have to start
preparing your body.
You know, flexibility is, isone of the big factors in my,
you know, elderly people breaktheir hip fall and break their
hips and all that, you know,like that.
(32:36):
And, And, you know, strengthand it's important now.
And we're being harder on ourbodies then.
I mean, not than athletes, mostcertainly, but we're definitely
harder on parts of our bodiesthan some people for sure.
And it's so important.
And we do talk about that inthe book.
And there are I focused fortheir yoga.
I focused on shoulder openersand wrist exercises mostly.
(33:00):
But I'm a huge proponent ofstopping every 20 minutes and
stretching your arms.
With the clavicle area.
So that area on the front sideof your shoulders, and then and
your wrists, and also stoppingand icing them, which is not
something I got into in thebook, but it's really important
for the long haul, not just forgetting through one project, but
for being able to, you know,still make things 20 years from
(33:23):
now.
Brittany (33:24):
Yeah.
Oh, that's interesting.
I haven't heard of icing.
So you're just putting itdirectly on your wrists?
Vickie (33:29):
Oh, yeah.
You have to.
Yeah, you have to.
Brittany (33:31):
I'm going to have to try that.
So every 20 minutes, do you letit sit for a
Vickie (33:35):
few minutes?
Oh, so I don't do this.
I don't ice it as often as Istretch.
So stretching, you stop every20 minutes.
I will ice at the end of thenight sometimes if I've had a
long session or if I notice thatthere's sort of the beginning
of pain.
It helps a lot.
I'm definitely going to have totry that.
(33:56):
I would also like to say that Ihave like I have a zero medical
background.
I'm just telling you what hasworked for me.
Brittany (34:03):
Yeah,
Vickie (34:03):
I think practical advice is the best kind.
So there's there's some yoga inthere.
And there's also my formertrainer.
So I've been doing Pilates,yoga.
on and off, mostly on forprobably seven years.
And that's what I do.
I do do some yoga, but reallyPilates.
So there's the strengtheningaspect too, is a big focus for
(34:24):
me.
And my former trainer, when Iwas at a gym versus just a
Pilates studio, is also in thebook.
And she also did some segmentson the Knit Show.
And she really focuses on corestrength, because you need your
core to support your spine,right?
You want to not have backaches, right?
And so that sort of, itinvolves so much more than just
(34:46):
taking care of your wrists ifyou want to continue on knitting
and crochet.
Like having a strong core meansthat your back is supported so
that you can sit and knit orcrochet for longer.
So that's another part of sortof the physical well-being
aspect of the knit private.
Brittany (35:01):
Yeah, that makes sense.
And that is something that Icould probably focus a lot more
on because you don't realize howmuch your core is involved in
your posture.
Vickie (35:11):
Yeah.
Brittany (35:12):
Oh, yes,
Vickie (35:13):
absolutely.
And that is just– that'ssomething that Pilates and yoga
instructors both really try andfocus on is how important that,
you know, that ab strength is.
Brittany (35:23):
Yeah, yeah.
Now, something else youmentioned too, and this was–
it's so– obvious yet so subtle.
You wouldn't think of it, butyour diet and how that plays a
role in your bone health, yourjoints and muscles and all of
that stuff.
That's like the next step.
(35:44):
You want to keep yourselfflexible and keep everything
moving and strengthened, but thebasis of all of that is your
diet and how you're fuelingyourself, how you're fueling
your cells.
Vickie (36:00):
Yeah, so I've mentioned that sort of at the very heart
of this book is community.
And I really reached out to myown community for many aspects
of the book.
So the yoga instructor in thebook is actually my brother's
wife.
The trainer, as I mentioned,was my former trainer.
And the nutrition informationcomes from Dr.
(36:21):
Michelle Lane.
And she is a professor ofnutrition.
She helped heads up thenutrition team.
department at Texas StateUniversity and she also happens
to be my neighbor and so we havetalked she also crochets too
and we have talked at lengthabout the subject of nutrition
(36:42):
as it affects the body for manydifferent things and so I asked
her if she would speak directlyabout bones, joints and muscles
you know the things that we ascrafters rely on the most and so
she put together I mean, she'sa professor, so she wrote it up
like a paper.
I asked her for a blurboriginally, and it is a very
(37:04):
in-depth two-page spread onomega polyunsaturated fatty
acids and calcium and vitamin Dand the foods that you can get
all of those nutrients from forphysical health.
Brittany (37:25):
Yeah.
And I think that's relatablefor everybody, too.
I mean, we all have our own,you know, dietary restrictions
and that sort of thing.
But at its core, these arereally basic elements.
Yeah.
And I think that no matter howyou like to eat or what you can
and can't eat, I think there's away that you can incorporate
(37:48):
all of these into your diet. Didshe share any personal stories
or anything like that about howincorporating these has helped
her personally?
No, because
Vickie (38:00):
I think that this has just been her life for so long.
Like, I'm not sure that shelike this is like this is what
she practices.
And it's not just like shefocused for me on these
elements.
But, you know, she spent.
years and years studyingvitamin A and also D.
This is her life's work.
So that in and of itself hasbeen the effect on her life.
Brittany (38:24):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's interesting.
Another area that I think iskind of winding us down this
journey, this is the one that Iguess is really relatable to me
because I I mentioned earlier, Ireally enjoy the process, maybe
more than the finished project.
And mindfulness is really apart of the process.
(38:50):
And you talk about that in thebook as well.
So what did you learn aboutmindfulness as it relates to us
as knitters and crocheters?
Yeah.
So this
Vickie (39:01):
is another time that I reached out to my community, um,
And this is actually a womanthat I practiced Pilates with
for years.
We were in the same class forFor years, my friend Chelsea
DeCroft, and she is apsychotherapist.
She's also a life coach andspiritual leader.
And so she really, and she alsohappens to be a knitter.
(39:25):
And so she talks about a coupledifferent things in the book.
One is a little more technical.
She talks about theneuroscience of creativity and
how just being creative affectsyour brain.
But then she moves over tomindfulness.
And not only how knitting andcrocheting can influence
(39:46):
mindfulness but also how the waywe approach our knitting and
crochet can be more mindful andshe says it a lot more
eloquently that I'm going to butshe's essentially saying give
yourself a break like stopfocusing on what you're doing
wrong breathe and just let theprocess happen um and so um
(40:10):
That's a really interestingcouple pages in the book as
well, is just sort of reallylearning about not only the
benefits of the craft, but justalso how you can change your
perspective just a scoach to geta more mindful and meaningful
experience out of it.
Yeah.
(41:54):
I'm curious.
Do you practice meditation?
I would say, so the truthful answer is not really.
The in earnest answer is Ireally intend to.
My intention is to bring more.
And then the expansion on thatis, I do a little bit, but just
(42:19):
not in the way that people thinkof.
I'm not sitting necessarilycross-legged in a room and
focused.
A lot of what I do arerepeating phrases to myself, or
as I'm drifting off,hyper-focusing on gratitude and
what I want and what I havealready received.
So not in the technical sense,but...
(42:41):
In the very general sense, yes.
Brittany (42:44):
Yeah, I can relate to that so much.
I think meditation is differentfor every person.
That's something that I havereally explored quite a bit this
year as well.
Well, I guess starting lastyear, I started with Headspace,
which is just your traditionalmeditation app that you can get.
That's an app that people canget.
They have a sort of like afreemium app.
(43:06):
model you can get a few guidedmeditations for free and then
you pay on a monthly basis and Ireally wasn't invested enough
to pay for it so I listened towhat I could for free and moved
on to something called the Musewhich is a and again this comes
from my technical sciencebackground it's a device that
(43:27):
you wear that gives you instantfeedback of whether or not
you're doing it right.
Based on the weather.
Vickie (43:35):
So we're back to being perfectionists.
Brittany (43:37):
Right, right.
It's a common theme for me.
But what I learned throughhaving that device is that
meditation is different foreverybody.
I think you spelled that out sowell with explaining how you
practice meditation.
Now, today for me, I would sayI am much more doing– practicing
(43:59):
meditation kind of like youare.
I use the Muse device lessbecause I feel like I know what
it's supposed to feel like tocalm your mind.
For me, that was just acompletely, that was something
that didn't exist.
I didn't know what it was liketo not have thoughts.
And the Muse certainly helpedme with that.
(44:20):
But I also think that there isa strong sense of of meditation
while we're creating and we maynot call it that or we may not
know that we could be meditatingbut I think a lot of us are as
we're either zoning out whenwe've got a pattern that's
really easy to work with or whenwe're hyper focused on what
(44:44):
that pattern is.
Yeah, I agree.
Maybe it's the word that'sassociated with it that makes it
sound and feel different.
But I wanted to highlight thatin the book because I think it's
something that we should allcheck into and see if perhaps we
might be practicing and reapingthe benefits of the craft and
(45:08):
through meditation.
Vickie (45:11):
Yeah, and just to sort of like put a– or period on it
is that, or underline it a bit,is that knitting in itself can
be meditative, as you mentioned,and often for me, I would say
that that's probably, obviouslynot on big deadlines or
whatever, but happening a lotbecause I choose to not do
(45:33):
really technically difficultprojects most of the time
because I want to be able tosort of let my mind wander.
And so...
I think for me, you know, I hada hard time.
My whole reason for startingknitting, you know, years ago
was that I don't do well justsitting still.
And that was a way for me tosort of like channel that energy
(45:54):
and sort of kind of calm mymind enough that I could be
tuned into whatever else wasgoing on with the family or in
life.
So I think that there aredifferent definitions and
different ways that people canincorporate meditation into a
life.
Brittany (46:09):
Yeah, I agree.
I agree.
That's a great way to put it.
So there's a couple of othersections in here that I was, I
just thought were really cool.
And I just wanted to highlightthose areas of the book because
to your point earlier, it'ssomething that's very unique in
what is available right now.
There's a section I thought wasreally fun, astrology for kids.
(46:31):
knitters.
And now I want to say it's notjust knitting.
It's not just knitters.
The book isn't for justknitters.
It's knitting and crochet aswell.
But there's a section calledknitters astrology.
And I thought that was superfun to sort of just read through
if that's something that you'reinto.
Vickie (46:47):
Yeah, it was meant to just, you know, just just be
fun.
And again, it's justunderlining that point that
knitters you know, when you lovesomething, you incorporate it
in every aspect of your life.
And so this was, this was areally great thing that I was
thrilled to have as a part ofthe intention section.
Carrie Ann Godwin is anastrologist.
(47:08):
She's I believe she'sAustralian, but she lives in the
UK.
And she used to write theastrology or the knit astrology
column for a magazine that nolonger exists that I used to
write for called Knit One.
And it was through that, TriciaMalcolm, who is the former
editor-in-chief and editorialdirector of Vogue Knitting, she
(47:30):
put us in touch for this book.
And so I was thrilled thatCarrie-Anne was willing to write
up some books.
some fun blurbs for all of thezodiac signs for this book.
Brittany (47:42):
Yeah, I thought it was fun.
And just to share with mylisteners here.
Now, actually, I heard a whileback.
Now, I'm not typically intoastrology.
It's not something that I keepup with.
But I remember hearing a whileago, did they end up changing
the date ranges?
No, that was like
Vickie (47:59):
a thing for, I think, a blink in time.
And here's the other thing.
True astrology, like, as itwere, involves so much more than
just your actual birth date.
It's like location and timezone and time and there's so
much more.
So this is just the mostsurface of surfacy levels.
But it's meant to be just forentertainment purposes.
Brittany (48:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, from an entertainmentstandpoint, I definitely enjoyed
reading I'm an Aquarius.
So the amazing Aquarius was wasthe section that I read.
Vickie (48:37):
Yeah, it was it was the woman who wrote the mindfulness
and neuroscience book.
section that you related to orfelt a connection to, she is
also an Aquarius.
Brittany (48:51):
Okay.
That's interesting.
Vickie (48:52):
So there you go.
Brittany (48:53):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Another really fun section Ikind of wanted to just breeze
over real quick is the knittingand numerology.
That's something I have neverheard of before.
So I went through...
Numerology or putting themtogether?
Either.
I went through and I found thatI am a...
Was it a...
(49:13):
a life path number nine.
Speaker 02 (49:17):
Okay.
Brittany (49:17):
So you have a, like a little swatch for all of the
different life paths.
And I thought that was reallyfun.
I want to knit up that swatch.
I think it would be really fun.
Vickie (49:28):
This is another, just like my intention was to be fun.
I actually had a numerologyreading with Dr.
Felicia Bender myself as partof my, my last birthday was a, I
did all of this sort of likeintrospective stuff.
Um, I had crystal readings.
I had a numerology reading.
I had Diva Zappa, who's alsofeatured in this book.
(49:49):
She did a tarot reading for me.
I did all of the things.
And after that, I asked her ifshe would be willing to let me
excerpt parts of of both herwebsite and one of her books.
And then tie it into knittingsome way because there's so many
(50:09):
numbers in knitting and crochetthat I just thought it would be
fun to sort of link themtogether.
And so they're not actually,like knitting and numerology
isn't actually like a thingthat's out there.
I just thought it would be funand she was up for it.
So she gave me all of thedescriptions for the life path
numbers and the instructions onhow to calculate it.
And then I went and found...
(50:29):
stitch patterns that had thecombination of using the same
number of either stitches orrows or both, and also had
fabric characteristics thatlined up with the personality
traits of each life number.
So it was kind of a fun littleexercise for me.
(50:50):
And I'm actually doing a coupleof events.
I know I'm definitely doing itat Craftcation in April, but
where we And I'm hoping to doone in Denver where Dr.
Bender is located, where it'sjust sort of a fun thing where
people come and they figure outtheir life path number and then
they make the swatch thatcorresponds with it.
(51:12):
Just a light event that I thinkcan be a lot of fun.
And again, it's just looking atthe craft in a completely
different
Brittany (51:20):
Right, right.
It's just another way for us toconnect the dots and make it a
little bit more meaningful forus.
Vickie (51:28):
Yeah.
Brittany (51:28):
Now, outside of all of that, there's so much more in
this book that we haven'ttouched on.
You mean the actual knittingand crochet?
Yeah, that's only half of thebook.
You have so many patterns inhere.
It's amazing.
And they are both knit andcrochet.
Again, it's not...
Vickie (51:47):
It's not only, but we should be fair.
The majority of the patternsare knit because I don't want to
misrepresent to my crochet-onlyfriends.
But there are several crochetpatterns for sure.
Brittany (51:59):
Okay, yeah.
So I think this is a...
Wonderful book to pick up.
I would love for you to sharewhere my listeners can pick up a
copy.
And I'm on page 40, which I amlike ecstatic to be able to say.
But aside from that, like Isaid, there's so much goodness
in here.
So where is it available forthem to pick up?
Vickie (52:20):
It's everywhere.
I mean, they can get it onAmazon.
They can get it from theirlocal independent bookstore.
If your yarn store doesn'talready carry it, ask them to.
That would be great.
I sell it on my e-commercesite, yarnyay.com.
I mean, really, you can get itwherever you like to shop for
(52:41):
books.
And if you'll tag at VickiHowell in anything that you do
from it or anything thatresonates from it, I would
really appreciate that becauseit takes a village to get the
word out.
about a book these days.
Brittany (52:52):
I've heard that as well.
It's difficult.
Also, reviews, I know, are areally big part of that, getting
the word out.
I know there's a lot of us,myself included, I I like to buy
from Amazon.
And so leaving a review onAmazon, I think would also be
really helpful for you.
Vickie (53:11):
Yeah, that's a great, that's a great thing to mention.
I appreciate just as much youleaving me a five star review as
you not leaving me a review atall.
If you did not love it.
Consider that a service ifyou're not into it.
Brittany (53:30):
Yes.
Okay.
Well, I will have a link to thebook on Amazon again, because
that's sort of where I like topurchase.
Now, once again, I was given acopy of this because of being a
part of it.
But we should also give one toyour audience too, if you want.
That would be really fun.
Could we do that?
I don't see why not.
All right.
So let's come up with agiveaway here on the fly.
(53:52):
It will work best...
over podcast if we can sendthem back to the show notes page
for this episode it's bhooked.com slash 137 and let's
have them leave something in thecomment section and i'll just
pick a random winner after say aweek does that sound good to
you.
(54:46):
Okay, so leave that in thecomments section on the show
notes page, behooked.com slash137.
And I have to ask too, arethere any restrictions for
location?
Are you able to ship worldwideor just certain countries?
I
Vickie (55:00):
think that we can ship worldwide.
I know that it's also out in afew English-speaking countries,
so I think that we candefinitely handle UK or US.
Because I know that and we'redoing this on the fly, let's say
UK and US.
Brittany (55:15):
Okay.
Sounds good.
And I will contact that winnerjust completely at random.
It's not going to be based onwhat the comment is because
they're all valuable.
It'll just be totally random.
That sounds good.
And I can also communicate withthat person through the
comments and I will share myemail address and say, Hey,
(55:35):
yeah,
Vickie (55:36):
do that.
Let's do that way.
That usually goes better in myexperiences.
If you give people an emailaddress to send you their
information too.
Brittany (55:43):
Okay.
That sounds good.
So that's what we'll do leaveyour comment I will pick someone
at random or just a comment atrandom and I will communicate
with you via that same page.
So you'll get the reply therefrom me and then I'll have you
send me an email with yourcontact info so that way we can
(56:04):
get your book to you.
So thank you so much for that.
I know that that'll be a realtreat for somebody in the
audience because like I said I'mreally really enjoying this
book right now and I just wantto say thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure to chatabout this.
I know there's so much morethat this book goes into and And
we can only scratch thesurface.
(56:25):
But now you just got to get thebook because it's wonderful.
Vickie (56:28):
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
Brittany (56:30):
If somebody wants to connect with you after hearing
the episode, I'm sure they canprobably find you if they type
in your name in Google.
But what's your favorite placeto connect with people in the
community?
Do you like to use Instagram?
Vickie (56:45):
Instagram is fine.
It's just at Vicki Howell orFacebook, which is just also
Brittany (56:49):
at Vicki Howell.
All right.
Wonderful.
I will send people there.
I'll have that information foryou in the show notes page so
you don't have to remember that.
And Vicki, thank you again.
It's been a real pleasure.
Vickie (56:59):
Thank you.
Brittany (57:01):
All right, just to recap that giveaway, the
information there.
If you are listening to thisbetween October 10th and October
17th, 2019, and you want totake part in this giveaway, head
over to the show notes page,behooked.com slash 137.
Scroll down until you see thecomments section and tell us
(57:23):
your story of what knitting orcrochet has done for you.
That will be your entry intothe giveaway.
And on the 18th of October,2019, I will just randomly
select a comment and reply tothat.
So be sure you check back atthe show notes page on the 18th
(57:46):
to see if I have replied to yourcomment.
If so, that means you were therandomly selected winner of
Vicky's book, The Knit Vibe, andI will need you to email me so
I can get your information so wecan get the book out to you.
Now, as Vicky mentioned, sheknows she can ship anywhere in
(58:06):
the US and the UK, so we will belimiting the giveaway to those
regions.
So keep that in mind as youmake a comment.
And good luck.
I know this is a wonderfulbook.
It's something you totallycould hear that I am really
excited about that right now.
I love the information that'sset out.
(58:28):
I think it's such a valuableresource for the community to
bring some awareness to some ofthese things that I know we're
all struggling with and goingthrough.
but we don't have any guidanceon that.
I feel like that's what thisbook is certainly doing for me
right now, giving me thatguidance that I need to make
(58:49):
sure my body, my mind, my healthare where they need to be so
that I can continue to reap thebenefits of my craft.
Now, this isn't a sponsorshipor anything like that.
I'm just really on fire forthis book right now.
So if you do want to pick up acopy, It's available pretty much
(59:10):
everywhere.
I will have a link to where youcan purchase on Amazon on the
show notes page.
And like Vicki mentioned, ifyou do end up picking up a copy
of this book, snap a photo,share it with her on social.
That is really helpful for her.
And of course, those reviewsare always very valuable to help
(59:31):
spread the word about a newbook.
All right, now that'll do forthis episode of the Be Hooked
podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningme this week.
Thank you so much for listeningevery week, for subscribing,
for leaving reviews.
All of that stuff really,really helps the show.
It helps keep me motivated.
It helps me in so many ways.
(59:52):
So I just wanted to say thankyou for that.
And I'll see you next week, myfriend.
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