Episode 28 - Crochet Clan

Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 28 – Crochet Clan.

 

In this episode I cover: Quick news beats; Old dog, new tricks; Final Destination; En Route; DIPs; Feeding the habit; Big Up and J’adore?

 

This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co. 

Thanks to everyone who tunes into the podcast whether it is through Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, iTunes or the YouTube Channel. Your support and engagement are really appreciated and makes running a podcast very special and worthwhile.   

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1 - Quick news beats

Global Hook Up – The next Global Hook Up is due to be on Saturday 28th April 2018.  Keep an eye on the Ravelry thread and Instagram for updates as I will be vending that weekend at Wonderwool Wales and I’m not sure how good my internet reception is going to be at my accommodation, but I have a back-up plan called Claudia!

Time: Saturday 28th 2018 8:00 PM London

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/4750475819

The meeting ID number is 475-047-5819 and you will need to join via Zoom which you can do here:  https://www.zoom.us/join

Different Designer CAL – Is due to finish on the 9th April.  Thank you so much for all of your finished objects so far.  If you are looking for a new designer to try out, take a look at the threads to see who people have been working from.  Here are the designers to date:

Elisabeth Davis de Herraiz, Nicki Trench, Kat Goldin, Hannah from The Cozy Cottage, Sarah Hazell, Ashleigh Kiser, Sybil R, Vicki Brown, Joanne Scrace, Cecile Balladino, Planet June, Heidebears, Yarnville, Inspired Professor, Iron Lamb, Fay Dashper-Hughes (that felt weird to type), Zeens and Roger, Rachele Camona, Dedri Uys, Emma Potter and Yan Schenkel.

 

Edinburgh Yarn Festival – The vlog for Edinburgh Yarn Festival is live in all the usual places.  If you want to see what happened, look at the vlog.  Needless to say, we all had a ball and are looking to do it all again in 2019 in Dublin if you fancy joining us?  I may have been looking at accommodation options yesterday...

Spotify – the podcast can now be downloaded on Spotify which means that you can now listen on any wireless speaker you have linked to your Spotify account.  Just search for The Crochet Circle under Podcasts.

 

2 - Old dog, new tricks

Class on reading and understanding crochet patterns – I had a query from a watcher that asked if I had any hints on how to read patterns and charts and whether it is something I could go into more detail on.  It would fill quite a few episodes up and so instead I searched out a really good alternative.  Craftsy has a class on Reading & Understanding Crochet Patterns by Shannon Mullet-Bowlsby.  I watched this the other weekend when Craftsy had a free to view weekend and honestly, this Craftsy Tutorial would really get you on the right track and it is nicely delivered.  If you pay for the class, I think you get comprehensive notes to download too.

 

3 – Final Destination

Well, it has been all about shawls this month as I have finished three of them!

 

The first is my Treasure Island Shawl which is by Hannah Sigmund from The Cozy Cottage Crochet podcast.  I used The Little Grey Sheep yarn (colourway The Rhubarb Patch in their British Gotland 4 ply) and it crochets up a delight!  It’s for me and I have been using this shawl a lot over the last couple of weeks.

 

 

Next up is the knitted version of Doppio Colosseum which I managed in record time to get it to Edinburgh Yarn Festival in time.  It’s knitted using 2 x 100g of John Arbon’s Devonia in colourway Bleeding Heart.  It’s off living with the Arbon’s and being used as a show sample.

 

 

My last is a new design that I have just published called Loft. It’s a memory of all the people that made the Edinburgh Yarn Festival so much fun!  The stripes in the shawl represent all the stairs we had to climb to get to the top of our accommodation called The Loft.  It uses 3 x 100g of John Arbon Knit By Numbers 4 ply.

 

 

As always, there is a 50% discount code for these patterns, just type TCC50% at the check out on Ravelry.  The code is valid until the 13th April.  This shawl (or the one you can see down in En Route) will be heading to also be a sample with John and Juliet and the other will be on my stand at any shows I do throughout the year.

 

I also finished my cat blanket for Pom Pom.  It was part of the Granny A Long being hosted by Rosina and I used Álafoss Lopi in shades Dark Grey (0005), Mid Grey (0058) and Light Grey (0054).  I have more affinity for the granny stitch now but I’m still not really a fan.  Luckily Pom loves it!

 

 

 

4 – En Route

I also have made decent progress on my Stoborough shawl by Sarah Hazell.  It needs 300g of 4-ply yarn (350m/100g) and I had previously dyed up 3 skeins of skinny merino for this project.  It’s my second Different Designer CAL entry but I don’t think it will be finished in time…

 

 

5 - Designs in Progress

Loft really deserved to also be made in the new Knit By Numbers 4ply Copper shades.  I’m so close to the finishing line with this one so I will pop an FO photo up next month instead.

I am also working away on the knitted version.  I’m really pleased with it because I think I have replicated the size and spacing of the crocheted version. 

 

6 - Feeding the habit 

What I am showing you below is a mixture of things I have bought and lovely things that were given to me.  I am a very lucky lady!

 

1 - RiverKnits Yarns Snow Dyed Mohair - 'There's No Business Like Snow Business', dyed on a narrowboat

2 - Birlinn Yarn - 4ply from the Outer Hebrides, Scotland

3 - Fjord Fibres - amazing sock yarn that now comes in 50g skeins! Dyed in Norway

4 - Cosmic Strings - 120g skein of Merino/ Yak/ Silk in colourway 'Pisces', dyed in Edinburgh

5 - Iona Single Origin Wool - DK in colourway 'Serpentine Green', from Scotland

6 - Hey Mama Wolf - Naturally dyed in Germany, Organic wool/ ramie, One of a Kind colourway

7 - Socks Yeah! - 4ply in colourways 'N1 Helium & N4 Xenon'

8 - Easy Knits - Mohair/ silk in colourway 'Orion'

9 - TJ Frog - Tania's new Dorset Horn in it's beautiful natural colour

 

 

I was also utterly spoiled by lovely friends.  On the left, you can see some gorgeous yarns that Yael & Emmie gave me.  These include a teal coloured flax (linen) which is grown and dyed in Sweden; the top left is Gotland (DK) which is from a small independent mill in Sweden called Solkustens Spinnvertstad; and the one at the bottom is a single-ply from Honer o Eir, a very small company that spins the fleece from their own sheep.  The chocolate?  Gone!

On the right is wool from Lana Rara which I was very kindly given by Rachel.  It's a blend of Bündner Oberländer and Merino and it's grown by lots of smallholders and spun in Switzerland.  

My love of proper woolly wools deepens...

Below you can see some Romney Marsh Wools from Corrine and some Nash Island 'Tide' which was given to me by Sarah and came all the way from Maine and the Starcroft micro-mill! 

 

 

Look at all these goodies!  Thanks to Jenny, Vivian, Alyson, Clarisabeth, Caroline, Yael, Emmie, Lisa, Asia, Rosina, Sharon, Gill, Corrine and Charlie.  

Lovely things crafted things by lovely crafty friends. 

 

 7 – Big Up

I have more crafting podcasts for you:

Here are some of them for you to look at and listen to –

Little Drops of Wonderful - Ali is a crocheter and knitter and is wonderfully upbeat and positive.  She’s based in the UK and LOVES yellow! YouTube

FiberTrek – Sarah is a new to me podcaster, though I had heard of her before.  I really like her production style and the fact that she goes out into her fibre community to see what is happening in and around Maine.  If like me, you love woolly wool with provenance, then you will love what Sarah has to offer.

The Woolly Thistle/ New Hampshire Knits - Claire is a Scot, living in New Hampshire, US and has an audio knitting based podcast (New Hampshire Knits).  She is also the force behind The Woolly Thistle, which is an online yarn shop.  

 

When you order from The Woolly Thistle you receive your yarn quickly and without the added cost of international shipping.  Shopping is Tax Free at The Woolly Thistle.

 

9 – J’adore

Here is what I am currently loving:

• Clan – all those people that make crochet a wonderful thing and something that I am proud to be part of.
• Songs – When I get really busy, I fall back on Ben Howard and the Deluxe version of Every Kingdom It is my chill-out music that just helps to keep me going.
• Book – I started listening to The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson again. It has been about five years since I listened to is last and it is a fabulous set of books that will give me hours of entertainment while I crochet away in the coming weeks. 

See you all in May.

 

Fay x

 

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