What's blooming, tomatoes, Frog and Toad, and lambs join in with the knitting content this week. It must be the start of spring, or even Spring Break! If you’d like to become a patron and support the show financially, visit our Patreon page.
Transcripts at bottom of post.
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Kelly’s Projects
The Iced Matcha Socks by Dots Dabbles have been restarted with a more appropriate yarn. The handspun I had originally planned was abandoned because I thought I would run out of yarn. So then I cast on with Bear Brand Caprice--a vintage sock weight wool yarn that is very stretchy. But it also had textured bits. So I found the pattern wasn’t showing up. So those will become my Not Matcha Socks! I’ll just continue them without any patterning. Even in plain stockinette these socks will be ultra-stretchy.
So what about the Matcha socks? I restarted them with Invictus Yarns Seraphic--a lovely merino, silk, and cashmere blend. Yummy!
Most of my knitting has been on Frog and Toad from frogandcast.com. I just have Frog’s jacket to finish and then I will stuff them with crushed walnut shells from PlumEasy.
Mending socks: I found a bag of socks that needed work. So I fixed one pair of (pre-Ravelry) cotton/wool socks that had gotten a hole. I’ve started to fix a pair of (pre-Ravelry) purple wool/silk socks that I really loved. And I rediscovered the CoBaSi Socks that I made in 2017. After one wearing I discovered one toe was too short. I’ll be ripping it out and making it about ¼ inch longer.
Marsha’s Projects
I have knit about 9” of body of the Walk Along tee by Ankestrick. I am still worried if I will have enough yarn but I’m assured by other knitters I’ll be okay. Stay tuned...
I finished the first of the Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde and knit to the thumb gusset of the second. Love the mitts and the yarn is perfect for them...and free!
News
Livestock Conservancy released a press release about their Shave ‘Em to Save ‘Em campaign. You can see more about the project and a video at rarewool.org.
The Finnish artist Liisa Hietanen is a crochet sculptor extraordinaire. Check out her lifesize replicas of people in her town.
Lambs! Twinsetjan has an Instagram feed full of lamby cuteness!
Extremities Knit/Crochet Along
This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns:
Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio
Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah
Extremities K/CAL ends on April 25, 2021. Knit anything for your extremities (hands, arms, legs, feet).
Winter Weave Along
Ends on March 31.
Transcript:
1:02:00Marsha 00:03
Hi, this is Marsha
Kelly 00:04
and this is Kelly. We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures.
Marsha 00:08
Thanks for stopping by.
Kelly 00:10
You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string.
Marsha 00:17
We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com.
Kelly 00:22
And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects
Marsha 00:29
and I am betterinmotion.
Kelly 00:31
We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there.
Marsha 00:36
Enjoy the episode.
Marsha 00:43
Good morning, Kelly.
Kelly 00:44
Good morning, Marsha. I'm celebrating. I should be having champagne.
Marsha 00:51
No, you don't like champagne. You need to have something you like.
Kelly 00:54
Well, I'm having coffee. which is which is fine. This is perfect. It's exactly what I want. And I'm having it in my mug that I got at the thrift store. The downtown-- the same downtown shop where I got the Niebling tablecloth. That same day, I bought two mugs and they're sort of Mexican pottery style with a lot of flowers, a blue flower with a pink center and then a pink bud and green leaves. Well, they're restaurant china. And I think they would have been like Mexican restaurant china. But I thought since it's not only just the first day of my spring break, but it's also the actual first day of spring. That would be appropriate.
Marsha 01:39
Yes and things daffodils are up here in Seattle and trees are you know like cherry trees are beginning to bloom.
Kelly 01:48
Yeah, we're on kind of the same the same flower schedule this year. Because all of our the plums have already-- the the earliest plums are already done. The Santa Rosa plum is, the new one, is fully bloomed. The apricot has started. And then just the other day, the cherries that are later, the cherry trees in our the little orchard area of our backyard. The cherry trees have now just have a few blossoms opening. So yeah, and I have one last batch of daffodils that are kind of in a more shady area in the yard. And I think they're also a later a later variety because they haven't come up yet. Yeah. But all the rest of them are done.
Marsha 02:37
I was as you know, all last week, we were down at the beach. But the week prior to that I did a cleanup in the backyard you know and all the ferns like I cut off the fronds from last year. So then there's space for the new ones to come up and, and I cut down a bush and I did a bunch of cleanup in the back garden everything. But what I'm really excited about is, you know, I always have the pots on the deck with all the just the annuals in there. And that's the real color in the backyard is the pots. And last year, I was not able to do that because I didn't have a deck!
Kelly 03:17
Right.
Marsha 03:18
So I'm very excited this year to plant those pots one of my favorite things to do so. Anyway,
Kelly 03:28
Yeah, you usually do that, what like in April?
Marsha 03:32
Yeah, April, May, sort of depending on... well. And then the other thing-- I'm in a different house than I used to be in, the vegetable garden at the other house was a great spot. It was on the south side of the house. I don't have as much space. And so this last summer, I put tomatoes-- there's a three or four foot wide concrete path on the south side of the garage. And so I put tomatoes out there last year, I guess I've had them for the last two years. And they do really well because they're up against the house. But I always remember I would go to the nursery near the house and they always would have the tomatoes in the in the greenhouses and they were really particular that they didn't really want you to buy the tomatoes until all danger of frost had passed and so that the nights didn't drop below 50. Well in Seattle, that's a little hard. I mean, you're really putting them in July, late June early July for the nights not to drop below 50 and so when you're... I got impatient and I just went and I bought some tomatoes at Fred Meyer and they'd had them sitting out there since March, you know sitting out in their Garden Shop. And then I also bought some from the nursery that and I put them in late June, early July. Guess which ones did better?
Kelly 04:55
The Fred Meyer.
Marsha 04:59
And I think that they So the theory the nursery said is you take they've been grown in a hothouse. And then you shock them by putting them outside, right? And so then it--they don't produce, grow as fast and produce as much. My feeling is that they must have been shocked so early...
Kelly 05:13
They'd gotten over it! [laughing]
Marsha 05:15
Th ey got going, then, you know, I don't know. It was just funny that
Kelly 05:18
They recovered!
Marsha 05:19
Those cheap tomatoes from Fred Meyer that have been sitting out in the cold and march did fantastic. So...
Kelly 05:25
That's funny! Yeah, by the time you bought them, they had gotten over their shock or all the weak ones had died. And you got the strong...
Marsha 05:33
Yeah. Yeah,
Kelly 05:35
The Darwin tomatoes.
Marsha 05:37
Yeah, my Darwin tomatoes
Kelly 05:38
My mom says, she always said, you know, she has a really warm backyard. She lives just north of San Jose. And it gets pretty, gets pretty warm there. And she lives in Fremont, which is where I lived growing up, you know, where I grew up. But she lives in the different part of Fremont with a little different climate and is much warmer. And she even still says you don't plant tomatoes until May 1, because the soil has to warm up. Yeah, you know, even if that even if the exterior temperature the air temperature is, is fine. It's the soil temperature that needs to be right for tomatoes. And if you plant them early, you don't get any benefit from that.
Marsha 06:09
Yeah, that's exactly what they were saying.
Kelly 06:25
But you did clearly benefit from your Fred Meyer tomatoes! Well, one more plant thing here. This is a knitting podcast. But one more plant thing related is we have a company called Annie's Annuals in the, the San Francisco Bay Area. Now I would dearly love to actually go up there, they have a nursery, and mail order business and they have a beautiful catalog. And I always get tempted, I bought a lot of things from them. And I do like, I do like their, their plants. And they, they pack them really nicely. And you know, they ship really well. And but I do find like I have some of the same varieties that I've bought at native plant sales. And then I'll buy you know, another one. Like, Oh, I want another one of these! And Annie's annuals has it. And so I order it and it comes in They're kind of wimp!, They are used to being in this really lush, well-cared-for environment. If you look at the the nursery, and you look at the, you know, their catalog, the pictures of their nursery on the website, and, and everything in their catalog, everything is just really lush and beautiful, and thickly planted, and you just get the feeling that these plants are really well cared for. And then they come to my yard where, you know, a native plant has got to hold its own, you know, I don't do supplemental watering and in much of the backyard at all, you know. They get what they get in spring, and then they have to make it all the way. They have to make it all the way till the rains. And there have been a lot of times where the things that I bought from Annie's annuals, you know, they haven't they haven't made it. So yeah, I would... now when I buy from them, I treat the plants a little nicer, and I kind of slowly wean them off of care.
Marsha 08:17
Yeah. Yeah, you can't just throw them into the desert.
Kelly 08:30
No, I have to. I have to give them a little bit of pampering. But it is true. They do seem to. They do seem to be more used to fertilizer and water. And so their little princess plants.
Marsha 08:47
Yeah. Well, before we move on to knitting, I just have one other thing I just want to mention is some feedback from Kelly, from you, and also from our listeners. So you know, I was talking about Enzo and how he seems sort of bored and everything. And so I've been doing a lot of playing with him. And we've been trying to work on tricks. And of course, we had I just had a week at the beach where he had, you know, three and a half hours a day on the beach and was just exhausted, you know, when he come back to the house, which is great. You know, that was I think there's nothing better for a dog than just being off leash running on the beach. That's so much fun. And then he got, you probably saw the pictures too where he, we met up with Jean from String Theory Yarns in Seabrook and her dog Cooper, who is an English setter and you met him as a puppy.
Kelly 09:38
Right! When we had the meetup there, must have been a couple of years ago.Yeah, he was --she had just brought him.
Marsha 09:48
He's just like the sweetest dog. He's very super chill. very chill dog and, but very happy to be on the beach. But we were laughing because he's he's black on white spots and he has all these, you know, feathers or pantaloons, you know. But we didn't realize how dirty our dogs are because he's, you know, Orkney's brown and Enzo is black.
Kelly 10:13
Oh, yeah.
Marsha 10:14
Cooper is black and white has a lot of white on him and his legs because of the, like the, you know, the foam on the beach, it's kind of green? His legs were green when he's, when he's done on the beach, it was very funny. Anyway, no but here's the thing. So it was very good and sort of therapeutic I think for Enzo to be on the beach. For this to get him out of his his doldrums and h is funk that he's in. But, here's something that I've discovered about Enzo, in the last couple of months. The other thing he does is like I for example, I this morning, I went to type, the show notes on my laptop, and he was asleep on the bed. As soon as I get the computer out and I start typing on the laptop, he gets up and he runs down to the basement and gets in his crate. Every time! And every time I get out the computer to type an email or type anything on the laptop, he gets up and goes and hides--I say hides--he goes down and gets in his crate in the basement. What is that about?
Kelly 11:12
I don't know.
Marsha 11:14
Like, and I thought, am I like, typing in an angry way? You know, because he is so sensitive and soft, you know?
Kelly 11:21
Yeah.He knows that the computer makes you tense, like, Oh, she's on that computer again. She's gonna be mad.
Marsha 11:27
Have anyof your dogs done anything like that? Or does Bailey? Are they sensitive in that way? Are they just,
Kelly 11:33
I'm not sure I would notice this because I'm not sensitive in that way. I think one thing I have noticed with Bailey, and I find it really irritating, but it is kind of funny. She'll be in the trailer with me and she has learned what the end of a zoom call sounds like! So when I'm in a meeting, and you know, doing my Zoom thing, she'll be fine. She'll, she knows to lay on her pillow. And now I rarely have to, you know, wrangle a dog while I'm in a meeting. But whatever it is that I say when, you know, when people are leaving, when the meeting is over and when I'm leaving, she knows what that is. Because she'll immediately get up and come over and start pestering me. As soon as I start the Okay, bye, you know, whatever I say at the end of it at the end of a zoom call--suddenly, she is up and she's poking at me and prodding at me and trying to get me off the off the bench. And and sometimes it's not the end, right? Sometimes somebody has to leave the meeting. Or like if I have, if I have a student, like I'll have office hours, drop in hours, for students. And I'll have a couple of students and then one of them will be done. And so I'll say goodbye to the one student. And then here's Bailey like being a real brat. And I still have a student on the call that I'm helping. So anyway, that was just I just noticed she has discovered what the end of Zoom call sounds like.
Marsha 13:12
Yeah, yeah, well, and I also Enzo is similar to that. I have these cameras at the front door back door. And then I have one out at the garage. And I get an alert on my phone that makes a little sound if there's any-- if the cameras detect motion, an animal, a person or vehicle. And so Enzo has also now connected that sound that it might possibly somebody at the back door that he wants to see. Ben coming in or my brother coming in. And so a lot of times, not always, but a lot of times he'll hear the phone make that little sound because there's a there's an animal, a squirrel will set off the cameras or the wind blowing a branch or something. And he jumps up and runs to the back door all excited. And then his tails up and then there's nobody there and his tail just slowly drops down. So sadly, so sad.
Kelly 14:06
Well and that tail of his is like a flag. If you could see it, you can see it like does kind of sink sadly. It's so funny,
Marsha 14:17
We will get to knitting, but just thinking about those cameras. I can see what's going on when people come to my house or they leave the house and you know Ben always says like, oh Enzo, like he's always teasing me about Enzo like, you know, he's, he's not that smart. And it's always to get my goat, you know. And I saw him on Saturday night Ben had come to dinner and he'd been playing with the dog and everything and then he leaves. And I can and then I can see the video after he left that he actually calls Enzo to the back door and Enzo's still standing there. And then he goes and he gets down on his knees and he hugs him and he kisses him on the top of the head. So when I'm not around, total love is shown to this dog.
Kelly 15:01
Yeah.So you're spying on private moments between a boy and his dog?
Marsha 15:04
Yeah, but it made me feel good!
Kelly 15:07
Yeah.
Marsha 15:08
I mean, I know he loves him, that Ben loves Enzo, but he sometimes -- I think for me, he tries to-- I just like the dog so much, just to sort of put me in my place about him.
Kelly 15:18
And tease you about him.
Marsha 15:21
Anyway, anyway, on to knitting. I think you should go first because you have a lot to report.
Kelly 15:26
Okay.
Marsha 15:26
Well, you have a darling thing to report.
Kelly 15:28
I have some fun things to talk about. So first of all, I am currently, right now this minute, knitting on the Matcha socks. And I have a long, it's kind of a, it's kind of a story. But before I get into the story of the Matcha socks, I just need to say that this yarn is so luscious. And compared with the yarn and I you know, it's a different yarn from what I'm using to knit my other projects. And so it's really a treat. So this is Invictus yarns, Seraphic. And the colorway is Endless Night. So it's a purple. It's a it's a kind of a blue gray leaning purple. Tonal. Yeah, mostly tonal, not really variegated, more tonal.
Marsha 16:18
Mm hmm.
Kelly 16:19
But the yarn is 70%, superwash, Merino, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere, so it's nice, really nice! And I'm using it for the Matcha socks. So this is the story because this isn't what I was originally planning for those Matcha socks. Remember, I was gonna use my handspun
Marsha 16:43
Mm hmm.
Kelly 16:43
So I was gonna use my handspun. And I got it out. And I looked at it and it's a little short in yardage. And it's a little thicker than fingering, a little short in weight, and a little thicker than fingering. And sometimes handspun is more dense or has you know, has more weight per yardage, even if it's the same thickness. And it's a little sticky too, I mean it was that old fleece that I had. So the yarns a little sticky, so there's probably some lanolin that could wash out of it. That would make it less, you know, a little less weight. But I just started thinking I'm going to--this is going to be short of yarn . It's already short of weight of a sock, you know of a sock yarn skein. Some of that weight is the probably the lanolin that's making it sticky. It's a little thicker, I'm not gonna have...I'm gonna run out. So I changed plans. And so I grabbed something called Capri. Let me just, I have to look
Marsha 17:51
Is this in your in is this in your project page?
Kelly 17:54
Uh, yes, I have a project and that is called now Not Matcha Socks because because they were I
Marsha 18:00
was looking for your Matcha Socks. And now I see there's Not Matcha Socks.
Kelly 18:03
Yeah, so these are, these are not well...So let me just say this. It's Bear Brand Caprice It was one of the vintage spirit yarns that I have, sock yarns that I have. And I thought oh, this would be so cool. So I grabbed this blue kind of a navy color and I thought these will make really nice navy blue socks. So I started looking...you know and the -- Let me just talk a little bit about the yarn before I go on. It's the label says "Magic-Skein. Ready to Knit. No balling or winding. Draw yarn from center." So, you know, this is that type of commercial skein but I guess at some point in time, in history, that was a big deal. There was a new a new innovation not to buy your yarn in a hank. And so
Marsha 18:55
okay, well, it's funny I'm just gonna say, interject-- I always thought this was the old way of doing it. What they were the way these were wound this Caprice is wound and that the idea of buying the hank was a new thing. But maybe it's the other way around.
Kelly 19:08
I have a feeling it's a Back to the Future thing. Okay, that originally it was in hanks, and then somebody came up with this preskeined idea. I don't know. I'm just saying I'm just thinking, why would they make such a big deal on the on the band, calling it a magic skein and ready to knit, draw yarn from center, blah, blah blah. Also made in the USA. So I don't know what the vintage of this is. I could probably find it online. I've done that with some of my older yarns, figured out when, you know, when they were for sale. But it's Bear Brand Caprice. And I got this--I'm pretty sure I got this from the destash room at the NocCKRs retreat one year. And then it also says all virgin wool. Now I don't think it's 100% wool yarn because it's super stretchy. And there it looks like there's a thread, a ply of something that's not wool in it. So I think all virgin wool means all the wool is virgin wool. Not everything in it is wool, but there's no other thing on the label telling the content. And I think that's also an old, an old-fashioned thing. I think now they have to, I mean, I think it's a requirement that you have to label. You have to label with what's with what's in it. So anyway, this yarn is really stretchy. And I thought this would be cool. I really want to knit the socks. What I didn't realize is that it has a little like a little nub or nep every, I don't know, like every inch or so on the skein is a little slubby part. texture. So I'm knitting along and I'm like, Oh, this texture is really cool. This is this is going to make really nice socks. And then I get to the patterning. And it's like realization hits me. I'm not even going to be able to see the pattern because of the texture. And I can't read my, I can't read my knitting very well, because it's dark blue in and the texture of the yarn. So it's like, wait, was that a purl stitch? I'm taking my glasses off, and I'm looking to see okay, was that a purl stitch or a knit stitch? Because there's a lump there, but I don't think that's the purl lump. Anyway, finally after about two inches of ribbing, and then a little bit of the pattern. I thought this is ridiculous, Kelly, you cannot continue these socks with this pattern. This a very bad marriage of pattern and yarn.
Marsha 21:53
Yeah.
Kelly 21:54
So but I am going to continue them. I'm just going to rip back a little. Actually, I could just, I could just keep going you you'll never be able to tell that one sock had some purl texturing in it from the Matcha Socks pattern and one sock didn't. You'll never be able to tell that I should just keep going. So I have about three inches. And so I just left them there and then I dug through the spirit needles collection that you brought.
Marsha 22:23
Oh, right.
Kelly 22:24
Last year right around this time when you came for our... No. Yeah, when you came for Stitches. You brought it because we were gonna bring it to the NoCKRs retreat. So I've actually had a pretty good time with that bag of, of, honestly, there must be over 100 sets of needles in that bag.
Marsha 22:43
Yes. In fact, I because I needed the--My shirt, my t shirt I'm working on is on threes. And I don't really have a long enough pair of threes. And I thought oh, I should have called Kelly and have here send it,
Kelly 22:55
Yeah. So I dug into that. And I grabbed out another. I used to have multiple... Well, I had a birch set. I really liked the birch needles. I can't remember the name of the company that makes them but I had two sets of the birch needles. And over this--and I had them for years. But over this last year, or maybe maybe the last two years. So the year of broken foot and the year of pandemic did a real number on my wooden needle sock needle collection. I think I had a little bit of stress going on.
Marsha 23:37
Yeah,
Kelly 23:38
Because I broke, I broke a lot of them. So now I'm just down to one set. And so the the Not Matcha Socks are on the remaining birch needles. And then I dug out a pair of size zero bamboo needles from that, that bag and that's what I'm using for the actual real Matcha Socks with this beautiful, luscious Merino, silk , cashmere yarn.
Marsha 24:05
So that you don't have in your project page though.
Kelly 24:07
No, I haven't actually, I haven't put that. I'll put that in before before we go to publish.
Marsha 24:12
While you've been talking. I have been listening! But I've also been looking at Bear Brand on... Oh, well I just googled it and then it just referred me to Ravelry and so I'm looking at Ravelry there's all kinds of yarn on there but I do not find Caprice. And what... and it's a bit...there's all kinds. There's Angel Crepe and there's Petite Knitting Worsted. I don't know what that is. It says it's sport weight.
Marsha 24:43
But there'ssomething called Deluxe Crepe Vilain.
Marsha 24:49
Wow,
Marsha 24:49
Casa Laine. There's all kinds there's three pages of yarn. There's something called Ever Match. Ever Match Baby Zephyr? There's something called Gigantic. Feather Glow, Lady something whether I can't read it. Heather Laine. Anyway, there's all there's a ton. There's three pages of yarn on there. Okay, but there's no information about, you know, when it was made it might be okay. I have to find a...It's just interesting Ravelry has everything on there all kinds of.
Kelly 25:26
Yeah, well, in one of the yarns I have I have some silk yarn that I bought from somebody who was destashing when I was in the weaving class. And it's, I was able to find a newspaper ad. I just googled and was poking around trying to figure out, you know, how old this yarn really was. And I found a newspaper ad and I don't remember now what the year was. But, you know, I was able to find out how old how old the yarn might have been. I mean, that doesn't give me... that doesn't tell me that it wasn't sold after that date. But, but it was kind of fun to see the newspaper ad for, for that particular yarn and know, you know, at least when it was being advertised in a newspaper. So it gives you a you know, it gives you an idea anyway, so But yeah, I'm so I, It's weird to knit with because it's so stretchy. But it's going to be a nice pair of socks that that Caprice, lumpy, lumpy sock yarn. It's fairly thin. It's a light fingering, I would say it's a light fingering but with the texturing it works with the size with the size zero, the size zero needles, so it reminds me a lot--nd this brings me to my mending part of the episode--do you remember the CoBaSi sock?
Marsha 27:00
Yeah,
Kelly 27:00
it reminds me a lot of the CoBaSi sock. And I was-- I don't remember why I was poking around. Maybe I was digging around for things to use for the frog and toad, which I'll talk about in just a bit. But I uncovered... You know, I think I'm so virtuous with no unfinished objects. And, you know, I don't have like, piles and piles of things that need to be mended or projects that I haven't woven in the ends and they're just sitting there waiting. Not true anymore. Or maybe it was never true. [laughing] I just had this idea. Anyway, I dug out, I found this bag of socks that needed to be mended. And, and in the socks in this bag are my CoBaSi socks. So, they are like a turquoise and a red orange. And I striped them opposite. So like I started one of them with the red orange cuff and I started the other one with the blue cuff, turquoise cuff. And then I striped them. And I did toes and heels also in the same colors. Really fun. I enjoyed doing them. I really liked knitting with the yarn because it was so stretchy. But once I wore them, I thought one of the toes was too short. And then when I when I looked at it, I realized Yeah. I had , I don't know, probably a quarter of an inch less in one toe than another toe. I'm not sure how I did that. But maybe when I lined them up to measure them against each other. I lined the stripes up evenly. Yeah, and they were alternating stripes of about a quarter inch. So that's probably what happened. So anyway, when I wore them and found that one of them was uncomfortable, I put them away to rip out the toe of the one sock... three plus years ago! I don't even, I don't even know. It was a long time ago. Anyway, I found this and I have to repair them. I haven't started. I did start to take apart the toe of the one sock but I haven't done any of the knitting. But the CoBaSi is not quite as stretchy as this Bear Brand Caprice. It's it's more stretchy. It's got to have elastic in it. I can't imagine how it's 100% wool. So yeah, it just doesn't say that on the pattern. And then the other thing I found in this bag, were a pair of cotton socks that needed to be mended. So I mended those. And those I made Oh my God, my niece's were... They're all in their 30s now, I think even the youngest one. And they were
Marsha 27:08
OK, that's shocking
Kelly 28:07
I know. They were in high school. I think they were in high school.
Marsha 29:48
I remember when the oldest was born.
Kelly 29:51
I know. I know. It happens.
Marsha 29:52
Okay, let's not let's not go down that path.
Kelly 29:54
Children grow up. Your own included!
Marsha 29:56
Gosh darn it.
Kelly 29:58
Yeah, so anyway, The cotton socks I found needing repair I made for myself a long time ago. So I repaired those. And then I have a pair of wool and silk socks pre Ravelry think this is Hazel Knits. And so I have to repair the heel on on one of them but the other one is going strong. So I haven't... I started with a duplicate stitch and I think I'm going to actually, I think I'm actually going to cut out the heel and like just pick up stitches and just re knit the whole heel because the the threads are real it's really threadbare. I can't remember now if it actually had a hole or if it had just become so threadbare that I put them in the mending pile. But I... these are one of my favorite pairs of socks all ribbing all the way down on the top of the foot. And super felted I mean, I you know I that's it's washable wool but they've been around a long time. So, so they're kind of they're kind of filthy but they're really comfortable. And I remember I remember really liking them and that's why I didn't just toss them I put them in the mending bag. So I have one pair mended one pair started and then the CoBaSi socks, the CoBaSi socks are not they don't need mending they just actually need finishing. That's, so that's all the socks that's happening a lot of sock stuff is happening. And then the other thing is
Marsha 31:28
I'm going to I'm going to interrupt for just one minute. I'm going to go back to your your the other sock, the Caprice
Kelly 31:37
Oh yeah.
Marsha 31:37
So while you're talking I, You know I said I had just googled and so one thing is kind of interesting this answers sort of two questions. Because you remember I had when I made the the Christmas tea cozy and I was using some yarn from Sears that actually said it was like a C grade or something? Having saying it was like worsted weight it said it was C? I just what popped up in here is for 10 cents you could buy an interchangeable yarn chart from Sears and it says what are interchangeable yarns it says interchangeable yarns are yarns that when knitted by the same person on the same size needles will have the same gauge. Anyway, they are all have groups ABCD and E
Kelly 32:24
Oh sort of like that yarn-- craft yarn council like one two, like what they have now.
Marsha 32:29
Yeah. And then it has about how to use this chart. Blah blah blah it goes on. But then on the second page it has the interchangeable yarn chart group A lightweight and it says recommended needle size two three or four and on there is Bear Brand. Oh, and there's... Let me see if I scroll down. What you have is you think is its fingering weight?
Kelly 32:53
Yeah.
Marsha 32:54
Well anyway, this just says okay, here's also Bear Brand and or, and, or Fleischers. And there's baby Germantown, Casa, Laine, Crepe Velain, all these ones we were talking about. So I think this is a Sears...Well, maybe it's not a Sears brand, but it was something that was sold by Sears I should say.And I'm just looking down here to see if I find Caprice. I don't see it
Kelly 33:22
Well, and it may be that, it may be that someone listening was the donor to the destash room.
Marsha 33:33
Anyways, at the top on the very first page where it has, you know, the whole description of what are interchangeable yarns? This has got to be from the 60s because there's a woman and she's knitting and she has a knit suit on and she has the, you know the bouffant hair? You have like a braid that went around the front and then you had your hair all puffed up and hanging long. That's so this is clearly the 60s.
Kelly 33:55
interesting.
Marsha 33:56
So there you go. That's my little bit of research while we were talking.
Kelly 33:59
All right, well, the yarn that is in the same bag with this, actually, I don't think it came in the same bag though. I think I put it there. But I have another batch of these tiny little magic skeins, called Spinnerin and it's actually finer than sock weight. And it's it says it's 6% nylon, but again, it feels very much like... it feels very nyloney. It kind of reminds me of... Do you remember like the the knit shells? Yeah, older ladies would wear really fine, fine gauge knit. And storebought is what I'm thinking now. I'm not thinking of a hand knit one but that that kind of crepey feeling. nylon knit shell. So anyway, that's what that feels like. And I'm not sure what I'll use that for. I don't think I'll make socks out of it because it doesn't feel wool enough. And it's very thin. I think. I think even with the size zero needle, it will have a lot of holes in it. So it may be relegated to a weaving project. Yeah. Or it might be relegated to the trash. I don't know. That's hard for me to do so probably not, but I don't see much use of that. It just it feels really?
Marsha 35:18
Yeah.
Kelly 35:19
Synthetic. In a way that I don't think I would find... in a way that I don't think I would find a use for. We'll see.
Marsha 35:27
Enough. Enough of that searching on the
Kelly 35:30
Antique Socks. Yes.
Marsha 35:31
Yeah. Yeah.
Kelly 35:33
So with with that yarn experience of the Not Matcha Socks compared to the yarn experience of this cashmere silk Merino. Oh my gosh! I might have to buy more of that. That's just really lovely. So, but my other thing that I've been working on and I am in love with is Frog and Toad.
Marsha 35:58
Yeah.
Kelly 35:58
And I talked about them before. And at that time, I think I was still working on Frog. My goal is to get them finished by this Sunday, which is Easter. And, I have the set, the four book set, of the Frog and Toad books for Faye and then I'm gonna, I'm gonna have these, and then I have a set of books for Kye as well. Not frog and toad. He likes
Marsha 36:20
Okay, you just threw me into a panic. I'm sorry to interrupt again. Tomorrow is Easter?
Kelly 36:24
No, no. Next Sunday, the following Sunday.
Marsha 36:27
Okay. Oh my god! Okay, deep breath. Okay. Yes, continue!
Kelly 36:35
Marsha, if it even if it was Easter tomorrow, nobody in your family seems to know. You could just like
Marsha 36:42
that's true.
Kelly 36:43
Just like keep going right past it.
Marsha 36:46
I don't have to panic. Just, maybe I'll do that next week.I'll just do it next week and pretend that it is.
Kelly 36:53
So it's, I think it's the fourth of April. Okay. I don't remember exactly the day but it's at the end of our spring break. So it's next week, okay. But I'm almost finished. So Frog is finished and Toad. Well, they're not stuffed, so their heads are still open at the top. But you can see on my project page that they have their clothes on. Toad has his bathing costume which I made out of kind of a pale turquoise and cream color. And then Frog is a really kind of yellowy green color. And he has these gray brown like taupy natural color wool, light gray pants, and they're ribbed. So they look like little corduroy pants. They're so cute. Oh my god, they're cute! Last weekend, I had my vaccine. And I could, I worked on, I was a little nervous. I don't know why I was nervous. But I was just a little bit nervous. So I just I like focused totally on getting the eyes done and putting the eyes into frog and toad. And then and then I had a headache after I got my vaccine but it felt like a headache from like doing all this really close, close work. So I don't think my original headache wasn't that you know, the headache that I had as I drove home from getting my vaccine was I'm sure not from the vaccine. I did feel a little bit sick the next day but but all this little tiny close work to make the eyes-- I did that last weekend. I made the pants and now I have the jacket. I just have one more sleeve to go on the jacket. But then you have the details. So like I thought I was done with the the bathing costume but then you need to do, like, edging, you know around the sleeves?And I skipped the edging around the neck because I thought the neck looks pretty good the way it was. But this little jacket is gonna need all its edging so it doesn't roll. You know, so the stockinette doesn't roll. There's just all these little tiny details that are exactly what makes them perfect in terms of matching the books. And I just keep getting the books out and comparing my little Frog and Toad with the Frog and Toad in the books and yeah. So I'm having a lot of fun with this. The jacket's almost done I actually bought the crushed walnut shells that she recommends for the stuffing. I mean it's one of the things that she has on the on the pattern for the stuffing is crushed walnut shell so I bought those and I bought the ones that have lavender. So it will smell nice and, but it's very fine. So I'm really glad I decided to go down to the size zero needles with the yarn I was using. Because if you if you didn't have really really bulletproof fabric, that little walnut is like sand. That little walnut sand is going to come out. And I might, I might just test a little bit of it with mine. I think Toad is a little bit felted because I washed him kind of vigorously to make sure that he was nice and tight. Frog might have a little bit of gap, but I think he's pretty good. But if he-- if the stuffing, if the sand, you know, the walnut shells look like they're going to come out. I think I will just wash him just a little bit more.
Marsha 40:34
Mm hmm.
Kelly 40:35
And get him more fulled.
Marsha 40:37
Yeah,
Kelly 40:38
so that he's a little stiffer.
Marsha 40:40
They're, darling. They're... their expressions... Their eyes are so cute.
Kelly 40:45
I can't wait to put their mouth on.
Kelly 40:48
You know, you do that last. I don't know why. Maybe because it's easier to follow the line with them stuffed. I'm not exactly sure. But yeah, very, very cute. So those are, those are my projects.
Marsha 40:48
Yeah,
Marsha 41:06
Very cute. So Kelly, my projects, I'll give you an update on what I'm doing down the beach. I worked a little bit on my sweater that the T shirt that I've been working on.
Kelly 41:16
Oh, I have a question about that. Okay, did you need to buy more yarn?
Marsha 41:20
Well, I was gonna talk about that. Oh, not buy more yarn. It's the Walk Along Tee by Ankestrick, and I've made about nine inches of the body. And I have probably two two inch balls of the second skein.
Kelly 41:36
Oh, well, yeah.
Marsha 41:37
And remember, I divided them so. No, I have even less than that. They're probably about an inch. So I have about two one inch, say I have like a two inch cake left. And then I have one more skein and I did not buy more, she has lots down there. Worst case scenario, I can call Jean and just ask her to send me a skein. But Kim said she, she's making the same sweater and of course was there with me at the beach. And she said she's still doing the increases of the Raglan. So she's not gotten to the body yet. But she did say that the pattern, a friend of hers made the pattern also and the sleeves are quite slim. They're not loose baggy sleeves. So she said you're not going to be using that much yarn on the sleeves. And I have to remind myself too, that I've knit because of the Raglan shaping, you know, it goes down the shoulder down off the shoulder down to about armpit level,
Kelly 42:32
right. So a good portion of the sleeve is done.
Marsha 42:35
Right. And then I'm planning on making three quarter length sleeves. So and then the cuff, I'm going to make like the collar which is the contrasting blue. So that's my plan, to just wait and see how I do. And then also the bottom of the sweater, I'm going to put the contrasting edging on. And I don't want to make it very long. I want it to be sort of mid hip, or a little above mid hip kind of. And so I can wear maybe wear a sweater over it or short jacket or something
Kelly 43:10
Right
Marsha 43:11
So I'm going to take a wait and see approach.
Kelly 43:13
That's Yeah, I sometimes panic, or worry too much about running out of yarn. And then I end up with extra.
Marsha 43:23
Right? Yeah. So, and I did check my row gauge. Because remember my last sweater that was one of the issues I had. I was using so much yarn because of the the row gauge was off-- was not the same as the pattern. And this is correct. So I should be okay. Yeah, I'm also not putting in all of the increases, they're supposed to be for increased rows, where you increase four stitches per row? I'm only going to put in two because I don't want it-- it would be--otherwise it'd be I think too much fabric around the hips. And so I've knit I think, I don't know if I said this, but I've had about nine inches of the body. Okay, so you know, another I don't know how long I will have to figure it out.
Kelly 44:07
Yeah, but not that much. But not not that much longer. Now because of the bottom edge.
Marsha 44:14
Yeah. And I think you know, I was saying earlier that I don't have very long needles. So I think what I might do is put it on waste yarn or get another set of needles that I can put it on. So I can try it on and see how it's fitting. That'll give me a better sense. But at the beach mostly what I worked on was the Abington mitts. That is the pattern that -- one of our prizes for the extremities knit
Kelly 44:47
Yeah.
Marsha 44:48
Knit along and or crochet along or weave along or macrame along or fill in the blank along. Anyway so I finished one and I've knit to the thumb gusset of the second one.
Kelly 45:05
Oh, wow.
Marsha 45:07
So, but they were pretty quick because I'm using DK weight on size six needles. So the only thing is on these, so when you do the thumb gusset, put the gusset on waste yarn, then knit, continue knitting the rest of the hand as long as you want it, and then you do ribbing, then you go back and pick up the thumb gusset, pick up two stitches. And then just knit in the round, you pick up two extra stitches, and then the first row after that you decrease two stitches. And it does say in the pattern, if you have fat thumbs.. Apparently I have fat thumbs! [laughing] No, she doesn't say if you have fat thumbs. But if depending on it, you may want to not put in those two decreases. And I think I'm going to go back on the second one, I'm not going to put the decreases in. And on the first mitt I made I'm going to-- I think I'm going to rip it out and redo it without the two decreases. I think it'd be a bit more comfortable.
Kelly 46:07
Yeah.
Marsha 46:09
So, but they're really nice. And it's a fun pattern. It's really easy. Even though you have to use a cable needle needle for all the cabling on them. It's pretty easy to memorize the pattern. And it goes very quickly. And there's so little you know that I knitted a whole mitt down there at the beach practically so
Kelly 46:29
nice.
Marsha 46:30
A mitt and a half and six days. So did you see my picture on Instagram that I did sit a lot at the beach? Yes.
Kelly 46:38
The butt shaped divot in the couch? [laughing]
Marsha 46:42
Yes, I had a butt divot in the couch. So that's it for me on projects. I don't have a lot going on.
Kelly 46:50
All right.
Marsha 46:51
That's it.
Kelly 46:52
Okay.
Marsha 46:52
Oh, and I actually, I did not bring my spinning wheel. But when I got home before I left for the beach and then when I got home yesterday, we got home you know mid day. I worked on spinning on the yarn that I've been spinning-- the olive green or pine green and the bitter chocolate the dark brown. I spun on that a little bit. So I've got, now I have two bobbins of green and one bobbin of brown. Yeah. And so I've made two skeins, but then I had to you know reload the bobbins. So I'm almost ready to-- I have one more bobbin to spin up more yarn and then I'll I'll finish plying.
Kelly 47:30
All right,
Marsha 47:31
Yeah, but that's, that's it for me.
Kelly 47:33
Okay, well, we had a couple of other, just let's just do business, get the administrative business out of the way. And then there's a couple of fun things that I just wanted to share. So we have our Extremities Knit Along/ Crochet Along/Everything Along that Marsha just mentioned, just want to remind people that that ends on April 25. And so you can get anything for your hands, arms, legs, feet, lots of good stuff going on there. And we have two prizes. One is a pattern for the Abington mitts that Marsha mentioned. And the other one is the pattern Coffee Socks Collection by Dotsdabbles Designs, and that's where this Matcha Socks pattern that I was talking about. That's where the Matcha Socks pattern comes from. The winter weave along is quickly coming to an end. It ends on March 31. And so that's just a little more than a week away. So not much time there. But I'm hoping to at least get some something on the loom. I won't-- I probably won't even get it all the way threaded. But I do have a project that I want to, that I want to get on the loom during spring break. During this week, what I really should do is housework but no. So
Marsha 48:48
It can wait
Kelly 48:49
That's ending on March 31. And so if you're weaving, I hope this inspires you to get your weaving finished and get your your last woven projects into the, into the thread. So but then I had something I wanted to talk about, that came across our email, Marsha and I thought, oh, let's just talk about this for a little bit. The livestock Conservancy sent me a press release. And it was about their campaign, Shave 'Em to Save 'Em. And the idea is that people have this passport, and they make projects out of all these different wools that are from critically endangered sheep breeds. So I just wanted to let people know about that. And we'll put a link to it in the show notes. So how it works is you buy wool from one of these rare breed fiber providers. And you get a stamp in their passport. And then you earn things. You can earn prizes. They have a Ravelry group and you can sign up for to the Ravelry group. They have prizes that they're giving away. You share your pictures either on Facebook or Ravelry. And you can earn things for completing projects. And the more breeds you use, the more stamps you collect, the more things you can earn. And I think some of our listeners maybe are participating in this. And then they have a list of fiber providers and a little online directory. 180 breeds. And I don't know of all the breeds are sheep breeds, because the livestock Conservancy has poultry and other kinds of livestock in it as well. So the online directory might be all the breeds, you know, not just for the shave them to save them. It's for people who want to buy, you know, who want to buy a sheep for their flock, or who want to buy a particular breed of chicken for their flock of chickens, and so on. But anyway, I thought it was kind of an interesting little thing, and they have a video, and we'll link to their site. rarewool.org is one quick way to get to their project. And then they have a video and stuff. So I'll put that in the show notes.
Marsha 51:08
I thought interesting. Very cool. Yeah. It's really fun.
Kelly 51:11
I know, I heard about it. I think it's been going for over a year. I want to say I originally heard about it. And I did go on their, their Ravelry group, and then I kind of forgot about it and then got this email. And I thought, oh, I'll just remind people about this. Yeah. Here's an interesting little fact. It says fiber providers are seeing an uptick in their sales for the past two years, so must be going on for two years. A recent survey of those fiber providers indicated that 37% of shepherds had sold 50% to 200% more wool than before joining the initiative.
Marsha 51:48
Oh, very cool!
Kelly 51:48
That's Yeah. That's pretty...that's pretty impressive.
Marsha 51:52
Yeah, no, this is great. I mean, I, I've been looking at the page, and I'm gonna look a little bit more at it.
Kelly 51:59
it's almost it's a fiber buying time. Right? It's almost the time where I start thinking about, I want to buy some spinning fiber and maybe the summer spin-in will, you know, come along at some point. So
Marsha 52:15
I'm thinking this is, this is a little off topic, but it's lambing season, and we follow several shepherds. But have you been following TwinsetJan?. And so yeah, so if you are on Instagram twinsetjan is the account name and it's Jan and she is has Fair Winds Farm in, I believe it's in Pennsylvania, I think. Anyway, she had a ewe that delivered four lambs, which is I think, very unusual. And four or excuse me, three males and a little female, and the female. I don't know what her initial weight was, but she's only like, maybe three pounds now. Or maybe she's up to four pounds. She's a tiny, tiny, tiny lamb so she's brought her into the house. And she's doing these darling Instagram posts, you know, all in first person in the lambs perspective and all the things that she's doing. And very cute and she's named Pikachu. And she's so cute because she just has black around her eyes. Her eyes are black but then she has all this black fur. No, it's not fur, what do you call it?
Kelly 53:31
Wool! [laughing]
Marsha 53:31
Wool wool around her eyes. She's darling. She's so delicate and tiny. Yeah.
Kelly 53:38
Yeah, they're Finnsheep and apparently they have large--twins and and triplets and quadruplets or multiple
Marsha 53:50
Oh, really? That's not unusual?
Kelly 53:52
multiples are common
Marsha 53:52
Okay. So it's not unusual. I thought in general sheep. It was too you know, they would have
Kelly 53:57
Yeah, finnsheep are known for having-- I want to say large litters. But for having multiples.
Marsha 54:06
Okay, yeah,
Kelly 54:09
Yeah, she's really cute. You should definitely.. I'll put her Instagram in the shownotes as well. Because it's really worth following.
Marsha 54:17
Yeah, she's very, very cute. And, yeah, anyway, but it's lambing season. So we follow two other shepherds that it's just been really fun to see all the lambs and, and in the business of it, yeah, there's the business you know, and just what's involved with trying to keep them alive and healthy. Because this is their business. So
Kelly 54:41
yeah, well, one of our one of our friends Kathy straightfork, she has lambs. She has sheep for the first time this year and she has lambs and she's been sharing. She shared pictures of the the lambs that she had one ewe that gave birth to twins. And was not really happy to take care of the little girl twin. And so she's been, you know, dealing with that situation trying to get the mom to at least feed her. And then she has another you who is due pretty quickly. I want to say she has blue faced Leicester and they have the biggest like satellite ears! Kind of like Bailey's ears, you know, real big and so it's been fun to, it's been fun to see her pictures, too. And hear you know what's going on. So it's a busy time for for those people with sheep.
Marsha 55:37
But these lambs are so cute.
Kelly 55:39
They really are. And baby goats too. I want to say it was probably early April when we when we found out that my niece in Seattle had COVID. So I started sending her Instagram pictures of baby goats. Just to you know, say okay, here's your here's your bright spot for today. And I sent her all such funny little videos of these goats like flying around the pasture or like just like walking along and then all of a sudden just leap in the air and skitter away, like for no reason. So funny. So yeah, it's a good time of year to be following sheep and goats on Instagram. Yeah,
Marsha 56:19
yeah. Yeah. So I think that's about it. Do we have anything? There's
Kelly 56:23
one more thing and that is the Finnish artist. I just wanted to -- it was shared in the 2 Knit Lit Chicks Ravelry group and I saw it and then I started digging around and looking, looking for more information. So her name is Liisa, Hietanon, I should have looked it up--the pronunciation for that--and in Finnish. But she's an artist, a Finnish artist, and she crochets all sorts of things. But the thing that brought her to my attention was an article about how she had crocheted life-sized replicas of the people in her town. And they're amazing. You can barely tell who's the real person and who's the crocheted version. And you know, thinking of doing these frogs and all the little details that you have to select, to make them actually replicate Frog and Toad in the books. I can only imagine all of the different things that she's thought about to make sure that these crocheted replicas actually, you know, mirror the features of these people in her town. It's amazing. So I've linked to her in the show notes as well, her artist's website, in the show notes as well, and you can take a look. Pretty amazing.
Marsha 57:38
Yeah, they are. I'm looking at them now. They're very amazing. They're really yeah, they're very cool.
Kelly 57:42
Pretty fun.
Marsha 57:43
So with that, I think we're almost at the end, and I just have to let you know that Enzo, when we started to record, he came up and got on the bed, and he's been sleeping on the bed. So the typing sent him away. But the recording brought him back.
Kelly 57:59
So you must not be tense when you record, Marsha! It 's all that uploading of your tax documents that has traumatized poor Enzo.
Marsha 58:16
Yes. I don't know if we talked about did we talk about that. But
Kelly 58:19
you and I talked about it.
Marsha 58:20
You can imagine that I've always just, would fill out like a little paper workbook that the accountant sent me and this year, you know, as as you know, Kelly, how much I love being dragged into the 21st century and having to use technology. But I did it. I finally figured it out. It took me two solid days probably. Yes. All that scanning. And and as I say we had a conversation about this. And I realized what they're doing is they probably have to scan all those documents themselves. So normally, I would just send them copies of everything, what they're doing now is they're putting the work on the client, right? They're just foisting it off on-- that sounds too negative, but they they're just making us do the work at this end. So they don't have to I think is what they're really doing.
Kelly 59:08
I don't know how much of it is is safety but it I have to say when I when I grade going forward, when the pandemic is over and I'm back face to face or when the pandemic has ramped down, I think I will still have a lot of my students assignments just be uploaded. I don't really prefer grading online. There are some nice features to it. There are some things that are are easier to grade online. But I would always when I got stacks of papers, I would know that you know there was a potential cold coming on, because I just collected a whole bunch of tests that I had to grade. And you know, I would always joke about how I was going to spray my papers with Lysol. I wonder too if that's part of it. You're not having all of that stuff arrive from everybody
Marsha 1:00:00
Yeah,I didn't even think about that. And I that makes sense. I didn't. Yeah. And honestly, I didn't think about that.
Kelly 1:00:06
I know that the pandemic, I mean, they've said, I've heard different places that actual transmission by, you know, touching objects of COVID is not the real transmission mechanism. It's still important to wash your hands and stuff, but, but that's not the real transmission mechanism the way they originally thought, but it is definitely a disease transmission. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I have experienced that, you know, the the colds come when the tests come and I have to grade papers. So,
Marsha 1:00:39
yeah, so maybe it is really not just like they're trying to make us do the bulk.They're trying to protect it. So it's probably...
Kelly 1:00:46
it's probably many fold the reasons for doing it. But that, but that's one, you know, you sharing things, sharing objects is something that people are trying to prevent in the pandemics. Yeah, I wouldn't want to be opening a whole bunch of other people's mail.
Marsha 1:01:01
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Kelly 1:01:02
I wouldn't want to be collecting a whole bunch of student papers. If I were you know, actually in class, I'd be like, No, you can leave that right there.
Marsha 1:01:12
Yeah,
Kelly 1:01:13
All right. Well, I'm glad Enzo is no longer traumatized by your typing.
Marsha 1:01:20
I will I will try and type lightly and test it and see if. After we hang up, I will try typing on the computer so he gets up and runs to the basement.
Kelly 1:01:31
Oh my gosh.
Marsha 1:01:32
All right. We'll talk
Marsha 1:01:33
Join us on our adventures on Ravelry and Instagram. I am betterinmotion and Kelly is 1hundredprojects.
Kelly 1:01:33
Okay, Marsha, bye. Bye. Bye, everyone. Thank you so much for listening. To subscribe to the podcast visit Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com.
Kelly 1:01:50
Until next time, we're the Two Ewes doing our part for a world fleece!