Glacial Knits Podcast: Episode 6 - We Did the Thing!

Today, Jonas and Sari give an update about their retreat and vending experience at Zombie Knitpocalypse 2017 and give an update on the Outlander yarn club. Jonas shows off his purchases and Sari shows off goodies from the gift bags from ZK2017. Finished objects are proudly displayed and WIPs shared. Sair shares new colors for the shop. There is talk about Liv & Maddie and the summer of Football.

Post-ZK Update.

Outlander Yarn Club Update:

• Sign-Ups for first 2 months and full 4 month subcription only open until August 1st. Remember shipping to continental USA is included in yarn club price.

ZK2017 Shopping and Gift Bag Update:

• Jonas bought a lot of things:
  • Marigoldjen's BFL sock yarn in the Cumulus and Early Grey colorways
  • Undead yarn's Spider base in the Midnight colorway
  • Brew City Yarn's Pokemon mini skein set.
  • Brew City Yarn's House Sorting Shawl Kit in Ravenclaw
  • The Girl who Crafted's Foxy Sport nase in the Woodsmoke colorway

Sari got a great gift bag:

• Notions pouch from The Silver Shed USA
• Knitter's Pride Nova Platina size 5 (US) circular needles.
• Three Irish Girls ZK2017 retreat custom colorways (Ants Go Marching, Capture the Flag, Skinny Dipping)

What we're knitting:

Jonas

• FOs
  • Still working on the Angularity shawl by Josh Ryks out of Hazel Knits Divine in “Leaf Fall” and Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in “Wild Rice.”
  • Swatching for the Lane Mitts by Jensen Reyes out of Malabrigo Worsted in the  "Stonechat" colourway as part of the Gilmore Girls swap with Odd Duck Swaps of Ravelry.
• WIP
  • Copacetic blanket from the Tossing the Stash blog out of the Pokemon minis.
    

Sari

• FOs
  • Bevoled Trees cowl by Tracy Wright out of The Girl Who Crafted's Heart of the City Colorway.​
  • Vanilla sock out of The Girl Who Crafted Sparkle Sock in "Campeones" a test colourway inspired by Real Madrid Football Club.
  • Arya's Needle shawl by Lara Smooth out of The Girl Who Crafted Northern Lights sock in Wolves of Winter.
• WIP
  • D0 Not Speak to Me of Dragonfire socks by Kaity Melvin out of The Girl Who Crafted Northern Lights Sock in In Death, Sacrifice.
  • Up Next! Vedbaek by Karie Westerman in Kauni.

Sari shares new yarn colors:

• Dreaming on the West Coast inspired by The Wombats
• Oranje inspired by the Netherlands National Football teams

We briefly discuss the Disney Channel show Liv & Maddie. We more extensively discuss the wonderful footie that has been going on: Women's Euros, International Champions Cup, and Gold Cup.

We mention again where to find us:

Sari

• Ravelry – TheGirlWhoCrafted
• Twitter – @girlwhocrafted
• Instagram - @thegirlwhocrafted
• Email – thegirlwhocraftedblog@gmail.com

Jonas

• Ravelry – ShopBoyJonas
• Twitter - @jonassollers

You can find these videos on Sari’s blogs at:

• http://girlwhocrafted.com/blog
• http://girlwhocrafted.blogspot.com

Crafting Firsts: PODCAST!!!!!

A bit of old news, but since I'm still excited and it's technically still relevant, I'll happily bring it to you all here!

Back in June, I attended Zombie Knitpocalypse just a 90 minute drive down the road in Rochester, MN. While I was there, I had the opportunity to meet some lovely people, as usual, but I spent much of my time getting to know some of my favourite podcasters (and now favourite people), Susie and Danie from the Prairie Girls Knit and Spin podcast and Sarah from the Cultivate and Create podcast.

Over dinner the first night of the event, Jonas was relaying to the table how I had asked (demanded) that he go to the hardware store down the street (where we shop a lot, so it wasn't like this isn't a place he ever has to go again) and get me one of each of the colour cards from their (admittedly small) paint colours section. This is because when I dye yarn I get the picture of what colour I want in my head and then I translate that into a visual cue based on the colours on the paint cards. Sarah loved this idea, and since part of what she is trying to do with her podcast is really get at the various ways that people express creativity, she asked if we could do an interview about my creative process. So we did!

I've thought at several times about starting a podcast of my own, but since you all can see how reliable I am at updating a blog regularly, I figured it might not be the best idea. Plus I'm not sure that me (and my monogamous knitting self) doing a solo podcast would actually generate any interesting content, especially when I'm working on big projects. So I've never done it, and Sarah's podcast was the first time I've gotten to appear in that medium. I had a lot of fun, and it sort of made me wish that I had a crafty friend locally who would be able to come up with more content than I could and also hold me accountable to actually doing things on time (and that I even had said time in the first place) so I could podcast. Of course, as soon as I got back to my room after recording I thought of six million things I didn't say or should have said differently, but listening back to it after it was released, I think it sounds better than I thought it would after my original critical remembering...which is normal.

Here's a link to the episode with my interview.

After you listen to that, be sure to check out Sarah's most recent episode where she announces a coupon code for my shop and a way you can enter to win a skein of my new favourite of my hand-dyed yarns, "Blue Lily" (more on that in a week or two!). I love the format she's chosen for the contest, and hope that I can take some of the great info that's coming to me and make even more exciting things happen in the shop, so check out Sarah's podcast, contribute to the discussion for a chance to win some yarn, and stay tuned for even more awesome!

Thanks to Sarah for letting me hijack her podcast. I had a blast, and I'm so glad we had a chance to meet at ZK!

KnitVentures: Zombie Knitpocalypse 2016

Hi again all. Of course, as soon as I tell you all that I'll try to be around more I disappear for a few weeks. Rest assured that it was mostly because nothing interesting was happening in the crafting world because it turns out that adding eight stitches every row to a lace shawl eventually means it takes you half an hour to knit a row IF you don't screw it up and have to tink back. Good news is that the knitting is done and the bind off is done and I just have to muster the CAN to do the applied I-cord edging and then I will have another FO. I wouldn't count on that being this Friday, but it might be.

However! I have renewed crafting vigour (mainly for sewing, but also some new yarn colourways are floating through my head so perhaps we'll be seeing some of those soon as well) thanks to a delightful weekend in beautiful Rochester, MN with some lovely and amazing knitters.

This past weekend, Jonas and I found our way to Zombie Knitpocalypse, hosted by the lovely ladies of Stockinette Zombies. It's held only about an hour and a half south of Minneapolis, so it's hugely convenient for us. Last year was my first year attending and I met a lot of great people and learned a lot and knit a lot, so we decided to do it again, this time as a team!

Highlights include:

• Getting an in-person shawl lesson from PrairieGirlDanie (one half of the Prairie Girls Knit and Spin podcast) -- see PrairieGirlSusie's instagram for a cute photo. Jonas agreed that my shawl never looked better on me until I got professional help!
• Dinner and other shenanigans with PrairieGirlSusie and MrsShoo.
• My first ever podcast appearance (more on that once the episode drops)!
• Not spending too much money at the market.
• One Twisted Tree yarn!
• A super helpful class on blocking (if I'm going to keep knitting lace I'm going to need it)
• Great GF/DF/SF local, sustainable food here and here.
• The Dale of Norway store.

Here are my yarn purchases/acquisitions (not pictured is a sweater quantity from One Twisted Tree that I knew I had to have after I saw the mini-skeins of Hinkypunk and Knight Bus Escape next to one another.

​​SM

 

A sweater quantity of Yarn Geek Fibers in the "Sarah Guppy" colourway (part of her Super Geek yarns, which are named for women who made ground-breaking discoveries in the sciences). It's mainly grey with some turquoise and dark blue, and when I saw it swatches up I knew it needed to be a sweater. I chose the Corriedale/nylon fingering base.

​​SM

Two skeins of One Twisted Tree in the Outlander-inspired "Rare Woman Claire" colourway on the Lavish (sport/dk) base to make the Hellebore shawl by PrairieGirlSusie. Because of my purchase limit I had to choose between this or the "Miss Fisher's Pearl Handled Pistol" colourway to make the "Choice Bit of Calico" shawl by Sarah Shoo. As I said to Jonas, doubt not that if I have a purchase left in December, that will be mine. If not then... January 1.

​​

 

In addition, in our retreat bags (which I just realised I didn't take a photo of, but were sewn with fabric created from a photo of the mini-skeins below all knit up), we got a mini-skein set with colours from many of the dyers at the marketplace.

​​SM

 

I also won a mini-skein set by Fishknits.

 I guess it's time to figure out what one does with mini-skeins.

Al in all, a fun weekend. I walked a 5k, I made new friends, I did some crafting, and I was inspired to do a whole lot more! (and I'm using my Instagram more... at least for now. I'm still not sure I have anything relevant to contribute there on a regular basis, but we'll see.)

Stash Confessional: Zombie Knitpocalypse 2015 (or, OOPS, FANDOM YARNS)

Let's pretend I told you about all the things I've been working on and finishing and giving and receiving for the past month (plus) and just skip to the more recent past. Grad school, it turns out, leaves me with just about enough free time to knit, but not at all enough free time to talk about knitting on the internet.

Suffice to say, my crafting productivity has slowed WAAAY down (but I did manage to fulfill my duties for the two swaps I needed to take care of and dye some yarn...all of which I will try to tell you about) and (as of the last two weekends) my yarn acquisition has sped way up. Which is all a nice way of saying that I completely fail at my "own less yarn" resolution and at this point there's probably no coming back from it unless I sell half my stash.

But enough of that. Let's talk about the knitting retreat I attended in Rochester, MN the last weekend in June: Zombie Knitpocalypse 2015.

For those of you unfamiliar with this event, it's run as part of the Stockinette Zombies videocast, which I highly recommend, and is basically a 200 person hangout for a weekend with super fun events and knitting in a super fun city. People come from all over the US (and the world) and there are informal classes, some swaps, many many prize drawings, a fashion show, a wine and yarn bus, and a 5k run/walk. And a whole lot of just hanging out and knitting and making friends. It's all pretty awesome, if you ask me.

I made many new friends and finished an entire (very tall) sock over the weekend. I also bought a lot of yarn (though not as much as I thought I did...but it was still a significant monetary expenditure, which I think is my bigger concern right now). Interestingly, all of my yarn purchasing was Jonas-enabled. He'd driven down from Minneapolis to visit for the weekend and joined me for the public market after I'd cruised the private market on my own and restricted myself to only purchasing things for swaps. Then Jonas came and I came home with three skeins from Dreams in Fibre and a Gilmore Girls yarn club. So there's that. Admittedly, Jonas also bought yarn, and he doesn't even know how to knit yet, so I guess his problem translates to all of us.

Here's the haul:

Sun Valley Fibers 80/20 Merino Nylon High Twist in the "Hangin With Friends" colourway. This came as part of my retreat goodie bag, so it was free and also it's really pretty.

Because I can never not buy yarn from Alisha Goes Around when I see her at an event AND I can never not buy yarn with bison in it... Alisha Goes Around Tracks (of bison) fingering. I'm not sure what the colourway is, but it's a brownish-purple and blue variegation that's super pretty.

And then...first up in the DAMN YOU FANDOMS section of my purchasing:

Dreams in Fiber Donegal Tweed Aran in the je suis Prest colourway inspired by Outlander. I liked it enough when it was in a sock yarn and then Jonas had to go and find the tweed and then it was all over. Because Scottish themed yarn in a tweed.

Same as above, only in the Lallybroch colourway.

Did I mention I want EVERYTHING in her shop. Because I want EVERYTHING in her shop.

Dreams in Fiber Merino/Nylon Superwash Sock in the "Merlin" colourway. It both looks like the actual bird the merlin and is accurate to the stupid terrible awful BBC show that owned my Friday nights for four years. It's also blue and brown. I HAVE A PROBLEM!!!

Gilmore Girls club from Spartickes Dyes is not pictured (because I don't have it) but coming soon. I think maybe you can still sign up for a bit longer (the form is still open), but signups are closing soon. I'll try to post the yarns as they arrive so you can see them.

I also won a bunch of mini skeins from Quaere fibres and five non-matching quarter skeins from Squoosh Fibre Arts, but I didn't picture them. I'm honestly not sure what to do with them. I don't really use minis.

In short, I have acquired a lot of yarn. Which would be perhaps okay had I not fallen headfirst into the Steven Be sale this past weekend as well. So... yep... no time for knitting, no money for daily life... tons of new yarns.

It keeps, right?