Episode 29: Fuzzy Worms (or Laura and Jen Disagree about Zombies)

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Today’s episode is sponsored by the New and Improved Dizzy Blonde Studios. New and Improved because we now have our own website. Visit our new home at DizzyBlondeStudios.com

Catching Up: (0:55)

Jen went up to visit family and go to the Retzlaff Winery Fleeces, Food, and Fun event. She met Brother 2’s fiancée and found out the baby they are expecting is a girl. She also saw her nephew and the rest of the family. Her parents and Ron went to winery and they did a tasting and loved the port. She saw Jasmin and Gigi of the Knitmore Girls Podcast, Dr. Gemma of CogKnitive Podcast, Tracy from 2 Knit Lit Chicks, and lots of people she’d previously met at Stitches that it was nice to see again. Jen and her mom both won stuff in the raffle (Jen won a kit to make Romi’s Fiori Di Sole shawl and her mom won a nice bag). If you’re driving up or down 99, Jen recommends Bravo Cheese Factory as a rest stop. She’s also started running again, using the Zombies Run App, playing a little more guitar, and loving Fargo and the Cosmos reboot (but not quite as much as the Carl Sagan version.

Laura is trying to get over bronchitis again. She’s also dyeing for Mean Girls Yarn Club and her custom colors for Alamitos Bay Yarn Company and Colors 91711 and the Sunnydale Yarn Club. She is starting to plan for Knit Dizzney. She’s been watching a lot of Elementary, Orphan Black, Buffy (planning for the yarn club), and she’s all caught up on Downton Abbey. She’s also planning some low key Father’s Day stuff.

If you’d like to be a Knit Dizzney sponsor contact us.

In the Knitting Bag: (15:12)

Jen is working on her Lauriel Cardigan (by Ysolda Teague from Little Red in the City) out of Wollmeise DK in Pesto for Camp Loopy. She is working on the sleeves (before the body is done, taking a page from Jasmin). She loves the construction with the top down set-in sleeve. She is slowly working on her  Sunshine Sock by Cookie A in Dream in Color Smooshy in Butterpeeps.  She has done the first yoke decrease for her Leah’s Lovely Cardigan from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts out of Malabrigo sock in Eggplant.  And she started a new project, the Water for the Elephants socks by Rose Hiver in some Knitpicks Stroll in a bare (natural) and Summer Blooms (pink).

Laura is working (crocheting) on her Down the Garden Path Shawl by Michele DuNaeir in Lambie Toes in Special Hell.  She is working on her Yggdrasil Afghan by Lisa Jacobs out of reclaimed Berroco Vintage Chunky in Chocolate. The small diameter circular cast on is difficult and did it a whole bunch on times.  And she started mitts for her husband out of brown alpaca. She’s adding the design element from the Motoring Madness mittens by Audrey Nicklin from Lit Knits to her own mittens pattern.

We mention the Belly Button Cast on.

Finished Objects: (23:20)

Jen hasn’t finished anything. Laura finished her Leftie by Martina Behm out of a Miss Babs Yummy kit in slate and reds.

We mentioned Slipped Stitch Studios and .

Devil’s Tower: (24:42)

We are both short on UFO activity.

Frog Pond: (24:51)

Jen didn’t have any frogging this week, but she hindered her own progress on her Sunshine Socks by first losing her book with the pattern in it. Ron found it for her, but then she forgot to bring the first sock when she was traveling, so she couldn’t work on it anyway, because she compares to the first sock.

On Deck: (27:49)

Jen has a whole list: the Ginny’s Cardigan by Mari Chiba from the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits out of Wollmeise Pure in Chim Chim Chimney (for Camp Loopy), the Citron Grande out of Desert Vista Dyeworks Voir in Cherry Icee, she wants to restart her Chickadee, the Dump Truck Cardigan for her nephew, the Playful Stripes Cardigan by Alana Dakos for the new baby out of Cascade 220 Superwash Sport out of teals and pinks and greys, and a layette for the new baby niece out of Cascade Heritage. She also wants to make booties and more sweaters. She is happy to have a girl to knit for so she can make all manner of baby patterns.

Laura is going to make the Knitted Scale Mail Gloves by CraftyMutt, the Dreambird by Nadita Swings out of either Dizzy Blonde yarn, and the Effortless Cardigan by Hannah Fettig out of Dizzy Blonde DK.

Knit Culture: (36:01)

We review Dishcloth Diva Knits On! by Deb Buckingham (courtesy of Cooperative Press). It retails for $9.95 PDF, $15.95 for Print and PDF. It’s a lovely book, we love the tutorial, but we think it’s a little more for a beginner and great for teaching, but an advanced knitter may not get as much out of it. We think it’s an excellent gift for a beginner or for using as group projects.

We remind you that the stashdown is still going on. Post your finished projects in the June thread and you can win two patterns–the beautiful InfiniTAM donated by the amazing Deborah Tomasello and the Tan House Brook Shawl donated by BostonJen of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast (which you should all listen to, because it’s awesome.

We also talk about our favorite knitting resources. For crochet, Laura recommends Stitch Diva Studios (text and pictures), The Crochet Crowd (video), and HappyBerry Crochet (video). For knitting, she likes Knit Purl Hunter (video), Knit Witch (video), and KnittingHelp.com. Jen doesn’t learn well with videos, she prefers picture and text. She likes the Techknitting Blog, Ysolda’s Technique Thursday blog posts, Techniques with Theresa from Knitty.com, and the Tin Can Knits blog. She also recommends some books: Finishing School: A Master Class for Knitters by Deborah Newton (finishing techniques), Little Red in the City by Ysolda Teague and Knit to Flatter by Amy Herzog (both deal with sweater fit), and Knitting for Dummies (beginners). Jen also mentions The Principles of Knitting, if you want to be super pedagogical.

Geek Culture: (46:50)

We talk Downton Abbey! Jen highly recommends you look at Tom and Lorenzo’s posts about their visit to a Downton Abbey costume exhibit (with closeups of actual costumes from the show). Post 1, Part 2, and Part 3 are here. We talk costuming in general.

We also do some spoilery talk. If you want to avoid them skip ahead to the Events timecode (1:06:35)

Events: (1:06:35)

We are doing an event for World Wide Knit In Public Day.  We are partnering with Colors 91711 (address 248 Harvard Avenue, Claremont CA 91711). On Sunday June 22, we will be at the park across Harvard Ave having a knitting picnic from 11am to 2pm. Bring a chair, some shade, some snacks to share, water, sunscreen, your knitting. Colors opens at 12 noon for your shopping pleasure.

We are both going to the CogKNITive retreat run by Dr. Gemma of the CogKNITive Podcast on July 25.

KnitDizzney will be Sunday, September 7, 2014.  Save the date.  There will be exclusive colorways and T-shirts for purchase and we will have a meetup at the picnic spiral.

Our next milestone prize will be at 1000 members, so join the Ravelry Group. And don’t forget to post your finished May projects in the thread!  Keep stashing down!

Episode 28: Knitting Chicken (Or Ben Levisay Fights for Your Right to Party)

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Today’s episode is sponsored by the New and Improved Dizzy Blonde Studios. New and Improved because we now have our own website. Visit our new home at DizzyBlondeStudios.com

If you want to find your raveler number enter the Konami Code on your profile page. If you need help, see this thread.

Catching Up: (1:15)

Laura had family visiting, Her sister-in-law was visiting. And her brother and his family are doing the amusement park tour of California, including Disneyland (and she will be able to play in the park with them). It’s Tony’s birthday soon, so that’s happy. And she’s been doing a lot of dying, especially the custom colors for both of the shops that carry custom colors of Dizzy Blonde Studios yarn. And she’s been catching up on Doctor Who. She loved “Blink.” (Don’t we all?)

Jen made strawberry basil lemonade. She has a blog post up with her strawberry basil lemonade recipe. She also saw both The Grand Budapest Hotel and Godzilla and thinks they are both worth seeing. She and Ron are working out some new songs, “Amie” by Pure Prairie League and a mashup of two songs “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men and “Home” by Ed Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. And she’s been paying some old video games by Tim Schafer, including Day of the Tentacle.

We mention yarn shops Colors and Alamitos Bay Yarn Company, the Cradle Will Rock Shawlette, and Canon Hand Dyes.

In the Knitting Bag: (12:44)

Laura is on the last color of her Leftie by Martina Behm out of a Miss Babs Yummy kit in slate and reds. She has finally actually started her Down the Garden Path Shawl by Michele DuNaeir in Lambie Toes in Special Hell. And she started her Yggdrasil Afghan by Lisa Jacobs out of reclaimed Berroco Vintage Chunky in Chocolate.

Jen is working on her Leah’s Lovely Cardigan from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts out of Malabrigo sock in Eggplant.  She is almost done with the sleeves.  She is also working on her  second Sunshine Sock by Cookie A in Dream in Color Smooshy in Butterpeeps and her Lauriel Cardigan (by Ysolda Teague from Little Red in the City) out of Wollmeise DK in Pesto for Camp Loopy. She has trouble casting on, as usual.

We mention the Citron Grande and Endless Rainbow.

Finished Objects: (20:21)

Laura finished her Men’s Vintage Socks in Dizzy Blonde Studios Lambie Toes in No Touching Guns (grey). She may want to take different pictures than the ones she initially took. She is still deciding on a name, but she probably going to name it for Sectumsempra, a spell that Snape used in Harry Potter.

Jen finished her Hitchhiker by Martina Behm out of a Zauberball in the colorway 2079 Durche die Blume (pink and green and white).  She only got 40 teeth and she had about 6 inches of yarn left after binding off.

Devil’s Tower: (23:00)

The UFOs are quiet.

Frog Pond: (23:10)

Laura had some trouble with the Down the Garden Path Shawl. She didn’t read the pattern, because she thinks she can read the designer’s mind.

Jen has frogged her entire Chickadee (which is by Ysolda Teague and she was working it in Quince and Co. Chickadee). It’s a top down yoke sweater with stranded colorwork worked flat, and she’s not happy with how it looks. So she’s going to start over, because she wants to be happy with it.

On Deck: (26:11)

Laura wants to make a Dreambird by Nadita Swings out of either Dizzy Blonde Sock or Lambie Toes (or maybe both) for a booth sample.  She wants to make Knitted Scale Mail Gloves by CraftyMutt, the Effortless Cardigan by Hannah Fettig out of Dizzy Blonde DK in an undecided color, and the Motoring Madness Mittens by Audrey Nicklin from Lit Knits out of brown alpaca.

Jen will be re-starting her Chickadee. She’ll be making a Ginny’s Cardigan by Mari Chiba from the Unofficial Harry Potter Knits out of Wollmeise Pure in Chim Chim Chimney. And she wants to make Water for the Elephants socks by Rose Hiver in some Knitpicks Stroll in a bare (natural) and Summer Blooms (pink) and the Citron Grand out of Desert Vista Dyeworks Voir in Cherry Icee.

Knit Culture: (30:28)

We play the promo for the Once Upon a Time Podcast.

We do the drawing for the May Stashdown Challenge. Congratulations to knitallthestuff! You win a digital copy of Subversive Socks edited by Tabetha Hendrick, courtesy of Cooperative Press. June’s theme will be Matriculation, so post your finished objects in the June thread. July’s theme will be music; projects that remind you of your favorite song or musician or album cover or what-have-you.

Steve Malcolm of It Takes Balls to Knit has launched an indiegogo campaign.

And we interview Benjamin Levisay of XRX Books, the Stitches Shows, and the Fiber Hooligan Podcast. We talk about his background, his podcast (including the origin of its name), his work with Halos of Hope, his new software venture, Hopscotch, and some general geek stuff.

Geek Culture: (1:14:23)

We talk some more about some upcoming blockbusters including How to Train Your Dragon 2, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Jupiter Ascending, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Expendables 3, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and Sex Tape.

We mention Interstellar (which is the Matthew Mcconaughey astronaut film that Jen couldn’t think of the title of.

Events: (1:19:44)

Jen will be at the Retzlaff Winery Fleeces, Food, and Fun event on June 7th.

We are doing an event for World Wide Knit In Public Day.  We are partnering with Colors 91711 (address 248 Harvard Avenue, Claremont CA 91711). On Sunday June 22, we will be at the park across Harvard Ave having a knitting picnic from 11am to 2pm. Bring a chair, some shade, some snacks to share, water, sunscreen, your knitting. Colors opens at 12 noon for your shopping pleasure.

We are both going to the CogKNITive retreat run by Dr. Gemma of the CogKNITive Podcast on July 25.

KnitDizzney will be Sunday, September 7, 2014.  Save the date.  There will be exclusive colorways and T-shirts for purchase and we will have a meetup at the picnic spiral.