Episode 7 - Super Secret Sweaters

Episode 7 is here! This week I talk about knitting, spinning, advanced sweater-making, our basement finishing project, counting down to my 30th birthday, and photographing socks. I hope you enjoy it!

Listen to this episode

Show Notes:

Administrative and Thank You's:

• find me on iTunes, thank you for the reviews!
• My Blog, Ravelry, and Ravelry Group
• Instagram
• Podcast Thank You's:
• Whatcha Swatchin' Podcast
• Spritly Knitter - with Orange-Maid/Helen
• Oh, Loops! Podcast with Sarah and Lydia

Clicking Away:

• Skew Socks, from Oh Loops! yarn

• Katniss Cowl is finished! Fleece Artist Slubby Blue yarn

• 1 more Barley hat finished, another on the needles
• Ravellenics Team Sasquatch
• Podcaster Throwdown
• Mom's Super Secret Sweater Project
• Using the CustomFit program by Amy Herzog
• Yarn is Capra by Knitpicks
• Amy Herzog's Knit to Flatter Class - Online Knitting Class

Spinning Stories:

• Finished 50g of Woolen Mill St. Yarns Corriedale roving in Juliette Jules

Basement Tales:

• Painted insides of entertainment center and sides of soffits dark green/blue
• Hopefully drywall will be finished next week!

Countdown to 30:

• Maybe a party at our house to also be a basement housewarming party? Definitely catered by Qdoba.....

I Dream of Knitting:

• Knitmore Girls Podcast
• Abstract Fiber Sock yarn in Knitmore Colorway
• Ribbi-Cardi with perfectly executed measurements and button band
• Matching Vanilla Socks

Photographing Your Knits:

• Remotes I found:

 Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control  Canon RC-6 Wireless Remote Controller for Canon XT/XTi, XSi, T1i and T2i Digital SLR Cameras

• This week I give some suggestions about photographing socks on feet.

Shout-Outs:

• Allthatcakeknits on Ravelry
• Expertly Dyed Art by Science
• Danie from Prairie Girls Podcast took some hilarious photos of her Lintilla
• My sister's cross-stitch blog - justforfunjen.blogspot.com

Sprig

I wanted to share the start to finish of my new favorite sweater, Sprig by Alana Dakos. This particular pattern made me feel very smart as a knitter. The neckband was absolutely wonderful to knit, and this is the first time I really paid attention to guage and took measurements. Overall I am very happy with it :)

Details:

Sprig pattern by Alana Dakos

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Olive Heather (though next time I will spring for a DK weight instead)

Needles: Size 5, Knitpicks Caspian circulars

Episode 6 - Nerdalong!

• Knitting Butterflies Ravelry Group
• Instagram: butterflyem4
• Ravelry Page: EmilyStraw

Listen to this episode

Thank You's:

• Prairie Girls Knit and Spin, In a Sknit, and Aussie Yarning gave shoutouts
• iTunes reviews and donations are GREATLY appreciated!

Clicking Away:

• Sprig Sweater is finished!  Pattern by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting, knit in Cascade 220

• Brown Striped Ragg socks are finished, Patons Kroy and Lifestyle Toe Up Sock method
• Top-Down Seamless Petticoat Doll by Susan B. Anderson for my niece, knit in Red Heart and I Love This Yarn

• Skew Socks by Lana Holden in Winter 2009 Knitty, yarn by Oh Loops

Spinning Stories:

• Woolen Mill St. Yarns corriedale roving in Juliette Jules

Upcoming Events:

• Podcaster Throwdown and Ravellenic mashup of knitting as many Halos for Hope hats as possible. Join me on Team Sasquatch and my own giveaway on the Knitting Butterflies group.
  

• Using the Barley Hat pattern by TinCan Knits
• Knitpicks Swish yarn
• #nerdalong has begun! I'm starting with the Hunter Cowl by Diana Burk (pattern no longer available due to copyright) Please join me as knitting nerds unite!

• Also I want to pick up a copy of Unofficial Harry Potter Inspired Knits and knit the Mermaid Shawl, Dragon's Egg socks, Ginny's cardigan

Countdown to 30:

• I've been beginning to struggle with body image issues, as I head in to my 30's I want to squash that immediately so as I grow older and change I can push those awful thoughts out of my head.
• I want to take Amy Herzog's class Knit to Flatter to appreciate the body I have been given
• A few changes have been made in my home to help take care of the body I have

Photographing Your Knits:

Photo courtesy of godigitalsslr.com

• Answering a question about photographing in the snow
• BE SURE to check your white balance! Snow often looks blue in your camera, change to the shade setting (as long as it doesn't turn the snow yellow) :-D
• Find the exposure compensation setting on your camera. I like to adjust mine to +0.7 to compensate for the camera making your image darker. This also works for white backgrounds in general.

Episode 5 - 2013 in Review

Thanks for listening to my last podcast of 2013! I hope you enjoy it :)

**Before I get messages saying that the dates of the Ravellenics and Podcaster Throwdown are right next to each other, don't worry peeps, I got this. I tried to record a revision like 3 times but it never turned out right because I had kids jumping around everywhere behind me. I'll explain my revisions in the next podcast.**

• Knitting Butterflies Ravelry Group
• Instagram: butterflyem4
• Ravelry Page: EmilyStraw

Thank You's:

• wildlilly (aka Joanie) is our new moderator, she has been so helpful!
• outofthisworld (aka Marybeth) gifted me the Peeries Flooers Mittens pattern!
• Sarah and Lydia from Oh Loops! sent in some beautiful yarn both for my stash and for a giveaway! Hooray!

• iTunes thank yous
• Jan from the Twinset Designs podcast and the Knitmore Girls have been listening! Eeeek! :)

Christmas Happenings

• Hubby got me my own Knitpicks Interchangeable Caspian needles
• My sister made me stitch markers
• My bestie and sister bought me yarn to make the Katniss Cowl

Clicking Away

• Brown Striped Ragg socks continue
• Sprig Sweater also continues, neckband is done and ease is fixed :)

• Peeries Flooers hat is complete!

• Started a Diana's hat 

Remember and Reminisce

• New names learned like Susan B. Anderson, Cat Bordhi, Martina Behm
• New to podcasts like Knitmore Girls and Fat Squirrel
• First fair isle project, lace project, crochet amigurumi, enterlac, slipped stitch patterns
• First time spinning
• Found my local yarn store and explored others
• total of 40 projects finished
• My first pattern - Cadence Shawlette
• Became a part of the knitting community in 2 knitting groups

Looking Ahead Into 2014

• What ever I do, do it well
• Craftsy class on Improving Your Knitting

Upcoming Events

(Like I said, I know the dates are a bit off on this one, but I have it figured out and will update in the next one)

• Ravellenics
• Team Sasquatch
• Thread for chatter, new thread for contest to come soon
• Podcaster Throwdown
• Halos of Hope
• Team Knitmore
• Gold, silver, and bronze goals for myself, each stage will add another prize to the pot!
• First prize - 1 skein of Oh Loops! platinum sock base in the Lavender Infused Green Tea colorway

• How to enter - go to the contest thread (not open until the games start) and update every day with your progress in the Ravellenics games. You can enter up to once per day, and you can enter every day during the games.

Giveaways:

• By random generator, winners of Sleepy Eyes Knits Wonderlace are Karen (carrotmusic on Ravelry) and Simin (MaggieVienna on Ravelry)

Photographing Your Knits

• This week I share my philosophy on why it's important to photograph our handmade items. Even if all you can do is snap a quick photo in awful lighting, always, always take the photo.