Episode 34 – Tiptoe through the Canadian Tulips

Hello everyone and welcome to Summer! As hot as it is, we’re still going!

Canada Tulip engineered by the Netherlands for Canada’s 150th birthday

Downton Abbey Trivia Contest Winners

First off, thank you to everyone for listening and participating in our Downton Abbey Trivia Contest! We had so much fun doing this and thank you again to all of the lovely people who donated prizes for this contest!

The answer to our question of what was Dickie Merten diagnosed with? He was diagnosed with Pernicious Anemia.

The winner of the Yorkshire Skies MKAL kit AND the skien of Lady Shakleton from Canon Hand Dyes was Linda, lmecoll on Ravelry.

The winner of the Downton Abbey bag and notions pouch is Karen, kannasoup on Ravelry.

The winner of the ‘Behind the Scenes of Downton Abbey’ coffee table book is Angie, crouchingcheese on Ravelry.

The winner of the skein of Shrewd Lady Mary from One Twisted Tree is Lina, dragonbard on Ravelry.

Thanks again to everyone for playing! Maybe next time we could do an Outlander contest!

Events

Val’s birthday was on June 26th and we all wish her the best in her new year and hope she gets spoiled rotten 😉

Fan Expo – September 1-4, 2016 – Metro Toronto Convention Centre – Toronto, Ontario – guests include Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, Matthew Lewis, William Shatner, Sigourney Weaver, Jewel Staite, Alan Tudyk, lots of Doctor Who actors and Daredevil actors and so many more!  You can see a full list of guests *HERE*.

KAL/CALs

Stash Dash – May 22-August 14, 2016. Get out your stash and use it up to reach goals of 3k, 5k and 10k. Hosted by The Knitgirllls podcast, it’s always a fun time to dash your stash away! Check out their board for all the rules!

Summertime and the Livin’ is Easy KAL/CAL – June 1-August 31, 2016. Hosted by the Geeky Girls Knit podcast, cast on your summer themed items and if you can’t think of a theme, you knit it in the summer. Check out the Geeky Girls knit podcast and join their ravelry group to win. You can enter as many times as you like, as long as you can tie it to Summertime.

Canada KAL/CAL – Begins July 1st (Canada Day) and hosted by the Two Tangled Skeins podcast, you can enter your Canada themed items (yarn dyer, yarn company, colourway name, pattern name) to win some fun prizes.

WIPS

Katy is still plugging away at her ‘Zombody Loves Ewe’ socks by Desert Vista Dyeworks and her Reyna shawl using her handspun ‘Darkside of the Room’ by Spun Right Round. She’s also working on the Christmas Celebration Cross Stitch by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and she cast on the ‘Hexie Love Actually‘ afghan!

Reyna Shawl

Hexie Live Actually Afghan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Val has been going strong on her dishcloths, both knitted and crocheted! She is the dishcloth queen lately!

FOs and HOs

Katy has nuffin! 😦 She has been in a knitting/crafting slump lately but is starting to get into it again after casting on the Hexie Love Actually blanket. Val did finish one dishcloth even though she’s been in a crafting slump lately too. We blame the hot weather.

Needs and Wants

Katy needs to have a nice night out with her Hubby ❤ Val needs the crazy real estate market to end!

Val wants sushi! Katy wants to get her crafty mojo back!!

Katy wants to take more baths since her mom got her a couple of LUSH bath bombs from the States. Val needs to fix the paint scuffs on the bumper of her car.

Val learned something at work, and  Katy learned about ‘Hiddleswift’, or ‘Swiffleston’, however you want to call it; Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston are dating. We’re both very happy for them (although Katy just feels a little weird about the whole thing) and we wish them the best.

These are a few of our Favourite Things

Katy’s favourite things are the really pretty speckled yarns from ‘Loloditit‘ on Etsy! She especially loves the colourway ‘Pretty Little Zombies‘. She is also really wanting the Neko Atsume bags from Chicken Boots USA!!! Val and Katy are both fans of the game and to have cute kitties on your knitting bag would be epic! Katy’s makeup lately has been all ColourPop, especially their Supershock shadows in ‘Wattles’, ‘Weenie’ and ‘Stereo’. She also got a couple of crates ‘Owlcrate‘ which was Steampunk themed and ‘Fandom of the Month Club‘ with Sherlock themed jewellery! AND she forgot to mention  the super awesome Doctor Who Bag that Katy’s mom made for her as a Mother’s Day present! ❤ Love you Mom xoxo

Val’s favourite things are….some yummy smelling goodies from Bath and Body Works, … Urban Decay Gwen Stefani palette she got as a birthday present from Katy.

Reading, Watching and Listening

Katy’s been reading the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris and enjoying them much more than ‘True Blood’. She also finished ‘Frostfire’ by Amanda Hocking.

Val’s reading not much of anything lately!

Val is watching season 6 of Game of Thrones and enjoying it thoroughly and she is also watching Outlander along with Katy. They are both watching a lot of youtube videos of makeup artists and of course, our friends Emily and Abby:

Abby Green
Wenchfaery Games
Kathleen Lights
Jaclyn Hill
Jeffree Star
Manny MUA
grav3yardgirl
Nikkie Tutorials
Carly Humbert

Check them out! Especially Emily and Abby, they’re adorable!

Katy’s also been watching WWE (of course) and is very excited about the Money in the Bank pay per view as Dean Ambrose is in the money in the bank ladder match, and if he wins, conceivably he could cash it in for the Heavyweight Championship! She can’t wait

Val has really been liking the song Can’t stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake and also the other song ‘Work’ by Rhianna featuring Drake.

Katy’s been listening to Karate by Baby Metal, Tear in my Heart by 21 Pilots, Roses by The Chainsmokers, Slow Down by Lights and …. hahahah Moonlight Desires by Gowan! WARNING, if you click the link for Moonlight Desires, just let it be known it is the cheesiest of 80’s videos and contains, mullets, shoulder pads, parachute pants and an owl in the desert for some reason. Be warned!!! Therein lies cheese!!

So there you have it folks, hopefully we can get out a couple more episodes before the summer is over, but the nature of both our jobs is wiping us out completely. We know our listeners will understand and we hope to get back to you soon with another fun episode.

Episode 33 – We blame Abby! ;)

 

Hello and welcome back!!!  We apologize for how late we are in posting this episode but without further ado, here it is!

Downton Abbey Contest

The final season of Downton Abbey has concluded and thus brings our Downton Abbey trivia contest!  So now we will post our question to you and all you have to do is answer following the Rafflecopter links provided below:

Question: What was Dickie Merten diagnosed with?

We have five prizes to go out (PICTURES BELOW!) and you can enter in every rafflecopter if you so choose!

Downton Abbey project bag and notions pouch from KnittyKat Bags – Enter HERE

1 Skein of Shrewd Lady Mary from One Twisted Tree – Enter HERE

1 Skein of Lady Shakleton from Canon Hand Dyes –  Enter HERE

Behind the Scenes Downton Abbey coffee table book – Enter HERE

The Yorkshire Skies MKAL Kit donated by Jimmy Beans Wool and the pattern donated by Kristen Ashbaugh-Helmreich  – Enter HERE

As always, you must be a member of our Ravelry group to win! So if you haven’t joined up, you can do it by clicking *HERE*.

Good luck to everyone and thank you so much for watching and enjoying Downton with us, we will miss it dearly ❤ ❤

Events

Knitter’s Frolic – April 30 & May 1 – Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre – Toronto, Ontario

Niagara Folk Arts Festival – May 6 – 29, 2016 – St. Catharines, Ontario, check the schedule for open houses and upcoming events!

Niagara Falls Comicon – June 3-5, 2016 – Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls, Ontario – See the featured guests *HERE*

VAL’S BIRTHDAY!!!  June 26th, 2016 😉  Wish her lots of love and happiness!

FanExpo Canada – September 1-4, 2016 – Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario – See the featured guests *HERE*

KAL/CALs

Val found a really awesome CAL called the Temperature Blanket CAL hosted by Post Pooch Designs!  For every day of the year, you crochet one (or more) row(s) based on the daily temperature in your area! You wind up with a really pretty multi-coloured blanket for that year!  You can find the pattern *HERE*

Katy is still participating in the ‘Cast on the Dead’ knit-a-long with Desert Vista Dyeworks. The plan is to cast on either one of her ‘Zombody’ or ‘If they kill…’ colourways on the night of the premiere of The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead and finish the project before the SERIES finale.  You need to post the starting photo and finished photo in the thread on her Ravelry group to enter.

FOs and HOs

Katy has a HO!  She finished one of her ‘Zombody Loves Ewe’ socks for the Cast on the Dead KAL 🙂

Zombody Loves Ewe afterthought heel sock

Val has half of a dishcloth done in Ahoy Ombre by Bernat (which looks like it may have been discontinued but Lily’s Sugar & Cream has the same cotton yarn in the same name and colours!)

WIPs

Val is working on another dishcloth! This time crocheted in the Bernat Handicrafter cotton yarn in Sunkissed Ombre.

Katy is working on the second afterthought heel sock by Laura Linneman using ‘Zombody Loves Ewe’ by Desert Vista Dyeworks and also the Reyna shawl using her handspun out of ‘Darkside of the Room’ by Spun Right Round.

Reyna Shawl in Darkside of the Room from Spun Right Round

Needs and Wants

Needs – Val needs to do her laundry and to finish her budget! Katy needs to stop and realise she has enough things! Just because someone has something, or something is pretty and she ‘wants’ it… she doesn’t need it.

Want – Val wants more energy to enjoy the nicer weather that’s coming up! We want SPRING!! We’ve had enough of the snow and ice, we want Spring!

Want to do – Val wants to start a new crochet project, possibly the temperature blanket mentioned above! Katy wants to go and see a movie with her husband, possibly Captain America: Civil War.

Learned – Katy learned that the narrator on Sarah & Duck (a BBC kids show) is also Douglas from ‘Cabin Pressure’! And also, Scarf Lady is Mrs. Patmore from Downton! Val learned that she can’t please everyone.

You had me at Yarn!

Val was had by when she went up to visit her Dad and her Dad’s partner’s daughter has a weaving business called Robinns Nest Weaving. She dyes her own yarn and weaves them up into baby slings and they are just gorgeous! Check her out! She also found Wolltraum My Melody gradient yarn in Xanadu!

Katy was had at yarn when she was on instagram and saw Knittyandcolor had some new colourways and to name one called ‘Mix Tape’. She wants a skein of Mix Tape and all the other tonal & speckled colours to make a Monster Cowl.

New Stuff

Val picked up some Red Heart Comfort yarn in Baby Blue and is going to be crocheting a blanket for her new nephew using the ‘One Ball Baby Blanket‘ pattern 🙂  She also had a very interesting Walmart experience in which crochet and patterns seems to be a lost art on some individuals.

Katy got lots of new stuff because it was her birthday, so just a few of her favourites are the lovely goodies Val got for her, including a Sephora gift card, two awesome paperback books, a pretty Revlon lipgloss and nail polish and some awesome perfume samples. Katy also got Mockingjay Part 2, Spectre, 3 elf cosmetics orders, a NYX cosmetics order, a super cute Groot and Rocket shirt, and a Death Cab for Cutie concert shirt.

Reading, Watching, Listening!

Val is re-reading ‘Dragonfly in Amber’ by Diana Gabaldon. Katy is reading ‘Frostfire’ by Amanda Hocking and ‘The Iron Thorn’ by Kaitlyn Kitteredge.

Both Val and Katy watched the season finale of The Walking Dead!!!  Just be warned that we talk about what happens, so if you haven’t watched it yet, skip ahead a bit 😉  They’re both looking forward to Season 2 of Outlander, which proves to be very good this season. Katy got to watch Wrestlemania 32 and even though Dean didn’t win, she had fun watching it!

Val and Katy are also watching some youtube channels, which is how they got so enabled with the makeup, including Abby Green, Wenchfaery Games, Kathleen Lights and Carly Humbert.

Val is enjoying ‘Dangerous Woman’ by Ariana Grande and ‘Piece by Piece’ by Kelly Clarkson (the American Idol Edition). Katy got a few iTunes cards for her birthday so she downloaded Ed Sheeran’s first album, + , and Lights’ new album, Midnight Machines, which is an acoustic album and it’s gorgeous!

 

Episode 32 – Fandom Knitting

 

Hello and welcome back!!!  We apologize for how late we are in posting this episode – we hope you’ll forgive us!

Downton Abbey Contest

The final season of Downton Abbey has concluded and thus brings our Downton Abbey trivia contest!  Next episode we will be posing our trivia question and will be pulling our winners from those of you who have answered correctly. We have 4 prizes in total:

Downton Abbey project bag and notions pouch from KnittyKat Bags
1 Skein of Shrewd Lady Mary from One Twisted Tree
1 Skein of Lady Shakleton from Canon Hand Dyes
Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey coffee table book

So if you haven’t watched all of season 6 yet, here’s your chance to catch up and maybe win an awesome prize.

Events

Canada Blooms – March 11-20 – The Enercare Centre – Toronto, Ontario

Toronto Comic Con – March 18-20 – Metro Toronto Convention Centre – Toronto, Ontario

Metric and Death Cab for Cutie – March 22 – The Meridian Centre – St. Catharines, Ontario (Katy had an AWESOME time)

Knitter’s Frolic – April 30 & May 1 – Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre – Toronto, Ontario

Theresa Caputo Live! – June 20 – The Meridian Centre – St. Catharines, Ontario

KAL/CALs

The only KAL either of us are participating in is the ‘Cast on the Dead’ knit-a-long with Desert Vista Dyeworks. The plan is to cast on either one of her ‘Zombody’ or ‘If they kill…’ colourways on the night of the premiere of The Walking Dead or Fear the Walking Dead and finish the project before the SERIES finale.  You need to post the starting photo and finished photo in the thread on her Ravelry group to enter.

FOs and HOs

Katy finished the Rose City Rollers using Peepaloo Fields sock yarn in ‘Extra Pink Roller Rink’ and a Newborn Vertebrae using Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering yarn in the colourway ‘Blueberry’

 

WIPs

Val’s working on a dish cloth using Bernat Handicrafter cotton in a lovely shade of corals, white and turquoise.

Katy is working on the afterthought heel socks by Laura Linneman using ‘Zombody Loves Ewe’ by Desert Vista Dyeworks and also the Reyna shawl using her handspun out of ‘Darkside of the Room’ by Spun Right Round.

Needs and Wants

Val needs to get her butt in gear and go to the gym.
Katy needs a break, she’s stressed, yet again… 😦

Katy and Val both want the new Platinum Rose personal planner from Webster’s Pages due out in April 🙂

Val wants to go and visit her Dad again soon, she had a lot of fun the last time she went.
Katy wants to go and see Ghostbusters this summer!

Katy learned about Periscope and now she has her own account (kittyvankat) and The Stitch Sisters has an account as well (stitchsistersca).

You had me at Yarn!

Val was had at Pattern when she saw Mrs. Hughes’ Afghan, which is a perfect tie-in for our Downton watching 😉

Katy found Toil and Trouble on Etsy and really loved the ‘Snapdragon’ and ‘Ent’ colourways!

New Stuff

Val got a couple really cool Funko Pop figures when she went to visit her Dad; one was Pinkie Pie and the other was Mycroft Holmes.

Katy got a couple DVDs, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. She also picked up a couple kits from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery; the Christmas Celebration Sampler and ‘Wool Ewe Be My Neighbor’.

Reading, Watching, Listening!

Katy finished reading the Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare and really enjoyed it! Now she’s reading ‘Frostfire’ by Amanda Hocking and ‘The Iron Thorn’ by Kaitlyn Kitteredge.

Both Val and Katy are watching Downton Abbey, The Walking Dead and they were both able to see Crimson Peak (at different times but that’s ok) 😉 Val also got to watch Spectre and Katy’s been watching more of WWE.

Katy’s been listening to the same stuff she has been for the last little while; Adele, Ed Sheeran, DNCE and she really likes Ellie Goulding’s new song ‘Something in the way you move’.

 

Episode 31 – Washi Tape Addiction!

Hey everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hannukah, holiday season and a Happy New Year!!

We are both very saddened by the deaths of both David Bowie and Alan Rickman 😦 We will miss their wonderful talents very much.

In other news, Katy’s husband got a great new job!!! You can visit his company’s website below and even purchase items!!!

NEOB Lavender

Also, Katy’s little guy got new glasses!  He loves them and he looks super cute 🙂

Downton Abbey Contest!!!

So again, this year we will be having a Downton Abbey contest!  At the end of Season 6, even the Christmas Special, we will cook up an extra hard trivia question!  We will put a link in the show notes to Rafflecopter. Once everyone has answered we will draw from the pool of winners who answered the question correctly for prizes.

So far we have a ‘Behind the Scenes of Downton Abbey’ coffee table book, donated by Katy; a Downton Abbey sock sack donated by KnittyKat Bags; and a skien of ‘Shrewd Lady Mary’ donated by One Twisted Tree. We’re waiting on a couple other emails so hopefully there should be more prizes too.

We hope everyone is enjoying the last season!

FOs and HOs

Katy finished her ‘Socks on a Plane’ by Laura Linneman using Desert Vista Dyeworks sock yarn in ‘Mint Cocoa Quilt’ just in time for Christmas!  She also finished her ‘The Bee Keeper’ cross stitch by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and all she needs to do is frame it. As for Ho’s she has one Rose City Roller sock done using ‘Extra Pink Roller Rink’ by Peepaloo Fields on Etsy.

 

WIPs

Katy is working on the second Rose City Roller and also on ‘Tea Time’ cross stitch by The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  She also plans on making a Newborn Vertebrae by Kelly Brooker out of some Tanis Fiber Arts in ‘Blueberry’ for her husband’s new employer 🙂

Needs and Wants

Needs: Val needs a new car!  Katy needs to put her Christmas decorations away!

Wants: Katy wants a new iPhone.  Val didn’t know what she wanted as she was happy with how things were at the time of recording.

Want to do:  Both Val and Katy want to go and see Labyrinth in the theatre!

Learned: Katy learned she is much stronger than she thought she was. Val learned she is also much stronger that she thought she was.

You had me at YARN!

Val was had at yarn (yet again 😉 ) by Expression Fiber Arts in the colourway “I heart coffee”. It is gorgeous and very appropriate for Valentine’s Day ❤

Katy was had at yarn… bowl!  She found Barruntando Ceramica on etsy where you can find pottery made from honey!  There’s some great yarn bowls in the shape of bats, baby sloths, foxes and ones with rain clouds and hearts carved out of them!

New Stuff

We both got some pretty cool stuff for Christmas!

Val got herself a small android tablet and she’s loving it!  She also got a Sherlock funko pop figure (the one with the violin), she got some Red Heart Boutique Swanky yarn and it’s a really nice deep black and it has oblong sequins throughout!  It’s going to be very nice knit up! She also got some really pretty handspun from Katy for Christmas – it was Ashford merino/silk and she spun it into a true 3 ply yarn.

Katy got some pretty Red Heart Boutique Swanky from Val and it’s a gorgeous bright fuscia colourway!  She wants to knit it up into a nice cowl for springtime.  She also got 2 balls of KnitPicks Felici in ‘Countess’ from her friend Kelly and her mom made her a pair of ‘Jane’s Barathea Mitts’ from Jane Austen Knits Fall 2015 out of some stashed Rowan Felted Tweed. Katy also got some new earbuds and season 2 and 3 of Homeland with a gift card that Val had given her!  She also did an order to Jetpens and got a Hi-Tec C Coleto pen to go with her planner.

Reading, Watching & Listening

Reading: Katy is reading Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare, she finally finished Clockwork Angel. Val is reading the Fifty Shades of Grey series (for “research”).

Watching: Both Val and Katy are watching Downton Abbey and Sherlock The Abominable Bride. Katy’s watching Limitless, WWE and the 2nd season of Homeland.  Val is watching Outlander on Shomi and the 3rd season of Hemlock Grove on Netflix.

Listening: Katy and Val are both listening to Ed Sheeran and Adele. Katy’s listening to Metric and Death Cab for Cutie in preparation for their concert in March. Val has ‘Cake by the Ocean’ stuck in her head… and Katy loves that one too 😉

Episode 30 – Christmas is Coming!

 

Hello everyone, sorry for the delay in the last episode, but we’re back!  This will be our last episode before the New Year and we hope to update you on our Downton Abbey contest in January!  So we’d like to thank you for sticking with us, we’ve had some major life issues preventing us from podcasting and posting but we hope to get back to normal soon.

Events

Katy and the other members of Agents of S.H.E.E.P. competed in this year’s Royal Winter Fair on November 15th and were placed 7th overall. Not the outcome we were expecting but we had so much fun this year and we were a crowd favourite.  Look out ladies, next year is going to be our year!

FOs and HOs

Val finished some dishcloths using Bernat Handicrafter cotton and started another 🙂

Katy finished two mug cozies for the IamSherlocked Swap on Instagram. She also finished spinning a braid of Spun Right Round in ‘Darkside of the Room’ and she finished the ‘Blue Lake Springs Shawlette’ by Irish Girlie Knits using Red Heart Stardust in Blue.

Blue Lake Springs Shawlette with Red Heart Stardust

‘Darkside of the Room’ by Spun Right Round

WIPs

Val is working on her rainbow afghan and some more dishcloths.

Katy is working on ‘Socks on a Plane’ by Laura Linneman using Desert Vista Dyeworks sock yarn in ‘Mint Cocoa Quilt’. She’s also crocheting some dishcloths as presents using Lily Sugar & Cream in a Christmas confetti colour. Also working on ‘The Bee Keeper’ from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.

‘Mint Cocoa Quilt’ by Desert Vista Dyeworks

Needs and Wants

All that Val and Katy need and want this episode is for everyone to have a happy Holiday season. Whatever holiday that you celebrate this December, we hope it’s full of love, laughter, family and friends ❤

You Had Me At Yarn!

Val went on and took a look at Gnome Acres and she saw that there was two doppleganger sets that she loved! One was Milk and Cookies and the other was Wabbit Season Duck Season !  Both of us want the both of the sets!

Katy found Sassy Santa by Knitted Wit on Etsy and also on Etsy she found Girl Talk by Nomadic Yarns!

Reading Watching & Listening

Katy is still reading The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare.  Val has been reading a lot of Crimson Peak fanfiction!

Katy got to go and see two movies – Spectre, which she enjoyed, a LOT! and Mockingjay Part 2 which she enjoyed as well but there were some hard scenes for her to watch. She’s also been watching lots of WWE of course 😉  Val has been watching The Walking Dead and Season 3 of Hemlock Grove (on Netflix).  Val has also been watching a lot of curling, but not by her own choice!

Katy likes a few new songs – Focus by Ariana Grande and Can’t Feel My Face and Dark Times by The Weeknd (no it’s not a spelling mistake). She bought the whole CD on iTunes and it’s a bit racy so … adults only 😉  But Dark Times features Ed Sheeran, so she had to have it.  Val has been listening to Same Old Love by Selena Gomez, which has a really cool music video.  She also loooooves Adele’s Hello.  All the awards to Adele.

 

Episode 29 – Up We Go!

 

Hello everyone, welcome back and thanks for listening!!

We want to send a shout out to our friend Wendy, who is Sillyfru of the Sassypants Knitter Podcast whose kitty crossed over the rainbow. We know you loved her very much and we’re very sorry for your loss. ❤

Events:

We hope everyone has a safe fun and SpoooOOoooOOoooky Halloween! 😉

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair – November 6-15, 2015, Toronto, Ontario – Agents of Sheep will be there on November 15, 2015 to compete in the Sheep to Shawl Competition again this year, and Katy plans to throw her hat in for the Drop Spindle Competition as well.

KAL/CALs

Artistic Autumnal KAL/CAL – September 1 – November 31, 2015 – hosted by the Geeky Girls Knit Podcast. Anything you can tie to Autumn somehow (knitting, crochet, spinning) and if you can’t think of anything, you made it in the autumn. You can find the full details at the Geeky Girls Knit Ravelry group.

FOs and HOs

Well, we didn’t finish a whole heck of a lot… but it’s been busy. Katy put her Sherlock Cross stitch into a small hoop and finished it off with a pretty ribbon for the Iamsherlocked swap on Instagram.

WIPs

Val is working on a corner-to-corner knit dishcloth in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Denim Blues. She’s also picked up the Broadripple socks using Malabrigo sock in ‘Archangel’.

Katy cast on a shawl for one of the ladies who is retiring from the bank. She’s making the “Blue Lake Springs Shawlette” by Irishgirlieknits (which Katy won in an Instagram contest) in Red Heart Stardust in the colourway ‘Blue’. She is also still working on a mug cozy that looks like John’s sweater, also for her Sherlock craft swap.

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO

Katy is reading Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and she is also reading Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.

Val is reading a really raunchy romance novel about angels and demons, which isn’t very good (the book, not the topic!)

Katy watched Pitch Perfect and loved it!!! She’s also making her way through Season 2 of Homeland and watching the current season of Downton Abbey online.

Val is also watching the current season of Downton as well as the current season of The Walking Dead

Katy is listening to the radio and a few songs popped out at her: Stitches by Shawn Mendez, Bulletproof by La Roux (from Pitch Perfect) and her Jam right now is 11:11 by the Arkells 🙂

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!  Downton Abbey Season 6 has started in the UK on September 20th and will be starting in Canada and the US in January.  Last year we held a very fun and successful Downton Trivia contest and we’re in the works for something big for this year! So keep  listening and we’ll have more on that in the coming episodes!!

Sorry for the delay…

Hey folks, we have an episode for you but some real life issues have come up.

We will update shortly
Xo
Val and Katy

Episode 28 – Jobs and Hugs

Hi everyone, welcome back and thanks for listening!!

Events:

Hamilton Comic Con – October 3rd & 4th at the Hamilton Convention Center – Guests include Lea Thompson, Tara Reid, Ian Ziering, John Schneider, Nichelle Nichols and new guest, Laurie Holden & probably more!

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair – November 6-15, 2015, Toronto, Ontario – Agents of Sheep will be there on November 15, 2015 to compete in the Sheep to Shawl Competition again this year, and Katy plans to throw her hat in for the Drop Spindle Competition as well.

KAL/CALs

Artistic Autumnal KAL/CAL – June 1-August 31, 2015 – hosted by the Geeky Girls Knit Podcast. Anything you can tie to Autumn somehow (knitting, crochet, spinning) and if you can’t think of anything, you made it in the autumn. You can find the full details at the Geeky Girls Knit Ravelry group.

FOs and HOs

Val is working on a lot of things to take over this section in our next episode! 😉

Katy finished a few things though – she finished the baby blanket she was making for her neighbours out of Bernat Baby Sport, she finished a pair of socks using Red Heart Heart & Sole in ‘Toasted Almond’, she finished spinning her polwarth fibre by Two if by Hand in the ‘Moon Pie’ colourway and she finished a super cute Sherlock & John cross stitch for a Sherlock craft swap!

Baby Blanket – Rainbow shells throw with Bernat Baby sport

Two if by Hand Polwarth in Moon Pie

Sherlock Cross Stitch for IAmSherlockedSwap

WIPs

Val was still working on her rainbow afghan which is an awesome giant granny square that you keep going around and around on and she’s using various rainbow shades of Red Heart Super Saver divided by white. She was also working on her Broad Ripple socks using Malabrigo sock in ‘Archangel’.

Katy cast on the 100 Acre Woods socks from ‘Socktopus’ using Madelinetosh Twist Light in ‘Chicory’ and she was also working on two mug cozies – one like Sherlock’s scarf and the other like John’s sweater, also for her Sherlock craft swap.

NEEDS AND WANTS

Val wants a job!  She wants to get back into working again and she needs to find the right job for her. She’s lookin’! Katy needs to clean her whole house … it’s looking less like just a toy-nado, and more like just a big ole mess. Katy wants to finish her Mudblood cardigan for fall/winter. Val needs a new battery for her bathroom scale. What Katy wants to do is see a live WWE event next time they come to town!  What Val wants to do is see Crimson Peak with Katy. We love Tom Hiddleston and this movie looks creepy and good. Katy learned how to make a french knot for her cross stitch and she also learned that her Nana was a soda fountain girl at the Woolworth’s in Niagara Falls ❤ Val learned that she needs to be more patient.

YOU HAD ME AT YARN & PATTERNS & SPINDLES … OH MY!

Katy found yarn at Orange Jellyfish Dream in the colourway ‘Lightning Strike‘ and it looks just like the photograph she used as inspiration. She also found a very affordable steampunk themed drop-spindle from Snyder Spindles on etsy.

Val found yet another skein she loves from Expression Fibre Arts in the colourway ‘Lavender & Light‘ and it’s cashmere silk!!! She would also like to cast on a pair of socks in the Vanilla Latte Pattern using her ‘Spooky’ Felici by KnitPicks.

NEW STUFF

Val got some pretty new pendants at Michael’s – a gorgeous celtic cross, a pretty silver and agate piece and another medallion she customized with some pretty sparkly nail polish.

Katy picked up a few things at the Kitchener Waterloo Knitter’s Fair: A skein of Indigo Dragonfly Chameleon sock in ‘You punched the highlights out of her hair’, some lovely fibre from Wellington Fibres in ‘Blush Wine’, a sushi sock set from Oceanwind Knits and a braid of dyed BFL fibre from Oceanwind Knits as well. She also picked up a cute bag from Bling Your String and some Knitter’s Pride DPN tubes.  But she and Em had simultaneous heart attacks when they found a basket of Wollmeise!!! She picked up a skein of ‘Twin’ in ‘Nobody is Perfect’.

Katy’s Haul from the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter’s Fair

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO

Val is reading Dazzled by Silver by Lacey Silks and she’s watching Fear the Walking Dead on AMC on Sunday Nights.  She also watched ‘The Wind Rises’, Hayao Miyazaki’s last directorial movie.  She’s also listening to her favourite band, Tokio Hotel and a song from their latest album, ‘We Found Us’.

Katy finished reading ‘To all the boys I’ve loved before’ by Jenny Han. She watched Mad Max: Fury Road and really enjoyed it. She’s also been watching a lot of WWE, of course, and Charlotte Flair is the new Divas champion!  On new podcasts (new to us) is Caffeinated Knitting, CraftyAllie and CaffeinatedGert are such fun and Katy is really enjoying watching it. She made a workout playlist on her iPod with lots of upbeat songs and she also downloaded a song called ‘Exes and Ohs’ by Elle King.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!  Downton Abbey Season 6 has started in the UK on September 20th and will be starting in Canada and the US in January.  Last year we held a very fun and successful Downton Trivia contest and we’re in the works for something big for this year! So keep  listening and we’ll have more on that in the coming episodes!!

Episode 27 – I hate Burpees!!!

 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the Stitch Sisters podcast, and if this is your first time listening, thank you for checking us out!

Events:

Hamilton Comic Con – October 3rd & 4th at the Hamilton Convention Center – Guests include Lea Thompson, Tara Reid, Ian Ziering, John Schneider, Nichelle Nichols and new guest, Laurie Holden & probably more!

FanExpo Canada – September 3-6 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center – Guests Include Hayley Atwell, Robin Lord-Taylor, Robert Picardo, Ming-Na Wen, Graham McTavish, Orlando Jones, Norman Reedus, Chandler Riggs, Lennie James, James & Oliver Phelps, Karen Gillan and Jenna Coleman and new guests include Gillian Anderson, Tom Felton, Amy Acker, Danny Trejo, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Jason Mamoa, George Romero, Willa Holland, Christian Slater and Mads Mikkelsen.

Kitchener/Waterloo Knitter’s Fair – September 12, 2015 at the Kitchener Aud in Kitchener, ON – lots of vendors, panels and draws.  Katy will be attending with a group of friends and she asks you politely to take a look at her Ravelry destash to help her out! Lots of nice things in there!!!

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair – November 6-15, 2015, Toronto, Ontario – Agents of Sheep will be there on November 15, 2015 to compete in the Sheep to Shawl Competition again this year, and Katy plans to throw her hat in for the Drop Spindle Competition as well.

KAL/CALs

The Crochet Crowd – Stitchcation Challenge starts July 1st – September 7th, afghan project meant to “tempt, tease & teach you new tricks” and have a cool afghan at the end. It’s an afghan mashup of 2 patterns with 2 original patterns by Mikey & there is no sewing of afghan pieces either.

Stash Dash 2015 – Ended on August 14th! Katy did not reach the 3k goal but did surpass 2k and that’s double what she achieved last year so she’s calling it a win!

Around your neck Kal – hosted by Diane of the Suburban Stitcher Podcast is holding a KAL for anything you can wrap around your neck – shawls, cowls, kerchiefs, scarves, etc. Starting June 1st and running to August 31st. You can include WIPs too and feel free to double, triple, quadruple dip into any other KALs you wish. You can find the full details at the Suburban Stitcher Ravelry Group.

Summertime and the Living is Easy KAL/CAL – June 1-August 31, 2015 – hosted by the Geeky Girls Knit Podcast. Anything you can tie to Summertime somehow (knitting, crochet, spinning) and if you can’t think of anything, you made it in the summertime. You can find the full details at the Geeky Girls Knit Ravelry group.

The Virus Shawl CAL – not really an official CAL but Val noticed a whole lot of people on facebook crocheting this shawl. It’s a free pattern on Ravelry with written and charted instructions!

WIPs

Katy is making a baby blanket for her new neighbours out of Bernat Baby Sport using the Rainbow Shells throw from Crochet Boutique. She added 10 chain stitches at the beginning cause it looked a little narrow. She’s also working on her second sock out of Red Heart Heart and Sole in ‘Toasted Almond’. She is also spinning on her ‘Hand of the King’ rolags from The Wooly Witch and spinning on her wheel to finish the ‘Moon Pie’ on Polwarth by Two if by Hand.

Val started another knitted dischcloth out of Bernat Handicrafter cotton in some pretty blue shades and she is also still working on her rainbow granny square afghan.

FOs

Valerie finished her Easy Triangle shawl in black and she used some yarn hair falls as fringe to make it extra awesome! It’s very big and looks very cozy for fall and winter!

Katy finished her pair of Spring Stripes Socks using Red Heart Heart and Sole sock yarn.

Needs and Wants

Val is wanting to get a septum piercing, she needs to get her bloodwork done to figure out why she’s been kind of tired lately. What she wants to do is organize the bedroom closet and what she learned was if you own a business, you need to sell your brand to potential customers.

Katy needs to keep going on MyFitnessPal to get into better shape. She wants ‘Sherlock:The Mind Palace’ colouring book coming out November 5th. What she wants to do is see the Sherlock Christmas Special at the theatre! Katy also learned how to box a bit going to Fight Fit, a boxing-based workout facility in her city.

You Had Me At Yarn

Katy found some really pretty mini-batts at FireFlyFibreArts on Etsy, especially her ‘Before the Storm by the Lake’ Luxury mini fun buns, and the fun buns in ‘Sea Glass’ as well. She also loves the ‘If they kill Michonne‘ colourway from Desert Vista Dyeworks!

Val was smitten once again by Gnome Acres and her ‘Hermione‘ colourway. It just embodies Hermione in so many ways, especially the Hermione depicted in ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ with her pink hoodie. Gnome Acres is always a good choice!

New Stuff

Val got a really nice black maxi skirt from Giant Tiger (a really good discount department store here in Canada) and it’s made from a super-soft jersey material. She also received her August ipsy bag which she is thrilled with!

Katy was enabled by the Minerva Turkey podcast and picked up some Tuft Woolens ‘Black Orchid sock soap’ and some vanilla almond hand balm. She also ordered another turkish spindle from TurtleMade in purple and seafoam and she won a really pretty pattern from Irish Girle Knits called the ‘Blue Lake Springs Shawlette’. And in a moment of weakness, she bought a skein of Madelinetosh Twist Light in ‘Chicory’.

Reading, Watching & Listening

Katy is still reading ‘To all the boys I’ve loved before’ by Jenny Haan. She is going to watch Summer Slam on the WWE Network and is looking forward to a lot of matches. Katy and her husband picked up ‘Divergent’ and ‘Insurgent’ and plans on watching them so she can talk about them with Val ❤ and she’s been listening to ‘Cool for the Summer’ by Demi Lovato and ‘Retaliation’ the theme music for Dean Ambrose – she put them both on her workout playlist.

Val finished reading ‘Stripped with a Vampire’ by Jax Garren and loved it. She is watching The Great British Bake-Off with mum on PBS and looking forward to watching ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ on AMC. She is also listening to ‘Good For You’ by Selena Gomez.

And that’s she show ladies and gents!! You can find us on Ravelry, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!!

Episode 26 – Tossed Salad

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the Stitch Sisters podcast, and if this is your first time listening, thank you for checking us out!

Events:

Hamilton Comic Con – October 3rd & 4th at the Hamilton Convention Center – Guests include Lea Thompson, Tara Reid, Ian Ziering, John Schneider, Nichelle Nichols & probably more!

FanExpo Canada – September 3-6 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center – Guests Include Hayley Atwell, Robin Lord-Taylor, Robert Picardo, Kate Mulgrew, Ming-Na Wen, Graham McTavish, Orlando Jones, Norman Reedus, Chandler Riggs, Lennie James, James & Oliver Phelps, Billie Piper, Karen Gillan and Jenna Coleman, Jennifer Morrison and new guests include Gillian Anderson, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, Amy Acker, Danny Trejo, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich and Jason Mamoa.

Kitchener/Waterloo Knitter’s Fair – September 13, 2015 at the Kitchener Aud in Kitchener, ON – lots of vendors, panels and draws.

KAL/CALs

The Crochet Crowd – Stitchcation Challenge starts July 1st – September 7th, afghan project meant to “tempt, tease & teach you new tricks” and have a cool afghan at the end. It’s an afghan mashup of 2 patterns with 2 original patterns by Mikey & there is no sewing of afghan pieces either.

Stash Dash 2015 – Started May 22, 2015 and Ends August 14, 2015 – visit the link provided for full rules and instructions on Stash Dash this year! They have 3 levels this year: 3k, 5k & 10k metres. So bust out your wips and raid your stash! You can knit, crochet, spin, and weave your stash into lovely things!

Around your neck Kal – hosted by Diane of the Suburban Stitcher Podcast is holding a KAL for anything you can wrap around your neck – shawls, cowls, kerchiefs, scarves, etc. Starting June 1st and running to August 31st. You can include WIPs too and feel free to double, triple, quadruple dip into any other KALs you wish. You can find the full details at the Suburban Stitcher Ravelry Group.

Summertime and the Living is Easy KAL/CAL – June 1-August 31, 2015 – hosted by the Geeky Girls Knit Podcast. Anything you can tie to Summertime somehow (knitting, crochet, spinning) and if you can’t think of anything, you made it in the summertime. You can find the full details at the Geeky Girls Knit Ravelry group.

FOs and HOs

Katy finished the Clockwork for her husband using Cascade Heritage Sock in ‘Mossy Rock’ and ‘Walnut’! And she finished one Vanilla Bean sock using KnitPicks Felici in Wizard…which is sold out now so Katy was super happy to have snagged some.

Clockwork in ‘Walnut’ and ‘Mossy Rock’

Vanilla Bean sock out of KnitPicks Felici ‘Wizard’

WIPs

Val is still working on her awesome rainbow stripes afghan using a multitude of colours of Red Heart Super Saver!

Katy is working on ALL the socks!  She’s finishing the 2nd socks using Red Heart Heart & Sole in  ‘Spring Stripes’ and ‘Toasted Almond’. She is also spinning on one of her 22g Ashford drop spindles using the lovely gift that Gingynorth had sent her! (biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig thank you to Gingy!!). She’s spinning ‘Hand of the King’ Sweet Rolls by The Wooly Witch on Etsy.

Hand of the King rolags by The Wooly Witch

NEEDS AND WANTS

Katy desperately needs a day off!  Val needs to get herself one of those reusable aluminum water bottles.  Both Katy & Val want to see Minions together.  What Katy wants to do is practice spinning for the Royal Winter Fair and she learned that being jacked up on caffeine really makes her feel yucky!  What Val has learned is that the Canadian dollar is at its lowest since 2004!

YOU HAD ME AT YARN!….And Patterns!!!

Katy really likes the ‘Arcane’ spinning rolags from JujaBeesFiber on Etsy!

She also loves a few new patterns:
Glittering Caves by Corrine Walcher
Meniscus by Larissa Brown
Perfect Retreat Shawl by Susan B. Anderson

Val loves the pattern Bug Warmer by Taiga Hilliard! It’s the perfect quick baby sweater to make and the sizing goes up to 6 years!!! You know, for bigger bugs 😉

Val fell in love with “Maple Leaf” by FiberFangirl on Etsy.

NEW STUFF

Val got some new yarn from Katy’s trip to the Spinrite Outlet – 2 skeins of ‘Bramble Stripe’ Patons Kroy Sock yarn.

Patons Kroy in Bramble Stripes

Katy got quite a lot (again!): 2 bags of Patons Bamboo Silk in ‘Pink Petunia’ to make a Gemini Tee-shirt. She received a lovely gift from Gingynorth (Instagram) of 2oz of ‘Hand of the King’ by the Wooly Witch on Etsy. She pre-ordered the Forest Friends Bag (Totoro print) and Totoro notions pouch from Little Skein in the Big Wool on Etsy and a Patchwork Heart V-neck t-shirt from Patchwork Threads.

Forest Friends bag and Totoro notions pouch from Little Skein in the Big Wool

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO

Katy isn’t reading much of anything right now, but she did pick up 11 volumes of Ouron High School Host Club graphic novels at a Knights of Colombus garage sale for $5 🙂  She’s watching WWE (of course), Swerved and Total Divas on E! network. She saw Jurassic World and it was really good, really didn’t need 3D though. She’s going to see Terminator Genesys with her husband and a friend and hopes to see Minions as well. She’s listening to ‘The Sound of Your Heart’ by Shawn Hook, ‘Fall’ by Cider Sky and ‘Photograph’ by Ed Sheeran (swoon).

Val has been re-reading a Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon and watching the last episodes of Hannibal and she’s been listening to ‘Fight Song’ by Rachel Platten.

Episode 25: Shut the front door!!!!

 

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to the Stitch Sisters Podcast!  We’ll be doing episodes once a month until September because of crazy work schedules, but we’ll be back to every two weeks after that 🙂

Events:

Val’s Birthday was June 26th!!! She had a great day and got some great pressies!

Hamilton Comic Con – October 3rd & 4th at the Hamilton Convention Center – Guests include Lea Thompson, Tara Reid, Ian Ziering, John Schneider, Nichelle Nichols & probably more!

FanExpo Canada – September 3-6 at the Metro Toronto Convention Center – Guests Include Hayley Atwell, Robin Lord-Taylor, Robert Picardo, Kate Mulgrew, Ming-Na Wen, Graham McTavish, Orlando Jones, Norman Reedus, Chandler Riggs, Lennie James, James & Oliver Phelps, Billie Piper, Karen Gillan and Jenna Coleman, Jennifer Morrison and many more!

Kitchener/Waterloo Knitter’s Fair – September 13, 2015 at the Kitchener Aud in Kitchener, ON – lots of vendors, panels and draws.

KAL/CALs

The Crochet Crowd – Stitchcation Challenge starts July 1st – September 7th, afghan project meant to “tempt, tease & teach you new tricks” and have a cool afghan at the end. It’s an afghan mashup of 2 patterns & w original patterns by Mikey & there is no sewing of afghan pieces either

. Stash Dash 2015 – Started May 22, 2015 and Ends August 14, 2015 – visit the link provided for full rules and instructions on Stash Dash this year! They have 3 levels this year: 3k, 5k & 10k metres. So bust out your wips and raid your stash! You can knit, crochet, spin, and weave your stash into lovely things!

Around your neck Kal – hosted by Diane of the Suburban Stitcher Podcast is holding a KAL for anything you can wrap around your neck – shawls, cowls, kerchiefs, scarves, etc. Starting June 1st and running to August 31st. You can include WIPs too and feel free to double, triple, quadruple dip into any other KALs you wish. You can find the full details at the Suburban Stitcher Ravelry Group.

Summertime and the Living is Easy KAL/CAL – June 1-August 31, 2015 – hosted by the Geeky Girls Knit Podcast. Anything you can tie to Summertime somehow (knitting, crochet, spinning) and if you can’t think of anything, you made it in the summertime. You can find the full details at the Geeky Girls Knit Ravelry group.

FOs and HOs Katy finished her Mama Vertebrae using Malabrigo Arroyo in Aguas! And she wants to knit more. She completely finished a Gateway Cuff by Laura Nelkin using the Wooly Witch sample in ‘Ice Queen’. She also finished one sock each out of Red Heart, Heart & Sole in ‘Spring Stripes’, ‘Toasted Almond’ and ‘Blackjack’.

Finished Mama Vertebrae

WIPS:

Val is working on her Rainbow granny square afghan and her Easy Triangle Shawl. Val is in a crafting slump for the summer.

Katy is very nearly done her Clockwork using Cascade Heritage Sock in ‘Mossy Rock’ and ‘Walnut’ as a gift for her husband. She picked up her Outlander mystery shawl again and also cast on the Button Jar Shawlette using Shibui Staccato in ‘Pool’

NEEDS AND WANTS

VAL WANTS:    Webster Personal Planner Kit in Dark Pink  (Katy is horrible enabler!)
KATY WANTS: More quiet time to herself.

VAL NEEDS:    New Ereader; Val’s Kobo finally died
KATY NEEDS:  More baths to use her yummy LUSH stuff!

VAL WANTS TO DO:  Lose Weight!  Been walking a lot more and she wants to learn Tunisian Crochet
KATY WANTS TO DO:  See Jurassic World

VAL LEARNED:  I love cottage cheese!  How to pronounce L’Occitane (Lox-Ee-Tahn)
KATY LEARNED: She can drive to Oakville and back without being nervous 🙂

You had me @ Yarn:   All from Wee Chickadee Woolery on Etsy – Mystic Forest, Smitten and Hyacinth 🙂 KnitPicks Felici is back!  Val wants Countess & Highland…or maybe all of them!

Katy wants a gorgeous Holly and Acrylic spindle from Aaron Makes stuff, and a beautiful braid of fibre from Pigeonroof Studios in ‘Gloworm’.

New Stuff Val got some birthday presents from Katy – a bar of ‘Karma’ from LUSH, the ‘I am Pusheen’ book, a skein of Knitpicks stroll handpainted in ‘Hayride’ and a Gateway Cuff she knitted with her own little hands .

Katy received her Wonder Woman yarn from Desert Vista Dyeworks, she picked up some of the new Felici at Knitpicks, she went to Passionknit in Toronto and picked up some gorgeous koigu kppm in two speckly colours, and Em gave her two awesome LUSH bath bombs – Dragon’s Egg and Sakura and a pretty cool Journal.

Wonder Woman Self-Striping sock yarn from Desert Vista Dyeworks

Presents from Em and Koigu bought at Passionknit

She also picked up some other things at LUSH as well, ‘It’s raining men’ shower gel, shimmy shimmy massage bar and a ‘Space Girl’ bath bomb.

Reading/Watching:

Val is pretty sad that Hannibal has been canceled after 3 seasons (Boo!) Outlander’s first season has finished, Game of Thrones is done for the season and has gone through all of the books in the series.

Katy finished watching the 2nd season of Finding Carter and is happy that Max and Taylor are back together even though there was a huge drama bomb dropped at the end. Katy’s also been watching a lot of WWE and is still cheering for Dean Ambrose despite his loss at Money in the Bank. Lunatic Fringe all the way!

Val is rereading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon and Katy is reading To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han.

Val is Listening to a lot of Nicki Minaj as she works out every day. Katy is listening to Florence + the Machine, Lights and Cider Sky.

Episode 24 – Happy Podiversary to us!!!

 

Welcome back everyone!  If you’re new to us, thank you for giving our podcast a shot! This is our 24th episode which means….HAPPY PODIVERSARY TO US!!!  We’ve so enjoyed doing this podcast for 1 year now and we look forward to more years in the future.

Shops We Mention Must Stash Yarns, The Wooly Witch, Peepaloo Fields, Desert Vista Dyeworks, KnitPicks, WWE Shop, Scrapbook.com, The Lemonade Shop, LYDIA Yarn

Podcasts We Mention The Must Stash Podcast, The Suburban Stitcher Podcast, The Knitmore Girls Podcast,The Knitgirllls Podcast, The Wolfe Farms Podcast, The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast, Knit 1 Geek 2

EVENTS

Valerie’s Birthday is June 26th y’all!!!!!! Shower her with love and wishes!!!

Stash Dash 2015 – Started May 22, 2015 and Ends August 14, 2015 – visit the link provided for full rules and instructions on Stash Dash this year! They have 3 levels this year: 3k, 5k & 10k metres. So bust out your wips and raid your stash! You can knit, crochet, spin, and weave your stash into lovely things!

4th Annual Pride in the Park hosted by Pride Niagara – June 6, 2015 –  Montebello Park, St. Catharines, Ontario.  Val may be going.   There will be live music, family friendly child activities, food & merchandise vendors, fully licensed area, all ages DJ dance floor

Niagara Falls Comicon – June 5-7, 2015 – Scotiabank Convention Centre – Niagara Falls, Ontario – includes guests such as Sean Astin, Billy Dee Williams, Scott Wilson (The Walking Dead), Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek), Kristy Swanson, Colin Baker and Margot Kidder.

FanExpo Canada – September 3-6, 2015 – Metro Toronto Convention Centre – Toronto, Ontario – Guests include Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter), Jenna Coleman (Clara – Doctor Who), Jeri Ryan (7 of 9 – Star Trek), Robin Lord Taylor (Penguin – Gotham)

Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter’s Fair – September 12, 2015 – Kitchener Aud., Kitchener, Ontario – fashion show, vendor area, speaker panel, door prizes and a knitter’s spa 🙂

KAL/CALs

Sophie’s Universe CAL ending May 31st but pattern is still free through Ravelry.  Dedri Uys is the creator of pattern and the CAL is hosted on lookwhatimade.net.

#kiltmenowkal – Outlander inspired KAL on Instagram with The Knitmore Girls, The Geeky Girls Knit, Subway Knits and Yarngasm Podcasts – post pics of your Outlander inspired knits, crochet projects and spinning projects!

Behmalong – the never-ending Behmalong with The Knitmore Girls podcast – knit any of Martina Behm’s patterns and post pictures on instagram and in the thread on the Knitmore Girls Ravelry group.

Sheepy Spring Kal – The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast is doing a Springtime Kal!  It can be knitting, crochet or spinning, has to be started after March 1st and be finished by May 31st. It can be anything related to spring and you just post a picture on their contest thread in their ravelry group to enter.

Around your neck Kal – hosted by Diane of the Suburban Stitcher Podcast is holding a KAL for anything you can wrap around your neck – shawls, cowls, kerchiefs, scarves, etc. Starting June 1st and running to August 31st. You can include WIPs too and feel free to double, triple, quadruple dip into any other KALs you wish. You can find the full details at the Suburban Stitcher Ravelry Group.

FOs and HOs

Katy finished one of her Toasted Almond socks out of Red Heart Heart and Sole sock yarn in ‘Toasted Almond’. She is also 7 rows away from finishing her Mama Vertebrae!!! So next episode, she’ll have a FO!

Red Heart Heart & Sole sock in ‘Toasted Almond’

WIPs

Valerie is on the peach colour of her rainbow granny square afghan and it’s looking great! She’s also continuing on the Broad Ripple socks and her Easy Triangle Shawl.  She is also planning on casting on ‘The Age of Brass and Steam’ kerchief with her KnitPicks Hawthorne in ‘Ladd’s Addition’.

Katy is monogamously working on finishing her Mama Vertebrae out of Malabrigo Arroyo in ‘Aguas’. She also cast on the April shawl by Joji Locatelli with KnitPicks Palette in ‘Huckleberry Heather’ and is using clear rainbow beads with it. And she is also improvising a shawl with the ‘Peepaloo’ yarn she purchased from ‘Peepaloo Fields’ on Etsy.

NEEDS AND WANTS

Val wants to win the lottery! lol You know, like one does 😉 and she needs to stop going to Tim Hortons too much. They’re nice treats but too much is bad on the wallet. What Val wants to do is a 5K walk at some point, which is really awesome and inspiring 🙂 And she learned that she has been pretty social lately, which is also great… until you crash from so much fun 😉

Katy needs to eat healthier foods so she can get into better shape. She wants a Dean Ambrose logo tshirt from the WWE shop!!! Frickin fangirls keep buying them all!!!  What she wants to do this year is to win Stash Dash and complete her goal of knitting 3 thousand metres of yarn and get most of her wips done! She learned that Dean Ambrose and Renee Young are dating… so cute

YOU HAD US AT YARN!

Val spotted a really pretty skein of ‘Pink Pop’ yarn and ‘Ice Fishing’ at LYDIA Yarn on Etsy.  Both skeins are gorgeous and speckley!

Katy found lots of skeins of yarn that she liked at The Lemonade Shop on Etsy. There was Hippo Disco, Safety Dance, Princess of Power (which Val wanted too!), Sunday Morning and Sunshine + Lollipops! Basically, Katy wanted everything in that shop!

NEW STUFF

Val bought a pair of jeans from Old Navy that fit like a dream!  Also, she picked up a copy of ‘The Necromancer’ at the Book Outlet!

Katy got some awesome yarn as a gift for mother’s day – 2 skiens of Shibui Staccato in ‘Pool’, 1 skien of The Dye Guy Socky Talky in ‘Raspberry Custard’, 2 Madelinetosh Unicorn Tails in ‘Button Jar Blue’ and ‘Cathedral’ and 1 skein of Red Heart Heart and Sole in ‘Blackjack’.  She also picked up a folio case to match her Webster’s Pages planner and she ordered the Wonder Woman self-striping yarn from Desert Vista Dyeworks with a belated cash birthday gift. 🙂

Katy’s mother’s day gifts and her new book

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING & LISTENING TO

Valerie is watching Outlander and enjoying it immensely, as is Katy. Valerie is also watching Game of Thrones and is pretty disappointed about the amount of alteration in the books – adding unnecessary issues and drama. Her husband saw Mad Max: Fury Road and loved it and Valerie watched As Above, So Below and thought it was an awesome scary movie!

Katy finished reading ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and found the movie to be very close to the book and she enjoyed it.  She’s watching Outlander, Finding Carter and lots of WWE events. She is starting to read ‘The Iron Thorn’ by Caitlin Kittredge and really likes ‘What Kind of Man’ by Florence and the Machine.

Episode 23 – Summer of Sweaters

 

Hello Everyone, welcome back to the Stitch Sisters Podcast! If you’re new to us, thank you for giving us a shot! Katy wants to thank everyone who wished her a Happy Birthday and sent positive vibes to send the bronchitis packing!  It’s still hanging on for dear life but she’s feeling better than she was.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! 

We want to send a big congratulations out to Shannon of Michigan who was our big Winner for our Welcome Back Outlander giveaway courtesy of the Wooly Witch on Etsy who donated 2 ounces of her sweet rolls spinning rolags in the colourway ‘The Waterhorse of Loch Ness’. Congrats Shannon, we hope you enjoy the rolags as much as we do!! 🙂

Shops We Mention Must Stash Yarns, The Wooly Witch, Peepaloo Fields, Desert Vista Dyeworks, A Vivid Yarn Studio, Willow Yarns, KnitPicks, WWE Shop, Scrapbook.com

Podcasts We Mention The Must Stash Podcast, The Suburban Stitcher Podcast, The Knitmore Girls Podcast,The Knitgirllls Podcast, The Wolfe Farms Podcast, The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast, Knit 1 Geek 2

EVENTS

Valerie’s Birthday is June 26th y’all!!!!!! Shower her with love and wishes!!!

Knitter’s Frolic – April 25-26, 2015 – Japanese Canadian Culture Centre – Toronto, Ontario – We hope everyone had a great time!!!

Stash Dash 2015 – Starts May 22, 2015 and Ends August 14, 2015 – visit the link provided for full rules and instructions on Stash Dash this year! They have 3 levels this year: 3k, 5k & 10k metres. So bust out your wips and raid your stash! You can knit, crochet, spin, and weave your stash into lovely things!

4th Annual Pride in the Park hosted by Pride Niagara – June 6, 2015 –  Montebello Park, St. Catharines, Ontario.  Val may be going.   There will be live music, family friendly child activities, food & merchandise vendors, fully licensed area, all ages DJ dance floor

Niagara Falls Comicon – June 5-7, 2015 – Scotiabank Convention Centre – Niagara Falls, Ontario – includes guests such as Sean Astin, Billy Dee Williams, Scott Wilson (The Walking Dead), Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek), Kristy Swanson, Colin Baker and Margot Kidder.

FanExpo Canada – September 3-6, 2015 – Metro Toronto Convention Centre – Toronto, Ontario – Guests include Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter), Jenna Coleman (Clara – Doctor Who), Jeri Ryan (7 of 9 – Star Trek), Robin Lord Taylor (Penguin – Gotham)

Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter’s Fair – September 12, 2015 – Kitchener Aud., Kitchener, Ontario – fashion show, vendor area, speaker panel, door prizes and a knitter’s spa 🙂

KAL/CALs

#kiltmenowkal – Outlander inspired KAL on Instagram with The Knitmore Girls, The Geeky Girls Knit, Subway Knits and Yarngasm Podcasts – post pics of your Outlander inspired knits, crochet projects and spinning projects!

Behmalong – the never-ending Behmalong with The Knitmore Girls podcast – knit any of Martina Behm’s patterns and post pictures on instagram and in the thread on the Knitmore Girls Ravelry group.

Sheepy Spring Kal – The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast is doing a Springtime Kal!  It can be knitting, crochet or spinning, has to be started after March 1st and be finished by May 31st. It can be anything related to spring and you just post a picture on their contest thread in their ravelry group to enter.

Around your neck Kal – hosted by Diane of the Suburban Stitcher Podcast is holding a KAL for anything you can wrap around your neck – shawls, cowls, kerchiefs, scarves, etc. Starting June 1st and running to August 31st. You can include WIPs too and feel free to double, triple, quadruple dip into any other KALs you wish. You can find the full details at the Suburban Stitcher Ravelry Group.

FOs and HOs

Katy has finished 1 sleeve on her Mama Vertebrae (HO?) and also finished 1 sock out of Red Heart, Heart & Sole in Spring Stripes and has also almost finished 1 sock out of Red Heart, Heart & Sole in Toasted Almond.

Red Heart – Heart & Sole in ‘Spring Stripes’

Red Heart – Heart & Sole in ‘Toasted Almond’

Val found a bunch of dishcloths she had finished using various colours of Bernat Handicrafter cotton and added them to her gifting stash.

WIPs Val is working on the second Broad Ripple sock using Malabrigo sock in ‘Archangel’ and she is also working on her gorgeous rainbow granny square afghan for her bed!  She should be starting the yellow portion very soon!

Katy  is working on her Mama Vertebrae in Malabrigo Arroyo in ‘Aguas’, she tried to pick up her Outlander MKAL from last year but couldn’t brain. She cast on the Hitofude cardigan using Lindy Chain in ‘Plum’ by KnitPicks and is loving the pattern, very easy to remember and the yarn is lovely!  She is also making a small ‘Gateway Cuff’ by Laura Nelkin from her ‘Knockout Knits’ book using the small sweet roll sample from the Wooly Witch in ‘Ice Queen’.

Hitofude using Lindy Chain in Plum

NEEDS AND WANTS

Valerie and Katy both need to be less easily enabled by instagram 😉 Valerie wants to go out walking more, and she wants to knit some angry birds plushies for her nephew for Christmas. She also learned that her grandfather used to shear sheep!  The old school way with the hand clippers!

Katy wants to be more organized and she wants to design a simple triangle shawl out of the Peepaloo yarn she bought. Katy learned that 2 at a time socks really aren’t her style, they take too long for her.

YOU HAD ME AT YARN!!

Valerie was had when she visited A Vivid Yarn Studio on Etsy and saw the colourway Emily! It has beautiful pastel colours with speckles of brown and pink that make it look like a robin’s egg. Very pretty and so stashworthy!

Katy spotted (and bought… ahem!) a gorgeous skein of ‘Peepaloo’ from ‘Peepaloo Fields on Etsy. She loved all the rainbows and the 100% superwash merino is so soft!  She also loved the colourway ‘Hot Pants’ from Peepaloo fields. The other yarn she needs like air is from Desert Vista Dyeworks, Wonder Woman 4 stripe self-striping yarn! It’s gorgeous!!!

NEW STUFF

Val picked up some awesome Willow yarn in Gosling ‘Fairy Princess’ to make an awesome pair of socks. The yarn is so soft and colourful.

Katy got lots of things for her birthday: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies, some new shorts for work, Willow Yarns Daily DK in ‘Foxglove’ for a sweater, a Webster’s Pages Color Crush Planner in Light Pink, 2 balls of Red Heart – Heart & Sole in ‘Toasted Almond’, 2 AJ Lee Tshirts from the WWE shop, Curls by Hunter Hammersen,, 2 balls of Knitpicks Palette in ‘Huckleberry Heather’ with rainbow beads for the April Shawl, and a Hitofude’s worth of KnitPicks Lindy Chain in ‘Plum’.

Webster’s Pages Color Crush Planner in ‘Light Pink’

‘Peepaloo’ by Peepaloo Fields on Etsy

READING, WATCHING & LISTENING

Val has been watching Outlander and has been trying to keep up with Game of Thrones. She’s also been listening to Dear Future Husband by Meghan Trainor and American Oxygen by Rihanna.

Katy’s still reading ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, she’s been watching Outlander, Finding Carter and lots of WWE. She’s been jamming on One Last Time by Arianna Grande and Trouble by Iggy Azalea featuring Jennifer Hudson.

Episode 22: The Missing Link

 

 

Hi Everyone, welcome back! If you’re new, thank you for checking us out!

Unfortunately this episode, Katy has come down with a nasty bit of Bronchitis, so you get Val all to yourselves!

First off, we have a couple people that need a big THANK YOU!!!

Thank you to Tiffany of the Knitting at Tiffany’s Podcast for sending us a really pretty card thanking us for the awesome Canon Hand Dyes prize in our Round 3 of Downton Abbey Trivia!

Thank you to Angie (crouchingcheese) for sending both Val and Katy the ‘Handbrake’ Pattern by Dan & Kay Jones from the Bakery Bears Podcast! It’s 1 pound per pattern and all proceeds go to cancer research, so pass it on!!!  It’s a great pattern. Katy gifted it to her mom after Angie had sent it to her.

And a big Thank you to everyone from Katy for all the birthday wishes!!! And Thank you to Dawn (knittinwolfe) for sending Katy a really pretty pattern called ‘April’ by Joji Locatelli 🙂 She already picked out the yarn and beads for it! Thank you Dawn 🙂

We also need to send out some Condolences 😦

After a long and brave fight with lymphoma, dear little Fuji Wolfe passed away on April 14th. Valerie and Katy send out our warmest hugs and healing prayers to everyone at the Wolfe Farms Podcast. She will be remembered and thought of often. *many hugs*

Also, Shannon of the Minerva Turkey Podcast lost her little hedgehog, Sheriff Woody, very suddenly. Our hearts go out to you and warm, healing hugs.

Valerie and Katy both know what it’s like to lose a cherished, loved animal so we empathise with everyone greatly.

Giveaway!!!!

If you’re listening right on April 30th, we’d like to remind you to hurry and enter our contest!!! We had a very generous donation of a lovely prize from The Wooly Witch!!! She sent us 2 ounces of her ‘Sweet Rolls’ spinning rolags in the colourway ‘The Waterhorse of Loch Ness’! Now in celebration of the return of ‘Outlander’ to television (April 4th in the States and April 5th in Canada) we are giving these 2 ounces of spinning rolags to one lucky listener. All you have to do is head over to our Ravelry group, and take a look at the Wooly Witch’s etsy shop and tell us what your favourite colourway is and what you would make with it! You must be a member of our Ravelry group to win these gorgeous rolags.

Events

We hope everyone who went to the Knitter’s Frolic had an awesome time and scored some sweet swag!

Shops We Mention

The Wooly Witch
KnitPicks
Williow Yarns

Podcasts We Mention

Knitting At Tiffany’s
Wolfe Farms Video Podcast
The Minerva Turkey Knits Podcast
The Bakery Bears Podcast

FOs and HOS

Even though Katy is sick, she still managed to get a HO off the needles!  It’s the Red Heart, Heart & Sole ‘Spring Stripes’ yarn that Val had bought her for her birthday present!

Red Heart – Heart & Sole in ‘Spring Stripes’

Thank you every one for tuning in and we’ll be back in full force for our May 15, 2015 episode.  Take Care!

Episode 21 – David Suzuki is a Troll!

Hi Everyone, welcome back to the Stitch Sisters Podcast!  We’d like to welcome new and returning listeners, thanks for checking us out!

We would also like to thank our friend Emily (aka wenchfaery just about everywhere, including Ravelry) for joining us again for this episode! She has an awesome youtube channel where you can watch her play through some pretty awesome videogames, and you can find her at Wenchfaery Games.

And, to explain our title, we were had!!!! David Suzuki had us all thinking that knitting chrysalis’ for Monarch butterflies was actually a thing!! There’s even a pattern on Ravelry for them! But it was a nice big ole April Fool’s joke 🙂  You can still buy the pattern but the proceeds will go toward the planting of Milkweed for the Monarch butterflies.

Giveaway!!!!

We had a very generous donation of a lovely prize from The Wooly Witch!!! She sent us 2 ounces of her ‘Sweet Rolls’ spinning rolags in the colourway ‘The Waterhorse of Loch Ness’! Now in celebration of the return of ‘Outlander’ to television (April 4th in the States and April 5th in Canada) we are giving these 2 ounces of spinning rolags to one lucky listener. All you have to do is head over to our Ravelry group, and take a look at the Wooly Witch’s etsy shop and tell us what your favourite colourway is and what you would make with it! You must be a member of our Ravelry group to win these gorgeous rolags.

The Wooly Witch Sweet Rolls in ‘The Waterhorse of Loch Ness’

Shops We Mention

Passionknit 
Miss Babs
The Wooly Witch
Tanis Fiber Arts
Willow Yarns
Scrumptious Purl
Spanish Peacock
Blue Moon Fiber Arts
KnitPicks
Book Outlet
Lush

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls Podcast
The Sassypants Knitter
The Prairie Girls Knit & Spin
The Minerva Turkey Knits Podcast
The Knitgirllls Podcast
The Fat Squirrel Speaks
The Sampler Girl Podcast
The Wolfe Farms Podcast
The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast
The Brass Needles Podcast

EVENTS

Katy’s Birthday was on April 8th and Val spoiled her rotten 😉  Thank you for all the well wishes on instagram and facebook 🙂

Knitter’s Frolic – April 25-26, 2015 – Japanese Canadian Culture Centre – Toronto, Ontario

KAL/CALs

#kiltmenowkal – Outlander inspired KAL on Instagram with The Knitmore Girls, The Geeky Girls Knit, Subway Knits and Yarngasm Podcasts – post pics of your Outlander inspired knits, crochet projects and spinning projects!

Behmalong – the never-ending Behmalong with The Knitmore Girls podcast – knit any of Martina Behm’s patterns and post pictures on instagram and in the thread on the Knitmore Girls Ravelry group.

Sheepy Spring Kal – The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast is doing a Springtime Kal!  It can be knitting, crochet or spinning, has to be started after March 1st and be finished by May 31st. It can be anything related to spring and you just post a picture on their contest thread in their ravelry group to enter.

Steampunk KAL – With Miss Kalendar of the Brass Needles Podcast, for the month of April, knit yourself something Steampunk!  More info in her Ravelry group!

FOs and HOs

Val finished knitting another baby washcloth using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton 🙂

Katy finished spinning a sweet roll sample from the Wooly Witch 🙂  She spun it 2 ply on her Spanish Peacock support spindle. The colourway was ‘Ice Queen’ and it really reminds her of Elsa’s dress from Frozen.

The Wooly Witch Sweet Roll sample in ‘Ice Queen’

Emily finished the ‘Cedar Creek Socks’ – a pattern she purchased from Blue Moon Fiber Arts – out of Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in Baby Blues!

WIPs

Valerie started a Granny Square Afghan out of her Red Heart Super Saver in a bunch of Rainbow colours!

Katy is still working on her Mama Vertebrae out of Malabrigo Arroyo in ‘Aguas’, her Mudblood Cardigan out of Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Superwash in ‘Garnet Heather’ and she’s picking up her Outlander MKAL Shawl again using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in ‘Seawash’ and ‘Terrarium’.

Mama Vertebrae in Malabrigo Arroyo ‘Aguas’

Emily’s working on another pair of Stitch Surfer Socks using Socks that Rock by Blue Moon Fiber Arts in ‘Manly yes but I like it too’ and ‘Grimm’s Willow Wren’ and also another Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief using Noro Sekku (lace weight) and it’s looking gorgeous as it’s striping!

NEEDS AND WANTS

Valerie needs to stay off Pinterest as it is a total time suck!!! She wants the thing that had her at yarn… see below 😉 She learned a provisional cast on and how to knit a mitred square and she wants to hide because she has 2 wee lads for 2 weeks! Yikes!!

Katy wants baby boy’s tooth to pop out so he can stop suffering. She wants yarn, and she wants to sleep in and she learned how to property park and draft on her support spindle.

Emily needs better time management skills to wrangle her wips into shape. She really wants to go to New York to the MOMA and partake in the Bjork interactive exhibit!!! She also wants yarn from the Scrumptious Purl in the colourway Mischief Managed. She also learned how to cut off a sock cast-on and bind it off again!

YOU HAD ME AT YARN!

Valerie wants Red Heart Boutique in ‘Petunia’. She had seen it in Walmart when she was shopping and she wanted it but didn’t get it. Perhaps the next trip she can purchase it ❤

Emily wants the Mischief Managed yarn from the Scrumptious Purl and she also wants the Hitofude cardigan pattern!

Katy wants the Life Savers Sweater Kit from Tanis Fiber Arts and she also wants a sweater quantity of their yellow label DK weight in Pink Grapefruit. As well, she wants Susan Claudino’s pattern ‘Doctor Ewe’!

NEW STUFF

Valerie bought a 12oz ball of Bernat handicrafter cotton in the colourway ‘Crown Jewels’ – it has lovely teals, aquas and purples in it!  She also bought 2 skeins of Red Heart’s Heart and Sole in “Mellow Stripes” to make some socks with!

Bernant Handicrafter Cotton in “Crown Jewels Ombre”

Red Heart’s Heart & Sole in Mellow Stripes

 

Emily bought a skein of Socks that Rock by Blue Moon Fiber Arts in ‘Manly Yes but I like it too’ and also a skein of The Scrumptious Purl in ‘It’s my Party’. She also found out that there is a new Lush store closer to us than any other in Limeridge Mall in Hamilton, which we will be hitting up shortly. Plus, she ordered the new Loot Crate because it’s Fantasy based, and that is her favourite genre!

Katy got some lovely early birthday surprises from Valerie – 2 handknitted washcloths, a Lipsmacker’s hair care set in the strawberry scent and 2 skeins of Red Heart Heart and Sole with Aloe in ‘Spring Stripes’! She also got a copy of ‘The Fault in our Stars’ by John Green and she got her Spring Swap package in from Tracey!!! It had lovely chocolate in it, a washcloth, 2 mini skeins of yarn and a cute bunny spoon for tea time!

Katy’s birthday goodies from Val and The Hobbit from her Hubby & Lil Boy

WHAT WE’RE READING, WATCHING AND LISTENING TO

Emily is reading a lot of Fan Fiction on Archive of our Own – and Valerie and Katy admitted to going there for some good fan fiction lately too 😉 She’s also listening to music on 8Tracks.com where you can listen to playlists people have made and also make your own!

Valerie is listening to a lot of Top 40 and some new to her podcasts. She’s also watching a lot of the Food Network and The Walking Dead – including the season 5 finale which she loved!!!  She’s reading some fan fiction and some text based RPG interactions which she’s participating in. Valerie and Katy will also be watching Outlander as it makes it’s return to Showcase (in Canada) on April 5th at 10pm!

Katy is happy to watch Finding Carter as it’s second season just started. She’s still reading ‘The Fault in our Stars’ by John Green and ‘Clockwork Angel’ by Cassandra Clare. She finished ‘The Clockwork Scarab’ by Colleen Gleason – it was ok, and you can tell it was YA and it needed closure, even though it’s a first in the series. Both Katy and Emily are really liking ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars and were singing and dancing to it on the way to Valerie’s house!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We hope you enjoyed this episode and don’t forget to head on over and join our Ravelry group!!! Take care everyone and we hope you had a Happy Easter and Passover!

Episode 20 – Jamie in our pockets!

 

Hello everyone, and welcome to Episode 20 (we never thought we’d make it this far!)!!  Thanks for coming back and if you’re new, thank you for checking us out!!!

Also, a big Thank You to Dawn of the Wolfe Farms Podcast for mentioning us on their podcast – when she got the little care packet from Katy in the mail! So glad you liked it!!!

AND Katy won a lovely project bag from KnitRunDig from the Geeky Girls Knit podcast!!! Thanks so much ladies!

Giveaway!!!!

We had a very generous donation of a lovely prize from The Wooly Witch!!! She sent us 2 ounces of her ‘Sweet Rolls’ spinning rolags in the colourway ‘The Waterhorse of Loch Ness’! Now in celebration of the return of ‘Outlander’ to television (April 4th in the States and April 5th in Canada) we are giving these 2 ounces of spinning rolags to one lucky listener. All you have to do is head over to our Ravelry group, and take a look at the Wooly Witch’s etsy shop and tell us what your favourite colourway is and what you would make with it! You must be a member of our Ravelry group to win these gorgeous rolags.

The Wooly Witch Sweet Rolls in ‘The Waterhorse of Loch Ness’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shops We Mention

Passionknit
Miss Babs
Expression Fibre Arts
Knit Run Dig
The Wooly Witch
Vivid Yarn Studio
Jimmy Beans Wool
Desert Vista Dyeworks
KnitPicks
Teefury

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls Podcast
The Sassypants Knitter
The Prairie Girls Knit & Spin
The Minerva Turkey Knits Podcast
The Knitgirllls Podcast
The Fat Squirrel Speaks
The Sampler Girl Podcast
The Wolfe Farms Podcast
The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast
The Canadian Knitter Podcast 

KAL/CALs

Valerie has been watching the mystery afghan CAL with the Crochet Crowd and is liking some of the entries and colour combos but she doesn’t think she’ll cast on any time in the near future.  She also recommends our listeners checking out the “Yes, Yes” Shawl Challenge that is going on at the Crochet Crowd until April 15, 2015.  It is a challenge aimed at helping crocheters to learn how to read crochet diagrams.

Katy is still participating in the Behmalong with the Knitmoregirls podcast.

Also, there is the instagram KAL/CAL ‘#kiltmenowkal’ being hosted by The Knitmore Girls Podcast, The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast, The Subway Knits Podcast and the Yarngasm Podcast. Just post a picture in instagram of your projects that are somehow Outlander related and you’re in for some great prizes.

Events

The Knitter’s Frolic – April 25-26, 2015 – The Japanese Canadian Culture Centre in Toronto, Ontario

FOs and HOs

Katy has nothing. But she will make up for it in WIPs.

Valerie finished a corner to corner dishcloth using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in “Chrysanthemum”.  For a HO, Val is still working on her Easy Triangle Shawl from LionBrand yarns and is making slow progress.

WIPs

Valerie is working on her Corner to Corner crocheted baby blanket for her friend. She is also working on another dishcloth to add to her gift stash.

Katy cast on The Mudblood Cardigan using Knitpicks SW Wool of the Andes in Garnet Heather and she also cast on the Mama Vertebrae cardigan using Malabrigo Arroyo in Aguas.

Mudblood Cardigan using KnitPicks Wool of the Andes SW in Garnet Heather

Mama Vertebrae using Malabrigo Arroyo in Aguas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needs and Wants

Need – Val needs to organize her patterns and knitting needles into a binder.  Katy needs to send out her Spring Swap package she signed up for with The Sampler Girl Podcast.

Want – Katy wants more Malabrigo Arroyo, she’s loving it!  Val wants to see Dreamworks’ Home and might go with her husband as a little date night or afternoon!

Want to do – Katy wants to go and visit her friend Patti in Toronto and to visit Passionknit!  Valerie wants to go on some walks now that it’s SPRING and walk at the local park that is nearby and take lots of pictures for Instagram.

What did we Learn – Katy learned that coffee is her friend!

New Stuff

Katy got a few things in the mail. She received her ‘I Ain’t Fraid of no Girls’ tee shirt from Teefury and she loves it! She also received her Malabrigo Arroyo in Aguas on a Ravelry destash, her rolags she ordered from The Wooly Witch and she squealed when she received her skein of ‘Zombody Loves Ewe’ from Desert Vista Dyeworks.

Val got a sweet roll sample from the Wooly Witch (Thank you Katy!), and it’s in the colourway “Pumpkin Spiced Latte” – she loves it!

You had me at yarn!

Katy fell hard for Miss Babs, the huge ‘Yowza! Whatta Skein’ skeins in particular, in the colourways ‘Wanna Go Crazy’, ‘Spread Your Wings’, and ‘Hot to Trot’.

Valerie fell victim yet again to Expression Fibre Arts and her new colourway called ‘Unicorn Breath’ … which we find is a nice name for this beautiful, yet bright, pastel rainbow!  She also fell in love with ‘Prismatic’!

Katy has been holding onto a really nice skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Lace to make Patti Waters’ ‘Summer Sea Shawl’ and she may just do it this summer. She also really likes Patti’s ‘Catherine Shawl’ as well. You can take a look at all of Patti’s Patterns *HERE*

What We’re Reading, Watching and Listening To

Katy has almost finished ‘The Clockwork Scarab’ by Colleen Gleason. She also watched ‘Catching Fire’ …again (gah… Peeta!) and she watched ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ and loved it, even though it was sad in some spots. She caught up on listening/watching The Geeky Girls Knit podcast and is still listening to ‘Style’ by Taylor Swift, ‘Take me to Church’ by Hozier and ‘Coming of Age’ by Foster the People.

Valerie is watching ‘The Walking Dead’ and looking forward to the Season Finale on March 29th (everyone will have seen it by now 😉 ) We’re both really looking forward to the midseason return of Outlander as well… we want to know how Jamie fared sitting in a window for months on end!

Episode 19 – Canadian Mousse

 

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to the Stitch Sisters Podcast and if you’re just finding us now, we hope you enjoy and come back often!

DOWNTON ABBEY TRIVIA CONTEST!!!!

Congratulations to Diana in the US for being our Round 4 Winner! She won the Downton Abbey MKAL kit from Jimmy Beans Wool.  She correctly answered the question: Who destroyed Mr. Bates’ train ticket?  The answer was Lady Mary. 🙂

A big thank you to everyone who donated prizes and everyone who participated and answered our fun little questions! We had a blast and can’t wait to do something else for Season 6!!!

Shops We Mention

Canon Hand Dyes
Western Sky Knits
The Wooly Witch
Vivid Yarn Studio
Jimmy Beans Wool
Desert Vista Dyeworks
Willow Yarns
Must Stash Yarns
Blue Moon Fiber Arts

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls Podcast
The Sassypants Knitter
The Prairie Girls Knit & Spin
The Minerva Turkey Knits Podcast
The Knitgirllls Podcast
The Fat Squirrel Speaks

KAL/CALs

Valerie has been monitoring the mystery CAL with the crochet crowd. She has the pattern for it, but she wants to see how it turns out before she commits to doing one of her own.  Katy is still participating in the Behmalong with the Knitmoregirls podcast.

FOs and HOs

Katy finished a very impromptu cowl gift for the land registrar in her area using leftover Berocco Ultra Alpaca. The pattern is ‘Windbreak’ from Simply Knitting magazine and she modified it by just repeating section 1 instead of doing section 3 of the colourwork.

Windbreak using Berocco Ultra Alpaca

Katy also finished the ‘Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ mitts by the Anticraft!!!! Yay! She slogged through the duplicate stitch and then did some ribbing on the thumb gussets and she was done. She can’t wait to give them to her friend.

Snowball’s Chance in Hell mitts using Knitpicks Stroll Sport

WIPs

Valerie has been a bit under the weather so she has been keeping busy with her simple knitted dishcloth with Bernat Handicrafter cotton and working on her crocheted Easy Triangle shawl while recovering.

Katy has been working on her Clockwork by Stephen West, her Foolproof Cowl by Louise Zass-Bangham, her two-at-a-time toe up socks using ‘Night @ the Roxbury’ by Must Stash Yarns, and she plans on swatching for a cardigan that she hasn’t decided on yet.

NEEDS and WANTS

Need:  Katy needs to decide on a cardigan pattern!!  Valerie needs to get over her sore throat that has been going on for almost 2 weeks!

Want: Val wants to eat a Cadbury Crème Egg!! Katy wants her skein of Zombody Loves Ewe from Desert Vista Dyeworks, because she got shipping confirmation!

Want to do: Katy wants to cast on colourful, springy socks using Hobbit Garden by Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  Valerie wants to learn to knit a cardigan for herself.

Learned: Katy learned that life is unexpected!!  Valerie learned that she drinks too much soda and needs to cut back.

You had me at YARN!!

Both Val and Katy have been wanting to buy and cast on Susan Claudino’s pretty little bunny pattern; Bon Bon!!! We both think it would be a super gift for Easter, even if you have some lovely soft multi-coloured baby yarn in your stash, it would be really cute!

Valerie wants a skein of Fairy Hill by Vivid Yarn Studio on Etsy!! It’s so sparkly and she was actually pondering on making a Bon Bon out of it!!!

Katy found some absolutely gorgeous spinning rolags in the colourway ‘The Waterhorse of Loch Ness’ (an Outlander inspired colourway) from The Wooly Witch on Etsy! She loved it so much, she made an early birthday present purchase for herself 😉

NEW STUFF

Katy ordered a new t-shirt from Teefury called “I ain’t fraid of no Girls” and it has this awesome pin-up girl Ghostbuster and it says ‘If someone asks you if you are a GODDESS you say YES!’ on it!!! Katy is very excited and thanked Val profusely for tweeting the tshirt update to her.

I ain’t fraid of no girls t-shirt from Teefury

READING and WATCHING

Katy is reading ‘Clockwork Scarab’ by Colleen Gleason and is enjoying it very much. We both got to see Mockingjay Part 1 and we both loved it! Val has watched it a couple times now and even though it is such a bleak, dark series, we love the movies.  Valerie watched several new movies, including Maleficent which she thinks is a better story than the original Disney version of Sleeping Beauty.

What We’re Listening To

Val has been listening to ‘Running with the Boys’ by Lights, ‘Style’ by Taylor Swift and ‘Love me Like You Do’ by Ellie Goulding.  Katy has also been listening to ‘Style’ by Taylor Swift and she loves ‘Up We Go’ by Lights (it’s her 2015 Anthem).  Katy’s also been listening to and watching a lot of knitting podcasts, like the Fat Squirrel Speaks, The Sassypants Knitter and The Minerva Turkey Knits podcast.

Episode 18 – A Fair of Pinished Socks

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to the Stitch Sisters Podcast and if you’re just finding us now, we hope you enjoy and come back often!

DOWNTON ABBEY TRIVIA CONTEST!!!! ROUND 4 !!

Congratulations to Tiffany M. of Ontario, Canada for being our Round 3 Winner! She won the sock yarn and matching stitch markers in the colourway ‘Lady Sybil’ from Canon Hand Dyes!  She correctly answered the question: Who taught Anna to dance the Reel to surprise Mr. Bates?  The answer was a Lady Rose. 🙂

So for Round 4, the process is pretty much the same!  All you need to do is be a member of our Ravelry group and click on the link below! It will direct you to Rafflecopter where you can answer this episode’s trivia contest and you can also earn extra entries in the draw by joining up at our other social media sites (it will do it automatically 😉 )  The raffle link will stay active for 1 week and we will draw for the winner and announce their name in the next podcast where we will ask a new question and a new link will be provided, as well as a new prize will be up for grabs! The Prize for this last round is the Downton Abbey Mystery Knit-a-Long Kit from Jimmy Beans Wool and it features two colours of Lorna’s Laces Solemate in ‘Edith’s Secret’ and ‘Old Rose’ as well as the download code for the MKAL!!!

Downton Abbey MKAL with Lorna’s Laces in Edith’s Secret and Old Rose from Jimmy Beans Wool

and the question is: Who destroyed Mr. Bates’ train ticket?

Click below to Enter and Good luck Everyone!!!

Downton Abbey Trivia Contest No. 4

Shops We Mention

Canon Hand Dyes
Vintage Rose
Moonrover Yarns
Western Sky Knits
Turtle Made
Jimmy Beans Wool
Knitty Kat Bags
Desert Vista Dyeworks
Yarnspirations
Willow Yarns
The Book Outlet
Quaere Fibres

Podcasts We Mention
The Knitmore Girls Podcast
The Sampler Girl Podcast
The Suburban Stitcher Podcast
The Sassypants Knitter
The Prairie Girls Knit & Spin
Wolfe Farms Podcast
The Minerva Turkey Knits Podcast
The Knitgirllls Podcast

KAL/CALs

Val is working on the Crochet Crowd is holding a 2015 Mystery Afghan CAL! She isn’t too impressed with the second clue, but she’s going to hold out till the 3rd or 4th clue to see if she’ll join along.

Katy is still working on her Hitchhiker for the never-ending Behmalong with the Knitmore Girls Podcast, and since it’s using rainbow yarn, and double-dipping in KAL/CALs is always fun (and encouraged), she’s also participating in the February Rainbow-a-Long with The Suburban Stitcher Podcast!  She probably won’t have her Hitchhiker done in time, but the purpose of the rainbow-a-long was to bring colour into an otherwise dreary February and make the knitters happy! And it did that, so Katy’s not upset about not being eligible to win any prizes.

The Sampler Girl podcast is having a Jane Austen Knit-a-long! Anything related to Jane Austen, just knit away and enter in her Ravelry group for great prizes! But the deadline for that is February 28th as well, so hopefully you’re seeing this early to squeak in your entry!

FOs and HOs

Valerie finished one of the Broadripple socks using Malabrigo sock in ‘Archangel’ and Katy tried it on (as these socks are for her) and they fit perfectly!

Broad Ripple Sock in Malabrigo “Archangel”

WIPs

Valerie is working on the second Broadripple sock, a new dishcloth using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Mulberry, and she’s still plugging away at her Easy Triangle Shawl.

Dishcloth!

Katy is working on way too many things! She cast on the Foolproof cowl by Louise Zass-Bangham using Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in ‘Stargazing’ and ‘Pop Rocks’. She finished the body of the second ‘Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ mitt, now all she needs to do is complete the duplicate stitch. And she’s still working on her Hitchhiker shawl and her husband’s Clockwork.

Hitchhiker by Martina Behm using Western Sky Knits MCN in ‘Rainbow Night’

Foolproof Cowl by Louise Zass-Bangham using Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in ‘Stargazing’ and ‘Pop Rocks’

Needs and Wants

Katy needs more time to visit with Val and other friends and Valerie needs more Katy visits and to see other friends as well.

Valerie wants SPRING!!! Katy wants a lip balm that actually works in this frigid, dry Canadian climate.

Valerie wants to get out more once the weather gets less nasty! boo weather! Katy wants to send out her little care package to her friend in California with lots of mini skeins and a few extra goodies 🙂

Valerie learned that spending way too much time on social media gets to be really negative at times & makes her feel oogy inside which she doesn’t like. Katy learned how enabling Instagram can be when she came across Prairie Girl Danie’s Mama Vertebrae cardigan! Now she wants one!

New Stuff

Valerie got all her new sock yarn in from Willow Yarns!  She picked up a skein of ‘Peacock’ and ‘Pink Cockatoo’ in their Willow Quest base, and 2 skiens of “Accent” in their “Attire” base which is 100% superwash extra fine merino!  She’s got lots of socks planned out for this yarn! She also received a journal from Katy only it has Butterflies on it and some stitch markers including a polymer clay bubble tea stitch marker.

Peacock and Pink Cockatoo sock yarn from WillowYarns.ca

“Accent” Sock Yarn from WillowYarns.ca

Clay Stitch Markers

Katy got a new journal from the Book Outlet and has been journaling. She also picked up Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. Her Mom made her some beautiful fingerless gloves for Valentine’s Day with little sequins in the yarn and a heart lace motif on top ❤ And Katy won a prize!!! She won the Triple Swell Hat by Lucia Pane from the Prairie Girls Knit and Spin Podcast!! She plans to cast on with some stash yarn as soon as she finishes a couple things.

You Had Me at Yarn!

We both love Desert Vista Dyeworks’ new colourway ‘If They Kill Carol’ (a Walking Dead colourway). Even though Katy doesn’t watch the show, she loves all the burgundy tones and the speckles in the stripes. Her other two colourways, ‘If they kill Rick’ and ‘If they kill Darryl’ are pretty awesome as well!

Valerie loves  Dr. Who – Vincent & The Doctor by Quare Fibre in Sparkle Sock base! Actually, Katy’s been looking at that one for a long time as well!!

Katy would also love some Malabrigo Arroyo in ‘Aquos’ to make Kelly Brooker’s Mama Vertebrae sweater. Prairie Girl Danie made a stunning one using the colourway ‘Prussian Blue’ and paired it with an awesome, nerdy Starlord T-shirt. So Katy was inspired.

What We’re Reading and Watching

Val is watching The Walking Dead and Broadchurch. Also she’s looking forward to watching the Oscars for all the fashion and Go Eddie Redmayne!!!

Katy isn’t watching much of anything, but she is reading Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and also The Clockwork Scarab: A Stoker & Holmes Novel by Colleen Gleason. She’s loving both books very much. Katy also would like to watch some of the Oscars – Go Benedict 😉 !!!!

Episode 17 – No I DON’T want to build a snowman!!!

Hello everyone! Thanks for coming back and if you’re a new listener, we hope you enjoy the podcast and choose to return 🙂

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations to Heather’s little (not so little) girl who made the cut in performing with Cirque de Soliel in the pan-am games this summer.  Apparently out of 450 kids, only 115 were chosen and K. was one of them!  Her mom and dad are very proud of her and so are we 🙂

Also, the Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is looking for 8″ crocheted or knitted wildlife nests for the orphaned animals that they shelter!  You can find the details on our Facebook page complete with the patterns for the nests (the pattern is for 4″ nests but they have requested you enlarge them to 8″ nests) and the address to send them too. Also, check in your area to see if your wildlife sanctuaries would be in need of these nests, or your local Humane Society may need pet blankets and other sorts of things for animals this winter.

DOWNTON ABBEY TRIVIA CONTEST!!!! ROUND 3 !!

A big CONGRATS!!! to Lina (Dragonbard on Ravelry) for being our Round 2 Winner! She won the sock yarn and matching stitch markers in the colourway ‘Lavinia Swire’ from Canon Hand Dyes!  She correctly answered the question: What did Mary give to Matthew before he left for War?  The answer was a good luck charm and/or a stuffed dog. 🙂

So for Round 3, the process is pretty much the same!  All you need to do is be a member of our Ravelry group and click on the link below! It will direct you to Rafflecopter where you can answer this episode’s trivia contest and you can also earn extra entries in the draw by joining up at our other social media sites (it will do it automatically 😉 )  The raffle link will stay active for 1 week and we will draw for the winner and announce their name in the next podcast where we will ask a new question and a new link will be provided, as well as a new prize will be up for grabs! The Prize for this round is a skein of Lady Sybil sock yarn and matching stitch markers from Canon Hand Dyes!

Lady Sybil sock yarn and matching stitch markers from Canon Hand Dyes

and the question is: Who taught Anna to dance the Reel to surprise Mr. Bates?

Click below to Enter and Good luck Everyone!!!

Downton Abbey Trivia Contest No. 3

Shops We Mention

Canon Hand Dyes
Vintage Rose
Moonrover Yarns
Western Sky Knits
Turtle Made
Jimmy Beans Wool
Knitty Kat Bags
Desert Vista Dyeworks
The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
Knitpicks
Yarnspirations
Penguin Soup

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls Podcast
The Sampler Girl Podcast
The Suburban Stitcher Podcast

Blogs We Mention

Hey Porkchop!

KAL/CALs

Val is advising that the Crochet Crowd is holding a 2015 Mystery Afghan CAL! Sign up and you receive the first set of instructions February 10th and it goes until May 15th when you have the last day to submit your final photo for a yarn draw 🙂 They are in cooperation with Yarnspirations.com where you can order the kits with crochet hook in different colour sets.  She also plans to sign up for it! Go Val!

Katy is still working on her Hitchhiker for the never-ending Behmalong with the Knitmore Girls Podcast, and since it’s using rainbow yarn, and double-dipping in KAL/CALs is always fun (and encouraged), she’s also participating in the February Rainbow-a-Long with The Suburban Stitcher Podcast!

Also, for those interested, The Sampler Girl podcast is having a Jane Austen Knit-a-long! Anything related to Jane Austen, just knit away and enter in her Ravelry group for great prizes! ❤

FOs

Val finished her Cabaret cowl and couldn’t be more pleased how it knit up.  Forgot to leave yarn at the end to sew up the different ends so she will stitch them together with some blue thread.  So cozy and warm!

Cabaret Cowl

Katy finally finished her Orchid Thief shawl by Ysolda Teague out of Quaere Fibres ‘Orchid’ on her sparkle sock! So glad to have it off the needles and on her person 🙂

Orchid Thief shawl out of Quaere Fibres sparkle sock in ‘Orchid’

WIPs

Valerie is working on a Baby star dishcloth in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Crysanthemums for a friend down south as well as still working on her Easy Triangle shawl.

Baby Star dishcloth in Chrysanthemums

Katy is working on her Clockwork by Stephen West for her husband using Cascade Heritage sock solids in ‘Mossy Rock’ and ‘Walnut’, her Hitchhiker by Martina Behm using Western Sky Knits Magnolia sock in ‘Rainbow Night’ and her Snowball’s Chance in Hell mitts using KnitPicks Stroll Sport in ‘Mink Heather’ and ‘Rainforest Heather’.

SPINNING

Katy is still working on the ‘Nebula’ braid from Moonrover yarns on her Turtle made Turkish spindle and she’s onto the second colour! Loving it!

Nebula by Moonrover Yarn on Turtle Made Turkish spindle

NEEDS AND WANTS

Katy needs to create a household budget, badly!

Val Wants and Needs all the sleep and don’t know why – have to call my doctor about it; maybe my iron or thyroid levels have gone all wonk again. can sleep for 18 hours in the day and still go to sleep at night.

Katy and Val both want this cruddy weather to STAAAAAAAAAAHHHHPP!! Too much snow! Yes, we’re Canadian and we should be used to it by now, but enough is enough – it’s colder here than the North Pole as I’m writing the show notes too cold!

Katy wants to take pictures like Amanda Jennings, aka heyporkchop on instagram and she is one half of the geniuses behind The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and she has a gorgeous blog that is most inspiring to Katy right now!

Valerie wants to sleep some more, lol. Katy would like that too, but Katy wants to cast on her ‘Sherlolly’ cowl (aka the Foolproof Cowl by Louise Zass-Bangham) because she’s been seeing a lot of pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch and Louise Brealey online and she loves her Sherlock/Molly fantasy combo! The colours she’s going to use are Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in ‘Stargazer’ (Sherlock) and ‘Pop Rocks’ (Molly) 😉

Valerie learned all over again that she can use worsted weight yarn for socks! She remembered that there was a recipe pattern  in her Getting Started Knitting Socks book by Ann Budd for using worsted weight yarn – going to try with some red heart super saver – would be cozy socks for around the house.  Might be too thick to wear outside with shoes, but still, cozy nonetheless!

Katy learned that it is tough everywhere!  Trying to find a job in our area of the world is most difficult, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that it actually is tough everywhere!  It makes us feel a little bit better knowing we’re not the only ones.

NEW STUFF

Val ordered yarn!  From Willow Yarns (.ca). All things to make socks with – but not telling what colour ways – going to keep it a secret until it all comes in 😉 All prices are in Canadian (yay), shipping is a bit expensive but then so is everything in Canada. Boo. She bought enough yarn for 3 pairs of sock for under $45 Canadian, so it was a fun, affordable shopping trip!

Katy finally bit the bullet and bought ‘Zombody Loves Ewe’ from Desert Vista Dyeworks because she had extra bag money and she’s been wanting that colour for a couple years now and didn’t want to wait another year for it  to be available. She also got some early Valentine’s presents from her husband; The World of Downton Abbey, The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, and Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare! Lots of books for Katy and the pictures in the Downton Books are gorgeous and one picture of Lavinia in particular stuck them both and her dress was the obvious inspiration for the colourway by Canon Hand Dyes (which Lina is about to receive 😉 Lucky).

Katy’s new books for Valentine’s presents

Picture of Lavinia and her namesake colourway from Canon Hand Dyes

YOU HAD ME AT YARN

Val found Patons Kroy sock yarn in Rainbow Stripes at Yarninspirations.com for less than $8 a skein – really thinking of buying it if it’s not available at Michael’s.  Obviously Val is wanting ALL the sock yarn!!!!

Katy found some super pretty Wyld sock yarn at Moonrover yarn in ‘Stalagmite’ and she wants it soooooooo bad!  She also learned that Penguin Soup will be having signups for the Firefly Shiny Club March 1-4th on her website!  A Firefly inspired yarn club? Yes please!!!  And last but certainly not least, Katy checked out Canon Hand Dyes yet again to find that she’s making Jane Austen inspired colourways!!!!  Would be perfect for the Sampler Girl Podcast Jane Austen Knit-a-Long!

WHAT WE’RE READING AND WATCHING

Valerie is reading ‘Divergent’ by Veronica Roth as Katy loaned her the whole series (and Val’s mom finished the whole series in a week!). She’s really enjoying it and plans on reading the others.  Katy isn’t reading much, she started Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and is really liking it!

Katy watched the Australian Open with her husband and thought it was a great tournament even though Genie and Milosz didn’t make the finals – they’re gaining on the champs though 😉 and she’s been catching snippets of The Walking Dead while her husband mainlines it!  Valerie is also watching The Walking Dead as the mid-season opener was on last Sunday night. She’s also watching Broadchurch and the Superbowl was super disappointing

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That’s it for this episode! We hope you all have a great Valentine’s Day and a wonderful two weeks!  Don’t forget to enter our Downton Trivia Contest!!!!  Take care, stay warm and knit fast!!!

Episode 16 – A Mighty Need

Hello Everyone and welcome back! We hope everyone had a very safe and happy New Year and that the year is going well for you so far!  If you’re just checking us out now, thank you very much for giving us a shot! If you’re a returning listener, thanks for coming back!

THANK YOU!!

We’d like to say a big thank you to Tanya from The Sampler Girl Podcast for giving us a signal boost and joining our group! We’re so glad to have her and Katy is a huge fan of her podcast!  She is also holding a Downton Abbey KAL/CAL in her group on Ravelry! So check it out and knit something Downton for a chance to win an awesome prize and chat about Downton 🙂

DOWNTON ABBEY TRIVIA CONTEST!!!! ROUND 2 !!

A big CONGRATS!!! to Angie (crouchingcheese on Ravelry) for being our Round 1 Winner! She won the Downton Abbey notions pouch from Knitty Kat Bags and the Downton Abbey Stitch Markers from Vintage Rose!  She correctly answered the question: Which country was Kemal Pamuk from?  The answer was Turkey 🙂

So for Round 2, the process is pretty much the same!  All you need to do is be a member of our Ravelry group and click on the link below! It will direct you to Rafflecopter where you can answer this episode’s trivia contest and you can also earn extra entries in the draw by joining up at our other social media sites (it will do it automatically 😉 )  The raffle link will stay active for 1 week and we will draw for the winner and announce their name in the next podcast where we will ask a new question and a new link will be provided, as well as a new prize will be up for grabs! The Prize for this round is a skein of Lavinia Swire sock yarn and matching stitch markers from Canon Hand Dyes!

Lavinia Swire sock yarn and matching stitch markers from Canon Hand Dyes

and the question is: What did Mary give to Matthew before he went off to war?

Click below to Enter and Good luck Everyone!!!

Downton Abbey Trivia Contest No. 2

Shops We Mention

Canon Hand Dyes
Vintage Rose
Moonrover Yarns
Western Sky Knits
Turtle Made
Jimmy Beans Wool
Knitty Kat Bags
Desert Vista Dyeworks
Wee Little Stitches
Rain City Knits
A Vivid Yarn Studio

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls Podcast
The Minerva Turkey Podcast
The Sampler Girl Podcast

KAL/CALs Katy is still working on her Hitchhiker shawl by Martina Behm for the never-ending Behm-a-Long with the Knitmore Girls Podcast. She’s making her shawl out of Western Sky Knits Magnolia base sock yarn (MCN) in the colourway Rainbow Night.

EVENTS We recently had a new doughnut shop open up in our city. They make all vegan doughnuts in really yummy flavours, so if you’re in the area of Niagara in Ontario, check them out! They’re called Beechwood Doughnuts and they’re in St. Catharines, Ontario!

Beechwood Doughnuts: Nanaimo, Salted Caramel Toffee, Apple Fritter

Beechwood Doughnuts: Raspberry Glaze

WIPS

Valerie is busily working on little tiny crocheted flowers for her Molly Flowers blanket. She’s using repurposed yarn from her Flowers in the Snow Afghan and plans to use one stripe from that afghan to make a scarf for donation to Out of the Cold. 🙂 Katy is working on her Orchid Thief Shawl and playing a very close game of yarn chicken with her pretty yarn from Quaere Fibers. Looks like she may make it! 😉 She also plans to work on the Snowball’s Chance in Hell mitts a little more, and pull out the Clockwork she’s working on for her husband.

Clockwork Shawl by Stephen West using Cascade Heritage sock solids “Walnut” & “Mossy Rock”

Mollie Flowers!

SPINNING

Katy is still spinning away on her Moon Rover fibre in ‘Nebula’ and plying on the fly using her Turtle Made Turkish spindle.

NEEDS AND WANTS

Need: Katy needs a haircut, needs a change in her hairdo, really badly – she has permanent mom ponytail and it’s driving her crazy!  Val still needs to arrange for off site storage for her apartment to get her life back in order!

Want: Katy wants to finish 3 WIPs before starting anything new.  Val wants to lose weight, and a mutual friend has given her an elliptical to help her on her journey!

Want to do: Katy wants to watch Sherlock on their new TV, because the new TV is awesome and she needs to experience Sherlock on it!

Learned: Katy learned that weighing her yarn as she goes along on a shawl (or anything really) helps a lot – especially in a deathly game of yarn chicken!

NEW STUFF

Katy received one of her Christmas bonus splurges in the mail; a Steampunk inspired shawl kit from Marigold Jen on Etsy featuring a skein of her lovely sock yarn in ‘Copper Patina’ along with a 50g skein of the same colour only a sparkly version, two clockwork stitch markers and the pattern ‘A Cog in the Machine’ by Heather Laws. It came in a lovely copper organza bag and got to her really fast. Katy is looking forward to this shawl so much, it’s her first Marigold Jen purchase!

A Cog in the Machine Kit from Marigold Jen

You Had Me at Yarn!

Katy loves all the awesome, nerdy, cute cross stitch patterns from Wee Little Stitches on etsy! And a super bonus, she’s from our town!!! Katy is contemplating purchasing the Sherlock set and maybe making herself little scissor minders out of the characters. Also, Katy is in love with the Double Rainbow sweater kit from Rain City Knits!!! She loves the look of the sweater with the rainbows down the sleeves – if she got another bonus, she’d be buying this immediately! Again, another Canadian company too 🙂

Valerie is totally in love with Vivid Yarn Studio and her new colourways; ‘Te Amo’ and ‘Snow White’. The snow white she just needs, like air to breathe. She would love to have both of these colours and to support her business as she’s in Calgary. Lots of Canadian indie dyers turning out lovely products.

READING AND WATCHING

Katy isn’t really reading anything – baby keeping her up is preventing her from doing much in the line of free time activities. She is watching the new TV series 12 Monkeys based on the movie. She’s catching snippets of it here and there while trying to knit in bed. BUT!! She did finally get to see the Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies and really enjoyed it! For what it was, it was very good, she likes Tauriel even though she was an addition that wasn’t in the original story and she also loved Billy Boyd’s song a the end.

Episode 15: So.Much.DOWNTON!!!

Hello Everyone and welcome back! We hope everyone had a very safe and happy New Year and that the year is going well for you so far!  If you’re just checking us out now, thank you very much for giving us a shot! If you’re a returning listener, thanks for coming back!

DOWNTON ABBEY TRIVIA CONTEST!!!! ROUND 1 !!

As mentioned in this episode and in previous episodes, this episode is the beginning of our Downton Abbey Trivia Contest!  All you need to do is be a member of our Ravelry group and click on the link below! It will direct you to Rafflecopter where you can answer this episode’s trivia contest and you can also earn extra entries in the draw by joining up at our other social media sites (it will do it automatically 😉 )  The raffle link will stay active for 1 week and we will draw for the winner and announce their name in the next podcast where we will ask a new question and a new link will be provided, as well as a new prize will be up for grabs!

The Prize for this episode is a large Downton Abbey notions pouch from Knitty Kat Bags and a Downton stitch marker set from The Vintage Rose…

and the question is: What country is Kemal Pamuk from?

Click below to Enter and Good luck Everyone!!!

Downton Abbey Trivia Contest No. 1 

Shops We Mention

Canon Hand Dyes
Vintage Rose
Must Stash Yarns
Moonrover Yarns
Knitpicks
Western Sky Knits
Turtle Made
Jimmy Beans Wool
Knitty Kat Bags
Desert Vista Dyeworks

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls Podcast
The Knitgirllls

KAL/CALs

Katy will be starting on the Downton Abbey Season 5 MKAL as she purchased the new kit as well and she is currently participating in the neverending Behmalong from the Knitmoregirls podcast.  The Outlander MKAL shawl has been put on hold until April when the season resumes.

FOs

Katy finished a Barley hat with Berocco Vintage in a pretty Bergundy colour and added a 2 inch pompom on top! And IT WAS ALMOST LOST!!!! In the kerfuffle of her battery dying for her car, she dropped it at the garage. Fortunately, it was eventually found and picked up at the garage by her dad!! Yay!

Barley hat

Barley Hat – back view

WIPs

Katy has finished the huge diamond lace netting portion of her Orchid Thief Shawl and has casted on a Hitchhiker Shawl by Martina Behm and is using her new skein of Western Sky Knits mcn in the colourway ‘Rainbow Night’.  She is also still working on the ‘Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ mitts and has pulled out her husband’s ‘Clockwork’ to work on, possibly finish for Valentine’s Day.

Hitchhiker by Martina Behm in ‘Rainbow Night’ by Western Sky Knits

Orchid Thief shawl by Ysolda Teague in ‘Orchid’ by Queare Fiber

Valerie is currently working on a cowl using Robin Charade art yarn in “Cabaret” using Susan Bates size 19 (15mm) needles.  She is not using any particular pattern.

Cabaret Cowl

Spinning

Katy had to put her wheel away for a bit – space constraint – but has been enjoying her spindles. On her drop spindle she is spinning ‘Herbs’ by Spun Right Round and that’s 100% Rambouillet. On her new Turkish Drop Spindle by Turtle Made, she started her Moon Rover Yarn braid in the colourway ‘Nebula’ and is loving every second of it!

‘Nebula’ by Moon Rover Yarn on a Turtle Made Turkish spindle

‘Herbs’ by Spun Right Round on a regular drop spindle

Needs and Wants

NEED:  Katy needs to knit from stash for the rest of the year!!! Possibly just one little exception to purchase yarn for her birthday.  Valerie needs to look into renting an offsite storage unit to clear out the clutter from her apartment.

WANT: Katy wants a brighter outlook on 2015… cause the year hasn’t really started very well in her opinion.  Valerie wants a cleared out and organized balcony so she can enjoy it for this spring/summer.

WANT TO DO: Katy wants to see The Hobbit!!!! Cause she hasn’t yet, a whole lot of obstacles, ill-timed naps and toddler shenanigans have kept her from seeing it yet.  Valerie wants to make pom-poms for her cats as she thinks they’ll have fun playing with them!

WHAT WE LEARNED: Katy learned how to ply on the fly with her Turkish drop spindle!! It’s awesome and she feels like a little spider while doing it 🙂  Valerie learned quite a bit from gossip about old high school people with a friend.

You had me at Yarn!

Katy found out that Lorna’s Laces has new Princess Bride inspired colourways!  “As you Wish” and “Farmboy”!  She also wouldn’t go amiss at receiving a skein of “Zombody Loves Ewe” from Desert Vista Dyeworks for Valentine’s Day!

Valerie found a cute crochet pattern called “Mollie Flowers” by Brigette Read where you make a whole bunch of crocheted flowers and then join them together for a blanket.  The pattern is free on Ravelry.

New Stuff!

Katy’s mom made her a Downton Abbey Tote bag for her knitting! She plans on using it for the Downton Abbey MKAL shawl and other WIPs as well while she watches Downton. Our good friend Emily, aka Wenchfaery, also gifted Katy a Downton Abbey tea-for-one set which she squealed at and admitted she thought of buying when she first saw it as well 😉

Downton Abbey Tote Katy’s mom made for her along with her Downton MKAL kit

Downton Abbey tea-for-one set Emily had gifted to Katy for Christmas

Valerie received a few belated Christmas gifts from Katy’s mom!  A beautiful Solomon’s Knot Mobius Wrap done in Red Heart Boutique Yarn and an awesome 100 Snowflakes to Crochet pattern book!  Valerie also received, at Christmas, a crochet pattern book from Katy and loves it 🙂

Solomon’s Knot Mobius Wrap

Pattern Book!

Another pattern book!

Reading and Watching

Katy got to watch Guardians of the Galaxy again and loved it. She also watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with her husband. It seemed shorter but maybe it’s because all the other movies lately have been pretty long and this seemed to be more geared towards kids. Will Arnett was the best part of the movie for her!  Gotham is also on the watched list and is getting very good.  Valerie is watching Agent Carter starring Hayley Atwell, and though the television show is slow going at first, she really loves the character of Peggy Carter and thinks she is bad ass!  Valerie would like to begin watching Orphan Black as she’s heard many good things about it.

Katy also briefly started reading ‘Landline’ by Rainbow Rowell, just the first chapter as she had to get some shut eye.  Valerie is still reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon, and when finished will begin to read Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

We both finally watched the Season 5 Downton Abbey Christmas Special and LOVED IT!  Katy cried when Tom, Mary and Edith were talking to Sybil and when Mr. Bates surprised Anna. Robert wins father of the year when he was talking to Edith! He’s the best ‘Donk’ ever!!! AND Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes are freaking adorbs!!!  That’s all we’ll say so as not to give too much away, but it was wonderful and opulent!

Episode 14: Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone! Welcome back and if you’re a new listener thank you for checking us out! We also hope everyone had a lovely holiday season!  Val & Katy mentioned Diwali and Ramadan in the Happy Holidays greetings, unaware that they had happened earlier in the year.  We apologize, but hope that whoever celebrated had a good one! We also hope everyone has a Happy New Year!!

In our next episode, in celebration of the release of Season 5 of Downton Abbey in the US and Canada, we will be beginning Downton Trivia contest! The trivia questions will be from Seasons 1-4 of Downton Abbey and will span all of our social media outlets; Ravelry, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook! So if you’re not joined up, you should probably do so!  THERE WILL BE PRIZES!! AWESOME PRIZES!! We have had generous donations from Canon Hand Dyes, The Vintage Rose , Knitty Kat Bags , and Jimmy Beans Wool and they are so, so wonderful! Please be sure to visit these shops, because they are fantastic and we can’t guarantee Katy won’t run away to Mexico with the prizes! They’re that good!!!

~~~~~~

Shops We Mention

Canon Hand Dyes
Vintage Rose
Must Stash Yarns
Moonrover Yarns
Knitpicks
Western Sky Knits
Turtle Made
Jimmy Beans Wool
Knitty Kat Bags
Desert Vista Dyeworks
Marigoldjen

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls
Knit 1 Geek 2
Minerva Turkey Knits Podcast
The Knitgirllls

FOs and HOs

FO’s:  Val created many Christmas presents.  Crochet Wristlets in Candy STripe and Black by Red Heart Super Saver yarn for Katy and a pair of Pixie Slippers Socks in the same colourway for Katy.  Val made 7 pairs of Pixie Slipper Sox in total for friends and family. Val would also like to get her hands on some pom pom makers so she can make fuller pom poms… even though the small ones are super cute 😉

Katy finished the Fairbanks cowl for her Mother-in-Law using Madelinetosh Tosh DK in ‘Isadora’ and she absolutely loved it! She also finished ZuZu’s Petals by Carina Spencer out of her handspun ‘Split’ by Squoosh Fiber Arts. It turned out so well and there was enough left over for Mom to make herself some fingerless mitts to match!

HO’s – Val is working on her Corner to Corner crochet baby blanket and is in the decreasing stage of the pattern.

WIPS

Val is already working on dishcloths for next Christmas, and is determined to finish her crochet Triangle Shawl before spring. Katy is still working on the ‘Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ mitts for her friend, but she is also working on her Orchid Thief shawl and various socks that are on the needles.

Christmas Dishcloth WIP!

Goals for 2015

So instead of our Needs and Wants, we decided to post our goals for crafting in 2015:

Val’s goals are to knit more socks for herself and restart & finish the Orchid Thief Shawl.

Katy wants to finish as many of her WIPs as possible and continue spinning as time allows. She would also like to knit one sweater for herself and one for her son.

You Had Me @ Presents

At KnittyKatBags‘ Christmas party, Val purchased some presents for herself which included a Boxy Project Bag and Notions Pouch done in a cherry blossom fabric.  For Christmas, Katy and her husband got Val the matching Knitting Tote and now Val has the complete set!  Val also received a Sassy Fox notions pouch and a skein of Knitpicks Hawthorne Fingering yarn in Ladd’s Addition.

Cherry Blossom bag set from KnittyKatBags!

Cupcake Box bag and Sassy Fox Notions Pouch

Ladd’s Addition!

Katy received a sweater quantity of Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Superwash in Garnet Heather to make the Freeport Cardigan, Knockout Knits by Laura Nelkin, Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey, Topsy Turvy knit toys by Susan B Anderson and a super cute kitty tape measure from her Mom. Mom also made Katy a pretty pair of ‘Be Mine’ socks out of Patons Kroy sock yarn in Red. She also received the awesome mitts and slippers from Val as pictured above and are already being used regularly!!! Cause they’re awesome!!! Katy actually received a bit of money and bought herself a skein of MCN ‘Rainbow Night’ by Western Sky Knits, a black and pink 3D printed Turkish Drop Spindle by Turtle Made on etsy, ‘A Cog in the Wheel’ shawl kit from Marigoldjen, a skein of ‘Cocoa Mint Quilt’ by Desert Vista Dyeworks and a Downton Abbey 2015 MKAL kit from Jimmy Beans Wool featuring Lorna’s Laces shepherd sock in ‘Edith’s Secret’ and ‘Farwell’. Yep, that’s it for Katy… for forever! LOL

What We’re Reading and Watching

Both Val & Katy watched the Tudor Monastery Christmas Special and loved the history behind Mincemeat Pies and Spices.

Katy actually (for real) read two whole books! Both by Rainbow Rowell, she read ‘Fangirl’ and ‘Eleanor & Park’ and enjoyed them both very much!! Val is re-reading a Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon, and after hearing so many good things from Katy about Fangirl, will be reading that as well.

Val watched Downton Abbey Christmas Special and all she’ll reveal is that she cried in 2 places.  Katy still needs to watch it but she did rewatch Guardians of the Galaxy and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

After recording, we both saw on YouTube the Special Episode of Downton Abbey for ‘Text Santa’ featuring Mr. George Clooney! It’s hilarious but has a few spoilers, so if you haven’t watched all of Downton up to Season 4, let it be the icing on your cake when you finish!

Downton Abbey Text Santa Special – Part 1
Downton Abbey Text Santa Special – Part 2

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We’d like to wish each and every one of you a very happy New Year and may your families prosper in health and love through all of 2015! Happy Crafting everyone!!

Episode 13: Sweatshop Clone

 

Hi Everyone! Welcome back and if you’re a new listener thank you for checking us out!

Just an announcement that we’re taking an episode break because of the holidays. So there will be no December 15th episode. But….

…In January, in celebration of the release of Season 5 of Downton Abbey in the US and Canada, we will be holding a Downton Trivia contest! The trivia questions will be from Seasons 1-4 of Downton Abbey and will span all of our social media outlets; Ravelry, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook! So if you’re not joined up, you should probably do so!  THERE WILL BE PRIZES!! AWESOME PRIZES!! We have had generous donations from Canon Hand Dyes and The Vintage Rose and they are so, so wonderful! Please be sure to visit these shops, because they are wonderful and we can’t guarantee Katy won’t run away to Mexico with the prizes! They’re that good!!!

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Shops We Mention

Canon Hand Dyes
Vintage Rose
Must Stash Yarns
Moonrover Yarns
Knitpicks
Gnome Acres
Interweave Knits
Knitsomniac Design

 

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls
Knit 1 Geek 2
Minerva Turkey Knits Podcast
Dancing Geek Podcast
The Fat Squirrel Speaks

Events

The Royal Winter Fair – November 7-16, 2014 – Toronto, Ontario – Exhibition Place
Katy attended on November 16th with Agents of Sheep to compete in the Sheep to Shawl competition. It was a total blast even though we were all up at the crack of dawn!  We got in the groove and this was our first time as a team competing in the Sheep to Shawl Competition. After 4 long hours spinning, plying and weaving… our team gathered in the East Annex to find out how we did! And…. WE CAME IN 5TH our of 9 teams!!! Which is a really good debut and we were all very pleased. Our shawl (theme was Out of the Darkness and Into the Light) sold at auction for $100 too!  Our team photo afterwards was sent to Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson from the Marvel Universe) and he had retweeted our photo, which was a pretty cool cherry on top!  We can’t wait till next year!!

Agents of Sheep – Kris, Karen, Michelle, Kerry, Katy and Maggie

Spinning & Plying at Sheep to Shawl

Katy aka Agent Twist plying away

Our Finished Shawl!

On the Auction Table

 

 

 

 

 

 

KAL/CALs

We have our Loved Ones KAL and also our Corner to Corner crochet afghan CAL going on till the end of the year. They may be extended or they may just fizzle out. But we hope, if you participated, that you had fun. Let us know in our Ravelry group what you’d like to do in the future.

FOs and HOs

Valerie finished a pair of Pixie Slipper Sox with a pom pom on each foot for a family member for Christmas in the two shades of brown she described in Episode 12.

Katy finished one of the ‘Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ mitts and is waiting till December to cast on the second one because she’s working on some Christmas gifts.

WIPs

Valerie is working on a pair of pixie slipper sox in Grape Fizz and Amethyst Red Heart Super Saver for someone special as a surprise Christmas present. As well as some fun various and assorted dishcloths that she can have ready for last-minute gifts.

Katy is working on a gift for her mom (details after the holidays cause Mom listens 😉 ). She’s also almost done the Elsa and Anna socks from Must Stash Yarns in the sport sock base. And, if that’s not enough, she cast on the Fairbanks Cowl in Madelinetosh Tosh DK in the colourway ‘Isadora’ for her mother-in-law. She had the yarn in her stash too so, shopping from stash for the win!

 

Needs and Wants

Katy needs sleep and more time to knit her gifts. Valerie needs socks and underwear from Santa!!

Valerie wants a bottle of Hypnotic Poison by Dior and Katy wants LUSH bath products…and a relaxing bath.

Valerie learned about Perfumed Court; a perfume/fragrance decanting site highly recommended by twitter friend. Katy learned that coffee is her friend!

Katy wants to do more spinning and Valerie wants to bake Christmas Cookies!

New Stuff
Val picked up two skeins of Red Heart Super Saver yarn at Walmart and another pair of needles. The colourways that caught her eye were Grape Fizz and Candy Print.

Katy was enabled by The Minerva Turkey Knits podcast to pick up a braid of Moonrover Yarnsfibre in the colourway ‘Nebula’ it’s gorgeous!!! And she didn’t break her ‘yarn’ diet either… cause this was fibre!!

Nebula by Moonrover Yarn

Katy’s mon also purchased the Interweave Knits Gift issue where she found the pattern for the Fairbanks Cowl that she’s knitting for her mother-in-law! Lots of pretty hats too, a shawl with 2 sizes, a little girl’s tea party and lots of cool fun things to knit for gifts!

You Had Us at Yarn… and Patterns… and Podcasts!

Val went and logged on to and found two great colourways that she wants! The First is ‘Under the Tree’ which is lovely Christmas colours as if you were lying under your tree and looking up at all the pretty lights, ornaments and tinsel… and you can get that one in her Sparkle Gnome base so you actually can have tinsel in your yarn! And the other is ‘Eddie Griswold’, which of course is a character from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which is a favourite of ours at Christmas. The yarn is white, brown and leisure suit blue! Perfect!

Katy discovered a new-to-her knitting podcast called Dancing Geek Podcast on Youtube! His name is James, he lives in the UK and he’s adorable! Check him out if you have the chance. She also discovered that Knitsomniac Design on Etsy is carrying pretty tweed sock and dk yarn in the colourways “SherLOCKed” and “Tardis” … her geeky little heart yearns for them.

Val also found some cute Christmas patterns for you:
Christmas Lights on Ravelry – crochet your own string of pretty Christmas lights!
Christmas Characters Amigurumi ornaments – Super cute for the tree this year, or stocking stuffers for a friend!

Here are a couple special mentions for the knitter on your Christmas Gift list!

Tiny Rudolph – this tiny little guy is premade with clay antlers! You can also request to get a key fob on him for your keys!

Yarn Texture Smartphone Case – get this for your tech-savvy knitter and they’ll be happy all year!

What We’re Reading and Watching

Valerie is still reading through the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, she’s in the middle of The Fiery Cross. Katy isn’t reading anything because it would cut into her limited knitting time… but she’d love to be reading something 😉

We’re both also watching Tudor Monastery Farm on TV Ontario (TVO) and are loving it! We love the farm shows and this is the same group of people who made the Victorian and Edwardian Farm series.

AND!!!! We both watched the Season 5 finale of Downton Abbey online and we won’t give too much away but … Rose is gorgeous and is lucky to have such a wonderful father, Robert made us cry with his admissions and discoveries and his actions for Mrs. Patmore, and…OMG ANNA!!! That’s all we’re gonna say! 😉 Tune in to Season 5 in January and come back for our Downton Trivia contest and you can chat all you want about it in our Downton Chat Thread on our Ravelry group!!!

Talking Point

So we were discussing whether items made with a knitting machine or loom are less ‘handmade’ than ones knit by needle or hook.

Valerie and I are in agreement that if you make the time to craft something for someone, even if you use a knitting machine or loom, that it doesn’t make it any less handmade. Especially if you can’t use your hands because of an injury or arthritis.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode and we hope you all have a lovely Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year if we don’t release our next episode until January 1st! Everyone be safe and have a wonderful Holiday!

As always, itunes reviews and star ratings are much appreciated and please come and join us in our Ravelry Group for our KAL/CALs, contests and just plain good ol’ conversation. Take care and have a good fortnight everyone!!!

Episode 12: Horrible Teases!

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Stitch Sisters Podcast! If you’re new, thank you for checking us out and if you’re returning, thank you for doing so! We really appreciate it 🙂

Announcements

We recently had a giveaway of a cute little owl project bag from Knitty Kat Bags on Etsy and our winner on our Ravelry board was KnitbyMoonlight89!!! Congrats to you Lee-Ann and hopefully you have the bag in your hands and are enjoying it. Her favourite thing about fall was the cooler weather and being able to wear all her handknits!

AND…. We’d like to tease the heck out of all of you now!!! In January, in celebration of the release of Season 5 of Downton Abbey in the US and Canada, we will be holding a Downton Trivia contest! The trivia questions will be from Seasons 1-4 of Downton Abbey and will span all of our social media outlets; Ravelry, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook! So if you’re not joined up, you should probably do so!  THERE WILL BE PRIZES!! AWESOME PRIZES!! We have had generous donations from Canon Hand Dyes and The Vintage Rose and they are so, so wonderful! Please be sure to visit these shops, because they are wonderful and we can’t guarantee Katy won’t run away to Mexico with the prizes! They’re that good!!!

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Shops We Mention

Canon Hand Dyes
Vintage Rose
Tanis Fiber Arts
Desert Vista Dyeworks
Knitpicks
Must Stash Yarns
Two if by Hand
Redbubble
Mostly Comics
Shirtpunch
Into the Whirled
Yarn Geek Fibers
Willow Yarns
Vivid Yarn Studio

 

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmore Girls
Knit 1 Geek 2

 

Events

The Royal Winter Fair – November 7-16, 2014 – Toronto, Ontario – Exhibition Place
Katy will be attending the Fair on November 16th with Agents of Sheep to compete in the Sheep to Shawl competition. If you’re there, come and say hi, Katy is Agent Twist – We’ve got T-shirts! Katy will also be posting pictures on her instagram account (kittyvankat) when she has a chance.

 

KAL/CALs

Loved One’s Kal going on in our group until December 31, 2014 – Just pick a pattern with someone you love and knit it together! Submit your photos in the thread so we can see your beautiful work!

Corner to Corner Crochet Afghan CAL going on in our group until December 31, 2014 – check out our CAL thread in our ravelry group with a link to the free pattern and free instructional video and make your own corner to corner afghan, and show us your pics!!!

 

FOs
Katy finished her Happy Birthday Cupcake socks by Desert Vista Dyeworks and she did a true afterthought heel for the first time and she was so pleased! She also finished the Newborn Vertebrae sweater by Kelly Broker in Tanis Fiber Art blue label fingering weight yarn in ‘Jewel’ for friend’s baby girl due very soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WIPs

Valerie has started a new dishcloth! The Christmassing has begun!  Baby Star by sewfunky in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Psychodelic. It looks like a kid with crayons just coloured all over it! Very bright and cheery! She also started some slippers – working on two different brown yarns combined together – both by Red Heart Supersaver – the skeins were leftovers from her stash- one is a coffee colour and one is a chocolate milkshake colour.

She is also just about to start on wrist warmers – just knitting a square with ribbing on the beginning and the end and then sew up the sides but leaving a hole for her thumb. She’ll be using some Knitpicks Bare fingering weight yarn that Katy had dyed for her in raspberry and burgundy tones.

Katy is working on the ‘Snowball’s Chance in Hell’ mitts by The Anticraft using Knitpicks Stroll Sport in Mink Heather and Rainforest Heather. It’s asking a while but she has the body of one mitt done and two more motifs to sew on using duplicate stitch. She’s also working on a pair of socks for a dear friend’s daughter for Christmas using Must Stash Yarn’s Sport Sock in ‘Elsa and Anna’ and she absolutely loves the yarn!!! Katy did get some spinning in too and is half done a 4 oz. braid of polwarth in the ‘Moonpie’ colourways dyed by Two if by Hand’. It’s gorgeous and she’s having fun spinning it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wants & Needs

Valerie needs to invest in a ball winder and not get freaked out about all the Christmas knitting she wants to do. Katy needs to feel better and get rid of her lingering cough…and to stop eating Nutella straight from the jar!

Valerie wants a Horde Hoodie!  She’s a Warcrafter Geek – love playing both factions but is a Hordie at heart. She found a hoodie she wants on RedBubble, the My Little Horde Pwny ! Katy wants almost everything from the new Knitpicks catalog, especially their limited edition Rosewood needle sets!

Katy wants to go and see Mockingjay Part 1 and The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies in the theatres soon. Valerie wants to cast on the Ten Stitch ZigZag Blanket by Frankie Brown.

Katy learned that there is a second Unofficial Downton Abbey Knits and would really love to take a look at it soon. Also, we both learned that Benedict Cumberbatch is engaged to be married to Sophie Hunter!!! We both wish them all the best in their future together ❤  Valerie learned that she needs to invest in a ball winder so as not to get her yarn tangled while winding it by hand. A handy tool and a good investment.

New Stuff

Valerie’s new stuff is new, but old at the same time. She was searching for some cotton to make a dishcloth and found some new yarn she had purchased a couple months ago. Two skeins of Bernat Handicrafter cotton in the colours ‘Neptune Ombre’ which is dark green, blue, baby blue, aqua and white and ‘Moondance’ which is purple and blue and aqua and white.

 

Katy purchased a set of Doctor Who buttons at their local comic shop ‘Mostly Comics‘ and there are 15 of them. Doctor Who buttons on EVERYTHING! She also got a new tshirt in the mail from Shirtpunch which Valerie alerted her to. It’s ‘The Protonpack Guys’; the Ghostbusters drawn to look like the Powerpuff Girls! She loves it so much because she missed snagging it from Teefury a couple months ago.  She also snagged a copy of Jane Austen Knits 2014, generously bought by her Mom while she was in Ottawa! Also, her mom knit her a pair of super cute socks with Patons Kroy stripes with a pretty lavender coloured angora cuff.

Patons Kroy stripes with Angora cuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Had Me At Yarn

Valerie found two things she wanted from Vivid Yarn Studio on Etsy in the colourway Snapdragon and the other was Elsa, because Frozen is everywhere!!!  She also found the cutest pattern, free on Ravelry, by Frankie Brown: Gingerbread House! Make your own little, intricate gingerbread house this year for the Holidays!!! But don’t eat it… unless your yarn is really yummy 😉

Katy found lots of fibre this time instead of yarn, probably because of all the spinning she’s been doing. She found some Superwash BFL at Into the Whirled in the colourway ‘Chancellor’ and she just loves the contrast between the bright purples and the dark greens. She also found some BFL Sparkle fibre from Yarn Geek Fibers in the colourway ‘Raspberry Swirl’ that’s just gorgeous and it looks like a dessert itself.  And last, but certainly not least, she found a super cute new orifice hook from Vintage Rose with pink and black glass beads and a sheep charm at the end! So cute!

What We’re Reading and Watching

Katy isn’t really reading anything except looking through the Jane Austen knits 2014. Valerie is still reading her way through Diana Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’ series yet again – cause being on hiatus is tough 😉  But we are both still watching season 5 of Downton Abbey over the internet. We’re loving it!!! We think that Cora and Edith’s plan was ludicrous and all this could’ve been handled a long time ago. We cried about Isis and felt so bad for Isobel and the Dowager Countess for missing her friend. Lady Mary needs to learn some compassion – even though Katy thinks she prides herself on being a bit of an ice queen. We both don’t want Tom and Sibby to leave… they’re both darling and we love them . As well, we both almost hit the floor when Barrow showed a bit of heart and generosity and was basically being nice!??!? That’s not Barrow at all!

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Anyway, that’s our show this time. As always, itunes reviews and star ratings are much appreciated and please come and join us in our Ravelry Group for our KAL/CALs, contests and just plain good ol’ conversation. Take care and have a good fortnight everyone!!!

Episode 11 – Elevensies!!

 

Hi all and welcome back to the Stitch Sisters Podcast! If you’re a new listener, welcome to the crazy and if you’re a continual listener, thanks for coming back to join us!

A brief reminder about our giveaway!!!! Starting October 1st and ending October 31st, all you need to do is visit our Ravelry Group, join the group and comment in the giveaway thread with either your favorite thing about fall or what you’re planning on knitting/crocheting this fall for your chance to win a cute owl box bag from Knitty Kat Bags! A winner will be drawn by random number generator on November 1st and we will PM the winner!!! Good Luck and have fun!

Shops We Mention

Knitting’s My Bag
Tanis Fiber Arts
Lambytoes
Canon Hand Dyes
Must Stash Yarns
Desert Vista Dyeworks
Knitty Kat Bags
Nooch Fibers
Wee Chickadee Woolery

Podcasts We Mention

Wolfe Farms
Geeky Girls Knit Podcast
Subway Knits Podcast
Yarngasm Podcast
Must Stash Podcast
The Knitgirllls
The Knitmoregirls
The Fat Squirrel Speaks
Knit 1 Geek 2

Events

We hope everyone who went to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, New York had a total blast! We loved seeing all the Rhinebeck fun on Instragram!

The Royal Winter Fair – Toronto, Ontario, November 7-16, 2014
Katy will be attending on November 16th and will be on team ‘Agents of Sheep’ for the Sheep to Shawl competition!

Katy went to the knitting group at her local library that meets every-other Wednesday night and there was a lady who had bought an Orenburg lace shawl that was 100% cashmere and she could fit the entire thing through her wedding band!!! The lady who had brought it said she was going to reinforce the damaged bits but not fully restore it. But it was beautiful and the person who had knitted it, also SPUN the yarn for it!!!!

 

Orenburg Shawl body

Orenburg shawl – edging

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KAL/CALs

Loved One’s Kal going on in our group until December 31, 2014 – Just pick a pattern with someone you love and knit it together! Submit your photos in the thread so we can see your beautiful work!

Corner to Corner Crochet Afghan CAL going on in our group until December 31, 2014 – check out our CAL thread in our ravelry group with a link to the free pattern and free instructional video and make your own corner to corner afghan, and show us your pics!!!

Halloween Craft-A-Long – The Knitgirllls podcast is having a Halloween craft-a-long! Anything you can tie to Halloween counts as an entry! So get in there and craft!

Outlander KAL – this is an instragram KAL with The Knitmoregirls, The Geeky Girls Knit, Subway Knits and Yarngasm Podcasts! Post your most clever knits or crochet items on instragram with the hashtag #kiltmenowKAL and listen to these awesome podcasts for your chance to win some cool prizes!

The Fat Squirrel Speaks is holding a Vertebrae KAL – any of Kelly Brooker’s ‘Vertebrae’ patterns can be entered until October 31, 2014 for some awesome prizes.

WIPs

Katy finished clue 3 of the Outlander Mystery Shawl by Unwind Designs and Yarn and thinks she will put it down for a while because of all the baby and Christmas knitting she’ll be doing in the next couple months. She is also working on a Newborn Vertebrae by Kelly Brooker using Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering yarn in the colourway ‘Jewel’ for her friend’s baby girl arriving very soon! She is also on the foot of the Happy Birthday Cupcake socks by Desert Vista Dyeworks. She was keeping her projects in her Halloween bag by Knitting’s My Bag on Big Cartel.  Plus, Valerie noticed she was wearing her 221B Baker Street self-striping socks from Canon Hand Dyes.

 

Outlander shawl – Clue 3 completed

Newborn Vertebrae in Jewel by Tanis Fiber Arts

Halloween Bag from Knitting’s My Bag

Canon Hand dyes self-striping yarn in 221B Baker Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valerie is working on her Easy Triangle Shawl even though she had to rip back a few rows of crochet, she’s still at it!!! Plus she’s fallen off the washcloth wagon and going to be casting one on very soon!

Needs and Wants

Valerie’s needs and wants were one in the same this episode!!! She needed new furniture for her living room and was given some by a friend who was moving!!!! Big Thanks to Tracey for the beautiful furniture that looks awesome in Valerie’s living room!

Katy needs to finish a pair of really long fingerless mitts for a friend before Christmas or they may just drive her round the bend! And she wants to organize her house, she just needs the toddler to be watched so she can blitz the clutter.

Since finishing Voyager, Valerie wants to find some new books to read – any suggestions would be appreciated even though she may just pick up the Harry Potter books again. Katy wants to have her friend Heather over so she can teach her, and her daughter, how to knit socks!

Katy learned that she needs to read all of her patterns before knitting them! But Valerie learned that there is still Regretsy submissions out there to be found – such as the Tampon Angel Christmas ornament. Cute but, it is still a tampon – kudos for creativity.

 

New Stuff

Katy got a couple of dog brushes and a multi-tip screwdriver for her emergency kit for the Royal Winter Fair, and also she bought ‘Taking Off’ by The Wiggles for her little guy… and now has constant ear-worms!

 

You Had Me At Yarn!

Katy found a new-to-her shop on Etsy, Lambytoes, and she loves the speckled yarn and ‘Kitten’s Choice’ in particular. She also loves the name of the shop and the yarn!

Valerie was seduced by the season and by Nooch Fiber which has (or had) a colourway called Town of Halloween! Which is (or was) perfect for Halloween this year! Though she also found from Wee Chickadee Woolery she found the 100% Merino fingering weight yarn in the colourway ‘Grape Vines’… which is also perfect for fall since that’s the best time to pick grapes in our area of Canada, Wine Country! Beautiful sumptuous bergundy, raspberry and green tones.

Valerie also found a couple of great patterns; first one was the ‘Mao’ kitty toy pattern from Petite Purls which would be purrrrfect for a little Christmas stocking gift or a little black Mao for Halloween! And the second pattern she found was the ‘Christmas Baubles’ ornament from the Greedy for Colour Blog! Katy loves this pattern to death because she had the idea that if one was to knit a nice pair of Christmas socks with a new yarn every year, you could make one of these and embroider the year on the bauble! Very cute and super easy, makes great gifts!

What We’re Reading and Watching

Valerie is reading The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon and she’s watching Scorpion, Sleepy Hollow, Doctor Who and Downton Abbey.

Katy found out one of her friends writes romance novels under the pseudonym Zoe York and she has some of her books free on the Kindle Amazon app such as ‘See Me’. She’s watching The Flash, WWE, trying to catch up on Doctor Who and Downtown Abbey.

We’ve actually opened up a thread in our Ravelry group called Downton Chatter so we can all knit, crochet, drink tea and talk all about Downton!!! Feel free to go ahead, just tag your post with ‘SPOILERS’ if you have spoilers, naturally.

Episode 10: Procrastination Station

 

 

Hi Everyone, glad to have you back and if you’re just tuning in, we’re happy you decided to give us a shot!

First off, we’d like to direct you to our fellow podcaster, Wendy, also known as Sillyfru from the Sassypants Knitter podcast.  She was recently diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia and is fighting it very bravely and with a very positive outlook.  Please either visit her gofundme page or take a look at her Ravelry group if you would like to do something special for this extraordinary lady. ❤

A brief reminder about our giveaway!!!! Starting October 1st and ending October 31st, all you need to do is visit our Ravelry Group, join the group and comment in the giveaway thread with either your favorite thing about fall or what you’re planning on knitting/crocheting this fall for your chance to win a cute owl box bag from Knitty Kat Bags! A winner will be drawn by random number generator on November 1st and we will PM the winner!!! Good Luck and have fun!

Podcasts We Mention

Sassypants Knitter
Must Stash Podcast
The Knitgirllls
The Knitmoregirls
The Fat Squirrel Speaks
Knit 1 Geek 2

Shops We Mention

Knitty Kat Bags
Mint Rain
Expression Fiber Arts
Tanis Fiber Arts
Jimmy Beans Wool

Events

New York State Sheep and Wool Festival – October 18 & 19, 2014 in Rhinebeck, New York
Royal Agricultural Winter Fair – November 7-16, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario

KAL/Cals

Loved Ones Kal
Corner to Corner Afghan CAL
The Grim Challenge with the Crochet Crowd
Outlander KAL/CAL on Instagram – tag your pics with #countdowntooutlander and #kiltmenowkal
Halloween Craft-a-Long with the Knitgirllls podcast

FOs

Katy finished the frozen inspired mittens she started for a friend’s daughter using SMC Northern and the House Mittens pattern from Charmed Knits.

WIPs

Valerie is still hard at work on her Broad ripple socks using Malabrigo sock in ‘Archangel’, and while recording she was working on her Easy Triangle shawl in some black yarn Katy had gifted to her a while back.

Katy is still on clue 3 of her Outlander mystery shawl using Madelinetosh tosh merino light in ‘Terrarium’ and ‘Seawash’. She also cast on a Newborn Vertebrae sweater for a friend’s baby girl using Tanis Fiber Arts blue label fingering weight yarn in ‘Jewel’.

Our Fave Flick Knits!

This episode we decided to talk about all the lovely knitwear in Jane Eyre, the 2011 version starring Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender and Dame Judi Dench. Valerie and Katy were both fond of the wispy little shawlette that Mrs. Fairfax wore near the end of the movie and all of Jane’s more simple but pretty shawls. They fit her personality while still being extremely useful and if you search Jane Eyre in Ravelry, you will find many patterns that are inspired by Jane’s shawl as well as other useful yet pretty knits.

We both also loved the music in the film and thought that both Mia and Michael were excellent in their roles as Jane and Mr. Rochester. If you’re into pretty, haunting period pieces, we cannot recommend it enough!!!

New Stuff!

Valerie picked up a new scent for fall at Bath and Body Works called Pumpkin Spice Latte with Marshmallows Comfort in their travel size. It’s a more soft vanilla scent with a hint of soft musk in the background, perfect for fall and feeling cozy.

Katy picked up a book called ‘1000 Cosplay Ideas’ and she can’t seem to stop perusing the photos!!!! Lots of detail and lots of work. It made her want to pursue her dream of a Steampunk Ghostbuster costume! Check it out if you’re interested in cosplay or just need costume ideas for Halloween!

You had me at yarn!!!

Valerie was once again seduced by Expression Fiber arts with another new colourway called ‘Galaxy Dust’ in their sparkle silk base. Also, she can’t seem to stay away from Lorna’s Laces! Especially when they’re featuring ‘Frozen upon a time’, commemorating the characters of Frozen appearing on ‘Once Upon a Time’.

Katy was lured over to Mint Rain by listening to Jasmin from the Knitmoregirls podcast raving about her colors, and as well she should!! There are Outlander themed colourways as well as Sherlock colourways like ‘Sherlock’s purple shirt of sex’ and ‘Molly’.

Pattern-Palooza!!!!

Here are some fun Halloween Pattern picks that we adore:

Patch
Kawaii Candy Corn
Amigurumi Little Ghostie
Amigurumi Little Bat
Fall Leaves Wrap
Halloween Pumpkin Trick or Treat Bag
Tartan Afghan (OK this one was more for Outlander than Halloween…unless you want to go as a highlander then you can wrap the afghan around you 😉 )

What We’re Reading and Watching

Both of us watched the mid-season finale of Outlander and loved it, even though we were left with a cliffhanger ending – we’re seasoned Sherlockians, we can take it! As well we’re into season 5 of Downtown Abbey and while we feel for Edith, she could have handled her predicament differently. And Anna is awesome, as always!

Valerie is watching Scorpion and Sleepy Hollow and reading Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon.

Katy is watching WWE and Gotham and is reading City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare.

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As always, thank you for listening and feel free to contact us here or check out our bio pages!!!

Episode 9 – I Think You Broke Me!!

 

(We apologize in advance for the quality of the podcast, as we were having some technical problems that day.)

Thank you and welcome back everyone and if you’re listening for the first time, welcome and we hope you enjoy the show!!!

We’d like to say thank you again to our friend, Emily, for co-hosting with us last time! We had so much fun and we’ll definitely be having her back!!

Also, thank you to Katknitter and Knittinwolf for the great reviews on iTunes!!! They’re very appreciated!!

And….we have a giveaway!!!! Starting October 1st and ending October 31st, all you need to do is visit our Ravelry Group, join the group and comment in the giveaway thread with either your favorite thing about fall or what you’re planning on knitting/crocheting this fall for your chance to win a cute owl box bag from Knitty Kat Bags! A winner will be drawn by random number generator on November 1st and we will PM the winner!!! Good Luck and have fun!

Podcasts We Mention

Wolfe Farms
The Knitgirllls
Sword of a Knitter
Knit 1 Geek 2

Shops We Mention

Knitty Kat Bags
Willow Yarns
June Pryce Fiber Arts
The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
Sucre Sucre Miniatures
Gwen’s Teas
Expression Fiber Arts
Mostly Comics

Events

New York State Sheep and Wool Festival – October 18 & 19, 2014 in Rhinebeck, New York
Royal Agricultural Winter Fair – November 7-16, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario

KAL/Cals

Loved Ones Kal
Corner to Corner Afghan CAL
The Grim Challenge with the Crochet Crowd
Outlander KAL/CAL on Instagram – tag your pics with #countdowntooutlander and #kiltmenowkal
Halloween Craft-a-Long with the Knitgirllls podcast

WIPs

Valerie is still monotonously working on the broad ripple socks out of malabrigo sock in ‘Archangel.
Katy is also still working on the Outlander mystery shawl by Unraveled yarn and designs with Madelinetosh tosh merino light in ‘Terrarium’ and ‘Seawash’. She’s almost to clue 4 and all 6 clues have been released.

Needs and Wants

Katy needs a better way to fall asleep, she’s finding it hard to do so lately.
Valerie needs sleep…cause, cats be crazy!

Katy wants the Ecto-1 from Funko toys.
Valerie wants way too many things on Etsy!!! Especially the polymer clay stitch markers like the ones at Sucre Sucre Miniatures

Katy wants to finish a sweater! Whether it’s a WIP or a new cast on, she just wants to finish a sweater.
Valerie wants to make herself some wrist warmers for the fall and winter season.

Katy learned about Willow Yarns from Valerie.
Valerie learned that cats are very persistent when they want something.

New Stuff

Katy got a new travel mug and some loose leaf ginger peach tea from Gwen’s Teas in St. Catharines.

You Had Me at Yarn

Valerie wants a skein of Machiato Macaron for her wrist warmers. It’s 100% silk in a worsted weight. She also loves the same yarn in Purple Maize for a nice hat.

Katy wants the Defiance gradient set from http://juneprycefiberarts.etsy.com!! She would like to make Stephen West’s Daybreak shawl with it.

She would also love a few new cross stitch patterns from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, especially the new Beekeeper pattern. She loves these patterns and is currently working on the Autumn Sampler and Tea Time.

And if you’re looking for some fun stuffies to do for Halloween, check out The BOO! Crew by Susan Claudino!

What We’re Reading and Watching

CORRECTION: Katy had mentioned Gotham. Ben MacKenzie actually plays a young James Gordon trying to solve the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents while trying to avoid corruption.

Valerie is reading Drums of Autumn, the fourth book in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.
Katy is reading City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare.

Katy finished watching Finding Carter and was left with a cliffhanger. She’s also still watching WWE too and her favorite right now, Dean Ambrose, is back from being injured.

Valerie is watching Outlander (ohhhhhhh the Wedding) and Downtown Abbey, and Katy is watching along with her. She also watched the finale of American Ninja Warrior and the new season of Sleepy Hollow.  Katy made mention of the actress Anna Chancellor, who was in the first episode of Season 5 of Downton Abbey, and also Henrietta “Duckface” in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Aaaaaaaand to stave off hunger pains for Sherlock, we’ve been looking at pretty pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch doing his best Mr. Darcy impression for the 10th anniversary of the Give Up Your Clothes for Good campaign. He’s very persuasive!!!!

Let’s Chat About….

Yarn snobbery. Katy has said in the past that she thinks she is a yarn snob, but Valerie disagrees because while Katy prefers luxury fibers to work with, she still uses acrylic and acrylic blends because they do have their purpose. As well Valerie knows that Katy does not look down on people who use the more affordable and more readily available yarns.

Episode 8 – Guest Hostess with the Mostest!!!

Hi Everyone! Welcome back and if you’re a new listener, thanks for checking us out!

This episode we have a guest hostess! Our good friend Emily, also known as Wenchfaery! She has a YouTube channel; Wenchfaery Games and she also has a live stream at twitch.TV.wenchfaery!!! Valerie and Katy are so happy to have her guest hosting this episode!

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitmoregirls Podcast
The Knitgirllls Podcast
Geeky Girls Knit Podcast
Subway Knits Podcast
Yarngasm Podcast

Shops We Mention

Julianna’s Fibre on Etsy
Loot Crate
Stitch in Jordan, Ontario
The Fiber Garden in Jordan, Ontario
The Needle Emporium in Lancaster, Ontario
Passionknit in Toronto, Ontario
Coloring Book Yarns
Desert Vista Dyeworks
Must Stash Yarns
The Loopy Ewe
The Vintage Rose
Loop
Jimmy Beans Wool
Waterloo Wools
Gnome Acres

Events

Fanexpo Canada
Kitchener Waterloo Knitter’s Fair
Thirty Days of Hats with The Crochet Crowd
Grim Challenge starting on September 20th
Canadian National Steam Punk Exhibition at Fort George, Ontario – September 12-14, 2014
Talk like a pirate day – September 19th
Royal Winter Fair – November 7-16, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario

KAL/CALs

Loved Ones KAL ending December 31, 2014
Corner to Corner CAL ending December 31, 2014
Halloween Craft-a-Long with The Knitgirllls Podcast
Outlander KAL – on Instagram, use the hash tags #kiltmenowKAL and #countdowntooutlander
Operation Sock Drawer with The Knitmoregirls podcast – on Instagram tag your socks with #operationsockdrawer

FOs and HOs

Emily finished a pair of socks by Coloring Book Yarns on Etsy in the colourway ‘Princess Bubblegum’!

Katy finished one mitten out of SMC Northern in frozen-y colors. The pattern is from Charmed Knits.

Valerie also finished another cotton dishcloth!

Wips

Emily is working on the Floating sweater out of some gifted laceweight in a very pretty blue color.

Valerie is working on the Broadripple socks by Rob Matyska out of Malabrigo sock in ‘Archangel’.

Malabrigo!

Katy is working on two sets of two at a time toe up socks, one set is Desert Vista Dyeworks in ‘Strawberry Shortcake’ the other is ‘Night @ the Roxbury’ by Must Stash Yarns. The third pair is cuff down on dpns using Bergere Goomy in ‘Shell’.

Needs and Wants

Need
Katy needs Fall to happen and take her little boy to Howell’s Pumpkin Farm!
Valerie Needs AND wants Tokio Hotel’s new album being released on October 6th!!
Emily needs to knit things!!! She needs her knitting mojo back!

Want
Katy wants a sweater quantity of Madelinetosh (any Madtosh) in ‘Tart’.
Emily wants to buy yarn with a purpose to get her creative mojo going again.

Want to Do
Valerie wants to get healthier, focus on cardio and getting fit, eating healthier.
Katy wants to knit the ‘Goodale‘ cardigan out of the Tart yarn.
Emily wants to be able to make a career for herself from Wenchfaery games!

What we learned
Katy learned how to cast on two at a time toe up socks!
Valerie learned that life is very precious. Sometimes it’s a tough lesson to learn, but a very valuable lesson. We all hope that Val’s dad is feeling much better.
Emily re-learned how to Navajo ply on her spinning wheel.

New Stuff

Katy bought book 4 and 5 of the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare.

Valerie got her ipsy bag for September!! She got a really nice red lipstick that she’s very pleased with it. If you want to try ipsy out, please use Val’s referral link!

Emily bought the September Loot Crate with the theme ‘Galactic’ and features goodies from Star Trek, Star Wars and Firefly! If you would like to try Loot Crate, please use Emily’s referral link!

You had me at YARN

Katy found ‘Ecstatic’ at Julianna’s Fiber on Etsy! And she also found the Sherlock Box Set with art cards and character busts.
Valerie found Gnome Acres fall pre-orders; ‘Grandma’s Kitchen’ and ‘Kicking Leaves’!
Emily had a ‘you had me at sweater’ when she found the Watercourse by Carina Spencer.
We all loved the new Smaug vinyl figure by Funko and dancing baby Groot! AND they’re also making Firefly figures as well!

What We’re Reading and Watching

Val blew Katy’s mind with the talks of a Ghostbusters reboot with an all female cast!

Katy got to see Ghostbusters at the theater!!!!! It was the best!! She’s also still watching Finding Carter (and crying profusely) on MTV and Outlander on Showcase.

Val is watching Outlander (of course) on the internet and on Showcase. She’s also watching American Ninja Warriors and she’s very addicted. Valerie is looking forward to the new fall season of Sleepy Hollow!!!

Emily is reading Malazan Book of the Fallen series, she’s on book six ‘The Bonehunters’. She also read ‘Seconds’ a graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley. She’s watching Twin Peaks with her boyfriend and also Sailor Moon Crystal on Hulu or on crunchyroll.

Episode 7 Deep Stash Nine!

 

Hello everyone, welcome back and thanks for listening!

Shops We Mentioned

Happy Go Lucky Yarn
Must Stash Yarn
HMV

Podcasts We Mentioned

Knit 1 Geek 2
The Knitgirllls

WIPS

Katy is working on the Outlander mystery shawl. Because it is a mystery shawl, we won’t be showing pics for this so we don’t spoil the rest of you who would like to keep it a mystery 🙂

Valerie is working on a crocheted scarf of her own design for her husband’s friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And she is also working on the So Funky Starfish Dishcloth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished Objects

Katy finished her Trillian Shawl by Martina Behm out of ‘Girlfriend’ by Yarnloft on Etsy. She also finished spinning ‘Split’ from Squoosh on Etsy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things we Want and Need

Katy needs less stress and that bubble bath! Valerie needed a hug, which Katy gave her 🙂
Valerie wants a kitten from the Lincoln County Humane Society.
What Katy wants to do is to have one day this fall to sit and knit, have a tea and just relax. Valerie wants to go for a drive through Niagara-on-the-Lake this fall.
Valerie learned that she was doing a different version of a yarn over all these years by watching a Jimmy Bean’s Wool yarn over tutorial video. She learned the usual way to yarn over from the Knit Purl Hunter yarn over video tutorial. Katy learned how to switch out her regular flyer to attach the jumbo flyer on her spinning wheel.

Also we have a correction in regards to the Hello Kitty kerfuffle. She is indeed a cat, it was a mistranslation.

New Stuff

Katy’s last hurrah before a big yarn diet is a skein of Must Stash Yarn on her Ritz base in the colourway ‘Night @ the Roxbury’. However, she did get a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Funko vinyl figure and a cool Wonder Woman tee!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You had me at Yarn!

Valerie found a stunning sock yarn called ‘Freckled Lemonade’ at Happy Go Lucky Yarn on Etsy!
Katy stumbled upon a new Stephen West pattern called Thighlighters!! only you Stephen 😉
That and we were both drooling over fried pickles at Harvey’s!!! They’re super good with ranch sauce!

What’s in Katy’s Stash?

So here’s a new segment where you help Katy decide on what to do with yarn from her stash. This week we have a skein of Lorna’s Laces shepherd sock in the colourway ‘Maple Grove’. Let her know here on the blog or in our Ravelry group which pattern you think would suit this yarn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What We’re Reading and Watching

Valerie has finished ‘Dragonfly in Amber’ and has started ‘Voyager’ again while Katy is still reading ‘A Breath of Snow and Ashes’ all of these books are by Diana Gabaldon and are part of the Outlander series of books.

We are both currently watching Outlander (Stars network in the US and Showcase in Canada) and we’re loving every minute of it!!! Oh and we apologize for saying ‘series’ instead of ‘season’… We mean season 1 of Outlander.

Valerie finished watching True Blood and felt a little ripped off at the series finale, it seemed rushed to tie up all the story lines.

Katy is still watching Finding Carter on MTV and thinks Taylor and Max are adorable, and she is also watching Who Do You Think You Are and is finding it very interesting and entertaining, albeit a bit painful at times.

Katy also got to see Guardians of the Galaxy and loved it!!!! So funny, lots of action without being too overwhelming and the soundtrack is pure gold! Be warned though, the beginning is like the beginning of ‘Up’..it will make you cry, if you’re like Katy and Val.

Thanks for listening and don’t forget to rate us on iTunes!

Episode 6: Outlandish!!!

 

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Stitch Sisters Podcast and if you’re new, thank you for checking us out!

Shops We Mention:

Jimmy Beans Wool
Must Stash Yarns
Cyborg’s Craft Room
Little Monkey’s Stitch & Spin
Squoosh Fiber Arts
Woodturnerva on Etsy
Kirby Wirby on Etsy
Unraveled Designs and Yarn
Bijou Basin Ranch
Spanish Peacock

Podcasts We Mention:

Wolfe Farms
The Knitmore Girls
Geeky Girls Knit
The Sampler Girl
Yarngasm Podcast
Subway Knits
Suburban Stitcher Podcast

Announcements:

Please head over to Wolfe Farms and help support Fuji’s fight against lymphoma! Purchase a button, make a donation or head over to their ravelry group for some special somethings to help them out!

A very good friend of Val’s is having an especially difficult time, financially, as her friend and her family are facing possible eviction due to her husband’s work cutting his hours in half to avoid having to pay health insurance.  Please help them out by donating to help raise $1,000.00 – they’re over half-way there already!  Margison Family – GoFundMe

Events:

FanExpo Canada – August 28-31, 2014, Metro-Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario

NEW GUESTS! Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy), Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who), Dave Bautista/Batista (Guardians of the Galaxy/WWE), Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead, Guardians of the Galaxy)

Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter’s Fair – September 13, 2014 – Kitchener Aud, Kitchener, Ontario

Royal Winter Fair – November 7-16, 2014 – Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario

KAL/CALs:

Our Loved Ones Kal is still going on till the end of September and may be extended as we don’t have a whole lot of people participating and we’d like to give out a couple prizes. Just pick a pattern to make something with someone you care about and post your progress/FO’s in our Loved Ones Thread in our Ravelry Group.

The Corner to Corner Baby Afghan CAL is also still going on until the end of the year seeing as Valerie’s baby nephew was born early and we know of a lot of other babies that need afghans pretty soon.

Outlander Mystery KAL with Jimmy Beans Wool and Unraveled Yarn and Designs started on August 9th and the first clue was released on August 9th as well. It is a paid for pattern on Ravelry and is a mystery shawl.

Outlander KAL on Instagram with The Knitmore Girls podcast, The Geeky Girls Knit Podcast, Yarngasm Podcast and the Subway Knitter Podcast. You can knit, crochet or craft anything you want just as long as you can tie it to Outlander and post it on Instagram with the hashtags: #countdowntooutlander AND #kiltmenowKAL. We know the Geeky Girls Knit Podcast will be giving prizes for this KAL at mid-season and the end of season 1 of Outlander (on Starz network in the States and on Showcase in Canada), please check the other podcasts’ ravelry groups for information about prizes.

WIPs:

Katy is still trying to finish her Trillian Shawl by Martina Behm. She is also working on the Outlander Mystery Shawl by Unraveled Yarn and Designs and is using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in ‘Terrarium’ and ‘Seawash’.

Tosh Merino Light in Terrarium and Seawash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Valerie is currently working on her Easy Triangle Shawl, her Orchid Thief Shawl and her Corner to Corner Afghan.  She also cast on a pair of Pixie Slipper Socks by Mary Maxim in Red Heart Super Saver in ‘Camo’ for a friend (which at the time of posting this blog, have been completed!)

Pixie Slipper Sox – WIP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pixie Slipper Sox – Done!

 Spinning:

Katy finished spinning the singles of her Squoosh Fiber Arts 100% Superwash Merino in ‘Split’ but is waiting for her Jumbo Flyer to come in to ply the singles.

Split by Squoosh Fiber Arts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needs and Wants:

Things we need: Katy needs more 4mm needles for shawls. Valerie needs a housekeeper to help her out.

Things we want: Valerie wants Jamie from Outlander ;)… ok not really, she wants more yarn and more money to procure more yarn. Katy wants more sweater quantities of yarn.

Things we want to do: Valerie wants to go out on a date with her husband and see Guardians of the Galaxy! Katy wants to take her little guy to the Aquarium.

Things we learned: Valerie learned how easy the Pixie Slipper Socks pattern is. Katy learned how to card and spin raw fleece!

New Stuff!

Elsa and Anna self striping on Sport Sock from Must Stash Yarns! Gorgeous job Stacie, as always!

Elsa and Anna in Sport Sock by Mush Stash Yarns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Stellar’ on Assparkilate base from The Cyborg’s Craft Room on Etsy, which is absolutely gorgeous and will be made into ‘Dalekanium’ socks by Dena Stelly of Little Monkey’s Stitch & Spin.

Stellar in Assparkilate by The Cyborg’s Craft Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pink & Black Spindle Bowl from woodturnerva from Etsy to match Katy’s supported spindle from The Spanish Peacock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You had me at YARN!… and PATTERNS!

Yarn:

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport in ‘Fraser’ and ‘Beauchamp’ available at Jimmy Beans Wool

Bijou Basin Ranch has a line of ‘Outlandish’ colourways for ‘Outlander’ KALs and just about anything you want! Katy likes ‘Thistle’ and ‘Dinna Fash’ and Valerie likes ‘Claret’ and ‘Fergus’.

Patterns:

Balustrades and Slates Beanie and Slouchy Hat
Big Damn Heroes – Firefly inspired shawl
Easy Triangle Shawl
Sassenach Capelet
Apothecary Cowl
Through the Woods Hooded Cowl
Woodland Capelet
Claire’s Cowl
Claire’s Shrug
One Skien Ruffled Capelet
Voyager Lace Stole
Tam O’Shanter Hat
Scottish Knee Highs
Kathy Kelly Cabled Capelet
Crocheted Town and Country Capelet

If you would like a lot more Outlander fun and discussion, check out the Outlander Knitters group on Ravelry!!!
What we’re reading and watching:

Valerie is reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon and Katy is reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

We’re both watching Outlander… on the internet right now until it comes out on Showcase here in Canada on August 24, 2014. Episode 2 of the series will be on Starz network on August 16, 2014.

Valerie is watching True Blood on HBO Canada and is miffed at it right now. Katy is watching WWE and Finding Carter on MTV.

 

Episode 5: BABIES!!!

 

 

 

Welcome back to all returning listeners and if you’re just listening to us for the first time, thank you for checking us out!

Shops We Mention

Two if by Hand
Spun Right Round
Paradise Fibers
LUSH
Nourish
The Cyborg’s Craft Room
Little Monkey’s Stitch & Spin
Teefury
Squoosh Fiber Arts

Podcasts We Mention

The Knitgirllls

Events

Val’s little new nephew, Benjamin, arrived a month early! He is super cute and Auntie is feverishly working on the blanket she’s making for him 🙂

Stash Dash – Katy finally broke the 1000 yard barrier, and Valerie is calculating out her new totals and we’ll have some yardage counts for you in the next episode.

Tour De Fleece – Ended on July 27th and we want to see your pictures!!!

Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter’s Fair – September 13, 2014 at the Kitchener Aud in Kitchener, Ontario.

Royal Winter Fair – November 7-16, 2014 at Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario.

Finished Objects

Katy finished the Retirement Shawl for the lady she knows at the bank and has since given it to her and she loves it!  It was Lala’s Simple Shawl and she used Red Heart Stardust in Pink on 4mm needles.

Lala’s Simple Shawl for Kathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WIPs

Valerie is working on the Flowers in the Snow Afghan and she’s very excited to see how it’s going to turn out because it’s looking very nice so far! She’s using Red Heart Super Saver yarn in various colours.  She is also working on the Corner to Corner Afghan for little Benjamin to be given to him at Christmas.

Flowers in the Snow Afghan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katy was working on her Trillian shawl by Martina Behm as we were recording.  At home, she is working on spinning some Squoosh Fiber Arts 100% SW Merino in the colourway ‘Split’ and she’s almost done!

New Stuff

Valerie obtained three large skiens of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in the colourways ‘Mod Ombre’, ‘Sun-kissed Ombre’ and ‘Pretty Pastels’.

Bernat Handicrafter Yarn – more cotton!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katy got her braid of ‘Moon Pie’ by Two if by Hand and it’s gorgeous. She also fell down at SpunRightRound on Etsy and bought 3 braids of Rambouillet in ‘Darkside of the Room’, ‘Happy Camper’ and ‘Herbs’. Katy went ahead and made an investment for her Kromski Sonata spinning wheel by ordering a Jumbo Flyer and two Jumbo Bobbins from Paradise Fibers.

Moon Pie in 100% Polwarth from Two if by Hand

Herbs, Happy Camper and Darkside of the Room by SpunRightRound

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things We Need

Valerie needs space for all of her yarn as she’s organizing her stash.
Katy needs time to work on all of her crafts and practice spinning; even just 20 minutes of ‘me’ time.

Things We Want

Valerie wants to procure more metal straight needles, and multiple sets of 4mm needles for different washcloths.
Katy really wants a nice, hot bath! Preferrably with LUSH bath products!

Things We Want to Do

Valerie wants to make the Beekeepers Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits! It’s a very adventurous endeavour and we should all encourage her! 😉

Katy wants to be able to be consistent in her wheel spinning – not be so thick and thin and be able to spin what she wants.

Things We Have Learned

Valerie learned the Magic Knot technique featured in the Magic Cake Ruffle shawl by Paula Emons-Fuessle. The Magic Knot has made all of her crafting with multiple colours a lot easier! She also learned how to join her squares for the Flowers in the Snow Afghan as she goes along.

Katy has learned not to drop-spindle barefoot… lest you get a puncture wound like she did. She also learned that one of her husband’s cousins is a knitter and spinner as well and they talked for quite a while at the family reunion she attended two weekends ago. It’s nice to find out you have family who share your interests.

STOP! You had me at Yarn!

Valerie has been very good and restraining herself from purchasing … or even looking to avoid temptation.

Katy purchased a skien of ‘Stellar’ from The Cyborg’s Craft Room on Etsy in her Assparkilate base. She plans on using it to knit a pair of ‘Dalekanium‘ socks by Dena Stelly of Little Monkey’s Stitch & Spin on Etsy.

What We’re Reading and Watching

Katy and her husband finished watching 24: Live Another Day and was surprised at how they tied everything up at the end. She is watching WWE with her husband, and she is also watching ‘Finding Carter’ on MTV. She started reading ‘A Breath of Snow and Ashes’ by Diana Gabaldon which is the 6th book in the Outlander series.

Valerie is still watching the current season of True Blood and was sobbing during the last episode. She also watched the second season of ‘Hemlock Grove’ on Netflix and said the season finale was the strangest episode of any show she has ever watched! She also started reading ‘Outlander’ again in anticipation for the show premiere this August.

As always, you can leave us messages and questions here on our blog and please feel free to check out our Ravelry group!

Episode 4 – No Judgey!

 

 

Hello Everyone! Thank you so much for checking us out if you’re new and if you’re a previous listener, welcome back 🙂

Shops We Mention

Coloring Book Yarns on Etsy
Knitty Kat Bags on Etsy
Spanish Peacock
Viking Santa on Etsy
Two if by Hand Fibers on Big Cartel
The Loopy Ewe
Desert Vista Dyeworks
Yarn Vs. Zombies
Jimmy Bean’s Wool

Podcasts We Mention

Knit 1 Geek 2
The Knitgirllls
The Fat Squirrel Speaks

Events

Fan Expo Canada – August 28-31, 2014 – Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario

Stash Dash – May 28-August 7, 2014

Tour De Fleece – July 5-27

The Crochet Crowd Stitchcation – Crochet at least 20 squares that they provide for you in at least 8 different colours and enter to win an awesome prize pack from Red Heart! Check it out!

Royal Winter Fair – November 7-16, 2014 – Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario

Finished Items

Katy finished 1 sock from her Desert Vista Dyeworks ‘Happy Birthday Cupcake’ socks. She also finished a couple knitted and crocheted dishcloths and a crocheted bath puff!

Happy Birthday Cupcake socks

Cupcake sock part deux!

Bath Pouf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wips!

Valerie is working on the Orchid Thief Shawl by Ysolda Teague in ‘Quidditch Debt Coma’ that Katy had dyed for her a few years ago.  She found a very informative video tutorial on the ‘garter tab’ cast on by CCKnits on youtube.

She is also working on a Bernat Basketweave Dishcloth and the Corner to Corner Afghan from The Crochet Crowd challenge from the Summer of last year for her new baby nephew. She is also working on the ‘Flowers in the Snow’ Afghan.

Basketweave Dishcloth

 

C2C baby afghan

 

Katy is working on all the things she’s been working on in the previous episodes but she has cast on Lala’s Simple Shawl in Red Heart Stardust in pink using 4mm needles as a gift.

 

 

 

 

 

Spinning

Valerie is still spinning the lavender fibre from the Fibre Garden.

Katy finished 136 yards of a 2 ply sport-dk weight yarn from Squoosh Fiber Arts on Etsy – 100% SW Merino wool – all spindle spun and plied. But since she needs practice for the Royal Winter Fair, she is spinning the rest of the braid on her wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

We Got Stuff!

Valerie got a gorgeous Celtic Cross pendant for her birthday from her Hubby!!

Claddagh Cross Pendant

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katy got another skein of Jack is Back! from The Loopy Ewe, Botanical Knits 1 & 2 by Alana Dakos and she wants to knit EVERYTHING!!

 

 

 

 

 

She also got a lovely skein of yarn from Coloring Book Yarns on Etsy as a gift for a friend (so we can’t show a picture of the actual yarn just yet… cause Emily listens to the show 😉 sssshhhhh) but just know that it’s gorgeous and there was excellent customer service and super fast shipping!!

 

 

 

 

 

What We’re Watching and Reading

Valerie is watching the newest and last season of True Blood on HBO Canada and she is also watching Shogun with her Husband. She had finished reading the latest Diana Gabaldon book ‘Written in My Own Heart’s Blood’ and both Valerie and Katy are looking forward to watching ‘Outlander’ on tv in August – on Stars network in the States and Showcase in Canada.

Katy is still watching 24 (and blaming Karen of Knit 1 Geek 2 for getting them hooked), Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan (he is ‘wildthingsdom’ on Instagram)… and WWE with her Husband. NO JUDGEY!

BIG SHERLOCK ANNOUNCEMENT!!! There will be a Sherlock Special as well as 3 new episodes next year!!! Filming for the special (which will be 90 minutes long) will begin filming in January 2015.

STOP!… You had me at Yarn!

Valerie has been drooling over the colourway called ‘Calico Cat’ by Yarn Vs. Zombies which looks just like a cute calico kitty 🙂 As well, she has found the July colourway of Lorna’s Laces called ‘Beach Blanket Bingo’ available at Jimmy Bean’s Wool which is so bright it’s bound to make anyone happy just looking at it!

Katy was drooling over some whorls that The Spanish Peacock had posted on his instagram account with the script of the One Ring burned on top! He should just take all her money!  As well, she was looking for a supported spindle bowl on Etsy and ran into this cool shop called Viking Santa!  He’s got lots of cool spindles, bowls and other spinning accessories – cool name at the very least 🙂  And she was unable to resist a braid of Polwarth/Silk fibre from Two if by Hand in the colourway ‘Moon Pie’ as in… Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory! It’s gorgeous, as is all the other colours she has available, and Katy is looking very forward to spinning Moon Pie 🙂

Borrowing…

Katy briefly borrowed from Amy Beth of The Fat Squirrel Speaks video podcast – Shameless Self Promotion – to let you know that herself and her mom have an etsy shop now that has project bags and notions pouches available. You can find it at Knitty Kat Bags on Etsy 🙂

As always, you can always leave us messages here on the blog or visit our Ravelry group or contact us by visiting our ‘About’ pages here on the blog! Take care everyone!

Episode 3 – Off the Hook!

 

 

First of all, big thank yous to everyone who is coming back to listen to us, and big thank yous to all the new listeners giving us a shot! We really appreciate it! Also, we are now on iTunes!!! So please, if you listen to us on iTunes, please subscribe and leave us a review, so we can reach more of you every episode 🙂

As well, a huge thank you and shout out goes to Dawn and James of the Wolfe Farms podcast for mentioning us on their last episode! Thank you so much!  You should all check them out and they have a ravelry group as well with a monthly Hatch a Knit prize thread… which Katy won in the month of May and here’s a snapshot of all the goodies she got with her $10 Wolfe Farms gift certificate!

Wolfe Farms Swag

 

Shops we’ve talked about!

Wolfe Farms

Stitch in Jordan Village, Ontario

The Fibre Garden in Jordan Village, Ontario

Mostly Comics in St. Catharines, Ontario

Desert Vista Dyeworks

Quaere Fibres

Squoosh Fiber Arts

Must Stash Yarns – She is on hiatus due to SSK preparation but you can sign up for her newsletter to find out when she’ll be updating next.

Knitty Kat Bags! – Now on Etsy!

The Loopy Ewe

Jimmy Beans Wool

 

Podcasts We Mentioned

The Knitmore Girls Podcast – currently running the Behmalong, The Summer of Lace and Beads KAL, Outlander Read-a-Long

Knitabulls Podcast – Has some great tutorial videos for Stitch Surfers

Wolfe Farms Podcast – wonderful couple with great pets, great knitting and great products! They also have the monthly Hatch a Knit prize thread and currently doing a Designer-A-Long for June and July is Susan Claudino.

The Must Stash Podcast – Katy finished off her Stitch Surfers for the Must Stash Podcast’s Stitch Surfer Knit-a-Long going on until June 30th.

The Knitgirllls Podcast – hosting stash dash and they’re also hosting SSK

 

Events!

Niagara Falls Comic Con – Katy and her husband attempted to get in, but alas, they had reached capacity so they couldn’t attend – next year perhaps. Val’s husband was a volunteer and got to shake William Shatner’s hand as well as Ernie Hudson’s.

Quilt Show – Katy and her mom attended the quilt show at Brock University and had a great time. They purchased some material to make bags for themselves, a small amount of material to make a quilt for Katy’s son and extra material to make bags for their shop on etsy, Knitty Kat Bags.

FanExpo Canada – August 28-31, 2014 – Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario

Stash Dash!!! – Katy is 440 yards in, Valerie is 1,666 yards in!!

Tour de Fleece – starting July 5th, 2014

Off the Hook! … or needles! FOs!

Valerie – finished her baby blanket, as well as a whole bunch of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton washcloths.  For baby washcloths, work up to 33 stitches instead of the stated 53 in the pattern. Both Valerie and Katy like to work up to 43 for a slightly smaller version that’s more managable when the cotton is wet.

Finished Baby Blanket for Sprout!

 

All wrapped up ready to go!

Washcloths for Babies

 

Katy – finished her stitch surfer socks and made some  washcloths with Bernat Handicrafter Cotton as well… and she actually crocheted!! WooHoo!

Stitch Surfer Socks!

Crochet Dishcloths by Katy

Knit Dishcloths by Katy

Works in Progress

Katy is working on … too much, again:

Vanilla socks in ‘Happy Birthday Cupcake’ by Desert Vista Dyeworks, using Laura Linneman’s afterthought heel with 2.25mm needles.

Trillian shawl by Martina Behm in ‘Girlfriend’ by Yarnloft by Elysia, using 3mm needles

Orchid Thief shawl by Ysolda Teague in ‘Orchid’ by Queare Fibres, using 4mm needles

Valerie is working on …

Orchid Thief shawl by Ysolda Teague in hand dyed yarn by Katy in the colourway ‘Quidditch Debt Coma’, using 4mm needles (when she gets it cast on, that is!)

Spinning

Valerie is spindle spinning some lilac roving purchased from The Fibre Garden.

Lilac Roving from The Fibre Garden

Katy is spindle spinning some fibre from Squoosh Fiber Arts on Etsy in the colourway ‘Split’

Split!

Why we shouldn’t have Paypal accounts!

Valerie received her birthday gift from Katy early! YAYAYAYAY!!! Which contained a huge ball of Bernat Handicrafter cotton in ‘Chrysanthemum’, as well as a skein of Must Stash Yarn in her perfect sock base, self-striping colourway ‘Maleficent’!! Which she was very happy to receive… Katy was stealthy and bought that in February!

Chrysanthemum!

Maleficent!

Katy got her Jack is Back! yarn from The Loopy Ewe and it is dyed by Dream in Color! in their Smooshy base!… and she ordered another skein to design a cowl/hood for her husband.

Jack is Back!

Katy also purchased one skein (she held back people!!!) of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the colourway ‘Caligraphy’ from Stitch in Jordan Village, Ontario.

Caligraphy!

Shut up and take my Money!!

Valerie is drooling over the new colourway of Lorna’s Laces ‘Sookie’s Last Stand’  available at Jimmy Beans Wool in all sorts of bases! Valerie is leaning toward the Shepherd Sock base. And after seeing it… Katy needs to stay off the computer! LOL

Crochet Corner

Starting the month of July, we will be holding a CAL for the Corner to Corner afghan. This can be easily done as a baby blanket or larger. Valerie has provided a great video (the link just above) from the Crochet Crowd  as a tutorial on how to make this cute afghan.

As always, you can participate here by posting on the blog, or in our Ravelry group where there will be a thread posted for the CAL 🙂

What we’re watching!

Katy is still watching 24: Live Another Day – Monday nights at 9pm and freaking out over how good it is.  As well, she is watching Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan on Outdoor Life Network (in Canada, it may be on Discovery channel in the States) on Tuesday nights at 4pm and then later that night.  Katy will also be watching Homeland Season 2 on Netflix… and there was much Jennifer Lawrence style fangirling over this!

Valerie watched the season finale of Game of Thrones and enjoyed it very much… even though she kinda sorta felt bad for Tyrion. She is also watching The Vampire Diaries on Netflix and Homeland season 2 on Netflix as well.

We will probably be doing a Homeland watch-a-long with all of you, so there will be a thread in our ravelry group in regards to that! Just a warning that Homeland is definitely NOT A SHOW FOR KIDS!!! So this is your warning.

Valerie is reading ‘Written in my own heart’s blood’ by Diana Gabaldon, which is the latest book in her Outlander series. The Knitmore Girls podcast is doing an outlander book read-a-long for this, so if you’re interested, please head over to their ravelry group and join in! Please tag your spoilers clearly if you plan on doing that!

As Always….

Thank you all for listening and please, leave comments, questions, pictures .. anything here on the blog, or you can head over to our ravelry group and join in the conversation!

Awesome News!

THE STITCH SISTERS PODCAST IS ON ITUNES!!!

Download episodes on the go through the iTunes store here:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-stitch-sisters/id888050541

Episode 2: Cast on ALL the Things!!!!

 

 

WARNING:  This is a very fangirlish episode, as we talk about Nathan Fillion, Kristen Bell and Ian Sommerhalder!

Also, Val apologizes in advance as she was sick with a head cold at the recording of this episode.   She tried not to snuffle and wheeze too much for our listeners!

Events:

Quilters Show – Brock University – St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
June 11 – 14th, 2014
Admission $5 per person per day – $6 Parking
There’s a paneled jury, marketplace, classes and more!

Niagara Falls Comic Con – Scotiabank Convention Centre on Stanley Avenue in Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada
June 6-8, 2014
Admission: $25 per person for a single day pass, $65 for a weekend pass
Lots of guests, comics, gaming, table-top gaming and cosplay competition!

Fan Expo Canada – Metro Toronto Convention Centre – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
August 28-31, 2014
See the website for admission prices and guest list! Sci-Fi, Comics, Horror, Anime, Gaming and Cosplay!

52 Weeks of Dishcloths – On the KnitPicks Blog!  One new washcloth to knit or crochet for every week of the year! Val is most definitely participating, check out the one she made for me!

Stash Dash – Stash Dash is a challenge to all knitters, crocheters, weavers, and spinners to use up 5000 metres of yarn or fibre from your stash! Brought to you by The Knitgirllls podcast, they are very cheater friendly. If you have a bunch of WIPs on the needles, you can finish them off and the entire yardage counts to your Stash Dash totals! See their ravelry group for more details!  Both Katy and Valerie are participating – we may not reach the 5k goal but getting WIPs done is the key! Below you can find page one of Katy’s Stash Dash checklist… there’s more people, there’s more…

Works in Progress

Valerie is working on the edging of the baby blanket for her friend in the States who had a little baby boy!  She can’t wait to send it out to her friend so her little guy can enjoy it!

She is also working on a crocheted shawl for herself in Red Heart Comfort Chunky. Going to be great for late summer, early fall 🙂

And on the washcloth addiction list, she’s cast on a Round Lacy Dishcloth using Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Smokey Wine. It’s a knitted dishcloth and it’s turning out so nicely.

Katy is working on … too much! LOL  First she had a pair of Stitch Surfer Socks by Louise Robert from Knitty. She’s knitting it out of Must Stash Yarn in the Colourway Elsa and Anna (from Frozen! eeeee!) and the yarn is just gorgeous. The Stitch Surfers are a little intimidating to look at, but Diane of the Knitabulls Podcast has some great tutorials!

Also on the needles is the Trillian Shawl by Martina Behm and the yarn is ‘Girlfriend’ from Yarnloft by Elysia on Etsy!  The colours are fantastic and it is a nice bouncy yarn, perfect for the garter stitch and Martina’s patterns are so potato-chippy and it’s perfect for mindless tv knitting.

Katy also has a pair of Afterthought Heel Socks by Laura Linneman, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. The yarn is ‘Happy Birthday Cupcake’ from Desert Vista Dyeworks. She is going to do a true afterthought heel… which means cutting the yarn (eek!)! But all will work out we’re sure!

And the last thing on the needles, in another Sherlock bag from Bag End Bags on Etsy, is the Orchid Thief Shawl by Ysolda Teague. This shawl is gorgeous and the yarn she’s using is ‘Orchid’ from Quaere Fibres on Etsy in her sparkle sock base! It’s beautiful and this shawl is more special because Katy is knitting this with her Mom and Val!!!

*** We also invite you to knit along with us with one of your loved ones for our first Loved Ones’ KAL!! Just join up with someone you care about, pick a pattern for both of you to knit together and have fun!  Post your status in our Ravelry Group! There will be a KAL thread opened soon and take your time, we’ll run the KAL until September 30, 2014. ***

 

What the Mailman Brought…

We got our needles from China!!! They are very nice and comparable to the Ciao Goo Red needles with the nylon coated cable and stainless steel needles. The tips aren’t as sharp as the Ciao Goo needles, but they are very nice and smooth and have the bend near the cable join to make them more ergonomic and easier on your hands.

Katy got her Desert Vista Dyeworks order in and it contained ‘Happy Birthday Cupcake’ and ‘Solid Chocolate Zombunny’ both in her Viso base!

And the most awesome Sherlock Holmes bag from Little Monkey Stitch N’ Spin on Etsy!  It’s gorgeous, and Katy is a super fan of Sherlock Holmes and all three actors; Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett and Benedict Cumberbatch are portrayed on the one side, and on the other is quotes from the books with pics of bees, beehives, fleur de lis, and pictures of Sherlock Holmes himself. The bag is nice and fits a pair of socks easily and it has a strap with a snap on it so you can attach it to your purse, bag or even your wrist and it has a secure drawstring closure! She also included a few freebies!!! Thank you so much! 😀 Katy is also enjoying the mini snag free stitch markers in Southwest that she ordered to match the bag 🙂 They fit up to a 3.75mm/US5 needle.

 

Val received from Katy a little gift of two Bernant Handicrafter Cotton yarn skeins in Ahoy Ombre and Love.  As well, Katy gave her a little stitch marker that is a skull and cross bones blinged out with little rhinestones.

 

What We’re Watching

Valerie is watching Game of Thrones on HBO, she intends on watching the HBO Movie, Normal Heart and she has just started watching The Vampire Diaries on Netflix (and is in love with Damon Salvatore but don’t tell her husband).  She also watched the season 2 finale of Hannibal (on NBC) and can report it was bloody and full of cliffhangers.

Katy is watching 24: Live Another Day (she totally blames Miss Karen from the Knit 1 Geek 2 Podcast for getting her hooked on 24) every Monday night and you can find seasons 1-8 on Netflix (Val has a lot of catching up to do!), Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan on the Discovery Channel on Tuesday nights and she got to watch the Veronica Mars movie… which did not disappoint…she implores for anyone to bring it back to TV!!!  You can catch Seasons 1-3 of Veronica Mars on Netflix as well.

As always, we hope everyone has a great week and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to do so, and check out The Stitch Sisters Podcast group on Ravelry!

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 1: Better than the Phantom Menace

Hi Everyone! Thanks for checking out The Stitch Sisters Podcast! Here are links to everything we’ve talked about – the only ommission is that we could not locate the Eat.Sleep.Stitch podcast on youtube. It was either removed or I was misinformed on the title. But when we do find it, we will give you a link!

Katy was knitting the mystik spiral socks by Josh Ryks of the Sword of a Knitter podcast on youtube, and he can be found at his website Geoknittrix. Then, her needle broke… so it put the socks on hold, but only until the Chinese needles come in! In the meantime, the yarn to be used was Fibernymph Dye Works and the colourway is ‘Tardis’

Fibernymph Dye Works – Tardis

In Katy’s bag from Knitty Kat Bags she has her beautiful new supported spindle from Spanish Peacock and he was very kind to include some spinning fibre from Loop Fiber Studio in gorgeous deep purples!!!

Spanish Peacock supported spindle with Loop Fiber Studio fiber

More fiber in Katy’s bag – Fifteen Colour Rainbow from Fab Funky Fibres!!! It’s gorgeous and destined to be the most beautiful socks!

Fifteen Colour Rainbow by Fab Funky Fibres

Val purchased a pre-owned, and absolutely gorgeous D Fusion purse for the summer for $10!!! Such a steal and a beautiful shade of deep plum!

D Fusion Bag

In which she has her Stitched by Jessalu bag in a Firefly inspired fabric!

Stitched by Jessalu

And inside THAT bag, she has a pair of Broadripple socks by Rob Matyska from Knitty Summer 2003 in Malabrigo sock ‘Archangel’.

Broadripple socks

We also briefly discussed the greatness of Stephen West and how Katy’s husband’s Clockwork has been languishing in the UFO pile for quite some time while the new yarn was getting all the attention.

Val talks briefly about corking and how she used to make trivets and hot pads when she was little, and how she’s mainly been knitting socks but she would like to branch out into knitting shawls like the Ishbel by Ysolda Teague!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our Chinese needles from ebay so we can cast on ALL THE THINGS!!!

Val is making a crochet baby blanket for a friend’s little boy out of Herrschners Baby Yarn. It’s a striped blanket with blue, green, yellow and a scalloped lace border. (And what Val forgot to mention in her ramblings is that the green Herrschners baby yarn had a few breaks in it, but it’s all good!) She’s planning a ‘corner to corner’ blanket for her new nephew that is on the way and we’re anxiously awaiting for his arrival.

Baby Blanket

Also in the works for Val is a crocheted granny square bed blanket for her bedroom. She has some brightly coloured rainbow yarn to pair with some white – all the yarn for this afghan is Red Heart so it is cost effective since crochet uses 3 times as much yarn as knitting, so with a large blanket you can stay in budget. As well it is washable and dryable.

The only thing good about the Phantom Menace was Ewan McGregor!! And we touch briefly on what we’ve been watching, and looking forward to the new Star Wars movie (and Katy was mistaken, much to our dismay it doesn’t look like Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be in it)! But we loooooooooooved him in Star Trek: Into Darkness. For Star Wars, the original trio will be in it as well as rumoured son of Han and Leia!

Katy has been watching 24: Live Another Day, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge and Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan.

Val has been watching Game of Thrones and Once Upon a Time.

You can find all of our contact info on our respective pages right here on the blog and as always, feel free to friend us on Ravelry, Instagram – Val is ‘stitchesandcurls’ and Katy is ‘kittyvankat’, and you can always ask us questions right here on the blog!

Thank you for listening and have a great week!!