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 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 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!!

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 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 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!!!

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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 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.