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 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!

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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 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 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 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.