Ep 144 Sasha Ogden
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Katie Rempe: [00:00:00] Welcome everyone to our last episode of Minnispel for the fall season.
Mixed feelings!
I have back, owner of Skein Shop, Sasha Ogden, yeah!
Sasha: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.
Katie Rempe: It just seemed fitting that you should help round things out with us, since you helped kick things off, and, had so many grand plans that we can, enlighten people on, inspire people with, in terms of reality of life,
Sasha: Here's how, and here's how you deal with what happens after you
Go With The Flow?
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Katie Rempe: That's right. Because now that we're at the end of the season, it's almost like the, unofficial theme was go with the flow, which I don't know about you, Sasha, but I'm not that kind of person.
Sasha: actually not my forte, no. know why I like to [00:01:00] do fiber arts? Because I get to be in charge.
Katie Rempe: Oh yes.
Sasha: I want this to be this color, I want it to be this size. Oh, I don't like the decreases that this pattern called for, I'm going to put in the ones that I want.
Katie Rempe: Now that I've been interviewing so many people this season, that seems to be a common theme, especially if you end up being a designer.
Sasha: ha ha!
Katie Rempe: Light from Lantern presents Knit a Spell. I'm your host, Katie Rempe, designer, knit witch, and your companion in this magical making podcast. Together, let's explore the enchanted world where knitting meets the magic of the craft.
Sasha: So Go With The Flow is a good challenge. It's a nice reminder to don't sweat the small stuff. What's small stuff? Well, it's all relative I guess. Ha
Katie Rempe: Life will help you find out what that small stuff is [00:02:00] because suddenly you're like, oh, I guess it's okay if an episode goes a day late or if it doesn't happen one week because You've experienced a major hurricane. Life goes on.
Sasha: Yeah. Ha ha
Katie Rempe: I also didn't intend on knitting like a whole Spreadshaw that was inspired by keeping my sanity during that so
Sasha: Well, you
Katie Rempe: Right side?
Sasha: silver linings, right?
Count Your Blessings Cowl
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Katie Rempe: We've had quite the season and I thought it would be fun to kind of recap on a couple of things that we started with, one of which was releasing our count your blessings cowl pattern.
Sasha: that
you on a design. We've been friends for how long and we've never really worked together in that way. So that was, super cool and different.
Katie Rempe: You're a wonderful person to collaborate with, because you actually do stuff, and you are patient with me, who takes longer to do [00:03:00] stuff but we got there, and that's the most important thing.
Sasha: a cow. I don't know about you.
Katie Rempe: I have two, I mean, I have the one that was, Green? And then I did this one while I've been in Florida for like the past four months, which this is just the worst color to take a picture of because you can't see any of these fine details until you get really close. So it's almost Intentionally hidden in a way. So you have to like know what you're looking for in order to see it.
It's very, accidental occult cowl.
Crochet Your Blessings
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Katie Rempe: But you were even more industrious than I. You not only started laying out the pattern that we had hoped to have published by this time, which spoiler alert. is not happening, but feel free to follow on Patreon because that'll be a fun winter break project.
Sasha: Yes.
Katie Rempe: You also converted the Count Your Blessings cowl from a knit pattern to a crochet pattern.
Sasha: Do you want to see? Here it is. Yes.
Katie Rempe: Yes, please. So [00:04:00] beautiful.
Sasha: you.
Katie Rempe: If I hadn't known offhand that it was crochet that it would have even like Struck me as being crochet other than maybe like the lines kind of going the other direction perhaps
Sasha: see the backside, so the plain side of things, I think that looks more like
typical crochet.
Katie Rempe: Really cool.
Sasha: you. It was
challenge.
Katie Rempe: What were the things you learned while converting knit pattern to crochet? Cause I am not much of a crocheter. I did like the one giant granny square Afghan and was like, double crochet. Cool. There we go. Done.
Sasha: Well, so the biggest challenge for me, I actually, I'm going to back up and I'm going to tell you why I wanted to do a crochet version in the first place.
I was thinking about the bobbles. knitting and how there's so many different ways to make bobbles in crochet because of kind of the flexibility of how crochet stitches are formed.
Katie Rempe: [00:05:00] Uh,
Sasha: this is like the perfect opportunity. And looking at our knit version, I was like, it's so simple. It's like, it's some ribbing, it's two textures, it's some bobbles. I can totally do that in crochet. And then I realized that actually I didn't know that many different ways to do texture in crochet. I know different stitches. I know how to do, surface manipulation looking things. I know how to do lace. Crochet is so good at lace. I just didn't know. have kind of the, the preexisting knowledge of crochet
Katie Rempe: Hmm,
interesting.
Sasha: yeah, I had fun digging through my, stitch dictionaries and my pattern books, looking for inspiration, seeing, how can I make two different textures? And here's the tough part is they need to be the same height because crochet stitches. can be all different heights.
Katie Rempe: Oh, tricky.
Sasha: And it would have been so easy to like, say, do the bobble panel on [00:06:00] solid double crochet and then like do a lacy something for the rest of it. But I really, I liked how simple and neutral our knit design was. I really wanted to preserve that in the crochet. So what I came up with was working into the third loop, which for people who crochet, you'll recognize. I can't show it to the camera and see what I'm showing. Ha ha! Ha ha ha! You'll recognize these chains across the front that look just like the chains at the tops of the stitches that you make because that's what it is. So when you work in the third loop, it tips the top of the stitch forward
Katie Rempe: Oh,
Sasha: makes that
Katie Rempe: So you're not, well, I mean, you are making like that chain, but that's not the time that you're making it at.
Sasha: Right!
Katie Rempe: That was like a row behind it,
Sasha: is
Katie Rempe: it.
Sasha: prepped the row before. It's working into it on the next row that tips it forward and makes it that texture.
Katie Rempe: whoa, cool. How did you figure that out?
Sasha: It was a technique that I had [00:07:00] seen before. It might have been an interweave crochet pattern that they had done a whole hoodie. They worked it side to side so that those chains ran up and down and they're like, this looks just like knitting because it makes kind of
Katie Rempe: okay.
Sasha: So like, if you imagine with it that way, that would
Katie Rempe: Oh,
Sasha: look like knit
Katie Rempe: okay.
Sasha: right?
Katie Rempe: Yeah,
Sasha: So I remembered seeing that and thinking, oh, that is such a distinctive texture. How can I Bring that out. I was happy to discover that the way that the third loop kind of stretches out, it makes up for the slight height difference of working. Slightly lower I'm
Katie Rempe: oh congratulations. Way to problem solve.
Sasha: you.
Katie Rempe: Things that are, quote, Oh, this is gonna be easy, as we thought, even with the knit version. Oh, I quickly went out the window. Oh, right. We're making it in nine sizes. I forgot. Ha ha ha
Sasha: I did also, I got to knit it. I knit it. I got to crochet it twice. Because I ran out of yarn the first time.
Katie Rempe: Right, cuz [00:08:00] crochet take more yarn, though.
Sasha: more yarn. And, you'll notice that my crochet version is larger than my knit version. It's bigger around.
Katie Rempe: Oh, okay.
Sasha: Part of that is that I didn't perfectly get gauge on my knit version. Don't tell Katie.
Katie Rempe: What? I didn't hear anything.
Sasha: And part of it was that I really liked the proportions on the knit version of how much panel there was versus how much the rest of the cow there was. And so by the time I had allotted enough stitches for the bobble panel, I needed That many more stitches to kind of keep the visual harmony of the proportions.
Crochet Cowl Yardage Tips
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Sasha: So even this version where I did not run out of yarn, it was really tight.
Katie Rempe: The yardage is tight, not the stitches are tight, right? Okay.
Sasha: not tight. The yardage is tight. I was playing yarn chicken at the end here. if you want to make one and you are worried about running out of yarn, [00:09:00] I have a few ideas. on how you
change things so that maybe you are less worried.
So the most obvious solution is exactly what I said I didn't want to do, which is eliminate stitches from the plain section that goes around. So instead of having 84 stitches around the cowl, you could make it 75. Because there's no patterning going on on the back side, however many is fine. That will change. The proportions of the, the bobble panel to the not bobble panel.
The other thing you could do is you could eliminate one of the rounds between bobble rows. So I have plain rows in between, and if you did three then you would have so much yarn.
Again, I liked the spacing, I liked how it looked, and I had enough yarn, and I even, this version has seven bobbles, and when I was done I went ahead and I crocheted six more bobbles to make sure that if you did all nine, one, two, three, four, five, six, that you would have enough. It's a
Katie Rempe: In theory. story. Transcribed
Sasha: In theory!
Katie Rempe: it's a squeaker. [00:10:00] What you're gonna want to do is weigh the Hank because even the yarn company, knowing from experience as the person who worked for the yarn company, they can vary a little bit. So if you weigh it and it's over a hundred grams, That is a good sign.
If you weigh it and maybe it's like 98 grams, which is actually totally acceptable, in terms of tolerance from the yarn companies, might want to be a little mindful that perhaps you want to cut it down a little bit.
Or, of course, you could be like us, throw caution to the wind, and by caution, I mean your wallet, and just buy two.
Sasha: Just buy two! Well, and I had the brilliant idea, I don't know how many other people will think this is a brilliant idea, but I was like, you could buy three skeins, and then you could definitely make two, for sure. You could make matching ones for you and your bestie,
Katie Rempe: Do it in two different colors and get creative, and then do the opposite colors for the other person.
Sasha: that would
Katie Rempe: Huh. Like a best friend cowl.
Sasha: Like those necklaces from the [00:11:00] mall.
Katie Rempe: Yeah. It's just like, you know, grown up a little bit in terms of concept.
Crochet Intentionality
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Katie Rempe: We did. our version to be simple and, to be more around like the number that you pick for the bobbles.
But I'm curious to know if you have any reflections on what intentions or layers could be different from the knit one versus the crochet one, since you knit it all
Sasha: this
Katie Rempe: and crocheted them both.
Sasha: This is such an interesting question to me because in magical I see crochet as being so much more closely related to knot magic than knitting. Not that knitting is not related to knot magic, but that knitting, feel like because all of the stitches are live on the needle, the whole time for me, I'm holding the one intention throughout and I'm really focusing on that one thing. And it's not sealed until it's, bound off and that puts the stability into it. [00:12:00] Because crochet each stitch is independently stable and you only ever have the one working loop, I kind of
Katie Rempe: Okay. Okay.
Oh, yeah. I never thought about that. That's like the same reason that crocheters find Knitting kind of scary in a way because if you drop the needles, all the stitches could go everywhere versus if you drop the hook, it's just the one that you have to deal with.
And I do agree. Even like the look of crochet looks more like knots.
Sasha: Mm hmm.
Katie Rempe: Not magic for sure. [00:13:00] Interesting reflections.
Okay. Well, now I'm even more enthused to, uh, give my mediocre crochet skills a shot in, actually creating a version of the, Crocheted one.
By the time you're hearing this, there will be a crocheted version of this pattern available for you all.
So if you are part of our Patreon on knit a spell, you will get a copy of this and that's where you'll be able to find it after the show. or soon thereafter, because go with the flow, right? Even though it's a,
Sasha: You know,
Katie Rempe: it should be ready, but.
Sasha: it's published.
Katie Rempe: Very likely, within a few days time of this, if it's not already on there.
Thank you so much for doing all of that extra work, uh, and just being inspired to do it on your own.
Yarn Quality Makes a Difference
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Sasha: I am going to say some possibly unpopular things that you might need to cut.
Katie Rempe: I love it. Dish. Hmm.
Sasha: first. And it was the [00:14:00] thing that I did best for like a decade before I really got serious about knitting. I loved it, and I made lots of things, and when I started knitting, it wasn't that I liked knitting better, it was that I liked the objects that knitting made better than the objects that crochet made. And then, when I started working at a local yarn store, and they needed somebody to make crochet samples and teach crochet classes, I discovered that perhaps part of my problem was that I am, personally, a little bit of a yarn snob, and I like things that are made out of. beautiful yarns that feel good, that have amazing drape, and that when I was crocheting, I was not using those yarns.
Those were not in my budget. And when I started knitting is also approximately when my budget started changing. [00:15:00] it's just, I really, for the longest time, thought that I just didn't like how crochet looked or felt. And then I tried it out of different materials and went, I was, just not setting myself up for success with my crochet projects.
Katie Rempe: I think we've all been there to some extent.
So, you know, live and learn, right?
Sasha: and like, I never want to look down on somebody for using what they can afford, using what's accessible to them. I always used to tell people, even when I was in grad school and completely broke, I mean, like they would ask, why do you buy expensive yarn. I mean, you know, I was knitting with sock yarn that was 20 a skein.
Katie Rempe: Mm hmm. Okay.
Sasha: because I like touching this yarn, that's worth it for me.
Cause you spend a lot of hours with your hands. [00:16:00] on that project.
Katie Rempe: If you do the math of the time and divide it by how much it costs, it is one of the cheapest hobbies that you can have available to you. And the more you rip it out and redo it, the better the value is.
Sasha: And you know what? I can say that the SimpliNatural held up really, really well to being crocheted and ripped and crocheted and ripped. And when I had finished all but the last round and a half and ran out of yarn, usually if I'm ripping something completely out, I'll rescane it and steam it so that it's not all noodley.
I, I think it makes my stitches look nicer when I'm working with smooth yarn. And instead I just sat the half done one in my lap and unraveled it as I was crocheting the new one. Saved
Katie Rempe: I love that.
Sasha: didn't wind it back into a ball. It's fine. And it held up great. it didn't pill. It didn't stick to itself, especially crochet. Sometimes when you're ripping, the loops get stuck and you got to kind of pop the fiber tangle.
Katie Rempe: Yep. [00:17:00] Like working with mohair. Real fun. Yeah.
Sasha: This had none of these problems. So, so happy
Katie Rempe: Oh,
Sasha: rips out. It
Katie Rempe: see, you might not think that that's something positive about a yarn. Rips out like a dream, but it really is a huge benefit, especially as a designer.
Crocheters are More Flexible?
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Katie Rempe: I also found that crocheters mindsets. Tended to be more flexible. I don't know if you found that, but like they were more willing to change a project or like ripping out. Wasn't that big of a deal? They were more design minded. They didn't have to follow things necessarily to the T, and could, problem solve more often.
Did you find that at all?
Sasha: It's funny, I hadn't thought about it until you said it just now, but I, I agree, and I will tell you why I think it is. because of the nature of crochet. Number one crochet is faster to do than knitting. So if [00:18:00] you rip out You're going to be back where you were fairly quickly. It's less of a, Oh my gosh, I'm ripping out two days worth of work here. it's also easier to rip back because all you have to do is find the one loop with knitting. If you're
Katie Rempe: Hmm. Okay. Okay.
Sasha: It's not as big of a deal. Like, with knitting, because everything is live at the same time, it just ends up feeling riskier to try
that. Like, I have never seen I've seen so much amazing free form crochet, I mean, and it's just brain erasing how cool some of these pieces are. And I would be really curious to see something similar in knitting. I don't know that you really could approach it [00:19:00] without a plan. I think you could create some pieces out of knitting that have that very organic free form look, but I don't think that you could design on the fly and go, Oh, you know what?
I do want, like, just a, a swirl of eyelash yarn right here, so I'm gonna just do that real quick, same way
Katie Rempe: Um,
Sasha: you can with crochet.
Katie Rempe: Yeah, I think the most organic knitting that I've ever seen is called like swing knitting.
Sasha: Yes!
Katie Rempe: I don't know.
Sasha: just talking about swing knitting with some friends earlier today!
Katie Rempe: Really?
Sasha: Yes, because, uh, somebody saw a picture of a really cool cardigan that had, like, swing knit blobs all around it, and we were talking about, oh, how would we finish the neckline differently, because the whole cardigan is beautiful, but it needs a neckline.
Yes! Is what we decided. No shade to the designer.
Katie Rempe: This is just designers being designery. This is what we do. Yes.
Sasha: It's,
and going, I love that, but I'd do it differently.
Choose Your Own Rhinebeck Sweater
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Katie Rempe: Speaking of designers being designery recently was [00:20:00] a little fiber festival. I don't know that anybody has really heard of or really attends. I believe it's called Rhinebeck. the Sheep and Wolf Festival. We were looking at all the photos that people were sharing. Cause they go, somehow they stay someplace and get there. It's in the middle of nowhere in New York. I've never been to one personally because, it seems like going to Disney World for knitters and I don't like crowds.
But, something we noticed was that everyone seemed to be wearing the same thing and I mean, the camaraderie is great. Lord knows I'd love to be that designer,
Sasha: And I mean,
in my fair share of knit alongs. I, I love knitting along and making the same thing as a bunch of my friends
Katie Rempe: That's accountability also, so that's cool.
Sasha: and built in problem solving where you're like, this sleeve is weird. And they're like, I know, here's how I fixed it.
Katie Rempe: Yes, but for me, and maybe I'm just like a butthead. I was like, man, if I spent all that [00:21:00] time and everyone was wearing my same sweater, that That wasn't my design. I don't know how I'd feel about that. Also, how am I gonna find my friend?
Everyone's, I guess, my friend at that point. So,
Sasha: You know, she's wearing the same sweater as I.
Katie Rempe: So I messaged you about it and I said like, What is wrong with me that I am turned off by all of these people wearing the same sweater at the same time in the same place? And you had the brilliant idea of, perhaps, in our spare time, because you know we're so good at it, developing another pattern that would kind of offer a similar notion of the camaraderie, but without the everyone coming out with the exact same design.
You want to share some info about that?
Sasha: yes. Katie's absolutely right. She did. She messaged me and we were talking about it and I was going, yeah, I feel really like if I even just make something in the same color that it's shown in the pattern photo. Even if I love that color, I'm like, I gotta make it my own somehow.
Katie Rempe: [00:22:00] Yeah.
Sasha: Then I started thinking about, there was a knit along that Isolda did for a couple of years that I really loved that was called the follow your arrow shawl. And if you didn't knit these when they came out, yourself a favor, get the patterns, knit them, they're so fun. Because what it is, is it's a shawl where,
one one one one one one one Now I'm going to do the same thing on the other side, but this time I'm going to do
there's something like, 60 some, unique combinations. I knit that with a bunch of friends and we all came out with different shawls, not the same shawl, different colors, different shawls. And it was so cool and so fun.
And I was like, I wonder if we could do a sweater like that.
Katie Rempe: a choose your own adventure type of pullover or cardigan, or I guess maybe that's part of the
Sasha: There
Katie Rempe: choosing of [00:23:00] your own design.
Sasha: or cardigan.
Katie Rempe: I of course was like, yes, I loved those types of books as a kid and I remember one of the Maybe like the most popular skacel magalog, was one that basically had a very similar concept of, it's a cowl template, and then you can pick like, these three cast ons, and then these five things.
Stitch patterns and, you know, these three bind offs so that you could kind of pick and choose as you go and the pattern becomes interesting to knit more than once because there's so many different options and it's a great way for people who aren't interested in being a designer to still feel like they are having design choices, but in a safe space.
Sasha: Yes, totally, because, have you ever been browsing patterns going, I would love that sweater. If it were long sleeve
Katie Rempe: Mm hmm.[00:24:00]
Sasha: and like, yes, I could do the math to make it long sleeved, you know, if you've got the short sleeve, you can just knit it longer, but like, how many decreases do you need when you get to the wrist and
Katie Rempe: Mm hmm.
Sasha: all of these questions that, you know, if you have decades of experience, maybe they're trivial to you, but if you don't have decades of experience, you still deserve a sweater that has all of the elements that you love.
Katie Rempe: Yes. I want it cropped. I want it longer. Crops are not my style. You know, I,
Sasha: necks. anything that touches my throat, stop. Get it away from me. I can't handle it.
Katie Rempe: please don't slowly choke me all day long. Yeah, no thanks.
Sasha: But it doesn't mean
it's a problem if you like turtlenecks. You wear your turtleneck and you love it.
Katie Rempe: absolutely.
There's a market for everything. Also a pattern like that gives people a little bit more empowerment to not be so afraid of their knitting, to learn a little bit more like, Oh, I didn't realize I could just do this or that. And so [00:25:00] maybe after they're done with this, They go back to a pattern that they've made before and they're like, Oh, well, I did wish that this had, you know, one or two of these other things.
Now I kind of have more of an idea how I could go about doing that. And you become a little bit of a designer and then you become like one of us, a control freak who can't knit other people's patterns. Well, that's right.
We have almost a year ish,
Sasha: yes.
Katie Rempe: weight of yarn, but maybe we'll make a series of patterns. Better in different weights of yarn over time
Sasha: And also, feel free to drop of what you [00:26:00] want, like if you go, I love sweaters that have cool things, right by the cuff ribbing. Okay, cool. We'll make sure that there's an option for that.
Katie Rempe: yeah, or Please make sure there's set in sleeve option versus like raglan. This is the time to get it out and we'll see what we can do because All the things that we could brainstorm up Maybe don't include the thing that you're thinking about.
So help us consider all the options.
Occult Cult of Knitters
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Sasha: One sweater pattern to rule them all!
Katie Rempe: And then we'll come out with our knitting cult but you'll all be ewe-nique
Sasha: everybody must wear the sweater and it will be so hard to determine who's a cult member and who's not because all of the sweaters will look different.
Katie Rempe: It's an occult cult.
If you know, you know, and you don't say anything about it. It's sort of like fight club, but we don't fight about anything.
Sasha: love
Hex Spread Cloth
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Katie Rempe: a little bit, [00:27:00] because. Things that were supposed to happen, didn't happen, but things that weren't supposed to happen, did happen. And one of those things is my spreadshawl here, which I started.
Sasha: much.
Katie Rempe: I did this during the hurricane, as all of you probably know at this point, and I have been working on a pattern. Is this pattern gonna come out this month? Might be December. I have it at least in the works, so there's things. Again, Patreon will be a great place to follow along on updates for that, because it will be a free pattern for Patreon subscribers.
But it'll also be on Ravelry, so don't worry.
As a person who also uses, runes and divination methods and tarot, I was curious about your feedback on this, like, have you ever knit a divining cloth, or do you use them at all in your practices, and how might you use something like this, which [00:28:00] I have a working title called Hex shawl, because it's a hexagonal shape, and I was like, that's not entirely what I'm meaning in the double meaning there, but I guess it could.
Sasha: I had not put the hex and hex together until you pointed it out. Oh my gosh. Here I was just
Katie Rempe: Oops.
Sasha: purely on the geometry. I was like, yes, it is. It is a hex shawl. Katie. Good job.
Katie Rempe: Yeah, me. Oops. So I don't know. Working title. Maybe that won't be what it's actually called, but I kind of like that it has a double meaning there. So
Sasha: It's
Katie Rempe: we'll see.
Sasha: it now that I get it. I like it.
So have I made any kind of divining cloth? Do I use any kind of divining cloth? I usually don't. I try to keep my practice as simple as possible because when I overcomplicate it, then I don't do it because it's like, Oh, all of that's in the other room.
And I got to clear off space on the table. It becomes a whole project. And sometimes you just really need to flip over three cards and, like, spend a minute thinking.
That being said, when I do want it to be a whole project, I have a silk scarf that my great grandmother painted that I lay out and do a spread on.
So it's not, [00:29:00] specifically an altar cloth or it doesn't have any, like, spiritual symbols on it, but I just like that it connects me with my family and it's pretty and I don't know what else I would use it for.
Katie Rempe: It's very delicate. Plus silk is super strong as a fiber.
Future eBook!
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Sasha: That being said, as soon as you were holding up your shawl, I was like, you know what we should do? We should
Katie Rempe: What?
Sasha: on a mini e book of tarot spreads that go with the shawl!
Katie Rempe: Yes. Because there are so many areas
Sasha: hmm.
Katie Rempe: you to do things like you could just do one in the middle. You can do three around the top or two on the side and one on the bottom or the top. Hmm. Okay. Well, good. That will be in theory,
Sasha: I'm sorry.
Katie Rempe: this is not a challenge universe.
Sasha: another thing on our list.
Katie Rempe: Well, you know what? We have nothing but time. And this one, maybe we could do. Faster, because it doesn't require [00:30:00] knitting a thing. Here's what we'll do. I will, Dedicate myself to finishing the pattern soon. We'll do the crochet one for the count your blessings. It'll be crochet your blessings. Then I'll have this one figured out. We'll have it all done in December or sooner. And then you can be my test knitter that I. Don't usually ask people to do because I have a weird thing about test knitting and asking people to do stuff for free but I don't have apparently that problem with you, so Because you would tell me no if you didn't want to do it.
So
More bonuses that you can follow along on Patreon because just because the podcast is ending for the season, doesn't mean that the content over on Patreon is so yay. I guess we could do at least one more. Six spreads, right? Because it is the number six shawl.
Sasha: Yeah.
Katie Rempe: I'm very excited for that. So, yay. Thank you for the idea stay tuned, everybody.
December KAL
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Katie Rempe: Speaking of upcoming collaborations people can also look forward to potentially joining me [00:31:00] and Heather from Ewe Ewe to do a quick knit along for my worsted project.
River mitts. You have at least made the fingering weight river mitts in a past knit along, I believe. Is that correct?
Sasha: It was so fun. Actually, these live at my office because they are so wonderful. They're so quick and easy to take on and off and you can type with them. So here's the pair that I made. This
Katie Rempe: Love this color combo.
Sasha: that I hand spun and I didn't dye any of this fiber, but I blended it to get the colors that I wanted.
Katie Rempe: Whoa, that is Very cool. Super magical. Layers on layers on layers.
Sasha: it. And I did, I ran out of the dark color, which is why I have this thicker band of the light at the top. But you know what? I really like the visual effect.
Katie Rempe: Yes.
Sasha: you my favorite way to wear them.
because obviously this is warm, but it doesn't leave me much finger.
So
Katie Rempe: Mm hmm.
Sasha: like to turn just the inner cuff inside [00:32:00] out.
Katie Rempe: oh my gosh. I love that. So cool looking.
Sasha: And it really, it stays well like this. It, it holds that position kind of indefinitely. And so that gives me a lot more finger mobility when I want it. And if my fingers get cold, then I just flip it back down.
Katie Rempe: It's just that easy people.
What fiber did you use to spin it up? Oh, All
Sasha: Well, wool prickle does not bother me. But I wanted some color and I wanted a little luxury, so the other half of it is a blend that is 80 percent dyed merino, 20 percent undyed tussa silk. So you don't really see any of the whiteness of the silk in the finished [00:33:00] yarn because it got blended in so thoroughly. but The darker color was actually hot pink,
fuchsia before I blended it in, and then this dusty rose color was like a very pale, almost like a ballet satin y
And I love the way that, blending them with the medium really kind of gave them a common ground and brought them together.
And I think it's, pretty great. No,
Katie Rempe: It adds so much more depth. How long does it take you to spin up yarn to make enough to do something like that.
Sasha: this was pretty fast. I would say, honestly, the blending probably took me longer than the spinning did, because I wanted to do multiple passes to get a relatively smooth, cohesive blend.
Katie Rempe: And are you using the combs, or do you have like a machine blender?
Sasha: have a drum carter.
Actually, Dave from Louette was very kind to get me a fabulous deal on a Louette drum carter. So I made bats and I spun it and I think each one of these yarns was like one evening, like, you know, sit there, spin, watch TV.
[00:34:00] Oh, this yarn's done. do the other one tomorrow.
Katie Rempe: So fabulous.
Try Spinning!
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Sasha: It is my opinion that everybody who does knitting or crochet should spinning at some point. That does not mean by a wheel, that means buy like two ounces of fiber and wrap it around a pencil and just notice how twist moves and how more twist feels versus less twist because it makes you see the yarn in the store differently.
It helps you understand the way that yarns are going to behave because you'll have smarter fingers. You'll just understand yarn more deeply if you have tried spinning, even if you decide you hate it and you don't need to do it anymore.
Katie Rempe: good point. And like you said, even having that little bit of knowledge, even if it doesn't turn into your next hobby, gives you a wealth of perspective on, Oh!
There are plies on this yarn. I know what that is now. I can unply it and see how many there are.
Sasha: Yep.
like how tightly or loosely is [00:35:00] something spun and knowing how is that going to affect the fabric that I get? How is that going to affect how this garment will wear in the future? It's all super
Katie Rempe: Yes, indeed.
What sort of things do you have coming up? Do you have any projects or events or plans at all?
Consulting From Skein Shop!
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Sasha: As far as shop events, I love consulting with people via email. So if you are trying to plan a project and you're like, man, I just wish I knew what these two colors looked like right next to each other, email me.
Or if you're like, I'm a new knitter, what's a hat that you think I could tackle? Email me. I would love to give you that kind of help and assistance if you don't have other sources for it in your life.
On a personal level, I am deeply, deeply obsessed with, colorwork mittens.
Katie Rempe: oh, oh, that's a light project.
Sasha: so like,
Katie Rempe: Oh that's a work of art.
Sasha: a mitten, I only have [00:36:00] one mitten, the other one is in progress, but here's a mitten.
Katie Rempe: Oh my gosh, so stunning. and how long does one of those take you to crank out?
Sasha: If I focus mitten, maybe three or four days. If I don't focus,
Katie Rempe: Sure, yeah, infinity. Yeah,
well, of course, that's, I suppose for everything. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Well, I'm impressed in like the two to three, four days or whatever. That's pretty cool. I have to,
Sasha: ish for me where I'm like, Ooh, but just one more row. And then I get to do the.
Katie Rempe: I see. I am just like anxious to get back to the stock and at, because I don't want to have to pay this much attention. I, admire your, patience with color work.
Protection Sigil Cowl
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Katie Rempe: I could barely even do it for my sigil cowl. Even that only had eight rows. And I was like, ah, can't wait to be done with this.
Betwixt
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Sasha: Wait a minute. You're the one who designed that enormous blanket cape that had color work, you even had to like, strand on the pearl side.
Katie Rempe: [00:37:00] Yeah, well that should have given you a clue that I didn't know much about what I was doing to be like, yeah, do it flat. People love doing that. And, but also did you notice there was only like four sections where there is kind of that super easy color work that you don't have to float because it was like two stitches by two stitches and never more than that.
It was a lot of like color blocking.
Sasha: Yes, that's true. It was more
Katie Rempe: Um, uh, Hmm.
Sasha: get that kind of meditative flow state going. The other thing I need is something that takes up almost my entire brain, so that I can't be on the anxiety hamster wheel of, you know, everything else. [00:38:00] So that's where the mittens come in. Like, if I'm focusing and counting and making beautiful mittens, I get mittens and I get a break from the brain scream.
Katie Rempe: shawl or something. The brain scream color work mittens. Yeah. Silence the brain scream. I love it. Oh, I totally understand this way of thinking and that is brilliant. Good tip.
Winter Color Energy Reading
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Katie Rempe: Let's do one more color poll to advise
Sasha: I'm so
Katie Rempe: folks on what will the energy be that can help us through this break time. So the podcast will be back on March 5th. I also plan on doing maybe some repeat episodes of really early episodes that I had cool guests on that maybe a lot of people haven't gone back into the archives and seen, even though there were so many great people.
Sasha: have
an incredible roster of guests. I know there have been a couple times, that I have [00:39:00] messaged you and been like, this person would be so cool to have on, and you're like, yep, they were, they were awesome. You should watch the episode.
Katie Rempe: that's okay. It's my job to do the show, not your job to remember and watch all of the show. So, and that goes for the viewers too. You have a life also. Anytime you choose to watch or listen, I'm appreciative. So don't worry.
And plus, I always want to have people back on.
If you, are listening and watching right now and you're like, Oh, I wish so and so would come back. Let me know and we can see if we can make it happen.
But This color can give us some guidance while you're enjoying past episodes and going through holidays and the new year and all that other stuff.
I don't have my bag of cards, but I have a lot of yarn So i'm just gonna choose from this stash pile that I have a reasonable amount of
Sasha: a satellite
Katie Rempe: judge me
[00:40:00] guy. It's a sky blue.
Sasha: love it. Okay. Yay! Blue skies are coming, even if you can't see them right now.
Katie Rempe: keep calm and knit on. Yes, the healing, it's coming.
Sasha: Yes.
Katie Rempe: The sun will come out
Sasha: it's always there. It's just, it's behind clouds right now.
Katie Rempe: right. Clouds don't last forever. We just gotta wait it out.
Hopefully that will offer you all a little advice, that I think we could probably take no matter the . time, if you're conveniently working in this color, let me know, because I'm always interested to know what people are making.
Sasha: You've got the worsted weight river mitts coming up. River, water, blue.
Katie Rempe: But of course, look at you, it's like, you should work for me.
You're a better promo person than I am.
Knit A Spell Patreon!
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Katie Rempe: All right. So before we wrap things up, just a reminder that if you want to support the show, you can always do that by joining on Patreon.
It's [00:41:00] just 5 a month. Even if you're only there for one month, it's helpful. If you're there for three consecutive months, you get a free Knit A Spell sticker set right to your door. That's pretty fun. Put it on your water glass or stick it on your laptop or don't ever use it because stickers are precious, don't use them!
Follow Sasha & SkeinShop.com!
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Katie Rempe: Sasha. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, your time, your crochet, efforts, your ambition. Please remind people where they can follow you and find out more about your shop and all that good stuff.
Sasha: Yes, thank you so much for having me. This is just such a treat. If you like to visit my shop, it is skeinshop. com. If you would like to email me for, you know, those photos of colors or pattern recommendations, or just to say hi, it's [email protected]. There is an Instagram and it doesn't get updated because. There's just one of me and only so many hours in the day. So don't let that fool you. alive and well.
Katie Rempe: Nobody ever sees anything on Instagram anyway, hashtags.
Hashtag no [00:42:00] hashtags.
The irony, they trained us so well just to rip it right out from under us.
Sasha: that always the way?
Katie Rempe: As always, I will link everything to make it super easy to follow and email Sasha right in the description. And. Remember, you can join us in the after show hosted on Patreon, which is another thing that you get to unlock for the 5 a month.
Like all of these episodes this season have had after shows, there's been tons of stuff from prior seasons that are up there. It's a wealth of entertainment that could give you many hours of distraction while you're knitting.
All right, everyone. If I don't see you before March 5th, that's when the new season will be upon us.
So, until then, Merry Make, and we'll see you soon!
Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed the show, consider sharing it with a friend, leaving a review on iTunes or Spotify, and supporting us on Patreon to enjoy exclusive content. You can also subscribe to the Light From Lantern YouTube channel to receive a notification whenever a new [00:43:00] episode of Ninispel is released.
And as always, I'd love to hear your feedback on this episode, so be sure to leave a comment on YouTube or on Patreon. See you next week!
