I'm Drea. I'm Meg. I'm Tina. And I'm Jess.
And this is Pardon My Stash.
Welcome to Pardon My Stash, a podcast about knitting within the fiber arts and how awesome it is.
Before we get started on this week's topics, let's find out what everybody's working on this week.
Drea? Plugging away on that at Achemy Shawl.
Great. I'm like, oh my gosh.
Jerk.
Sorry, God. I'm sorry. Drea.
It's in jeans. It's in jeans.
Jeans. Shawl. Jeans. Got it. Go.
I'm still plugging away on the at Achemy Shawl. I'm like in the home stretch. I have like less than
10 rows. Yay.
Oh, that's an applause time.
Yep. I was working on it today this morning. I had an appointment and I had two little
ladies tell me that I was doing a beautiful job. I know it was such like a...
Gave me fuel. Pick you up.
You know, sometimes you just need that.
Oh, I really did. I really did. This one lady, she was like, oh, it looks like you're doing
like a lace pattern. Can you tell me about it? And I was like, yeah.
She wanted to hear about it too.
That's cute.
It was so nice.
That's very cute.
So I'm in the home stretch. I have motivation to do this. Maybe next week it will be done.
That's exciting.
It's ambitious, but I feel like I can do it.
Meg?
I am working on Lovely Stripes by Lea Michelle Designs.
I am working on it in the...
Jesus Christ. What's wrong with me tonight?
I am using Critical Hit Dyes Bard Fingering in the Discontinued Colorway Sapphire Dragon.
I am about two thirds of the way done. I have three sections to go after this one.
Each section is about 24 rows. So I would love to say I'll be done next week.
I'm not going to be done next week. Let's be honest. I'm not going to be done next week.
I think it'll be done by the end of August.
I haven't been knitting very much. I've been doing just other stuff.
You've been pumping out a lot of different stuff though.
You were working on that sweater before.
I haven't finished any of them.
No, I know, but you put a lot of work into it.
You're working on it.
I know.
You need to finish something to not do progress.
I'm getting really frustrated because there have been... I'm going to finish it. I got to pull that
back. I was working on Calliope and I was loving working on Calliope and then it got humid.
I cannot work with mohair when it's this humid. It's just not a thing.
That's why I started working on this because I can work with silk yarn when it's humid all day long.
Like no big deal. But I am more getting frustrated because at this point now I've
cast on three projects this summer and I usually try to be a little more restrained.
I had good reasons for casting on all three, but I'm not finishing any of them.
That's what's frustrating me because then I get frustrated where I'm at that point where you're
starting to get sick of them, but you just want them to be done.
You could just pull a me and just rip out all of them.
No.
I went from 17 whips to I think I have two now. No, three. I have three.
Well, you could do the same.
And they're all in my backpack to remind me that I have those.
You have 17 whips in your backpack.
I had.
That's a lot. I had 17. I pulled out all of them except for three.
Oh, really carrying around 17.
No, she was.
I was carrying around six.
Oh, okay.
At a time. That's why I couldn't fit.
Three.
That's why I couldn't fit anything into my backpack.
No, I'd experience a lot.
Okay.
You ever notice that my backpack's like heaving over all the time?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's because there were six whips in it at a time.
Very good.
I mean, at least you always had.
Options?
Yeah.
Yeah, until it got to the bottom of the backpack and I would forget what's down there.
And then it becomes a surprise.
And then it wasn't an improvement.
Jess?
I am working on a Phoenix.
It's like an amigurumi, like a stuffed animal. Phoenix by Crafty Intent.
It looks all cute, but it's just like a bean with a bird head.
And I love it.
No, it's got ruffles for the butt.
I do, I do. I have head ruffles and a tail ruffle started.
So I'm getting there. I'm getting there.
You got to do all the pieces first.
I'm using an old version of Critical Hit Die's Fireball.
It's one of the first ones.
And then for like the beak and the feet, I'm going to be using Plies and Hellhounds Day.
Nice.
That just reminded me of the Plies and Hellhounds we have.
Yeah.
For that shawl that we're planned on making.
Oh, yeah, that's right.
Yeah.
I'm going to do the spider shawl.
Now is a good time.
Spiders.
Now is a good time.
Crank out that fourth whip.
Why the heck not?
What are you working on, Tina?
Right now, I, so as I mentioned before, I have removed many of my whips and chains.
No.
Wow.
I'm just kidding. And I am down to my youngest daughter's sweater, which I was what I'm working
on right now, which is the Southwood by Gate of House Yarn.
I will warn you, if you make the Southwood, actually go by the measurements.
Do not go by the ages that they set there because they are wrong.
They are completely incorrect.
When I made the first one for my older daughter, I went by the age and it was massive on me.
I don't know if my children are just particularly petite, but then I was looking at the measurements
and it said a 10-year-old was a 32-inch bust and I'm like, that's not accurate at all.
Wow.
That is way too big.
So right now, I think technically I'm making the two to four year size, but I measured her chest
and I'm like, this is her size.
Okay.
And I could adjust the length.
It's just a basic rag one.
It's nothing fancy.
And then I still have my Stormy Skyshaw and I still have my Double Horned Scarf sample
that I refused to pull out because it looks so good in that rainbow yarn.
And in terms of yarn I'm using for Little Miss's sweater, it's rainbow yarn from a big box store,
which is highly ironic considering which big box it came from.
I'll leave it at that.
Be sure to check out our website, partofmystash.com for more information,
as well as pictures regarding our current projects, patterns, and yarns.
All right.
Just want to remind you all that there's 44 days till September.
You just shut your mouth.
This is like a war crime against me.
You realize that.
I counted.
A war crime.
You're an awful person too.
I'm your friend.
No.
My friends would not remind me that school is coming, okay?
I'm not trying to remind you that school is coming.
I'm trying to remind you all that if you were going to make things for the fall,
such as things to sell at craft shows or things that you were going to wear in the fall,
or if you were trying to get prepped for your Christmas items, you are running out of time.
You're just bringing all the joy today.
Now's the time to start.
So is it Christmas? It's Christmas already.
No. Are you sure?
Dre is not exactly wrong.
Today we are going to talk about Christmas in July.
So do we have, let's just start it this way and just keep it cash.
Do we have any, you like it?
You like my word there?
As opposed to like formal where we like pull out the monocles and the mock hats and the cord?
We're very formal here.
We have lots of formalities.
Okay. Such as?
You couldn't even say that with a straight face.
Anyways, what are projects that you are looking forward to in the fall?
Anything that you may be thinking about like,
Hey, like I either want to wear the thing I finished already.
Not me.
Or I want to, there's a project I really want to start now so that it's ready for the nice fall,
wintery weather that's coming.
I am looking forward to wearing my sweater again, you know, for the cooler weather so
that it's appropriate to wear it.
But I still have to weave in the ends from when I made it shorter.
Because it was, it was hanging a lot and it was like practically down to my ankles.
Like it, it was heavy.
So it elongated as it was worn too much.
You know, now that you say that, I feel like you're
saying that I feel like I need to do that with my first, my harvest cardigan.
Yeah.
Um, because at this point it hides my hands.
I feel like a toddler.
Yeah.
I'm like, because I, yeah.
So I think I need to do some sweater surgery and put it under and take, take some pieces off.
Yeah. But as soon as I do that, then I can, then I can wear it again.
But I also want to work on that spider shawl that you and I talked about doing.
I would love that.
Last year.
I know.
We got the yarn for it with plies and hellhounds.
Yep. Plies and hellhounds.
It's going to be beautiful.
Once it's done, we're going to be matchies, but I got to finish this one first.
You're so close though.
I am so close.
Yeah. Only, I mean, when you're in it, it's all easy too.
Yeah.
It's like garter a couple of baubles and then garter and I'm done.
Nice.
Mo you Meg.
Well, I'm, I'm looking forward to finishing my Kali IP sweater, just because it's going
to be really warm and cozy.
I unfortunately can't, well, fortunately or unfortunately, I can't wear my Ryan Beck
sweater anymore because I made it pre-surgery.
So, uh, doesn't fit my rack anymore.
Um, so that's surgery time.
No, I'm not, I'm not going to do that one.
I would literally have to redo the entire sweater from the, from the neck down for that
one to take in the bust.
Um, so Dreia wants to try it on and I do.
And if it's her, then she can have it.
I will be sad to lose it, but it's a, it's, it's not going to fit me anymore.
Um, the other thing, Jess and I were actually talking today, um, speaking of matching shawls,
um, we have a bunch of yarn that we, I was like, I kind of want to use it to make a fade
shawl, um, specifically free or fade by Andrea Morey.
And Jess was like, oh my God, I love that.
And I'm like, okay, but if we cut all those skeins in half, I'm going to be able to
make a shawl.
We can each make a shawl because they don't require all of it.
So we are also going to make matchy shawls.
I know.
So that's something we're looking forward to doing.
I'm probably going to start it after Reinbeck.
I, I don't, I don't know.
I don't, I don't have any like gift knitting planned at this time.
Um, yeah, I keep coming up with ideas and scrapping them.
So I feel like that there's too many people at this point.
There's actually too many people that I want to give for.
And I feel like if I start with a couple, then I'm going to have to do the rest.
Right.
Yeah.
Um, because, um, at this point, like there's babies everywhere.
I don't know what happened.
I had my babies younger, so my kids are closing into the double digits and everyone else is
like, I got a newborn.
And I'm like, oh my God, I need to make baby blankets everywhere.
And then I'm like, I can't, I actually cannot.
Yeah.
And that's too much.
That's a part of it.
Yeah.
And the other thing too, it's like, I have come to grips of knowing myself as an error,
especially like the, the thinner, the weight of the yarn, the longer it is going to take me.
Fingering weight stuff takes me forever.
I love knitting with fingering weight.
Like I do, but I cannot gift with fingering weight.
Yeah.
This shawl has taken me forever.
Yeah, it does.
It's just, and it comes out great.
You love doing it.
It's all about the process.
It feels fantastic, but yeah, it's beautiful.
You know what?
Like, I don't know if I can gift a fingering weight, anything at this point anymore, because
it just takes me so long.
Meanwhile, I put in my queue, an orchard house shawl for my cousin,
which is fingering weight.
Well.
And lots of bubbles.
I mean, I mean, she'll get it, you know, in six years and that's fine.
I think that's another thing.
That's, that's another thing is if you're making a gift for like some time in the future,
it doesn't have a deadline.
Fine.
Like, but if you're making a baby blanket, that has a deadline.
Yeah.
Presumably.
To a degree, it definitely needs to happen.
Baby garments have some sort of a deadline.
So it's a lot harder.
We're being really helpful with talking about gift knits.
Like, Jess, do you have any plans besides your matchy shawl?
I have another sort of idea.
We'll see if that happens.
For you or for somebody else?
For somebody else.
Is it for me?
No.
Um, so there's that that's on the burner.
I don't know.
I may do some more potion bottles because they're tiny and cute.
They are tiny and cute.
I need to find more key chains.
I like, cause I don't like the key chains that I got recently.
Sorry.
It's not your fault.
They don't carry them.
It's obnoxious, but I don't know what they're called.
So I can't just look them up online.
I'm going to have to do some research.
No, they have a specific clasp.
Kind of key chain.
This is me just walking into the store, buying some key chains and just being like,
these are the wrong ones.
I can't.
They'll work.
I'll use them, but I like the other ones better.
It's, it's just a need.
I don't know.
I know I had like a list of stuff at the beginning of the year.
And then I was sort of like, eh, I got distracted.
It's not how it goes though.
This Phoenix wasn't on it, but.
No, this wasn't on mine either.
It was needed.
Oh, I'm going to do another shawl using like the actual like fireball we stuck with
for critical hit dies.
Cause I found a cool, like all these like sort of mini shawls.
So I was like, yeah, I'm going to do that.
And off the top of my head, I can't remember anything else about it,
except for I thought it was really cool and I was going to use fireball.
So I'll have to like, look that up and tell you guys, I want to say it was Lord of the
rings, like inspired, but yeah, I like that.
I know.
So, uh, is there a tree beard one?
I don't know, man.
Four mirror one.
There is the, well, there is like two best characters.
There was like the one ring one.
There was like, there might be a tree beard.
You know what?
That's appropriate for tree.
For tree beard.
Yeah.
Boromir though, man.
Boromir dude, something more.
Boromir is a great character.
He is like, um, Boromir and tree beard.
They're like up there.
All right, let's get out of, let's get out of Lord of the rings because I might melt.
Well, what about you, Tina?
What are you looking forward to for the fall?
Well, actually, hilariously enough, I just bought a ton of chunky weights from critical
hit die.
And the reason why I did is because that is my plan is I want to make a bunch of chunky
weight, like hats, scarves, and mittens freaking love working for children with bulky weight
yarn.
But then like, especially children's eyes.
It flies off the needles, gives you the greatest high that you get.
Well, to be fair, like my kit, I don't know why there's a part of me that's like, why am
I doing this for my children?
They lose all of the things I ever give them ever, especially when it comes to like hats
and gloves and scarves.
But I have noticed that if I give them something like really nice, like it's like a special
thing for mommy, all of a sudden it's like, oh no, I got to put it in a special spot.
And they get like really weird about it.
So I'm like, okay, all right, this might work.
This might work.
I want to do that for them.
I bought them originally one colorway.
They saw the other colorway and now I have to get Megan just to probably make more yarn
for me because I don't think I have enough, but we'll see how that goes.
And honestly, like outside of like Joe's sweater that I feel like I need to finish because
she's been asking for it for like three years.
I don't have any like crazy, crazy plans.
I'm just kind of going with the flow.
I'm trying not to give myself too many deadlines, but yeah.
Yeah.
That's the goal right there.
But like, you know, on that, on that note, I feel like I always go through like
in terms of like business stuff.
I'm like, yeah, this fall I'm going to do like all the shows and I'm going to like
make all these things and I'm going to have this awesome display.
And then like, I don't know what it is.
I don't know if this happens to anybody else, but like I have this visual of like
this really cute setup and then I'm like, what the hell am I selling?
I have nothing to sell and I'm like, why am I like, but like I have like, I'm like,
oh, and then I'd like put this here and I'd have this there and like I have the whole
booth in my head and then I'm like, I don't.
For what?
And then I'm like, I have to make stuff and then I go down that rabbit hole and then all
of a sudden I'm like, wow, I would have to make a lot of stuff.
You would have to make a lot of stuff.
And I would have to commit to it and I'd have to sit there and make probably the same
thing over and over and over again.
And that's where me and Jess get along.
Cause like, I cannot, I cannot.
There are a few things that I'm like, yeah, I'm going to do this.
But yeah, usually I'm like, no, I'm good.
I don't know.
There's plenty of things that I could just sit there and like finish immediately cast
on again.
Sunday swing.
Absolutely.
Always.
Forever and ever.
But like a stock net hat, if I enjoyed the yarn enough, yeah.
Maybe.
I don't know.
Suspicious.
Sometimes it's just what I need.
I feel like, I feel like I would maybe do too.
And then I'd be like, wow, I need to make a different hat or different thing altogether.
Just my, my focus would just completely leave me.
So that's why I say I like the potion bottles because I make a different potion every time.
Different color.
Yeah.
A different color is a different potion.
So it holds my interest for at least like three.
And then I'm like, okay, are you going to create a potion that gives you uncontrollable
giggles the entire time that you are under its effect?
I don't think we need that at this table.
Yeah, I think we're good.
I think we're good on that.
Okay.
So we have some like vague plans of what we're going to do for the fall.
So all right.
It's July though.
And we're all dying of heat stroke.
Um, so it's been pretty nasty.
I'm just literally, I'm so hostile about this weather.
I'm so hostile about it.
Like I'm so mad, like literally Jess is so sick of me stomping around the house going,
is it ever going to stop raining?
Like the humidity is offensive.
And I said that to my hairstylist and he lost it.
Like he loved it.
He loved it.
He started saying it to everybody.
It is offensive.
When you have hair like mine, yes, it's offensive.
You know what?
That's fair.
When I walk around looking like an alpaca every day.
Yeah, it's offensive.
All but a pack is so cute.
Don't look at me.
If looks could kill.
Good thing it doesn't come through the microphone.
I want you to know that recently I've been getting ads in my feed.
They're like, you need to buy this alpaca sweater.
And I'm like, you know what?
I don't need to buy that.
I definitely don't do that.
With that in mind, the question I wanted to ask was,
how do you knit hot weather?
No.
How do you knit?
Let me hold weather items in hot weather.
Heat bad knit.
How do you knit heat bad knit?
That was by poetry.
I was like, you know, that was what that just was.
Are you trying to make like, what did I just witness?
Okay.
They got this.
It's hot and you got things that's going to make you hot.
And your hands.
And your own hands.
You need help with this question.
Oh my God.
I'm crying.
Okay.
If you're trying to knit something that's very heavy
and can make you hot in the summer,
how do you go about doing that without dying?
Blast the AC.
I'm just like, why are you moaning?
Oh, good heavens.
You know what?
She did have it and then we lost it again.
Okay.
So there's blast.
We got blast the AC.
That's it.
That's the solution.
You're either going to blast the AC
or you're going to live somewhere that doesn't
experience weather like this.
I'm knitting a mohair sweater.
Let me move to the Arctic.
Yes.
Look, I don't, I'm not making the options.
Those are only the, those are the only options.
Okay.
Just because you're, you're making something for the winter
months doesn't necessarily mean that it is a bulky, hot, heavy thing.
Garmin.
Yeah.
I mean, Jess never knits anything bulky, hot or heavy ever.
Yeah.
Even her sweater was made out of very light fingering way.
I try my hands like they get sweaty.
They break out.
I get like little dots that peel.
It's disgusting.
So I don't do.
The only thing that really bothers me to knit in the summer is mohair.
I can knit almost anything else.
Oh, and I don't want to knit a big bulky project like a blanket,
but I'll knit anything else in the summer, even if it's warm.
I mean, honestly, I've been doing a lot of knitting on the porch
and we don't have air conditioning out there.
So I just turn on little tower fan and, and that suffices without the AC,
but also knitting it like either early in the morning or late at night.
Same thing with exercising, like knit when it's not as hot or humid.
Oh, yeah, that's fair.
You can do that, too.
I also find that I generally like to use my machine a lot more often in the summer.
That's fair.
Because sometimes sometimes if I'm like, OK, I know I want to make like a bunch of charity hats.
OK, so I can crank those out without them sitting on my lap or in my hands.
And they're like and they tend to be like wool or like bulky,
like they are like wool or like heavy kind of things.
So I find I can get through them on the machine really quick and then move on and.
Find something else that's a little bit cooler to deal with, but.
Yeah, fair.
You can find there are patterns made for like summer wearing.
I still probably would not wear anything.
Woollen or knit, but there there are there's plenty of tops that people make and.
Things that you can do for the summer months if you want to like knit something and then be able to
like actually show it off in the summer like like a tank top.
Yeah, they do exist.
I have seen them.
You know, one thing, though, that for me, at least because I feel like I can say this now as an
authority because I've made two of them.
Bags are so much easier to make crochet than knit.
Yeah, like I've made knit bags and they're really popular in the summer and that's why I'm bringing
them up because like in the summer, that's like usually what I hear about is people going like,
oh, I want like a like a mesh like knit bag for like my farm vegetables that I'm getting from the
produce and like whatever.
No, I swear to God.
So instead, like, but I've made two of them.
One of them was more solid and then the other one was more lacy.
They take a ton of time when you knit because they're just I don't know why, but it just the
ones that I make at least even in like a worsted weight, they just take so much time where I feel
like with crochet, they're just like you just pop them out like they just get done a lot faster.
Maybe it's just Instagram rails going really fast, but I feel like when I make knit bags,
they go really slow.
I quickly made a bag when I was in North Carolina for someone who was leaving the wine bar that we
used to go to for one of our meetups and I thought it was like, oh, this will be this will go so fast.
I was like up till like midnight trying to make that bag because I was like, oh my God, this is
this this is like, I'm going to make this bag.
I'm going to make this bag because I was like, oh my God, this is this this handle is taking for
effort. There's only like six stitches across.
Why is this taking so long?
It just it's really monotonous.
And yeah, I have feels about it, which leads me to my other point because this is turning into an
ADHD thing.
I want to make crochet bags.
So do it.
I have to teach myself how to crochet first, not as poorly as I do now.
Well, it's a good thing you have a crochet master at this table.
I know.
I've already told you I was crocheting backwards for.
Yeah, but you're good now.
You showed me how to crochet and I yeah, that was a thing.
I crocheted squares.
You even taught Meg.
I did.
Even Meg.
That sounded so terrible.
Yeah, the original original even Meg was even fun.
Oh, my God.
How do we determine now what we're going to be making for Christmas?
I like to try to be really pragmatic with the schedule and be like, OK, that's fair.
If so far this year, I have managed to complete two items.
Maybe I shouldn't put nine for Christmas on the list.
I feel like a lot of times, I'm like, I'm going to be like, oh, I'm going to be like,
I feel like a lot of times people and especially people that are just really starting out
and they realize that they can knit and they're like, oh, I can make scarves.
Fantastic.
Christmas is in the bag.
And that's great.
I'm definitely not trying to dissuade anybody from making Christmas presents,
but it's also important to remember what you're actually capable of knitting in a
finite amount of time.
And don't stress yourself out like that.
And maybe not everybody on your list needs a hand knit item.
You can get them a book.
You don't need to do that to yourself.
So I think like looking at your schedule and really being like honest with yourself
about how much time you have, how much time you actually want to spend knitting,
how much time you want to spend knitting things that are like that have a deadline
that you actually need to finish in a certain amount of time and then go from there.
And maybe that turns out being one thing.
Maybe it turns out being no things.
But then at least you're not setting yourself up for crushing failure when you're freaking
out two weeks before Christmas and you have accomplished literally, you know, half of the
list or none of the list.
And all you've done is stress yourself out.
I think it's really important to know what your, I don't, I don't mean limits are like
capability wise, no, not even capability wise, just like, I mean, here's the thing.
If I really want to, I can crank out, you know, like
I'll be generous.
I had a week.
Like if I'm, if I want to, that's going to stress me out.
That's a lot of knitting.
And that means I have to put aside a lot of other things that I might want to do.
So also not even just your capability, but how do you want to spend your time?
Do you want to spend your time cranking out like a week from now until Christmas or do
you maybe want to call that list down a little bit?
Yeah, I am.
I don't know how to do that.
Yeah, I am. I don't know how to schedule myself.
I always overcommit in my brain, not like to other people, but like in my brain, I'm
like, I'm going to do all these things.
I'm going to, it's going to be great.
I'm going to do 20 things and I'm going to finish them all in two hours.
Yeah.
It's going to be awesome.
Yeah. I also do that.
And then two hours go by and I finished something that was not part of the 20 things.
And I'm like, and then you're like, crap.
I, I, yeah, I still have 20 things to do.
Yep. And now I have less time and now I'm, now I'm getting upset with myself when I did
not need to do that.
I think honestly, this year I need to not subscribe myself to committing as many,
to as many finished knit items just because I want to do other things outside of knitting
this year.
There's a lot of stuff that I want to do in particular with like my coding stuff.
So like I need to finish.
Yeah, I need, I feel like I need to finish.
If I finish that stuff earlier than I think it's going to take me, which already I'm a
little bit ahead of time with that, then I think I can start like, okay, well, maybe
I'll make this person something for Christmas.
But in the meantime, I, I just think committing to any kind of Christmas gift writing is
gift right now is really, really bad news bears for me.
I shouldn't be doing that.
I should just try to finish one thing because I haven't, I don't think I finished.
I don't even know if I finished.
Did I finish a project this year?
Yeah, you did.
You, you knit a little sweater.
Remember you knit like a baby sweater.
The pink one.
Yeah.
I put it on the blog.
Oh yeah.
That guy was really nice.
Yeah.
That guy.
So you have and that's the thing.
Like that wasn't even somebody I knew, just so you know.
Yeah.
It was like my husband's coworker.
Yeah.
That was nice.
I remember.
He really liked it.
But yeah, it's probably not a great time to be like, I'm going to commit to, to six things
by Christmas.
Yeah.
You know, that's probably not a good, and you know what?
Some years, like I had a great, I did, I, I did not have a great 2021 in the respect that
like a lot of stuff happened that was not great, but I rediscovered how much I love
knitting and I just like plowed through projects because my kid was a little baby and I was
home with her and COVID no, it was 2020, not 2021 COVID sucked.
And I had like very little else to do.
So I was knitting all the time and I cranked out a ton of projects and you know, I could
look back and be like, look at that.
I'm, I'm capable of producing this many projects in a year, but then I also look at like, okay,
I was between jobs.
I had a toddler at home.
Like there were a lot of other things going on.
So to take that productivity and apply it to today and the things that I'm doing today
is like, is just like setting yourself up for misery.
I can't crank out that much in the current state that I'm in right now.
It's not possible.
And there's not, that's not a problem.
I just have other stuff going on and other things that I need to do and things I'd rather
Anyone on my mental health team was listening to this episode right now.
They'd be like, Christina, if you try to commit to anything right now, I swear to God.
No, cause like, honestly, the, the goal.
Of this year has been reduced, reduced, reduced because my health is just more important than
anything.
And I have been doing really, really well, but, um, but then it's like, I, it's like
the same thing.
Like I look back on my Ravelry, like, you know, that challenge thing.
Yes.
And it's like, once some of those years, I was in like the twenties and I'm like, and
I'm like, there was a rivalry.
No, no, no, no, no.
They're like, how many things do you want to do in this?
Yeah.
You can say it or you could not.
Interesting.
It's not like an actual like.
No, no, no.
You're just saying what do you, what do you want to do this year?
There's no like prize.
There's no like consequence.
You're basically like setting yourself like a number of projects you'd like to finish
this year.
It's like the way Goodreads has a reading challenge.
Like how many books do you want to read in a year?
Like, but I think even just that whole premise is like bad news bears.
Like I don't want to be a quantity of numbers.
I just want to be a number.
I just have things that I finished.
I just want to enjoy like a quality of.
I need to turn into a progress knitter, not a product knitter.
Yeah, I absolutely do need to do that because if I don't convert into that, I'm going to
like have issues.
I'm trying to know yourself.
Yeah, I'm just no, I just know that if I keep tying my self-worth to a quantity number
rather than a quality or an experience, it's just going to keep like making me stressed
out.
Yes, it's going to take the joy out of doing something that you love.
And everyone is different.
Right.
There are some people that thrive on the they thrive on that on hitting the benchmark
and getting the numbers in.
But I thought I did and I don't.
Yeah.
And there's nothing wrong with either way.
But the other thing to remember at the end of the day is it's art and we're not machines.
And you can't expect yourself to crank out more than you're actually comfortable doing.
Yeah.
So.
Big come away is just make sure you're having fun, guys.
Like make sure you are enjoying what you are doing.
Because otherwise, yeah, why are you doing it?
It's I mean, I guess unless it is really your job, in which case, sorry, you got to.
Listen, we all know it's just boundless joy.
Twenty four seven. I mean, you've seen me drop stitches.
You know, that's just boundless joy right there.
Well, I mean, I mean, that's why you work an eight hour day.
Right.
That right.
Right.
An eight hour day.
For quality of life.
Because it's not even quality of life.
It's quality of your work.
Because that's a certain number of hours you just turn into a terrible worker.
Yeah, you really do.
Like I love it when people like, yeah, put in a 12 hour day at work.
I'm like, wow, it sounds like you were productive for six hours.
And then for six hours, you did terrible things that you're going to have to fix tomorrow for
another six hours and then put another.
Yeah, no, that sounds like a terrible cycle.
Let's not do that.
It's just it's like there's tons.
And if you disagree with me, just there's tons of studies.
There's tons of like the productivity levels after a certain point literally just drop
because people people's brains need a break.
You can't just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again.
Even if it's like a different.
Yeah.
Even if it's a different project, if it's in the same vein of work, like you just need
to, you know, switch your brain and and obviously everyone's brains different.
And if you have more of a neurodivergent brain and you're like, wow, I really need like changes
and differences to keep my mind occupied, then that affects you even more.
But if you're really up to a challenge for like a gif net, the gennaker hat is like so good.
Oh, it's so pretty, though.
It is so pretty.
I love that.
How's a good one?
I made it as a gift to me.
And that would be like a baller hat to give to somebody else.
What was that headband that we like made to get like you made one for Starship?
Yeah, stratus.
I mean.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, so that stratus headband looks really complicated, but it's not.
Yeah.
And I have done a few.
Yeah.
And it looks like the last minute.
Yeah.
You can get them done at the last minute.
You knit it flat and then you join it.
And it's it's really pretty the way it comes out.
It's just this kind of ribbed looking headband.
And and I'm pretty sure isn't this bulky.
No, worsted worsted.
I saw I used used Malibre go.
I assumed it was bulky.
But yeah, that headband in particular is a really good go to for like a last minute.
When I say last minute gift, I mean, like you have a couple weeks not do it tonight
for tomorrow.
Like, don't do that to yourself, please.
Oh, yeah, geez.
Yeah, I won't be doing that again.
That's crazy.
If I were.
If I were going to if I needed a hat like last minute to bang out to,
you know, for work or whatever, which I've had to do,
I would say the the Utrecht beanie by Dutch Girl Creations.
I am super bulky.
I haven't had that in one day.
And it's really fast.
It's really easy.
If you have more time, honestly, I think a really good solid gift.
Cocoa Bean.
Oh, it's a really that is one of the most like popular like fashion hats,
like styles with the different ribbing.
So many times.
It has been.
But the reason is because it's so super popular.
So it's a crowd pleaser.
Like, I would definitely say that.
That's a good one.
Everybody likes that style.
It's a really good style.
It is.
And granted, not everybody likes hats.
But if you're going to make a hat and you don't know somebody's preference,
I think that's probably one of the best like risks you could take.
This will be in love.
My cocoa bean.
I feel like I have.
Oh, I have a green one that's way oversized.
That's but it has a similar problem that your sweater has because it's made of cotton as well.
Yeah.
And it blew up.
And every so often I have to throw it in the dryer to shrink it back down.
Yes, you do.
It's a comfy hat, though.
It's a nice hat.
I made it out of dishy.
Yeah, I know.
I never.
Where's the judgment?
Bring me the judgment.
I know that just tracks for the way it behaves.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
No judgment.
It's just.
What about you, Jess?
I mean, not going to lie, there was one year I totally just crocheted up a bunch of monsters.
I still have some of those.
Are you trying to tell me something?
You forgot about me.
Sorry.
Whatever.
No, no, I'll live with it.
You got a sushi fish too.
Like that took more time.
I did.
I love you just like the suit monsters, the suit monsters from Spirited Away.
Yeah, I had some fuzzy black yarn and some googly eyes and I just.
So I don't remember those.
Yep.
Yeah, I recently found them.
Like I definitely made a bunch.
A lot of like not everybody got them, but I just made a bunch of them.
But yeah, otherwise, like guys, I'm 100% not going to lie because I know how I am with
with crafting, especially around the holidays and where I get distracted and whatnot.
So it's like, do you get a gift card and you get a gift card?
Do you know what?
That's okay too though.
Yeah, it really is.
You got to know yourself.
So yeah, time is short.
The holidays are coming.
Yeah, I usually do not do a last minute like, oh crap, I didn't get this person something.
I will like, you know, turn out a bulky hat, which looks amazing.
But then I would pick up yarn and be like, no, just like that.
Yeah, just like that.
Most of the time, if I'm doing a knit, I do have to plan it way in advance.
And if I get to a cutoff point and I haven't gotten to where I need to be for it, I'm like,
I'm getting this person something else.
And then if I finish it, awesome.
But if I don't, I have something else.
So no stress.
It's good backups.
Yeah.
I feel like this year I, I've been, I was thinking about this last year is that for the three of us
or three of you plus me, I would want to like get us like an experience rather than like,
like I want to go like hug the goats.
Hug the goats.
I love it.
There's, there's a place to go hug goats, like by my house.
You know what I mean?
Like that's, that's what I would rather do.
More of an experience then.
Rather than like, well, it could still be like somewhat fibery farmer or whatever related,
but like, but rather than like, okay, I'm just going to quickly Amazon things.
And then I don't like any of the Amazon things and I'm going to Etsy things.
I'm going to go, why is this taking three months to ship?
And then, and then, and so I feel like I thought about that last year and I was like,
I really want to do an experience together.
Cause I think some of my family members have been doing that with my kids.
And I feel like that they're really enjoying the experiences more than the stuff.
Definitely.
So definitely.
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