I'm Drea.
I'm Meg.
I'm Tina.
And I'm Jess.
And this is Pardon in My Stash.
Welcome to Pardon My Stash,
a podcast about creating within the fiber arts
and how awesome it is.
Yes!
Before we get started with this week's topic,
let's find out what our people are working on, Jess.
I am still-
Oh, I like that.
Thank you.
Um, working on Nimue, a crochet blanket.
I'm working on the middle part.
I had a vague idea of the way I wanted the colors to go,
and I've been kinda changing it up
because I did it terribly on paint.
And I'm like, mm, I'm gonna switch it up.
So we're kinda going with it.
But Dreya likes it, and I like it,
so I feel like that's going pretty good.
Is it soft?
I said it's just a rogue base, so it's merino nylon,
but it's fun, and there's sparkly parts,
and there's other colors.
Wow.
Yeah.
Um, I finished the Lost Souls shawl,
which is a mini shawl for my daughter,
because I ran out of yarn and didn't feel like doing more
because it's almost Halloween.
So.
It's got faces.
It does have faces, and it's blocking,
and I'm blasting it with heat right now,
so it'll be ready for tomorrow,
because I totally finished it only about like four hours ago.
Dude, and she's so pumped to wear it
with her Halloween costume.
Oh, she is, she's so excited.
She's all excited about it.
So.
It's gonna go well with it.
So I'm gonna go to check on it tomorrow,
make sure it has time to dry.
But yeah, so I finished that one.
I'm working on this one, and I'm using,
well, I already said I'm using Critical Hit Die's
rogue base and sparkly base, and in assorted colors.
This one's got Vishka and Morganis and Silver Dragon,
and natural.
Natural colors.
Dreya?
I have literally nothing.
I see that.
I have nothing.
I haven't cast on the Bolero that I wanted to do.
I didn't cast on the shawl that I wanna do.
And I think it's because over the past like couple months,
I've been, well, I guess I've been really stressed
waiting for like answers from my doctor
about like a diagnosis.
Everything's great.
But that waiting period, like once I finished the project
that I was working on, I had nothing else.
And now that I have gotten good news,
I know, I'm very happy that it's good news.
I'm getting caught up on all the things
that I have been neglecting in my personal life,
like cleaning.
Yeah, that's fair.
Yeah, so I've been doing like the deep clean
of my living space and getting laundry done
and putting things away and all that good stuff.
And that's really been taking up a lot of my time.
So I will be casting on.
I still haven't fixed my measurements yet.
I feel like I'm in a better space
to actually work on that now.
So probably by the next time we record,
I'll have something.
And I'm looking forward to that.
Meg.
I am working on Cala still.
I have not actually, that's a lie.
I've doubled it since last week.
You just can't tell.
You can tell.
Can you?
Yeah, oh yeah.
So I've been working on this super sporadically
and it's mainly been because I too,
like it just my job is stressing me out.
And everything is, a multitude of things are stressing me out.
To the point where like I get home
and maybe you guys can understand this.
You're like all day, I cannot wait to sit down
with my knitting.
I can't wait to get some knitting done.
And then I'm on the couch and I'm like,
you know what's gonna be more fun than knitting?
Doom scrolling.
I was just gonna say that literally.
So like the last,
I honestly hadn't picked this up since Saturday.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, I did not.
I did not knit a single stitch like at all.
So I'm kind of trying to get more into it
because I do enjoy it.
It's very nice.
It's very meditative.
It's like the squishiest fabric ever, which is very nice.
But it's just a lot of stuff going on right now.
So I've been doing more doom scrolling
than I've been doing actual knitting.
Which is-
Oh, I wish I wasn't like that.
I feel you.
Sometimes it's like I catch myself like looking at my phone
and I'm like, no, I'm supposed to be knitting right now.
Well, and that's the frustrating thing too
because you spend the entire day looking forward to it.
And you're like, wow, I can't wait to get back to my project
and I'm gonna get so much done
and this is what I've been looking forward to.
And then you get to the end of the day and-
And you tell yourself you're gonna scroll
for like 10 minutes just to like,
just to ease into the rest of the evening.
And then all of a sudden it's bedtime.
Well, you know what the kiss of death has been honestly
is that right before bed,
our kid wants to do a cuddle puddle
where we all get into our bed together and we snuggle
and we'll watch like reels on Instagram
and mainly cat videos, cause that's what she's into.
And then she goes to bed, but now I'm in bed.
I am also in the bed and I'm really comfy at this point
and I'm in pajamas and the urge to get it so funny
because literally every night like we'll put her to bed
and I'll just kind of climb back into bed
and Jess will look in the room and be like,
oh, not coming downstairs again tonight.
We're all, this is what we're doing.
So I really have got to break out of the cycle
and I have to stop going to bed early
and then waking up in the middle of the night
and doom scrolling some more.
It's just, it's not-
It's gonna be so hard because now it's daylight savings.
Oh my God, no.
The only good thing about that is because it's October,
all my indie horror players are playing all the indie horror
so I've just been catching up on that
while I knit watching some horror games.
I forgot about daylight savings, truly.
I need the womp-womp.
Womp, womp, womp, womp.
I can't do this for five months, guys.
Ugh, it's the worst.
Tina, what are you working on?
I am still, I am still working on the slip on your shoulder
knit for Blame the Knots
and I'm using Critical Hit Dyes, Drew DK
in Thunderwave and Tequila Sunrise
and I wanted to show you I finished a sleeve.
I love how the sleeve looks really good.
It does look really good.
It is such an interesting construction,
it does look really cool.
So I made this heart around myself
because I decided I'm gonna make the accent piece
on the side of the shoulder a different color
and I thought this won't be a big deal
until I realized that 80% of the shoulder is short rows.
So.
Just the collective.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, so I was just like, okay,
well, I am gonna come up with a plan for this and I did.
The payout was really good
because it does look really cool.
It does look good.
Yeah, it looks really good.
Thank you.
There's like, I see it and I'm like mess up, mess up, mess up
but I'm also just like happy it's like done.
Yeah.
So I'm not like, I'm not mad about it.
Well, nobody else is going to see anything
if it's messed up.
No, I know that.
And you're almost done.
Look at that.
One sleeve to go.
So after I finished that one, I was like,
I'm going back to the body
because if I do another sleeve right now,
I might hurt myself.
So I was like, let me just do it.
So I'm back on body rows
and I think I only have about an inch left to do.
Cause this is supposed to be a, like a bit of a cropped top.
So I only technically have like an inch to do
and then I can dive into sleeve number two.
Well, she's really pretty.
Good colors.
Thank you.
I'm really happy with how the fade came out.
It looks really natural.
And I keep getting the comments of like sunset to ocean.
And I'm happy.
I'm really happy with it.
It's nice when your vision like plays out in real life.
Like that's what you wanted for it.
And that's how it came out.
No, it's good.
If you want to make a fun granny square type of thing,
like Jess is doing,
you can check out our sponsor, jimmybeanswool.com
where they have the granny square card deck
and it is a pocket size crochet muse.
It actually looks pretty cool.
It actually does look really cool.
Like it's a whole bunch of little granny square options.
It's like a little amuse bouche.
It basically gives you like the finished square
and what it looks like and an easy to follow way
to like make the same thing.
So I think that is pretty, pretty cool.
So you can check that out again at jimmybeanswool.com.
For more information about our podcast,
check out our website at partofmystache.com
for more projects, patterns and yarns.
Guys, I'm feeling, feeling a feeling.
What's the feeling?
What kind of a feeling?
You know, sometimes the craft,
there's stuff about the craft that really grinds my gears.
Well, I like that movie.
Dear God, Dre, why?
It's not a good movie, but it's fun.
All right.
So I want to remind you that you're on a Fiber Arts podcast
and that's what we're talking about when we say crafts.
Fine.
Oh my God.
Anywho.
So I'm feeling a certain kind of way.
I feel like complaining.
And if you're feeling like complaining,
come join us over at part of my stash
where we're gonna complain this episode
about what grinds our gears.
Why don't you start since you're so spicy tonight?
Well, you know what grinds my gears?
Tell me.
That there isn't a knitting machine
that can take over the body for you
so you could just crank away
and not have to do stocknet forever.
Do you know what?
I'm not going to lie.
When I got the adding machine,
I thought that's what I was gonna be doing.
And just turning out all those sweater bodies.
I really did.
Do the fun part, then chuck it on there
and get the rest of it done.
I was like, oh, knitting machine.
This must be what this is for.
And it's not.
No.
I was super disappointed.
Listen, someone's gotta get on that.
Someone's gotta get on that.
I mean, I think you can do it with the flat machines
that have way more hooks.
Yeah.
I only have a round one.
I know.
I wanna get a flat one.
Yeah, the round Addie's are just not gonna do it.
It can barely make a hat.
And also, heaven forbid you drop a stitch.
So as you're clicking it.
Yes.
But also, I've really figured out tension
to make that not happen as much.
Basically, if you don't keep consistent tension,
that happens all the time.
But there's a special way that I talk to my Addie.
I literally talk to him.
I'm like, come on.
That's fair.
We're gonna wind this yarn today
and we're not gonna be mad.
And we're just gonna wind it.
And we're just gonna be friends today.
There's a special way Jess talks to it too.
It's not like that though.
Oh, yeah.
It's not like that.
That's probably why it throws the stitches.
See, you have to be friendly.
You have to be friendly.
Jess isn't friendly.
I am sure.
I'm like, listen.
It works on my printer.
It should work on my Addie.
That's all I have to say.
Listen.
But yeah, no, because like, and don't get me wrong.
Like I love a good stockinette stitch
when I'm just sitting and watching TV
and being mindless and not, you know,
just enjoying the knitting without really like.
Where you don't have to count and keep track.
Yeah, but then there gets to,
especially when you're doing a plus size sweater,
there just gets to a point where you're just like, man.
I just wanna be driven.
I think I'm gonna take off my boobs
because I really just wanna make a smaller sweater
so I can finish this faster.
I think that's where I'm at with that.
Meg, what grinds your gears?
Okay, so this is not meant to be like a ravelry like dunk,
but what I do hate is when people on ravelry
tag their pattern with every single tag.
Oh my God.
Known to mankind, trying to reach a bigger audience.
And you click on that pattern and it has nothing to do
with any of the things that you were looking for
in the first place.
That's annoying.
It is really annoying.
And it's a trick that some designers use
to try to get more traffic to their pattern.
But it is really obnoxious.
It's really obnoxious when you're like,
I'm looking for a DK weight sweater with such and such
and you end up getting something that is totally not that,
but the designer hit every single tag.
And every once in a while,
they try and get around it by adding in the comments,
well, you could use different weights
and just gauge it to fit.
And you're like, no, that's not.
I'm not gonna do that though.
I'm really surprised that that even gets by
because I feel like every time I submit a pattern
and I tag stuff, they get real strict about it.
They're like, nope, this is not this, this is not that.
And it's like, oh, okay.
I feel like, yeah, they're trying to crack down on it,
but every so often, someone slips through
and it is really frustrating.
And I'm not by no means, I just wanna clarify.
I'm not trying to do the multiple tags thing,
but it's like-
Well, you should if they qualify.
Right, it's just like some of them that I think qualifies,
they're like, no, not technically because of this,
but at least they give me an explanation.
So I'm like, okay, all right, I could see how you mean that.
And whatever, but like, yeah, no,
that's why I'm surprised because I'm like,
oh man, they're real right.
Rough when I put something.
But if I'm looking for a DK weight sweater,
I don't want a pattern for a fingering weight sweater
that says, and you can totally fudge this
if you do your own math, like no.
No, that's why I put a DK
because I don't wanna do math.
I don't do math, I don't do the math.
Maybe that should be a tag in itself, do your own math.
So you can like search for not that.
Yeah, no.
I will not be doing my own math.
Exclude this tag.
I stopped doing math in freshman year of college.
That was the end of my math career
and I will not be doing math again.
Some patterns where that makes sense.
Like I know a lot of really awesome patterns
that do a lot of options.
Yeah, sure.
Oh, flexible.
And your arms and like even the slip on your shoulder
has like an arm adjustment that you can do.
But like, yeah.
Or they provide you with the instructions of like,
you can knit this in DK, here are the instructions here,
the fingering weight, here's the bulky.
Like they still give you everything.
As long as it's a full pattern with all the instructions,
great, tag whatever you want.
But don't tag something if I now,
after I have purchased the pattern,
am to be expected to gauge it and do the math myself.
No, absolutely not.
I will not be doing that.
Especially if I paid for it.
No, I will not be doing that.
Oh, that's like, if I, yeah.
That's like the fastest way to get me to never buy
one of your patterns again.
It's like a mental blacklist in my head.
I just won't.
If it's like not as described
or it's like really poorly done.
But grind your gears, Dreah.
When you buy a pattern
because it says it's size inclusive
and then you open the pattern and it's not.
I feel like you've had recent experience with this.
I have.
I feel like in that case, like I,
and some people do do this
and I appreciate the designers that do this.
They put down the actual sizes that it goes to
and just so you know before you buy it that,
oh, this inclusive size still does not.
Like the actual measurement.
Yes.
That's not gonna fit me.
Yes, because there are plenty of patterns and designs
that say that they go up to two X or three X or four X.
And my definition of two X, three X, four X
is not the same as yours.
Yeah, like it's or.
It was like it was obviously designed by somebody
who does not have that need.
Experience, yeah.
Yeah.
And saying that you do and then it clearly is not is.
Yeah, it's misleading.
It's misleading.
It just really gets me
because now you got my money and I got nothing.
Yeah, I mean like I also don't like the fact
in the same kind of vein
when they say it's size inclusive with that.
But then like add an additional factor of,
well, it's size inclusive,
but these sizes and those sizes you have to do math
and these ones are all set.
So like it'll say like small to XL or whatever,
size two to five.
We have all like,
here's all the counts for you and everything.
We graded everything for you.
If you're a size, a two X,
then you have to like add five here, add six there,
put four there.
And I'm like, that's.
No.
Just write it out.
Can I include it in the pattern?
Can I piggyback on that?
Because I got one to go along with this one.
Drives me absolutely freaking nuts
when they will, the pattern is says like,
okay, we have sizes up to, it's size inclusive,
we're up to here.
But then the pattern calls for 10 inches of positive ease.
Oh yeah.
And they count the positive ease.
They count the positive ease into the like,
so they'll say like, okay,
we do up to a size 52 inch bust.
Well then you should be providing a pattern
that goes up to a 62 inch bust.
If I'm supposed to look like the model,
if I need to have that much ease.
Yeah, you can't like provide a fitted garment
for one size and a loose hanging garment for that.
Then you have two different garments.
Exactly.
It should.
And I'm noticing, I will say like,
not to sound like super, super negative,
but I've noticed that that seems to be falling away
and more designers seem to be like,
okay, if this is the way it should be worn,
then this is the size that it should be worn for everybody.
But yeah, that to me is a huge turnoff.
Like I'm still, even after my surgery,
I still have a decent size bust.
And I still tend to sometimes fall into that.
If it calls for 10 inches of positive ease,
mm-mm, they don't always go up to what will work for me.
Not at all.
So I don't like that.
But I also like when, in a similar positive affect,
I really like when you're able to like reasonably size up
even as a plus size.
Like I was able to do that with the slip on your shoulder.
Like my size was one point,
but the pattern is a negative ease.
I didn't want negative ease.
So I was able, but there was enough sizing provided
that I was able to like pick the next one
so I could have negative ease instead of,
so it's a little looser on me instead.
Cause my fit, I don't want it to be extremely fitted.
Yeah.
I don't, just personal preference.
I don't ever want a sweater to be super fitted.
And I think like, and it has nothing to do with like.
It's comfort.
Yeah, it has nothing to do with like, oh, like I'm big.
Body shaming or, yeah, no.
It's literally just like,
I just feel like I'm in a, in a Saran wrap.
Yes.
I like more air between me and a sweater.
I want the freedom of movement.
Yes.
Yeah.
And I think, I think fitted sweaters
or negative ease sweaters look fantastic.
I personally am, I'm not a huge fan on me.
I don't like it.
Like I just don't find it comfortable.
I feel very restricted.
I don't mind like slight positive.
Like I don't need like a huge positive ease,
but like, I don't like negative.
I definitely don't like negative.
Yeah.
And that, but that should be taken into account.
Right.
Like that, even if this, well, I mean, I get it.
I get to an extent, like they're saying,
if the designer is saying it should be worn
with negative ease, like I get that.
But still it's, it is nice when there is a nice enough range
that you can't be like, oh,
I'm just gonna knit the next size up
and make sure it's a little bit bigger.
Oh, well on that, non flexible test deadlines.
And I don't say that to reflect mine
because Blame Nots has been a plus.
Thank you, Mary, for like letting me kind of extend
my deadline with a bigger size, like regardless
of the reason, like as long as I communicated,
she was a okay with me extending.
But yeah, so if you're expecting me to create a garment
that has a bust of like 52 inches, for example,
I can't make that in six weeks, guys.
I can't make that in four weeks.
In four weeks, what?
Even eight weeks is a little rough.
Like I think it's just, and I know this has been talked
about, but it's still a grind my gears thing
because it's there, I still see the weird calls
where people are like, oh, drop everything in your life
and do this free service, not get paid,
not get anything for it and make my thing
so that I can use your pictures.
Like what?
No, no, no, I don't like that.
So yeah.
But then people wonder why they don't have people
that wanna test the bigger sizes.
Yeah, I mean, it's intimidating.
I mean, when you're doing the bigger sizes
or even honestly the regular sizes too,
like bigger sizes for sure,
because you literally are making sometimes double
the size of someone else.
So if you're making a small and I'm making a 3X,
well, like God, that's a whole lot more fabric
that I gotta knit than you do.
But just like this kind of idea that,
oh, nobody wants to test, nobody wants to test.
If nobody's offering, there's an issue
and it's not with the testers, it's probably with your call.
So if nobody's offering and nobody's saying,
blah, blah, blah, it's probably a flexibility issue.
It's probably like either a size issue or I mean,
obviously some people just don't wanna test it
because there's, I know certain people won't test a sweater
in general because usually there's just unrealistic
deadlines, but yeah, like I think you would get more people
interested, especially on the larger spectrum.
If you were just like, nah, don't worry about that.
If you need more time, it's fine, just long as you just say,
I need more time.
But I also wanna bring up Ocean Knits,
literally got rid of deadlines.
I love that for her.
Just got rid of it.
And I think it's a really, I think it's more realistic.
I think you get a better product.
I think you end up with-
It takes all the pressure off.
Well, I was gonna say, people are less stressed about-
Yeah, and especially if you're not getting paid for it,
like what the heck, and hey, it's one thing
when you're getting paid,
because you're getting paid to do a job
and like, okay, there should be some kind of deadline
and some indication of when they would receive
what they paid for, right?
But if you're asking me to do something free,
take my time out of my day and do work on your project.
And the deadline should also have that expectation.
Yeah.
Well, I also think to an extent with designing,
and this is not meant to be a slam on designers,
but I always find it a little,
I get a little skeptical when I see like,
I want this for this deadline for a release on this date.
And I'm like, then why are people testing?
If you already know when you're gonna release it,
are they testing to check it,
or are they testing for drumming up excitement?
And that's fine too.
Like, I know a lot of testers rely on the other people.
Designers, yeah.
A lot of designers, I'm sorry.
No, it's okay.
Designers rely on the testers for drumming up excitement
and enthusiasm, I totally get that.
But that's not really a test then.
That's more like a-
A promo call or something.
Yeah, like a pre-release.
And maybe that's the thing that we need to like-
It's a soft opening.
Maybe re-address, yes.
It's not really, you're not really testing it.
If you're confident enough that your testers
aren't gonna find any mistakes-
Then it's a soft launch.
It's more like a soft launch, yeah.
So maybe that's something we as the community
need to kind of reframe how we look at testing.
Because if it's a true test,
you are not entirely certain that it's gonna work,
and you're not entirely sure if everybody's gonna have
a smooth testing experience.
The point is to find mistakes.
Right.
That is the point.
And to feedback.
It's not to say your pattern definitely has mistakes.
It's to literally give feedback on,
this was difficult for me to comprehend,
this was easier for me to understand.
Yep.
The numbers are incorrect.
Yeah, the, you know, and yeah, like even when I was-
Something was unclear.
Yeah.
Even if you've got only got two out of 30 people.
The bind off is too tight.
Like things like that, yeah.
And you're taking the feedback from,
or like, you know what,
this was really uncomfortable for me to knit.
I did not enjoy knitting this.
Like that's what a test call is for.
If you're already so sure that your pattern is ready to go,
that you've already decided when the launch date is,
that's not really a test.
And maybe in that case, the,
I think then you can afford to be a little more flexible
with the deadline or start it earlier, you know?
Like if that's what it is, then let's make it a little,
I don't know.
I don't know, I got feelings.
No, I totally-
That's why I don't test anymore.
No, no, no, I get it.
And I totally think that this soft launch premise
is a lot of times because if you are making
a size inclusive pattern,
you want to show all the sizes.
That's important. And how they look.
Yeah, like because people are visual and they're gonna,
oh, you have photos of people wearing your pattern.
Okay, am I in there?
Cause that's what people are doing.
They're going, is my body type in there?
Right.
So yeah, and you know, some people,
that's all they look for and then they move on.
So- Yeah, I feel like we need to reframe this.
I feel like this is like a movement.
We need to reframe the idea of the test
and make it more about like, it's about publicity.
It's about showing the sizes.
It's about, you know, testers explaining like,
oh, I really loved knitting this detail.
I really enjoy this.
I love this facet of the pattern.
I really like the soft launch trail.
I think that makes sense.
I think it does too.
I think it makes way more sense than test.
Because then, yeah, you can have a deadline
because you want to launch it at a certain point
and you're trying to drum up promotion
and you're trying to promote your product.
So that would make more sense to have a deadline.
But if you're testing something
that you don't know works yet, well, yeah, that's-
Look, follow me for more advice.
No, and I can understand too.
I'm already like in my head going,
what the rebuttal for that would be
because a lot of times you would tech at it before you test.
So like, wouldn't you know that it's our-
Well, okay, tech editors don't necessarily pick up like,
was this easy to read?
Was this something that fits my body well?
Like, they're-
Was it comfortable to knit?
Yeah, like-
They're checking the math.
They're looking at the math.
They're making sure that the pattern
like mathematically makes sense.
That like, you know, this makes sense for-
The correct stitches are-
It's a tech edit.
That's the point.
It's not a fit edit.
It's not, you know, I know like I've done,
worked with tech editors and sometimes they'll alert me
like, hey, like your circumference on this brim
is way too big, like for this size.
Yeah, that makes sense.
But like, they're not gonna give you like,
they're not gonna be like,
well, when I was knitting this section
or I was crocheting this section,
I found that this whole, you know,
it really felt weird in my hands
and it was hard to manipulate the stitches in this section.
The way you bound off the sleeve
is gonna cut off people's circulation.
Yeah, like that's what a tester is for.
A tech editor is not, they're gonna be like,
oh, that's a great ribbing.
Cool, the ribbing math makes sense.
They're not gonna be like, wow,
that is gonna cut off your hand circulation
when you knit that.
Like, that is, yeah, so.
And yeah, so I agree with you.
I don't know, something that just like,
if we separated it more,
I think there'd be less arguments about it.
I think there'd be less like frustration
because the expectations would be set so much better.
You would have like, if okay, I'm gonna do a soft launch.
So there's a deadline, there's, you know, I need photos,
I need this, I need that.
Compared to I'm doing a test knit
or I'm doing a testing call
and I need to figure out if this pattern is like,
okay, as is to start launching to the public
and start a soft launch, you know, like, or whatever.
Well, I think with a soft launch too,
there would be an expectation of this pattern
is already perfect.
Because right, leading into another grind my gears,
but charging testers, if they don't finish,
I think that is a lot of audacity
to give an incomplete untested pattern to somebody and say,
do this work for me to check this pattern?
And if you don't finish for whatever reason,
you now have to pay me for it.
Not even just payment, but just a consequence in general.
Right.
Like, get outta here.
I could understand.
I'm giving you an advance copy of a perfect pattern.
Or what I just believed.
What I believe is a perfect pattern
for you to give me a sample
that I will then use to promote.
If you do not hold up your end of that deal,
I can understand at that degree of,
yes, you should pay for the pattern.
But even if you got into that point,
if you were getting that, like,
what's the word, like, professional about it,
at that point, there would be a contract.
There would be an expectation.
Right, because you are getting something.
Which, I don't think I've ever brought this up,
but one of the test-nits I did had me sign a contract.
Yeah, for a test?
Yeah.
Yeah, that is.
And this was back when I was first starting,
so I didn't know better.
But also it was a super easy knit, so it was fine.
But now that I'm sitting here, I'm going,
that really only makes sense in the soft launch circumstance.
Yeah, if they know it's already perfect.
And if you are, again, testing, or not testing,
but knitting for promo, not for checking.
Yeah.
So I don't know.
Because I also feel like a soft launch
is more appropriate to call for,
because at a certain point as a designer,
I know I feel this way.
You get to a point where you kind of have a core of testers
that usually volunteer and have that extended kind of sizing
if you're needing it.
Like you have kind of a good base to work from.
You don't necessarily have to do a public call
every single time after a certain point.
Right.
But for a soft launch, I could understand why you would.
Because maybe you want different people doing this.
Maybe you want just like, you know,
want certain types of accounts to do it
because you want them to share it a certain way.
Some differences too, because a lot of people,
when they do stuff, there is like, they like a color,
they like a method.
And maybe you want to branch out, you want to get ideas.
A little more imaginative, yeah.
No, and that makes sense.
We have a lot of opinions about this, clearly.
I think, well, I don't know.
I think it's just, well, for one, we're all plus size.
That's either our or was at some point.
So I feel like we all feel that part to a degree.
And several of us have tested.
So like, I know, like, I think that's why we're like, hey.
Yeah, but it's, well, I think you learn too.
I mean, I, and I had no, I have absolutely no, no,
bad feelings about this designer whatsoever.
But I did test knit a sweater and realized about myself
as I was going through it, this is not for me.
Like, this is too much pressure.
This project is too big.
And I don't have the time.
And again, the designer was nothing, if not gracious.
So I have absolutely no complaints with her.
The fault was all mine, but it definitely taught me
this is not, test knitting sweaters is not for me.
Yeah. And that's fair.
And really, even the one I'm doing now
was only acceptable in my mind because short sleeves,
short body, like I felt like it was almost reasonable.
Like I felt like I could, I could get there.
And even when I signed up, she, I said to her, I was like,
I don't know if I have enough time based on like
the deadline set, but like, I'll try.
I'll give it a good try.
So, so yeah, I'd like, I feel like if it was a full blown
long sleeve, I don't know.
I don't think I would throw my hat in
cause I've been there where it's like, I just feel like.
The walls are closing in and I'm trying my best,
but this isn't going to happen.
And it's hard when you have a family and you have like,
or job and like life, just life in general.
You have to, you don't know what,
you don't know what you're going to get hit with.
And then all of a sudden you're like, Oh God, you know,
I can't, I'm going to lose a week.
Well, yeah, you could be on a roll and then something
happens and now you're behind and things happen.
Does anything grind your gear, Jess?
Really weird things.
Good.
So first off, listen, and I,
I still have to look this up because it does bother me.
And I just haven't had the time to look it up,
but I don't like that the smaller the bead,
the higher the number of its sizing.
Okay. I agree.
Because when we were looking, I got very confused.
No, I, and it's because I know that this is the case only
sometimes people don't do,
and I get real mad when they don't do it that way.
Cause I'm like, I'm training myself to remember this is the
case and now you're just confusing me more.
I usually do that.
Like I usually use size six.
So I shouldn't even complain that much,
but I don't know why they do it that way.
And I always mean to look it up and then I get distracted
and I don't.
So one day I will look up why they do that,
but it is really confusing.
Or somebody will tell us.
Or someone will tell us.
And then I, then I won't have to look it up.
Dre is just whipping herself out right now.
But that is obnoxious.
Going off of the beaded thing.
I am mad that I cannot get beads to work on this project
right now because it doesn't look the way I want it to
on crochet.
And that annoys me because there isn't a fix for that.
I can't fix the way beads work on crochet, but.
Just make physics.
Do you want me to answer the beads?
Yes, answer it.
So the number before the slash indicates how many beads fit
in an inch and the number.
And the number after the slash indicates how many times
the beads need to be strung to make an inch.
So for example, a size eight slash zero bead means that
eight beads fit in an inch.
The larger the number, smaller the bead.
Okay.
That makes more sense.
I am happy to answer that for you.
I got the music for this.
What a good moment.
I'm so glad because again, I always mean to look it up
and then I never do.
So now I know I'll probably forget, but.
I love to look things up immediately.
Frank, but yeah, the crochet thing is, and again,
I can't fix it because it is a meat issue.
I just don't like the way it looks.
You're gonna just sell them on afterwards.
I am, but I tried, I tried both ways that I know
how to beat stuff and I was like, nope,
we're just gonna do this later for the third way
that it's kind of cheating.
Cause that's an after.
It's not cheating.
It's just not.
It's still a technique though.
It's just not doing it before the project is done.
But that's okay.
And there are beaded crocheted projects that look good.
And it is not this one.
So it is not, it is not a giant granny square.
At least again, to me, some people probably will look at it
and they're like, what is wrong with you?
That looks great.
And I'm like, no, I wanted to sit on the left leg
and not the right leg.
I'm literally at work.
I'm teaching politics and I'm getting all this,
this flood of texts about how distraught she was.
And then the pictures of the beads in the crochet.
It was a bad day for her.
I put in and tore out that like four times.
She was not happy.
Like, so it was a moment in time.
It was a moment.
And then I was like, you know what?
Yes, I'm going to do the third option of adding it later.
And then I can control it a little bit more.
But so yeah, knit on beads.
I have discovered that I like better than crocheting on.
So far, I just maybe haven't found the project,
but so that grinds my gears.
Wow.
She did warn us that it was weird.
I did.
No, I said good.
I think that makes perfect.
I'm sure there are plenty of others
and I'm sure you've gotten texts from me before,
but right now I was just like focused
on this current bead issue.
Well, it's relevant to the moment.
Ooh, I got a really simple one.
I open my needle case and the one needle that I need
is the only one that's missing.
Oh my God, that's like guys with the,
what's it, the 10 socket?
The number 10 socket, whenever they open up their toolkit
and the 10 socket is always missing.
It's me with the three quarter bit drill too.
I don't know what is up with three quarter bit drill,
but that's always missing.
It's me in sizes six to eight.
Yeah, that too.
Literally just sizes six to eight.
You know what I love?
No, you'll open your needle case looking for a six, right?
And all you have are threes every single time.
You open it to look for threes
and there's all your sixes and no threes.
So good.
Such a great moment.
I was going through my needle case
and there was needles I wanted,
but in particular to use with this one
and it called for eights and sixes.
And I was like, oh man,
I know exactly which ones I wanna use.
And then I looked in my case and I was like,
all I have are the ones that don't want me.
So I'm using the ones that don't want me.
Oh, I like you when it's like,
you need a size 16, what is it, for your circulars.
And it's like, here's size 10, here's size 20.
Do you wanna shove too many stitches on
or do you wanna be stretching for dear life?
Oh man.
Cause I decided to cast on at 10 PM and can't go to the store.
I got the universal grind my gears.
All right, you ready?
You're not ready.
I am ready.
Lay it on me.
When your cable comes unscrewed.
Oh.
Yeah, we have it.
And worse when you don't realize it's come unscrewed
until all of a sudden it's floating in your live stitches.
I'm telling you, I feel like I know what can fix that
and I just don't have the ability to create this thing.
It's so much rage.
I hate when I get to the end of every row
and I gotta stop and screw the stupid things back on again.
But no, I'm not going back to straights.
No, I'm not doing it.
You gotta use your little key thing.
Or non interchangeable.
No, I have done that, it still doesn't work.
Well then.
It works temporarily.
And I've been told lies.
It does, it works temporarily.
I have considered not using interchangeables
and just buying a lot.
You'd have to buy so many.
And then they all go missing.
You'd have to buy so many.
But then we do that anyway, so you know what?
I totally did that though.
I bought a bunch of Addi turbos in the sizes
I normally use and now I can't find those either.
Stop.
No.
All I have are the way too big sizes and the way too small.
Stop.
Guys, why don't we like this?
No, I was like, this will solve all my problems.
I did the exact same thing.
I was like, screw all these interchangeables.
I'm gonna buy a single one at every single size
that I normally do.
And then you never see them again.
And then I opened up my box and there you go.
What's missing?
Sizes six to eight.
Awesome.
This grinds my gears and makes two.
Oh no.
What?
I can't find the eyes.
Huh?
No, no.
I don't know where they are.
I'm telling you guys.
Every time Jess loses eyes.
I'm telling you like one day,
like a hundred years into the future
when we are both long dead
and this house has passed into new owners,
they're gonna be doing the sweep.
They're gonna find eyes.
Somewhere.
Everywhere.
Like, oh my God.
And they're gonna think that there's something weird
going on in the house.
Like the house is cursed.
Beads are gonna like fall out from under the heaters.
I'm still finding beads.
What would be better is if the people who are finding it
don't know that they're eyes and they're just like,
what are all these black things they're doing on?
Oh no, some of them are definitely like colored eyes.
Some have irises.
Some definitely look like eyes.
The ones I have are just like black dots.
No, no, no.
I've got those too.
Oh no, she's gotta buy the special ones.
Like the dragon eyes and the cat eyes.
I need more of those anyway.
Every time she goes to make a creature,
she's like, oh, I can't find the eyes again.
And I'm like, cool.
But then I'll find the eyes and I'll be like,
there, you have the eyes, go ahead and do it.
I'm like, yeah, but I needed red ones.
And there's not any red.
So who did you say lived in this house before we did?
Some really freaking weird people.
No, dude, it is like every time she goes to make
an amigurumi, like we gotta buy more eyes.
And then I'm like, great.
I don't know what happened to the other 700 eyes.
We have plans for the next long weekend.
She's taking the weekend off with me.
And instead of going somewhere fun and doing something fun,
we're literally gonna toss the entire craft room
and if we don't find the eyes, I'm going to be so mad.
I did find the noses.
Stop.
I didn't know they were missing.
I didn't know you had noses.
Yeah, they're cute.
I haven't made anything with them yet.
You cannot imagine the amount of craft supplies she has.
Like when you search for eyes,
like the noses come up almost always.
Like they come up with the eyes.
I have a little pink one.
You cannot imagine the array of craft stuff she has
that is just hanging out in the basement.
I have discovered I can use them for felting now.
So now I have to find them and keep better track of them.
Oh, what grinds my gears is myself
because every time I do a clean sweep of the craft room
and I say, I will never let it get that bad again.
Yeah, what the heck me?
Whomp, whomp, whomp.
Never.
No, you just decide two weeks later,
you're like, cool, we're all set.
Everything's great.
And then two weeks later, you find a new craft
and you're like, let me buy all this stuff.
That's my life.
I need cubbies with all my individual crafts.
I stick to like one to two crafts
and Jess just accumulates them like Pokemon.
I think the cubbies actually might make sense though.
I don't think the cubbies can fit her stuff.
This hobby, that hobby.
No, it's crazy.
Are the cubbies big enough?
Well, you could do cubbies or you could do like big,
like one of those big like.
We don't have that much space.
Okay, I can probably do the wood burning
and the drumming together.
I feel like we're gonna be fine when the kid finally outgrows
the need for a play room and we can make a second craft space
and it can just be Jess's.
And then I'm just gonna shut the door
and it can be as messy as she wants.
I always clean up when I'm done with the craft.
This week on Saving Marriages.
We are fine.
I'm kidding.
But it is like.
I'm absolutely kidding.
It's just funny.
It is like, it's the craft stuff.
If you wanna lament, you can lament with Patrick
because he told me that if any craft stuff
comes out of my craft room, he is going to toss it.
No.
Unless I can't do that.
He's like, this cannot.
And so, okay, so with yarn saver,
I had to get a new freezer because I have a lot of stock
and that was like, no, it's escaping.
It's moved into a new space.
And I was like, well, it's like.
Freezer?
I had, yeah.
Yeah.
So you can freeze the yarn.
So when I get incoming yarn from people who wanna.
Make sure there's no eggs in it.
Yeah, so like they, you know, I get the incoming yarn.
People like want me to like, you know,
assess it and give it prices.
But like, I don't even touch it
until I've frozen it like twice.
I do like freeze, thaw for a day, freeze.
And then once that's all done.
That's fair.
Kills all the.
Yeah, anything that might be in there.
I just don't wanna bring anything into my house either.
No, because you never know.
Yeah, I don't.
You just.
I'll sacrifice your stash.
Oh God.
Takes one moth, man.
It takes one moth.
I've already been like separating it anyway,
but like it's just, yeah.
But yeah, that freezer,
it's definitely outside of my craft room and.
He's got some feels about it.
So you know what you say?
You just say, Patrick, I'll make a deal with you.
You can move the rec room into my craft room.
I'll move my craft room into the basement.
Yeah.
I'm pretty sure the kids would protest.
Probably.
Because that's their playroom area too.
Probably.
No, I don't need like that much more.
So when they've outgrown their.
When the kids have outgrown their playroom.
And I thought this, you know,
several thousand feet home was too big.
So no, the, he's actually not like against me doing like
that.
No.
He's like happy because it means like the business is doing
well and like he's supporting it, but.
It's spreading.
That's exactly.
I'm just imagining though, when you first got it,
like you not telling him and he goes,
and he's like, oh, freezer, what's in here?
And opens it.
And instead of like frozen goods, it's like.
Neatly packaged.
Plastic bags of yarn.
And it's like.
No ice cream, just string.
Wow.
I'm so disappointed.
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tears and not Dreya because you know what?
No, because you kept talking about the craft.
It's a good movie.