1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000 I'm Drea. 2 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:02,000 I'm Meg. 3 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,000 I'm Tina. 4 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:04,000 And I'm Jess. 5 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:15,600 And this is Pardon My Stash. 6 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:20,000 Welcome to Pardon My Stash, a podcast about knitting within the fiber arts and how awesome 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,000 it is. 8 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:27,240 Before we get started on today's topics, let's find out what everybody is working on. 9 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:28,240 Andrea? 10 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:33,520 Still plugging away on the Ekemi Shaw, faded jeans, fingering weight yarn. 11 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:34,520 That's nice. 12 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:37,520 I'm having a good time. 13 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:38,520 Great. 14 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:39,520 Jess? 15 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:51,000 I'm still working on the Team Cozy make-along and I'm doing the, what is it called? 16 00:00:51,000 --> 00:01:01,200 It's just called the Tea Cozy Flower Basket by Yarnspiration Sugar and Cream, but I'm using 17 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,320 our yarns and doing it in a smaller weight for a smaller teapot. 18 00:01:04,320 --> 00:01:05,320 So we'll see what it looks like. 19 00:01:05,320 --> 00:01:07,960 But I got this cute little basket weave going so far. 20 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:09,200 It is really cute. 21 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:10,200 Awesome. 22 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:11,200 Meg? 23 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:19,560 I am five rows from Splitting for the Sleeves on my Sundrop Pullover by Laura Alor. 24 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:26,040 Let me tell you, I really love the way that the Raglan top looks. 25 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:35,080 I don't know if I ever want to make another one because my God, this is just tedious, 26 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,000 round and round and round yoke increases. 27 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:43,000 But the shirt actually gets a pattern once you get past the bust. 28 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,240 So I'm actually really excited to get to that. 29 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:48,720 I'm getting close. 30 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:55,120 And I am using Dragon Horde Yarn Gnome Tweed Sock in the Colorway Fairy Yule Tree. 31 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:56,120 Amazing. 32 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,200 I congratulate you on getting to the Sleeves Spiddlet soon. 33 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:01,200 Oh, very close. 34 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:02,880 Tina, what you working on? 35 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:12,520 I am currently back on my Engel Sweater by Boyland Networks and I'm using String NYC, 36 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:17,520 Dolcetto DK in red, dark gray and gray. 37 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:19,720 I'm actually almost done with the body. 38 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:20,720 Yeah. 39 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:21,720 Nice. 40 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:26,160 Yeah, it's actually pretty much done in terms of that. 41 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:32,080 I realized today that I needed to actually measure where I'm at because I've just been 42 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,080 endlessly knitting for a while. 43 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,320 And I'm going to try to measure it and see where I'm at. 44 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,960 But I was supposed to knit about 15 inches. 45 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:44,160 So if I'm not 15 inches, I'm definitely over 10. 46 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:45,160 So it's good. 47 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:51,000 I feel like knitting the body of a sweater is like that last few weeks of being pregnant 48 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:56,800 where you knit until you're like, I cannot stand to do this one second longer. 49 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:58,240 And then you're almost there. 50 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:04,040 And then you're finished and you're like, oh, look how cute it is. 51 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:09,680 You're like, wow, that wasn't so bad. 52 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:10,680 Maybe I'll do it again. 53 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:12,680 Is that what childbirth is like? 54 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:13,680 Yes. 55 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,720 It is actually, if you must know. 56 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,480 Well, you did do it twice. 57 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:20,480 Yeah. 58 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:21,480 And then you go, wait a second. 59 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:24,760 I don't fall for these tricks anymore. 60 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,880 Be sure to check out our website, part of my stash.com for more information as well 61 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:34,480 as pictures regarding our current projects, patterns and yarns. 62 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:42,600 And now yacking about yarn with Tina. 63 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:48,520 I don't know why I'm in an EDM music festival, but I am. 64 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:53,920 So for today's yacking about yarn, I haven't talked about yarn in a while. 65 00:03:53,920 --> 00:04:03,040 And one of the common questions I get often on my personal Insta is what is nice, affordable 66 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,000 yarn? 67 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:13,720 And when I say affordable yarn, like under $5 USD for a single skein or ball of a decent 68 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:14,720 amount of yardage. 69 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:20,520 So you mean stuff that you're not going to get like a yarn specific shop? 70 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:25,200 You might, depending on what the type of shop, but for the most part, no. 71 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:32,360 This is going to be at your major craft store brands, something like a Joann's or a Michael's. 72 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:41,400 And you don't necessarily have to have not great yarn if you're not necessarily paying 73 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:46,640 the premium of $27 to $32 a skein for yarn. 74 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:51,460 You can still have decent yarn, stuff that feels really nice on your hands. 75 00:04:51,460 --> 00:05:02,000 As someone who knits plus size garments often, I very rarely make the garment with $32 skeins 76 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:03,000 of yarn. 77 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:06,000 That's fair, though, for multiple reasons. 78 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,760 One, if I mess it up in the wash, I'm going to cry. 79 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:16,080 Two, that's a whole lot of yarn for a whole lot of body. 80 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:21,920 And I just don't have the money to fork that out for every sweater or whatever garment 81 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:23,880 that I'm making. 82 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:33,440 So I will go basically give you a top five, starting from five and going down. 83 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:34,960 This is my opinion. 84 00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:37,440 You guys can agree or disagree. 85 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:45,780 But this is all this yarn I've worked with at some point over my 15 years of knitting. 86 00:05:45,780 --> 00:05:46,820 Some of them are newer. 87 00:05:46,820 --> 00:05:51,120 Some of them are good old staples. 88 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:56,680 And if there's yarns that you have found that are newer, because I don't venture too much 89 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:02,800 to the big box stores as often, but if there is something newer that you think is awesome, 90 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:08,320 definitely comment on our Instagram posts or our blog post for this episode and let 91 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:13,480 us know which brands that you like that are from the big brand stores. 92 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:21,040 So number five, coming in at number five, we got a good old staple, the Lion Brand. 93 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:22,280 Basic Stitch. 94 00:06:22,280 --> 00:06:29,360 So Basic Stitch is like basically, it's a worsted weight. 95 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:31,640 Most of these are worsted weight. 96 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:37,880 And the Basic Stitch in itself does not come in amazing colors. 97 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:39,500 That's the one negative for it. 98 00:06:39,500 --> 00:06:42,560 It comes in weird colors sometimes. 99 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,000 Sometimes it has like a weird striping to it. 100 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:49,800 But the yarn itself is very comfortable to work with. 101 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:50,800 It's very affordable. 102 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:53,360 It's under $5 a ball. 103 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:58,600 And it has, I mean, the colors are, you're not going to be too worried about color lots 104 00:06:58,600 --> 00:06:59,600 with this. 105 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:01,960 It's pretty, pretty consistent. 106 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:07,800 And yeah, in terms of stuff I've made this with, I did a brioche scarf for my mother 107 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,960 using a purple and a yellow striped yarn. 108 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:13,400 And it came out great. 109 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:14,400 Thoughts, feelings? 110 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,880 Anybody care about Basic Stitch? 111 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,120 I don't think I've ever used it. 112 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:20,120 Yeah. 113 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:27,060 So yeah, it's not, it's one of those, I would say it's one of those that you probably go 114 00:07:27,060 --> 00:07:29,400 by and you don't even consider. 115 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:31,160 Because for one, the name is Basic. 116 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,360 You're going, well, I don't want Basic. 117 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,240 But I'm telling you, the Basic Stitch is worth it. 118 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:47,320 It's a good go-to staple if you want something, you know, just a little bit more reasonable. 119 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,240 Another staple that's coming at number four for me is the Lion Brand Wool-ese. 120 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:52,240 Love Wool-ese. 121 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,320 This is a wool-based yarn. 122 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:59,280 So it does not feel as nice as Basic Stitch. 123 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:00,280 Why? 124 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:02,020 Because it is wool. 125 00:08:02,020 --> 00:08:07,680 So you're going to get more of that hearty wool feeling with Wool-ese. 126 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:09,240 Wool-ese has great consistency. 127 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:15,960 They come out with colorways fairly often because this is a very popular yarn from their 128 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:16,960 collections. 129 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,040 People do use it. 130 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,680 And it is great for bulking. 131 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:22,980 And what do I mean by that? 132 00:08:22,980 --> 00:08:30,120 So like say you have something that you're making and you have a very fancy skein of 133 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:34,800 yarn that you want to use for a specific piece of it, maybe for the stitch work or the color 134 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,880 work that you're doing, but then you need something for the base and that you need a 135 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:39,960 lot more yarn for the base. 136 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:44,600 Wool-ese goes really well with other wool-based yarns. 137 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:46,360 It just mixes nicely. 138 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,400 It doesn't, you can't really tell. 139 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,040 So then when people ask you what you made it of, you could say the fancy yarn and you don't 140 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:53,040 have to mention the Wool-ese. 141 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,400 But I mean, you could do if you don't care. 142 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:57,400 I don't care. 143 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:01,000 The Wool-ese is as good as a good staple as well. 144 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,360 Also under $5 skein ball. 145 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:04,600 Any thoughts on Wool-ese? 146 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:05,600 I like it. 147 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:06,600 I've used it. 148 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:08,680 I don't think that I have ever used it. 149 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:09,680 You're just missing out, Dre. 150 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:10,680 Do you know what's funny? 151 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:11,680 I've only used one on your list. 152 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:12,680 On my list? 153 00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:13,680 On your list. 154 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:16,680 Well, you're going to learn, Dre. 155 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:17,680 You're going to learn. 156 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:18,680 Well, I'm here for it. 157 00:09:18,680 --> 00:09:19,680 Yeah, here we go. 158 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:20,680 All right. 159 00:09:20,680 --> 00:09:25,680 So number three, number three, put these all kind of together. 160 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:34,640 Again, I'm going to hit up the Lion Brand and we're going to talk about the booze. 161 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,000 What does the booze mean? 162 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,520 The koboos, the bamboos, the liboos. 163 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:43,040 They got like a bunch of mix of bamboo with a bunch of organic materials. 164 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,000 What the heck is liboos? 165 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Linen. 166 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:49,880 So they have a linen, they have a linen bamboo combo. 167 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:55,000 They have a koboos, a cotton bamboo combo, and then they have just straight up bamboo. 168 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:58,880 My biggest negative with the booze is that they split like crazy. 169 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:01,680 As bamboo does. 170 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:04,080 As they do though, like as you know, that's just. 171 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:08,440 Yeah, that's any bamboo yarn is going to be silly. 172 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:15,800 But the feeling of the yarn itself, even the linen based one is awesome. 173 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,080 It's very smooth, very comfortable. 174 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:24,520 And when you're done with your project, I used it for color work for my Lumiere cowl 175 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:25,760 and it came out awesome. 176 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:27,240 I love that cowl. 177 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:28,840 That one is with koboos. 178 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:33,760 So that's a cotton bamboo mix and it was with their pink and navy. 179 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,480 I think it's like steel, mauve and navy. 180 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:37,480 I think it's just navy. 181 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,160 I think the pink is called like steel mauve though. 182 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:47,880 You know, that's an interesting point too, because oftentimes if you use a non woolly 183 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:54,560 fiber for color work, it can look very ragged because the wool causes the fibers to kind 184 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:59,800 of fuse together, which makes the color work look more complete. 185 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:05,640 And I honestly didn't know looking at your Lumiere cowl that it wasn't made with a wool 186 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:11,840 yarn because you don't see that kind of separation or splitting in that cowl. 187 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:18,840 So that's a really nice alternative if you're not into wool or you can't wear wool or you 188 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:25,400 live in a part of the country where wool is not really conducive and you want to do color 189 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:26,400 work. 190 00:11:26,400 --> 00:11:28,120 That makes that a great option. 191 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:33,600 I can attest also that you could throw that thing in the washing machine and it is fine. 192 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,840 You could wash, you could throw it in the dryer. 193 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,480 It doesn't shrink and it doesn't bleed. 194 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,080 Sounds like a wool horse. 195 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:47,000 So it's definitely something I like to keep in the stable. 196 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,180 I will also say that you can find that at Wally World. 197 00:11:50,180 --> 00:11:53,080 So you don't necessarily have to go to Joann's or something like that. 198 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,240 You can also just go to Wally World and find that there. 199 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:57,680 If you don't know what Wally World is, it's Walmart. 200 00:11:57,680 --> 00:11:58,680 All right. 201 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:04,160 Just in case, I just realized not everybody might know what Wally World is. 202 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:11,920 Anyways, coming in at number two for me is Loops and Threads Cotton Cream. 203 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:13,100 Another cotton base. 204 00:12:13,100 --> 00:12:14,880 This is at Michael's specifically. 205 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:17,140 They do the loops and threads. 206 00:12:17,140 --> 00:12:21,000 So the cotton cream also has, again, organic materials. 207 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:25,320 You're going to deal with the splitting. 208 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:27,640 So you have to kind of be careful as you're working with it. 209 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:37,000 But also when you block cotton cream, it will stretch substantially. 210 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,680 So you have to be careful with that too. 211 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:40,880 So think of a Malabrigo. 212 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,640 It does a Malabrigo expansion effect. 213 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:45,880 Oh, it blooms. 214 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:48,640 It blooms quite a bit. 215 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:52,600 But the benefit to it is once it stretches, it's stretched. 216 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:53,600 That's the thing. 217 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:56,360 So it doesn't reshrink. 218 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:03,000 So I've been pretty comfortable with that with garments as well, especially if I know 219 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,160 that it's going to bloom. 220 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:10,120 So I make it slightly smaller than what I'm expecting to make. 221 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:14,760 And what's great with that is if you're making a summer-based garment. 222 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:21,480 So if you're in a warmer area and you want to make a halter top or a dress, or I've seen 223 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:28,640 a lot of these cool summery type of outfits and pieces, cotton cream is great for that. 224 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:33,080 And it also is pretty comfortable in the summer. 225 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:34,200 It doesn't sweat. 226 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:38,200 You don't sweat like crazy with it because of cotton. 227 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:40,400 And again, you could throw it in the wash. 228 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:41,400 All set, ready to go. 229 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:45,320 You don't have to think about it. 230 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:47,080 Always a bonus. 231 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,440 And then my number one, my number one. 232 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:50,440 Hold on. 233 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:55,200 I got a little thing for this. 234 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:56,200 Number one. 235 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,560 Yeah, I don't have a bell or anything. 236 00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:01,120 We're going to use the. 237 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:02,120 The law. 238 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:03,120 The law. 239 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:11,520 Stabler wants you to know the number one yard is Karen Simply Soft. 240 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,600 I love Karen Simply Soft. 241 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:19,840 It's always at the top of my list when somebody asks me for a budget yarn to use for garments 242 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:21,240 in particular. 243 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:26,200 But you can also use Karen Simply Soft for literally anything, literally anything. 244 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:27,840 You can make it for hats. 245 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:28,920 You do gloves. 246 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:30,620 You do whatever you want. 247 00:14:30,620 --> 00:14:32,440 Does not feel awful. 248 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,880 It actually is quite soft as the name would let you know. 249 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:42,120 So it's actually one of the few budget yarns that I find to be comfortable for me to network. 250 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:43,120 Yes. 251 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,760 And I'm glad to hear that because I find it also very pleasant. 252 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:51,340 It also comes in a lot of your neutrals. 253 00:14:51,340 --> 00:14:58,600 So you can get a nice black with that, a nice white, different types of browns, navies. 254 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:06,960 So if again, if you need like a base for color work and you don't want to fork over for nine 255 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:12,720 skeins of something that's thirty two dollars, you can get probably four skeins of the Karen 256 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:13,720 Simply Soft. 257 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:19,160 Not only does the Karen Simply Soft be soft, it comes in a larger yardage. 258 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:21,720 So you get a ton for your money. 259 00:15:21,720 --> 00:15:25,780 I think that's also something to kind of remark on because there I was going to say there 260 00:15:25,780 --> 00:15:30,280 are some yarns you can get where you look at them and you're like, oh, that's not a 261 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:31,280 bad price. 262 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:37,000 But then you look at the yardage and the yardage isn't doing you any favors. 263 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:42,600 Like if the ball of yarn is seven dollars, but the yardage is only 110 yards of fingering 264 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:44,720 that's not a bonus. 265 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,140 Like you're not getting a deal. 266 00:15:47,140 --> 00:15:55,320 So for example, I just found Karen Simply Soft in with its worsted weight. 267 00:15:55,320 --> 00:16:00,040 Right now it's three dollars and sixty seven cents for this skein or this ball or roll 268 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:01,560 or whatever you want to call it. 269 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:03,460 And it has three hundred fifteen yards in it. 270 00:16:03,460 --> 00:16:08,000 So it's a little bit smaller than what you would expect in a normal skein of worsted, 271 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:14,160 which typically from an Indy Dyer or something like that would come in around like 220, 240 272 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:18,080 maybe depending on the brand. 273 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:23,960 So you're definitely going to get another at least another hundred yards with the Karen 274 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:25,520 Simply Soft. 275 00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:31,600 The also in terms of yardage that loops and threads also comes in in a good yardage to 276 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:33,120 let me write. 277 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,920 So cotton cream from Lutz and threads comes in at three twenty four yards. 278 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:41,960 So again, great deal for what you get. 279 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:47,640 So yeah, if you ever feel like, hey, I want to know a budget yarn, a good yarn for me 280 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:48,640 to use. 281 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:53,680 I need a lot of it and I don't have a lot of money and I want to be frugal, then you 282 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:57,640 can hit up those five that I talked about again. 283 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,160 If there are more, I know there's more. 284 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,680 I just kept it to five just to keep this segment realistic. 285 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:09,560 And if you have more and you want to shout out one, please feel free to comment on our 286 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:16,600 Instagram or blog post regarding this episode. 287 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:24,640 Into our main topic this week, we have creativity versus business in the fiber arts. 288 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:34,440 We as a crew of podcasters get questions about starting businesses in fiber arts for various 289 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:35,680 reasons. 290 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:40,440 Megan Jess, obviously, you probably get the indie yarn dire questions. 291 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:47,120 A lot of times I'll get pattern design questions and random people in public will ask Dre about 292 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:48,720 her business that doesn't exist. 293 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:54,440 So so we also seen as a fiber artist. 294 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:59,160 Even though I'm not selling my wares. 295 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:06,200 So yeah, so this week, let's chat about how to kind of basically the differences between 296 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:11,640 the two because there are differences, my friends, and how to handle both sides of it 297 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:14,840 because you need both sides. 298 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,320 First and foremost, to make things work if you're going to try to do it. 299 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:26,080 But yeah, doing business in the fiber arts with creative, right brained people go. 300 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:28,960 I don't have a business. 301 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,240 No I want to hear about your business, Dre. 302 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:37,200 How are you going to sell anything if you don't tell me about your business? 303 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,560 Step one, don't sell anything. 304 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:42,080 Step two, go out in public. 305 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,080 Step three, be happy. 306 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:50,600 Great, thank you, Dre for that contribution. 307 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:56,640 Well Megan, just tell me, tell us about how it is with the indie dyeing business. 308 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:00,360 What, what, what would be things now that you guys have been in it for almost a year 309 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:01,360 now right? 310 00:19:01,360 --> 00:19:02,360 If not more than? 311 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:07,680 It'll on July 1st, we will officially have been. 312 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:09,920 We launched the business on July 1st last year. 313 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,720 So we're almost a year. 314 00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:17,640 Since, since July 1st, what kind of things have you run into that you were like, oh man, 315 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,440 if I had to do this again, I would not do that. 316 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:25,320 Or I would do that when starting your business. 317 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:35,200 Honestly I think the, the, the best thing that we did was figure out early on who was 318 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:40,320 better off being responsible for what. 319 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:46,600 And that has been something that we have not butted heads on the entire time. 320 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:51,080 I would not recommend going into business with somebody that you, you either can't work 321 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:55,640 with or you've never worked with before. 322 00:19:55,640 --> 00:20:00,000 I mean we had never owned a business together, but you know, clearly we've been together 323 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,280 for a long time. 324 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,080 So there was that. 325 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:10,600 But we kind of delegated responsibility down the line pretty, pretty evenly. 326 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:13,880 Jess is definitely the more creative side of it. 327 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,480 She's the one that comes up with more color ways. 328 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:25,200 Listen, you or someone you're working with is going to want to want or be able to do 329 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,040 all the legal stuff. 330 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,160 Because there's a lot of that. 331 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,720 And that's me. 332 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:37,800 You know, when the suggestion came up and I kind of brought it up as a joke originally, 333 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:42,880 I was like, let's start a yarn dying business and you can quit your job, which is definitely 334 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:43,880 a joke. 335 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:48,880 Yeah, definitely a joke. 336 00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:53,640 And Jess actually said it really well the other day that a lot of people don't talk 337 00:20:53,640 --> 00:21:00,240 about the fact that when you start a business, you are probably not going to make substantial 338 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:04,880 money off of said business for at least the first couple of years. 339 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:09,640 The IRS expects that. 340 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,680 When you're filing your taxes and stuff for the business after they expect you to take 341 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:14,440 a loss the first few years. 342 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:15,440 Right. 343 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,720 That's just how things go. 344 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:24,480 We about broke even with ours and we considered that a massive success. 345 00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:25,560 Super amazing. 346 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,680 Super exciting that we didn't operate at a crazy loss. 347 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:34,760 Promptly bought more yarn. 348 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:41,240 But that was, you know, we went into it with very, very little expectation. 349 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,240 The joke of Jess being able to quit her job was a joke. 350 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:49,560 We knew that that was not going to be happening anytime soon. 351 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:54,560 And most small businesses don't take off like that unless they get really lucky and they 352 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:57,360 have like an it product. 353 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:03,240 But a lot of businesses that have a sudden it product and get swamped often end up taking 354 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:09,520 on more than they can handle and either burn out or collapse because it's just simply too 355 00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:10,560 much. 356 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:11,800 You can only do so much. 357 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:13,880 We have a very small business. 358 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:19,100 Every skein that we do is died by the two of us. 359 00:22:19,100 --> 00:22:21,040 We wind it all by hand. 360 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:22,640 Well, we don't wind it by hand anymore. 361 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:23,640 We have a skein winder. 362 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:24,640 We have a skein winder. 363 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:25,640 Best purchase. 364 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:28,640 We do it ourselves, we tag everything ourselves. 365 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,120 We do all the paperwork ourselves. 366 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:36,560 The only outsourcing that has been done is Tina does the website. 367 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:41,040 That's been literally the only like. 368 00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:42,840 And honestly, I don't do the web. 369 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:44,200 I set it up for you guys. 370 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:45,200 You set it up. 371 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:46,200 Yeah. 372 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:53,200 I mean, Jess kind of took on that technical role of updating the products and stuff. 373 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:54,800 I'm not doing any of that for you guys. 374 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:55,800 You guys have been doing that. 375 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:00,360 So it's a lot of work. 376 00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:01,360 And that's the thing. 377 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:06,280 If you are, if you're planning on going into business and doesn't make time for that to 378 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:11,920 and both of us, you know, acknowledging that we both have full time jobs, we have a child 379 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:18,560 and there is only so much that we can do in a single week without burning out. 380 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,600 You know, our business is not capable of. 381 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:21,600 Yeah. 382 00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,040 It's not booming, but you know, we're very happy with what we have. 383 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:31,560 We have a wonderful base of customers that we are so grateful for. 384 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:37,080 And you know, we would love eventually to get bigger. 385 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,040 I mean, no, no business is like I would love to stay tiny forever. 386 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:41,840 I would love to be stagnant. 387 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:48,680 But we're also very mindful of the fact that at the point where we're at now, if things 388 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,440 were to get bigger, major changes would have to be made. 389 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:58,660 And I think that's a really important designation to make is know what you are capable of doing 390 00:23:58,660 --> 00:24:06,200 in the now and think about planning for if and when things do get bigger, what changes 391 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:14,160 you are willing slash able to make to accommodate a stretching business. 392 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,040 Because it sounds great to be like, oh man, I would love to like design that it product 393 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,440 that blows up and everybody wants it. 394 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:28,920 But the consideration of once you get the orders, you have to create a product. 395 00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:36,600 And if you are one person and you get 150,000 skeins of yarn that are ordered, that's going 396 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,680 to be a substantial change in your business model. 397 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:47,160 So you know, kind of go into it with few expectations, but also knowing that, you know, things if 398 00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:51,240 they do change, you're going to have to make some changes and probably for the better. 399 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,920 But still, things are going to change. 400 00:24:54,920 --> 00:25:00,440 You want to start small, right, especially if you haven't run your business before or 401 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:04,080 if you haven't run businesses before. 402 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:11,760 You know, I've run a couple in my time and not necessarily related to the fiber arts. 403 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:22,040 But if we had the sales that we had in year four or five, in year one, I don't know what 404 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:23,040 I would have done. 405 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:24,040 I think I would have watched. 406 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:25,040 You wouldn't know how overwhelming. 407 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:30,080 Because you don't have the infrastructure or the process or the policies in place of 408 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:35,400 like, who's doing what and how do we handle this and how do we handle that? 409 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:42,720 It's just it's very it is time consuming in and of itself to do the business side of it, 410 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,880 where you are organizing the business itself. 411 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:51,200 The organization piece is, I think, where a lot of people get lost. 412 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:57,480 Because it's I think it's personally very easy to be creative because as fiber artists, 413 00:25:57,480 --> 00:25:59,560 because we are creative inherently, right? 414 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:06,240 People who are artists, you for the most part can be have creative liberties, know how to 415 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,600 like do some color to match it, you know, like have this creative knack. 416 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:11,600 Right. 417 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:16,040 So I don't think that's the issue, because all of us can come up with these beautiful 418 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:21,760 ideas, but then actually implementing them in a business like way that's not going to 419 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:26,360 kill your whole budget, that's going to make sense for your time. 420 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:28,040 Like you're not working 24 seven. 421 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:32,600 Now that's not going to destroy every aspect of your life as well. 422 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:33,600 Yeah. 423 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:38,520 So I think your point of knowing your limitations is really important. 424 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:43,880 And honestly, even if you do explode, which congratulations if you do right in the beginning, 425 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:47,120 you still set limitations. 426 00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:53,520 You shouldn't sell the 500 products if you're not in a position to sell 500 products. 427 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:58,280 You know, if you have that limitation already set that, hey, I know I could make if you're 428 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:03,680 an indie dire like you guys are, I know we can make 50 skeins in a week, let's say, and 429 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:04,680 that's it. 430 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,200 That's our that's after that, like we don't have time, like we'd have to change that, 431 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:09,200 whatever. 432 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:16,160 But knowing what that number is, would help you in understanding that when you put out 433 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:22,920 a preorder or when you put out stock or anything like that, you have that hard limit in mind 434 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:26,200 so that you can handle it. 435 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:30,160 Like you just drown. 436 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:34,400 Well and then there's there's always that fear too, is that you you ground your business 437 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:38,760 before it really starts because if something like that happens and then you don't meet 438 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:44,160 the orders and the time frame that you promised, then you start getting the bad reviews and 439 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:49,800 the word of mouth and people start like kind of shy away. 440 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:56,520 And there's so you've got to think about that too, like make sure you keep up with it so 441 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:00,720 you know people don't have something to try and drag you for. 442 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:05,560 And the other thing too is we also went into it knowing that that the market is saturated. 443 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:13,400 Yeah, there are thousands upon thousands of indie dyers that are selling beautiful yarns 444 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,940 at about the same price point that we are. 445 00:28:16,940 --> 00:28:23,260 Some of them that have more ability to produce more yarns, they've been in business longer, 446 00:28:23,260 --> 00:28:27,320 they have more business acumen than we do. 447 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:35,160 And knowing that, you know, word of mouth being what it is, our customers have thousands 448 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,000 of other options to go to. 449 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:43,320 If we start to to kind of drop off and not fill our end of the bargain, it's not like 450 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,360 we have a monopoly on the product. 451 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:50,720 There are so many other options and respecting that. 452 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:56,280 And I think too, when you're in any kind of creative field, there is just so many, because 453 00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:01,640 there's so many people that have like, thank goodness, right, that human right in general 454 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:03,160 have this creative knack. 455 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:09,000 But, but again, I think the difference when people get big, and then when people who don't 456 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:15,440 make it, the biggest difference is, can you handle the business side of it? 457 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:22,520 Can you handle like making sure that you're setting low expectations and meeting them 458 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:26,060 tent like over and over and out? 459 00:29:26,060 --> 00:29:29,640 Because that's the best way to be is like, oh, you know, we ship every two weeks or something 460 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,880 like that, or this will be out in four weeks. 461 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:36,560 And then people get their stuff in three weeks or two weeks or whatever, and they get it 462 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:37,560 sooner. 463 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:39,960 And then they're like, wait, like people are going to think you ship fast, even though 464 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,480 you don't. 465 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,440 It's just setting that expectation, you know, right out the gate. 466 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:52,000 So and you know, it applies to digital products too, because, you know, like say you're doing 467 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,320 more pattern design. 468 00:29:54,320 --> 00:30:00,200 I love people who think that you make a pattern and then you just go away. 469 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:01,200 Like that's it. 470 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:02,200 I made a pattern. 471 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:03,200 Goodbye. 472 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:04,200 No, no. 473 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:11,400 I mean, yes, you don't have to like necessarily like print out and send a pattern every time 474 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:13,600 somebody buys a digital pattern. 475 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:17,600 But like if there's problems with it, there's pattern support. 476 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:22,760 There's, you know, you have to update it every so often just to kind of as you grow as a 477 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:29,360 designer to like make it, you know, easier to read, you know, better, you know, maybe 478 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:34,920 the yarn that you used as a yarn inside your pattern is no longer available. 479 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:35,920 It's discontinued. 480 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:36,920 You got to change that. 481 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:38,680 Then you have to change your gauge. 482 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:42,160 You know, there's like a lot of different things. 483 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:48,760 And for me, my more popular patterns, I'll get requests to add updates to it. 484 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:53,200 So they'll be like, oh, well, for example, I got somebody who wanted a ponytail hole 485 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:58,160 on the seed dot beanie, and they wanted directions on how to do that. 486 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:02,960 You know, and like, well, like, you know, if you want to keep up with that, that's a 487 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:03,960 good update. 488 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:05,560 That's I was like, oh, that sounds great. 489 00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,440 Like that's that sounds like something that would add to this beanie. 490 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,560 So let's do that. 491 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:12,840 But like, it's not just walk away. 492 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,980 You can't just walk away from it. 493 00:31:15,980 --> 00:31:16,980 It's passive to a degree. 494 00:31:16,980 --> 00:31:21,000 You don't have to fulfill every order, but you definitely have to support it. 495 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:28,600 Because as you as you guys were saying, like your name as a designer or as a dyer or whatever 496 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:33,880 as a business depends on you supporting that product. 497 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:39,240 So whether it's physically shipping out skeins of yarn or making sure that you're answering 498 00:31:39,240 --> 00:31:45,160 questions or providing support for your patterns will go a long way. 499 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:50,900 And if people decide to buy further patterns from you and promoting yourself to promoting 500 00:31:50,900 --> 00:31:51,900 your stuff. 501 00:31:51,900 --> 00:31:52,900 I mean, you can. 502 00:31:52,900 --> 00:31:53,900 Sure. 503 00:31:53,900 --> 00:31:55,400 You can you can do a pattern and throw it. 504 00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:59,080 I mean, I'm guilty of this because I really don't. 505 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,440 I'm not like you in the respect where I really want to keep designing. 506 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:03,440 I've done two patterns. 507 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:04,800 They're up on Ravelry. 508 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:06,840 You know, they've gotten minor traffic. 509 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:11,160 I get really excited every like three months when somebody buys one and I'm like, yay. 510 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:13,520 And then I forget about it again. 511 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:17,800 But if you are someone that really, you know, wants to go hardcore into pattern designing, 512 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:23,920 you know, you you want to kind of keep your stuff near the Ravelry main page. 513 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:30,040 You got to keep like you said, updating them or promoting them or, you know, marketing 514 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:32,180 them online. 515 00:32:32,180 --> 00:32:38,160 If you just throw a pattern up there like I did, it's going to get buried almost instantaneously 516 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:43,120 in the thousands of other patterns that are coming out every day. 517 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:48,200 So if you want to really make designing like a business, promoting your stuff is a big 518 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:49,340 part of it. 519 00:32:49,340 --> 00:32:52,480 And I think that's something that also a lot of people kind of take for granted. 520 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,680 It's like, well, my my product should speak for itself. 521 00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,880 And it's like, yeah, in a perfect world at will. 522 00:32:57,880 --> 00:32:59,480 But we don't live in a perfect world. 523 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:00,480 Yeah. 524 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:07,320 And unfortunately, marketing is a big part of any business that I think a lot of people 525 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:08,320 don't. 526 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:13,320 I did not think about it before we got into Critical Hit at all. 527 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,080 I was kind of like, yeah, yeah, I got a pattern. 528 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:17,080 Yay. 529 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:18,080 Nobody's buying it. 530 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:19,080 OK. 531 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:26,680 Well, the marketing piece, you know, is again, I think honestly, without getting because 532 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:29,280 marketing could be its own freaking episode. 533 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:30,280 There's so right. 534 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:31,280 Yeah. 535 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:36,120 I think the basic idea of it is basically consistency. 536 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,780 You just have to be consistent. 537 00:33:37,780 --> 00:33:43,280 As long as you're consistent, people will consistently expect things from you. 538 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:50,360 But if you kind of like, I'm going to post like three things in one day and I'm not going 539 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:56,640 to post for eight years and then I'm going to come back and do seven things in this week 540 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,640 and then again disappear into my hermit world for nine more years. 541 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,600 Like why is anybody buying my patterns, guys? 542 00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:04,600 Yeah, exactly. 543 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:10,200 Like you can't just like there's actually like a build up to like, hey, like I'm designing 544 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:14,400 a pattern and then like I'm testing the pattern and then I'm like, here's my thing and like 545 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,880 here's some engagement and then OK, now we're going to count down to the launch and then 546 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,920 we do the launch and then after the launch now you could be like, OK, here's people's 547 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:25,400 with their finished products and here's like this one finished their pattern. 548 00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,360 This one's you know, I'm constantly be hyping yourself. 549 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:34,440 It all sounds exhausting, but that's it's unfortunately it's part of it in the beginning. 550 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:35,440 I will say that. 551 00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:44,240 Yeah, now I have not a crazy following, but I have a decent following and now I will promote. 552 00:34:44,240 --> 00:34:50,240 I still have to do my things that I do, but now there's word of mouth because now it's 553 00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:55,960 like, hey, now you have people who have used my pattern, enjoyed it. 554 00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:57,800 I've come out with a new pattern. 555 00:34:57,800 --> 00:34:59,240 They're following me already. 556 00:34:59,240 --> 00:35:01,080 They start sharing on their own. 557 00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:07,320 So then you get the whole like, oh, well, you know, that's another question that I get 558 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:11,320 a lot, which is like, how do you make reels viral and how do you make post viral? 559 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:13,240 And I'm like, guys, I don't know. 560 00:35:13,240 --> 00:35:16,240 I don't know. 561 00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:22,120 Yeah, because there have been times when you've been like, I have this great reel, it's going 562 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,080 to go viral and then it doesn't. 563 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,040 And then there's the one that you do and you're like, I think this one was silly. 564 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:28,600 And then all of a sudden it's everywhere. 565 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:33,200 It's you know, it's you never can tell what is going to resonate with people. 566 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,400 Yes, that is absolutely correct. 567 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:41,000 But again, my path to success has been consistency. 568 00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:45,840 Basically Instagram will reward me every like seven or eight reels. 569 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:49,840 They'll say, okay, this one goes and then it just goes off. 570 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:53,240 You know, like it really just, I don't know. 571 00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:58,780 It just like it and it happens now that I have a semi decent following. 572 00:35:58,780 --> 00:36:00,480 It happens more often than not. 573 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:09,400 Like when I first started doing reels, I was lucky if I got over 100 views and you know, 574 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:13,400 if I got to 500 views, that was a good day. 575 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:17,520 You know that that was a viral for me. 576 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:24,520 But now it's like I sit like my average usually sits between one and 3000 and then like if 577 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,920 it goes over 10, I know it's going to do well. 578 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:33,280 But like it but like again, it's like I do like eight or like seven to nine are like 579 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,080 one to 3000. 580 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:40,440 And then like the one after that and I never know if it's the you know, the eighth, the 581 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:41,680 ninth or the tenth one. 582 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:47,840 But after that will suddenly be like 10, 20, 30. 583 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:52,720 And then some and then every once in a while Instagram will reward me with you know, one 584 00:36:52,720 --> 00:36:53,920 that will go crazy. 585 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:59,080 So the last one and I say crazy meaning go over going over 100,000. 586 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:03,820 And I've seen other people who have less of a following than I do. 587 00:37:03,820 --> 00:37:06,240 And they have something that goes to a million views. 588 00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:09,300 And they have or people that have more than a following than I do. 589 00:37:09,300 --> 00:37:12,180 And they have reels that go nowhere. 590 00:37:12,180 --> 00:37:18,840 So it's like I don't know, I think it's a combo of consistency, making quality content 591 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:20,400 and just sticking with it. 592 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,960 But it doesn't happen overnight. 593 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:27,880 It took me a year and a half to get to 10,000. 594 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:33,360 It'll probably take me 17 million years to get anywhere close to anything else. 595 00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:39,200 It's just it because Instagram's changed too and that's a big thing too, is that you have 596 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:40,880 to keep up with all that. 597 00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:48,440 But but in terms of marketing in itself, whatever avenue you pick, whether it be online, whether 598 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:53,920 you do email newsletter, whether you stick with your website for marketing, whatever 599 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:57,200 it is, just stay with it. 600 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:05,400 Don't like keep changing your plans or give up on it entirely because you'll have to build 601 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:06,840 it back up. 602 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:10,680 It will start to rot away if you just kind of if you start to build something up and 603 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:12,440 then you stop taking care of it. 604 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:13,440 It's like a plan. 605 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:18,160 If you want it to have pretty flowers, you got to keep watering it. 606 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:19,160 You're watering. 607 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:20,160 Keep taking care of it. 608 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:22,160 Put it in the sun, take it out. 609 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:27,400 You can't erase yourself and reinvent yourself every six months. 610 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:31,680 You don't say. 611 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:39,480 Yeah, because and and there's been, you know, there has been times where I I was actually 612 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:45,720 stuck at like long and not that follower count manners, but I was just stuck at like 9200 613 00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:47,360 followers for like the longest time. 614 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,080 It was just sitting there and I'm like, what am I doing wrong? 615 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:52,760 I don't understand. 616 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:54,240 And then all of a sudden, it just went back. 617 00:38:54,240 --> 00:38:55,240 It just went back to normal. 618 00:38:55,240 --> 00:38:59,440 And the difference for me was consistency. 619 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:03,800 When I sat there is when I was like, I'll post this day and then I won't post for seven 620 00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:05,560 days and I'll post this day. 621 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,320 I'll post like maybe three days in a row and then both. 622 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,360 So it's always goes back to consistency. 623 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:15,440 But you should also do that with your whatever you're making. 624 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:21,560 So if there's a quality of your product, that should remain consistent, your if you're making, 625 00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:25,320 you know, yarn skeins and you're doing color ways, those should be consistent. 626 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:30,960 If I'm buying this picture, it should look like this picture type of thing. 627 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:38,000 Though you know, it should like you have to the consistency you gain kind of a familiarity 628 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:39,960 and then you gain a trust. 629 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,160 Once you have the trust, you're all good to go. 630 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:44,160 Right. 631 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,960 But and then I mean, and then I mean, we get people ask us about this podcast. 632 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:50,400 Listen, guys, the podcast, we have no idea. 633 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:51,400 We don't know. 634 00:39:51,400 --> 00:39:56,680 This is literally just like we're like, let you know, F it. 635 00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:58,000 Let's just do this. 636 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:03,200 We didn't plan anything. 637 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:04,200 There's no marketing. 638 00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:10,280 I feel like the best ideas are the ideas that start out as something that's just for fun. 639 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,520 Yeah, it's yeah, there's no weak. 640 00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:19,560 I just like we can, you know, Megan Jazz obviously can talk about the indie die stuff and I could 641 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:22,600 talk about the pattern design stuff or like Instagram stuff. 642 00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:29,440 But like with the podcast, I still like it baffles us every single day when we go like, 643 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:34,800 oh, like we're on the top of the charts for like 18 countries. 644 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:35,800 Like how did that happen? 645 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:42,000 Well, I think a big part of that too is is be going into it with no expectations. 646 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:43,000 Absolutely. 647 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:48,360 And also, I mean, and I certainly can't speak for the two of you. 648 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:54,080 I've said it before, speaking on behalf of Jess and I that we will we will run critical 649 00:40:54,080 --> 00:41:05,680 hit until it is either a massive drain on our income or we don't have fun with it anymore. 650 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,760 Probably the latter would be the more important thing. 651 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:09,760 Yeah. 652 00:41:09,760 --> 00:41:14,520 And I think that's a huge part of it is that if you're going to start a business or a podcast 653 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:21,720 or, you know, any sort of creative endeavor, the main point of it should be you're you're 654 00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:22,720 having fun. 655 00:41:22,720 --> 00:41:23,720 Yeah. 656 00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:28,720 If you're just doing it for dollar bills, you're going to be disappointed. 657 00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:33,480 It's gonna yeah, it's just gonna make you sad and bring you out. 658 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:40,000 Not only that, but people are smart enough to sense when you're not doing it for the 659 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:41,000 good of it. 660 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:45,320 Like when you're doing it to siphon money off people, it's really obvious. 661 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:50,200 It's so obvious when people are just doing it for the money. 662 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:57,320 Because there's just this like sense of like salesmaniness with the whole product. 663 00:41:57,320 --> 00:41:58,320 Buy me. 664 00:41:58,320 --> 00:41:59,320 There's an authenticity to it. 665 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:00,320 Buy me now. 666 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:01,320 Guys, I'm just here for a good time. 667 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:02,320 Yeah. 668 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:09,840 I'm just here to kind of catalog our thoughts into this void of audio nests. 669 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:15,640 But I'm like, honestly, honestly, and this is I've said this for a long time now. 670 00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:20,960 My primary objective is keeping our conversations on some kind of recorded notion, because one 671 00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:24,240 day my brain is going to go and I'm going to forget all this stuff. 672 00:42:24,240 --> 00:42:27,400 One day we're going to have dementia. 673 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:28,400 Yeah. 674 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:33,000 And we're going to like, oh, I wonder, you know, Pat, you know, Patrick's going to roll 675 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:37,520 in a little radio and he's like, look, this is what you did when you were young and hit 676 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:38,520 the play button. 677 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,520 And it's going to be like I'm with my friends again. 678 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:42,520 Yeah. 679 00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:44,680 You know, because you never know what life's going to give you. 680 00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:49,840 And at least we have these moments to kind of like record ourselves and like have, you 681 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:53,040 know, these memories on tape. 682 00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:58,120 I really hope that I'm like 60 and I'm still like, like if I'm, if I'm dementia. 683 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:02,480 If I have dementia when I'm 60, I want to be able to listen to us back and be impressed 684 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:03,480 with myself. 685 00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:06,480 It's not that far away. 686 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,160 I have brain problems. 687 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:11,160 I'm being realistic. 688 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:12,800 I also have brain problems. 689 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:17,360 We're just the brain problem people were just being realistic right here. 690 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:22,280 Look, if I get to be like 70 or 80 before it kicks in, you know what? 691 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:24,240 I will be pleasantly surprised. 692 00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:25,240 Fantastic. 693 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:29,960 And consistent with the episode, keep your expectations low and you'll never be disappointed. 694 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:36,760 But yeah, I mean, realistically speaking, we're all not, you know, at some point we'll 695 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:38,440 all go into the ether. 696 00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:45,720 And when that happens, at least we'll have recordings of us singing rap songs about whips. 697 00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:48,720 Oh, very good. 698 00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:52,760 That'll be our legacy. 699 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:57,320 Talking about noobs and rap songs about whips. 700 00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:02,880 That'll be it. 701 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:04,480 That's it for this week's topics. 702 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:08,800 For additional content and opportunities to connect with the cast, check out our Patreon 703 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:11,880 or our website at part of my stash.com. 704 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:14,280 Guys see marketing. 705 00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:22,720 Be sure to tune in next week for more live studio. 706 00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:27,480 Cheers marketing and dress. 707 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:29,440 I'm Drea. 708 00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:30,440 Good job. 709 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:57,000 package said parted my Stan.