In which we talk about new eggs and new alpaca, spring coming to Minnesota on owl’s wings, fiber retreats for both of us, Master Knitter returns, shetland ponies in fair isle sweaters, yarn design for a bulky cowl, fulling and felting, a kindness of knitters, electric blankets for the car and emerald green.
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Thank you to knitdesigns for the RAP* of her Trinity Cowl and Hat and irocknits for her RAP of Levenwick.
Jan is delighted to report that the alpaca are laying eggs now. Wait, I mean the hens are laying eggs. The alpaca came afterwards - all EIGHT of them.
Ellen enjoyed the SavvyGirls at their recent talk at a Minnesota Knitters’ Guild meeting.
Jan attended Tina’s Fiber Retreat and had a wonderful time with a kindness of knitters (listen to the kindly comments at ~11:00).
Ellen attended the Knitajourney Midwinter Retreat and had a wonderful time with a kindness of knitters (listen to more kindly comments at ~20:00).
Ellen also listened to some signs of kinder weather to come when she was serenaded by great horned owls during their courting rituals (~24:45).
Susan Dolph of the Knitajourney Podcast shared her thoughts on the weekend and looks back at what her podcast gave to her and continues to give to the fiber community (~26:40).
In On the Runway, Jan shares she is working on the Wham Bam Thank You Lamb! neckwarmer. She continues on her Death Spiral shawl (design by Erica Gunn). Ellen’s Fiber Fusion sweater is seeing good progress. Ellen’s Blue Moons Cardigan has come out of eclipse (Forestry by Veronik Avery). As she recorded, she worked on Rimfrost, aka Many Moments of Grace.
Jan avoided being nipped by her knitting, but Ellen did not. In Bitten by Your Knittin’, she explained that a short skein (only 88 grams instead of 100), shorted the last two mystery knits in her series of 6 (really, you won’t hear of these again until they go public). She also explained that her Master Knitter Level II submission came back from The Knitters Guild of America committee who judged it. Yes, she has to reknit a few swatches. No, she doesn’t have to rewrite that report!
Neither twin had anything to report in Finely or Finally Knit, but both admired the lovely Fair Isle sweaters on those chubby Shetland ponies.
In Design Principles, Ellen challenged Jan to design a bulky yarn for a Decibella cowl, Gale Zucker’s recent design.
Ellen recommends that you embellish your car, especially if you live in MN, with an electric blanket. It is really wonderful on those subzero mornings. She got hers at Menard’s.
In 360 degrees, Ellen reports that she has already started spinning the singles for the yarn she designed in Design Principles. Jan has plied her burgundy and black alpaca and silk from a local Pennsylvania alpaca farm and spun and plied a gorgeous merino and silk gradient from Fiber Optic Yarns.
In Fiber Jargon, Jan and Ellen discuss felting and fulling. The use of the terms is changing, but Ellen still likes the traditional use. But Ellen wholeheartedly supports the use of a “kindness of knitters”, the collective noun for a group of knitters that was coined by Paula of the Knitting Pipeline.
Ellen’s Fashion Forecast holds Madrona (February 13-16) in its sights and Jan is planning to come to Minnesota for Yarnover (April 27). And Jan reports that Emerald Green is the Color of the Year.
Enjoy the episode!
*RAP - Random Act of Pattern. See the Friends of KnitPurlGurl Ravelry group for more info.
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Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
February 7th, 2013 at 12:10 am
Owl of them are wonderful, but the Shetland ponies in the sweaters for the tourists are the mane draw. Alpaca my bag and go!
February 8th, 2013 at 5:23 pm
I am very behind in podcast listening, but delighted to see that egg!! We are now getting upwards of three a day, and I am starting to explore interesting egg recipes to help cope with the influx…
February 9th, 2013 at 9:56 am
I could only hear one side of the conversation in this episode
February 9th, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Ellen! Core spinning! Core spinning! One yarn for strength, and then a ton of light, fluffy roving spun loosely around it. Very light and fluffy yarn, still a lot of strength. I’ve been thinking of doing some core spinning myself, so it’s on the brain already, but I think it would work great for your cowl, too. =)
February 13th, 2013 at 10:08 pm
My favorite way to deal with an influx of fresh eggs is: home made angel food cake for my Sweetie (usually good for about 12-13egg whites) which then leads to a double batch of baked custard for me, or I freeze the egg yolks in plastic ice cube trays until frozen and then pop them into a freezer bag for storage to be used at a later date.