Two Ewes Fiber Adventures

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Ep 162: Knitting with Handspun May 16, 2021

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In this episode we discuss knitting with handspun yarn, including estimating yardage, picking needle size, and selecting potential patterns. Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects Walk Along tee by Ankestrick (Ravelry link) I've put the body on waste yarn to check length. I've decided to move on to the sleeve which will stop just above the elbow instead of ¾ length. I started the gusset on the second sock of a pair of socks for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo. Still spinning the green and brown three ply. Kelly's Projects Ripped out the Bear Brand Yarn socks and will be starting them again with no pattern. Faye's Flower Blanket. All Octagons and squares are done. One more triangle to do. Then 4 corners (small triangles). Topic: Knitting with Handspun Selecting a needle size to swatch Selecting potential patterns "My yarn isn't good enough" The allure of spinning thin The allure of spinning smooth, worsted style yarns Measuring yardage in a skein Good first projects Good projects for textured yarn More intermediate to advanced considerations Do these yarns/fibers go together? Summer Spin In Memorial Day - Labor Day May 31st - September 6th Transcript Kelly 0:03 Hi, this is Marsha and this is Kelly. Marsha 0:05 We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 0:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 0:17 We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly 0:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects, Marsha 0:29 and I am betterinmotion. We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Both 0:35 Enjoy the episode! Marsha 0:43 Good morning, Kelly. Kelly 0:44 Good morning, Marsha. How are you? Marsha 0:45 I'm doing good. Kelly 0:47 Good. Marsha 0:47 How's the newest member of your family doing? Kelly 0:50 Oh, he's doing great. Beary is fitting in pretty well. He's walking up to about a mile now. He lags toward the end of a mile. But he's been able to go a mile. The first week... So a week ago he was at the vet. And he got his thyroid medication lowered. That's good. So now he's only on a point eight-- I think it's milligrams-- pill once a day instead of twice a day. So that's good. And he lost. He had lost last week he had lost three pounds. Marsha 1:28 All right. So and that's really not with any diet change. That's just the walking right? Kelly 1:32 Yeah. Well, more activity. I was trying to feed him the same amount that he had at the at the SPCA--hat they had told me they were feeding him. I was trying to feed him that same amount. It actually was a little bit less food than normal, because he wasn't really eating. And, you know, my dogs eat! Marsha 1:56 Yes. Kelly 1:57 Even Bailey. You know, she's, well, she had Nash to contend with, she had a lab to contend with. So she knows you put your nose in the bowll, and up until it's gone. And I don't know if she was like that before we got her. But she learned to be like that, at least having Nash around. And he wouldn't, he would eat a little bit. And then he'd walk out a little bit into the yard and then he'd pee. And then he walked back and he ate a little bit more. And then he like, walked over kind of towards Bailey to see if maybe she had something better. And I was like, okay, you're not gonna-- if you're not going to finish this, I'm going to pick it up because it's gonna cause a problem. So he wasn't finishing the whole amount. So then I started feeding him lunch, I thought, you know, I'd feed him lunch to help keep his metabolism high. And so I was doing that. But he wasn't really eating lunch. You know, he wasn't seeming hungry. And so he was getting a little bit less food. But anyway, yeah, he lost three pounds. And I don't know how much he's lost since then. Bu t I do think he's lost a little bit. His feet. [laughing] He looks like he's lost weight in his feet. Marsha 3:12 Oh, really? Kelly 3:13 That seems really strange. But that's the only place I can kind of tell. They look less puffy. Like his feet were really round, not like a shepherd. And the vet said she thinks he's mixed with Tibetan Mastiff. Marsha 3:28 Okay. That's very specific. Kelly 3:31 Yes. But I went and looked at their pictures. And he does kind of, he does kind of look like that. They have a tail that kind of arches over their back. And he doesn't have that. But they have the like, they call them cat feet in the standard. where, you know, their feet are round and tight. And the shepherds feet are more elongated. Marsha 3:56 Yeah, yeah. Kelly 3:57 So anyway. And his feet were like round and tight. And they still are, but they're less round. Like they look less round on top, you know? Marsha 4:07 Well, I mean, maybe he was retaining water or something. his ankles were swelling, you know, like my grandmother, [laughing] and, you know, with all this activity, things were moving, maybe. Kelly 4:17 Yeah, it's hard. It's really hard to tell. And you know, of course we can't weigh him because you can't pick him up and step on the scale with them the way you could with a smaller dog so so he'll have to wait till he goes to the vet again, for us to know for sure. I'm hoping I can get the vet to let us bring him just for our weight check. Because I don't want him to lose weight too fast. And that's part of-- that's part of regulating his thyroid if he is losing weight too fast. That could be an indicator that his thyroid medication is too high. So so I'm hoping the vet will, you know, say we can bring him in like every two weeks or something for just that. for free, just let them take him in and weigh him and bring him back out. Marsha 5:01 Enzo's vet you could just bring your dog in any time because they just have the scale there in the lobby. So you can just go weigh your dog. In fact, that's where I went. Remember that the big giant afghan? Kelly 5:16 Oh right! [laughing] Marsha 5:17 I went and weighed it on that scale.[laughing] Kelly 5:19 Marsha went to the vet to weigh her blanket! Marsha 5:26 Yeah, but now with the pandemic, you can't, I can't go into the lobby, Kelly 5:30 it's a little more of a thing of a production for them to come to them and get in weighed. So. But things are supposed to open here in California on June 15. And I don't know if that means everything. Like from then on. I actually think that the vets are probably secretly glad that no owners are in the office when they do their vet checks. Because dogs are always worse when their owners are around in situations like that. I think, I mean, they're probably-- I wonder if they'll... Well, I don't know what they'll do. But yeah, there's probably been some some added convenience to just picking the dog up in the parking lot and taking it in. Marsha 6:16 Well, and then you don't have all the animals in the lobby, too, because that's another thing, too, is altercations in the lobby. So yeah, well, that's exciting news that he's he's making some progress. Now. The thyroid medication, though, that's not because he's overweight, but he is... he will even if he loses weight, he'll be on thyroid medication. Kelly 6:40 Yeah. A weight gain is probably due to his thyroid issues. Okay. I mean, some of the weight gain might be other reasons. But some of it, I mean, definitely for a dog to be as overweight as he was, there was a thyroid problem there. That's what the vet said anyway. Marsha 7:01 And then, I'm assuming, given what you know about his history, which is very little, I'm assuming that the thyroid medication started after he went to the SPCA. Kelly 7:11 Yeah, they, they noticed that. They, they stitched him up from his wounds. And then they noticed that he wasn't kind of bouncing back. And he was very lethargic. And then, you know, the vet first thought it was just because of the what had happened to him and then being in the shelter. And then she decided, no, it's, he needs to have a blood test. So they did a blood test and his thyroid was was extremely low. So he's progressing nicely. He now lays on a pillow, it takes me about 10 times of putting him back before he is convinced that I mean it and just stays there. Or maybe he's just too exhausted. That's how I feel at the end of it! [laughing] Too exhausted Marsha 8:00 that you need to go lie down. Kelly 8:02 But the other day, I even I even came in and took a nap. And brought them back in with me during the day and you know, closed up the bedroom and, and took a nap for about an hour and a half and he was quiet in the bedroom. So he's got the routine, you know, the the normal routine plus, He knows, in this location, this is what I do. So that's good. In the backyard he's been fence fighting with the neighbor dogs, him and Bailey. So that's not good. But we're working on that. Marsha 8:31 And he and Bailey are doing well together. Kelly 8:33 go Yeah, they're having a great time. You know, they've had a couple of little tips, little fights, but nothing major. He's learning how to get into the truck. And in fact, that's one of the fights they had. He has decided that the truck belongs to him. And if she tried to get too close. If the door opens up on the truck in the backyard and she tries to get too close to it. That that's the two times they've had fights--it has been around the truck. So now I have to really watch when the truck gets opened that, you know, he...that the two of them are not real close to the door. Because he he now thinks that the truck belongs to him and she's not allowed to get near it. He loves his truck, which is good. That's what we wanted, but not quite. Marsha 9:22 He loves it a bit too much. So possessive of it. Okay, well. Sounds like making lots of good progress Kelly 9:26 Yeah, yeah, we have Marsha 9:31 So that proves that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Kelly 9:33 Yeah. Yeah. [laughing] Marsha 9:35 Fitting right in and learning that learning the routine. Hmm. Kelly 9:38 Well, I think the routine is the biggest part of it, you know, just having that. Like, this is what we do every day. And not necessarily always at the same time. But, you know, these are the, these are the things that we do. And then you gradually we've been gradually increasing what those things are. So, luckily the weather's been good and we've been able to use a lot of the outdoor space. School's almost over. Marsha 10:04 Oh, how many days? Kelly 10:06 I mean, well, I'm not... I wasn't counting it in days. But I guess I could now because we're in the middle of the second of the second to the last week. Next week is finals week. I'm so glad. This week though, I'm, packed with student appointments for them to go over things and do review and such.Mostly out of guilt. Because it's the end of the semester, and I haven't been able to do as good a job as I wanted with this online stuff. And so now I'm feeling like, Okay, well, I need to make up for that by by allowing for all this extra makeup work and all that. So yeah, a teacher's life! It's never good enough. Marsha 10:56 I thought of you because the other day this was oh, maybe two weeks ago. Ben had his-- one of his his instructors had office hours. There were three hours long office hours. And Ben was in the office for three hours. Kelly 11:12 Wow. Marsha 11:14 So like, yeah, I guess, all these students were coming in and going, coming in and going out. Kelly 11:19 Right. Marsha 11:19 But I thought of you and it's like, that was a long time to be in a meeting, you know. I thought of you when he was talking about this, Kelly 11:34 I think we all do it. Marsha 11:35 I'd have to go take a nap after that. Kelly 11:36 Yeah, I think we all do it at the end of the semester, you know, we want to give students all the opportunities that we can to get the material and yeah, and I, you know, I had such high hopes at the beginning of this semester that, you know, this time I was going to get the online thing. The second time around doing an online, I was gonna get it right. And of course, it doesn't feel like I got it right at all. But it was better than last time, I'm trying to have a growth mindset. [laughing] It was better than the last semester. So I have one class that's a repeat of the class I had last semester. And that class is better. And then this class, the calculus class I had last spring when we were half face to face and half online. And I have to say that the online portion of it, this spring is better than the online portion that I did last spring. So I have improved, and I have high hopes that it will be even better. In the fall semester where I'm online. I'm teaching both of these classes again. So totally growth mindset. I'm gonna be better. I haven't mastered it yet. But I will! You know, that kind of that kind of thing. But then there's a little bit of aspect of guilt, because you haven't done as good a job as you want to do so. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, that happens to me every semester, whether we're online or not, it's just a little bit exacerbated in the online environment. I always felt like I could have done better. Well, I tell new teachers, teaching is a black hole that you could pour all of your time in and never be good enough. So you can't be a perfectionist and do this job. Or you'll burnout. You know, you have to be--you have to be willing to say, Well, that was good enough. And I'll do better next time. Or I'll try. I might not, but I'm gonna try. So anyway, I'm just glad the semester is almost over. Marsha 13:40 Yes. And you have the whole summer to look forward to. Kelly 13:43 Mm hmm. And our summer spin-in. Marsha 13:48 So summer spinning! Should we get to get to the knitting and the fibery portion, the playing was string portion of the podcast? Kelly 13:57 Yeah. Marsha 13:58 So do you want to talk about your projects or... Kelly 14:00 Sure I am making really good progress. In fact, I'm crocheting on it right now. I'm making really good progress on the Persian tiles blanket. And I'm making it for my grand niece and calling it Faye's flower blanket. I don't have the name in the shownotes of the designer, but it's called Persian tile blanket. If you want to, if anybody wants to go look at it. And then I have it in my projects as Faye's flower blanket and that will be linked to in the show notes. But I've got all of the octagons done--20 of them! Which that was exciting when I got that last one done. In fact I almost made a 21st not remembering that I was--that I had been on 19 and 20 was done and then I reminded myself. So I moved to finishing the squares and all the squares are done. And then what I'm crocheting on right now is the last row of the last triangle. So now all I have to do are the four corners, which are also triangles. But this is lik-- it's called a triangle granny square, or granny triangle or something. So I'm on the last row of the last one of these. All I'll have are the four corners. And then Marsha 15:24 I…

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Ep 161: Welcome Home, Bear! May 02, 2021

Show notes

Kelly shares happy news about adopting Bear, a big, sweet, eight year old shepherd. And Marsha has a surprise finish! Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects Walk Along tee by Ankestrick (Ravelry link) I finished my Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde (Ravelry link) just in time for the end of our Extremities Knit/Crochet Along. I started the gusset on the second sock of a pair of socks for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo. I ordered another 8 oz of the dark brown roving for the green and brown three ply. I plan to spin the brown separately and make a striped sweater. Kelly's Projects I finished the Huck weaving sampler from the Jane Stafford Guild. I'm now ready for May and episode 4. Faye's Flower Blanket. I now have 16 octagons Extremities Knit/Crochet Along This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns: Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah The KAL ended on April 25, 2021 and the winners are: jacquiemari--Jacqueline. She made legwarmers. Wins the Abington Mitts pattern by Jennifer Lassonde JillMabelina--Jill. She made a pair of Bernie mitts. Wins the Coffee Socks Collection by Dots Dabbles Designs. Summer Spin In May 31st - September 6th Get ready to spin! Our Summer Spin In takes place again from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Transcript Marsha 0:03 Hi, this is Marsha Kelly 0:04 and this is Kelly. Marsha 0:05 We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 0:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 0:17 We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly 0:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects, and I am Betterinmotion. We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Marsha 0:36 Enjoy the episode. Marsha 0:43 Good morning, Kelly. Kelly 0:44 Good morning, Marsha. I just had to look to see if it was actually still morning and it is. It's technically, it's technically morning. I am very tired. Marsha 0:58 Well, you have big news. Kelly 0:59 I do. Yeah. Anybody who follows me on Instagram... And if you don't follow me on Instagram, you should! 1hundredprojects, the number one, hundred projects, you will have seen that we have a new addition to the family. And I, you know, I know that raising a baby--that type of new addition to the family is much more difficult than what I'm doing. And I... it's only actually been two days and things are already getting better. But I am totally exhausted. We adopted a new dog. So his name is his name is Bear. I call him Beary. He is,... well... I don't know if I told you Marsha. I'll tell everybody how this actually happened. We were not looking for another dog. I mean, we do... Marsha 1:52 Yes, I actually, I don't and my brother asked me. So why did they do this? Why did why did you this? Kelly 1:57 Yeah. So I mean, we miss Nash, you know, we lost him in the fall. And he was kind of nice to have around. And then Betty liked having a dog when we would go off. To have a dog to stay home with her. But we weren't really looking for another dog at this point. And I actually think a one dog household is too few dogs. But again, we weren't really thinking about another dog at this point. Bailey still young. And I still got a lot of work to do with her. So. But anyway, my friend Paul is interested in getting a dog and he's been talking about it for I don't know, maybe two years. And first he wanted to get a lab and he was asking me about lab breeders that I knew. And then he was thinking maybe he get this breed and maybe that breed. And just for listeners, he's a friend that I've had since I started at Hartnell. And I helped him find his first dog, which was a boxer that I co owned with him and trained and did obedience got her got her CD title. And then he got--I helped him find his last dog, which was a wirehaired pointing griffon. So anyway, now he's looking for another dog. And so and I just you know, I said you know, you're you're working so hard at this trying to find a dog online and feeling concerned. Why don't you look at maybe a rescue? Oh, I don't know, I think I want to raise a puppy. I want to know what it's gonna be like, but you know me, he was kind of not really open to it. But Marsha 3:32 but but he didn't say no. Right? Kelly 3:35 So periodically, over the last couple of months, because every time I talked to him, he's like, I need to get a dog. What do you think about this breed? What do you think about that breed? So I just thought, you know what? I'm going to go on, look at the shelters. So I did and I did this about three months, three or two months ago, I guess. I went to look at the shelters, and there really isn't much. In fact, that's an interesting thing that the shelters all have shortages. But anyway, I saw this German Shepherd male who it was very overweight. And I saw about two months ago and I thought oh, he's the old guy, you know, a senior and I thought well, he'll be, you know, he'll be adopted because everybody's being adopted now. This is how it's working. And then I went back and he was still there. And then the third time I went back, he was still there. I texted Robert and I said what do you think? It'd be like... His situation just reminded me of Nash coming to us later in life after a kind of somewhat unknown background, you know, to just kind of be the lay-around-the-house dog. And so Robert said, Yeah, okay. I think that might be okay. And so I contacted the SPCA. Well, it was so much faster than Bailey! Marsha 4:54 Because Bailey was a really long time. You had to pass a lot of hurdles. Kelly 4:58 Yeah. mmmhmmm. Marsha 5:00 It took a couple months, right? Kelly 5:00 They had to inspect my house and, and she had an injury that had to heal too. So that was part of it. But, you know, I was at... we were out at the boarding facility, I don't know, for 10 days going every day to see her, you know, before she was able to come home. So I contacted them on Saturday. I emailed or filled out the form on Saturday, I got a phone call. I thought I wouldn't hear back until Monday. But I got a phone call on Sunday, saying, Do you want to come meet him? Can you come on Monday? So then Robert's, like, they're just trying to get rid of him? What's wrong with this dog? And I said, well, what's wrong with him is he's you know, low thyroid, and he has a lot of weight to lose. And, you know, he's eight. And they just want to send--he's been there a long time. They just want to get him a home, you know. If we're interested, they're gonna take us up on it, but, but he was really suspicious about how fast it went. And then we went and met him. And they had, you know, they asked us to bring Bailey so Bailey met him too. And, you know, they kind of didn't really interact, they just kind of did their own thing. in the, in the area where, where they meet. We, you know, we walked them together kind of on leash. And then, and then she was-- they were able to both go off leash together, but they pretty much just kind of ignored each other mostly. Sniffed a little bit, but that was it. So then, you know, is like, are you? Well, what do you think? Are you interested? And I said, Yes. And so like, 20 minutes later, we were leaving with a ramp because he didn't like getting into the car. And you can't lift him up because he, he doesn't like being poked or prodded or pushed or lifted, or anything like that. And he turns around and grabs you, not biting you. But he does, like let you know that he doesn't want you doing that, which we're working on. So anyway, we've had him for two days. This is the third, this is the third day. Marsha 7:10 I just, I mean, it's such a shock, because, well, I just think it's amazing that you can just go and get a dog that fast. Kelly 7:18 That's what Robert said. He said, how do they know that we're a good home? Like they talked-- They talked to us for half an hour. You know, we brought Bailey and they saw how Bailey was with him. And then they sent him home with us. Like, how do they know we're gonna be good? Marsha 7:34 You know, it's like when I gave birth to Ben, I couldn't believe the hospital was gonna let me take him home. Don't they know I don't know what I'm doing? I mean, it's kind of amazing that anybody can have a baby and you can just Kelly 7:48 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Marsha 7:50 But it's the same thing. And I, I've told you this too. About my friend that had moved to Spokane, came to visit Seattle and got a dog and And literally, he just filled out the application paid his fee and left with the dog. And then the poor dog came to my house and met Enzo and we had lunch and then got in the car and drove across the state. Kelly 8:14 Yeah. Marsha 8:16 And it worked out fine. That dog adores Darryl, you know. And Darryl adores the dog. It worked out fine, but it's like, they just let the dogs go with anybody. It's just so... strange. Kelly 8:27 When I volunteered there I never wanted to let any dog go with anybody. Marsha 8:31 Yeah. No owner was good enough. Kelly 8:34 Anyway, but he's, he's great. He, he's hard. It's really hard. I mean, basically, I'm used to having dogs that, you know, they they, they communicate. I know how to communicate with them. You know, we had to work on it with with Bailey. And you forget how much you had to work. I had to kind of remind myself of how hard it was when she first came. Because now she seems so easy. But yeah, like he didn't know how to be in the house. And the first day, it was great because the weather's been really good. So we've just been able to spend all day out in the backyard. And I've gotten, I have to admit, very little work done. But you know, I can set my computer up on the table in the backyard and I can work and I can be in the... I've been able to be in the trailer and talk to him through the window of the trailer. He can come and look in the door of the trailer. But he can't he can't get in because he's too big. He can't lift himself, you know, into the . Marsha 9:35 So I know like Well, let's just let's talk about some of his issues. Kelly 9:40 Okay. Marsha 9:41 You said he has, is it? He has hypo thyroid? Because I don't-- I can't say it.. Kelly 9:46 Yeah, hypothyroid he's low thyroid, and he's on thyroid medication. And he was at the SPCA for three months. He came in with a wound from being attacked by a dog. And he was surrendered. And then they stitched him up that was kind of on his shoulder and they stitched him up. And then they discovered that he had this low thyroid problem. Marsha 10:14 Well, and also doesn't he have...He's had, like you said, a chronic ear infection, which has damaged one of his ears. Didn't you say that, too? Kelly 10:20 Yeah, he had... They didn't realize at first but but after, you know, they fixed him up, and they realize his ear had a problem. So then they had to go in and clean out his ears. And they cleaned them and then they came back, you know, got really bad again, and they so they put him on antibiotics for his ears and ear medication. And...but the one ear bothers him, he shakes his head a lot. Even though it's clean. The vet said it's clean. It's just the ear canal has kind of a lot of scar tissue. And it just... she said it just feels funny. And I Marsha 10:22 Yeah, Kelly 10:51 well, when he got to the... he's he lost 30 pounds. I think she said. Yeah, he lost like 30 pounds. And I think, I mean, he should probably be more like 90 pounds. Unless, unless he's just a bigger dog than I think in terms of his body structure. I'm thinking probably he should be around 90 pounds. So he has another like 40 pounds to lose. Marsha 11:25 So he should be about 90 pounds. He is did you say he's like 137 pounds? Now? Kelly 11:31 He's 133. Yeah, when he came home. Marsha 11:33 133 when it came home? And he'd lost... Kelly 11:38 almost 30 pounds. Yeah. Marsha 11:40 30 pounds. So he would have been like 160 pounds. Kelly 11:44 Yes. Marsha 11:46 And he should be around 90. Kelly 11:48 Yeah, like a large German Shepherd would be... a male German Shepherd would be like around 90. Marsha 11:54 He was like double what he should be. More than double what he should be. Kelly 11:56 Yeah. And you know, I don't know, do ear canals get fat? [laughing] I have no idea. But he's, he's very, he's very. He's very sweet. But he just he does whatever he wants. He's like a 130 pound toddler. And he doesn't really understand the word no. Right? I mean, he's not probably had a lot of interaction. He probably was a backyard dog, you know? And so he doesn't really... Like I'm just so much blah, blah, blah, blah, when I talk, and so he doesn't really understand the word no or anything. Yeah, you know, and he goes where he wants and he weighs a lot more than most dogs. Marsha 12:09 He can just go where he wants, because he is so big. Kelly 12:47 So I'm gonna say something that is probably controversial to a lot of people. But he came to us on a buckle collar. And, like, I can't control him. Right. I'm not that--I mean, I'm not as strong as I used to be when I had the wolf hounds. But also the wolf hounds, they thought I was stronger than them. You know, I mean, I knew them since puppyhood. So Marsha 13:14 but at 137 pounds, 133 pounds. Kelly 13:21 He weighs more than I do. Yeah, Marsha 13:22 He outweighs, you. Kelly 13:23 Yeah. And he's also he's used to doing what he wants, you know. So I couldn't I mean, I could barely walk him. So after one day, we got out the the chain collar that Nash had used and, you know, I wasn't jerking him around or anything, but it just gives me a lot of, a lot better control. And we were able to go for three walks yesterday, three short walks yesterday. And you know, he's not dragging me around now. Literally, he was dragging me through the house to get to toys. The first night it was like, every time he saw one of Bailey's toys, which, you know, we didn't know he was coming, so I had not dog proofed the house. And so he'd see one of her squirrels that she has--the squirrels in a tree--and he'd like take off. I was like flying behind him. Cuz he was on leash. Oh my gosh, it was so hard that first night. Marsha 13:33 Wow. Kelly 14:02 He just, you know, he went where he wanted and, and, and he's surprisingly fast for a big guy. If you if he's got something on his mind that he wants, he's surprisingly fast [laughing] Oh my goodness, but so so that that has made it a little bit easier to to have some control when he has the leash on. But he's still I mean, he still... he wants what he wants when he wants it. And but he's very... Marsha 14:48 Just like a toddler. Kelly 14:49 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. 130 pound toddler. But he learned he does learn how to sleep on the pillow the first day-- the first night. He can't be crated, because we don't have a crate big enough. And I tried the ex-pen, but he just walked pushing the ex-pen.…

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Ep 160: Just a Few Ends to Weave Apr 18, 2021

Show notes

Lots of ends to weave and finished objects to discuss this week. Plus we announce the winners of our Winter Weave Along. Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects Walk Along tee by Ankestrick (Ravelry link) Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde (Ravelry link) Almost done. I started the heel flap on the pair of socks (Ravelry link) for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo. Spun three more skeins of merino green and brown three ply. Have a total of five skeins and 716 yards Kelly's Projects Finished! Iced Matcha socks (Ravelry link) from the Coffee Socks Collection by Dots Dabbles Designs. I used Invictus Yarns Seraphic. Finished! Frog and Toad (Ravelry link) from frogandcast.com. Finished! Reading in Bed blanket (Ravelry link) Started the Huck weaving sampler from the Jane Stafford Guild Winter Weave Along The Weave Along is over and we drew winners! Listen to see if you won! Extremities Knit/Crochet Along This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns: Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah It ends on April 25, 2021. Knit anything for your extremities (hands, arms, legs, feet). Full Transcript Marsha Hi, this is Marsha Kelly and this is Kelly. Marsha We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha We blog and post show notes at to Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com Kelly and we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects Marsha And I am betterinmotion. Kelly We both look forward to meeting you there. Both Enjoy the episode. Marsha Good morning, Kelly. Kelly Good Morning, Marsha. Marsha How are you today? Kelly I'm doing all right. The sun is finally coming out. I would say if you want to travel to my neck of the woods don't come in April. April's not-- I don't think April is that good of a weather month for the Monterey Bay Area. It's cold. It's very coastal feeling this morning that cold ocean breeze and overcast and the sun is now finally coming out. So maybe I'll get my hat and my fleece vest off att some point today. Marsha Well, we are having beautiful weather in Seattle. Kelly That's good. Marsha I haven't checked the temperature but warm, you know, Sunny blue sky. Yeah, no rain in the forecast. I think it's gonna be up to 70 Kelly Oh, nice. Marsha I'm sorry. I don't know what that is in Celsius for those who are on Celsius. Kelly 30? Somebody in the Ravelry group posted and they said they have like milestones, like body temperature is 37. Marsha Okay, Kelly I think they said 30 degrees was like a 70 degree day. Now, I may be totally wrong on that. But but that's-- I'm just doing that from memory and then you know, zero is freezing. And below zero is nobody wants to, nobody wants to feel that! Marsha Anyway, Well, anyway, it's beautiful. So I have Mark came up and helped me move the patio furniture app onto the deck. So we've been sitting in the furniture and we got the umbrellas out yesterday Kelly Wow! Marsha and, we've had so and I'm... you probably saw my Instagram post that I painted the south side of the garage. Well, primer and first coat yesterday. I have to do the second coat today Kelly You and Robert so I just have to ask. Did you vacuum it before you primed it? Marsha Well, Ben power washed it for me. [laughing} Kelly Okay. Because I looked out at one point when Robert was... and he's got the vacuum up on the roof of the garage and a paintbrush, like to brush off cobwebs and stuff like that. Oh my gosh, he is meticulous. Marsha He is meticulous but he's doing it the right way. Kelly Yes, yeah. No, I have no complaints. I just laugh when I see. I mean like, Who in the world looks out the window and sees someone vacuuming the garage wall? [laughing] Marsha Well, I have to say I did not vacuum it but I, as I say Ben went out and power washed the south side. And then what started this whole thing, I probably talked about this but what started the whole thing is he was super excited about power washing and he powerwashed the driveway and I said well why don't you power wash my pots, my the planter pots, which he did. And then on the south side of the driveway where I have the tomatoes, the neighbors have a fence so it creates shade like from the pots down. And so it's super mossy, there was like an inch of moss over there. And he was--can hardly wait to get over there and attack the moss. He powerwashed that whole walkway, power washed the pots. I said Well then, if I'm pulling the pots away... Because they're so heavy, I take all the soil out, which is now piled up in front of the garage so I can't get my car in the garage. If we're going to do all this I should paint the garage because the garage has not been painted in, I don't know, 15 or 20 years? I don't know. A long time. I don't remember when it was painted. Kelly Well that's what led Robert to paint was that the he wanted to get the garage painted before the grape came back. You know, he pruned it. So it was all pruned back and you can actually see the garage wall. And, and he knew you know, within a couple of weeks that was all going to start leafing out again and so he's like Okay, I gotta get this garage wall painted. Yeah. So so good to do it while the pots are out of the way. Marsha Yeah, but then I have a tendency, well I was like, just put the paint on there. It's okay. And it's like no, my father was a painter. And I can't, I can't do that. So I, as I say Ben power washed it, I primed it. I put my first coat on. So and I'm gonna go put the second coat on. So that's the right way to do it. Now, all of this, that was just one side of the garage. I have, you know, it's a rectangle. So I have three more slots. [laughing] Kelly Yeah, that's the west side. So that's one of the sides that gets the most Marsha No, it's actually south side. Kelly Yes. The South Side. Yeah. Marsha But I, you know, my parents built that garage. And my father taught me how to put the shingles on it. So it has cedar shingles from probably 1968. And he showed me how to nail shingles onto the side of the garage. So when I was-- okay, let's see. I was probably 10. And I sided, at the age 10, I sided the south side of the garage. Kelly That's cool. Marsha Yeah. Anyway, and he told me how, like you put a double row at the--the first row at the bottom is a double row, double thickness. And then and how to use the now I don't even know what they're called. Is it a snap line? Chalk line? Kelly Oh, yeah. Marsha You know, to to get a, to, so that they're all even. And so I was out there painting them. I thought I did a pretty good job at the age of 10. Kelly That's nice. Yeah. Marsha Child labor. Kelly Exactly. Exactly. Marsha But I remember as a kid thinking, it was really fun. It was, yeah, it was super fun. So he left, he showed me how to, he showed me how to do it and then he left me on my own out there one day, and I just did the whole thing. But I will say, I'm not 10 anymore. [laughing] And painting, so you know, primer, and then the first coat, my right hand holding the brush. I can't hold-- I in fact, I intentionally did not buy as big a brush as my dad would have used. He had like an eight inch brush, they would use like my hand can't hold that you know. So I have a smaller brush. But by the end of the day, my right hand was really sore and my left elbow. I pinched a nerve or something in their, I--or done something. And I think what it is now with my left hand is or my left elbow is from holding the paint pot. You know, just imagine holding something in your hand. All day, Kelly Right Marsha So it's-- I think it's affected my elbow. Yeah, I'm a wreck. Kelly Well, even with all of that you still are able to knit right? Marsha Yes, I'm working on socks right now as we're recording. So I'm still able to knit. Yeah. Kelly All right. Marsha Anyway, enough home improvement. Should we talk knitting? Kelly Yeah. What are you working on? Marsha Well, I'm working on my socks. Just the you know, vanilla socks. In fact, I don't even have it in the show notes. It's the What yarn is this? It's the Fabel yarn that I remember we bought it down-- I reaching over to my bag to grab a label--when we went to San Luis Obispo years ago for the yarn crawl. Kelly Oh, right. Marsha And this is Drops Fabel Print. I've talked about this before, but not for a while. This is the second sock and I'm just starting the heel flap. It's you know, it's an easy project. Kelly Yeah. Marsha So since I'm talking about these should I just talk about my projects? Kelly Sure! Yeah, that's a good idea. Marsha Because I don't have much to report. Marsha I've been periodically picking up the Walk Along Tee by Ankestrick. And I have-- I really have not progressed much since we last talked. In fact, I have to tell you, I listened to the last two episodes while I was painting the garage. And knowing that we were going to record today, thinking Well, there's not much more to report. I think I've knit four more rows since we last talked. So but as I say, there's been so many projects here. Oh, and I should say too. Not much knitting got done last week because Ben had his wisdom teeth taken out. And so,last Wednesday, a week ago, so there was a lot of up and down the stairs changing ice packs making milkshakes and getting him to take pain meds. He alternated between ibuprofen and Tylenol. So yeah, I have not made a huge amount of progress on that and then the Abington Mitts also haven't... Kelly Oh no! You jinxed them when you said you hope they're not like your skull. [laughing] Marsha They are like my skull but as I said, again as I'm out there listening to the podcast the last episode while I was painting, we reiterated the deadline for the extremities, extremities knit crochet, macrame along. And I need to get going. Kelly Yes. April 25th, right? Marsha Yeah. So I need to get going. So I'm so close. I just have to do the thumb. Kelly Right! So yes, Don't jinx yourself. Marsha Yeah. You know what I also, when I listened back to myself, I always, this is what I always say. "I'm going to do that tonight." [laughing] I'm not saying that. That seems to jinx me too. Kelly Okay. Oh my gosh. Marsha But the one thing I have been working on though, is the spinning. So I plied... have made three more skeins, I plied three skeins of yarn. So I now have a total of five, which is a little over 700 yards. And I think I'm going to get at least two more skeins, and maybe a bit more. But I had the idea that I was going to make a sweater out of this the green and brown three ply. But I'm not going to have enough. So I do think I will have more of the brown left. And even if I don't have enough of it. I can order more. Which I should probably do that sooner than later. So I was thinking well maybe I would just add stripes to the sweater. Kelly Yeah. Marsha To to extend it. So I think that will look okay. If I have like that barber pole yarn mixed with a solid but it's that same, the same color. I think it will be okay. Kelly Yeah, I think that would be really pretty. Marsha We did have a conversation though. Just thinking about spinning. We did have a conversation. I called you. Do you remember I called you last week, I think or this week that? Kelly Oh, right. I want to know how that how that went. Marsha Yeah, well, so I'll tell people what happened. So and this probably happens to a lot of people, is that you're single is-- you're plying and one of your singles will break. And then you can't find the end on the bobbin. And that's what happened. And so I called you and I said because you know, you have been spinning a lot longer than I have, you've probably had this experience too. And you said a couple of things to do. One of them is put the bobbin back on the spinning wheel and spin the opposite direction that you plied it. But, and but loose. I mean, you don't have the yarn coming--well, because you're trying to find the end, right. So you just let it spin on there. And it will sometimes just fly out. Kelly Right Marsha That didn't happen. Kelly I don't have too much luck with that. I haven't had too much luck with that technique either about Marsha that didn't happen. But I think what it did is it must have loosened it some way because I finally took it off. And I just took it out in the sunlight. And I actually found the end Kelly Oh, nice. Oh, that's good. Marsha So because I had done that before I took it outside in the light and I could not find it. So I do think that that spinning, did must have jarred it some way that I could find it. But just the other advice you gave me too. And this is not-- this doesn't help find the end. But just when you're spinning, don't let the singles pile up too high as you're spinning across the bobbin and keep moving at across the hook sooner. Because I sometimes you know, as I'm watching TV, or I'm talking, I lose track of what I'm doing. And sometimes they get a little too high and then they can fall down onto the next row is that the right way, how would you describe it? Marsha Kind of like the next layer the way I would... Marsha Layer, right.So I'm going to keep that in mind for next time. Because that has it's happened to me more than once that Kelly And a lot of people use something called a Woolly Winder. And Robert from the very beginning, when I first got my spinning wheel, he was like this needs to have something where it's you know, laying the laying the thread down or the yarn down, going evenly all the way across and then coming back. Like you know, like a fishing reel. And I said, No, you just move the yarn on the hooks. And then I discovered, you know, this was back in 98. And then I discovered that there was this thing called a Wooly Winder that I think that's what it's called, that does do that it it winds your yarn onto a bobbin more like a fishing reel would do so you're not moving the hooks yourself. Marsha Make sense. Kelly Yeah. I like to move the hooks because it helps me remember not to sit in one position. Not to put my hands in one position. Not to, you know, not do things that could give you a repetitive stress injury, the more adjustments that you make to your body, the better. But a lot of people like to have that and just be able to get into that rhythm. And, and it, you know, people think it helps, and it probably does helps them make a more consistent yarn to, because every time you stop and start again, you have the possibility of your yarn not being, not being consistent. But I'm old school enough to think that that moving the yarn from one hook to another is, is good for you. But I also am guilty as you are forgetting and then, Oh, no! And the finer you spin, the worse it is, the more careful you have to be about that happening. Marsha Yeah, and I also think, too, is if you, if you have the the single on the bobbin. And you just went and decided that you were going to wind it into onto another bobbin or something. Not that you would do that. Like so…

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Ep 159: Spring Break Project Heaven and a Whole Lotta Tree Talk Apr 04, 2021

Show notes

Tree removal competes with Spring Break weaving and the stuffing of Frog and Toad for the content this week. You never know what you'll hear about on the Two Ewes show! Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects Walk Along tee by Ankestrick (Ravelry link) Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde (Ravelry link) Almost done. Just the thumb to finish. In the evenings I've been spinning the green and brown merino. Kelly's Projects Iced Matcha socks (Ravelry link) from the Coffee Socks Collection by Dots Dabbles Designs. I'm using Invictus Yarns Seraphic. It is a merino/cashmere/silk yarn in a gray blue purple tonal color. I want to knit more with this yarn base! I started stuffing Frog from Frog and Toad (Ravelry link) from frogandcast.com. I'm using the crushed walnut and it is staying inside and not coming through the fabric. Frog is currently sitting in a tumbler with a funnel in his head! I realized I should put the needles into the provisional cast on before I start filling them so I will be ready to kitchener the top. I anticipate it will be somewhat messy. Canvas weave sampler (Ravelry link) from JST Online Guild. Throughout spring break I spent time weaving and watching the Canvas Weave videos of Season 5. I used the warp that I wound at Christmas and adapted the sampler threading to fit the number of threads I had. I wove a dresser scarf for the linen cupboard, 5 dishtowels, and a small hand towel. I had Cesar Chavez day off and I got the Reading in Bed blanket (Ravelry link) threaded onto the loom and ready to start weaving. This is all using my handspun yarn. With 6 epi compared to 22 epi and a 3 yard warp instead of a 7 yard warp it went really fast! Like the difference between a fingering weight sweater and an Aran weight sweater. News/Other Extremities Knit/Crochet Along This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns: Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah It ends on April 25, 2021. Knit anything for your extremities (hands, arms, legs, feet). Transcript Marsha 00:03 Hi, this is Marsha Kelly 00:04 and this is Kelly. Marsha 00:05 We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 00:09 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 00:17 We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly 00:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hudredprojects Marsha 00:29 and I am betterinmotion. We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Both 00:35 Enjoy the episode. Marsha 00:43 Hi, Kelly. Kelly 00:44 Hey, Marsha. How's it going? Marsha 00:45 Pretty good. Kelly 00:47 Good. Marsha 00:48 lots going on here. Kelly 00:49 Yeah, nothing noisy, though. We waited till late enough that all the noise is gone. Marsha 00:54 Yes. We were actually.. were scheduled to record yesterday but moved it to today because yesterday, I had the Alaskan yellow cedar Kelly 01:06 bonsai! Marsha 01:07 Yeah, the former so I just the former bonsai. So I think I talked about this. But in case I didn't a really quick story about this is when my parents bought this house in 1962, there was a Japanese garden between the two houses that actually belonged to the neighbors. And in that Japanese garden was a bonsaied Alaskan yellow cedar. That was maybe four feet tall. And years have passed. Kelly 01:38 Yes, I can say because I was born in 1962. So yeah, 59 years have passed Marsha 01:44 yes have passed. Anyway, it was about 40 feet tall, and had grown. There were originally five trunks. And two are removed. I was able to remove two of them a few years ago, because the reason I wanted to get rid of this tree is it had damaged the sewer line. And we had to put in a new sewer line, irrigation line, the new deck, and a new roof. So it does so much damage that it was-- it had to go. And here's the real reason. Last summer sitting on the new deck, I got hit twice by bird poop! Because the crows would hang out in the tree. That's the real reason. [laughing] Kelly 02:28 Well, the palm tree next door, the date palm or? Yeah, I think it was like a date palm next door, was taken down yesterday, also. So we would have had tree work at one of our houses regardless. And Robert saw the owner of the house this morning. And he's like, what happened to the tree? And he said, Oh, it was old it had to go. Which there was nothing wrong with that palm tree. I'm not a particularly big fan of palm trees. But it was it was a nice--I mean, it was a pretty nice specimen. If you like palm trees. In your case, you really actually did have a good reason to get rid of the tree. Not just yeah, Marsha 03:11 It had done so much damage. Yeah. And it is just, I mean, I'll put on it... I have not posted any pictures yet on Instagram. I'll post pictures and when people see... Yeah, you know what it was like, but it was kind of a an emotional day, just because I don't like cutting down trees. I mean, this was a, it was a spectacular tree. It had been beautiful at one time, but it's just so big and in completely the wrong place and cutting off light. So my bedroom is much lighter, the kitchen is much, much lighter. But mostly it was just the damage. And then, you know, Kelly 03:49 Well and the fact that it was right next to the neighbor's garage, and pulling up things that it shouldn't Marsha 03:55 Yeah, it's about a half inch from the neighbor's garage, you know. So anyway, it's been a long process, I won't go into the whole thing. But have you have to get a permit in the city of Seattle to have a tree taken down, especially a tree this size. And it was it was a long, a long journey. But they finally got the permit. And they came yesterday and cut the tree down. I got the estimate and signed the contract in August, last August. And I can-- got the -- I think was on Thursday or Friday of last week. I got the email from the company that was going to cut the tree down that they had received the permit and they had scheduled me gave me the date that the tree was scheduled to come down. I said that's great. And so then I call them on Monday to confirm because it's in the contract and I confirm, I confirm once again that they are bringing protection for my new deck. Because this tree is sandwiched between my deck, it's, it's about four inches from my deck, the base of the tree. And so I had confirmed that they were going to bring protection and put something down on the deck. And they arrived at nine o'clock in the morning with nothing, no plywood to put on the deck. And the guy who was-- I found out later was the manager of the crew was a little snippy with me, a little rude. And I was like... and I kind of have that feeling of like, What do I do? And I decided, you know, WWRD, what would Robert do? And Robert would go out there and tell him to stop until they got the plywood. So I went out there and I told them to stop. And they said, okay, and they stopped for a few minutes. And then I went back in the house, and I saw they were dropping branches again. So I went back out and I said they have to, I said, I told you to stop, you need to stop. I've called the company. And they are sending plywood and you need to-- I'm telling you--you need to wait until the plywood arrives. So they stood there on my deck. And I went and made a cup of coffee and I sat in my breakfast nook, which is right overlooking and I just sat in the window so they could see me and then they just stopped. They dropped--put all their tools down at that point and went and sat in their trucks. Kelly 06:40 Cursing out Old Lady Failor Marsha 06:42 Yes. But I, you know, like in the end, I want to say something sort of sexist. I... it... there's moments like this when I wish I had a man. But you know that because I sometimes feel being female. And now, you know, when...when I was... Well, I think it's always been this way, just being female, that I think that I'm discounted in some way and especially when I was younger. And then when you get older, you're discounted in another way. Right? And I...and it's...and so I just thought, you know, Robert would go out there and tell them no, you're stopping! Because they all said to me, Well, we have insurance to cover any damage to the deck. But my point is, I don't want to have any damage done. I don't want to go down that path of having to deal with it. I don't even want to deal with having a damaged deck. Kelly 07:36 Why? Why would you want.. Yes. Why would you not take precautions rather than just say, Oh, I have insurance in case something happened? Marsha 07:42 Yes! Kelly 07:43 That does not make sense. Marsha 07:45 Yeah. So yeah. So I'm glad I did it. And then I did go out afterwards... So I'm not gonna say the name of the company because they ended up being great. And the we had a rough start. But they once the plywood came, the guys got to work, there was a crew of five. And I was watching them. And it really is remarkable what they were doing because they have to climb up into the tree. And it's 40 feet. They're up there. 40 feet with rope. You've had tree work done. So you know Kelly 08:14 my tree work, yes,endless tree work. Marsha 08:17 And then they, you know, they tie every branch. Before they cut it it's tied onto a rope and then it's lowered down. So there's..it's not like they're just up there dropping wood, you know, they're very careful. And such a tight area that they had to work in with two houses and a garage and the infamous deck. So I went out at the same time they're doing all of this. First Mark and then later on Ben and I were working on the garage roof because we've had to do some patching because it was leaking. And so we were...that's another whole story for another episode of the podcast, but we're up there working on this roof. And I came down at one point. And while I was up there working, I got to thinking, I wonder if there was just like... Oh, I know what it was! It was when the the young woman from the company arrived in the pickup truck with the plywood. She then said to me, okay, now we're grinding out the stump, right? And I said, No, we're not because first of all, it was too expensive. But also, they couldn't.. if now that the deck is built, they can't get the machinery in there. And just to grind out the stump was going to be the same price as removing the tree. And it doesn't matter. It's an area once the my fence is up it's like a no man's land. Nobody goes over there. So I wasn't going to do that. And so then I started thinking about that. I thought, how come she didn't remember that I'm not having the the stump removed? Marsha 09:43 So the young man who was the foreman of this group, this team that removed the tree I said to him, you know, when he had a quiet moment, he was smoking a cigarette, and I said, Hey, can we just talk for a minute? And I could just tell he's like, Oh my god, what's this woman want now? But I went, I said to him, I said, I just want to talk about this morning. And I said, I think we were both a little irritated with one another. And I said, I got to thinking, is it perhaps you were not getting any inf...? Were you given any information about the job before you arrived? And he said, No, I was given your address and told to cut down the Alaskan yellow cedar. He said, I had no idea that there was a deck. I had no idea that it was sandwiched between these two houses. I had no idea that it's like an inch from the the garage and three inches or four inches from your deck. He's had nothing. Yeah. So and he said, I came in you know, it's a dangerous job. And so his adrenaline gets a little up, which I understand after having watched them. Kelly 10:43 and especially if you arrive and find all these obstacles that you have to be worried about. Marsha 10:48 Exactly. And then he said, you know, and he said me, I apologize to you, too. He said, I was kind of rude to you. And he...and he was he was very rude to me! And I said, you know, I accept it. I said, that's fine. I said, I think we were both a little frustrated with one another. And he said, Yeah, yeah, he was not given any information about what his job was going to be. As I say, we figuratively, not literally, kissed and made up. [laughing] Kelly 11:14 There was no kissing. [laughing] Marsha 11:16 Yeah, there was no kissing Kelly 11:17 No actual kissing that occurred! Marsha 11:19 And he was a very... and, he started talking. He's a very interesting man. He's actually a certified arborist. And so we started talking about the other trees in the back garden and things that he said he would like to come back and, you know, work on them, because he said they they need some help, which they do. Yeah, they definitely do. They've, I mean, the whole garden needs some work. So anyway, it turned out fine. Kelly 11:43 Well, and I, I can vouch for having an arborist do the work as opposed to just a tree service with the trees in our yard. But But I have to , you know, you said the tree was in the wrong place. So there was one arborist that we had that-- he's actually too busy now and working mostly on the Monterey Peninsula side of the county--and so we haven't been able to use him, but he was really good. And, and so one day, he was talking and he's like, you know, this... Robert had planted... We have Monterey Cypress, really large ones in the yard. And there were some babies. And so, you know, thinking sentimentally as you do, like, oh, we'd like to grow one of these babies to replace them. Because our cypresses are at the end of their life. And you know, the death of a tree could take 100 years, but they're definitely in the, the death side of their-- not necessarily tree hospice. But you know, they're on the downward slope of life, most. And some of them are gone, and have had to be removed. So anyway, Robert had planted one of these babies, and he's like, you don't want this tree here. You really don't want this tree here! Because by the time it gets to the point where it needs work, I'm going to be too old and you're going to be too old. So I started talking to him about like, well, what tree should we plant? And we have a lot of space. You know, there's quite a bit of space. Like, well, what tree would work?. And he reminded, he reminded me of me in the summer that I volunteered at the SPCA where people would come in to adopt a dog. And I would be like, read their application. Like, in my head. I knew they were going to adopt a dog. But in my head, I was like, No, no, this is not a good enough family. No, this is not good enough! And basically, there was no tree that was right for the space. He cared so much about the trees having the right habitat, that he he practically couldn't tell me a tree that I could plant to replace the cypresses because it would, it would like physically hurt him to be in the wrong place, right? To not have the habitat that it deserved, like the Monterey Cypresses deserve the habitat of highway one, where the wind is pruning them, and they can break all they want and they can have all these broken hangers. And you know, it doesn't matter, but the wind keeps them pruned. Anyway, it's just like, I…

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Ep 158: Tomatoes, Lambs, and Frog and Toad Mar 23, 2021

Show notes

What's blooming, tomatoes, Frog and Toad, and lambs join in with the knitting content this week. It must be the start of Spring, or even Spring Break! For full show notes with photos and links visit our website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com If you'd like to become a patron and support the show financially, visit our Patreon page. Transcripts at bottom of post. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Kelly's Projects The Iced Matcha Socks by Dots Dabbles have been restarted with a more appropriate yarn. The handspun I had originally planned was abandoned because I thought I would run out of yarn. So then I cast on with Bear Brand Caprice--a vintage sock weight wool yarn that is very stretchy. But it also had textured bits. So I found the pattern wasn't showing up. So those will become my Not Matcha Socks! I'll just continue them without any patterning. Even in plain stockinette these socks will be ultra-stretchy. So what about the Matcha socks? I restarted them with Invictus Yarns Seraphic--a lovely merino, silk, and cashmere blend. Yummy! Most of my knitting has been on Frog and Toad from frogandcast.com. I just have Frog's jacket to finish and then I will stuff them with crushed walnut shells from PlumEasy. Mending socks: I found a bag of socks that needed work. So I fixed one pair of (pre-Ravelry) cotton/wool socks that had gotten a hole. I've started to fix a pair of (pre-Ravelry) purple wool/silk socks that I really loved. And I rediscovered the CoBaSi Socks that I made in 2017. After one wearing I discovered one toe was too short. I'll be ripping it out and making it about ¼ inch longer. Marsha's Projects I have knit about 9" of body of the Walk Along tee by Ankestrick. I am still worried if I will have enough yarn but I'm assured by other knitters I'll be okay. Stay tuned... I finished the first of the Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde and knit to the thumb gusset of the second. Love the mitts and the yarn is perfect for them...and free! News Livestock Conservancy released a press release about their Shave 'Em to Save 'Em campaign. You can see more about the project and a video at rarewool.org. The Finnish artist Liisa Hietanen is a crochet sculptor extraordinaire. Check out her lifesize replicas of people in her town. Lambs! Twinsetjan has an Instagram feed full of lamby cuteness! Extremities Knit/Crochet Along This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns: Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah Extremities K/CAL ends on April 25, 2021. Knit anything for your extremities (hands, arms, legs, feet). Winter Weave Along Ends on March 31. Transcript: 1:02:00 Marsha 00:03 Hi, this is Marsha Kelly 00:04 and this is Kelly. We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Marsha 00:08 Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 00:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 00:17 We blog and post show notes at Two Ewes Fiber Adventures dot com. Kelly 00:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects Marsha 00:29 and I am betterinmotion. Kelly 00:31 We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. Marsha 00:36 Enjoy the episode. Marsha 00:43 Good morning, Kelly. Kelly 00:44 Good morning, Marsha. I'm celebrating. I should be having champagne. Marsha 00:51 No, you don't like champagne. You need to have something you like. Kelly 00:54 Well, I'm having coffee. which is which is fine. This is perfect. It's exactly what I want. And I'm having it in my mug that I got at the thrift store. The downtown-- the same downtown shop where I got the Niebling tablecloth. That same day, I bought two mugs and they're sort of Mexican pottery style with a lot of flowers, a blue flower with a pink center and then a pink bud and green leaves. Well, they're restaurant china. And I think they would have been like Mexican restaurant china. But I thought since it's not only just the first day of my spring break, but it's also the actual first day of spring. That would be appropriate. Marsha 01:39 Yes and things daffodils are up here in Seattle and trees are you know like cherry trees are beginning to bloom. Kelly 01:48 Yeah, we're on kind of the same the same flower schedule this year. Because all of our the plums have already-- the the earliest plums are already done. The Santa Rosa plum is, the new one, is fully bloomed. The apricot has started. And then just the other day, the cherries that are later, the cherry trees in our the little orchard area of our backyard. The cherry trees have now just have a few blossoms opening. So yeah, and I have one last batch of daffodils that are kind of in a more shady area in the yard. And I think they're also a later a later variety because they haven't come up yet. Yeah. But all the rest of them are done. Marsha 02:37 I was as you know, all last week, we were down at the beach. But the week prior to that I did a cleanup in the backyard you know and all the ferns like I cut off the fronds from last year. So then there's space for the new ones to come up and, and I cut down a bush and I did a bunch of cleanup in the back garden everything. But what I'm really excited about is, you know, I always have the pots on the deck with all the just the annuals in there. And that's the real color in the backyard is the pots. And last year, I was not able to do that because I didn't have a deck! Kelly 03:17 Right. Marsha 03:18 So I'm very excited this year to plant those pots one of my favorite things to do so. Anyway, Kelly 03:28 Yeah, you usually do that, what like in April? Marsha 03:32 Yeah, April, May, sort of depending on... well. And then the other thing-- I'm in a different house than I used to be in, the vegetable garden at the other house was a great spot. It was on the south side of the house. I don't have as much space. And so this last summer, I put tomatoes-- there's a three or four foot wide concrete path on the south side of the garage. And so I put tomatoes out there last year, I guess I've had them for the last two years. And they do really well because they're up against the house. But I always remember I would go to the nursery near the house and they always would have the tomatoes in the in the greenhouses and they were really particular that they didn't really want you to buy the tomatoes until all danger of frost had passed and so that the nights didn't drop below 50. Well in Seattle, that's a little hard. I mean, you're really putting them in July, late June early July for the nights not to drop below 50 and so when you're... I got impatient and I just went and I bought some tomatoes at Fred Meyer and they'd had them sitting out there since March, you know sitting out in their Garden Shop. And then I also bought some from the nursery that and I put them in late June, early July. Guess which ones did better? Kelly 04:55 The Fred Meyer. Marsha 04:59 And I think that they So the theory the nursery said is you take they've been grown in a hothouse. And then you shock them by putting them outside, right? And so then it--they don't produce, grow as fast and produce as much. My feeling is that they must have been shocked so early... Kelly 05:13 They'd gotten over it! [laughing] Marsha 05:15 Th ey got going, then, you know, I don't know. It was just funny that Kelly 05:18 They recovered! Marsha 05:19 Those cheap tomatoes from Fred Meyer that have been sitting out in the cold and march did fantastic. So... Kelly 05:25 That's funny! Yeah, by the time you bought them, they had gotten over their shock or all the weak ones had died. And you got the strong... Marsha 05:33 Yeah. Yeah, Kelly 05:35 The Darwin tomatoes. Marsha 05:37 Yeah, my Darwin tomatoes Kelly 05:38 My mom says, she always said, you know, she has a really warm backyard. She lives just north of San Jose. And it gets pretty, gets pretty warm there. And she lives in Fremont, which is where I lived growing up, you know, where I grew up. But she lives in the different part of Fremont with a little different climate and is much warmer. And she even still says you don't plant tomatoes until May 1, because the soil has to warm up. Yeah, you know, even if that even if the exterior temperature the air temperature is, is fine. It's the soil temperature that needs to be right for tomatoes. And if you plant them early, you don't get any benefit from that. Marsha 06:09 Yeah, that's exactly what they were saying. Kelly 06:25 But you did clearly benefit from your Fred Meyer tomatoes! Well, one more plant thing here. This is a knitting podcast. But one more plant thing related is we have a company called Annie's Annuals in the, the San Francisco Bay Area. Now I would dearly love to actually go up there, they have a nursery, and mail order business and they have a beautiful catalog. And I always get tempted, I bought a lot of things from them. And I do like, I do like their, their plants. And they, they pack them really nicely. And you know, they ship really well. And but I do find like I have some of the same varieties that I've bought at native plant sales. And then I'll buy you know, another one. Like, Oh, I want another one of these! And Annie's annuals has it. And so I order it and it comes in They're kind of wimp!, They are used to being in this really lush, well-cared-for environment. If you look at the the nursery, and you look at the, you know, their catalog, the pictures of their nursery on the website, and, and everything in their catalog, everything is just really lush and beautiful, and thickly planted, and you just get the feeling that these plants are really well cared for. And then they come to my yard where, you know, a native plant has got to hold its own, you know, I don't do supplemental watering and in much of the backyard at all, you know. They get what they get in spring, and then they have to make it all the way. They have to make it all the way till the rains. And there have been a lot of times where the things that I bought from Annie's annuals, you know, they haven't they haven't made it. So yeah, I would... now when I buy from them, I treat the plants a little nicer, and I kind of slowly wean them off of care. Marsha 08:17 Yeah. Yeah, you can't just throw them into the desert. Kelly 08:30 No, I have to. I have to give them a little bit of pampering. But it is true. They do seem to. They do seem to be more used to fertilizer and water. And so their little princess plants. Marsha 08:47 Yeah. Well, before we move on to knitting, I just have one other thing I just want to mention is some feedback from Kelly, from you, and also from our listeners. So you know, I was talking about Enzo and how he seems sort of bored and everything. And so I've been doing a lot of playing with him. And we've been trying to work on tricks. And of course, we had I just had a week at the beach where he had, you know, three and a half hours a day on the beach and was just exhausted, you know, when he come back to the house, which is great. You know, that was I think there's nothing better for a dog than just being off leash running on the beach. That's so much fun. And then he got, you probably saw the pictures too where he, we met up with Jean from String Theory Yarns in Seabrook and her dog Cooper, who is an English setter and you met him as a puppy. Kelly 09:38 Right! When we had the meetup there, must have been a couple of years ago.Yeah, he was --she had just brought him. Marsha 09:48 He's just like the sweetest dog. He's very super chill. very chill dog and, but very happy to be on the beach. But we were laughing because he's he's black on white spots and he has all these, you know, feathers or pantaloons, you know. But we didn't realize how dirty our dogs are because he's, you know, Orkney's brown and Enzo is black. Kelly 10:13 Oh, yeah. Marsha 10:14 Cooper is black and white has a lot of white on him and his legs because of the, like the, you know, the foam on the beach, it's kind of green? His legs were green when he's, when he's done on the beach, it was very funny. Anyway, no but here's the thing. So it was very good and sort of therapeutic I think for Enzo to be on the beach. For this to get him out of his his doldrums and h is funk that he's in. But, here's something that I've discovered about Enzo, in the last couple of months. The other thing he does is like I for example, I this morning, I went to type, the show notes on my laptop, and he was asleep on the bed. As soon as I get the computer out and I start typing on the laptop, he gets up and he runs down to the basement and gets in his crate. Every time! And every time I get out the computer to type an email or type anything on the laptop, he gets up and goes and hides--I say hides--he goes down and gets in his crate in the basement. What is that about? Kelly 11:12 I don't know. Marsha 11:14 Like, and I thought, am I like, typing in an angry way? You know, because he is so sensitive and soft, you know? Kelly 11:21 Yeah.He knows that the computer makes you tense, like, Oh, she's on that computer again. She's gonna be mad. Marsha 11:27 Have anyof your dogs done anything like that? Or does Bailey? Are they sensitive in that way? Are they just, Kelly 11:33 I'm not sure I would notice this because I'm not sensitive in that way. I think one thing I have noticed with Bailey, and I find it really irritating, but it is kind of funny. She'll be in the trailer with me and she has learned what the end of a zoom call sounds like! So when I'm in a meeting, and you know, doing my Zoom thing, she'll be fine. She'll, she knows to lay on her pillow. And now I rarely have to, you know, wrangle a dog while I'm in a meeting. But whatever it is that I say when, you know, when people are leaving, when the meeting is over and when I'm leaving, she knows what that is. Because she'll immediately get up and come over and start pestering me. As soon as I start the Okay, bye, you know, whatever I say at the end of it at the end of a zoom call--suddenly, she is up and she's poking at me and prodding at me and trying to get me off the off the bench. And and sometimes it's not the end, right? Sometimes somebody has to leave the meeting. Or like if I have, if I have a student, like I'll have office hours, drop in hours, for students. And I'll have a couple of students and then one of them will be done. And so I'll say goodbye to the one student. And then here's Bailey like being a real brat. And I still have a student on the call that I'm helping. So anyway, that was just I just noticed she has discovered what the end of Zoom call sounds like. Marsha 13:12 Yeah, yeah, well, and I also Enzo is similar to that. I have these cameras at the front door back door. And then I have one out at the garage. And I get an alert on my phone that makes a little sound if there's any-- if the cameras detect motion, an animal, a person or vehicle. And so Enzo has also now connected that sound that it might possibly somebody at the back door that he wants to see. Ben coming in or my brother coming in. And so a lot of times, not always, but a lot of times he'll hear the phone make that little sound because there's a there's an animal, a squirrel will set off the cameras or the wind blowing a branch or something. A…

Full show notes at the publisher

Ep 157: It Ends in a Fit of Laughter Mar 10, 2021

Show notes

More discussion about shots (not from a glass) and needles (not for knitting). Sorry! We finally get down to knitting, bored dogs, and new projects. We end by laughing at own ridiculousness when read in a transcript. Show notes with full transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. If you'd like to become a patron and support the show financially, visit our Patreon page. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts Marsha's Projects I'm still working on the pair of socks for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo. I've knit about 6" of my Walk Along tee by AnkeStrick and I'm using Little Fish Stitches fingering. Beginning to worry if I will have enough yarn. Spinning on and off with olive green merino roving. We had one beautiful sunny day this week that I could sit on the deck and spin. Heaven! I'm combining it with another merino I ordered from Paradise Fibers in Spokane, Washington in a dark brown called Bitter Chocolate. Making a 3 ply with two green and one brown single. I've spun two skeins. Swatching to make the Abington Mitts by Jennifer Lassonde as part of our Extremities Knit/Crochet Along. Using Dale Garn Helio that I got from Kim's bag of yarn headed to the thrift store. Enough yarn for a brown and a burgundy pair. Kelly's Projects I finished the pair of socks for Robert! And another Ice Time Hat! The Ice Time Hat is a pattern given to me by BostonJen of Down Cellar Studio podcast. I used two different yellow and purple variegated skeins. Check out my project page. Started the Iced Matcha Socks by Dots Dabbles. I'm using handspun wool mohair yarn that I spun from batts I carded. The wool is Charlotte (a gray sheep whose fleece I bought twice in the early 2000s). The mohair is a similar vintage mohair fleece that I bought and dyed. Both of these patterns are from the designers who have donated prizes for the Extremities K/CAL. I also started Frog and Toad from frogandcast.com. I've finished Toad and now need to start Frog. Then there are clothes to make. Extremities Knit/Crochet Along This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns: Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah It ends on April 25, 2021. Knit anything for your extremities (hands, arms, legs, feet). Winter Weave Along Ends on March 31. We will have prizes, including a class generously donated by Erica at Weavolution. Ep 157 final Mon, 3/8 5:41PM • 59:38 SUMMARY KEYWORDS yarn, knit, socks, laughing, transcript, marsha, appointments, pattern, talking, extremities, vaccine, people, thought, podcast, weaving, hat, crochet, pair, fun, vaccinated SPEAKERS Kelly, Marsha 00:03 Hi, this is Marsha and this is Kelly. Marsha 00:05 We are the Two Ewes of Two Ewes Fiber Adventures. Thanks for stopping by. Kelly 00:10 You'll hear about knitting, spinning, dyeing, crocheting, and just about anything else we can think of as a way to play with string. Marsha 00:17 We blog and post show notes at TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com. Kelly 00:22 And we invite you to join our Two Ewes Fiber Adventures group on Ravelry. I'm 1hundredprojects, Marsha 00:29 and I am betterinmotion. Kelly 00:31 We are both on Instagram and Ravelry. And we look forward to meeting you there. 00:36 Enjoy the episode. Marsha 00:43 Good morning, Kelly. Kelly 00:44 Good morning, Marsha. It's Friday. Yeah. I'm not sure Friday means much to to a lot of people during a pandemic, but it means a lot to me. Marsha 01:01 Yeah, it doesn't really mean... it doesn't mean... Friday, in fact, well, yeah. Friday doesn't mean that much to me anymore. But yeah, if you're retired, yeah. And you know, Ben does his own school thing. Idon't... I'm not involved in that. And and Kelly 01:14 I hope I should hope not. Marsha 01:16 I know at the age of 23. I should not be involved in it. I'm not. Such a relief. Kelly 01:23 I have students whose children are involved in their college education, helping them but Marsha 01:31 Oh, yeah, yeah,your children appearing in zoom meetings and stuff. Zoom. Kelly 01:35 That too. Yeah. I have a couple of students that come to my office drop in hours, and their children are usually in the background, or you can hear you can hear the schooling going on in the background, while the children are on their own zoom, their own zoom meeting. So. So yeah, I have a class for kind of a beginning level math class, you know, basically no prerequisites. You know, anybody can take it. And some of those students have their kids helping them. "I got confused, and I watched your video, and then I got my kid to help me." Marsha 02:14 So yeah, it's a family, a family affair. Sweet. Kelly 02:20 When parents talk about, you know, having school and kids and all of that, I always, I always tell them how, how much I think it's great. Because it's such a role model for their children, you know, that you continue to learn, but it's rough. I can't imagine the students I have, who are, who are parents who are going back to school, who are working, who are helping their children do their school, I always admire, you know, the parents who are coming back to school and the amount of work that they have to do. But in this pandemic, it's just been, like magnified. Yeah, very impressive. Yeah. their commitment to education. 03:01 Oh, yeah. Marsha 03:02 It's a struggle, but it'll be worth it in the end, you know? Kelly 03:07 Yes. And some of us in the struggle, I'm not including myself in that us really, some people in the struggle will be able to talk about it in the same way that, you know, of the sacrifices that people made during war time. Or, and some people are not, are not stepping up in that way. I sort of wonder what it would be like if they were having to live through war time, or, you know, like, the Greatest Generation they talk about, that, you know, lived through World War Two and made all those sacrifices. And our society is not quite measuring up, I don't think, to that standard. Marsha 03:47 Well, I don't know. I mean, well, you mean, in terms of wearing masks? 03:52 Willing make a..? Being willing to make a sacrifice? Marsha 03:55 Oh, Kelly 03:56 for the good ofeveryone. Marsha 03:59 It may sort of depend on where you live. Kelly 04:01 Yeah. Yeah. Marsha 04:02 You know, because if you're talking like masking specifically, everybody masks up. In fact. I mean,here... Kelly 04:10 what I'm specifically talking about here, I guess I should I should be clear. What was specifically talking about here in California, is all of the complaining about teachers not going back and the teachers unions not wanting to go back and parents can't get their kids back in school. And, like, I understand that, I understand that it's hard. But you don't get to have your same old life. Right? I mean, this is what I want to say to people, right? You don't. None of us gets to have the same life we had last February, none of us does. Marsha 04:16 My mind was going... Well. And I say even with the vaccine, it sounds like we're not going to have our same lives, right? Kelly 04:55 For a while at least. Marsha 04:56 it's going to be a different version of our of our of our same You know, yeah, so, Kelly 05:02 I think I talked about the whole, you know, push to get teachers vaccinated which is happening, and that's really good. But what was being said about what was happening and what was really happening were two different things. And so it makes it seem like, you know, well, all of you teachers are all vaccinated. So why aren't you wanting to come back? Well, we're not all vaccinated. I have my appointment, though. Marsha 05:26 That's good. Kelly 05:27 Yeah. Quick shift of the subject to be more positive. Okay. Just to be clear, I was finding myself going to an ranty place and I don't want to do that. So Marsha 05:45 well, just before you shift, let me just say here, like, I think that where I live in Seattle, everybody's wearing a mask. And so like, it seems to everybody's very compliant. I'm not going to restaurants. Stores that I've gone to, I always go in and say like, you check, how do you want me to do this? Everybody seems very on board with this in my world. In fact, so much so like, when I take Enzo for a walk, I always bring a mask with me. Because even though I don't come in contact with anybody, everybody's masked up even walking through the neighborhood. Yeah. Which I don't even know how necessary that is. But I think it's sort of it's becoming kind of a sign of solidarity, you know, but anyway, yeah. Yeah. But yes, on to more positive things. You're getting your vaccine. Yay. Kelly 06:27 Yeah, yeah. So my first dose is the 13th. And honestly, it felt like I was trying to get concert tickets. We had multiple alerts coming out on the faculty email at work, saying, Oh, I just checked the site, and they've got vaccine appointments, and then I go and no appointments. And when I got up in the morning, I get on the computer, I always check and I go through the whole thing. And the dumb thing is that you had to go through the whole process of putting in all this information. Not all of your information, but you had to click a whole bunch of places, just to be told that there were no appointments available. Like, okay, I'd rather on the very front page, right when I, you know, right, when I click on to the front page, you tell me there's no appointments available. But anyway, I do that every morning, and nothing would be available. And then the other morning, the other morning, I got on and I checked, and there was nothing. And all the dates were old. And I mentioned to Robert Oh, they haven't even updated this website yet. You know, they've still got all the old, all the old dates, they don't have the newest dates. And so then I went on to do my you know, play on the computer, read Ravelry, read my email, that kind of stuff. And I'm reading my email and one of my colleagues had emailed that there were now-- there was-- our county office of education was hosting a vaccine site. And so I went to that. So get this. She, she so it came on, it came on the screen, sometime in like a 10 minute timeframe of when I had looked and when I got the email that it was there. So I went there. It was I mean, at most 10 minutes after it had been live on this website. They had multiple appointments, like six to eight appointments every four minutes, from 10 until 4pm. Marsha 08:32 Mm hmm. Kelly 08:32 So that's a lot of appointments. Marsha 08:34 Yeah. Kelly 08:36 And I made mine. So I got it. I was like, Okay, I'm going to pick a time that has, you know, five appointments available as opposed to two because I don't want to be cart-jacked. You know, I don't want to get to the end and find out my appointment was already taken. So I do that. And then I texted some other people to let them know. And then I went back to look and they were all taken. Marsha 09:01 And you were cart-jacke? I mean they took that one. Kelly 09:05 Oh, no,no, no, I got mine. Okay. But I I texted and then I went back to check on it to see to see like, how many more appointments there still were, and nothing! Okay, so like within 15 minutes. All those appointments, you know, eight, five to eight appointments every four minutes, from 10am to 4pm. All of those appointments were taken within probably 15 minutes. Wow. It felt like I was... or like I was trying to get yarn from a super super popular dyer! Wake up in the middle of the night when the update happens and like in the early days, the Wollmeise I think was one of them. Yeah. You know, people used to get up in the middle of the night to try to get Wollmeise yarn. And anyway, I felt like that as I was trying to get my point. I've never been this excited for a shot in all my life, not even a shot of bourbon! Marsha 10:07 So then, so you'll have, I'm assuming this is the two part vaccine. Kelly 10:14 Yeah, yeah. Marsha 10:15 So then how do you know when you get your second one? Kelly 10:18 I don't know. Yeah. Marsha 10:20 Okay, how that's gonna work? Kelly 10:22 I'm not sure how that's gonna work. Yeah, I'm assuming that the same site will have the second round. And then all of us who got appointments for that first site will go to the second site, go to the second round at that same site, but I don't know for sure. I don't think we know for sure. Marsha 10:41 I was gonna say the thing about the websites, too. So let me just say, you know, in the state of Washington, I don't know what this is, all states have this. But we have Find Your Phase where you can go and find out. And you know, I'm not...I'm not eligible yet. But I went back. They say, well, they will, they will email me when I'm eligible. And I've not received any notification. So I thought, well, I'll go back and to see where I am. Maybe there's more. Because it said, when I when I registered for it, they said they don't know when my category would be eligible. No information, check back. So I thought I'll go check back. You have to register again, there's no way to go in and just log back in and find your own status, even though I've registered. And so this is a long way of saying I think they've... they've thrown these websites together as quickly as they can. And they didn't have I think... Normally with websites don't they go through for companies, they go through testing, right? Everybody uses them to check them all out. I don't think they've had any time to do that. And so there's problems in the system. Yeah Because I have no idea. You can't... Right now, I'm sure if anybody lives in the state of Washington, any of our listeners, they can tell me what's really going on but I couldn't find my status in there. I just had to reregistered again. So and then just add to all of this hearsay, rumor, confusion. Um, my brother registered in Find Your Phase and never got notified. But he's he has medical insurance with Kaiser Permanente. And so he went to the website, and he just started poking around and, and he was able to make an appointment through their website to get the vaccine. And he's never been notified that he was eligible by the state of Washington. Yeah. So I don't know. And he said, also their website, too, again, I think that they are doing the best they can sort of getting something in place, right? But he said that there isn't, like, on the website, if you want a vaccine, click here and make your appointment. He said, You have to dig down through the site, you actually have to say that you want to make an appointment to get like a flu shot or any kind of shot. And then you have to go through the and then it gets you to the part where say what I want is the COVID-19 vaccine. Kelly 12:33 Yeah, like they should have just a big button right on the front, a big button that you push to...Yeah, right. So I bet you're right. I mean, I'm complaining. Marsha 13:08 No, I mean, I mean, Kelly 13:10 it's something that had to be put together quickly. Marsha 13:13 Well, and I should say cuz I'm not... I have no idea. Now. The President came out two or three days ago saying that pretty much everybody who wants a vaccine will have it by May. So I think I will get it soon. I mean, I just it's just a matter of being patient. But I will say again, rumor hearsay, guessing, all this. It is…

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Ep 156: Captions, Clarity, and Needles (not for Knitting!) Feb 21, 2021

Show notes

We talk about captions, speaking clearly, vaccinations and our pitifully small batch of knitting projects. Full show notes with transcript, photos, and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.

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Marsha's Projects

I'm still working on the pair of socks for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.

I'm making progress on the Walk Along tee by AnkeStrick and I'm using Little Fish Stitches fingering. I've put the sleeves on waste yarn and knit about an inch on the body. I lost the tags on the half cakes of yarn that I had set up so I could alternate skeins and avoid pooling. I think it will be ok, but I spent so much time documenting my strategy.

I started a spinning project with olive green merino roving I bought at the Whidbey Island Weavers meet up in April 2019. I'm combining it with another merino I ordered from Paradise Fibers in Spokane, Washington in a dark brown called Bitter Chocolate. Making a 3 ply with two green and one brown single. I've spun two skeins.

Kelly's Projects

I'm almost finished with a pair of socks for Robert. I'm using leftovers of Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper, Independent Will colorway. I had 90 grams left after using it for argyle socks for my brother-in-law. I'm using gray handspun leftovers from his Civil War Socks for the toes and heels.

I also started an Ice Time Hat. The yarn is Lady Dye craftivism kit singles (19th Amendment colorway) in cream, purple and yellow, held double with Duren Dyeworks fingering in a brownish purple and gold. The pattern is really fun and it's looking great! Check out my project page.

Extremities Knit/Crochet Along

This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns:

Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio

Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah

It starts now (February 2021) and will end on April 25, 2021. Knit anything for your extremities (hands, arms, legs, feet). Some examples include socks, leg warmers, mitts, mittens, gloves, and wristlets. There will be a giveaway thread in the Ravelry Group for you to post your FOs.

Winter Weave Along

You can join in with your weaving projects anytime until March 31. We will have prizes, including a class generously donated by Erica at Weavolution. Check out this great website for weavers with projects, discussion, classes, and lots of resources. The website has a handy Weaving Calculator that you can use for project planning.

Ep 155: Extremities Knit or Crochet Along Feb 14, 2021

Show notes

Lots of tangents and a new KAL/CAL inspired by some new patterns for your hands and feet generously donated by the designers as prizes. Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.

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Marsha's Projects

I'm still working on the pair of socks for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.

I'm back to working on the Walk Along by AnkeStrick and I'm using Little Fish Stitches fingering. I was having problems where I was alternating skeins at the beginning of row which was at the back of the sweater. A huge thank you to MyBlueGirl and Sarahjhill for suggesting Helical knitting. This solves the problem of the messy looking change.

I started a spinning project with olive green merino roving I bought at the Whidbey Island Weavers meet up in April 2019. Combining it with another merino I ordered from Paradise Fibers in Spokane, Washington in a dark brown called Bitter Chocolate. Making a 3 ply with two green and one brown single.

Kelly's Projects

Finished! I hemmed the Christmas Candy dishtowels and put them away!

I also finished With Friends Pullover using the pattern Rachel by Josée Paquin. It still needs ends woven in and blocking. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I'm looking forward to wearing it.

The Persian Tile Blanket is coming along, but I didn't work on it as much in the last two weeks. Instead I started a pair of socks for Robert. I'm using leftovers of Leading Men Fiber Arts Show Stopper, Independent Will colorway. I had 90 grams left after using it for argyle socks for my brother-in-law. Not sure I'll have enough but I'm planning to use toes and heels of a different yarn.

Extremities Knit/Crochet Along

This KAL/CAL was inspired by the generous donation of these patterns:

Abington Mitts, Jennifer Lassonde, Down Cellar Studio

Coffee Socks Collection, Dotsdabbles Designs, Deborah

Winter Weave Along

Ep 154: Preventing Pooling Presents Problems Jan 25, 2021

Show notes

Preventing pooling, planning with paper, and a dilemma about how to hide where you are alternating skeins. These are the topics of the day! Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts

Marsha's Projects

I finished Holey Comfort cardigan by Hinterm Stein and it fits beautifully. This is a great pattern.

I am continuing to work on a pair of socks for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.

Along with my friend Kim I cast on a Tee called Walk Along by AnkeStrick. I'm using Little Fish Stitches fingering that I got at the yarn shop in Seabrook. I have a bit of a dilemma about alternating skeins. The yarn is variegated and I want to prevent pooling. So of course, I'm alternating skeins. The problem is how to hide the place where it is happening, especially while working on the yoke.

Kelly's Projects

The Persian Tile Blanket for my grand niece is coming along well. I have about a dozen octagons finished and I'm planning to get some of the squares and triangles done before I finish up the octagons. I want the yarn colors to be well distributed.

I'm still working on my With Friends Pullover using the pattern Rachel by Josée Paquin. However, I am planning to modify the ribbing on the bottom of the split hem by using the larger needle size and also by using garter stitch instead in the reverse stockinette sections of the ribbing. That will keep the ribbing from pulling in at the bottom, I hope.

Paper, Planning, and Plotting

We had our drawing for the giveaway and Marsha identified several themes in people's responses. Here's what she has to say:

I went down a rabbit hole watching videos about Bullet Journals, Hobonichi Techno, and Elfinbooks. :-)

Paper still seems to be the most popular...wall calendars, journals, dayrunners, notebooks for lists. Graph paper seems to be a favorite. Notebooks for keeping ideas for craft projects.

Most people seem to keep track of patterns, projects, stashes, etc on Ravelry.

Ep 153: We're So Predictable Jan 11, 2021

Show notes

The solace of creating order, a nice button band technique, and plans for 2021. Full show notes with photos and links can be found in the podcast section of our shop website: TwoEwesFiberAdventures.com.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Subscribe on Android or Subscribe on Google Podcasts

Marsha's Projects

Finished the body and ¾ of the sleeves of Holey Comfort cardigan by Hinterm Stein. Bind off is a really nice I-cord bind off. Sleeve width seems okay but need to decrease faster on the way to cuffs. It will be touch and go with yarn amount

Working on foot of first pair of socks for myself using Drops Fabel Print that I bought in San Luis Obispo.

Swatched with Little Fish Stitches fingering for a Tee called Walk Along by AnkeStrick.

Techniques for neat button bands:

pick up stitches with #1 needle and then knit with pattern size - Cocoknits
Pick up exact number of stitches in body and then decrease to number of stitches called for pattern.

Marsha purchased the Lady Dye Yarns kit: Schitt's Creek 2.0.

Kelly's Projects

I've been working a lot on the Persian Tile Blanket for my grand niece. I'm following the color choices (sort of) of a project by JenasaurusWake that I saw while watching FO radar. I'm using Knit Picks Brava Worsted in lots of fun bright colors and making color choices to make all the octagons look like they have different sized flowers in them.

With Friends Pullover. I'm using two patterns: Rachel by Josée Paquin, and Fresh by Josée Paquin. I've put on the front hem

The weaving is finished on the Ribbon Candy Christmas dishtowels and they have all been washed, but not yet hemmed. I had a rocky start, but was able to correct a warping mistake that made one of my white stripes bigger than the others. I also was inspired by the Jane Stafford Guild videos to go off my pattern and play with some twill treadlings.

Plans for 2021

We talked about our 2021 plans and discovered that we are oh, so predictable. You don't even really have to listen to this episode! We said exactly the same things in Episode 106 in January 2019 and Episode 127 in January 2020.

Recommendations

Kelly recommends two YouTube knitting shows

Sweet Tea, No Shade with John and Scott

Needles at the Ready show with Kevin and Ray.

Marsha shares videos (created by the tour company) from last year's Iceland trip.

Video of our Icelandic cooking class

Video of our visit to Icelandic geothermal plant and lava tube

Ongoing Giveaway--Paper, Planning, and Plotting

We are giving away two items to one lucky winner! Two Sheeps Calendar: A Celebration of Independent Yarn Dyers. Each month features an exclusive skein from an indie dyer and the link to order the yarn. It's not just a calendar!

Pack of three Field Notes notebooks in the Snowy Evening design.

To enter, answer this prompt: How do you keep your plots and plans straight? Paper, digital, other? Do you use a calendar? What kind? A notebook? What kind? Do you use a notebook for your projects or just Ravelry? When do you use paper and when do you use digital? Enter in the thread in the Ravelry group, or you can send a comment from our website, you can send us an audio file by emailing us twoewes@twoewesfiber.com, or send us a dm on Instagram From all the responses we'll draw a winner on January 20 and you'll hear the winner during the second January episode.

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