Summary: Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 27 – Global Hook Up. In this episode I cover: Quick news beats; Old dog, new tricks; FOs; WIPs; DIPs; Feeding the habit; Big Up and J’adore? This episode is sponsored by KNIT IT - HOOK IT - CRAFT IT Thanks to everyone who tunes in to the podcast whether it is through Stitcher, Podbean, iTunes or the YouTube Channel. Your support and engagement are really appreciated and makes running a podcast very special and worthwhile. 1 - Quick news beats Global Hook Up – We have just had the second Global Hook Up and they have both been great fun. The next one is due on the 24th March from 8 – 9.30pm (GMT). After the March Global Hook Up, I will look at changing the times again so that people from different parts of the globe can join in and I can take clock changes into account. The details for the next session are already up in the Ravelry thread, can also be found below and will be put out on Instagram in advance. Time: March 24th, 2018 8:00 PM London The meeting ID number is 475-047-5819 and you will need to join via Zoom which you can do here: https://www.zoom.us/join Crochet meet up/ session in Birmingham on 25th March 2018 times tbc - Do you fancy being part of a tea party/research session for a potential new contemporary crochet publication? All you need to do is email Marie at info@crochetartisan.co.uk to book your place. I will be there with my crochet and inputting into the session and I would love it some of you were able to join in too. Marie is currently selecting an appropriate venue and refreshments will be supplied. Different Designer CAL – Started on 1st March and runs until 8th April. The premise is that you go to the ‘Different Designer CAL’ Ravelry thread and tell everyone who your favourite designer is. You share why you love their designs and which your favourite one is. You then get to look through all the suggestions or come up with your own. You HAVE to try out a new designer, that’s the only rule. I have two on the go already and will be doing jumper as a third when I have finished knitting a jumper that I am doing at the moment. Edinburgh Yarn Festival – If you are going to EYF on the Thursday or Saturday then I can bring anything from my shop KNIT IT - HOOK IT - CRAFT IT and you can save on the P&P costs. If you are interested in this, simply place and order and in the notes section, tell me that you are coming to EYF and whether you will be there on the Thursday or Saturday (the two days that I am going into the festival). I will then refund the P&P costs, bag up your order and bring it with me in a very large suitcase. 2 - Old dog, new tricks Collect daffodil heads - when teh daffs start to die back, collect the heads up, dry them up and use them for dyeing. Here is a blog post that I pulled together on dyeing (including daffs). Ball winders and not friends with long hair – if you have long hair, it’s best to keep it tied up if you are using a ball winder. I managed to catch my hair in my winder, which meant that I had to stop, unwind the yarn and hair and start again. I wouldn’t mind but it happened twice on the same ball of yarn! Technique for sewing up a round in hats or mittens - You may remember that a couple of episodes ago I said I would have to frog back a hat and sew it up again because I was unhappy with the nipple that the original method left at the top. The technique that I felt gave the best finish was to only sew through the front loop only of the final round of stitches. After crocheting the last stitch, fasten off as usual, thread the tail onto a needle and place the needle from the left, under each front loop. You can usually manoeuvre 3-4 stitches onto the needles before you pull through the yarn. Repeat until you have sewn through every stitch of the last round, pull to get the required tension and then weave into the inside. 3 - Finished Objects Well it has been a fairly quiet month, mainly because I have had my head down doing designs and travelling. I have managed to finish a couple of things and one of them is a 600g whopper! This is my Inclination Wrap which was designed by Julme Conradie and available from the Nurturing Fibres website. It’s my entry for Alyson and Vivian’s (Keep Calm and Carry Yarn Podcast) #Ultravioletkcal. It is a proper sized wrap and uses linen stitch to get some nice stitch definition with the colour changes. My yarns are Drops Alaska (03 Light Grey), a purple yarn that I hand dyed a couple of years ago (on a base from John Arbon) and a skein of Life in the Long Grass DK in colourway Viola (the one with pops of yellow and burgundy). I have pulled together a project page on Ravelry for it (I am MaDashper on Ravelry). There has been a lot of progress on the Borgarnes cowl, hat and mittens set. I have been investigating hand anatomy so that the Borgarnes mittens and every other set that I design will have proper sizing guides. It has been time consuming, but totally worthwhile because I now have all the formulas I need for all future mitten and glove designs that I do. 4 - Works in progress I still haven’t started my future WIP for Claudia’s (Crochet Luna vlogcast) Fortune Cookie CAL which started on the Chinese New Year (16th February) and runs to the 31st March. I’m using The Little Grey Sheep yarn (colourway The Rhubarb Patch in their British Gotland 4 ply) and the pattern is Hannah’s (Cosy Cottage Crochet Podcast) Treasure Island Shawl. I will be double dipping with my Different Designer CAL. I also have (just) started on my Stoborough shawl by Sarah Hazell. It needs 300g of a 4-ply yarn (350m/100g) and I had previously dyed up 3 skeins of skinny merino for this project. It’s my second Different Designer CAL entry. I have also started embroidery on the Word of the Year bag, which I am loving. I am using 5-ply linen frm Namolio on a natural linen bag that I had made for my shop. The mandala came from the book Mandalas to Embroider by Carina Envoldsen-Harris and it's a great book! 5 - Designs in Progress I’m pleased to say that I have made some progress on my Granny lap/cat blanket for Rosina’s granny along. Pom and I will be fighting it out to see who ends up owning this blanket – it’s going to be cat claws at dawn I think because he is a little partial to Icelandic wool and blankets. The yarn is Álafoss Lopi in shades Dark Grey (0005), Mid Grey (0058) and Light Grey (0054). The big question is do I now like granny stripes? The answer is that the jury is still out! I am making loads of progress on my Mini Mania Socks. I have now sorted the joining and jogging techniques, thoroughly road tested them, and I am happy with how they held up. It will still be a month or so before the pattern is ready as they need to be test knitted and I still have another two and a half socks to knit. Part of the pattern is trying to get two pairs of socks out of 7 x 20g mini skeins from River Knits so that you aren’t left with little scraps of socks. 6 - Feeding the habit Hmmmm, I’m about to show you a fair bit of yarn. I have been to Unravel festival and two yarn shops. Most of it is for design work and I was very sensibly trying to marry up what I had with my stash with new designs and plug the gaps with the right colours, textures etc. so that I am sorted for most of 2018 when it comes to yarn. Autumn by Freehold Yarn Company, Lancaster Single Farm Teeswater and Dodgson Farm from Northern yarns, Lancaster Damson Gin and Killadoon by Bear in Sheep's Clothing & Baa Ram Ewe's new Pip Colourwork The Little Grey Sheep Hampshire 4-ply minis & John Arbon Textiles Knit by Numbers 4-ply Whistlebare's Yeavering Bell in Aran (Mohair and Wensleydale) Clearly, teal, mustard and grey are very well represented! I also went to Lancaster to visit a couple of yarn shops. You can see the vlog here, or listen to it here. 7 – Big Up I have more crafting podcasts for you: Here are some of them for you to look at: Cherry Heart Podcast – I am sure that this podcast is familiar to everyone, but just in case, this is where Sandra Paul uploads her podcast to. Sandra uploads monthlyish and is a designer and blogger too. She is also very lovely, so give her a watch. YouTube Bear in Sheep’s Clothing – Bernie and Derek are absolute honeys! They podcast from Belfast in Northern Ireland and talk all things knitting. If you like really chilled out podcasts where cocktails are sipped, and you can watch a great duo talking about British wools and hand dyeing then check them out! If you get a chance to meet this pair at a yarn show, do it. YouTube Tatted Tatter – Stephanie is already on her 4th podcast (I don’t know how she is managing it). She podcasts from San Diego and does all sorts of crafts but predominantly crochet and tatting. She has a lovely manner about her and is great fun. YouTube Hooked on Owls – Lacey podcasts from Michigan and is a crocheter, knitter and crochet designer – very cute amigurumi! She has eight episodes already and a fun household full of kids, animals and yarn! YouTube 9 – J’adore I am swapping out What’s Good for J’adore. In this new segment I just give you a very quick run down of the random things that are getting my love this month. It could be music, books, films, TV, yarn, shoes – anything! So, here is what I am currently loving: Song – Say Something by Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton. It’s got an interesting video that is one long tracking shot. They sing as they move through a large building and it makes the acoustics different. Book – I am continuing to listen to The Great Courses on Audible and am currently making my through ‘The Irish Identity: Independence, History and Literature’. TV – we have binge watched Derry Girls (set in Northern Ireland), London Irish (Irish 20 somethings living in London) and have just started Young Offenders (set in Belfast). Lots of great Irish comedy! Yarn – I went to a trade show last week (Stitches in Birmingham) and went to see Erika and Bella on their stand. I was lucky enough to get my paws on some of the new Studio Linen colours (Neo and Shrub). They are gorgeous. I want to design a summer top with the Studio linen and possibly some other bits and pieces too… Well, that covers another jam-packed month! See you all in April. 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