Episode 17: What’s in YOUR bag? October 29, 2009
Listen to the show here!
RQ: urgh… I have the flu. So it may be a couple of days before the notes go up. Sorry. 
Episode 16: Taos pt. 2 — Interviews October 21, 2009
Listen to the show here!
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MH is off building fantasy for Cirque du Soleil, so I’m minding the shop on my own! Woo-hoo! This show features interviews with the delightful Mary-Heather (aka Rainydaygoods), who is the right-hand of Jess & Casey on Ravelry. Also I got to talk to some neat folks in the Ravelry tent in Taos. Hope you like it!!
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LOCAL FIBER SOUNDOFF:
Village Wools
505-229-2919 or 1-800-766-4553
5916 Anaheim Ave NE
Albuquerque, NM 87113
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Tecolote Handwoven & Handknit Scarves
Myra Chang Thompson
505-864-0876
Los Chavez, NM 87002
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New Mexico Fiber Artisans
Katy Blanchard, Director
575-638-0307
325 Paseo de Onate
Espanola, NM 87532
–RQ
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Music for this podcast is “Carnival” by Digisphere.
If you’d like to send us an email, you can write to podcast (at) herestoewe (dot) com; or send us a message on Ravelry, either to MaddieHatter or RedQueen
Episode 15: Taos October 14, 2009
Listen now! Click here!
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Oh boy! Have we got a lot to talk about…
Hello to Evergreenknits on Rav! It was very neat to meet a listener! 
The Black Sheep Knittery is sadly no more. We’re going to do a swap! It’s a Cheapskate Swap (say that five times fast)! Email us at podcast(at)herestoewe(dot)com if you’d like to participate, or join us on the Ravelry board. Stay tuned to find out more info in the future…
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MH seems to have crippled herself. She’s got knitting-aggravated pain that goes from her left thumb, up the inside of her elbow, up the inside of her bicep, and then wraps around the front and ends in her left ear. Not good. She’s on knitting restriction for the next few weeks (no insurance since she’s changed jobs!), and is totally bummed. Anybody else have this injury? How about homeopathic remedies? She’s using BioFreeze right now (which is awesome), which is helping a little. Her Bubble Sweater set is done, she’s making a cloche hat w/ a button, and a Socktopus. Can’t imagine how she hurt herself….
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THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING!!! (that’s your friendly reminder.)
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TAOS
The Sheep in a awesome TWF bag.
RQ learned that your First Wool Festival is not a good place to also practice your skills as your first podcaster experience.
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MH’s goodies (pics to come) included:
The Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool Co.
Ken & Grayce Aggen
10429 CR 2126 North, Henderson TX 75652
903-836-2406
Brooks Farm
412 Old Red Oak Rd.
Lancaster, TX 75146
972-227-1593
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The MAVWA (Mountain and Valley Wool Association) has information here.
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RQ’s enormous purchase list. Ready? Here we go:
Very nice people, a father-daughter team when we were there. I bought 3 lbs. of Merino / Coriadale / Rambouillet cross in roving form ——>
Very loverly and soft!
For Echo I got an oz. of each of the following: Cochineal (red dye), Logerwood (purple dye), Oxalic Acid (mordant), Copper Sulfate (mordant), Potassium Alum (mordant).
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Want to see the best score of the whole trip??
MY NEW WHEEL!!!
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<—– My lavender-scented bump of Shetland (1 lb.)
Everything smelled so good! Echo got a hank of white Shetland mule, and a hank of Bluefaced Leicester to play science with.
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I bought a really pretty pattern from these folks.
That ——> is the incredible free-form sweater thing that they had displayed. For more information on the artist & the process, click here.
They sold out of all their fiber on Saturday!
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KCL Woods (no card!) Is awesome. I got a WPI (wraps per inch) tool to hang from my spinning wheel!
And Echo got a 5-needle felting tool w/ a crystal button on top.
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(because it’s hard to read:)
Royal Fiber Spinnery
Rod & Marilyn Dakon
815 Gavilan Canyon
Ruidoso, NM 88345
575-258-YARN (9276) 
www.royalspin.us or rdakan@royalspin.us
This is Santa Fe Skies (laceweight) —–>
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And this is Venus (sportweight) ——>
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From these guys, I got:
a new spring for my wheel;
a Shepherd’s Crook
the book The Intentional Spinner by Judith MacKenzie McCuin;
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This unwashed Bluefaced Leicester (1 lb.):
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And this 6oz ball of Merino/Black Welsh cross roving:
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…and I’m sure some other stuff I can’t remember yet.
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Awesome Raveler with a tent: Goatservant! aka Ellen’s Wooly Wonders was where I bought a pretty oak & copper Niddy-Noddy. Yay!
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Dyers Wool
Pam, Jim & Kelsey Dyer
2727 CR 134
Hesperus, CO 81326
970-588-2292
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I bought this 2oz. Combed Top Rambouillet/Columbia from them.
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The sampler bag of CVM roving!
Which is from Sheepfeathers Farm!
Robin &b Mark Phillips
11843 Billings, Lafayette, CO 80026
303-665-2618
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This is the pretty Pygora, Russian spindle, and what’s left of the samples Galina gave us to try. In 
the samples? Oh, just Qiviut, Yak, Buffalo, Vicuna, Cashmere, and Cashgora. 
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Here’s the link to the Knitmore Girls’ interview with Galina:
Galina Knits Behind the Iron Curtain: Episode 48
And here’s the link to their show notes.
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Registration for Stitches West just opened! It’s in Santa Clara, CA.
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Don’t miss the Open Ranch day in Edgewood, NM! November 7, 2009. Visit FOUR alpaca farms! Cool!!
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Congratulations to Dr. Gemma and the Fiber Collective for the first annual ( ) Fiber Retreat! Yay!
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Music for this podcast is “Carnival” by Digisphere.
If you’d like to send us an email, you can write to podcast (at) herestoewe (dot) com; or send us a message on Ravelry, either to MaddieHatter or RedQueen
Episode 14: Mutton Bustin’! September 30, 2009
Here’s the show!
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Welcome New Countries! Portugal, Japan, and Guernsey! (Oh, you lucky Guernsey — this is the only flag we could find!)
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MH has finished the Bobble Hat for her Bobble Sweater. She may finish the set before her nephew’s birth!
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The CYCA program has a student teaching requirement that MH isn’t sure she’ll be able to fulfill in the time allotted. She’s going to call them and see if she can get an extension. We’ll let you know what they say.
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Thank you to all our Ravelry friends! Come join the board and we’ll friend you! Is anyone taking the CYCA Teaching class?
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LYS SOUNDOFF:
6324 Yucca Street
Los Angeles CA 90028
17337 Monterey Road
Morganhill CA 95037
#4 George Ct., Ste A
Edgewood, NM 87015
505-281-5963
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Use the map! Add yourself, add an LYS, add a fiber farm, add whatever! We’d love to see where everybody is gathered. And please use the star rating system on the map so that other folks know what people think of a store.
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And because we know that this is why you’re here:
Awesome!! Click the picture for more fantastic information about Lambtown, USA!
Here’s one of their free recipes:
Fiesta Style Lamb Shanks
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 1/2 hours
Servings: 4
- 4 lamb shanks (3 to 3 1/2 pounds total)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1 package (1.25 ounces) dry taco seasoning mix
- 1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans, drained
- 1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, drained
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Add lamb shanks, onion, and garlic. Cook in hot oil until meat is brown on all sides and onion is tender. Stir in water, undrained tomatoes, celery, and taco seasoning mix. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until shanks are tender. Stir in kidney beans, pinto beans, and cilantro or parsley. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes more.
Nutrition facts per serving: 551 calories, 21.1 g total fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 802 mg sodium
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Drunk In Public: Our dear co-worker was rear-ended on her way home from work. No damage to the car on inspection, but the man who hit her was very insistent about giving her all his information, including a business card that proclaimed him to be a Wine & Spirits Distributor. Fantastic. And then there was the smokin’ hot cop that showed up to help her out.
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Next week’s episode will be several days late, due to RQ’s trip to Taos. We promise we’ll record as soon as we’re back together!
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Featured artist this week: Johnny Miles song “Jessica” from the album Door to Door Salesman.
Music for this podcast is “Carnival” by Digisphere.
If you’d like to send us an email, you can write to podcast (at) herestoewe (dot) com; or send us a message on Ravelry, either to MaddieHatter or RedQueen or Echo79
Episode 13: Science! September 23, 2009
Another episode with Echo! Click here to listen!
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Welcome to Italy and France! Buongiorno and Bonjour!
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Well, no MH this week, only lil ole me RQ. Fortunately, we’ve got Echo back to liven things up!
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LYS Soundoff:
24875 Barefoot Road
Grass Valley CA 95949
7793 Hwy 259 North
Longview TX 75605
411 W. Water St.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
505-992-2678
The Kiwi Knitting Company
2540 E. 6th Street Tucson, AZ.
(520) 881-1319
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TKGA update: RQ had a huge setback when she realized that “reconstructing” her office = dirtying her swatches to an unacceptable state. So all swatches must be re-blocked and the calculations re-checked. Nuts. Take a lesson from her: as soon as your swatches are blocked, label them and put them into your notebook.
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Neato thingy Echo found: a cosmetics bag in the $1.00 section of Target. Perfect for a small project + needles + pattern. (Sorry, there’s no link to the actual bag.)
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“Operation Itchy Vicki” involved one of our co-workers, and what a good sport she was! Scroll down in the show notes to the next post if you’d like to see the I-cord Torture Bracelets and Vicki’s notes. No Sheep for You by Amy R. Singer (the Editor of Knitty.com) is a great book if you really ARE allergic to wool, or if you just want to use something different for a project.
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Echo purchased a LARGE box of fiber on the recommendation of one of our Avid Listeners. (Thanks rdwmrs!) 11 lbs. of cleaned, carded fleece showed up yesterday, some in roving form, some in batt form. All were considered “mill ends” by the company, and sold at a deep discount. Sure, they aren’t the prettiest batts you’ve ever seen, and some are going to need a little untangling to be usable, but COME ON! This is awesome! Here’s the website she pointed us to: www.thesheepshedstudio.com
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MH’s pattern review of the Pinwheel Sweater from Elann.com. Amazing! It’s free, so download it! Here is the alternate sleeve. And here’s MH’s sweater:
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RQ: Sorry it took so long to get the show notes up! Too much real life this week!
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Music for this podcast is “Carnival” by Digisphere.
If you’d like to send us an email, you can write to podcast (at) herestoewe (dot) com; or send us a message on Ravelry, either to MaddieHatter or RedQueen or Echo79
Auxilliary Episode: Operation Itchy Vicki September 23, 2009
How much fun do you have with YOUR co-workers? I’ll bet we have more!!
Click here to listen to Operation Itchy Vicki and read along!
#10 : Noro Silk Garden
# 4 : Crystal Palace “Fjord”
# 6 : Arucanya alpaca
#1 : Cascade 220 Superwash
# 5 : 100% silk
# 2 : White Patons Classic, dyed with Kool-Aid by Echo
# 9 : acrylic
# 7: Socks That Rock “Ravenclan — Courpie”
# 8 : Cascade 220 Handpaint
# : Patons Classic, commercially dyed
# : Patons Lacette
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Music for this podcast is “Tango“ by Digisphere.
If you’d like to send us an email, you can write to podcast (at) herestoewe (dot) com; or send us a message on Ravelry, either to MaddieHatter or RedQueen
Episode 12: Uncontrolled Hilarity September 17, 2009
Do it! Click the button to listen now!
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Welcome Costa Rica and New Zealand!
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Welcome back! MH is distracted by the newest WEBS catalog. RQ decided to play hooky last week and run to L.A. But some good stuff came of it! She got to meet Dr. Gemma of CogKNITive, as well as LimeJuicy and JediMom at Unwind in Burbank. While there, she bought a skein of Lorna’s Laces “Bee Stripe” and Schaefer Yarn’s Anne in a lovely green-blue-purple handpaint! She did NOT succumb to the yarn fumes and snatch Malabrigo off the wall, however.
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Holy Crow! Thanks to everybody who joined our Ravelry group! It’s really cool to “see” you and talk to everybody! We are thrilled to pieces! It’s under the “groups” tab as “Here’s To Ewe!” Join us!
We’ve had lots of great info from everyone so far, including the tip that looser knitting = tighter/smaller felting. Many thanks to Miss Knotty for pointing us in the direction of PieKnits’ project page!!
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Tremendous thank you to Coggie for sending us spindles and fiber to learn with!! That is the nicest thing ever!! RQ has claimed the spindles, and MH has been cuddling the roving all night. Big hugs!
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If you’re totally confused about the “Hat Attack!” thing, you can find all the info on the Ravelry board here.
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Romi on Ravelry has some really great stuff on her site! 
Her name is Rosemary Hill, and she’s the author of Elements of Style: Knit & Crochet Jewelry with Wire, Fiber, Felt & Beads
From Sonoma County, CA, she’ll be teaching at the California Wool and Fiber Festival! (Sep 18-20)
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If you’re in Vegas this week, don’t forget to go to the San Gennaro Festival and the Greek Food Festival! YUM!!
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Knit Las Vegas just posted this:
“So we’ve got some good stuff going on at the shop right now. First of all we’ve got a store wide sale going on, 15% off everything and everyday Christine picks a random yarn and it’s 30% off. So in order to find out what the 30% off yarn is you have to come by the shop! (See we’re sneaky.)
Also, we’ve implemented a customer loyalty program, for every $20 you spend you’ll get a punch on your punch card (you also have to come to the store to get one of those.) and when you get 10 punches on your card you get 25% off anything in the store!”
MH is very worried about her bank account….
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Danido on Rav is a local hand-dyer who works at and sells her yarns at Knit Las Vegas. She’s got a website up:
where she’s got a neat new club called “Choose Your Own Adventure!” 
… and has been donating to the Phat Fiber Sampler Box.
On the Phat Fiber Etsy shop, you can also see and buy Dani’s stuff.
And a blog where she “waxes poetic about socks!”:
http://socksdebunked.wordpress.com
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We’re going to be re-posting our earlier episodes with the mixed audio. Don’t know what this will do to your iTunes or RSS podcatcher, but we’ll update the direct downloads on the show notes so that they’ll be the new versions.
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MH needs your help!
She’s looking for an “Elvis” pattern — old or young, Vegas or Jailhouse!
Preferably a pattern for a doll, but any small cross-stitch pattern that
could be incorporated onto a hat would be great, too!
Thankeweverymuch…
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Tips For Travellers:
This is actually an update to our earlier post about air travel w/ knitting. Alert Listener Erin (who is a Postal Person in Alaska) warns us that any package over 13 oz must have USPS (in the United States) issued postage, as opposed to individual stamps. She recommends that you prepare to put your larger knitting on waste yarn, and send your needles home — WITH PACKING to keep them from poking out of your envelope. Thanks, Erin! Great tip!
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Music for this podcast is “Carnival” by Digisphere.
If you’d like to send us an email, you can write to podcast (at) herestoewe (dot) com; or send us a message on Ravelry, either to MaddieHatter or RedQueen
Episode 11: Cheapskate Knitting September 8, 2009
Listen now? Click here!
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Ta-daaaa! Link has been fixed (sorry), and here are the show notes!
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This is our magical pre-recorded episode that RQ launched remotely with some success! So that was fun and science-y with only a couple of bumps.
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LYS Soundoff:
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We’ve got tips for pinching a penny until Lincoln screams!
1) Get your rich friends to buy you yarn!
2) Make a drop spindle for less than $5.00 (US) and add spinning to your hobbies!
3) Borrow books from your library. Out-of-print books, pattern books, techniques, etc.
4) Ebay for roving, fiber, and yarn! You have to wait a little longer to touch it, but holy moley, the deals are great!
5) Use acrylic yarn. It’s indestructible, machine washable, SUPER cheap, and available everywhere. And there are many grades of acrylic now, from Red Heart to Sirdar!
6) Unravel thrift-store sweaters. Make sure it’s been knit properly and not cut before you buy it!
7) Overdye ugly yarn with Kool-Aid, onion skins, commercial dyes, etc. Ta-Da! New yarn!
8) Make lace! It’ll extend your knitting time for freaking EVER.
9) Knit socks! Check your yardage, but you can get a pair of socks out of one skein (420 meters +).
10) Hats! Use up your partial balls, or get 3 hats out of one large skein! Try out new patterns, colorwork, whatever.
11) Ravelry!!! More free patterns than you will knit in your lifetime! Yarn swaps!
12) Yarn ends! If it’s more than 1 yard, save it! You can use it for colorwork! In tight times, you can pull them all out and make small stuff.
13) Toys! Make them out of crappy acrylic or plushy leftovers! Babies and pets don’t care!
14) Dishcloths! One ball of cotton is pretty cheap, and can make a couple of dishcloths. Try Sugar n’ Cream by Lily for cheap n’ nice.
15) Browse the KnitPicks catalog for good quality, inexpensive tools, books, and yarns. They’ve always got a sale going, and ship very quickly. Orders over $50 have free shipping, so put in a group order with some friends. Try the “Options” needles with 40″ cords and use the Magic Loop method to eliminate the need for long straights and short DPNs.
16) Used Book Stores are a great place to poke around. They always have a pretty big craft section (often with really scary stuff), and sometimes you can get lucky with an out-of-print copy of something. If your local store doesn’t have what you want, try searching Barnes & Noble Used, Borders Marketplace, or Amazon.com’s titles and click the “used” link. These all connect to local used book stores around the world, so if you buy from them, you’re helping a local shop.
17) Shop in your friends’ stash! Trade with each other, or just help de-stash. And borrow their needles, rather than buying another set.
18) Go to your local fiber guild! They’ve got books, equipment for rent (cheap!), free or cheap classes, newsletters, etc. Our local is the Las Vegas Fiber Arts Guild, and they’ve got lots of stuff going on. The yearly membership is minimal. And you get to meet new people!
19) Online instructional videos! Go to youtube and search by keyword. Best thing ever!!
20) Free podcasts with great information!!!
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Don’t let a lack of funds stop you from knitting. That’s just dumb. Even if you’re using crappy materials, you’re still indulging in a wonderful hobby, and shouldn’t let cash flow stop you. Knit in public and encourage others!
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Music for this podcast is “Carnival” by Digisphere.
If you’d like to send us an email, you can write to podcast (at) herestoewe (dot) com; or send us a message on Ravelry, either to MaddieHatter or RedQueen
Episode 10: Brilliant Ideas September 2, 2009
Can’t wait? Why should you? Click here!
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Welcome to Finland, Sweden, and Iceland!! Hot enough for ya?
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Episode 10!!! Whee! Sorry if the sound is a little weird — RQ is working out the bugs, but at least we’re in both ears now!
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Oops! Many apologies to Coggie for mis-pronouncing her name! Another listener let us know that she’s one of the co-hosts of the “High Fiber Diet” podcast! It’s lots of fun, and full of fiber!
And speaking of corrections: Don’t hesitate to let us know when we’ve messed something up! We really appreciate it! Stop apologizing!
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Guess what? The Ravelry Group is Live! Go here and join up! It’ll be even MORE like being in a yarn shop!! Yay!
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MH has been making a lot of progress this week! Tons of reading, not so much actual knitting. (A little awkward do do at work these days.) The booklet is chalk-full of information, including a lot of pages that can be copied and handed out to students. She had discovered one big issue, though. While the written instructions are fantastic, the pictures are really bad. They are drawings, in black & white, and to make matters worse, have been photocopied. MH is not really happy about the quality of the visuals, and not just in this course, but in most instruction books. Even though she knits already, she finds the pictures more confusing than instructional.
All in all, though, the “objectives” sections of the book are really good. MH is considering re-doing her handouts with photos or colored pictures.
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For Stacey the Opera Singer: (Hi!) Here are some pictures of MH knitting:
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<—–So here she is knitting.
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<—– And here she is purling.
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Here’s ——>
a view from the other side. (Check out those flashy nails!!)
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Tension is a weird subject. Everyone has to find their own way of dealing with yarn/needle acrobatics. Whatever is most comfortable for you is the right way. If you really can’t decide, close your eyes and pick up your stuff, then wiggle around until it feels good. Don’t think you have to use anybody else’s method of wrapping their yarn.
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RQ got to talk to Louisa from La Lana Wools! This is the woman who owns La Lana Wool Mill, and they have a shop across the street from the Taos Festival park. They will have someone on hand to take your raw wool for carding and drafting, and can tell you how to have it skirted and cleaned at Taos Valley Mill as well. They’ll ship your lovely, cleaned fleece back to you when it’s done.
Louisa wanted us to mention that she’ll be teaching a class at the upcoming “Earth’s Palette” Conference, Sept 26-28 2009. Her class is: “Old Way, Good Way: Manifesting Ancient Traditions with Natural Dyes.” She’s graciously agreed to meet up with RQ and be interviewed!!!
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There will be a free tour of La Lana Mill led by Robert Donnelly, who will gladly answer any questions you may have. The tour meets Monday, October 5, 2009 at 10:30 am in the park, and then caravans to Arroyo Hondo. They ask that you please register ahead of time, so that they know how many people to expect.
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The shop is open every day from 10:00am to 5:30pm throughout the year, and the website now takes paypal.
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Amy Singer, editor of Knitty.com wll be hanging out at The Knitting Nest, in Austin, the weekend of September 12th and 13th. On Saturday, September 12th, she will be teaching two classes – The Tuscany Shawl Class and the Plug and Play Shawl Workshop.
“Please watch our website for more information about class times!” — The Knitting Nest
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Woo-hoo! RQ actually made it to Wooly Wonders for a Wed. night sit-n-spin with the Whirling Dervishes! Yay! They meet every 2nd and 4th Wednesday from 5:00-7:30pm. She took her el cheapo ebay roving and her ghetto spindle to play with.
With some tips from the very nice spinners there, she did pretty good!
(<— Not bad for $4.00, eh? This should last a while, being 4 oz.)
RQ also got a little shot of fame when her voice was recognized by a couple of spinners who also listen, including Darkinnknits who is bravely attempting to test-knit the Sheep. Totally awesome. She can not wait to go back and learn how to ply.
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Today’s Drunk In Public is brought to you by an alert listener who attended Sock Summit. All names have been changed to protect the knitters. After SS, a group of knitters went back to their hotel for some wine, knitting, and hang-out time. While they sat, a group of good-looking men from a bachelor’s party stumbled in “alcohol-poisoning drunk.” The knitters decided to play a game of “who’s willing to get naked and wear a hand-knit mitten?” Sure enough, the Best Man stepped up to the challenge, and there is photographic evidence of a man in tube sock and a hand-knit mitten. “Who said that knitters are kindly old ladies?” (MH is very concerned with the fate of said mitten, btw.)
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Music for this podcast is “Carnival” by Digisphere.
If you’d like to send us an email, you can write to podcast (at) herestoewe (dot) com; or send us a message on Ravelry, either to MaddieHatter or RedQueen
