I'm Drea.

I'm Meg.

I'm Tina.

And I'm Jess.

And this is Pardon My Stash.

Welcome to Pardon My Stash, a podcast about crafting fiber arts and how awesome it is.

Yeah!

Woo!

Before we dive in today, let's talk about what we're working on, Drea.

I am working on a happy turtle.

A happy little turtle.

I think I see a happy little bunny over there too.

Yes, I finished a bunny.

That's real cute.

Since we last got together.

This is the, it's a jelly cat style bunny crochet by Poffik Stitchoff.

You know what's so funny?

I was looking at that bunny and I'm like something familiar about that.

But our daughter's favorite toy is a jelly cat bunny.

and i just realized yeah it looks just like like bunny like bunny yeah he looks like bunny very cute yes i made this for my friend who just had a baby yeah that's super cute i have not given it to her yet but i will but tell us about the turtle because the turtle is the project i am very excited about the turtle like look at his little oh he's got really good eyes he does have good eyes look at that very cute legit this is the happy turtle pattern Oh, I thought you just meant he was happy.

Like I didn't realize it was a happy turtle pattern.

It's called the happy turtle.

That's so cute.

It's the happy turtle pattern by Happy Turtle Crochet.

I love it.

I do too.

And bunny, turtle, all things crochet for me.

Big twist, baby bear.

Now, is this the same turtle that you've been making lots of or is this a new turtle?

This is a new turtle.

This is a new turtle.

Okay.

As you can see, look at his cute little flippers.

these are really cute little flippers they're really chunky little flippers i love they are like little half moons i love them instead they're so squishy yeah instead of like little round nubbins so i am advancing my crochet skills love it noise fantastic i am learning new a plus yes thank you did you finish the banana source Oh, yes.

I finished the banana source.

I was going to say there's no banana source here.

All right.

He is done.

Cool.

He is currently hanging out in my car because I'm waiting to send it somewhere because I am too lazy to get down to the post office before it closes.

Fair.

But it will go somewhere.

Off to its new home.

Off to a new home.

Very good.

I'm not telling them that they're getting it.

It's going to be a surprise.

Yep.

He's going to open it and he's going to be like, oh.

Andrea got me.

Andrea made me this.

Love it.

Please don't ever call me that, though.

I'm sorry.

That was a slip on my part.

You played yourself.

Do not full name me.

Tina?

I, as you may recall, I finished my Franken -Coco -Beanie thing last episode.

On the air.

On the air, you did.

I did.

And while I was in...

Portugal I was working actually on the uh that spider shawl that we were supposed to oh yeah oh yeah oh congratulations um so I'm actually a lot farther on that but I can't do that while talking no so that's fair that's a complicated I brought back the beanie that I forgot about when I saw the cocoa franken beanie and that one is the northward beanie oh that's a tin can knits isn't it it is by tin can knits and this one is made with the yarn is by sugar makeable fibers in the colorway sugar maple and it's a single ply bulky it's beautiful it's a very pretty orange yeah it looks like fall you know i'm ready i'm ready guys ready i am also ready for fall i am ready for it to at least not be this humid i am ready for that But I'm not ready for fall.

I don't like walking outside into soup.

No, ma 'am.

I am enjoying the break from like kid activities in general.

Because like right now their schedule is like pretty much nothing, which is awesome.

So I'm not chauffeuring as much.

Yeah, fair.

But yeah, man, a crisp fall morning would be really nice right now.

I'm going to be the lone voice of dissent.

I am not ready yet.

I would love some cool air, but I'm not enough to want to rush it.

Maybe we'll have like a cold spell.

A cold snap instead of all these heat waves.

Jess, what we got?

I'm still working on the catnip pullover because I'm awful this year.

But hey, I got like three more rows done.

Yep, you did.

And you're almost done with the cats.

I'm almost done with the cats.

I don't know if that's going to make it better or worse.

I'm still.

uh plugging along on that and when i'm working on it it's going pretty fast but it's also summer and my hands are sweaty and it's hard isn't it though i did start a crochet fish um you did i did where was i where is it next to my chair somewhere i dropped it and i haven't i haven't dug it out i found an old um I think it was worsted weight and I think it might have been in old school Copper Dragon.

I don't know.

I found all this yarn next to my chair and I had my crochet hook.

I can't remember why I had the crochet hook.

So I started it.

Then I realized that the eyes that I have are smaller than I want them to be.

No.

no it's gonna happen no i do mine are too small i want them bigger oh my god which is why i also now have a box of eyes see when you lost them three or four times then i will ask frank if he understands my pain But yeah, we will.

Time will tell if that will happen.

If you keep losing the box of eyes.

Yeah.

How many times have you lost the box of eyes?

Oh, I don't know.

They're lost right now because I can't remember where I put them.

So how do you know you don't have the right size?

You don't know.

Yes, I do.

Because I found them when I started the fish and then I put them back where I found them.

But now I can't remember where I found them.

I can't do this anymore.

They're in the basement somewhere.

I can't do this anymore.

There were noses too.

I forgot.

I do remember that.

I got cat noses.

Oh, can I have a nose?

Yeah.

I have a hot tip.

When I find them, I will get you a nose.

Maybe we put the eyes in the same place.

Every single time.

Holy crap.

I should do that.

I know that's hard with ADHD because I can't do that either sometimes.

Can you just give me the eyes and I will put them away?

Give it a house.

Give it a little house where it lives.

Oh, I can get a special box for them.

Oh, great.

Because you don't have enough special boxes.

Maybe I already have a box.

She will remember the box.

I might have an empty box.

You can put them in your jewelry box, dude.

That you don't use for jewelry.

But it's a cool jewelry box.

For eyes.

For eyes.

See, look at that.

I solved the problem.

Oh, I can, because they're the safety eyes.

So they can go in the ring section in the little like ring hole.

perfect we have solved the problem sweet i'm gonna buy some eyes no we have not solved the problem I still need bigger eyes.

I really love that we've been doing this for four years and this is just an ongoing theme of the show is Jess can't find the eyes.

The marital problems between you two involving eyes.

There's no marital problems.

It's just more of the like, it's the ongoing spat.

I have black bear noses and pink cat noses, but I'll have to check and I will let you see them.

You know what the marital problem was?

The day she dropped all the beads on the kitchen floor.

That was the marital problem.

I'm still finding some.

She's still finding them.

I thought I vacuumed them all up.

This floor has been vacuumed.

It's been swept.

That was the marital problem.

First thing that you're arguing about is eyes and beads on the floor.

It's true.

You're doing pretty good.

It's true.

We're doing all right.

It's doing pretty good.

We're doing okay.

I'm just saying.

The beads are forever.

It's like glitter.

It's literally like glitter.

Like you think you got them all.

You didn't get them all.

You did not.

You didn't.

You can think that all you want.

Meg, what you doing?

So I am about halfway through the yoke on my Sayuri sweater.

I have stopped.

um because the pattern is really confusing and i have i've read it about three times and i cannot figure out the next step and jess has promised to take a look at it at me and she has promised me no less than four days this week that she would look at that pattern and then we keep doing other things um yeah exactly so um it is sitting in a bag until we take a look at it together and we figure because honestly guys i'll be honest with you my brain does not work that way sometimes like especially not on summer vacation not on summer vacation but this is my knitting time though this is when i do the fun stuff um so right now last couple days i've been working uh back to winter light by meg gadsby um i started this back in march um i'm determined to finish this it's not a hard project it's actually a really good one for watching tv and kind of zoning out because it's four repeats um and they're very they're pretty simple And I am knitting it out of fiber optic yarns gradient in Texas blue bonnets.

And I am like in the blue now, which is super exciting.

I'm not just hanging out in the.

The blue is my favorite part of the skein.

And it's going to get to this really gorgeous, like, deep blue.

That was a good project for that yarn.

I'm getting there.

No, it is.

I mean, this is not a yarn that needs a fancy project.

It really just needs a simple project to really show it off.

So that's where I'm at right now.

So I'm determined to finish at least one project this year, please.

This has not been my year for knitting.

It really has not been.

um me neither you know what it's it's you gotta you gotta just go with it when it when it comes gotta make those turtles sometimes you know I I've tried crocheting this year and I I it's not really my thing either so the turtles are so cute and I love admiring them but I don't I don't know as much as I I look at that and I'm like oh god I want to do that I want to crochet I just every time I do it I'm like I'm not enjoying myself with this so I love watching other people crochet though it's beautiful and I love the way it looks knit up I love or not knit up obviously crocheted up but I love seeing the differences like when when um oh you compare yarns yeah well compare like a knit project and a crochet project with the same yarn especially if it's a um like a speckle or a variegated um it's amazing how differently those those yarns look yeah because knit versus crochet one yarn could be beautiful for knitting and but yeah and it just doesn't it doesn't work or it pools funny and then you do a crochet pattern and it comes out totally different or it looks good both ways but different yeah good and good in different ways.

So be sure to check out our website, pardonmystache .com for more pictures, patterns, and yarns.

So before we start today, we have a small announcement.

As some of you may already be aware, we have had a sponsorship with Jimmy Beans Wool for a while now.

The company was recently brought out by a private equity firm.

And the decision was made for us to end our partnership and amicably end it.

So we are parting ways.

And we'd like to thank Jimmy Beans Wolf for sponsoring us the past, I believe it's a year and a half.

I'm going forward.

What we would like to do on the podcast is give a special shout out to the people who have been donating to our podcast and helping to keep us afloat.

So for the month of June, we would like to give a shout out to Sharon.

elizabeth and kara thank you guys so much for um continuing to support us in all of our endeavors and your contributions mean a lot to us thank you they really do no they do so for tonight's episode um we are going to talk about propaganda that we will not be buying This is an Instagram trend that maybe you guys have seen where somebody picks a topic and they say, this is the propaganda about this topic that we are not buying.

That might sound political.

It is not.

Because today we are going to be talking about crafting propaganda that we are not buying.

None of it.

Not today.

As we always say on episodes like this, these are our unvarnished opinions.

They do not have to be your opinions.

You do not need to agree with us.

We probably won't even all agree with each other.

That is certain.

There may be some things, but that is and it should in no way impact your own personal beliefs.

We do not claim to be experts in any craft and, you know, take our opinions with a grain of salt.

This is how we feel as your own research.

As crafters, this is how we feel.

So what is.

I open the floor.

What is some propaganda about crafting that we are not buying?

That you have to block.

That's a good one.

like that's a really good one would you care to elaborate I would love to elaborate all right because a lot of times when you're hearing from you okay well blocking super important and it's a really important step and it's the final step and if you don't do it like your thing sucks and blah blah blah well I have to say sometimes blocking is not important sometimes blocking doesn't actually make any sense for the project that you're working on, it does make sense for a lot of projects.

Like if you're working on a shawl or you're working on whatever.

Or like a sweater.

Yeah.

And it also depends on the type of fiber you're working with.

Like if I'm making a shawl out of acrylic, I am not blocking it.

Well, you know, that's fair.

I could block it.

Wet the plastic.

Yeah, like.

I iron blocked an acrylic scarf once.

Well, good for you.

No.

No.

It melts it.

I was going to say, that sounds like a bad plan.

That was my early days.

I was going to ask, did you have to buy a new iron?

No, because I did it on really low heat.

It actually didn't melt it that much.

What it did was it actually just flattened it.

It just flattened it.

And I was like, good enough.

And I moved on with my life.

Congratulations.

I know.

I have never heard that story.

That's a good one.

I saved it for now.

Yeah, I had made a, I think it was the French can can shawl.

I made that for my cousin.

I love that shawl.

It's not blocked?

It's made in acrylic.

I did not block that.

I would never have known.

Meanwhile, I also made a French can can.

which was not acrylic and that definitely needed to be blocked.

It did.

Yeah.

But the acrylic, it's kind of like it was already in place.

Like it didn't really need to be shaped because it held its shape.

But that's the thing.

Looking at your French can can and not knowing that it's acrylic, it looks so nice and even I wouldn't have known that you'd block it.

I'm just that good.

No, it's just that like acrylic is one of those things that just kind of like where you set it is where it's going to be.

It's not going to move.

It's not going to bloom.

It's not going anywhere.

so yeah that's i won't be buying into that propaganda not all the time solid start like i've made blankets and i put them through the wash in the dryer which is scary but but it covered in cat hair right yeah i wouldn't consider that blocking i'm just no are you pinning it no then we're good No.

Yeah.

I feel like it depends if you like the look.

I mean, if you're worried about the look and you think it looks weird, try blocking it.

But if you're not worried about the look and you think it looks...

Dude, I don't think I've blocked a hat.

That's not true.

I blocked one hat.

So the other thing, too, with if you have a super wash garment and you wash it, you may be having to block it every single time.

Like, I noticed that with the wedding shawl that you made me.

because that is made out of superwash and when you first blocked it it held this big beautiful block but it has gradually shrunk yeah over time and I haven't washed it it's squeezed back but over time it kind of sprung back to where it was because I was looking at it smaller now when we moved it and then I was looking at pictures I'm like no this definitely like shrank like no it did it did it kind of like squeezed back into itself so that's a little weird usually things stretch out yeah you think well I don't wear it that often I think I've only worn it twice I wore it to our wedding and I wore it to Rhinebeck and I'm pretty sure that's it so it's been folded up and in a and in a box um but yeah when I've taken it out I'm like man I remember this being a whole lot bigger like it used to come down past my butt it doesn't do that anymore it's it's it shrank yeah it's weird um but again as with all knitting your mileage may vary yeah Yeah, with that frankincoco beanie, I almost purposely made it too small because I was going to use blocking to make it the right size.

And it's Rios.

And now it's perfect.

And Rios is perfect fit.

But yeah, I've definitely made hats where I'm like, no.

The original cocoa bean I made in the less traveled, I didn't block that.

And it's still too big.

I didn't block mine either because I forget, did you block yours and it stretched?

Cause we all made it with the same yarn.

I did block mine, but I knit much tighter than you do.

Right.

And when I blocked mine, yes, it grew, but it grew to a perfect size.

I remember you saying this, this yarn really stretches.

And when you said that, I was like, this hat fits me perfectly.

I'm not going to block it.

Well, we're both very loosey -goosey.

So if Dre is knitting tight.

Learned the lesson.

And I was not about to block it at that point.

Mine was actually already a little bit loose on my head.

I did not block it.

It was so big on my head.

And I have a big head.

It is what it is, man.

Sometimes I throw it in the dryer just to shrink it back down.

Honestly.

You gotta.

And it does.

It'll bring it back down.

And then I'll wear it, I don't know, 20 times.

And then all of a sudden it starts going.

Other propaganda we are not buying.

You can only do cool projects with nice yarns.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That is incorrect.

Yeah.

If you like a yarn, do whatever you want with that.

I have jellyfish on a really nice yarn.

I love those jellyfish.

I actually really want to know what pattern he used because I want to mix them.

I'm pretty sure it's from Crafty Intentions and you just look up Crafty Intentions jellyfish and it'll pop up.

But honestly, just an extension of that thought that any yarn is supposed to only do a thing.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Right.

Or that you need to save your best yarns for really good projects.

But here's the thing.

If you save your yarn until you find the most epic project for that specific yarn, you are never going to get it.

You're never going to use it.

Because you're going to psych yourself out.

You are.

You will never find the right project.

And you got it.

Dude, my first my first scarves, my first like garter stitch scarves were made out of hand dyed yarn from my friend Joy.

I loved her yarn.

I bought her yarn and I supported her small business and I loved it.

And they're garter stitch scarves and they are the most garbage knit ever.

But you know what?

They are gorgeous because the yarn makes the scarf.

And I don't feel bad about that.

oh man i knitted with some nice stuff and i knitted you know like i got a really nice fade set from fiber optics that i made my kid a dragon for yeah she did congratulations like and and that's the thing is that you'll get people that'll say like oh no that's that's a dumb thing to do like don't don't make like such a simple project with such a expensive yarn nah man do whatever you want or on this by the same token don't make that crazy gorgeous sweater out of cheap yarn no Make it out of what you want.

I mean, just make sure you like it.

I would just like to preface that the blue ribbon that I won for my daughter's sweater is all acrylic.

What is it that Meg says?

Find your joy.

no it is it's and it is it's a it's a ridiculous idea that you you shouldn't make heirloom things out of cheap yarn you see a really nice yarn you finally want to buy it but then it's like oh i don't know what project because i maybe you don't do sweaters you don't do shawls maybe all you do is like you know make a bananasaurus we'll make that bananasaurus out of silk okay that's awesome that's gonna be a shiny bananasaurus i am not going to do that but i mean but you do that you know it's it's silly to have that notion especially because there are so many older generations um that made heirloom garments out of what was available and especially in you know 70s 80s like acrylic was popular oh yeah yeah and you could wash it i have beautiful beautiful blankets and afghans from Literally, like, my husband's great -great -grandmother out of acrylic, but guess what?

I'm keeping it.

No.

And it's an heirloom.

And it's, yeah, I find it's still beautiful to me.

I have two Afghans that my grandmother knitted, and she exclusively knit with Red Heart because, in her opinion, why spend more money when this was perfectly good and washable and cheap and readily available everywhere?

And, you know, I treasure those.

I treasure those Afghans.

Yeah.

Especially with, like, a blanket, though.

Like, you're not going to make, like, you can.

You can.

Sure.

You can make a blanket out of $32 skein Superwash Merino.

Like, go live your best life.

But reasonably speaking, like that's kind of unrealistic for a lot of people's budgets.

So, yeah, you're going to go with something that's a little bit more durable, a little bit cheaper, you know.

And I feel the same way about kid sweaters.

I will never make a nice kid sweater.

Absolutely not.

Like nice yarn kid sweater is what I mean.

Well, they're going to grow out of it or they're not going to take care of it.

Well, Jo already grew out of the sweater I got the thing for.

And she like wears it.

She does.

And it's worn.

Well, you want yarn that's going to be able to take a beating.

Right.

And it is.

It's like you don't want to put a sweater on a child and say like, okay, don't move.

This is my child.

Like I want you to play in it.

I want you to like wearing it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

In other senses, you know what?

Like it has some really good hedgehog yarns that are like speckled and amazing and awesome.

And I can't think of a garment I want with it, but it looks awesome as a beta fish.

Yeah.

Right.

And maybe that yarn wants to be a beta fish.

Maybe it does.

Maybe it wants something fishy made from it.

Maybe it had fish dreams.

You don't know.

Yeah.

I had fiber optic yarn that someone asked me for a commission for, and I knew that the yarn was perfect for what she was looking for.

She was asking me for a specific type of like color mix.

And I was like, I have that.

And it's in a fiber octave, like $32 skein of yarn.

And I was just like, nah, I'll do it.

And I made it and I sold it to her.

And it was a basic like ear warmer.

But guess what?

She loves that ear warmer.

Right.

Handmade gifts are always appreciated.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Where's the barf button?

That is wrong.

That is propaganda we're not buying.

No.

like there is nothing more disappointing than spending a lot of time on something and then giving it to somebody thinking that they're going to love it and then they don't and they're like oh well thank you anyway yeah and I think there's also like I know I know I did it when I first started crafting um you get newbies like myself that are like oh my god i'm gonna save so much money on christmas gifts and it's like so you start knitting scarves for people that don't wear scarves um i have learned over time for example that it doesn't matter what i knit for jess she's not gonna wear it like i have she'll treasure it she'll put it aside she will love it but she's not gonna wear it so i'm not gonna knit for her and that's not me being mad or stalking off or like pouting that oh you don't like what i make you it's just She's not going to use it.

So, you know, also assuming when you get into the craft that everyone's going to love what you're making.

You know, if you're knitting a hat for somebody that you have never seen wear a hat in their life.

Yeah.

You know, it's.

You're excited and that's great.

Also, you may not be.

You do have a lot of people that really don't understand the difference between the blanket you gave them and the blanket they got at like Walmart for five dollars.

Yeah, that was going to be like my thought process after what you said was basically like the idea that people appreciate the time and effort that you put into.

Right.

Because.

Though, you know, like you said, Jess, like people are just like, well, I could buy the same blanket at Walmart for $8.

And I'm like, go live your best life and go buy that.

Go buy that blanket for $8.

Because this blanket in materials alone is going to be $210.

And of course you have the people that do understand or maybe don't understand, but still love the fact that you made them something.

But it's like, but don't expect that to be.

Everybody.

That's not true.

It is not everybody.

Right.

And especially if that person's not any sort of crafter themselves and they don't understand, like, this is my time, my love, my effort, my money that I've put in for you.

Not to say that only crafters would appreciate a handmade gift, but you are more likely to have a crafter appreciate a handmade gift.

And, yeah.

And you're kind of setting the stage for disappointment on both sides.

their side because they don't know how to respond or maybe they don't know how to respond and they don't care that their response is hurting your feelings um or and in yourself for i was so pumped to give you this gift and that was a lukewarm response and i am sad now now i feel like garbage and it is it's tough The idea that you have to knit multiple different categories of items to become a prolific knitter.

Wrong.

Same with crochet.

Same with crochet.

Wrong.

Propaganda we're not buying.

No.

Listen, I know people who make fantastic one item things.

That's the only thing they make.

I mean, your sister's one of them.

Oh, her one by one ribs.

And they're very nice and even and long and thick and warm.

But that doesn't mean that's all she wants to do.

And that's OK.

Yep.

She doesn't have to make a sweater and a cowl and a shawl and a like if she doesn't want to.

No, it's fine.

No, it doesn't make her any less skilled of a knitter.

No.

And the thing is, it's the other thing, too, is like she could there have been she's made hats.

She's made a cowl.

She doesn't like to do that because she can't just sit down and watch TV while she does it.

She has to actually focus and pay attention to a pattern.

And she doesn't want to do that.

And that is also fine.

Like, you should be crafting in a way that serves you because this is a hobby.

And we're not winning any races here.

We are literally supposed to be enjoying ourselves.

And if your hobby is making you miserable, don't do your hobby.

Guys, if you're crafting, you're doing it.

That's it.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

You did a knit stitch.

You're a knitter.

There you go.

Congrats.

High five.

You did it.

There's really no other requirement.

No.

No.

Like, is there levels?

Sure.

Is there skill levels?

Sure.

Like, in terms of like, you know, oh, this person knows how to do ABC stitch.

Guys, your knitting can be all works in progress.

Yeah.

But you're actually doing the part.

That makes you a knitter.

Listen, I feel that in my soul as someone with 15 works in progress.

Listen, I have two and I feel the same way.

I got one.

You always have one though.

No, but like if it was based on like finished objects I just have laying around, I'm not a knitter because I have nothing.

And I think that's another propaganda we're not buying is that quantity does not.

automatically make you a better knitter yeah neither does like a um like being well you just kind of said like the the quality or the the skill of your knitwear doesn't make you a better knitter but neither does the i cranked out 30 garments this year i'm i'm king of the knitters like that's not a thing we're not we're not working towards the title here Well, I am.

Well, here you go.

You can have it.

Wait, can we get achievements in this game?

No.

Because I...

Oh, man, I want achievements.

I want to grind for the achievements.

This is not...

Is the old lady level grinding coming back up?

You know what?

I feel like on a subsequent episode, we should come up with an achievement system.

Okay?

No, no, no.

That's just for fun.

No, if you have more than 15 works in process, you become a whip master.

Oh, we should have, like, badges?

Like Girl Scouts.

Girl Scout badges.

Yeah.

I want to be a whipmaster.

Well, girl, you are the whipmaster.

The original whipmaster.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

I'm going to make a lot of money off of unsuspecting gentlemen.

Okay.

Wow.

Do you want to see a picture of my whips and then send them bags?

They'll be like, hi, I hear you have many whips.

I'm like, I do.

Would you like to see them?

Here they are.

Thank you for your time.

Five dollars, I'll show you.

And thank you for the $500.

I don't know what you're expecting, but here are pictures of my whips.

Oh my God.

I'm down for the merit badges, though.

Yes.

But the point still stands.

There is no, like, you're never going to reach the pinnacle of knitting.

You're not going to be the best knitter in the world if you accomplish X, Y, and Z.

yeah this isn't a race or a competition even like i know that there's ways that you can get um through i'm not gonna i can't remember the name off the top of my head but there's a way to get like almost like a certification that you're like a master knitter yeah yeah those exist yeah but what people don't understand is like there's no like single body of like who is the master knitter guild of the universe right yeah so like when you go yeah when you go and you want to like get one of those certifications it's through that particular entity that's offering them like it's not necessarily like a universal yeah it's not like oh well you know in the united states we have the the master knitter award that comes you have to go through the u .s secretary of state office that doesn't exist yeah it's almost it's like different traditions different crafts different whatever like yeah you are a master in this um like i almost thinking of it like um like different degree certifications yeah like in different programs like according to these regulations you are a master but maybe if you go to this school you don't meet the criteria like You got to do a whole other thing.

Yeah.

Like certain schools are weighed heavier because they're more.

Right.

Or they have a focus on something else.

Right.

Things like that.

So, yeah.

But there is not like.

I feel like the only reason that the master knitter certification is only necessary if you're going to like make a business out of teaching other people and you want like that kind of.

yeah i have actually like well it gives you the credentials yes yeah it gives you if you're going to need credentials for i'm not the only one saying i'm awesome other people also concede that i am well and i and this isn't just me walking in and saying i know xyz and this is good and this is not like yeah can in that theory though if everybody every entity could make a master knitter crocheter certification why can't we have our own probably parted my stash master crafter i am not running that workshop okay no no no no no you're you're not there's no workshop you literally just put in your email and i send you a certificate with your name on it you win you're a knitter yay you are a knitter congratulations as far as i'm concerned i don't need somebody else to tell me that i'm good at my hobby yeah well right and if it is a hobby it's not a business but the but that's another thing too is like if you're going to be trying if you're going to be striving to improve you should be striving to improve for your own purposes whatever those purposes may be not because you're going to be the best because there is no best there never will be so do what you want don't torture yourself making garments or working with yarns that you hate I want to be the very best is catching them all catching all different gotta craft them all gotta craft them all oh yeah i don't want to do that because i feel like i'm gonna have to like make a lace weight project and that's make some noops no absolutely not no you can make it it's just called a noop and it's a pokemon type thing but it's like a noop it's just a nope it's just a nope pitch it to poke it's a ghost type it's oh and one of its moves is astonish because yes you go oh no guys that's a legit move i also use confusion it was super effective i i've been playing pokemon violet lately so Oh, that makes sense.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's a lot of Pokemon terms going through my head right now.

That makes sense.

Well, I had a lot of time on vacation to sit and actually play my video games.

So that was nice.

I know I'm like, I think I'm like three years behind because I think that thing came out like a long time ago, but I'm catching them all right now.

Yeah, I got catching.

I'm proud of you.

Thank you.

Neither knitting nor crochet is actually harder.

oh you just learned the other one first yeah yeah i think there is so much back and forth over which is harder which is more complicated and i really do believe it just boils down to whatever you started with yep you will initially be more comfortable with you know just like everything else in life and you may get to the point where you're more comfortable with the other or you're equally comfortable But I feel like so much of the like moving into the bicraftual territory gets like shut down by I couldn't do that.

That's so much harder.

I'm not going to lie.

I have actively been crocheting for several months now.

And I still will sit here and be like, oh, crochet.

That's such a cool pattern.

I don't know how to do that.

Yeah, it is.

But you do.

But I do.

You do.

and I'm doing it pretty good but it's hard it's it's it's like it's hard to kind of break that mentality because when you first look at whichever one you start with like you start with crochet and you look at knitting you're like I could never do two needles I I work with one hook or on the flip side I look at crochet or I did like now I I again I know the rough way to crochet um but I'm still like I look at a crochet pattern I'm like okay no okay to be fair pattern wise crochet can be ridiculous looking if you're just looking at a like a chart a chart I am only looking at crochet patterns that are written out because I am not right now but you will probably graduate eventually to the chart listen the charts let's not get ahead of ourselves they're hieroglyphics they look it here's the thing though too my um the blanket that I'm working on quote unquote um That I took a break on.

So they have it written and charted.

And for some of the things, the chart actually goes a little faster for me because I could just look at it and I know exactly where I am.

And the written, I keep forgetting what line I'm on.

And then there are parts where I'm like, I don't know what they're telling me to do in this thing.

Like, I see...

I think I know, but then I'll read the directions.

I'm like, no, I read that wrong.

Like I have, I have no idea.

So I like both.

Both is good.

That's how I feel about knitting patterns too.

So maybe, maybe I'll get to charts.

We're not, we're not going to get ahead of ourselves, but I remember a time in 2008 when the words left your mouth, the immortal words of, I think I'm just going to be a scarf knitter.

oh yeah I remember that day and it was garter stitch all the way oh yeah for like a year I was real happy doing that exactly yeah and then when you decided that you wanted to try something else you got comfortable doing other stuff I believe you will get to charts I think you will I think it's just a matter of getting comfortable and being ready to do it do we think we're going to get to the point where I can say that I know how to crochet You know how to crochet now.

I know, but I don't believe that.

Well, I think you will get there.

I think you're gaslighting yourself.

Absolutely.

I think you are falling for some propaganda that you need to somehow reach some pinnacle of crochet before you can say that you crochet.

But I've seen the turtles.

You can crochet.

I do like the turtles.

You've made a lot of turtles.

You made that bunny.

You made a bananasaurus.

I think you're at a point.

I think the minute that you started making something, you were crocheting.

i think you can say you can crochet but i'll work my opinion it's not you know you gotta be you you gotta do you i'll work on that i do talk to my therapist tomorrow so well maybe that's also propaganda we're not falling for therapy no never no um again i love my therapy no the idea that again that there is a level we have to reach before we can say I'm good enough to call myself this.

Yeah, you brought that back around.

I did.

I did bring that back around.

That's true.

Look at that.

Magic.

I think I have an unpopular one.

All right, fire away.

Fiber festivals are worth it.

Why would you think it's unpopular?

Oh, I'm getting so thrown off.

Well, because the propaganda is.

So you say they're not worth it.

I don't think they're worth it for everybody.

That's fair.

That's very fair.

And there's times where I'm like, especially recently when we've gone to Rhinebeck and I've gone, there's nothing for me here.

Yeah.

Because I've seen the same vendors.

I don't want to buy any more yarn because I'm at a point where I'm not trying to buy any.

i'm not a huge socializing person so i'm not going it's a lot of people it's a lot of people yeah um i like it when we meet up with our folks yes um but like outside of that i'm just like get me out of this crowd yeah well we also went on saturday last year and that was yeah that's right yeah but i think i think there's something to say for like um i've heard people say like if you haven't gone to like a fiber fest you're like missing out and i don't think that's necessarily true no i don't think that's true well if this is what i'll say it gives you in -person access to vendors that you otherwise might only see online right so that's nice but if i also think that it gives you in -person access to people that you have only met online.

Correct.

And you know, it has, if you want to do workshops and all that kind of stuff.

Awesome.

Yeah.

But every single one of those things can be done outside of a fiber.

Yep.

You can meet up with people that you've met online and set up a private meet.

You can go see some of these vendors if they have a pop -up at a store or if they have their own store or whatever.

And you also, you know, in terms of workshops and stuff, plenty of local yarn stores provide that.

Right.

So I don't, it's not.

I don't think it's any...

If you want to go to one, I think that's fine.

But I don't think there's necessarily a rite of passage of what you have to do it or that anybody's missing out in doing so.

Well, I also think if you want to go to one, that's awesome.

Find one you want to go to.

And you know what?

You aren't required to go to one every year or every time it pops up.

That's true.

You can go to that one, that one time that you've always wanted to go with and make a...

big deal of it and then you don't have to go again and and again if none of that appeals to you if you're you're fine you can just go get yarn wherever you get yarn and have fun with your local knitting circle or like it's not for everyone and that is fair it doesn't make you less of a fiber person I was having a conversation yesterday with a mom of one of my kids friends when they were having a play date and we were talking about going to New York to Broadway And talking about the fact that like we in the Northeast sometimes don't realize like how privileged we are to live so close that people across the country or across the world may go see one Broadway show their whole lives.

Whereas if you live in Connecticut, you are maybe 30 minutes from the train station, two hour drive into New York and you can go for a day trip.

Like this is no big deal.

So it's really, privileged and kind of you know insensitive and mean to treat people like oh you you've never had that experience like that's not an experience that's open to everybody so to kind of be like you've never been to Rhinebeck like we're a day trip to Rhinebeck we can go anytime but we wouldn't be there if we were in California no we would never have gone and that kind of privilege is of location is not open to everybody and so they kind of um it's it's snobby to be like well you know you haven't had this experience and that somehow makes you less you're lacking in your crafting life or in general going to any of the major ones because there's a lot now there's a lot more options now there's a lot of west coast ones that are out there um that will probably never i probably won't ever go to unless for some reason i have a friend that lives out there and i happen to be there the week right but like it's not um Yeah.

You're not flying out there for it.

No.

No.

It's not a bucket list.

No.

And it's not.

And again, it's not because I think those things I'm not saying naysaying them.

I'm just saying that if if you enjoy the extroverted social aspect of being at a festival in general.

So like if you like.

you know, a lot of crowds and seeing in -person things like workshops and like people spinning and like you want to meet your vendors face to face.

Like, yeah.

Yeah, it's a good time.

I think of it too is like.

Maybe I'm embarrassing myself by bringing this up, but in the pro wrestling community, there's an opportunity to go to Fanatics Fest where you can go and meet all your wrestlers.

And it's real close to us.

I will never go to that.

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

I would love to meet some people, but not like that.

but yeah it sounds overwhelming and exhausting and i just know it's a it's a lot of people it's in new york i think it is yeah it's not that far it's not i had toyed with the notion of going to meet the ms and ask him if he remembered my brother oh my god It's a cool story.

I will share it if you would like it.

You can DM me anytime.

But then I said, I don't want to go for like a joke notion.

Right.

That is way too much stimulation for me to do for like a little bit of joy.

It's a lot of it's a lot of input.

for very little.

That's how I feel about every single live music experience at this point in my life.

I'm not going to have fun.

Like I may be excited for it and I'm going to get there and be like, I have regrets.

I don't want to be here anymore.

I made a decision.

Frank asked if we could go to Coachella and I'm like, whoa.

Wow.

Whoa, that escalated quickly.

He has been to Coachella with his sister.

He has.

I could see that.

I could see Frank at Coachella.

Will you be allowed to be in a room with no noise with headphones and a blanket?

I will go to the area and I will do my thing.

Yeah.

Like I'll chill in the hotel.

He can go do that.

So related to that one time when we were in North Carolina, we had, there was, I really liked the band bad wolves are yeah.

Bad wolves.

And like, they were playing as like an opener for somebody else.

Like, I can't remember who the other band.

was but somebody who is a lot more famous than them I want to it was some kind of 2000s alternative band I can't remember at the top of my head that's how much I didn't care about the headliner and and I said to Pat I was like you know what the tickets are really cheap can we just go and just see bad wolves and then I'm gonna like we can leave and he's like oh yeah that sounds great so like we went we like we had great seats we were like right up towards like maybe fifth row or something like that on the side We saw Bad Wolves play.

Their set lasted about 45 minutes.

And like the whole show was like three hours long.

And then as soon as they were done, we were like, OK.

And so we started walking out and the security people are looking at us like, wait, like there's still show.

And we're like, oh, no, we saw who we wanted to see.

We're good.

Yeah.

And we just continue.

They look so dumbfounded.

I was like, hey, we're trying to beat the traffic.

Yeah, we're good.

We're good.

We just wanted to see bad wolves.

We're good.

I just but yeah, because like at the end of the day, I just I that's what you want to do only because the tickets were reasonable.

They were like 30 bucks a person like it was so reasonable.

So what we're really trying to say is.

the level of participation that you want to have is acceptable.

Right.

And it doesn't make you any better than anybody else.

If you've gone, it doesn't make you any better.

If you haven't gone, like we're not talking about like reverse hipsterism of, well, I would never be so uncool as to go to a fiber festival.

Nobody's saying that.

No, they are fun.

They are a lot of fun.

Well, they can be.

They can be a lot of fun.

And if it's not your cup of tea, then it's not a lot of fun and you don't need to go.

Like, it's really, it is totally up to you.

Or if you want to stick with, like, a local fiber festival that's a little bit smaller.

Like, I know our Connecticut one's way smaller and it's a lot more reasonable if you're looking for, like, kind of a similar experience but in a toned down fashion.

Yeah, find your local ones.

I love the local ones.

Yeah.

I mean, the big ones, yes.

Are they...

an experience yes or is it an experience that you will incredibly miss if you don't do it no you'll be okay yeah it'll be okay yeah it doesn't make you morally superior if you go crafting your own wardrobe will save you money it will not it will not if anyone believes that they're so misguided people who believe that are not crafters I mean, making your own wardrobe.

I mean, it's nice to be able to custom make your own sweaters.

That's fantastic.

But it's not saving you money.

So the other side of the expenses is your time, right?

It is your time.

And are you willing to dedicate the amount of time that goes into creating a knit?

And if you do, like, great.

I couldn't find the dress that I wanted to wear to my graduation.

So Jess and I made the exact one that I wanted when I graduated with my MA.

I love that dress.

I still have it.

I'm so proud of it.

It's got a ton of mistakes that I made.

But they're yours.

But you know what?

You know, it was so funny as I was walking out of graduation.

Somebody asked me where I got it.

And I said that we made it.

And she was like, do you sell it?

And I laughed so hard.

I was like, if you could see the inside of this dress, you would know.

I did.

I said, you are so sweet.

But if you could see this.

seams on this thing you would know why i would never do that oh yeah it had lining did it oh yeah it's very pretty um but yeah like it definitely did not save me money and it certainly did not save me time it took us two months to make that dress so yeah you're you're putting in a lot paid patterns are better than freed patterns oh yeah no yeah not yeah that's and that's a tough one Because that's the thing.

I've had paid patterns that I'm like, you did not vet this.

You did not have this checked.

I always think about those gloves that you made, Jess.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

The fact that you paid money for that angers me so hard.

If I knew it was just that, I'm like, dude, I could have made this myself.

It was just the chart, right?

Yeah, it was just the chart.

It was just the chart and they charged you like a lot.

It was an expensive pattern.

Yeah, it was pretty up there.

Yeah.

And I was.

It wasn't the full glove.

No, it was just the color work.

It was the color work.

And they had a note in there of where you would put the thumb gusset.

Wow.

But it was not generous.

But they also weren't advertising it as like, you know, warning.

This is just a chart for color work.

I have no problem.

Like if you say this is just a chart, you can whack this on like a hat or mittens or whatever the heck you want.

But yeah, no, she really got.

I mean, that's okay.

But yeah, they didn't have anything about the cuff.

They didn't have anything.

They didn't even tell you how many stitches to cast on.

They told you nothing.

Like, again, the mitten started.

So you could guess from that.

But most of those start with a ribbed cuff, which has a larger stitch count.

And then you do a decrease row.

And then you get into, like, the color work.

And it didn't say if you did that or if you didn't do that.

Or it didn't give you a cuff at all.

It literally started at the mitten.

And I was like, I...

okay like that's not how mittens go but that's okay i added my own spin to it and they came out great but i was like okay this is gonna take me longer now because i have to adjust this right and nobody should assume that like if i'm gonna pay for a pattern like i i expect to be told you know what i need to do please give me instructions i mean i like the instructions and i expect those instructions to be correct If I've paid for it.

Or clear.

Clear, correct.

I expect that there's been some effort put into putting this pattern together and it is correct.

I don't mind if there's mistakes as long as it's rectified.

Yeah.

Right.

Is there a rata?

If I paid it and then I say, hey, there's an issue here.

I can't resolve it.

And the designer comes back and says, oh my God, my B.

Here you go.

Here's the fix.

Right.

I'm still fine.

oh yeah if you don't provide any errata and you're not doing anything at all like oh forget that forget that no get that yeah so and yeah and sometimes free patterns i'm like oh my god why is this free yeah like you put so much work into this same note you don't necessarily have to sell your patterns for money that yeah nope some people do just like putting them up and sharing and you know what awesome to you guys like community effort guys those uh octopus stuffies that i've been making those free pattern yeah my little dragon keychains are were free pattern love it and honestly sometimes like not i i know we we talk about like know your worth charge your worth all that but especially when you are starting out I know when I started knitting I wasn't about to buy any patterns because I didn't know if I could actually do it I wanted to see the pattern before I started knitting it yeah and that is a great way also to kind of get people to knit and and also it's like if they knit a pattern and they like it they'll probably go back to you again and and be more inclined to purchase your paid patterns because they know you they like your stuff they know you you give do good work yeah i like to do a mix i have some free and some paid and the ones that are paid are the ones that were a pain in me but but it's scary to buy a pattern when you don't know you're not sure what you're doing like it's or yeah guys sorry too like i don't trust any patterns without at least one picture oh yeah like i want i want to see the what yeah some patterns don't have pictures yeah how do you know what you're making you don't I mean, it might say in the specs.

It'll say in the specs what it is.

Surprise pattern.

What a mystery.

It's a mystery make -along, which makes sense.

But yeah, if it's just a...

But also, you should have at least one that you knit or crocheted.

You should have done something.

You should have something.

There should be something.

And I've seen sweaters with half a sleeve done.

Sure.

fine like you have you have knit enough of this to show me that i can see what the pattern is going to look like but if there's nothing and i don't even see what that you've done it i'm gonna be a little bit skeptical i did that with my scarf you knit enough scarf enough scarf that you could see what and that's the thing with a scarf is it's the same yeah yeah you did multiple pattern repeats you can see and that's that is i i would think perfectly acceptable you can see what it is yeah um and you also had test knitters that finished it i did um but but throwing a pattern out there where there's nothing there's no picture there's no unless it's the mystery thing like you were saying yeah yeah and a lot of people aren't buying mystery patterns from new designers that have never put anything out before that yeah they're doing mystery patterns from people that they know and they like And that is all the time we have for this episode.

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