Episode 52 - Radical Kindness

Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 52 – Radical Kindness. My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet. It’s a community for people that like to support their fellow humans regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, size or age. I hope you feel the welcome embrace and love of the Crochet Clan. Come on in and stay awhile. In this episode, I cover Old Dog New Tricks; Final Destination; Designs on Progress; Quick News Beats and Big Up. This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co. Thanks to everyone who tunes into the podcast whether it is through Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, iTunes or the YouTube Channel . Your support and engagement are really appreciated and makes running a podcast very special and worthwhile. If you would like to support the podcast, you can do that through Patreon: 1 – Old Dog New Tricks This month’s top Crochet Clan tip is from Rica (woolroundtheworld on Ravelry and @woolaroundtheworld on Instagram). Rica has highlighted how stitches can look completely different worked in the round, compared to in rows. Examples given show Lemon Peel Stitch in rows and rounds and the same for Feather Stitch. The textures and final looks are really quite different. Even the simplest of stitches like double crochet, look different in the round form in rows. Image 1: Two examples of Lemon Peel stitch, on the left it has been crocheted in rows and on the right in rounds. It looks neater in rounds and the stitch definition is better. Image 2: Two examples of Feather stitch, on the left it has been crocheted in rows and on the right in rounds. It has more stitch detail in rows and presents more of a slanted stitch in rounds. Image 3: Herringbone htr are shown on the left which creates a left and right slanting diagonal pattern in the work because it's worked in rows. On the right Herringbone tr are shown worked in the round, so all of the stitches are slanting to the left. So, if you have stitch dictionaries or are looking to start some of your own designs, have a think about whether you could create something that looks completely different. I have a few stitch dictionaries and I find them really helpful for my work. I thought I would share two of my absolute favourites with you: 1 – The Crochet Stitch Bible by Betty Barnden ISBN-10: 0785830480 ISBN-13: 978-0785830481 2 – Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary Dora Ohrenstein ISBN-10: 1419732919 ISBN-13: 978-1419732911 2 – Final Destination I have one FO and it’s another garment! It’s the Adelong jumper pattern ( link ) Image: My mustard coloured Adelong jumper is lying on dark wood floorboards. The top of the bust upwards, including the sleeves, is ribbed by working back loop only and from the rib downwards it's all half trebles, giving two distinct sections of stitch definition. The yarn is Erika Knight British Blue 100 which is a DK weight yarn ( link ). It’s 100% British Bluefaced Leicester, 220m per 100g and I am using shade Mrs. Dalloway. The pattern is by Deanne from Addydae Designs ( link to IG account) and it’s a top-down construction, creating the sleeves and neckline at the same time. I crocheted up a size medium so that there is less positive ease and also changed the ribbing a little so that it was shorter and joined from front to back and I added a couple of rounds of dc to the sleeves to pull them in a little and finish them off. Image 1: shows the hem of my finished Adelong jumper. The hem is the same length front and back with a 4 stitch join so that the two ribs are joined. The jumper is in a proper mustard colour. Image 2: The sleeve of my Adelong jumper shows the neat short-row shaping that forms from the neckline all the way down the top of the arm and the two rounds of dc (SC US) I did to pull the sleeve in a little. 3 – Designs in Progress I finally have some designs in progress that I can show you that aren’t for commissions! In fact, there are three! First up is Positivity Spiral. This design will be launched on March 15th in support of Operation Social Justice Warrior. I want to be able to support positive ways for our fibre community to be inclusive and this feels like a good way forward. If you would like to know more about Operation Social Justice, please go and have a look at Angie at Gamercrafting’s information, because she is the one putting all the hard work into organising it ( link ). Positivity Spiral is a one skein cowl pattern that can be made as long or short as you like. It can be worked up in any weight of yarn too. Because the deadline is quite tight for this pattern, the initial pattern release will have three cowl examples (light DK, sportweight and 4ply). For anyone that buys the pattern through Ravelry, Etsy or my website, as soon as I have finished the details with the other weights, a pattern update will be sent to everyone that already purchased it. 100% of the profits are going to ROTA ( link ) for any pattern sales from 15th March to the end of the month. Race on the Agenda (ROTA) is one of Britain's leading social policy think-tanks focusing on issues that affect Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Originally set up in 1984, ROTA aims to increase the capacity of BAME organisations and strengthen the voice of BAME communities through increased civic engagement and participation in society. So, if you would like to buy the pattern from 15th onwards, you can do so on Ravelry, Etsy or my own website. Remember that my pattern prices are scaled on my website, so you can access them from £2 to £6 depending on your budget. What is doubly exciting is that I am hoping to crochet the 4 ply sample with a special skein from Ishrat at Fruitful Fusion ( link ). What is also amazing is that my very lovely friend and Tech Editor, Deb from Find me Knitting ( link ) has offered to tech edit for free. This is no small thing because that means the money I would have spent now goes straight to ROTA because it isn’t being deducted from design expenses. Thanks Deb! The examples shown were in Blue Sky Alpacas Metalico (light DK) and John Arbon Textiles Alpaca Supreme sportweight. Image: Two cowls on a light pink background with a bow-tie of yarn and a blue crochet hook. The smaller cowl is resting on top of the other and it's a silver colour. The other is a caramel/fawn brown. Both have the same stitch pattern with Herringbone tr slanting to the left and the filet crochet also slants to the left. My second design is very much in its infancy, but it combines two lovely yarns – both from RiverKnits. Using the solid Bluefaced Leicester 4ply as a background colour, it allows the different colours of the Chimera yarn to really show off. I am just at the beginning of the first hand warmer, so there is still a fair way to go on this design, especially as I want to make mittens, a cowl and a hat from it! So, it will be a while before you see this as a finished set of designs. Image: white background with the beginnings of a hand warmer. The main colour is navy and ears of barley type corn are worked up in puff stitches. The puff stitches are worked up in Chimera yarn which is spun with mustard, white, teal and blue. Design number three is a blanket. I have never really designed a blanket before and this one is inspired by all of the lovely mini yarn advent calendars that people were showing off at the end of 2019. It got me thinking about my stash, using what I’ve got and offering a solution for folk that can’t afford yar advents but would really love one. If like me, you have lots of half-used cakes of 4 ply yarn, then this is something that you can do now and put away, ready for the 1st December to unwrap your own yarn advent. I went to my stash and pulled out 24 cakes of 4 ply yarn that had 20g or more in them. As I had lost to choose from, I also chose the 24 that I thought worked best together. The next part is up to you. You can either bag them up in any old order, or you can do what I did and create a colour sequence that won’t make your inner-pedant scream. I then numbered 24 brown bags and popped each of my 20g+ yarn cakes into a bag and popped them all into one big bag. Come 1st December 2020, you will not remember what you had in those bags and you will have a lovely yarn advent that cost you the sum total of 24 brown paper bags. The pattern I am designing is called the Scrapvent Blanket and it’s designed to make the yarn go as far as possible. I’m using Herringbone half Treble because it creates such a beautiful fabric that isn’t very holey. My plan is to finish the blanket off with a solid cream border – also from stash. Image: pale pink background with a cream/ light teal project bag and a multi-coloured blanket spilling out of it. The blanket shows six-row repeats in different yarns and the lastest colour, a dark green yarn is caked up and ready to go. To the right is a pink crochet hook, an empty brown paper bag and a full paper bag with scrap yarn 10 in it, ready to be added to the blanket. So, I’ll continue to work away on the blanket over the coming months and the pattern will be ready well in advance of the 1st December. Why not head to your stash and see if you have 24 x 20g leftovers or minis in 4 ply and 100g for a border? Get them bagged up and put away for 1st December 2020. 4 – Quick News Beats 1 - Global Hook Up – The March hook ups are on: Saturday 21st at 8pm (GMT) and Sunday 22nd at 9am GMT. 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 If you are joining on your phone or tablet you will likely need to download the software in advance. If you are joining from a PC or Mac, you can join via the link above. Everyone needs to use the same ID number to get into the session. 2 – As this goes live on the 6th March, I will be vending at the RiverKnits Open Day tomorrow 7th March and then the next places you can find me are Wonderwool Wales ( link ) on 25th and 26th April, Knit and Stitch Show at the Reghed Centre in Cumbria ( link ) on 2nd and 3rd May, Yarningham in Birmingham ( link ) on 11th and 12th July. There are lots of other events during the year, but these are the ones I’m allowed to tell you about so far! 5 – Big Up The moon. Okay, I’m going to go a bit woo here. I don’t understand why it has taken me nearly 43 years to understand the impact that the lunar cycle has on me. In case you are also a creative soul, here is what it does to me. A few days before and after the new moon I am bone-tired and need to take naps. I feel drained, down-hearted about everything and generally meh! At the opposite end of the scale in the days leading up to and after a full moon, I am full of energy, and the creative ideas just flow out of my head uncontrollably – there is literally no stopping me. Now that I understand this rhythm, I can plan my design work around the cycle. When I need new designs, I wait until the full moon is due and then I use that more relaxed time of the new moon to actually work on the new designs and products. It’s actually the perfect balance because I can’t keep at full-pelt all the time, much as I think I can. With my new-found understanding, I now track what is going on and allow myself a bit of a break when it’s new moon time. I know it sounds a bit woo, but honestly, this realisation has completely changed the way I structure my months and creative output. The proof is in the number of new designs I have on the go! If any of you are interested in tracking the lunar cycle, I have been using an app on my phone called Moon Pro and it also gives you sunrise and sunset times which is really handy. I’ll be back on 3rd April. Fay x Instagram: Crochet_Circle_Podcast Instagram: provenance.craft.co Instagram: FayDHDesigns YouTube: The Crochet Circle Podcast Crochet Clan on Mighty Network: Invite