Episode 48 - Barking up the right tree

Crochet Circle Podcast

Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 48 – Barking up the Right Tree

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 Losing your Cro-jo; WIP RIP 2019; Final Destination; En Route; Quick News Beats; Big Up and J’adore.

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.

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1 – Cro-jo

I popped some questions up onto a post on Instagram. I was curious to know what made people lose their crochet mojo and what they have done to get it back.

I deliberately asked the question in October because I suspected that the pressure of making crocheted/crafted presents for a Christmas deadline would be one of the main reasons. I wasn’t wrong.

Thank you to everyone that came back to tell me their stories. I have compiled them into categories and listed them out below. If you want to read some wider thinking around this topic, I created a ‘Lost your crojo’ blog post on it (link).

The main reasons for people losing their love of crochet or crafting were:

• Current skill levels don’t match what they want the finished object to look like or stops them from tackling next level patterns.
• Deadline crocheting – particularly for Christmas or teacher presents.
• Summer months – either too hot or you are off doing other things because of the daylight.
• Too many WIPs.
• Big life changes such as births, deaths, weddings, house moves, relationship issues, country moves.
• Projects that are in the naughty corner because something needs to be fixed, there are long, boring sections or the project just overall feels like a chore!
• Being new to the craft and not yet knowing what you like to make.

Here are some of the suggestions for how to get your crojo back:

• If you are on Instagram, look up crochet related hashtags to get inspiration and see what others are up making. Try searching for crochet in different languages such as 'haken' so that you see what is popular in different parts of the world.
• Choose a really quick project that you can finish in one sitting. The dopamine hit that you get from finishing a project shouldn't be underestimated.
• Look back at your Ravelry project pages or go through your handmade wardrobe. Remind your self of all the beautiful things you have made and how far you have developed your skills.
• Have a selection of WIPs. One for quiet times that needs a bit of concentration, one for watching the TV or reading that requires very little concentration and one the will fly off your hook so that your brain gets that dopamine hit.
• Do just a couple of rows. Even one stitch is one stitch further...

In the blog post, I also talk through my Worthy Decision Ladder which helps me work through who I spend my precious making time on.

2 – CAL Updates

The #wiprip2019 I am co-hosting with Sophie from A Spring Snowflake Podcast (link) is in full swing.

You have from now until midnight on the 31st December to finish up or rip out some or all of your WIPs so that you go into the New Year with fewer projects.

On Instagram, you can use #wiprip2019 for chatter and #wiprip2019FO to show off your finished or frogged projects.

Go to Sophie’s Ravelry group for chatter and the Crochet Circle Podcast group for the FO thread.

Come and join us and let’s carry fewer projects into 2020.

3 – Final Destination

My monogamous crafting is continuing! Whilst it means that I don’t have as much to talk about on the podcast month by month, what it actually means is that I get projects finished and I’m not building up piles of WIPs.

I have a couple of finished objects to show off. The first was a really quick make – a crocheted headband, ready for my impending trip to Iceland. The pattern is by Ami from Hook of Love (link to Ravelry and link to her website) and it’s called “Minta Hat Headband Earwarmer”.

It needed just 35g of an aran/worsted weight yarn and a 6mm hook. I chose some Brigantia Luxury Aran from my stash in colourway 4c4. It’s 100% British wool, spun in Yorkshire and 140m/100g. Sadly, Brigantia wool is no longer available to buy.

ALT TEXT Photo 1: grey background with a folded piece of checked woven cashmere top left, a cake of aran weight wool top right, pink 6mm crochet hook and a crocheted headband showing back loop only dc (sc in US) squish. The wool and headband are in a scarlet/cranberry red colour.

Photo 2: Blue background with a photo of a crocheted tank top design with open ace work in a green/yellow under a blue and white checked shirt. To the right is the slide title "Another of Ami's designs" in a bold white font.

My second thing off the hook is my Mya Shawl by Helda Penagary (link). The yarn is ‘Pisces’ Yak Single Ply by Cosmic Strings (the dyers are Phu and Bea (link)) as the main skein and some Rico mohair as the dark grey background colour. I extended the width of the shawl, changed the row count and blocked it aggressively to get the width that I wanted. If you want to see what I did, full details are in my “Sythermort Shawl” project notes on Ravelry. I am also entering it into Clarisabeth’s (Crochet Cakes podcast) Mischief Managed CAL (link) which finished on 31st October.

ALT TEXT: Two photos on one slide showing the same version of the Mya Shawl. The shawl is on a mannequin and is crocheted using a dark grey laceweight mohair with alternating stripes of a bright teal/turquoise 4 ply yarn. The stripes are quite thin and there are 50 in total, shown off nicely in the triangular-shaped shawl.

4 – En Route

In just four short days I have managed to progress really well with my Bark Sweater by Sidsel Sangild (link). I’m using a 5mm hook and a sportweight Romney/Corriedale blend from John Arbon Textiles. This wool was a show special for Edinburgh Yarn Festival and is no longer available.

It’s really quick to work up because of the hook size and use of chains to create a sort of lace pattern. I suspect this will be finished by the end of this weekend and will be going straight into my suitcase for Iceland.

ALT TEXT Photo 1: Dark grey background with the beginnings of my Bark Sweater laid out with the 5mm hook and cake of wool. The wool is a natural brown/grey colour and the pattern and texture of the crochet pattern is very obvious. The use of front post treble stitches and chains create an ovate leaf shape throughout the jumper.

Photo 2: Blue background with a photo of the designer Sidsel Sangild. Sidsel is in front of a dusky pink wall wearing a grey v-neck jumper and holding her right hand up in the air. To the right is the slide title "This is Sidsel" in a bold white font.

I have made some changes to the pattern (I can’t help myself) and will be adding these details to my project page on Ravelry. Look for a pattern called “Romney Bark Jumper”. What I would say is that this isn’t a size-inclusive pattern by any stretch of the imagination. It covers small and large. However, because of the pattern repeats, you can make it bigger or smaller, but you would have to do the maths yourself (I have added some guidance on this).

In my project notes I have also added how you can create an invisible round join and new round start. In the picture below you would be hard pushed to see where the rounds end and start.

ALT TEXT: close up of my Bark jumper showing off how invisible the round joins and starts are.

5 – Feeding the Habit

I have nothing to show you under Feeding the Habit. Matthew has bought me wool for my Christmas present but that has already gone into hiding and I will share it with you in the January 2020 podcast.

6 – Quick News Beats

1 - Global Hook Up – I have set the dates for the next few months and will stick to the 8 pm GMT/BST on a Saturday night and 9 am GMT on a Sunday morning.

The details for the next sessions are already up in the Ravelry thread, can also be found below and will be put out on Instagram in advance.

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.

November - Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th

December - Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th

2 – I had three kilted bear pins from Bernie at Bear in Sheep’s Clothing (link). These pins are made in the UK and I love them.

The winners are:

Instagram – theartsypescatarian

Podbean – marikaisa01

YouTube – Ana Bernardino

7 - J’adore

I have been beavering away on my knitted sock designs and needed something on in the background to keep me company. I love the Great British Bake Off and a friend introduced me to the Great Australian Bake Off. I am loving it.

The bakers are so talented and I really enjoy the Australian sense of humour too. They are even allowed to swear – you didn’t get that with the BBC!

Do other countries get their own version of Bake Off? I need to know because I am fast running out of GABO episodes to consume.

8 – Big Up

Much love to everyone that took the time to answer my questions on crojo over on Instagram. The input from the Crochet Clan can’t be underestimated because learning from your experiences allows me to gain greater knowledge and pull together better-informed blog posts to share with the wider community.

I had to recently attribute some words to what I think my role is with this podcast and I chose “thought leader”. I know that sounds a bit business and jargon-heavy, but what I’m trying to create is a podcast that is hopefully fun and informative. I would love new crocheters to come across the podcast in 10 or 20 years time and for it to still bring value to them. So thank you for being part of that process!

I’ll be back on December 6th.

Fay x

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