Process vs. Product

I'm Drea. I'm Meg. I'm Tina. And I'm Jess. And this is Part in My Stash. Welcome to Pardon My Stash, a podcast about knitting within the fiber arts and how awesome it is. Before we get started on today's topics, let's find out what everyone's working on this week.

Meg, I am working on the Poema sweater by Vera Sinan. I put this down like right before Christmas break and I just recently picked it up again mainly because I was struggling with the sleeves and Jess was like you literally just have this backwards like without without putting too fine a point on it that was what was wrong with it. I was holding it backwards and then as soon as she explained what I did I stopped knitting the sleeves anyway and started working on the body.

So I could have just been working on the body the whole time but that's me. That's how I roll. I am knitting it out of Critical Hit Dye as a base we haven't released yet. It is a DK weight silk merino and it is in the colorway bag of holding. Yeah the I was gonna say the color on this is really really good. It's like a red rustic kinda I'm gonna go on the farm and get my chicken

eggs kind of color. In a good way. That's a compliment by the way. No I know I'm just thinking about wearing this sweater to get chicken eggs and I'm like this is not the sweater I would wear to get chicken eggs. Let me put on my lace sleeved sweater to go get some chicken eggs. Yes yes. I wanted chickens Jess won't let me get chickens. Listen dude they like they can be a pain. The cats are smelly enough man. That's fair yeah that's fair. Yeah it's fair and they do like to chase

people if they're angry. I mean that part's kind of funny I would appreciate that. Jess? I am I mean I have a couple projects I'm starting and not doing but right now I am working on a Mini Dragon keychain again I have done this in the past but it is basically Mini Dragon Amigurumi and I got it for free on the site called SuperGurumi and they got a bunch of cute like mini crochet things that you can choose from so I'm doing the dragon and I'm using I don't know I think this is Bahamut

from Critical Hit Guys and then Cascade Yarns Heritage Black. I mean Bahamut is pretty pretty pretty pretty good to use when you're making a dragon. Listen right it's did that feel like it's appropriate? Jerea? I am working on our make-along shawl our matche's make-along. It is the Arachne shawl by Claire Slade and we are using Plies and Hellhounds in fingering weight penny in the color waves, Flower Moon and Nightmares and Spider Shawl. Yeah I've got like a spider head

look. Oh it's so good I love the spider head. How far are you? I have not gotten too too far mostly because I've been so so much stuff has been going on so I haven't had I feel like this is one of those projects you need to sit down and have time to do it and I just haven't had that sit down time yet it's been you know going at 200% and yeah your girl's tired so I've been working on this super bulky hat like that I'm just free handing and I messed it up like three times already so

and and I don't believe in you though there's no pattern though so like I just mess it up in the sense of I look at it and I go I don't like that but yeah yours is coming out amazing I really really like it I do too and I've only worked on it like four times I think yeah you've put in good sessions though when you have worked on it so football yeah you know and now it's it was gone it was like four football games and that was it when will we sit down now we have no excuse to sit

down when will there be football be sure to check out our website part of my stash.com for more information as well as pictures regarding our current projects patterns and yarns

so today we are going to be talking about something that I've actually been addressing on my personal instagram for a hot minute and it's been the idea of process over product and I really wanted to talk about it as a group because I think we all have lots of thoughts on this how it affects us and just the idea of focusing on the process over the product it's been very difficult for myself to get into that mindset I definitely grew up with the idea of product of being productive of you know

having something to show when it comes to your work so focusing on the process has been an interesting interesting step but I do feel that it does lead you into more of a mindful crafting whether you're crocheting knitting what have you focusing on the process over the product can really enhance the experience overall so that you can have somewhat of a deeper appreciation for the craft that you're working on rather than what that finished object looks like so the question

that I posed to you is to start things out when it comes to mindful knitting what gets you in the mood to be mindful I don't think that I'm mindful about my my knitting but I am like I definitely listen to myself and I only do it when I feel like it I guess it is mindful but I mean that's a I mean that's essentially being mindful because you're you're listening to your body and listening to what um whether or not you use the word mindful I'm just using mindful as a general term but

that's essentially what that would be doing is I'm pretty thoughtless if I do say so myself I think you have lots of thoughts in your head try to keep them insane a lot of the time yeah knitting is definitely like a distraction for me so when I when I don't want to do anything but let my hands go then it's when my body's ready for it yeah and I have like an avoidance mindset so if you give me something that I was going to do

but now you tell me that I have to do it I'm just not gonna do it I was gonna do it but no I'm not gonna because you said I had to so yeah forget that I've been trying to work on that it's not been very successful though as long as you're trying I'm aware of it and that's about where I'm at yeah hey that's better than most what about you Meg I have noticed over the last couple years I don't tend to get projects off the ground in the first half of the year I have a very bad track

record with completing projects that I started before May I don't know why and I don't know if it's a work thing because I tend to be to have much more time I tend to be more relaxed in the summer but but then in the fall like I'm still getting stuff done so I feel like that can't be it I don't know but the ironic thing is you also tend to start a lot more projects I start a lot no I have terrible startitis from like January until April we're all cast on a whole bunch of

stuff and nothing will stick and then all of a sudden the planets will align and one thing last year it was Calliope one thing will stick and then I'm good but I'm going through that right now where I've got I have two projects on the needles I'm pretty bored with both of them I'm really not entertained by either and I don't like to be the type of person that's like I'm like this is my like process this is my hobby I should not be doing something for a hobby that I am not enjoying that

doesn't make any sense but by the same token I think that's where the product knitting comes in because I want the products I want them enough to not and I enjoy the yarn enough both I like this yarn I like the yarn that we're using for the make-along I like the patterns I want the finished product and that is what is getting me through the lack of initiative to get any of these things done do you think that the reason why the first half of the year tends to be

hard for you is because it's also technically the last end of the work here like you're it's like it might be a factor of like exhaustion from work it might I mean these these three months like January February March are the worst like literally the worst months I feel like when we come back from April break the rest of the year is like like that yeah goes by so fast um but there's also like a lot of the pressure is off like by May everyone's kind of coasting and

we're getting to the end so it's a possibility I mean I would generally think that September would be the worst because I I don't and you can ask Jess I the first like two weeks of school I don't like think about anything I'm like tunnel vision let me get my feet under me let me figure out who my kids are let me figure out my schedule um it's like starting a brand new job every year even if you've taught the same thing before it's a whole different ball game whole different schedule whole

different group of kids um it's more like switching your co-workers every year but yeah I'm not sure exactly why um but it statistically um I will cast on a whole bunch of stuff um I may or may not finish it and then right around April or May something sticks and then I'm good for the rest of the year you recognize it I recognize the pattern I recognize the pattern I really have no idea like what could be done about it I would prefer it not be that way because I really get

super frustrated when I'm like oh I really love that pattern I really love that yarn I don't know why it's been in a bag now for three years no rhyme or reason maybe it's like that Friday night thing only for me it's like I cast on the beginning of the year January and April like I just this project will never be done that's I don't know I don't know I don't know why it is I'm I'm mindful I'm conscious of it but I have zero idea how to uh how to kick that yeah and shout out to

everybody who's been telling us that they're not starting things on Fridays it's like no that is really killing me like listen you know I was gonna start this but it's Friday thanks guys thanks guys for looking out and we're like what I guess I'll just veg out on the couch and scroll Instagram I mean yes for the next few hours you know as God intended it's clearly clearly that was what was supposed to happen what about you Jess process product mindful knitting um so mine depends

on the project um because most of the time I won't even start something a if I don't think I'll enjoy the final product by the end of it like the final project I'm like that's a lot of garter do I want that maybe so that's that's step one yeah and step two is do I want to do all that garter probably not are there other things in it that make it interesting if there's nothing in the pattern that makes it interesting then it's like okay do I have yarn

that I want to see what it looks like knit up because that's kind of cool um and if I can't get at least one of those three then that project probably is never going to happen for me so I kind of set it up beforehand um most of the time I require at least two of those needs to be met every once in a while like you know the what was it that the Celtic rap the Celtic myths oh god yeah that one that was the one that one I just wanted the product not gonna lie like I I actually

that's not true when I got like I like the bind off with the with the um cable yeah yeah I did like the yarn I didn't like it in garter though and it was a lot of garter before you got to the cable part or stocking it whatever it was almost the same you're just you're knitting and purling because it was back and forth so I had a pearl and that was tough that was tough until I got to the cable and then I was like okay now all the things are good again but that one was definitely

the process was not was not it for me on that one um but most of the time I do I I do actually look at a project for a while and I have to think about like am I going to enjoy this if I if I find the actual pattern itself kind of boring or repetitive will I at least like the yarn and seeing that go up do I want the finished product is that something um you know it's if the pattern itself has like interesting um interesting techniques in it that's that is also a plus

because I have totally done cables with yarn that probably should not be doing cables with Celtic not the Celtic oh yeah probably was it with Bridget it was very variegated you can't really see the cables through it I liked it anyway I can see the cables when I'm right up there with it and I'm like no this is good I enjoy this everyone else will probably be like why did you do that because just because don't question so you see your process looks like one of those charts where it's like

start here and then follow the arrow depending yeah I'm like that crazy guy with the lines going to the pictures like does it have this does it have this will I get to this honestly I was thinking more about that like the the D&D where they're like which alignment or not which alignment which class should you choose it was like do you like animals do you like to eat animals like and then it moves along until you get to barbarian or druid or whatever and it's like there you go that's where

you're supposed to be and I feel like that's that's you that's my process like every time every time and I have things that sit in my like you know save projects that I might eventually want to get to and every like three years or so I'm like oh my god no but side note who hasn't gone into their like favorites and been like I don't know what I was thinking I'm never gonna knit that it's pretty but I'm never gonna knit that I like unraveling I actually I do that all the time I get afraid to

unfavorite things really I have such a bad memory that I'm worried if I unfavorite it now I might not like it right now but I might like it later so my favorites is like full because I won't undo things now so if I'm looking for like stuff I'm going to do it's the queue that's what I use queue for yeah so like okay if I'm actually like favorites are like at some point in time this spoke to me that's what that is and then the queue is like okay I actually might want to do this but then I still

look at the queue and go why no no I do that with the queue too and I'm looking at it or I'm like I was gonna knit that with that yarn no why would I do that yeah all the time all the time I forgot the queue existed on the rivalry I have projects or favorites and I have library and then I have projects so sometimes I go through the project and feel like oh yeah I forgot I did that I forgot that queue was I probably have stuff in the queue that I didn't realize was in there that

I haven't looked at or touched since they got there I have a stash now it took so long anyway um but yeah so and I I think it's however you get there it's like with in terms of process or product as long as it gets you motivated to do the thing then I guess you're winning on that aspect I don't think there's necessarily a wrong answer to that well I think it's it's kind of like a a chicken or an egg kind of situation because it's like I don't care how much I want the product if I don't like

the process I'm not going to do it like for example my my mom made made us this beautiful wall hanging for Christmas it's been hanging up on our wall outside since November and I took it down yesterday because I'm like it's Christmas tree it doesn't belong there anymore and I took it down I'm like the wall looks really bare and I'm like man I want another wall hanging I don't want to make one so I'm like I'm calling my mom and I'm like look if I buy the fabric will you quilt this for me

and she's like oh yeah like how many do you want I'll make a bunch and I'm like that's what I mean like I don't care how badly I want the product if I'm not going to enjoy the process which I am not interested in quilting I'm not doing it and the same thing goes the flip side if I I don't care how much I enjoy knitting something if I get to the end and I hate it I hate the finished result I'm not going to be happy I'm not going to sit there and be like I spent 160 hours on this project

and I hate it I feel so fulfilled like I feel like you kind of I totally get that you most people lean more towards one or the other but I don't feel like you can completely disassociate the two yeah if that makes sense no I yeah I going through this entire thing has been weird for me because for me I definitely lean toward product like that defined the worth of what I was doing but that's not a healthy way to go about it like I think when you bring worth into it yes yeah so

that's why I've been trying to give more like not necessarily like product doesn't matter anymore but just try to give more emphasis to the process yeah um but I mean the process in itself you mentioned that like if you don't like the process like it's not what's the point um but what like if you had to think about what exact part of a process in a project I hope I'm saying this right if you had to think about a process that's going on in the project that you really enjoy like the

cast on or like the complicated cable or like whatever what's like that one like yes yes I'm so happy I'm doing this process right now I like repeating patterns and I like cables yeah if I get to do both of those like a plus the process is great and at the end if I have a project that's finished bonus yeah yeah and if I'm real lucky if I really like the process and the product I'll make another like how am I like 40 like the socks but only one sock Sunday's swing socks hit so different

like I could fit in the day back in the day I could cast on make two make a whole pair of socks finish wind up another skein of yarn and make another pair of socks same pattern over and over I can do like a pattern maybe max like twice or three times but then I'm done but like I've been like I have put that very vital rib beanie pattern out and all my testers like almost I almost all of my testers came back to me and were like I made eight of these yeah I'm going

to keep making them I'm like okay you can make it it's a repeating yes and yeah and the product is good when you're done yeah bombardment of pictures yeah I did I got a picture like one of my testers sent me a picture of like all of her children grandchildren had hats that's sweet that is sweet you know so but yeah I can understand like that I haven't I don't think I've found that pattern yet for me I've knit one thing four times but that was that's one pattern I knit the Utrecht

beanie by oh yeah Dutch girl I knit that four times but yeah I'm not usually like I'll think that I want to knit it more than once like I did with more simple lines I was like yeah we're gonna do this a second time and then I was about halfway through and I'm like why did I do this this is a terrible idea I feel like I could do another simple lines with enough time in between yes yes I think the problem was trying to do two in the same year I was by the time I was

halfway through I'm like and the other thing with simple lines is that the border is really where it's at yeah like that last bit yeah super special yeah um it's the buildup to build up you're just like oh my god here we go here we go again no I'm like I'm I yeah that was a labor of love for Jess it was I played yarn chicken at the end there was just enough I'm like yep this is it no there wasn't yeah there was no you ran out remember we did the bind off with some of my uh Indecita

did we yes we did what was the one that I was playing it that I got I don't remember no we said I would use that oh that's right and I had it in reserve because the colorway was close enough and I'm like it's just the bind off you can do the bind off in any no yeah I like my my uh the bind off on mine I don't know what I did I was so much tighter knitting at the end of that like now I had like an inch left over it was great nice yeah I don't know like for me um I've been

contemplating redoing an orchard house shawl oh you should but the funny part is I told myself because I gave away my first one if I made it again it would be for me and what I'm contemplating is it's not for me it's for somebody else it's for my cousin and and and I'm like no no because like I'm gonna make it and it's gonna take me another like four years to muster up the energy to it's a super interesting shawl I still think it's like one of my favorite things that I've made

but it is complicated like there is a different a lot in there yeah and it's there's a some there's some repeating to a degree but it's not as repeating as you like simple lines yeah no it's not simple lines definitely not it is it's not simple nothing simple about it um but yeah no I I think for me it's gonna be color work I've been really into color work um yeah that and when I freehand stuff I'm freehanding color work which is also I mean if anyone right now just heard that

and went oh my god why like yeah no that's accurate that's an accurate response uh because because like I'll have like a thing in my head and I'm like okay yeah yeah this will totally like it'll math out like this will work and then I and it doesn't it doesn't math out I don't math I don't know how to math I sat next to you while you were doing yeah and I was like no no yeah this is fine this is fine no it's not fine it's nothing's fine but yeah there's something about

stranded color work that I really enjoy I don't know no same no that that would be my uh my go to for a process because I love it because it's like I'm coloring like right there and I want to see the end of the picture and I've actually done a few freehand color works I did Paul's hat like years and years ago and the scarf with the shield logo like I like doing them issue now is finding the time yeah yeah um because you do kind of kind of um math that out if it's going to be anything

more complicated than just some patterns um even with patterns you still have to math it out and make sure you're not going to be like you know that odd stitch where everything is just shifted off and then you're like well dang I'm just gonna just gonna knit these two we're just gonna add a stitch here at the end and now that's there forever hidden increase no that's that's pattern design that's feature oh no like yeah it's so the ribbing you know the bottom of the hat is tighter that's

supposed to be like that I'm actually going through um talking about like pattern design I'm going through seed dot right now and I I actually put and like there's one row you like to just one knit together and then you continue because the number's off and I'm like I really should fix this whatever I'm sitting here whatever no no no no no no I'm gonna fix that I'm gonna no it's not a thing I feel like that's a feature of me going I don't know how to resolve this to be real I've had a lot of

patterns where they're like yep and you're just gonna knit these two together and then we're gonna carry on with life like you're definitely not the only one by any stretch of the imagination yeah no yeah I know I just I can understand why I bugged you though I'm like why every once in a while I get the one we're like and it front and back it will be nowhere else in this pattern yep yep yeah we gotta we gotta fix this stitch count yeah one way or another um I would say

probably like my two favorite things about the process um for whatever reason the the beginning of the pattern like not the cast on because I hate the cast on if you say you like the cast on I don't understand you because that one row of really tight stitches makes me bunkers um but the second row like the second row to like the 40th row I'm always like yeah I feel really good I love this project this is my new project look at me go and with sweaters it's usually like right after I do

the German short rows which I really don't like I really don't like German short rows but then after it I'm like look at me I'm a badass I've got my my my sweaters all working and the other thing and this is so dorky but this is such a high is when you're doing any sort of pattern and you get to the end of the row and you hit your stitch count you're like yeah it's like when you were a kid in high school doing math problems and you're like look at that it worked out and I

didn't have a lot of those moments in high school so I'm taking them now with my stitch count or I'm like I hit the stitch count and it's correct and I don't have to go back and I don't have to fudge it and it's perfect that's a good high like that's a good moment when when you hit the stitch count right yeah because especially with like a repeating pattern yeah like and you're like okay I'm supposed to have three at the end do I have three do I did it yes there it is okay cool next

row yeah like it's a good moment in your head and you're especially lace knitting yeah yeah I am not a huge fan of lace knitting I've never been a huge fan of it and I always get that like little like I can feel my heart rate increasing as I'm getting to the end of the row and I'm like am I going to make it am I going to make it and I'm really really bad at looking at it and being like okay I got to do a yarn over there and knit two together there and slip slip knit there and is it right no it's

not okay and then you get to the end you're like okay yes perfect on the other hand you get that where you get to the end and your stitch count is right but then you look at it and you're like but it doesn't look great and then now you feel like that kid in class or you got the right answer but your professor is like okay but by your work this doesn't work like this works for this this example only somehow because it's wrong but your answer is right so now you got to go back and fix

it and you're sitting there like but how did I get the right I didn't have a lot of those moments either you know usually math was just it's wrong all the time no every once in a while I get that and I'm like how but how did I do yeah yeah it's a moment it's a moment in time did I do so okay so we've talked about going through process our favorite part of process so I want to finish this up with the finishing so you finished the project what is your next step like are you

like okay I finished this and this will remain this way forever and it will never be undone it will never be given away it's like this is my thing or are you one that's like okay I really like this yarn and I enjoyed that pattern this is now going to be frogged and I'm going to redo it again or something else entirely I don't think I've ever frogged a project to read it no no no no I mean like to use for something else not to re-knit I was like this sweater is lovely let's do it again

my fist cardigan I just I did a reel about it um recently about my fist cardigan and I love my fist cardigan but it's it's now massive on me so the black it was oversized when you made it was oversized already and now I'm just like it just looks like I've a yard barf on my body at this point um so it's like yeah now I look at it and I go wow that was really fun to make and I really liked it but now I know no no I don't like it now I don't like it at all and it's stretched too like

right from hanging around so yeah that's yeah but it's there has been there have been that makes sense it's not like you finished it looked at it for a few minutes we're like no I hate that and then just tore it out I did do that with the sun the sunset ridge the first iteration I made really I definitely like I all I had left was like the decreases are like the end of the decreases like I was at like maybe like I think I was like at knit um knit together um knit three or something

and I just laid it down and I went uh nope no I just started the whole thing out I was like no this is not what I was thinking of oh my god at least always finish the project and if I really like it I keep it for myself which is a lot of things um but if I enjoyed the process and didn't enjoy the final product I'll give it away to somebody yeah you're welcome if you've received this yeah I cherished few I tend to go into it thinking that I'm gonna keep everything and then

I wind up giving stuff away because I'm like I'm not you know I don't love the way this looks on me as much as I thought or how many cowls do you need how many hats do you need I need many hats I don't wear them very often every day so yeah it's it's the same way but I rarely I rarely tear something out once I'm done with it same if I'm gonna tear it out I'm gonna tear it out three quarters of the way in when I realize it doesn't fit right or I've messed it up too many

times and I don't want to look at it or I'm just not feeling it anymore you know whatever reason but I I if I'm not going to enjoy the product or enjoy giving the product away it's not getting finished I'll rip it out first um I was actually going through my project page recently and I realized like 90 percent of it I don't have anymore yeah I've given away or traded or whatever like it's it's in the wind yeah somewhere um and and I keep telling myself like no I'm gonna make this

one I'm gonna keep this one but nope I still have my cocoa bean and that one is just a good old one like you can't go wrong with a cocoa bean and I love cocoa bean and that's my hat today and I still have my color work um test cowl that I did it's a good cowl the lumiera yeah I still like that just because the cotton is so much better on my neck than wool I can't do wool on my neck that's a nice that's a nice cowl it's got a nice pattern and and and like every and my pineapple hat and I

can't give away my pineapple hat for two reasons one it's my final hat and two it um it's absolutely falling apart like oh no my my little uh I did not make a palm correctly at all it's just it's just shedding green pieces of yarn all over the place I'm like yeah I probably should remake that palm at some point um but yeah I haven't it's just shedding I think it's gonna shed until there's like two but it's your disaster palm yeah it belongs there for as long as it lasts yeah not to

mention I uh sewed in the palm too so oh no yeah no I was oh no I did fantastic with that hat well I really did and I get so many compliments on it I really do I get people will see it be like oh it's a good pattern yeah it's a really cute pattern but what about you Jess so I actually don't wear a lot of police she wears nothing I really don't she likes to look at them I just hoard them like um I usually know from when I start if I'm just doing it to do it or if it's

going to somebody um and most of the time if I'm doing it just to do it I know it's gonna wind up somewhere with the rest of them in a box that I look at sometimes um I don't wear hats all that often I wear mitts sometimes socks I destroy I can't help it no but a lot of the stuff you've been knitting now ends up being like our show pieces yeah I was gonna say I found them on display a reason to do them and actually it's made me so much happier because I feel like I can do more

because I always did feel kind of bad like I want to try this I'm never gonna wear that like why why would I spend the money and the time doing all that and it's like there would be no one that I knew that I would want to give that to because I don't know a lot of people that know how to take care of all these um and now I'm like what show piece yeah you know after the three weeks of I gotta block that three weeks sometimes three weeks sometimes you're being real uh generous there

listen sometimes it happens like the week of sometimes it's a lot longer I think I've got oh I've got that cowl in there that's it's still not done I gotta do that I can't talk I literally waited a year yeah so that you were convinced did not I was listen the swatch lied I don't I don't know I the swatch lie you know what I think I think the yarn fairies came down and they said this is a travesty maybe we cannot I don't know we cannot let this pass

I don't know that's our academia man it was oh I I don't know I was positive well no because I I don't know because I well I did try it on and it fit me before my surgery and then it fit me after my surgery because it blocked but that was weird I don't know I don't know it's like the it should have been the opposite it should have been the opposite yeah like well it was a little tight on me when I when I did it the first time but then I thought like okay I'm gonna block it out and

it's gonna be huge um so I don't know I don't know what happened it it um fairies but I also this is a terrible thing where I finish something and I put it on before I block it and I hate it and I get really upset yeah you can't do that that's what I did with calliope I tried it on I'm like it's a disaster and it was the week before I'm back and I'm like I have no Ryan Beck sweater this looks awful and Jess was like okay we're gonna block it we blocked it and I was like

okay fine my mom's obsessed I love it I love that pattern it's a really really good pattern um if you make it block it because I did I tried it on I'm like look at this garbage sweater it looks like a sack on me it looks terrible um I don't know what happened like it just I finished I really did I wanted to cry it looked so bad and then we blocked it and I was like oh look at that like magic listen so I've got to stop like I said from now on anytime that I finish something I'm

not going to try it on until I block it because like there's no point there's none blocking is important it really well you know what the only time that I haven't blocked something in recent memory was when we did the cocoa bean hat because I remember you guys blocked yours and you were like it stretches like crazy and my hat was already big right and I'm like I'm not gonna block it because if I block it I'm gonna wind up with like a salad bowl for a hat and I won't be able to wear

it and it fits me perfectly the way it is that's it for this episode for additional content and opportunities to connect with the cast check out our website at part of my stash.com be sure to tune in next time for more laughs tears andrea it's me at part of my stash.