The Fellowship of the String

I'm Drea. I'm Meg. I'm Tina. And I'm Jess. And this is Pardon My Stash. Welcome back to Pardon My Stash, a podcast about knitting within the fiber arts and how awesome it is. Before we dive in today, let's talk about what we're working on, Tina. I am working on the arachne shawl by Verily Knits, the matchy make-along with Pardon My Stash, and I'm doing it with the lovely and incomparable Drea. And mine is being done with the main color of black

and an accent color of orange. I had to rip out 20 rows. Nice. But you succeeded. I did succeed. Congratulations. I actually was victorious. I was surprised on how easily I was able to pick all my stitches back up. That is always such a wonderful surprise. Yeah. This isn't going to be as horrible as I think it's going to be. To be fair, it is a rather simple pattern as far as like color work patterns go. Yeah. And there's no like lace or anything that you're screwing up

or anything like that. So it's, it was pretty easy to pick back up. I am using Ply's and Hellhounds Penny in the colorway Flower Moon and Nightmares. I will never remember that again. But you have it written down. So it's all good. No, I just did that off my ring. Oh, you did. Oh, your bag is like blocking. I can't see. So I thought you're good for you. It's them lobsters. Phenomenal. I only can do that once. Five stars. My whole life.

This was the time. This was the time. You better be done by next time so you don't have to remember. You got a week. I feel like the logical step now is Dre. Yeah. Spidershall. Spidershall. Spidershall. Does I'm done. That went like nowhere. I didn't know where they go. What does a shawl do? It covers your shoulders and then fights crime. Does it? No. No. I mean, it could if you did. Frank would be so impressed. Stop holding your shawl back.

I am also doing the Arachne shawl by Verily Nits, although the last several times that I have introduced it, I have just said that it's by Claire Slade, which is also true. Actually, I honestly, I was looking at like the little email in the corner of the copyright, and that's why I was saying Verily Nits. I could be wrong. I could be absolutely wrong. I feel like we're both right. I don't know. Yeah. We'll figure it out. I feel like it's not incorrect.

But I am doing the same shawl as Tina, just inverse colors. So my main colors, orange and hers is black. Very nice. We're doing matchy inverse. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Jess, I am working on the Dijvest. What? I think that's how you pronounce it. Yeah, I think it's French and I don't know French, but it's the IGE vest. I can pronounce vest. So there you go. So applause. Five stars. By Josie Pacqueen. And I looked up how to say the name and I probably did that wrong too, but I'm trying guys,

okay? But it's a vest. And that's the one part I'm pronouncing correctly, guys. It's a vest. It's got cables on them right now. I'm just doing like eight million miles, i.e. nine and a half inches of stock in it. And you're going to make it. I'm almost there. I'm at like eight if I get stretched a little bit. So that counts, right? It totally counts. Stretch it too much. No. No. But and I'm doing it in critical hit dies leather in the base artificer.

And yeah, just making it to these cables. And you have a confession. I do have a confession because I was also I was also working on the matchy make along and I just stopped finding joy in it. There was no joy. And then I was like, yeah, but the colors look really nice. And like the pattern is really pretty. So I was trucking along and then my stitch count went off. And I was like, I don't feel like fixing this at all. Like I just and so I actually frog did.

And I have never I frog frog frog frog frog frog. I've frogged it. I have never frogged a project before. Usually I just bind it off and I'm like, look, now it's a hanker tip for cats. So I frogged it. And yeah, so it wasn't that terrible. And I was like, wow, I should do this in the future if I actually don't like a project. And again, there's nothing to say anything about like the pattern or anything like that. It was beautiful. It was looking really pretty in the

colors. I just I was bored with it. It didn't spark any it didn't. It was like the same pattern over and over. And I was like, okay, I know where I'm going with this. I know what I'm doing. It keeps increasing, which means I'm doing it for longer. So and then like I said, I missed a stitch and I was like, yeah, I don't even feel like fixing it. And so yeah, I was like, I'm going

to frog this. So now I have a new matchy make a long pattern that if you follow my Instagram, I'll post pictures soon because it's color work and I'm having a lot of fun with it, except for I want to add beads and they don't really make nice beads for worsted weight yarn. It's really hard to find what I want. So I'm just not going to beat it. And if I like it, I'll do it in a smaller weight and beat it. That's that's where I'm at. I went off on a huge tangent

there. But man, what are you? So right now I am working on a second Kalibe sweater. Because I really did love the first one. It's a really good sweater project. Like I generally don't repeat projects unless I really, really like the pattern. And I really do like this pattern. But I also wanted to make a sweater that is a little more wearable. One of the things that I dislike about my Kalibe is that I did it with the original pattern, which is with a strand of mohair,

which is great. It's super soft. It's also super warm. So there are very few venues in which I can wear it was perfect for Ryan Beck. It was perfect for Ryan Beck. It was just enough warmth. I cannot wear it to work. I cannot wear it anywhere that I'm going to be indoors. Because I just get so hot. So I'm doing a different version. I'm making this one out of Fiber Spades by ViciousDK in the colorway, Heavenly. I bought five skeins of this two years ago at a local yarn store when

we were on vacation. And I love it. So I'm really excited to be working with it. It's super squishy. And I think it's going to be a lot cooler than using the mohair. So and I'm also I full confession. I also abandoned my make along project with Jess because we are making along. And I also was not getting a lot of joy sparked. And I know when there's no more joy because I stop working on it. Like I have no desire to pick it up. And I put off putting it. Oh no, she was

like a whole color ahead of me on the shawl. And so then I was at work and I was, you know, having free time and messing around on Ravelry. And I started looking at color work because that was what I felt like doing. And I ended up sending Jess a pattern and she was like, well, that's what I'm doing. So I'm also doing a color work project. And I posted on my Ravelry yesterday. So we probably will not finish by the end of the make along. Probably will not happen.

When's our deadline again? I don't know. Yes. September, man. We probably still won't be there. Is it really September? I thought it was June. Is it June? No. I don't know. Maybe. We're definitely not going to be done by. I don't, you know what though? I don't care. Like I really wasn't, at this point, it was more about doing something that we actually enjoyed rather than like doing, trucking through something that we were not enjoying. And at the end of the day,

it's your hobby. It's supposed to be fun. And we did, we were sitting there one night kind of like talking each other off the ledge and being like, we don't have to do this. Like if we don't want to do it. And I'm like, if we have to tell each other this, this isn't fun. June 30th. All right. Well, we will not be finishing it before that. At all. And that's okay. We'll have started it. We have started it. So that's all good.

A lot of people have finished though, by the way. And the ones that have sent me pictures, they look awesome. And we'll be like sending more stuff out in June. I might be guys. I don't know why I thought September. Yeah, but I think, I think I might, as long as I don't have any more like 20 row eff-ups, like I might actually make it. Yeah. Definitely. If my nerve pain stays under control, I might be able to finish. Yeah. I don't know. We'll see. It's all good.

I feel like it doesn't need to nest. Like, I mean, the deadline is good. We have to end it sometime, but at the same time too. It's like, if you're enjoying the project, like, I don't see the point of pouring on the burn just to meet the deadline. I won't be. It doesn't make sense too. It just doesn't make sense. Like, do it at your pace. I mean, I can always change the deadline to September. I know we want to do a fall make-along. I'm going to do a hat for that

one. I'm going to do something that can bang out in like a week. Oh, be sure to check out our website, pardonmystash.com for more information, as well as pictures regarding our current projects, patterns, and yarns. As we have discussed before, Tina loves Lord of the Rings. Oh, really?

Two favorite, big facts. Her favorite. So, so, so, favorite movie. And so, we are going to talk tonight in honor of Tina's great love for Lord of the Rings. We're going to talk tonight about your crafting quest. Or should you say the fellowship of the string? Perfect. It was Meg's idea. It was not my idea. But you did the delivery better than I ever could. So, I'm really happy that you picked up what I threw down there. Well, you were eyeing me very aggressively. So,

was I? I didn't mean to. No, no, no, no. In an aggressive sexual way. But I knew you were in sexually, I knew you weren't sexually coming for me. So, I figured I was reading that wrong. None of that, none of that is true. In three seconds I went, I think she wants me to say the thing. I'm going to say the thing. I really was sitting here like, I don't know where to go with that. Like, I started it and where do I go with it? And then you jumped on it and I was like,

flawless. Okay, perfect. And then, and then we wrecked it with the discourse. But anyway, the fellowship of the string. So, everybody has their own kind of journey into becoming a fiber artist, becoming a crafter in some way. We also know, and we've talked extensively on this podcast about how there is no like baseline. There are no benchmarks that you have to hit. Everybody's experience as a crafter is different. Even the four of us at this table do not have the same

experiences. We didn't get to where we are today in the same way. So, talking a little bit about where you start, where you've been, what you felt were like the benchmarks or spots on your quest, so to speak, where you felt like this is a big moment. This is a step. And obviously, that's different for everybody. And kind of where you see the quest going, if that makes sense. Where did you come from, Cotton Eye Joe?

Oh, Lord, beautiful. Beautiful. So, it can be the fellowship of the string or it can be Cotton Eye Joe. We can go either way. Now, I'm just imagining, you know, those videos where somebody's doing Cotton Eye Joe and they're stomping on the cans. Like, I'm imagining that as you're stomping through Middle Earth. You can cut that out. No, no. If that's all I can think of. If that doesn't stay in the episode, it's a blooper. Something, it's something. So, I kind of think like, thinking back in terms

of, you know, where you started. Where do you think was like the first moment where you were like, you know what, this, this is for me. This is where I belong. This craft is what I want to be doing. When did that hit you? I was making a Doctor Who scarf. I remember that scarf. I remember that. I know we've talked about it in the past, but like, that was, that was a project that I started. I loved it. I never finished it. It was Kevlar. It was, God, what size needles were you working with?

I think it was like eights. Yeah. Yeah. They were not small needles. They were not small needles, but you came out as small stitches. Yeah, they did. You do knit tight. Not anymore. Well, tighter than you guys. Yeah. Like, not tight. No, we're like, look, my stitches slide. No, you're definitely, you're definitely a looser knitter than you should be. You did, you did courtesy rose on my shawl and it wasn't that bad because when I blocked it, I was able to block it out. So it

wasn't, wasn't too far off. I tried real hard to knit loose for you. Thank you. So what about the Doctor Who scarf was like the, the moment? Oh my God, there was, so knitting for me is like a way for my brain to shut off. I just like, I disconnect my brain from my hands and my hands just go and then I don't have to think about anything. And it was garter stitch. It was repetitive. I didn't have to think about it. And I was like, yeah, this is it. This is my jam. And I'm still

knitting today. Not that scarf, but you know what though, if you did say like, I'm still working on that scarf, knowing what Doctor Who scarves are like, I don't think anybody would be surprised. It tracks. It does. Yeah. They're so long they take that that's a labor of love. Like it's not like a difficulty labor of love, but it's a it's persistence. Yeah. It's a persistence labor of love. I didn't even find it off. I just know some things you just don't find off. I've saved the needles and

not much else. Sometimes that's the way it be. I finally threw away the sock here and blanket this weekend. Oh, I did that a while ago. I finally know we were we were tossing the stash and I was like, I'm done. Like everything that is a remnant that we're not going to use is gone. Either it's it's getting donated or it's it's getting trashed. And I tore the needles all out and I'm like, it's just and it was actually quite freeing to not have like a ton of yarn in my in my house. That's

like, well, someday I may use this. No, I'm not going to use it. Like, let's be honest. I buy too much yarn at this point to be like, let me go through the whole stash and see what I can knit this with a similar yarn in the future. I'm sure I can buy it or find it. It's it's fine. Sorry, I'm counting. Okay, you good. You good. That is I'm counting to three, which is very difficult for me. So I had to go 123. I'm sorry, that's literally what I was doing. And I realized I was like,

I just said I was counting and I was literally counting to three. I'm proud of you. Thank you. Anyway, Lord, you introduced I think Dre and I learned on the same night, Meg, the new introduced us to knitting. That was the night. And at the time I was fully in the throes of alternative fashion. So I was in the throes of that. And I think I think it really, I didn't know it at the time. But so I think the reason why I got into the entire idea of knitting

as a whole is because it's a textile. And I think that's what I've realized lately is that everything that I've been into has been some kind of fabric, textile, fashion, something wearable. I had two aha moments. One was when I got to North Carolina and I realized why gauge is important. That's a revolutionary moment. If you have a pattern that says you should use DK and not super bulky, you should probably listen to it. I don't know why I think it's because I was wow. I think

it was because I was doing like scarves. So I thought like, Oh, like if I saw a pattern, that's fair. That's fair. And I saw a pattern and I was like, Oh, well, I have this year. I didn't care about weight. I was like, Oh, I want to use this yarn. And then like, no, there was a difference. No, that's fair. So there was that one where I felt like I actually like knew to a degree what I was doing. The second aha was probably when I honestly, and it's recent, it's when I switched to Portuguese.

And it's just because like, all of a sudden I was like, I feel really confident in my knitting, because like, I feel like with English, it wasn't like as natural for me, like the throwing really hurt my hands and it wasn't. But now when I'm doing it, Portuguese style, it's like, Oh, wait a second. And, you know, and all of a sudden, like, I feel like, Oh, wait, like I've always been meant to do this. The Portuguese in me is is running towards the Portuguese knitting like, Oh, here we

go. Like, and it's been really great to just like reconnect with my roots and like where I've come from. And, you know, all these different like, twice and like different things that like my family has made that like now I can actually look at it and go away. I could make that I could figure that out. Like, that's so cool. But yeah, those are my aha moments. Yeah. I know I always like kept my knitting up from when I was younger, just because I never knew when I, you know, want to make another

main for a dragon. And it was good to have the knowledge of how to do that. Don't at me. But I think the moment where I was like, Oh, man, I should actually look more into this knitting wise was when I made a friend a hat. And I made up my own color work for it with with the Norse runes. Because he was like super into that like into the runes and all that. So, so I made that and I found out that color work was really fun. Yeah. And I've actually I've come back to that and I've gotten

better at color work. And now I like doing the the two strand version of it. Whereas I used to hold both colors in one hand. Now I like can do what is it continental style if I'm doing color work. I'm still my tension is not great when I but I kind of want to learn continental style all the time because I do go faster with it. The crochet one was when I found out I can make like little animals. And I made a Magikarp that turned into a Geridib. I mean, that was pretty.

I was like, This is awesome. And then yeah, so I my crochet is mostly like animals and I'm a Garumi and stuff like not gonna lie. I don't normally do crochet like other accessories or clothing or whatnot. But but yeah, so those are my like, Hey, I want to keep this up. And I actually want to look up patterns rather than I'm just gonna throw together our garter stitch slash stockinette thing for a use that probably isn't like the norm for anything. It's it's going to be

some sort of tack on for something else. And now I'm like, Oh, hey, I can actually like do other things. I bet you could do garments and stuff with crochet though if you wanted to. If I wanted to, I probably could. I'm just because I have like zero like honestly real experience with crochet, like everything I've done is just been winging it. And I was able to like fumble around and do that little bunny sweater for that stuff bunny for my daughter, because I understood sweater construction

on the knitting side. So I was doing like a raglan increase with the curl, like I was like, Okay, I need to do I mean, back when I was doing our old D&D group, I was I made Amigurumi's way back in the beginning of our characters. And I actually made the characters like first with like an undershirt and pants, but then I crocheted armor and put the armor on after. So so so like on a small scale, I guess I've kind of done garments. That counts. It still counts. What about you,

Meg? Honestly, I so I started knitting when I was 20. And I didn't really learn I didn't learn how to purl until I was 25. So there was a lot of garter stitch scarves. So my progress was super slow. And I remember like the first project that I decided to buy a pattern and stretch myself and try something that I had never tried before and teach myself a technique that I had never attempted. It was the Winterberry Cowl by Leah M Designs. And it was the first time I tried bobbles.

And I saw this pattern and it was so pretty and I loved it. And I wanted to make it. And I tried making and it was like, Oh my God, like bobbles with a crochet hook. And I struggled with it, like really struggled. And then I got myself some pointier needles for purling that seven together.

And it was a huge difference. And when I started actually putting the bobbles into the the cowl, I'm like, this is the first time I really challenged myself, like found a pattern, bought a pattern, like made the the conscious decision to buy a pattern that I wasn't sure if I could do. I did it, I succeeded, I finished, I've never worn that cowl. I don't think I ever will. I just keep it. I love having it. But I felt so good when I was done with that. And I'm like, okay,

if I can do this, then there really isn't anything I can't do. And it was just a total switch of mindset from I have a very limited range of talent when it comes to knitting, you know, I can do the basics, I can knit a hat, I can knit a sock, I can knit a scarf. But everything I'm knitting is very like generic, like I was way too scared to try patterns. And I was so excited with that bobble cowl that I just started being like, okay, well, what else can I learn? And I and I

for the first time in my entire knitting journey, I wasn't afraid to try new things. And that was really like the light bulb moment of I don't want to just like, sit there and knit the same thing over and over again for the rest of my life, I want to try new things, I want to knit a sweater, I want to try lease, I want to, etc, etc. And there's there is nothing wrong. I've mentioned before, my sister does one by one rib and it she is the happiest person on earth doing just one by

one ribs carbs, and there's nothing wrong with that. And I really thought that was the kind of near I was going to be for the rest of my life was just doing kind of the same projects over and over again. And that was like the first time that I'm like, no, I want to learn new things, I want to try new stuff, because I finally felt like I was capable of doing those things. So that was really that was summer of 2021. And it was like, boom, like everything changed. So very exciting.

Yeah, it's definitely like that that capable feeling is yeah, yeah, it's huge. It's like, did you summer of 21? Yep. Isn't that when I came back? Yeah, I actually bought the yarn for that cowl. When you you were up here, you hadn't moved up. I don't think you had permanently moved, but we went that was local yarn store day. And we all went out for local yarn store day and I bought a skein of Malabrigo. And I forget the colorway, but it was a peach color. It was like a pink. It

was apple blossom. Yeah, no, it wasn't because I wanted apple blossom, but they didn't have it. The the sample was apple blossom. I wanted that it was a peach. It was close to apple blossom. I forget what it was called. And it was pretty. But yeah, oh, God, that was that was that trip. I got it. Star Solo. We all went the local yarn store day trip. Yeah, that was fun. Yep. And that was where I got that yarn. So we were we were living at my mom's house because we had

bought this house, but we hadn't closed on it yet. We had already sold our old house. So we were kind of in flux. I had just got into you had just I had known I just know you just bought it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, just bought it. Yeah. So yeah, we were cutting the thing. No, it was it was summer. So but that's the thing like you think I started knitting in December of 20, 2003. It took me 18 years to get to that point. It was a really long point.

Long journey, but I had to get there. Yeah. And it's like the good thing about knitting is that like I've got, you know, all the time in the world. So it doesn't have done I've changed a lot since then. So so good stuff. Feel more capable as a knitter than when I was making those those. Dwarven Battle Bonnets. Oh my God. I thought you were so free. The army of battle

bonnets. There were so many of them. The pattern was called Dwarven Battle Bonnet to because it was the second version and somebody that I went to high school with that I didn't even really talk to at that point anymore, messaged me on Facebook and was like, I want this, which is like such a great beginning. Knit this for me. Okay. And I was like, okay. So he paid for my supplies and then he paid for my time and I made him a Dwarven Battle Bonnet.

And then I had three other people say that is the coolest thing I've ever seen. I remember that. You were cranking those out pretty regularly for a while. It's probably the weirdest pattern that I've ever made, but that was the first pattern that I did bobbles on. Yeah. You saying bobbles made me think of my back. Yeah. I'd like to think that every time that a friend, you know, shovels the snow or something, he wears that bonnet. God, I hope so. Why would

you not? Why would you not wear that? Why would you not? Kevin, if you listen to our podcast, I just want you to know that I still think of you wearing that. And I hope you still have. And if you're not wearing it to shovel snow, don't tell us. We would rather think that you do. Look, if you don't wear it to shovel snow, you should be. Yeah. You should probably make that

change. Oh God. So like, you know, we talk about where we were, where we came from, you know, when that moment was, were there any like quest benchmarks that you either were trying to reach or when you reached them, you were like, I feel like I've, you know, just to stick with the fantasy video game theme. You leveled up, so to speak. When did you feel like you leveled up as a crafter? Socks. Socks. And then I was just happy with socks for a really long time. First,

it was garter stitch socks. Yeah. And I said, I was never going to do anything else forever. I remember that. You're like, I'm a scarf knitter. I'm good with this. And then I made a hat, which was too small for my head, which is, isn't everybody really saying something because I have a very small head. You do have a small head. Yeah. Oh my goodness. And then I went from hats to socks. And then I was just socks forever for a long time. Man, I love socks. So like in,

in North Carolina, I felt super confident. I was doing all these like shawls and I still hadn't done a garment. And then when I came up here, I don't know if it was because I was literally out of my mind or if I just, I was, I was not, I was not doing well mentally during the time that I first originally came up. But for some reason during that period, I was like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to become a test knitter. I don't even know how to do garments. And my first

test knit was a garment. Yeah. Tina, I thought you were insane for doing that. Dude, dive into the pool and just start swimming. And not only did I do it, I did it correctly. And like it came out great. And I was just like, cool. And then I was like, I'm going to test it three sweaters at a time. And I'm like, that's a bad idea. That was a poor choice. But at the same time, I think that was a pretty, you know, ingenious way to, you know, jump into it because you've committed to it now.

I feel like that is the story of my life. That's this podcast. I was like, well, I'm committed now. I've already bought the mics. We're going to do this now. You know, I'm committed now. I said I was going to tell, I told someone I was going to make a sample of this pattern. So I guess I have to make the sweater now. It's just, I thrive off of the, you know, rush of deadlines and feeling like I'm going to miss something. That was exactly how I knit my first garment too was the Phaedora cableit.

I just really liked it. And I'm like, okay, it doesn't have sleeves. So I don't have to worry about the sleeves, but it would be my first time like in doing the increasing and making out like a wearable garment. And I'm like, you know what, just let's, I've done color work before. Let's just do it. Let's dive in and do it. And it was such like such a high being done with it. I'm like, if I can do this, and I'm like, I've now done everything on a sweater, but the sleeves,

I can do sleeves, sleeves are just tubes. It's going to be, and then, and then I picked up the stitches for the slender arm gusset. You know what I was like, no, sleeves aren't just tubes. Good, good talk, Meg. But, but it was, it was like, okay, like this, that felt like such a significant benchmark of like, I can do this. I think for me, my biggest benchmark is getting that blue ribbon. Yeah. Yeah. Guys, I cried. Yeah. And then that stupid lady tried to ruin my high, but

like, I totally was like, so excited. I was like, because for me, that was like another knitter who had a lot of experience, so much experience that they were judging a fiber arts, like, you know, thing at a fair, yeah, competition at a fair, that they said to me like, hey, out of all of the sweaters in this category, not only was it not, and it was a sweater that was on top of it. It was all the, all the sweaters in this kid's category, your pullover was the best. And

I'm like, really? Yeah, that is, because it is, it is. And I, and I feel like a lot of the time we tend to, I don't even think it's just knitters. I think it's people in general. We tend to get really like, oh, it's not so hard. You could do it too. About when people compliment us like, okay, yeah, that was nice. But it really, you know, we tend to kind of like negate our own successes. And it's like, you know, there's nothing wrong with being like, yes, thank you. It was

complicated. I'm proud of it. Like, thank you for acknowledging that I did something fantastic. I redid those sleeves. Do you remember that? I thought you were crazy. They're not even. They're not even. I'm like, oh my God, it's the week of. It was worth it. I remember Josie me tear out her sleeves because it was, it's her sweater. And she was just like, mommy, I was like, no, no, no, it's gonna, it's gonna be done. It's gonna be better. It's gonna be better. It's gonna be so even.

And it was actually, it worked out because she had a slight adjustment. She wanted them a touch shorter because they were sitting on her elbow a little weird. So it worked out. I have a lot of like leveling up moments, but they're fun. So I want to say, like my first one was probably the color work because that was like, combining. Okay, I made a pattern and figured out color work. Honestly, casting on a pie shawl because that was a weird cast on casting on to like start from the

middle of shawl and workout like it took me a couple of tries. That was also my first big beating project. And then most of the shawls that I did for that because that was for our wedding involved learning a new skill like I did bobbles, I did beads, I did the Russian translation. Oh, yeah, I did. That was, I feel like I level grinded it. That you're like or that it was three years. And then it was like the sweater.

Because I just really like that pattern. I was like, okay, this thing that I said I'd never going to do. I need to try it. So yeah, so those those are the big but every time I just, I feel like I enjoy and the ones that stick with me the most are the ones where I am like, okay, this is really interesting. And I also want to know how like I want to know how to do it. I want to do it. So let's dive in and see like I'm so excited to be finishing this other project

because now then I will have a stick under my belt. And that's fun and scary at the same time. I'm so proud of you guys. I'm not ready. I don't think I'm ready. But you know, I'm also kind of like I'm tired of like, I think I've gone through like five or six projects where I've said like, I'm going to sneak I'm going to try it. And I think it's going to have to be like the bobbles like everything else where it's like, okay, let's just do it, just get it done. Because

what is the worst thing the worst thing can happen is it falls apart. And that would be tragic. But no one's going to die. And you know, I will be sad. It will be a lot of wasted time. And but at the same time, it's like, I will learn something from it. And I've been saying that a lot lately. And I think it's mainly because like my job has gotten super stressful this year. But you know, talking to my students and I'm like, what is the worst that's going to happen if this happens,

no one's going to die. No massive tragedy is going to happen. Like, it may not turn out the way that you want it to. But the impact on everything and even your life is going to be relatively small. And it has taken me years to get to that point with with knitting, where I'm not too scared to try new things. So I think that segues really well into the last kind of question is like, where do you where do you see yourselves going on this quest? Like, what do you what do you want

to accomplish in the long run? Is there anything you want to accomplish? Or is your journey just, you know, what more of the same, more of this, which is also of course, totally fine. I don't feel like I've ever given myself any kind of like lofty goals. Even when I did my sweater, I don't think that it was like, yeah, Everest. And nobody you don't need to have an Everest. Like, I feel like that is like, I'm sure I'll do more. As in like, pick up more skills. But I don't

think it's it's also not a must for me. Yeah. If I do it great, if I don't do it, whatever. I like the process of knitting. So as long as I'm doing it, I'm happy. I don't like it's weird, because like, I have a tendency to almost put too much pressure on something I really love. If that makes sense, like in terms of act like activities that I like, because I get like almost hyper fixated on the activities, you better enjoy this.

It's like, it's not even that it's like, it's like, I want to do all the things with it. Like, I want to be so involved. I want to be like, I want to do, you know, you know, make it into a business and make it into the tests and do the things and the button to and I'm trying really hard for my journey to not turn into a focus on how can I make this bigger? Rather, how can I make this better for me?

Just enjoying the journey. Yeah. Like it's like I mentioned last time, it's like the process I'm really trying really, really hard to focus on process over like this, this Everest, like this trying to get to a certain point. Because at this point, now I feel like I'm honestly going to end up doing Portuguese knitting tutorials because there's no good ones. There really isn't a good one.

I mean, if that is what you want to do, though, to fill that void on the Internet, then like, I think that's it as long as that's something you want to do. Yeah, I feel like it's almost like a reference to myself, though. Like, it's like, I don't even care if like people watch it. Like for me, it's like, no, no, no, I need to like put this down because like, like, If I forget, I will actually see how I do. Yes. I don't forget how I did this.

Um, but I find like, even when I was looking for like certain, there are certain stitches, I just had to figure out because this, the way that you knit like this is slightly different and the way you're holding the yarn is different. So the way that you may have learned English style or even continental style to do like an increase or a decrease or something like that, it's different.

Like you have to hold it a different way. Um, and with through trial and error, you know, I figured it out, but like, for example, one of the things is that they make you do color work inside out all the videos I've seen. And there's only like three that I've seen when they're like,

Oh yeah, because, you know, Portuguese knitting is all about purling. And I'm like, I'm like, I get that it's the one of the benefits of Portuguese knitting is that purling is a lot easier because it's inherently like one of the, a very easy, very little movement kind of thing to do. Well, I can see how it would be natural to do it inside out them. Yeah. But like for me, it messed with my brain. I was like, I need to see how it's coming out.

Cause like, I don't want to be like, okay, I need to go look. Cause like, I don't know if I'm messing up or not. I can't tell from the wrong side if I'm actually doing it right or not. So I taught myself how to do it right. So I was like, okay, okay. Yeah, I can do it right. I can do this right side out. And then it was like, okay, I got this, but then I'm like, wait, nobody knows. There's no other video that

does do this right. So that's what that was compelling me is I don't want to forget that. So it's again, process. It's like remembering my process rather than like, Oh, I'm going to be like the best tutorial because I'm not doing this for me, not for you. Correct. Yeah. Thank you. If you benefit from it, great. But just so you know, this is for me. Yeah, this is purely for me. None of this is about you. None of it. It's purely about me. Not here to help anybody else.

Yeah. I mean, I mean, I mean, obviously, Dre, I'm not that callous, but I would like to. But that's something that's it. Sounded like. Yeah. So funny. I think there is something also to be said for like, you're doing this for you. Like you're not doing it because you feel obligated to do anything. I'm not trying to like make it a business or turn into a thing. I want to do this. I feel compelled to do it. And that is why I'm doing it. Literally how I, my Instagram started.

It was me being like, I like these videos that I want to do vines because that's what it reminded me of. Do it for the vine. I did. I was like, I want to do vines. This is fun. Can I please bring back fine? Yeah. What a golden age. But yeah, like my Instagram was like that. The podcast was like that. Like everything has been like that. And I feel like the things that have been have started in that capacity where it's just like, we're just going to do this and it's going to be fun.

It's organic. Organic. Yeah. Those are the ones that work out. That's the ones that stick. Yeah. Yeah. About you, Jess. Um, I mean, mine is basically do the same mold until I see something new that I want to try. Like not going to lie. There is. We weren't talking about your whole life. No, we're just talking about knitting. Because that's basically what you do in real life. Yeah. But no, so I saw a thing and it's like you crochet like the little creatures,

like they're tiny. They're mini ones though, because as you crochet, they're actually little beaded minis. So it's like a crochet rabbit, but it's all beads. And I'm like, that looks awesome. I don't feel like doing it right now, but I want to learn how eventually when I feel like learning how, which is not this moment, but I know one day that's the thing I'm going to want to try. Also with crochet, you got to pre beat everything.

And I really don't feel like doing that right now because it's not the pain. But I do have that cool little tool for that. Yeah, you do. Which is nice. You do. But yeah, so stuff like that where I'm like, okay, I have benchmark that eventually this will be an interest. But until then, I am perfectly happy doing my thing right now and continuing on. I feel like I am at a healthy level of where I need to be. And yeah. Do you have an Everest?

I don't have an Everest. I think mainly like the episode we had a few times ago where I acknowledge and realize that the beginning of the year is always so bad for me with casting on. Like that was a real moment of like self actualization of I have a real problem where I get to a point where I'm not enjoying myself when I'm knitting to the point where I

almost avoid it or I rip out my projects and I toss it away. And I think my main goal or quest I guess with knitting is to try and curate what I am doing to the point where I don't want to put it down. Which means stop knitting things from obligation. Don't knit things that I realize are not bringing me joy. Try to be a little more selective when choosing patterns. Like there's I've had this this this pie in the sky pattern for years that I wanted to do was the

rose of England shawl. It's beautiful. And my goal used to be to do it when I turned 40 and I was looking at the pattern the other day and I'm like, I would hate every second of this. I would be miserable. It's beautiful. I would want that like I would love to have this shawl, but I know I would not want to knit it. And I think it's just more being conscious of not my capabilities so much as what I want to do. Knit or know thyself.

Really, yeah, a lot of that. And but also not sticking just I don't want to just stick to things that I know that I can do. Like I do want to keep stretching myself. But I don't want to do things that I look at a pattern and I'm like, I really want the product. But I know that this entire this is going to be miserable. This journey is going to be miserable. I'm going to hate every

second of it. So trying to be a little more conscientious of what I like to do and sticking with projects and yarns that I that I like to work with and just trying to have fun with it. It's really that's really the whole maybe the real real quest is the friends we met along the way, the fun we had along the way. The fellowship of the string. That's all the time we have this week for additional content and opportunities to

connect with the cast. Check out our website at pardon my stash.com and be sure to tune in next time for more fun friends and fiber at pardon my stash. The fellowship of the string.