I'm Drea. I'm Meg. I'm Tina. And I'm Jess. And this is Pardon My Stash. Welcome to Part in My Stash, a podcast about knitting within the fiber arts and how awesome it is. Yeah. Before we get started on this week's topics, let's find out what everyone brought to knit night. Drea. I am actually working on my Kimmy shell, but let me tell you, I finished the desk. Yay. Say whiz of applause. Sorry. I know that you guys were all like really interested in the desk.
It's not like I didn't shut up about it all weekend, but for you listening at home or in your cars, yes, the desk is finished. Yes. It's gorgeous. Yes. I can't wait to use it. It's still curing. We just put the second poly coat on it yesterday and I have seven days before I can use it. You were going to paint a desk? Jess, you never listen when I talk. You picked up your Kennedy shawls. Good. I did. And you know what?
Since I finished it last night, I did pick up my knitting last night for the first time at home in like forever, but I finally got everything out of my system. I got that project out. Good. Feels good. Exactly what we talked about last time. And what's the next hyper focus? Well I think it's just going to be finishing this shawl and then, and then, I mean it's not going to be refinishing furniture, let me tell you. No, that's not your passion. Adversity. That's enough of that.
That's enough of that. I had a really good time doing it, but I don't think that I'm going to do it again because some of it was a little bit too labor intensive for me. Like I threw out my shoulder while I was sanding. I know, I know. Pat felt so bad because he wanted to give you his sander, his electrical one. Well, I didn't think it was going to be that much sanding. And by the time that I was like in the thick of it, like there was no going back. Like I was in it for the long haul.
Committed. You got to at least finish that one. I did. And then you know what? I stained some of it. I painted all of it and polyurethane everything. Like I felt so handy. How about you, Meg? Did you finish a desk? Did not finish a desk. Well, not everybody can be me. Wow. That is extremely true. You're right. You're right. It's very true. What did you work on? What are you working on? What you got? I was just going to let her speak, but no, you go on, Dre. Go on with your bad stuff.
So Sundrop suffered an incident. Oh no. What happened? I made a mistake. Oh. It's not. It's definitely not an unfixable mistake. That's fair. But it was, it was, I was not in the best place to be fixing said mistake. So it is, it is eminently fixable. It requires me to tink back three rows. And I just decided, you know what? I'm all set. I want to knit something. So I, yup, it's in timeout and I cast on another sweater. Well that's what you do. That's what I do.
A lot of debating, but I am knitting the Calliope sweater by Melissa Clulow of a space treaco. I'm pretty sure I am mispronouncing that because I don't speak French. It is a top down seamless sweater. It's in a DK. I have never knitted DK sweater, so it's new ground for me. Welcome. Welcome to the DK sweater. I love it. Me too. And I am knitting it out of critical hit dies. I forgot the name of our company for a second. Wow. I'm knitting it out of critical hit dies, wizard DK base.
And the other yarn is actually a new yarn we're going to debut this month or next month being June. It's going to be called Mystic. You heard it here first. We haven't actually talked about it yet. And it is a silk mohair lace weight. And they are both in the colorway etherealness, which is also going to be a new color we're releasing next month. It's a very, very pale purple. So did you do all that this week? Since Thursday. Yes. Somebody has a hyper fixation.
It's really been like, honest to God, like really pretty. I think you've gotten so much done. I didn't know that that was only like less than a week. That's there's some rage knitting behind that. That's like five days. Well it's DK. It goes really, really fast. I know. I've been there, but still. Compared to a fingering weight, which my fingering weight took me forever. But I also really like this combo of yarns. Let me touch it. Yeah, squeeze it. It's really soft.
I touched it on Sunday when we were at Starz Hollow, but I'm definitely touching it again. It's a good, it's so the, the, the wizard has a cashmere in it. So it's got cashmere, it's got silk, it's got mohair. Welcome to the cashmere club. It's a pretty sexy combo. And I'm liking it. I probably won't be my Reinbeck sweater because you know, Reinbeck is usually 90 degrees. Oh God, you'll die in there. I know. I'm like really hoping that this year Reinbeck is going to be like frigging freezing.
It never is. It was the first year. Well you keep holding on to that. I do. I do hold on. Are you enjoying yourself? I'm not done touching it. She's just petting it like a cat. It's just so nice. Jess, do you have something to pet? Um, no, not currently. I mean it's a tea cozy, but the pattern on it is, I mean it's, it's, it's a feel. Yeah. So I'm doing your inspirations, a knit flower basket tea cozy. I am back onto that because I did finish my sweater.
I need to block it, but um, so we, I posted it on, on critical hit and it has gotten more likes than any post that I've ever posted. That sweater is a legend. I also posted it on the part of my stash. Let me tell you. I mean if anyone is wondering about the sweater, that was sweater of swords by dear Ingenieu and the yarns were critical hit dies, uh, Vishka and Morganis. Um, but what I'm working on now, I am back doing to the, um, the make along our, our team, you know, team cozy make along.
Um, cause I had half of my tea cozy and I have to make another half and I hate doing pairs so, um, I put that down for a while, but, uh, I am doing that in some, in some critical hit scrap yarns actually like leftovers from when we were, we were experimenting with color ways in the beginning. So I have, uh, uh, some of the earlier versions of Barrett and red tail.
And then I'm going to find some other, other colors when we get to the flower part, probably the ones that I was using for potion bottles because that's what I do with our scrap yard. Yeah, there's flowers on it. It's like, it looks like a little flower basket and it's super cute. Um, do you know, I think I've heard you say that it was going to be a flower basket, but I think this is the first time it's ever occurred to. Oh my God, that's so cute.
And I think this is the first time I've actually realized that it's going to be a flower basket. I've heard her say it, but welcome to the podcast. You were really fixated on that desk. I listen real fixated on that desk. Not recently, but I listen, but this is what I'm doing because right now I'm between other projects and you know, playing the legend of Zelda. So this is my new project.
Yeah. Currently I'm so I'm working on switching the wire on my angle sweater because literally the wire broke. No, not the end. On your tip didn't fall off. The literal wire on my circular has a giant cut in it. I could see the metal underneath and I'm really upset because this is the gratitude set and from Knitter's pride and I've read. Yeah. I've like recommended it to people and now I'm like, well, now what the heck?
So we have stuff from that set and it's been pretty, they have these particular wires that the end rotates. So it's like comfortable for larger projects. Yeah. Um, but yeah, that way the wire doesn't get all twisted. Yeah. I just, I think I'm going to contact them and be like, yeah, I wonder if there was just like a sort of, I haven't had it long. I haven't. Cause when you're showing it, it looks like there was a cut.
So I'm wondering if something when it was coming out, like it got overlooked, but it like was weekend. Yeah. Once I get this on a new wire, I will keep working on my Engel sweater. And um, yeah, I haven't done much work on it because it's been sitting in timeout with its broken wire for a hot minute. Um, but I did, I was working pretty furiously on it before. Um, yeah, you were so close to the, to the home. I am.
I honestly, I have like maybe half an inch or an inch left before I get to the flap. So I'm kind of like, Let's just do this. You got this. 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. And now yakking about yarn with Tina. For this yakking about yarn segment, we talked last time about affordable, nice yarns that you can use for larger projects.
And what if you have a bunch of yarn, but your project calls for a different type of yarn? What do we do then? It sounds like it's time to discuss yarn substitutions. Finding one can be difficult because there are a lot of different yarns and plies and weights and types of yarn that can make your decision complicated. While you can go with old reliable and just put two together and call it a day, it might not be the best decision to just randomly do that. Sounds good to me.
I mean, that's what I do. Tell me what I should be doing. I will say this. If you're doing that and you are very experienced, I think there's things that you do naturally that you can understand that like these two will definitely make this weight and I'll be okay. Results may vary. Yeah. Anyway, knitter's discretion is advised. So I say a quick prayer for myself and hope for the best. When it comes to substituting yarn for a project, here are a couple approaches to consider.
One is the fiber content and characteristics. You have to consider these things of the original yarn when choosing a substitute. If the pattern calls for a wool yarn, for example, look for other wool or wool blend options, pay attention to the drape texture and stretch of the yarn as different fibers can affect the final appearance and feel of your project.
Keep in mind any specific qualities required for the project, such as stitch definition, warmth or durability, and try to find a substitute yarn that offers similar properties. So don't swap a merino for a linen. Got it? Fine. Good job. You are going to have a very different project. Good job, Meg. Can you imagine? You did it. You've done number one. I have not done that. No, I'm kidding. The next one that would help you a lot, even though two people at this table disagree, is a gauge swatch.
One of the most crucial aspects of yarn substitution is matching the gauge or tension of the original yarn or what it calls for. So if you look at your pattern and it says that the suggested gauge is this, then you should probably take the yarn you're going to substitute with and see if you get the same numbers or close to. If it's like off by like 10 stitches, you're probably wrong and you got to do something else.
Look, even I in the past, even in this podcast, I can admit that a gauge swatch is useful at times. She's knit one. I have exactly one. It is growth. We do. Jess has also knit exactly one. So much growth. So much growth. Let's see if we can shoot for two. On my next sweater. Ooh, yay. Not before. So this will ensure that your finished project has the correct dimensions and fit at the end of the pattern that you're using.
Those are the two things that you really have to look out for when you're doing this. That also has consideration for like ply and like the way it looks in general. So guys, a two ply mixed with a four ply is going to look a little weird if you're just holding that together. Yeah. It definitely will create... It might be what you're going for. It may be what you're going for, but it will create a texture that you're not expecting. There will be a texture.
So say you're like, oh my God, Tina, I cannot do this. This is so manual. I'm going to gouge my eyes out with my gauge swatch. Anyway, so... It's got to be a sharp gauge swatch if it's gouging your eyes out. I'm actually going to frame my gauge swatch. So you could with the frame edge. Yeah, there you go. I use mine as coasters. No, mine is going to be framed. It's my first. It's important. On the first try. That's what you should put underneath. Actually, I did meet gauge on my first try.
So you should put that. Anyways. So say you don't want to figure that out manually or you just kind of want to... You haven't even bought the yarn yet, but you know you want to substitute it. There is a fantastic website called yarnsub.com and it is a valuable resource for people looking for suitable yarn substitutions.
So when you use it, you enter the name of the original yarn that you want to substitute with and then it provides you a list from the top being the closest match or an exact match all the way down to like not good matches, but not as close. Thank you. Is that a website? Yes. I mean, I like that. It will provide you this list along with details on gauge, fiber content, suggested needle or hook size.
And then you can explore the provided substitutes to find options that closely match the characteristics of the original yarn, ensuring a successful substitution for your project. So one thing that I don't know if this does is that the ply thing and the texture thing. So it might give you the same fiber content, but it might be a different ply. So you want to just look out for that. I don't know. I'm not entirely watch. They're going to like messages and be like, yeah, we consider ply.
And I'm like, all right, fine. I'm just like, do that. You can either confirm or deny. Yeah, I can neither confirm or deny that they consider that. I would use that. Yeah. Like I would use that site. They also do reviews and ratings from their users of yarn. So it'll give you helpful insights and experiences from other crafters who have used the suggested yarns. It has a user friendly interface. I've used it on my phone. I've used it on my desktop. Both work great.
And you can find those suitable substitutions and have a successful project. If you're also looking for yarn substitutions, another thing you can do, and I've done this before is you can go to Ravelry and under the project page, they will say like yarns used. Yes. And it will tell you what yarns have been used, the most popular yarns that have been used, but you can also click on them and see the project.
So if you see something, you're like, oh, I really want to make this out of Malabrigo Rios, then you click on Malabrigo Rios and you look at the sweaters and you're like, I don't like the way that hangs at all. You can steer away from that. You can look at the projects and be like, I don't like the way that that drapes. It looks too different. I am not a fan. Or you can be kind of more sold on it and say, I actually do like the way that looks, especially for popular patterns that works.
But if you have, if you're pulling a pattern out from Timbuktu and you have no idea what this is going to end up looking like, exactly. It's a lot harder. You yeah, you have to kind of source it out a little bit and you might be end up being the project that other people look at and go, aha, that's what I can do with this. I think that really does kind of push the point, sorry, home about a gauge swatch, because you can really tell if you're going to like the fabric or not if you touch it.
For this week's topic, we are going to talk about yarn hiatuses or when you don't buy yarn for a planned or unplanned amount of time. Sometimes you don't buy yarn because you forget about it, which it does actually happen. I know, pull your draws up. It does actually happen. You sometimes forget about buying yarn. Or sometimes you actually say to yourself like, you know what, I need to take a break from the spending and not buy any yarn for a hot minute.
So at least for myself, I am closing in this September, I will have a year of not buying yarn, which is weird. It doesn't, you know what though? I don't feel deprived. Like I don't, I really don't feel. Well, I mean, if anyone has seen the reels with my stash, like why would I? But I don't, I never, I, there has been moments like when we went to Reinbeck, there was that one stall that I was like, oh, no, I was a bumblebee. Yeah. I struggled real hard.
There was, I didn't even, it was like a Lord of the Rings thing, which you were cracking on me about. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was Lord of the Rings. It was just the particular colorway was gorgeous. Also I like turned off all my alerts. So I'm just finding out about critical hit stuff. And like, I wish I didn't look because now I'm mad. Like I saw a post about like you guys, like we're closing a collection and I'm like, oh my God, I want it all. Like stop.
The Zelda collections. Yeah. That's funny. You nerd. It's not even about Zelda. It's just the color. Yes it is. I appreciate the actual physical aspects of it. It's not like the, I, I, I don't know. No one's going to be doing like a Mori color line. Okay. You know, don't try me. Just saying. I didn't even know how the hell you would do that. I don't know. Like one says like you're not the father. I have no idea. What does a DNA test look like?
Anyways. Um, but yeah, so I mean like it's just been kind of, I actually forgotten that I've taken a break at this point because I just, yeah. And then randomly I'll think of it and I'll be like, oh my God, it's June. And in three months it will be, or two, yeah, three months it'll be September. And I will have met the goal that I set last September of not buying yarn for a year. It's weird. What about you guys?
So I've been on a, like not an intentional like yarn hiatus, but I also have curbed my spending and, um, really haven't bought yarn probably in the last like year or so. Like I, I, I bought, that's not true. I bought a couple skeins at Reinbeck this past year. You bought the wolf oak, right? I did, but that was it. Yeah. It's, it's nothing compared to years past. No. I remember last time that I actually like went on any kind of spending spree either.
I think the last one I did was either a critical hit or village wool. It was one of the two. And that was the last one I did where it was like a big, like I brought home bags of yarn. Yeah. Um, but, and that was, I want to say it was August. But yeah, yeah, I haven't, haven't done that. Like I remember peace, it was just like, we would look at each other and be like, what was your damage? What was your damage? And like who? Look, we wore, we wore those receipts like badge, badges of honor.
Um, Chris 300. No, no worse. It felt like that sometimes. I actually bought yarn for the first time in a long time, uh, just this past weekend. We were at stars hollow. They had Earl gray fiber Co in DK, which I'm finding it very difficult to, to find their yarn. They've been closed for a while. They haven't been posting. I know their websites pretty much been, been closed. And yeah, I'm, yeah. I mean, just in general that stars hollow has a lot of good stuff.
Stars hollow does have a lot of good stuff, but I saw it. I wanted it. I know that it's, you like it. I like it. And it's, it's getting hard to find. Yeah. Yeah. And I want to do another hat and mitts set. Like I did with the, with the last few skeins of Earl gray fiber coat that I got, I got it. I deserved it. I did good. And I don't feel bad about like spending money on yarn when, you know, I don't need it, but I wanted it. Well, you didn't get like a crazy amount either.
It was like three skeins. You got enough for a project you already have in mind. Yeah. You know what you want to do with it. I don't, I don't have a pattern. No, but you know what you want to make. Yeah. I know what I'm doing with it. So. But what about Megan Jess now that you've are in D dyers and you have yarn strewn about the house. Oh my God. Like doesn't even, do you even want to buy other yarn? Yes. You do? Absolutely. I mean, I'm not in a while.
Um, the last skein of yarn I bought for myself was around Christmas time and I bought it to support another indie dyer. Um, which really at this point I do feel strongly about because like on one hand, yes, we have a pretty decent range of bases where most of what, if I want it, I can get it and I don't need to pay for it because I already bought it. So there's that. I don't need to pay for it. But I'm also very conscious and we are conscious.
I'll speak for Jess. Um, if we don't buy from indie dyers, they closed down and I could just sit here and I could just knit my own yarns forever. But there are tons of other colorways that I can't make and I could never hope to replicate and I wouldn't want to replicate because they're not my style. There's somebody else's style and I still love them.
I think one of the things that, uh, Lisa of a stars hollow set on Sunday is that, you know, the idea of competing in the fiber arts industry, it doesn't make sense when, when stores all succeed, indie dyers all succeed, it shouldn't be a competition. We lift each other up. So I don't go haywire buying lots of yarn anymore.
I certainly don't buy sweater quantities, um, at webs or anywhere else like I used to, but I do like to buy the odd skein every so often or a couple of skeins, especially from indie dyers and also from, from yarn stores because I want them to stay in business. That's a lie. I didn't buy my last yarn. I bought my last yarn when we were in New Hampshire at that tiny little yarn store and there was, they were carrying this indie dire from Vermont and I can't remember her name.
Um, but I'll try to remember to put it on the blog, but her yarns are only carried in like New Hampshire, Northern New Hampshire and in Vermont. I could not find it anywhere south of there and they were beautiful. So that was kind of like, I will never find these yarns again. I want to support this indie dire. She's very, very small business. Um, and I want to support this little yarn store. So I think I buy a little more mindfully at this point.
I don't haul off and buy huge quantities of yarn at places anymore, but I buy from places that I want to support, like the yarn stores and the indie dyers and at the festivals too. Um, but I also am mindful to buy things that I know I'm going to knit with someday. I don't buy yarn thinking, ah, this is pretty. I'll find a use for it eventually. It's all like, I can, I can visualize in my head exactly what I want to make with this color.
I've been doing a lot of picture taking and that's something that Tina started doing, uh, this past year. Um, if I see something that I touch and something that I really like and something that I might want in the future, I take a picture of it. Yeah. I think impulse buying is also, we, we have FOMO and we think if I don't buy it right and maybe you won't, maybe you won't ever buy it again. Maybe it is like, like Tina, you pointed out that we're closing a collection.
Um, and maybe, maybe it is something that's for me. Maybe you don't get it or maybe guess what? We probably have more of it in the back. So September you can get some if you want to. VIP line. I didn't mean to speak entirely for you, Jess. So you should, you should go ahead and, uh, no, I mean, I feel like out of everybody I've, I've actually have always bought the least amount. Yeah, that's definitely true.
Because mine is very, I know most of the time I will likely never get to using it as quickly as I would want to, if at all I do tend to, when I do get it stuff that I find visually appealing that I haven't seen before. That's kind of where I go at, but I also base it on, you know, do I have the, should I get it like, are there other things that need to take priority or do I just want to like, you know, find my joy and get this yarn so I can squish it whenever I want to.
Um, and that's kind of how I've always looked at it. Um, it, I started buying less when we started dying because, um, in many cases I could be like, oh, I had this idea for this color and now I have this exact color I want. And I don't need like, oh, that's close to a cool color that I would like. And I want that now, but I still do agree with, I like to, um, especially when we find like new smaller shops or, um, new like indie dyers, I do like to try and get something from there.
I find I, I tend to get a lot more notions than yarns in a lot of cases in, in that, in that angle, or I'll get like, cause I know, again, I usually just do accessories or random things like, you know, tiny crochet animals or potion bottles or God knows what. So I don't need large amounts. So sometimes too, if I get stuff, I will get like the smaller minis or one skein and, you know, inevitably eventually when I'm like, oh, I know what to do with this game.
And I'm like, I do not have enough to do the thing I want to do with this game. I will make a smaller one because that's how my brain goes. But I'll just knit until I'm done and we'll either stop or tack something onto this, but that's a nice cravat. Listen, sometimes the yarns just go towards a hyper fixation that I was never going to finish out anyway. And they, they are the perfect amount for me to get to the end and be like, yeah, moving on. But yeah, that's, that's how I've always done it.
So I do, like I said, I never really kind of stashed it up, but there, there have been times where it's like, I've gone in and I'm like, no hedge hug did that. I was like, oh, this is a cool yarn. I want like so many of them. And I got a bunch of them. You did. I did. And, and I still have some, I did knit with some, but, uh, but some of them I did just get cause the colors were like awesome. And I just look at them.
We also have a massive benefit of, um, and, and I know you guys have done this before too, but it's not her stash and my stash. It's our stash. So if I see something that would work for something that I want to do and it's her yarn that she bought, she will be like, just take it.
But if I see a yarn or that I want to use for a project and it's like perfect, Jess will just be like, take it off the wall and I'll, uh, if I'll protest and I'll say no. And she's like, if I really, really need it someday, I'll buy another one. It's fine. Um, and I found that's also kind of tough too, because you buy them and you love them, but then you get them home and you're like, what do I do with them?
You know, and a lot of times they end up just being art in and of themselves, which can be fine. Yeah. Well, that's kind of why I like my pegboard for that reason, right? It's art because it turns into an art piece. Right. Um, and you can change it around whenever you want to. Yeah. Whatever the mood, moving art. Yeah, it is moving art, but that's why I got a, um, glass front, a glass front case for, for my yarn. Yeah. So you can put them on display.
Yeah. So everybody can see what good stuff I have. It's mostly for me. So I don't forget that I have stuff. I can't forget about those 22 balls in auro. We can't forget that if I cannot see it, it does not exist. No, that's really, really true. It is like ever since I put away a lot of my yarn into those like air tight, like sealed Tupperware. They don't exist. I have forgotten what is in there. I don't remember at all what I put in there.
And I'm like, Oh, Oh no. And then I look, look at my stash and I'm like, I thought I had a sweater. It's quantity. Yeah, you do. I do. I just don't know where it is.
I know it's in one of four boxes and I don't know which one, but yeah, I think honestly, I'll probably, um, I'll probably get to September and then I'll probably go in the mindset of where you, where you guys are pretty much at, which is basically like, no, I'm not going to drop like $500 on yarn anymore, but I'll definitely like, if I see now, if I see something and I'm having heavy, heavy hesitations, I'm probably going to just get a skein and like,
you know, honor the feeling that I'm having about the yard. But you shouldn't do it all the time, but every once in a while, that's fine. Well, yeah, I'm hoping that I can kind of break it at Reinbeck. I thought, I thought that would be meaningful to kind of like break that, um, the non buying at Reinbeck, but, um, I can help you with that. It's either that or stars all. It's going to be one of the two. Both is good. Both is good. Both is good.
No, it's, I think it's, it's just more being a little more discerning of where the yarn's going to go, but also who you're buying it from. Yeah. Like, and there's nothing wrong with buying commercial yarn. Like nobody is saying that at all, but I do think it is important on a different level to support your small businesses, your indie dyers, your indie makers in general. Um, because you know, I was going to say it's one of those things.
If you need the yarn, get it from wherever you can get the yarn. If you don't need the yarn, but you need to just, you know, get that fix, then you know, you can consider, okay, do I want to just, you know, throw it into a big store or do I want to go to something smaller or something a little more interesting that I don't go all the time to make a day of it and come back with some likes, fancy stuff that you might not get in adventure. Yeah. I like that. Like adventures. I do too.
That's it for this week's topics for additional content and opportunities to connect with the cast. Check out our Patreon or our website at part of my stash.com. Be sure to tune in next week for more laughs, tears, and Drea adventure. I guess I've part of my, I don't know, a Drea stash at this point. We're going at an adventure. I mean, I will be organizing my stash. So yeah, okay. It could be my stash here at Drea stash.