Episode 6: Annihilating Your Comfort Zone

Shout outs:Thanks to MindfulKnits, Whitehart, Scienceknitster, and Jen at the Purple Purl in Toronto for their support and feedback. Also huge thanks to Rockabella Crafts for leaving a review for us on iTunes! What's going on:1 February - the deadline to submit your entry to A Playful Day's Design-along contest! See all the details on her website, and the entry thread is on her Ravelry group. 7 February - the Grand Opening of YAK (aka Yarn and Knitting) in Brighton. 20-22 February - Unravel, at Farnham Maltings. We will be there on Sunday, with our mothers in tow. Come say hi! 14-15 March - Edinburgh Yarn Festival in (strangely enough) Edinburgh. Allison will be around, and will be at the Podcast Lounge so go harass her and bring her pink yarn! 26 March - Felicity Ford, fibre and sound artist, of the Knitsonik podcast and the Knitsonik Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook (which we reviewed in Episode 1, and you should get it immediately if you don't have it already) will be doing a workshop in Central London, hosted by yours truly. Stay tuned for more details and tickets coming soon. 25-26 April - Wonderwool Wales, in Builth Wells, which we may be attending as another epic Girls' Weekend Away. In the works:Allison is still working on her Munchkin Blanket by Amy Swenson, as well as getting geared up for a quilt for the same baby. She started the Garter Squish blanket by Stephen West, but had to rip it out due to an attack of gauge goggles. She's also just started a sample knit for the YitC Crafty Guide - yippee! Alli is also participating in the Dryathlon, a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK. If you'd like to make a pledge you can find her team page here. Rachel is working on a super secret circular sample knit for the YitC Crafty Guide with some gorgeous yarn from Eden Cottage Yarns. She finished the knitting of the Heinous Ecuadoran Yarn of Doom, but now needs to dig out some yarn from her stash for the ribbing and button bands before it's all done and dusted. Her Insight Pullover is up to the armholes, and she's faffing around with stranded colourwork knit flat (booo!!!!!). Allison suggested trying out Norwegian Purling. Beth Brown Reinsel has a great video of the Norwegian Purl on You Tube. In spinning news, Rachel (ever the scientist) has been doing some experimenting with her equipment to determine which wheel is faster. The non-statistically significant sample size of one suggests that the Hansen miniSpinner, although it feels slower, is actually faster for singles then a single treadle Lendrum. Last, but not least, she has finally finished spinning up Alli's Christmas present from 2013: a sweater-lot of handspun sport weight yarn in three different shades of orange for the Gradient Pullover by Amy Miller. Watch this space for future swatching evidence! Annihilating your Comfort Zone:We talk about goals for the year, and the idea of setting CLEAR goals, rather then SMART goals. We talk about colour comfort zones, mystery knitalongs, and ways to push ourselves creatively, professionally, personally. There is a somewhat tricky analogy made by Rachel in regards to risk taking and skiing, and we admit that we've got some CLEAR goals coming up for Yarn in the City this year. Conclusions:Where you can find us: Ravelry, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Come join us for some stash-down knitting of GLYC-acquired yarns. Music credits (all available on NoiseTrade):Loneliness & Alcohol - Jars of ClayEverything You've Done Wrong - SloanLet Go - Toby Lightman