Thank you for tuning in to Episode 305 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. Full show notes with photos can be found on my website. This week's segments included:
- Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins
- On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins
- From the Armchair
- KAL News
- Events
- Ask Me Anything
- On a Happy Note
- Quote of the Week
Thank you to this episode's sponsors: Skein & Co and Handmade Hygge Off the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Tie Dye Day Socks
- Yarn: Legacy Fiber Artz Steel Toes base in the Tie Dye Day Colorway
- Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry)
- Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)
- Ravelry Project Page
- 262.3 meters for Stash Dash
Four Leaf Clover Granny Square Blanket
- Pattern: Four Leaf Clover Granny Square by Apinya Roszko
- Hook: H (5.0 mm)
- Yarn: Knit Picks Brava 500 in colorway Mint & Loops and Threads Impeccable in Colorway 01808
- Center square (in darker green)- 4g. Three rounds on outside of clover (in mint)- 12g
- Size: 6 inch square.
- 5x7 blanket (30x42”) before border.
- Modification- the pattern calls for attaching new yarn (at the end of the square) to make the stem for the clover. I just chain to get to the center, make the stem and cut the yarn. I find it easy to crochet the granny square around it in Mint. No issues and one less end to weave in.
- I am joining squares as I go. I used this YouTube tutorial to remind me how to do this.
- 1186.1 meters for Stash Dash
10,426.8 meters for Stash Dash this year. 716 Splash Pad Socks
- Yarn: 716 Knit Sock Set in the 716sock base in the colorway: It needs to be ok with getting on a boat with Levar Burton and never coming back.
- Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry)
- Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)
- Ravelry Project Page
- About the yarn: stripe of black, stripe of bright poolside colors (orange, yellow, peach, greens & aquas .
- 344.2 yards/ 86 grams used.
On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Sweetly Striped Hat
- Pattern: Sweetly Striped Hat by Chit Chat Knits. $4.50 knitting pattern available on Ravelry
- Yarn: Berroco Vintage in colorway 5185 Tide Pool
- Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) & US 8 (5.0 mm)
- Ravelry Project Page
- Pattern: Snack Shack Sponsor- Chit Chat Knits- 20 points
- Project Bag & Notions Pouch- Pro Shop Sponsor The Huckleberry Girl- 40 pts each= 80 points
Traveler Sweater
- Pattern: The Traveler by Andrea Mowry ($9 pattern available on Ravelry & the designer's website)
- Yarn: Hazel Knits Small Batch Sport (90/10 SW/Nylon)
- Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) & US 4 (3.5 mm)
- Ravelry Project Page
- Progress: 5 purl ridges done
Mayor of Halloween Town Socks
- Yarn: Woolens & Nosh Targhee Sock in the Mayor of Halloween Town colorway
- Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry)
- Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)
- Ravelry Project Page
- Cast on 9/4 for Pigskin Party
- Project bag: Pro Shop Sponsor Wandering Purl (40 pts)
- Yarn: Pro Shop Sponsor Woolens & Nosh (40 pts)
- About the yarn: Light gray- larger stripes with smaller stripes of dark gray, white and orange
Born to Be Mild Socks
- Yarn: Hypnotic Yarn Plush Sock in the Born to Be Mild Colorway
- Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry)
- Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)
- Ravelry Project Page
- Progress- just into the leg of the first sock.
- About the yarn: tan base with browns and robin's egg. It reminds me of a robin's nest.
From the Armchair
- Writers & Lovers by Lily King. Amazon Affiliate Link.
- Check out Season 3 Episode 6 of the Books, Beach & Beyond podcast with Elin Hilderbrand with Lily King
- Euphoria by Lily King. Amazon Affiliate Link.
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Amazon Affiliate Link.
- One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune. Amazon Affiliate Link.
- In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros. Amazon Affiliate Link.
Lily King talking on Books, Beach & Beyond (2025)- on love
- "Love is really the most important thing to us and possibly the thing, the only thing that is going to save us from our other impulses. I am extremely concerned about the state of mind of this country and what we are allowing and what we have voted in and what we are experiencing and, in in some ways, our lack of resistance to it, and our our silence and our complicity. And it all really comes down to love. And if we lose that ability, I don't think AI is going to help us with love, I don't think Instagram is going to help us with love. I feel like all of our habits that are increasing and increasing are pulling us apart even giving us the illusion that its not, but we are, and we have to remember what it is like to love people. In all of those forms. It is the thing that makes us human. And we have to stay human." Lily King
A few of my other favorite quotes from Writers & Lovers “When my mother died, I sort of felt her inside me sometimes,’ I say. ‘Like I’d swallowed her.’ He laughs. ‘Swallowed her.’ ‘I still have moments when I feel that, when it feels like she’s inside me, and there’s no difference between us or that the difference doesn’t matter.” ― Lily King, Writers & Lovers “I can tell he lost someone close somehow. You can feel that in people, an openness, or maybe it's an opening that you're talking into. With other people, people who haven't been through something like that, you feel the solid wall. Your words go scattershot off of it.” ― Lily King, Writers & Lovers “When I was visiting her a few years ago she hugged me and said, ‘Tomorrow after you leave I will stand here at this window and remember that yesterday you were right here with me.’ And now she’s dead and I have that feeling all the time, no matter where I stand.” ― Lily King, Writers & Lovers “I look into my eyes, but they aren’t really mine, not the eyes I used to have. They’re the eyes of someone very tired and very sad, and once I see them I feel even sadder and then I see that sadness, that compassion, for the sadness in my eyes, and I see the water rising in them. I’m both the sad person and the person wanting to comfort the sad person. And then I feel sad for that person who has so much compassion because she’s clearly been through the same thing, too. And the cycle keeps repeating. It’s like when you go into a dressing room with a three-paneled mirror and you line them up just right to see the long narrowing hallway of yourselves diminishing into infinity. It feels like that, like I’m sad for an infinite number of my selves.” ― Lily King, Writers & Lovers Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases. KAL News Pigskin Party '25
- Event Dates: KAL Dates- Thursday September 4, 2025- Monday February 9, 2026
- Find everything you need in the Start Here Thread in the Ravelry Group
- Official Rules
- Registration Form (you must be Registered to be eligible for prizes)
- Enter your projects using the Point Tally Form
- Find the full list of Sponsors in this Google Doc.
- Coupon Codes are listed in this Ravelry Thread
- Exclusive Items from our Pro Shop Sponsors are listed in this Ravelry Thread
- Questions- ask them in this Ravelry Thread or email Jen at downcellarstudio @ gmail.com
- Our Official Sponsor for Quarter 1 (October): Love in Stitches with Knitty Natty is hosting a Cozy Up Challenge. The challenge doesn't start until 10/1 but you can start planning now. Check out the details in this Ravelry Thread. Join Knitty Natty & me for a special zoom hangout Thursday 10/2 at 8p Eastern. Details will be shared in the Start Here Thread.
- Check out this Ravelry Thread with helpful tips for the event, crowd sourced from our incredible players.
Updates In This Episode
- Thanks to Mary for her Commentator report. She talked specifically about these 2 large projects that have already been finished. 904Stephanie (my teammate!) has already finished a blanket- Ravelry photo & cmfamigli has already finished a pullover- check out her Ravelry Project
- Thanks to Sarah for starting a Pigskin Tips Ravelry Thread!
- Add your Super Bowl Prediction- details in this Ravelry Thread
- Our first Official Sponsor of the Quarter is Love in Stitches! Check out all of the details in this Ravelry Post. Join Knitty Natty & me for a special zoom hangout Thursday 10/2 at 8p Eastern. Cast on, chat, learn about some of Natalie's cool cozy patterns and have some fun.
- Official Sponsor for Quarter 2 (November)- Twice Sheared Sheep
- Official Sponsor for Quarter 3 (December)- Suburban Stitcher
- Official Sponsor for Quarter 4 (January)- Yarnaceous Fibers
Events
- DFW Fiber Fest Sept 19-21 in Irving Texas
- Adirondack Wool & Arts Festival September 20 & 21 in Greenwich, New York.
- Greater Boston Yarn Crawl. September 26-28 - 16 shops
- Cape and South Shore Yarn Haul. September 25-28- 8 shops
- Vermont Sheep & Wool. October 4 & 5
- Indie Untangled. October 17
- CAKEpalooza. October 17
- A Woolen Affair. October 17
- NY Sheep & Wool (aka Rhinebeck). October 18 & 19.
- Down Cellar Studio Meet up at Saturday 2p at the Pavilion to the left of the beer tent! Come and say hi.
- The Fiber Festival of New England. November 1 & 2
- Sunkissed Fiber Festival: January 24-25, 2026- just outside Tampa, FL
Ask Me Anything Tune in to hear my answer to kjkrochet's question: How did you come up with the concept for Pigskin Party? On a Happy Note
- Saturday of Labor Day weekend- Clear the Needles Event w/ Love in Stitches group
- 2 fun pool days over Labor Day Weekend complete with cornhole tournament
- I gifted my friend Megg her "I'll bring the dance moves" hat to go with my "I'll bring the alcohol" hat since my dad always teases her for dancing constantly.
- Dinner with Melissa of Maple Roots Creative
- Dinner with friends including my dance teacher from middle/high school
- Pigskin Paty Kick Off Weekend was so much fun!
- Seeing Passengers at American Repertory Theater
Quote of the Week “It’s a particular kind of pleasure, of intimacy, loving a book with someone.” ― Lily King, Writers & Lovers Thank you for tuning in! Contact Information:
- Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon!
- Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group
- Instagram: BostonJen1
- YouTube: Down Cellar Studio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio
- Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio
- Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel
- Knit Picks Affiliate Link
- Bookshop Affiliate Link
- Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link
- FearLESS Living Fund to benefit the Blind Center of Nevada
- Music -"Soft Orange Glow" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/
- Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.