009: Catching Up and Keeping Up

Released June 4, 2019

In this episode, Anne needs to catch up on her Master Hand Knitting work and uses podcasts to help her catch up with the online knitting community.

Winner-winner!

Congratulations to Sparky136 from Ravelry for winning the Episode 8 giveaway! She won by sharing some advice for new knitters.

A Good Project to Test the MHK Waters

Alex's Blanket is a simple baby blanket pattern that incorporates several of the stitch patterns and skills you need to demonstrate mastery of for the Master Hand Knitter Program. If you have been thinking about going through the program yourself, cast on for this project and give it your all! Pay close attention to your tension, research ways to improve, and get a sense for whether you'd enjoy the program.

If being hyper-aware of your knitting makes you feel anxious, maybe it's not the time. But if you enjoy the challenge and insight that comes from this "test," you should think about joining up!

Progress on the Master Hand Knitter Program

Anne doesn't want to talk about it. She does on the program, though. But, let's leave it lie for now.

Oldies but Goodies

While at the last few fiber festivals, Anne realized just how out of touch she got with the knitting community while she lived overseas. So, she's turned to podcasts--old podcasts--to get herself caught up.

Some of them don't hold up, or have disappeared, but others are still well worth a listen. If you haven't already, check out KnitCast, Cast On, or Knit Obsession with zKnits.

How often do you record your own thoughts and experiences? Don't let them disappear like so many of the knitting podcasts of the last 15 years. Little daily moments from everyday life is what historians and family come to treasure the most. Is it time for you to pick up a journal habit?

Harriet's Hat Knit-along

You've heard Anne talk about the Shetland MRI Scanner Appeal in previous episodes. Lately, Harriet Middleton has designed a hat to help raise funds for the appeal. The pattern has gone viral, and the Minnesota Knitter's Guild will be hosting a knit-along on their Ravelry group starting on June 8, 2019.

The guild is offering a cast-on prize and a completion prize. Visit the group for details. You'll need to buy the pattern to join in, and if you need yarn, The Woolly Thistle is selling kits at a discount and donating the proceeds to the cause, or you can get a kit from Northfield Yarn.

There are more details in the episode and at the Ravelry thread for the KAL.

Advice for Beginners

One of the ways to enter the giveaway last time was to offer advice for beginner knitters who hoped to improve their skills. Take a look at the Ravelry thread for a lot of great advice!

Giveaway

The giveaway for episode 9 is full of lovely things from the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival.

• This selection of items from the Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival will be yours if you win the Episode 9 giveaway!

This time, Anne tried to focus on the vendors who only sell at festivals to give you a truly unique offering. It has a set of Anne's handmade stitch markers, an anti-moth sachet, dyed wool fiber, a taster hank of yarn from Tidal Yarns, and felted acorns from Englishman Bay Trading Company.

This giveaway is only open to people with a mailing address in the USA. To enter, visit @IThoughtIKnewHow on Instagram and find the post for Episode 9. Follow @IThoughtIKnewHow and like the post. Tag as many people as you'd like in the comments, but only one name per post. Each of those things will get you one entry. To get 5 entries, share the episode post to your grid or stories, and tag @IThoughtIKnewHow.

The winner will be chosen with a random number generator on June 14, 2019 and announced in Episode 10 of the podcast on June 18, 2019.

Featured Music

The first song this week was "Things that I'll Keep" by Doug Hoyer. That was followed by "Waiting On" by I don't know who because the licensing company failed to include the proper attribution, but the lyrics were by Langston Hughes.

If you are a musician who would like a song featured on the program, or if you have comments or feedback, please contact the show at [email protected].

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