Episode 51 - Light

Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 51 – Light.  

My name is Fay and this is my audio and video podcast for those that love fibre crafts, particularly crochet.  It’s a community for people that like to support their fellow humans regardless of race, gender, sexuality, ability, size or age. I hope you feel the welcome embrace and love of the Crochet Clan.  Come on in and stay awhile.  

In this episode, I cover Old Dog New Tricks; Yarn review; Final Destination; En Route; Quick News Beats; Big Up and J’adore. 

This podcast is sponsored by my online crafting company, Provenance Craft Co. 

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1 – Old Dog New Tricks

This month’s top Crochet Clan tip is from Stasia (Stasiacrochet on Ravelry and Instagram).  Stasia has been on a real crocheted garment journey.  She managed to make 13 last year and is already on her second of 2020. 

We both struggle to make tops fit because we have actual boobs to fit into a garment.  Stasia’s top tip is to rearrange some of the stitches from your back to your front. For example, if you are making a top-down raglan and you are supposed to have a starting chain with 40 chains for the front and for the back, you may have 38 for the back (-2) and 42 for the front (+2). I sometimes deduct 5!

If you are working top-down in the round then you need to do this before splitting for the sleeves and not from the beginning.

Designers usually say that your back and front are the same width but mine are about 13cm different.

This is a great tip if you aren’t a fan of the boxy sweater which tends to just hang straight off us big boobed people like a tent.  You can make a smaller size, tailor it for your bust and create something more flattering.  You just need to keep an eye on the arm length and bicep circumference though. 

My top tip is to know what you are looking for when you are choosing a garment pattern.  For instance, there are patterns on Ravelry that go up to 60” bust but are listed as a 4XL, there are also 5XL patterns listed that also go to 60”.  It is always better to go by your measurements rather than a size option. 

2 – Yarn review

I have written a full review for Yarnadelic by John Arbon Textiles (link) over at Provenance Craft Co. (link).  It’s absolutely beautiful.

Image text: soft grey background with three skeins of squishy Yarnadelic wool.  It has a base of blue with dark fawn brown heathered throughout the yarn.  It shows quite a high twist in the strands and a beautiful blend of the colours.

3 – Final Destination

I have one little crochet FO from January.  Needless to say, I have lots of stuff bubbling away that I will be able to share with you in the future.  I am doing submitting some designs to magazines, partly because I really like working with an extended team and partly because it gives me a very firm deadline to work to, which is how I work best. 

The quickly whipped up this mitten pattern to be able to review the Yarnadelic yarn.  I’m not going to write up a pattern for them, but the knowledge gained will be used in one of my next designs, so you will see a similar-ish pattern from me in the future. 

Image text: grey background showing on the right, a full mitten with rib and starting rows in Yarnadelic colourway 'Black Gold of the Sun' transitioning through some simple colourwork into the rusty orange colour that is Bracken from the Harvest Hues range.  To the left is my hand, showing how the fingerless mitten fits.

I did finish my Dad’s knitted Icelandic jumper.  I posted it on the Wednesday morning and he phoned me on Thursday night to tell me how much he loved it.  He is a step closer t