Episode 54 - Simple, Soothing Stitches

Hello there and welcome to The Crochet Circle Podcast and the show notes for Episode 54 – Simple, Soothing Stitches.   

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 General Update; Old Dog New Tricks; Final Destination; Designs on Progress; Quick News Beats and Big Up.   

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

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1 – General Update

I know that globally, we are all on different states of stay at home/lockdown.  However, the reality is most likely a little like eat, sleep, distance repeat.  I’m used to working from home and probably only go at a handful of times a week anyway.  I’m a bit of an introvert, so although I am very happy in my little home bubble, I am starting to miss my people.  It would have been Wonderwool Wales this weekend.  It’s easily my favourite show of the year.  I get to catch up with lots of my yarn buddies, many of which I won’t have seen since the end of September.  It’s a chance to check-in and hug your friends.  So, I’m missing all of that.

I can only imagine that if you are a social butterfly this must be really tough for you.    

I know that many of you are being directly affected by the virus and have family members that are ill or have sadly died.  I am sending tender love and hugs. 

2 – Old Dog New Tricks

This month’s top Crochet Clan tip is from Caroline (Soltra on Ravelry).  Her tip is to regularly push yourself to try something new with crafting.  It could be a new technique, a new type of craft, just something that keeps pushing you forward.  Caroline references the fact that when she learned to do Tunisian Crochet, she made blanket after blanket and sickened herself by only doing blankets for 18 months.  It was only when she joined in with a Tunisian CAL that was all about skill-building that she really moved on with her Tunisian crochet skills and has worked her way through 13+ projects.

It’s really easy to stick to what you know and feels comfortable.  And I know that I have called this episode Simple Soothing Stitches because I don’t currently have the mental capacity to work on really complicated things, but new techniques and skills don’t have to be complicated.

I don’t know how many times I have told myself “oh, I’m not good enough to try that technique out yet”.  It’s folly to think that way because you are just holding yourself back.  Dive in, if it works first time – great, if it needs a bit of extra practice then that’s also great because you are really getting to grips with the new thing.  If it doesn’t work then maybe it’s not for you.  Often, that’s my favourite outcome because I can cross it off my list and move onto the next technique.  You will never see me do crocheted cables.  I hated doing it.  It’s just not for me, but because I now know that, I’m never swayed to those projects and I let something else pique my interest instead.

3 – Final Destination

Let me introduce you to Heulwen.  It’s a laceweight shawl using Garthenor wool (link) and is in this month’s Inside Crochet (Issue 125 (link)).  Heulwen means sunshine in Welsh which is very apt given the design and that Garthenor is a Welsh-based wool company.

Heulwen is made from 2 x 50g of Gathenor’s Number 1 Laceweight Wool which is undyed Shetland (link) and 1 x 50g of their plyed laceweight, Pennine, in colour Tilia (link).

The entire th