On The Needles (01:40)

The Whirligeek (07:51)

Review: Dyakcraft Darn Pretty Interchangeable Needles (14:48)

Recalculating Route (26:49)

Big thank you to Heather of Craftlit podcast, also Barb and Tracie from 2 Knitlit Chicks podcast, for playing the promo for my podcast. 

Also thanks to Knitting Podcast, started by Carla (1to1 on Ravelry). It's a great blog to catch up with your favorite shows (both audio and video) and also to discover new ones. Podcasters can also comment on the most recent post to have their show added to the list. When new episodes are posted, it will automatically be featured here.

Thank you to members who  introduced themselves either in the board or through PM: perfect-circle, Michelle from UK.

On The Needles (04:13)

Stash:

Barenaked Knitspot 2013. I review all 6 shipments and 14 patterns:

On The Needles

Stash Enhancements:
Seabreeze Studios pleated clutch bag, single skein. Phone pouch, cosmetic pouch, and pencil case. Hedgehog galore!

The Whirligeek

Off The Needles

Alpaca sox mini socks: reinforced heel, but the slipped stitches are placed in WS, not in RS as usual. Don't think it makes a difference, but interesting. I've been MLing exclusively when I knit socks, and I usually convert DPN patterns into ML. I never move my stitches around, but I realize something. Usually the toe on cuff down socks have 8 sts left before kitchenering, and in all my previous socks, The graft is placed horizontally. Only in the socks that I knit for Timothy using Ann Budd's recipe did I realize that if I move stitches around so the 4 paired decreases face each other, I get a toe that looks sturdier. It's very hard to describe intelligently >.<

What I usually did was, my beginning of round starts on the beginning of heel sts. But the new-to-me method, the BOR is shifted to the middle of heel sts. So the 4 paired decreases face each other and I think the resulting toe looks sturdier.

This is one example that in knitting there's no black and white, and not grey either, there's only an assortment of colors.

Fun: 34 Adorable Things To Do With Leftover Yarn. My faves: pompom bookmark, yarn stamp, yarn ball collage, and the tiny hedgehog!

On The Needles

Colours of Rain top. Heard a very useful tip from Twinset Designs podcast, I think it was Jan... she mentioned that when knitting ribbing in the round, when she goes to the beginning of round when she purls after a knit stitch, it gets a bit loose, so she

Off The Needles

Gobi fingerless mitts by Anne Hanson, aan exclusive pattern for BNK 2013. Will be released in 6 months I think. Coming up is FIFC 2013 but I'm not joining it.

On The Needles

I've kitted up three new projects to help me knit faster: my carrot on a stick. Another pair of child socks, Maia Shoulderette, and BFF cowl cocoon from Knitty.

The Whirligeek

Tour de Fleece is in 6 days!

Recalculating Route
Watched Grimm season 2 in Halloween. Never do understand why it's so big in the North America.

I talked a bit about the Chinese Qing Ming Festival (or Ceng Beng), and I confused it with the Dragon Boat Festival when we eat bakcang (sticky rice with meat covered in leaf), sorry! It's the sinus.... my mind really is in the clouds today.

Tadaima

This week I interviewed (more like chatted) with Mel of Single Handed Knits podcast and blog. I had so much fun chatting with her, I hope you enjoy it too :) We talk about everything from knitting to spinning to sewing to foreign languages. Listen to it and get lost with us--me in Jakarta, Indonesia and Mel in Kauai, Hawaii, USA! 

In the middle of the chat we got disconnected and then when we reconnected I forgot to record the call halfway...

When I forgot to hit record button, we were talking about how Mel's Polish parents emphasize reading and learning, and that was a big part on how Mel loves learning and imparting that learning to others. Two of her proudest teaching moments were when she saw one of her dance students named Chloe who used to have a hard time connecting with the dance, got to enjoy and bloomed as a ballerina. The other was Natalya, her oldest, whom she taught how to knit. Natalya was just sitting and knitting on a new project and Mel was feeling powerfully touched to see that what she had first taught her has grown and expanded and has been changed into Natalya's own passion.

We also talked about what's in Mel's knitting bucket list and she mentioned knitting with beads. Which is challenging primarily working with small objects. We mentioned Fleegle beader. Mel would try it out after I give it a review (and before that I'd have to buy it and use it first). Another goal for Mel was that she wants to knit items with smaller gauge and smaller needles. She's also just enrolled for a sewing class (for dresses and adult garments!) by Deborah Moebes of Whipstitch--also a Craftsy teacher!

Then Mel went on to talk about learning spinning on a wheel, and I complimented her o

Off The Needles:

On The Needles:

Get Your Geek On!:

Curious Collective shawl project by Helen Stewart (Hellsbells on Ravelry) of Curious Handmade. First post about the shawl here. Over 5 weeks starting May 20, 2013, each week she posts a poll on her blog asking for choices on specific design features of the shawl. Final pattern will be released in early July. The price is currently $3, but will be increased gradually to $6 when it debuts as a full pattern. Check out the Ravelry pattern page here. Week 3 poll for weight of yarn to be used has been closed and I'm waiting for Week 4 :)

Whirligeek:

Big thank you for iTunes rating and review for the show! There's a review by kreyoli (Kim of Craft Stash), simonamaloney, and Silkystar. Thank you everybody for the lovely reviews!

Also thank you simonamaloney, jsandss (who designs the pattern Stormy Seas in Amirisu, which is in my favorites!), rox54, VirginiaTx, lmecoll, cperrine, knittincrazee, purlabelle, k8erpillar, FaireAttention (Kate of Gourmet Stash), and katepricey who replied back to my welcome note.

New "what do you want to hear about?" thread  and "Pimp Your Stuff" thread in the Rav group.

Off The Needles

On The Needles

I interviewed Meri, one half of the brain behind Amirisu Magazine--Tokuko Ochiai, the other half, was unfortunately unavailable as she had just moved.

This interview was originally planned to be a short one, but I had a lot of fun talking with Meri, time flew and it's almost a full podcast episode length, so I decided to make a separate episode for the interview (taking a page from Subway Knits podcast and her In The Conductor's Booth series). I had so much fun doing the interview, I already have a few others planned for the near future, so stay tuned!

I also would like to thank Paula Emons-Fuessle of Knitting Pipeline who mentioned me on her podcast and sending new listeners to the podcast :) Thank you, Paula!