Episode 126: Bedcast

In this episode: I get to talk about about my knitting to a real, live person! Such a treat. We are in my guest room with refreshing bevvies and Amy Singer for a P3 wrap up, some sweater fixing, shawl knitting, and shameless self promotion.

Always one of the highlights of P3, our Tiny Perfect Marketplace this year featured two utterly amazing Welsh dyers. Caerthan from Triskelion Yarn, who works and lives in Carmarthen, brought a beautiful selection of yarns and batts. He has a great write up of the marketplace on his blog. (Caerthan is also dyeing some special BFL sock yarn for the final pattern to be knit for Welsh for Rainbow.) ((I know it’s been a long time, but it really is nearly done! There will be much rejoicing when it’s completed.))

Mark and Estelle, of Squeaky Elliot, made Amy very happy with their range of hand dyed linen and Gower Wool, a lovely DK weight blend of BFL and Welsh Black wool from their family-owned flocks.(You won’t find the pink yarn, pictured left, in the shop though. I went there to find the shop URL, got distracted by the pretty, and bought both skeins!) Estelle also wrote about the marketplace in her blog.

P3 has a new name! Gwlana, you may recall, means “woolgathering” in Welsh. We think it’s the perfect name for our little knitting retreat business that began here in Wales back in 2010.

Our next Gwlana Retreat will be held from 11 – 14 October 2013, in Pembrokeshire. Visit us on Ravelry and Facebook to stay in the loop.

Yes, we do wax poetic about Tom Bihn bags. This is because Tom Bihn project bags are wonderful. They are wonderful because Tom Bihn listens to what knitters say they want in a project bag, and designs his bags accordingly. Would that more manufactures were like Tom Bihn.

We talked at great length about these projects:
Amy’s Henslowe is being knit in 100% silk mystery yarn that looks like the sea.

My Color Affection was knit using one skein each of Tanis Blue Label and Red Label, and one skein of Maidenhair, by Handmaiden. If it sounds familiar, that’s because I’ve talked about this project quite a bit already. Here it is, in motion:

Be sure to click the sound link in the upper left corner of the video.

Mesmerising, isn’t it?

The book that made Amy fall in love with garter stitch is The Knitting Experience, by Sally Melville.

On the needles at Ty ((It occurred to me recently that referring to my home in Wales as “Casa del Cast On” was, in a word, stupid. Ty means “house” in Welsh, and I’ll be using that instead in the future.)) Cast On, the Lune Shawl, by Mirium Felton, in my own Shetland handspun. Only one small mod: I knit the edging from Simmer Dim. If I sound underwhelmed by the yarn, it’s because I am. I rather ruined it by adding to much alum to the dyebath, way back when. I can’t NOT use my own handspun, and it’s not terribly scratchy. That said, if there’s a way to add softness back to alum-stripped yarn, I’d love to hear about it.

Amy has already arrived at Whitebarn Farm, where she’ll be teaching Sweater Success. Do sign up if you can make it. It’s going to be a great weekend.

Later this year you can join Amy in Iceland.

I’m currently putting together a new tour for this summer. You’ll find me at FibreTrain, in Nampa, ID (that’s near Boise) over Memorial Day weekend, and in Atlanta 14 – 15 June, with the North Georgia Knitting Guild. I have the weekend of June 1-2, and June 8-9 free to teach, and am looking for a yarn shop or guild on the east coast who might be interested. If you’d like me to teach near you, please drop me an email with the details.

Amy’s Audible pick this week is (unsurprisingly, to those who know her) Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman. Click the enormous logo below to sign up for Audible today.

Music by Brian Mazzaferri, Silly Song.