OUR BIG NEWS! The Northern California Knitting Retreat will take place Friday, April 17 through Sunday, April 19, 2015 at the St. Francis Retreat Center in San Juan Bautista, California. The retreat is organized by a committee of friends brought together by their love of fiber craft and knitting from Northern California and by The 2 Knit Lit Chicks and The Yarniacs podcasts.
Cost of the retreat is $265 per person. This includes sleeping accommodations in a double (shared) room for the nights of Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18, six meals, and use of common rooms and facilities. Please note that all rooms are shared. Special dietary needs can be accommodated.
SPACE IS LIMITED, and it is our desire to make things as fair as is humanly possible. If you would like to attend:
Mail the application with your payment beginning October 15, 2015. Please note: No applications with a postmark date before October 15, 2015 will be accepted.
If you would like to attend and room with a friend, please send your applications and payments together in one envelope. No more than two applications per envelope, please.
If more applications are received than retreat spaces are available, attendees will be chosen by lottery. If your application is not chosen in the lottery, you will have the option to either be placed on a waiting list or have your check shredded. We will hold the checks sent by those on the waiting list until it is determined whether they have a space at the retreat.
Our Sweater KAL/CAL has begun! It will run from September 15 to January 15, and it must be an adult-sized sweater with some kind of sleeves to qualify for the prize drawing. If you’ve never knit a sweater before, this is the time to give it a try! We will have a list of some patterns that would work well for beginners on our Sweater KAL Chat thread.
Daisy, who sells everything from cool fabric to vintage ties to wonderful project bags in her Artinstitchtute etsy shop, will be sending this Alexander Henry fabric project bag (a $32 value) to one lucky winner! Go over to our Ravelry group to enter to win. And take a look at Daisy's shop; you can get a 20% discount using the coupon code endofsummer2014.
Barb and Tracie will both be attending the following events: Lambtown in Dixon, CA, October 4 & 5. We will be attending on Sunday, the 4th. CogKNITive Fiber Retreat in Tehachapi, CA, October 11. Stitches West in Santa Clara, CA, February 19 - 22, 2015.
Northern California Knitting Retreat – April 17-19, 2015 in San Juan Bautista, CA
Thank you to our listeners for their patience during the last several weeks as we changed to a new hosting site and required everyone to un-subscribe and re-subscribe (information and directions are here). You may have noticed old episodes popping up looking like "new" episodes…this is because we are uploading all of our previous episodes to Libsyn and iTunes. Information on that is here!
Our Mother Bear KAL/CAL is over! We drew for prizes, and the winners are listed at the bottom of this post. Thanks to all of you who generously knitted and crocheted bears for this wonderful organization.
You knit and crocheted 125 bears this year. Thank you so much to tmkr who is donating $1 per bear to the Mother Bear Organization!
Be sure and mail your completed bears (along with $3 per bear to cover shipping to their final destination!) to the Mother Bear Organization to this address:
Mother Bear Organization
P.O. Box 62188
Minneapolis, MN 55426
Our upcoming Sweater KAL/CAL will be starting September 15, 2014 and will run until January 15, 2015. Start thinking about what you want to knit!
New Giveaway!
Daisy, who sells everything from cool fabric to vintage ties to wonderful project bags in her Artinstitchtute etsy shop, will be sending this Alexander Henry fabric project bag (a $32 value) to one lucky winner! Go over to our Ravelry group to enter to win. And take a look at Daisy's shop; you can get a 15% discount using the coupon code endofsummer2014.
Barb recommends the new video podcast, Yarnder Woman, available on YouTube here!
Barb and Tracie will both be attending the following events:
Lambtown in Dixon, CA, October 4 & 5. We will be attending on Sunday, the 4th.
We still have some unclaimed prizes from our Prize-A-Palooza giveaway (to celebrate 2000 members in our Ravelry Group). Please check our Episode 66 Blogpost to see if you won.
Our Mother Bear KAL/CAL will officially begin July 1. You will have until August 31 to post pictures of any bears completed in 2014 to our FO thread to be eligible to win some great prizes. Please go to the Mother Bear Website to purchase your knitted or crocheted bear pattern.
A big THANK-YOU to tmkr for her planned generous donation of $1 per bear to the Mother Bear Project for each bear completed for our KAL!
Jan in British Columbia, Canada gifted a Mother Bear pattern to an 83-year-old knitter friend. This friend has since knitted 55 bears since January! Wow.
You have until June 15th to enter to win this skein of Dream in Color Jilly. You can enter here.
Tracie will be attending Spinning at the Winery at the Retzlaff Winery in Livermore, CA on June 7th. Rumor has it that DH Ryan will be attending this event with her.
Tracie is setting aside the Knitting Rose Blossom Sock yarn in the Girl on Fire colorway until she decides for sure which cardigan she wants to knit!
Tracie is stalking the Hitofude Cardigan - she wants to make it in a silvery-gray color as a summer cardigan. Coincidentally, Barb is also planning to knit this cardigan out of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light that she has in stash.
Our Colorwork KAL will continue until May 1, 2014. Be sure to post your FO pictures in the Colorwork KAL FO thread to be eligible for 1 of our 3 great prize packages!
Be sure to listen to the end of this episode to hear all the winners from our Prize-A- Palooza celebrating 2000 members in our Ravelry Group. List of prizes and winners is at the end of this blog post.
The previous winner announced for the ebook, California Revival Knits never contacted us, so a new winner has been drawn! This is announced at the end of podcast.
Whispers Pullover by Veera Valimaki using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the Jasper color way. Barb doesn't like it on her, so she will be frogging it and re-purposing the yarn.
Enter our Prize-a-palooza! Prizes include yarn by Alpenglow andKnitting Rose, stitch markers from k8erpillar, and patterns fromElizabeth Doherty. To enter the drawing, post a comment in the Prize-a-palooza thread telling us either what your favorite moment from the podcast has been or a pattern/yarn or gadget/book you have been inspired/enabled by the Chicks to do/buy/read. If you haven’t joined our Ravelry group yet, do it now, because you must be a member of the group to win!
Write a one-page summary that includes one or more of the following:
Why I knit*
What knitting means to me
A knitting anecdote-- funny or otherwise
Personal history or story related to the topic
Knitting Inspiration
Pictures (JPEGs) of your work or anything knitting-related (Please own copyright privileges of anything shown)
Knitting Aspirations
Stash
Commentary
Knitting Pros/Cons
Unfortunately, I will not be able to use all of the submissions. If I choose to use yours, I will notify you and present you with a permission to publish form for your signature.
Tracie and Barb both really missed Blue Moon Fiber Arts (because we wanted some Woobu and possibly some BFL Sport too) and Tess Designer Yarns (because we like to grope the Kitten and exclaim over their beautiful colors), who were not at Stitches this year :-(
Did you think we were kidding about having Prize-A-Palooza when we passed 2000 members in our Ravelry group? Well, think again!
We’ve got books, patterns, stitch markers, yarn holders, pattern holders, and of course YARN YARN YARN! Post in the Prizeapalooza thread to be entered to win! And if you haven’t joined our Ravelry group yet – what are you waiting for?
Colorwork KAL/CAL will start March 1, 2014 and run until May 1, 2014. Pick a project and join us. You can knit any colorwork project you like - stripes, stranded or Fair Isle, intarsia. Our only rules are that your project must be bigger than a coffee cozy, and you must be a member of the group to win. There will be PRIZES!! If you would like to donate a prize, please let us know.
How cute is this picture? This is Ryan's cousin's son Isaac in the hat Tracie knit for him. It's obvious that he loves it since he needs to wear it to eat his Cheerios!
Barb recommends Curious Handmade with Helen Stewart audio podcast. She is offering a coupon code (knitventchicks) for 20% off the price of her latest pattern collection, KnitVent 2013. The code is good December 26, 2013 - January 6, 2013. Barb and Tracie will be going to Stitches West 2014 in Santa Clara, CA February 20 - 23, 2014. Come join us! KNITTING Barb's Finished Projects: After a year of knitting, the Reversible Cable Scarf by Bruce Weinstein out of Madelinetosh Merino Light in the Fig color way for Barb's husband is finally done!
Our next Read-Along book is Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. 4+ stars, on Goodreads. It is available in paperback, hardcover, on Kindle (only $2.99 through Amazon!) and in audio book form.
We will start reading on January 15, 2014. C'mon, you know you want to read it with us!
Happy Hallowe'en! As promised in this episode, here is a picture of Tracie's son Will dressed up as a Hawaiian Tourist Zombie!
Our Sweater KAL/CAL is ongoing. As of this recording, YOU have about 50 sweaters completed! You have until December 1, 2013 to complete any adult sweater.
We mention our upcoming Read-Along which will start in January, 2014. It will be a non-fiction book. Details to come...
The Chicks will be attending Stitches West in Santa Clara, California - February 21 - 24, 2014.
BLIP TV and video podcasts hint: If some of your favorite podcasts are no longer available on Blip TV but you still want to watch them on your home TV, do you have a Roku box? If so, you can add the iTunes Channel to your list of Roku channels!
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down Tracie - Up: Hallowe'en Down: Jury Duty
Barb: Up: Beverage Infusion Pitcher - I have been filling the center section with sliced lemons and cucumbers - love the flavored water! Down: losing my FitBit on vacation :>(
Come join our SWEATER KAL/CAL!! You have until December 1, 2013 to create something wonderful for you or another adult.
The Click for Babies KAL/CAL has started with Katie (jetgirl1313) of the Knittin' on the Fly Videocast. Please go here to find out all about it. This is a wonderful charity program that gives out handmade purple baby hats to parents of newborns to promote the education of normal crying patterns for babies.
Our Mother Bear KAL/CAL is over! We had over 160 bears completed. Please go to the end of this thread to see the winners of our fabulous prizes! Thank you to everyone who participated. Make sure you send the completed bears to the Mother Bear Organization so they can find a child to love...
Barb will be in Washington DC 9/23 - 9/27. She will be at Looped Yarn Works with Colleen (DCKnitter) and Jill (Jillsey) at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 9/25/13 - stop by and say hi! She will also be in Bethany Beach, DE 9/28 - 10/4 and planning on meeting up with Christina4365 at some point during that week. If you would like to get together, please let her know.
Tracie is having a "mini-contest". While in Bath, she picked up some Jane Austen items - The History of England by a Parial, Prejudiced & Ignorant Historian by Jane Austen, a "Keep Calm and Read Jane Austen" tote bag from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, and a Jane bookmark. Please go to the We Love Jane Austen thread on our forum and answer a question to be eligible to win this Jane Austen prize! This contest ends on September 15th.
Some podcasters will be participating in a "Podcaster Throw-down" to encourage their listeners to knit or crochet hats for the Halos of Hope and turn them in at Stitches West in February. We are not a participating podcast, but you can read more about it via the Knotty Girls Knit Cast if you would like to participate. The Knitmore Girls will also be participating.
Upcoming Events: October 5 & 6, 2013 - Lambtown in Dixon California. Tracie will be attending this, probably on Sunday, the 6th. October 11 & 12, 2013 - Cognitive Fiber Retreat in Tehachapi, California. Barb and Tracie will be attending. February 20 - 23, 2013 - Stitches West 2014 in Santa Clara, California. Barb and Tracie will be attending and hope to have a very casual meet-up again.
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down Tracie - Up: Sunday Night Anti-Hero TV Double-Feature: Breaking Bad and Dexter Down: People stressing and naval-gazing about things they have no control over Barb - Up: a stranger paying for my coffee at Starbucks Down: My Twitter account was hacked
On another note, Barb has recently started watching the Orange is the New Black TV series on Netflix and she finally succumbed and can't get enough of the series The Walking Dead.
All of these bears were made by Jan (itsinc on Rav) - way to go Jan!
Mother Bear KAL/CAL ends on August 31, 2013. Get your finished bear pictures posted in the FO thread to be eligible to win some great prizes! Don't forget the following shop coupon codes that are good until August 31st also:
Cattail Knits - 10% off anything in her shop with the coupon code KNITLIT Sweet Serendipity 37 - 10% off anything in her shop for those who post in the Mother Bear FO thread! Use the coupon code KnitLit.
Tracie is having a "mini-contest". While in Bath, she picked up some Jane Austen items - The History of England by a Parial, Prejudiced & Ignorant Historian by Jane Austen, a "Keep Calm and Read Jane Austen" tote bag from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, and a Jane bookmark. Please go to the We Love Jane Austen thread on our forum and answer a question to be eligible to win this Jane Austen prize!
Barb will be in Washington DC 9/23 - 9/27, and Bethany Beach, Deaware 9/28 - 10/4. If you want to meet up, let her know via PM on Ravelry.
The Click for Babies KAL/CAL has started with Katie (jetgirl1313) of the Knittin' on the Fly Videocast. Please go here to find out all about it. This is a wonderful charity program that gives out handmade purple baby hats to parents of newborns to promote the education of normal crying patterns for babies.
Rachel's High School Graduation in Davis, California. It was the hottest day of the year, but she got it done anyway!
The Mother Bear KAL/CAL thread for chatter and FO's will run 7/1 - 8/31/13. Get your pattern here and start your bears! You may post ANY BEARS YOU HAVE FINISHED IN 2013 in the FO thread to be eligible to win a prize.
Tracie would love to meet up with UK listener Chicks when she travels to the UK this summer. All the details and dates are here, so let her know if you want to meet up.
Barb will be in the Washington DC area 9/23 - 9/27/13 and would also like to arrange to meet any listener Chicks at that time. Share any ideas you might have!
Episode 30 of the Literary Disco podcast - listen to it if you would enjoy a humerous discussion on V.C. Andrews Flowers in the Attic. Warning: language!
"Administrata" 2KLC Kardigan KAL/CAL continues until 5/1/2013. Join us for Fleeces Food and Fun (also known as "Wine and Wool" and "spinning at the Winery") at the Retzlaff Winery in Livermore, CA on May 25, 2013, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Don't forget to bring:
a chair
sunblock
hat
a potluck dish to share
your spinning and/or knitting
iTunes reviews are very much appreciated. If you want to do something nice for us, or for any of your favorite podcast hosts, please take the time to go over to iTunes and leave a review, or a star rating.
Josh Kilmer-Purcell - you may know him from the TV series, The Fabulous Beekman Boys, and as one of the winners of the 21st season of The Amazing Race. But did you know that he also had a career as a drag queen? Yes indeedy!
He can go from this....
To this! His stage name was "Aquadesiac" and yes, those are live goldfish in the breasts of the costume. PETA sent him a letter protesting his use of the goldfish.
In Looped Yarn Works - left to right: Colleen (DCKnitter), Jill (Jillsey), Barb, Heather (MamaOKnits), and Zoe (zbmorgan). Unfortunately, Marilyn (vapmore) had to leave before we took the picture
Barb has finished:
