97 Barista's Back!

Ben as a lion, age three.

Listen here.
Latte: Abby finished Provence by Janel Laidman. She was somewhat disappointed with Tosh Sock, and plans to generally avoid knitting socks with 2-ply yarn in the future. In The Intentional Spinner, Judith Mackenzie says that a perfect sock yarn should have three or more plies.

Stir: Abby is spinning and also has found her SPAKAL yarn!

Brewing: Ben has completed his Excel Tool for a basic beginner's hat. If you are feeling brave, please become a Beta Tester. You can download it here and give it a try! 

Abby has thought long and hard about which sweater to knit for the Knitmore Girls' SPAKAL. She's decided on Dark and Stormy, but it's renamed Bright and Sunshiny because the orange yarn is so cheerful. Abby used her McMorran balance to determine how much yardage she has of the hand spun yarn. 

Donuts KAL: Abby's decided to make hers a steeled cardigan with zipper. She's excited about this choice!

Taste: Abby reviews Knitting From the Center Out by Daniel Yuhas. 

Flavor of the Day: Ben is excited about JC Penney, Target and the new Uniqlo online store, all for menswear. Abby talks about Project Runway and then takes Ben back to his memories of home made costumes in his childhood.

Sofa: Ben likes Tame Impala's new album Lonerism. Check out the track Elephant here.

96 Knitting Without a Net

Java Socks: Complete!

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Brewing: Abby finished the Java socks! She is working on Provence, socks by Janel Laidman from the Knitterati sock club.

Ben is designing an Excel tool for a Beginning Knitter's Watch Cap.

Abby mentions the "Belly Button Start" for beginning knitting a circular project.

Abby is excited about the Null Hypothesis Scarf, which is double knit; a technique she's never tried. The pattern is from Needles and Artifice a book of steam-punk type patterns.

Our google+ Hangout was really fun! We will do it again. During the hangout, Ben performed "Sweater Surgery" on Erik, a sweater he made long before the podcast even started. Ben steeked for the first time, using Eunny Jang's crochet steeking tutorial. Ben's no longer afraid of the steek. He's now thinking of making Jared Flood's Rockaway Cardigan from Brooklyn Tweed.

Sofa: Ben talks about new music, The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Warning: explicit language on this album.

Abby has been listening to and enjoying the Pop Culture Happy Hour  podcast. From that podcast, she discovered the the Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast. Ben suggested that the A/V Club's Gateways to Geekery is a good place to find jumping in points for "cultish" TV shows and the like.

95 - Out of the Doldrums

Abby's Marin, from handspun

Listen here.

Brewing: Ben rails against the scarf as a first knitting project. Abby is almost finished with the Java Socks at last! Ben is going to try knitting sweaters at home to get his mojo back.

Stir: Abby's Matchless has suffered a bit from the cross country move, but Schacht is, as always, providing great customer service.

Chai: Abby visited the Berkeley Rose Garden and recommends it to everyone. Go there! Now!

Abby is working her way through the 41 Walking Tours of Berkeley book.

Sofa: Ben recently re-watched Bladerunner. Abby and Ben both love this movie and recommend it. Ben has also been enjoying Curb Your Enthusiasm which, we agree, you will either love or hate. Ben also mentioned Archer and Arrested Development. Abby is watching Call the Midwife and finds it very compelling. Ben once again recommends Louie.

Wired: Ben is experimenting with new high tech ways of playing music, and he has created a "drum kit" from an old Rock Band video game control kit, using a program called, appropriately, Drum Machine. This is a great example of repurposing things, and we can apply this to knitting! Abby read that "first person shooter" games are good for the brain, especially for older people. The article recommended Call of Duty but Ben recommends Team Fortress Two.

GET CREATIVE! Please join us for a google+ hangout on Sunday, October 14 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm Pacific Time. We will be creative together for one hour. Just pick something you want to work on and show up! 

94 - We Schedule Inspiration

Announcements: We are going to do a Knitalong for Ben's Donuts Hoodie pattern. Abby is going to do modifications to fit a curvy shape.To do the modifications, Abby is going to refer to the Big Girl Knits books as well as Little Red in the City. Ben will make himself very available to help everyone who participates in the Knitalong if questions arise. 

Brewing: Abby will begin her modifications by sketching options for adding shaping and redistributing the stripes. If you want to sketch your designs, try tracing them over a croquis. You can find a variety of croquis here. Ben experienced designing during a Speed Writing event, and we are going to set up a Google+ Hangout for anyone who wants to spend some concentrated time designing or working through a problem.

Abby is racing to finish the Java Socks before Ben does. She also learned that leaving a project idle for too long can result in "pattern amnesia". Better to read it all through before trying to pick up where you left off.

Sofa: We talk about the music and especially the video Putty Boy Strut by Flying Lotus. Abby marathon watched Season 3 of Covert Affairs. Ben is re-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Abby enjoyed the most recent episode of Project Runway when the designers made baby clothes.

Wired: Abby had a bumpy upgrade on her iPhone to iOS 6 leading to a new phone (thank you AppleCare.) Ben has also upgraded to Jelly Bean (Android) and he is enjoying having his phone tell him what to do via an app called Google Now. Ben says that design interfaces are moving away from the brushed metal look and towards simple Tron-like interfaces. Ben thinks that Google Now is anticipating what Google Glass will do. Ben also is excited about the computer version of an old video game, Jet Set Radio. We talk about how learning skills keeps any "hobby" interesting. We do bring this back to knitting!