Episode 2: Encourage Better Podcast

Episodes are live right now! You can head here to see the directories as they come online. Some have a bit of a wait before showing up in the listing. See if your favorite podcast platform is currently listed: ENCOURAGE BETTER PODCAST

Please note: everything from iTunes to Spotify to Google has had the new podcast information submitted, but it may take a little time before it becomes listed in their directory. Until then definitely check things out by clicking the button below:

This knitting podcast episode is focused on helping you go from happily knitting indoors to successfully out the door in under 5 minutes and not forgetting a thing!

Sound too good to be true? Well let me explain all about the Super Simple Survival Checklist: Helpful Tools for On The Go Knitting.

(you can get your terrific download after you listen to today’s episode of course!)

This is the transcript of today's episode:

Aloha and welcome if knitting is your go to creative refuge, the place that you look to craft your best self, but some days stitching so low on the sofa feels a bit empty. Keep listening to this podcast, encourage better takes you to Kodiak Alaska my home for now, which also happens to be the knitting adventure capital of the world. Okay. So that may be my take on it, but it's totally true. I'm sure you can come along with me and track up mountain peaks. Stand by the ocean shore or cozy up under a spruce tree all through your ear buds. I share knitting tips, tricks, and tails to help you have the most fun encourage better is the must listen to podcast to kickstart your mojo and broaden your smile. So I'm glad you're here. And if you keep listening, you might just have a lot more fun than you thought you could have Aloha from Alaska.

My friend, I am so glad that you're here today. I prepared a little discussion for on the go knitting adventures, which I will share about wanes. I am always prepped and ready to head out the door with my knitting in under five minutes. It's a simple, easy trick. But before that, I want to remind you, although you and I are here together right now, this definitely feels like a one conversation. And do you are too amazing for me to miss out on seriously? I would love to hear from you and to take the pressure off. I'll make the first move. I've got a perfect, simple midair knitting pattern that I'd love to share with you. It's free. You simply just head over to encourage better.com and you'll see this bold button proclaiming free pattern. And it's next to a picture of me holding a pumpkin click on that, and I'll send you an extra special pattern that's written in a way I know you're going to enjoy seriously.

I have heard from over 100 fellow knitters who have loved making this, and I just released it to our community a little over a week ago at the time of this recording. So grab it for yourself and enjoy the process. And when you're done, let me know what you thought again, the place to find it is encourage better.com. You'll see the big, bold button. I think it's black with white writing, click it, and I've got you covered. So you can even actually put me on pause to go download it. Now if you want, it's available for sure until October 25th, though, if you're just tuning in now from somewhere in the distant future, you can definitely go and check to see if it's still available!

Now on to the knitting. I have finished a pair of socks and I've picked out another actual sock pattern to start. Okay, wait, I need to a clarify that statement and to give better context. So I've completed two sock structures, air quotes around that. So the two sock structures I've made started off at the cuff and worked down to the toe for the toe. I used the Finchley graft method, which yes, I did have to look that up. The Finchley graft method is what I used rather than the Kitchener based completely on a suggestion from a fellow video podcast, viewer who commented on the episode where I showed these socks. So big Mahalo to you, Wollyhooker, who also doesn't happen to enjoy magic looping either. I don't know if any of you feel the way I do about magic loop. I, Ooh, I don't like it. I actually went on in my feelings of how I am with the magic loop and it is in the YouTube video podcast, or you can find it on Instagram, IGTV I'm Mskiknits on Instagram. Or here: https://www.encouragebetter.com

And the video podcast is going to be linked in the show notes as well. The episode to which I am referring is called Knitting Among Seagulls. And I will be showing you in that video, the socks in question or that I'm referring to here on this podcast, if you'd like a little extra visual context, or just to kind of see where I was as I knit the socks. So again, Wollyhooker saw that video and shared with me that she is not a Kitchener fan. She turned me on to something I had never heard of before called Finchley graft, which it's, it's so amazing that we have this type of community and these awesome gifts of technology that can lead us into new areas of discovery. So more about these socks... My main tubes were created in a very colorful rainbow burst against a soft grey backdrop kind of yarn. The yarn itself is a Merino cashmere blend with 10% nylon. And it is as soft as you might imagine. Amazing yearn the color. The main color is a solid gray that has shifted from a solid grade to light white gray, and then has these magnificent bursts of color. It's just segments, it's pink and yellow and teal blue blue, and then a more green blue. And you'll knit a swath of yarn stretch in the gray, and then there'll be this burst, burst, burst, burst burst of this little rainbow. And then you'll continue on in the gray, which I love, love, love, love gray, and then another pop of color. The Dyer who created this yarn is no longer dyeing. So I think you can find colorful, happy yarns through a host of different indie-dyers,, two of the most well love dyers that I know personally, I chat with frequently and adore immensely in the UK is Kate Selene. And in the States is Stephanie from Space Cadet yarn. Both have incredible sock yarns, and they have these rainbow colors. Now, if you are a dyer and you are listening to this: definitely message me or communicate with me, the fact that, Hey! I have really amazing rainbow style yarn too. And if you watch the video, the YouTube video and you see the yarn: definitely in the comments, give a shout out to yourself and let people know where they can find your yarn! It makes it easier.

So that particular yarn, you can't get any more, but the toe, which I actually began knitting at the point just before the ball of the foot, where that part transitions to the full length of the toe. I knit that toe box in a contrast yellow, sunny, right pop of color, which accentuates the bold yellow pops that are throughout the rainbowy part of the yarn that I was previously talking about. That yarn is still available and you just have to look up Infinite Twist. She's amazing. Cate from Infinite Twist is a fabulous human. So I actually love the heels and toes done in contrast colors. It's like my little sock secret that nobody sees unless I'm wearing my Birkenstocks, t's just kind of fun to have those.

Now the cuffs where the beginning of the sock started, which in light of the need to have full transparency with you, one cuff was begun by my now college attending daughter. I discovered these socks and missed her one day as moms do when their kids aren't around. And it was just this abandoned sock start. And I just missed Natalya. So I grabbed it and started knitting. She had maybe, you know, two and a half, three inches started and she is a cuff down kind of girl. I am a toe up kind of girl, but whatever. I just, I thought, you know what? She hasn't really gotten that far committed into this. I can make a tube and come back later to do the part of cuff down that I don't enjoy, which is turning the heel. So from the cuff, which is the whole length of the sock body, the leg is done in a 1x1 ribbing for the entire leg of the sock. That is quite a journey, 1x1 ribbing,but when I got to the body of the foot, I considered "Am I going to keep the ribbing on top and have it smooth in stockinette on the bottom?" And I thought about that for about a half of a second and realized, okay, I'm really done with the one by one rib. And so the body of the sock is completely worked in stockinette up to the toe.

The toe reduction I worked as a very straightforward knit, one, slip one, knit one pass the slip stitch over. I just knit to three stitches before the end of the front toe stitches. Then I knit two together, knit one. I repeated that for the bottom of the sock and the next round I worked without any decreases. And then I just alternated between those two rows or those two rounds over and over again.

Now the toe closing that I mentioned earlier, I will share more about an additional episode, another time it's quite a fun thing to unpack, but right now I wanted to share one of the preparations that I have all set. Always. I have this all set in order to make getting out the door within five minutes, totally doable, not actually just doable, but out the door with my inks successfully setting myself up for perfectly knitted contentment. So today a first of a few things on that list of what I do to get me out the door, the highest value comes in the smallest package. And it is a pre packed pouch of essentials, which most people call a notions kit and it's to go. So the vote, the most vital part of being able to keep my knitting with me when I hike or kayak, or just pretty much wander in the woods, or, you know, even if I'm going to be doing major, traveling on an airplane or a ferry, I pack thoughtfully and sparingly those two tenants in knitting.

When I followed them, provide the context for contentment in all my stitching row after row round, after round, be thoughtful and be sparingly packed now, as they apply to my notions. Here's the quick list. And don't worry if you don't have a pen or a paper, I'm going to tell you how to get this mini checklist in just a few minutes. I have totally got you covered friend. You just relax and you listen. So I start with a pouch, which I have several packed and set aside for grabbing go convenience. They are actually right now in the library on a shelf with my knitting and craft books. So I absolutely know where they are and notions. Aren't something I generally keep in my, at home knitting areas. I oftentimes will put my knitting in a big basket or I'll have it in believe it or not big pottery bowls.

And they are here and there and everywhere around the house tucked away neatly. And it's just my knitting when I need to get up and get scissors or a stitch marker or whatever it is. I know exactly where I have those now to expedite my out the door ability. I pre-pack these little notions and have them in a special spot. So why I'm telling you this is so that, you know, that preparation, isn't just something that's super helpful for my regular hiking and outdoors lifestyle preparation and having things together makes it easy for everybody. And when everybody's happy, Oh my goodness. Life is so much easier, but I pre-pack these things, I set them aside and I don't use them. And it's kind of like, you know, cliff bars, for instance, cliff bars, Luna bars. If you're into those, when I'm at home, I'm hungry, I'll make soup, I'll make salad.

I made a really amazing salmon for a cocky bowl the other night. Those are the things I'll eat. I don't eat cliff bars at home because I need them for hiking or moments out of doors that I can't take the time to pack a picnic. And it is the same thing with these notions and pouches that I make. I tend to keep all of my pouches small and the pouches. I have our little fabric with either zippers or drawstring bags and they fit a number of in my hand. Now you can't see it, but they fit in the Palm of my hand or Palm ish of my hand. I even use, and one of my favorite things are Altoid tins, the bigger ones, not the itty bitty mini ones, but the bigger ones. And I have something I will share in the future about these really tricked out Altoid cans.

I will make up a special PDF to share with you guys in the future about how I make these and turn them into special gifts that are great for crafty friends and knitters. Just so amazing Alto cans, start saving them. Now, ask your friends to save them. Now they are an indispensably wonderful utilitarian kin, okay. But here's, what's inside that I find super helpful. And it's just five simple things. Number one, a tapestry needle. I love this for finishing things, of course, but also as a lifeline kind of saving knitting device, instead of trying to find a crochet needle that will fit in a very small pouch. I use a tapestry needle. I can just grab the this drop stitched in question and work it up and I'm good to go. So a tapestry needle is number one on the list and if I had it outside of the car.

So here's a funny story about being prepared and then actually not coming in clutch when you really needed it. I had my little notions bag in the area, which is of the video that I was sharing earlier about knitting among seagulls. I had finished my, my toe to the point that I had to then slide my stitches on double pointed needles because I had packed my notions bag, had it in the car, in the little middle center console as we were driving. And we drove a way out to the end of the road and I was so excited to get out and we were out and about and doing things. And I did not take my little tapestry needle or not my tapestry, Neo my knitting notions pouch out of the car with me. So if you're going to go through all the work to get these things done, don't be like me.

Keep them with you as you're hiking or going and doing. Don't leave them in places that they're not going to be useful. All right. The second thing on the list is stitch markers and my absolute favorite for on the go are the wee little pin ones, which are everywhere now. And by everywhere, I don't mean in the knitting community. I mean, they are literally on clothing to hang tags. And I collect those when I see the kids are getting new shirts. My son and my husband have collared shirts that they have gotten and save us a plan of ones. And the pins are the identical pins that I get in different kits that I order from a yarn providers. So these little they're little pins, they look like safety pins. Only the shape of them are more of a bold, like a, if you've got the class at the top and you flip it around and put the class at the bottom, they almost look like little mini light bulbs.

I love these for simple reasons. One they're easy to use in a variety of knitting needles sizes. So that makes them very versatile. But what else it gives just kind of enhances the versatility is the fact that you can use them and slide them around the rounds with your needle, but you can also open them up and pin them right to a place that you need. They also can, you know, of course Mark things as you open them, but they can be used to Mark or hole drop stitches. And what's funny is I keep talking about drop stitches and I feel like I'm miss Butterworth or not as Butterworth ms. Butterfinger always dropping stitches. But I love those. And another thing that makes these stitch markers amazing. So this is like the third wonderful thing about them is when I pack them, I don't just put them loosely in the notions pouch.

I actually take the time to take one and I just took a bunch of them through it and collect them all on a pin, or I make a Daisy chain out of them. And the reason behind that is when I open up the Altoid tin or I unzipper things in a hurry like I do. Sometimes I pop the fabric or I pop open the Alto I can and those little pins just, Oh my gosh, they jump out and I lose 80% of them. So pin this stitch markers together, it just is or tie a little string together and string them on that. So number one, tapestry needle two is the bulb pins, stitch markers. And then next are just tiny snips. So itty bitty snips that you can toss in your bag to make things easy. We, you know, generally have snips on the Swiss army knives, but I like having a pair of my notions pouch.

And then I will have to ask my husband or my son, Hey, can I borrow the Swiss army knife to do my knitting? Cause then they have to dig for it trying to be self sufficient here. So another thing that I have the fourth thing on my list is waste yarn. Now my waste yarn is a bit unorthodox for my knitting collection because I generally use natural fibers and will natural fibers for knitting. But my waist yarn, I like to use high contrast, color acrylic yarn. And I find that if I want my stitches to be easy to see and to remove from the yarn acrylic for me works the best that high contrast color too. Like I have a bright yellow over the top acrylic yarn. I also have it in a cobalt blue and I have just one skein and that's, you know, those are my waist yarns gains.

That high contrast allows me with ease to assess the stitches. So if I have to put stitches on waist yarn, have I put them all on there? Have I missed one? I can easily see that. If I need to count them, I can stop and look back and counting them is super easy as opposed to just utilizing some spare yarn that I have from the current scan or ball that I'm working on. Now, lastly, it doesn't sound like it would be something you would use for knitting per se, but this is a fabulous trick that I have learned over the course of getting out the door, being on the go knitting, whether it's in an airport, because it has come in clutch in, in many airports sitting out watching sports that my kids have been in as well as hiking and every other place is, believe it or not handkerchief like really my old school handkerchief that my grandfather would, he would put 'em in his pocket, his shirt pocket, or he had it in his back pocket kind of handkerchief just white ones.

And when I do with, I fold it nice and tight and I will put her over band to the outside of the outward category, keep the handkerchief secure. And it also reinforces the fact that the Altoid can, is secured enclosed. I'll also wrap it around because generally the handkerchief, you know, I have little tiny pouches. And so the handkerchief, I just rubber band to the outside of my knitting pouch. I don't even worry about trying to shove it in there and make a mess. Which I guess number six on the list, even though it's five number six, is that rubber band that I use to wrap the handkerchief and secure the handkerchief with that sucker comes in really handy for a number of things. And the, the one right off the top of my head that I can think of the use of the rubber band on the go.

When I knit, I'm constantly taking my knitting out of my backpack and doing something with it and then putting it back in, or if we get to a point on the hike where I've been knitting and I hold my knitting in front of me and I kind of let the yarn stay in my backpack and I just pull it over my shoulder around my neck and I'm knitting in front of me. There come times that I have to shove it back in my backpack or in my side pack, because we're going through a place where I need to use my hands and that not that you have to be hiking, but that constant motion in and out in and out of our project bags, I'm not sure if you found this to be the case, but I certainly have my stitches are catapulted to the tip of those needles.

And oftentimes they can see freedom on the horizon and they leap off and then I have to put them back on my needles. So when I do is on the go, I will generally have that rubber band put into practice by putting the needles North end in North end or tip to tip. And then I just wrap, wrap a rubber band around it. I don't use scrunchies, even though I sometimes have a scrunchie my wrist or an elastic band, I find that the rubber bands work better. They secure and hold it better. And they're not nearly as bulky as trying to put a scrunchie on or an elastic band. So that's, that's another thing for the books, as far as, I guess that would be number six, but back then, number five, which is the handkerchief. Now the handkerchief I can use it for obviously things like wiping my hands offs because I'm out about doing stuff.

And sometimes my hands are going to get dirty, wipe it off. But what the true value of the handkerchief has to offer is when I'm out working, whether I'm just remembering a time that I did this at an airport when I didn't have a handkerchief and I set things down on the chair next to me, and as I'm packing things back and putting things back in my pouch, you know, I'll inevitably leave a couple of stitch markers behind and some of them are really cute and you're just in a hurry. You know, they're calling your plane. If you have your little handkerchief out, whether it's at the airport or in many cases, I stop and I will knit when we stop hiking. And we're, you know, we're having a snack or taking 10 I'll sit on a log and there's a lot of Moss outside.

The bottom of the, the forest floor is Browns and greens. And if I'm using things out of my notion bag, you know, and I know I'm going to get it again. I'm not constantly mindful of putting my needle back in my, my tapestry needle back in the pouch. I like lay it out because I'm using these things. If I'm going to take things out and use it, and I have the handkerchief down and I put things in it, one, I see them easily. And two, when they call my flight or it's time for me to pack up and leave the floor of the woods to go romping through the rest of the remainder of our track, I just grabbed that handkerchief. You know, all the corners, pull it up, cinch it like a little knapsack, stick it in my pouch of shove and close it up.

Or I just shake the things off of the kerchief into it. And it just is a great aid to keeping things together, not dimension when we're in need and somebody in the family has used of handkerchiefs. I just pull one out of my bag and, you know, Hey, I've got, I've got a handkerchief. If you need to wipe your eye or you need to wipe your hands, you need to wipe your nose. Let me just dig it out of my knitting bag. And suddenly my knitting becomes a superpower rescue agent solving hikers dilemmas, and then folks that I'm knitting are not knitting that I'm hiking with are much less inclined to grumble. If they have to wait for me for a moment or two, while I fetch my knitting or I stop along the path to recount my stitch patterns because my knitting came in helpful.

So there's a good use for your handkerchief. So there you are. My super simple survival notion kit supplies for knitting on the go, but I'm curious, do you have a notions pack or a way that you pack your bag and you include certain key items that help you as you're traveling and going just on hand, what would you include? You can shoot me an email to Melissa at [inaudible] dot com and you can put in a subject line, let's see, you could put either like notions updates or my notion ideas, something about notions in the subject line. I might share your great ideas with others here on the podcast, and you will be a superhero to them. Now, if you want that little checklist, I have a little checklist and I made it. It's kind of cute. And it's a great tool for you if you want it to have for yourself, or you can use it to put together or give out to other fellow knitters. It's really fun sometimes to take one of these little things, tuck it in a little tiny Ziploc snack bag or something, and put these little supplies in and give it to your friends. Anyways, I've got a checklist prepped for you to ensure quality control on your next knitting adventure. And you just need to pop over to www.encouragebetter.com forward slash notions. N O T I O N S. And you can download your fun little checklist there.

So thanks for joining me. It's been a pleasure. I know it's a gift that I have to be able to connect with you. And I treasure that gift. You are such an incredible human. You bring so much value and just immense beauty to the world. And I think that even if you were told that every day, it's not enough, you need to hear it as often as you can. So you are valuable and not because of what you make, not because of what you create, but you are valuable just for taking that breath. You just did. You're so amazing and gifted. You were created intentionally to be creative, whether you choose to create something with your hands through knitting, her painting or crochet or whatever. I think it's, it's pretty important to tell you your worth. Doesn't lie in what you create, create. If you want, don't create, if you don't want it, doesn't change the value you bring this world. And I'm really glad you're a part of this world. Thanks for joining me in my little part of the world. And I look forward to connecting again with you soon.