Episode 4: Encourage Better Podcast
Kayaking and Knitting
Today we adventure out on the open water! But first I share about a new yarn crush and lovely vest I’m knitting.
For those wanting to ensure their preparedness on any on the go knitting opportunity, here is the link for The Super Simple Survival Checklist for On The Go Knitting
{PSSSTTT! If you head over to the podcast show notes you will learn all about a fun treat I have tucked in! Be sure to read the whole thing! You have to read the show notes, not the transcript which is below}
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Transcript of the podcast below:
Welcome, and Aloha to you. My friend today, I am taking you kayaking and you won't get wet or seasick. In fact, you can simply take it all in and sloped and all do all the paddling. Are you ready?
You may be wondering, am I in the right place? Is this kind of podcast for me? If knitting is your go to creative refuge, the place you craft your best self, but some days stitching solo on the sofa feels a bit empty and lackluster. Keep this podcast going. Encourage better, takes you to Kodiak Island, Alaska, my home and the knitting adventure capital of the world. Okay. That's just my take on it and not 100% official, but it's still completely accurate. Come with me. We'll track up a mountain peak stand along the shore romp among the forest of spruce trees all through your earbuds, knitting tips, tricks and tails. Every episode encouraged better is the must listen to podcast to kickstart your knitting mojo and broaden your smile. So welcome. And today I hope you enjoy our adventure.
As I shared during the intro, I'm taking you kayaking. Hopefully that sounds like a fun way to pass our knitting time together. The kayaking segment was recorded as a message for those creative folks that joined me for a better week challenge, which was a group of knitters receiving daily texts, audio and video messages from me in the hopes of bolstering all of our spirits. Before I share that segment with you, I'd like to quickly highlight a few things first. Thank you for being here and warmly, welcoming this audio podcast. It has been a joy to get back into having an audio podcast to have it so well received over 300 downloads the first afternoon it launched. And then by afternoon, I mean here in Alaska, I set out the first episode just before our dinner. And I got an alert as I was setting the table that 300 people had downloaded that episode. So thank you so much!
I know I keep saying audio podcast. Now I do share video podcasts on YouTube and on Instagram, on IGTV, which is why I mentioned those. And I'll link them in the show notes. If you're interested, you'll be able to see with me or to see more with me than just the picture that your mental, I kind of conjures up for what Kodiak may look like this beautiful part of our world. I am so thankful I get to call home. And honestly, I absolutely love sharing Kodiak with you, but if you've been with me from the start way back in Kauai, you'll realize wherever I am. I get kind of excited about sharing it with you. So the day I decided to head out for a solo kayak adventure was a crystal clear, brilliant end of summer day, the ocean was flat calm.
I'll have to put a photo up in the podcast blog for the episode, just so you can see, Oh my goodness, the water was so calm and the wind. So still I was not worried about heading out by myself in the slightest. I packed a few snacks as I plan to be out several hours. I grabbed my knitting and tucked it into a backpack. Along with my survival notion kit. I actually put it the Altoid kin version of the kit inside a Ziploc bag. And obviously the Ziploc bag was to protect all the things in it. I then tossed it in my backpack literally under five minutes to get my knitting ready without any scrambling working for this and that wondering if I forgot anything. Nope. I had the grab and go convenience. I'm telling you these may be super easy, inexpensive and fun both to make and receive for your knitting buddies as gifts, but they are so incredibly useful. The free printable checklist, which you can resize to your liking is available free to you by visiting www.encouragebetter.com/notions. So if you haven't yet downloaded it, go and grab it. So out the door I went, Dennis, my husband, and usually my outdoor buddy, but not for this day, help them see me off. We have an inflatable, two person kayak, which is easy to toss in his truck or in the back of my car. If I put down the seats and before you squeeze your needles and shutter thinking, I'm heading off to see in a blowup raft. This kayak is a rigid sturdy craft made by a company called advanced elements. And they are such amazing quality. It's hull, H -U- -L- L, has a built in aluminum frame, which is super lightweight, but sturdy. And it has three or more layers of this upper body material. So think of like a sturdy webbing fabric and it's comfy. So it's 15 feet long with room for me as well as a place to secure my knitting and gear. And my seat has this awesome lumbar support. So I'm super comfy and safe. I'll talk more about that in this segment when I'm on the water, but I don't want you thinking when I say an inflatable kayak that it's like the beach blow up unicorns that you float in when you are on spring break in the Caribbean or off the coast of Florida. So Dennis was kind and he helped me unpack it by the float plane docks, which are just not very far at all from here. So he and I quickly inflated it and off I went now for this fun adventure. I packed one of my knitting projects that I have been working on for ever my shifty sweater. It has now become my sweater of the year to knit through the year. So I take it with me as a default project, if you will determined to knit around or 10 during moments throughout daily life. Now on this trip, I actually knit three rounds on my left sleeve and yes, I know this to be true. As I actually take notes and journal through my knitting. Now, I also took a project that I'm creating or rather I'm recreating for the fourth time. This year. It is a very special nit to me and I look forward to sharing it with you in the future. It's funny to think that something I've been working on, on repeat, hasn't been shared with anyone there's been no testers, no glimpses on Instagram or the blog. And though I'm being a bit cryptic as to what it is and sharing with you. Even this little mention has gotten me giddy with joy because it's a project I'm designing to be a fulfilling knit, like all inclusive, getting you excited and just in love with knitting and the process and all the everything ever included in that pretty lofty. Now this comprehensive knit, there will be more to come. I promise, but this fourth iteration went along just as well as I could have hoped. And it actually went along in the kayak with me. So I launched in the kayak mid morning and explored until after 6:00 PM, taking time to balance paddling with floating and searching for new things to see, and just mindlessly staring off to let my thoughts just be thought. Now, today I'm knitting, as I'm talking to you, a wonderful vest, it's in my hands. It's by Alicia Plummer it's, hmmm, it's called "Unabridged"… I know, I get so excited.
I'm thinking of Alicia. She's amazing. And I love this. My version will be a cropped inspired version. And in the show notes, I'm going to link to this pattern, but I'm also going to link to the Instagram account that I saw that inspired me. Her name's Rachel Wilder. Now I decided to adjust the pattern that I'm holding in my hand. Surprise, surprise. And I'm reaching up, let me grab this so I can actually hold the last skein so I can share with you. This one hasn't been balled yet. It smells so good. So instead of using the yarn suggested it is after all just a suggestion, I'm opting for Quince & Co.'s Phoebe and I'm squishing it. Now. this yarn has made me, or has given me the opportunity again to create something and alter it. I've had to alter the needle I use and gauge, and of course, again include some wonderful mathematical gymnastics, but this golden color just spoke to me from its perch on top of my book case.
And it is so... Despite it being a thicker, heavier yarn than what the pattern calls for... It's so light and I love it. I am happily, happily knitting. Now this vest in case any of you are interested, the end of the unabridged vest begins at the bottom him edge it's knit in the round. So moving from the cast on through 200 plus stitches in one by one rib for a few inches is work to celebrate. And that's where I am. I am on the final round of this ham before moving into the body of this vest and what I can share so far, if you're interested. I pre-read. And I actually, I pre-read this pattern, but I always preread patterns because one, I enjoy the concept of it being a story to tell to me and for me to share in this great experience, but it's also so that I can be prepared now, before you think I'm really a prepared guru this is not something I have always done, but during this season of life, I am doing it.
And actually for a while, I have been doing it but early and actually to be very Frank, there are small seasons where I don't behave towards knitting and a pattern like I am doing with this pattern, but by and large, the manner to which I approach knitting does. So the anomalies are those little small seasons in between that. I actually don't preread and pre-plant and, and journal, and just immerse myself in the projects. Now I'm not a monogamous knitter. Sometimes I will solely devote myself to one thing, but I do have some strategies and structures that I try to keep in place to keep me motivated to keep my mojo and my excitement levels just where I need them. So back to the knitting. So Alicia's pattern is written very clearly. I can easily understand the path that I'm going to be taking to get this best created.
And since I've only all but finished the him, I'll speak quickly about the yarn before I sent you out kayaking. So the golden color of this yarn is a rich autumn autumnal gold, and it's actually called soul Sol and it's a DK weight 301 yards per skein from Quince & Co, Oh my gosh, it's so, so golden. I want to let you know that it has undertones of Brown making it a warm, deep shade rather than a bright cheerfully sunny color. So think more, more along the lines of enjoying a sunset by an outdoor campfire, rather than a beach party with sunshine and a clear blue sky. Now, for those of you who have not used Phoebe before, as I mentioned to DK weight yarn, and it definitely has some springy energy in it, it's not woolen spun and very lofty, but it's not tightly spun either just a solid, even tempered yarn that feels like the ingredient lists should include silk and a touch of honey.
And it smells good, but it's only Merino. So the stitch definition for the body, I think will be a lot of fun to see play out past my six inch square swatch that I've done, and I'm going to keep you posted. But for now, I am sending you on your way, launching you out into the waters to the East of my sweet Island. You're likely going to hear me chat about things with the offshore breezes interjecting at times. And you forced certain are going to hear my paddles slicing through the water at other times. And I hope you enjoy that. I hope you enjoy the real life aspect of taking you out on the water with me. Now, remember that this day out on the water was recorded originally for my a better week challenge for those knitters. So when you hear the reference that that applies to that group I will definitely open up the next time we do that. It was a ton of fun. It was my joy and such an honor to connect with those knitters. It was a 10 day, which led into two week just daily sharing things with them. And if you are one of the participants listening right now, thank you so much. And now off you go out to sea in the kayak…
Hello, from my kayak, you will probably hear the sounds of me paddling in the background. I am taking you with me out and about that. We'll have some videos and some pictures to share with you, but also wanted to take the time just to be present in the moment, doing what I'm doing and share it with you. I am paddling in this kayak that we have. It is a kayak it's a little bit different than your ordinary ones in that it is a seafaring kayak. So it's C rated and it is fully inflatable. It's got a rigid haul, very strong bottom, and all of the other parts of it are fully inflatable. So we inflate the bottom and we do it like a bike pump. People are curious about that. We just put the nozzle on and pump it up and by we, I usually mean my husband. He's a lot faster than I am. For many of you who remember me from my single-handed knits days being lefthanded now right-handed my arm strength is definitely better.
It's so much better, and I'm usually in a hurry and want to get out on the water and he is able to inflate it super fast. I do help. So there is that, Ooh, as I'm floating right now, there is, it's like an underwater mushroom patch just beautiful sea anemones. And I saw some very beautiful urchins earlier, a lot of bull kelp, and what's really fun is the kelp looks like what a lot of kids will call mermaid hair. It was, Oh my gosh, the mermaid hair. And so you'll see the mermaid hair floating. That's just so beautiful. So anyways I am solo kayaking today presently in between a host of small islands and the channel right in front of my home. And wrapping around to the North to the East is the ocean. I'm not sure if I'm going to head out and skirt those on that side.
The, the day is perfect for that. If you're going to do it solo, I try to be really cautious when I go solo. Just because even on a beautiful sunny day like today, when the water is flat, calm and looks like a pond it still is the ocean and the ocean is very strong. And though beautiful is quite unforgiving. And here, like the years and years of being in the ocean in Hawaii the water here is cold. So I came prepared. I have all of my things packed and I'm just enjoying it. Kodiak is an archipelago and oftentimes it's split between the people who understand what that is and those who don't live near the ocean and don't live near islands. And so that's a term that is, is a little in need of being unpacked a bit. So our main island is a massive island.
You've probably heard me share that it's the second largest Island in the United States, second to the big Island of Hawaii. But it also is an archipelago and has a multitude of islands all around it that that are included in Kodiak. So as I'm looking, Oh, as I'm looking out there is a sea, Oh, they never get old. They're cute little heads when they poke up. Sometimes I'm never sure if it's a, if it's going to be a seal, that's poking up or if it is a sea Otter, that is definitely a seal. They're very fun. Very curious. So are the sea otters, they see otters, you can really hear before you see them. If you're coming up on them, they usually are crunching. And it makes a very distinct sound as they're crunching and tapping, crunching and tapping. So anyways our Island made of other Island collectives is a temperate forest.
And even though people think of Alaska as freezing cold and what's awesome about where I live. The temperate area is not inclined to have temperatures that fluctuate very often. So although we may hit a high of, you know, mid sixties sometimes like last year, seventies, once or twice, that's rare, we usually fluctuate between 65 and 35 degrees. So in the winter we will get stints where it drops to 32 30, one 32, and kind of hovers there, which allows for some beautiful, Oh, another seal. Oh, they're so darn cute. Oh my goodness. They really, aren't cute. They have this glossy sheen to them. That is perfect for camouflaging as when the water is moving as it is now. Just, it's just, it's an ebb, hmm wait maybe, flow. So the tide is coming in. But it's still pretty low cause it was a negative tide today.
So it's going to be awhile before it all flows in, but as the water is moving their head and the sheen of then definitely mimics that the water moving. And so you haven't had to do a double take. There's a Raven. I don't know if you could hear that in the background. If you hear what sounds like a very high pitch, squealy cheer up. That is the Eagle. That is the Raven, Mary. Even. I love them. They make so many different sounds and here they are. I know when I was a kid, we heard about Ravens and you'd see Ravens. And they, we thought Ravens and crows were the same thing and they were just big blackbirds here. They are massive, massive. And they're so clever. They really are just the cleverest. And I enjoyed being in the forest and hearing them, they make a lot of unique distinct sounds.
So, all right, well, these are your nature notes from my kayak at present. I will pop in later today and share some more videos. Once I get back to where I have service. And later on today, I am gonna start the conversation a bit about which it'll probably be more like Sunday when you guys see it about the Winston sweater. So if you liked my Wannabe Winston, which truly was redesigned, and you can read the notes on my blog. Yeah, yeah, definitely. It says, you know, conversations with Winston, I think is the name of it. But you'll see that the sweater itself was completely revamped and it, I call it my Wanna Be Winston. If you would like to duplicate this pattern, I'm gonna go ahead and give you a couple of things that are actionable activities that you can do today. After you hear this message is just to look for a very simple, basic sweater. That is a top down raglan. And if it is a top down raglan, if you already have it in your library, then hurray, hurray. We can work the modifications together to make your want to be, want to be Winston. Oh my gosh. It's so beautiful coming around this tip. Oh, it's just absolutely magnificent.
I never get tired of looking at the ocean in the water is moving a lot faster through here. So this is going to be a lot of fun. Anyways, you can purchase Jane Richmond's Winston pattern. I definitely am about supporting her, but I'm also about being a good steward of what we already have. And many of us have a basic raglan sweater pattern either in our digital library or in a magazine or something to that effect. So I would just encourage you to get a very basic raglan pattern. So it starts at the top. And if you are not a knitter and you're thinking about starting a pattern like this in the round is such a great practice and a lot of fun. Oh my goodness. So I would encourage you to just, just to give it a try. So yeah. So find yourself a pattern either the Winston or a pattern that you like, and we will modify it together and make you your very own, all right, friend, I hope that this message finds you well and enjoying the weekend. I am going to go because I'm going to have to pay attention. This is it's got a really Rocky bottom and it goes from being deep to shallow, very quick and spots. So I am going to have to focus and pay attention. Okay. Take care.
Well, I hope you enjoyed your moments out on the water with me and thank you for joining me today on the podcast. I'll be collecting more moments out in nature to share with you in future episodes. And definitely let me know what you think about that. I'd love to hear your ideas and your feedback as always, thanks for being a part of this adventure. And if you are enjoying our time together, would you consider subscribing? And if you are really enjoying this, maybe leave a review. Now I know I've told you in the past that five stars always is my goal. So if I'm not five star material before you rate me, would you take me up on this offer instead, email me with what it is that's keeping you from being able to do just that your feedback probably has in mind, something I'm not even noticing.So you, my friend could me improve email me: Melissa @ encouragedbetter .com
Now for those five star reviewers: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! If you'd love to share this podcast with friends, consider snapping a screenshot of the podcast cover and sharing it on social media with a few words as to why you gave me five stars tag me in your post. So I can say thanks. I am @mskiknits on Instagram.
So until next time, remember you were created intentionally with value a real treasure, and whether you're making incredible strides or you're making a mess, neither changes your value, a priceless treasure for always that's you!
Until next time, my friend, bye for now.