S2 Ep4: KNITTING A HAPPY HAT
The transcript of Knitting A Happy Hat is below for you to enjoy reading. If you would rather give it a listen click below to head to the full podcast directory.
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Before you read the transcript here are the helpful show notes and links for you to enjoy as well as the blog post that gives more detail and images for what I shared in today’s episode:
Thank you for joining in today's episode where we talk about knitting a Happy Hat, and then 10 ways to repeat it and not get bored! Instead, you can unlock the power of your creativity and feel complete satisfaction utilizing your stash for a great (quick knit) purpose.
I also share my sincere thoughts on swatching, how taking a curious approach to swatching makes you a better, more inspired knitter and I offer you the opportunity to join me in one of my live workshops on swatching!
And listen to see if you were one of the two winners who left a podcast review. (and even if you weren't leave a review after the episode and you may hear me announce YOU AS NEXT WEEK's WINNER!
Things mentioned and the helpful links you need:
Mindful Knitting: #5minutes5Rows YouTube Videos: https://youtu.be/c1OHE1CVIOg
or watch on IGTV: https://www.instagram.com/mskiknits/channel/
Sign up to get started on the free hat pattern: JOIN IN HERE
Podcast Transcript:
Aloha dear knitter, I'm so thankful for this time that we have together. This is me mill knitting away here in Kodiak, Alaska, where the weather has been windy, and the Internet has been intermittent. Both of those factors have made it very difficult to podcast these last couple of weeks. Today, I'd like to hop right into things and rejoin you where we left off. And I've got a couple of winners to announce. So without any further ado, I'd like to announce our first winner who has left a review. And it goes a little something like this. Southern newbie says new listener, I enjoyed the contemplation about knitting our creativity. I enjoyed the poem about the salmon and envision the Alaska scenery. I enjoy being purposeful in all things, including knitting and planning through the process of a project, which resonated with me. Finally, I enjoyed the soothing voice and thoughtful narration, I am sold. Well Southernnewbie, I have a pattern that I'd like to share with you, the winners for leaving reviews, I just randomly choose. And I have a gift this week of a coupon code that you can use for any summer Lee knits design pattern, she is fabulous. With her sock designs, I've shared with you all before about test knitting for summer. And today, at the end of the podcast, I will announce one more winner, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, it really does mean a lot to me. And just sharing with you these little treats is just a way for me to just kind of express that gratitude to you.
So let's get right into it. I have quite a few things that I'd like to share with you today. The first is a bit about improvising in our knitting. And I have been working through them each day of March. If you follow me on Instagram, or you follow my YouTube channel, you've probably caught the five rows, or five minutes, five rows activity that I'm doing. And it's where each and every day, I try to come up with a thoughtful way to express to you and give us both something to think about with our approach towards knitting. It's important to me that when I sit down to knit, that there are moments that I actually capture and keep. Now I do need to say because I've gotten a few emails and people may misunderstand. And these emails that I've gotten are a little indicative of it. It's the fact that I do not spend time deep and thought every single minute. But I do make it a point each day to let knitting wow me, not my knitting being the most amazing thing I've ever seen, that's not the point…
It's the the art of knitting that I happen to be able to do with my hands that you can do with your hands. That really is something I find that needs to be celebrated each day. I don't spend, like I said every single moment of every single stitch, deeply journaling and deeply contemplating applications for what I'm doing. I have moments where my knitting the application for my knitting is peace and calming. It's a chance for me just to sit and unwind. It's also something that is a process that I can do with my hands so I can pay attention when I'm doing other things. I find when I have to to meet someone or chat with someone via zoom or FaceTime, or just different conference calls. Having my hands in my lap stitching and moving really allows me to relax into the conversation and focus better. Now obviously, I don't do charted color work, when I'm having these conversations, I choose something that is more rhythmic, something simple like a stock in it in the round project, or maybe it's a seed stitch where that rhythm is able to keep me focused on what I'm doing one part of my brain, and yet the other part be fully engaged and present. Now it sounds like it's tricky to do both. But for me, it works. However, I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't coming across that every time I sit down to knit, that I have my journal, and I have my table cleared. And I'm focused and digging in. That doesn't happen. Not every single make. But I tell you one thing that really does happen every single time I sit down to knit, whether it's me on a chat, like I said, whether it's when I'm hiking and knitting because I like to walk and knit. And it's actually not as difficult as some people may think. It's, it's like chewing gum and walking. Just I'm using my hands to keep engaged.
When I am knitting, I do always find that the way my mind has been trained to approach knitting makes me naturally curious. I'm a question act asker, and a solution seeker and all of my projects, I very rarely have a project that doesn't teach me something, even when those projects are frustrating. A lot of these things that I'm sharing with you right now are things that I've talked about this last week, in the five minutes, five rows, conversations that I'm having. So if any of these things are exciting to you, or of interest to you, oh, I'll be linking them in the show notes below. And you can watch it on YouTube or Instagram. They're short. And they have beautiful backdrops. My intention is to take you out and about in nature every day, and have these conversations.
I know the way things in 2020 and how they've started in 2021, many of us find ourselves unable to get out and about. And there are people that are listening, I know you're out there, you knitters that can't get out for whatever reason, you don't have the same space that I have. And so for me to share these, these glimpses of Alaska with you. It's something that is very dear to my heart. And it's something that I am very aware of, and excited to do. Now, what I'd like to tell you about that I'm also very excited about is what I referenced earlier, and that is allowing my knitting to really speak to me and teach me and also, for me to question the heck out of it. I find that the more questions I ask, the more questions I have. And that excites me. When I can have a long list of things to ask and be curious about it. It feeds my soul. It it lifts my spirit, and it brings me great joy.
So some of the things I was hoping to share with you today. Go a little something like this. hats are a playground for me. The the creation of hats and working through hats brings me great joy. The only thing I love better than knitting a sweater or a hat is a swatch. And I know oftentimes when I share with people how excited swatching makes me their eyebrows raise. They look at me from the side with a little confusion and skepticism. And what I'd like to tell you is why swatching makes me so happy. For me, swatching is that catalyst like I shared earlier, but it's the catalyst that gives me questions when I'm knitting A swatch, I have the freedom to explore and investigate and be uninhibited by certain constraints. When I have a sweater that I'm knitting, I have a pattern to follow. And that brings me a great sense of enjoyment. When I'm knitting a hat, I love the fact that they can hop on and off my needles. And that, that speed of working through them, whether they're color work, hats are just highly textured, something just worked in the round. Working on a hat, and having that sense of satisfaction is so fun. It kind of ignites that knitting Mojo inside of me. Now, what's super amazing about swatching are a host of discoveries that I've found for myself.
And those discoveries range from being able to really focus on Creative exploration, as well as the challenge of tweaking and adjusting to bring my work in alignment with someone else's requirements. So for some people, swatching is frustrating. They see it as that feeling, or they don't see it as that they feel that heaviness and that that cumbersome. Kind of must do step before they can do that thing. But for me, knitting a swatch is knitting. It's part of the journey. And I find just a host of things that knitting and creating swatches affords me. It gives me a great way to inspire myself. It also gives me as I mentioned a real challenge, when I am needing to perhaps replace a yarn from my stash or in my local area that I can source with something that the designer has suggested. Sometimes my taste for colors, I swatch for that. And that is completely different than the color suggestions that the pattern from a particular designer has shared. So that opportunity for me just to be myself. And knitting I find is strengthened and uplifted and emboldened by swatching. Now, a lot of a lot of swatches, pile up over here at my house. And I will share with you in further episodes what I find that I do with these swatches later on. But I also when I work a swatch, it doesn't always look like 20 or 24 stitches squared. My swatches take on many shapes. They are worked in very different ways. And they are always ongoing. Well, not each individual's watch, but the process if you get what I'm saying.
One thing that I have really been excited about, and this is an opportunity for you, dear listener to join in, even if it's not March when you're listening to this because all of these videos, whether they're on Instagram or YouTube are saved and then on the blog, the information is saved. But there is a hat that I have knit and reading it and re re re re read it many, many times. In fact, in the month of February, this one particular hat, I knit 11 times in the span of a week, because it was so fun. And it was a week where our family had a lot of free time together. And I found myself wanting and needing to keep busy and what kept me excited. Was knitting these hats. Now, when I was knitting these hats, I approach the work of creating the hats in much the same way as I do swatching. So for example, this one particular hat, I have been calling my happy hat. And the happy hat was worked in a bulky yarn. It flew off my needles, and made me really happy, hence the name. Now, my stash does not include much in the way of bulky yarn. But I have lots of other choices. The bulky yarn that I bought for this hat was sourced from the rookery, which is my local yarn shop. And I got the yarn and a palm palm, and got right to work on it. The yarn was a single ply, bulky yarn that was just so dynamic and colorful. And it just, it was great fun. I worked at for a little bit in a small square, and tried to get to know the yarn because I have never used this particular yarn before. And so I wanted to investigate a little bit. And after investigating, I took off and created this pattern.
Just for fun.
Well, once it was done, I looked at it. And like I said, I wanted to replicate it because it flew on and off the needles. And it just so happened that once it was finished, we went out and it was a very cold day. And it kept my head so warm that I thought I could knit up a bunch of these. And luckily, I had these hats because we had a lot of snow in the ensuing days. But as I said, I didn't have a lot of bulky yarn. In fact, I don't have any other bulky yarn, which is why I bought the yarn in the first place. I went through and looked at the yarn that I had. And at first I thought, well, you know, I could pick up this worsted, I can swatch for it, do the math, and try to recreate this same hat and this same feeling in worsted. And I kept thinking No, I like how chunky and and rich and robust These colors are. And none of my worsted yarn looked like this. Also, I liked the thickness of it, which that thickness will if I switch to worsted would change, you know that when you switch from one weight to another, the entire dynamics of what you're creating is altered. So for me, it was great fun to do this activity, and I want to share that same opportunity with you now.
So if you've been knitting for a while, or you've had a few finished projects that you've completed, chances are you have a bit of leftover yarn from those projects. Well, that leftover yarn is how I made two versions of my happy hat. And you could also be that savvy listener that is his like a little mini skein. I don't want to say hoarder, but kind of that's what it is. You just have a ton of mini skeins, they're not leftover yarns, they truly are just little baby skeins. Well, these worked perfectly for five or six other versions of this had both iterations, whether it's with the scrappy yarn, or the intentional mini skein, yarns, were such fun. And both were a delight to source yarn for. Now, here's a spoiler alert. In case you have trouble deciding on yarn combinations, like I do, the cool thing is you can knit a bunch of these hats. And you don't have to limit yourself because you can keep changing the color combinations.
So what I did was take the bulky yarn, and I really studied it and played with it and investigated it and worked through it and asked myself a lot of different questions. And then what I did was take, I took several different combinations of yarn and put them together to see how they behaved I asked myself the same questions. And then I did a series of comparing and contrasting between the bulky yarn, and then the yarn creations that I was putting together to create my own bulky version. There were tons of different ways. I shared some of them in these little videos that were fun for me to make. Not just the hat, but the little videos too. And I didn't share nearly all the different ways that I put together yarn, my friend, it was joy, playing with my yarn. It was fun, like, being a kid playing outdoors, not a care in the world kind of fun. Taking bits from my stash and putting those bits through creative exercises.
Oh my word, it just it gave me a smile on my face that made my face tired of smiling. Have you ever had those experiences?
Well, this hat, if you're listening, this hat pattern is available for free for you, as well as all the different ideas that were going through my head for putting together different yarn combinations, I will share that link in the notes below, or in the podcast notes. So that you can just work through it yourself and see what adventures and see what combinations you come up with. Not only was it fun to see the, the way that colors integrated together different yarns that I was pulling and putting together to comprise one one, the red of multiple strands. The fun was just expanded, when I realized that I was using my stash.
I don't know about you, but I love seeing my yarn and having my yarn to choose from. But friend, I am going to be sincere with you and let you know, some days, my stash feels like a weight is it's just this waiting. It feels like a weight, w-e-i-g-h-t, a heaviness as it's a gathering of yarn waiting, w-AI-t i n g, to be used.
Now, some sometimes it's great, you know, it's it's looking at it and you're excited and you're seeing the possibilities.
And then other times, I will look and think:
“Am I being a good steward of my resources?”
That is something that drives me, not just in my knitting, but in my food strategy and our, our sourcing of our food here. Also the things that we have in our house. We're not minimalists, but we do want to be good stewards. We don't want to have a lot of things that we don't need. When we have things that we keep that we're not using. They instead of me having ownership of them. I feel like they own me and they keep me and they after a while become weighty and stifle my my freedom these things. My yarn stash is no exception. So side note to these wonderful hats. When I blew through the first one, I used a collection of mini skeins that I had. They were for Kate saline yarns that are hearse straight sock yarn just smooth. And then I added a slubby yarn of hers, and it made this fun fabric. Then another I grabbed some leftover bits that are just sitting around and I put them together. And the thing is you use multiple minis or multiple scraps to create this hat. And when you finish, not only do you have this vibrantly colored hat, or maybe you decide to go with a different colorway, but for me I had several vibrantly colored dynamic fabric creations out of these yarns that just made me so happy. And the icing on the cake was, I used up stash, I put the stash to work, I gave my resources, purpose and build me up, it just poured into my heart and made me very happy. Which is why I call it my Happy Hat.
So if you're interested in enjoying this, the free pattern and information is linked in the show notes.
And if you are at a place where you want to be that knitter that asks your your stash and your projects, and your yarn and your knitting, if you want to ask yourself more questions, so you can reveal to yourself how clever and creative you already are: Then I want to extend an invitation to you to join one of my live workshops.
I have an ongoing swatch class. This month in March, we have swatch class one, and swatch class two. And they are both different. And they're both fun. And they are free for those of you who are in the Knitters Project Bag Collective Membership.
And for everybody else, the seats that are available are for you to enjoy, you can register and sign up. It makes it makes me happy to play with my yarn. And it makes me even happier to teach knitters how to play with their yarn, and how to approach swatching instead of this must do have to do check this off attitude to something that's a lot of fun. The swatch me series really does offer offer thoughtful, inspirational ways to see your knitting. And the classes also provide clarity and insight into swatching. So that you are best prepared for your knitting projects. It's It's fun to swatch, it's so much fun to be a knitter. And this watch me class one is a way to improve your watch ability and your attitude towards watching. When you sign up, you get a little bit of information sent to you for class preparation. And then you get some activities to do after. So your post class activities that will help keep you creative and keep you moving towards investigating your creativity. This watch me to class is one I'm really excited about.
It's called:
Daydream, Improvise and Discovery Through Swatching.
And that one takes a completely different approach. I do suggest doing class one first, and then class two. But the cool thing is one class is on a Friday and the next class is on Saturday. And then the following week, they switch places long classes on a class the second class is on a Friday and the first class is on this Saturday. So you can mix them up. The great news is you can actually head over to the blog that's linked below. And you can win a free spot in the class, you can get a coupon where you can join the class for free. Now, if live classes aren't your thing, then well, if they're not, then I encourage you to try one of my classes! Because I think they are the thing. They're great for community and those who are in the knitters project bag collective. I know you know what I'm talking about. That membership just brings me so much joy. And this is a way for you knitters. If you're not involved in the membership in the project bag collective, it's a fun way for you just to kind of dig in a bit deeper with working with me and and learning alongside of me.
I am just just delighted to explore— and not just explore alongside of you— but to hopefully set you out on your own journey so that way your eyes become open to your intuitiveness in knitting.
You, my friend are a genius when it comes to knitting.
Whether you've just knit your very first project Or your 50th project, you still are filled innately with such cleverness and ability that you can teach yourself. So many things in knitting. If you learn how to approach your knitting, and how to ask yourself questions in a positive, uplifting, intentional way. So the free hat is yours linked in the show notes, all the good stuff is in the show notes. And I hope that you have enjoyed the time that we've spent chatting today. I've got one more free pattern to give away and so I are on roll please. It is Rose knitter. Rose knitter says I've been enjoying your podcasts and videos for many years now. Thank you. So rose knitter and southern newbie, if you can make sure that you reach out to me, Melissa, at encouraged better.com. And let me know that you heard me share that you won a free knitting pattern from summerlee knits, I would love to send that your way. And for everyone else, if you enjoy this podcast, I would consider it just the greatest kindness, if you could leave a five star review. And if you take it a step further, you get entered in for the weekly giveaway that I like to do each podcast. And if you want to be entered, simply write something. And that way I can read it and share it and your name is attached to it. It just is so fun to share the joy that you give me in these reviews back with you. Now, some of you may find that there are things that you wish I could change or improve on instead of live leaving me a review. Why don't you contact me directly? Again, my email is Melissa at encouraged better.com chances are you are hearing something or you're thinking about something in a way that I have never thought about it. And I would love to hear your thoughts on what you'd like me to do in the future episode. Or perhaps things that would help you be more engaged as a listener? Either way, I'm glad that you spent this time with me today. You really are the reason I do this. Now the sun is shining outside and the snow is glistening.
So I am going to say aloha for now and venture out all over this beautiful island that I am fortunate enough to call home. In the next episode, I'm excited to share with you a little bit more about Kodiak. And I think you're going to enjoy it. I'm going to be talking trees. So for any of you who are nature lovers, something that's very unique about Kodiak are the trees that we have here. And the story of how some of these trees got here in the first place. And what in the world does that have to do with knitting? Well, you'll have to wait till the next episode to find out.
My friend, thank you for being the treasure that you are you are so valuable, and what ever you are making is a bonus. So whether you're making or you're not, it doesn't change your value. You're really amazing. And I'm so glad to spend this time together with you.
Thanks for listening, and until next time, Aloha.
