Knit & Chat // A little chaos, slow knitting, and things I avoid 

I've come a long way with managing feelings of anxiety, but knitting can trip me up sometimes. I don't know why we put so much pressure on ourselves when it's supposed to be fun! I appreciate your honesty 💜

Totally agree… make what we want at the pace we want…. Hugs And for seaming the sides of garments, highly recommend you crochet them… fast and easy and makes it so I don’t mind seaming! Just a suggestion for future reference

I used to have dread when it came to seaming or weaving in ends. I find it to be less dreadful if I anticipate seams by having a long tail to do it with. I just weave those end in and take joy from getting it done. It's mostly mindless and there's no right way beyond using your intuition. After a few weaves, snip! On to the next.

Your podcast, I still remember when my children were teething. So miserable for them and you... I used to put arrowroot biscuits in the freezer for them, the combination of cold and hard biscuit seems to help. Hugs to you and take care.

I'm working on the streamline tank by two of Wands. Got the lion brand kit. It's made with Coboo (cotton and bamboo). Really enjoyed your video!

A lot of what you said resonated with me so much. I’m an anxious person, and while my crafting is supposed to be fun, I do struggle with the “need to finish this” mentality. I cross stitch, crochet, and I taught myself to knit in May of this year. I found that cross stitch set off my anxiety the most because it is such a slow craft. I am a mom of two (1.5yo and 5yo) so the tiny bit of time I have, I was not getting the progress I’d like and it was actually causing me to get frustrated, which would trickle into other aspects of my life. I had to put that hobby away for the time being. I think that will be better suited for when my kids are older. I have crocheted since I was a child but really picked it up in the last year. I like it because it is much faster and easy to toss on the couch when I need to get up and tend to the kids or chores. In a hour or two I have at night after the kids go to bed I can make a lot more progress than stitching. I still found it to set off my anxiety though because it was too fast if that’s even a thing? Like I was so eager to stay up way too late and get another row another row and so on because it was so close to a finish 😅 then I started knitting last month and I even say to myself how much more calm I feel. Even though patterns are frustrating because I’m new, it’s like Goldilocks in terms of progress speed for me. I’m still reminding myself that it doesn’t matter how long a project takes, though. I think that part of our brain will always be nagging at us, but we just need to learn to tell it to stfu 😂

So thankful in Canada we get a year of mat leave - no way could I do my job with a 6mo ... And here I am waiting for #2 still not logical due to lack of sleep 😅

I started out with weaving too!! For the first weaving I made, before I got an actual loom, I DIY'd a loom using CARDBOARD and it was a struggle haha because the notches kept bending and the warp threads kept sliding off. Back then, I didn't know how to crochet or knit yet, and thought I would never be interested in crocheting or weaving, but here I am 😂 Thanks for this lovely knit and chat video!!

I’m test knitting the Romanticists bandana by Meredith that you mentioned! I’m loving it. The lace motif is really similar to the one your making. I’ve never made a bandana before so it’s been fun. I totally feel you on having a teething babe. It’s rough. My girl is 7 months and is also strugglin’, sooo solidarity 😅

Thanks for hanging out with me, I was working on a swatch for a test knit ☺️ curious to hear the whole story behind the tank tops!

There's so many nice vest/slipover patterns out there, but I would just want to put sleeves on most of them 😅

I’m knitting on a shirt inspired by one I got from the Gap 😳 I hope it turns out to be just as comfy 💓

Hi Carson. I just finished modifying a washcloth into some kind of hanging towel. Thicker cotton, larger needles. Fast stitching. Moving the stash along. I have a bandana called Simply Pipoca by Dagmar Tamura on my needles. The chart is great and I am using fingering weight yarn in green. You do inspire us out here in the knitting world. Happy Creating!! Hugs!

Loved hanging out with you! The bandana is going to look adorable!

great video! ☺

I avoid any pattern that requires picking up stitches