Color Play: An Exploration of Self and Inspiration

Ever had a moment where you're humbled by simple wisdom? That happened to me and it hit me -  much like our passion for knitting, love is boundless and abundant. This epiphany transformed my approach to knitting, sparking an exploration into the world of color I'm sharing with you today.

Together, we'll navigate the language of color, and qualify terms like 'value' and 'color combinations'. Our trusty companions on the journey are our swatches—I know! I know! swatches!?! But seriously, these humble squares hold the secret to understanding how colors contrast, blend, or interact, providing invaluable insights into how your final project will take shape. We'll play with a variety of shades, from dominant colors to neutrals, and the show-stoppers—variegated yarns. Learning to balance their energy and complexity with solid or semi-solid colors can add an entirely new dimension to your work.

The culmination of our journey is a celebration of the unique individuals we are. Like any artistic endeavor, our journey through color in knitting is an expression of our self-worth and creativity. Let's embrace the vibrant colors of our personality, reflect them in our projects, and inspire others. Buckle up and grab your yarn, as we embark on this enlightening exploration of color in knitting.

Be sure to discover more at EncourageBetter.com  You can see pictures of the sweater that I mention in the podcast on the blog.

And before you go, Dear Knitter here is your personal invitation from me: I would love to count you amongst the EBKpodcast community. You are welcome here. Subscribe today!

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Transcript

Melissa: 0:01

I introduced an idea in the Power of Color knitting palettes inspired by nature episode that I want to explore in a slightly different way today. In that episode, nature was the go-to source for my much needed higher education and how to match colors. Don't worry, if you didn't listen. I'll link the podcast and the supporting blog post in the show notes, but for today we are going to build our confidence and our creativity while we challenge ourselves a bit. The ideas I'm sharing should bolster our courage, entice our wild imagination and stir up some excitement within us and, hopefully, on our needles. Are you in?

Melissa: 1:03

I'm Mel, a really curious yarn fan who loves knitting and is also obsessed with encouraging you to feel the same, no matter where you are in your journey. Whether you're an adventurous knitter or one in the making. We've got more in common than you might expect. It wasn't so long ago. I get frustrated with too many cast ons, but never any completed projects or endless piles of wavy yarn from ripped out knits. Fast forward to today. I've learned from languishing projects and so-called failed ones too. Every aspect of my life fuels my creativity and my creativity adds to my enjoyment of life. I've created this podcast to share tips, mind shifts and challenges to help you do the same. So if you're a thoughtfully creative spirit or someone wanting to grow in that direction, looking to love all the perfect knits you make and embrace the ones with feature design elements too, you're in the right place. Friend, come to encourage better knitting podcasts, your knitting podcast. I am so glad you are here, my friend, if you are anything like me, I see inspiration everywhere. There's no shortage of it for me. I have lots of things around me that get me excited and help me find ideas. And yet, for the longest time, the color on my needles was always the same. I had found what I loved and wasn't budging, partly, I think, because I was enjoying what I was knitting and partly, to be honest, because I wasn't color confident. This episode isn't all about color. It is about thinking about my knitting, and I hope it's going to inspire you for how you think about your knitting. Now. If you are loving what you are knitting, hurrah, let's celebrate that. It is wonderful. And it's also fine to be thoroughly enjoying what you're doing and still find immense value in challenging yourself.

Melissa: 3:35

How do I know? For ages, I loved my natural palette. I just could not get enough of gray all day and browns, gray and brown yarns were it for me. My autopilot was taking me through my yarn decisions. Yeah, I knew what I loved, but I didn't know I was capable of loving more. I didn't realize that there was no conflict in loyalty, loving certain things in knitting and loving other things at the same time. I would say, when I walked into a yard store, I am here so excited to see all your colors for grays, let me show you this brand and this thing and this, that and the other, and I would say, no, I only knit with grays and browns and natural colors. That's what I knit with. So I knew what I loved but didn't know I could love more. And that actually reminds me of the silliest conversation I had with my husband. Well, it's silly in retrospect, but at the time I was sincerely and honestly conflicted and nervous. And well, I'll just share the story.

Melissa: 5:15

This was more than 21 years ago and we lived in Sitka, alaska, which is in Southeast Alaska. Kodiak, where I live now, is in the western portion and a fun thing for you to do. If you take your right hand and you tuck in your pinky and the next two fingers and you have your pointer finger and your thumb outstretched in different directions and if you're looking at the palm of your hand, you've got your fingers tucked in. Now flip that over 180 degrees and rotate it 90 degrees. So your pointer finger should be pointed towards the left. Your thumb kind of passed your belly button over towards your armpit. That is the great state of Alaska right there in the palm of your hand or out of your hand, your knuckles on the top of the hand cutting off by the wrist, and if you swing back down and you skip over your thumb and your pointer finger, that is the mainland of Alaska. The left part is your pointer finger, right about between the knuckle and the knuckle of your hand and the knuckle of your pointer finger or the bend, the segment that bends. If you come out about a quarter of an inch, maybe half an inch, kodiak is kind of floating right in there and the thumb represents where Sitka is. So your pointer finger is actually becoming one chain, one archipelago, and then the thumb is another, and that's just a little sidebar, has nothing to do with knitting, but at least it gives you some idea. When I'm talking to you, you can just flip your hand over and make the state of Alaska look over there between your knuckles and your digit of your pointer finger and you're like, hey, now it's floating out there in the ocean somewhere on her island.

Melissa: 7:26

So anyways, back to the story. So we're living in Sitka, over there on your thumb, not around the pointer finger, and at the time we had one daughter who we had had this one daughter for several years. No other kids, just her. It was so fun and we cherished being her parents.

Melissa: 7:50

I was pregnant now with kiddo number two and we were chatting one evening after Natalia had gone to sleep and in a hushed voice I confessed, I asked whatever it was and I said to my husband we love Natalia with our whole hearts. How are we going to divide our love between two kiddos? My panic-stricken husband looked at me and he confessed he had been worried about the same thing. Now I know our kids are not yarn, our pets are not yarn, our loved ones are not yarn. But the idea of having more than one thing to love and thinking that I had one heart to divide between them, how is that possible? So stay with me, that's what I'm trying to get us to think about.

Melissa: 8:49

Our heart doesn't divide up a certain amount of love. Love is endless, love is huge. Love is abundant. Our affections are not limited to this. Much and no more. My friend, once we adopt a mentality of abundance, there is no stopping us. We are free to love all the colors, and we love making socks and shawls, and sweaters and napkins and washcloths and stuffed animals, whatever we want, rather than having to pick one. Trust me when I tell you we never have to choose to be identified with just one thing. We never lose an opportunity in our knitting, and this is true even when we know our knitting time is limited. So for now, let's just acknowledge and appreciate where we are.

Melissa: 10:00

I love knitting with neutrals and I am willing to grow and explore other things without fear and without obligation. I can try new things in order to grow and evolve, and I can also confirm what I already know to be true. So let me get back to helping you get started on new ways to develop your color palette and plan successfully for your next color work project, because I am really excited about how this thinking what we've just been talking about has really had a transformative effect on my knitting now. I have always enjoyed moments of creativity, but now I just feel unbound, very liberated and so energized. Everything, every time, every single thing, I knit, whether it is something that I knit to completion by casting off, or knit to completion by frogging, or knit to completion by having to redo it. I don't think I have ever been so excited and satisfied in my knitting, and I think part of it has to do with this, and that's why I'm sharing these strategies, these ten strategies to help us in our knitting or crocheting or sewing or scrapbooking. I've even taken some of these ideas and applied them in my journaling, which I have been journaling longer than any other thing I've ever done in my life, and that includes dancing, which I picked up dancing when I was a kid. I started journaling in Miss Sasson's class when I was just a little kid and really dug into it in Miss Schiff's class when I was in first grade.

Melissa: 12:07

So let me just acknowledge that these tips that I am going to be sharing with you are transferable when it comes to color and just successful preparation. So, number one I shared in the previous podcast and blog post how to look for inspiration in nature, in our own backyard. We can also draw inspiration from photographs, from paintings or color palettes that we can very easily find in magazines and online platforms like Pinterest. This helps establish a starting point for your color choices and my color choices. Learning examples of color combination has not only helped me with color ideas that I may have been already trying to formulate, but looking at inspiration has opened up a whole new buffet of ideas that I hadn't considered and I never knew I liked. It's amazing and, by the way, if you are on Pinterest, please look for me there. I share a ton that will help you with all sorts of knitting related ideas, and I'm finding it is just a fun place to be inspired.

Melissa: 13:26

So number two is to consider color temperature. This is something I just recently actually started digging into. Just a few years ago, when we bought this house and began to paint. Temperatures can be categorized as warms, reds, oranges and yellows, or cool blues and greens and purples. Now, before painting the walls, I didn't consider that mixing temperatures A was even a possibility and B could evoke something exciting. I mean, we had some really fun moments with color. Experimenting, with combining warm and cool tones to create contrasts and balance in your color work and also decor is really fun. So think of it, as to me it was what I was already seeing and being inspired by and I didn't understand the application for it. For instance, bright, clear blue skies really does look amazing with soft yellow sunshine inside my home, on the walls and on my needles Just as amazing as it does outside. I wish you could see me. I'm like doing my hands like mind blown.

Melissa: 15:01

So for number three, I'm just going to touch on it's use a color wheel. I went into a deeper dive with this idea on the same, on the same podcast and blog that I mentioned earlier. The color wheel is a great visual tool and even though I did not discover the help that it offered until well into adulthood and that just shows that it's never too late to try new technology you can refer to the color wheel to explore various color harmonies. So complimentary colors, those opposite on the wheel, create high contrast, while analogous colors, which are the neighbors on the wheel, they have that harmonious blend. So a real fun activity I have found and enjoy to use with the color wheel is to take a physical color wheel that I have and I match my yarn choices on a particular color that I'm really loving. So I'll take a yellow and line it up a yellow yarn that I have and I line it up on the color wheel where it's closest and then I kind of play by taking small lengths from each of my ideas for what I want to blend with it and I kind of play with them to see how they behave off of the color wheel in real settings. And this has become a sincere and true confidence booster, as I have a template, a safe template in this color wheel that I can start with. That works. It works on the template, it works in real life and art and it works when I actually try to adjust it with the actual yarn that I have in stash Now.

Melissa: 17:05

Number four I'm actually practicing right now on my needles and it is number four is to think about value. Value refers to the lightness or darkness of colors and I want to stop right here and share that. I'm taking the time to define these terms as we go because for so long I did not have them in my vocabulary in the context of color. So I'm sharing these definitions with you simply because I wish someone had done that for me. I have seen so many times people sharing and showing and it's show and tell and I see what they're doing and I don't understand. Or I didn't understand what they were doing and I didn't have that common language to say, oh, I see the value.

Melissa: 18:04

For me, value used to mean like the worth of an object, but now I get it a bit better because I understand. As it pertains to color, it means the lightness or darkness of a color. So incorporating a range of values within your color work can add depth and a bit of dimension to your project. So here's my challenge to you, simply because it's where I am right now is be brave and experiment with light and medium and dark shades to create contrast and visual interest. The variety of values that I'm exploring are for a sweater on my needles, and it has black and three different values of black, the gray, black gray and the, the. I'll show you a picture. But it has three distinct values of black, black, gray and it also has white. And then, as I was getting comfortable with how these could mix and blend, I added an unexpected punch of color which I'm actually on the fence about.

Melissa: 19:23

So that leads us into the next point, which is number five, to test color combinations. Now, I know, I know, I know you're probably thinking, you know what I'm going to say. But here we go. I have a long scarf, like tube, that I have been trying this out with for years and it's been my safe place because I haven't I haven't had, like I said, a ton of color mixing moments in my knitting. I tend to have yarn that is one color, and the excitement and the interest isn't in color but it's in texture or construct, the way the pattern is built out. So this Dr who scarf has always been around and it teaches me a lot about the power of subtle shifts.

Melissa: 20:19

And for this point, number five, I think a big takeaway is before committing to your final color choices, consider creating color swatches. Yes, I said the S word consider color swatches or small samples to see how the colors interact. But hang on, there's more. So. Seeing it allows you to evaluate the colors, how they blend or contrast or even compete with one another. I did speak about this a ton in the aforementioned episode, but it really could offer you some insight. If you haven't listened, so go and listen to that. Queue it up for the next time. But basically, in a nutshell, if you haven't listened, basically I have never regretted taking the time to swatch. I have only regretted not swatching. There has never been a moment where I was like I cannot believe I swatched. I could kick myself right now for swatching Hands to heaven. I have never said that I have only regretted not swatching, and that is usually when I'm ripping out my work. Right.

Melissa: 21:39

Color swatches can be useful or utilitarian, rather than just these meaningless little squares that you've made. You can test out a color combo in a square form. When you're done, sew a backing onto it and, voila, you can have a mug rug to treat yourself to or surprise somebody else with it. You could start and develop a swatch journal which can just can grow and become a valuable resource for you and also for your knitting group. It is something that I have done for a long time and I love my swatch journals.

Melissa: 22:21

Excuse me, bottom line, your education is worth investing time and resources into. So you will learn from your swatch even if it is just proving that you were right all along and truly the amount of yarn you are using to create the swatch, my friend, you are worth more than a million swatches. So apply the abundant mentality to this. You learning and developing is not wasteful. Never is it wasteful. A swatch does not waste yarn, it educates you.

Melissa: 23:05

And one thing I left out that I'd like to share here is an aside in seeing how the colors behave when you wander them. Oh my goodness, please, if you were doing a million different things, please come back to me now and hear this part here. You, of course, use a swatch to understand and admire or to test the color ideas you had or the gauge sample, whatever you're using your swatch for. But in regards to the way the yarn behaves, I have saved myself so much anguish, like true anguish, when I soak and block my swatch and discover that one of my yarns, one of the colored yarns, bleeds heavily. Oh, my friend, seeing the deep blue from my yarn make the light gray, a totally different color, felt more than a bit sad for me when I saw it happen on my swatch, but it was not the same level of disheartened or bummed or sad feeling I would have had seeing those same gray stripes discolored in the final knit on my sweater that I worked days and days on, as opposed to just an hour or so on my swatch.

Melissa: 24:47

So, yes, swatches help us understand our gauge. They help us understand stitches and rows. They help us understand how the colors work with each other, but they also tell us what the yarn is going to do when we soak it and block it. And, my friend, the angst, the ugh feeling that you feel with a little swatch, when you're just frustrated that the colors are bleeding, is so much better to have in that small scale moment rather than at the end when you're not prepared for it and you just cast on and knit and you soaked and blocked your finished shawl or your sweater for the first time. So that's number five. I know I spent a little bit longer on that one, but I'm telling you I am going to be a swatch advocate until the day I have no more swatches to make. So number six this is something that I only recently discovered, so, again, I'm sharing it with you here. You may already know this and I would love to hear all your thoughts. Definitely, email me, message me, get in touch with me and let me know anything that either A I'm leaving out or B moments that you've had these. Yes, and you can even laugh at me. Hey, mel, I cannot believe you've been knitting this long and you're just now discovering.

Melissa: 26:28

Start your color exploration with a dominant color. Yes, that's number six, or at least what you think is going to be the dominant color. Choose one yarn that will be the focal point or dominant hue in your color work, and this color is gonna be that one that appears more prominently in the design and that actually is gonna be what sets the tone for the rest of the color combination. And once you play with that, you can feel free to flip it or reverse it. Would it be better as a bold accent? Which do you like? Better for your sweater or your socks or your shawl? Just starting with a dominant color really changed the trajectory of how I plan things and I'm not embarrassed to admit I didn't realize that I would pick little, tiny mini skeins up and instead of it being my dominant color, I thought, oh, this would be a nice little color to have, and I would work backwards. It's kind of cool to know that if you start with it this way, and not that you can't start with it the other way I had things that were successful, but this just is more purposeful and it saved me a ton of since doing it this way. It's saved me a ton of digging out stash and then having to reshelf it because I'm starting in the right direction.

Melissa: 27:51

Okay, number seven play with neutrals. Play with them. Neutral colors like grays and browns and creams can actually help balance or tone down really vibrant or contrasting colors. They can also serve as grounding elements and just provide a smooth transition between a bolder color choice. So if you're prone to brights and bolds, this will be a bit of a change up for you. So give yourself some space to have some fun with the power of neutrals and, as you're led, pop one of your bolder brights in there to see what happens, and you may find that you love the bright pop and you may also discover it feels nice to just relax in the neutral color zone without having anything added to it to spice it up.

Melissa: 28:43

Okay, number eight incorporating variegated yarns. I am not gonna lie to you about this one and pretend it's easy for me. Variegated yarns are not my thing. My eyes actually I'm scratching my neck right now. My eyes feel twitchy when I start to think about variegated yarns and it's because there's so many things happening in the skein and I panic a bit and I wanna step away from the yarn. However, once I take a deep breath and I remind myself, my brain is just trying to keep itself from having to do more work. I can calm down a bit and not be a drama queen. So what do I mean by that? As far as my brain Well, my brain and my friend yours too is actually hardwired to keep us, to always keep us safe, and for our brains, most often, safe equates with familiar, right?

Melissa: 29:46

Remember how I started this episode? So, the things that are familiar we like, and most often because there is no risk associated with the familiar. Let's see, I'm gonna give you an example. So if you order the same cheesecake because this is what I do, I'm projecting if you order the same cheesecake for dessert every single time at your favorite restaurant and you always know you are going to love it, that feels good, right? If you go out on a limb, the guy comes up and he's like hey, melissa, you ready to order your cheesecake and I go out on a limb to try the Guava Passion Fruit Sorbet, my brain is actually going to scream no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You're gonna hear all sorts of things in your mind from better not get something different, because if you don't like it, you're only gonna waste money or waste food, and you're gonna hear your brain also shout you only like cheesecake. This is too different. I mean, come on, guava. What did I say? Guava, passion Fruit Sorbet it's probably going to taste horrible. So let's you and I just sit here for a second calmly and let's debunk this silliness for a second.

Melissa: 31:14

To see it as it is All right if you don't like it, and by it I mean the dessert. Are you really wasting food and money? Shoot, if I don't eat all of my dessert, my family will scarf it down in a New York minute. And if I like it, it is actually a wise investment in my culinary taste palette. I don't know if that's a thing, but it should be a thing. I feel like it is.

Melissa: 31:41

So, avoidance excuse number two our brain is sending us. Well, your brain isn't lying to you about everything. It's absolutely different when it says you only like cheesecake. This is too different. I mean, okay, alright, brain, it is absolutely different. And it is not made from cheese. Am I only able to eat cheese? Must everything I try have to have cheese in it? Okay, there is so much of me saying yes to actually needing to have cheese and everything, but you and I both know we can't eat only cheese. So these points that our brain is sending us are like warning cones. Warning cones from my brain saying this road ahead could be rough terrain. Yes, and also when that pops to my mind, I can flip the script to say the road ahead is new territory and could be absolutely wonderful.

Melissa: 32:49

And, my friend, that is still the battle I have within my brain when it comes to variegated yarn. My dear friend, stephanie at Space Cadet yarns loves variegated yarn. She thrives in it in her dying place and I always want to support her. And when I go and I buy these variegated yarns, my brain is like what are you doing? What are you doing? So it's a battle I still have with my brain.

Melissa: 33:20

The color is active and it wants to be seen. It is highly engaging. It interacts with the previous color before it, as in. It's just it's doing that on one hand and at the same time it is engaging and interacting with the one following on its heels in a completely different way. It's just, one strand of yarn has so much energy and motion and excitement and my brain just needs to be reminded that energy and enthusiasm can add visual interest and complexity to my work. Right, for instance, right now I am knitting my Illa Illa, illa, illa, illa, illa, illa, illa I don't know how you pronounce it, it's Illa. It's the Illa sweater by Caitlin Hunter.

Melissa: 34:21

I used a lovely neutral gray for the main color and I also went with something new which, spoiler alert I wound up loving, despite my brain constantly telling me you don't do red, melissa, mal Mal Mal, listen, you aren't somebody that wears red. I set that aside and I recognize yes, that has been true. And I went with a yarn anyway, and it was red silk wool blend and it's amazing. And because I was already opened to experimenting with that bold red start, I pressed a little bit deeper into new things and I opted for this wildly variegated barber pole style from SpinCycle yarn that kept changing colors I mean like constantly moving from one color to the next and that became the third color in my sweater. So using that SpinCycle yarn was like knitting with two skeins of variegated yarn that had been applied together to make one. It was crazy and intense and fun. I wound up loving this sweater, love, love, loving it to the point where I actually ripped out the gray long sleeves so it had long sleeves ripped them out and gone a totally different way with that. Also, the bottom of this sweater. I changed that up and I will put pictures of it in the blog post that supports this episode so that you can see it. It's also worth mentioning that I earned. I learned this awesome tip that, when using variegated yarns, consider selecting solid or semi-solid colors that complement or enhance the colors in the variegated yarn. It may sound like a no-brainer for you or for some, but it was a monumental discovery for me. A little goes a long way, right.

Melissa: 36:25

Number nine real quick seek inspiration from existing patterns. You can look for color work patterns or projects that catch your eye. What is it that speaks to you? I recommend keeping, of course, a journal or opening your notes app on your phone to record all the different things that catch your eye and share a thought or two as you capture those, as to why. So then start examining the color combinations that were used. Are you digging the high contrast or the subtle blending? You can analyze how different colors interact and consider how you can incorporate some similar combinations in your own projects.

Melissa: 37:08

One more thing about this point that incorporates the first point look at quilt patterns. I subscribe to Quilt Folk Magazine and in every single issue. I'm absolutely delighted by the knitting inspiration I find from each page and project. There are sometimes examples in just one quilt of vibrant, bold colors that pop and others that just seem to disappear. They give me a bit of insight and exposure into utilizing a variety of techniques with color. So the Quilt Folk Magazine is actually what inspired me to use the red for the Ilya ILYA sweater that I just mentioned.

Melissa: 37:59

All right, number 10. And this is the well. It's probably the hardest at first and yet the most liberating. Trust your instincts. Take everything I've said with a grain of salt. Remember, I am not an expert on you, I am an expert on me, and thank you, lord, for that epiphany. I know myself and you know yourself. And the cool thing about color is it's subjective, and what appeals to one knitter you may not resonate with another. Your neighbor or what I think is the most fabulous marriage of colors in anything might make you look at it twice. So give yourself permission to trust your instincts and choose colors that speak to you personally. You could be courageous and tell yourself a better story than the one I told myself for so long. Rather than Mel, you should knit that from the pre-assembled kit because you're terrible at color.

Melissa: 39:09

I could have said, girl, how about trying something new? It may turn out fabulous. Or instead of saying I feel overwhelmed by color choices and I just can't decide, I could have been telling myself oh yeah, come on now, look at the endless opportunities for colors here. There is zero chance of me making a bad call. With all these color options, which one is making me the happiest now? That's the conversation I could have had with myself, and for so long I opted to play it safe, and to Play it safe left me playing me a disservice.

Melissa: 39:53

Yeah, I know we're investing time and money in knitting, but I want to encourage you to experiment and take risk with your color choices. Knitting is the one place that our risky behavior isn't that much of a risk. So, yeah, invest a little bit of time, invest a little bit of money in knitting, but neither resource is ever lost. I mean, if we learn, then time is well spent, and if we have to rip out, that yarn will not go to waste. We can repurpose it in a hundred different ways. You, my friend, are super creative. You can figure out something else to do with that yarn, and if you need help, I am here. So remember color is a creative and personal choice, so have fun exploring different combinations and let your imagination guide you in creating unique and beautiful color worknets.

Melissa: 40:50

I hope you've enjoyed some of these color-focused moments together. If you are, I want you to get a big, full picture moment in knitting. I have a free pattern called Skyline, which incorporates two very distinct colors and weights of linen fiber to create a fun, easily customizable shrug. It works up quickly, so think of it as a low-risk opportunity that gives you creative license to simply have some fun while training your brain to be open to endless possibilities. You can play with color. You can play with fiber and even yarn weights. You think you hate linen? Well, here's your chance to flip that script. And wait, you have no linen in your stash? No worries. Get creative and substitute. Be open to honest, to goodness, freedom and bravely experimenting. In the show notes I will share where you can get that free pattern. There's also a guide. If you're interested in learning more about linen, that I'll put in there also Now.

Melissa: 42:02

Now for my favorite part. This week we have two winners and they are going to receive an any-time advent filled with a variety of fiber retreats to brighten their mailbox and their knitting baskets. As always, if this is you that I announce, email me at Melissa at EncourageBettercom within 15 days of the air date of this show so that you can claim your gifts. These are so fun. It's open to everybody. It's open to people who've already left a review, even if it was two, three years ago, and even if you just did it 15 minutes ago. It's opened to everyone. So the first is a review that was left via podcast addict. And, for those wondering, podcast addict is new to me and it's just a different app or player where you can subscribe to the podcast. And some people subscribe via Apple podcast or Google podcast, spotify. Those are just some. And if you want to subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode, links are in the show note. So this comes from Carrie.

Melissa: 43:11

Carrie, may 21st, said I love listening to the podcast in the evening to wind down after work. Mel's voice is very calming and she's very positive and encouraging. Aw, thank you, carrie. I am thankful that you listen and I hope to continue to find ways to encourage your knitting adventures. I do. That's the reason I do this. I'm here to encourage everyone. Okay, the second one is from an Apple podcast subscriber. They left it there, apple podcast, and it says I am hooked.

Melissa: 43:50

I have never been much of a podcast listener. I lean more towards visual media. But let me tell you, mel has such a soothing voice that cracks me up that everybody says I have a soothing voice. I love it. You feel like you're sitting at the table with her sipping a warm beverage in between stitches. I have truly enjoyed listening and I can't wait for more.

Melissa: 44:12

Well, thank you, jess, j-e-s-o-5-o-1. I appreciate it. It would be pretty terrific if we could sit and knit in person, which reminds me that if you are not on the VIP Knitter Mailing List, which is my email list, you just might want to do that today. I have some fun things in store for you and this knitting community. The link is in the show notes at or encourage bettercom. I hope to read your review, my knitting friend. Your simple act of leaving a review one encourages me. It really does. It makes me feel like something I'm doing is on the right track. And, number two, this podcast is made Well, it's not made. The podcast is given a better opportunity to be discovered by other knitters based on reviews from listeners like you. So thank you for your support for all the effort that I do put into this.

Melissa: 45:21

Okay, and now, to wrap up, I would like to just say that this is my favorite part. It's where I get to remind you of the wonderful, colorful creation that you are. You are worth more than every stash that has ever been or ever will be. You are a joy and a delight to people. You probably don't even realize that you inspire. So keep sharing joy and toss encouragement out like confetti. I hope, wherever you are in this world, that the sun is shining on you and in you and through you. So until next time. Aloha, my friend, you.