Hi, I'm Carmen, and this is the Yarn Story podcast, and today I am here with my very good friend Athena of Meticulous Ink. We're going to talk all things knitting, crochet, yarn making, and all about her business, Meticulous Ink. All right, well, would you like to start by introducing yourself to people who don't know who you are? Hello, I'm Athena, and I run Meticulous Ink, a fine stationery and letterpress print shop in Bath, and we are three, four, four doors up from Carmen at the Yarn Story. I have run Meticulous Ink, well, I opened Meticulous Ink in 2010. We've always been on Walcott Street, and we are a luxury letterpress printer, so we have our own in-house range of vintage presses that we produce our own line of letterpress stationery and greeting cards on. We run workshops in store, and we do lots of bespoke printing as well, so we do wedding invitations and business cards, personal stationery, all that kind of thing. People are getting a little glimpse of that behind you on this board. There's a bit of a selection. There's a few bits of inspo and previous projects. I see one of your birthday invites. Yeah, they're my favorite. So yeah, amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining me here on the podcast. We've been talking about doing this for a while, and so in addition, so you run this business, the paper business, but you are one of the craftiest people I know. I like making things. Yes, you love to make things. I love to make things. And I actually don't think that crafty is a big enough word to describe your capabilities in the making area. I like making all the things. Yeah, I think some of it definitely verges on engineering. Yeah, I suppose. Yes. You like to use power tools as well. I do. I do. I do like power tools. It's not just glue and scalpels around here. I like making all the things. Yeah. And yeah, like I do quite a bit of paper and card engineering, and I like sewing, I like knitting, I like crochet. I'm also thinking about those wooden Christmas trees we made one year for street decorations. Oh yeah, that was fun times. Or some of the window displays that Athena has crafted over the years in the shop are not your average window display. What have we done? Honestly, I think about those, and I'm like, how did I find the time? I don't know. I don't know. Literally everybody who knows you has been asking that question for years. Yeah. How has she? Well, the last couple years, I feel like the windows have been less elaborate than in the past. Yes. So I think that's okay. Are you going to use your arrow again for Christmas? Potentially. It's hidden under the stairs. I like to hoard things as well. I was going to leave you alone on that one. Well, I like keeping things that are useful. So I think that's, I mean, I think you're definitely more extreme version of that than I am. But I think that's like a crafter's thing. Yes. Like, because we find usefulness in like the smallest bits of paper and fabric and yarn. Exactly. Like we know at some point that's big enough. I can use that. Yes. Something. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so let's talk a little about your knitting life or like yarn crafting life. Yes. Yes. So when did you learn to knit? I don't actually remember. I was thinking about this today and I don't actually remember learning to knit, but I know that my mum taught me to knit. And I guess to crochet. I don't actually know. I should probably have asked her. It's too late now. I can't make it up. So from when I was a child, I've always knit and then, you know, various lulls. Yes. I like starting new projects, you know, under the umbrella of knitting and crochet, but also all the other things. I just like starting new projects. But I realised recently that particularly with knitting and crochet, I like starting new projects because I get on the bus often to go and see my beloved. And so there's like an optimum size of project that is within, you know, project bag. And your seat. And seat. Exactly. And weight to carry with backpack. And then when it gets too big and therefore nearing completion and it's too big to take on the bus and therefore it goes onto the shelf and doesn't get finished. And then doesn't get finished. So you have to have like a finishing up weekend. Yeah. Or you know, two, four, a lot. How many projects do you have started at the moment? I don't want to think about it. It can't be more than me. No, I actually I think about you a lot. And I'm like, she's got loads of me. I cannot tell you how many customers like every time I do a little. Oh, well, I've counted and I'm at thirty five or something. I can't tell you how many customers come in and say, oh, thank you for that. Like, I feel less guilt or like I'm not as bad as you. Happy to help. Thank you. From all of us. No problem. We appreciate you. Well, starting a project is fun, though. It is. Yeah. Yeah. You get really excited and there's new colors and there's new patterns and you're like, I can do this thing and hold a new yarn. And yeah. And there's always new patterns. There are always new patterns and there's always new yarn and there's new ways to put colors together and new ways to put textures together. And yeah. How do you. So I can make decisions pretty easily with yarn and fabric. But like if I'm drawing or just like bullet journaling. Yeah. I have anxiety about choosing like a pen color. What if it's the wrong pen color? What if it doesn't go with the other pens I've chosen for this page? And I think about how you choose ink and color for like a letterpress project. Yeah. And I'm not sure I can do it. How do you do that? Well, how do you do it for a knitting project? Yeah, but I know I can unravel it. It's not permanent. Like I can't get rid of the pen or the ink. Interesting. Well, I guess for me it's. I mean, paper is not permanent. Paper can be recycled. So if I don't, if I'm not keen on the color then I'm like just change the color. Take the page out. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So you read pages out of your notebooks. This is why I love a wirebound notebook. You see? I see. Like I understand the delight of a hardback bound book and like lace lap binding. Yeah. And all that jazz. But for me, realistically, a wirebound, it is less pressure because you can rip out the page. And so I will use that book. I will fill that book and I'll use that whole book every single page and hardback book, like I will hardly touch because it's all in there. I feel like I'm having my mind blown at the moment because I can't tell you how I've never thought about ripping a page out of my wire. There you go. Right? I mean, I hardly ever do, but you can. It's so easy. And then there's no, like, there's no leftovers. It doesn't ruin the binding. So you can, if you don't like the ink color, you can take that page out. That's what I'm going to do now. I'm going to feel better about my ink choices. Good. You should. You should do that. You must have had a crafty upbringing though. Yes. Like you don't, you don't become as ingenious with materials as you and not start that very young. Yeah. So what did you guys do then? Like as a kid, what did you play? We just always made stuff. Like all the things. I mean, you know, there was like pasta collage and because my mom, my mom was always really encouraging in that sense. And like, we'd always have craft materials around and it would always be like useful things that were not meant for that purpose. So I remembered there was like a whole stack of menus from the restaurant that my dad worked at. Okay. And so then we were just like, they were bright yellow. I remember. And they were three face and they had like a big section that was blank. So then we're just like, you know, we just have this yellow card for ages, this pile of, I don't know if there was a mistake or a typo or something. Does it upset you when you get a bad print run? I'm sure it doesn't happen super often that you have a print run you need to dump, but like, what do you do with, do you still go, oh, well, I can still use this bit over here. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. If something is wrong or because every print run there's bound to be some duds is what we call them, which is, you know, it could be just from setting up, like you've got to get the ink run right and get the feed going in the press. And so there's always going to be like a certain amount of like set up duds. And then there's like the cards that you use to protect the stack when you're using the guillotine. So that it doesn't have like a squish mark on the top. And then the one on the bottom gets like a funny furry edge. So there's like all this tiny detail in the process and then they become duds. And that is how we started doing the sample sale as well. So because then also, because we print, we get in really big sheets of paper and then we cut it down to size. So sometimes depending on the size that we're going to finish at, that big sheet might have like a really long bit that's too weird a size to print on, but then there's like a really nice card. And so then we just start hoarding it and end up with this giant pile of like weird random papers, but then like a really nice colors or really thick or like nice texture. And then that's how we started doing the sample sales. And then we'd like cut them up into more manageable sizes. Was that because you couldn't possibly craft with all of your hoarded scraps? Yes. It got too much of a problem. And it was like taking up like an entire massive shelf in the basement. And yeah. So you're sharing sharing the creative joy of delightful paper and also helping my hoarding. So thanks. Do you remember a project that you made early on that you were like really, not necessarily even really proud of, but one that where you thought like, oh my god, I love doing this so much. So a thing that I made early on, but I still have is a little tiny zip case, but it's like knitted. And then I sewed the zip on by hand for my Nintendo DS. Amazing. Is it a DS? No, it's the earlier thing. I don't know which one. Maybe it was a Nintendo DS, but it was the one that was like this big. And then it flipped up. And I made a little zip case for it. But then it was kind of annoying because then none of the games were the same shape. So there wasn't enough room. But you still have it. I do still have it. That's cool. Tell me about your yarn evolution. You're like knitting evolution. Well, before I knew you, I would use a lot of acrylic. And, you know, bargain, whatever. I didn't really look at what it was made of. I was just like, oh, there's some yarn. Yeah. Great. And so I do still have a bit of a stash of that. That's okay. I, you know, I'm obviously a big proponent of natural fibers. We all know that. But I'm not judging anyone for having some acrylic in their stash. And okay. On that, though, did you buy that because you didn't think about the fibers or because of budget or because of something completely different? Both of those things. Okay. I was just like, oh, look, a giant thing of yarn. And it's four pounds, whatever, you know. So then I'd buy it and then obviously wouldn't have a pattern for it. And I was just like, sit there for ages. None of us have ever done that. No, no, no. And then I think it is actually from because then I remember I used to work in central London and I would go to John Lewis when they have like the yarn section in there. When people would talk about the John Lewis yarn section. Yes. Yeah. I remember when I first opened the shop, people were like, oh, my God, you have to go to the Oxford. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. Most amazing yarn section. Yeah. And I remember getting. It was this quite sort of very textured, very earthy looking yarn, but it wasn't acrylic. I think it was wool. I can't remember what it was called. But I remember getting that and then I remember making myself some gloves and it was quite a janky. I just made up the pattern kind of thing and I put a cable up the back and somehow shoehorned in like a thumb hole. And then my mum really liked them. And that's how I got some more of that yarn. And then I made her some much better cabled gloves. And I was like, oh, they're so much better than mine. Because I used like a wider cable. And it was just like very cool. And then just like that was kind of the transition, I guess. Like, oh, this is really nice yarn. Did you like it for the way it felt while you were working with it or for the finished product or both? Yeah. And it just looked really unusual. I hadn't. It was like very earthy but bright. It was like earthy rainbow. That's like your ideal. Yes. It was. And then, yeah, so I've made lots of those kind of projects over the years. And then I feel like there was a definite lull when I started Meticulous Ink. Yeah, makes sense. Because life, business. Yeah, just 100%. Oh, my God. And then I got to know you. And I went in your shop. Oh, my God. So fun. And yeah, obviously knowing you and Nhu, who are both big knitters. So I just see a lot more knitting like patterns and yarn, obviously, in my life. Nice. And yeah, so that definitely got me back into it and knitting more. Amazing. I don't remember if this was the first thing you knit after I met you or like the first thing from the shop, but you made that scarf. Yes, I did. I don't remember if that was the first thing or if that was somewhere along the way. But yeah, I just made this amazing color block scarf in like four fabulous colors. It's very good. Yes. It's slightly changed color now because I washed it in the washing machine. But it looks fine. It's still very vibrant. It's just there was like some cream bits with like little multicolored debris. But that's kind of mint now. So it still totally works. Oh yeah, because you had bright emerald green on one end and magenta pink. Yeah, it was like violent magenta pink. And then this kind of cream with the speckles. That's now mint. And you put it in the washing machine? This is fine. I don't know how it's fine. I actually I happen to know this is a it was Hedgehog Fibers DK. Yes. So it's a great scarf. But yes, I well, you can machine wash it. I will just plug right here that we would always advise a hand wash. And it really doesn't matter what brand you're using a bright saturated pink with a cream or like a red or a bright, bright blue with a white. There is a tendency to emerald green. Yeah. So I look forward to seeing it this winter and it's new. Yes. Colors. Yeah. I like hand washing. Well, I don't like it. I just don't do it. That's the nice thing about wool is you don't actually have to wash it very much. Yes. So yeah, you can do it now for like five years. Yeah. Not wash it. Great. Love it. What else have you made? Oh, do you want to see? Do you want to see a make? I do want to see a thing I made. Was this last year? Maybe the year before? I think that was last year. This is the Inclinations Cowl by Andrew Mowry. And I think you picked this up last summer. So pleasing. It's so squishy. Yeah. Oh, it's so nice. Yeah. It's a half fisherman's rib. Here, I'll go a little bit closer. It's the same shape as the shift cowl, which is kind of this like long triangle that's sewn up the back, which creates sort of a tubey triangle thing. But it's a half fisherman's rib. And this uses two colors of spin cycle dyed in the wool, which you chose to do Valley Girl and Sunset Strip, I think. Okay, I don't remember. I have a weird memory for these things. Okay. I really love the edge as well. Yes, it has an i-cord edge. It's very pleasing. Half fisherman's rib. So squishy. Yeah, this is my favorite section. This here. This little sunset situation. Yeah. It's very nice. It's interesting to how when you look at it, like we're really up close and we can see the individual stripes, but then you show it on camera. It just looks more like a blend. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah. And did you find this difficult? Because this was a new technique for you. I'd never done fisherman's rib before. I really liked it. I remember when I finished it, I was like, I want to make another one immediately. And then I didn't because then I found another project. But I would totally make another one. I really enjoyed the stitch. I really liked it. It's very soothing somehow. Yeah. Yeah. And I love how the edge looks. It's so nice. I didn't block it. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. This kind of a thing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can block it. You know, when you decide to wash this, please don't put this in the washing machine. Okay. I will wash this for you. Okay. I'll wash this for you. I'm in love. It's an amazing service to come in. I mean, again, it is technically a super wash yarn. So you could. Please don't. I can see this physically hurts you. It really does. Okay. I won't. I won't. I won't. I promise. Thanks. Okay. Do you have any other finished things or do you have whips? That was my finished thing I brought. I've got three whips with me because I thought if I get them out, then maybe I'll do that. I love that. I love that. See, I didn't bring any this time because yeah, because we're filming this sort of differently than we did last season. I was like, I don't have anything to show. It's okay. We're both reasonable. Great. So talk to me about. They're all in hide and have bags, obviously. This is the special ice dyed print. That was our version edition collab. And I put these on. Great. Yeah, we do. Okay. This is the ranunculus. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. That I almost frogged. That's the word, isn't it? But then I didn't. Excellent. Because then I tried it on and it was fine. I was convinced that it was gonna be too small. But here we are. I mean, it was too short. But this is where we're at. There are some mistakes. And that's okay. Yes. As knitters too, we have got to stop pointing out our mistakes first. There's no mistake. This is perfect. I started doing the ribbing. And then I was like, this is too small. This is way too small. It's too small. It's too small. So then I took out things and I started unraveling it. And then I was like, oh, wait, I could try it on now. And then it was fine. But it is too short. So I'm gonna make it longer. It can be longer. So you haven't blocked it. No. No. So the other thing about a yoked sweater. So this is a classic round yoke. So your sleeves are on hold. Yes. At the moment. A yoked sweater will not, its fit will not be shown to you or revealed to you fully until you have sleeves on it. Okay. Because it like pulls it all down and makes it fit properly. I mean, that makes sense. So like, yes. But we all do this, right? Like, it looks like a child's t-shirt. We all try it on too, because that's the good thing about a top down sweater is that you can try it on, but you have to know that it will sort of slide down and ease. Yes. Yes. Because I've also made that mistake. And blocking is going to do magical things to the lace work on this. What yarn are you using? I don't know how to pronounce it. Oh, Ushijita. That's the one. That's the one. Yes. So I got two different colors of that. And then I sort of blended them here together. I'm going into the pink. But you have a second strand of something here. And then I have a second strand of some mystery chatty shop yarn that I got. Love that. That's really thin, but I thought it's like a lace weight. Just like, I mean, it's cobwebby, really. I thought it would help to blend the colors together. Like a light gray. It's really thin. It's not really doing anything, but it is doing something. It's got a nice texture to it. And then this is the Oh, look, there's the thing inside. Buy me flowers. Oh, it's just this lovely pink, pink and white. You do like a speckly. I do love a speckly. I do. I do. And then, oh, how am I going to wash this? I don't know. No, it's fine. By hand. Yes, also by hand. You will block it gently by hand. Correct. Your house. I will do it at your house. You've got more space. Okay, fine. Okay. But I will do it with you. Okay, great. I found this incredibly difficult. I've been watching this project for a while. Someone, Emma, I bumped into Emma in your shop. Yeah. When I was loitering there, looking at yarn and she was buying one skein or one ball, one skein, one skein she was buying. And she said, you can make a top with this particular pattern with one skein of yarn. I was like, that sounds great. And then obviously bought three skeins of yarn. Were you going to make three tops? No, I was just like, I like all of these. I can't decide. And I wanted to make the long sleeve version. Okay. Yes. Sleeves eat up yarn. Yes. But I still didn't need three. Anyway, it's fine. I've got another spare. There's another color of this. And then so I started it. And then I had to restart it like maybe four times. I just kept getting the whole top wrong. And then it was like too tight. And then I finally like, got it. Yeah, understood. And then got down to I think the I didn't finish the whole of that patterned bit. But then I had like the wrong number. So I had to go back and then start again. And then I got down to splitting for the arms. Yeah. And I was like, Oh my god, this is so easy. Now everything's great. And then realized that I'd put in too many increases. Because I'd increase in the front and the back as well as the front and the back of the arms. Oh, so it was kind of ginormous. Yes. Yeah. Like with weird, like, you know, flappy. Like we invent extra. And then so then I put it down for a while. So how long have you been working on this? Oh, I don't know. It's like well over a year. Oh, maybe it is. Oh, shit. That's okay. Yeah, it is okay. It's okay. But then I brought it with me to the retreat. Yes. And then my mom undid it for me. Because it's much easier to undo someone else's work. It is so much easier to undo someone else's work than your own. So she was happily there. procrastinating from doing her socks. Yes. Yeah, she was procrastinating her socks. She was but she helped me. So yeah, I'm very happy. So I'll unravel your knitting and you can rip the pages out of my notebook. Yeah, that's fine. Yes. This works for me. I'm happy. All right. What is whip number two? Yes. Okay. Whip number two. That's a big bag. Oh, big, big bag. There's another. I have a feeling people are going to be like, is she using your project bag experiment? Because you and I both have that one. Oh, is it? Yeah. And I've shown that one off a few times. And I have this one obviously. Bloomin' beautiful. I forgot about this one as well. This one I'm very close to finishing. Are you? Yeah. Oh, I forgot about this one too. Yeah, I should really finish it. Look, it's so nearly finished. This is so good. This is Badger and Bloom by Anne Wenzel. It's really cool. And you've done such a cool colour choice and yarn choice on this. Oh, it's really squishy. So nice. You have used, Athena has Snuffnug in two colours. So she has an orange and one of the pinks. I don't know the Snuffnug colours off the top of my head. And then the teal is Walcott Yarns Origin in Pacific. So it's a really, it's quite a weighty project because Origin is a much more substantial fibre yarn than the Snuffnug. Yeah, but using the Snuffnug for the colour, it keeps it a bit lighter than if you were to do this in all Origin. And the colours just look amazing. I'm very pleased with this one. So I'm also really excited to see how you style these. Oh, yeah. Because like I'm a jeans and sweater girl, right? Like I'm always just in jeans and sweater, jeans and t-shirt, jeans and sweater. Yeah. You are not. I'm not. A jeans. I'm a dress gal. You're a dress girl. Yes. So I love that we're gonna get to see some of these sweaters in like a much different way than I would. I do. I do wear like shirt and skirt in winter with layers. Yeah. So that's what I'm imagining. Okay. For both of these. Shirt, jumper, skirt situation. Love it. Oh, I'm excited for it. Yeah, I think it's gonna be very good. Me too. I mean, it's much more exciting than me and my blue jeans. Oh, someone's got some black jeans. It's exciting. I'm trying to work on this. Okay. These are like pink jeans. Oh, I used to have some new now. You should get some. You should get some more. I should get some more. Yes. Yes. I will try to find some pink jeans. I love this. So you just have a sleeve to do. Yeah. Why didn't you finish this one? What stopped you on this? What's the story? I don't know. Were you doing this at the retreat as well? While your mom was working that out? Yes. Yes. Correct. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I started this at the retreat. Did you start it? Yes, I did. Yes. You got really far then. I did. Yes, because I started it, but I had the colors the wrong way around. And then Vincent helped. Yes. Because I was like, he like went back for me. This is one of the great things about the retreat. Everybody's like, let's let me help you with that. I can help you with that. And it's so much easier to help someone else's project. And then someone comes to the rescue. Yeah. Yeah. It is good. And Vincent's very good for that. I was very good for that. Yes. Yeah. It's very good for that. Yes. It's true. I think actually knew did a bit of going back somewhere as well. It's a group project. It was a group project. I love it. But everyone did tell me when you finish the sleeve, go straight onto the next one. Did I? Did I? So you took no one's advice is what you're saying. I think I used the size for something else. I think. Okay. That is like major faux pas. Is it? Is it? Well, yeah, because that's exactly how you get stuck not doing your sleep because you're like, I'm just going to use this. You have to at least let me just. Yeah. Well, it's not in here. So I think I'm something else. Oh, dear. What? Okay. Is it in that project? No. I've got another way. But I've stolen it from that. Oh, for this. I think it's the other past around. Yeah. Okay. I should just get some more of that side. Maybe just one more on that side. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's lovely. It's going to be so pretty. Also, it introduced me to what do you call this? Stranded color work. Stranded color. Wait, you're telling me you've never done stranded color work before? I didn't think so. Okay, I think I've done. Is that what it's called? Yeah. Or intarsia, depending on if you're American or British. We're just going to show off Athena's very sexy floats on her very first color work. I mean, this is, this is what I'm saying. She's so good at just everything she touches. But getting your tension even like this is a real skill. Oh, yeah. Okay. A lot of people, I personally don't find it that easy. Oh, did you do it with two hands? Or how did you do your color work? Like, did you have yarn in both hands? Or what was your technique? Oh, I had, I had both the colors in one hand. Okay. But the front and back thing? Yeah. So you're working on your color dominance? Yes. You want someone at the retreat to talk to you about that? Yes. Yeah. But you're holding them both. Yes. Sounds right. Because yeah, you're a thrower. Correct. Or not. Sorry. Yes. Is it? Yes. Rain. Yeah, very smooth throw. But you held both of them. Yes. I can't remember. I have to remember when you get down to the end of the sleeve. I want to steal this one. It's really good. I really like it. I still know that I'm looking at it again. Oh, yeah, it's cool. I still have to finish my badger and bloom, which is actually now getting finished for Amanda because it's too small for me. Oh, but I do want to make another one. Maybe I'll do a combo like this because I like the or like the weight of the origin in it. Yeah, that's really nice. Yeah, I would totally make another one of these. I really enjoy making another one of these. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't think I've ever made a pattern twice. Oh, really? I don't think so. Even those mitts I made for my mom, those are different. But I really enjoyed how easy it was to do the different colors in this. I was like, this is like magic. I do think this is a good starter colorwork pattern because you don't have to carry the yarn very far. It's mostly one one. Yeah. Because as the floats get longer, that's really where the tension gets messed up. I'm doing the framed sweater at the moment. And at one point there are eleven stitches. Wow. They are alternating. Yeah. So there's like a row where it's eleven with one color, eleven with the next. Oh, right. So then you've got like a long. Yeah. And most people say you shouldn't do more than five stitches without sort of like catching your yarn. Yeah. Sometimes I go to seven if I'm feeling when you say catching your yarn. What does that mean? So you're you kind of like you wrap. I'm not going to be able to display this. I'm so you're knitting along with your one color. And if you just want eleven stitches, you'd be pulling the second strand a whole bunch over. Yeah. Which is really quite a long float. And you're likely to get a lot of puckering and too much tension. So you kind of you wrap them in between and you catch it in so that it's really only like five and five. So then but you still can't see it from the other side. You can't see it. Oh, yeah. I'm not sure I do it like correctly. And I've been working on it actually because I use a ring where I have both the colors in my left finger. Oh, yeah. Which works pretty well for me. But having to catch them, I've been trying to figure out how to do that like quickly and efficiently. So when they're both in the working on my technique for that at the moment, I don't think I've perfected it. I think if someone I think if Amanda looked at me, she'd be like, what are you doing? Amanda knows all. Well, she'll see it at the retreat in a couple of weeks. And she'll probably tell me how to do it correctly. Yeah. Well, that's good. Yeah. Okay. Let's see what's in that other bag over there. This is very old. The I literally was like, I don't know what's in this bag. Let's look. And I was like, oh, my God, I forgot about that. We all have projects like that. You're gonna be like, wow, I forgot about that. Because you know, this way. This is the opus shawl. The opus shawl by Max. Oh, another Heineken bag, obviously. And this is in Opus. Oh, wait, this is another. What do you call it? Uh, with the different colors and the thing? Yes, but this is mosaic color. Ah, okay. Yeah. Because you only use one or? No, because well, you're slipping stitches. So kind of hide your face so that this will focus on the camera. And in true Athena style, we have yellow, bright pink. Very subtle. Spellbound is in there. The bluey purple. Oh, and you're using sunset. Do you have enough sunset? Because they've discontinued it. Please tell me you have enough. Oh, I don't know. There's one in there. Okay. Oh, no. Oh, no, that's midsummer. That's not sunset. Okay, great. Fine. We're totally fine. Um, yeah. I love this too. So you I've seen people do this pattern where they've used spin cycle for like the little dark sort of accent blippies there. Um, but more she's using it for one of the main stripey, like bigger color blocks. This is gonna be so good. Yeah. I do feel like I started a bit tight. Like some of it feels a bit tight. I feel like I was sitting next to you on a plane when you started. Yes. Yeah, that is true. Yeah. And then like this, I feel like I did that a bit wrong. I don't think you did. Oh, here. These ones that were meant to be the other way. These ones are correct. And then these ones are not. I think. See how they're just normal. But they're meant to be like that. Oh, they're supposed to be garter stitch, not stocking stitch. I mean, no one is ever gonna notice that. I can't. I do not. So, had you not explained what you meant, I would not see it. But this one is very cool. So why did you put this one down? This is not really a bus project. That's true. Because it's a lot of colors. So not happening. Yeah. Although I did find that I was, I kind of understood the pattern by the time I got to here. Yeah. I remember there being some issues like around that little tail end. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I think I had to start that again a few times. This is also definitely the brightest version of Max's shawl. Is it? It reminds me of fruit salad. The sweets. Oh, yes. Yes. It's very British. Yeah. Americans washing fruit salad doesn't mean a fruit. I don't mean a bowl of fruit. I mean, there's these specific chewy sweets called fruit salad and they sort of look like that. They do look like that. You're a big sweets fan. I am. I am. This is my only advice. I like sweets. Maybe that's like where some of your color inspiration comes from inadvertently. Maybe. Yes. I do remember picking this out and being like, oh, this is like fruit salad. Amazing. I mean, like everything is bright. There's a lot of pink going on. There is, isn't there? There's like accents of yellow. I don't wear that much pink. I wear a lot of red. You wear loads of red. I haven't got any red here. No. So that's weird. That is weird. I don't know. And the hat you made, the brioche hat. Yes. I tried to find that and I couldn't find it. I don't know where I put it. Tell me you lost it. I put it somewhere very safe from even myself. This is the best kind of safe spot. Yes. Why do you think you're knitting in pink or drawn to like pinks and blues? Because those are not two colors you wear very often. I haven't got a clue. I don't know. I like these for my eyes, but I like red for my body. Is there anything you have planned for when you might finish? Like, are you already thinking of a new project? I have. Oh no, you've got the crochet projects. I've got two crochet projects that are also just. So one is a little waistcoat that's like pointy here and it's very cute. And I kind of just, I'm hoping for the best because it was out of some 70s book they had. And I think it only had one size in the book. And so I was like, that's probably going to be okay if I'm a 70s size. Well, no, I just like used bigger yarn and a bigger crochet hook. And I'm like, eh. So, cool. And then the other thing is that, oh, it's red. It's a bright red hexagon cardigan. Oh, okay. I don't think I've seen that one. No, because it's not wearable yet or anything. But that was a bus project and then it got too big. So then it just got demoted to shelf. But that was a fun one. I like that. You should come to knit night. Yeah, but it clashes with my swing dance thing. Oh, right. Which is why I've never been to knit night. Because I go swing dancing on a Tuesday. So, yeah. So I was going to say, then you're in a bigger space than us. If you could just move it to Mondays, that'd be great. Thanks, I appreciate that. Well, I very much look forward to seeing you finish some of these projects. We do! Wear them. I did see you talking about, in a previous one of the podcasts, a pattern called Joe. Oh, yes. That was really cool. It is really good. I have my yarn picked out to make one of those. That's a great project, too, because you can just use scrap. You can make it as kind of crazy and colorful as you want. Obviously. And use up some bits. The only thing on that project is it does have kind of a weird gauge. Oh. Yeah, so it's knit in a sport weight yarn. But it's knit to a worsted weight gauge. Which one is thicker? Worsted weight is thicker. Okay, so it's like a floopier fabric. It's a really floopy fabric. So Susan has swatched a couple times for this already. And we've had some extensive yarn conversations about what is correct. Yeah. I decided I was going to use opus plus fluff. No matter what. I was just going to figure out the needle size and adjust the size. Because that's what I want to use. I'm going to pick my color palette. And Susan was back and forth, but she's ended up using that. She's, by the way, done with the body. Wow. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. It looks fantastic. Okay. And I'm like, I'm going to try to knit faster. Yeah. So yeah, that's a good one. So yeah, that looks very appealing. And I like that the sleeves don't match. Yeah. I like that. It's cool, isn't it? That took me a minute to notice. But while we're like analyzing the colors. Because I think you, in one of the versions that the designer's done, I think there's 11 colors in it. Yeah. Some people have done it in far fewer. Yeah. And some have done it in more. But I quite like the lots of colors. Yeah. So yeah, that's on my radar. Well, I think when you are done with some of these, I'm going to make you photograph them. Excuse me. Bless you. Yeah, we'll need to photograph you. Okay. And show off when you finished. So we're going to wrap up here with part one. But join us for part two, where we are going to talk a lot more about Athena's business. Business! Business of her business, and how she got into it, and what she does, and what she likes to create, and some of her side projects. And it's going to be really interesting. So watch out for that. And in the meantime, thank you so much for joining me. Bye! If you enjoyed this, please don't forget to like, and subscribe, and share us with your friends. And we'll see you next time. Bye!