#140 Finding Yarn When It’s Less Available In Your Area

Do you live where craft stores and yarn shops are few and far between?

Does this limit your creativity and motivation to start new crochet or knitting projects? You're certainly not alone.

In this episode of The BHooked Podcast you'll hear from Caitie Moore, talented designer and crochet addict located in Cape Town, South Africa where yarn resources are a bit limited. In order to grow in her craft and pursue her passion as a designer, Caitie had to be resourceful to create patterns and projects she loves. She shares tips for finding and substituting yarn in patterns, ordering online as well as some clever projects for those one or two special hanks in your stash that weren't easy to get.


About The BHooked Podcast
Brittany's primary goal is to inspire you and help you grow in your craft with The BHooked Podcast. Through her own stories and the stories of each special guest, you'll discover tips and tricks to improve your crochet and knitting skills and find inspiration to achieve your hobby goals. When you want to kick back and learn from yarn industry experts, grab some yarn and turn on The BHooked Podcast. There's never a shortage of all things crochet, knitting or yarn.

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Transcript

Brittany 0:00

You're listening to the Be Hooked Podcast, episode 140, with Brittany. Hi there! Welcome to episode 140 of the Be Hooked Podcast. I'm your host, Brittany. If you're brand new to the show, welcome. It's a joy to have you here. If you are a lover of yarn and crochet and knitting and everything that comes with that... You're in the right place. And if you've been around here for a while, well, hey there, my friend. I'm so glad you're joining me today. And I think you'll really love today's episode. Now, this was one of those chats where it was just like two friends talking about the thing they love. So whether you're a designer, a maker, a blogger, or none of those things, just somebody who really enjoys crochet, I know you'll find something valuable in today's show. So I had the chance to chat with Katie from Thorsby Cottage. I'll have all of her information in the show notes, by the way, so you can connect with her after hearing the episode. But I found her to be incredibly inspiring because not only is she a very talented designer, but she's also somebody who has to be incredibly resourceful with finding the tools, the yarn that she needs for her projects and her designs. So we talked quite a bit about that, her story, how she got into crochet And then we sort of geek out a little bit about granny squares and the types of projects that we like to create with them. So it really is just a fun conversation between two people who love crochet and who love yarn. And I'm so glad that you get to be a little fly on the wall to hearing that chat. So before we get to it, there are a couple of resources that Katie mentions. She's got a couple of books coming up here recently featuring granny squares. And so I will have that information in the show notes page for this episode. You can find that at behooked.com slash 140. And let's just get to it, shall we? Here's Katie from Thorsby Cottage. Katie, welcome to the Be Hooked podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you so much for having me. It's wonderful to be here. It is a wonderful pleasure. I am so excited about this conversation because I know we'll get into some things that is a real struggle for a lot of people. There are certainly listeners outside the US who I'm sure are going through some of this themselves and I think you're sort of like a great shining light in the community and I'm just really glad to share some of the stuff that you have going on and some of the solutions that you have to some of the problems and struggles that you've had recently and I'm I am just excited about this. Let's start off though with a little bit about you. I would love to give people a chance just to hear how you got into crochet. Wow. So

Caitie 3:18

I learned how to crochet when I was about 12 during a craft class that we had at school. And I'd made one project. It was a little granny square knee blanket. And that was all that I did. And I put down my... I only had one crochet hook at the time. And I put it down and carried on with my life. And then took on a very non-straight career path, I suppose. I know... I know that you've got a background in science as well, which is really cool. It's a lovely point to connect on. And I did a master's in science, studied for seven years, got to the end of my seven years of study, and then went into the working world and worked completely unrelated to the science degree that I studied. I was in software development. And at that time, fell pregnant with my son and decided, and I think this origin story is probably similar to a lot of the other designers that are out there, but wanted to make something for my son. I've always been someone who's enjoyed making things, whether it's making and baking and cooking in the kitchen or painting something or... In this case, crocheting. And yeah, so I picked up my hook, my one little hook, and delved into the world of amigurumi and made some little soft toys for my son. And yeah, so that's how I got back into crocheting. And that's how Goresby Cottage was born. Wonderful. So how long ago was that? That was, so my son was born in 2016 and I started probably about six months before he was born. So probably end of 2015, but Thor's Pea Cottage probably started in 2016.

Brittany 5:08

Gotcha. Okay. So there was quite a bit of a break between when you first learned and when you sort of picked it back up again. Was it difficult to sort of relearn or was it like riding a bike and you just picked it up and you knew exactly what to do?

Caitie 5:22

A bit of both, actually. So we've got some knitters in the family, but no one who crochets. So I don't have a grandparent or anything like that who I could ask to teach me. My mum is really, really crafty, and she does all sorts of amazing things like jewellery design and painting, but fibre arts, she does not do. So I had no one that I could really ask to Thank goodness for YouTube because, man, I learned a lot by just watching tutorials and reading blog posts and things like that. So, yeah, that helped because I think at school I hadn't learned how to do single crochet. I had just done very, very standard chain stitch and double crochet granny squares. So, yeah. Yeah. Took a bit of time to get back into it.

Brittany 6:17

Yeah, I bet. So tell me about this blanket. What did it look like? Was it a granny square blanket or was it sort of like rose back and forth?

Caitie 6:26

So it was red, white and blue. Just simple, simple granny squares, probably about four or five rounds with each square. And they would join together very haphazardly. I sadly don't have the blanket anymore. We used it for a puppy and then it sort of, I think it got extra holy and got shipped off to Goodwill or to the garbage if it wasn't. suitable for Goodwill so yeah

Brittany 6:53

yeah that's really cool I love to hear about some of those early projects and because I feel like they do tell quite a bit of a story so this is they absolutely do yeah yeah especially like a granny square blanket I think there's something really that really draws us in with a granny square blanket it's sort of like almost like an icon for crochet. When somebody who doesn't crochet thinks about crochet, I feel like they picture a granny square blanket that was in their family at some point. And it's just really cool that we can continue to keep that tradition going. And even though you don't have that blanket anymore, I'm sure you have several that are still within your family and that you can pass on.

Caitie 7:40

Yeah, absolutely. There's definitely something very iconic about the granny square. Although my first blanket really, it was full of holes that weren't supposed to be there with drop, you know, bad stitches and poor joining and all that. So all I can say is I've lived a lot and I wish that I had kept it so that I could show people, you know, your first granny square versus what you can do now.

Brittany 8:04

Yes, me too. There are so many projects that I started myself. like when I first learned, and they just looked terrible. And the perfectionist in me didn't keep a lot of those. I do have a couple. The first time I ever tried to make anything other than just like a washcloth or a basic square, I wanted a pair of boot cuffs. And that was a really big challenge for me because I was not only trying new stitches, but I was going into the world of shaping and I crocheted these in the round like like a round tube kind of situation so the join is all messy and they weren't nearly big enough because there's no stretch to them I used a stitch that was well I guess it was really more of a yarn hook combination but it just didn't have any stretch to it. So I wasn't even able to wear them. And they're kind of a train wreck. They were like this weird orange color because I had some yarn leftover from a wreath that I made, like a fall wreath that I wrapped with this yarn. So I probably wouldn't have had an outfit to wear them with anyways, but I kept this wonky little boot cuff. And I'm going to have to share a picture of it because it is so not my best work. But I sort of cherish it because I can look back and see the progress, see where I came. And I think that's so important for a lot of people, especially when you're first getting into the craft. You look at your work. And if you're anything like me, you might be a little disgusted and say, oh, this is awful. I'm so bad at this. But it's really just part of the learning process. And you're not bad at it. You're just figuring it out. Absolutely.

Caitie 9:56

And you've

Brittany 9:56

got to

Caitie 9:56

start somewhere. I think I can't remember who wrote the book or who talks about it, but there's that whole concept about 10,000 hours that you need to put into something to master a craft, whether it's playing the piano or, you know, whatever. And I think so often people, particularly with Instagram, they look at all these beautifully curated pictures and go, wow, Oh, I don't know that I could ever do that. And there's such a big part of me that wants to just shout out and say, no, you can. Everybody starts somewhere. Everybody starts with that awkward long chain where all the loops are uneven. And, you know, you got to start somewhere. It's baby steps. Yeah. Exactly.

Brittany 10:42

Yeah. Just finding the finding the courage, I guess, to sort of power through that and maybe maybe hiding those projects that you're not super proud of right now. Then you can go back to them later and say, yep, they they were right. Not that we're trying to be right. But, you know, we've sort of lived that we understand. And that is certainly the case, I know, for me, for you and for a lot of other people.

Caitie 11:05

Yeah.

Brittany 11:06

Now, you said Thorsby Cottage started in around 2016. I would love to know a little bit about that because a lot of times our ideas for starting things like this, they change, they evolve. Like for Be Hooked Crochet, for example, it started out as an Etsy shop. Yeah. It is no longer an Etsy shop, although I'm pretty sure you could, if you tried, I'm pretty sure you could find the shop is still there. I don't think it was properly shut down, but it is so not like that today. It's completely different. And I'm just interested to hear your story and how that started, what you thought it would be and how that compares to what it is today.

Caitie 11:50

Yeah. So I also started out with an Etsy shop. After I designed those first few toys that I was talking about for my son, a friend of mine saw them and she said to me, well, why don't you start an Etsy shop? She had one selling digital illustrations. And to be honest, I'd never heard of Etsy. I didn't know what it was. And if I had heard of it, it was just for people in America to buy stuff. And so it wasn't relevant to me. And I realized that we could actually sell something digitally. And so I loaded up my, I think I had probably two patterns to start off with and decided to start a blog at the same time. And surprising to me, people liked what I put forward and people liked my designs and were showing a huge amount of support. So It kind of blossomed from there. I was also a bit late to the Instagram game. there is this massive community of people around the world who have similar interests to me. I was a bit of an outlier in my social group. Everyone would kind of refer to me as the granny because I would sit and work with yarn. And it was just so encouraging and exciting to see this massive community of people who were all knitting and crocheting and creating and making. And so that really inspired me to just push forward with Lorsby Cottage because there's just this international audience and this international community. So that's, yeah, that's kind of where it's going. And it's amazing just with the interwebs, the opportunities that come around. So commissions for magazines that are international, for books, for magazines, All sorts of things. For designs, it's really very exciting. So I don't know that I have a firm plan going forward about how Thorsby Cottage will be in the next five years. I think it's already, my mind has been blown about where it's gone to now. We take it one step at a time.

Brittany 14:19

Yeah, I am all for that. Now, I love to plan and I will do anything and everything to map out the perfect day, the perfect week, the perfect month and year. And what I find is that although it is important to have that for me set forward, just so I have an idea of where I want to go, it's always a little bit different than I imagine. And that's something I've certainly learned this year, probably more than any year so far, the importance of being flexible and letting your blog, your business, your Etsy shop, whatever it be, letting that sort of guide the way in a sense. I know for me, not having an Etsy shop anymore, I am primarily driven by the needs of the people who are in my community. I know that my place is really to help people improve their skills or to learn them. And that's something I'm really passionate about, but really they help guide the way and give me feedback and tell me what it is they need and what they want from me. And that's a really great feeling. But with that comes the need for flexibility. And I think that's really important for anybody who's maybe starting a blog or a maker business and maybe they don't have an idea for it. I think it's okay to not have a grand plan mapped out. But would you say that it's about finding the happy medium between what makes you happy and what makes your community happy?

Caitie 16:04

Oh, absolutely. So I... As a school kid and as an adult as well, I don't break the rules. I'm very law-abiding. At school, I never got into detention. I never got into trouble. I'm goody two-shoes. But when it comes to my business, I've broken quite a few rules that all the sort of big business-y people say that you should do. So, for example, Instagram. Everyone says you've got to post however many times a day, a week, or whatever at this time, at that time. time. And I have found that if I let my business take over me and run me, that it sucks the joy out of what I'm doing. And so my mom always says to me, don't let anything or anyone steal your joy. And so when I find I'm in a place where I feel pressured, just self-imposed pressure from my of what I should be designing next and how often I should be putting out blog posts or, or Instagram posts or whatever. I take a step back and go, okay, hang on. Why, why am I doing philosophy cottage? I'm doing it because it's a place for me to express myself. And it's a place that I find tremendous joy. And so I have to make sure to put measures in place that, that the thing that I'm trying to create joy from doesn't steal my joy. Does

Brittany 17:32

that make sense? Yeah, it totally does. And I know, I completely understand that is a balancing act too. Absolutely. And do you find yourself, I love routines and I really like that, I don't even know the right word. I really like having a plan and having all of that stuff in place and having a routine. But every now and then I have to shake that up a little bit. Do you ever get bored or feel a little bit stale with the things that you're doing? And this can happen a lot with projects. Like say you start a project, it's a bigger one and you were really excited about it at first and then you're not so excited after a several hours, maybe halfway through. And certainly for aspects of a blog or a business, you make commitments to do certain things and you're really fired up about it. And eventually you sort of lose steam a little bit. And I feel like that is such a natural part of the process. And knowing what you just said, having the Yeah, absolutely. And just to clarify, it's not

Caitie 19:01

like every day that I work on my business is sunshine and roses. There are certainly days of frustration and days where I question my decisions or question why I'm doing this particular project or whatever. But as you say, to have that, the reason why I'm doing it as the core of it, to come back to that and that be the reason the thing that keeps me grounded in my business. That's really important to me. And also just to add, I'm very fortunate to have a very supportive family and a supportive husband. So it's not like I have to be burning the midnight oil to put food on the table because I do understand that for many people, their businesses are their entire livelihood. And I understand that with that comes, you know, different decisions and, you know, You can't just be all rainbows and unicorns when you try to run a business like that. So I do completely respect that.

Brittany 20:08

For sure, yes. I think that it's very fortunate to be in this position, you and I, where we can say that we're business owners. We get to wake up every day and do what we love. And I certainly would never want to take any of that for granted because I sit back and I think, If I had to go back into the workforce, I'm pretty sure I would be unemployable. After working for myself for a couple of years, I just, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Caitie 20:40

Yeah, I'm with you on that.

Brittany 20:41

Now, I think you have a really interesting story. twist here in the community and I want to touch on that just a little bit. Now you are located outside the U.S. and with that comes a different struggle that certainly I don't always think about or somebody here in the States might not be aware of, but certainly the listeners who are outside the U.S. knows exactly how this feels and I want to get your perspective, some of your solutions to these problems and that is having access to like the tools that we need to do what we love here in the states we have really wonderful places like craft stores where we can go and there is a giant aisle of yarn and and we're really so fortunate to be able to do that and from what i have heard from others in the community That's certainly not the case everywhere else. So how have you found ways to still have access to yarns and tools that you're really excited to work with, maybe not having them so easily available to you? So, yeah, I'm based in Cape

Caitie 21:58

Town, South Africa, which is... literally the southern tip of Africa. So we're miles away from anywhere. And we don't have, as you say, we don't have big craft department stores. I've been very fortunate enough to travel quite a bit. So I've been to the States several times. I've been to Europe and Australia. And the first time I set foot in a Michael's, My head nearly exploded. I've never seen, you guys have aisles and aisles of yarn that, you know, it changes every few months. You get different brands in and you don't just have three selections of scissors. You can choose from 20 and it's just, it's really incredible. It's really fantastic. So yeah, so we don't really have that here. We have a couple of brick and mortar pieces. shops that are specialized when it comes to yarn so that's great so we can go in and touch and feel and and choose our colors or our fiber type then a lot of online shops are springing up unfortunately for me and others living in South Africa our postal service is not great so the option to buy yarn from overseas is really not very practical it's the yarn takes a a long time to arrive. I saw someone saying, oh, they'd ordered from Amazon and it took a whole week to arrive and they were complaining. And I'm thinking, jeepers, for me, it takes three months if I'm lucky. Oh, wow. Yeah. So I have tried that once or twice. I've ordered a couple of things of Amazon and, you know, they were very specialized. So it was like some clover hooks, which I got, which we can actually get now here too, which are quite expensive. It was worth the wait, but it did take a long time. So, yes, that can be really frustrating. You know, you see other designers putting out amazing projects using Red Heart or Lion Brand or Caron. And I just we can't. get those yarns here so for example a few years ago when there was all the planned pooling craze and everyone was using all the variegated red heart yarns we just don't have them here so we couldn't really I mean I know we can apply the same principles using the variegated yarn that we get here but if you wanted to replicate someone else's if you wanted to do a project using a specific red heart yarn it's it's not that simple so how I've got around that is when i've traveled um or when i have family or friends traveling i usually get them to bring a skein or two back here just as a reference point so that i can touch you know and feel and and see what it's like and compare it to a local equivalent and because as a designer i need to be able to recommend yarn to people who who are doing my patterns and i often get requests for what yarn people should use. And I need to be able to give someone a recommendation based on where they're located. We do also have amazing local yarn. We really do. We've got lots of indie dyers who are popping up and lots of hand dyers that are available internationally as well. So I collaborate with those dyers, which is really, really nice.

Brittany 25:33

Yeah, I think that's really resourceful. Although you're putting a lot of time and effort into a project and having that written up exactly the way it needs to be so anyone can follow it, a big, big part of designing is using a yarn that someone has access to, that's easy to find in different locations or maybe easy to order in locations where you can't just go walk into a store. Do you have people in your audience who... maybe get a pattern from you and say I don't have access to this yarn or are you providing like a substitution option for them saying this is what I used and this is where you can potentially get it but if you can't this is a good alternative?

Caitie 26:23

Yeah so for most of my patterns I include the bigger brand names that are more readily available worldwide. So for example, if I use a local brand of cotton for my amigurumi, I will color match and weight match to something that's very similar that will turn out absolutely fine in another brand of yarn. So for example, Paintbox yarns, which incidentally, they don't ship to South Africa, which is heartbreaking to me because for Amigurumi, they're amazing. So yeah, so before I even start out a pattern, I make sure that the yarn that I'm using can be easily substituted and I'll make a note of that Sometimes what I'll even do is actually just design with my local yarn and then I won't even include it because if it's something that no one else can get hold of unless you're in South Africa, there's kind of no point. So I'll reference an equivalent yarn that is available to most of my audience.

Brittany 27:26

Gotcha. Yeah, I think that's really, really smart. And I think it's a great thing to offer for somebody who is, like I said, getting your patterns and wanting to recreate those. It's also a fun challenge as a designer because although the yarns are like a worsted weight yarn, you can use any type of worsted weight yarn for a lot of different projects, but there are little subtle differences between between them. Like maybe one is just slightly thicker than the other one, or maybe it wears a little bit different and that sort of thing. But it sounds like what you were able to do is just really take a mental note or maybe even like physical notes where you're getting some of these yarns in your hands. You can see them and feel them and work with them and know how they substitute. I think that's really resourceful to be able to have that at your disposal so that you can make confident substitutions.

Caitie 28:27

Yeah, absolutely. And it's not just down to the yarn that I use. So for example, amigurumi eyes are very hard to find here. We can't just walk into a store and buy any. And even many of the brick and mortar and online stores just don't sell the little safety eyes. So I've ordered online from overseas and had people bring them for me bring them to me from overseas so, so that I can use them. But I, I also, I have my precious little stash that I don't want to, I don't want to use up. So I've had to work on some other techniques for how to add features to, you know, using embroidery and whatnot, um, to add features to my amigurumi so that, so that they can still, I can still, you know, have a pattern for people and have the option to use amigurumi eyes if they have available, but it doesn't exclude people who perhaps don't have access to them.

Brittany 29:23

Yeah, yeah. Now, I'm not sure if we have any listeners who are located in South Africa. I think it would be so cool to know that. But just in case we do, can you share some of the yarns, like some of your go-to yarns that you like to use? That way, if somebody is in the area and they do have access to it, they know what might be... really great to substitute for for something that we might write a pattern for a lot here in the states like your your red hearts your line brands your inspirations types of yarns

Caitie 29:55

yeah so uh definitely for an acrylic yarn we've got a brand a lovely local brand called l and they they They also do some cottons as well, but they do a really lovely range called Earl Pure Gold, which that I use for a lot of my toys. And then for cotton, my all-time favorite is a brand called Nurturing Fibers. And they're actually available internationally too, even though they're based in Cape Town or just outside of Cape Town. It's all hand dyed, but it's really, really beautiful and high, high quality. Like I said, I've, I'm very fortunate to travel and I've got my little collection of skeins from all over the world. And Nurturing Fibers is one that I always come back to. They've got a cotton, they do a cotton and bamboo blend and several different blends in different weights. They've also got merino, a little bit of mohair. So if you're into the indie dyed higher end yarns, those are fantastic too. Yeah, and then lots of other indie dyers as well. But that's slightly different. I suppose that's not the same as your big commercial batched dyed yarns. So we do get some international yarns, yes. So I've seen Stylecraft. I don't know if you get Stylecraft in America or if it's from Europe. I can't recall.

Brittany 31:21

I know you can order it here. I don't know of a store, at least in my area, where I can walk in and buy it.

Caitie 31:28

Yeah. So I think for me, I've just got used to the fact that most of my yarn, I order online, locally. So generally how it works is we've got somebody here in the country who is the distributor for a specific yarn, if they have rights to distribute an international yarn. So for example, I'm going to say it wrong now, but Skip Years, the

Brittany 31:54

cotton... Yes, I know exactly who you're talking about, and I have no clue how to pronounce it either. I'm

Caitie 32:01

pretty sure it's Skippy.

Brittany 32:03

I'll put it in the show notes. I'll put it in the show notes so you can reference it. I would not do it justice trying to say the name, but I do know what you're talking about. Their stuff is incredible.

Caitie 32:15

Yeah, so we have one person in the country who is the sole distributor in South Africa for that yarn. So I can't walk into a shop because it's not located in my city. I can't walk into a shop and ask to see their yarn. I have to order it online. And so I guess I'm kind of used to just taking a little leap of faith every time I have an online order that the yarn is not going to be totally off what I thought it was going to be.

Brittany 32:42

Yeah, there's a lot of important lessons there too. I know a lot of questions come in and they're like, do you have tips for ordering yarn online? It always tends to look different. And I've shared some of my tips here, I think even on the podcast for how I sort of navigate ordering yarn online with not being able to see it and feel it, especially for a new yarn. But I would love to get your tips as well, because I know that it's a struggle that a lot of us go through. Yeah, so I think the

Caitie 33:11

one that I always seem to, where I always trip up is with the weight of the ball, or the skein, so whether it's a 50 gram or 25 gram or 100 gram skein. If you don't have a mental picture of how big or small that is, you can do like I have and order what you think are these huge balls of wool or yarn and they arrive and they're a lot, lot smaller than you expect, you know, bonbon size rather than bigger. So I think it's helpful to find a local yarn shop, just even just to see what does 100 grams of a worsted weight acrylic look like so that you have not even necessarily with the colors, but just how big is it in your hands so that you don't have an unreasonable expectation of what's going to arrive in the post. I've also found it's really helpful to... So say I know I want to order this, I don't know, cotton and it's in a pink, whatever the name is, pink blush, let's call it. I... I like to go onto Ravelry or any of these other, I suppose you could look on Facebook as well and see if anyone else has done a project in using that same yarn and in that same color. And usually there are pictures. So I know on Ravelry, there are pictures of people's finished objects that can be linked with a specific yarn. And sometimes people on Facebook groups will share pictures as well. And it's just helpful to compare the picture that you see on your screen for the shop that you're buying from versus the pictures that other people have taken. And also different screens can make things look different. So I always look at my phone, I look at my computer screen, I look on someone else's screen and then make a decision so that I kind of know what kind of range to expect.

Brittany 35:07

Yes, I think that is really important too. And I talked a little bit about that because I have some settings on my computer screens here just because I'm looking at them all day. They're sort of like, they're like a low, low blue light is actually like what it says printed on there. And that has got me into a couple of sticky situations where I ordered yarn for an entire project and one of the shades was basically the same as one of the other ones. I was looking for like an ombre so it was a step down from like a dark gray to a medium gray to a light gray to like a really pale gray but the light and the pale or what i thought were light and pale were almost identical it was more in like the the warmth of them one was kind of a colder and one was a little bit warmer and i was so lucky because that project turned out amazing but i had to completely change my idea for that project because i wanted it to be a blanket where it was an ombre where it kind of faded from one to another and it had hints of color in there But I couldn't do that because I didn't have an ombre. And it actually turned out way, way better than I had originally thought it would. So I'm so happy in that. But yes, your screens can play a big role. And those nighttime... filters that you get on your phone at night. I know for me, when I'm doing my yarn shopping, it tends to be on like Amazon at night and my amber filter is on and that totally changes the look of it too. Oh, absolutely.

Caitie 36:53

I find what also helps is that sometimes the, the yarn websites, regardless of whether you're ordering of Amazon or not, say you're ordering Lion Brand, a lot of the websites will have their own projects that using their own yarn. And sometimes if you're lucky, the colors that you want to use can be used in a project that's on their websites. And I find that's quite helpful. And also to see the yarn worked up and actually on a person or in a finished object I find that really helpful too.

Brittany 37:24

Yeah, especially for like printed yarns or yarns that have really, really short color transitions that almost look more like mosaic. It's really hard to know what that's going to look like worked up because you don't really have a feel for how long those color transitions are. If it's a really bolder print where the color transitions are maybe an inch or so, you might be able to see that in the photo. But if it's not, if it's a little bit longer than that, like long enough to not be able to see it in the photo, it might turn out completely different than what you expected. And then two, those yarns look different for different widths of projects. So let's say you get a yarn that has a longer color transition and you're using it for a scarf that's maybe eight inches wide. you might actually get to find stripes for that. But then let's say you wanna use that same yarn for something like a cardigan, where you're using the same yarn, maybe even the same stitch pattern, but you're stretching it out over a wider width, that might completely change the striping pattern. And so maybe instead of it being a nice clean transition on the edge of your work, which if you're, that happens sometimes, sometimes you get lucky and it works out that way. But let's say you got lucky in your scarf and you got these perfect stripes, applying that to a wider project, you might have a complete, well, you probably will have a completely different look.

Caitie 38:59

Absolutely. I can't tell you the number of times I've, particularly with variegated yarn, where I've bought a skein and because it looks pretty in the skein or in the cake. And then when I whipped it up, it's been not quite what I had expected. But that's part of the journey. And I think that's totally okay. And yeah, I... I roll with it.

Brittany 39:24

Yeah, yeah. Now you mentioned a couple of other things I want to touch on because I know this is another area where we struggle. You said you have some like really precious yarns that you have gotten from different countries that, you know, it wasn't easy for you to acquire. So you have this special stash of yarn. How do you decide what to use that yarn for? Oh, that is hard.

Caitie 39:50

So... To be honest, quite a lot of it just gets squirreled away in various parts of the house because I'm kind of waiting for the perfect project. And I think quite late in the crochet design and in my crochet design journey did I realize that for many projects, you need more than one skein. So it's no good having just one skein of this beautiful variegated Caron what what. You need more than one if you're going to actually make anything that you can wear. And dye lots is another thing. You need to have things from the same dye lot if you want them to blend in nicely together. So yeah, I think I like to have... quite a large selection of yarn to choose from because then I can pick and choose based on the inspiration rather than the other way around. Does that make sense? So I go, oh, I want to make an amigurumi, I don't know, rainbow. If I've got all those colors, I can go and pick them out of my stash rather than not having to go and buy anything. specifically for that project. Not to say that I don't love buying new yarn. I think that's a hobby on its own, right? It is. So yeah, I probably need to work a bit harder at using up my stash, basically.

Brittany 41:17

Well, it's really tough. I have so many skeins of yarn too. And for me, those special hanks or skeins or whatever they are, they are the yarns that I don't have. easy access to as well like some yarns that are indie dyed yarn or something that i found at a local yarn shop i really really treasure those and i have to wait for like the right project so typically if i only have one of those by default it will become some kind of hat for me to wear because that's about the right amount. If I have two, I might do a scarf or something like that because these are things that I know I will wear. I wear a lot of hats and scarves in the winter and those are kind of my go-to projects or like maybe even a cowl or something like that. But I do have several hanks sort of stashed away that are waiting for the right pattern, the right project, and just sort of the right I feel like when you're creating a project on that level versus maybe a designer level, and I'm sure other designers can relate to this, it's different when you're making something for yourself. Yeah. It feels more special almost because it doesn't always happen. I know for me, I don't always make things for myself. I really like to make projects that appeal to the people who are interested in getting patterns for me. And that's something I'm working through. I'm certainly trying to be a lot more intentional with the projects that I choose so that I'm creating things that make me happy, that I really enjoy using and wearing, but that also appeal to the people who are interested in getting my patterns. So when I make one of these special hanks of yarns, I typically am not writing a pattern. It's almost for me like I'm sinking back into, or not sinking, but just sort of settling back into my hobby.

Caitie 43:22

Absolutely. It's the stuff you do outside of work hours. Yes, for sure. You at least have snow. I mean, it doesn't really get cold enough here for us to make lots of hats. So I've done a couple of baby hats because babies always need hats. But it doesn't snow here, at least not in Cape Town. And so I tend to use up my smallest gains for amigurumi or maybe granny squares or composite things. projects where you can, you can do a single component and then join it together somehow. But yeah, to be honest, I haven't had time to, I want to be in the right brain space to sit down and do something special with my special scans. And it's, it's been a whirlwind three years with Bolesby

Brittany 44:06

Cottage. So,

Caitie 44:07

so I haven't had a chance yet.

Brittany 44:09

Well, I can totally relate. And I think the tip of using grainy squares is a good one because I'm kind of taking it back to what we talked about at the beginning. There's really just something special about a grainy square in that it can become so many different things. So let's say you want to sit down and you're watching a TV show. You have some mindless crochet time, we'll say, where you don't really have to think too much about it. getting into like a granny square groove where you're just making squares, I think that's a really great way to occupy your hands in a way that can later become something. I talked to someone else here on the show before and that was what she liked to create. She loved to crochet granny squares and she didn't always have a project in mind for them, but they always ended up becoming something. And so anytime she had something a birthday or a gift that she wanted to give for somebody, she would sort of dip into her Granny Squares dash and join it into something amazing. And it was sort of like a time saver. I know you've done some really interesting Granny Squares. I saw the little bag, like the little clutch sort of thing on your Instagram page. And that's so beautiful. And I want to highlight that a little bit because... A granny square, although there is a traditional granny square in what we might think of, that word or that term is used for pretty much any type of squared motif. So yours, for example, has like a flower pattern in it.

Caitie 45:49

Yeah, so the granny square really is so versatile. I know that there might be some purists out there who... say that some of the squares that people are calling granny squares aren't technically granny squares, and perhaps on a technical level they're not. But an Afghan block, I suppose you could call it, It doesn't just have to be used in a blanket. I mean, I know that's where a lot of people will use their squares. But I joined a Cal last year, beginning of this year, and people were working on different squares. And at the end, the idea was to take the squares that you'd made and put them into various projects. And then everybody shared them. the pictures of their projects. And it is absolutely incredible what you can do with a simple square shape. So as you say, like with the little flower clutch bag thing, those were tiny little squares. They're a couple of centimeters by, you know, probably about five centimeters. I don't know what that is in inches, but five centimeters by five centimeters and joined them all together, made a little clutch bag. I've seen other people who do really intricate and delicate, beautiful granny squares that then instead of turning it into a wearable or a bag or something like that, they actually block it really nicely and put it into a shadow box, you know, those frames. And then frame that and maybe put it in a nursery or in an office space or something because that's a lot of hard work that you've gone through with all those intricate stitches. Some other things I've seen which are really clever are things like if you take your square, And you fold it. So if you've got the wrong side facing you, and then you fold the corners towards the middle and you stitch up almost like an envelope so you can make an envelope. That's really clever. I've seen people make wall hangings. So yeah, I think the granny square really is amazing. And you've got designs out there that are very old fashioned and and vintage right through to some really modern clean you know very structured looking squares that you wouldn't if you did to me five years ago that's a crocheted granny square I would have gone oh that does you know that that doesn't make me think of crochet crochet is what old people do it's not at all it's totally modern and um and fashionable and yeah so that I get quite excited about that.

Brittany 48:20

Yeah. Do you find yourself going to granny square projects with some of these, some of these yarns maybe where you only have one skein? Because I mean, yeah, you can't make like a blanket or something like that, but you can use just what little yarn you have there to create multiple squares that can become something more. Absolutely.

Caitie 48:41

So in fact, that little bag that you're talking about, the flower one, that I had just a few skeins of, now I have to say the word again, skip years of cotton and not enough to make anything much larger than that bag really. And so it was a great little stash buster because I could use up those skeins or those little balls and actually come out with a lovely project at the end of it. So I really enjoy it. I, I got to say, I'm not one of those people that can sit with a big project for too long. I get, I need to move on to the next thing or I get bored of it. So I really enjoy doing some of the smaller, more detailed style projects. And that's great when you don't have access to a huge amount of yarn because, you know, you only need a little bit to get a square done. So that works well.

Brittany 49:29

Definitely. I think that's a great tip there too. I know I'm the same way. Well, I can sit with a big project a couple times a year. Like I'm usually good for one or two blankets per year. And I typically have to sort of fuel myself through that because I do tend to lose steam a little bit midway. But having a smaller project so I have that quick win, I have to put those – in very often or very frequently. Sometimes I'll even take a break from the big project and finish something small just so I feel like I have finished something, you know? Yes, I hear you. And I think granny square projects are great for that too. It's been a little while, to be honest, since I have made a granny square project, but probably my most favorite pattern that I did was a like a tote purse sort of thing. It was bigger than like the clutch that you have on your Instagram page. It was more of like a full-size purse and it was so much fun. I think, and my memory is not wonderful, but I think there was around 20 or 22 squares that were about four or five inches. I think they were five, five by five actually. Okay. That to this day is still my favorite granny square project. I like to do home decor items too. I've been thinking about doing placemats with different squares put together. I think that's a great way to use them too. And I love the idea of framing them. How easy is that? And how many amazing square patterns, now they might not actually be granny squares, but you know, square motifs that are incredible. You've Maybe you don't have the steam or the yarn to finish a full project. Framing that, I think that is such a cool idea. And

Caitie 51:26

I think it really celebrates the crochet, the art, and the granny square. Because I think sometimes, I don't know about you, but when someone asks, oh, what is it that you do? kind of go, Oh, I don't quite know how to explain it. If I say crochet designer, I don't kind of class myself as an artist because I don't have any qualifications, but it's like, it's more than a hobby. It's kind of in this awkward space in between. And only recently have I gone, you know what, actually I've worked hard at my craft and, and crochet is amazing. And it has so many wonderful benefits and I want to celebrate it. And so why not frame it on a wall? It doesn't have to be something that gets, you know, It doesn't have to be a stereotypical blanket. Not that there's anything wrong with blankets at all, but why not frame it and put it on the wall? Because it is art, I think.

Brittany 52:15

Yes, I agree 100%. And I really need to do that. I have thought about it for a little while. And I've got some bare spaces here in my office that could totally use a little bit more crochet. We like to be surrounded by our stuff. And I think that's a great practical use for something beautiful that doesn't take you a lot of time, that doesn't take a lot of yarn. And I think it's great. I'm totally going to do it.

Caitie 52:42

Yes. Well, we look forward to seeing what you get up to.

Brittany 52:46

For sure. Yeah, I will have to play around with something unique. Now, I love a traditional granny square. I think it's a great square. It's easy. It's one of those projects that you just sort of get into a groove and your hook just sort of does the work for you. But it just totally blows my mind to see some designers what they come up with and how they came up with that. For example, Sophie's universe is just, Oh gosh, it blows my mind. I don't understand how she did that. And now she has the Ubuntu. I'm probably totally not saying that right, but yeah, So Deirdre, she's

Caitie 53:27

from South Africa, actually. She lives in the UK, but she's South African. And so the word that you're trying to say there is Ubuntu. And Ubuntu, it actually means humanity, humanity towards others, togetherness. It's actually quite an important word in South African culture. Yeah. That's it. It's cool that you brought that up.

Brittany 53:48

Yeah. And I have had her on the show before and it was just, it was so interesting to sort of tap into that a little bit, but there is just a real talent and so much patience that comes into designing something so intricate and so beautiful. And I know there's a lot of people who are participating in those cows and just think if you have a little bit of extra yarn, take some of those motifs and just put them in a frame and put them on the wall. I think that would be a great use.

Caitie 54:16

Yeah. Thank you. Beautiful.

Brittany 54:17

Yes. Well, this has been such a fun conversation. I really think that, gosh, it's just like a chat between two people who are crazy about yarn. How great is the internet? I just, I love that. Right, right. We probably would have never had the opportunity to connect. So I'm really grateful that you agreed to be here on the show and to share so much with the audience in terms of design and what inspires you and a little bit about how you got your start and how you've been resourceful with finding the tools that you need to do what you want to do I think there's that's just a wonderful and inspiring story that a lot of us needed to hear and now I want to give people a chance to connect with you because you have some amazing work you have a beautiful Instagram page I would highly encourage anyone to follow you there just to see your gorgeous creations so Where is the best place for somebody to find you after hearing the show today?

Caitie 55:23

So the best place to probably connect, and if you want to have a conversation, a digital one, I suppose, Instagram is probably where I hang out the most. I love engaging with people through my stories and through DMs and that, and also, of course, through comments on pictures and things. But I am also around on Facebook. forward slash Thorsby Cottage. So it's Thorsby Cottage wherever on social media, Pinterest and all those places too. And then if you want to find out more about me and see my patterns, I've got free and paid patterns. I've got my blog, which is thorsbycottage.com.

Brittany 56:03

Wonderful. Okay, I will have that linked in the show notes as well. And I also want to highlight, since we talked so much about granny squares, you have been a contributor to a couple of books, right, that are now available. Yeah, we're very excited

Caitie 56:19

about the two books coming out this year. So the first is the Ultimate Granny Square Sourcebook, which is a published by Meteor Books. They are the same people that do the very well-known series, Zumi Gurumi. I don't know if you've heard of that. Yeah. So they've got together a collection of designers. I think there's 23 of us and about 100 designs. I could be wrong. Oh, wow. I should know this. Yeah. And they're all designed to mix and match. So they've been really thoroughly tested and can easily, you know, you can take two designs from one designer and another one from another designer and they will fit next to each other size wise. It's a really beautiful book with all the details you need on how to do a granny square. So, or in a modern granny square with this, yeah, all sorts of designs. There are animals. So my contribution was five African animals. There's a lion, zebra, giraffe, hippo, and another one, elephant. But there are flowers, there are abstract squares, there's a whole host. I think you can actually see on the website, you can go and have a look at all the different squares in the book. So that's that one, and that's really exciting. Pre-orders for that have closed already, but it will be available in November, so right around when this will be airing, I think. And then the second book is called 3D Granny Squares, 100 Crochet Patterns for Pop-Up Granny Squares. And the idea behind this book was exactly as the title says, granny squares that are 3D. Now, these are not, I don't want people to think that they're just a square that we've stuck an applique on top. That's not it at all. It's squares that have a 3D element built into the structure of the square. So yeah, so that was a huge amount of fun and it was actually pretty challenging. It was quite a short time window for the designs for this, but it's a collaboration between myself, Shana, more of Sweet Shana on Instagram, and Celine Simon, so Crafty CC on Instagram as well. They're really well known there. And all of the designs are 3d or have a 3d element to it and there's lots of different categories so there's animals there's flowers there's abstract fruits and foods so things like a little waffle stitch granny square and yeah lots of just fun fun designs so that one hasn't been published yet it's coming out at the end of the year but i can i can give you some more details of that after the show and if people want to watch keep an eye out on my instagram or through my newsletter they'll hear about it when it comes out.

Brittany 59:06

Wonderful. Yeah. I wanted to mention those because I, like I said, I know there are so many people who really, really enjoy making granny squares and it sounds like the, you've got a lot of options there. I know a hundred in one and you said quite a few in the other one. So yeah. Yeah.

Caitie 59:23

Sorry. In the, in the second book, the 3d granny squares, I think that's also a hundred. And, um, It includes some projects as well. So some really creative ways to use your granny squares, which is a lot of fun.

Brittany 59:36

very cool yes I will definitely have the information in the show notes as soon as it is available but of course always having that backup of following you on Instagram I'm sure you'll be posting about it there so I will have your Instagram handle and that sort of thing over on the show notes so you can head over there and Katie thank you so much this has been such a pleasure I'm really really excited now about making a granny square and putting it in a frame so so thank you for that and thank Thank you for sharing so much with my audience today. Thank you. It's been really special to be here. All right. There you have it. That's Katie from Thorsby Cottage. Katie, thank you so much. It was so much fun chatting with you about yarn today, and I'm so glad we were able to capture that message for the world to hear. Now, if you're interested in granny squares like we are, and you maybe want to look into those two books that she mentioned here at the end, I will have all of that information linked in the show notes below. for this episode, which is be hooked.com slash one four zero. Just type that into your browser, scroll down a little bit. You'll see a section called links and resources mentioned in this episode, and that's where you'll find it. I'll also have Katie's Instagram handle there. So you can connect with her if you would like, certainly follow her just so you can see her beautiful pictures. And I will also have her blog and her website up there in case you want to check out some of her patterns that she has available. One last thing before I go, I want to mention that today's episode was brought to you by my Blueprint course, Tunisian Crochet for Beginners. This class is certainly one of those projects that I am incredibly proud of. It's helped a lot of people learn how to do Tunisian crochet and apply that in their crafty life. Sometimes we just need a little change of pace, right? Katie and I talked about that. I am certainly one of those people that really needs to shake things up a little bit. I love a routine and I really want to live by one. But every now and then I do need a change of pace. I do need to shake up that routine. And in terms of my craft, that's what Tunisian crochet is to me. Now, crochet is my first love. I always go to that first. But sometimes when I find myself not super thrilled with the project that I'm creating, sometimes I just need to put it down, walk away for a little bit, and I'll typically pick up my Tunisian crochet hook and work through a different type of project. The motions and the stitches are just different enough to make me feel like I'm doing something completely different, but it's still close to home. I'm still using a crochet hook. I'm still creating with my hands. And that's why I love it so much. It's also why I spent so much time putting this course together with Blueprint so that I could teach you how to do this part of the craft if it's something that you're interested in as well. So Tunisian Crochet for Beginners, as I mentioned, is available on Blueprint's website. So if you head over to bhooked.com slash tcfb, that will redirect you to Blueprint's website where you can find out the details of that course. A lot of times they have some sales going on and that sort of thing. On that page, you'll also see the full curriculum so you know exactly what you're getting into before you sign up for the course. And if you have any questions, please let me know. You can always leave those in the comments section on the show notes page. Now, I also want to say a humongous thank you to all of you who are leaving an honest rating and a review in iTunes. That really helps the show. First of all, it tells iTunes that this is a podcast worth listening to. And by the way, this podcast is creeping up on the charts for hobbies, like hobbies as a whole. This podcast is hovering around position 50, which is a huge deal. There are a ton of hobbies and there are a ton of podcasts about hobbies. So seeing that this past week made me want to do cartwheels all over the house. I was so excited. And you helped make that possible. It also helps me. It lets me know that I'm on the right track. It gives you the opportunity to tell me ways that I can potentially improve and serve you better. And so I just want to say thank you for all of that. Now, I wanted to make it really easy for you to leave a rating or review in iTunes. So if you have some time today, you have something to share and you want to do that, if you type in behooked.com slash iTunes into your browser, That will take you directly to this podcast in iTunes where you can leave that honest rating and a review. So thank you so much for that. And I look forward to serving you in next week's episode of the Be Hooked podcast. Thanks again and have a wonderful weekend. Bye-bye.