Explore More Ways to Craft With Yarn | Podcast Episode #86

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Ever wanted to explore more ways to use yarn?

I think we all do once we get to a certain point with our craft. Whether you knit, crochet, or both, at some point you’ll probably want to expand your creativity and find more ways to craft with yarn. Perhaps it’s the learner in me but I’m always looking for a fun new way to use yarn. I’m not necessarily looking to become a master, but just give it a try; experiment and see what I like!

I’ve made it a personal goal to try everything my guest and I chat about on today’s episode at least once! Want to join me in that challenge?

Special Guest

I’m joined today by return guest Jenny Bessonette. As the Executive Director of the Craft Yarn Council, Jenny sees all the different ways people are using yarn and she’s here to share those with us today! She also chats about the Human’s That Yarn Campaign, an initiative started by the Council to encourage yarnists like you and me to share our experience with our yarn hobby and how it has impacted our lives.

Episode Transcript

Brittany: 0:00
Hey there, and thank you so much for joining me in episode 86 of the BHooked podcast. As always, I’m so grateful that you’re here. You could have tuned into any number of podcasts on your player and you’re right here with me, and that just means the world to me.

Well, in today’s show, I want to do something a little bit different. That seems to be a trend here lately. Well, I’m thinking all about I Love Yarn Day. I’m still sort of on the high from I Love Yarn Day last week, and so I wanted to get an idea of the other ways that we can craft with yarn. There are so many different things that we can do with yarn, and we really just focus on knitting and crochet here. So I wanted to change that a little bit, expand the horizon, and have a guest on the show who can spitball so many different types of yarn crafts.

So if you’ve been knitting and crocheting for a while and you just need a little change, I’m not saying you have to completely convert to something different, but it’s always nice to shake things up a little bit, right? I know for me, one thing that’s a really big reward for me is to wake up on a Sunday morning, flip through Pinterest, and find… project, something that I can complete that day. It gives me the opportunity to learn something new and craft in a way that I don’t do on a regular basis. That’s just really refreshing for me and I think some of the things you’ll learn on today’s show will help you do just that.

Along the lines of trying something new, I know you’ve heard me mention Loop It Yarns here on the show and I’m curious to know if whether you’ve tried it or not. You will hear it come up with my interview today with Jenny from the Craft Yarn Council. She mentions this new trend that she’s seeing in the yarn industry, and that’s with these yarns that have loops that you don’t need a crochet hook or a knitting needle to create. So one in particular that I love and have tried myself is Loop It yarn from Red Heart.

And just to get those creative juices flowing, They have five patterns that are completely free on their website for you to try loop-it yarns. I’m looking at one that’s a cowl, one that’s a scarf, we’ve got a pillow, a throw, and a lovey. So five really great projects that you can complete with no hooks, and you can get it all for free on redheart.com. So if you’re interested in trying Loop It, you can feel it at your local Michael store, pick some up there, or of course you can always order directly from redheart.com. I’ll have this linked in the show notes. You can go to redheart.com slash loop dash it, and that’ll take you directly to the page with Loop It yarn where you can find these free patterns.

Alright, so that’s one little spark of inspiration there, and we are going to fill your ears with so many different ways to craft with yarn. First of all, we’ll kick it off by talking about the Humans That Yarn campaign. This is an initiative that the Craft Yarn Council has started, and Jenny shares all of the details with that before we get into the different ways to craft with yarn. So without further ado, let’s hear in from Jenny from the Craft Yarn Council. Jenny, welcome back to the show. It’s such a pleasure to have you here again.

Jenny: 3:53
Thanks so much, Brittany. Thanks for having us. We’re excited to get to chat.

Brittany: 3:58
With you today. Me too. It was so much fun having you and Edie on the show way back in episode 17 and we talked about your instructor program and I know that episode has helped a lot of people so now I’m excited today to talk about more of what the Craft Yarn Council has going on in particular the Humans That Yarn campaign and some clever ways that people can craft with yarn that aren’t maybe knit or crochet.

Jenny: 4:26
Absolutely. Well, we have definitely been busy since our last episode at the Craft Yarn Council. Obviously, we continue to offer the Certified Instructors Program. And we have increased signups on that. So we’re really excited about that after your podcast.

And we also, yeah. And I know you spoke with Sarah recently as well about our Stitch Away Stress campaign that we did in April this year. That was another successful campaign that we did as well with a big lemons that Twinkie Chan designed and then you know we have I Love Yarn Day coming up actually this month on October 13th so there’s a lot going on on social media with that right now as well some giveaways and lots of activity going on so definitely want to make sure that everyone’s ready to share their love of yarn on October 13th which will be here before we know it.

Brittany: 5:20
It will and my listeners know we I do record ahead of time so actually at the time that you guys are listening to this it’s It’s already happened. But that doesn’t mean that you still can’t celebrate the week after.

Jenny: 5:31
Absolutely. We encourage you to celebrate every day. So that’s a great point, Brittany.

Brittany: 5:36
Definitely. Well, it’s always a great opportunity to teach somebody how to knit or how to crochet. And I mentioned this in last week’s episode that think about the gift that you have, how much joy you get out of your craft. and share that with somebody. It’s so easy to sit down and teach somebody a few stitches and then they’re off to the races at that point and you’re giving them such a gift.

Jenny: 6:01
Absolutely. And that’s what we encourage as well, you know, like not only with our certified instructors program and I Love Yarn Day, you know, but we, that’s a big reason why we came up with the Humans That Yarn campaign, as you mentioned earlier.

We wanted to show people that don’t necessarily know think about yarn crafting as something that they want to do. But we wanted to showcase all different types of people who do yarn crafts that maybe you would least expect it and show that it’s not just knitting, crocheting. There’s all different types of things that you can do with yarn.

And so really that’s the reason why Humans at Yarn campaign was born to highlight different types of people that are into yarn crafting and what types of yarn crafts they do and really just their story. You know, it’s interesting to talk about yarn and yarn crafts, but once you really find out more about the person that’s behind the yarn craft and their story, it’s just, it’s very interesting to learn about them.

And they don’t just do yarn crafts. They do other things as well. So that’s the main point of our campaign. I don’t know if you were able to see all the videos yet, Brittany, but We have nearly 20 videos out there on our YouTube channel about our six people that we interviewed.

Brittany: 7:19
No, I haven’t had the opportunity to check those out, but I will definitely do that and link to it in the show notes so people can check that out. Can you list a couple?

Jenny: 7:28
Absolutely. So we have our main humans that yarn video that highlights all of the six people that we interviewed. It’s a really good overview of kind of who they are. And then we have smaller, that one’s about a five minute video. Then we have smaller videos for each person that kind of tells a little bit more about them.

So for instance, Diaris is one of the males that we interviewed for our video and he talks a lot about his family and how his grandmother played a role in him learning how to crochet and then his wife having a role in him learning how to knit.

We also have an athlete that we interviewed who is crocheting her wedding dress. So there’s a whole video about that as well.

We also interviewed a young mom, Melanie. She actually flew in to the Dallas area from Pennsylvania to be interviewed, and she has an anthropology background. So she spoke a lot about how anthropologists and anthropology and yarn kind of relate to each other. So that’s a really neat, interesting story.

And then we also spoke with another male knitter and crocheter, Ted, and both he and Diaris highlight maybe some of the negative perceptions that they’ve received as male knitters and crocheters and kind of, you know, encouraging people to overcome that and, you know, not to worry about what other people think.

But we just have so many different facets out there.

Another person that we interviewed, she’s in her 40s. She doesn’t look like it at all. She looks younger than that, but she’s into flying drones and building a flying drone. So it’s just really neat. And she’s pieced together yarn crafting and her drones and made little things that go on her drones. And she makes these little characters as well and writes stories for them. So she’s just a very creative mind. So it was really neat talking to all of them and interviewing them and hearing their perspective on yarn crafting and then also how other people have perceived them doing yarn crafts as well.

Brittany: 9:33
Yeah, that sounds really cool. Where did you find so many interesting people that craft with yarn?

Jenny: 9:39
That’s a great question. Well, we actually put out a casting call on our website and on our social media and our members, our crafter council members helped spread the word as well.

And so we had an application process that we had put out there. And based on the responses that we received, we received quite a Quite a few responses, about 70, I think.

And from that, we just looked at what people said and then ones that really stood out to us that we thought would be a good fit and diverse.

We set up interviews with them, about 20 people we interviewed. And so either… We did, you know, a Skype or Google Hangout or they came into the office that they were local. One of the girls in our video actually was from Austin and she drove up here to Dallas to be interviewed in person.

And it was just a really neat process. We got to meet a lot of neat people and it was hard to narrow down the six people that we went with. But we wanted to make sure that we covered everything. just a diverse group of people and different types of people who are watching the video could relate to.

So we have one girl that’s a 21-year-old college student. So that way, someone that’s in college or younger might see Hannah and see her amazing weavings and, you know, just think, you know what, I’m in school too. And I need something, you know, to kind of pass the time or to relieve stress, you know, before, after, you know, a big test or project.

And then again, of course, you know, we have DRS and TED, our male yarnist is what we call them. So we kind of, you know, came up with the word yarnist to use in our campaign as well. So we putting together yarn artists into one word. So any human who creates with yarn would be considered a yarnist.

You know, we just wanted to find a diverse group of people. And we were just so pleased at the number of applicants we received and the people that we interviewed. And it was a really fun process. We were really, really busy during that time, but it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. I bet.

Brittany: 11:43
And I’m sure it’s so satisfying to see the campaign now. You’ve launched it and people are actively participating. I’ve seen it all over social. So that’s incredible. How would somebody as a listener, so my audience is made up of primarily makers and people who are what you would call yarnists. How is one way that they can get involved with this?

Jenny: 12:06
Well, we encourage them to go watch our videos and comment. They’re all on our YouTube channel. channel but we actually have a website humans that yarn dot com that they can go to and they can access all of the videos they can ask access free patterns we have free patterns on there as well and if they know anyone that wants to learn how to knit or crochet we also have videos as well that creative bug has done for us very clear instructions on how to learn to knit or crochet.

But also beyond that we encourage them to tell their own story on social media and use the hashtag humans that yarn because you know I think it’s interesting you know people always want to hear about other people and hear about their stories and what how do they get involved in yarn and you know what’s their craft you know what are they doing with yarn are they just knitting are they just crocheting are they doing spinning and yarn dyeing and things like that and then you know just you Talk about who you are as a person and how it’s maybe shaped your life or how you learned how to do it.

Did a friend teach you? Did your grandmother teach you? Did you just decide to do it on your own? And I think that, you know, the more people talk about their yarn craft to the public, to their friends, you know, as in daily conversation or just on social media, more awareness is brought to yarn and the coolness of it because it is hip and trendy to do a yarn craft.

Then the more people that are already involved in yarn will want to get involved in yarn. And so that’s what we just encourage anyone that’s already a yarn crafter to do so they can get involved and be behind our campaign as well.

Brittany: 13:47
Yeah, and it sounds like it’s a great way to be involved in another community and potentially connect with others who are maybe doing the same thing that they are. If they’re following the hashtag, they might meet somebody who’s in the same city as them doing something that they love doing. So that’s really cool.

Jenny: 14:07
Absolutely. You know, and as we interviewed the people on our video, that’s one thing that they all talked about was the community of yarn and the community that they’ve been able to be a part of. And it’s been really neat to to even after that. these videos have launched, the people that were in the video, they instantly became friends because they had a common connection. You know, as I said, Melanie flew in from Pennsylvania and she ended up going to dinner with Casey, who is locally, you know, after the video shoot. So it’s just really neat. I think that just goes to show, you know, once you find somebody else that has your common interest, you instantly have a bond and a connection. And that just, you know, is an awesome thing and that that’s one thing we talk about here too at the craft yarn council is the wellness benefits of knitting crocheting and that’s a huge piece of it is community and having someone you know to be your bud or to hang out with and you know be able to to talk about something that you have in common.

Brittany: 15:06
Yeah and to share in that joy of that I think that’s what’s really great about yarn crafting it does it gives you a reason to share something new with somebody or be connected with somebody in a way that’s they’re connected in terms of their hobby. So it’s something that they both enjoy together and you’re expanding your network as a result of that. It’s just all good things. So I love what you guys are doing. I love this campaign. I think it’s so cool. I can’t wait to check out some of those videos. Yeah,

Jenny: 15:37
Absolutely. And as people watch the main video, they’ll be able to relate to at least one person if not multiple people in the video and then you know that’s why we thought it was neat to kind of break down smaller videos for each of them because if they are connected to somebody in that main video they’re going to want to watch more about that person and you know those videos are quick you know just a couple one to two three minutes long just to learn more about them and you know they’re just it was just so neat just to be able to find just everyday people that aren’t necessarily well known in the yarn community to be able to share their story and just all their stories are so neat and amazing. But yeah, definitely check, check out humans at yarn.com and, and watch the videos and support the campaign and use the hashtag humans at yarn.

Brittany: 16:27
Yeah, I think that would be wonderful. Like I said, I will definitely link to those videos in the show notes page so people can check those out and so that they can make that personal connection with somebody or just with the campaign as a whole. So I know that throughout this process, probably of putting the campaign together, I’m sure months and months of research and time went into it. you are probably very well versed in other yarn hobbies that aren’t just knitting and crochet. Now, I’d have to say that probably most people who do one probably do one other yarn craft. Now, I started with crochet, did that for a couple of years before getting curious about knitting and loom knitting. So then I sort of added those. And now I’m sort of getting the bug for weaving. So you never know, you might actually see a weaving to tutorial here in my future just for fun, but I know there are so many different ways that people can use yarn as a creative outlet, and I’m so excited for you to share some of those different hobbies with us today.

Jenny: 17:35
Absolutely. And you’re 100% on the mark, Brittany, because you started with crochet and went to knitting and I was the opposite. You know, I learned how to knit first and then picked up crochet later. But also, you know, I’ve done lube knitting and I’ve done machine knitting, you know, and obviously pom poms and tassels and things like that. But I think you’re right. I think people that do one probably do at least one more, but not always. That’s not always the case. But we do want to encourage. People that already do yarn crafts to try something new, try something different because it still involves yarn, but it also might tap into some other different creative thing that you’re looking for that you maybe not even, you know, didn’t think of before.

And so, you know, that’s, that’s the other thing we wanted to encourage people to do with our humans at yarn campaign is, is try different types of yarn crafts and, and see, see what else you like, because there are so many. And it’s funny because I think a lot of people may, when they hear yarn crafting, they They might instantly just think knitting and crocheting because those are the two biggest ones, but there are just so many more.

So I definitely love to share with you some of the ones that we know and see are kind of coming back and maybe even making a comeback that may have been popular many years ago, but now they’re starting to get popular again today. Oh, yeah. Let’s get to it. Absolutely. But before we get into that, I do want to mention a new yarn trend that’s coming up. I don’t know if you have seen it, but there’s these new loop yarns. Oh, yeah. In the stores.

Okay, awesome. So it’s really cool because you don’t have to have a crochet hook. or a knitting needle, the loops are already on the yarn. So you just join them that way. And that literally is just like brand new to the market. So I think it’s exciting how the yarn companies are always thinking of new and fun ways to use yarn. And really that makes the barriers to entry pretty simple because somebody might be intimidated to hold a crochet hook or knitting needles. And that kind of takes that out of the equation. And so we’re really excited about the new loop yarn for sure here at the council but I know one craft that’s getting pretty popular right now is punch needle have you tried punch needle yet Brittany?

Brittany: 19:52
I haven’t but I have to be honest I was playing around on Instagram one evening just happened to go to my my search I was going to look through hashtag knitting and hashtag crochet those are the two that I really like to peruse in the evening and a punch needle video came up and I was so into it it just it sort of captivated me and I I thought, man, this looks so easy and it looks so cool that I actually got on Amazon right after that and started looking for punch needling kits. That is so awesome. Did you get one? You know, I did find one that really spoke to me. That sort of seems to be my personal hiccup. I didn’t see a kit that had an image of something that I would display. But that sort of just proves that maybe I need to come up with my own. I mean, that’s really how I became a crochet designer and a knit designer is because I have my own style and wanted and didn’t find what I what I liked out there. And so I would create those things. So, so many things that I would love to do. Punch needling is definitely one of those. If I can find a simple kit, I would definitely give it a try because it looks so cool.

Jenny: 21:04
It is. And it really is kind of simplifies what you can do with yarn because it’s not as hard to, you know, to do as knitting crochet might seem to be, but it’s, it’s quick. It’s, it’s creates a beautiful end product. I know, you know, it’s on Instagram and, you know, there’s videos out there, but actually Creative Bug has a class to show some techniques on punch needles. So maybe check that out and see, maybe there’s something there that you see might give you some inspiration on Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It’s making a comeback today. And what’s interesting to note is that there’s over like 50 different types of knots that you can make with macrame. So just think about all the possibilities and all the creativity that you can get flowing with making some type of macrame piece.

But yeah, I mean, I think between punch needle, macrame, weaving, which we talk about in our video, Hannah, Kay, we have two Hannahs in the video, so it gets a little confusing. But Hannah Kay, her main craft is weaving. And so she just, she definitely has a creative mind and she’s come up with some really neat weavings because she just designs her own.

And so weaving, of course, uses yarn. It uses a lot of yarn, but you use a loom to give your weave support and in two words that are used in weaving, one is the warp thread. So that’s the thread that’s actually strung over the loom vertically, and that holds the tension while you weave. So that’s like the backbone of your weave.

And the weft thread is the thread that you weave between and around and all over those warp threads. And that’s what creates your pattern and design in the weave. And it’s an ancient craft, but it still remains really popular today. You know, hence, you know, someone, a young person or a video is doing it. So that’s really neat.

I know you said you’re wanting to do that and maybe possibly even posting a pattern. And the other thing to me too is that All these different types of crafts might fulfill a different type of, like I said, creative need. So knitting, crocheting, you know, there’s all different types of possibilities.

But when you look at these other ways to use yarn, such as weaving, you come up with something completely different. And it’s really cool because she has this weaving that she hangs up on the wall in one of our videos. So you’ll see it. But definitely encourage you to do some of that as well, Brittany, because it would be neat to see what you come up with.

Brittany: 24:04
Yeah, I would love to do it. A couple weeks ago, I interviewed a weaver who was sort of, she’s got a lot of experience under her belt, but she’s just far enough ahead that she still remembers what it was like to be a beginner. And so she gave us some really great tips on weaving and how to get started and where to find some classes for that. And Ever since that episode, I just, I’ve been all about weaving. I would love to do a wall hanging. Oh,

Jenny: 24:37
That would be awesome. Yes, definitely. Well, something else too that we may not always think of as using yarn, but that’s embroidery. So basically, you know, you’re just decorating a piece of fabric or some type of material using a needle.

And, you know, you can either use thread or yarn, but that’s definitely one other way to use yarn as well. And you can also incorporate other crafting materials like pearls or beads or sequins in that as well when you’re doing your embroidery.

But some of the stitches that are fundamental to hand embroidery today are the chain stitch, the buttonhole stitch, satin stitch cross stitch and I remember actually when I was younger my grandmother teaching me how to do embroidery and so that’s just one special memory that I have with her and you know I still have some of those that I did with her way back then and we used floss DMC floss for that but definitely you can use yarn as well in doing embroidery.

Brittany: 25:38
Yeah, that’s something I haven’t really played around with very much, but it is beautiful. My grandma was amazing at embroidery, and she would embroider these intricate designs on the edge of our pillowcases, and then she would crochet an edging around it. And these pillowcases, although we used them at the time, they’ve now become just like this treasured heirloom in our family because she’s no longer with us and we have a little piece of her and her talent.

Jenny: 26:10
Oh, wow, that’s really sweet. Oh, that’s amazing.

Brittany: 26:13
Yeah, I wish that at the time I was interested in that sort of thing. I don’t know what was wrong with me as a kid. I just, I wasn’t interested in yarn or anything like that. I don’t know what came over me when I hit my 20s, but that was just, maybe it was my grandma kind of smacking me from above saying, hey, what are you doing? This stuff is great.

Jenny: 26:36
Oh, that’s so awesome. And I do remember when I have… when my kids were little and I received a blanket and the person that gave it to us crocheted just a little border and it wasn’t a knitter crocheted blanket. It was just like a flannel blanket and they just crocheted a little border around it. And it’s just, it’s so special because they took that extra time to put that border around there. So again, there’s just so many different types of uses for yarn that you might not even necessarily think of right away.

A couple more ways to use yarn is latch hooking. And I know my kids really like to do latch hook you know they like going to the store picking out a latch hook kit but that’s something that’s good for young and old to do. But have you done a latch hook

Brittany: 27:22
kit before, Brittany? I haven’t. No, I almost got into that right about the time that I was looking into loom knitting. And I remember being at the store and I was thinking, okay, well, I’ve got one coupon to use. I can either get a loom kit or I can get a latch hook kit. And I ended up going with the loom kit. So that is another one of those things that I need to go back to. I have a goal, a personal goal of mine to try everything at least once.

Jenny: 27:50
That’s great.

Brittany: 27:51
We’ll see how long it takes me.

Jenny: 27:54
I know, and I remember doing latch hook kits as well as a kid, but definitely that’s a good starter craft to use yarn. And then another one that’s kind of a little bit similar to latch hooking is rug hooking. And I haven’t tried rug hooking, I’ll be honest. But basically the loops of yarn are like pulled through the fabric. So it could be like a burlap linen or like something like that that’s used and it’s pulled up through behind the piece of fabric that you’re using. Definitely, you know, I think it would definitely take some patience to do rug hooking, but it’s definitely neat. And I think you can make some cool designs and patterns on that as well.

Brittany: 28:35
Yeah. Go ahead. Were you going to say something, Brittany? Well, I was thinking about the people who are really into yarn right now who have kids and they want to get their kids involved. And so you’ve mentioned that latch hooking is a good one. I’m trying to think if there are any others that we’ve covered so far that would be good. Not

Jenny: 28:54
yet, but I’m about to get to some more. Yeah. Okay. One that all my kids have done, and I know kids love to do this, is loom knitting. So it’s really easy for them to take, you know, whether it’s a rectangular loom or a round loom and create hats and scarves off of that. And it goes by really fast. So you can make a hat with, even if you’re using like a chunkier yarn, you can make a hat rather quickly.

And so I think sometimes that’s kind of what kids are looking for is a quick and easy project. And they see it and they finish it and they’re excited about it and they might want to make another one. But loom knitting is definitely a good thing for kids to do. And also pom-poms because you don’t even need a pom-pom maker. I mean, of course they sell those and it does make it a little bit easier, but you could use just a piece of cardboard or hand or a fork to make pom-poms. You just wrap the yarn around it. you know, a bunch of times and then tie it off and you’ve got a pom-pom.

And that’s something that’s really easy and fun for kids to make. And then they can even make, you know, little turkeys or snowmen out of them as well, you know, after they make a few. So it can turn into a fun family craft.

Brittany: 30:07
Yeah, something fun to do for the holidays too.

Jenny: 30:09
Yes, absolutely. A few more different ways that you can use yarn for. One of them we actually talk about in our video with one of our Hannahs, Hannah B, is yarn bombing. you don’t see it a lot and not a lot of people do it, but when they do do it, it’s pretty amazing because it’s just a different type of street art.

So, you know, I know she made like these amazing mermaids that were put on these pillars in front of a museum. London Kay is also a popular person that does yarn bombing and just the things that they come up with and create and put on the street for people to enjoy. And it’s, It’s easily removable, so it’s not going to, you know, hurt anything they put on a tree or anything like that. But, you know, and it’s just a lot of fun.

So that’s another way that yarn is used. And we kind of do something like that here with the Craft Yarn Council with our charity, Warm Up America. It’s our made with love event where we hang hats and scarves that have been donated to us on trees and fences. And we, in a type of way, that’s yarn bombing. But people, whether we’re in a lower income area or a homeless area, you know, they’re able to come take those and stay warm over the winter but it just it makes everything kind of brighten up and make it look pretty.

Brittany: 31:24
Yeah, it is such a unique way to craft with yarn. I had the pleasure of talking with London on the show and she gave us some tips about how to get started. I had so many questions about that. Like, first of all, is it even legal? Can I just go and put something out there? And the answer is, well, you have to ask. So that was sort of an important lesson I learned from that. That was my biggest question.

I think it’s something that so many people can get involved with. And the piece of information from her that really stood out was that she really made an impact on people’s lives who would walk by and see her art. And she had no idea this was going on until she had a piece hanging up And one day it got stolen. It got removed. And there were actually people who were speaking up about that and saying, hey, why did you steal this? I looked at this every day. It brightened my day.

And she was just amazed at how much of an impact she was making. And she was really just doing something, not necessarily for her, but she thought she was doing it for her as a creative outlet. And it was a really cool story behind that.

Jenny: 32:40
Wow, that’s amazing. And yeah, I think You know, just anything, any type of yarn craft, whether it’s yarn bombing or you’re making something for someone else, I think it brightens someone’s day or even if it’s something that you made and you want to show it off. you know, you’re happy, you’re excited about that.

And then, you know, somebody else is going to see that and be amazed. And, and so I think yarn crafts do bring a lot of joy, not only to yourself as you’re making it, but to others, whether they’re seeing it or you’re giving it to them as a gift, or like you said, yarn bombing, somebody just walking down the street and seeing it.

And a few other ways to use yarn is yarn spinning. And so Melanie is is a yarn spinner and you actually will see her spinning some yarn in the video. She’s using a drop spindle. So she’s just got this little thing in her hand and she’s actually using sheep’s wool from her uncle’s sheep that, you know, she gets that from him and she washes it and gets it ready. And that’s what she uses to spin.

And it’s pretty amazing. And it looks, I mean, just watching it, you’re relaxed watching it. So I know what you’re She’s actually relaxed as well. So, you know, I think that’s starting to become more popular is spinning by hand or even, you know, with a wheel as well. It’s two different ways you can do it.

And then another thing, too, that a lot of people in our video were getting into. And so I think the people in our video kind of can translate into other people that do yarn crafts as well. But is yarn dyeing. So people are getting into dyeing their own yarns because they may not see the color that they’re looking for and they want to make their own color or, you know, they want like a specific type of yarn, whether it’s speckled yarn or multicolored yarn, you know, and the way that they want to do it.

And so, you know, they’re getting brave and they’re they’re trying something new and something different and they learn that they love it and then they have exactly the yarn that they want. whether, you know, it’s a medium for worsted weight yarn or chunky, chunky or super chunky yarn. So I think that’s something that’s pretty fun and exciting as well. That’s gotten pretty popular.

Brittany: 34:46
Yeah, I definitely got bit by the spinning bug a little bit ago and I have tried drop spindling. I have one. It’s, It doesn’t get used very often because it is a little more time consuming. But like you said, it’s really relaxing. It’s interesting.

It’s so cool to see how it works. Like I… fully understood how a spinning wheel worked. And I think that’s an amazing process too. But when I heard about drop spindles, I couldn’t really wrap my brain around how you could make yarn with this little device.

And I found a couple of videos on YouTube and I found someone on Etsy who made them, who carved them and sold a kit. And I spun my first little tiny hank of yarn, and it sits in a shadow box in my studio. So cool. That is so awesome. Wow. That’s sweet. It’s a lot of fun. I have always wanted a spinning wheel, too. Actually…

So way, way back in the early days of BeHooked, when I started putting my videos on YouTube and I started making a few pennies every day from that, my goal was to earn enough money that I could buy this spinning wheel that I wanted. And it was… it was my motivator to keep crafting with yarn.

And I had this sort of like trophy in my sights that, all right, when I get this much money in my AdSense account, then I can buy the spinning wheel and I don’t have to use like my paycheck money or my family’s money with that. And so it was fun. It was something that really fueled me during those early days when you really need the most motivation.

Jenny: 36:30
Oh, wow. That’s so neat. That’s great, Brittany. Well, I only have a couple more ways to use your undercover, and I’m probably not even covering all of them.

But a few years ago, there was a big arm knitting craze that happened. I know people are still doing it today, but I think it just got really popular when some of the chunkier yarns came out. And, you know, it was something quick. For people to do and to learn and to be able to make a scarf rather quickly.

And then also, you know, going along the lines with arm knitting is finger knitting. And also, you know, finger crochet and arm crochet as well. They’re one, you know, pretty similar to each other. But, you know, just another way to use yarn and maybe is less intimidating to someone who hasn’t tried to learn how to knit or crochet yet.

But we did actually do some research last year. in October and we found out some pretty interesting stats but one that we we thought was really interesting was that 48 percent of the people that we surveyed that don’t knit or crochet are actually using yarn and yeah so even though they’re not using yarn to knit or crochet they’re doing all these other types of things that we just talked about.

So they’re making holiday projects. They’re doing crafts with their kids. They’re wrapping yarn around a dowel to make a wall hanging. They’re making pom poms. And so I think that, you know, that really shows us that yarn, yarn is popular and people love working with it. And there are a We were really excited to find that out when the results came back from our survey.

Brittany: 38:13
That’s really interesting because we think about knitting and crochet because it’s the most popular and don’t even really consider how big the crafting industry is. I mean, crafting as a whole, I bet people who are using yarn make up a really big percentage of that community.

Jenny: 38:30
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So you know, definitely want to encourage anyone that already does knitting or crocheting or any type of yarn craft to learn something new. If you’re not knitting or crocheting, you don’t know how, then try it, you know, pick it up and, you know, see if it’s something that you like.

And if maybe you’ve tried crochet before, and haven’t tried knit yet, you know, then try knitting. And, you know, I think, I don’t know how it is for you, Brittany, but for me, since I learned knitting first, that’s kind of what my favorite thing is. Is that how it is for you with crochet?

Brittany: 39:05
It is, but sort of. So crochet is definitely my first love. It is my go-to. I am so much more comfortable with just thinking in crochet. When my design brain turns on, I think crochet just because that’s where I spend a lot of my time and my energy.

My research really goes into that. And so I find that knitting for me is more unplugged time. Like that’s my personal time. That’s my personal project or my hobby.

Jenny: 39:39
But I can definitely see, I can definitely see that since, you know, you do design a lot of your patterns and crochet that knitting is kind of your outlet.

Brittany: 39:50
And it’s sort of changing a little bit. I’m definitely designing more knit patterns this year than I ever have. And I tend to want to move in that direction because my audience has definitely shown me that it’s something they’re interested in.

But I do like to keep my knitting patterns more focused on beginners because my audience is full of crocheters and they’re people who are just trying this for the first time. So I want to make sure I’m creating patterns that are useful for them and that they can actually create.

So I’m really going back to when I started learning how to knit, like, okay, what’s the thing that I want to make? I made a hat first. And so that was the first real knitting pattern that I put out. And it’s still the most popular today.

Oh, that’s great. That’s awesome. Yeah. But I do find myself wanting to try new things. Like I said, even just for once. I’m not sure what I’ll try first. I’m thinking it’ll be along the lines of weaving.

But let’s say we’ve had somebody who’s listening and we’ve sparked something in them and they want to try one of these crafts that we’ve talked about. Do you have any tips on how they can get started? Like, do they just need to go to the store and find a kit or does it make sense to go to YouTube and watch some videos? What would be your advice there?

Jenny: 41:12
Absolutely. Well, I think we do have a lot of resources on our website that may not necessarily cover all the crafts that we talked about today, but definitely encourage people to visit the crafterandcouncil.com. We do have a lot of great resources for knitting and crocheting.

Creative Bug also has many online classes for all types of videos and some of the things that we talked about today with punch needle and doing some spinning and making pom-poms and brooches, weaving, some macrame. So creativebug.com is actually a great resource.

I think kind of how you mentioned earlier, you know, you try to do, maybe go to Etsy or Amazon and look for some kits. I know when I first learned how to knit, I actually got a learn-to-knit kit and that’s how I learned to knit. I taught myself.

So I think kits are also a great resource as well, or even just go into your local retailer like Michael’s or JoAnn and go down one of the yarn aisles and just see what types of kits they have because I’ve seen them there as well. I think that’s a great start.

Brittany: 42:18
Yeah. And I’m thinking back to how I first started to knit. So I actually started knitting or I tried to start knitting first and I went about it all the wrong way. And so I always like to share this story because it tells people exactly what not to do because after failing at this, I quit knitting and I didn’t do it for several years.

I just went to the store and I was in search for some type of hobby. I didn’t know that it was going to be a yarn hobby at that point, but I found myself in the yarn aisle and just in love with the colors, the textures, and what I saw. And my sister at the time was pregnant, and so I thought it would be great to make a blanket for her.

But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do knitting or crochet. My mom had always crocheted. My grandmother crocheted. But I felt that because crochet only uses one tool, like you only have one hook, that that would be more difficult than knitting because with knitting, you get to have two and both hands are involved.

And I don’t even know what I was thinking, but in my mind, knitting sounded easier. And so I bought one ball of yarn and I bought a 12-inch straight bamboo knitting needle and I thought that I was going to make an entire blanket with one skein of yarn on these tiny little needles.

And so I went home and I went to YouTube and I learned how to cast on in one video. And I found another one that taught me how to do the garter stitch. Now, I was actually familiar with that because I do have a blanket that was mine as a baby that is a garter stitch blanket.

And that’s sort of where that came from, I think, to make a garter stitch blanket for her. And I found a video on how to do the garter stitch and I was off and couldn’t really find a good video on how to fix mistakes. So when I made a mistake, I would rip the whole thing out and I would start again.

And then I would knit up a few more rows, make a mistake, I’d rip the whole thing out and I’d start again. And I did this so many times before finally I was like, I just can’t do this. The perfectionist in me won’t let me leave the mistake there and I just don’t get it.

My fingers, my hands, like there’s something isn’t connecting here. But I had purchased a crochet hook because I read a few articles that tried to teach you how to like fix or pick up a dropped stitch when you missed it.

And for some reason, it just didn’t click for me. I was never… I mean, I could pick it up, but it was twisted and it looked weird. So I thought, well, I’ve got this skein of yarn. My mom was a crocheter. She swears that it’s easier than knitting. So I’m just going to give this a try.

And I found another video. And fortunately, it was so much more natural for me. But the rest is history. I never put it down after that.

But I think my biggest fault there was going and having no clue what I needed or any of the basics. So I always feel like it’s a good idea that if you can find a kit that’s going to give you everything that you need or at least a list of all the things that you need, that’s probably the best way to go.

Jenny: 45:34
I think that’s smart, Brittany. And then you’re the less likely, like you said, to be overwhelmed. And there’s so many videos out there on YouTube, you know, and I’ll be honest, a lot of them aren’t necessarily teaching the correct techniques.

And so, you know, that’s just… that’s why we always encourage people to go to our YouTube channel. And then we have some free videos from Creative Bug on our YouTube channel for Learn to Knit and Learn to Crochet as well, that we know they’re teaching the correct techniques.

You know, and along with kits too, there’s also books that people can buy as well. And then we actually work with Michael’s on their knit and crochet classes and they use our certified instructors to teach their knit and crochet classes too.

So there are a lot of great options out there for people to learn to knit or crochet. But when it comes to some different types of yarn crafts like we talked about today, definitely like you said, kind of look for a kit or kind of know what you’re… what you need or what you’re going in for.

But I think that’s some great feedback from what you’ve experienced for sure.

Brittany: 46:37
Definitely. I love people to learn from my mistakes. So that way it wasn’t time wasted if I can teach somebody out of that experience.

So yeah, we’ve mentioned so many different ways that we can craft with yarn. And I’ll link in the show notes to all of the resources that we have on these that you have from your website.

So that way, if people are interested in starting one of these, they can know that this is a trusted source and it’s a great way to start or just get your feet wet or just try it out if you want to just take a break from knitting and crochet for a day.

Absolutely. That sounds wonderful. Our ultimate goal is just to spread that love and the gratification that we all get from crafting with yarn.

Jenny: 47:52
Absolutely. And thanks so much, Brittany, for having us on today. And we definitely look forward to working with you some more in the future and hope you were able to go watch our videos.

Brittany: 48:05
After our call today? Yeah, I definitely will. I have some time now. I’m starting a new project, a new pattern that I’m working on, so I have the rest of the afternoon scheduled as just knit time for this particular project.

So I will definitely indulge in those videos.

That’s great. Thanks so much! All right, I hope we didn’t inspire you too much there but just enough that you’ll try something new.

So big thanks to Jenny for sharing all of that wisdom with us today. Once again, you can find all of the resources that we mentioned here on the show in the show notes, and you can access that at BHookedCrochet.com/session086.

Now before we part ways for today, I do want to point your attention to a section on Red Heart’s website that honestly, I didn’t realize existed before today.

So typically, we’ll go to Red Heart and get some free crochet patterns and free knit patterns, and that’s how I’ve always used their website. But I got to thinking, I wonder if they have some patterns for just general crafting. So again, we can use yarn in a slightly different way to be creative.

So when you go to redheart.com and you search for their patterns… there is an entire section on crafting, and I don’t want to completely overwhelm you, but there’s 196 different options. Completely free patterns that aren’t knit or crochet that you can use up some of the yarn that you might have in your stash.

I know I have a bunch of little remnants or pieces of skeins that are left over from projects and I don’t really know what to do with. Well, this is a great way to use up some of those scraps or to try something new. We’ve got wall hangings, we’ve got wreaths, all different types of projects that are right here for free.

And I had no idea they were even there. So I wanted to bring that to your attention today. And again, thank Red Heart for sponsoring today’s show. You can find them on redheart.com and browse through all of these amazing free resources.

All right, that’ll do for today, my friend. It’s been a real pleasure sharing some of these ideas with you, and I hope you’ll take action on at least one of them. I know I sure will.

So once again, you can find the resources over on the show notes page, BeHookedCrochet.com/session086, and you can bet that I’ll be right here, same time, same place next week with another great episode.

Until then, bye for now.