Making Beautiful Crochet Projects Can Be Easy Too | Podcast Episode #108

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Pretty doesn’t have to be complicated

When was the last time you looked at a crochet or knit piece and thought to yourself, “That looks way too complicated for me”? Well, I’d be willing to bet it’s not nearly as complicated as it looks.

Special Guest

In this episode of The BHooked Podcast, Jessica from Mama In a Stitch is here to tell you just how easy “complicated” projects can be. She’s been doing it for years and her website is centered around the idea of making easy yet pretty pieces in crochet and knitting.

Episode Transcript

Brittany:
Hello there, and welcome to episode 108 of the BHooked podcast. You are in the right place if you’re looking to improve your knit and your crochet skills, and this is a good one, let me just say, because Jessica, my guest for today, is going to help you uncomplicate your projects, a skill that’s incredibly valuable to help you get better at your craft, whether that be knit or crochet. We’ll touch on a little bit of both. That’s what we’re all about here on the show and BHooked in general.

Through this podcast and BHooked TV, which is my new weekly video show, I aim to be your guide to better crochet. Whatever that means for you, I’m here. So let’s just get right to it today. I know there are so many of you who are really trying to uncomplicate your projects. For me, that was a big deal in the early days. I would look at a project and say, Nah, there’s no way I could make that. And I was really second guessing myself, but I didn’t even need to because in a lot of cases, a project might look complicated, but it really isn’t.

One example of that is garments. I steered clear of garment making for so long because I wanted nothing to do with shaping or with sizing or anything like that. But once I just sort of got over myself a little bit and tried my first garment, I was able to see how easy it was and how it didn’t necessarily incorporate these things that I was really scared of.

And that’s sort of the overlying message in today’s show. Something might really look complicated, but when you take it and you break it down and you really do see how easy something can come together. And that is something that my guest, Jessica, Mama in a Stitch, has really honed in on. She’s really good at taking a complicated project and breaking it down so you see just how easy it can be. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

If you have any questions after listening to the show and if you would like to connect with myself and Jessica or other listeners of the show, please visit the show notes page. Those are there specifically for you so you can leave your questions and your feedback. And I’m there and I love reading those responses as well. For today’s show, head over to behooked.com slash 108 for the show notes.

All right, now let’s get to uncomplicating our projects with Jessica from Mama in a Stitch. Jessica, hi, welcome to the show. It’s such a pleasure to have you here. Oh,

Jessica: 3:20
I’m so excited. Thanks so much for having me, Brittany.

Brittany: 3:23
It is my pleasure, really. I have been so excited about this one. I have to say I’ve spent a lot of time on Pinterest lately and I find myself just constantly pinning your stuff because it’s just so darn good.

Jessica: 3:40
Oh, thanks so much. You have a real knack for breaking a project down and demonstrating just how easy it can be. I know that’s something we face a lot as crocheters who are maybe wanting to get into the world of garment making. It’s really intimidating to look at something that is fitted and that you’re wearing and sort of break that down into the simple shapes that it is. And I feel like you really got that. I hope we can focus on that a little bit today.

Jessica: 4:09
Oh awesome. I’m so glad you say that because that’s really something that I’ve tried to do and just it’s actually what I enjoy doing the most ever, you know, since I’ve started knitting and crocheting and doing my blog. So that means a lot to me.

Brittany: 4:25
Oh, yeah. It’s wonderful. You are… making great strides in that area and helping the community out in the process. So before we get to that though, for someone who might not be familiar with you and what you have going on, can you tell me a little bit about what you do in the crochet community and maybe a fun story about how you got started with crochet?

Jessica: 4:47
Sure, you know, so I guess I’ll start with how I got started. My daughter was two years old. I decided to stay home when I had her. I was a special ed teacher, but decided I just wanted to be able to be home with her and everything, but was sort of missing a creative outlet. And I’ve always sort of enjoyed art and whatnot, but it was kind of hard. I was trying to do some sewing, some painting, and I was having to do that at night when I’d put her to bed.

And I realized with knit and crochet, you can do that while you have the child or while you’re at the park with your friends. And so I decided to give it a try and actually tried to learn to knit from a book that I bought at the store, which was a complete failure. I’m a visual learner and trying to see it in pictures just wasn’t quite what I wanted.

So I almost gave up on yarn crafts completely until someone suggested YouTube. And that’s when I started to sort of learn how to crochet and from there knit and I was just completely hooked. I sort of right away started kind of making my own projects up and I didn’t know how to follow a pattern or anything, but eventually started to write down how I was making them.

And what led to the blog was that I was wanting to keep track of these at some point. One of my first projects I posted was a pair of fingerless gloves that were knit flat because I could not find any at the time, any patterns, any projects on how to knit some fingerless gloves flat for my brother for Christmas. And so when I did it, I thought, you know, I’ll just put this up and hopefully someone else that’s looking for something similar might benefit.

And I mean, from then on, I’ve just been blogging and enjoying it and continuing to create and learning myself and it’s just been awesome so it’s, you know, it’s been a creative outlet for me and so much more at this point.

So, yeah, that’s sort of how I got started and really I focus on very easy projects with pretty stitches. A lot of the simplest stitches I find to be oftentimes the prettiest and so that’s sort of what I try and do is stick to simple, easy, timeless kind of pieces that you can wear occasionally. I do other things like rugs or, you know, I’ve done little stuffed animals in the past, but what I really enjoy is wearable items. So right now that’s really what I’m doing on my blog and I love meeting other, you know, yarn addicts like myself and being active on Instagram and Pinterest and all those places and in groups, so, yeah. That’s kind of the

Brittany: 7:40
lowdown. Yeah. Well, that’s a fun story. We definitely have a similar story in how we got started. I’m a visual learner too, more so on the tutorial or video side than what you would find in books. And I just failed a lot by trying to learn through photos. And I turned to YouTube and luckily I did because then I too got into… creating my own designs, mainly because I didn’t know how to follow a pattern. And so I would just make things through trial and error and figure out what works. And I feel like that’s the best way for me to learn.

Jessica: 8:16
That’s awesome, Brittany. And I did know that about you. I did know we have similar stories in that sense. And that’s really cool.

Brittany: 8:26
Yeah, that’s so much fun. So you have a pretty good blend of knit and crochet stuff. On your website, you kind of go back and forth with those. I have to ask, is there one that you enjoy more than the other?

Jessica: 8:39
Yeah, isn’t that, I get that question so often, you probably do too. There really isn’t. You know, they both, I like them each for their own individual sort of, they’ve got their own things going for them. So knit, you know, a lot of times, in many cases, I do like knit for garments. I like the drape that you get with knit more often than with crochet.

However, I find it easier to crochet garments with the shaping. You know, I like crochet for that. So with shaping, I think crochet is so much easier. But with certain looks, you know, you just can’t get the knit, the true knit look with crochet.

I do find it to be easier to crochet and to learn to crochet. I know that’s not the case with everybody, but for me, it’s even easier to learn new crochet stitches. And so sometimes in that case, I have more fun with crochet. But with knitting, there’s something about knitting that I love too. So I really can’t say I have a favorite. They just sort of each have their own place for me.

How about you?

Brittany: 9:53
Completely agree. It is a difficult question to answer because crochet has always been more of my job, sure. And knitting has sort of been a little more of a hobby. I tend to really enjoy sitting down with a knitting project to unwind just because I’m making that distinction between the two, I guess.

Jessica: 10:20
Yes, definitely. I completely agree. They both have something to offer, both a little bit different. And I also find that it seems that more and more people are learning both skills, which is a lot of fun because it sort of opens up some new projects for people and new ideas.

At least for me, it’s nice to be able to do both because I know sometimes, you know, I would look at one project and, oh, you know, I had learned to crochet first and, oh, I’d see this knitting project and wouldn’t that be nice to be able to do and so yeah it’s it’s fun to do both.

Brittany: 10:58
Yeah another thing you do that I really like and I’ve seen this on your Pinterest page and kind of just stalking that as I have been, you do a lot of projects that are knit-like and you’re actually crocheting them, but they do really have the look and feel of knit. So that way, if somebody doesn’t want to learn how to knit or they just maybe can’t pick it up, they’re

Jessica: 11:21
still able to achieve that look.

Brittany: 11:23
Absolutely.

Jessica: 11:24
Definitely. And that is so true. There are so many stitches that are modern and look knit without having to knit. I mean, some people just like crochet and they have no interest in knitting, but they might want that look. And so that is something that is definitely possible and a lot of fun. And they happen to be very simple stitches too. So that’s always nice. Yeah.

Brittany: 11:51
Yeah. So I’m curious, was there ever a time, or at least can you recall a time, when you looked at something that was crocheted and you thought, that looks so complicated, I could probably not make that?

Jessica: 12:07
Oh, for sure. I mean, I just think back to the beginning. I mean, even when I think back to the very beginning, and I was sort of looking at Etsy, and I would see these items pop up that were just beautiful, and I thought, there’s no way… I could ever do that.

I mean I had always I had known people that had knit and crocheted but I thought there there’s just no way I could ever do that that’s just way too complicated and so I’ve been there and that is what’s so fun is to know that with all the resources we have now with YouTube and you know groups online that you can learn at your own pace and and do it and that’s what was so exciting for me and I think others as well now with just the resources that we have that we can learn from.

Brittany: 12:57
So for somebody who might be going through a similar situation where they’re like, well, I know the basics. I know how to work a flat row. I’m comfortable with the more common stitches. But maybe they’re still intimidated to just try something that’s a little more complex than, you know, say a scarf or a blanket where you’re just working in a flat row. What was your aha moment that helped you make that transition between, oh, this is super complicated to I can actually do this?

Jessica: 13:30
Sure. You know, it’s– You just got to go for it. You got to go for it. And you’ve got to, if you see something that looks hard, you know, first, if it’s a pattern, for instance, read through it, see what parts are confusing to you. You can Google so many things now. Go into YouTube, do a search. You know, if it’s a new stitch or if it’s shaping, try and find a tutorial about that or ask a friend, you know, in one of your, in a forum.

Like I said, there are so many resources now. Even reach out to the designer if you have a question about it, if there’s a certain part that’s tripping you up. I also find it helpful, you know, if you’ve got, if you’re looking at a pattern that’s either on a blog or maybe it’s in Ravelry and it’s looking intimidating, look, check out the comments section below or even just reviews, because I know on my blog, and it’s probably the same for you, Brittany, but sometimes in the comments, you’ll find some really insightful help that maybe the, you know, I may have not caught or the designer may have not caught that somebody who’s made it says, hey, you know, try this or do this, help me out or this tutorial, help me out here.

Even, you know, I’ve had people resize my projects before. I’ll make a sweater from size extra small to large and someone has sized it up to, you know, XL or XXL and put the instructions and exactly how they did it. So, I mean, it could go on and on, but there’s many ways to, I guess, find some confidence and some help for a pattern that you might be scared of now with just with all of the tutorials that we have and help.

Brittany: 15:26
Yeah, I completely agree. And that’s a question that came in more than once, actually. There seemed to be a lot of people who are struggling with, you know, they spend a ton of time trying to find a pattern that they love, and then they spend even more time going through and finding the yarn, maybe the right color, and that sort of thing. They’ll read through the pattern, and then it’s like they hit this barrier that says, well, I’ve spent so much time on this. I’ve spent probably so much money on this, and now I’m just… don’t know if I can actually pull it off.

And I would say, what do you have to lose at that point? You’ve invested the time. So even if it’s wasted, you’ve learned something from the experience. So you’re not throwing the time away. And the money that you invested in the yarn, well, the good thing about that is you can use it for anything. Even if you start crocheting with it or start knitting with it, you can frog it and save it for later. So really the only thing you have to gain is confidence and just trying it.

Would you say that they’re going to fail? Or would you say that it’s just the hump that you have to get over to convince yourself that you can do it?

Jessica: 16:44
Sure. I mean, I think that it really can go either way. I know I’ve had projects in the past that I’ve started. I mean, I think we all have some that we’ve started and maybe gotten into and said, hey, this is just too much, you know.

But from those projects, I’ve learned as well. And, you know, it’s like sometimes you might fail. You might, like you said, you might frog it, keep the yarn for something different. You might work through it, you know. You may just need that, you know, boost of confidence and just to push through and work through it.

So either way, like you said, it’s not a fail. It’s part of the learning process. We’ve all made mistakes in our work. We’ve all kind of given up on a project at some point. And we’ve pushed through certain projects and felt really proud. So I think it’s just part of the process of learning. Would you agree?

Brittany: 17:37
Totally agree. I can’t even count how many times I have started a pattern and thought, well, I got to come back to this because I’m just not quite ready for this one or had to go back and learn how to do a stitch. Even if I’m doing a stitch, maybe not the first time, if it’s not something you do very often, then I think it’s totally normal to have to refresh your memory, maybe go back and look at some videos.

And I think it’s important for people to hear that that’s normal. Like just because you and I crochet and we knit all the time, right, we still have to go back and refresh our memory on things. And we still have confidence issues to some extent on taking on a new project. So it’s all part of the process.

But I’m curious though, do you have any tips on where somebody can figure out like what they need to know in order to dive into a pattern? For example, like stitches or that sort of thing. When they’re in the review phase or reading through the pattern, are there any red flags that you would maybe check and say, okay, you probably should visit this before you dive into the project? Or do you like to tackle it just as you come to it in the pattern?

Jessica: 18:56
Sure. So, you know, as you go through the pattern, I mean, there are the basics where you want to make sure you’ve got the right tools that it calls for. Of course, you want to look at the stitch that’s used. And are you going to have trouble with that or not? Can you even tell what sort of stitch it is? Because that’s really helpful. If you know the stitch and you’re thinking, well, I might need a little work on that again, that’s when I’d go and look for a tutorial, you know, online on how to do it if I needed a refresher.

And one thing I often suggest when folks try my patterns, my larger ones like a big sweater or a big blanket, is to do those small swatches of the stitch before you get into the huge pattern because, you know, if you start with your chain of 120 to do your sweater, your blanket, and you get going and you’re a few rows in, you realize you’re not sure, yeah, oh gosh, you know, I don’t know how to do this or it’s not coming out right. It’s so much easier to figure out on a small swatch what’s going wrong rather than already getting frustrated on this big blanket that it’s not coming out right and, you know, frogging it and trying again.

So that’s one of my, the biggest things that I hope to suggest to people and that I do for myself, even when I’m designing, I will do a small swatch just to figure it out and see how the stitch counts working and if it’s coming out right. And so I think that’s a really good, you know, skill and tool to use.

And of course, like we said, to go through the whole pattern before you dive in, I think is huge because that can really save a lot of frustration once you get into the big projects and you already know, you know, what challenges you’re going to face and you kind of know how to tackle those without getting too frustrated. And then of course, some of the patterns, you know, talk about gauge and that’s something that can be very important too. And then from there, if I need to, you know, find help from somebody or a resource online, that’s what I do myself. So that’s useful for me.

Brittany: 21:12
Yeah, and I want to circle back around to that G word because everybody hates it. Everybody dreads it. We’ve touched on it a lot, honestly, throughout various different episodes on the show. And it’s one of those things that it’s sort of like a light bulb moment, I think. For me, I know I didn’t really understand the concept until it just clicked one day. And I really can’t explain that exactly what happened, but I know if I can encourage others to press on to make their gauge swatch, even though they don’t want to, even though they don’t understand why they’re doing it, eventually it’s just going to work. And when it does, it clicks.

So in your words, what is gauge?

Jessica: 22:01
Okay. So to me, gauge is, you know, it typically refers to how many stitches per inch and how many rows per inch. And they’ll, you know, a pattern will give you, for example, my patterns, I usually, if gauge is important, I’ll give you how many stitches and how many rows in a four inch by four inch swatch.

And so, you know, how loose or tight I’ve knit my sweater. So basically when gauge is given it’s, it most likely is important for the pattern and you’re trying to get that same stitch count that they’ve provided. And it really, it’s, oh my goodness, it’s so important, especially for wearables and sweaters.

And it’s funny because I am, I tend to be a very loose crocheter and knitter. And so my gauge can be very different from someone who’s a tight knitter or crocheter. And so a sweater that may fit someone, if they, you know, their sweater might not fit correctly. It may turn out far too small because I’m just such a loose knitter. I don’t know how to change. It’s just the way, you know, the way we are. We’re all a little bit different.

So that’s gauge in my words.

Brittany: 23:30
Yes. And I just want to echo that, how important it is. Because if you want your thing, your project, your sweater, whatever, to fit, you have to have your gauge right. And you said you’re a loose crocheter, a loose knitter. I am the complete opposite. I’m a tight crocheter, a tight knitter. So I tend to have to go up hook size or a needle size because I know I crochet a little tighter than most people and you probably have to go down a hook size or a needle size because you’re sort of compensating for that and bringing it back around to making easy projects and just having a better experience while you’re making your project is these are some of the prerequisites that you really need to have figured out before you’re going to have an easy or a fun experience. Would you agree?

Jessica: 24:23
Oh definitely. Definitely. I mean, there’s nothing worse than, like you said, spending a lot of money and time making something for it to turn out too small to wear or way too large. Engage just doing a simple swatch. I know whenever I buy new yarn and I’ve got a new pattern or new project to start, I just want to dive right in. The last thing I want to do is to knit up a little swatch, but I have learned how important it is and it really will save you maybe heartache at the end if it doesn’t turn out the way you hoped. So it is super important.

Brittany: 25:02
Yes, I completely agree. So what if somebody is making a gauge swatch, whether it be knit or crochet, I think it can go both ways here, and their gauge doesn’t match what’s in the pattern. What should they do next?

Jessica: 25:17
Sure. So like you mentioned, you know, the easiest way thing I think is to adjust your, so if it’s crochet, you’d adjust your hook size. Um, you know, if you, if you are knitting too tightly, you need to go up a hook, you know, try, try it again, going up a hook size, um, and go up until you reach the gauge that’s indicated in the pattern. I think that’s the easiest way. I mean, you can also try and adjust your tension, you know, how tightly or loosely you’re crocheting, but you know, for me, that’s really hard to do. I get going. It’s the way I do it. And unless I’m just really thinking about it, it’s pretty hard for me to adjust it. But I know some people can. So those two things. What do you think, Brittany?

Brittany: 26:07
Well, it honestly depends on where the pattern comes from, we’ll say. So if I am following a pattern that has been tech edited, published, and maybe online or in a magazine or that sort of thing, my starting point is the hook size that they recommend because that’s usually where it hits home for me. But if I look at the image on that pattern or that project and I can see that it looks like it was crocheted a little more loosely, then that’s sort of a mental note for me to say, okay, maybe I want to drop down before I go into the gauge swatch because, like you said, it’s not fun. It’s not an area where I want to spend a lot of time on. And so I try to just think about those things to kind of go into that.

But the area where I seem to really kind of question myself is if I’m just off by a little bit. Like let’s say I’m off by a quarter of an inch or something that’s just really, really small. It’s really easy to dismiss that, and I’ve done that before. And I learned the hard way that– that gauge is within a specific measurement. So let’s say it’s a four inch gauge. That’s a pretty standard gauge measurement. You might have, I don’t know, 12 stitches equals four inches. And let’s say the project you’re working with is 120 inches. So you’re actually multiplying that out that many times, right? And if you’re off by a half an inch, well, you can multiply a half an inch by that many times. And so your gauge will end up being way off if you’re not super careful to get it as close as possible.

Is this something that you have experienced with before?

Jessica: 27:57
Oh, definitely. I mean, that’s so true because it just seems like such a little bit to be off that certainly it wouldn’t, you know, this won’t matter on this project. It’s just, it’s close enough. And sure enough, you know, when you multiply the stitches by, you know, many more, whether a blanket, sweater, and turns out that it’s actually much smaller than just that half inch that it was off on the 4×4 swatch.

So definitely that is exactly why I’ve learned how important it is to check my gauge and even make sure in my designs that I’ve got a very good gauge swatch down for folks to follow so that they know that they’re able to make the same sizes that I’ve put in my pattern.

Brittany: 28:51
Yeah, yeah. And I think that’s a lot of really good information for a listener to digest who really is just crocheting as a hobby. That’s a pretty large percentage of the audience. But I do want to touch a little bit on those of us who are designers and bloggers. There are quite a few of us here as well.

And I want to, I guess, reiterate how… easy some projects actually are when you sort of take them and break them down. Garments are really the thing that comes to mind and it seems to be what everybody is making nowadays.

When I first started crocheting and designing, I know I stayed away from it because I didn’t know how to grade them. I didn’t know how to, you know, make the calculations to convert it to different sizes. And so when I would release a top or something that I made for myself, the very first question you get is, well, how do I make it in my size and, you know, a medium or a large or whatever? And so I just steered clear of designing garments until I learned this skill.

But I think another hiccup people tend to face is just the complexity of it. Like the other day, for example, I bought this sweater and I totally geek out on like sales and clearance items and that sort of thing—

Jessica: 30:27
Yeah, yes it was.

Brittany: 30:28
—a velvet yarn knit sweater and it was on clearance for like $4. And I was like, sold. Give it to me. I need this in my life. And I get it home and I’m wearing it and it’s got sort of like a loose fit to it. Like the arms are pretty fitted, but it’s loose throughout the midsection and that sort of thing.

And I’m looking at the construction of it. And you would think that there would be some shaping involved, like around the bust area and that sort of thing. I didn’t see any of that. So it really makes me realize how many, I’m saying air quotes here, professional sweaters or sweaters that you would buy in a store that are just made up of simple shapes. And I feel like that’s what you have. That’s what you figured out. And that’s why you have so many amazing garment designs on your website.

Can you kind of walk me through how that realization came about or are there any other points that you could add to that?

Jessica: 31:28
Oh my goodness. Well, you really hit the nail on the head because I sort of started like you where I, you know, I wasn’t posting or creating shaped sweaters or anything like that in the beginning. In fact, you know, I was just happy to put up what I had—posted some blanket sweaters that I had made.

I was saying they’re much like a blanket, but they’re a sweater because they’re like the cocoons that we’ve seen where it’s a rectangle and you simply seam, you know, fold it, seam it, and you wear it like a pretty cocoon sweater and that didn’t involve any shaping or anything. I mean it’s essentially you’re making a blanket and you know I, you know, sew a little button on the top to hold it closed and I still love those.

But at some point it was like wow, you know, it is, it would be nice to make real clothing beyond just the cocoons.

And, and so yes, you’re exactly right. It’s funny, because I have a sweater from Target that I wear a lot. And it’s made of like a tape, you know, the tape yarns that came out, I don’t know, there were a lot last spring. And it’s really cool, but it has said it has no shaping through the body, it’s got a V neck.

But if you lay it out, it’s just there’s no, you know, shaping at the bust or the waist or anything. And so—

So yes, it’s so simple really to make these sweaters. I would say, you know, with a lot of my patterns, in fact, I’m working on a velvet sweater right now and there’s no shaping throughout the body, but I simply just, just do very easy shaping on the sleeves and it’s nothing to be intimidated.

I mean, it’s just decreasing every few rows and you get a nice sleeve, you know, that’s not super boxy and you can, you can really shape them however you want.

But yeah, I mean really a lot of the sweaters that are in style right now don’t have a lot of shaping and it’s very basic— you know squares, rectangles, and then if you want to add a little bit of a neck you can do that easily or even not and make it a boat neck sweater.

There’s just so much you can do and just with changing the stitches and, you know, without having to do any complicated shaping or counting or anything like that.

Brittany: 33:50
That’s really interesting. So walk me through your process. Let’s say you want to start making a new garment and you can insert whatever type of project you want here. But the idea is to help somebody who might say, well, I want to do a garment. I just don’t know where to start next. I don’t even know where to begin. How does your process begin when you’re starting a new design?

Jessica: 34:14
Sure. So for a garment, for a sweater, you know, it was a learning curve for me. I went to Craft Yarn Council and looked at the sizing. They’ve got a really nice chart. If you just Google, you know, women’s, I think it’s sweater sizing or top sizing Craft Yarn Council and pull that up.

They have a chart for all the different sizes, you know, what the bust size is for an extra small, small, medium, large, the length. And so I actually just sort of wrote out my own chart from that that I refer to. And when I’m about to design a sweater, I’ve got to do the wonderful g-word — do a little swatch, see how many stitches I’ve got in an inch and go from there, and figure out how wide I need to make my sweater.

Usually, I’m making it for myself for the blog, or if I’m making it for someone else, then I’ve got to use their sizing. I do just, you know, sometimes I do it in two panels — a front and a back side where I seam up the sides — or you can work it in the round. But that’s where I start: the sizing and how many stitches I need.

Then, depending on the stitch that I’m using, you’ve got to take the stitch count into account as well. Is that going to work with all the different sizes? There’s a lot that sort of goes into it, but the basics are how many stitches per inch, how wide do I need to make it, how long am I going to make it, and guesstimating how much yarn.

Just going from there, I sort of draw up the sweater that I’d like. Again, they rarely have much shaping through the body, and then come up with how I’m going to do the sleeves. Am I going to do them flat? You know, am I knitting them flat and then seaming them? Or are we working in the round? But that’s all kind of getting further down the road.

Brittany: 36:14
Yeah. A follow up to that, too, in terms of the sizing and using those charts. One thing that I failed to realize in the beginning, and I learned this the hard way, was that the sizes that are given in the charts are the actual sizes. And I didn’t factor in ease.

So how do you take that into account? Do you just kind of know how loose you want it to fit or do you have some sort of guidelines or references that you use?

Jessica: 36:43
I gotta say, you know, for me, it’s just hit or miss really. It’s still a learning process with the ease. It’s a guesstimate on my part. I want the sweater to fit loosely and my swatches are pretty slinky or stretchy.

So I probably don’t have to add too many extra chains or stitches. For me, it’s really a guesstimate. And once I get into the project, sometimes I’ll see like, whoa, this is turning out different — it’s going to turn out too big, there’s too much stretch in it — and then I have to adjust. So it’s very much trial and error for me. How do you do it, Brittany?

Brittany: 37:33
Well, I had a really great conversation with Lena. She’s the one who does the Knit and Crochet Now show. And she is just a wealth of knowledge in terms of sizing for garments. She’s the one who really taught me about ease and that sort of thing.

Her general rule of thumb, or at least my takeaway from that conversation, was typically divide it in half. So if you want two inches of ease, you’ve got to factor in both sides to the project. So you might have two inches of ease, but when you spread that out throughout the whole project, it may only give you an inch of extra room.

That’s a little more of a thought experiment than anything. What I like to do is go to my closet and I measure sweaters that fit the way I want this new garment to fit. Then I use that in correlation with those sizing charts to figure out, okay, well this is what size I know I am and this is what my big Lucy Aries sweater measures.

So I’m able to figure out how much ease is there. Then I would add that on in order to grade for the other sizes. That’s probably been the most practical way for me to approach that sort of topic.

Jessica: 38:58
Yes, you know, now that you say that, that is exactly what I do as well. I was talking about the Target sweater earlier, and I pulled that out for this velvet sweater that I’m working on now just to see, you know, is this similar in size? Because I love the fit of that, and I love that idea, Brittany.

Brittany: 39:17
Yeah, it’s super practical. I have to ask, too. I have not knit or crocheted a garment with velvet yet. Now, the sweater that I bought is pretty light. I was actually surprised because that yarn seems like it’s pretty dense and would be heavy. Are you finding that it has a good drape for garments?

Jessica: 39:37
Oh my goodness, it is! I am so excited about this sweater. Yes, I was thinking it would be heavy as well. I thought, uh, once I put it on, I’m thinking it’s just gonna feel a little bit heavy, but it’s not at all.

That drape—that is what is so nice with this yarn. It’s got an amazing drape. I made a blanket with this velvet yarn. I held two strands together, so it was a thicker blanket, but this I’m just using a worsted weight velvet and it’s turning out so nice, so comfortable.

I can see what all the rage is about this velvet because I’m loving it.

Brittany: 40:18
Yeah. When do you think that project will be available?

Jessica: 40:22
You know, I’m thinking it will be in the next, probably in the next couple of weeks. Yeah. I’m just working on it now and I’ve pretty much got the sweater finished up, but now it’s all about editing and getting the photos done and reviewing and everything like that.

So it’ll still be a little bit before it goes up, but yeah, I’m getting it done.

Brittany: 40:51
Well, I’ll keep an eye out for that too. And I also would love to add it to the show notes. That way listeners, no matter when they’re listening, if they want to check that out and give this velvet yarn a try, they’ll be able to find that project.

Jessica: 41:03
Awesome. Yes, I definitely recommend it. Even if you don’t do my sweater, the velvet has just been—I’m just obsessed with it.

Brittany: 41:13
I have to say I am too. I was wearing that sweater yesterday. It was just so amazing. It’s like a hug.

Jessica: 41:21
I can’t really explain it any other way. It feels like a robe or a sweatshirt, but it actually looks nice and dressy. Right? So, yeah.

Brittany: 41:32
I need another one, that’s for sure. I’ll have to make me another one because as I was getting ready this morning, I was really tempted to put it back on, but I decided not to.

Oh, yes. Oh, funny. Well, I would love to bring it back around to kind of like our overarching theme here of just making easy and pretty pieces in crochet and knit.

I know this is something that you were able to accomplish, and we’ve heard that through trial and error and time and experimentation, that’s how you were able to make that happen.

Somebody is in that position now where they just really enjoy their craft, but maybe the projects they’re taking on are a little too complicated. Do you have any advice for somebody who is just looking to make something easy and pretty?

Jessica: 42:22
Sure. You know, that’s what’s so much fun about this. Like I was saying earlier, I used to think that knitting and crocheting was so difficult, but anyone can do it. And we can do it in the comfort of our own home.

You don’t have to feel, you know, even if you don’t want to have a teacher or anything like that, where you feel like maybe you’re not learning fast enough or getting it down. You can open up YouTube and learn on your own.

There are so many easy projects now online that you can find. Go on Pinterest, go on Ravelry, see what you like. A lot of bloggers and designers will help walk you through it, whether it’s a YouTube video or just a picture tutorial.

There is just so much that you can do and learn and not have to be intimidated with so much help that you can find. And I think that’s what was so exciting for me. I had seen knit and crochet as something that was way too difficult that I probably would never do and couldn’t enjoy.

That realization of, no, you can make pretty things that are easy. The sweater you bought at the mall is just basic shapes. If you can make a rectangle, you can make a sweater.

These are just very simple things, and you can find such pretty stitches. With knitting, if you can knit and purl, which are the two basics, you can make the stockinette stitch, which to me is a classic and one of the most beautiful stitches. That’s what you see on many sweaters. You can make your first sweater.

With crochet, I found it to be so easy to learn. I wasn’t good right away. In fact, I found the very first headband I made stuffed away in a drawer the other day, and I thought I should post a picture of it online. It’s almost embarrassing because it’s real — the sides are all uneven and it looks just terrible.

But I remember just showing my husband, “Look what I made, you know, I made this headband,” and it was like, “Oh,” he was probably thinking, “What is that?” But to me, it was amazing that I could do that.

And you go from there, step by step, learning a little bit more. I enjoy the easy process. I like patterns because I can still be present with my daughter while working on something — she’s doing an art project and I’m sitting there crocheting.

Maybe someday I’ll want to get a lot more challenging, I like a little bit of challenge here and there, and you can do that if you enjoy that too. Some people push themselves to do the really difficult stuff with lots of counting and color changes, and that’s cool too.

But you don’t have to. There’s just so much you can do that’s really easy and that you’ll be able to use, give to other people, make gifts, and give back to charity. You don’t have to be a pro to be proud of something you make. And that’s what’s fun for me.

Brittany: 45:58
Yeah, and that’s what’s so great about knitting and crochet in general — you can take it and make it whatever you want. So if it’s just a way to relax and clear your mind, maybe a simple, easy project, simple shapes are the route that you take.

But if you’re using it as a way to challenge yourself, improve your cognitive skills, your math skills even, you can take that and do it. Make more complicated projects. So wherever you are in life, we kind of ebb and flow through these different phases and we can just take our craft along the journey with us. And I really love that about it.

Jessica: 46:37
Oh, it’s so true. It is a craft that you can just, if you wanted to, you would never stop learning, never stop improving. There’s always something to learn, something new to try. And that’s what’s really neat about it and kind of keeps it exciting.

Brittany: 46:54
For me as well. I know that’s my biggest thing in life is just… learning. I just can’t get enough and that’s why I’ve really chosen this hobby because there’s always something to learn so it keeps me on my toes.

Jessica: 47:08
So true, so true.

Brittany: 47:11
Well, this has been such a fun conversation. I feel like we could just talk for hours, but yes, I do want to give people a chance to connect with you outside of the episode here because I know you have tons and tons of free patterns available and some videos and that sort of thing. So where’s the best place for somebody to connect with you after listening to the show today?

Jessica: 47:32
Sure. Well, they’re welcome to go to my blog, which is mamainastitch.com. I’m on Instagram, same handle, mamainastitch. Those two places. You can find me on Facebook as well. I do have a YouTube. Occasionally I’ll do, you know, a video on stitches or a project. So any of those places are perfect.

Brittany: 47:55
Wonderful. I will have all of that linked in the show notes as well as a couple of resources we mentioned here today. And man, it’s been so much fun. We have to have you back for sure.

Jessica: 48:05
Oh, thank you so much, Brittany. It’s such a pleasure and an honor for me to be here.

Brittany: 48:12
Okay, so now the cat is out of the bag. You know that you can take your craft and make it what you want. And if your goal is to make easy and pretty projects, well, you can do so very easily by just trying something new.

Even a garment, for example. Jessica has this top that, you know, as we’re going into the warmer months, is knit with just two rectangles sewn together. So literally, if you know how to knit or crochet a rectangle or a square, you can make a super easy project that’s really pretty and that might look on the surface to be a little more complicated, but you know it to be a lot easier.

It’s pretty — something that you want to complete and wear and just be proud of yourself for making. Once you do that, tell me about it on the show notes page. Head over to BeHooked.com/108.

My question for you today is just to tell me what project you thought was really complicated and you found out either through listening to this episode or maybe through a different experience that it was really easy. Tell me about that on the show notes page. I would love to hear those responses and I know your input will help others in the community as well.

Well, this has been such a fun episode for me today. It was such a joy to connect with Jessica, and I really do hope to have her back on the show. She’s obviously a wealth of knowledge.

If you would like to connect with her after hearing today’s show, just head over to the show notes page, behooked.com/108. I will have her Instagram handle, her social pages. She’s got a wonderful Pinterest community, Pinterest boards that you can look through.

Honestly, if you’re just looking for really great stuff to pin, you might want to head over to her Pinterest account. There are tons and tons of great projects to share. So I will have all of Jessica’s information on the show notes page, and I hope that it inspires you in your next project.

Now, one little favor to ask of you: if you’ve been a listener of the show for any amount of time and you really enjoy it, would you do me this one simple favor? And that is to leave an honest rating and/or a review in iTunes.

You can do so easily by visiting bhooked.com/itunes. As a podcaster, those reviews and ratings are the most important thing that you can see. I read through every single one of those and it’s the way you, my listener, can connect with me and tell me exactly what you love or maybe what you don’t love about the show.

That way I’m able to take that information and pivot so that I can give you episodes that are more valuable to you. If you don’t have a couple of minutes to leave a review where you’re actually writing something out, a star review is very helpful as well.

That lets me know I’m on the right track. But it also lets iTunes know that this is a podcast worth recommending to other yarn fanatics just like us. So thank you so much for that. I really, really appreciate it.

And I look forward to serving you next week. We have another interesting episode coming your way where it’s just you and I, and I want to share some of my tips about writing your own patterns. So that — we’ll see you next time.

Thank you so much. I appreciate you more than you know. I’ll see you next time. Bye for now.

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