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Type B Knitting is a weekly knitting podcast for the Type B crafter. Sisters Veronica and Gosia chat about WIPs, yarn, test knits and the knitting projects that don't go as planned, because knitting is a journey, not about the finished garment. New episodes every Tuesday.
Hello, welcome. You know what's so weird? I don't like looking at you when we're doing this. I was thinking about that the last time we were recording. I don't like making eye contact with you. We're recording this episode today in person and usually Gosia and I record this on our laptops remotely. This podcast is hybrid. Every like 10 episodes we do when in person. Something like that. Because we just started doing them in person. I don't know. Just the road trip ones. Just the road trip ones, yeah. Anyway, welcome to Type B Knitting Podcast. The podcast with two sisters who like to yap about knitting.
I am Veronica. And I'm Gosia. And today we just came back from the 2026 Yarn Con Chicago's Indie Fiber Festival. Day one. We're only going on one day, so. Could you imagine going both days? I feel like that'd be too much. Also, I don't know if I could spend that much. As much as I love yarn, I don't know if I could spend that much time. No. So the difference between this one and the fiber festival we went to is this. Huge. This? Yeah, this con was huge. I'm trying to see if we can get a count for how many vendors. 40? No, more than 52. But then second floor for you, there are five more. So 52 plus five.
57. 57 vendors. This is a math podcast. This is a knitting podcast, not a math podcast. 52 vendors all collected into a venue space. So there was a lot to look at. Veronica and I met up early in the morning to get there bright and early as soon as it opened. Yeah. Honestly, that was that's the way to do it because it gets so busy so fast. We even noticed that like we got there right at 10 and we're like, oh, it's not that busy. That's nice. We can kind of stroll around. And then by like noon, it was like packed. Yeah, it was there was a lot of people, which is great. But yeah, no, it's great. We need people supporting it because it's like my favorite con.
I mean, we've only been to two, but it is my favorite. Yeah, it's really fun. Local vendors and then some from across the U.S. Yeah. A lot of vendors that we've seen before, but also a lot of new vendors. So I feel like it's a good variety. And also it's like, again, there's 52 vendors there. So it's not like you're going to remember everyone. So it's like, oh, if I bought yarn from someone last year, I can go and get that. But there's also a lot to like explore, like new stuff that you can look into. So I feel like it's definitely one that's worth coming back to. Yes. And this is the second year that we went.
And it was interesting because we had last year's to compare. And I would say we're pretty trendy when it comes to like the knits we want to make. And I remember last year wanting to find a cobalt blue, like electric blue yarn. Could not find anybody who had it. And then we'll and co had a yarn. But this year there was a lot of that prior to going into the con. We were hoping for like specific things and we were on the lookout for sequence yarn. Yeah. No sequence, but a lot of sparkle. So it's kind of like cool to see the trends kind of like, you know, what's popular and like showing up newness in these boots.
Yeah. I feel like there's always like a trend we kind of catch on like during these festivals. Like I think last year there was a lot of neon, like a lot more than this year. That's true. Yeah. Like the UV light yarn. And that was like super popular. And I didn't see as much of that like highlighted this year. I think this year it was a lot more about like the glitter yarn. There was a lot more. I think last year there was probably like two vendors that had it. And this time it felt like almost everyone had glitter yarn. Like a lot. Not everyone, but like a lot more. Do you also feel that there were a lot more like natural by boots?
I don't remember last year's. Yeah. I feel like there were a lot more like muted colors this year. Like they're again, I think last year was focused a lot on like the neon like crazy color combinations. A lot of like variegated yarn. And then this year I feel like it kind of almost swung to the opposite direction where there was a lot of like really good selection of solid colors that it's kind of like choose your own adventure versus, you know, things that are more hand dyed with like seven different colors. And if it's a lot more with like our style, because I felt like this one, we were finding a lot more yarns that we really liked and like fit into like our style and what we usually choose.
Yeah. What were your first impressions? I was really happy to see this. So when you first go into like the main hall, it's Mochi Mochi Land and she has like the coolest installation. And last year's was also super cool. And we'll post pictures of this on our Instagram. Guys, follow the Instagram, please, please. Instagram is type of be knitting pod. So if you want to take your podcast listening to the next level, you can look at what we're talking about on the Instagram, but Mochi Mochi Land. She has like this really, really cool. I would say what, like four feet long, like of yeah, probably it was like four feet.
And it's like a knitted landscape of like a bunch of kooky, crazy, like miniature little knitted. Knitted gnomes and like sheep and like just so many different things. Cats. Yeah, cats. Itty bitty. Tiny, tiny, tiny, like two inch by two inch. Some even smaller. I don't even know how she does it. Like it's crazy. But yeah, I was happy to see her back this year because I like just looking at it, I think it's super impressive and like it's so cool what she comes up with. And this year, me and Gosha actually bought something from her. Yay. She has kits for some of her cute little characters. I think last year we were a little intimidated.
Yeah. But there is this little hot doggy where it's a little dog and he's in a bun because he's a little hot dog, a little mustard on his head. It was just too cute and I convinced Veronica to also pick it up. Yeah. I know there. It's knit on two point two five millimeter DPN. So like literally my nightmare. But it's just so cute. And I hope like even if it doesn't come out like half as cute as this, I think it would be even cuter if it's like a little like messed up. So I'm like, you know what, it's fine. However, it turns out. But just in case it doesn't turn out the way that I want, I bought like a sticker of the doggy hot doggy just to like know what it's supposed to look like.
But again, check out the Instagram because I will be posting pictures of that for reference. But that's so cute. Yeah, that's that's the first thing you see when you come in. So we weren't even at the convention for 10 minutes. And we already bought things. Yeah. And I was like, I need it. Yeah, it's too cute. I know. It's super cute. But yeah, I think again, my favorite convention. And I think like this year it didn't disappoint. Lots of good stuff. Lots of good stuff. We spent a good two hours walking around checking out all the vendors to the point where it's like once we're done, I was tired.
I was like, I'm excited about what I bought. I want to go home and I want to start on it right away. Like that kind of energy. Yeah. What did you think about the convention? I think when I we first got there, I was very, very excited because I think from the success from last year, as in like there are so many fun vendors to look at. I think with like fiber festival, there's like what do we say, like 15 to 20. So that's great. But like you here, you literally have double. So you have so much is wide range. And we knew that they had a lot of yarn at this one and some other notions and fun little things too.
Like how we got the kit. I think what also helped is I kind of had a plan for my next project. So I did finish the evergreen sweater. I kind of didn't know what to work on next was working on other crafts. But this was like a great opportunity to like get inspired for like new projects. So I'll be doing the I think it's called think tank from Digen something like that. And that's in fingering weight, which this convention has a lot of fingering sport weight yarn and like DK mostly some bulky, but not as much as those two. So it's like, oh, that tank top is knitted in a fingering weight and you only needed like three like schemes of that like one Hank for like the body and then like two different contrast if you want for the like straps.
So it's the perfect project to like find like a little something here and there. So as we were walking around, I was like thinking about that and it was really fun. And like we said, like the color palettes kind of met match our style. So that was like really cool too. And I was kind of like my first impressions like very excited to kind of like look around. I also like I feel like something that maybe we like wasn't weren't looking out for last year, but something that we could appreciate more this year is like there was a lot of good example knits like we took pictures of so many patterns like made up patterns.
There were so many like really cool techniques that we've never seen before that we were like really admiring just like trying to figure out, you know, like how how the hell they did it. But I can say so, you know, like one of the booths had the slanty stripes tank slash vest kit and it was like super cute there. It was just like really great. There was another booth, the Rocio M Ramirez Yarn Co. And they did a Morton cowl. That was super cool. That was the one with the bulky weight and then the little like cowl. So freaking cool. Like the techniques were just so amazing. Like Gosia and I were literally just like standing there and like appreciating the techniques that some of these people were doing and like showing us and displaying in their booth.
So it was just so cool. I've never seen anything like it. And then it was almost like I'm out of my element. Like 100 percent. 100 percent. Yeah. It felt like it was just really cool to see. I don't know. Like it was just really cool to see like different techniques like that that I haven't even seen like on Instagram or like I'm like I've never seen that before. No. It was really cool. It's like my yarn is going to be stockinette. But I'm making a stockinette pattern but I love this for you. No. Yeah. It was kind of inspiring. I feel like with so much yarn, so many people also walking around. And I think what's so fun is like going to these conventions like a lot of people wear their hand knits.
So like you're you're with people that also appreciate hand knit things and like we got so many compliments like walking around. We complimented so many people because people came in with like really cool works. Yeah. So that was really sweet too. Yeah. We met two girls that were like super sweet. So nice. One of them guys if you're listening to this follow the Instagram also like slide into our DMS let's be besties but one girl was wearing the Sebastian sweater and it was like her first colorwork sweater and it looked so good. Yes. And we were bonding over how we hate Intarsia. Yes. And I was like girl if you hate Intarsia you're going to love our podcast because you'll be right at home here.
But then the other girl that she was with was testing test and knitting a moose sweater. Moose raglan. Moose raglan sweater. And it looked like though it was just so good. Like the colorwork on those two sweaters were amazing like they were so cute. I loved them. They were so sweet and they did such a good job on their sweaters where it's like it was funny because we walked by and we're like do we say something. It's like okay no we kind of have to like stop them in their like you know shopping and we have to compliment because it looked it looked so good and I think all knitters are what's the word.
Oh all knitters are guilty of like you shoot down your work before somebody else does. It's like oh like I didn't do it this way. It's like girl I would not have known. Yeah. You have a whole block of sweater. Yeah. That's what stopped my eye. Like it looks so good. It's so cute. I know. Yeah. That was so funny. She was like just like telling us like all the things wrong with it. I'm like girl it looks so good. I'm like I don't care what the like she's like oh like you know I was scared to do the antarjos and like it was so funny. She was showing us her colorwork and she was just like instead of weaving in the ends she was just tying it and I'm like girl I do the same thing.
I'm like no one knows. I'm like it looks so good. You don't not need to point this out to me because like no one can tell. You had to literally flip it inside out and point to where it was for me to even know. Yeah. 100 percent. I'm like girl no. Like it looks so good. And I feel like again if anyone deserves to be hyped up it's like all the girly pops going to Yarn Con who are just like showing up in like really cute really well made sweaters because I'm like just keep going because I'm like it looks great. You look fantastic. You look fantastic. We all look so cute in our handmade knits. Yeah.
Good job. Yeah. Seriously shout out those two. Shout out those two that we talked to and other people that we like saw wear really nice things and people that complimented our stuff like it was really sweet. Yeah it was. Oh thank you. You like it. I like it. I hate it. Yeah. But yes we did unlike the other festival we did walk away with a couple of yarn a couple of skeins of yarn well really Hanks but Hanks of Yarn for our project. Oh I did want to mention okay so going into the convention I think last year we were very eager to be like I want to make this sweater and I want to do this sweater and it's like you know yarn conventions unless you have a thousand dollars to spend at them are not really for like the average person to be buying sweater quantities worth and I think like something that Gosha and I have learned is to go in with an idea for a project for something that's like small you know like Gosha's talking about how like you want to make the tank top and like that's small you bought like what how many skeins did you buy for that?
One full skein and two minis so I think that's like we are both people who don't like to just buy yarn to buy yarn because then it just sits in our staff it's like I'm also very inspired from like I see this project I really like it I want to buy yarn specifically for that versus like the other way around like yarn doesn't inspire me in that way so like having like those like projects that don't need like eight balls of yarn is like a good like in case you do also think in that way when it comes to projects yeah and I think that's what we learned going into it this time it I think like we didn't expect to like buy any yarn and like same as last year I kind of went into this like not even knowing like what project I really wanted to make until I found something that was like oh you know like this would be really cute for this you know and it's like also seeing everyone with their knits it kind of makes some ideas like oh you know I I've been wanting to make this blah blah blah but I think like a realistic if you've never been to a yarn convention before a realistic expectation is each skein of yarn is probably going to be around like thirty dollars so it's like you know if you really want to make a sweater out of it just like be be prepared mentally prepared to like drop that kind of money but if you don't have that type of money don't want to spend that type of money come in with like smaller rows doing our tank top and then while we were walking around I was like oh you know what would be really cute is a mohair poncho that I can thread some beads into cause that's something that I've been really really really wanting to be doing and that's kind of like what I wanted the sequin yarn for it's like make a poncho out of it cause I do really like that vibe and I think I still will do that but you know while we were there I was like you know what more realistically there's a lot of mohair here and I did fall in one with one skein but unfortunately there was only one skein of course yeah and I needed at least two so it's funny cause that I feel that happens to you you find like that's what happened at the last yarn car and there was something else you really really liked it was like a variegated white and green yarn and there was only two skeins of it and I needed like four and I was like ah shoot it was also really cool to see like you did have a game plan but like it was very very loose and then to see like being there and seeing what was there that's what inspired you for a project to then buy yarn so it's like in a way it was yarn that inspired you for a project but also like seeing the yarn inspired the project then looking specifically for that yarn right so it's kind of this little like cycle so that was really cool to like see that thought process as we were walking around and like what you would use the yarn for. Yeah and I think like that it like makes more sense for me to do it that way because I'm so like loosey-goosey like because I'm like I'll have an idea of what I want to make but not necessarily like a pattern in mind so like I was like oh I really want to make a beaded poncho and mohair and then I started I remember that I saw like a TikTok of a mohair poncho and it's the Boel Studios Tuva poncho and it's so cute but like I kind of went into Yarn Con thinking that I'm like oh I really want like sequin yarn if we find that and we're calling it right now we're probably going to see a lot of it next year oh my gosh that would be funny you heard it here first? Yeah we're predicting that but yeah I was yeah it just like came to be like it just worked out really really nicely that I was like oh yeah like I could make that I've been wanting to make that and it just like triggered a bunch of stuff in me so the place that I ended up getting my yarn is Utopia and it's E-W-E-T-O-P-I-A and I got this really really gorgeous mohair they had a really a lot of really good selection of mohair colors. Yeah I want to like this is after we bought yarn but this is not this is after walking around to each booth like all around the convention like what about this one what about this one so that speaks to like how like these vendors had really nice things and we're going on a budget of like you know we don't want to buy too much we want to keep it to like one project so like keeping that in mind where it's like okay I'm being very selective about what I'm going to buy and that was a really hard decision so like shout out all these vendors you had good stuff. Yeah a hundred percent yeah like they had really good stuff and it was like again because Gosha and I don't just like buy like skeins without projects in mind like we do want to be very intentional with what we're bringing into our stash so like that's kind of why we do it that way and I honestly wouldn't have another way I feel like it's a really good like I don't need like 17 skeins of like one color you know I'm like I don't need that so yeah I got it from Utopia and it is their Suri and Silk so it's not even mohair it's Suri Alpaca and Silk that's great I didn't even realize that you have such fancy mohair. I know it's really nice and it is in the color charcoal and it's really pretty it's like a brown but has speckles of like a purplish blue it's really really cute but again like they had a lot of really great colors and I believe this was $29 a skein so like again pretty average for what you're going to find at the festival okay it makes sense too because what was it Suri and Silk? Yeah Suri and Silk it was like okay yeah 65% Suri 35% Silk. How many yards do you get on it? I have 335 yards okay yeah well yeah we didn't even check because I'm like I need 600 yards and I don't even think I checked no I made sure you checked no I didn't check like the yardage on these I just picked up two no I checked for you oh okay so Gosha was doing the work for me I did not I just got excited I was like yay! I wasn't going to let you leave without how much you needed yeah yeah yeah but yeah so that is what I got and again like Gosha said like we walked around yeah the way that we like to do it I think we said is we do one round um just to like look and like take everything in and then we start you know like revisiting the shops that like kind of had things that like stuck out to us and stuff like that the only exception was the mochi mochi later yeah yeah had our heart instantly and I was like I need I'm buying this whether you are or not I need them yeah it was super cute very cute so I kind of had a not a game plan like I kind of knew what I was going to be buying yarn for so with that in mind I wanted something that was like kind of in my color palette but a little bit out exploring more like fun bright colors and then I ended up picking really neutral like natural oh yeah they're more fun um so as we were walking around literally I think it was the last booth um from our whole like little like world tour and there was the booth natural sister it's natural and sister is spelled s-y-s-t-e-r and this literally like caught my eye instantly I was like wow this is so gorgeous it's like a cream yarn that like has a little bit of size thickness variation and has speckles in it so it's almost like a tweed with like this rosy pinkish color and like little specks of yellow uh a little bit of green too oh I didn't even see that I didn't see that until like right now and this was like so pretty I thought this was so fun so I was like oh for like the think tank tank top I was like oh this is so good for like the main color and then like the straps for that are like really fun so it's like oh there's like a little chance to like buy a little something and something that like has a pop of color so it can kind of be a little bit more fun than usual and with this this feels very like spring summer and like very we were like so worried about knitting in the summer but I think like having this piece would feel really fun of like layering when I want to in like the spring but also like a good like summer piece and so it is in a sport weight it was 100 grams per hank naturally dyed oh and then um the lady that oh my god I don't know her name that's too bad but um as we were looking at this yarn she walked by us and saw us admiring the yarn so yeah she was wearing a sweater that she actually knitted but at first we thought it was just like a random like sweet lady that like just loved the yarn yeah it like sparked up a conversation so she was such a sweet yarn and she was like oh my god feel this yarn like isn't it great I'm like actually yeah like it's so much fun like I'm 100% getting this yarn um you know inspired by it um so it's really funny and she was sharing that um she has a farm where she has two sheep and she shears the sheep processes the yarn like naturally dyes it in this way so it was really fun to like hear her like also feel so passionate about doing all of this too so that was like and she was like so funny it was really fun um yeah so I got that and then it was kind of like a mad hunt the two of us like on a mission trying to find like mini skeins that would match really really well with this it was it was not hard but there were just so many options of different ways we can go with it and then I did pick a mini skein from oh what is the color from the so the natural sister yarn uh I think the name of the color is cloud tea in that sport way so yeah so then I'm going around looking for mini skeins uh one mini skein I got from leading leading men fiber arts uh and it's the showstopper mini skein and a fingering weight it is superwash merino nylon in like a matching like what color would you say this is like a rosy purpley red um violet it's like a plum yeah I would say it's like a plum but like more on the vibrant end of a plum well it's called plump up the jam so that helps you know what color that is but it's a little more vibrant like violet and then uh from this other what was the booth from this oh I don't know does it say on like where you bought it no it doesn't say no it just gives me the direct like the content on it yes okay tld studio so this yarn we actually walked by it was not sure if I was going to go in that direction but then it like did not leave my mind so I had to go back for it and this was uh maybe a bit more of a splurge especially for like a miniski and it's like oh um this was from tld studio I'm pretty sure right yeah yeah because we were talking about the classes yes okay yeah so it's a studio that does a lot of different like workshops and classes I've actually seen um came across them a while ago because I want to do a loom weaving class um maybe someday um and so there was a art student who was actually doing all of these hand dying because that's what she's studying in school which I thought was so cool so we chatted uh with her about um her process her natural buying all of this so she was so cool um so yeah it was hand dyed oh my god she wrote her name on here haven overton oh that's cute yeah a girl this is silk cultivated 51% cultivated silk and 49% marine oil that's wild fancy yeah naturally dyed with iron and ossage I'm not one to pronounce things right yeah for real don't look at me no um yeah so it's like in this like really nice green color like grass maybe yeah it's like a very natural muted green but like not pastel like it's it's really cute yeah yeah it's fun right very cute so I am so excited about this project now which was funny because like because I finished things I didn't know what I was gonna work on but I but seeing this yarn there got me really excited to like start on it so that's what you know I'm gonna be working on you know what's so funny that I didn't realize we both picked like summery knits cause I'm doing like a super airy poncho and you're doing like a like a tank top which is so funny because we were just saying that we don't like doing summer knits and here we are yeah I know right yeah like we're like worried about knitting in summer I mean I did pick mohair which I might regret later but I think it'll be fine yeah it'll go quick cause you're gonna be doing like a stockinette type god I hope so I'm doing a poncho so I'm pretty sure I just like knit it in a rectangle and then like connect the rectangle I'm like pretty sure that's how you do it I don't know it looked like there was some neck shaping almost like you made like a neck and then I don't think so are you gonna buy that pattern?
we'll see or you're just gonna make a rectangle no because I think it's just oh you know what's gonna suck is I can't knit it in the round I have to do it ohh let's just make the hot dogs yeah let me just make the hot dogs instead yeah so I feel we walked around for what two and a half hours yeah I think so by the end I was pooped yeah I was pooped too but we were hungry so then we went and got food yummies in our tummy and then what's really cool about this Yarn Con 2 is they have a space to wind your panx so if you bought it and you don't have that thing people are doing it for you yeah so that's like so awesome you could literally go home and start knitting also other great thing about this is it's literally free which I feel like they're that's like the most important thing is it's free you do not have to pay to get in it's completely free you just walk in whenever you want there's no time tickets or reservation or anything you just go which I think is so nice it could be very intimidating to have to pay for a convention and you're like oh I don't even know if I'm going to like anything there blah blah blah it is just another barrier to entry so I do really appreciate that it is a free event that they host I think that's great yeah exactly and no pressure to buy something you can walk around the vendors are really nice so if you have any questions people are more than happy to answer them but there's no pressure to buy anything at least the vendors we interacted with yeah that was a really good time I always look forward to the convention and they handed out a little pamphlet pamphlet and on the back it already tells you next year's 2027 dates which we will be attending so yeah plan ahead for next year April 3rd and 4th 2027 yarn con we will be there be there or be a hanker oh be there or be a pearl stitch but yeah that is a recap of our 2026 yarn con experience yeah it was awesome and we cannot wait to go next year but thank you guys so much for listening we will be posting some pictures from yarn con on our instagram so make sure to go follow the instagram please please please please type B knitting pod please please please please yeah go follow us on the Instagram but give us 5 stars rate us 5 stars if you have any constructive criticism slide into our DMs on instagram make sure to be nice or I will block you I'm joking I'm joking we don't condone bullying but if you have any like anything you guys want to hear on the podcast also like slide into our DMs and tell us what you want to hear on the podcast feel free to leave comments we do because we are so small we read every single one don't be afraid to like the instagram post don't be afraid to comment on the instagram post we're not mean no we're not mean we promise we promise we're friendly but yeah that has been type B knitting I'm Veronica and I'm Gosha catch you on the next one bye