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I would highly recommend you watch the UK Traitors, its the best of the other countries (Australia, America) I have watched. Enjoyed your podcast and like the what i am watching section.

Girl, buy the yarn!! Life is too short, just treat yourself and be sure to absolutly love and wear the vest! ❤

You have a lot of purple peer gynt from the previous project, can you use that?

I picked up a 6 bottle wine carrier at Kroger for like a dollar and I love it for working on things with multiple skeins of yarn. I put a pouch with scissors and stuff in one pocket and yarn and my small project like mittens and stuff in the other spots. Works great. Also old window screens are good for blocking and drying sweaters on, the T-pins don’t harm them. Set a soup can under each corner so there is lots of airflow.

I think pink i-cord edging would be so divine!!

Oh you HAVE to watch UK traitors!! Watching regular people is so much more interesting than celebrities and the game play is incredible (sometimes brutal…). And I know you’ll LOVE Claudia (the host) - she is fabulous and fully leans into the camp ridiculousness of it all. PS. As a Scottish gal with Irish citizenship, I really appreciate you learning and talking about the troubles! Derry girls is also worth a watch - a totally different vibe but hilarious and brilliant. Truly some of the best comedy writing of this century (you might need subtitles though!)

Until I got my own ball winder (also as a gift), my LYS would wind any skeins I bought from them. I think many would do that for you. You definitely need mini scissors when flying. Mine were measured at each security gate prior to boarding my flights.

what a cool cowl & great start to the new year 🤍 as far as the leftovers vest, I think it’s definitely still valid stashbusting even if you buy a skein to use up a few others & create a garment you will love to wear. you should go with what feels right! plus maybe you could use whatever leftovers from the purple in the stella quilt or some cute purple shorty socks!

Loved hearing you talk about Irish shows, especially Say Nothing! I’ve also started watching it and would agree it’s v good. As someone who was raised in Dublin and never had much of a connection to the north growing up I tend to feel a bit emotionally disconnected to that part of our history - when I learned about it in school it just felt like something that happened in another part of the world. As I got older I started to appreciate it and learn more about it, and it’s great that Say Nothing has an international audience now!

I only needed 130 yards of sport weight for my lonely leftovers vest! You can probably get away with a 50g hank! Also can send you the same yarn I used for my project because it is purple and I don’t have any uses for it if you’d like 😅

i love the pink for the scrappy vest! & then you can stash bust :)

after spending three hours manually winding two hanks of yarn, i finally decided (after crocheting/knitting for a solid 5 years) to get myself a swift! just a swift though, since i thought about it and realised i really dont mind physically winding it, it just always seems to get itself tangled

Oooh love the pink for the vest! But also… why not go to your local yarns store and buy a single 50 gram ball in a color you actually want? It’s not gonna cost that much and you’ll get a vest out of it you will like much more

I think the dark brown will look great!

I love your red tank! Its a beautiful color :)

Mandy, I always get excited when you upload a new video. You bring such a peaceful energy to filming and I love it. Also, buy the purple yarn! Think about how much time you’re putting into the project! It should reflect your vision

Trust yourself on the vest. You've mentioned several times in this episode alone how much you love purple. Don't punish yourself into making a garment you're less excited to wear. If you want to be budget conscious, try to grab a budget friendly yarn or stop by Merry Pin and see if they have any cheap scraps that would work for you. But you're making this garment to wear! Make the garment you actually want in the color you'll want to wear. (In my opinion at least!)

Traitors UK season 2 and the recent season 3 are both amazing!!! Australian traitors season 2 is also a really good watch xxx

I think the pink will look great 😊

Hello from Ireland🙂 I've watched 2 season of Australia traitors and 1 of the Canadian and they didn't come close to the UK traitors. The characters are so good!! Even the way they play the game is so different. I'm on to season 3 now its just finished. 😁

Love the “these are real” 😂 I giggled and we are def on the same side of TikTok and TH-cam it seems hahaha Also love all these updates and hope you love the new needles! I got that set as a gift a year ago and I’ve loved them!

I got really distracted during Bad Sisters Sisters season 3 because of all the fabulous knitwear!!

Use the pink!!!!

You could over dye the white yarn you had in statsh for your lonely leftovers vest to a color you find more exciting.

What about the inconsistent purple peer gynt for the vest border?

I love love love the pink for your vest 😮

I love the quilt block blanket square. Beautiful ❤

i got myself the same chiagoo needle set and i love it! i used to be a diehard, wooden-needles-only girly but as a loose knitter, i always have to go down needle sizes and have bad tension. i’ve made a few beanies with the chiagoos and it makes my tension look almost perfect. i will never go back 😭 plus the connection from cord to needle is so seamless

The first 1,000 people to use my link will get a full year of Premium membership to Craftsy for only $1.49: go.craftsy.com/knitsbymandy/

Re needles: i think people jump into big sets without thinking about what they are making. Myself, i have sizes 4-17 and i use ALL of them. I like playing with tension and fabric density so I'll use huge needles for small yarns. But i wouldn't tell a new person to get a big set right away. Borrow needles until you KNOW what you like to make, out look for second hand (if you can on both counts). I have the relatively less expensive knit picks needle sets and i love them. They're no chaogoo, but i used to use my mom's interchangables from the 70s so the knitpicks cables are great by comparison - and I don't like metal needles anyway because I need the grip of wooden needles personally. There's a lot of factors that go into tool selection and there's definitely very very good reason to try borrowed items before you spend $400 on the nicest interchangeable kit on the market. Cuz you might get the nicest kit with the most flexible cables and the fastest needles and discover you hate them because the cable doesn't have enough structure and you keep dropping stitches.

I'm a fellow chronic illness knitter. The only way I'm able to function is laying down with a big wedge pillow propping me up, and I knit all day everyday (my brain doesn't work too well). Might be worth giving knitting a go laying back. It takes some getting used to, but it's really useful for yarn management 😅

Yes! Less is more time ! Im retired and downsizing is a real thing! Its been ongoing for several years! Im basically a frugal person and don't like waste . I have an old pair of fiscars 5" scissors that I keep nearby. I als, use pretty reusable bags from JoAnn and I shop at the thrift for larger totes with zippers. Some aren't even used ! They , als, have cosmetic bags for .99 cents! 😊 I get brand acrylic blends there too, great for some of the Granny blankets that are popular now! Occasionally, I find really expensive yarns that can be used for mitts n hats ! I find having a pattern in mind with specific quantities of yarn is a better way to shop for me 👍

i love all the projects and especially the colors you chose this year, they suit you so well!! so so sorry to hear you've been struggling with long covid. health issues are the worst, especially when they keep you from doing what you want to do. end of 2024 was a slog through health issues for me too, and releasing all my expectations for what i thought i'd be making (or how i thought i'd be spending my time) has definitely been the only way to get through it. hope you feel really accomplished for all the things you did do and make this year, and also accomplished for all the patience and gentleness you showed yourself when you couldn't! <3

I also toyed with idea of knitting my wedding dress and I'm glad I didn't because I would've been STRESSED! However, we decided to do a little unity bit in our ceremony where we did a handfasting ceremony. For the cord, I knit some i-cord and my fiance (a very sweet man who learned how to crochet because he wanted to be a part of my hobbies!) crocheted a chain. So we used that and now we have a sweet keepsake from our wedding that we made with our own hands!

I have so many steeking scissors! I'm not one to have a bunch of projects going at once, but sometimes might have 2 or 3....I like a pair in each project bag. I also keep a pair in my (non-knitting) bag, a pair in my car and a pair at my desk. I found it has reduced my stress around not having the tools I need at hand - I do knit on the go A LOT. Not sure I *need* them, to be fair, but I do like having them at the ready. That being said, I have engaged in many of the suggestions you've made. Lots of excellent points made here, thanks for the great video.

I realized I missed this video and was just catching up and oh my god, this is my favourite video of yours of all time-I feel like the vlog clips show more of your sense of humour than the typical podcast format and I was just dying laughing through so much of it 😂

I am glad that knitting brought you some relief and moments of joy even during a hard time; it's so valuable to have something to do with your hands and see the results of it when everything around us feels like it drags on, amounts to nothing or falls apart. Your projects also look so lovely! The drape of your lento is GORGEOUS and the colours you chose suit you very well, I think! :)

Happy new year! Your knits are always so beautiful and inspiring!

I love all your knits! I'm just starting out with learning but this is such great inspo. I also am an instructional designer! :)

Really nice to see you are feeling better ! And as always, such a wholesome video too !

It was so great seeing your projects again. 🧶

❤

Loved seeing all your knits again! And also loved being like “oh yeah I remember you made that!!” The lumme sweater is just so beautiful 😍 thank you Mandy for making videos so that i can watch and knit 😊

This is such a wholesome video! The colour of your mixed rib cami suits you SO SO SO MUCH 💕

Love this blanket!

I love your videos, Mandy! Can't wait to see what you knit in 2025. <3

Totally agree about mohair! I don’t find it fun to knit and it gives me prickles as soon as I’m even slightly warm. Although I wouldn’t mind having a super warm sweater for tomorrow’s winter storm, I need it once every two years tops.

Happy new year, Mandy! I love your channel and I’m really happy that you are feeling better again, looking forward to next year‘s videos and projects! Thank you for posting and for being one of my favorite knitting TH-camrs! ❤❤❤

Your Lumme pullover is so beautiful! other knits as well 🤍🤍🤍

Yay! 🎉 your knits in 2024 were amazing! Can’t wait to see what you make in 2025 ❤