Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Coming up this week, we are kicking off our Big Picture series, which spotlights Oscar nominees who work behind the camera. Tomorrow, we'll speak with Lol Crawley. He's the cinematographer and he joins us to discuss his work on The Brutalist. We've also got the production and costume designers from Nosferatu. They'll be here on Wednesday. On Thursday, we'll speak with the director of the beautifully animated film Flow. That is in the future. Now, let's get this hour started with knitting and crocheting.

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Alison Stewart: On our first show of 2025, we asked you about new hobbies that you wanted to take up. We had all kinds of answers, but fiber arts seemed to be all the rage. It had been a renaissance in the '90s, but like bucket hats and fake fur coats, it's back. Starting a new hobby can be daunting. What kind of supplies do you need? Should you try knitting or crocheting? What do you do when you make a mistake? Joining us now to provide advice on knitting and crocheting for both beginners and more advanced crafters is the owner of West Village Needle & Knit, Kiana Malekzadeh. Hi, Kiana.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Hi, how are you?

Alison Stewart: I'm doing okay. Listeners, we want to hear from you. We're going to start with knitting. What questions do you have about getting started with knitting or maybe you're already a knitter and you have a question about a project or an issue you're having or maybe you want to shout out your favorite knitting resource or what you are making? We are talking all things knitting. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. You can call in and join us on air or you can send us a text to that number. Kiana, when did you first fall in love with knitting and crocheting?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Knitting definitely came first. It was when I was very little, so about seven or eight years old from my grandmom and mom, yes.

Alison Stewart: Oh, what was your mom or your grandma making?

Kiana Malekzadeh: I'm Middle Eastern, a Middle Eastern culture. It's just part of life to cook, knit, crochet, sew, needlepoint. They did it all. You could definitely say it's in my blood.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] When did you open West Village Needle & Knit?

Kiana Malekzadeh: We opened January 2nd of 2020. We just passed our four-year anniversary.

Alison Stewart: It's so funny. There are three of us who all went there and we didn't know we were all going there. [chuckles]

Kiana Malekzadeh: Really?

Alison Stewart: It's like, "I got to go to my knitting store. I got to go to my so-and-so store." We're like, "Wait, 10th Street?"

Kiana Malekzadeh: That's so great. I love that.

Alison Stewart: If you're an absolute beginner, what is the easiest craft to pick up? Knitting or crocheting, would you say?

Kiana Malekzadeh: It's definitely knitting. Easier than that is actually needlepoint.

Alison Stewart: That's me. I'm needlepoint. [laughs]

Kiana Malekzadeh: Knitting is much easier than crochet because crochet is really, really left-hand dominant and most people are right-handed, so it's very hard to learn.

Alison Stewart: That makes complete sense that my sister loves crocheting and she's left-handed.

Kiana Malekzadeh: That would make sense. That does it.

Alison Stewart: She's in knitting too. What are the different kind of projects you can do versus crocheting versus knitting?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Very good question. Crochet is just a lot more convenient for home. Things that you might have around the home such as blankets or pillows. It's larger projects because it just goes faster. Knitting, you can make absolutely anything. There's no limits with knitting.

Alison Stewart: If you're just starting out, do you recommend making something you're super excited to make even if it's a bit more complicated or should you start as simply as possible?

Kiana Malekzadeh: I say whatever you feel comfortable with. We have a really good system at the store that we have down like a science where we go from my first scarf to my first hat to my first sweater. We go that quick. I think I probably have 300 customers knitting their first sweater at the moment.

Alison Stewart: Oh, my gosh.

Kiana Malekzadeh: It's like a true-and-tried formula that's definitely worked, but do I ever squash ambition? No. You want to go right into knitting a Fair Isle ski hat? By all means.

Alison Stewart: Let's take a couple of calls. Angela is calling in from Brooklyn. Hi, Angela.

Angela: Hi, how are you? The timing for this is perfect because I'm revisiting my knitting. My question for you is, do you have a recommendation for the best casting-on method? Because I have a hard time finding one that works for me. The long tail, I think, is it ends up too tight. It's always really tight. I don't know what I'm doing wrong there, but I don't know if you have a good suggestion for that.

Kiana Malekzadeh: I do, absolutely. Long-tail is definitely the most widely used and I think the cleanest. If the pattern doesn't specify which cast-on it wants you to use, which is backward loop, cable cast-on, knitted cast-on, Italian cast-on. If it doesn't specify, 99% of the time, I am using long tail cast-on. The trick to make it a little bit more elastic is when you do it, use one to two needle sizes bigger than what your project calls for.

Alison Stewart: When you're talking about casting, what does that mean?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Casting on. It's your foundation row. It's how you start any knitting project. A pattern will say cast-on 32 stitches and then row one. It's your foundation.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Sue next. Hi, Sue, thank you so much for calling All Of It. You're on the air.

Sue: Thank you for having me. I've been a knitter for over 60 years. I want to recommend a website that is free and doesn't require you to give any information whatsoever, so you can remain very private, called Ravelry. It's like unravel and ravelry. I's R-A-V-E-L-R-Y. There are millions of knitters all over the world. You run out of yarn, you're looking for a little yarn, you're looking for advice, it is on Ravelry. I couldn't remember the name of a pattern. I took a picture. Within a couple of hours, I had an answer. The pattern was called Forget-Me-Not. I haven't forgotten the name.

Alison Stewart: Thank you so much for calling. We actually had Ravelry as one of my questions for people who are listening in Colorado or can't go to your store for lessons. What apps are good? Which ones can help me out if I'm just starting?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Ravelry by far for knitting and crochet is your best tool. As far as patterns, questions, it's really a great forum to have. It does have a third-party app that is Ravvit, R-A-V-V-I-T, instead of Ravelry. I use it every day, so it just makes things convenient for me. You put it all in a folder. All your patterns are saved, all that stuff.

Alison Stewart: Do you recommend taking classes?

Kiana Malekzadeh: I do and I'll tell you why. I tell all my students this. When I say it, they all go, "Right, exactly." You could teach yourself from a book or YouTube. Absolutely, but it would probably take you three, four, five hours. You don't 100% know if you're doing it right, at least if you're learning from online, whereas our classes are an hour and a half. You learn how to knit a scarf in an hour and a half and you know you're doing it correctly. It's more time-effective.

Alison Stewart: Here's a text, "Hello. I'm a fiber artist, knitter, crocheter, weaver, and have an exhibit opening in New York this spring. I do my work while listening to your show. Thanks for keeping me company @droppingstitches."

Kiana Malekzadeh: Oh, love it.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Kiana Malekzadeh, owner of West Village Needle & Knit. We are talking to you, listeners. Do you want to start knitting? You want to know how? Give us a call. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. If you have a question about a project or an issue you're having or maybe you want to shout out your favorite knitting resource, 212-433-9692. All right, let's say I'm going to start to knit, what supplies should I invest in?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Very good question. A good set of needles by far. A darning needle. You always need a darning needle to weave in your ends and finish your project. Stitch markers, they let you know where you are in your project, especially if you're knitting in the round. Stitch stoppers, so that when you put your project in your bag, your stitches don't fall off the needle and you have a complete panic attack. I would say for knitting and actually crochet for the hooks and the stitch markers, those are the best tools to have.

Alison Stewart: What about when I see those giant needles? Are they harder or easier?

Kiana Malekzadeh: They're much harder.

Alison Stewart: They're harder?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Yes, it's a complete misconception. I deal with this every single day. What happened in the world of the pandemic, unfortunately, we all wanted something to do right away and something to do with our hands. The larger, it's more awkward. It hurts your wrists. It's even awkward and harder for me, but you can knit a hat in an hour. That was the big why everybody thought it was easier, but it's actually not.

Alison Stewart: This text says, "With long-tail cast-on, how do you measure how much tail you need?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Very, very good question. It is a complete misnomer. All these things online, they say, "Wrap it around your needle three times. Do it two lengths of the garment." I've been knitting for 40 years. I've tried every single one. None of them work. The only trick that I have is the tail should be the piece around your thumb. That piece uses much less yarn. If you keep that consistent over time and practice, you get a feeling for how long it needs to be.

Alison Stewart: Here's another text question, "What advice do you have for someone who's looking to design their own knitting patterns?"

Kiana Malekzadeh: Oh, great questions. It's definitely daunting. I've written a couple of knitting books long time ago, 2013, 2014. It's a very, very difficult process. My greatest advice is use Ravelry. There's resources. There's test knitters. There are apps that help you also design them for the different sizes. I would say use Ravelry and apps and test knitters for sure.

Alison Stewart: Let's take a call. This is Julia calling from Cape Cod. Hi, Julia.

Julia: Hi, how are you today? I love this topic. One of the things, I've been knitting for years, I always advise people is to make a baby sweater first because it teaches you all of the sizing without the daunting immensity of a human sleeve. It allows you to understand how you're putting together a thing that someone will have to wear. There's always a baby somewhere that you can pass it off to.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] Thanks for the tip. Let's talk to Carol in Red Bank. Hi, Carol, thanks so much for calling All Of It.

Carol: Hi. This is my first time calling in. I also am an experienced knitter. I just learned something about the stitch stoppers because I never had a dog and I started knitting my granddaughter a scarf. The dog so far has taken the scarf three times off the needle. That's obviously something I have to get. My question was, when I'm knitting this scarf, I'm doing alternating rows of knit purl and it rolls into itself. Is there some kind of stitch that I can add to the sides? I don't crochet.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Absolutely. When you knit a row, purl a row, it's called stockinette stitch. No matter how tight, how loose, what kind of needles, what yarn, it will always curl. Even if you wash and iron it, it will never lie flat. Any rib stitch or combination of knitting and purling in the same row will not curl. What we do on the scarf is we'll do at least four or five stitches of garter borders on each side. Garter means just knitting or like a seed stitch doesn't curl. Adding a border on the top, bottom, and sides will stop it all from curling.

Alison Stewart: When you're just starting out knitting, Kiana, what are good yarns to use?

Kiana Malekzadeh: I always prefer a natural fiber, meaning alpaca, merino. Natural fibers have bounce. They have memory. They have give. Whereas if you use acrylic or plastic or nylon, it has no memory. It has no bounce. You can see mistakes more. It makes your hands sweaty. It's just not pleasant. We call that a hand feel in knitting. Definitely wools that come from merino and alpaca are just the nicest and easiest to knit within your hands.

Alison Stewart: All right. You start knitting, you get called away. Can you stop in the middle of a row?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Of course, you can. You just need stitch stoppers.

Alison Stewart: All right.

Kiana Malekzadeh: That's it. Of course.

Alison Stewart: What happens when you really mess up something in knitting?

Kiana Malekzadeh: At our store, I really wanted the store to be a place of community where people can come, sit, and hang out, and they do every day. We offer free help at any time of any day, of any hour. However, in the hat class, for example, we teach tinking. Tink is the word "knit" spelled backwards. I did not make this up. It's exactly that. In the hat class, after you take the scarf class, we teach you how to tink. Even if you don't know what your mistake is and you tink backwards, it just undoes the mistake. It's like magic. That's one thing I really, really recommend learning. There are very good videos online on how to do that.

Alison Stewart: Let's say you're pretty good at this. You want to knit a sweater. What are some tips for measuring yourself properly to make sure the sweater fits when they're done?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Yes, I would say not like a ruler. You need a soft tape measure to measure. Definitely taking measurements and then equating those to the measurements in the pattern. Every pattern has measurements usually from extra small to 3 or 4 or 5x, and following your measurements according to the size of the pattern.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Kiana Malekzadeh, owner of West Village Needle & Knit. Let's take some more calls. Let's talk to Barbara from Newtown, Connecticut. Hi, Barbara.

Barbara: Hello. Can you hear me?

Alison Stewart: I can. You're on the air.

Barbara: Great. I wanted to pop in and just say that I've just discovered-- I'm a longtime knitter. I also have alpacas, which is another part of this. I have just discovered a different kind of cast-on. You had a previous caller who is looking for something that's a little bit stretchier. It's called a German twist. It's kind of a variation on a long tail. It gives just a little bit extra yarn in there with a very nice finish, but it makes it a little stretchier than the usual long-tail cast-on. I love it. I'm using it now on a pair of mitts that I'm making for someone, out of all things camel. It's making a very nice cuff end. I'm just about to finish the finger part of it. I would suggest looking that one up. There is a video on YouTube for how to do that German twist.

Alison Stewart: Thanks for the tip, Barbara. Are you familiar? Obviously, you are.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Annette as well. Hi, Annette, thanks so much for calling.

Annette: Hello. So nice to be on the program.

Alison Stewart: Yes.

Annette: All right, so my question was this. As I told the caller, I'm 92 years old. I've just had my second great-grandchild. Her name is Penelope and she's five weeks old. I would like to knit or crochet something special that she will treasure when I'm no longer there to be with her. Can you suggest a project?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Absolutely. Do you knit and crochet?

Annette: Yes, I do.

Kiana Malekzadeh: I would recommend then crocheting because it goes faster. That's the obvious choice. I feel like certain kids sometimes, they're not going to necessarily grow out of a blanket. They use it as a woobie. They can take it with them rather than a sweater or booties where they'll grow out of in 30 seconds. Something like a little throw or a little blanket is what I would be suggest.

Alison Stewart: That was a nice segue. For our next segment, we're going to switch gears and start talking about crocheting next. What questions do you have about getting started with crochet? Maybe you're stuck on a project or you want to know how to nail a granny square. Our number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. We'll talk crocheting after the break.

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Alison Stewart: You are listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. I am here with Kiana Malekzadeh of West Village Needle & Knit. We're now moving on from knitting to crochet. What questions do you have about getting started with crochet? Maybe you're stuck on a project or you want to know how to nail a granny square. We're taking your questions and comments about crochet. Give us a call. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Crocheting is having a moment right now. Why do you think it's having a moment?

Kiana Malekzadeh: I don't know. It's a very good question, but it really is, especially the granny squares.

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Kiana Malekzadeh: Granny squares are just brilliant because you can do anything with them. It's a very good question. I don't know why it's having a huge resurgence.

Alison Stewart: What are the necessary materials I need if I want to get started with crochet?

Kiana Malekzadeh: There's really good sets of crochet hooks where you can get every millimeter size.

Alison Stewart: You should go ahead and get a pack?

Kiana Malekzadeh: I would just because the borders, sometimes you use a little bit smaller. Sometimes you use a little bit bigger. That can be all in the same pattern. There are ring markers or detachable stitch markers for crochet. Again, I think very important. Same rule applies, darning needle to weave in all your ends. There is also a crochet and knitting gauge that you could tell what size your crochet hook and what size your needles are because it'll rub off the size on your needle. You need the little tool so you can figure it out.

Alison Stewart: In terms of the size of the needle, what does a big crochet needle get you? What does a small crochet needle get you?

Kiana Malekzadeh: The bigger the yarn, the bigger the hook. Smaller the yarn, the smaller. However, is that a definitive rule? No. Let's say you take a medium-sized yarn and you want it to be super holey and airy. You would use a big, giant hook. The bigger the hook, the bigger the holes.

Alison Stewart: Let's take a call. Let's talk to Joan. Hi, Joan.

Joan: Hi, thank you for taking my call. This is right to my heart. I love this topic. I'm calling to give a shout-out to the Queens library system because they offer some of their meeting rooms for us as knitters and crocheters and crafters to meet about two hours in one day each week. Different libraries throughout the borough. We get together, knit, crochet, help each other with projects. It's just a wonderful group of people. I've been doing it for a number of years and I love it. Thank you.

Alison Stewart: Thanks so much for calling. Let's talk to Bob From Brooklyn. Hi, Bob.

Bob: Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my call. Long time, long time. Nice to be back. The question I have is really more a feel-good story about crocheting. I'm glad to bring it to you. Mainly because it put me in my place when I thought, "Oh, a knitting and crocheting segment on NPR. Oh, just dial up the SNL comics now," and then I realized I have the story and it put me in my place. Here we go.

My sister is bedridden in a nursing home and she's looking around for something to do. She's bedridden. She couldn't be part of the recreational stuff, so she got on YouTube. She started looking up crocheting. She taught herself how to crochet. She was crocheting little hats and scarves for the folks on a lower floor who were getting dialysis because, evidently, it's very cold in that room. They don't have a heck of a lot of protection. She's getting up a big old pile of matching hats and scarves.

Every week, they'd send them on down to dialysis. The people would come up, "Oh, that's great. Do you have any more?" I'd be running around the house looking for yarns and things left over from Mom. Then the word started to get around as it always will in small communities. And they said, "Well, we got a dementia patient here who came here for some reason with a whole bunch of naked dolls. Sure enough, the lady was asking, "Can you make some clothing for my little dolls?"

Alison Stewart: That is a great story. Thank you for calling in. Best yarn. What size yarn to use if you're just starting out?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Worsted for sure. It's a nice medium weight. It's not too bulky. It's not too thin. You can see it. Definitely worsted to errand weight, I would say, for beginners.

Alison Stewart: What are some tips for picking colors that work well together so you don't end up with a whole bunch of stuff you don't like?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Absolutely. Hold it up in a mirror to your face and make sure that it's not turning you green. How to pick colors. Color is so subjective. I see people pick the craziest colors that I would have never picked for a sweater and they just turn out beautiful. Again, color is one of those great things we can all play with and be creative with.

Alison Stewart: This is interesting. Crochet may be having a moment due to British Olympic diver Tom Daley.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Oh, I forgot about that. That's right.

Alison Stewart: This is a text. "I learned basic crochet while bus and truck touring with the national players in the late '70s, did not keep it up. Will it be hard to pick it up again? I'm left-handed."

Kiana Malekzadeh: No, muscle memory is extremely, extremely strong. I used to have a lacrosse coach that used to say, "Don't think, just do." It still works to this day. Even if you picked up a crochet hook or knitting needles 30 years ago and you think you can't remember, as soon as you put it in your hands and you start playing around with it, it comes back very, very quickly. My advice is just try it. You'd be surprised how strong muscle memory is.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Kiana Malekzadeh, owner of, let me get this right this time, West Village Knit & Needle.

Kiana Malekzadeh: It could be both. We could go both ways.

Alison Stewart: She is giving us great advice. We're talking about crocheting. If you're stuck on a project, you want to know how to nail a granny square, our number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. We're taking all your questions and comments, or if you just want to shout out what you're making, give us a call. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. Let's talk about granny squares. Could you describe a granny square for someone who's not familiar with it?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Sure, so a granny square is crocheted. You generally start in the middle and work your way out. The beauty of granny squares is they can be as small, as big. Traditionally, they're done with a double crochet stitch. Again, rules don't apply. You can have granny squares be in the shape of a circle, a shape of a flower, all different stitches. It's basically pieces that you can then put together to create something new.

Alison Stewart: Once you master the granny square, what are some different things you can make with them?

Kiana Malekzadeh: I love granny square blankets. So classic, right? You can't go wrong with that. I am actually crocheting granny squares right now with triple mohair that I'm turning into a cardigan. You can make anything with granny squares. That's one of the beauties of them.

Alison Stewart: I should say, this is a sidebar, you are wearing the most gorgeous sweater I have seen.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Thank you.

Alison Stewart: Can you describe your sweater and also the level it takes to get to that sweater?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Sure, so it's a single-plied fingering weight yarn from Life in the Long Grass, a great yarn out of Cork, Ireland that we have at the store, held with their mohair. Their mohair also has a strand of silk in it. It's a cable.

Alison Stewart: It's beautiful.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Thank you very much.

Alison Stewart: This is a hard question. New Yorkers can be New Yorkers. When they come in your story, they can be New Yorkiness. What has been a tough call that you've had to make in the store?

Kiana Malekzadeh: I have to tell you, the New Yorkers are my favorite. It's the Midwest that don't understand the size of the West Village stores.

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Kiana Malekzadeh: I love every single New Yorker. I love every single one of my quirky, amazing, funny customers. The Midwest, and we get a lot of tourists, obviously, it's the West Village, they'll come in and they'll look at one side of the store. They'll look at the other side of the store and they'll go, "Is this it?" That's my favorite. I've been living in New York since 1998, so nothing's going to shock me.

Alison Stewart: All right. Well, tell me something that was amazing that you had to help somebody put together.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Oh, very good question. For needlepoint, we've done amazing for their weddings, wedding pillows for the back of the chairs like the bride and groom things. Yes, they're beautiful. The wedding stuff, of course. Wedding blankets as well as a present. The most challenging thing I have knit was a blanket that somebody commissioned me to knit that had all little sheep on it. The sheep were done in the form of knitting we call intarsia. At one point, I had, I don't know, 32 bobbles in the middle of this blanket. It almost killed me. That's probably the craziest thing I've ever knitted and the most complicated but, man, did it look good at the end.

Alison Stewart: All right, this says, "Please, please, please post a photo of the guest's sweater." Hey, Jordan, can you put that on Instagram? All right, go to @AllOfItWNYC for our Instagram in just a minute. Let's talk to Pam. Hi, Pam, thanks for calling All Of It. You're on the air. Hello? Is Pam there? Pam's not there anymore? Oh, Pam's not there. There's a question. Here's one, "I crocheted a baby afghan blanket using a more dense, less tighter squares than usual in 1977 for my nephew. I chain-stitched it on the face of the blanket, his name and birthday and my initials in the corner. When his first child was born, I stitched her name and birthday. Second child also stitched her name and birthdays."

Kiana Malekzadeh: So cute.

Alison Stewart: That's a lovely story. "I'm primarily a knitter, 66 years. I love crocheting for finishing touches, highlighting seams, neckline, cuffs. Re: granny square. Beware of various weight yarns. The sizes will be different." That's Kris. Explain what she means.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Correct. I'm guessing what she means. If you're doing a granny square and you take a worsted weight yarn to start it with and then you go to a lace weight yarn in the same granny square, it's going to look wonky. It won't always look the best. Best practice, and again, I'm a huge believer in you create no definitive rules. For granny squares, if you want them to be the most uniform-looking, it's best to use all the same weight yarn.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Veronica from Milford, Pennsylvania. Hi, Veronica, thanks so much for calling All Of It.

Veronica: Hi, how are you today?

Alison Stewart: Doing great.

Veronica: You sound wonderful. This is my first time calling. I used to crochet a lot, but I hadn't crocheted anything for about 30 years. I started again a couple of months ago. It really did come back like riding a bicycle. I decided that when I began that I was going to crochet baby blankets, baby afghans for children living under stressful situations, and donate them to organizations like Project Linus or there's also Knots of Love for babies that are premature in NICU units. They have very specific wool that you can use and also patterns. I've been doing this all winter and it just feels wonderful after all of these years to start again.

Alison Stewart: That's really lovely. Thank you so much and thank you for all the blankets you're making. Let's talk to Rhoda. Hi, Rhoda, thanks for calling All Of It. You are on the air.

Rhoda: Thank you. I've been listening to you for a long time and love it.

Alison Stewart: Thanks.

Rhoda: I am a senior citizen, 92 years old, lives in independent living. I find that I can't see too well, but I find that crocheting, I can feel my way through it. I can feel the next stitch. I make blankets for our healthcare unit here.

Alison Stewart: That's wonderful. Do you still really enjoy it, Rhoda?

Rhoda: Yes, yes, it makes my day go faster. I still enjoy crocheting, yes.

Alison Stewart: Thanks so much for calling in. My guest is Kiana Malekzadeh. She's the owner of West Village Knit & Needle. We are talking crocheting and you can stick knitting in now. We're running out of time a little bit, but 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. A lot of crochet projects begin with something that's called a magic loop or a magic circle. What is that?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Basically, if you want to start something from the center and go out, you do this loop thing, chain thing. It's kind of hard to explain what that means where it makes a circle and you build out from there.

Alison Stewart: Oh, that's so interesting. It's funny that you say that because someone on our show page commented, "I learned to crochet with the wobbles. So much fun and so useful," and that's the way they start.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Absolutely. Yes, it is.

Alison Stewart: Very interesting. Let's talk to Lee from Katonah. Hi, Lee. Thanks so much for calling All Of It.

Lee: Thanks for taking my call. I just want to suggest that if you would like to make a single project out of a single granny square, start from the center as it was just discussed in a circle, and just keep crocheting and crocheting and crocheting. It will take you a good number of hours. You have one gigantic granny square, which will be an entire blanket or throw.

Alison Stewart: Love that. Thanks for calling. This is Kristin from Brooklyn on Line 7. Kristin, you have the best comment.

Kristin: Yes, so I am 41. My mother was written up in the local paper in Maryland. Her and a group of her friends crochets every Friday night. They were written up because they're called the Friday Night Hookers. [chuckles] They have taught myself and my daughter how to crochet.

Alison Stewart: That's a great story.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Super cute.

Alison Stewart: Okay, so I'm crocheting. Everything's going okay. I've made a mistake. How easy is it to undo a mistake?

Kiana Malekzadeh: So much easier than knitting. Crochet is much easier because with knitting, you're going to take your stitches out or your needle out and stuff is going to start falling and you don't know how to pick it back up. Crochet, you make a mistake, nothing is falling. You just rip it out, undo the mistake, and do it again. That's it.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] I love that.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Yes.

Alison Stewart: A big part of crocheting is making sure your tension is right. What are some things to keep in mind about yarn tension?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Yes, it's very interesting. Crochet is much more free-form than knitting. For example, you and I can take the same crochet hook with the same yarn, the same pattern, and have vastly different-looking objects. You can crochet pretty tight or you can crochet pretty loose. Again, if you're working from a pattern, I would just test a bunch of hooks and make sure that you're getting the gauge that's in the pattern. Otherwise, the sizing won't work. The gauge of your yarn and the gauge of your tension has to match the gauge of the pattern.

Alison Stewart: This text says, "Hey, I love this bit. I learned to crochet when I was around nine through Girl Scouts. I'm 31 now and there are so many possibilities. It's a wonderfully creative outlet and very forgiving craft. For anybody worried about starting, just do it. You'll be so glad you did. I've taught a few of my friends and I love seeing what they create." Let's talk to Virgil, who's calling in from Brooklyn. Hi, Virgil.

Virgil: Hi, how are you? First-time, long-time.

Alison Stewart: Excellent.

Virgil: I wasn't calling to say that unlike your guest, knitting never came to me. I tried many times over the years. Crochet was so much easier to learn for me. I wanted to shout out the brand, The Woobles, where they teach you to make the little amigurumi-stuffed animals. It was such a great way to learn easy stitches. You get to increase and decrease and then you get to have a little friend afterwards.

Then I also wanted to shout out this organization called the Loose Ends Project. They will finish unfinished knit and crochet projects from a loved one that might have passed away. There's somebody I've been speaking to a little bit because my grandma actually did pass away about a year ago and left a crochet blanket unfinished. I haven't learned to stitch yet, so just wanted to throw those kind of things out there.

Alison Stewart: Thanks so much for calling. You do that as well?

Kiana Malekzadeh: We do finishing for knitting. We have a service that if you don't want to weave in your ends or you don't want to block the piece or put parts of a sweater together, we do that as well. You can bring the piece to us for finishing.

Alison Stewart: Oh, let's talk about weaving ends and crocheting. First of all, what does that mean?

Kiana Malekzadeh: It's everyone's least favorite job of knitting and crocheting. When you start a project, end a project, add on a new ball, start a new ball, you want to leave yourself a five to seven-inch tail. The reason for that tail is if you don't leave it, your stuff is just going to come undone. We leave a good amount of a tail. We take a darning needle and we weave it in. The way you weave it in depends on the stitch it's the closest to in knitting and crochet.

Alison Stewart: Okay, I understand, yes. Let's talk to Cheryl from SoHo. Hi, Cheryl, thanks for calling All Of It.

Cheryl: This is a fabulous show. Oh, love you. Anyway, a fast question. I blend my own yarns. I have a project now for a woman who needs hypoallergenic things. Very often, I work with alpaca silk. I'll tuck a little nylon in there. Normally, I work with alpaca, merino, et cetera. Anyway, I need to know if bamboo will felt.

Kiana Malekzadeh: In my experience, no. If you hand-wash it, though, you're not putting it in the machine with warm water. If you hand-wash, bamboo is not going to felt on you.

Cheryl: The only way it might felt is if I agitate in-

Kiana Malekzadeh: Correct, hot water.

Cheryl: -a washer and then hot water and then air-dry?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Yes, it shouldn't felt that way either 90% of the time, but you just can't be sure with machine washing.

Alison Stewart: Actually, that was one of our questions. If what you've made has just shrunk because--

Kiana Malekzadeh: Nothing you could do.

Alison Stewart: Nothing you can do? Oh.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Donate it to a 12-year-old or a 10-year-old. That's my advice.

Alison Stewart: This one says, "Hi, Alison. Hi, Kiara. Quick shout-out to the NYC Yarn Crawl. Every fall, it's a free family-knit crochet fiber event where you visit all the NYC shops and get discounts and win prizes and see all your yarny friends."

Kiana Malekzadeh: It's so fun.

Alison Stewart: You take a part of it? Tell us a little bit about it.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Yes, it's every fall and it's Brooklyn stores and New York City. It's a really great event. There's a scavenger hunt and there's events. There's sales. It's just a really, really fun weekend of events for knitting and crochet and all the yarn shops.

Alison Stewart: That's at yarncrawlnyc.com. Let's talk to Serena from Manhattan. Hi, Serena.

Serena: Hi. I was wondering, where are some places I can take introductory knitting classes like how to switch yarns, how to have clean edges, things like that?

Kiana Malekzadeh: We have all of our classes on our website with the descriptions. In the Learn to Knit class, we do the scarf. We don't necessarily teach you a selvage edge or how to keep your edges clean because after experience, I just know I would lose people with that. What you're describing, though, we just do as private lessons. We offer private lessons in anything you want to learn.

Alison Stewart: Okay, Claire, you got the message. I'm sorry. We're about to talk to Claire. I'm sorry. Claire from Midtown. Hi, Claire.

Claire: Hi. Hi, thanks so much for taking my call. This is such a great conversation. To the question of why it's become so popular lately, I guess the pandemic might have had a lot to do with it. You guys have also listed some other reasons. For me, I can say that the day after the election, when the results were in, I was just feeling so despondent. I just had this strong urge to go analog, get off my screens, make something like do something with my hands, and also have it be something cozy.

I went to my yarn store almost like a zombie. I just need to go and surround myself in beautiful yarns and make something beautiful. The yarn store was packed with everyone having the same idea that I did. That day, I picked a beautiful skein of merino and alpaca. I made my first sweater. I think a lot of us were feeling the same sense of despondency but also wanting to comfort ourselves with something productive and beautiful that day.

Alison Stewart: Thanks for calling. Do you have any theories why it's so popular?

Kiana Malekzadeh: For us, people come into the store all the time. They say, "Oh, knitting, crocheting is having a huge resurgence." It's very hard for us to gauge that because it's never not been popular for us in our community. It's always been this way for us knitters. Things go in waves just like everything else does. We've been busy since day one. I've worked in knitting and yarn stores all over the city. For 20 years, it's always been that busy to me. It's a sense of community. You're always seeing it. I think, obviously, the pandemic hurdled it.

Alison Stewart: What didn't I ask you that's important?

Kiana Malekzadeh: Oh, I don't know. I don't think you left anything out.

Alison Stewart: All right then.

Kiana Malekzadeh: It's good for mind, body, and soul. How about that? Knitting, crochet, it's good for everything. Your dexterity, your brain, all of that.

Alison Stewart: Kiana Malekzadeh is the owner of West Village Knit & Needle. Thank you for spending so much time with us. It was great.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Alison Stewart: By the way, the picture's up with her gorgeous sweater @AllOfItWNYC.

Kiana Malekzadeh: Thank you.