The Young and the Restless character Nina Webster had designs on Phillip Chancellor III back in the 1980s and now, her portrayer, Tricia Cast, has created some real-life fashion garments that you can own.
Y&R Star Tricia Cast Is A Designing Woman
The Daytime Emmy-winner has an Etsy store where she sells warm and stylish scarves of various lengths and colors! Soap Hub recently chatted with Cast, who made her debut on Y&R in 1986 as pregnant teen Nina, about her scarves, how they came to be, and why she enjoys creating them. Read on to learn how co-star and real-life pal Lauralee Bell encouraged Cast to embark on this new venture.
Soap Hub: How did you get the idea to crochet scarves and make them available for purchase on your Esty shop?
Tricia Cast: I made a scarf for Lauralee [Bell, Christine] as a thank you for putting me up [when I came to Los Angeles to do Y&R]. She was the one who actually said to me I should sell these on an Etsy store. I really like making them so I just started casually putting some on sale. I took a little while and got together about nine or 10 [scarves]. They went really quickly! So, I started making more. I don’t do it unless I want to. There’s love in every stitch. I’ll make them and if people want to buy them, I’m very pleased. It was really Lauralee who got me started on this. She’s a lovely friend.
Soap Hub: How did you learn how to crochet?
Tricia Cast: My grandmother Mildred taught me how to crochet, which is single hook. Crochet is French for ‘hook.’ I was about 7-years-old when she started teaching me. She was visiting from New York and I finished a blanket during her visit. Then, I didn’t do it for a long time. I’d tried other crafts like quilting. A while back, I found an old piece of yarn and wondered if I could still do this? So, I started a ‘chain.’ I also wanted to learn a different stitch. That’s where Lauralee’s scarf came in. I learned a new stitch by watching a video on YouTube. I went and got some good yarn, some super-soft wool. Wool scares me because I think it might be itchy, but it’s not at all.
Soap Hub: Do you find crocheting to be meditative?
Tricia Cast: Yes. It’s completely meditative. Yes. My grandmother likened it to doing the rosary [a Catholic prayer done with beads]. She’d actually say the rosary while she was stitching. I don’t do that but I certainly zone out a bit and think. I’ll turn on a podcast so I’ll listen to that. Then, the podcast will be done and I’ll have been sitting there for an hour. I can sit in silence, think, and crochet.
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Soap Hub: Do you ever lose track of time and realize you’ve crocheted more than you intended? ‘This scarf will now be a blanket!’
Tricia Cast: (Laughs) No, I keep track and I’ll look up. I weigh them because I’ll know how many grams of material it will take to [make one]. The wool is hand-dyed. I’ll weigh them out and make sure I’m on track. It’s meditative and you can almost go into a trance, but I also look up and see how I’m doing, and I make sure everything is straight.
Soap Hub: There’s a price range on your Etsy page. Is that because of the material you use?
Tricia Cast: It’s all about the size [of the scarf]. The less expensive ones, though, are still long.
Soap Hub: Do you have plans to expand?
Tricia Cast: I think spring will demand something lighter. I’ve already looked at lighter [material] — something that doesn’t have a lot of weight, maybe made of cotton or linen. You use smaller needles on those. Those actually take longer. I’ll see what I can do.
Soap Hub: How long does it take to do one now? And why do you choose the colors that you do?
Tricia Cast: The smaller ones take about a day. That’s concentrating all day. The bigger ones are twice that. As for colors, it’s whatever strikes me. I did some bright ones that sold really well. But the darker colored ones sell too. I choose colors I like to look at. I can’t miss as long as I’m enjoying it and I am.
The Young and the Restless (YR) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Genoa City, check out all the latest that’s been posted on Y&R spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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