EPISODE TWENTY TWO :: Brandi Harper of purlBknit - The "Happy Hustle" of working in Fibre + Notes on Ethnicity in Craft

The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

In episode 22 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Brandi Harper of purlBknit. Brandi is a knitter and lover of natural fibers who lives in Brooklyn. We cover the usual podcast topics, but Brandi and I took a little bit of a different angle with this podcast episode. It occurred to me recently that my podcast guests, whilst varied in their craft forms, mainly have come from a similar ethnic background. I want to use the podcast as a way to hold space for people of all backgrounds, and especially voices that are not typically heard from in the craft community.  

I loved getting to hear Brandi's thoughts on the topics that are not usually vocalised in this community - and I'm going to leave it at that and let this podcast episode speak for itself - I'd highly recommend giving it a listen! 

Brandi's biggest bit of advice:

"find people on youtube that you really connect with in terms of their teaching style, their video aesthetic. 

Rent books from the library, buying books can get super expensive and you don’t know that the book will answer the questions you have. if you can use natural fibers, if you can use wool." 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Purl soho
• verypinkknits
• karen templar - she gives away so much knowledge, she’s talented, always creating new work
• stephen west

Find Brandi: website | instagram 

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Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

Ani

EPISODE EIGHTEEN :: Georgie Nicolson of Tikki Knits - Supporting Local Producers, Large Scale Community Textile Art, Becoming a Knitwear Designer

The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

In Episode 18 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Georgie Nicolson of Tikki Knits, a knitwear designer and lover of local Australian wool. Georgie takes me through her journey of sourcing wool, a serendipitous stop at the birthplace of Polworth sheep - Tarndie farm, and what types of fibre she particularly enjoys working with. We discuss her work with SEAM - (Sustainable Environmental Art Movement) on WARM - a large scale collaborative community knitting project making a statement about climate change, and what a unique and interesting challenge it was to create a textile representation of a painted landscape. Georgie and I talk about her transition into knitwear design and how her children influence her design aesthetics. 

A huge thanks to this week's episode sponsor - Wool Gathering. Wool Gathering is an incredibly special event happening Thursday 4th May-Sunday 7th May 2017 in Victoria, Australia - held at the historic and scenic Tarndwarncoort (birthplace of the breed Polworth). At Wool Gathering, participants will have the chance to take classes in wool based crafts like knitting, crochet, spinning, tapestry weaving, Saori weaving, needle felting, wool embroidery, and yarn dyeing. For more information, check out Wool Gathering's website here - tickets for this event go on sale on the 12th Nov 2016 .

Georgie schools me on some of the history behind the Australian wool scence. We discuss the CSIRO wool mill that closed down in around the 80s (? we weren't sure of the exact timing) that used to spin wool for lots of local producers, but was defunded. Georgie also informs me that Nundle is the only commercial mill creating wool yarn that's completely sourced and made in Australia.

We go on to talk about her involvement in WARM - a large scale collaborative community knitting project making a statement about climate change. Georgie had the incredible task of translating a painting into a functional artwork made of knitted objects. Incredibly, and beautifully - everything in the project is a useful object, everything has a life beyond the project. 

Georgie really got back into craft with the birth of her first child, and though she's been designing for a while, she's only recently felt comfortable calling herself a "designer". She does a lot of designing for her children, and as they grow, her patterns also change. 

Georgie's biggest bit of advice:

"don't be afraid to just do what you want to do, and take your own approach, don't be afraid to make mistakes... Don't be afraid to be yourself... There is so much honesty and integrity that comes through when you are yourself" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• White Gum Wool : documenting her shepherding on instagram now - Georgie highly recommends a follow

• Tarndie : birthplace of polworth, amazing farm, location of Wool Gathering 2017! 

Find Georgie: website | instagram | facebook 

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

Ani

EPISODE SEVENTEEN :: Emily Michetti of Your Daily Dose of Fiber - Finding a Love of Alpaca in Peru, Working on Turning a Passion into a Business

The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

In Episode 17 of the Close Knit Podcast, I speak to Emily Michetti of Your Daily Dose of Fiber. Emily is an alpaca lover, who discovered spinning at a young age. She's since delved deeper into the field of spinning and is working toward building her dream business creating locally grown and spun yarns. We talk about her trip to Peru as a 9-year-old and how that started her down this path, and how she has grown from there. Emily is passionate about soft and luxurious fibres as she has sensitive skin, and plans to keep her fibre sourcing local and her yarns American made. 

As a 9 year old, her mother took her to Peru on a mission visit. She remembers visiting Puno, a really beautiful part of Peru as well as Lake Titicaca. Looking back on it, she tell of the textiles that she encountered but didn't really take notice of as a child. Instead, she fell in love with the alpacas because she found them really adorable. 

A couple years later, she decided she needed a job and was pretty adiment that it have something to do with alpacas. She set about researching and ended up finding an alpaca farm in Texas to work on, a couple hour's drive from her home. The woman who ran the farm taught her to knit with angora goat yarn and DPNs - this was her first introduction to knitting. 

Later in her youth, she bought a drop spindle on Amazon without really knowing what it was. She rediscovered it a few years later and started teaching herself how to spin via Youtube videos. 

Fast forward to the last couple of years - she moved to oregon to marry her husband, and was having trouble finding a job. She picked her knitting back up and ended up knitting a bunch of scarves and rekindling her love of knitting. Shortly after, she was given her first wheel - it was handmade and very unusual but really beautiful. She got into spinning and eventually  bought a new wheel, giving away first wheel to a little girl she knew who was getting into fibre. 

Emily's biggest bit of advice:

"practice. keep doing it. If you really love it, you'll always keep coming back to it. trying and knit a whole thing, instead of two inches of a thing" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Amy of Aurelian Spun Woven - spinner, weaver, and she has been super helpful for Emily 
• the stranded sheep
• Good Stitch Fibers ( formerly abbygoodknits)  - spinner and dyer 
• Cavs46 - Lauren  -  spinner, weaver and natural dyer  (that Ani has a huge girl crush on) 

Find Emily: website | instagram | facebook 

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

Ani

EPISODE FOURTEEN:: Jacinta of Plump and Co - Finding Your Way as a Tactile Person, and The Roller Coaster of Starting a Business

The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

photo cred: Kate Claridge

In Episode Fourteen  of the Close Knit Podcast, I speak to Jacinta of Plump and Co. Jacinta is a knitter who developed Plump and Co, a company that sells beautifully giant, felted yarn made in New Zealand. Growing up in New Zealand and studying textiles there, Jacinta became enamored with all of the incredible fibre around her and the community she lived in, so she sought to make a product that really celebrated her community. We talk about her love of all things tactile, how she began her business, and the roller coaster that running your own small business can be. 

photo cred Rachel Dobbs

Jacinta tells me about how she made the move from the corporate world to making felted yarn - and how after university she was always being drawn back to textiles, even when her work life took her elsewhere. We discuss how the majority of folks in her graduating textiles class didn't end up in textile jobs, but many have gone on to start their own amazing projects like a favourite of Jacinta's -  The Neighbourhood Studio. 

And my personal favourite part of this conversation, when Jacinta opens up about the realities of running a small business, and how it has not all been easy. She tells us about her journey from working on a project at uni to realising she wanted to make felted wool on a larger scale but also keeping it local to NZ. She wanted to share it with her community, to be able to get all different generations of knitters involved. She explains how she went from working a corporate job doing plump and co on the side to working on Plump and Co full time with the financial help of her husband. Now, she's hired a friend to help her with her business and she talks about how important that has been in her journey. 

Jacinta's biggest bit of advice? 

"stop talking about it, and go do it. " 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Nikki Gabriel - jacinta's biggest inspiration, hugely talented knitwear designer 
• Forever Farmhouse - lovely friend of Jacinta, talented knitter, lovely lady 
• Little Loom - lovely and kind weaver friend Julie from NSW 
• Wool Days - incredible new Australian merino yarn with a beautiful aesthetic and message 

Find Jacinta: instagram | website | facebook

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• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx

EPISODE THIRTEEN :: Rhiannon Owens - The Next Step - Finding and Celebrating Sustainability in Craft

The Close Knit podcast showcases artists, designers, and makers from all over the world who work with fibre in its many forms. Knitters, spinners, sewers, textile artists - all will be celebrated on the Close Knit podcast.

In this Episode of the Close Knit Podcast, I chat to Rhi Owens of The Next Step. Rhi is a versatile crafter who knits, sews, crochets, and more. She's a prolific knitwear designer of clothes for women and children. We talk about Rhi's love of natural fibres and dyes, and how her family lineage of crafters has influence how and why she crafts. As a sewist, Rhi uses the process to create garments that truly fit her, and we discuss how empowering that relationship can be. I cannot recommend Rhi's blog highly enough for resources for sustainable and ethical fibres, as well as some really inspiring blog interviews. 

Rhi tells us about how empowering she finds making her own clothes - having the ability to make shapes that are for your own body and fit you perfectly - and what impact it's had on her own relationship to her body. 

She is really excited about the slow fashion movement and minimalism in craft and how it is gaining momentum. This interest led Rhi to start The Next Step - a directory of fibres and fabrics that are ethically and sustainably made, with price points listed to make it easy for folk to find the fibres that suit their needs.

Her grandmother is an artist and crafter throughout her life, and she taught her daughters who taught their children (rhi included). All of her aunites are creative and work with fibre in some way, she always made her own stuff. Her mother always said to her, "you can make that yourself" and that's become something of a family mantra. 

3 generations of crafters :) 

Rhi mainly sews and knits - though she sews not for the love of the process, but the love of the finished product, and for knitting its both the process and the final outcome. She buys op shopped sheets to make dresses for herself and her daughter. 

Rhi's biggest bit of advice? 

"Buy quality, because when you've got a supply that is really special to you... you really want to do a good job with that so you will put in the extra effort and Google the tutorials that you need, and make sure that you do a really good job with it.... The other this is to surround yourself with as many people who make as possible, whether that's online or in real life, that will be really inspiring, and will get you through those tough beginner times" 

"and with knitting using natural fibres because they hide a multitude of sins" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Knit FM Podcast - Pam Allen and Hannah Fetig's Podcast in which they discuss tons of cool stuff related to knitting, but we referenced the episode about linen fibres. 
• Andy Sutherland - Agatha Cardigan - Rhi's first knitting project (!!) 
• Danielle - lunarknits - taught Ani about the magic of blocking 
• fav blog - the craft sessions, Felicia has excellent practical advice for making quality but also making lots of kids' clothes. Rhi loves the stash less project and her simple sewing posts. Definitely read her post on slow fashion. 
• Seamwork Podcast - craft as healing, and making clothes that fit your body
• Pomcast from the makers of PomPom Mag
• Natural Dyers: Gregoria Fibers and Fern Fiber
• LollyMolly Sweets - Rhi's aunite who dyes and handspins 

Find Rhi: instagram | website

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

Like what you're hearing? 

Awesome! I'm glad you've found your way to this podcast. Please feel free to subscribe, leave a review on iTunes (this makes all the difference to reaching more people!) and share with your loved ones. Thanks for tuning in.

Until next time! 

xx