Another very busy week for Curious Handmade, and this episode is about all the things I've been up to! The most exciting thing was my trip to the New Media Europe Conference and the UK Podcast Awards over the weekend. To make a long story short, we won! It made my year, and it's all thanks to you. I couldn't do this without you, and you inspire me every day. Huge congrats to my fellow knitting podcaster Jo Milmine, host of ShinyBees! She took home the gong for Most Engaged Audience, and I'm so thrilled for her. Two knitters sweeping the awards caused a bit of a stir!

Show Sponsors

Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their beautiful Acadia yarn. If you want to see how fabulous this looks in a project, take a look at the two tone sample of my pattern Whispering Island!

Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace.  The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments.

You can get your hands on some Acadia of your own at our other sponsor's shop, Meadow Yarn:

 

Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It's a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more.

Show Links

I talked a bit about some of the wonderful podcasts that inspired me to start the Curious Handmade Podcast:

Stash and Burn

Knitmore Girls

Doubleknit

iMake

Hoxton Handmade - Electric Sheep Podcast

A Playful Day

Knitting Pipeline

 

I have a long discussion about my journey towards organising my house and life, inspired by this book:

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

If you’ve tried this, I want to hear about your experiences! How are you doing? Does your house stay organised? Please leave me a comment with your tips!

What’s in the WIP

Times Square by Norah Gaughan

I brought this along to the conference with me and I'm making great progress! It's such a fun knit.

Summertide MKAL

The KAL is roaring along! We have close to 700 projects on Ravelry, which is just amazing. Join us in the chatter thread to see what everyone’s up to, find encouragement, and share your progress! The group very lively and supportive, and it's honestly not too late to join the fun. We'll be going until the end of October, and we still have people just starting the first clue.

Curious Handmade Wardrobe Challenge

I didn’t get any sewing done this week, but I’ve been enjoying the treasure trove of advice and information that’s going on in the Ravelry thread. There are a lot of conversations about creating better fitting clothes. It’s something we’ve covered a bit on the podcast before, so here are some people and resources who can help:

Amy Herzog

Her great Custom fit patterns

My interview with Amy

 

Elizabeth Doherty

Her book Top Down: Reimagining Set-In Sleeve Design (do you want an affiliate link?)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Top-Down-Reimagining-Set-In-Sleeve/dp/0985299088

My interview with Elizabeth

 

Cal Patch

Her new Pattern Drafting With Knits course on Creative Bug

My interview with Cal

Contest winners!

Back when I posted my interview with Elizabeth, she kindly gave me two copies of her new book to give away to my listeners. I have an ebook and a signed copy.