Close Knit

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 27 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Anna Barberio of For Flynn Protest Art. 

Anna is a cross stitcher, mixed media protest artist and a student of psychology. We talk about anna’s approach to craft, how much of her work has come from a place of necessity, and particularly how her work has come from a place of necessity during the election season and presently, under the new presidential administration in the US. Anna raises some really important points about craft and self care, and we both have a great big chat about the ways in which we look after ourselves (or more often than not, fail at doing that) 

• Ani shouts out to call your girlfriend re: sentient cheeto reference. also CYG is a wonderful podcast that you should listen to if you're not already 
• badass cross stitch - ep 26 of the close knit podcast! 
• ali segel alibaby90 - v badass feminist
• hot cross puns - R. Jones - very badass crosstitchery.
• nerds and needles

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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

Photo by Gloria Araya

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 26 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke toShannon Downey of Badass Cross stitch. Shannon is a subversive cross stitcher and weaver based in Chicago. We cover some really incredible topics in this episode. Shannon explains how she sees her role in craftivism and the role of craftivism at large. She walks me through her process of creating Feminist War Flags, and tells us about a project on gun violence that prompted her to create an incredible fundraiser for an arts therapy project in Chicago. 

A huge thank you to this week's episode sponsor: Phaedra Clothing.

Phaedra Clothing seeks a balance between elegance of form and functionality. The collection is inspired by Japanese and Scandinavian design which combines attention to detail with practical, every day wear. To Phaedra, a garment is a narrative, a piece that changes over time. The linen becomes softer and more supple, the colours lighten subtly, a piece becomes imbued with memories; signifying a long and happy relationship between garment and wearer. You can find Phaedra Clothing on Etsy and on instagram as @phaedraclothing. 

Thanks again to Phaedra for sponsoring this episode of the Close Knit Podcast! 

Shannon learnt to weave 4 years ago, and her grandmother was a master weaver, who wove at The Lowell Mill - the first industrial place that women were allowed to work (!) 

For Shannon, the act of stitching is a way for her to process. After a major shooting in the US, she found herself stitching a gun. She then called out for people to stitch them and send them to her. Eventually, she gathered these pieces to make an auction to sell for Project Fire, and once they had a project they were funding, the art just started pouring in). In the end, the fundraiser took in around $6000 to help keep that program going. 

"[for a craftivism project] give a hard deadline, with 2 weeks in between the hard deadline and the moment [of action, ie the auction]... give people a lot of lead time" 

• Project Fire - arts therapy project that shannon helped raise funds for with her gun embroidery craftivism project
• craftivista- betsy greer "godmother of craftivism" 
• the craftivists collective @craftivists
• subversive cross stitch
• rowdy corazon 
• gone but not forgotten quilts - documenting the names of folks killed by the Chicago Police Department

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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

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.

A huge thank you to this week’s episode sponsor: Pickle and Co Fibres. 

Pickle and Co Fibres is a small fibre business built on years of love of yarn and craft, based in Australia. Marnie, who runs Pickle and Co, handyes beautiful australian grown fibre and yarn, as well as handspinning her own art yarns. Marnie supports other aussie producers like White Gum Wool, a personal favorite of hers (and mine, as I’m sure you know) , to keep her carbon footprint minimized. You can find pickle and co fibres on etsy: search Pickle and Co Fibres (pickle like the cucumber and fibres spelled the australian way) and on instagram:  @pickleandcofibres

As a special offer for close knit podcast listeners, Marnie is offering 15% off her webshop. Use the code CLOSEKNITS15 for 15% off. 

In Episode 25, I spoke to Deva O’Neill of Phaedra Clothing. Deva is a clothing maker and indigo dyer based in Cornwall. Her interest in linen started at a young age, as she watched her mother and her mother’s friends engage with linen and beautiful, oversizes silhouettes. 

As a teenager, Deva altered her own clothing and over the past few years, has moved into drafting her own patterns, sort of a mishmash of other patterns and garments she’s made, to achieve the aesthetic she imagines in her mind. 

Deva and I talk about how she’s taught herself to sew and dye, and how the infinite world of fibre has entranced her. We discuss how she’s grown Phaedra and keeps it going alongside day work, and how she plans to grow it over time. 

"try to gain as much inspiration as you can from the world around you, but try not to compare yourself to anyone else... there's a lot of people doing amazing things and it's easy to feel like you're not doing enough... it's so important to stay true to what you want to create" 

• tony chestnut : very cool clothing, combining art and clothing (in still a very wearable way)

• as petals fall - Deva has collaborated Kate on a few projects, she's a natural dyer who sells her dyed linen meterage. 

• cabbage blue - incredible clothing maker (indigo, quilted,etc - do yourself a favour and check her out) 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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

THE JOY IN THE STRUGGLE: an homage to Victoria Safford ('the place from which you glimpse not only the struggle, but the joy in the struggle'). 

Instagram: Joy In The Struggle - an account dedicated to raising funds for a new not-for-profit every 2 months - the first project is dedicated to raising funds for Planned Parenthood. 

Facebook : Tasmania-based Craftivism Group - a group for folk to discuss things that are on their minds, and for us to have events that are centred around craft/making/showing up and working to create positive change. 

WHAT I PLAN TO DO: Manage the instagram account, use it to host fundraisers every 2 months, contribute my own work/knitting when I can, manage the Facebook group to create and host local events in Tasmania that are social-justice/craftivism themed. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO: 

• KNITTERS: The first project is a "pussyhat" knitting fundraiser (open to your interpretation - reminder that it's not about sex organs, and womxn come in all forms), if you want to knit one to sell to raise funds for Planned Parenthood, please email me: [email protected]
• YARN PRODUCERS: can you donate some wool to one of our pussy hat knitting people? If so, get in touch: [email protected] 
• NOT A KNITTER OR YARN PRODUCER? GET IN TOUCH AND LET'S FIND A WAY TO WORK TOGETHER - [email protected]

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.

This week I spoke to Olive Riley of Spinning A Yarn. Olive is a hand-dyer based in New Zealand. We talk about how a visit to the Massey University Open Day took her from wanting to study nursing to studying textiles, and how her schooling has influenced her work. Olive took over the business, Spinning A Yarn, from her sister Jess, and we talk about what it’s like to take over a business from a family member, and how they’ve worked together to grow the business. 

1. Follow @spinningayarnnz on instagram

2. Follow @close_knit on instagram

3. Comment on this blog post with your instagram handle and name

Olive and I discuss how her education at Massey influenced her work. Whilst at uni, she took a natural dye course, but over time she has changed to acid reactive dyes, which she learned from Jess in their garage. 

In addition to Spinning A Yarn, Olive works full time - for Wool Yarns, a yarn making factory, where she works on apparel yarns that are possum merino blends. She particularly loves getting to see the whole process of making a yarn from start to finish. 

A major motivation that keeps Olive going: people giving positive feedback about the yarn. Sometimes she feels like she's not doing enough or it's not good enough, but meeting people who love the yarn is motivating. She walks me through the financial logistics of her business, and finds that it's a great way to pay for a hobby (and gives her yarn to play with). She's really happy with the size that it is, and that she doesn't rely on it for income - instead she finds that it pays for itself and for her to travel to 3-4 markets around NZ throughout the year. 

"keep going, and enjoy it....do what you want to do. A tip for people learning a new fibre craft: try and do projects that teach you a new thing each time you're making something... choose patterns that challenge yourself" 

• Koel Magazine : beautiful magazine for makers. 
• Laine Magazine: beautiful Nordic magazine with homely and warming aesthetic
• Truly Myrtle: Libby, Olive's gotten to know her at markets
• Marta Buda: beautiful weaver and textile design 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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

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 23 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Emma Lehan of The Fleece and Wheel.Emma is a knitter and spinner based in Queensland. We chat about how Emma’s interest in knitting eventually led her to spinning, and how her thoughtful partner gave her a drop spindle as a christmas present a few years ago, leading her down the path she’s on now. Last year, Emma got involved in an Etsy Local market, which was a huge motivator for her to get her business up and running. We talk about how she’s managed her business and why she’s chosen to source locally. Emma walks me through how she has found her sources of fibre and how she’s developed these relationships over time.

Emma's Handspun Alpaca for the giveaway! 

Emma is generously sponsoring a giveaway of 3 luscious skeins of her handspun alpaca! Here's how to enter: 

1. Follow @thefleeceandwheel on instagram

2. Follow @close_knit on instagram

3. Comment on this blog post with your instagram handle and name

GIVEAWAY CLOSES FRIDAY, 27TH JAN 2017 8am AEST. 

"Have a go. Because a lot of people think 'I can't possibly do that'. and that's wrong, of course you can, you just have to try... Just start, and don't get discouraged" 

• Tanis Fiber Arts - who Emma blames for turning her into a yarn snob
• Boho chic Fibre Co - handspun and handdyed, and knit designs
• Aurelian townsend  - incredible weaver and spinner
• the unusual pear - where Emma got her first drop spindle!
• pickle and co fibres - the amazing indie dyer who introduced Emma to White Gum Wool 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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

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! 

"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." 

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

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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

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.

A huge thanks to this week's episode sponsor - Gradient Yarn Australia. 

Gradient Yarn Australia is an independent yarn dyeing business started by Briony Mannering. Briony is an Independent yarn colourist, teacher and knitwear designer based in South East Melbourne.  Her passion for craft lead her to yarn dyeing in 2012.  A few years later started working on her knitwear design. Now, she’s known for her yarn line of smooth graduated colours, and her knitwear designs that artfully display these colour schemes. 

A typical day will find Briony dyeing and experimenting with dye techniques in the mornings, and knitting in the afternoons.  Her latest yarn evolution is utilising local yarn and combining with natural dyes.

When she was younger, Briony nearly ran away with the local circus!  The only clowning around she has time for now is with her two young boys.

You can find Gradient Yarn Australia at www.gradientyarnaustralia.com  and on instagram @gradientaus

This week I spoke to Lisa Anderson Shaffer of Zelma Rose. Lisa is a fine artist and sculptural jewellery maker living in the Bay area in California. We talk about her grandmothers (Zelma and Rose, respectively), who introduced her to needlework and crochet as a child, and how she's used these crafts to inform her art practice today. Lisa tells me about her fibre of choice in her jewellery making practice and how when she works with these fibres, it's like a dance to her, it just feels right in her body. When we get into how Zelma Rose came to be and how she approaches it present day, Lisa opens up about her experience transitioning from her career to making art and jewellery full time, and how her experience as a mother has shaped how she has shaped her business. 

We discuss how fibre arts is such an ancient practice, but how presently its popularity is growing, but at the same time how it's under the radar enough that Lisa doesn’t feel the pressure to have the traditional production calendar like some of her friends in metalsmithing or leatherwork or the fashion world. 

Lisa tells me about how she started zelma rose in 2010 and what she referred to as her  "life in chaotic crisis pregnancy business plan", which she remarks that she wouldn't necessarily recommend. She was fed up with her day job and had to leave, and so Zelma Rose was born. She found that she had tons of creative energy whilst pregnant and a desire to make product, before that she had always made fine art.  As her business grows, she has to pull the break a bit to be able to be the mother she wants to be. it’s been a steady climb for the last 6 years - a steady slow burn. 

"there’s this thing called time. We don’t get it back. So, no matter how scary something is… there is no dead time, no matter how crazy or chaotic life gets… you can’t freeze time… it just keeps going. Stay present with that and reflect on that. “ 

• Carrie Crawford - @mineral workshop - Lisa loves her work so much, has a “wish I thought of that” moment wth her a lot. canvasses on cotton that are handdyed, interpretations of aerial landscapes.
• Lisa also loves following skateboarders, just something about them makes her so stoked. 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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

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.

A huge thank you to this week's episode sponsor - Hanna Lisa Haferkamp. 

Hanna Lisa is a creative maker and business coach who works with other small business owners to help them achieve their goals. In addition to coaching, she runs her very own video podcast where she talks about her experience making and running a creative business. You can find that on Youtube at Hannaontheroad (all one word - no second “H” in hanna).

In her spare time, Hanna makes gorgeous project bags for the modern knitter. Frustrated with the project bags on offer, she set about designing her own to meet her minimalist aesthetic and her needs as a knitter - like yarn not getting tangled up! She does a shop update once or twice a month, and you can find out about those via her instagram or her podcast. 

As a special treat For Close Knit Podcast Listeners, Hanna is offer a discount on her project bags! Enter the code CLOSEKNIT at checkout to get 10% off her project bags! 

Thanks again to Hanna Lisa for this generous offer and for sponsoring the Close Knit Podcast. 

This week I spoke to Sophe Probst of Urban Roots Handmade. Sophe is a zero-waste advocate living in Louisiana, making and selling minimally packaged linen and hemp linen products for the home and the body. She discovered hemp when she was looking for environmentally-friendly options to make herself dresses, after seeing Sonya Philip's 100 Acts of Sewing patterns and getting hooked. Before starting her shop, Sophe worked for a number of environmental organisations that fuelled her desire to run a business in a thoughtful way. She then started learning about the zero waste movement from the likes of Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home, and she began looking for ways to incorporate minimalism into her life. 

After becoming a mother, Sophe began questioning the legacy she would leave for her children, and this led her to starting Urban Roots Handmade. We talk about the realities of running a business as a mother - this means a lot of time spent in the wee hours of the morning sewing - and how she plans to handles business growth without compromising on her ethics. We also get into some of the nitty gritty of how she learnt to price her work, and how she handles the finances of her business. 

In her former working life, Sophe worked for a number of environmental organisations, and worked as an environmental educator. When she had her children, it made her question things, and she became emotionally tied to her children’s legacy. She started by sewing their cloth diapers, then got into zero waste reading like Bea Johnson, which led her to start refusing plastic and being more minimalist in her lifestyle. She often struggled to reconcile the idea that she was making new stuff with a minimalist/zero waste lifestyle, so she decided to do it plastic free. She asked her suppliers to ship plastic free, and she changed the way she made things to be less wasteful to fit into her ethos. 

Sophe learnt to sew as a child, her grandmother taught her to sew at age 10, and she made her first quilt in high school (she hand quilted it!). She reckons that introduction to sewing on a machine made her much less intimidated by using the machine as an adult. Her grandmother also taught her to knit, but Sophe reckons she's a bit slower at knitting (than sewing). 

Something Sophe cherishes about being a small business is the personal contact she has with her customers. She always includes a handwritten note in her packages, and we talk about how this informs her decisions with wholesaling and growing her business. 

"I’m a big believer in buying quality. I bought the nice sewing machine, the one that was built to last, and I think that has made me want to sew more than if I was sewing on a plastic piece of crap.

And asking for things that you want. That’s been hard for me because I’m shy. Asking for what you want, and if you don’t get it, then move on, but if you do, it’s because you asked. “ 

• Sonya Phillips  - 100 Acts of Sewing - Ani and Sophe both gush about their love for Sonya's patterns, their simplicity and beauty. 

• Bea Johnson Zero Waste Home - how Sophe was introduced to the idea of zero waste and what prompted her to start incorporating plastic free methods into her life. 

• Honeybee good  - Sophe's supplier of wooden spool organic cotton thread,  they ship in plastic free packaging. 

• Maura Grace Folk Fibers - natural dyer, amazing quilter

• Sugarhouse Workshop - as above! (natural dyer, amazing quilter) 

• Jana Valachovicova - maker of recycled textiles 

• Trash is for Tossers - another great zero waste resource 

• Adrienne Shanti @jai_jai_ma  - a personal fav of Ani's, as well as Sophe's. We just love Adrienne! 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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

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.

 A very special thank you to this week's episode sponsor, Wool Gathering,  a four day wool crafts based retreat being held in Victoria in May 2017. During the Gathering you will participate in three wool based classes, with options in knitting, crochet, spinning, tapestry weaving, Saori weaving, needle felting, wool embroidery and yarn dyeing.  

Wool Gathering teachers have many, many years of experience between them, and include Sue Grandfield (Riotous Assembly); Clare Devine (Knit Share Love), Briony Singleton (Gradient Yarns Australia & Briony Knits), Prue Simmons (Dyeing to Weave) to name just a few. Classes have been designed to suit all levels of experience so you have the option to take all your classes within the same well loved craft or you can try something completely new as beginners are well respected at Wool Gathering!

Participants of Wool Gathering will get to enjoy the incredible Tarndie Farm. Tom Dennis, the current (6th generation) owner, will entertain you with his History of Tarndie tour where you will learn all about the pioneers who settled the property and then the Fleece to Yarn tour will see you walk with the sheep from the paddocks to the shearing shed where you will learn all about Polwarth fleece.

Tickets are currently on sale and you can find all the nitty gritty details at www.woolgathering.com.au and follow along on instagram - woolgatheringaustralia and facebook - wool gatheringaustralia.

Julie is a free form fibre artist, utilizing weaving and macrame techniques to create her unique wall hangings. She and I discuss a mutual love affair with all things linen, and how she made a transition from using whatever materials she found to thinking more consciously about where her materials came from and how they were made. We talk about navigating the complex space of pricing and selling handmade work, and how she keeps up the motivation to continue making work regularly. Julie tells me about her love of teaching free form workshops as a form of art therapy for herself and her students, and how she has used this style of making to lighten her own state of being when going through some tough times. 

Julie teaches workshops in free form - intuitively creating using beauitful materials and a few simple knotting and weaving techniques. She recounts how people often struggle with this at first and find it confronting, the fact that they're not being told what to make, but once they drop in, and let go, it's such a special feeling. Julie tells me she gets goosebumps just talking about it. 

Julie first picked up weaving when she was struggling with post natal depression. It was a meditative escape for her, and somewhere she found some peace. At first, she reckons she tried too hard, tried to be what she thought a weaver should be, and that just wasn't working for her.  Then she bought some handspun yarn and decided to not try so hard and to let go. It was at that point that she created the first piece she really loved, and that was a really pivotal moment for her. She started listening to Woolful, and started learning about fibres and then moved exclusively to high quality, ethically-source, and rare and vintage fibres.

"...don' be afraid to try. There is no right way, there is no wrong way, just try. If you have an idea for something, don't not do it because you think it won't be well received, or because you think it's not the right way to do something, just try. That's how we learn, evolve, grow. And the fibre community is so encouraging and supportive"

• string harvest: they sell an australian grown and milled cotton that julie loves
• Dana Juszczyk @brosha_me - sculptural, textural woven pieces 
• Plump and Co - a friend of the Close Knit Podcast, episode 14 guest :)  
• Pip Taylor - @philippaataylor - combines porcelain and woven objects
• Kelaoke  - makes wearable art from fiber and ceramics 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts

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