Fiber Hooligan

On the next pre-recorded edition of Fiber Hooligan (airing on 03/24/14) my guest is the iconic Barbara Walker. Mrs. Walker has been an idol and guru to knitter's worldwide for decades, the first of her many comprehensive collections of knitting patterns appearing in 1968. But that's only part of her impressive list of achievements in a variety of fields. Born in Philadelphia in 1930, she studied journalism at the University of Pennsylvania and later worked for the Washington Star in Washington, D.C. It was there in the 1970s that she became interested in feminism, while working with a local hotline that helped battered women and pregnant teens. After relocating to Morristown, New Jersey, Mrs. Walker became a teacher of the Martha Graham dance technique. The first of her many notable and respected books on feminism, spirituality and myth was published in the mid-1980s, as was the Barbara Walker Tarot Deck, for which she supplied the illustrations. Her complete writing career has been split between knitting books, produced in the late 1960s through the mid-80s; and women's studies and mythology books, produced from the 1980s through the early 21st century. And her influences continue to be felt by more than just the fiber arts world. It was a rare privilege to interview her for Fiber Hooligan! I hope you enjoy this very special show.

On the next edition of Fiber Hooligan (03/17/14) my guest will be Mary Colucci. Since the mid-1990s, Mary Colucci has served as the Executive Director of the Craft Yarn Council (CYC), a nonprofit trade association that represents major yarn resources, needle/hook manufacturers, publishers, and consultants to the yarn industry. In that capacity she oversees all educational and promotional campaigns for the industry association, as well as monitors consumer research and retailer initiatives. She is also Executive Director of the Warm Up America! Foundation, one of the industry's leading charities. Prior to joining the CYC, she was president of CM Communications, a consulting firm, which was formed in 1988 with her business partner Christina Holmes. They handled a wide variety of consulting assignments, including product development and product launches, market research and numerous public relations campaigns. From 1975 to 1988, Colucci served as Executive Director of The National Needlework Association, another industry group. She organized an extensive network of trade shows, education and public relations programs. Prior to joining TNNA, she was editor of Sew Business, an industry trade magazine. Mary will be joining us to talk about the CYC, Warm Up America!, and the newest CYC initiative… Changing Global Health One Stitch at a Time. I hope you'll join us for this show.

On the next edition of Fiber Hooligan (03/03/14) my guest will be designer, teacher, and now author Brooke Nico. Brooke began her designing activities by sewing her own wardrobe, inspired by drape and color. She brought her talents to knitting almost 10 years ago, first exploring modular construct, then lace. In 2006 Brooke became part owner of Kirkwood Knittery in St. Louis, MO. Brooke got inspired by the intricacies and challenge of lace knitting in 2008. This is really where she has made her mark on the knitting world. She sees the patterns in small mathematical blocks & creates some of the most beautiful flowing garments in the field today. Her talent has been recognized by Vogue Knitting, Knitter's Magazine, & Debbie Bliss magazines. She taught at the first VKLive event in New York City in 2011 and at VKLive L.A., as well as many STITCHES events. Her first book, Lovely Knitted Lace (published by Lark) is being released as we speak. The sub-title of the book is ‘A Geometric Approach to Gorgeous Wearables'. I have a pre-release copy of her book and I have to tell you that it's just beautiful. Brooke is a lot of fun. She enjoys giving me a hard time, which should make for an interesting episode. I hope you'll join us for this show.

Next week (02/17/14) my guests will be Barbra Pushies & Maridee Nelson, the creators & owners of the Yarnover Truck. The story behind this is great. They met in 2010 at a Tuesday night knitting group & became fast friends. One night at group, Maridee mentioned she was thinking about opening a yarn store. She had a name and a location all picked out, but the financial realities of a brick and mortar yarn store seemed overwhelming. During her weekly knitting class at work, Barbra brought up her friend's yarn store idea. It was always a dream of Barbra's, too, but, like Maridee, it always seemed just out of reach. One of the members of the knitting group suggested a yarn truck and immediately Barbra was enamored with the idea. Hours of Google research on mobile retail business and one overwhelmingly long email to Maridee later, they found themselves on Melrose talking with one of LA's first mobile boutiques. On July 5, 2012 the Yarnover Truck was born. This year the Yarnover Truck team, as well as the Yarnover Truck itself will be on the STITCHES West Market floor. These ladies have a lot planned for the weekend. I'm looking forward to having them on the show so they can tell us what they've been up to and what we can expect at STITCHES and in the future. I hope you'll join us for this show.

On this re-recorded edition of Fiber Hooligan (02/11/14) my guest is Anne Kuo Lukito. Though she's been crafting & sewing all her life, Anne did not get into knitting until mid-2006. After teaching herself, she could not stop thinking about knitting and began making up patterns almost immediately. In early 2008, she submitted a few designs for publication and by late 2008, her designs appeared in Knitty, Interweave Knits & in 101 Luxury One-Skein Wonders. Since then, Anne has designed for several yarn companies and her work has also appeared in many other publications, including several books and magazines like Twist Collective and Knitscene. Her designs generally have a modern and fresh sensibility with a fun and innovative twist. One of the things Anne really enjoys is the opportunity to share and exchange knowledge with other knitters and with students. Anne teaches at knitting shows (including STITCHES), yarn shops, guilds and has also presented at a BlogHer conference and at Craftcation. Anne continues to develop her self-published designs under her independent design label and she also operates a small boutique distributorship, Crafty Diversions, which represents highly talented knitting designers in distributing their patterns and products to yarn shops. Anne's patterns, tutorials and blog can be found on her own website.

On the next edition of Fiber Hooligan (02/03/14) my guest will be the lovely and talented Myra Wood. If you haven't met Myra, you're going to love this lady… she's extremely charming and very funny. Myra is an internationally know fiber artist, designer, author and teacher. She teaches a wide range of classes in knitting, crochet, embroidery and beading… specializing in all things creative. Her online class, "The Perfect Fit Seamless Crazy Lace Cardigan" is available at Craftsy.com. Myra is the author of Creative Crochet Lace and Crazy Lace along with numerous published patterns in books and magazines. Myra's been a guest instructor on numerous episodes of Knit and Crochet Now, Knitty Gritty and Uncommon Threads on PBS, HGTV and DIY Network. Most recently Myra has just finished a new book with XRX Books (my company), Knit In New Directions, which will be debuting at STITCHES West… where she'll also be presenting a killer Opening Day program. We're going to be talking about all that and more on this show. I hope you'll join for us so I can share this exceptional lady with all of you.

On the next edition of Fiber Hooligan (01/27/14) my guest will self confessed "technique freak" and "skill junkie," JC Briar. JC dabbles in all kinds of knitting, but has a special fondness for textured knitting and novel construction techniques. She shares her enthusiasm by teaching at shops & fiber festivals and through her book Charts Made Simple. Her latest venture is Stitch-Maps.com, a website for viewing and creating grid-free charts of unparalleled fluidity, authenticity, & beauty. At Stitch-Maps.com, you can browse through a collection of over 500 stitch patterns, each displayed in the form of a stitch map. We're going to talk to her about her plans for the future of Stitch-Maps.com as well as the other cool stuff she's been up to. If you've met her, then you already know that JC is scary smart. She is also someone that I feel very lucky to call a friend. I hope you'll join for us for this show so I can share this exceptional lady with all of you.

On the next edition of Fiber Hooligan (01/20/14) my guest will be Rosemary Hill from Designs by Romi. Romi was born into a crocheting family and learned in preschool, but the call of the needles was always strong, and her mother finally relented & taught her to knit as well. It was love at first stitch. She knit off & on until 2002, when she resumed knitting passionately after a long hiatus, discovering the internet knitting community in the process. Learning to knit lace prompted the 2005 founding of her company, Designs by Romi, selling handmade shawl pins & sweater closures. She is currently working on a lace book for Interweave and 2 subscriptions: her latest Small Shawl eBook (Y4, also an app!) and The Great Oddments Knitdown. Her patterns have appeared in books, Interweave Knits, Knitscene, Knitty, and Twist Collective. Interweave Press published her first book: Elements of Style: Knit + Crochet Jewelry in late 2008. We'll be talking about all of this as well as her Craftsy class! Besides being uber talented, Romi is also one of the sweetest people you could meet. I hope you'll join us for this show.

On the next edition of Fiber Hooligan (01/06/14) my guest will be John Levisay, CEO of Craftsy.com. John co-founded Craftsy in 2010 because he believed that there was a better way for people to learn and interact around their passions & hobbies. Prior to Craftsy, John held executive roles at eBay.com and servicemagic.com. He joined eBay in1999, as head of Strategy & BD. He helped launch eBay Motors, growing it into a $14 billion a year global business. John later ran the Business, Photo, and Music categories on eBay and served as CEO of Kruse International, a 100-employee subsidiary of eBay Motors. Prior to eBay, John spent 6 years at General Electric, graduating from GE's Financial Management program and Corporate Audit Staff. John received his MBA from The University of Michigan and his BA from Colgate University. He grew up in Spring Valley, IL and comes from a family of crafters. John lives in Denver, CO with his amazing wife and two children. His hobbies include history, music, photography, movies, cooking, and cake decorating. John is not only an interesting man, he's also a really good guy. He has helped to bring so much to the fiber arts community. And I'm pleased to finally have him on the show. I hope you'll join us for what should be a great interview with a remarkable and visionary man.

On the next edition of Fiber Hooligan (12/23/13) my very special guest will be my own father, David Xenakis--one of the founders and one the Xs in XRX, Inc. (home of Knitter's Magazine, XRX Books, & STITCHES Expos). David has been 'retired from the industry' for almost 7 years now... but he's been a busy boy! He was one of the original members of the Board of Directors of the Dakota Sky International Piano Festival. After serving for several years as a member of the board of directors of the South Dakota Symphony, he served as Interim Executive Director of that organization from Dec. 2009 to June 2010. He is in his 3rd year as a member of the Husby Performing Arts advisory board of the Washington Pavilion of Sioux Falls. He is the Editor-in-chief of the Washington Pavilion's magazine Now!Pavilion. He is also a member of the advisory committee for the Dakota Academy of Performing Arts (DAPA). For those of you who don't know his story prior to his retirement, you have no idea just how cool it (and he) really is. And for those of you who have never heard him speak… all I can say is that if you like my voice, his velvety tones put my voice to shame (I swear that I could sell classes, at STITCHES, of David just reading the phone book). He is truly a renaissance man… classical pianist, composer, mathematician, historian, graphics expert, computer geek, author, master weaver, expert knitter, world traveler, entrepreneur, and a man that fills a room with his poise and presence.