We're taking a little break... See you in Nov!

a few patterns I've been meaning to release - one of these days! 

Hey friends and listeners of the Close Knit Podcast.

Firstly, thank you so much for listening, reviewing, and just generally being kind about the podcast. It's been an exciting and challenging journey - learning how to make a podcast from scratch - and I can't thank all of you enough for hanging in there with me, even when episodes are too quiet, or they're running late, or links don't work.

I switched over to a weekly schedule a few months ago, and that's really starting to take its toll on me. Because I do every element of creating the podcast, it's a biggie in terms of time and commitment, and it's in addition to the full time day jobs I have. 

I announced a few weeks ago that the Close Knit Podcast is seeking sponsorship, and I am very keen to continue pursuing this as a way to enable me to spend more time on the podcast. If you're interested in speaking about sponsorship - drop me a line at hello [at] closeknit.com.au - or use my contact form.

For the month of October, I'll continue to interview new guests and edit episodes, flesh out the sponsorship model, and keep finding ways to spread the fibre arts love. 

Thanks again for the continual support -I feel so lucky to be surrounded by such talented, kind, and supportive folks in the fibre community.

If you haven't listened to all the 17 episodes already, you can do so from here - and while you're there, if you haven'y already reviewed the podcast, please feel free to do that, too! :) 

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 SIXTEEN :: Sarah Belcher of Blue Highway Hand Dyes - 'Comparison is the thief of joy', creating a local yarn, and exploring natural dyes

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 16, I spoke to Sarah Belcher of Blue Highway Handdyes. Sarah lives in Texas, where she creates naturally dyed yarns from locally raised animals. We talk about her journey into dyeing, and how she couldn’t imagine acid dyes in her home around her family so she looked for an alternative and found natural dyes. She then went on to create her own yarn bases for her natural dyes fromTexas -raised merino and mohair. 

Sarah is a a self-described "yarn sniffer"  - which of course we bonded over instantly. She wanted to make her own wool and realised that there was a ton of merino and mohair in Texas and most of it was being sent abroad in bales. That led her to create her Tex Ranch yarn base - from Texas, and spun in Penn. 

When I asked her about how she went from the idea to make a local yarn to actually doing the thing, she told me that she  first just googled american mills, she knew about green mountain spinnery from when she lived in vermont, and mountain meadow mills, and coincidentally there is someone very close by making a small mill. Those guys would take a smaller minimum of fibre so that meant she could get small amounts processed more easily. She was able to figure it out by asking and the fibre community has been so open to sharing knowledge.

We also discussed many of the larger mills are often not aware that there is a huge market for farm to needle and lament the mass textile market that all of the wool goes overseas automatically. 

Sarah is a process knitter - she just knits to knit for the sake of it. it quiets her mind,  and she knits a little bit every night to wind down. It's like meditation. 

Sarah's biggest bit of advice:

"comparison is the thief of joy. look long enough to get inspired, but not so long to feel less about your own efforts." 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• sugarhouse workshop - vermont based amazing quilter, natural dyer
• folk fibres - texas based amazing quilter natural dyer 
• botanical colors: natural dye expert cathy
• 44 clovers - natural dyer
• sasah duerr  - natural dyer 
• dogwood dyer - natural dyer 
• fibershed - resource for making clothes locally - highly recommend checking them out! 

Find Sarah: 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 FIFTEEN:: Kylie Norton - Embroidery Artist - Exploring Intersectional Feminist Theory, Menstruation, and Indigenous Culture and Traditions

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.

Kylie Norton is an embroidery artist from the south island of New Zealand, who presently lives in Melbourne. She makes large scale embroidery with wool yarns, one piece takes her 4 to 5 months to make. Kylie goes through an incredibly time intensive process of cutting up the yarn and re-raveling it together to get the colours she wants.  Taught by her mum to cross stitch with kits as a kid, she experimented with colour blending and learnt how to re-ravel yarns to get a more full colour palette to work with. 

Kylie found her way into large scale fibre art rather recently, after earning her masters in Art History and wondering how to apply some of what she'd learnt there to her art practice. She searched for a while and couldn't find anything like what she imagined, so she just figured she'd try it herself. A friend of hers with excellent taste wanted to buy it, so she decided to continue pursuing these large scale embroidery pieces. 

We speak about how she uses her art history background in her fibre art - specifically indigenous culture and women and menstruation. Her work is about how different cultures celebrate (or do not celebrate) women's cycles and she's continuing to explore themes around this intersectional space Growing up in New Zealand, indigenous culture was celebrated and taught in school, and she found that it was very much a part of her life. We compare and contrast Australia, the US, and Canada and how these communities have emphasised or de-emphasised Indigenous culture and knowledge.

Kylie has loved how the fibre arts community has been inclusive and open to her and we chat about her inspiration in the community. 

Kylie's Biggest Bit of Advice

"don't ever doubt your own skill...[and] don't let anyone belitte you...if it's a serious art form for you, then let it be. Give it a go and see what happens - the worst is it doesn't work out, which is not a big deal" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Louise Jones - draws illustrations and stitches onto paper and stitches directly onto high fashion magazines 
• Suzanna Scott  - fibre artist creating vaginas and vulvas out of fabric. 
• Danielle Clough - embroidery artist using interesting objects to stitch onto 
• Australian Tapestry Workshop - massive group collaborative weaving projects 
• Craft Victoria - excellent resource for VIC based crafts people. 

Find Kylie: instagram 

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

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