EPISODE 39 :: Mike Reynolds of Everyday Girl Dad : Masculinity, Fatherhood & Listening to Lived Experience

The Close Knit podcast aims to hold space for conversation about the ways we use fiber to process world and life events

This week I spoke to Mike Reynolds of Everyday Girl Dad. Mike first came across my radar with his feminism-forward parenting and life thoughts and then I noticed that he was cross stitching. After engaging with each other’s content for a while, we finally sat down to talk, and we covered all the ground you might expect from a person like Mike - a father who parents daughters, is outspoken about feminism, masculinity and mental health. We discuss how we got into cross stitch and the way he uses it in his own life, and how he got started with designing his own patterns when folks he wanted to cross stitch weren’t being represented in popular cross stitch. We talk about the importance of being willing to listen to other people’s lived experiences, and how this has been a central part of his learning of feminism. Mike acknowledges the way in which his privilege allows him to have sometimes difficult conversations with other men and masculine folks, and how important this is to him.

I think a lot about gender and the way that it’s been steeped into every corner of our lives, so it was really gratifying to talk to someone whose lived experience if different to my own, and so wonderful hearing from a man about gentle masculinity and how this can look in real life. 

The Close Knit Podcast is supported by the following people (& more!) through Patreon. If you'd like to support the podcast and get access to sneak peeks + additional content for patrons-only, please check out patreon! 

Debra  Pam  Ranae  Elise  Laura  Amanda  Jaclyn  Emily  Jess  Anna  Tal  Jen  Carolina  Alison Morgan  Chantale  Cath  Casey  James  Sandra  Justice  Brittany  Hanna  Sarah Alicia  Rachel  Natasha  Josie  Lyle A  Lauren Natalie  Charlotte  Leah

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• fembroidery - pieces and messaging around the pieces

• cara handmade

• fat owl fibers : star trek and harry potter pieces 

Find Mike: website | instagram   | facebook

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts & now Stitcher
• Follow along on Instagram
• Get access to exclusive content, sneak peeks and more on patreon

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 38 :: Lauren McDonald of Working Cloth - A Discussion of the Historical and Gendered Context of Fashion & the Universality of the Running Stitch

The Close Knit podcast aims to hold space for conversation about the ways we use fiber to process world and life events

A huge thank you to this episodes' sponsor, Sugar Candy Mountain. Sugar Candy Mountain is a sustainable women's clothing line, made in LA from natural fibers. I love the attention to detail that they take with their clothing to ensure it has the longest lifetime possible - from sourcing high quality linens to using french seams and strong finishes in all their garments. They've totally eliminated plastic from their packaging, which is a huge win the fashion industry. I'm especially obsessed with their linen jumpsuits and cotton gauze, oversized breezy tops for summer-loving. Check them out online at sugarcandymtn.com and on instagram @sugar_candy_moutnain. Thanks again to Sugar Candy Mountain for sponsoring this episode of the Close Knit Podcast! 

In episode 38, I spoke to an old friend of mine - Lauren McDonald of Working Cloth. We recorded this chat in my closet while Lauren was knitting a baby hat, for no baby in particular - which probably tells you a lot about how it is that we became such good friends. We talk about how Lauren went from being the kid at the playground making friendship bracelets to studying in human ecology (formerly known as home ec), to working in fashion in london for 3ish years, to starting Working Cloth. Lauren and I met one month after she started Working Cloth, when she was living in Australia, making sense of her place. Lauren taught a sashiko workshop in Hobart & and we discuss her study of sashiko, the history of textiles & she casually drops her thesis into conversation - "the corporotization of craft in the early 20th century with a focus on depression era quilts", which of course leads into a whole other conversation about fashion, gender, and a favorite topic of mine - the politics of pockets. 

What I love most about this conversation, apart from everything, is the way in which Lauren articulates her place in all of this - how universal craft is, and how we can all have place in learning and teaching it. How we can contextualize culture in the global use of patchwork and the running stitch. Truly, you just have to listen because Lauren does a much better job of explaining this than I do. We talk about so much more than all this, but I'm running out of podcast intro music, so listen on for the whole chat! 

The Close Knit Podcast is supported by the following people (& more!) through Patreon. If you'd like to support the podcast and get access to sneak peeks + additional content for patrons-only, please check out patreon! 

Debra  Pam  Ranae  Elise  Laura  Amanda  Jaclyn  Emily  Jess  Anna  Tal  Jen  Carolina  Alison Morgan  Chantale  Cath  Casey  James  Sandra  Justice  Brittany  Hanna  Sarah Alicia  Rachel  Natasha  Josie  Lyle A  Lauren Natalie  Charlotte  Leah

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Universality of narratives, IE the 7 basic plots

• The Politics of Pockets

• Ada Fruit for conductive electronics

• Western Canada : Fern's School of Craft in Edmonton

• Pop Up at Hold General in Victoria (wares, tools, workshop)

• Piecework Collective: Quilt Show in NY where the quilts are impressive

• Katherine May - Indigo Dyeing with a jeans factory making quilts from denim scraps

• got a baby who needs a hat? lauren might be offering it to you 

 

Find Lauren: website | instagram  

 

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts & now Stitcher
• Follow along on Instagram
• Get access to exclusive content, sneak peeks and more on patreon

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 37 :: Jess Schreibstein and Claire Moskal of Mild Woman - Friendship, First Sweaters and Valuing & Compensating Creative Work

The Close Knit podcast aims to hold space for conversation about the ways we use fiber to process world and life events

In episode 37, I spoke to another very dynamic duo, Jess Schreibstein and Claire Moskal, who together created a knitting pattern company called Mild Woman. Jess and Claire have been on my radar for years now, with their modern and minimal knitting aesthetics, their very adorable friendship that involves knitting the same things and collaborating on incredible projects. They explain how their friendship came to be, and how they collaborated on Mild Woman. Jess and Claire get into the specifics of how they ran this project and talk about how important it is to value and properly compensate people (even your friends, ESPECIALLY your friends) for their creative output. Claire and Jess talk about their first knitting projects and their first sweaters and how they encourage each other with their creative practices. There are pictures of each of their first sweaters in the show notes for you to see, which I gotta say, are remarkably less embarrassing than my own first projects, which I think speaks to their aesthetics and their creative abilities. 

Claire's First Sweater:                                                            Jess's first sweater: Michele Wang's Bedford

The Close Knit Podcast is supported by the following people (& more!) through Patreon. If you'd like to support the podcast and get access to sneak peeks + additional content for patrons-only, please check out patreon! 

Amanda Faulkner        Jaclyn Rogerson     Charlotte Helen     Natasha Celm     AC Carter      Alison See  Lyle Mills          Jess Daniels    Sarah Belcher   Cath Derksema        Anna Martinez       Jen Deery      Candice Hiles      Lauren Champs      Alicia Levine     Sandra Blue    Morgan Capestrain      Justice McNeil       Natalie Sweeney    Emily Tan   James Davis     Brittany Hoffman     Rachel Beckman    leah  pinault

pic by @nate.gregorio

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Fiberspace - Claire's former LYS in Alexandria Virginia
• Stitch Sew Shop - another great shop in Alexandria
• Elizabeth Suzann - A brand all of us love aesthetically and business model-wise
• Wiksten - Jenny Gordy: the way her brand runs, again, aesthetics and timing. 
• Netflix Documentary - Wild Wild Country

Find Claire: instagram  | Ravelry 

Find Jess: instagram  | Ravelry 

Find Mild Woman: Ravelry, website, and Instagram

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts & now Stitcher
• Follow along on Instagram
• Get access to exclusive content, sneak peeks and more on patreon

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 36 :: Lily Schlosser and James Davis - Weaving Family History, Making Friends with Anxiety & Practicing Gratitude

The Close Knit podcast aims to hold space for conversation about the ways we use fiber to process world and life events

This week I spoke to a couple of people who inspire me so much. aaaaand spoiler also inspire each other because they’re MARRIED. These people are - Lily Schlosser of Eli and Barry and James Davis of Engaged Weaving. You won’t believe it, but I didn’t know that the two of them had anything to do with each other, I was separately following each of them, and just about died when I found out how they were related. In this open and vulnerable chat, James and Lily talk about how important fibre arts and the fibre arts community have been for them in processing their life events and supporting their mental health. James opens up about how his weaving practice has been a vehicle for processing and healing from grief and loss and Lily discusses her journey with anxiety and how supportive her practice of clothes making has been and how sharing her struggles with anxiety openly has given her a new and fuller way of connecting with her audience. There’s so much in this chat - so many ways that Lily and James show up to vulnerability wholeheartedly, and I am incredibly grateful that they were willing to share in this way. 

(above) james' work (below) clothing lily designs and creates for eli and barry 

The Close Knit Podcast is supported by the following people (& more!) through Patreon. If you'd like to support the podcast and get access to sneak peeks + additional content for patrons-only, please check out patreon! 

Amanda Faulkner        Jaclyn Rogerson     Charlotte Helen     Natasha Celm     AC Carter      Alison See  Lyle Mills          Jess Daniels    Sarah Belcher   Cath Derksema        Anna Martinez       Jen Deery      Candice Hiles      Lauren Champs      Alicia Levine     Sandra Blue    Morgan Capestrain      Justice McNeil       Natalie Sweeney    Emily Tan   James Davis     Brittany Hoffman     Rachel Beckman    leah  pinault

 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Sarah Neubert: James' weaving teacher and to be honest about what's going on in his life 
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Hannah Gadsby and her show Nanette, how we process trauma and how we collectively hold trauma (or we do not)  
• Lily is making a Cline sweater 
• Fiber Camp - Lily and James are going to Small Acre Farm for fiber camp in Fort Collins CO 
• Guilds are an amazing resource - find your local one! some of them have grants to give you! 
• Natalie Novak: Combed Thunder 
• James wrote a submission for Roving Magazine - EDIT: James got in!! Here is his writing

Find Lily: instagram  | website 

Find James: instagram  

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts & now
• Follow along on Instagram
• Get access to exclusive content, sneak peeks and more on patreon

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 35 :: Tal Fitzpatrick - Creativity's Role In Community Resilience & Viewing Craftivism through a Constructive and Hopeful Lens

The Close Knit podcast aims to hold space for conversation to be had about the ways we use fiber to process world and life events

Just a quick note to say thank you so much to those who have pledged on the close knit patreon so far, your support means so much to me, and will mean a better quality podcast that I can sustainably produce long-term. For those of you who are unfamiliar with patreon, it’s similar to the way that community radio gets funding- it’s a way to give me as little as $1/month to say thanks. Your pledges also give you access to content I’ll be creating just for patrons and sneak peeks at content I’m creating. If you’d like to support the podcast through patreon, you can do so here! 

photo courtesy of Fairfax Media from Tal 

This week I spoke to Tal Fitzpatrick, a textile artist working primarily in appliqué quilting. Tal’s story is one that I’m so excited to share, as she found textile and fibre art later in life than many guests I’ve spoken to on the podcast, (though you’ll learn she has a family history of pretty amazing fibre art) Tal explains how working in natural disaster community resilience projects eventually led her to pursing her PhD and how she looks at Crafitvism in her active, participatory research. Tal has been working on a number of incredible, large-scale social engaged craftivism projects in addition to her PhD, and she talks us through her research on craftivism,  her working definition, and how she sees craftivism as a mode of DIY citizenship. This conversation with Tal was one that had me reeling for days after  - I was trying to explain the conversation to other people in my life, family members and friends, how everything Tal mentioned just resonated so deeply for me. I can’t wait to hear what the podcast community thinks of this episode! 

photo provided by Tal Fitzpatrick

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected and it has been translated into over 500 languages. 
• Edit to our convo about gay marriage: Australia was the 26th country to legalise same sex marriage!
• Tal and Stephanie's UDHR quilt project: http://talfitzpatrick.com/udhr-craftivism-project #UDHRquilt

• CRAFTIVIST MANIFESTO Tal's Craftivism Manifesto will be available as a free download online on the 9th of March here.  && a shout out to Betsy Greer and Sayraphim Lothian whose work Tal drew on when writing her definition of craftivism.

• Male textile artists that inspire Tal: Ben Venom and Lucas Gorgan

• Artists in Tal's family: Dawn Fitzpatrick (My paternal grandmother) Her book: Dawn Fitzpatrick “Folk Art Applique Quilts” (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1990). Sofia Fitzpatrick @toffyfitz @skullsbysofiafitzpatrick          

• Tal's supervisor (and baddass artist and feminist) Kate Just @Katejustknits

• Tal's friend the amazing textile artist : Hannah Gartside @hannahgartside (Australia)

• Craftivist project to follow/support: Social Justice Sewing Academy - @sjsacademy www.sjsacademy.com   

• UDHR artists to look out for:

  • Stephanie Dunlap @eliminatembroidery (USA)
• Janine Heschl @textile_wildlife_art (Austria)
• Helen Fraser @Helenfraserartist (Australia)
• Bolivia Vega @lechienbinair (Venezuela)
• Willemien De Villers @willemien_de_villiers (south Africa)
• Karin Ruut @kerart (finland/Estonia/UK)  
• Alicia Lyes @Craftle_grayskull  (USA)

Find Tal: instagram  | website | 

FIND TAL IRL: 

TAL'S PHD EXHIBITION:

            CRAFTIVISM HQ,  GALLERY: KINGS ARI DATE: 7-10 March 2018,  WED-SAT, 12-6PM

ADDRESS: LEVEL 1, 171 KING STREET, MELBOURNE 3000

WWW.KINGSARTISTRUN.ORG.AU

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