Craft & Care - COVID19

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

This is a special episode of the Close Knit Podcast, an idea that came to me while I was standing in the shower, trying to process our current reality.

A few days after the shelter-in-place ordinance began in the Bay Area, I started turning more heavily to my knitting, finding myself really drawn to things that provide me comfort, and I started to wonder if others were doing the same. Then I remembered that I, in fact, host a podcast where this is the entire subject : “conversation about the ways we use fiber to process life and world events”, and this is a time of unprecedented processing - on a global scale.

What this made me think of was podcasts and radio shows where the host would ask people to call in and answer a specific question. So, I reached out to the Close Knit Podcast community, former guests on the show, to see if they’d be interested in speaking to what this time has meant for them and their lives and businesses.

I posed the questions: How are you using fiber to navigate this strange time? If you are a fiber-based business- how are you being impacted (if you are comfortable sharing) and how can members of the close knit podcast community support you in this time? 

You’ll hear from:

Anny crane

Tal Fitzpatrick

Jewell Christine

Sarah Danu

Brandi Harper

Deva Oneill

Hanna Lisa Haferkamp

Mandy Kordal

Liz Spencer

Aaron Sanders Head

Stephanie from Social Justice Sewing Academy

I can’t tell you how warm it made me feel to hear the voices of all of these friends of mine - some of whom I haven’t gotten to physically speak to since we recorded. Hearing their voices was like a balm for my tender heat right now.

Thank you so much for listening!

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes & Stitcher

• Follow along on Instagram

• Support the podcast through patreon

Until next time! 

xx

ani

EPISODE 53 :: Geana Sieburger of GDS Cloth Goods

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

This is Episode 53 of the Close Knit Podcast - today I am joined by Geana Sieburger of GDS, who founded GDS in 2015. Growing up in Brazil deeply influenced her work, a place where in the 80’s, bakeries could be found every few blocks and skilled seamstresses still sewed a good portion of people’s everyday wardrobes. Community was the connection between everything, including food and fashion.

With both people and environment in mind, Geana's dream is for GDS to become a meaningful part of her community through products that excite consumers into learning about how their purchasing choices impact their direct neighbors as well as people on the other side of the globe.

Find Geana : Instagram | Website

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes & Stitcher

• Follow along on Instagram

• Support the podcast through patreon

Until next time! 

xx

ani

EPISODE 52 :: Gina Stovall of two days off clothing - Building a Sustainable Clothing Brand On Your Days Off

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

You’re listening to Episode 52 of the Close Knit Podcast and this week I spoke to Gina Stovall of Two Days Off Clothing.

The final guest in my series of people who are working in production, for this year at least, is Gina Stovall - an intentional minimalist living in LA, working in Climate Research and designing clothing made sustainably in LA. 

From my time following Gina's clothing brand and her personal instagram, I got the sense that Gina and I might have a bit in common - but talking to her took that to a whole new level. From slightly sillier details, like our mutual love of data, and the way we get a deep satisfaction of packing clothes for traveling, to more profound things - like our shared wondering about how slow fashion can exist, and how to exist in an influencer culture. 

Gina was just so easy to talk to - and we covered so much ground in this chat - running a business alongside a dayjob, how it is that she keeps enough time for herself for rest, and her work in climate research. 

Gina is very generously offering Close Knit Podcast listeners a 15% off discount! Enter the code CLOSEKNIT at checkout on twodaysoff.com.

This will be the last episode of what I am very informally calling Season 1 of the Close Knit Podcast (although it has technically spanned about 3 years). Something you might notice me doing in this episode (and I have noticed myself doing it a lot of late), is asking questions about the role of the influencer/social media in general on slow fashion and the making community. I have some half-baked ideas around it all, and am finding that something like a break sounds right for me for now. Something else I've been thinking a lot about, especially a few weeks ago when I was sick in bed for about a week - is the necessity of rest. 

I really do love making the podcast, so it's scary to think about stopping doing that - even if I know it's temporary, but in the interest of listening to my body while it's still a whisper and less of a scream, I'm taking a pause on making the podcast to rest more. If you're supporting the podcast through patreon, your pledge will pause until we're up and running again! 

We'll return in the spring of 2020 with more podcast goodness, and until then, you can find me via my newsletter, on closeknit.com.au, and sometimes teaching at various spots in the bay. 

I'll miss making the podcast, but I'm so excited to give my body a chance to really deeply rest, and come back with even more vigor and excitement to produce more episodes with all the wonderful, thoughtful folks working in fiber in our world. 

Find Gina : Instagram | Website

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts & now Stitcher

• Follow along on Instagram

• Support the podcast through 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 51 :: Sarah Danu of Danu Organic - Plant-Colored Clothes & Designing and Manufacturing Wardrobe Staples

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

all photos by Hubbard M Jones

You’re listening to Episode 51 of the Close Knit Podcast and this week I spoke to  Sarah Danu of Danu Organic. You’ve probably noticed this year that I’ve focused a lot on clothing production and slow fashion in my interviews. I was thinking about this recently and I don’t know exactly why that is - it’s just been a curiosity that I’ve had, and I’ve followed it. It’s led me to so many interesting conversations with people producing clothing - from designers to makers, and I’ve learned so much about the way that people produce clothing locally - and all the steps involved in this! 

So that all led me to Sarah - who runs Danu Organic, a clothing line made from organic color grown cottons. Sarah tells me about her memories from childhood of sewing buttons onto a scrap of fabric, as she learned to sew, and a beautiful quilt project she and her mom undertook as she prepared for her first year of college. 

Sarah made a bunch of bold career decisions that led her to WOOFing and an interest in the slow food movement, which ultimately led her to seeking out solutions in slow fashion to treat our bodies, the bodies of workers, and the planet with care and respect - which led her to seeking out Fibershed in the Bay Area, and ultimately connecting to scientist and farmer, Sally Fox. 

Sarah walks me through her journey with production so far, how she’s had to let go of some of the traditional advice around timelines and launching products, she tells me about her vision for her line - offering clothing for masculine folks and children (!! which is exciting, if you’ve been around in the slow fashion scene for a minute!), and some upcoming natural dyeing on her garments. 

And Sarah is generously offering a discount code just for Close Knit Podcast listeners! Head to Danuorganic.com and use the code closeknit (all lowercase, one word) at checkout for 20% off! 

The Close Knit Podcast is supported by the following people (& more!) through Patreon. If you'd like to support the podcast please check out patreon! 

Aleksandra Alex Alicia Alison C Alison S Amanda Bee Belle Brittany Caitlin Carolina Carolyn Casey Cath Catherine Chantale Chase Elizabeth Ellen Emily B Emily P Emily T Hanna Lisa Heather James Justice Laura Lauren Lawral leah Lindsay Lyle Marta Morgan Natalie Natasha Niki Rachel Sandy Sarah B Sarah H Shelby Shelly shivani - THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Find Sarah : Instagram | Website

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts & now Stitcher

• Follow along on Instagram

• Support the podcast through 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 50 :: Mandy Kordal of Kordal Studio - Knitting on Machines & Local and International Production

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

 In episode 50 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Mandy Kordal of Kordal Studio. Mandy is someone I have admired for so long - every single collection she’s designed has just made me swoon, and it was such a treat to bring her onto the podcast this month. She walks me all the way back to her earliest memory of working with textiles - influenced by her grandmother and her mother, who are both talented designers and sewists. 

As has been my line of inquiry lately - this year, actually, I wanted to understand how Mandy went from altering and painting on her clothes as a kid to running a knitwear and now woven-ware clothing line. How her interest was piqued by a neighbor, leading her to study fashion design and taking a class in machine knitting - which informs her garment design and making presently. 

We discuss the subtleties of machine knitwear design, fiber sourcing, and how being a values-driven brand, as a concept, is an evolution. Mandy talks me through their partnerships with weavers and mills in Peru and Guatemala and how these relationships have evolved over the course of Kordal’s existence. Listen on for our whole chat! Thanks for tuning in! 

I wanted to pause for a moment to acknowledge that this is the 50th episode of the Close Knit Podcast. 

50 whole episodes! That just feels like a real milestone to me. 

And I just wanted to say thanks. Thank you for listening, and for supporting the podcast. If you’re already pledging on patreon, I so appreciate you. And if you’ve enjoyed the podcast thus far, you can support the podcast to continue to exist by pledging through patreon. 

Over the course of this last year, your support has helped me pay my bills, hire an editor, and offset website maintenance costs. It’s been an enormous help and it really does enable me to work on this project long term, in a sustainable way. 

Check out my patreon here :)

50 freaking episodes - what a humbling joy it has been to produce this work with and for you. 

Your support means the world to me. 

The Close Knit Podcast is supported by the following people (& more!) through Patreon. If you'd like to support the podcast please check out patreon! 

Aleksandra Alex Alicia Alison C Alison S Amanda Bee Belle Brittany Caitlin Carolina Carolyn Casey Cath Catherine Chantale Chase Elizabeth Ellen Emily B Emily P Emily T Hanna Lisa Heather James Justice Laura Lauren Lawral leah Lindsay Lyle Marta Morgan Natalie Natasha Niki Rachel Sandy Sarah B Sarah H Shelby Shelly shivani - THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Find Mandy : Instagram | Website

Want more? 

• Subscribe: Itunes or Pocket Casts & now Stitcher

• Follow along on Instagram

• Support the podcast through 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