EPISODE NINETEEN :: Julie of Little Loom - Interpreting Fibre In a Free Form Way & Navigating the Complexities of Making and Selling Work

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.

Julie's biggest bit of advice:

"...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"

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• 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 

Find Julie:  instagram 

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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 EIGHTEEN :: Georgie Nicolson of Tikki Knits - Supporting Local Producers, Large Scale Community Textile Art, Becoming a Knitwear Designer

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 18 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Georgie Nicolson of Tikki Knits, a knitwear designer and lover of local Australian wool. Georgie takes me through her journey of sourcing wool, a serendipitous stop at the birthplace of Polworth sheep - Tarndie farm, and what types of fibre she particularly enjoys working with. We discuss her work with SEAM - (Sustainable Environmental Art Movement) on WARM - a large scale collaborative community knitting project making a statement about climate change, and what a unique and interesting challenge it was to create a textile representation of a painted landscape. Georgie and I talk about her transition into knitwear design and how her children influence her design aesthetics. 

A huge thanks to this week's episode sponsor - Wool Gathering. Wool Gathering is an incredibly special event happening Thursday 4th May-Sunday 7th May 2017 in Victoria, Australia - held at the historic and scenic Tarndwarncoort (birthplace of the breed Polworth). At Wool Gathering, participants will have the chance to take classes in wool based crafts like knitting, crochet, spinning, tapestry weaving, Saori weaving, needle felting, wool embroidery, and yarn dyeing. For more information, check out Wool Gathering's website here - tickets for this event go on sale on the 12th Nov 2016 .

Georgie schools me on some of the history behind the Australian wool scence. We discuss the CSIRO wool mill that closed down in around the 80s (? we weren't sure of the exact timing) that used to spin wool for lots of local producers, but was defunded. Georgie also informs me that Nundle is the only commercial mill creating wool yarn that's completely sourced and made in Australia.

We go on to talk about her involvement in WARM - a large scale collaborative community knitting project making a statement about climate change. Georgie had the incredible task of translating a painting into a functional artwork made of knitted objects. Incredibly, and beautifully - everything in the project is a useful object, everything has a life beyond the project. 

Georgie really got back into craft with the birth of her first child, and though she's been designing for a while, she's only recently felt comfortable calling herself a "designer". She does a lot of designing for her children, and as they grow, her patterns also change. 

Georgie's biggest bit of advice:

"don't be afraid to just do what you want to do, and take your own approach, don't be afraid to make mistakes... Don't be afraid to be yourself... There is so much honesty and integrity that comes through when you are yourself" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• White Gum Wool : documenting her shepherding on instagram now - Georgie highly recommends a follow

• Tarndie : birthplace of polworth, amazing farm, location of Wool Gathering 2017! 

Find Georgie: 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

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