EPISODE TWENTY FOUR :: Olive Riley of Spinning A Yarn - Keeping the Business in the Family + Balancing Full Time Work and Creative Projects

January 25, 2017 by Ani Lee in Podcast

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.

This week I spoke to Olive Riley of Spinning A Yarn. Olive is a hand-dyer based in New Zealand. We talk about how a visit to the Massey University Open Day took her from wanting to study nursing to studying textiles, and how her schooling has influenced her work. Olive took over the business, Spinning A Yarn, from her sister Jess, and we talk about what it’s like to take over a business from a family member, and how they’ve worked together to grow the business.

Olive is generously sponsoring a giveaway of 3 skeins of her handdyed silk/merino yarn, here's how to enter:

1. Follow @spinningayarnnz on instagram

2. Follow @close_knit on instagram

3. Comment on this blog post with your instagram handle and name

GIVEAWAY CLOSES FRIDAY, 10th Feb, 2017 8am AEST.

Olive and I discuss how her education at Massey influenced her work. Whilst at uni, she took a natural dye course, but over time she has changed to acid reactive dyes, which she learned from Jess in their garage.

In addition to Spinning A Yarn, Olive works full time - for Wool Yarns, a yarn making factory, where she works on apparel yarns that are possum merino blends. She particularly loves getting to see the whole process of making a yarn from start to finish.

A major motivation that keeps Olive going: people giving positive feedback about the yarn. Sometimes she feels like she's not doing enough or it's not good enough, but meeting people who love the yarn is motivating. She walks me through the financial logistics of her business, and finds that it's a great way to pay for a hobby (and gives her yarn to play with). She's really happy with the size that it is, and that she doesn't rely on it for income - instead she finds that it pays for itself and for her to travel to 3-4 markets around NZ throughout the year.

Olive's biggest bit of advice:

"keep going, and enjoy it....do what you want to do. A tip for people learning a new fibre craft: try and do projects that teach you a new thing each time you're making something... choose patterns that challenge yourself"

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Koel Magazine : beautiful magazine for makers.
Laine Magazine: beautiful Nordic magazine with homely and warming aesthetic
Truly Myrtle: Libby, Olive's gotten to know her at markets
Marta Buda: beautiful weaver and textile design

Find Olive: website | instagram | facebook

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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!

Ani

EPISODE TWENTY THREE :: Emma Lehan of The Fleece and Wheel - Having and Go + Thoughts on Sourcing Locally

January 12, 2017 by Ani Lee in Podcast

In Episode 23 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Emma Lehan of The Fleece and Wheel.Emma is a knitter and spinner based in Queensland. We chat about how Emma’s interest in knitting eventually led her to spinning, and how her thoughtful partner gave her a drop spindle as a christmas present a few years ago, leading her down the path she’s on now. Last year, Emma got involved in an Etsy Local market, which was a huge motivator for her to get her business up and running. We talk about how she’s managed her business and why she’s chosen to source locally. Emma walks me through how she has found her sources of fibre and how she’s developed these relationships over time.

Emma is generously sponsoring a giveaway of 3 luscious skeins of her handspun alpaca! Here's how to enter:

1. Follow @thefleeceandwheel on instagram

2. Follow @close_knit on instagram

3. Comment on this blog post with your instagram handle and name

GIVEAWAY CLOSES FRIDAY, 27TH JAN 2017 8am AEST.

Emma's biggest bit of advice:

"Have a go. Because a lot of people think 'I can't possibly do that'. and that's wrong, of course you can, you just have to try... Just start, and don't get discouraged"

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Tanis Fiber Arts - who Emma blames for turning her into a yarn snob
Boho chic Fibre Co - handspun and handdyed, and knit designs
Aurelian townsend - incredible weaver and spinner
the unusual pear - where Emma got her first drop spindle!
pickle and co fibres - the amazing indie dyer who introduced Emma to White Gum Wool

Find Emma: website | instagram

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Until next time!

Ani

EPISODE TWENTY TWO :: Brandi Harper of purlBknit - The "Happy Hustle" of working in Fibre + Notes on Ethnicity in Craft

December 27, 2016 by Ani Lee in Podcast

In episode 22 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke to Brandi Harper of purlBknit. Brandi is a knitter and lover of natural fibers who lives in Brooklyn. We cover the usual podcast topics, but Brandi and I took a little bit of a different angle with this podcast episode. It occurred to me recently that my podcast guests, whilst varied in their craft forms, mainly have come from a similar ethnic background. I want to use the podcast as a way to hold space for people of all backgrounds, and especially voices that are not typically heard from in the craft community.

I loved getting to hear Brandi's thoughts on the topics that are not usually vocalised in this community - and I'm going to leave it at that and let this podcast episode speak for itself - I'd highly recommend giving it a listen!

Brandi's biggest bit of advice:

"find people on youtube that you really connect with in terms of their teaching style, their video aesthetic.

Rent books from the library, buying books can get super expensive and you don’t know that the book will answer the questions you have. if you can use natural fibers, if you can use wool."

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Purl soho
verypinkknits
karen templar - she gives away so much knowledge, she’s talented, always creating new work
stephen west

Find Brandi: website | instagram

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Until next time!

Ani

EPISODE TWENTY ONE :: Lisa Anderson Shaffer of Zelma Rose - The "Chaotic Crisis Pregnancy Business Plan", and Building a Creative Practice Alongside Motherhood

December 14, 2016 by Ani Lee in Podcast

A huge thanks to this week's episode sponsor - Gradient Yarn Australia.

Gradient Yarn Australia is an independent yarn dyeing business started by Briony Mannering. Briony is an Independent yarn colourist, teacher and knitwear designer based in South East Melbourne. Her passion for craft lead her to yarn dyeing in 2012. A few years later started working on her knitwear design. Now, she’s known for her yarn line of smooth graduated colours, and her knitwear designs that artfully display these colour schemes.

A typical day will find Briony dyeing and experimenting with dye techniques in the mornings, and knitting in the afternoons. Her latest yarn evolution is utilising local yarn and combining with natural dyes.

When she was younger, Briony nearly ran away with the local circus! The only clowning around she has time for now is with her two young boys.

You can find Gradient Yarn Australia at www.gradientyarnaustralia.com and on instagram @gradientaus

This week I spoke to Lisa Anderson Shaffer of Zelma Rose. Lisa is a fine artist and sculptural jewellery maker living in the Bay area in California. We talk about her grandmothers (Zelma and Rose, respectively), who introduced her to needlework and crochet as a child, and how she's used these crafts to inform her art practice today. Lisa tells me about her fibre of choice in her jewellery making practice and how when she works with these fibres, it's like a dance to her, it just feels right in her body. When we get into how Zelma Rose came to be and how she approaches it present day, Lisa opens up about her experience transitioning from her career to making art and jewellery full time, and how her experience as a mother has shaped how she has shaped her business.

We discuss how fibre arts is such an ancient practice, but how presently its popularity is growing, but at the same time how it's under the radar enough that Lisa doesn’t feel the pressure to have the traditional production calendar like some of her friends in metalsmithing or leatherwork or the fashion world.

Lisa tells me about how she started zelma rose in 2010 and what she referred to as her "life in chaotic crisis pregnancy business plan", which she remarks that she wouldn't necessarily recommend. She was fed up with her day job and had to leave, and so Zelma Rose was born. She found that she had tons of creative energy whilst pregnant and a desire to make product, before that she had always made fine art. As her business grows, she has to pull the break a bit to be able to be the mother she wants to be. it’s been a steady climb for the last 6 years - a steady slow burn.

Lisa's biggest bit of advice:

"there’s this thing called time. We don’t get it back. So, no matter how scary something is… there is no dead time, no matter how crazy or chaotic life gets… you can’t freeze time… it just keeps going. Stay present with that and reflect on that. “

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Carrie Crawford - @mineral workshop - Lisa loves her work so much, has a “wish I thought of that” moment wth her a lot. canvasses on cotton that are handdyed, interpretations of aerial landscapes.
Lisa also loves following skateboarders, just something about them makes her so stoked.

Find Lisa: website | instagram | facebook

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Until next time!

Ani

EPISODE TWENTY :: Sophe Probst of Urban Roots Handmade - Moving Toward Zero Waste + Asking For What You Want

November 29, 2016 by Ani Lee in Podcast

A huge thank you to this week's episode sponsor - Hanna Lisa Haferkamp.

Hanna Lisa is a creative maker and business coach who works with other small business owners to help them achieve their goals. In addition to coaching, she runs her very own video podcast where she talks about her experience making and running a creative business. You can find that on Youtube at Hannaontheroad (all one word - no second “H” in hanna).

In her spare time, Hanna makes gorgeous project bags for the modern knitter. Frustrated with the project bags on offer, she set about designing her own to meet her minimalist aesthetic and her needs as a knitter - like yarn not getting tangled up! She does a shop update once or twice a month, and you can find out about those via her instagram or her podcast.

As a special treat For Close Knit Podcast Listeners, Hanna is offer a discount on her project bags! Enter the code CLOSEKNIT at checkout to get 10% off her project bags!

Thanks again to Hanna Lisa for this generous offer and for sponsoring the Close Knit Podcast.

This week I spoke to Sophe Probst of Urban Roots Handmade. Sophe is a zero-waste advocate living in Louisiana, making and selling minimally packaged linen and hemp linen products for the home and the body. She discovered hemp when she was looking for environmentally-friendly options to make herself dresses, after seeing Sonya Philip's 100 Acts of Sewing patterns and getting hooked. Before starting her shop, Sophe worked for a number of environmental organisations that fuelled her desire to run a business in a thoughtful way. She then started learning about the zero waste movement from the likes of Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home, and she began looking for ways to incorporate minimalism into her life.

After becoming a mother, Sophe began questioning the legacy she would leave for her children, and this led her to starting Urban Roots Handmade. We talk about the realities of running a business as a mother - this means a lot of time spent in the wee hours of the morning sewing - and how she plans to handles business growth without compromising on her ethics. We also get into some of the nitty gritty of how she learnt to price her work, and how she handles the finances of her business.

In her former working life, Sophe worked for a number of environmental organisations, and worked as an environmental educator. When she had her children, it made her question things, and she became emotionally tied to her children’s legacy. She started by sewing their cloth diapers, then got into zero waste reading like Bea Johnson, which led her to start refusing plastic and being more minimalist in her lifestyle. She often struggled to reconcile the idea that she was making new stuff with a minimalist/zero waste lifestyle, so she decided to do it plastic free. She asked her suppliers to ship plastic free, and she changed the way she made things to be less wasteful to fit into her ethos.

Sophe learnt to sew as a child, her grandmother taught her to sew at age 10, and she made her first quilt in high school (she hand quilted it!). She reckons that introduction to sewing on a machine made her much less intimidated by using the machine as an adult. Her grandmother also taught her to knit, but Sophe reckons she's a bit slower at knitting (than sewing).

Something Sophe cherishes about being a small business is the personal contact she has with her customers. She always includes a handwritten note in her packages, and we talk about how this informs her decisions with wholesaling and growing her business.

Sophe's biggest bit of advice:

"I’m a big believer in buying quality. I bought the nice sewing machine, the one that was built to last, and I think that has made me want to sew more than if I was sewing on a plastic piece of crap.

And asking for things that you want. That’s been hard for me because I’m shy. Asking for what you want, and if you don’t get it, then move on, but if you do, it’s because you asked. “

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Sonya Phillips - 100 Acts of Sewing - Ani and Sophe both gush about their love for Sonya's patterns, their simplicity and beauty.
Bea Johnson Zero Waste Home - how Sophe was introduced to the idea of zero waste and what prompted her to start incorporating plastic free methods into her life.
Honeybee good - Sophe's supplier of wooden spool organic cotton thread, they ship in plastic free packaging.
Maura Grace Folk Fibers - natural dyer, amazing quilter
Sugarhouse Workshop - as above! (natural dyer, amazing quilter)
Jana Valachovicova - maker of recycled textiles
Trash is for Tossers - another great zero waste resource
Adrienne Shanti @jai_jai_ma - a personal fav of Ani's, as well as Sophe's. We just love Adrienne!

Find Sophe: website | instagram | facebook

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Until next time!

Ani