EPISODE TWENTY SIX :: Shannon Downey of Badass Cross Stitch - Subversive Embroidery, Craftivism & Processing through Stitching

Photo by Gloria Araya

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 26 of the Close Knit Podcast, I spoke toShannon Downey of Badass Cross stitch. Shannon is a subversive cross stitcher and weaver based in Chicago. We cover some really incredible topics in this episode. Shannon explains how she sees her role in craftivism and the role of craftivism at large. She walks me through her process of creating Feminist War Flags, and tells us about a project on gun violence that prompted her to create an incredible fundraiser for an arts therapy project in Chicago. 

A huge thank you to this week's episode sponsor: Phaedra Clothing.

Phaedra Clothing seeks a balance between elegance of form and functionality. The collection is inspired by Japanese and Scandinavian design which combines attention to detail with practical, every day wear. To Phaedra, a garment is a narrative, a piece that changes over time. The linen becomes softer and more supple, the colours lighten subtly, a piece becomes imbued with memories; signifying a long and happy relationship between garment and wearer. You can find Phaedra Clothing on Etsy and on instagram as @phaedraclothing. 

Thanks again to Phaedra for sponsoring this episode of the Close Knit Podcast! 

Shannon learnt to weave 4 years ago, and her grandmother was a master weaver, who wove at The Lowell Mill - the first industrial place that women were allowed to work (!) 

For Shannon, the act of stitching is a way for her to process. After a major shooting in the US, she found herself stitching a gun. She then called out for people to stitch them and send them to her. Eventually, she gathered these pieces to make an auction to sell for Project Fire, and once they had a project they were funding, the art just started pouring in). In the end, the fundraiser took in around $6000 to help keep that program going. 

Shannon's biggest bit of advice: (note I didn't actually ask this question, but she did give some great craftivism advice)

"[for a craftivism project] give a hard deadline, with 2 weeks in between the hard deadline and the moment [of action, ie the auction]... give people a lot of lead time" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

• Project Fire - arts therapy project that shannon helped raise funds for with her gun embroidery craftivism project
• craftivista- betsy greer "godmother of craftivism" 
• the craftivists collective @craftivists
• subversive cross stitch
• rowdy corazon 
• gone but not forgotten quilts - documenting the names of folks killed by the Chicago Police Department

Find Shannon: website | instagram 

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Until next time! 

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