EPISODE SIXTEEN :: Sarah Belcher of Blue Highway Hand Dyes - 'Comparison is the thief of joy', creating a local yarn, and exploring natural dyes

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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:

Find Sarah: website | instagram | facebook 

Want more? 

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 FOURTEEN:: Jacinta of Plump and Co - Finding Your Way as a Tactile Person, and The Roller Coaster of Starting a Business

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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.

photo cred: Kate Claridge

photo cred: Kate Claridge

In Episode Fourteen  of the Close Knit Podcast, I speak to Jacinta of Plump and Co. Jacinta is a knitter who developed Plump and Co, a company that sells beautifully giant, felted yarn made in New Zealand. Growing up in New Zealand and studying textiles there, Jacinta became enamored with all of the incredible fibre around her and the community she lived in, so she sought to make a product that really celebrated her community. We talk about her love of all things tactile, how she began her business, and the roller coaster that running your own small business can be. 

photo cred Rachel Dobbs

photo cred Rachel Dobbs

Jacinta tells me about how she made the move from the corporate world to making felted yarn - and how after university she was always being drawn back to textiles, even when her work life took her elsewhere. We discuss how the majority of folks in her graduating textiles class didn't end up in textile jobs, but many have gone on to start their own amazing projects like a favourite of Jacinta's -  The Neighbourhood Studio. 

And my personal favourite part of this conversation, when Jacinta opens up about the realities of running a small business, and how it has not all been easy. She tells us about her journey from working on a project at uni to realising she wanted to make felted wool on a larger scale but also keeping it local to NZ. She wanted to share it with her community, to be able to get all different generations of knitters involved. She explains how she went from working a corporate job doing plump and co on the side to working on Plump and Co full time with the financial help of her husband. Now, she's hired a friend to help her with her business and she talks about how important that has been in her journey. 

Jacinta's biggest bit of advice? 

"stop talking about it, and go do it. " 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

  • Nikki Gabriel - jacinta's biggest inspiration, hugely talented knitwear designer 
  • Forever Farmhouse - lovely friend of Jacinta, talented knitter, lovely lady 
  • Little Loom - lovely and kind weaver friend Julie from NSW 
  • Wool Days - incredible new Australian merino yarn with a beautiful aesthetic and message 

Find Jacinta: instagram | website | facebook

Want more? 

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

EPISODE TEN :: Lizzy Mendinsky of Above the Canopy - Fibre Arts in Cultures around the World and Beanie-Ribbing Turned Necklace

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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.

above the canopy

Lizzy and I talk about how she sources her materials and the challenges shes faced in trying to find materials that she feels impact the world in a positive way. She gravitates toward natural fibres and natural dyes, and tries to primarily source these fibres for her label. She's found great folks along the way who are empowering local communities in economically-depressed area - and has incorporated their yarns into her business. 

For Lizzy, knitting came into her life one Christmas when her auntie taught her - she then went on to sew throughout her youth and happened upon knitting again as an adult. She tells the story of how the beginning of a beanie actually birthed the concept for Above the Canopy.

In addition to working on Above the Canopy, Lizzy had a full time job doing graphic design -another passion of hers, and only recently has she turned her attention full time to Above the Canopy. 

above the canopy 2

Lizzy's biggest bit of advice? 

"stick with it.... You just have to persist with it, and once you get it it is so therapeutic. So you just have to persist through it" 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

  • Queen Babs - Jane - the woman who comes up on most podcast episodes because she is a gem. Lizzy admires her work, her strength, her grace. You can't not fall in love with Jane! 

Find Lizzy: instagram | facebook | website

Want more? 

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 EIGHT :: Catherine Wendland - Knitting for the Love of Good Wool, Small Scale, Local Production, and Staying Grounded in a World of Social Media

in
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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 (ep. 8) of the Close Knit Podcast, I chat to Catherine Wendland, a knitter based in the Pacific Northwest. Catherine expresses her undying love for wool and the many amazing qualities it possesses, and how incredible the fibre community can be. She also reveals some thoughts on the not-so-nice side of social media and the competition it can spark.  At the same time, Catherine has greatly enjoyed the social aspect of the fibre community and relishes in sharing her finished objects with other hand makers. 

 

Catherine explains her newfound approach to making - a more mindful approach that considers what she truly needs in her wardrobe and focusing in on the process. She's also incorporating more knits for other folks in her life, straying from the "selfish" knitting she started out with. 

These (picture below) are the knitting patterns Catherine designed in high school - like we were chatting about on the podcast - aren't they awesome?! 

People/ Things we mentioned in the podcast:

Find Catherine: instagram

Want more? 

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