Yarn in the City

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Episode 82: Working on Holiday Time Aug 15, 2018

Show notes

We are both in North America on our summer holidays, so on this episode we chat about our holiday knits, exciting new (and old!) shops we've visited, and new creative inspirations. We also have some Great London Yarn Crawl and Yarnporium updates!

Thanks to our sponsor

This episode of the podcast is sponsored by The Yarn Collective, a fibre and design company focused on working with independent designers to bring you luxurious hand-dyed yarns in a range of inspiring colourways. These international designers represent the best of modern knitwear design and include Bristol Ivy, Melanie Berg, Carol Feller and Michele Wang. Each designer has created and curated a distinctive and wonderful line for The Yarn Collective. You can find out more about the yarns by visiting http://www.theyarncollective.com.

Great London Yarn Crawl 2018 – Update GLYC 2018 is now sold out! If you missed getting your ticket, please check our Ravelry boards for ticket swaps. We look forward to kicking off the autumn knitting season with you all on 1 September!

Yarnporium Update It's almost time to grab your tickets for Yarnporium! Entry tickets will go on sale very soon, along with tickets to our Saturday talk series, which will include three 1-hour talks.

We are thrilled to be offering the Saturday talk series, which will include two panel discussions: The New Yarn Barons (all about what it takes to create a yarn, from the indy dyer with a few bespoke bases through up and coming new yarn companies), and Your Pattern in Print (learn about about different avenues for seeing your designs in the public eye, from self-publishing, mainline magazines and online exposure). The third talk is The Story of Laine – Sini and Ellen will give an overview of their yarn adventure creating Laine magazine, which has gone from an idea to a successful worldwide publication in less than two years.

Ticket details Yarnporium day tickets: £10 in advance/£12 on the day (no weekend tickets) Talk series: £8 in advance/£10 on the day

What we're working on

Allison visited Villekulla in Calgary and is working on the Fuss Free Festival Shawl by Louise Tillbrook (Praline is in time out). She's also taught herself herringbone stitch for a secret project!

Rachel is three quarters of the way through Study Hall by Sarah Schira from Knitty First Fall, and is finding that using two multi-coloured/speckled yarns for a pattern the depends on strong colour contrasts may not have been the best idea. But it's still working!

Working on Holiday Time

Tits Out Collective update: Countess Ablaze and her crew of Tits Out Collective crafters raised over £55,000 for charities worldwide!!!! We may have teared up a little at that number. Well done to all!

We chat about our holiday knits, new inspiration from Reykjavik (Rachel), and many many shops (Allison).

Rachel's mentions: Halcyon Yarns (Bath, Maine), Joann (nationwide chain), sky like snow (southern Vermont).

Allison's mentions: Villekulla, Yarn Twisters, Pinnovate, Loop Kensington, STASH, Pudding Yarn (Calgary); A Twist of Yarn (Vernon); Art of Yarn (Kelowna); plus plans to visit two shops in Vancouver.

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Many thanks for joining us for another episode! You can find the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio (please rate, review and subscribe!) and you'll find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, in our Yarn in the City group on Ravelry, or in person on Wednesday nights at our knit night between 7 and 10pm at The Breakfast Club on Battersea Rise.

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 81: The Power of Community Jul 29, 2018

Show notes

*** Audio alert: we're both away on holidays so this podcast was recorded remotely. Sadly, due to technology it's not our usual high-quality audio and there is some background noise occasionally. We'll try to find a better solution for the next episode! ***

On today's episode we talk about knitters using their powers for good, both individually and with their communities to back them up. There have been some amazing happenings in the wider woolly world recently and we couldn't be more impressed with a couple of examples, the East London Knitters #sayballstotrump banner and The Tits Out Collective, headed by Countess Ablaze.

Great London Yarn Crawl 2018 – Update

Can you call an event sold out when there are only 5 tickets left?? We'd like to think so. With only a handful of tickets left on the Bloomsbury and City of London routes, the GLYC takes place on Saturday, September 1st and tickets are only £20. Plus we'll be collecting handknits for Knit for Peace and holding our popular raffle for Refuge too. More details on our website!

What we're working on

Allison finished the Lily baby sweater and it has been sent to the lucky recipient! She's also finished crocheting the French Market Bag, which her mom promptly claimed. Knitting continues on Praline while she tries not to get too distracted with all the different yarns she's seeing on holiday in Canada. She may have also inadvertently joined the Tour de Fleece (hooray!) with the happy purchase of an Electric Eel Wheel Mini at her LYS in Calgary.

Rachel has been spinning for Tour de Fleece, and so far has managed to spin every day except for Stage 13, when she was busy finishing her Lily baby sweater. She was so thrilled about the baby sweater instant gratification, that she cast on Arrival by Dani Sunshine. She's also finished her prototype shawl design for an upcoming project, and has wound up yarn to cast on Study Hall by Sarah Schira from Knitty First Fall when she goes on holiday later this week.

Electric Eel Wheel - https://www.dreamingrobots.com/

Subersive Cross Stitch - https://subversivecrossstitch.com/blog/

The Power of Community

We talk about some recent events in our community - the East London Knitters Say Balls to Trump and an amazing blog post from Knit with Attitude, and the Tits Out Collective.

Also mentioned:

Everyday Knitter
Zola Budd
What the Queen wore for Donald Trump's visit (perhaps sadly not as pointed as we thought) - and there's a great thread on Twitter about the same issue, from a knitter who pointed it out. There's a recap here.

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Wrap up:

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 80: Milli's Yarn Adventure with Tribe Yarns Jul 09, 2018

Show notes

On today's episode we've got a lengthy chat with Milli, owner of Tribe Yarns, a new shop opening in Richmond-Upon-Thames just outside of London later this summer. In fact, Tribe will be opening just in time for the Great London Yarn Crawl on September 1st!

Our conversation was all over the place and got a little colourful in areas, so be warned! This is not our usual squeaky clean podcast.

Great London Yarn Crawl 2018 – Update

Geez you guys! We are just over 80% sold out after less than a week of selling tickets!

If you've been thinking about joining us this year, don't wait too much longer! At the time of this recording there are literally less than 20 tickets left, so get them before they're gone! We've got great stuff in the goody bags like yarn from Willow & Lark, and amazing doorprizes from Loop, Knit With Attitude, Tribe, Blue Sky Fibers, Kelbourne Woolens, Debonnaire, and more!

The GLYC takes place on Saturday, September 1st and tickets are only £20. Plus we'll be collecting handknits for Knit for Peace and holding our popular raffle for Refuge too. More details on our website!

What we're working on

Allison has mostly finished her Lily baby sweater, and is working on Praline. She's also finishing up a new hat design, turning to some sewing, trying her hand at needlepoint and basically freaking out about what projects she's taking on her summer holidays.

Rachel was seaming her Lily baby sweater at knit night, and is working on the knitted on edging for her new shawl design. She's also been spinning like a maniac to try and make a dent in the truly ridiculous fibre stash!

We talk about the Electric Eel Wheel Mini as a good option for an affordably priced electric wheel. It looks like they'll have more available at the end of July, and you can sign up to get notified when they are back in stock, so go check them out!

Milli's Yarn Adventure and Tribe Yarns

This past weekend we headed out to Richmond to meet Milli Abrams and check out the home of new Tribe Yarns, opening next month! We had a lovely, somewhat off colour chat with Milli (cider was involved) all about her plans for the shop, some of the yarns that will be available and the type of community she's hoping to create.

For all the details about Tribe's opening, follow them on social media and sign up to receive their newsletter (coming soon).

Tribe Yarns on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Ravelry, and their soon-to-be website.

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Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 79: GLYC 2018 and Yarn Crawl Season Jun 13, 2018

Show notes

We can hardly believe that it's almost time for this year's Great London Yarn Crawl tickets to go on sale! On this episode:

Great London Yarn Crawl 2018 Update We have fewer routes, only 10 this year, to make things a little easier organizing the GLYC alongside Yarnporium. Sadly, I Knit and Fringe won't be taking part this year but a new shop is opening that will be! Willow & Lark is also on board as our yarn sponsor and we've already had some pretty lush door prizes pour in from Blue Sky Fibers.

Routes will be announced on or around June 15th and tickets will go on sale on July 1st as in past years.

What We're Working On Allison has been a sewing and making fiend and has whipped up two Linden sweatshirts while also crocheting a French Market bag in linen. She's also started knitting Praline by Dani Sunshine and also whipped up a Lilly baby sweater on her knitting machine for a friend's new arrival.

Rachel hasn't finished her Lilly baby sweater yet as focus has been on wrapping up her Marginalia sweater by Karie Westermann which is now off the needles, blocked and too hot to wear in this weather (of course!). Rach is also working on a new shawl design and searching for a travel project for a work trip to Amsterdam.

Yarn Crawl Season It's summer! Which means less enthusiasm about wool and knitting as it becomes too hot, but our local yarn shops still need our support! Thankfully there are things like Yarn Shop Day, World Wide Knit in Public Day, as well as Yarn Crawls all over the world to help keep us heading to our Local Yarn Stores to be part of the action. We chat about different things we can do to keep showing our support for our LYSs.

Wrap Up Many thanks for joining us for another episode! You can find the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher Radio (please rate, review and subscribe!) and you'll find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, in our Yarn in the City group on Ravelry, or in person on Wednesday nights at our knit night between 7 and 10pm at The Breakfast Club on Battersea Rise.

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 78: The Making of a Magazine May 24, 2018

Show notes

Announcements:

It's the big Yarnporium announcement you've been waiting for! Workshops! We are SO excited about the roster of teachers that we've got lined up for you at this year's Yarnporium. And quite an international roster too! We've got teachers from the UK (of course!), Scotland, Ireland, France, Finland, Canada and the USA too. Here's a run down of who's coming:

England: Renée Callahan, Jane Lithgow, Nathan Taylor

Scotland: Karie Westermann

Ireland: Carol Feller

France: Julie Dubreux (aka Julie Knits in Paris)

Finland: Jonna Hietala and Sini Ellen from Laine Magazine

Canada: Kate Atherley

USA: Courtney Kelley and Kate Osborne from Kelbourne Woolens

Tickets for the workshops will go on sale on June 1st. You can find all the class details as well as bios about all of our teachers on our website.

What we're working on:

Allison is now on sleeve island for her Mon Manet by Jonna Hietala, in La Bien Aimee Merino Aran in Grellow and as always happens at about this point in any one of her projects is now thinking about what she wants to knit next.

Rachel has finished all the pieces for the Lilly baby sweater by Justine Turner (machine knit) and now just has to put the thing together and knit the edging! She finished a long standing UFO – the Teign Wrap by Linda Lencovic in 4 indigo dyed colours of Baskerville. And she's still going on the sleeves for Marginalia (slowly but surely).

The Making of a Magazine:

If you're a knitter and you don't know Laine Magazine (or Laine as we used to call it) then we think you're really missing out. Since launching just over a year ago they've experienced an explosion of growth, going from naught to 50,000 copies in that short period of time.

We sat down at EYF to chat with editors Jonna and Sini about how the magazine came to be. Have a listen and we'll see you on the other side!

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Wrap up:

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 77: Rise of the Machine May 09, 2018

Show notes

Announcements:

We will be releasing the teachers and workshops for Yarnporium starting 15 May, so keep you eyes on the blog and Yarnporium page for more details and ticket info.

The Great London Yarn Crawl is happening again this year! Save the date for 1 July when tickets go on sale – routes will go up a couple of weeks earlier.

What we're working on:

Allison finished her Impressionist MKAL from Helen Stewart, knit from Madeleinetosh from the deep layers of stash. When the picot bind off became too much, she cast on for the Mon Manet by Jonna Hietala, in La Bien Aimee Merino Aran in Grellow.

Rachel finished the first sleeve of Marginalia in the post-heat wave rainy miserable weather that cropped up in the last couple of weeks. To celebrate the gorgeous May bank holiday weather, she's woven up two handspun scarves over the weekend, but all that is now chopped liver as her new knitting machine has arrived and is operational, thanks to a detailed info dump from Alli!

Rise of the Machine:

We've always been handknitters, but the ever expanding sizes of our stashes and reduced knitting time has led us to consider other options for trying to manage the yarn load! Alli was first down the machine knitting rabbit hole, and has dragged Rachel along with her. We talk about getting into machine knitting, how different it is, and the instant gratification factor!

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Wrap up:

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 76: Talking About Tuck Stitches Apr 22, 2018

Show notes

We are super excited to be chatting with you today as we have another interview that we recorded during our time at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival last month. Nancy Marchant joins us as our special guest today to talk to us about tuck stitches, texture, and of course brioche too!

Announcements:

First up, a shout out to Charlotte Parfitt who was the winner of the pair of weekend passes to Woollinn in Dublin

What we're working on:

Allison has been plugging away on and (mostly) monogamous to her Impressionists MKAL by Helen Stewart. The final clue has just been released so only 20% left to go! When the project has been too big to travel with Allison has also had a pair of Rose City Rollers ankle socks with her and she's mostly finished sewing a pair of wool trousers – that it is now too hot too wear.

Rachel has been flying through Marginalia (or was until this week and 27 degree weather!) She's finished the body and made a start on the first sleeve. She's dug into some deep deep fibre stash and found some silk/wool batts that she's been struggling with a bit. Beyond that the weather has gotten too nice to do anything but sit outside in the garden, so there's been a lot of that.

Talking about Tuck Stitches with special guest Nancy Marchant:

As we've been chatting about Yarn Adventures this year we didn't want the conversation to be limited to travels or places you could go with your knitting. Which got us thinking – what if the adventure were learning a new technique and expanding your knitting repertoire? In that spirit, we got to chat with Nancy Marchant at EYF. The Queen of Brioche was kind enough to take some time out of her packed schedule to talk with us about her newest book, Tuck Stitches: Sophistication in Handknitting.

A heads up for our listeners – we recorded this interview with Nancy in the café at the Corn Exchange so there is some background noise and the odd café latte being made in the background!

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Wrap up:

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 75: More Yarn Show Hijinks Apr 09, 2018

Show notes

Following on from our last episode where we recapped the Edinburgh Yarn Festival, we're making plans to check out a new yarn show on the horizon: Woollinn Dublin coming up at the end of May. We chat with organiser Lisa Sisk, who is also one of the owners of Dublin's beautiful LYS This Is Knit, about what it's like to put on a yarn show.

What we're working on:

Allison is feeling pretty smug after finishing her Gradient Pullover and Winter Dawn shawl so she also busted out a new toque (Pull the Wool Over) out of her souvenir yarn purchase from Vogue Knitting Live in New York. She's now working on Helen Stewart's Impressionists MKAL and using Martina Behm's Strickplaner 2018 to try and wrangle the rest of her projects and WIPs for Q2.

Rachel cast on her Marginalia pullover in Triskelion Arthur DK and finished a hat in Bloomsbury DK from The Yarn Collective. And has been spinning up a storm. And thinking about quilting…

MORE yarn show hijinks:

We have a good idea of how challenging it is to plan a yarn show. So we have great admiration for our interview guest, Lisa Sisk, and her team who are bringing a much needed yarn show to Ireland. Woollinn Dublin will debut for the first time on the 25th of May. While they may be new to show organising, Lisa and her team are also the owners of Dublin LYS This is Knit, and have leveraged their relationships with designers and dyers to put together an amazing line of exhibitors and teachers. We spoke to Lisa about her experience with pulling the show together, and it sounds like it's going to be absolutely amazing!

Many thanks to Lisa for taking the time to chat with us about Woollinn Dublin. She has kindly given us a pair of weekend access tickets to for a giveaway! Getting to Dublin is easy from many spots in the UK and Europe, so if you think you'd like to hop over for the weekend, or even for the day like Allison, please leave a comment on the show notes. We'll choose a winner on Sunday, April 15th and announce the winner on Instagram. Be sure to leave your Ravelry name or some other way of contacting you in case you win!

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Wrap up:

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 74: Scottish Adventures Apr 02, 2018

Show notes

We've just come by from a phenomenal trip to the 2018 Edinburgh Yarn Festival, where we saw amazing yarns, caught up with friends old and new and generally soaked up as much colour and inspiration as possible! We recap EYF on today's episode, including an interview with someone who traveled a very long way to get to Edinburgh! We also review the new Jacob yarn from Blacker Yarns.

What we're working on:

Allison was desperately trying to finish her handspun Gradient Pullover (by Amy Miller) over the weekend, and has 5 inches of the second sleeve left. She's also working on some sample knitting for her upcoming trade show.

Allison's EYF stash enhancement: A previously ordered kit for the Comfort Fade Cardi by Andrea Mowry in La Bien Aimee Comfort DK. Also a sweater quantity of fingering weight yarn for Sunset Highway by Caitlin Hunter (mostly House of A La Mode from A Yarn Story), project bag, random sock skein (House of a la Mode in Redmond, a custom colourway dyed in honour of Carmen's dad).

Rachel finished her Incunabula (by Karie Westermann) and got some amazing buttons for it from Textile Garden at EYF. She also came back from the show with two sweater lots of yarn, which are planning on growing up to be a Marginalia (Triskelion Yarns Arthur DK in Old Fox and My True Sweetheart) and a Woodman Cardigan from Bristol Ivy's amazing new book (Jill Draper Makes Stuff Mohonk Light in Grape Hyacinth). She also got some stitch markers from The Little Grey Girl, and Daughter of a Shepherd Volume 1.

Gina's Yarn Adventure

On the ride up to Edinburgh, Allison met the lovely Gina Ross from Natural Yarns. They got to talking (as knitters do) and discovered that Gina has a fantastic yarn adventure to share, which includes yarn, yoga, mindfulness and building community. We had a chance to catch up with her at the show, and we think you'll be interested to hear her story.

Yarn Review: Jacob

Blacker's new yarn uses the unique Jacob sheep as it's inspiration, with four bases combining variations of the natural fleece colours. Jacob sheep naturally have multicoloured coats, which means that their wool is less marketable. Sue and her team have blended the colours together during the spinning process to create a range of four coloured bases. These are then overdyed in three colours, giving a range of subtle shades. We got to play with some of it, and boy is it lovely!

Yarn stats: DK: 110 m/50 gr 4-ply: 175 m/50 g Colour card here.

EYF on-the-spot interviews: Liz and Ceci, aka howmanystitches and creativececi on Ravelry!

Congrats to our YINGO winner! The random number generator spoke to us and we hope @svm_treks is delighted to find that her hard work to clear her Yingo card paid off! We will be in touch via DM on Instagram to get your details to send out your prize!

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Wrap up:

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

Episode 73: Let's have a yarn adventure! Feb 27, 2018

Show notes

Hello and welcome back to the Yarn in the City podcast! We are thrilled to be back and chatting with you guys again after our brief hiatus.

On today's episode we're chatting about our theme for the podcast in 2018, Allison interviews our first special guest of the year and of course we get to catch up on our knitting projects in anticipation of the upcoming EYF too.

What we're working on:

Rachel is knitting Incunabula by Karie Westermann from This Thing of Paper in Valley Yarns Northampton in Sage Heather, and is on the sleeves after having to start over again due to choosing the wrong size at the beginning. True to form, she's made the body longer and decided to change the sleeve shaping. As you do.

Allison has been machine knitting up a storm, with her fabulous Union Jack Cardigan by Brandon Mably, and a bunch of awesome swatches from numerous classes (see short row eyeballs below). She also took a class in Bohus knitting when she went to Vogue Knitting Live last month, and we discuss Poems of Color by Wendy Keele, a good resource for Bohus knitting history.

Upcoming events

EYF. That is all (squee!)

We will be at the Blacker Yarns Podcast Lounge throughout the show, so please come by and say hi!

Yarn Adventures

Last year. the theme that we tried to work through the podcast episodes was Make Happy. This year, we've decided to focus on Yarn Adventures, both ours and those of other people. To start things off, we have an interview with Maylin Scott (aka Blithespirit), a Canadian expat living in Liverpool. We hope you enjoy!

YINGO!

We've got a new photo challenge for those of you attending EYF - Yarn Bingo (or Yingo)! We've put together a bingo card of photo prompts for you to use as inspiration and we're looking forward to seeing your interpretations! More details to follow, but every 5 in a row series or collage of photos is 1 entry into the prize drawing - fill up the card for 5 entries!

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Wrap up

We hope to see you at EYF!

Music credits (available on NoiseTrade) Revolution - Kate Tucker A Good Reason To Smile - Chasing Noise

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