Show Notes
Hello yarn lovers - I’m delighted to bring you this second episode of the podcast with very special guest, Rachel Brown. Rachel was more or less the first knitter I met when I moved to London and she became my BKFF in short order. Always a good sport, Rach is the knitter you want in your corner when you’re coming up with crazy ideas like creating a yarn crawl in London, or yarn road trip events, or just maybe an independent yarn show (ours was called Yarnporium!). After eight awesome years collaborating on Yarn in the City, Rachel and her family moved back to the States and we folded the business, but of course we’ve stayed in touch. Rachel was recently in London and we were able to have a catch up that took us from East London and Stratford to Richmond in the west (although you can trust two expats to debate whether or not Richmond actually still counts as part of London!). On this episode we chat through our various spots that we visited during the day including: * V&A East Storehouse * Wahaca Islington - their classic margarita recipe is one of the best Loop London - celebrating their 20th anniversary this year! * Liberty - where we saw the patchwork house by the Patchwork Collective which celebrates 150 years of Liberty (and also took a mini detour through Sostrene Grene) * Knit With Me - one of London’s newest yarn shops, located in Richmond * before finishing the day with a G&T admiring the view from The Roebuck It felt weird for both of us to be chatting again podcast-style but we did chat about what we were working on. Rach is working up a cowl from the leftovers of the (latest) sweater she knit for me, which was the Polina Pullover by Teri Lutsak in G-uld yarn that was a kit from Loop. I‘m working on the Stripe Hype sweater by Veronica Lindberg but in some bold, bright colour - and which my mother has fallen in love with since I’ve been in Canada on holiday. Guess who’ll be getting it when it’s finished? It was a fantastic day out. Huge thanks to Susan at Loop who let us sneak in to say hi and make a cheeky purchase, and also to Carol and Coral at Knit With Me who likewise allowed us in for a quick peek at the shop! Apologies to Wool Decanted who I refer to as Yarn Decanted on the episode and who don’t have sheep on an island in the Thames near Twickenham but who DO have a gorgeous, local yarn with traceable provenance of the wool coming from small producers in Devon and Wales. Big, HUGE thanks again to Rachel for humouring another of my ideas and agreeing to be a guest on my new podcast. You can find Rachel on Instagram, which is also a great way to reach her if you wanted to enquire about her tech editing services… We talked so long there’s not really an “outro” for this episode but I can say that next week’s guest on the podcast is another friend who was recently passing through London! Jacqueline Sava from Soak and I talk about making, and making a living at it. Stay tuned for that one next week. And of course, do let me know what you think about the podcast, and if there are things you’d like to hear me chat about with future guests. Thanks for listening, Allison x
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More from Make Joy Podcast
Hello yarn friends - This next episode of the podcast is an important one I think, because not all projects are linear. Sometimes they’re started, then put down, then picked back up - and this can happen multiple times in the life of a project. As we all know, life happens. So I wanted to know more about what happens when we step away from a project for a while. It felt like the perfect opportunity to chat with Jeanette Sloan and Alyson Chu, the founders of BIPOC in Fiber which first appeared on the fibre scene in 2019 and is now in the midst of a re-launch. Neither Jeanette nor Alyson are strangers to big projects. Jeanette is a knitwear designer who earlier this year saw the publication of her book Beaded Colourwork by Laine Publishing - the culmination of many years developing the technique and incorporating it into her designs. Alyson also knows big projects, as the creator and founder of Moorit, the high-end crochet magazine featuring gorgeous designs, as well as being one of the organisers of The Woolly Good Gathering yarn festival that takes place annually in April in Edinburgh. Sometimes though, the unanticipated happens and everything has to go on pause, and Jeanette and Alyson are no strangers to that either. So we chat about the guilt that comes with that, and the grace that we need to give ourselves, and also what it’s like creating a project so big that its filling a void in our community and our industry. We had a great time chatting - and laughing! - on this episode, so it runs just a little bit longer but I know you’ll agree with me that it’s totally worth it! Happy listening!
Hello yarn friends! HUGE thanks for your patience these last two weeks! I had scheduled a break in episodes for while I was in Canada getting my son moved into university but then last week I had a technological hiccup in the middle of my editing which sadly meant waiting another week to bring you this episode of the podcast. But I promise it’s worth the wait as on this episode I’m chatting with Shelley Brander, the creator of Knit Stars - the online knitting and crochet masterclass series that takes you right inside the studios of some of the biggest names in our community to learn from them directly. (Find Shelley on Instagram, or Substack and give her a follow!) Shelley also used to have a yarn shop for almost 20 years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before going all in on Knit Stars. So we talk about what it means to pivot to be completely immersed in the thing that brings you the most joy. For Shelley, that’s elevating how knitting and crochet is seen, with great production value and telling the stories of the makers who inspire us. We also talked about navigating the guilt we sometimes have related to our crafting, and how important it is to USE THE GOOD YARN NOW! Case in point, her beautiful Bella Blocking that she’s knitting with some precious Peruvian vicuña yarn (hint: it’s even more posh than qiviut!). It was truly a joy to speak to someone who enjoys sharing the fabulous connections that our craft brings us, and in such a big way! Grab your latest WIP and get ready to tuck in - I really hope you enjoy this episode. Happy listening!
Hello yarn friends - I’m so excited to share this episode of the podcast with you as it’s a bit of a departure from the the yarn shops, super sports fan sweaters and bespoke yarn brands that have been talked about so far. Earlier this year I had the pleasure of speaking with Canadian textile artist Alexandria Masse who is pushing the boundaries of crochet with her enormous projects, from giant insects and wormholes, to love confessions and dim sum - seriously, just check out her portfolio to see her incredible creations. Alexandria has been building and sharing her practice online, which is how I came across her birth control tapestry project, tentatively called Terms and Conditions, wherein she’s crocheting word for word the medical information pamphlet that comes with her birth control. Alexandria spent six months testing and swatching to figure out her approach to the project, exploring quilting and knitting before deciding on crochet and starting the piece in January 2025. Crucially, she only works on it when she has her period, and anticipates a finish date of 2030. Alexandria has even created her own pattern for the alphabet she’s using, which can be downloaded from her website (there’s even a YouTube tutorial!). We had an amazing conversation about the positive message about birth control and women’s choices that Alexandria is spreading through her work, and also about how the project has changed her - particularly when capturing the attention of less open-minded parts of the internet. At the same time, she also knows that dedicating her practice online means that more people will have the opportunity to experience her art than if it were only available to view in a gallery. Alexandria’s work is proudly feminist, exploring and challenging preconceived notions of craft and textiles. She strongly believes that our hobbies and our craft IS art - that just because it may not be on the walls of a gallery doesn’t make it any less valuable. And I know that’s a sentiment that will resonate hugely with fellow makers in the Make Joy audience! If you want to keep up with Alexandria’s progress on her birth control tapestry or any of her other projects, you can give her a follow on Instagram or TikTok. Enjoy the episode!
Hello yarn lovers - This episode of the podcast is a family affair with Lydia Amartey-Williams of Weku Yarn. It was also supposed to include her sister Hannah, who is the other half of this hand dyed yarn business, but sadly her little man had other ideas that day! I’m sure many makers would agree that there aren’t many projects bigger than starting your own yarn line, but that’s just what Lydia and Hannah have done - creating and introducing a commercial yarn to their hand-dyed business. Bukom DK is delightful complement to their hand-dyed yarns, bringing solid colours to the mix and continuing to reflect their Ghanaian heritage. The yarn has a gorgeous colour palette, and amazing stitch definition for either cables or colourwork, and the bespoke blend of Bluefaced Leicester and Corridale is milled right here in the UK. While Hannah has been dyeing up a storm and determining the colour palette, Lydia has been digging deep, learning about Kente cloth and patterns and designing up a storm of sweaters and projects for the new yarn. And happily knitting samples without the stress of time challenges now that the Game of Wool is behind her! Through this episode we chat about how Weku Yarn got started, and how the idea for adding this commercial yarn to the their mix came about. They’ve got a few yarn shows coming up this autumn (including one where the exhibitors haven’t been announced yet - shhh!) so make sure to give it a good squish in person when you see it - it’s totally worth it! To find out more about Weku Yarn and what shows they’ll be at this autumn, make sure you’re following them on Instagram @wekuyarn where they have all kinds of lovely knitting content. Share in the comments if you’ve made something with Weku Yarn, or the new Bukom DK, and enjoy the episode!
Hello yarn friends - I’m super excited to share this second episode of series two of the Make Joy podcast with you, and introduce you to a delightful Canadian in the UK, Karla Courtney. It’s always fun making new knitting friends and Karla mentions meeting “internet friends” a few times on this episode so I hope she doesn’t mind that I definitely consider one after our meet up and chat. You may have seen Karla on Instagram knitting a lobster onesie, or more recently promoting her new book Best Dressed Crab and Friends. But it was her avid support for the Toronto Blue Jays that had me following along and cheering her on as she knit a sweater while the Jays were competing in the 2025 World Series. On the podcast we chatted about baseball and superstitions, as well as other sports-themed projects that Karla has made. I was pretty surprised to learn that Karla doesn’t usually knit garments, or from patterns but I love her enthusiasm and approach to just making what she wants to make in the moment and going for it. And wow - where this sweater has got legs and taken her places I’m not even sure even she expected, like the Canadian Museum of History (where her sweater will be part of the collection), and even meeting Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney! I know I definitely need to hear Karla how that meeting with the PM came about - and how amazing that she got his measurements right! Maybe when I return her Strawberry Crab (shared with me so I could give crab an adventure at Wimbledon), I can get the whole story. It was a fantastic chat, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Cheers!