Does working with color excite you? Are you curious about what it takes to manufacture hand-dyed yarns? If so, listen in as Kara Gott Warner interviews Beth Casey, owner of Lorna's Laces, one of the first hand-dyed yarn companies, about her fulfilling and creative work in her wonderful world of yarn.
Beth Casey, business owner and entrepreneur, has been supplying the globe with colorful yarns since 2003. This has afforded her the special advantage of witnessing a new wave of thinking in the way we look at yarn. Ten years later, she introduced Mrs. Crosby, releasing a whole new range of vibrant possibilities. Listen and find out more about the ins and outs of what happens behind the scenes in the exciting business of running a yarn company, in this week's episode of Power Purls Podcast.
Join Kara and Beth as they discuss:
Links:
Lorna's Laces: www.lornaslaces.net
Mrs. Crosby: www.mrscrosbyplays.com
Give-away: powerpurlspodcast.com/bethcasey
Welcome to Power Purls Unplugged, with me, Kara Gott Warner. Your comments have shown me that the raw, unpolished aspect of a live podcast certainly has an appeal to many of you. I love getting your feedback. It's been necessary, in order to balance the different time zones and to find the best time frame for this show. Join me today, as I talk to the Power Purls Facebook Group, live, while recording my podcast. We will discuss what being creative with your knitting means to you. Take your knitting to the next level. Let's keep the conversation going!
Catch me live at 12pm EST Fridays, on Facebook.com/PowerPurlsPodcast. To watch past broadcasts, you can find them in the video library on the Power Purls Facebook page.
Episode Highlights:
With special thanks to my Patreon supporters! Support Power Purls on Patreon! Check out the details here to learn how to become a patron of the show... there are some pretty sweet rewards for getting in on this ground-floor level!
Marly Bird is bi-crafty - a knitter who also crochets! She has been podcasting about the craft since 2007! She is the national spokesperson for Red Heart Yarns and she’s the host of the YarnThing podcast. She’s an author and designer with a prominent YouTube channel as well! You can find her at craftsty.com and she has classes available at creativebug.com.
Marly had a respectable career in the financial services industry before her love of all things yarn took over her life and career. She was podcasting about it when everyone else was just blogging. She’s always been way ahead of her time, and she’s been able to create a knitting and crocheting empire that has been a resource to share her love of the craft in all forms of media. She’s got a special offer for Power Purls listeners today, so don’t miss out!
Resources:
www.redheart.com/my-first-with-marly-bird
www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing
Marly has a special discount for a limited time, in her Ravelry Store. She's giving our listeners a free pattern for using the Code POWERPURLS at checkout. Make your purchases by midnight on Dec. 2!
Steven Berg is a fiber artisan armed with a wealth of experience, daring sense of style, and a firm belief in the transformative power of creativity that knitting or crocheting offers to those brave enough to push the boundaries. Berg began his career early, furiously knitting lines of sequin dresses for a discerning clientele of Barbies in Wisconsin. This led him to become a star student in fashion design at Parsons and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Berg found inspiration in the beautiful, fashion capitals of the world as a VP of design at Perry Ellis. His creative work experiences brought him back to his favorite medium again, the one that always inspired him the most, the imaginative world of fiber arts. Steven reminds all fiber aficionados: “The possibilities are endless. There are no mistakes, only variations. And always remember to glam it up!"
Episode Highlights:
Resources:
Stitches: http://www.knittinguniverse.com/
www.halosofhope.org - Check out the “BEYOND” tab
Lena Skvagerson is the lead designer and visionary behind Annie’s Signature Designs. Lena joined Annie’s in 2014, bringing with her over 25 years in the European design markets. We behind the scenes and what it was like creating the second seasonal Annie’s Signature Designs collection, Autumn Bliss.
Lena is a passionate designer and co-collaborator. Her energy for patterns, design and the whole creation process is contagious. She’s crazy enough to love each and every part of the process and this comes across in the finished product. Today we chat about all the fun we had working through the collection design process. We wanted to share our thoughts in this exclusive “behind the scenes” interview. You’re going to love this episode!
Episode Highlights:
Contest Info:
Dora Ohrenstein is a designer of fashion crochet, author of 6 books, and a writer specializing in crochet history and international traditions. Dora’s designs appears in all the major print and digital crochet publications. Given her avid interest in advancing the skills of the crochet community, she includes lots of in-depth technical information in all of her books. She also teaches crochet at Vogue Knitting Live, on Craftsy, and in yarn shops across the country.
Earlier in her life Dora was a well-known soprano who sang contemporary classical music, most notably as the solo voice of the Phillip Glass Ensemble, a position she held for 10 years. Nowadays in addition to her design career, she is a singing teacher at Wagner College in Staten Island. Dora is a born and raised New Yorker.
Being on the road as a musician gave Dora a love of travel, and today she engages in textile travel, which has brought her to many exotic locations, including the Balkans, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and the Ukraine. The experience has deepened her understanding of how crochet and knitting fit into the larger world of textiles.
Episode Highlights:
Don't miss an opportunity to win a copy of Dora's new book, Top Down Crochet Sweaters at www.powerpurlspodcast.com/dora.
Brooke Nico is the co-owner of Kirkwood Knittery, where she uses her eye for detail and fashion experience to keep her store ahead of trends in knitting. However, lace is where Brooke has really made her mark, and her talent has been recognized by Vogue Knitting, Knitters, and Debbie Bliss magazine. She has taught lace classes at VKLive, VKLive LA, and several Stitches (XRX) events. Brooke lives in Kirkwood, MO.
I think you have to keep the big picture in mind, so over the course of a year, I have a work/life balance. Today, I may feel guilty because I'm missing a soccer game. But next week I'll make the soccer game and have something else to do. I can't take each day as a snapshot. I have to look at the whole picture.
Episode Highlights:
03:50 Brooke and Kara discuss how they met.
05:00 Kara digs into Brooke's extensive knitting background.
06:40 Brooke talks about purchasing Knitting for Dummies as her intro to knitting.
08:45 Kara asks if Brooke took to knitting right away or if she was frustrated at first.
09:30 Brooke says to "Pick something that you will love" as a project.
11:16 Why lace? Does Brooke find it similar to Cablework?
12:30 What advice Brooke gives to intimidated newbies.
15:10 Designing and authoring books vs. opening Kirkwood Knittery.
17:30 Brooke's work/life balance mindset.
19:20 How knitting "chose" Brooke.
22:00 What advice would Brooke give her future self?
24:47 Is Brooke afraid of losing her passion for knitting?
26:35 What's the best piece of advice she's ever been given?
Resources:
Brooke Nico designs at Ravelry
Robyn Chachula is the author of Vintage Modern Crochet, Blueprint Crochet Sweaters, Unexpected Afghans, and Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia. Her work has also been featured in many popular crochet publications such as Crochet! and Vogue Crochet. Robyn is also a contributing crochet designer in Annie's Autumn Bliss, a stunning collection of 40+ knitting and crochet patterns and is one of the crochet experts on the Annie's PBS television show Knit and Crochet Now!. She is also a crochet instructor for Annie’s Online Classes.
Episode highlights:
Receive a 20% discount on any of Robyn’s Annie’s Online Crochet Video Classes with coupon code: 20offrc. Click here to learn more!
Support Power Purls on Patreon! Check out the details here to learn how to become a patron of the show... there are some pretty sweet rewards for getting in on this ground-floor level!
Barb Demorest is a wife, mother, grandmother and casual knitter residing in Bellingham, Washington. She recently retired from her 30 year career as a CPA and owner of a tax practice in order to pursue her passion of connecting volunteer knitters and crocheters with breast cancer survivors to provide free knitted knockers to those that can use them. Her purpose and passion is now to inspire and equip the wonderful, caring, fiber arts community to provide these gifts of love to their fellow women in their own communities. She no longer gets paid in dollars for her work but the rewards are priceless.
Support Power Purls on Patreon! Check out the details here to learn how to become a patron of the show... there are some pretty sweet rewards for getting in on this ground-floor level!
Welcome to another Ask Kara & Tabetha Anything episode! In this off-the-cuff convo-style episode, Tabetha and I chat about our recent trip to TNNA, the exciting products we saw there, our thoughts on chunky knitting, and much more!
Episode Highlights:
01:41 Tabetha and Kara discuss Tabetha’s recent move.
04:32 Kara and Tabetha chat about TNNA, sightseeing, and Wonder Woman underwear.
10:18 Kara and Tabetha do a recap of TNNA of what they discovered at the show.
10:46 Kara describes what TNNA is.
11:22 Tabetha shares what products she liked at TNNA.
13:37 Kara talks about the mini-skein sets she saw at TNNA.
15:03 Tabetha mentions her new gradient sets that will be available later in the summer.
15:30 Kara mentions how trends take off and asks why the gradient sets are taking off now.
24:12 Tabetha discusses interchangeable sets.
25:16 Kara describes the Sharp Short Tips set.
27:52 Tabetha and Kara talk about Coco Knits’ snap bracelets (knitter’s keep kit).
30:40 Tabetha shares her thoughts about chunky, jumbo knitting.
34:02 Tabetha mentions the new Business and Creative Services Group that debuted at TNNA.
Resources:
SweetGeorgia Yarns
SweetGeorgia Monthly Newsletter Sign Up
The National Needlearts Association (TNNA)
SweetGeorgia Yarns-Jellybean Colourway Set
Round Mountain Fibers (Wholesale Only)-Drunk Yarn!
Mrs. Moon (UK)-Sustainable Yarn
Manos del Uruguay (Sustainable Yarn)
Freia Fine Handpaints (Sustainable Yarn)
ChiaoGoo-000 Twist Mini Interchangeable Set
Denise Needles-Sharp Short Tips Set
For more episodes like this visit: www.PowerPurlsPodcast
Get Kara's FREE 8-Steps to Creating a Killer Design Proposal
Join me every Friday at 12pm EST on Facebook.com/PowerPurlsPodcast for my live broadcast. To watch past videos, you can find them in the video library on the Power Purls Facebook page.
Join me every Friday at 12pm EST on Facebook.com/PowerPurlsPodcast for my live broadcast. To watch past videos, you can find them in the video library on the Power Purls Facebook page. Share and use the hashtag #PowerPurlsUnplugged
Tina Whitmore is the owner, lead designer and chief cook and bottle washer at Freia Fine Handpaint Yarns, the premier dyers of long gradient and ombre yarns in the US. She has been designing knitwear and accessories for over 30 years. Her designs have been published in American Vogue, Italian Glamour as well as popular print and online knitting publications. She has been a guest on Knitty Gritty and Shay Pendray’s Needle Arts Studio. More recently she completed a selection of instructional DVDs for how best to work with Gradient and Self Striping Yarns.
Welcome to another edition of Power Purls Unplugged on this #FreeformFriday! Today's episode is short and sweet! I ask you what that pivotal moment was that brought you to knitting. Was it the loss of a loved one, change of career, the birth of a child? Whatever it is I want to dig deep with you. In this episode I share mine and invite you to go back in time to the moment that changed it all for me!
Join me every Friday at 12pm EST on Facebook.com/PowerPurlsPodcast for my live broadcast. To watch past videos, you can find them in the video library on the Power Purls Facebook page.