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6 bits storybooks

Making Podcast Woolful Podcast

Episode 40: Pam Allen – Motherhood, Nursing School, Coastal Maine, and Quince and Co

November 10, 2015

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Sponsor: Loop is London’s leading local yarn shop, created by Susan Cropper in 2005, with the intention to bring the joy of colour, texture and design to the local fibre community. The shop itself is a warm, friendly place…full of inspiration and charisma, and you can see the care Susan has taken to create an inviting environment where folks can find the yarns they love and learn from the masters of their crafts…including Juju Vail, Jane Lithgow, Stephen West, Helene Magnusson, and Melanie Berg to name just a few.

This Fall Loop celebrated their 10th anniversary, and to celebrate they released their newest book aptly named, ’10’…featuring twelve gorgeous patterns from designers Meghan Fernandes, Stephen West, Rachel Atkinson, Paulina Popiolek, Donna Higgins, Kristen Kapur, Ysolha Teague, Juju Vail, Tif Fussell, Claire Montgomerie and today’s guest, Pam Allen. I’m a big fan of Susan’s eye for composition, with each pattern being beautifully photographed and knit in a color dyed just for Loop. The Meandering Shawl by Stephen West is on my list to make this Winter. You can find the book at Loop, their shop online and at a handful of lovely local yarn shops.

Loop has an extensive online shop in addition to their cozy London shop in Islington. Make sure to visit Loop in person if you’re nearby or just passing through, and online at loopknitting.com and on Instagram @looplondonloves.

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Fiber folk: There are a handful of special soul’s in this fiber industry, that have laid the groundwork and forged paths for what it is today and what it will become…having been a great influence on so many fiber folks. Pam Allen is one of these people.

From motherhood and design, nursing school to Interweave knits, Classic Elite and now Quince and Co…Pam’s fiber journey is an inspiring one. When I first began talking with Pam, she started out by telling me that what she hoped to share was her personal journey…and honestly, that’s exactly what I hoped she would say.

You can find Pam in her Coastal Maine home, making and designing, or in the mountains on a hike. You can find her company Quince and Co online at quinceandco.com and on Instagram @quinceandco.

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6bitsstorybooks

Sponsor: 6 Bits Storybooks, a digital quarterly publication for knitters who love to immerse themselves deeply in their knitting experience…from the mouths of story tellers: knitters, photographers, writers, designers, friends & nature. These storybooks incorporate designs, imagery, location, words, learning and tools to create an deeply engaging experience, taking readers on a journey. 6 Bits was created by two incredibly passionate and inspiring folks within this community, Melissa and Melody, and this past month they released the first issue Unearth of this beautiful digital editorial magazine, featuring articles from international knitters and dyers, where you hear the ‘whole’ story behind the designs and modeled in beautiful environment tied to the issues theme. Visit 6 Bits Storybooks at 6bitsstorybooks.com to subscribe to this stunning new publication and follow along on Instagram @6bitsstorybooks.

And this past week 6 Bits launched their first Knit A Long, an opportunity to join in and knit a project from the first issue, Unearth. This time of year there are so many thing happening, our attention and time have many demands that may keep us from finishing projects, but don’t let that deter you from joining…embrace it as a starting point! So grab your issue of Unearth or find the patterns on Ravelry and start soon and simply be proud of what you do knit!

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Man on the street: For this week’s “Man on the Street” I asked the question, “Does your natural environment influence your fiber arts?”. We had some great answers from Abby @abbygoodknits, Carmen @theneedleseye, Hope @hopehawley, Shannon @whiskeyknitter_shannon, Sonja @atreebytheriver.

Giveaway: The winner of last week’s giveaway is Tera, you’ve won a skein of Jill Draper’s yarn Rifton. Congratulations!

This week’s giveaway’s are sponsored by Cream City Yarns and Loop London. Cream City Yarns is giving away two skeins of Quince and Co Osprey yarn in Caspian and Loop London is giving away a copy of their newest book ’10’. To be one of the winners of this week’s giveaways, leave a comment on this blog post.

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Shop Update: It’s been awhile since I’ve given a Woolful Mercantile update, but being that Fall is upon us and I’ve got a few wonderful restocked and new things in the shop, I wanted to make sure and let you all know. If you’re on Instagram you may have seen the Sheep Breed calendar I announced. This is a special collaboration between artist Emily Fratson and myself, featuring 12 beautiful sheep breeds illustrated in watercolor, alongside 12 natural dye plants. Each of these sheep were inspired by folks from the podcast or other fiber friends. There’s only a few left in the shop, but soon there will be a handful of local yarn shops carrying the calendar as well, so stay tuned.

As for yarns, I am most excited about the most recent batch of Moeke yarns, which includes two yarns that you’ll only be able to find in the Woolful shop…Heritage which is a blend of Moeke’s new Transylvanian Merino and black Elena wool AND a 100% Transylvanian Merino naturally dyed with Madder to create a beautiful coral variegated look. The founder and creator of Moeke yarns is the wonderful Ioana, which you can find more about in Ep 8. Visit woolfulmercantile.com to check out all these goodies.

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Music by Jónsi.

Making Podcast Woolful Podcast

Episode 38: Emmaline Long – Early farming, showmanship, advocacy, and Orchard View Lincoln Longwools

October 20, 2015

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Sponsor: I want to thank one of our sponsors for this week’s episode, Edinburgh Yarn Festival, Scotland’s biggest urban yarn event, taking place on the 17th, 18th and 19th of March 2016 in the beautiful World Heritage Site city of Edinburgh, where last year they welcomed 3500 festival visitors. Edinburgh is home to some amazing designers including Ysolda Teague, Gudrun Johnston, Emily Wessel of Tin Can Knits and Lucy Hague of Celtic Cables. There will be a thriving marketplace with yarns, notions and designers from all over the UK and further afield, many of them unique to Scotland or yarns spun from British breed sheep. A spacious knitter’s cafe will offer the opportunity to meet yarn and fibre enthusiasts around the world and some of the best international names in knitting and crochet will be giving workshops, and you can find the festival programme on the website this Friday, so keep an eye out. Visit edinyarnfest.com for all the festival details on workshops, classes, the Knitter’s party, the Podcast Lounge and more. You can also follow along on Instagram @edinyarnfest

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Fiber folk: Earlier this Spring I received a very endearing email from a woman named Emmaline, a 24 year old sheep farmer in western NY and owner of Orchard View Lincoln Longwools. As Emma began to share a bit of her story, having started her flock at age 12, building her business with her father over the years and now venturing into the wool aspect of her business, I knew the rest of you should hear her story too. In the fiber farming and production side of the fiber industry I don’t often meet other young folks, especially ones with such spirit and gumption as Emmaline…so I hope you find her story as inspiring and encouraging as I have. You can find Emmaline at orchardviewlincolns.com and on Facebook at Orchard View Lincoln Longwools.

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6bitsstorybooks

Sponsor: I want to thank our other sponsor for this week’s episode 6 Bits Storybooks, a digital quarterly publication for knitters who love to immerse themselves deeply in their knitting experience…from the mouths of story tellers: knitters, photographers, writers, designers, friends & nature. These storybooks incorporate designs, imagery, location, words, learning and tools to create an deeply engaging experience, taking readers on a journey. 6 Bits was created by two incredibly passionate and inspiring folks within this community, Melissa and Melody, and this past week they launched the first issue of this beautiful digital editorial magazine, so visit 6 Bits Storybooks at 6bitsstorybooks.com to subscribe and find them on Instagram @6.bits.storybooks, @mskiknits and @bmandarines.

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Update: If you follow me on Instagram, you’re most likely aware that we recently welcomed some new members to the family…Henry our badger face Icelandic ram lamb and Lulu our Dexter cow. We got Henry a couple week’s back and he’s been hanging out with the ladies. This is his first time to the rodeo, if you know what I mean, and I’m not entirely sure he’s aware of his job…but alas nature will take it’s course eventually I’m sure and hope…haha. He’s a cute little guy, with the softest lambs wool and spunky personality. But as much as I love Henry and the eventual lambs he’ll hopefully help bring to the farm, Lulu has captured my heart in a very special way. We have some exciting plans we’re working on here at the ranch and as a part of that I had been researching dairy cows. I settled on the Dexter breed because of their heritage breed qualities, size, demeanor, milk production and dual purpose. I’ve always been curious of those people who LOVE cows. You know who I’m talking about…they have a bajillion pieces of cow knick knacks and photos in their house…but now I’m not so curious…I kinda get it. Cows are AMAZING! haha. Ok, don’t worry, I still very much love sheep…but just like folks tell you that when you have another child you don’t split your love, you multiply it…well Lulu has multiplied my love…times a thousand. Her eye lashes are unbelievable and her soft wet nose is so adorable. Ok I’ll stop. Well, she’s due to have her first calf the end of May and then we will begin our milking adventures…until then, stay tuned on Instagram for all my circus updates…including one next week…when we welcome 6 alpacas to the ranch.

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Giveaway: The winner of last week’s giveaway is, Ivy Perez. You’ve won 2 skeins of a wool and alpaca blend 3-ply yarn, naturally dyed with Logwood from Lost Coast Yarns. Congratulations!

This week’s giveaway is sponsored by Orchard View Lincoln Longwools, and they’re giving away 2 skeins of naturally colored Lincoln Longwool 2-ply worsted weight yarn. To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this blog post.

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Music by Jónsi.

Making Podcast Woolful Podcast

Episode 37: Amanda Malachesky – The Lost Coast, local fiber, permaculture influence, and Lost Coast Yarn

October 6, 2015

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Sponsor: I want to thank one of our sponsors for this week’s episode, NorthCoast Knittery in Eureka California. This charming shop opened it’s doors in 2008, with the hope to create a unique gathering place for fiber folk and help expand the local fiber community. It’s a wonderful spot to meet friends and work on projects as you enjoy a cup of tea. They offer a variety of classes and workshops, helping enhance your skill levels and each Thursday at 6pm they host a Sip & Knit social evening. Make sure to visit NorthCoast Knittery in person when in Eureka and online at northcoastknittery.com for a full selection of beautiful yarns including Lost Coast Yarn, classes and so much more wooly goodness. You can also find them on Instagram @northcoastknittery

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Fiber folk: The Lost Coast is one of my favorite places to visit and one we frequented when living in California, because of it’s incredible beauty and good people, like my friend Annie and her family. I remember getting a text one day from Annie saying that I needed to check out this new local yarn, Lost Coast Yarn. A few months later it popped up again when talking with this weeks sponsor, NorthCoast Knittery, the exclusive retailer of the yarns and I knew there had to be a story and special person behind it, and there was. Amanda Malachesky is the dreamer and doer behind Lost Coast Yarn, a new small batch yarn company that sources local fibers and natural dyes to create their line of hand-dyed farmstead yarns. You can find Amanda at Facebook.com/lostcoastyarn and her yarns at northcoastknittery.com.

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6bitsstorybooks

Sponsor: I want to thank our other sponsor for this week’s episode 6 Bits Storybooks, a digital quarterly publication for knitters who love to immerse themselves deeply in their knitting experience…from the mouths of story tellers: knitters, photographers, writers, designers, friends & nature. These storybooks incorporate designs, imagery, location, words, learning and tools to create an deeply engaging experience, taking readers on a journey. 6 Bits was created by two incredibly passionate and inspiring folks within this community, Melissa and Melody, and their excited to launch the first storybook this week, so keep an eye out and subscribe at 6bitsstorybooks.com and find them on Instagram @6.bits.storybooks, @mskiknits and @bmandarines.

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Man on the Street: For this week’s “Man on the Street” I asked the question, “What sort of local fibers/yarns/fiber farms have you discovered in your area?”. We had some great replies from Leanne @leannecoppola, Sam @samanthamaylamb, Kerry @kerryrobb, and Jessie @bonvivant.

Giveaway: The winner of last week’s giveaway is, Maggie B. You’ve won 2 skeins of Savannah yarn and the Norie Hat pattern from Castaway and Folk! Congratulations!

This week’s giveaway is sponsored by Lost Coast Yarn, and they’re giving away 2 skeins of a wool and alpaca blend 3-ply yarn, naturally dyed with Logwood. We’ll also be giving away a pattern of your choice from designer Ashley Hurst’s new Lost Coast Collection. To enter this giveaway, leave a comment on this blog post.

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Music by Jónsi.