Episode 87 : Celebrating 10 years of the Winwick Mum Sockalong with Christine Perry

My guest for this episode is my yarny friend, Christine Perry, who first made an appearance on the podcast back in 2021. Since chatting back then, we have become friends and when I heard that she was gearing up to a big milestone in her sock-knitting journey, I asked her if she would like to come back onto the podcast and chat about it.

Last weekend, on Saturday 3rd May, Christine celebrated a whole decade of encouraging people around the world to. knit socks through her Winwick Mum Sockalong. Christine’s main aim is to encourage beginners to get over their fears of knitting in the round, turning heels and Kitchener stitch and be able to set off on their own sock knitting adventures.

It worked for me – I think it’s highly unlikely that I would ever have attempted to knit a pair of socks before chatting to Christine! I can now proudly say that on Saturday I followed Christine’s request to cast on a new pair and get knitting to mark this significant milestone (and this is my 4th pair!).

I hope you enjoy listening to our chat!

You can find all the details about Christine’s 10th anniversary giveaway over on her Winwick Mum blog as well as her free sockalong tutorials.

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.
Making Stitches Podcast is supported by the Making Stitches Shop which offers Making Stitches Podcast merchandise for sale as well as Up the Garden Path crochet patterns created by me & illustrated by Emma Jackson.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

Episode 86 : Spreading Joy Online with Sara & Sean from Crochet in the Glen

When I first approached Sara from Crochet in the Glen and asked if she would like to be a guest on Making Stitches Podcast, she couldn’t understand why I’d want to speak to her. Like many (thousands) of other people who follow her Instagram account I’d enjoyed seeing her posts from her home on the picturesque Cowal Peninsula on the West Coast of Scotland – not just for the scenery, or her beautiful crochet creations, but because of her “crochet supermodel” husband Sean!

Sean and Sara are collectively a hilarious team. Their posts are colourful and very, very funny. Sean can often be spotted strutting down an imaginary catwalk in their home wearing some of Sara’s crochet creations – often wearing several different items at the same time.

I am so glad that Sara said yes to an interview and as a bonus, Sean was able to join us too. I hope you enjoy listening to them share their story as much as I did when I recorded it!

You can find Sara and Sean at the Crochet in the Glen Instagram account.

Since the last episode of Making Stitches Podcast was published, Making Stitches has celebrated a birthday – it’s now 5 years old! Thank you to everyone who has come onto the podcast over the past 5 years, everyone who has listened and supported me along the way!

Lindsay x

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music for Making Stitches Podcast is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston.

Episode 85 : The Gift of Crochet with Marianne Rawlins of Maz Crochets

Image shows Marianne Rawlins the guest of this episode standing in the foreground of the photo smiling at the camera

The image shows Marianne Rawlins, the guest on this episode standing in the foreground of the photo smiling at the camera. — Marianne Rawlins

For so many of us, crochet (or any craft) is as gift which offers mental release, a chance to focus on something away from the day-to-day worries of life and that creative spark so many of us need. When Marianne Rawlins was working part-time whilst raising her very small children, crochet arrived in her life. It gave her a creative outlet and ultimately an additional career, as her hobby developed into writing and designing for Simply Crochet magazine.

Our paths crossed through her work for Simply Crochet and I asked her to come onto the podcast to talk about how her hobby had opened up new doors for her. Whilst crochet is not Marianne’s ‘day job’ it does play a very important role in her life and she takes great pleasure in not only designing and making crochet items herself but writing articles for the magazine about other makers and testing new yarns which have come onto the market for practical features.

You can find Marianne on Instagram as @mazcrochets and on Ravelry too, where she sells her crochet patterns.

Image shows a large crocheted dice which is the size of a stool or foot rest.

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston.

Episode 84 : Carry on Crafting with Justine Robson

My guest for this episode, Justine Robson

After dreaming about a craft festival one night, Justine Robson woke up and decided she should arrange one. Two months later, she’d booked the venue (the South of England show ground) and ten months later Carry on Crafting opened its doors for the first time.

This summer sees the fourth edition of the summer craft festival and with over 600 people camping (tickets to camp sold out in a week) a huge range of craft workshops, stalls and entertainment, it’s going from strength to strength.

That’s not all that Justine does though, she teaches crochet, runs 8 crochet retreats each year, is the custodian of Little Box of Crochet, after its creator Amanda Bloom sought her out to take it on and she’s planning to open a bricks & mortar shop!

Listen to Justine explain how creativity has been a constant in her life, how reconnecting with her creative side helped her recover from a nervous breakdown and how she gets such joy from doing what she does.

Thank you Justine for sharing your story with Making Stitches Podcast!

You can find the Carry on Crafting Festival website here & the Little Box of Crochet website here.

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

Episode 83 : Menopause Makes with Jenni Smith & Kay Walsh

Image shows Jenni Smith & Kay Walsh standing together smiling at the camera in front of a beautiful patchwork quilt.

My guests for this episode are a pair of friends who met at a tap dancing class and went on to become creative business partners. Jenni Smith & Kay Walsh have been sewing for more than 30 years, many of which were spent working together in their sewing studio in Ilkley in Yorkshire.

Since Covid, their classes in sewing and quilting have gone from in person, on a local level, to online and a world-wide audience. They say their mission is to empower women through sewing, one stitch at a time.

Image shows the front cover of the book Menopause Makes by Jenni Smith & Kay Walsh

Their latest project, the book, Menopause Makes was borne out of many conversations between the friends about the Menopause. They had previously written a book together and decided that, as menopause and perimenopause symptoms were a frequent topic of conversation between them, why not write about it in a sewing context?

Image shows a woman smiling with her eyes closed and wearing a beautiful brightly coloured loose jacket — The Cool Down Cover Up modelled by Jenni & Kay’s friend Alison Lewis from Liberty Haberdashery Department

Along with a foreword by Dr Hannah Davies, a doctor specialising in menopause and lifestyle medicine, the book contains 10 patterns, one for each of ten different menopause symptoms. They include a sleep mask to aid insomnia, a basket for lost things to help with memory loss and a ‘Keep Cool Quilt’ for night sweats.

Image shows a pair of eye masks with a cup of tea and an open book also in shot — Insomnia : Sleep Mask

Jenni and Kay have chosen projects which are useful and achievable for beginners. Each project starts with a description of the symptom which it relates to, and how it can help.

Image shows a tote bag hanging on a door knob — Low Mood : Weekend Away Tote

As well as running classes, both online and in person, Jenni & Kay have travelled abroad to meet crafters from overseas, tell their stories and learn about their traditional crafts and techniques producing crafty travelogues as part of their online courses. Among their creative destinations have been Ireland, the Netherlands and Hawaii along with locations closer to their homes in Yorkshire, like Scotland and Northumberland.

To find out more about Jenni, Kay and Menopause Makes, please check out their website.

Image shows Jenni Smith & Kay Walsh standing together on a wooden bridge with a patchwork quilt draped over the side of the bridge and yellow and white windmill behind.The photograph was taken in the Netherlands. — Jenni & Kay in the Netherlands

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston.

Episode 82 : Talking Colour, Yarn, Sound & Knitting with Felix Ford from KNITSONIK

Image is a still image taken from one of Felix's KNITSONIK online classes and shows Felix wearing one of her stranded coloour work hats and sitting at a table surrounded by her books and speaking to the camera — Felix Ford from KNITSONIK

It’s so good to be back with you bringing another series of Making Stitches Podcast to your ears!

My guest for this episode is Felicity Ford aka Felix, an artist who works in colour, sound and yarn. I first heard about Felix’s work when a mutual friend contacted me and suggested she might be a good guest for the podcast – she was right!

Image shows a stranded colourwork swatch in the foreground of a photo of a country road — Stranded colourwork inspired by the A road between Reading & Oxford which Felix used to commute along

Before our chat which features in this episode, Felix asked to send me a couple of her books and an invitation to join one of her online courses so I could get a proper feel for her work. I signed up for the ‘Colour at Play’ Course in the hope I would be able to improve my skills at marrying colours together when I design a crochet project. In addition to this, I discovered that Felix had a podcast herself – the KNITSONIK Podcast in which she recorded sounds and wove them together with interviews, chats about her work and her own musical compositions.

Image shows the front cover of the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook

I really enjoyed getting to know Felix through her work, and then, towards the end of last year when I recorded the interview for this podcast episode. It was genuinely joyful to hear about Felix’s experiences including learning to colour match oil paint to a basket of eggs, how designing yarny covers for her walking stick diverted conversations with strangers away from her disability to her creativity and how her work with sound, colour and yarn has led her to setting up the KNITSONIK school.

Image shows three stranded colour work swatches alongside the everyday items which inspired them including a vintage book cover, an Edirol digital sound recorder and a small vintage biscuit box — Some of Felix’s stranded colourwork swatches which use everyday items as inspiration including her Edirol digital sound recorder

Image shows image of Felix Ford's head and shoulders, it is taken outdoors with the wind blowing Felix's hair. She is smiling at the camera and wearing spectacles and headphones — Felix on one of her audio adventures

I have to say a huge thank you to Felix for being so generous with her time and for allowing me to use some of her music in the podcast episode. You can find the KNITSONIK podcast here if you would like to hear more of Felix’s audio work. (Can I especially recommend the Shetland Wool Week episode?)

Image shows a collage of four walking sticks all of which have been covered with knitted or felted cosies as part of the Missibility project — Walking stick cosies from Felix’s Missability Project

If you’ve been inspired by what you’ve heard and you’d like to find out more about Felix’s online courses & books, you can find everything on her KNITSONIK website just click here for the link.

Image shows stranded colour work swatch in the foreground of a picture of a wall featuring intricate brickwork — Stranded colour work inspired by brickwork in Reading

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

Episode 81 : Making Stitches 2024 Christmas Special

Hello and welcome to the Making Stitches 2024 Christmas Special! As always at this time of year, I’m taking a look back at some of the year’s highlights for Making Stitches.

Included in this year’s extravaganza is Tansy Forster from The Longest Yarn, author and academic Barbara Burman, crochet designer Emma Varnam, Dr Gemma McKenzie from Threads of Protest, Heather Gibbs from Keep Calm And Crochet On, Lisa & Lynda-Rose from The Crochet Sanctuary. Thank you to everyone who has spoken to me for Making Stitches Podcast this year!

I’d also like to thank Jackie, Rachel, Nick, Nickie, Jen, Penny & Steph my fellow Crochet Sanctuary attendees who gave me their 2024 highlights for this episode.

Thank you to you too for listening and following my podcast adventures for the past few years – I’ve loved being able to bring these creative chats to you for you to enjoy!

I hope you have a happy and peaceful Christmas and that 2025 is good to you!

Lindsay x

If you would like to support my fundraising effort for FareShare Greater Manchester, you can buy the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath crochet pattern here.

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

Episode 80 : Learning lessons from history with Becky Davies-Downes

Image of Becky Davies-Downes sitting on a wooden box and leaning her head on her hands looking directly at the camera. — Becky Davies-Downes

Thank you for joining me for the 80th episode of Making Stitches Podcast! This time I’m sharing a chat I had with Becky Davies-Downes from William and Tilda, who, after almost two decades working in TV & film costume departments, is now sewing beautiful bags and other accessories inspired by 1940s wartime Britain.

William and Tilda Make Do & Mend style floral brooch — William and Tilda Make Do & Mend style Floral Brooch

I first bumped in Becky in September this year, at the Yarndale Festival. There, she spoke to me about how her current venture had come about, as well as a little bit about her previous career. I simply had to have a more in-depth chat with her about all things ‘make do and mend’ as well as her previous life working in TV & film.

William and Tilda 1940s style gas mask bag made out of green tweed — William and Tilda 1940s style Gas Mask Bag

My deepest thanks to Becky for speaking to me, not once, but twice in quick succession for Making Stitches Podcast!

You can find Becky’s website ‘William and Tilda’ here and from there you can find all of Becky’s social media links too.

William and Tilda Vintage Style handmade needle book — William and Tilda Vintage Style Handmade Needle Book

While you’re here, can I just mention my latest crochet pattern – the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath, which I’ve designed to raise much-needed funds for FareShare Greater Manchester?

FareShare Greater Manchester is a charity which diverts thousands of tonnes of surplus food from the food industry each year to hundreds of charities and community groups in Greater Manchester and the surrounding area. It is simply wrong that so much food would otherwise go to waste when so many people are struggling to access healthy and nutritious food.

An image of the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath — FareShare Festive Feast Wreath

The FareShare Festive Feast Wreath is a Christmas crochet pattern for a wreath based on a Christmas dinner – including sprouts and pigs-in-blankets. All the money raise from the sale of the pattern will be going directly to FareShare Greater Manchester.

You can find out more information about FareShare Greater Manchester here.

You can buy the crochet pattern for the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath here.

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

Episode 79 : A FareShare Festive Feast

This time on Making Stitches, I’m doing something a little bit different. I want to speak to you about food poverty, especially in my home city of Manchester and how I need your help to try to making things a bit easier for those who are finding it tough.

As the weather gets colder and we head towards winter, the terrible decision between heating and eating affects many people. FareShare Greater Manchester is a charity which rescues good-to-eat surplus food from the food industry and redistributes it to charities and community groups across the region.

I started working for FareShare Greater Manchester earlier this year and since then, I’ve been wanting to do something with crochet to help spread the word about what we do and to raise much needed funds to support this organisation.

I have designed a crochet pattern for a Christmas wreath based on a Christmas dinner, complete with sprouts and pigs in blankets. All the profits raised from the sale of the wreath will go to FareShare Greater Manchester.

In this episode, I take you to work with me and introduce you to three of the women I work with, to share what they do to help those in our community who need help.

You can find more information about FareShare Greater Manchester here.

You can buy the crochet pattern for the FareShare Festive Feast Wreath here.

I would like to thank Jane Czaja for her help in tech editing this pattern.

My thanks also go to Ruth Downes, Sally Lamb & Kala Mandviwala for speaking to me for this episode.

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston

Episode 78 : Yarndale 2024

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Making Stitches – back after a longer than anticipated break!

This time, I’m sharing a bumper episode featuring lots of creative chats with some of the lovely people I met at this year’s Yarndale festival in Skipton two weeks ago.

You will hear from:

Zoe Coates from British Wool
Eleonora from Coastal Crochet
Lindsey from Curate Crochet Box and Lottie & Albert
Cathy from Dear Emma Designs
Amanda from Joe’s Toes
Becky from William & Tilda
Nat from Woven in Kirklees Festival

You can find the websites for all my guests by clicking on the links above, and you can find the website for Yarndale here.

Eleonora giving her talk at Yarndale 2024

Thank you to everyone who took the time to speak to me for this episode – it was such fun to record!

The view to Skipton Auction Mart from the Yarn Walk

To join the mailing list for the Making Stitches Newsletter, please click onto this link.

The theme music is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops .

The Making Stitches logo was designed by Neil Warburton at iamunknown.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.
Making Stitches Podcast is supported by the Making Stitches Shop which offers Making Stitches Podcast merchandise for sale as well as Up the Garden Path crochet patterns created by me & illustrated by Emma Jackson.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay Weston