Episode 98 : From an Amigurumi Pig to Crocheted Patchwork with Anita Gibney from Made by Anita

In this episode of Making Stitches Podcast I chat to Anita Gibney — the designer behind Made by Anita and the author of the brand-new book; Patchwork Granny Square Blankets. Known for her beautiful crochet blanket deisgns, Anita has become an ambassador for Stylecraft Yarns and has just published her first book.

We chat about how her love of crochet began, the inspiration behind her quilt-inspired granny-square blankets, and what it was like to turn years of designing into her first published book. Anita also shares insights into her creative process, how she approaches colour schemes, and why it’s important to share skills to inspire makers of all skill levels.

Whether you’re a crochet beginner, a seasoned maker, or simply someone who loves hearing from a fellow creative, I’m sure you’ll enjoy listening to Anita’s story.

You can find Anita’s website here: madebyanita.co.uk

Find out about Anita’s new book: Patchwork Granny Square Blankets

Here is the yarn company which Anita made reference to during our chat: The Grey Sheep.

Exploration Sampler Blanket

Anita’s Modern Medallion Blanket

Thank you for listening to Making Stitches Podcast!

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 97 : From Blogtacular to Quilts Making with Kat Molesworth

Image shows Kat Molesworth sitting at a table behind a white sewing machine. With a bookshelf in the background

My guest for this episode of Making Stitches Podcast is Kat Molesworth, the creative force behind the Blogtacular Podcast & Festival. With Blogtacular, Kat helped countless creatives and bloggers find their voice and their community online.

Kat during her Blogtacular days (c) Kat Molesworth

These days, Kat’s work means she’s serving another creative community, working for Immediate Live, on the Knit & Stitch Show, the Stitch Festival & the Festival of Quilts. Kat has also been a quilter for years and this summer, qualified as a Master Quilter with the Quilters Guild.

Kat at the Festival of Quilts 2025 with two of her own quilts; Curve Study 1 & Curve Study 2 (c) Kelly Cheesley

Kat and I chatted about her childhood fascination with photography and how that developed into her professional life, her online adventures, hosting live events and what quilting has given to her.

I’m really grateful to Kat for taking the time to speak to me for Making Stitches.

You can find Kat on her website & Instagram account. For more information about the live events Kat works on for Immediate Live, please check out their website.

(Image is: Curve Study 2 Construction Detail)

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 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.

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 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.