Episode 34 : Living a colourful crochet life with Emma Leith

When I sat down to chat with the self-named ‘Queen of Colour’ & crochet designer Emma Leith, I was in for a treat. Emma’s enthusiasm for creativity and colour is infectious and she was a delight to speak to. She started out teaching mosaic but a couple of large scale yarnbombs brought Emma to prominence and two books of crochet patterns soon followed.

Emma’s mindful creations and colour choices are so zingy and uplifting – you can’t help but be filled with optimism when you see them.

I hope you enjoy our chat which covered subjects including how a breast cancer diagnosis gave Emma the time to focus on her crochet without pressure, how her creativity is a conduit for her Buddhist practice and how she has learned to embrace the colours of autumn.

You can hear Emma’s episode here.

You can find Emma’s work on her website & Instagram.
Mary Rose Young Pottery is one of Emma’s inspirations.

The music featured in this episode 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 also 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 32 : Yarndale 2021 : A festival of yarn, creativity & community

After a hiatus due to the pandemic last year, Yarndale returned to Skipton Auction Mart on 25th & 26th September and I was thrilled to be able to go along! As well as my mask and hand sanitizer I took my microphone and met so many truly lovely people.

Me (on the left) with Yvonne (R) from Bonnie’s Little Crafts in front of the charity shop Yarndale blanket mentioned in this episode.

This episode is my experience of Yarndale 2021, which in a nutshell was wonderful, friendly, colourful and utterly uplifting. In it you will hear from yarn dyers, craftspeople and business owners who were exhibiting their wares along with Matt Farci from Crojo.Life and Alyson Chu from Moorit Magazine as well as friend of Making Stitches, Carole Rennison from Hooked by Design who is also one of the festival’s organisers. I hope you enjoy listening to it as I enjoyed my Yarndale experience – it was a blast!

Carole Rennison from Hooked by Design and one of the Yarndale organisers in her gorgeous granny square cardigan

Here are the people & businesses who feature in this episode – my thanks to everyone who spoke to me.

Yarndale Festival
Juey from Juey Jumbo Craft Tools
Matt Farci from Crojo.Life
Niki from Allium Threads
Sarah Paul from Bigwigs Angora
Kate from Kate’s Kloths
Jenny & Ruth from Ammonite Yarns
Michelle Lewis from Woolly Wumpkins
Alyson Chu from Moorit Magazine
Judith from Buttoned Up
Carole Rennison from Hooked by Design

Looking down towards Yarndale at the Skipton Auction Mart from the Yarn Walk where I recorded at the end of the day

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.
Making Stitches Podcast is supported by the Making Stitches Shop.

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

Episode 28 : Hooking a brighter future with Louise Murray from Hooked by Lou

So many of my guests on the podcast so far have spoken about the healing properties of their crafts, the mindfulness of repetitive stitching, be that with a sewing needle or machine, a pair of knitting needles or a crochet hook. For my latest guest; Louise Murray, crochet and other crafts have helped her in her journey since losing her brother suddenly four years ago.

Back on 22nd May 2017, a terrorist attack on an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena left more than 800 people injured and twenty two people lost their lives. One of those who died was Louise’s brother Martyn Hett. At the time, Louise was nearing the end of her foundation year studies ahead of plans to study for a degree in Fashion Design. All that was put on hold when the tragedy struck her family so suddenly and so publicly.

Hooked by Lou ‘Mixed Emotions’ bag, bralette & earrings

Since then, Louise’s love of crafts and creating helped her find a new direction and she’s now crocheting full time with her business ‘Hooked by Lou’ designing and making clothing and accessories. I’m so grateful to Louise for agreeing to share her story and for speaking so openly about her experiences.

You can hear Louise’s episode here.

You can find Louise’s work through the following links:
Hooked by Lou website
Hooked by Lou on Instagram
Hooked by Lou on Facebook

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Episode 26 : Granny Square Appreciation with Heather Griffith from HG Designs Crochet

Crochet can be a form of therapy for so many of us, but for Heather Griffith of HG Designs Crochet, it was through using the craft as rehabilitation after an injury, which set her off on a whole new adventure. At the time, Heather was training to be a lawyer and the repetitive movements of making granny squares helped her physically and mentally throughout her training.

It was last year though, during a period of ill health that she appealed for help to the online crochet community to buy her granny square patterns (to sustain her financially) that she decided to make the leap to crochet full-time.

Heather with some of her crochet patterns

Now, Heather runs a crochet design business (HG Designs Crochet) and online tuition for wannabe crochet designers (HGDC Hub) publishing work books to help designers grade their patterns and produce work which can be sold.

Heather says that far from being an overnight success, her design work has been a slow burn with her publishing YouTube videos and Instagram posts since 2017. She believes there is room in the market for plenty more crochet designers to join her, sharing their own niche of the crochet world.

**LISTEN TO HEATHER’S EPISODE HERE**

You can find out more about Heather’s work and her social media and YouTube channels through her website.

My sincere thanks to Heather Griffith for speaking to me for Making Stitches Podcast.

If you would like to vote for Making Stitches Podcast in the ‘Specialist Interest’ category of the Quite the Thing Media 2021 Podcast Awards, voting is open until 19th June 2021. You can vote here.

For full show notes for this episode, please visit the Making Stitches website.
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Episode 24 : The Evolution of a Crocheter with Rosina from Zeens & Roger

Specialising in bright colours and most recently items of clothing like cardigans, mittens and cowls, Rosina from Zeens and Roger is a prolific crochet designer. Based in Devon in the south west of England, Rosina balances her work and family life with creating beautiful crocheted designs, a blog and a popular YouTube channel.

Rosina was first taught to crochet by her Nan but it was only when she went on maternity leave with her eldest son, that she picked up a crochet hook again. Since her first makes for her new born child, she began designing for a wider audience several years ago and has gone on to have her work featured in a number of magazines including Inside Crochet and Mollie Makes.

Rosina modeling her ‘Companions’ wrist warmers

You can listen to Rosina’s episode here.

You can find Rosina on Instagram, on her blog and on her YouTube channel.

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

You can support Making Stitches Podcast with running costs through Ko-fi.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Episode 22 : From Christmas Crochet to Amigurumi April with Hayley Shelton from Dotcraftstudio

Hello again! Last episode we heard from Louise Armitage aka Gini’s Dorset Buttons, and how a friendship blossomed between her and Hayley Shelton from Dotcraftstudio while they were competing in Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas last year. Well it didn’t seem right to only hear from one half of that crafty partnership, so in this episode I share the chat I had with Hayley all about her craft and her amazing end to 2020.

We know Hayley for bringing amigurumi to a national television audience in December last year as she created a beautiful reindeer head using the amigurumi crochet technique. However, she is also an accomplished illustrator and won a tv competition for her Christmas card design last year as well and her work has been shared online by the influencer Mrs Hinch.

I caught up with Hayley a few weeks ago to hear about her big tv experience, how she first got into crafting and her exciting plans for this month. You can hear her episode here or here.

You can find Hayley on Instagram at @dotcraftstudio
The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Making Stitches Podcast is presented, recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Episode 19 : Doing What You Love with Sara Huntington, Editor of Simply Crochet Magazine

Happy New Year and welcome to the first episode of Making Stitches for 2021! In this episode we hear from crochet designer and Editor of Simply Crochet Magazine Sara Huntington. Sara tells me how she first discovered crochet by chance on a family holiday and hasn’t put her hook down since! She also explains how, several years ago, she made a conscious decision to follow her dreams and turn her passion for craft into her profession after juggling two jobs as well as motherhood to get there.

Sara has seen a boom in the number of people becoming interested in crafts, and specifically crochet, in recent months and is a keen advocate for its benefits. In this episode she shares her creative journey and the amazing determination she had to get to where she is today. Sara also shares her experiences of the process of finding inspiring designs to fill the pages of each issue of Simply Crochet magazine.

Bunting designed by Sara for Simply Crochet Magazine

You can hear the episode by searching for Making Stitches on your favourite podcast app or via this link.

Blanket designed by Sara for Simply Crochet Magazine

For more information on Simply Crochet, please visit the magazine website and you can find Sara on Instagram as @crochetdeli.

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Making Stitches Podcast is recorded and edited by Lindsay from Postcard from Gibraltar.

Episode 15 : From Alpacas to the 3 Wise Men with Kerry Lord from Toft UK

Kerry Lord took up crochet for the first time when she went on maternity leave from her family’s alpaca yarn business less than ten years ago. She watched some YouTube tutorials and created a cuddly elephant for her baby; Edward, who was still yet to be born. Little did she know back then that Bridget the Elephant would eventually go on to be made thousands of times by crocheters around the world and the book of crochet animal patterns she would go on to write would be translated into 22 different languages.

Kerry’s first pattern book: Edward’s Menagerie

This week on Making Stitches, I have a chat with Kerry Lord, the founder of Toft and creator of more than 200 crochet patterns. Kerry has gone on to write 11 pattern books, the most recent of which; A Partridge in a Pear Tree, has been released in time for Christmas. She told me how the business first got started and how after shaky beginnings it’s become the flourishing creative hub it now is.

The Three Wise Men from the new Toft Christmas Collection

We chatted last week in the first day of our most recent National lockdown here in the UK and just before Kerry launched the brand new Toft Christmas campaign which you can find out all about on the company’s website.

You can listen to the episode here.

Ellie from the new Toft Christmas collection

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops.

Kerry’s latest book: A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Episode 9 : Crocheting Under Lockdown with Esther of Essie Birdies

This week on Making Stitches I’m sharing my first international interview – it’s with Esther from Essiebirdies. I spoke to her from her home in the Netherlands on her first day in an empty house after 10 weeks of lockdown.

Esther’s latest ‘Close to You’ shawl design

Esther is a crochet designer who creates beautiful patterns for amigurumi toys, shawls, bags and home furnishings. Her passion for crochet came relatively recently when her daughter asked her to make an amigurumi toy. Once she had started, Esther was hooked.

Esther’s Frida Kahlo cushions & hand sanitizer covers

Esther designs in both English and Dutch and has followers from around the world making her beautiful designs.

You can hear Esther’s episode here.

You can find Esther at Essie Birdies.

The music featured in this episode is Make You Smile by RGMusic from Melody Loops

Episode 2 : Coastal Crochet with Eleonora Tully

I am super excited to be sharing this week’s episode with you. It features none other than Eleonora Tully from Coastal Crochet!

Eleonora has been immersed in yarn crafts all her life but 5 years ago began her blog Coastal Crochet where she shares her love of crochet and beautiful photos taken on coastal walks near her home in the south of England along with her adorable Miniature Schnauzer Salty.

Eleonora has used her blog to run blanket crochet-alongs uniting a huge community of crocheters across the world. Each of her blankets have had a seaside theme and feature shell stitches and waves among many other stitch techniques. From the first Seaside Stashbusting Blanket to last year’s Changing Tides blanket and now her current Beachcomber blanket thousands of crocheters have joined in the crochet-alongs getting great enjoyment out of following the patterns each week.

Thank you so much Eleonora for speaking to me for Making Stitches!