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.

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 72 : The Longest Yarn – Commemorating the D-Day Landings in Yarn

Yesterday marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. Along with the military commemorations, there was a very special one created in yarn, by hundreds of knitters & crocheters around the globe – The Longest Yarn.

Diane & Gill’s panel featuring a Horsa glider & 13 paratroopers

Tansy Forster, who has lived in Normandy for over 20 years, was inspired by the Post Box toppers she saw when she traveled to visit Arundel, in southern England. She thought she would have a go at something similar for her garden gate to commemorate this special anniversary. That idea soon morphed to create an 80 metre long yarn masterpiece showcasing scenes from the build up to and of the landings themselves as well as the days immediately after.

Paratroopers waiting to board the glider

Tansy, with the help of Facebook, soon enlisted the help of hundreds of makers from around the world to create metre long panels, each with a scene from that time. Not only that, Tansy has written a book about the project too. The Longest Yarn has featured on TV shows and news programmes around the world, and is set for a tour around the UK, then onto the United States before returning to Carentan in Normandy, where it will remain on permanent display.

In this episode, we hear from Tansy Forster and from Diane McCoombs and Gill Wright from the North West of England, who contributed one of the metre-long panels to the Longest Yarn.

Read more about this amazing project on The Longest Yarn website.

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 48 : Yarn, Food Nature & the Universe with Kitey from the Yarn Whisperer

The last couple of years have seen many of us take a step back and reconsider what it is we want to do with our lives. The pandemic gave us a new perspective and forced many of us to change paths. Kitey from the Yarn Whisperer is no different. After a 30 year-long career in teaching in various countries around the world, he found inspiration in a plate of Padron Peppers whilst on holiday in Spain and decided yarn was the way forwards for him.

Kitey’s first attempts at dying his own yarns were inspired by the green peppers and white sangria from his holiday. He now has a thriving online indie yarn dying business and lives a life filled with colour. He says his main inspirations are food (as I’ve already mentioned), nature and the universe – so he’ll never run out of ideas! He’s joined forces with designers and collaborated on a number of projects – his next one being the Dragonfly River make-along with Heather from Keep Calm and Crochet on UK which launches later this month.

A self-professed “stash enabler”, Kitey’s enthusiasm for creativity and ensuring the crafting community is an open and welcoming space for everyone is at the very heart of his work. I hope you enjoy listening to our chat, as much as I enjoyed chatting with Kitey himself.

LISTEN TO KITEY’S EPISODE HERE.

You can find Kitey at the Yarn Whisperer website, on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, & YouTube.

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

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.

If you would like to buy a PDF crochet pattern for Sophia the Sunflower, (£5 from the sale of every pattern will be donated to the UNHCR Refugee aid effort supporting Ukrainian refugees) you can find the link here.