The Shinybees Knitting And Yarn Podcast

Joy McMillan of The Knitting Goddess joins the show today to talk about how her business has moved towards sourcing solely British and some very local yarns. Topics discussed include the difference between British and British Overseas Territory when it comes to yarn, mislabelling of yarns, wanton misrepresentation of yarns as British and what you need to think about when doing a custom blend yarn.   History of The Knitting Goddess The Knitting Goddess started around 13 years ago, and having originally been a stockist of yarns from across the world, has steadily moved to all British yarn offering. By this, Joy means mainland Britain specifically, and she works hard with UK based mills to source yarn as locally as possible even within the UK. This includes having her own, custom yarn spun, One Farm Yarn, with a total mileage from sheep to yarn of just 72 miles. Overseas Territories Joy and I discussed the difference between British and British Overseas Territories when it comes to wool: specifically here, th

This week is a bit of a catch up as I share my Far East adventures so far. I'm in China, and I share some of the funnier/more unusual observations I've made so far being here, including crotchless baby clothes, sleeping in public and appreciative eating. Also involved is a marching column of riot police. On the knitting side, we revisit ep 114 (Yarn Snob) and I share some of the submitted entries for the remaining three categories of yarn snob. Full show notes and links at www.shinybees.com/117 Music for this episode used with kind permission of Adam and the Walter Boys - 'I Need a Drink' - available on iTunes.

Susan Crawford joins me this week and we take a journey through the past three years since Ep55. The Vintage Shetland Project was officially published in February 2018. The culmination of 8 years of painstaking work, the book is an absolute triumph, both as an academic work, but also as Susan was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer just prior to the original planned publication date. In this episode we talk about the realisation of The Vintage Shetland Project into its paper form, and discuss a few of the amazing stories that have come out as a result of this research. This includes a hitherto forgotten knitting historian from 1930, whose work was destined to be lost forever until this project and a daring WW2 pilot who believed the Fair Isle sweaters knitted by his doting Aunt kept him safe from the Luftwaffe. Next, Susan talked about another project, connected to her diagnosis: The Knocker Jotter. Susan was very open about the details of her journey through cancer. This was a creative project that ca

Where do you lose knitting time and how can you go about carving out more time to do it? In this week's episode, I talk about the idea of cutting out mindless phone scrolling time to increase your knitting time, and the associated benefits of doing so. Also we have a news round up for the start of the month, including information about the #titsoutcollective run by Countess Ablaze (along with her new YouTube channel), the Great London Yarn Crawl from Yarn In The City, the Indie Burgh Craft Crawl in Edinburgh and Fibre East. Full show notes and links for this episode are at www.shinybees.com/115

Yarn Snob. For some it's worn as a badge of honour and for others, it's the worst thing in the world, but what exactly is a yarn snob? There was (unsurprisingly) no dictionary definition for yarn snob, so I looked up both words individually to arrive at the following: Yarn Snob noun - A person who believes that their tastes in spun thread used for knitting, weaving or sewing are superior to those of other people. I looked far and wide to come up with 6, gusting 7 different types of yarn snob, and I'm looking for your help to get that up to a solid ten types. In no particular order... 1) Acrylic Yarn Snob. Would rather be found face down in a pool of their own urine than knit with acrylic.  2) Novelty Yarn Snob. May or may not embrace the acrylic but would definitely not se seen working with eyelash yarn, tinsel yarn, fun fur, pom pom yarn or any other novelty type yarn.  (These people are missing out on a major joy of life - tinsel yarn. Ed.) 3) Indie/Hand Dyed Snob. If a real person they know hasn't s

Dublin is the destination for this week's show. It's a new format where you can join me and (lots of) friends live-is from Woollen in Dublin. The festival took place at the end of May and you can join us there now. There were lots of great vendors and big name teachers attending on this inaugural festival. Full shownotes and links (there are a lot of them!) will be available at www.shinybees.com/113

Clare Devine of #KnitShareLove rejoins me on the podcast this week, as we catch up with her after quite a while since her Sock Surgery days on the show. Clare is now in Australia, the country where her knitting adventure began, in a totally-unsuitable-for-knitting Broome. Now based in Brisbane, which is pretty warm, and presents its own knitting challenges. Since her last appearance on the show, which was shortly after the adult edition of her book, Sock Anatomy, was released, she's been involved of lots of exciting projects and collaborations. She's designed her first cardigan pattern, as well as working with UK dyers Joy McMillan of The Knitting Goddess and Jess James of Ginger Twist Studios. Recently, she's turned her attention to working with and raising the profile of home-grown talent in Australia. We briefly digress into the development of independent designers on Ravelry and the idea of training to be a designer.  In terms of local talent, Clare recommended Circus Tonic Handmade, a former genetici

How do we get the entire world knitting? It's a mission of mine and today we discuss the five pillars of knitter assimilation: marketing, self-belief, tools and materials, medium and motivation and access to decent resources. Of course, this are the Shinybees Pentagon of Knitting Assimilation and I think these are the things we need to be considering if we do want knitters to take over the world. More specifically, if we want the entire world to knit. Think how awesome that would be. Pillar one is marketing. No, it's not just for sleazy snake oil salesmen and here's why: knitting has an image problem. Every man and his dog this that knitting is for Nanas and pregnant ladies and the media and film do nothing to change that view. Everything people see is stereotyped like this and that is a big issue.  Knitting needs to become more relevant and desirable if we want everyone to do it. Pillar two - self belief. Sit in public and knit and you will get an array of comments like 'oh, I could never do that' and 'I

Jane Murison of Yarnison joins the show this week, talking about knitwear design, fish and chips and the urban landscape as an inspiration. Jane began designing a couple of years ago, and has several knitting patterns now, that are a homage to the post industrial landscape of Manchester, that she sees every day on her walk to work. A UX designer by profession, Jane enjoys bringing together design inspiration, techniques and the user (knitter) experience in her designs. Not one for 'quiet' yarns, she enjoys working with bold colours and neons to create striking pieces. Her approach to design is to make things that she herself likes to wear, but struggles to find in the mainstream pattern world. This results in quite quirky and recognisable pieces that can be made as bold or as quiet as one desires, depending upon the colours chosen to make the pattern. One of my favourite of her patterns is the Urban Hero shawl, which was inspired by the neon yellow flashes of hi-vis vests on the builders working all over t

Mitch of Surfing Ducks is my guest on the podcast this week, where we discuss a plethora of things that spiral slightly out of control and end somewhere around knitted, transferable 'tramp stamps.' Yes... Mitch designs sock patterns with a particular twist; every heel flap is adorned with a quirky design. This led to the brand developing into an almost secret society under the #HiddenHeels theme. The idea is you can have these socks on, and have a heel that is usually hidden from view, but then is brought out on show at exactly the right moment. this moment may well be to secure access to some underground speakeasy with a gin urn. Mitch is several patterns in now (more have been added since this interview was recorded a few months ago) and each time a new one is released, there is a badge to go along with it. Be one of the first to finish and share pictures of your #HiddenHeels design and collect your limited edition badge. I don't know about you, but I want all those badges. We also discuss how Mitch ba

Speckled yarn is the marmite of the knitting world right now. Outrageously popular, thanks to patronage by the likes of Stephen West and Andrea Mowry, speckles are so hot right now. Or are they? A straw poll of hardcore Shinybees listeners suggested a 66/33 split between Hot and Not. A lot of people expressed speckles as being something you need to be in the mood for. But what are speckled yarns? These are yarns that are dyed onto yarn that is a majority of one main colour, with random spots, splodges and flecks of other (often multiple) colours on top. This can be achieved using a variety of different methods, and differs from variegated yarn in that the colours are more randomly spaced and generally shorter lengths. Who are your favourite speckled yarn dyers and designers who create great patterns for these tricky to use yarns?  Also in this episode I give you a quick catch up of where I have been hiding for a year and also what you can expect from the podcast going forward. Spoiler: I am in camp Not :)

Where sh*t tea, tray bake and exposure collide! Lyndsey aka Countess Ablaze joins me this week for a chat about issues facing us crafters and business owners. A recent recipient of an offer of 'exposure' as payment, along with some fairly misogynistic stereotyping of her customer base, The Countess decided to take a stand against this (and raise some actual money for charity in her own, imitable way) by creating some new colour ways. In this episode we discuss the thorny issue of 'exposure' as a payment for our craft, time and expertise. Is it ever acceptable? Where does the balance lie when offering this as an exchange of value? Why does it seem to be so rife amongst the creative industries and is it a peculiarly female thing? Next up is misogyny as an everyday blight. Lyndsey shares some examples of when she has encountered this working in her business, including the entirely false notion that her husband bankrolls her little craft hobby business. Spoiler: he doesn't. We briefly cover the deeply offensiv

Who likes Angel Delight? This week's episode is definitely on the delight end of the pudding scale as opposed to a seven tier unicorn cake and that's often a good thing. It's a low tariff canter and catch up with no big questions asked or answered and instead we have some light and fluffy as air fun. In community news, I invite you to come and join the #shinybeescolourworkchallenge  over in the Facebook group and try your hand at some stranded knitting. If knitting with more than one colour has been intimidating to you in the past, now's the time to cast that aside and give it a crack. There will be helpful hints and tips posted in the group throughout the month and the occasional Shetland Pony in Fair Isle. Obvs. In Enabler's Corner I enable you to two not quite yarny but definitely fun (depends on your version of fun for the latter, but I like it) things to try. First up we have the delightfully witty Amy Nolan of Ginger Rainbow who does the most fantastic illustrations and doodles. She's very witty and m

Knitting: Is it *just* knitting? Or is it more than that? That's what we are going to be exploring today and in future episodes is how knitting transcends just being handiwork and becomes something much bigger. Today that's going to be using the Pussy Hat Project as an example. This is not a political rant episode, it's about using this case study (yes, I am a Geographer) to understand how knitting can spark change and allow people to be heard on a wider level. In community news, I'm inviting you to join the new Facebook group - Shinybees Podcast Community. There's loads of chat going on in there about podcast stuff and knitting, Use the Facebook Groups App to avoid having the rest of the Facebook guff making your phone go.  Big goal for this year is 1,000,000 downloads for the podcast. I hope you'll all join me in reaching this target and I'll have lots of info for you about how to make that happen. Lastly a shoutout for 5647rhats45 for a lovely iTunes review.  Knitting as more than craft is the topic of

Permission. You don't need it from anyone to enjoy your hobbies, especially and most particularly if that hobby is knitting. This week the chat is about two notions: 1) selfish knitting and 2) hiding yarn purchases from significant others. Selfish is a bad word. It has negative connotations and is not a compliment. Why, oh WHY then, do we use this to describe engaging in our hobby if the thing we are making is for the benefit of ourselves? It's utter twaddle! Nobody expects it from football players or golfers. Nobody calls them selfish for doing their own hobby for their own-flipping-benefit. Why is it an accepted thing as a knitter? Secondly is the idea of it being a big joke to hide yarn purchases from significant others. To the extent of it being an 'amusing' sign in yarn shops. No, no, no.  You are allowed to give yourself permission to buy whatever you want, whenever you want and knit whatever you want with it for your very own self UTTERLY UNAPOLOGETICALLY. Also - family who think you knitting in pu

The first show of 2017 brings the project of the year for podcast to you. This year, we're all about Active Stash Exploration. What's that you say? It's definitely not cold sheeping, that is for sure. First up we have a quick catch up on happenings, before diving in to some news both for the Bees on the business front and for the podcast. Bees Inc is restructuring and that means we will lose some parts of the empire in order to focus on others. There is a free business group on Facebook (Business Without The Boll*cks) as well as a new online community portal that I am currently building. If you're sick of tying yourself in knots about what you 'should' be doing in your business and getting nowhere because of it, I'm the girl for you. I also organised a business retreat in Cumbria at the end of January. There is one place left - email me to enquire. On the pod front, I have lots of exciting stuff lined up for the year. The main project will be Active Stash Exploration, but there will also be lots of mini th

This week the show returns after a short hiatus. I'll give you a few funny tales from the past couple of months to get you in the mood for some Shiny On Form thought the episode. Pulling an octagenarian and gatecrashing a funeral are amongst the highlights. In Enabler's Corner, I enable you to the Tiny Tea Hat collection, which is the mini version of the most popular hats from Clare Devine of Knit Share Love's Tea Collection. It contains Chai, Everyday Brew, Lapsang and Liquorice. This is where it went off on one for the first time and I enlighten the world to the fact that the latest Hot Right Now craze for Ponytail Hats on Ravelry is in fact nothing to do with Facebook and everything to do with the Manbun. After this, I review Woolly Wormhead's Painted Woolly Toppers for Kids. Edgy, fun, a little subversive plus impossibly cute kids and interesting hat construction = a winner for me.  Shownotes for this episode can be found at www.shinybees.com, along with highly amusing photos of Vladimir Putin with a m

As Ravelry is disappointingly light on actual dalmatian patterns, I'm afraid this episode will not contain a pattern pick, but there will be a few of the usual segments you know and love. And a bit of mini Paul Rudd. Events-wise, coming up we have Yarnporium in London on 5-6 November. I'll be attending on the 6th: please say hi if you see me. And if I am holding any yarn, take it from me. Please. I have two tickets to give away - to enter leave a comment on the show notes on the Shinybees website. Tickets will be given away next week. The following weekend is Festiwool in Hitchin, Hertfordshire on 12th November. In Enabler's Corner, I enable you to Northern Yarn. Kate is based in Lancaster and has a great range of local breed, hand dyed and her very own yarn line called Northern Yarn. If you're into local wool or knitting British, she's definitely worth a look. Find her at northernyarn.co.uk. Wippin' Piccadilly returns. Finished items wise, there is the Talisman Shawl by Helen Stewart in The Wool Kitchen

The tonne! A century! Episode 100 is upon us and a hearty thanks to all of you that have listened, do listen and are new to listening. Welcome one and all. Two topics of conversation this week, one of which contains zero knitting and a lot of the young Wigan version of Paul Rudd and his fit-for-his-age Dad. Don't ask... To celebrate episode 100 (and total credit to one Countess Ablaze for this idea) I am instigating The Great Shinybees Hexipuff Amnesty. Got Hexipuffs? Want to donate them for a good cause? Post them to Countess Ablaze's studio in Manchester then clear your diary for the Great Swinton Sewing Bee (keepers' Quilt). In support of Monthly Gift Mcr, all proceeds from the raffled off Beekeepers' Quilts (and party) will go to the supply of sanitary products to this charity for distribution to homeless women. #hexipuffamnesty and #sodhexipuffs are your hashtags of choice. I am team #sodhexipuffs, but for every 100 that arrive, I'll actually knit one of the buggers.  Show notes of crazy (and Paul Ru

Pokemon is the theme of this week's episode as I delve deep into the bowels of Ravelry's pattern database to bring you a pattern pick of joyous wonder. If you've been sucked into the Pokemon Go craze (or PoGo to the cool kids) and you need some suitable patterns to accompany your meteoric rise as a trainer, I have you covered. From head to toe. In yellow acrylic. How does a Terry's Chocolate Orange fit into this madness? You're going to have to listen to find out! Also in the mis we have some Enabler's Corner action with the ever fabulous Boo Knits. She has a new collection out - Boos for Beginners - which will take you from zero to hero. Also entirely appropriate for the more seasoned professional, this is sure to be a great collection for the library that you will find yourself returning to again and again. Want to be in with a chance of winning a copy? Head over to the group on Ravelry and tell me which is your favourite Boo pattern. Also in knitty news, there is the Cheshire Fibre festival which will