The Long Thread Podcast

By: Long Thread Media
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  • Summary

  • The artists and artisans of the fiber world come to you in The Long Thread Podcast. Each episode features interviews with your favorite spinners, weavers, needleworkers, and fiber artists from across the globe. Get the inspiration, practical advice, and personal stories of experts as we follow the long thread.
    © 2024 The Long Thread Podcast
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Episodes
  • Nanne Kennedy, Polwarth Shepherd & Seawater Dyer

    Nanne Kennedy, Polwarth Shepherd & Seawater Dyer
    Sep 21 2024
    Nanne Kennedy has her feet firmly planted in the soil of midcoast Maine. Growing up on a farm near the ocean, she could smell the salt air and small local factories, and she started saving in her “future farm fund” when she was 12. Eminently practical, she looked for ways that her farm could make her a living. “I'm a New England Yankee, and self reliance is really important,” she says. “So it’s always been a critical theme to me that, yes, you do the right thing, but it sure as heck has to make economic sense in a way that is good today, but good forever.” Raising sheep could offer multiple sources of income, but the available finewool sheep were poorly suited to her climate. Studying in New Zealand, she grew interested in Polwarth sheep, which combine finewool and longwool genetics. Nanne imported genetic material from New Zealand and set about establishing the breed in the United States, seeking sheep with dense, fine fleeces; long staples; excellent parasite resistance; and sound feet. After decades of careful breeding, her flock has exceeded her expectations for wool and healthy animals. To increase the value of her wool, Nanne learned to dye yarn. Once again seeking an economic and environmental solution, she developed a unique system using seawater to provide the salts and sunshine to warm the dyepaths. Seacolors Yarns are what Nanne calls bioregional, produced within 5 hours of Meadowcroft Farm. Like many farmers, Nanne works on a variety of projects at the same time. The popular Maine blankets she developed in partnership with other small textile manufacturers have hit a snag with the retirement of the napping machine used in finishing, but she partners with local knitters and crocheters to offer unique handmade sweaters. She runs a short-term farmstay and also offers educational opportunities for aspiring shepherds. She vends at farmer’s markets and hosts fiber art classes. At least, that’s some of what she was doing when we spoke. By the time you hear this interview, who knows what Nanne Kennedy will have dreamed up to benefit her animals, ecosystem, and regional economy? Links Visit Nanne Kennedy’s farm, yarn store, and other projects at GetWool.com (https://getwool.com/meadowcroft/sheep-doula/). Learn about the dye process for Seacolors Yarn (https://getwool.com/yarn/seacolors/) and buy it online (https://getwool.com/yarn/). Meadowcroft Farm raises Polwarth sheep (https://getwool.com/meadowcroft/animals/). Naturally colored roving is available on the Seacolors Wool website (https://getwool.com/roving/). Watch a video of Meadowcroft Farm, Polwarth sheep, and Nanne in the video The Science of Soft (https://vimeo.com/714278628). Stay in the farm’s Airbnb (https://getwool.com/cuckoos-nest-air-bnb/), or stay longer with a Small Ruminant Residency (https://getwool.com/meadowcroft/small-ruminant-residency/) or Sheep Doula Apprenticeship (https://getwool.com/meadowcroft/sheep-doula/). This episode is brought to you by: Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com (https://www.treenwaysilks.com/). You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway’s array of wild silks provide choices beyond white. If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed. You’re ready to start a new project but don’t have the right yarn, or you have the yarn but not the right tool. Yarn Barn of Kansas can help! They stock a wide range of materials and equipment for knitting, weaving, spinning, and crochet. They ship all over the country, usually within a day or two of receiving the order. Plan your project this week, start working on it next week! See yarnbarn-ks.com (https://www.yarnbarn-ks.com/) to get started. Sustainability and regenerative ranching have been a way of life for the ranches of Shaniko Wool Company for decades. They are the first “farm group” in the U.S. to achieve certification to the rigorous international Responsible Wool Standard and NATIVA Regenerative. Shaniko ranches raise Merino/Rambouillet sheep in the Western United States, delivering a fully traceable wool supply that gives back to the Earth and its ecosystems. To learn more, and discover Shaniko’s yarn partners, visit ShanikoWoolCompany.com. (https://www.shanikowoolcompany.com/) The Adirondack Wool and Arts Festival is the perfect way to spend a weekend surrounded by over 150 craft vendors in Greenwich, New York. Discover a curated group of vendors featuring the best of wool and artisan crafters. Throughout the weekend enjoy workshops, free horse drawn wagon rides, free kids’ crafts, a fiber sheep show, and a sanctioned cashmere goat show. Join us September 21 & 22, 2024, and every fall! For more information visit adkwoolandarts.com. (https://...
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Spotlight Episode: Knit Picks

    Spotlight Episode: Knit Picks
    Sep 14 2024
    When Knit Picks was founded by husband and wife team Kelly and Bob Petkun in 2002, the company began with a mail-order catalog and soon added online purchasing. Buying yarn online seemed both strange and inevitable: knitters began choosing yarns that they could only see onscreen, in the early days of functional search engines, at a time when many people had internet only at the office if at all. But for crafters who lacked easy access to a local yarn store or even a big-box craft store, being able to order craft supplies online broadened the horizons of knitting. After carrying other companies’ yarns for several years, the Petkuns began working directly with mills in South America to create yarn lines that were exclusive to Knit Picks. Several of their first yarns, including Wool of the Andes, Andean Treasure, and Alpaca Cloud, are still available (though the Butterfly Kisses eyelash yarn that was a staple of the early 2000’s has been discontinued). With the success of their exclusive yarns, Knit Picks began working with manufacturers to create their own tools, most significantly an extensive range of knitting needles. Sustainability-Minded Yarns By making their yarns available directly to knitters, Knit Picks was able to keep their prices low and developed a reputation for affordability. Perhaps less well known, though, have been their efforts to offer sustainably produced yarns. In this episode, Alexis Wilson explains that the company recently completed the process to certify their warehouse to the Responsible Wool Standard, the last link in the chain that makes their 100% US-made High Desert yarn line fully RWS-certified. High Desert yarns use Shaniko Wool, sourced from ranches that meet multiple environmental and social responsibility standards and are demonstrated to capture carbon in the soil. Even before the official RWS certification, Alexis observes, Knit Picks purchased their wool, alpaca, and mohair from certified Responsible Alpaca Standard, Responsible Mohair Standard, and RWS sources. In addition to natural-fiber yarns, they have added several lines that use innovative methods of recycling or reclaiming waste fibers: Oceana (https://www.knitpicks.com/yarn/oceana/c/5420504), which features Seaqual Upcycled Marine Plastic; Salvage (https://www.knitpicks.com/yarn/salvage/c/5420505), which contains recycled cotton; and Samia (https://www.knitpicks.com/yarn/samia/c/5420462), which includes cupro, a silky fiber made from waste cotton produced in a closed-loop process. The environmental concern extends to their wooden needles, which are made from sustainably harvested forests. For Every Knitter (and Dyer and Weaver and Spinner) Although “knit” is right in the name, Knit Picks offers products for other crafts as well (and not just through their sister brand Crochet.com (https://www.crochet.com/)). In addition to finished yarns, Knit Picks offers the Bare (https://www.knitpicks.com/yarn/bare-dye-your-own/c/300110) line of popular yarns ready to be dyed by consumers, as well as a variety of natural and synthetic dye products (https://www.knitpicks.com/accessories/yarn-dyes/c/300508). Spinners can select the wool blends used in some popular Knit Picks yarns as processed wool tops (https://www.knitpicks.com/3001/filter-products?Category=Roving) to make their own yarns. For weavers and machine knitters, the popular Dishie cotton comes on cones as well as in balls, and Alexis reveals that some weights of their staple yarns Wool of the Andes and Palette will be offered on cones soon, too. For nearly 20 years, Knit Picks produced almost every product offered on the site. In recent years, though, they have started supplementing their offerings with select yarns that they believe customers would enjoy, such as Kelbourne Woolens Germantown and Baa Ram Ewe Woodnote. Alexis looks forward to adding yarns from Berroco in upcoming months. In this Spotlight Episode, discover the sustainable side of Knit Picks. Links KnitPicks.com (https://www.knitpicks.com/) High Desert (https://www.knitpicks.com/search?q=high%20desert&filter___category%5B0%5D=Yarn) yarn is Knit Picks’s 100% made in America, fully traceable, Responsible Wool Standard-certified yarn featuring Shaniko Wool. Knit Picks’s Learning Center (https://www.knitpicks.com/learning-center) includes information about the company and its products as well as knitting instruction and links to the podcast and blog. The Freebies (https://www.knitpicks.com/freebies) page includes a delightful collection of printable tags, care instructions, cheat sheets, and other knitting information you didn’t know you needed. This episode is brought to you by: KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert ...
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    55 mins
  • Laverne Waddington, Backstrap Weaver

    Laverne Waddington, Backstrap Weaver
    Sep 7 2024
    Laverne Waddington discovered weaving by accident—bike accident, to be precise. Recuperating from a mountain biking crash in Utah, she discovered a book on Navajo weaving and was immediately intrigued. A local exhibit of Diné textiles enthralled her, and she set about learning to weave in the Navajo style. Returning to Patagonia, where she had been living, she built a simple loom and explored weaving on her own until it became clear that she would need to move north to satify her hunger for weaving knowledge, settling in Bolivia. Over the following decades, Laverne traveled in South and Central America, learning backstrap techniques from indigenous weavers. Her curiosity has led her to the Andean Highlands, Guatemala, and other regions to learn hand-manipulated and pick-up methods and patterns from skilled local weavers. Laverne loves to explore complex and intricate weaving styles, enjoying the way that each inch of warp and weft passes through her hands in a variety of pick-up techniques. Weaving on a backstrap loom, she sits inside each weaving project. Through videos, online classes, books, and ebooks, she teaches other weavers how to set up a backstrap loom for themselves and weave a variety of patterns. Teaching backstrap and pick-up techniques is as much a part of her practice as deepening her understanding of the weaving structures. In this episode, discover Laverne Waddington’s passions and processes. Links Laverne has maintained a blog and weaving journal on her website (https://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/) since 2009. Laverne’s books (https://www.taprootvideo.com/instructorClasses.jsf?iid=3) are available from Taproot Video. Laverne offers a number of tutorials (https://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/tutorials/) of techniques she practices as well as videos (https://backstrapweaving.wordpress.com/videos/) of a variety of weaving techniques and traditions. This episode is brought to you by: Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com (https://www.treenwaysilks.com/). You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white. If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed. KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert from Shaniko Wool Company in Oregon. Are you looking for an ethical, eco-friendly yarn to try? Look no further than Knit Picks’ Eco yarn line. Need needles? Knit Picks makes a selection for knitters right at their Vancouver, Washington headquarters. KnitPicks.com (https://www.knitpicks.com/)—a place for every knitter. The Adirondack Wool and Arts Festival is the perfect way to spend a weekend surrounded by over 150 craft vendors in Greenwich, New York. Discover a curated group of vendors featuring the best of wool and artisan crafters. Throughout the weekend enjoy workshops, free horse drawn wagon rides, free kids’ crafts, a fiber sheep show, and a sanctioned cashmere goat show. Join us September 21 & 22, 2024, and every fall! For more information visit adkwoolandarts.com. (https://www.adkwoolandarts.com/)
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    53 mins

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