On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about creating a subscription box with Cheryl Ham. Cheryl Ham is a self-taught knitter who learned the craft with a bit of help from YouTube and a pair of her mother’s long-forgotten and slightly bent, size 9 needles. Cheryl is also the owner of Hypnotic Yarn, which came to life in 2017 after discovering the existence of hand-dyed yarn while watching knitting podcasts. Later, Cheryl founded Yarnable , a monthly hand-dyed ya...
Mar 06, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 184
In today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re discussing developing a specialty notion with my guest Jenn McMillan of Sew Fine Thread Gloss . Jenn is a graphic designer, quilter, and fabric-obsessed sewist living in rural Ottawa, Ontario Canada. She likes to call herself the thread whisperer. Sewing since she can remember, Jenn was taught to sew on an old Singer Featherweight and has dabbled in various forms of textile arts her entire life. Growing up around family members who...
Jan 30, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 183
Today on the show we’re talking about modern quilting with my guest Porfiria Gomez. Porfiria is a sewing enthusiast, self-proclaimed designer, and blogger. A native New Yorker, Porfiria learned to sew from her mother and how is a modern quilter, teacher, and author. +++++ This episode is sponsored by Sublime Grafx . Sublime Grafx is the printer of choice for your pdf sewing patterns, digital artwork, personalized mugs and graphic tees. We offer a variety of paper choices and fast turnaround. Che...
Jan 16, 2023•41 min•Ep. 182
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about creating a craft magazine with my guest Meghan Fernandes, a co-founder of the independent knitting magazine Pom Pom . Meghan Fernandes is a knitting designer and instructor, as well as creative director at Pom Pom. After 10 years in London, she is now based in Austin, Texas, where she lives with her husband and young daughters. She revels in the challenge of making and enjoying knitwear for a hot climate. +++++ Today'...
Jan 02, 2023•57 min•Ep. 181
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about slow stitching with my guest Samantha Hoyt. Samantha Hoyt is the owner and creative director of A Gathering of Stitches , a series of small-scale immersive retreats in Maine for quilters and garment sewists. She has been running the Slow Stitching and Slow Fashion retreats since 2015. The business began as a Maker Space in Portland’s East Bayside neighborhood in 2013. Before A Gathering of Stitches, Samantha was a par...
Dec 19, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 180
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about handmade marketplaces with my guest Jon Lincoln. Jon is the founder of Goimagine . He earned many accolades with his prior technology venture within InsurTech including “Insurance Innovation of the Year” and “Top 10 InsurTech Leaders of 2017” which led to a company exit valued at over $44 Million. Never a stranger to new ventures in 2020 Jon entered the world of ecommerce with the launch of goimagine.com; a new online...
Dec 05, 2022•59 min•Ep. 179
On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about creating a lifestyle blog and brand with my guest Brittany Watson Jepsen. Brittany is the founder and creative director of The House That Lars Built , an award-winning website focused on artful living and making. She is the author of Craft the Rainbow and her work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Vogue, Martha Stewart and more! She is the mother of Jasper and Felix and lives with her family in Provo, Utah....
Nov 21, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 178
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about knitwear design with my guest Andrea Mowry . Andrea is was lucky enough to learn how to knit as a child from her Grandma Ginny. By her late teens, guided by the wisdom of the great Elizabeth Zimmerman and her many books, she began trying to work out her own patterns. After leaving her life as a pastry chef to start a family with her husband, her hands found the necessary freedom to begin creating with fiber instead of...
Nov 07, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 177
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a yarn business with my guest Amy Small. Amy is a business owner, hand spinner, yarn lover, obsessive knitter, and podcaster. Along with making things, she’s passionate about creative small businesses and yoga! At the heart of her business, Knit Collage is the idea that making things makes us better. This might look like more creativity and confidence or patience and peace in your daily life. In a nutshell, i...
Oct 17, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 176
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about card making with my guest Simon Hurley. Simon Hurley started cardmaking when he was 12 and loved that each card was a unique canvas to work on. After sharing his work on YouTube, he slowly grew a loyal community of crafters who watched his videos. This led to him filming a cardmaking class at Scrapbook.com when he was 14 and several more thereafter. At age 16, Simon partnered with Ranger to launch a line of inks, stam...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 175
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about kits and craft books with my guest Cynthia Treen. Cynthia Treen's charming felt animal designs are classics in the making, with their own stories waiting to be imagined. Explore her threadfollower kits and patterns or her new book, Wind in the Willows Felt Friends . Her passion for teaching and drafting comes through on every page, with detailed instructions and illustrations perfect for guiding beginners and advanced...
Sep 19, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 174
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we're talking about knitwear design with my guest, Julie Robinson . A more inclusive fiber industry isn’t just possible, it’s a necessity. Designer and educator Julie Robinson is leading through example. Julie is known for publishing fashion-forward knitting patterns in an inclusive size range. And her courses on the creative and technical aspects of knitwear design are training a new generation of technical editors and knitwear designers...
Sep 05, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 173
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about quilting and teaching with my guest, Sandra Lee Chandler . Sandra embarked on her teaching career 38 years ago at Santa Ana Community College. She now teaches at many national shows including Quilt Canada, Stitches West, QuiltCon, Festival of Quilts, and Squam, as well as teaching a weekly virtual quilting class through Saddleback Community College. Sandra’s work has been published in numerous magazines and she has ma...
Aug 15, 2022•58 min•Ep. 172
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about creating a craft kit and workshop business with my guest Morgan Spenla. Morgan is the founder & CEO of Crafter and The Crafter's Box. Crafter.com is an online home for makers offering educational videos, kits, patterns and community, The Crafter's Box is a monthly subscription exploring new crafting mediums such as printmaking, fiber arts, woodworking -- even a series of workshops in basket weaving. Today, Crafter...
Aug 01, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 171
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about owning a local yarn shop with my guest, Ana Campos. Ana is a Brazilian knitting instructor, fiber witch, and designer with over 20 years of knitting experience. She currently makes her home by the sea in Salem, Massachusetts, known as the Witch City. As a Latina and an immigrant, she values the opportunities for connection, community, and common ground that knitting creates. Ana’s love for the knitting community led h...
Jul 18, 2022•49 min•Ep. 170
Today we’re excited to bring you the State of the Industry Panel discussion that took place at h+h americas , a new trade show for crafts industry that took place in Chicago June 22-24, 2022. h+h americas is presented by Koelnmesse Inc., one of the world’s largest trade show organizations, as you’ll hear me mention in the opening remarks. For the first time, this show came to North America and Craft Industry Alliance was the strategic partner. What you’re about to listen to was the kickoff event...
Jul 12, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 169
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a craft kit business with my guest Stephanie Carswell. Stephanie is the Founder and Creative Director of Hawthorn Handmade , a textile craft kit design company based in Dorset in Southern England. Hawthorn Handmade began in 2013 with a small range of needle felting kits, and over the last 9 years has developed from a small side business started in the back room of Stephanie’s previous business, a gallery and ...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 168
On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about owning a local yarn shop with my guest Rachel Bratcher, owner of Ritual Dyes . Ritual Dyes was created in 2017, by Rachel Bratcher an avid maker and true Libra. Ritual Dyes was born in Rachel’s kitchen out of a love (obsession) with knitting and creative control over all the things. Later Rachel and team moved out of the kitchen and established a neighborhood LYS and dye studio in Southeast Portland. Drawing inspirati...
Jun 20, 2022•53 min•Ep. 167
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a yarn company with my guest Nicole Snow of Darn Good Yarn . United States Air Force Veteran, Entrepreneur, Mom to a five-year-old, Wife, Founder & CEO, Nicole Snow is the ‘Jane of all trades. In 2008, out of the desire to create a business focused on social consciousness through crafting and design, Nicole founded Darn Good Yarn. Over the past 13 years, Darn Good Yarn has saved over 2,000,000 pounds of m...
Jun 06, 2022•59 min•Ep. 166
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about running a brick-and-mortar stationery store with my guest Kristina Burkey of Calliope Paperie in Natick, Massachusetts. Kristina owns Calliope , a fun and quirky stationery and gift shop in Natick, MA. Calliope started as an online shop in 2014, opened as a brick-and-mortar location in 2016, and just recently moved into a new and bigger location in downtown Natick. Kristina has loved paper and pens and stickers for ab...
May 16, 2022•57 min•Ep. 165
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about fashion design with my guest Whitney Manney . A Kansas City, Missouri native, Whitney Manney graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2012 with a BFA in Fibers. With a desire to create art in a wearable format, Manney creates garments and textile designs under her independent label WHITNEYMANNEY. Manney's work has been featured in major press outlets and numerous art and fashion blogs. She is featured in the PB...
May 02, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 164
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about yarn bombing with my guest London Kaye . Born in Los Angeles, California, London received her BFA in dance from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. After graduating London realized that her love for crochet, and unexpected joy, came together harmoniously when she began using crochet to interact with the environment and surrounding community. She began installing art daily on the streets of Brooklyn and New...
Apr 18, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 163
In this special episode of the podcast, we are focusing on the Etsy strike. I sit down with Kristi Cassidy, one of the organizers, in order to learn how it came to be and the impact it might have. If you haven’t heard about the Etsy strike yet, it’s a petition created by a group of Etsy sellers with a list of demands they want Etsy to meet. These include canceling the latest fee increase which brought transaction fees from 5% to 6.5%. Other demands include cracking down on resellers, improving s...
Apr 13, 2022•24 min•Ep. 162
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about creating craft media with my guest Anne Merrow. Anne Merrow started off as a book editor but has turned a series of hobbies—knitting, spinning, and weaving—into a beloved career. She is a founder and partner of Long Thread Media , which publishes Handwoven, Spin Off, PieceWork, Little Looms, and other content related to fiber arts. She serves as the company’s editorial director and host of the Long Thread Podcast. Ann...
Apr 04, 2022•56 min•Ep. 161
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a community through knitting with my guest Jewell Washington. Jewell Washington is the Chicago-based maker and entrepreneurial designer of Northknits . She learned to knit in college and launched Northknits in 2014. Jewell pursues simple living through her passion for DIY, pattern design, stacking her yarn shelf, and providing business and entrepreneurial advice to fellow crafters. As the founder of Our Maker...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 160
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about online learning with my guest Craig Swanson. At the age of 18, Craig founded Swanson Tech Support and worked as a tech consultant for 6 years before founding CreativeTechs which lead to over a million dollars in sales. Soon after Craig co-founded the creative online learning platform CreativeLive , an idea that was birthed from a failed video training program for his IT business. CreativeLive would grow from a small s...
Mar 07, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 159
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we're talking about blurring the lines between art, craft, design, and poetry with my guest e Bond . e makes digital spaces by day, handmade books by night, hangs out with trees on weekends, and writes something close to poems in the spaces between. Under the studio name roughdrAftbooks—created in 2003—she makes one-of-a-kind artist books, printed pieces, and abstract drawings that merge and blur the boundaries of art, craft, design, and...
Feb 21, 2022•57 min•Ep. 158
On today's episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about quilting as an art practice with my guest Heidi Parkes. Heidi Parkes was born into this world the proud recipient of a collaborative family quilt, organized by her grandmother. Now, Heidi lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and works within the quilt world, the art world, and the maker's movement. Hand piecing and hand quilting imbue her work with the personal, and contribute to her themes of diary, self-help, materiality,...
Feb 07, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 157
Today on the Craft Industry Alliance podcast, we’re talking about building a knitting business with my guest Safiyyah Talley. Safiyyah is the creator of the popular blog thedrunkknitter.com. She has an independent Ravelry store, hosts a podcast, and her design work has been featured in online publications such as The Bobble Club, The Fiber Company, LoveKnitting, and Darn Good Yarn—and in Warm Hands, a book of knitting patterns. She teaches knitting classes virtually and at knitting shows includi...
Jan 17, 2022•45 min•Ep. 156
Today we are replaying an episode that originally aired a few years ago. We learned this evening about the passing of Melanie Ham. Melanie was truly a bright light in the craft world. Her warm, smile welcomed everyone to learn from her craft videos, whether it was crochet, sewing, or quilting. Melanie was also a wife and mother. I was lucky enough to interview Melanie in February of 2018 and wanted to replay that interview today as a way to celebrate her life. Listeners may note that the podcast...
Jan 13, 2022•51 min•Ep. 155
