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PODCAST

The Long Thread Podcast

Long Thread Media

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.

leisure crafts

All Episodes

43:59

Felicia Lo, Unapologetic Colorist

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/11/04

Felicia Lo spent most of her college years wearing a lot of black. The bright, happy color combinations that she loved as a child—lime green and hot pink, pink and yellow—didn’t fit other people’s idea of what colors went together, so she avoided wearing colors altogether. It took years to begin introducing color into her wardrobe again. As handdyeing began its groundswell in the early 2000s, Felicia began experimenting with dyeing fiber and then yarn. As it turned out, fiber artists across the

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50:12

Mary Jeanne Packer, Battenkill Fibers Carding &...

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/10/21

In 2009, Mary Jeanne Packer founded Battenkill Fibers Carding & Spinning Mill to work with small farms, yarn companies, and even individual handspinners who wanted great yarn. The partnerships built around the mill are helping revitalize the regional wool economy and sustain shepherds and shops alike. We are far from the days when 13 water-powered mills lined the Battenkill River in Greenwich, New York, all processing American wool, but through collaborations across the textile industry, the

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58:17

Deb Essen, Weaving Omnivore

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/10/07

Many weavers find their inspiration by asking, “What if...” Since she first sat down at a loom, Deb Essen has pushed the limits of her weaving by asking, “Why can’t I?” Deb has followed that question since childhood, right through her career as a weaving teacher and author. Since she first neglected her table-clearing duties to watch a weaving demonstration at the age of 9, the craft of weaving has held her fascinated. And despite the disciplines of teaching, designing, and writing, that childlike

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56:01

Allan Brown, The Nettle Dress

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/09/23

Most of us avoid nettles, thinking of them as weeds whose little stinging hairs can inject a painful toxin into the unexpecting walker. But strolling through the woods near his home in England, Allan Brown was captivated by the tall native plants. Knowing that textile cultures across the world have produced cloth from nettles, he wanted to learn more about cloth made with nettle fiber. Except for a few exceptions—giant Himalayan nettles and ramie, which is a non-stinging plant in the nettle

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56:15

Kristin Nicholas: Knitter, Artist, Farmer, Author

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/09/09

Kristin Nicholas lives in an idyllic historic New England home at the end of a dirt road, the interior handpainted in whimsical, vivid motifs. In neighboring fields, her family's hundreds of sheep graze in historic pastures. “From the outside looking in, it looks like a very romantic life,” she says. “But it is a ton of work. Most sane people wouldn’t do it, as far as I’m concerned.” Kristin has never had a hard time reconciling her creative and practical sides, and in fiber art, she found a home

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1:04:08

Anita Luvera Mayer, Weaver of Creative Coverings...

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/08/26

When she married her husband, "polyester kid" Anita Luvera Mayer received an extraordinary wedding gift from her mother-in-law: a loom and weaving lessons. A weaving store owner, Marcelle Mayer gave the same gift to each of her daughters-in-law. The others didn't take to it, but for Anita it was the beginning of a whole new life. Although she preferred making simple cloth to complex patterns, weaving opened the doors to meeting other fiber artists, teaching across North America, and learning to make

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54:57

Susan Druding, Straw into Gold (classic)

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/08/12

Susan Druding was a graduate student at the University of California-Berkeley when she first learned to spin and weave. In the Bay Area of the 1960s, fiber interest and social tensions both ran high. Without a business plan but with a lease on a small storefront, Susan and a business partner opened Straw Into Gold, a store devoted mostly to spinning and dyeing. Spinning legend Bette Hochberg, author of Handspinner's Handbook and Spin Span Spun, was a regular, and legendary spinning wheel maker

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1:12:38

Daryl Lancaster, Fearless Weaver

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/07/29

After you finish weaving fabric that you love and are proud of, cutting it up can be an unappealing thought. What if it falls apart? What if you make the wrong cut? What if the finished piece doesn't turn out like you picture it? For Daryl Lancaster, the challenges of transforming a handwoven fabric into a wearable garment are the real pleasure—and if problem-solving is the goal, then what looks like a problem is really a creative prompt. As she tells her students, "This is fiber. There's always a

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44:47

PieceWork Turns 30

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/07/15

"All This by Hand"—that's the promise of PieceWork magazine, which was first published in 1993 to honor the handwork created through the ages, mostly by women, mostly with little fanfare. "Handwork reflects peoples history, daily lives, and cultures. In this issue's stories, handwork means physical survival, personal hope, and cultural identity," said Veronica Patterson in the first issue. To celebrate where the magazine came from and what sustains us, we interviewed two delightful women: Veronica

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1:05:22

Sarah Swett, Fiber Artist & Adventurer

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/07/01

Don't try to put Sarah Swett in a box—if you do, she might just weave a bag on it. (https://handwovenmagazine.com/inspiration-everywhere-handspun-yarn-tapestry-weaving/) Growing up on the East Coast, Sarah found herself more enchanted with knitting sweaters from farm yarn than the traditional college track. She spent her young adulthood as a ranch hand and cook in Montana and Idaho, where she brought her yarn in by pack mule. She fell in love with the Palouse region of western Idaho for its rolling

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48:58

Clara Parkes, Bestselling Author and Wool Promoter

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/06/17

Clara Parkes became many knitters' guiding light and best friend when she launched Knitter's Review in 2000. One of the early standouts in the early online knitting landscape, the site developed a devoted following for its in-depth, objective yarn reviews and lively forums. Several years after the site's inception, she began writing books, starting with The Knitter's Book of Yarn, which was followed by The Knitter's Book of Wool and The Knitter's Book of Socks. As she explored the yarn industry,

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45:50

Lisa Mitchell Lives a Fiber Life—with Guanacos

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/06/03

After decades as an art therapist in suburban Sacramento, Lisa Mitchell and her husband, Greg Hudson, were ready for a radical life change. In her rewarding but exhausting career, Lisa spent her days harnessing the power of art and handwork to heal others, but she had little time to do it herself. Their concrete-jungle surroundings felt stifling. It was time for a radical, meaningful life change, one that would bring them more in touch with real materials, real experiences, real presence. They found

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1:18:29

Rangina Hamidi, Kandahar Treasure

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/05/20

Wanting to help the women in her native country called Rangina Hamidi back to Afghanistan. Through the khamak embroidery they have practiced for generations, Kandahar Treasure supports women making a living with their needles. Rangina Hamidi's parents and sisters left Afghanistan whe she was a child in the early 1980s, during the war with the Soviet Union, eventually settling in Virginia. She had recently finished her bachelor's degree in religious studies and women's studies when the attacks of

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38:41

Josefin Waltin: Swedish Spinning Revival

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/05/06

Venturing to a frozen lake in mid-winter, Josefin Waltin does something remarkable: She breaks the ice with a hatchet and climbs into the frigid water. And unlike an ice-bucket-challenge or polar bear dip, she does this every morning. With her head, feet, and hands covered in handspun wool knitwear, she looks pretty happy doing it, too. Although not everyone will take a dip in subzero temperatures, anyone who does should definitely wear wool for the adventure. Josefin is a spinner, knitter, and

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47:16

Mary Zicafoose, Ikat Fiber Artist

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/04/22

The resist-dye technique known as ikat involves wrapping individual threads in careful patterns, dyeing them, and then using the dyed threads as warp, weft, or both. With care and what Mary Zicafoose describes as a lot of fussing, the woven fabric displays a pre-planned design—geometric or figurative, crisp or feathery, multicolored or two-tone. This technique is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but the results are beautiful in ways unique to each of the textile traditions that practice it. Mary

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48:45

Melanie Falick, Making a Life

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/04/08

The treasure in a handmade life isn’t just mastering skills and making goods, Melanie Falick says—it’s the power in creation, connection, and expression along the way. When Melanie Falick started to knit as a young adult, she fell in love with everything about it: the creative potential of yarn and color, the meditative process, the useful finished product, the community of fellow makers, and the stories it can tell us about lives past and present. She has spent the years since then sharing her

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49:01

Kerstin Neumüller Carves, Weaves, Spins, and Mends

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/03/25

Admiring the simplicity of traditional bandweaving, Kerstin Neumüller took her love of weaving a step further and learned to carve small, sweet rigid heddles. She was startled to find a big demand for her handmade, handpainted heddles, which sell out as soon as she posts a new batch. With formal training as an apprentice in menswear tailoring, Kerstin's love for textiles is a lifelong passion. As owner of a denim store that offered repair services, her creative approach to mending clothing provided

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43:28

Peggy Orenstein, author, Unraveling

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/03/11

Life lessons are where you find them. Peggy Orenstein found them in her quest to build a sweater from scratch. When I say that Peggy created a sweater from scratch, I mean wrestling a sheep to the ground and relieving it of its wool. Carding said wool by hand while Zooming with her father, who sometimes knew who she was. Spinning that lovely fluff, with all the typical push-pull-stop-go of a beginning spinner. Dyeing the yarn with colors from her backyard and beyond. After that, knitting the

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54:29

Lynda Teller Pete, Navajo Weaver

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/02/25

In 2010, Lynda Teller Pete was living in Denver with her husband Belvin, working full-time in a demanding government job in the Department of Labor, living the life on a modern urban Indian, doing a little weaving in her spare time. Then she pivoted. Quit the job and sat down at her loom and made the commitment to return to her roots. With her older sister, Barbara Teller Ornelas, Lynda began teaching weaving classes and producing award-winning tapestries. In 2017, the two of them wrote Spider

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50:11

Meg Swansen, Knitting Maven

The Long Thread Podcast ·

2023/02/11

In Meg Swansen’s world, knitting is so much more than knit and purl. It links music, mathematics, deep history, and world-wide communities. It is a platform for creativity, invention, and technical mastery. Music, you say? That’s how Meg proceeds merrily along a pattern round of several hundred stitches. She sings the repeat. Or at least chants it. And those long, long pattern rounds comprise her favorite kind of knitting: color-stranded Fair Isle designs. The interplay of color and motif and deep

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131 results

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