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We’ve got a second helping of Libby from Truly Myrtle this week. After her excellent guest post for the blog, she also sat down to chat with me in more detail about her own handmade wardrobe and the journey she’s been on for several years. She’s an absolute font of information. At one point in the interview Libby says that she feels as though she was “born to make things” and if you’ve visited her website, it’s very obvious that she was. I took so much away from this conversation, but the main inspiration for me has been moving towards thinking in terms of whole outfits. Libby really captures the glee of creativity and making, and I hope you have a lot of fun listening too.
Show Sponsors
Today’s show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their wonderfully soft and gorgeous Acadia yarn. If you want to see how wonderfully this knits up, take a look at the two tone sample of my pattern Whispering Island!
Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace. The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments.
You can get your hands on some Acadia of your own at our other sponsor’s shop, Meadow Yarn:
Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It’s a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more.
What’s in the WIP
I’m still working on the really fun and relaxing Cavepoint Shawl by Paula from the Knitting Pipeline. The Cavepoint KAL is going until the end of the month so I might just make it under the wire.
I’m also working on a new shawl design for a Mystery Knit Along which will be coming out soon…there will be more details over the next couple of weeks.
The whole Curious Handmade Wardrobe challenge is a giant WIP for me. There’s so much great conversation happening in the group thread, and everyone’s getting super inspired, especially me! August is the planning month, and I’m still deep in the planning phase myself, though I have some thoughts coming together. Also, we have a hashtag now: #CHWChallenge so be sure that you use it on all your social media posts to that we can all follow along!
Show Links
We mentioned a few patterns:
Merchant and Mills Dress Shirt
Libby’s recommendation for keeping inspiration organized:
The pattern tutorial that Libby mentioned:
Announcements
There’s just over a week left to vote for Curious Handmade in the finals of the UK Podcasting Awards! It only takes a few seconds to vote, and every vote counts! and I’d be really grateful if you’d take a moment to vote for us here: all you need to do is scroll down to my photo and click!
September 5th is the Great London Yarn Crawl! There will be a special pop up marketplace, and there’s going to be an Indie Designer Spotlight stand. Several up and coming designers will be rotating through, and I’m lucky enough to be among them. Stop by! It’s a really fun event.
Thursday 29th of October through Sunday the 1st of November there’s an amazing retreat on: the Geeky Puffin Knitpalooza in Edinburgh. It’s being run by the girls from the Geeky Girls Knit video podcast and knitrundig. There will be lots of interesting sessions being run by a wide variety of teachers, including Kate from A Playful Day.
There’s also a Craftsy sale happing this weekend — up to 70% off their best selling supplies. It’s a great opportunity to stock up and treat yourself to some new creative supplies. If you’d like to support Curious Handmade at the same time, click through the Craftsy banner: it means I’ll get a small commission. Thank you so much.
Thanks again for listening! I’m sure you’ll be as impressed and inspired as I was, hearing about how Libby has focused so much talent and creativity on her own handmade wardrobe (while raising four gorgeous kids, too!) Happy knitting (and sewing!) to you all until next week.
