Nicole Snow, A Darn Good Yarn founder, made for the perfect FRIDAY guest on the Yarn Thing Podcast with Marly Bird.

Nicole shared with us that her company, begun 2008, was a way for her to get her own hands on great fibers to create with, while learning to knit! A Darn Good Yarn gathers recycled fibers and offers about 90% reclaimed through their various products. Many of the fibers are collected by about 300 families and contains silk, saving it from landfills. Thus taking care of families in India, saving waste and filing regular taxes as a business all of which contribute to global economy.

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Yarn Thing Sponsor, Buffalo Wool Co, owners Ron and Theresa Miskin were the guests today on our unique-because-it’s-MONDAY espisode of the Yarn Thing Podcast with Marly Bird. But that didn’t seem to throw them off a bit!

The Year 2014 was how for Buffalo Wool Co, they were nominated for Martha Stewart’s American Made competion. Ron says that one of the nice things about that is that Buffalo Wool Co received an invitation to be part of the next Quentin Tarantino movie (about bounty hunters in Colorado wilderness ~ sounds like they really NEEDED some bison warmth!).

They also have been welcomed to Paris Fashion. This Thursday on the runway of the MEN’S Paris Fashion week, Buffalo Wool Company is part a line of men’s sweaters for Louis Vuitton. Such exciting news! (Ron says it’s not what they imagined when they started picking up bison fluff in the pasture!) They won’t be in Paris, they will be at the National Bison Association in Denver later this week.

In fact, this spring sounds like it’s adventure packed for Betsy, their newly converted delivery van. After this week at the National Bison Association, they will be at Great American Outdoor Show, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in February. Also: they will be at Madison Knitters Guild in Madison, Wisconsin, in February. Dallas Fiber Fest or DFW in March is great fun for them. In April, they will be back in Colorado for the Interweave Yarn Fest, Stitches South in Nashville, Tennesse then back to Maryland Sheep and Wool.

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Craftsy, CEO John Levisay, was invited to join us today because they are a wonderful sponsor of the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird, which also proves how smart they are with their wonderful product (interactive online classes!) but to help us spread the joy of creativity!

John declares himself a wanna-be musician, interested in cooking (the cake decorating course has been a big hit with him and his daughter, almost 7 years old!) and being with Craftsy has reminded him of learning to build models with his father as a child. He finds he’s interested in the process of starting with nothing and creating an end project to be proud of.

Craftsy began with the idea that an online class could be a little more that just a power-point learning opportunity, with high quality video and learning content, to be able to interact with instructors. It began with quilting and knitting and has expanded to cooking (including cake decorating!), photography, metal-smithing & woodworking, gardening, beadwork and other fiber arts, like weaving and spinning. [Read more…]

Kismet Andrews, of Bar-Maids today’s guest so we can introduce her NEW SPONSOR on the Yarn Thing Podcast with Marly Bird. SO exciting! She says she creates ‘remarkable eco-luscious skin-care for everyone who has Skin in the game.’

This was the profile description she sent when we were setting up her show:  Kismet Andrews is a moon-gazing, nature loving, modern day nomad in relentless pursuit of creating balance between the constant flow of creative ideas of her right brain and practical left brained matters like numbers. The love child of a stud muffin and a princess, it was her Grandmother who taught her at a young age how to stir the pot. After studying midwifery in her thirty’s, she spent many years in a conventional healthcare setting providing mediation/conflict resolution, executive support, and developing campus wide projects. She ditched all that a few years ago, returned to the garden, grabbed her bowl and spoon, and gave birth to Bar-Maids. 

Kismet says her other Grandmother, (father’s mother) taught her to knit and crochet at a young age. Her Mother’s mother always made this “goop” and was always being thanked for her wonderful product. It was a cream color and included lanolin, caster-oil, petroleum jelly… Kismet heard the stories of what grandma’s product had done and when she became older developed an appreciation for it, although some of the elements were not something she would put on her face.  [Read more…]