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Stephen West of WestKnits

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Marly’s All Male Revue continues with Stephen West of WestKnits!

Stephen joined Marly from right here in Denver, however due to our crazy  spring weather, they missed doing the interview face to face.  (Bummer!)  However, a super fun time was had by all!

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Stephen West is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. After moving to the Chicago area, he caught the knitting bug and started designing patterns while epic amounts of wool infiltrated into his life. There was no looking back.

He moved to Amsterdam two years ago to study Choreography at the School for New Dance Development and he travels frequently teaching knitting workshops throughout the United States and Europe. He creates his own series of popular self-published pattern collections and also designs for Malabrigo Yarns and knitty.com.

You can find Stephen on his website, Twitter, Ravelry and his Facebook.

This week, Stephen and Marly gave away a copy of one of Stephen’s books as well as an advanced copy of his Craftsy.com class, coming out in about a month or so!  Now, if you listen to Marly’s show at all, you know that there aren’t just on the air giveaways, there are post show giveaways, and this week is no exception!  Leave a comment in the thread below, and you will be entered to win a free e-book from Stephen!  Don’t forget that keyword!

Up next week: Franklin Habit!

  • Like this podcast? Be sure to leave a comment/review on iTunes to let other know about it!
  • Stay up to date with the Yarn Thing podcast with the App available on iTunes and for Droid.
  • Find our more about Marly at www.MarlyBird.com or follow her on facebook at www.facebook.com/marlybird

This podcast is sponsored by: Knitter’s Magazine, Craftsy.com, Fiesta Yarns, Kollage Yarns, Decades by Drew Emborsky, Love of Knitting, Love of Crochet and Bijou Basin Ranch.

Tot Toppers and When I Grow Up with Kate Oates

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Today’s podcast was all about Tot Toppers and When I Grow Up, all designed by Marly’s friend, Kate Oates!

Kate Oates is the designer for Tot Toppers & When I Grow Up and the author of a brand new book, Knitting Clothes Kids Love.

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She enjoys designing hats and garments for babies and children in particular, these projects often reflect a whimsical spirit. Kate’s When I Grow Up line is for those of us who are not tots, featuring a modern classic style.

Kate also strives to add specifically to the growing body of knits for boys as she has three of her own and one on the way! You can find her patterns at your local yarn store or online. She also does freelance work for a variety of publications.

Congrats to today’s lucky call in winner of Kate’s new book!

Kate will be at Stitches next week, so if you want to get your copy of her new book autographed, make sure you find her in her booth at the show!

How to find Kate: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Ravelry, Craftsy, Etsy

A couple of Marly/YarnThing notes!

  • Like this podcast? Be sure to leave a comment/review on iTunes to let other know about it!
  • Stay up to date with the Yarn Thing podcast with the App available on iTunes and for Droid.
  • Find our more about Marly at www.MarlyBird.com or follow her on facebook at www.facebook.com/marlybird

This podcast is sponsored by: Knitter’s Magazine, Craftsy.com, Fiesta Yarns, Kollage Yarns, Decades by Drew Emborsky, Love of Knitting, Love of Crochet and Bijou Basin Ranch.

Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo

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March is National Craft Month so what better way to celebrate than to have the very Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo on the show?

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Positivity through creativity!  What a great way to put it and live it!  Kathy is a crazy crafty tornado!

Since 1990, she has sold her handmade “Chicano Pop Art” crafts to hundreds of retailers including Bloomingdales, Target, and Hallmark.

From 2000-2008, she wrote a weekly syndicated Arizona Republic newspaper column for eight years, and has authored seven books including Crafty Chica’s Art de la Soul andCrafty Chica’s Guide to Artful Sewing.

In 2001, Kathy launched CraftyChica.com, a wildly popular web site to inspire women to brighten their lives with clever craft ideas. She had a podcast series on iTunes, a web series on LifetimeTV.com, has been profiled in The New York Times, USA Today and NPR, and now has a Crafty Chica product line.

Kathy’s mission is to promote, celebrate and share in the American craft experience. Many of Kathy’s designs show a love for her Mexican-American culture. As a professional crafter, she is impressed that Latinos make up a large part of the $31 billion craft industry. Her goal is to promote and motivate women of all backgrounds, ages and ethnicities to join in the art and craft movement.

When she isn’t creating, she writes novels. Her “Crafty Chica Novel” series debuted in March 2010 with Waking Up in the Land of Glitter (Grand Central Publishing). Her next book, Miss Scarlet’s School of Patternless Sewing was released in March, 2011.

Plus, as we all know, Marly LOVES audiobooks, and Kathy’s books are also available as audiobooks here!

You can find Kathy on:

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, tumblr, Audible

Don’t forget to mention the secret word in your comment below, and Marly will announce the winner on next week’s show!

Make sure you remember to shake your snowglobes y’all, and don’t let your glitter settle!

  • Like this podcast? Be sure to leave a comment/review on iTunes to let other know about it!
  • Stay up to date with the Yarn Thing podcast with the App available on iTunes and for Droid.
  • Find our more about Marly at www.MarlyBird.com or follow her on facebook at www.facebook.com/marlybird

This podcast is sponsored by: Knitter’s Magazine, Craftsy.com, Fiesta Yarns, Kollage Yarns, Decades by Drew Emborsky, Love of Knitting, Love of Crochet and Bijou Basin Ranch.

Annie Modesitt: A History on Two Needles

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We have to keep Marly from jumping on the couch like Tom Cruise on Oprah because one of her favorite people is on the show! Annie Modesitt joins us to talk about her new book, History on Two Needles. Annie learned to knit from her college roommate and then spent down time at an early job working on her technique. Though the way she knits might be knitting from other knitters, it is not wrong! Her story is fascinating and Annie does not hold back! Her website, anniemodesitt.com, has links to all of her work, and she blogs at modeknit.com.

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Annie is a big history fan. In her latest book, History on Two Needles, you’ll find modern pieces inspired by historical images.  These are not costume pieces! You can purchase the book through Ravelry or Cooperative Press  but if you can also purchase the patterns individually in Ravelry.

Like this podcast? Be sure to leave a comment/review on iTunes to let other know about it!

This podcast is sponsored by: Knitter’s Magazine, Craftsy.com, Fiesta Yarns, Kollage Yarns, Decade by Drew Emborsky, Love of Knitting, Love of Crochet and Bijou Basin Ranch.

Self Publishing an E-book: Designers POV with Linda Permann

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Marly and Linda Permann talk about traditional publishing vs self-published e-books. Listen and learn from Linda’s experience in both worlds. She published two books, Little Crochet and Crochet Adorned, and was approached by the Malabrigo Freelance Pattern Project to do a crochet project. From there Linda considered the option of self-publishing.  She tells of her timeline in getting from design to finished product. Her team to help out included Caro Sheridan for photography and Heather  Crank for graphic layout.

Her new book Sugar and Spice has six designs were inspired by her love of crocheted texture—and desserts, ranging from simple to ornate. Bubbling cherries swim a cobbler crust, embossed designs adorn an Italian cookie, and glowing beads of sugar dance along the edge of a freshly baked pie. Just like a delicious dessert, a beautiful hat, shawl or sweater will leave you feeling warm and content. You can purchase this e-book on Craftsy or Ravelry!

Shown from left to right: Cocoa Wafer Cowl, Tart Shrug and Piped Petals Cardigan.

  

Shown from left to right: Cherry Cobbler Beanie, Sugar Sparkles Shawlette, and Pizzelle Beret.

Congratulations to Kristin, who won the Sugar & Spice e-book live on-air! You can also enter to win if you are listening later, just leave a comment on this blog post and don’t forget the keyword!

  • Like this podcast? Be sure to leave a comment/review on iTunes to let other know about it!
  • Stay up to date with the Yarn Thing podcast with the App available on iTunes and for Droid.
  • Find our more about Marly at www.MarlyBird.com or follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/marlybird

This podcast is sponsored by: Knitter’s Magazine, Craftsy, Fiesta Yarns, Kollage Yarns and Bijou Basin Ranch.

How to Be a Test Knitter or Crocheter

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a test knitter/ crocheter or tech editor?  Today’s podcast is chock full of valuable information on how to get into this industry and make money doing what you love!

  • Be proactive!  If there is a designer that you truly love, reach out to them and tell them that you are interested in test knitting/ crocheting or tech editing for them.  Be prepared to show them photos of your work — if you want to test knit socks, show photos of socks you have completed!  Same goes for lace work, cables, anything!
  • Communication is key!  Stay in touch with your designer as you work through their pattern and ask them questions, share your concerns, possible mistakes, alternative techniques, anything!  Your digital camera is your best friend.
  • Time Management is hugely important — stay on top of your deadlines and communicate to your designer if you think you will be late on a deadline.  DON’T accept a job if you can’t make the deadline.
  • Be honest about your experience level.  This helps your designer send you projects that are in line with your ability level and may even give you opportunities to learn something new!
  • This is truly work!  It’s very different from your casual knitting or crochet projects that you work on in front of the television.  Please remember that you are doing this as a job — your designer has a reputation to uphold and you are creating a name for yourself in an intimate industry.

Special thanks to Gwen and Rohn for sharing their thoughts today!  You can find more information on Gwen through her website, and Rohn can be found on his own website.

  • Like this podcast? Be sure to leave a comment/ review on iTunes to let others know about it!
  • Stay up to date with the Yarn Thing podcast with the App available on iTunes and for Droid!
  • Find out more about Marly at www.MarlyBird.com or follow her on facebook at www.facebook.com/marlybird
  • This podcast is sponsored by: Knitter’s Magazine, Craftsy, Fiesta Yarns, Kollage Yarns and Bijou Basin Ranch.