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Dark Matter Knits with Elizabeth Green Musselman

Dark Matter Knits with Elizabeth Green Musselman opened our PODCASTER NOVEMBER on the Yarn Thing with Marly Bird.

Dark Matter Knits logoElizabeth started knitting at about age 12. Her mother always knit and never attempted to teach her daughter until her daughter asked. She  started with a sweater that never was finished, of mohair/acrylic blend with aluminum needles…  It wasn’t until graduate school, that she took it up again, to be productive and not read or researching… Elizabeth’s studies lead her to be a history professor, mostly she liked to study the history of science. Once she made her way to the being chair of her department, found she was dissatisfied with any future progress she could make. With becoming a mom, priorities weren’t the same anymore. She says she’s ‘cobbled together’ designing and freelance work since leaving academia behind.EGM profile pic

Elizabeth acquired skills as a graphic designer a long the way, which came in handy. At one point the LYS has a visit with Shannon Okey and the owner asked Elizabeth if she would take care of Shannon. Spending time with her and talking to her about what she wanted to do turned out to be an incredibly lucky meeting, as the day that Elizabeth left college life, Shannon asked if she would be her assistant. At first it was just taking care of things that made Shannon’s projects overwhelming but it progressed to lay out of publications, book designs.

Podcasting began when she was inspired by the Cast-On podcast (which recently ended) and Craftlit (guest on our next week show) but the thought of post-production was overwhelming. In fact she had experience with creating a video podcast. She does try to make a theme throughout the episode, sharing what she works on and helpful techniques, including recently adding yarn reviews.  She shared that she uses the camera and microphone on her computer as she wants the simplicity of just sitting down to record. The post-production is the challenge as it’s a lot of work but invariably something goes wrong and then people can’t download the episode.

KungfuKnitsHer own designs were formed as filling a need for the guys in Elizabeth’s life. Most men and boys designs are a bit conservative and her men and boys were fairly adventurous. She began creating for magazine’s and books who asked her specifically for a contributions for male audience. Her recent publication Kung Fu Knits was formed of a desire to incorporate what a boy would want to wear. In fact, her son’s teacher at his dojo is a comic book artist. So, it seems a great collaboration was meant to me. The collection includes the complete Gi, the jacket, the pants, the belt, nunchuks, throwing stars and a bag to keep it all neat and together for lessons. Or adventures, which ever happens first. The bag, Elizabeth says, will be featured in a segment for Knitting Daily TV, sort of a zippered one-strap over the shoulder, not really for large loads likes books, but gear and lunch, of Berroco Vintage.

You may wish to follow Dark Matter Knits adventures by following the Group in Ravelry and to listen to this awesome podcast with Elizabeth’s smooth voice and great knitting tidbits you’ll want to bookmark or subscribe (available in iTunes too!) this is the blog link and the episode links will be there, too:  https://darkmatterknits.wordpress.com/

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  1. Linda says:

    I enjoyed the podcast today. I have to say that my grandson really likes the movie “Kung Fu Panda.” We’d really enjoy the book.
    Lmecoll on Ravelry

  2. Suzanne says:

    How fun to hear the two of you today. I could relate to overthinking things and need to remember the question posed to you, Marly, about how to make things easier (so I don’t give up). We were just at the San Diego Zoo recently and after we left, my sons asked how it was that we missed the panda exhibit. I wonder if a set of nunchuks would make it up to them.

  3. hotknitter says:

    I enjoyed the discussion today. I watch Elizabeth’s videocast so am familiar with her interesting background. I can relate to overthinkings things as I tend to do that as well. Fortunately I don’t do that when it comes to pandas. A panda is so cute that all I have to do is admire it.

  4. radinnh says:

    Wow! Fun interview Marly and Elizabeth. Kids, pandas and knitting shouldn’t go together, but they do! Keep the podcast coming, we’ll keep listening.

  5. deemg says:

    I missed the podcast and have yet to catch up, sounds interesting. By the say… I always think of Jack Black as Kung Fu Panda, not Jack Black 🙂

  6. Michele Byars says:

    I really enjoyed the podcast today. I need to get the Dark Matter Kung fu book for my Kung Fu panda, Nick. He’d love it!!

  7. JennG says:

    Loved this podcast, and my kids would love the book! I am teaching my older son to knit, and maybe later we will watch Kung Fu Panda. Thanks for a fun and enlightening Podcast!

  8. Jackie says:

    This show was very interesting. i loved to hear how the transition from academia to knitting designer occurred. I hope there is a panda pattern in the book because I would totally make that!

  9. Carol says:

    I love pandas! I am going to have to give Dark Matter Knits a look and listen. It sounds like a great podcast. Great show, as usual, Marly. And thank you to Tammy for the idea of ‘Podcaster November’.

  10. Mary says:

    I also love pandas. Enjoyed the podcast and November looks like a great month for the Marly Bird podcast. Keep up the wonderful passion you have, Marly.

  11. Anita says:

    I find pop culture fascinating. I cannot think of Kung Fu without adding Panda to the phrase. I have been a big fan of Elizabeth Green Musselmqn and follow her podcast on YouTube . Your interview was great!

  12. joyce says:

    Good podcast again. I had never heard of this podcast or of Elizabeth. What a fun time you both had.. I think she is filling a niche in the industry and panda is a great addition to that.

  13. kim dawson says:

    its so funny my friend Debra who now is part of the Marly Empire was telling me about Dark Matter Knits a few weeks before the show… It was like the knitting universe saying CHECK OUT THIS SHOW lol I mean its pretty Panda aka black and white that this show is right up my alley.

  14. Becky Dahlberg says:

    Great interview for this episode. I can completely relate to needing to counseling a boy about underwear (as a mother of a toddler). And the other night this same underwear wearing boy told me his stuffed animal panda was “happy”.

Marly Bird

The One and Only, Marly

Marly is a knitwear and crochet designer (and yarn addict) that is here to help you learn how to knit and crochet in a way that's fun and approachable.

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