Listening to her college-aged daughter making calls for AmeriCorps in 2020, Laura Nelkin was surprised at how many people in her community faced food insecurity and hunger every day. A problem that had seemed far away suddenly felt much closer to home, and Laura wanted to find a way to help. She had a feeling that other knitters would want to help, too, so she dreamed up a group effort: the Knit for Food Knit-a-Thon. In its first 4 years, the effort has raised over $1.25 million for Feeding America, Meals on Wheels, No Kid Hungry, and World Central Kitchen. 2025 is poised to be the largest event yet, with more teams and knitters joining the effort every day.

How does it work? Until Saturday, April 5, 2025, crafters register to participate, either as members of a team or solo. Participants reach out to friends, loved ones, colleagues, and other contacts to make a financial pledge to support the effort. Then from 10 am to 10 pm Eastern Time on April 5, participants pick up your craft of choice and knit (or crochet or stitch or whatever you like). Some teams and local craft groups organize public meetups for support. Anyone raising at least $100 receives a link to online events including stretching and knitting ergonomics, live music, games, and presentations from the four benefiting charities. At the end of the day, you’ve enjoyed 12 hours on your favorite craft, strengthened the fellowship of crafters, and helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars that directly feed hungry people.

Laura (and her saucy alter ego, Lola) develop dozens of innovative ideas every year, from original designs to bead-knitting techniques to a brilliant method for swatching to knit in the round while knitting flat. She documents her ideas and experiments on her YouTube channel, offers kits and mystery knit-alongs, and invites knitters to join her in real life on knitting-related tours and cruises each year. The Knit for Food Knit-a-Thon brings that spirit of fun and inventiveness to a much-needed cause, building the spirit of community with every stitch and donation.

Links

Knit for Food sign-up page

Knit for Food FAQ

Check out a list of ideas for charities for handknitters.

Laura Nelkin’s website
Laura’s YouTube channel
Nelkin Designs Ravelry group
Nelkin Designs on Facebook

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You'll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert from Shaniko Wool Company in Oregon. Are you looking for an ethical, eco-friendly yarn to try? Look no further than Knit Picks’ Eco yarn line. Need needles? Knit Picks makes a selection for knitters right at their Vancouver, Washington headquarters.

KnitPicks.com—a place for every knitter.

One day, while waiting outside her daughter’s weaving class, Gabi van Tassell became fascinated with an old-fashioned quilt. The Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern combines groups of paper-pieced hexagons, and Gabi found herself wondering how she could weave the shapes. An active and curious crafter, she had explored a variety of fiber crafts, though she wasn’t yet a weaver.

She experimented with different approaches to the pin loom, eventually realizing that she needed a combination of plain and bias weaving in the same piece. Once she developed the method, she faced the challenge of making the looms. When she realized that she would need to build the looms herself, she decided to patent the idea while developing her manufacturing process. Although establishing her business was challenging, she knew that weavers would love the little turtle-shaped looms.

Turtle Looms have the can’t-weave-just-one appeal of any pin loom, but the geometry of hexagons (and Gabi’s newer trapezoid and five-sided Jewel looms) offer a variety of design choices. In addition to making Turtle Looms, Gabi began designing projects to show the variety of projects to be made from hexagons. To her delight, weavers have adopted the looms and even create designs Gabi herself hadn’t dreamed of.

Links

Turtle Looms website

Find Turtle Looms on Instagram @turtleloom

The Turtle Looms thread in the Ravelry group Pin Looms to Go offers support and inspiration.

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway’s array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

You’re ready to start a new project but don’t have the right yarn. Or you have the yarn but not the right tool. Yarn Barn of Kansas can help! They stock a wide range of materials and equipment for knitting, weaving, spinning, and crochet. They ship all over the country, usually within a day or two of receiving the order.

Plan your project this week, start working on it next week! See yarnbarn-ks.com to get started.

Sustainability and regenerative ranching have been a way of life for the ranches of Shaniko Wool Company for decades. They are the first “farm group” in the U.S. to achieve certification to the rigorous international Responsible Wool Standard and NATIVA Regenerative. Shaniko ranches raise Merino/Rambouillet sheep in the Western United States, delivering a fully traceable wool supply that gives back to the Earth and its ecosystems. To learn more, and discover Shaniko’s yarn partners, visit ShanikoWoolCompany.com.

In the early 2000’s, one episode of the Late Show with David Letterman boasted that a crocheter would make Dave a sweater over the course of the show. It sounded impossible, but their special guest backstage was Lily M. Chin, who held the title of World’s Fastest Crocheter. When the closing music played, Lily presented Letterman with his sweater—it was a bit short, but Dave pulled it over his head.

By that point, Lily was no stranger to either deadlines or high-profile clients, having created runway pieces for Diane von Furstenburg, Ralph Lauren, Isaac Mizrahi, and other Fashion Week icons. As a crocheter, machine knitter, and handknitter, Lily is known for her innovative techniques and bold designs.

Fashion and speed are the hallmarks of Lily’s native New York City as well as her handwork. Lily grew up at the feet of her mother, a garment worker who put a crochet hook in her hands so she’d stay out of trouble. She picked up handknitting and machine knitting, stepped off the pre-med track, and began one of the most varied and interesting careers in fiber art.

Any knitter or crocheter with a yarn collection will take heart at Lily’s solution for managing her decades’ worth of stashed yarn. With no room for it in her 650-square-foot Greenwich Village apartment, she keeps it in 9 units in a nearby self-storage facility. She doesn’t need it in her house, after all, when she travels to teach, especially on the Craft Cruises she has participated in for years.

Named a Master Knitter by Vogue Knitting International, Lily has a list of credits and affiliations as long as a skein of laceweight yarn, but her down-to-earth attitude and delight in her craft make her stories so much fun.

Links

• Lily teaches frequently with Craft Cruises. In 2025 she will be traveling to Japan and the North Pacific.
  
• Find information about Lily’s upcoming classes, current projects, and latest adventures on her socials:
  @LilyMChin on Instagram
  @LilyMChin1 on Twitter
  @LilyMChin on Threads
  LilyMChin on Ravelry
  @lilymchinnyc on Pinterest
  

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You'll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert from Shaniko Wool Company in Oregon. Are you looking for an ethical, eco-friendly yarn to try? Look no further than Knit Picks’ Eco yarn line. Need needles? Knit Picks makes a selection for knitters right at their Vancouver, Washington headquarters.

KnitPicks.com—a place for every knitter.

A lifelong crafter, Jennifer B. Williams had tried a wide variety of fiber techniques, but she felt something fall into place the first time she sat down to a lesson at an inkle loom. “It was the strangest thing to me. When I started inkle weaving, I started thinking through inkle,” she says. Delicate bracelets, origami fish, flip-flop straps? Absolutely! Joining bands edge to edge, folding strips into new shapes, and exploring drape and density, the formal confines of narrow warp-faced bands just spark new ideas for her to explore.

Although the term “inkle” arose in the sixteenth century to describe a narrow linen tape, some form of band-making developed around the world where something needed tying, lashing, embellishing, cinching or any of the other uses for a durable piece of cloth. Jennifer has studied bandweaving methods from Japan and Africa, finding inspiration in contemporary Yoruba aso-oke weaving and other warp-faced plain-weave techniques.

Though her brain has a unique affinity for bandweaving, Jennifer loves to share her knowledge and excitement with students at all levels, using her inkle-first weaving education to help teach effectively. In the coming year, she has classes planned at the Braid Society conference, among other events. A few spaces remain in Jennifer’s classes at Weave Together with Handwoven 2025 in York, Pennsylvania, March 23–27.

Links

Find Jennifer B. Williams online at the Inkled Pink website or on Instagram.

Jennifer documented her daily band practice on Instagram as @dailybandpractice.

Jennifer’s patterns for Easy Weaving with Little Looms are available through the Library.

Jennifer’s detailed tutorial appears on her website.
See Jennifer’s process for making origami goldfish.

The Braid Society’s website includes details of conferences and exhibitions.

The Weaver's Inkle Pattern Directory: 400 Warp-Faced Weaves by Anne Dixon is available from many weaving stores.

Inkle by Evelyn Neher is available from used book sources.

Aso-oke weaver Muhammed Abdulrasheed Abiodun practices and teaches traditional Yoruba weaving techniques.

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway’s array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

Sustainability and regenerative ranching have been a way of life for the ranches of Shaniko Wool Company for decades. They are the first “farm group” in the U.S. to achieve certification to the rigorous international Responsible Wool Standard and NATIVA Regenerative. Shaniko ranches raise Merino/Rambouillet sheep in the Western United States, delivering a fully traceable wool supply that gives back to the Earth and its ecosystems. To learn more, and discover Shaniko’s yarn partners, visit ShanikoWoolCompany.com.

Visiting museums and archaeological sites in the American Southwest, Louie García finds inspiration to revive the fiber techniques of the past. He has participated in creating several recreations of ancient textiles, including a replica of the 800-year-old Arizona Openwork Shirt, and is a member of the Cedar Mesa Perishables Project, which studies artifacts including baskets, plaited and twined yucca sandals, and most importantly cotton textile fragments that date back as much as two thousand years.

But where others might see ruins, Louie sees connections to the Pueblo heritage that is part of his daily life. When rediscovering weaving, spinning, and cotton-growing skills, he says, “That’s how I’m able to connect with my ancestors.” Navigating between his wish to maintain the role of fiber arts in his community with respect for the sacred nature of traditional knowledge, he founded the New Mexico Pueblo Fiber Arts Guild in in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He teaches classes to Pueblo weavers as well as a few non-Pueblo fiber arts enthusiasts.

His handspun, handwoven gauze and weft-wrap openwork piece, inspired by a nearly 1,000-year-old Hohokam textile in the Ventana Cave excavation, was featured on the cover of Spin Off Summer 2020—one of just a few articles about Pueblo weaving written from a Pueblo perspective, he says. Looking at the piece, Cedar Mesa Perishables Project director Laurie Webster remarked, “It’s probably been at least a thousand years since anyone has woven a piece like this.”

Spin Off is excited to welcome Louie as an instructor at SOAR October 12-17, 2025, in Loveland, Colorado.

Join us to hear how Louie connects the work of his hands with his dedication to Pueblo heritage.

Links

Openwork Shirt (sprang replica): Carol James, “The Arizona Openwork (Tonto) Shirt Project” (2017). PreColumbian Textile Conference VII / Jornadas de Textiles PreColombinos VII. 25.

Cedar Mesa Perishables Project

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

Louie García, “Pueblo Cotton in the American Southwest: Ancient Gauze Weave and Weft-Wrap Openwork.” Spin Off Summer 2020.

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway’s array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert from Shaniko Wool Company in Oregon. Are you looking for an ethical, eco-friendly yarn to try? Look no further than Knit Picks’ Eco yarn line. Need needles? Knit Picks makes a selection for knitters right at their Vancouver, Washington headquarters.

KnitPicks.com—a place for every knitter.

Knitters know Manos del Uruguay for their yarns’ rich tonal colors, but the story of women’s empowerment and community benefit enriches every skein. Discover 17 yarn bases from laceweight to super bulky made and dyed at an artisan owned cooperative in Uruguay. Ask for Manos at your local retailer or visit FairmountFibers.com.

Like many spinners, Charan Sachar discovered fiber crafts without realizing that they would transform his life. While studying for a masters degree in computer science, he began working with clay, making functional and decorative pieces. He loved the cool, slick texture of clay and the pleasure of working with his hands, eventually making pottery his full-time career. During down times in the pottery studio and at home, he began knitting. The soft texture and warmth of knitting proved a perfect complement to his work in clay.

Knitting not only changed Charan’s daily life, it also made its way into his clay work. Although his repertoire includes a variety of motifs, knitters have fallen in love with mugs and other vessels decorated with knitting and lace motifs.

With a burgeoning stash of yarns for knitting and weaving, he was initially reluctant to create even more yarn by learning to spin. Then he saw colorful beehives and immediately knew that he needed to learn to make textured art yarns. After studying traditional and textured yarn techniques with a variety of teachers, he began teaching spinning at events across the country and as far away as New Zealand.

In October 2025, Charan will teach at the Spin Off Autumn Retreat.

Links

Creative with Clay website

Charan Sachar’s Instagram

Charan will be teaching at the Spin Off Autumn Retreat October 12–17, 2025 in Loveland, Colorado.

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway’s array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert from Shaniko Wool Company in Oregon. Are you looking for an ethical, eco-friendly yarn to try? Look no further than Knit Picks’ Eco yarn line. Need needles? Knit Picks makes a selection for knitters right at their Vancouver, Washington headquarters.

KnitPicks.com—a place for every knitter.

Sustainability and regenerative ranching have been a way of life for the ranches of Shaniko Wool Company for decades. They are the first “farm group” in the U.S. to achieve certification to the rigorous international Responsible Wool Standard and NATIVA Regenerative. Shaniko ranches raise Merino/Rambouillet sheep in the Western United States, delivering a fully traceable wool supply that gives back to the Earth and its ecosystems. To learn more, and discover Shaniko’s yarn partners, visit ShanikoWoolCompany.com.

Knitters know Manos del Uruguay for their yarns’ rich tonal colors, but the story of women’s empowerment and community benefit enriches every skein. Discover 17 yarn bases from laceweight to super bulky made and dyed at an artisan owned cooperative in Uruguay. Ask for Manos at your local retailer or visit FairmountFibers.com.

When colonists first left Spain for what became Mexico and the American Southwest in 1598, they came with the continent’s first wool sheep. These weren’t the famed finewool Spanish Merinos—export of those was punishable by death—but rougher multipurpose Churra sheep. With simple tools, men sheared the sheep, women spindle-spun wool yarn, and men wove plain cloth called sabanilla.

In their few spare moments, women embroidered on scraps of fabric with naturally dyed yarn and a simple couching stitch. Embroidery made the fabric valuable for trade and beautiful for religious observances. Along with tinwork, wood carving and painting, and pottery, colcha embroidery became one of the folk arts that grew uniquely in the Southwest. When finer materials became available in the early 1800s, colcha embroidery began to decline in practice.

Home economics teacher Julia Gomez first learned colcha embroidery in the 1970s at the Folk Art Museum and at El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a living history museum in Santa Fe where she volunteered in the summer. With teaching and family obligations, she didn’t delve deeper in the craft until decades later, when she fell in love with this local art form. Learning not only to stitch the colcha embroidery but also prepare the yarn and woven fabric (and even shear a sheep . . . once), she developed passion and expertise for its stories and techniques. Her work has been included in the juried Spanish Market, winning first prize, and is in numerous museum and private collections.

In addition to her own embroidery, Julia enjoys teaching and demonstrating, a natural continuation of her decades in the middle-school classroom and years as a docent at the Nuevo Mexico Heritage Arts Museum (formerly the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art). Whether spinning and weaving at El Rancho de las Golondrinas or demonstrating embroidery across the United States and internationally, Julia preserves the beautifully rustic tradition of colcha embroidery.

Links

• Julia Gomez authored “The Art and Tradition of Colcha Embroidery” and created the design “A Colcha Peahen” for PieceWork Winter 2022.
  
• Julia demonstrates at the El Rancho de las Golondrinas in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is open from June through October each year (and in April and May for private tours).
  
• Julia demonstrates and teaches at the Nuevo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum, where some of her work is also part of the permanent collection.
  
• Julia’s presentation “A Stitch Out of Time: A Story of Colcha Embroidery in New Spain” at the 2024 Weave a Real Peace (WARP) conference is available to watch on YouTube..
  
• El Rancho de las Golondrinas hosted Julia’s presentation “The Art and Tradition of Colcha Embroidery,” which is available on YouTube.
  
• Santa Fe honored Julia as part of National Hispanic Heritage Month in 2021 and created a video to celebrate her accomplishments.
  

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You'll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you'll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert from Shaniko Wool Company in Oregon. Are you looking for an ethical, eco-friendly yarn to try? Look no further than Knit Picks’ Eco yarn line. Need needles? Knit Picks makes a selection for knitters right at their Vancouver, Washington headquarters.

KnitPicks.com—a place for every knitter.

Sustainability and regenerative ranching have been a way of life for the ranches of Shaniko Wool Company for decades. They are the first “farm group” in the U.S. to achieve certification to the rigorous international Responsible Wool Standard and NATIVA Regenerative. Shaniko ranches raise Merino/Rambouillet sheep in the Western United States, delivering a fully traceable wool supply that gives back to the Earth and its ecosystems. To learn more, and discover Shaniko’s yarn partners, visit ShanikoWoolCompany.com.

Knitters know Manos del Uruguay for their yarns’ rich tonal colors, but the story of women’s empowerment and community benefit enriches every skein. Discover 17 yarn bases from laceweight to super bulky made and dyed at an artisan owned cooperative in Uruguay. Ask for Manos at your local retailer or visit FairmountFibers.com.

As a knitter in a new place, Irene Waggener looks for knitting as she explores. Not all of the countries where she finds herself have robust yarn-shop networks and textile tourism, so sometimes she needs to get creative in her search.

During a three-year stint in Morocco, her first glimpse of knitting was in the back of a local museum, where a striking pair of black-and-white knitted pants hung among other traditional craft objects. Although the staff at the museum couldn’t tell her much about them, she was encouraged to look for knitters in the neighboring valley, where she found not only some of the last knitters who knew how to make the knitted pants but also an existing handknit sock practice. In the village of Timloukine, men take their knitting along for months away from home as they tend their sheep. In the cold winters of the High Atlas, the synthetic mass-produced socks that have reached the village are no match for the traditional handmade wool socks.

Irene learned to knit the unusual wool pants, called sirwal, and a variety of other traditional knitted items from the region. She wrote her first book about the knitting practices of the High Atlas, combining cultural anthropology, historical research, and kandknitting patterns in Keepers of the Sheep: Knitting in Morocco’s High Atlas and Beyond.

In her next destination, Armenia, Irene found a knitting culture that more closely resembles what North American and European knitters would recognize: contemporary knitters who pick up their needles for enjoyment and self-expression, with a variety of mostly synthetic yarns available in craft stores. Getting out into rural areas, though, she met an older generation of knitters who still use old-style, unusual colorwork techniques, many of them related to the region’s rug weaving. Drawing on a breed association for the gampr, a treasured Armenian livestock guardian dog, and plenty of serendipity, Irene found knitters willing to share their sock-knitting traditions.

As an independent researcher, Irene Waggener has followed her knitting to extraordinary places, and she invites us to follow and knit along.

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You'll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you'll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

KnitPicks.com has been serving the knitting community for over 20 years and believes knitting is for everyone, which is why they work hard to make knitting accessible, affordable, and approachable. Knit Picks responsibly sources its fiber to create an extensive selection of affordable yarns like High Desert from Shaniko Wool Company in Oregon. Are you looking for an ethical, eco-friendly yarn to try? Look no further than Knit Picks’ Eco yarn line. Need needles? Knit Picks makes a selection for knitters right at their Vancouver, Washington headquarters. KnitPicks.com—a place for every knitter.

Sustainability and regenerative ranching have been a way of life for the ranches of Shaniko Wool Company for decades. They are the first “farm group” in the U.S. to achieve certification to the rigorous international Responsible Wool Standard and NATIVA Regenerative. Shaniko ranches raise Merino/Rambouillet sheep in the Western United States, delivering a fully traceable wool supply that gives back to the Earth and its ecosystems. To learn more, and discover Shaniko’s yarn partners, visit ShanikoWoolCompany.com.

Knitters know Manos del Uruguay for their yarns’ rich tonal colors, but the story of women’s empowerment and community benefit enriches every skein. Discover 17 yarn bases from laceweight to super bulky made and dyed at an artisan owned cooperative in Uruguay. Ask for Manos at your local retailer or visit FairmountFibers.com.

In 1974, two young industrial designers in the Netherlands started a company making spinning wheels. Beginning in a family member’s chicken coop, they built a modern wheel featuring an upright castle-style format, a then-uncommon bobbin-lead drive system, and a drive wheel without spokes. Jan Louët Feisser and Clemens Claessen named their company Louët and began building the now-iconic S10 spinning wheel.

The company soon moved out of the chicken coop and brought on other employees. By 1982, they began making looms, from expandable table looms to countermarche and eventually dobby looms. The founders, who loved the design aspect more than management, brought on Theo Vervoorn to handle the daily logistics.

Across the Atlantic in Canada, a family of Dutch immigrants had started a farm as part of the “back to the land” movement. The sheep raised on their farm produced wool that needed to be processed, so Trudy van Stralen learned to spin, weave, and dye. She began selling Louët spinning wheels and soon became not only one of the company’s largest dealers but also an adviser on the fiber arts market. The van Stralen company founded Louët North America, with David van Stralen joining in 1994 and developing a special focus in equipment mechanics and maintenance.

Over 50 years, countless aspects of Louët’s business have changed, and their practices have kept up. The modern manufacturing techniques that Louët pioneered in 1974 have continued to evolve, with 3D modeling, computer-guided milling, and contemporary materials finding their place in the company’s products alongside the high-quality wood that exemplified even the earliest wheels. Customers seek out answers online and in videos at all hours, and Louët strives to reply to customer questions in 24 hours. From small improvements to existing equipment to new products large (dobby looms) and small (inkle looms and a brand-new ballwinder), the company keeps design as a central focus.

Some aspects of the business continue unchanged as the company has passed to a second generation. Theo Vervoorn’s son, Paul, joined the company in 2012 and purchased it in 2023. David van Stralen joined Louët’s main business as director of operations in 2022, though he can still be found replying to customer support tickets on weekends and tuning up equipment at festivals.

As they plan for their next 50 years, Louët’s customer support team continues to help half a century’s worth of customers, and the design team has a list of products and innovations they’re working on. In this spotlight episode, discover what sustains the company and how they approach spinning and weaving.

Links

• Louët.nl
  
• Louët’s 50th anniversary celebrations
• Louët dealers can be found in 45 countries. (If you have a question ourside your dealer’s business hours, you may find your answer at their Support portal.
• Linda Ligon’s article “The Louet s10 Spinning Wheel Is 50 Years Young” shares her experiences collaborating with Louët over a half century.

This episode is brought to you by:

Louët

Team Louët is proud to be part of a multi-generational family business. We have been producing high quality handcraft products for 50 years.

We take pride in our workmanship, innovative products, and customer service. We look forward to helping you with your next Louët products or to help introduce you to our fine products for the first time.

The Nettle Dress is available to stream online from November 15–December 2, 2024.

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 family—the era of nettle textiles is over. But thousands of years ago, nettle cloth and cordage fulfilled human needs for garments and tools. Like other ancient textiles, nettle cloth has almost entirely disappeared, rotted away and returned to the soil.

Allan knew that the only way to experience cloth made from nettle would be to create it himself, so he set about processing, spinning, and weaving fabric from stands of nettles that grew wild in the woods. Before he could get down to cloth-making, though, he had to learn how to extract the fiber from the plant—a process without contemporary documentation or a skilled teacher. (The stinging parts of the plant are removed during processing, so textiles made from nettle fiber feel more like cotton or linen than stinging barbs.)

He learned to spin, which proved not only the most time-consuming but also the most meaningful part of the project. “I just found spinning so therapeutic,” he says. He felt the solace of handspinning keenly when his wife, Alex, passed away over the course of his nettle exploration.

In the aftermath of Alex dying, my world grew very small, my perimeters drew in, and I was just looking after the family. Sometimes my only connection to a wider world was just going out and collecting nettles, but it was within a really small geographical margin. So I think events sort of led me to, rather than looking for bigger and more, I tuned into the familiar, going in deeper and seeing what I could find and what I’d previously overlooked. And realizing, oh my goodness—all these plants, they provide dyes, these plants provide fibers, and they’re all there right on my doorstep and have been under my nose all along. So it feels like it’s really connected me to a sense of place in a much deeper way than perhaps I had been before.

As he spun years’ worth of yarn, Allan decided that the nettle project would culimate in a dress. A simple shape, cut efficiently from a narrow width of cloth, would be enough to create a dress for his daughter Oonagh, so he wove yards of plain-weave fabric and even spun the sewing thread to stitch the piece together. Seven years after his first experiments with nettle fiber, he slipped a handmade nettle dress over her head.

Following Allan on his exploration, his film-director friend Dylan Howitt captured the stages of the process and has released a film called The Nettle Dress. The film has been released in a number of markets, including the United Kingdom, and some audiences have been fortunate to meet the fiber artist and even touch the dress at a screening.

The story of the dress and its creator remind us that the long history of foraged, handmade cloth can be ours again if we have the dedication to revive it.

Links

The Nettle Dress film website

The Nettle Dress on Instagram

"The Nettle Dress: A Tale of Love and Healing review by Linda Ligon
Nettles for Textiles Facebook group

Nettles for Textiles web page

From Sting to Spin, a History of Nettle Fibre by Gillian Edom

This episode is brought to you by:

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Melvenea Hodges nurtures a small crop of cotton in her back yard in South Bend, Indiana. Besides beautiful foliage and some of her favorite fiber to spin, she tends her plants to celebrate what she can create with her own hands—not just beautiful textiles but a connection to her heritage and a source of peace.

As a primary school teacher, her working days are hectic, but she and a friend have a pact to save some creativity for themselves. Although her spinning and weaving projects are ambitious, she doesn't confuse creativity with productivity. The magic happens, she says, "once we take away the element of creating for some kind of purpose and just accept that creating is a natural part of being and that it is inherent in us."

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"If your life's whirlwind is whirling too fast," she advises, "get yourself a spindle."

This episode is brought to you by:

Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com. You'll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white.

If you love silk, you'll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed.

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Knitters know Manos del Uruguay for their yarns’ rich tonal colors, but the story of women’s empowerment and community benefit enriches every skein. Discover 17 yarn bases from laceweight to super bulky made and dyed at an artisan owned cooperative in Uruguay. Ask for Manos at your local retailer or visit FairmountFibers.com.

Creating consciously crafted fibers and patterns is more than just a focus for Blue Sky Fibers, it’s their passion. Ever since they started with a small herd of alpacas in a Minnesota backyard, they’ve been committed to making yarn in the best way possible to show off its natural beauty. While their exclusive offerings have grown beyond alpaca to include wool, organic cotton, and silk, their desire for exciting makers about natural fibers hasn’t changed one bit. It all winds back to the yarn, ensuring that every precious, handmade hank is lovingly filled with endless inspiration. blueskyfibers.com