"Crafting really is my therapy"

"I decided that my truth would be that no matter what my body looked like on any given day, no matter what the tag said on my clothes, I would see myself as beautiful and worthy of love"

"I'm so obsessive when it comes to the things I love. Hence, my yarn stash"


I’m so excited to introduce you to this next creator. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to chat with weaver Alyssa Ki. Alyssa is at the very beginning of what I can tell is going to be a fantastic career in weaving. I almost fell out of my chair when I found out how new she is to this. I feel like I really got a scoop with this one, because if this is where she is after only doing this for a little over a year I can only imagine where weaving will take her next. Her honesty and vulnerability in this conversation is something that left a mark on me. I can’t wait to do a follow up interview with her as her career progresses. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we get to know Alyssa Ki.

"I don’t like to do the same thing over and over again"
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Most of you don’t need an introduction to this next maker but if you do then I’m thrilled to be the one to do it. She is the mastermind behind the book ‘The Curse Of The Boyfriend Sweater’. Her newest WIP is a book titled ‘How To Knit A Hat’. If you aren’t familiar with her work I’ll get things kicked off with one of my favorite quotes from her first book. She writes “ So often the only thing you can do is give up the idea that you can perfectly visualize a life, and just keep stringing days together one by one; so often a gaping hole in a sleeve just needs a little tug a few stitches back. And sometimes you just have to sit with the hole, to accept that it’s there and it’s uncomfortable and it’s fine.”

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Hello, knitters! This is Jessica, the Lefty Knitter of KnitChats. Spring has sprung! It’s here, it’s here! If you experienced subzero temperatures and record snowfall this past winter like my area did, you’ve probably been eager to see all the signs of Spring: budding trees, emerging flowers, pollinators, birds, and insects.

Can you believe what’s happening in the knitting community right now? This question can mean a lot of things depending on who I’m talking to. If it’s coming from a white crafter they mean ‘Can you believe that person x said x about x group of people? Isn’t that terrible” If it’s coming from a BIPOC they mean “Can you believe that everyone is finally talking about this? Isn’t that wonderful”. This is because what many of you don’t understand is that we can absolutely believe that x happened. For BIPOC this is our everyday life. Welcome to the conversation! We’ve been saying this for decades, but we’re glad you’re getting caught up!
When I realise that I’m being followed in a yarn shop all of these thoughts run through my head (Yes, we know when this is happening. You are not nearly as sneaky as you think you are) :
1. Do I buy the most expensive yarn to prove how wrong they were? 2. Do I not buy anything to make a point? 3. If I do that who’s point am I making? Mine or theirs?
This has happ…

Almost exactly six months ago, I made a post acknowledging that a very important conversation was happening online regarding inclusivity and diversity in the knitting/crochet/yarn community. It’s not hard to find, because I only post about once a month. It’s a picture of trees flowering outside my grandmother’s house in India. Most of you following me here are knitters, so you probably have a good idea what I am talking about. Even if you aren’t, a lot of the same conversations have been happening in so many different communities - the most mainstream perhaps being film or sports. So much has happened over the last six months, And enough to fill a whole novel has happened just in the last week. Most of my acknowledgement of this movement has been via the business I share with @lydia_shmidia - @pompommag. I am going to get a lot more personal and wordy than I usually do here, and I think I might be saying that more just to prepare myself for it, than any of you, but here goes.

Firstly, …

Most of the time working in the fashion industry can make you feel like a time traveler. When I have conversations with other people in the industry there is a good chance that at some point in the conversation someone will pause and ask “what year is this”. Like a time traveler dropped into a new reality. I’ve been watching a lot of Outlander.

Many of us spend our days working from a few months to even a few years ahead of the real world. If you’re a buyer you’re a few months behind a designer who’s working a few months behind a mill, who’s a few months or years behind a trend spotter. Depending on who you’re talking with it can be extremely confusing. Trade shows are a touch stone. The moment when designers can explain their products to buyers and, in the case of Spin Expo, when mills and trend spotters can share what they’ve been up to with designers. Maybe it’s because I’m a nerd at heart, but Spin Expo is my favorite part of the high fashion knitwear industry. I started coming abo…

This morning I was thinking about this interview and how much it means to me. By this point I’ve had the chance to talk with a lot of crafters at all stages of their careers, some of whom I was super star struck by and some that I knew very little about before we chatted. But the one that has made the biggest impact on me has been Lindsay Vega. You’ll understand why after you get to know her in a little bit. Some people are just special. They just have that it factor. It is so difficult to put into words and so easy to spot. You can’t sell it or learn how to grow it. A person either has it or they don’t. If I had to put it into the simplest of words I would say that to her core Lindsay is just a really good person. But that doesn’t quite capture it. All I know is that I feel so incredibly joyful to have her story on my blog and that one day people will say that they heard about her here first.

*EDIT: Lindsay's first pattern has officially launched since the publication of this inte…

"You just have to believe in yourself and your work. Confidence is key"

There are few things I love more than talking about yarn and crafting with fellow yarn obsessed people. If you've been following this blog for more than a day then that's not news to you. Because you all know me so well sometimes I get lucky and one of you will send me a story you know will be perfect for the blog. That's how I first found out about The Fibre Coalition and the inspiring woman behind it, Carla Julius.

Carla saw a gap in the fiber industry. As a woman of color she found that the spaces that were supposed to encourage connection between makers were really only reaching out to a specific section of the community. BIPOC were being left out. A woman after my own heart, she decided that if it wasn't out there she had to build it herself. A year ago, she decided to charge ahead and dive into the world of app development. What she lacked in experience, in the field of app development, she made up for with a deep passion for what she wanted her community to look …

Dear KC: July
A knitting advice column from the talented team of creators at KnitChats.com.

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