I had my friend Carla stop by my studio this past week and we sat down for an hour talking about knitting, politics, cultural appropriations and more! Check it out and let me know what you think!
I had the wonderful afternoon Tuesday to sit down with my dear friend Willa and we had a wonderful time talking about crafting, politics, hot mess crafting on Ravelry and so much more. If you are at work or working out, plug in your head phones a listen in! Next week I will be interviewing my friend Carla Cornejo!
As we continue to work on our new social media platform, we wanted to post our podcast online to share with all of you now.As many of you know, I am not shy about discussing politics and diversity in the crafting industry. I decided to launch PoliCraft because it’s important to me as a women of color to have my voice heard and to let other diverse people out there know we exist and should be part of the crafting community too. Each week on Tuesday, I will post a new episode. I was joined by Jessica “Jess” Pease this past Friday evening at JP Knit & Stitch located at 461 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 during the Greater Boston Yarn Crawl. Jess is a knitter, mother, feminist, progressive, and just a phenomenal woman. Enjoy!
It’s been awhile since I last connected with all of you. The beginning of 2016 has been a very busy year for me. I wanted to slow down a little bit for the month of May and focus on interviewing more people for my podcast and to get ready to launch my online magazine this fall. I had a remarkable opportunity to interview another dear friend of my from my knitting circle. I hope you enjoy this podcast.
I had the opportunity to sit down this past Sunday with an incredible woman and friends, Barbara Siletsky. I met Barbara ten years ago when I moved to Boston and I joined her knitting group. This podcast episode is “straight-talk” conversation with a fun and caring woman about her experience growing up in Boston as a young Jewish girl and what the “knitting scene” was like. We discussed Barbara’s hope for future generations when it comes to diversity in our world since she has a smart and wonderful granddaughter, Jordan, who is bi-racial. Barbara always keeps it real and that’s why I love hanging out with her! As we continue the discussion about diversity in the yarn industry, I wanted to take the time to interview someone who has been knitting for a long time and who could offer their own perspective on knitting. Provide personal stories and experiences. Give wisdom to us “young folk” about the future. I had the honor to interview Barbara. We hope you enjoy!
A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post regarding the lack of diversity in the yarn industry. I was inspired by Viola Davis’ Emmy winning award speech for which she discussed the lack of roles for women of color in the film industry. Her words of inspiration allowed me to reflect on my own experience as a minority business owner in the yarn industry. When I wrote the blog post, I wanted to share my opinions and feelings on what was going on in the industry. Since then, I have received many compliments and words of encouragement from so many people regarding what I wrote. But the biggest question that many people had for me is, “What will you do next?” After much thought, I believe it’s important for me to address the issue of diversity in the yarn industry and one way I will be doing that is through podcasting. That is correct we have launched our podcast titled “Lady Dye: The Yarn Vibe.” This podcast is not to “complain” or focus on the “negative” aspects of diversity in the yarn industry, but to have: An honest discussion about the current representation of diversity in our industry. To highlight diverse populations of people from designers, dyers, bloggers, and knitters. And finally, sharing the rich cultural history of textiles from around the world and the impact it has had in our present industry. I am so honored to have as the first guest, McKenzie Mullen. McKenzie Mullen has spent the last two years working and teaching at yarn/fabric stores and has recently migrated from Oakland, California to Boston, Massachusetts. Her passions are knitting and sewing garments to create a long-lasting handmade wardrobe. She identifies as fat-positive, latina, queer, and femme and is currently in grad school to decolonize archives.