Curious Handmade with Helen Stewart
Photo © Norah Gaughan This conversation with Norah Gaughan is a really special one. Norah is an incredibly accomplished knitwear designer who has been sharing her patterns with the world since the age of 17. After a long time on staff at Berroco she has recently gone independent, but her workload has not slowed down even a little bit! She is constantly partnering with some of the biggest names in the yarn world to bring out a steady supply of amazing designs which play with shape, colour, and construction. Having her on the show was such an honour. She talks about developing her new collection with The Fibre Company and shares so many insights into how she conceives, designs, and creates her ground-breaking patterns. If you’re anything like me, I think you’ll find this conversation incredibly inspiring. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their very wonderful Acadia yarn.   Acadia is named after the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi river, a place of natural beauty where the sea and mountains meet, slopes are densely forested and wild blueberries abound. Acadia National Park is in the state of Maine, The Fibre Co.’s birthplace.  The yarn inspired by this beautiful region has a rustic look and a soft hand. A subtle tweed effect is created by the silk noil that is combined with a heathered base made from fine merino wool and brown baby alpaca. The yarn is a classic DK weight and makes a beautiful textured fabric that is perfect for next to the skin accessories as well as garments. One of my Whispering Island Shawl samples was knit in Acadia, and it's just a wonderful yarn to work with, on every level. You can buy Acadia at our other sponsor's shop, Meadow Yarn:   Meadow Yarn is an inviting online retailer selling yarn, needles and notions. It's a small, family business based in rural Suffolk in the UK. Meadow Yarn was born out of a passion for beautiful yarn and knitting accessories and aims to bring you a range of great products. Yarns stocked include madelinetosh, Eden Cottage Yarn, the Fibre Co and many more. KAL News Pebble Beach KAL Just a little while left in this one, but people are still adding beautiful FOs every day! If you've somehow missed this one, but have ever knit one of my patterns, you can still enter until the 5th of July. Just post a photo in the FO thread, and you're in! Muse 2 KAL The KAL is about to wrap up - be sure to get your entries in by 30 June.  I'm still working on my Rachel Coopey Oleum socks. I don't know if I'll make that deadline, but I should have them finished for the Summer of Socks KAL in the Coop Knits group! Double dipping in KALs is the best. Show links The patterns we discussed in detail from the Norah Gaughan for The Fibre Company collections were: Times Square Skyscraper Oporto Atonium Metropolis District You can find the entire gorgeous collection on Ravelry here. Norah is also designing some really special pieces for Brooklyn Tweed these days, and we specifically mention her pattern Chainlink She’s always busy with yarn shop appearances and teaching engagements, which you can find on her events page. If you’re lucky enough to be nearby any of these opportunities, I highly recommend you check them out! We’re also giving you a chance to win pattern of your choice from Norah’s new collection with The Fibre Company. Be sure to listen to the end of the episode to find out how! As I mentioned, tomorrow I'll be doing a little trunk show for Pebble Beach  in Brighton  at YAK with The Uncommon Thread. June 27th from 2 to 5. That's all our notes for this episode! Thank you so much for joining us, and happy knitting!
Direct download: 150622_EP_80_Norah_Gaughan.mp3
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