As we near the end of August – there is a definite end of summer feeling with more than a hint of autumn around the corner here in the UK. I always feel a bit stirred up around this time as I love hot weather and lazy summers BUT on the other hand…..knitting season right?!! My guest on the show today is wonderful knitwear designer Elizabeth Doherty of Blue Bee Studio. We chatted back at Squam in June and I’m excited to be sharing it with you today. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their wonderfully soft and gorgeous Acadia yarn. If you want to see how wonderfully this knits up, take a look at the two tone sample of my pattern Whispering Island! 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. You can get your hands on some Acadia of your own 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. What's in the WIP? Hold on to summer with 8 weeks of knitting, camaraderie and mystery! Summertide MKAL Curious Handmade Wardrobe Challenge  Interview with Elizabeth Doherty from Blue Bee Studio Blue Bee Studio Top Down: Reimagining Set-In Sleeve Design Quince & Co Squam Art Workshops Elizabeth's designs on Ravelry Lina - the pattern that Elizabeth referred to that came out while we were at Squam Elizabeth's latest design Helvetica Announcements There's just A FEW DAYS left to vote for Curious Handmade in the finals of the UK Podcasting Awards! It only takes a few seconds to vote, and every vote counts! and I'd be really grateful if you'd take a moment to vote for us here: all you need to do is scroll down to my photo and click! September 5th is the Great London Yarn Crawl! There will be a special pop up marketplace, and there's going to be an Indie Designer Spotlight stand. Several up and coming designers will be rotating through, and I'm lucky enough to be among them. I'll be there from 4pm to 5pm at the Chelsea Town Hall. Stop by! It's going to be a really fun event. Thanks again for listening! Happy knitting ....until next week.  * * * * *  I am a Craftsy affiliate so if you would like to support Curious Handmade when you are buying supplies or a class, click through the Craftsy banner below: it means I'll get a small commission. Thank you so much.

We’ve got a second helping of Libby from Truly Myrtle this week. After her excellent guest post for the blog, she also sat down to chat with me in more detail about her own handmade wardrobe and the journey she’s been on for several years. She’s an absolute font of information. At one point in the interview Libby says that she feels as though she was “born to make things” and if you’ve visited her website, it’s very obvious that she was. I took so much away from this conversation, but the main inspiration for me has been moving towards thinking in terms of whole outfits. Libby really captures the glee of creativity and making, and I hope you have a lot of fun listening too. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their wonderfully soft and gorgeous Acadia yarn. If you want to see how wonderfully this knits up, take a look at the two tone sample of my pattern Whispering Island! 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. You can get your hands on some Acadia of your own 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. What's in the WIP I'm still working on the really fun and relaxing Cavepoint Shawl by Paula from the Knitting Pipeline. The Cavepoint KAL is going until the end of the month so I might just make it under the wire. I'm also working on a new shawl design for a Mystery Knit Along which will be coming out soon...there will be more details over the next couple of weeks. The whole Curious Handmade Wardrobe challenge is a giant WIP for me. There's so much great conversation happening in the group thread, and everyone's getting super inspired, especially me! August is the planning month, and I'm still deep in the planning phase myself, though I have some thoughts coming together. Also, we have a hashtag now: #CHWChallenge so be sure that you use it on all your social media posts to that we can all follow along! Show Links We mentioned a few patterns: Merchant and Mills Dress Shirt Washi Dress Simplicity Pattern 1080 Libby’s recommendation for keeping inspiration organized: Pocket Threadle The pattern tutorial that Libby mentioned: Box bag tutorial Announcements There's just over a week left to vote for Curious Handmade in the finals of the UK Podcasting Awards! It only takes a few seconds to vote, and every vote counts! and I'd be really grateful if you'd take a moment to vote for us here: all you need to do is scroll down to my photo and click! September 5th is the Great London Yarn Crawl! There will be a special pop up marketplace, and there's going to be an Indie Designer Spotlight stand. Several up and coming designers will be rotating through, and I'm lucky enough to be among them. Stop by! It's a really fun event. Thursday 29th of October through Sunday the 1st of November there's an amazing retreat on: the Geeky Puffin Knitpalooza in Edinburgh. It's being run by the girls from the Geeky Girls Knit video podcast and knitrundig. There will be lots of interesting sessions being run by a wide variety of teachers,

So this week has been the big official launch of the Curious Handmade Wardrobe Challenge! If you haven’t gotten involved yet, don’t worry, there’s still lots of time. We’re all still in the dreaming stage! You can get all the details on the official post here on the blog, and make sure that you pop into the Curious Handmade Ravelry Group to get in on all the community conversations and support. Onto today’s podcast: it's the first one that ties into the Challenge, and although it was recorded months ago, it's so perfect to usher us into this project. I’m talking with maker, designer and teacher Cal Patch of Hodge Podge Farm. We were cabin mates at Squam this year, and I was so thrilled to sit down and record this interview with her right there in that magical environment. I’ve been squirreling the recording away until now and I'm bursting to share it with all of you: it’s a really special one. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their magnificent 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. You can get your hands on some Acadia of your own 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. Show Links Cal mentions her Borealis Shawl design in Jill Draper Makes Stuff yarn We mention Cal’s amazing online class on CreativeBug. You can find them all right here if you'd like to browse. Some that are especially good for learning foundational sewing and pattern drafting skills are Market Tote Bag (this is Cal's recommended very first sewing project!) Patternmaking Simplified: A-Line Skirt Learn Pattern Drafting Cal’s always busy teaching and sharing her knowledge with other crafters. She generally has a bunch of workshops coming up all around the world. All the details and dates can be found on her teaching page. The next few in line are: in August: Make Your Own Dress Immersion Weekend at Drop Forge & Tool in Hudson, NY Print & Sew Folk Dress (with Maya Donenfeld) at Craftstitute in Ithaca, NY in September: Sew Your Own Leggings at Fiber College of Maine in November: Sewing and Crochet Classes at Lucky Star Art Camp in Texas   As if all that online and offline teaching wasn't enough work, Cal has somehow found time to bring out an absolutely wonderful book which really demystifies pattern making, a subject which intimidates a lot of sewists. It shouldn't! Especially if you have Cal's book by your side. Design it Yourself Clothes: Pattern Making Simplified You can find out more about everything she’s up to by visiting her at: hodge podge farm Cal’s Etsy shop Ravelry Announcements Just a reminder! I'm still pinching myself that Curious Handmade has made it to the finals of the UK Podcasting Awards!  Every vote counts and I'd be so grateful if you'd take a moment to vote for us here! Thank you so much! Please come along on September 5th for the Great London Yarn Crawl! I'm sharing a stand on a rotating basis with a bunch of wonderful designers as part of their pop up marketplace Indie Designer Spotlight.

Welcome to August! On today's podcast I have a chat about what I got up to (and didn't!) on holiday in Australia, and I have a couple of exciting announcements. Show Sponsors Today's show is sponsored by The Fibre Co, and their 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. You can get yourself some 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. Holiday Yarn Haul I indulged myself with a few skeins from Australian producers. This beautiful wool which smells amazing from Ton of Wool Some lovely variegated wool from Skein Australia I was given a present of some gorgeous DK weight wool from Miss Click Clack, another indie dyer. The Curious Handmade Wardrobe Challenge I mentioned last week that I was going to devote August and September to the theme of A Handmade Wardrobe, but in the meantime the idea has grown, and I've decided that it would be great to turn this into a make-along challenge. I'll be hosting the challenge in collaboration with a fellow fibre artist, Susan, AKA Kizmet from Ravelry. We're stretching it out until October to give everyone lots of time to plan and create! Goal: Create at least one handmade item for your wardrobe by October, whether with knitting, sewing, or some other craft. August - planning month. The will be a thread in the Curious Handmade Ravelry Group soon, for support and chatter! September and October will be for making, and then we’ll aim to post a photo in the FO thread by the end of October Contest winner Tiffany L is the winner of the Boardwalk Collection Giveaway! This was her comment: "They are all lovely. My favorites are Peony, Neckinger and L’heure bleue and it is very hard to decide which one I would choose." Sorry to put you on the spot Tiffany, but it's time to choose! Have another look and let me know by email or Ravelry message which colour you'd like! Announcements Some really exciting news: Curious Handmade has made it to the finals of the UK Podcasting Awards! I can hardly believe it. Every vote counts and it would mean a lot if you'd take a moment to vote for us here! Thank you so much! Are you joining me on September 5th for the Great London Yarn Crawl. I'm going to share a stand with other breakout designers as part of their pop up marketplace Indie Designer Spotlight. Please stop by and hang with us! Plans for the first Curious Handmade Workshop with Emily Quinton from Makelight Studios and my friend Vicki Hillman, fashion stylist, will be heating up now that I'm home. So far I can tell you that it will be happening on Friday the 9th of October. Save the date! Thanks so much for listening. I hope you'll join in the Curious Handmade Wardrobe Challenge. It's going to be a lot of fun!