8 inspiring podcasts for creatives

For me, listening to a podcast has the same sweet, immersive escapism as getting lost in a good book. It's a chance to get your mind to halt its frantic whirring for a little while and focus on something else instead. If I'm gym-going (pah!), walking to the office or stitching away at my To Be Adorned desk, I'll always whack a podcast on. It's like minimal-effort multitasking. Here's what's been in my ears lately. What do you love listening to? I want your recommendations!

Hashtag Authentic

This is one of those 'why didn't I already know about this?' kinda podcasts. You NEED to give it a listen. Blogger and Instagram duchess (you're probably already following her as @meandorla) Sara Tasker shares really valuable and honest insights on creative social media for bloggers, small biz folks and anyone who loves Insta. Without the spambots. She's had some stellar guests on already and I always come away feeling encouraged and with some practical ideas to try. 

Explore Your Enthusiasm

Host Tara Swiger is from a yarny background, so I instantly knew her podcast would be my cup of tea. On this weekly podcast, she talks business – frank advice and insights for creative folks who are selling their stuff. She's not afraid to talk money and numbers, or to give out some tough love, but it's always passionate, jargon-free and encouraging. I've not been listening to this one for long, but I've already found it really helpful for my Etsy side hustle in terms of goal-setting, social media and audience. Ooh, and Tara often posts Instagram live vid while she's recording the podcast, so you can get a bit more interactive with it. 

Pardon My French
In a series of inspiring interviews, plus giggly chats with her Atelier Dore team, Garance Dore talks all things lifestyle. I'd long been a fan of Garance's beautiful illustrations and blog, so I kind of freaked out when I realised there was a podcast, too. This one's my go-to for walking to work. Garance has a brilliant warmth and honesty to her, so you feel like you're listening in on a natter between friends. My favourite guests so far have been Linda Rodin and Elle McPherson.

Get It On
Dawn O'Porter is #bobgoals AND she's way into vintage fashion, so I gave it a listen and it quickly became one of my faves. Each episode she talks to a pal (usually of the showbiz variety) about their personal style. Rather than being super-fashiony, it's more about why people wear what they wear. And it's a riot. When I'm laughing out loud with my headphones on, it's probably because I'm listening to this. After hearing this, you'll probably have urges to ransack your wardrobe for the brightest thing in there. Or maybe that's just me? 

Rookie

She's a deep thinker, that Tavi Gevinson. I loved her Style Rookie blog and really admire her Rookie mag work (although maybe I'm too old now?!). It very much feels like an audio version of the online magazine, which is fantastic. It's aimed at teens, but feels relevant for everyone. Also, there's a WINONA episode. I WISH Rookie had been around when I was a teen.

Blogtacular

Blogtacular superwoman Kat MOLEsworth (you'll know what I mean when you listen in!) hosts this  natter with indie business owners and bloggers. You could say it's an extension of the Blogtactular conference, with an aim of inspiring and connecting bloggers and content creators. It's in interview format, but Kat also answers listener questions as part of the show, which is so useful! My favourite episodes have featured Kristabel, The People Shop and Nikki McWilliams. 

Magic Lessons
Eat, Pray Love and Big Magic author Elizabeth Gilbert talks about finding passion, purpose and inspiration. She's all about exploring the soul connection we have with creativity and how to overcome what stands in the way of us doing our thing. And it gets pretty emotional, you guys. There haven't been any new episodes in a while, but there are plenty to catch up on. 

The Cheerful Visit
Prepare yourself for some VERY Texan accents. I heard about this podcast via One Social Girl. It's a faith-based show for creatives hosted by Pollen Events florist Andi. With an emphasis on living out your calling with integrity, Andi interviews fellow makers about their creative journeys and what keeps them encouraged. 

in the studio with Letty McHugh

Long-time Knit Happens readers will know about Letty McHugh. She's an artist and writer who is fearless, funny and also a dear friend. Her weakness for clogs knows no bounds and her approach to creativity always challenges and inspires me. 

At the end of last, year, I visited Letty in Yorkshire. We ate parkin, visited the Bronte parsonage, laughed till we cried, talked each others' ears off and drank tea in our pyjamas. We also visited her studio space in Hebden Bridge and had a very long chat about print, crochet slippers and inheriting textiles skills. Prepare for serious workspace envy. 

So Letty, what do you make?

Oh man, that's quite a question. I make art, I guess, and write things. I do print making and textiles and illustrations.

What's the last thing you made?

I did some illustrations for my blog a few weeks ago. The last proper big project I did was for my MA, called This is Your Inheritance, which was 70m of printed fabric.

Letty and her This is Your Inheritance project

What was the story behind that?

I started with stories from my own family. I had a lot of handmade textile objects that I had inherited from my great grandma. I inherited her treadle sewing machine as well, that my mum and her mum had learnt to sew on. I wanted to make a project that would celebrate them and investigate whether the textile skills that have been passed down to me were a common thing in other families.

How did this come together in a print project?

I did some experiments exposing the textile objects directly on the screen. I also interviewed 130 women online, and researched the idea of spectacle. When people look at doilies for example, they dismiss them.

You wanted to show these textile objects in a different context?

Yes, to transform them enough so they'd be considered in a new way, but still be recognisable enough that they'd retain their original associations. By printing them in an installation the same dimensions as the Bayeux Tapestry, a really significant historical object, it makes people recognise the objects and their meaning. I was keen to work on a large scale and prompt people to reconsider textile as something important, rather than frippery.

The idea was to make people think about the objects and the skills that had gone into them. In my family, these are skills that kept homes warm and put food on the table, rather than just, 'oh look, a pretty doily'. I still don't think we value these skills as a society. If you paid an electrician to come and fix your light, you'd be paying a lot more.

This is Your Inheritance

How long have you been in this studio?

I moved in in February 2013, so four years.

What was the first thing you did after moving your stuff in?

That's when I was doing big, inky drawings and was looking at doing more surface pattern designs.

What are you working on now?

I'm just starting a project called A Seaworthy Vessel about how we recover from trauma.

What form will that take? 
When my grandad was in the merchant navy, he was in an industrial accident and lost two and a half of his fingers. To rehabilitate his hands, he learnt to knit and made slippers for his family. It was less creative expression for him than necessity – he just got on with it. I've been thinking about how we use textiles to cope in our lives. I'm planning to crochet slippers and make them into little boats, possibly screen printing on the sails.

And what's one thing you can't make without?

Music and a view out of a window. You need time to sit about and do nothing to have the space in your mind for ideas. I try not to take work and books on the train with me.

the social heart project yarnbomb

On Valentine's Day I took part in One Social Girl Meredith's annual yarnbomb for the fourth time. It's always such a lovely thing to join in with - spreading a tiny bit of handmade and a message of love where you live. This year, the #sheepishheartbomb became #thesocialheartproject and it was another chance to do something positive in real life and see the results of everyone's efforts online. Here's what I got up to over lunch in Bristol. 

Yes, I felt super self-conscious taking a bunch of crochet hearts out of my pocket and tying them to a gate, you know, just in the park in the middle of the day. But I'm hoping maybe this encouraged somebody. And that makes the small gesture worth it. 

Check out the #thesocialheartproject hashtag on Instagram to see everybody's crafty love notes out in communities around the world. Did you join in? I'll be stitching and sharing again next year!

hometown tourist: Upfest 2016

 My eyeballs are still reeling from the weekend, in the best possible way. 

Upfest, a live street art festival (apparently Europe's biggest), was right on my doorstep in Bristol so I took a wide-eyed wander round. 

Saturday afternoon, the sun was blazing, ice cream vans were out and so many artists were busy creating. There's something pretty magical about seeing beautiful things progressing right in front of you. I love gawping at people's WIPs (hello, Instagram) any day of the week, but one dedicated weekend where it all happens live? That's pretty cool. Count me in.

I'm a real sucker for illustration, so I enjoyed seeing this mind-boggling Russian doll by Liz Clayton materializing. Note: she wasn't the only one whose outfit coordinated with their work! 

Add of course I tracked down some yarn. Can I say life goals? This embroidery in the wild by Danielle Clough is the best thing ever. I'm so pleased I came across her work. She stitches seriously beautiful stuff. Makes a girl wanna pack up her own suitcase full of yarn, right?

Some of the other enchanting things I spotted included pugs, children spray painting a car, Skeletor riding a banana (a painting) and an IRL glitter beard. I mean, am I the only one who thought they just didn't exist outside of Pinterest? Sadly no pictorial evidence of said be-sparkled facial hair was obtained - we chickened out of asking for a pic!

So much colour, vibrancy and inspiration. I basically know nothing about street art, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but I will say that I'll be back next year for more colour-fuelled gawpings. With bells on. Nice one, Bristol. 

Have you encountered anything awesome in your hometown lately?

learning to look

Photography isn't my thing. 

I mean, I LOVE Instagram with all my double-tapping heart, but light, lenses and fancy cameras? It's like a foreign language to me. So when I attended Kate of A Playful Day's blogging and photography sessions at A Yarn Story in Bath last month, it was pretty eye-opening stuff. 

I donned my most Instagrammable sock and shoe combo (naturally), met some lovely blogger ladies, learnt heaps and got all nostalgic about Bath (we don't live there anymore - sob!).

The day started off in a yarn store (as the best days do), where Kate lead us through a session on Telling Your Story Online. It was refreshing and challenging. The focus was really on inspiration and creating connection, rather than getting bogged down in the numbers side of things. I came away with a lot to think about. I'm still letting it all percolate and figuring out what I want to put in place or try. My view on blogging is a little different to some as I don't make money from this space and don't have a business tied to it. That doesn't mean I don't want this space to flourish, though. Food for thought. 

Later, we headed out on a photowalk. Yep. Armed with only our phones, it was an exercise in learning to look and getting the best of the light. When we headed out, the daylight was really fierce overhead and kinda yucky – and I totally wouldn't have known that before this session! Honestly, I had heard of golden hour (when IS it again?) and knew that natural light is best, but that was about it. 

We made our way to Owl in the Ivy, otherwise known as Bath's most Instagrammable shop, to snap away to our heart's content. I took all of these pics on my phone during the walk. While I'm not crazy about the quality of them and none of these things are my usual subject matter (I couldn't bring myself to photograph any succulents), it was good to give myself the freedom to just play with it.  

Things I learnt 

1. The phone on my camera takes pics that are fab for Instagram, but not a lot else! It doesn't have that all-important square view setting in the camera. BUT, having said that, it's not too bad. It's best for daytime, indoor images. I tend to use the iPad or digi camera for bigger blog pics anyway. 

2. Fantastic, thoughtful images are everywhere, you've just gotta capture them. This is best done by engaging your eyes and mind, looking out for lovely moments as you go about your business. A bit of lichen, flaky paint or fallen leaf, captured with your unique eye, can be beautiful. I mean, I'm still all about the yarn (let's be real), but if I see something that looks interesting, I will snap a pic now. 

3. Light. It can make or break a picture. Don't all the naturally lit, indoor pics here look much better than the glare-tastic outdoor ones? 

That moment when your sandals match the local flora.

Thanks to Kate for her wisdom and refreshing approach to blogging. I really did learn a lot. 

I'd love to know if you have any novice-appropriate photography tips, for phones or otherwise? Do snap away when you're out and about? How big a deal is light for you? 

Remembrance Sunday

A host of handmade poppies at St Bart's in Bath. Each one carefully knitted, sewn or crocheted. 

A beautiful act of remembrance. 

Kaffe Fassett does colour. And then some.

Prepare your retinas people, I've been to that Kaffe Fassett thang at the American Museum and it was BRIGHT. I took a whole heap of snaps on our new fancy pants camera so hold on tight.  You might wanna reach for your sunglasses. Disclaimer: I'm going to use the word colour. A lot.  

Me and Mr P popped on the cheeky free shuttle bus to the American Museum in Britain on the last bank holiday (that's what they're for, right?). Knitwear and textile designer Kaffe Fassett's known for his fantastic use of colour and I was really hoping to learn something from his work. There are a lot of yarny projects that I've been unhappy with because of my rather less-than-excellent colour choices.

What greeted us at the museum was an onslaught of brain-melting colour. Some of the grounds had been yarnbombed with scorching granny squares, and the enormous tree in front of the exhibition space was hung with fabric-covered lanterns and big-as-your-fist pom-poms. 

Ponchos, paintings, vegetables, and faux tapestry floors - this exhibition had it all. His paintings, knitwear, tapestries and quilts were on show, and the whole inside space was drenched in immerse colour. We definitely needed an eye rest and a sobering cuppa when we eventually staggered out. I really loved finding out more about how Kaffe works, seeing his stitches up close and taking a peek at his beautiful line drawings, too. Mr P's favourites were the veg paintings and the huge pink and green tapestry. Plus, he can now correctly distinguish between knitting and crochet. So proud. 

Although it's not a big exhibition by any means, the all-encompassing way it's been put together and how Kaffe's taken over the museum (more of his drawings and samples are scattered throughout the main house), make The Colourful World of Kaffe Fassett well worth seeing. We both came away really inspired (and full of tea and scones, natch). If you can get to the South-West before November, make sure you catch it. All the details are here.        

Festooned, you might say. 

Mr P contemplates life, the universe and knitwear 

A brave wardrobe choice for the office

Spot the knitter! The volunteer manning the exhibition was knitting a scarf in Kaffe's Rowan Kidsilk Haze.