The Long Thread Podcast

• Madelyn van der Hoogt, The Weaver’s School

  With Madelyn van der Hoogt’s extensive knowledge of loom-controlled structures and techniques, you might be surprised to learn that the celebrated weaving teacher spent her first years as a handweaver working on a backstrap loom. On a sabbatical in Latin America from her teaching career in Oakland, Madelyn traveled from village to village looking for the style of weaving she wanted to do, then sought out a local teacher. But when she moved back to the United States and began a new life as a farmer, her backstrap weaving style hit a snag: sitting on the ground to weave under a tree is a lot less pleasant when you are the favorite meal of chiggers. Falling in love with shaft looms and the cloth she could make, Madelyn began the weaving explorations that would make her the editor of two national weaving magazine, instructor in a half dozen weaving videos, and leader of a weaving school. She now has over 30 looms in her home teaching studio, each ready to explore a different weave structure. Despite decades as a writer and editor, she doesn’t hesitate before identifying first and foremost as a teacher. Links The Weavers’ School (https://www.weaversschool.com) The Primary Structures of Fabrics: An Illustrated Classification by Irene Emery was originally published by the Textile Museum, Washington, DC; it is currently out of print. Ask Madelyn (https://handwovenmagazine.com/search/?search=ask+madelyn) includes hundreds of thoughtful replies to reader inquiries—and if you send her an email (mailto:[email protected]), she might answer yours! This episode is brought to you by: Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com (https://www.treenwaysilks.com/). You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white. If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed. Learning how to weave but need the right shuttle? Hooked on knitting and in search of a lofty yarn? Yarn Barn of Kansas has been your partner in fiber since 1971. Whether you are around the corner from the Yarn Barn of Kansas, or around the country, they are truly your “local yarn store” with an experienced staff to answer all your fiber questions. Visit yarnbarn-ks.com (https://www.yarnbarn-ks.com/) to shop, learn, and explore.

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  51:54
• Cecelia Campochiaro, Curious Knitter

  When you first learned to knit, you might have wondered why certain stitches made fabric that curled, or why right-leaning and left-leaning decreases didn’t quite match, or why charts didn’t really show what the knitted fabric would look like. Knitting patterns might have seemed completely unworkable. If we stick with the craft, most knitters eventually take these oddities in stride and work around them. We learning to fudge what we can’t fix, and we figure that’s the way knitting goes. We read our stitches, let the habits of our skilled hands take over, and integrate knitting into our lives the way we ride a bicycle, make a cup of tea, or steer a car. Not Cecelia Campochiaro. With a scientific mind (trained by a PhD in physical chemistry), she approached those small curiosities as chances to investigate knitting more closely. By making small variations—holding several yarns together and creating gradual striping patterns, repeating a sequence of stitches with a slight offset, or mirroring the same stitches on both sides of the work—she has explored the nature of knitting and created extraordinary fabrics. Her latest book, Reversible Knitting, shows the differences in drape, texture, design, and color that emerge simply from removing the idea of “right” and “wrong” sides of the fabric. The richness in Cecelia’s work lies in its simplicity. Like knitting itself, the careful repetitions and variations that she presents add up to a project far greater than the sum of its parts, as pleasing to the eye as to the hand. Links Reversible Knitting (https://ceceliacampochiaro.com/reversible-knitting/) is Cecelia’s latest book. Making Marls (https://ceceliacampochiaro.com/making-marls/) explores working with strands of different colored yarns held together. Sequence Knitting (https://ceceliacampochiaro.com/sequence-knitting/) examines the surprisingly rich results of repeating a group of stitches. Parastripe Shawl (https://farmfiberknits.com/library/RSPIFfjdRk6icOdEBaAvGA) is available in the Farm & Fiber Knits Library and as part of the Creative Color Collection. (https://farmfiberknits.com/library/LuKQD_4ITWmxBc5CM5MuSg) Carson Demers’s book Knitting Comfortably (https://ergoiknit.com/) offers advice on the ergonomics of knitting. This episode is brought to you by: Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com (https://www.treenwaysilks.com/). You'll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white. If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed. The Michigan Fiber Festival—Michigan’s largest sheep and wool festival—is a vibrant world of fiber arts. Discover five days of classes with nationally recognized teachers in spinning, weaving, lacemaking, dyeing, felting, and rug hooking. Enjoy three days of shopping. Delight in shearing and fiber arts demonstrations. Enjoy a truly immersive experience. Join us in August at the picturesque Allegan County Fairgrounds (you can even camp on site!) Find more details at michiganfiberfestival.info. (The Michigan Fiber Festival – Michigan's largest sheep and wool festival – is a vibrant world of fiber arts. Discover five days of classes with nationally recognized teachers in spinning, weaving, lacemaking, dyeing, felting, and rug hooking. Enjoy three days of shopping. Delight in shearing and fiber arts demonstrations. Enjoy a truly immersive experience. Join us in August at the picturesque Allegan County Fairgrounds (you can even camp on site!) Find more details at michiganfiberfestival.info.)

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  59:57
• Sara Bixler, Red Stone Glen

  At a time when many fiber arts stores are closing, Sara C. Bixler is bucking the trend. With degrees in both fine art and education, she had developed a studio practice as well as a teaching repertoire at the Pennsylvania weaving school where her father, Tom Knisely, had taught for decades. When that store closed, she decided to take the risk of opening a brand-new fiber arts center known as Red Stone Glen. It was an audacious project: the school and accompanying store occupy a rural campus in southeastern Pennsylvania, with space for several classes and even on-site lodging for students. Beginning a few years ago, the family took another step into the fiber arts when her husband, Dustin, acquired Bluster Bay Woodworking from its founders and began producing shuttles and other weaving tools “in the Glen,” too. She had support in her project from former students and from Tom, who was delighted to have a teaching home base again. Sara also loves opening her students’ eyes to other weaving traditions, whether exploring weaving destinations overseas or preserving the legacy of American textile history in the National Museum of the American Coverlet, where she serves on the board of directors. Links Red Stone Glen (https://redstoneglen.com/) Triaxial weaving: Hex Weave & Mad Weave (https://red-stone-glen-fiber-arts-center.myshopify.com/products/hex-weave-mad-weave-an-introduction-to-triaxial-weaving?_pos=1&_sid=01e5449c8&_ss=r) by Elizabeth Harris and Charlene St. John National Museum of the American Coverlet (https://www.coverletmuseum.org/) Sara’s videos on Boutenné (https://learn.longthreadmedia.com/courses/boutenn-with-sarah-bixler) and other subjects are available from Long Thread Media. (https://learn.longthreadmedia.com/collections?q=bixler) Sara leads tours to Japan (https://opulentquiltjourneys.com/all-craft-journeys/weaving-dyeing-holidays/item/discovering-japan-and-its-textiles?category_id=61) and Switzerland (https://opulentquiltjourneys.com/all-craft-journeys/weaving-dyeing-holidays/item/switzerlands-textile-heritage-and-christmas-markets?category_id=61) with Opulent Quilt Journeys. Bluster Bay Woodworks (https://blusterbaywoodworks.com/) This episode is brought to you by: Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com (https://www.treenwaysilks.com/). You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway’s array of wild silks provide choices beyond white. If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed. The Michigan Fiber Festival—Michigan’s largest sheep and wool festival—is a vibrant world of fiber arts. Discover five days of classes with nationally recognized teachers in spinning, weaving, lacemaking, dyeing, felting, and rug hooking. Enjoy three days of shopping. Delight in shearing and fiber arts demonstrations. Enjoy a truly immersive experience. Join us in August at the picturesque Allegan County Fairgrounds (you can even camp on site!) Find more details at michiganfiberfestival.info. (The Michigan Fiber Festival – Michigan's largest sheep and wool festival – is a vibrant world of fiber arts. Discover five days of classes with nationally recognized teachers in spinning, weaving, lacemaking, dyeing, felting, and rug hooking. Enjoy three days of shopping. Delight in shearing and fiber arts demonstrations. Enjoy a truly immersive experience. Join us in August at the picturesque Allegan County Fairgrounds (you can even camp on site!) Find more details at michiganfiberfestival.info.)

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  49:38
• Spotlight: Cashmere on Ice

  You know about North Pole and the South Pole, where polar bears and penguins live. Have you heard of a third pole? West and south of the Tibetan Plateau, a mountainous area holds more glaciers than any place in the world outside the Arctic and Antarctic poles. This region has a special significance for fiber artists: it is the home and habitat of the goats that produce much of the world’s cashmere. And as at the North and South Poles, climate change is threatening the animals and people who call this region home. To bring attention to the threat to glaciers in the region, engineer Sonam Wangchuk climbed into the Himalayas of in Ladakh, India, and carried back a 7 kilogram chunk of glacier. It began a journey across two continents, wrapped in 3 kilograms of cashmere, and finally arrived at the United Nations in New York. The UN has named 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation (https://www.un-glaciers.org/en), and Wangchuk’s Travelling Glacier brought the threat of climate change to the world’s door. The cashmere covering the sample not only insulated the ice, it also demonstrates what’s at risk when glaciers melt. The animals and people living in these regions depend on glaciers for water; when the glaciers melt too abruptly, the overflow of water sweeps away whole villages and cities in devastating floods. Stories of people and animals on other continents can seem remote, abstract, and hopeless, but joining in the movement to preserve this important resource can be as near as your fingertips. Long Thread Media is joining with Wild Fibers to sponsor the Cashmere on Ice Contest (https://cashmere.longthreadmedia.com/), which invites fiber artists to make a project containing cashmere. Projects can be wearable or decorative; a special category highlights fiber grown in the Ladakh region from which Wangchuk sourced his Travelling Glacier. In this episode, celebrated storyteller and wild fiber expert Linda Cortright shares details about why she cares passionately about this crisis and what fiber artists can do to help the cause. Learn about the contest (https://cashmere.longthreadmedia.com/) and find an FAQ (https://spinoffmagazine.com/a-fiber-contest-with-global-impact) for more details. Discover the Wild Fibers (https://www.wildfibersmagazine.com/cashmereonice) resource page. Hear about the effects of glacial melt in another high-elevation fiber-producing region: the Andes. (https://spinoffmagazine.com/alpaca-for-life/)

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  37:59
• Tom Knisely, Generational Weaver

  When Tom Knisely decided to buy his first item in an antique shop, he had two strokes of luck: the spinning wheel that he chose included all the parts needed to make yarn, and he lived not far from the landmark weaving store The Mannings. There, he learned to spin and eventually to weave. Enamored with the crafts, he got a job at the store there as a teenager and eventually built a career there over 37 years. That love of antiques led Tom to accumulate a collection of historic coverlets and rag rugs, along with knowledge about the old techniques used to make such durable textiles. Students often turn to Tom to learn such traditional skills as rag-rug weaving, working with linen from plant to fabric, and weaving with counterbalance looms. Through these antique rugs and coverlets, he traces the legacy of the weavers before him—those who pursued a life in weaving centuries ago. His nine books and ten videos explore contemporary and historic techniques, structures, and tools. As much as his knowledge, Tom’s patience, enthusiasm, and warmth draw students to his classes. Named Handwoven Teacher of the Year, he loves helping students—from children who watch his living history demonstrations to dedicated weavers—develop their skills and love of spinning and weaving. His longest-lasting teaching relationship has been with Sara C. Bixler, one of his daughters, who took up the mantle to become a weaving teacher and designer herself. “I think we have an obligation to get out there and promote what we do,” he says. “You’d be surprised how much it means to other people to see this. But I guarantee you, you’ll come home with stories that are far greater than what you have put out. It’s a real reward.” Links Read about bumper looms in “Never Say Never” (Little Looms Spring 2025 (https://shop.longthreadmedia.com/products/easy-weaving-with-little-looms-spring-2025)) and “Never Say Never Again” (Little Looms Summer 2025 (https://shop.longthreadmedia.com/products/easy-weaving-with-little-looms-summer-2025). Find Tom’s classes, including How to Weave a Rag Rug and Weave a Good Rug with Tom Knisely: From Fiber to Finish, streaming (https://learn.longthreadmedia.com/collections?q=tom+knisely) and in the Handwoven online store. (https://shop.longthreadmedia.com/search?q=tom+knisely) Tom teaches frequently at his daughter Sara C. Bixler’s shop, Red Stone Glen (https://redstoneglen.com/), in York, Pennsylvania. Cracker Country (https://www.crackercountry.org/) is a living history museum in Tampa, Florida, where Tom and his wife often demonstrate spinning and weaving. This episode is brought to you by: Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they love. Select from the largest variety of silk spinning fibers, silk yarn, and silk threads & ribbons at TreenwaySilks.com (https://www.treenwaysilks.com/). You’ll discover a rainbow of colors, thoughtfully hand-dyed in Colorado. Love natural? Treenway's array of wild silks provide choices beyond white. If you love silk, you’ll love Treenway Silks, where superior quality and customer service are guaranteed. Learning how to weave but need the right shuttle? Hooked on knitting and in search of a lofty yarn? Yarn Barn of Kansas has been your partner in fiber since 1971. Whether you are around the corner from the Yarn Barn of Kansas, or around the country, they are truly your “local yarn store” with an experienced staff to answer all your fiber questions. Visit yarnbarn-ks.com (https://www.yarnbarn-ks.com/) to shop, learn, and explore. Tapestry weaving’s simple structure lets you weave almost any image you can dream up. Rebecca Mezoff, author of the bestseller The Art of Tapestry Weaving, will teach you how to weave your own ideas, designs, and adventures. Join Rebecca online to learn all about the magic of making pictures with yarn in the fiber technique of tapestry weaving. Find out more at tapestryweaving.com (https://rebeccamezoff.com/).

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  58:37

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