The Long Thread Podcast

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1. Jayna Zweiman, Welcome Blanket

   17 oktober 2026 · 54 min

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   Jayna Zweiman wants to wrap the world in kindness and warmth. Lees meer

   She founded Welcome Blanket in 2017 as an invitation to crafters to make handmade blankets for refugees who have just arrived in the United States. She pictured 2,000 miles of yarn and thread, as long a distance as the proposed wall along the southern border. Instead of a barrier keeping people apart, Jayna wondered, was there a way to bring them together? That question became the inspiration for Welcome Blanket, transforming the idea of a line of division into an invitation to create something welcoming and inclusive.

   Nearly a decade later, crafters have far exceeded the initial goal. With more than 8,000 blankets made and distributed so far, she has set a new goal: 36,521 blankets, enough to circle the Earth. In 2026, the project received the Golden Scissors Award for Social Impact, which recognizes leaders in the craft industry.

   Giving a Welcome Blanket is straightforward:

   Make a 40" x 40" blanket by hand, using any technique and materials you like (as long as they're easy to care for). It should be difficult to give the blanket up because you love it so much.

   Include a note of welcome that shares something about your own experience of immigration, migration, or relocation.

   Send the blanket and note to be distributed through one of Welcome Blanket’s partner organizations or shown first at one of the organization’s public exhibitions.

   The connection to the immigrant experience is personal for Jayna, whose grandfather told her about his first look at the Statue of Liberty when he immigrated to the United States. As she points out, though, each person’s experience of migration and relocation is unique, from the Pilgrims to relocated indigenous Americans to recent arrivals. Many Welcome Blanket crafters aren’t sure what to write in their welcome notes, but whatever the personal history, the notes are the opportunity for connection and shared feeling of humanity.

   Refugee families often arrive with …

2. What to Make Next: The Yarn Barn of Kansas List of Great Project Books

   10 oktober 2026 · 28 min

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   The best project books not only combine gorgeous designs with clear instructions, they also expand your fiber-arts horizon with a trip to a new part of the world, a collection of the best ideas of fellow crafters, an in-depth tour of a great technique, or the chance to incorporate your favorite non-fiber hobby. Here are some of the best project books that the Yarn Barn of Kansas loves to share. Lees meer

   Crochet

   The Tunisian Crochet Handbook by Toni Lipsey

   A collection of wearable designs from complete novice to accomplished crocheter skill levels. Features 20 patterns.

   Knitting

   Knit Like a Latvian: Mittens by Ieva Ozolina

   Colorwork handcoverings with a traditional shape and graphic, surprisingly modern patterns. Features 50 patterns.

   Nordic Sailor’s and Fishermen’s Sweaters by Lotte Rahbek and Gitte Verner Jensen

   With simple shapes and classic motifs, these historically inspired sweaters look like the best of contemporary Scandinavian knitwear. Features 23 patterns.

   Traditional Danish Sweaters

   Based on nattrøjer (night sweater) patterns, this collection of includes 11 complete designs and 200 charted motifs to customize your own sweater.

   Charming Colorwork Socks and Joyful Colorwork Socks by Charlotte Stone

   Sweet sock patterns, many whimsical, for any season or mood. Each book includes 25 sock patterns.

   The Sock Project and The Sock Obsession by Summer Lee

   A variety of colorwork, texture, and plain designs with instructions for several construction methods. Lee’s basic sock pattern is a mainstay at Yarn Barn! Each book includes 25 sock patterns.

   52 Weeks of Accessories from Laine

   One of the generous pattern collections from the Finland-based publisher, this collection includes projects from a number of desigers. Other books in the series include Socks (volumes I and II), Easy Knits, and Scarves.

   Weaving

   Interlaced: The Weavers' Guild of Boston Celebrates 90 Years of Friendship and Education

   With projects for bags, scarves, rugs, and more, this collection …

3. Sally Pointer, Experimental Archaeologist

   3 oktober 2026 · 49 min

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   How did people make and use the textiles we’ve created for millennia? From nalbinding to netting to bast fiber processing, Sally Pointer looks for answers by working with her hands. Lees meer

   Some fiber crafts are as old as humanity, even recorded in cave paintings. Some fiber crafts are so little practiced now that they’re considered endangered. For textile historian (and prehistorian) Sally Pointer, they’re entirely vital and full of new discoveries.

   The Heritage Crafts Red List of Endangered Crafts tracks more than 150 crafts in the UK practiced by so few people that they may disappear within a generation or so, and it names the known practitioners. Sally’s name appears twice, once for nalbinding and once for bast fiber processing. Those are far from her only fiber fascinations; she is currently at work on a book about netting, and she speaks passionately about splicing and cordage-making.

   Nalbinding is plagued by misconceptions: that it’s solely a Viking craft, an early form of knitting, only interesting for reenactors, or slow to work. Nalbinding—It’s Not Knitting, Sally’s 2026 book, presents it as a useful contemporary craft still practiced around the world. The technique is as useful for creating twenty-first-century socks as for the ancient Egyptian examples excavated from archaeological sites.

   As an experimental archaeologist, Sally not only looks at ancient textile finds; she tries to understand how they were made and used. Looking at an artifact and guessing how it was used can breed misconceptions; experimental archaeologists test those guesses to learn what it was like for the people who used them. “This is almost allowing us to touch the hand of the original maker for a fleeting moment,” Sally says. “And that is spine-chilling at times.”

   Links

   Sally’s website

   Sally’s current book is Nalbinding—It’s Not Knitting

   Lime Bast: Harvest, Preparation and Use by Sally Pointer and Chiz Harward

   Find Sally’s free videos on fiber processing and textile techniques a…

4. Melissa M. Littlefield, Reinventing Wool

   19 september 2026 · 43 min

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   How could you possibly improve on wool, the perfect fiber? In the 20th century, scientists thought they could do just that. Some of their innovations have disappeared . . . but some remain. Lees meer

   In the middle of the 20th century, with technology promising a modern lifestyle that would be newer and better in every way, wool fiber began to look old-fashioned. The incredible demand for wool up through World War II began to wane, and the apparent miracle of synthetic fiber reached American homes.

   Yet sheep still formed the backbone of some states’ economies, and they kept producing wool. If only there were some way to make it easier to wash and prevent moths from eating clothes, carpets, and furniture, modern households might still have a place for wool. And if wool fiber was less important, maybe there was another use for fleece.

   In her new book, Reinventing Wool, Professor Melissa M. Littlefield takes us through the history of four innovations that sought to bring wool into the modern era: Woolite synthetic detergent, machine-washable wool, the chemical insecticide EQ-53, and extraction methods for lanolin. From a national roadshow featuring a starlet bathing a lamb in a tub of Woolite to a toxic DDT-containing fabric treatment, the improvements range from everyday to strange. Yet in their own ways, each of the treatments imagined a place for wool in a rapidly changing world.

   Littlefield talks about how her research spoke to her personally as a spinner, knitter, and small-batch wool yarn producer. Decades after these groundbreaking “improvements” to wool, most of our furniture isn’t vulnerable to moth damage anyway. Lanolin is a common ingredient in both personal care and industry. And crafters debate the value of machine-washable wool, even as we find it in every yarn shop. Who could have predicted where wool would go?

   Links

   Reinventing Wool

   This episode is brought to you by:

   Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitchers find the silk they lov…

5. David Richie, Green Mountain Spinnery

   5 september 2026 · 45 min

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   A small group of Vermonters wanted to improve the environment and preserve the rural character of the state. Along with two friends, David Richie and his wife found a way: they founded the Green Mountain Spinnery. Lees meer

   David Richie and his wife, Diana, wanted to keep their home state and region green and farm-friendly. Believing in thinking globally and acting locally, they joined a reading group in the late 1970s with others interested in conservation and social responsibility. Concerned about the environmental dangers of nuclear power in New England, their friends Claire Wilson and Libby Mills found themselves in jail after protesting a nearby power plant, giving them time to talk about what they could do to make a difference on a smaller scale. Claire asked, “When I see so many sheep here in Vermont, why do I have to order my weaving yarn from Sweden?”

   Farmers’ markets had begun to arise, bringing produce from the field to home cooks in the heart of the city, letting small-scale farmers keep more of their profits by selling direct. Why not do the same for shepherds and make their sheep’s wool available to weavers? As knitters and weavers, Claire and Libby knew about using yarn, but none of the four knew anything about operating a wool mill, let alone starting one. Undaunted, they took one step after another: they wrote a business plan, purchased an old gas station as their new facility, and began purchasing mill equipment.

   And so began an adventure that has passed 45 years and is still gathering steam.

   Learning to produce yarn—understanding the equipment, downstream (literally) effects, sourcing fibers—is an ongoing process. The Spinnery makes thousands of pounds of yarn each year for farmers, yarn companies, and their own store, but they continually refine the process, from improving their wastewater handling to switching over to more eco-friendly spinning oil. Although David began without fiber experience, his influence is felt in every part of the tightly-pack…

6. Karen Elting Brock, PieceWork

   22 augustus 2026 · 41 min

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   A love of words, stories, and cloth led Karen Elting Brock around the world and back to PieceWork. Lees meer

   ”All This by Hand” appeared on the first covers of PieceWork magazine, intended to capture the scope of material between the covers. Stitching, lacemaking, and other needlework, certainly, but other handwork, fashion, and the artisans who created the work all found their way into the pages of the magazine. The scope of the project—worldwide, from historical to contemporary, from anonymous to celebrated—has made it beloved by its readers and also difficult to explain. All this by hand, indeed.

   Karen Elting Brock first joined the staff of PieceWork in 2010, working with authors who were artisans or had stories to tell. From her desk, she pored through the collections of international museums and chased down photographers for just the image that would tell the story of a textile. After several years on the editorial staff, she moved on to experience global stories for herself, living in (and sending dispatches from) Nepal, Morocco, and other international locations. Even (or especially) in remote villages, textiles and makers continued to find her.

   In 2025, Karen was ready to return to Colorado, and PieceWork welcomed her to the editor’s seat. As of recording time, Karen has brought some of her ambitions for the publication to fruition—she’s especially excited about the Fall 2026 Museum Issue and the new reader-fed international museum directory—but she has a list of other ideas she’s eager to explore. In this episode, we explore some of her favorite textile stories and some of her plans for the future.

   Links

   PieceWork issues and website

   PieceWork’s Blue & White Issue, released in Summer 2026

   International Needlework Museum Directory

   “Knitting on Peru’s Taquile Island” by Linda Ligon

   “Spinning Giant Nettle in the Himalayas”

   Karen’s posts for pieceworkmagazine.com

   This episode is brought to you by:

   Treenway Silks is where weavers, spinners, knitters and stitch…

7. Lir Shilton, Ribblr

   8 augustus 2026 · 51 min

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   As a budding crochet designer, Lir Shilton ran into obstacles and annoyances that many beginning crafters face. But instead of learning to live with them, she and her partner decided to make a platform that offers a different approach. Lees meer

   Lir loved to crochet, and she especially loved creating designs to share with other makers. But crochet patterns vary significantly depending where you are in the world—and not just in translating centimeters to inches. Was that a British double crochet or an American double crochet? Did the directions mean to work the decreases 5 times or 5 more times? Which of the 9 sizes did this direction apply to? What color was A?

   As Lir described her frustrations to her husband, Saar Oron, he asked the simple, obvious question: “Why is it like this?” With a background in building online communities, he wondered why there wasn’t an app for designers to present patterns and for crafters to consume them in a more user-friendly way. Sometimes it takes a newcomer to ask the question everyone else has stopped asking.

   Along with a developer, the pair formed Ribblr, an online community and pattern platform that supports projects in knitting, crochet, and sewing. Patterns on Ribblr allow you to hide unused sizes, cross off completed rows, change colors, and change measurements and instructions to your preferred regional settings. Users can join groups in the site’s forums for support and track projects there. Although the company is based on creativity through technology, they draw one line firmly: the projects on Ribblr must be human-created, not made with AI technology. (Lir even wrote a song about it!)

   For the month of August 2026, Long Thread Media and Ribblr are hosting a Market Day Challenge: Create a booth presenting your handmade crafts (at an actual crafts market or an imagined setup), submit a journal entry with a photo of your booth, and enter for a chance to win 50 Gems that you can use to purchase patterns on Ribblr.

   Links

   Ribblr

   Ma…

8. Emily Whitted, Texile Historian

   25 juli 2026 · 40 min

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   A pair of silk stockings, mended again and again below the ankle, set Emily Whitted on the path of discovery that has led her through archives and museums of early American history. The stockings belonged to Philadelphia’s Stephen Girard, who was one of the wealthiest men in America. Museum records didn’t mention the mends, though the socks had been repaired several times, making them as invisible to historians examining records as anyone Girard met on the street. Textiles were valuable in the early 19th century, and even a wealthy man wore stockings mended by one of the women of his household. Lees meer

   Mending, darning, and repair became the subject of Emily’s doctoral thesis at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a project she has nearly completed. Her research into mending has led her to investigate how repaired clothing could identify a person trying to self-emancipate, how well repaired clothing could indicate moral character, and how groups of men repaired not only their belongings but also sails in maritime life.

   Emily was drawn into the history of textiles by her interest in the role of cloth in women’s lives. With a background in public history (presenting information about the past to non-specialists), she recently curated an exhibition at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum in Connecticut about the variety of samplers that early American girls stitched. Although we generally think of samplers as purely decorative showpieces, darning samplers demonstrated practical skill in mending, too.

   As a badge of creativity and conservation, mending has recently taken center stage, with visible mending as a badge of honor. Emily Whitted’s historical research shows just how much we have in common not only with the girls who stitched samplers but also the invisible hands that repaired the cloth of early Americans.

   Links

   Read more about Emily’s research: “A Historical Antidote to Today’s Fast Fashion Culture,” UMass Amherst College of Humanities & Fine Arts

   “Stockings once …

9. Books off the Beaten Path: The Yarn Barn of Kansas List of Hidden Gems

   18 juli 2026 · 44 min

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   Book Club Podcast: What lesser-known treasures do Yarn Barn fiber artists love to share? Susan and Melissa share some of their favorites in weaving, spinning, and knitting. Liz Gipson drops by to talk about one of her books that Susan and Melissa adore. Lees meer

   Book-loving crafters generally have a few special titles tucked on the shelf between the major must-have references: a self-published monograph, a slim paperback, or an in-depth look at an esoteric technique. In this episode, Susan Bateman and Melissa Parsons return with more hidden gems from the shelves at Yarn Barn of Kansas. Special guest Liz Gipson also joined us to talk about her own book on choosing yarn.

   Multishaft Weaving

   Weaving Designs by Bertha Gray Hayes: Miniature Overshot Patterns by Norma Smayda, Gretchen White, Jody Brown, and Katharine Schelleng

   This delightful collection of overshot patterns are refreshingly short-repeat and often asymmetrical, a playful and inspiring way to experiment with a traditional structure. Melissa’s so enthusiastic about the book that she loves to introduce it to any weaver.

   Krokbragd: How to Design & Weave by Debbie Greenlaw

   Friendly and accessible, this introduction to the colorful Scandinavian weft-faced structure covers both rigid-heddle and multishaft looms. The book includes several projects, including an irresistibly cute farm sampler.

   Krokbragd: Contemporary Weaving with Colour by Angie Parker

   A more technical take on krokbragd, this is aimed at weavers who already have some experience under their belt, with a more contemporary design sensibility and beautiful photography throughout.

   M’s + O’s: A Contemporary Look at a Traditional Weave Structure on 4-shafts by Suzi Ballenger

   This brand-new 70-page monograph invites weavers to take a fresh look at an underexplored structure. Ballenger’s examples and designs show M’s and O’s with contemporary style and unexpected laciness. Although M’s and O’s isn't generally Melissa’s favorite structure, this book inspire…

10. Loretta Pettway Bennett, Gee's Bend Quilter

    11 juli 2026 · 36 min

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    A fifth-generation quilter from the legendary community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, Loretta Pettway Bennett turns well used cloth into her own expressions of color and community. Lees meer

    Loretta Pettway Bennett began her quilting journey as a child, threading needles for her mother as she sewed scraps into bedcoverings. The women in the town of Gee’s Bend pieced quilt tops and got together to hand quilt their work, a tradition that spans decades. Loretta’s first quilt was an ambitious Flower Garden hexagon design that she cut and sewed entirely on her own when she was 12 years old. Half a century later, quilting is woven into Loretta’s life, as it is for her sister, aunts, cousins, and ancestors.

    Although quilting has always been part of her life, Loretta’s vision is uniquely her own. In the early 2000s, Loretta decided to embrace her own style and gave herself the freedom to enjoy making quilts in her own way. She decided to resist rules that seams line up perfectly or that only certain colors go together. Instead, she lets the quilt make itself and invites the colors to talk to each other.

    Working with thrifted and gifted material, she chooses the fabrics that speak to her (bright colors, few prints) and especially loves the pieces that have been well used and mended. The contemporary interest in thrifting and mending is a simple fact of life to Loretta, as natural as eating. Several of her designs include denim jeans, patched knees and all.

    In 2002, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston mounted a major exhibition of quilts from Gee’s Bend, and Loretta saw her quilting traditions in a new light. A quilt that her mother made to cover her bed, on which Loretta and her sister had laid on the floor, was described as art in one of the country’s most important art museums. Standing in the exhibit, she says, “. . . the more I looked at the quilts, the more I started seeing what [viewers] saw in the quilts.”

    Today, Loretta’s own quilts are part of museum, corporate, and U.S. State D…

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