Make Joy Podcast

Hello yarn lovers -
This episode of the podcast is a family affair with Lydia Amartey-Williams of Weku Yarn. It was also supposed to include her sister Hannah, who is the other half of this hand dyed yarn business, but sadly her little man had other ideas that day!
I’m sure many makers would agree that there aren’t many projects bigger than starting your own yarn line, but that’s just what Lydia and Hannah have done - creating and introducing a commercial yarn to their hand-dyed business. Bukom DK is delightful complement to their hand-dyed yarns, bringing solid colours to the mix and continuing to reflect their Ghanaian heritage. The yarn has a gorgeous colour palette, and amazing stitch definition for either cables or colourwork, and the bespoke blend of Bluefaced Leicester and Corridale is milled right here in the UK.
While Hannah has been dyeing up a storm and determining the colour palette, Lydia has been digging deep, learning about Kente cloth and patterns and designing up a storm of sweaters and projects for the new yarn. And happily knitting samples without the stress of time challenges now that the Game of Wool is behind her!
Through this episode we chat about how Weku Yarn got started, and how the idea for adding this commercial yarn to the their mix came about. They’ve got a few yarn shows coming up this autumn (including one where the exhibitors haven’t been announced yet - shhh!) so make sure to give it a good squish in person when you see it - it’s totally worth it!
To find out more about Weku Yarn and what shows they’ll be at this autumn, make sure you’re following them on Instagram @wekuyarn where they have all kinds of lovely knitting content.
Share in the comments if you’ve made something with Weku Yarn, or the new Bukom DK, and enjoy the episode!


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Hello yarn friends -
I’m super excited to share this second episode of series two of the Make Joy podcast with you, and introduce you to a delightful Canadian in the UK, Karla Courtney. It’s always fun making new knitting friends and Karla mentions meeting “internet friends” a few times on this episode so I hope she doesn’t mind that I definitely consider one after our meet up and chat.
You may have seen Karla on Instagram knitting a lobster onesie, or more recently promoting her new book Best Dressed Crab and Friends. But it was her avid support for the Toronto Blue Jays that had me following along and cheering her on as she knit a sweater while the Jays were competing in the 2025 World Series.
On the podcast we chatted about baseball and superstitions, as well as other sports-themed projects that Karla has made. I was pretty surprised to learn that Karla doesn’t usually knit garments, or from patterns but I love her enthusiasm and approach to just making what she wants to make in the moment and going for it. And wow - where this sweater has got legs and taken her places I’m not even sure even she expected, like the Canadian Museum of History (where her sweater will be part of the collection), and even meeting Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney!
I know I definitely need to hear Karla how that meeting with the PM came about - and how amazing that she got his measurements right! Maybe when I return her Strawberry Crab (shared with me so I could give crab an adventure at Wimbledon), I can get the whole story.
It was a fantastic chat, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Cheers!


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Hello yarn lovers and welcome back to the Make Joy Podcast!
I’m so excited to finally get a chance to share with you Series 2 of the podcast. It feels like I’ve been working on it for ages (probably because I have!) but I’ve been thinking about it for even longer and working to bring together an eclectic mix of guests for this series about Big, Bold, and Beautiful Projects.
My first guest of the series is my lovely friend Kitey of the Yarn Whisperer, my birthday twin (Leos rule!), a beautiful human, masterful crocheter and knitter, yarn dyer and lover of orange, and now the owner of a tiny, yet perfectly formed yarn and haberdashery shop in the Old Kent Market in Margate.
During the pandemic Kitey left a 30 year teaching career to jump with both feet into yarn dyeing and now its all change again as earlier this year he moved to Margate with his partner and has now jumped into having a shop. We talked about risk, what it takes to make those big changes and how sometimes a leap just needs to small enough to take that first step and whether or not that makes it easier.
As Kitey says, a lot of people worry about “what if I fail?” to which he responds, “but what if you don’t?”. We also joke about that old Nike tagline, “Just do it.”
It was so fun to get back in the groove of the podcast with a guest as forgiving of my rustiness as Kitey, so I hope you’ll enjoy this episode and leave a comment if you do! And if you want to follow Kitey’s adventures in the shop, you can find him on Instagram here @the_yarnwhisperer.
Enjoy!



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Hello yarn friends!
It’s been a while! How’s your making?
Things here have been busy - school, work, plus getting ready for this year’s Make Joy. But through it all, I’ve also found time to record the next series of the Make Joy Podcast.
I’m really proud of what has come together for this series, all around the theme of big, bold, beautiful projects. Each episode challenges the kinds of projects we take on as makers, and what makes a project larger than life.
Series 2 starts on Sunday, 9 August - my birthday treat to all of you! Have a little listen to this teaser if you want to know more about what it’s all about. New episodes will debut weekly, with a little break halfway through.
More soon, and thanks for listening!
Warmly,
Allison


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit champagneqiviut.substack.com

Hello yarn friends -
It’s Sweater Weather - finally! - and welcome to November. Of course, this is one of the mildest Novembers that I can remember here in the UK so the heavy knits haven’t made it out of the wardrobe yet. I can hardly believe that the podcast started back in August and sunshine and now here I am wrapping up Series 1 under Landon’s grey skies.
This is Episode 10 of the podcast, and to wrap things up in a celebratory way, I’m delighted to chat with Susan Cropper, owner of the iconic Loop yarn shop here in London and which this year is celebrating their 20th anniversary.
Loop holds a special place in my heart - it was the first yarn shop I knew about in London and even before moving here I looked forward to seeing their unique and hard-to-find yarns that were even difficult to find in Canada. My partner Jordan visited Loop on a work trip to the UK before we moved over and brought back a sweater’s quantity of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Thistle, which I knit into a Central Park Hoodie while I waited in Toronto for mine and Harry’s visa paperwork to process. And when I finally left Canada for our UK adventure it was with a card from my stitchy friends at my LYS directing me to Loop where a gift card was waiting to help me enhance my stash on my arrival in the London.
During my time in London, Loop has been a constant part of the UK yarn landscape and woven into my knitting adventures with Yarn in the City, and even becoming one of Susan’s Loopettes for a couple of years. So it was an honour to chat with Susan about the origins of her shop and her design background and how she built her shop from an idea to have a sweet knitting shop with the kinds of yarns she wanted to knit with to the celebration of colour and textiles that it is today.
Susan’s love for textiles is obvious - from the way she plays with colour to her discovery of textile artists and how she finds, works with and promotes artists. Her love of discovering talented people is sharing them with her audience is a big part of the shop and what makes it so unique. Loop’s collaborations with makers are delightful - from knitting and crochet designers and their wonderful patterns exclusive to the shop, to unique one of a kind kits like the Bomboloni Babette Blanket or the Loop’s The Original Sweater by Sophie Ochera.
When I asked Susan what her strategy for the shop was, she didn’t have one. Or at least, not in a conventional “business-y” way. Rather, her strategy is simple: do what you love, and trust your gut. Plus some pearls of wisdom from her dad to work really hard at what you do, and be good at it. A lovely combination that I think is relevant today and can be applied to everything - not just building and running a yarn shop.
I really enjoyed our chat and hope you will too! And of course this is the last episode for a while, but I’m already planning Series 2 for next year. I’ve got a big, juicy theme I’m working on that I can’t wait to share with you. If you’ve got any comments or feedback about the podcast so far, or a suggestion for someone you’d like me to talk to, let me know.
Thank you so much for listening, and wishing you all the best for the upcoming festive season.
Best,
Allison



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit champagneqiviut.substack.com