067: Publishing for a New Generation of Knitters with Pom Pom

12/05/17 • 29 min

This week, Felicia talks with Meghan Fernandes and Lydia Gluck: the two co-founders and editors of Pom Pom Quarterly. If you aren’t already familiar with what Pom Pom is, it’s a beautiful, fresh, and modern quarterly magazine for knitting, crochet, and craft that was founded back in 2012. It’s a magazine that has lovely patterns, thoughtful articles, and useful tutorials. This past summer, they celebrated their 5th anniversary of Pom Pom. In the past 5 years, they have expanded out from magazine to also designing and publishing books, hosting awesome events, and producing a monthly podcast called Pomcast.

Meghan is a former American transplant to London, where she lived for a decade. Now back in her native land, she is at the helm of Pom Pom in North America. While in London she wrote her MA dissertation on knitting in 20th century women’s literature and worked for a publisher, a gallery, and a knitting shop, leaving her with a random but particular set of skills that could really only lead to running a knitting magazine. Meghan now lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and baby daughter.

Lydia was born in London, grew up in Wales, studied in Manchester, and left her heart in Mexico. Lydia has a background in linguistics, and spends a lot of time trying to draw parallels between knitting and grammar. Now she heads up the London Pom Pom office, which is pretty much her favourite job ever.

Please join us this week as Felicia and the Pom Pom ladies discuss creating a new and unique voice for fibre artists!

In this episode, we talk about:

1:35 Introducing the dynamic duo behind Pom Pom and chatting about how they celebrated the magazine’s 5th anniversary
4:35 Felicia asks the ladies about tips on how to survive knitwear photo shoots
5:20 How Pom Pom Quarterly began
7:20 Discussing what Meghan and Lydia thought was missing from other knitting magazines when they decided to start Pom Pom
9:00 How Pom Pom makes it work without being funded by advertising and how the magazine is able to attract readers from a wide range of ages
12:15 Felicia asks Meghan about her master’s dissertation on knitting in 20th century women’s literature and how feminism fits into Pom Pom
17:10 Chatting about Knitting Outside the Box: a new collaboration between Pom Pom Press and Bristol Ivy
18:44 Felicia asks Meghan and Lydia how they manage to continue Pom Pom Magazine while living thousands of miles apart
22:16 Is there a difference between knitting communities in the US and the UK?
23:49 Lydia chats about her new hobby: weaving
26:25 What Pom Pom has in store for the future
28:00 Felicia's final notes and podcast giveaway!

Links and Things

Here's where to find Meghan and Lydia online:

Website: www.pompommag.com
Instagram - Pom Pom: www.instagram.com/pompommag
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pompommag
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pompommag
Ravelry Group: www.ravelry.com/groups/pom-pom
Instagram - Meghan:

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Please join us this week as Felicia and the Pom Pom ladies discuss creating a new and unique voice for fibre artists!

In this episode, we talk about:

1:35 Introducing the dynamic duo behind Pom Pom and chatting about how they celebrated the magazine’s 5th anniversary
4:35 Felicia asks the ladies about tips on how to survive knitwear photo shoots
5:20 How Pom Pom Quarterly began
7:20 Discussing what Meghan and Lydia thought was missing from other knitting magazines when they decided to start Pom Pom
9:00 How Pom Pom makes it work without being funded by advertising and how the magazine is able to attract readers from a wide range of ages
12:15 Felicia asks Meghan about her master’s dissertation on knitting in 20th century women’s literature and how feminism fits into Pom Pom
17:10 Chatting about Knitting Outside the Box: a new collaboration between Pom Pom Press and Bristol Ivy
18:44 Felicia asks Meghan and Lydia how they manage to continue Pom Pom Magazine while living thousands of miles apart
22:16 Is there a difference between knitting communities in the US and the UK?
23:49 Lydia chats about her new hobby: weaving
26:25 What Pom Pom has in store for the future
28:00 Felicia's final notes and podcast giveaway!

Links and Things

Here's where to find Meghan and Lydia online:

Website: www.pompommag.com
Instagram - Pom Pom: www.instagram.com/pompommag
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pompommag
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pompommag
Ravelry Group: www.ravelry.com/groups/pom-pom
Instagram - Meghan:

Previous Episode

066: Ambitious Artistic Knits with Linda Marveng

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Today Felicia is joined by Norwegian knitwear designer Linda Marveng. With a background in architectural history, Linda’s design work is stunningly sleek, fashion-forward, and often highly textured with intricate cables. Linda has had several dream jobs in the yarn industry including working for Rowan as a design consultant and also at Loop (a heavenly yarn shop in Islington, London). In 2012, Linda published a Norwegian knitting book of patterns called To rett en vrang Designstrikk.

Please join us today as Felicia chats with Linda about how she transitioned from working for various yarn companies to designing her own knitwear visions.

In this episode, we talk about:

1:55 Felicia and Linda chat about the Kathe Cardigan using SweetGeorgia’s Superwash Sport forInterweave Knits
2:26 Linda shares how she learned how to knit as a child in school
4:11 Discussing Linda’s educational background in Art History and how she found her way back to the knitting world
8:26 How Linda got her job as a design consultant for Rowan and the role she played for the company
13:40 Felicia and Linda talk about her time working for Loop in London
16:32 Linda discusses how her previous experiences helped influence her knitwear design career and process
19:42 Chatting about the process and vision behind the patterns in Linda’s book: To rett en vrang Designstrikk
25:09 Felicia asks Linda about the intricate and challenging nature of her textured and detailed patterns
27:42 The ladies chat about the recent resurgence in popularity of knitting in Europe
30:47 What projects Linda has in store for the future
32:58 Where you can find Linda and her designs online
34:00 Felicia’s final notes and podcast giveaway!

Links and Things

Here’s where to find Linda online:

Website: www.marveng-puckett.com/linda
Ravelry Group: www.ravelry.com/groups/linda-marveng
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lindamarveng
Facebook: www.facebook.com/linda.marveng

Next Episode

068: Creating a Community Through Colour with A Yarn Story

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Today Felicia welcomes another yarn shop owner to the show: Carmen Schmidt. Carmen is the owner of A Yarn Story, a knitting shop in Bath, England. She’s also begun a new venture called Walcot Yarns, with the goal of producing luxurious yarns and fabulous patterns for knitters and crocheters alike. A Yarn Story opened almost 3 years ago in 2014 and has become a destination shop for knitters and yarn lovers.

Please join us this week as Felicia and Carmen discuss creating a knitting community through colour!

In this episode, we talk about:

1:38 The ladies chat about how they first met when Felicia was teaching at Unwind Brighton in the UK. Carmen also chats about how she started A Yarn Story.
5:00 Why is the shop called A Yarn Story?
6:28 Carmen shares some of her favourite “yarn stories” from customers
8:45 Felicia asks Carmen what her vision for A Yarn Story was when she first decided to open a yarn store and how she tries to foster a knitting community through her shop
11:14 How Carmen chooses which colours of yarn to stock in the limited space in her store and what colour trends Carmen has been observing lately
16:00 Felicia asks Carmen about the rise of popularity of knitting in Europe
17:52 Felicia asks Carmen how she made A Yarn Story the successful yarn store it is today in a tough economy
20:30 Carmen talks about her latest venture: producing her own line of yarns called Walcot Yarns
25:52 Felicia asks Carmen why she feels driven to start a yarn company now when so many new yarn companies are being created and there is so much competition
29:07 What is next for Walcot Yarns?
31:05 Discussing planning (or lack thereof!)
32:32 What is currently capturing Carmen’s imagination and attention knitting-wise
36:40 How you can find A Yarn Store and Walcot Yarns online
37:42 Felicia’s final notes and podcast giveaway!