Welcome Back to the SweetGeorgia Show | Episode 100

The SweetGeorgia Show is set to return with a fresh perspective, aiming to explore the deeper intentions behind crafting. This isn't just a podcast about textiles and handcrafts; it's a conversation about the innovation and identity that these crafts represent. We want to understand how the act of making things shapes our identities and how these identities transcend geographical boundaries.

In this episode of The SweetGeorgia Show, Felicia Lo reflects on her journey as a maker and the evolution of her brand, SweetGeorgia. She discusses the importance of community in crafting, the challenges and joys of creating, and the renewed focus of the podcast on meaningful conversations about the act of making. With a commitment to fostering connection and creativity, Felicia invites listeners to join her on this new adventure in exploring the stories behind crafting.

takeaways

• The SweetGeorgia Show is celebrating its 100th episode.
• Felicia started the podcast to reconnect with her craft after a break.
• The podcast has evolved alongside SweetGeorgia's offerings.
• Creating videos for YouTube was pivotal for Felicia's teaching.
• SweetGeorgia now offers over 115 video-based courses.
• The podcast aims to explore the deeper meaning of crafting.
• Felicia emphasizes the importance of community in crafting.
• Listeners are encouraged to engage through comments and Discord.
• The podcast will be available in both video and audio formats.
• SweetGeorgia's mission is to spread joy through color and craft.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to The SweetGeorgia Show

00:59 The Journey of Crafting and Community

03:13 Building the School of SweetGeorgia

03:49 Reflections on Change and Connection

04:55 Exploring the Meaning of Crafting

05:40 Creating a Cozy Podcast Experience

07:10 Invitation to Join the SweetGeorgia Community

Transcript

Felicia Lo 
00:00
Hello and welcome back to the SweetGeorgia Show. I'm your host, Felicia Lo, and I'm the founder and creative director of SweetGeorgia Yarns, an artisan yarn company based in Vancouver, Canada, and also the School of SweetGeorgia, our online fibre arts membership and learning community. I am so thrilled to be bringing you a brand new season of conversations about craft, being a maker, and the stories that bring us together.

This is technically episode 100 of The SweetGeorgia Show. Now, this is a show that I started years back. Back in 2015 when my son was just 18 months old. And I started this podcast because I had been away from my work for about a year, I had gone on my self-imposed mat leave and I had pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome, and so I couldn't knit.

At that time, I was going through a quilting phase, and I felt really disconnected from knitting in the whole crafting community. And so this podcast gave me the opportunity to sit down and have conversations with makers in the community who were really passionate about their craft, and who really inspired me to keep going with my own craft, in my own making.

So being inspired to get back into the habit and the practice of making things, that is actually what led me to start making videos for our SweetGeorgia YouTube channel. And so I started a series back then in 2017 called Taking Black Friday. And so the idea behind that was to carve out a chunk of my Fridays to focus on making something, rather than answering email or doing more bookkeeping or cleaning the house or any of those other things. 

I mean, there are so many responsibilities that we all have in life and that we need to take care of. And so I found that I was always putting off my actual craft and my creative work just to do those errands and those chores. And so by learning how to make my own videos for YouTube, that was a really pivotal point for me because, for a long time, I had been asked to teach some of the fibre arts that I do things like dyeing or knitting or spinning and things like that, and I didn't have a way to teach if I wasn't physically present to teach.

And so I had to figure out how to do video production in order or teach online. And so I thought initially that I had to hire a team of videographers and editors in order to make all those things happen. And so I did I tried to do that, and I brought up and I brought on a couple of videographers to come and help film some videos and do all the editing and everything like that.

And, seeing just how much was involved, I realized at the end of the day that I needed to learn how to do all of that myself, just so that I could actually start publishing things and get going. And so publishing those first videos on YouTube is what gave me confidence to then start the school of SWE Georgia in 2017.

And so the school is our online membership-based learning community, and we have now over 115 long-form video-based courses covering every aspect of the fibre arts, everything from fibre to fabric. So dyeing, spinning, knitting, crochet, tapestry, punch, needle, colour theory, weaving, all of the above. We include on our website at School of SweetGeorgia.com. And so when we were in that phase of building the school, we got very, very busy with creating a lot of those courses.

And so during that time, I had to let the podcast production go. I couldn't do all of the things. And so the last episode that we published for the podcast was back in 2019. So it has been just over four years. And as you can imagine, lots has happened in those past four years since that last episode that we published in December 2019.

If you can imagine. And so if you have followed us on YouTube since that time, you'll know that we've had many ups and downs and transitions that we've been through at SweetGeorgia over the years, like many other groups. And so now here we are. It is early 2025. And, yes, I know that we've been away for a while, but I've been doing a lot of thinking since the last year.

And, and I think that right now we are in a moment in time where it feels like things are actually quite fragile. It feels like there's a lot of change going on in the world, and it feels like we are becoming more and more isolated and distant from each other, whether that's because of world events or because of technology.

But there is this sense of losing connection with each other. And so in these times when I feel like I'm losing touch with people, I think that the best thing to do is just to pick up the phone and catch up over a good conversation. And so this is kind of what the new season in the new direction of this podcast is really going to be.

I want to come back and just have really good conversations with a renewed focus, and take a deeper dive into what makes crafting so meaningful for us. It's not always about how to make things. We have the school for that, and we have a YouTube videos for all of that. And it's also not necessarily about the thing that we make.

At the end of the day, it's not really about the finished object. I really want to have conversations with people about why we create. Why are we compelled to create? Why can I not stop myself from making things? Why do I feel this ache to make stuff? Like making things can be slow and it can be expensive. And it can be frustrating and can be sometimes challenging.

But it also brings me so much joy that I can't even explain it. And so I'm trying to figure out what is it that drives us, what drives us to make things? How does making things shape us and our identity in who we are? And so we do have some incredible guests lined up. I'm very excited to be talking to people from all over the world about their crafts and the stories that they have to share.

Now for this podcast. I would really like this to be, you know, the kind of podcast that feels like a cozy chat, if you can imagine, sort of sitting by the window with your warm cup of coffee or your tea, whatever you like, and your latest project, and then you just sit and work on your project while you listen to our conversations and just be part of that very warm, hopefully very inviting atmosphere.

That's what I'm trying to create here. And so this podcast is going to be presented in two different formats. One is that we are going to have the video available on YouTube, so you can watch if you like, but if you don't want to watch the video, then you can absolutely just listen to the audio-only podcast that we are going to put on all of the podcast providers, so you can find them on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or wherever.

We will be there. And we also want you to be part of this community. I encourage you to leave comments on any of our podcasts on YouTube. I encourage you to message us. We also have a discord server for SweetGeorgia, where we connect with all the people in our SweetGeorgia community, and the very best thing to do is to sign up for our email newsletter so that you can be sure that you don't miss out on any of the updates, whether they are for the yarn, or for the school, or for the podcast or the news, or any of the things that we have coming up.

You can find all of that at SweetGeorgia yarns.com. So whether you have been a maker all your life or you're just starting out, I invite you to join us on this journey. SweetGeorgia is on a mission to spread joy through colour and craft. And so the SweetGeorgia show is meant to be more than a podcast.

This is meant to be a celebration of our crafts, of our maker identity and all the very human stories about crafts and making that connect us all. I'm very excited to get started on this new adventure with you. One conversation at a time. Thank you for listening and I will catch you in the next one. Bye for now.