S5 E11: The Art of Spinning: A Journey with Evie Schwartz (Jillian Eve)

In this episode of The SweetGeorgia Show, Felicia Lo speaks with Evie Schwartz, a multifaceted fibre artist whose path has taken her from accidental yarn making to intentional spinning and weaving. They talk about Evie’s creative evolution, her love for historical textiles, and the role of community in the fibre arts. The conversation also explores time management, the importance of preserving textile history, and how to inspire the next generation to engage with craft. Evie shares updates on her current projects, including her participation in the Tour de Fleece, and reflects on the value of approaching textile work with intention.

Takeaways

• Evie's journey in fibre arts began with crochet at age six.
• She transitioned from teaching to focusing on spinning and weaving.
• Evie's YouTube channel showcases her passion for historical textiles.
• Community engagement is vital for learning and sharing in fibre arts.
• Time management is crucial for balancing multiple crafting projects.
• Textile history is an important narrative that needs to be shared.
• Evie encourages teaching kids about the origins of their clothing.
• Tour de Fleece fosters community and creativity among spinners.
• Intentionality in choosing materials affects the final fabric outcome.
• Evie believes in the importance of diverse storytelling in fibre arts.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Welcome to the Sweet Georgia Show. I am your host, Felicia Lowe, and joining us today is Evie Schwartz of Jillian Eve, a multifaceted fiber artist whose own creative evolution from sort of accidental yarn to intentional exquisite spinning embodies the very journey of growth and discovery that we love to explore. I'm very excited to chat with her more about her historical explorations, the kind of fibers that she uses, and her entire journey through spinning. Welcome to the show, Evie.

SPEAKER_00: 0:29

Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01: 0:33

Fantastic. So just before we started recording, I was asking a little bit of a question because I've been following you for a number of years through YouTube. I know that you started posting spinning videos many, many years ago, and I was excited to see another person in sort of the spinning world, creating content and things like that. But I've always known you as Evie, and I know that your YouTube channel is called Jillian Eve. And I was asking, how do people sort of refer to you? Because, yeah, how does that all work?

SPEAKER_00: 1:02

If people call me Jillian, I don't mind at all. But the name that I usually typically go by is Evie, just kind of cute, Eve, Evie. And so what happened was when I started my channel, I was a teacher and I didn't want my students to look me up on the internet. So Jillian is actually my middle name. So it is my name, but it's my middle name. And so I spun it.

UNKNOWN: 1:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:29

So that's where Jilly and Eve came from. But Evie is just what people in my life call me.

SPEAKER_01: 1:37

Fantastic. Fantastic. So yeah, like I said, I found you many, many years ago when you started spinning. And you'd come out with initially some spinning videos and things like that. And then I've just watched over the years how your content and your work has really transformed and evolved into... Very passionate storytelling and also very in-depth insight into historical textiles. I want to bring this up more a little bit later, but I recently watched one of your videos, which was about sort of textiles history in America and how tariffs have sort of impacted that. And I know that that is a little bit of a longer video. I think it was like more than an hour long video, but it was so interesting. Well put together and so articulate. And so, yeah, I want to dive into that a little bit more. But before we get into that, can you tell us a little bit more about sort of your journey, how you got started? Like you said, you were a teacher, you're a school teacher before. How did spinning come into your life and where has it gone now?

SPEAKER_00: 2:39

Oh, boy. So as you said, I am multicultural. craftual. I do a lot of different crafts. And so the story is kind of different for each one. When I was very little, about maybe six years old, my babysitter taught me how to crochet and I would sit on her floor and she would watch The Price is Right. And I would have a little crochet hook and I would turn balls of yarn into really long crochet chains that's where that started and then when I was in high school my grandmother taught me how to knit and I dabbled with that for a little bit but then once I started having kids I was like I need to make cute baby sweaters and mittens and so I really got into knitting and then at that time I started to say you know why does this yarn feel better than that yarn and it really exploring the quality of the yarn. And I sort of accidentally figured out that I could spin my own yarn because I was at a local yarn store and they had roving in these little baskets and they had some drop spindles and they were the very typical dowel rod with a cup hook and a craft wheel. And, you know, it works. They're, they're great. And that was the beginning of my spinning journey. And that was sometime in the late mid Sometime in the 2000s. So I've been spinning for a long time. The way that all of the crafts have come together, for me, my biggest passion is spinning. That's the one. If I have nothing to do and I'm looking around for a craft, I'm going to the spinning wheel. So I kind of feel like it's sort of the hub of everything I do. And then I'm a spinner who knits. I'm a spinner who crochets. I'm a spinner who weaves and everything else. kind of follows that. So it all came together very organically, you could say.

SPEAKER_01: 4:30

Fantastic. Yeah, I think that we've had very similar journeys. I think it's very similar kind of journey to a lot of the people who are in our community and things like that, who will mention that they start with one of the yarn arts and then discover yarn and making their own yarn. And then where do you kind of go from that? And I love sort of your intentional back and forth between like, oh, I'm going to knit with something. So therefore I'm going to make it this way. Or now I'm seeing a lot of like, you're going to weave with the yarn. So what are you going to be doing with that? Can you talk a little bit about, because I know that it's sort of, top of mind right now, I think, for a lot of what you're doing is sort of transforming hand spun yarn into hand woven cloth. Can you talk a little bit about that background?

SPEAKER_00: 5:08

Yeah. So the first loom that I ever got, I mean, I did like the little, little looms, right? As a kid, I did the potholder things and, you know, the little pin looms and stuff like that. And then there was an ad on Craigslist for a binder loom, which is It had an overhead swing beater, very heavy, giant, big thing. We named her Bertha. And I think it's a 52-inch width. And it's a jack loom, but the thing clatters like you wouldn't believe when you step on it. It's like, so I went to go look at this loom and I was just like smitten as soon as I saw it. And this was someone who was downsizing and she had sort of a barn slash garage slash workshop. And she had a bunch of different looms set up and she had a, she had a fly loom and I was very interested in that, but she would not sell that to me because I have small children. And she was like, if the end of this breaks and that shut goes flying. That's their height. And she refused. So once I realized, I was like, Oh, okay, I understand. No, thank you. But, you know, lately, I've been a little sad that I did miss that opportunity. But anyway, it's fine. It wasn't meant to be someone else's enjoying it, I'm sure. So I ended up with this binder loom. And it was it was huge. I don't know of many people who start weaving with a loom like that. She asked if I had a weaving teacher and I said, no, but I have books. And she was really not sure about that. She wanted her looms to go to places they'd be used and enjoyed, of course. And she ended up selling it to me and I got it home and put it together. And I just absolutely loved like it unlocked something in my brain and just the way that I think about patterns and it just all clicked and everything made sense. But the very beginning of my weaving journey really was self-taught. So I was kind of nervous about sharing weaving on my channel because I didn't want to share bad information. And I'm getting more confident about that because I have been weaving. I just haven't put it in videos as much as my spinning projects or other projects. So the question about getting there, I think it's a long question. I think part of my lack of confidence in sharing that because I don't want to send someone on the bad habit path or something like that. I think the key is just to be really upfront about that. We're going to figure this out together. This may or may not be the best way. And then encouraging the community to discuss in the comment section or whatever. I've learned a lot from my community sharing things. I've gotten great tips. So I think that the whole thing, I think that perfectionism can really get in the way. And especially with hand-woven textiles with hand-spawn yarns. You have to embrace it. There's going to be weird challenges that come up. There's going to be imperfections because we're people with hands. We're not machines. But it's been a journey in a lot of ways, not just the technical aspects of fiber art, but also sort of like the personal perfectionism of it. It's been a good journey.

SPEAKER_01: 9:06

Sometimes I'll try to preface things with, this is what I'm doing. This is what I'm trying. And I did a similar thing where I restored a fanny loom. It was a Leclerc fanny loom. And when I made the video about it, I talked about how, oh, I was taking off the metal bits because I'm not a carpenter. I don't do woodworking things. I'm like, oh, I'm taking these metal bits off and I put them in a plastic bag and somebody left a comment and they're like, That's called hardware. I was like, oh, okay. I didn't know that. I'm learning too. I'm learning all about this stuff. So yeah, I think just...

SPEAKER_00: 9:41

I loved that video of yours, by the way. Just for a second. I have one too. I have a fanny right over behind all those things. Oh, yay. Under there. So I've been wanting to restore her and yours was very inspiring. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_01: 9:59

Yeah, I still love that loom. I love the finish on it. I'm so glad I went through that whole process. But man, it was definitely a lot of work. But yeah, like I'm seeing more and more of your hand spun being sort of sampled, I guess, into hand woven cloth and sort of where that's going. What's that kind of project all about? Can you talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00: 10:20

I have a few going on right now. I have, I really enjoy like Viking Age stuff. textiles, early medieval period. There's so little that we have and I enjoy exploring that. So I've had that project. I feel badly because I started it on my channel and I haven't finished it yet, but that's one of them. And I, I have it almost ready to spin. I have an entire Icelandic fleece that is completely separated into tog and fell. So that is one that will at some point happen. I guess I need my confidence to keep it going. I have on my rigid heddle back there that is linen. That is commercial linen, but I've been spinning linen. So this is like getting the, can I do this on a rigid heddle loom because it's linen? Am I going to break all my wharf? Do I need a boiling pot of water underneath this? How's it going to happen? And then I'll do it again with my hand spun. So it's kind of a sample, but it's going to be a very useful sample. I'm going to make curtains from it. And so I think just gaining the experience. leads me into the handspun. And the sampling is so important because, I mean, it's handspun. I don't want to be too precious with it that I never use it, but it is an investment in time to have it. So just being a little more careful, but not too precious, I think is a balance I'm always trying to strike. And I... Yeah, I'm trying to think if I have other weaving projects at the moment. I have a few that are lined up, but they're not on a loom yet. And I just finished one for a video, but that's on the ankle loom.

UNKNOWN: 12:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:06

So, I mean, like sort of observing the kind of projects that you are making and things like that, it's very much like following your curiosity, like following these sort of rabbit holes into various places, right? Like trying to weave your own linen cloth or trying to spin linen and how different that is from trying to sort of replicate a historical textile from Viking age. That's also very different. I'm guessing it's because maybe you're a school teacher, but you're very interested in historical textiles and sort of the history of where these things came from, how spinning and weaving developed over the ages, the types of tools that we have, all of these kinds of things. I learned all of these things from you watching your videos and watching your content. A lot of it is just because I think that your enthusiasm for the history of it makes it really, really engaging and really interesting to me. And then I'm also interested in learning more about these things as well. Can you talk a little bit about where that interest comes from for you and what you're hoping to sort of learn from that, I guess?

SPEAKER_00: 13:11

Well, I'm a nerd. That's pretty much it. Well, truly, I think that Textile history is such an untold history. And as a teacher, I'm familiar with what curriculum we get in our school systems and what is left out has always bothered me. And so I read a lot and I just enjoy learning. I always want to be learning. I never want to say that's it, I'm done. I feel like that would be a very boring place to be in. So I I got sucked into the history because there was so much there that I didn't know. And then I was like, but we need to know these things. These are important things. This is our history shared as humanity. This unites us and connects us. And it is also unique to different cultures. And that's beautiful and should be talked about and shared because if we don't those things vanish. And that would be terribly sad. And there's so many forces fighting against it with, you know, fast fashion, and just the amount of time that we have to put into what hobbies we do or have. And, you know, just the large investment of a big loom. So if I can do something with a big loom that someone might learn from, I think that that grows the community overall, even if that person is never going to get a large floor loom and weave themselves. It gives context to everything else around it, historically and leading up to where we're at today, just generally with how we interact with our textiles. So I just think it's an important story to learn and tell. And I enjoy it because full circle, I'm a nerd.

UNKNOWN: 15:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 15:02

Yeah, I think it's, you know, like you mentioned fast fashion and about like how a lot of kids like I went in earlier this year to my daughter's class. She's in like grade three, four class and explaining to people where fashion. What their cloth is made out of, they have no idea. They're wearing a t-shirt or they're wearing jeans and they're just like, oh yeah, these are my clothes. And they don't know that this was woven on a loom. So I brought a loom to show them, this is how it works. And then this is your t-shirt fabric. It's actually knitting. All of these things to be able to share with people so that they know where all these things came from. But yeah, I think that your background in teaching, I think, is really, really important here to be able to dissect a lot of this stuff and break it down so that it's easy for everybody to understand why it's important. Not just, oh, that these things happened historically, that this was this and this happened, but what is the significance out of all of this? I think one of the things that I learned from you in one of your posts was how important spinning and weaving were to people in the so much so that they were buried with their spindles and their spinning tools. And then this past summer when we went to London and we went to the British Museum, we actually saw some of these tools that had been sort of excavated. And it was like, I read about that or I heard about that from Evie. I knew that that was a thing.

SPEAKER_00: 16:25

Yeah, that just, I think, drives home... the different experience that those people had interacting with the physical world around them than what we have today because we just get so used to going to the store. But that's so great that you got to go and talk to the kids about cloth. That's really awesome. I love that.

SPEAKER_01: 16:49

Yeah, so talking more about sort of the significance of textiles in the past and sort of how involved we were with textiles. When I was watching that video that you released maybe about a month ago or several weeks ago about the history of textiles in America, it was really interesting to me because some of the stuff that you were talking about was around the same time as a lot of the stuff that I'm going through and learning about with circular sock knitting machines right now and sort of the history of that and sort of I'm trying to overlap the history of circular sock knitting machine with a lot of what you're talking about what's happening in the late 1800s early 1900s and that kind of thing and then you were mentioning a time in the United States when something like 15% of every 15% of households owned a spinning wheel and then after a certain amount of time it jumped up to like 40% of households in America had spinning wheels. I heard that stat and I was like, I cannot even imagine in this day and age, if you can imagine, like close to 50% of everyone you know has a spinning wheel and knows how to spin. That is such an incredibly different world from what we live in right now. And so I I found that part of it fascinating. I appreciated you sharing all of that. Can you talk more about your own spinning community? Do you have community locally to you where you're gathering with people? Because you mentioned the word spinning frolic and getting together with your community to spin. Can you talk a little bit more about that? And what does it look like, your community around you where you spin and weave and do all the things?

SPEAKER_00: 18:31

Yeah, sure. I think spinning frolic needs to be brought back. It needs to be regular vernacular. daily use. I love it so much, but a frolic, just the idea of just gathering together to spin and you get chores done while you hang out. I love that so much. And I think we're lacking that in a lot of ways. Local community is so important. And so I do have like the virtual community, but locally I have some people, um, we moved since I started my channel. So I've got kind of two different houses in the background, but our prior house, my neighbor across the street found a spinning wheel at a thrift shop. And so we were out, you know, chatting and, and so there was a connection there. And then I found some other people that are kind of locally around in the area. And, uh, a lot of it is just that I have a, I should back up a sec. I have a monthly group that I go to and there's guilds and, um, local projects going on. I volunteer with my local fiber shed. And so I work in the booth there for Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, and that's a lot of education. And they're having an event. It's like the 20th, 21st, 22nd of this month at the college in Madison. And so I'm going up there to spin and do some demonstrations with spinning flax. The The thing that my mom always taught me growing up was that To have a balanced community, you should have people that you're learning from and you should have people who are learning from you. And that doesn't always have to be the same person every time. It has nothing to do with age. It just has to do with not getting stuck where everybody's at the same level, doing the same thing, reinforcing the same thing. It keeps things healthy. You've got challenges. You learn from teaching. And so I've always kind of tried to seek that out. I think I found it. Um, like I said, my monthly group, I love that group. We've got people there who have been spinning longer almost than I've been alive. And we have people who are like brand new, like they show up and they say, look what I got last week. And it's a brand new to them spinning wheel. And there's just so much fun. Um, engaging with that. And I think that's important for the health of the community overall. I don't think we can exist solely as a virtual community. I think virtual is really important. I think it gets people connected who are isolated in whatever reason, geography, physically, various reasons. But ultimately, I think that this is a hands-on craft. And it really makes a difference when you're in person with someone watching them. You can see their whole body. You can see how they hold themselves. You know, all those things that we sort of perceive that's really hard to translate on camera because, like, video is flat. We sort of imagine it is 3D because, like, our brain kind of interprets it that way for us. But really, it's flat. So, yeah. And the... Yeah, local community, I think, is just really vital. Plus, for getting equipment into the hands of newbies.

UNKNOWN: 21:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 21:59

Spinning equipment holds up. We have fabulous makers and fabulous spinning wheel. You know, we say companies, these are all small businesses. And so to be able to kind of cycle that equipment around so that people who are learning have an easy entry with something that might be used, but affordable to them. I think all of that is so important. And that happens locally in person.

SPEAKER_01: 22:23

Absolutely. I think that we've had conversations over the past several weeks about how important it is to support your local guild, support your local spinning and weaving guild, and participate and be there in community with other people. Because yeah, like you said, you're learning from other people, but then you're also inspiring and sharing what you know with other people and keeps the whole thing going. So yeah, that's a great reminder for everyone. I am very curious about... time management. I'm always very, very curious about time management. And I see you tackling these massive big projects and fiber all the way to fabric, all the way to garments, and you're talking about spinning an eight-ply crepe yarn and things like that. A lot of these projects that you're working on are very, very time-intensive, and you have many of these projects. How do you juggle all of your time in order to manage all these multiple projects and multiple crafts?

SPEAKER_00: 23:23

I don't sleep. No, I'm just kidding. I think that I'm still figuring this out. I have learned things about myself just because of these crafts that I do that are helpful in the realm of time management. When I was a school teacher, when I was in a classroom, I had an alarm going off. I mean, it was the bell to change classes, but that was it. Your time was up. You had to stop. Like, that was it. The kids were going to leave. They're not going to hang around to hear you finish whatever you were getting excited and passionate to tell them about. So for a long time for that part of my career, I didn't have to be as responsible for how much time I was spending on things because the bulk of what I was doing daily was very structured and regimented for me. I know... that my brain tends to do this hyper focus. And I I did that as a child a lot because I was a cellist and I started very very young I started when I was four and I did cello all the way up through high school and into college and then I switched to education so I knew that if I had something to do that took a long time I could just start doing it and like really hyper focus on it and I wouldn't feel the passage of time and I did that to make practice more interesting because I was a child like how do you get a six-year-old to sit there with an instrument for an hour, right? Like if that six-year-old can find a way to sort of hack the perception of time. And I guess I figured that out. My brain likes to do that. All right. So let's talk about today. I tend to start working on a project and I just zone into it like I stopped paying attention to the amount of light coming in the window. I don't know what time it is. Oh my gosh, is it time for dinner? Who knows? Um, and so the thing I've had to do is set alarms back to the school model that worked for me. I have to set alarms. If I don't, I will keep going and not realize it turned dark outside and my family will be hungry on my nights to cook. So I think it's just finding the tools that work for me and, um, enjoying that my brain does do that. Like I do enjoy that. It's, it's, it's like being in this sort of, um, it's not like an alternate reality. I'm very much aware of like reality. If you know, someone came and talked to me, I can talk to them back. It's not like I'm totally gone, but that intense focus and concentration when I'm in that moment, not being interrupted. I really do enjoy that. I find pleasure from that. So it's just a matter of making the balance work so that I don't get stuck there and then not do the other things I need to do around the house. The, so I'm not sure if that's everyone's experience, but I wanted to explain that part of it. Cause when I say set alarms and, and stuff that's, that's what works for me. And maybe if other people have that kind of experience, like I have a app on my computer that if I am doing it, tracks my whatever I'm doing on the computer. If I'm doing something for more than 40 minutes, I can change the time. It'll interrupt me and it'll make the entire screen go foggy. So I can't see what I'm doing anymore. And it'll say time for a break. And so then I get up and get some water and like, remember that I have a body and take care of

SPEAKER_01: 27:00

it. Yeah, I think that what you're describing is exactly creative flow. Like that's what it means to be in a state of flow where you forget that time is passing and that you're just so focused on the thing that you're doing. You just kind of lose yourself into that moment. And I do remember that feeling. But like from when I was in high school and sewing my clothes, I remember sewing garments on the floor of my bedroom. And again, like exactly what you said, forget that, oh, it's getting dark outside. Oh, how many hours have I been doing this? Like just you forget the passage of time. And that feeling is so strong. So good and so satisfying to be in that moment. I think it's really interesting because my husband and I have very, very different jobs. And he has like a lot of meetings. And I don't really... like meetings, but I've discovered this difference between what they call manager time and maker time. And so manager time is like, if you look at your schedule and you have all these meetings, like that's the work that you have to do today. So if your schedule looks like it has no meetings, then you're like, you're free, you have no work. When I look at my calendar, if I have meetings, I know that I can't get any work done. But if the calendar is open with not a single meeting in that day, I'm like, I am going to get so much stuff done. Because that's my time to go into that flow state of making things and doing things. So I just find that really, really interesting about how everybody approaches their time and their schedule and how they actually get things done. Because you do. You are very prolific and you're getting a ton of stuff done. What are you finding is the most

SPEAKER_00: 28:37

interesting? I'm glad it looks that way.

SPEAKER_01: 28:42

It looks like you're very productive. Yeah. What are you finding is the most interesting thing right now for you? Where is most of your interest going? Because I know you've mentioned the flax a couple of times as well. And I know you're learning to spin flax and talking about growing it and things like that. Is that the most interesting thing right now for you? Or what are you curious about right now?

SPEAKER_00: 29:07

Yeah. Linen's taking a lot of my attention just because it's hotter outside at this time of year. And so I start looking more for the it kind of makes a theme where I'm spinning it, I'm weaving it, I'm finding it at the thrift store. And so that kind of brings it all together under an umbrella. And so I enjoy being hanging out with the linen things. I think that, honestly, the thing that's really getting me going, like, I've got to be creative. I've got to spend time with this. I've got to go do this thing. I think right now it's actually bringing a lot more of my hand spun into weaving projects because that's been the area that I've been less confident about. And I want to keep growing as a fiber artist as, you know, just as my craft is. And so that might be wool. I'm looking around because I'm just looking at all my piles of things everywhere, but it might be, it might be linen. It might be wool. And I just am really enjoying, uh, getting the camera on my weaving projects more.

SPEAKER_01: 30:21

Yeah. Well, this is a topic that we've been talking about sort of like on our own team for a couple of years now talking about like spinning for weaving, uh, how do we do this? Because we have the school and we were wanting to teach some of this, but realizing that everybody spins a different kind of yarn. Everybody has a different kind of loom. Everybody maybe wants to weave different kinds of fabric. Maybe they want to make different kinds of end products. Like maybe it's, you want to make bags or accessories, or you want to make a, like a jacket, a tailored suit jacket or something like that, whatever it is, like everybody wants to make slightly different things. So we're not really entirely sure how to approach that topic. And everybody wants will do it so differently. So all we can think of is maybe creating some tips and guidelines and tricks and things like that from various different people and how they do it. But yeah, I'm very curious to see sort of where you take this content as well, because it's a topic that we're super interested in for sure.

SPEAKER_00: 31:13

Yeah, I'll give you my one tip that I've figured out makes the most difference. Think about the character I want in the fabric and it starts with the hand spun. So if I want it to have drape, I have to choose a fiber to spin. That's going to have drape. I can't force the yarn to do something that, you know, I mean, we have some wiggle room as spinners to, to affect like the elasticity and, and, you know, there's different things we can do, but ultimately the character of what I'm starting with is going to be reflected in the fabric. So, um, Once I got that figured out, which seems obvious, but it wasn't, I was trying to say, oh, this is some junky fleece that is full of VM. And I didn't spend a lot of money on it. It was free from a farmer or whatever. And, you know, which could be a good fleece. I'm not saying that that's always a bad fleece, but if I'm saying I'm going to work with this and make it be this fabric. Well, you know, maybe if I want that fabric to be really soft and bouncy, I need to use the merino fleece that I have and not the unknown random mixed breed of sheep that has some weird characteristics that may or may not have a down breed that won't felt and full the way I want it to. You know, like there's just a lot of that you have to figure out right at the start to make sure it ends up where you want it to go. That's my biggest tip on that. I hope that helps.

SPEAKER_01: 32:44

Yeah, absolutely. I think that that goes along with the entire idea of intentionality in what you're making. And so if you know, like at the end of the day, you want a fabric that has drape, then you're going to go backwards. You're going to be like, oh, well, then it needs to be this kind of fiber to start with. And then this kind of fiber prep technique and then this kind of drafting technique in order to get the yarn that's going to do the thing. Yeah. Yeah, because like you're saying, you can have like a really spongy, poofy, bouncy, springy kind of fiber and then you want it to be like all slinky. It's never going to

SPEAKER_00: 33:16

happen. Yeah, absolutely. I've learned that even though I knew that. I've learned it again. So

SPEAKER_01: 33:26

I'm curious because we're getting into summer, like you said, you know, it's getting warmer and when it gets warmer, we do have sort of tour de fleece coming up. How do you approach Tour de Fleece. Are you doing Tour de Fleece? Have you done Tour de Fleece?

SPEAKER_00: 33:38

Yes, I love Tour de Fleece. It's a great community bonding thing to do, to hang out, to spend. So I have local community that will have some spinning together in person kind of days. And then I also have a Discord. So I have community through there and a little bit on Instagram, which is going to be a little bit more intentional this year. So we've just chosen our theme. It's so much fun putting different challenges or ideas or inspiration with the different elements because we've got like just for an example water we finish our yarn we wash our fleece we spin linen wet we spin flax wet you know like water comes in in so many different ways or like air we we call it a flyer It's going through the air. Spindles, right? Like the suspended spindles. They're in the air. So just having different categories to kind of mix and match things into kind of opens up some creative ways to look at things that you might not have looked at otherwise. So I think we're going to have a lot of fun with that this year. And then we have a bingo card for the community. And so everybody can put different, they can choose different challenges. And then when people get a bingo, we have little prizes and a fun, things like that. But I let people choose their own challenges out of a list of this is a bunch of things because not everybody has a treadle wheel, for example. So giving a challenge they have to do for that, they're like, oh, I can't participate and I never want that. So. It's a lot of prep work, but it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01: 35:17

It sounds like a lot of fun. I love that way of approaching different spinning, looking at it through the lens of these different elements. When you brought up air, the first thing I thought was lofty yarns or woolen spinning to capture the air and all of those kinds of things.

SPEAKER_00: 35:35

Yeah, exactly.

UNKNOWN: 35:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 35:38

We could all join.

SPEAKER_00: 35:39

Yeah. And fire is probably going to be a little more metaphorical, a little more inspirational. Maybe that

SPEAKER_01: 35:46

would be around like burn tests or like exploring burn tests.

SPEAKER_00: 35:50

Yeah. Or we heat things to set die.

SPEAKER_01: 35:55

You know all about that. Yes. Yes. And that wool is fire retardant. I mean, there's lots of ways to go with that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 36:02

Yes. Hmm. I like burning stuff.

UNKNOWN: 36:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 36:07

So you just, you did

SPEAKER_01: 36:09

mention, did you mention Patreon? I think you mentioned Patreon. You mentioned Discord.

SPEAKER_00: 36:14

I have Discord. The way into it is through Patreon. And I have a very active Patreon. There's bonus videos and workshops and things we do each month. And yeah. Yeah. Do

SPEAKER_01: 36:28

you want to talk a little bit about where people can find you? I know that they can find you obviously on YouTube, but there's other places as well. You have a website. Maybe talk about where everybody can find you and what are the different activities that you're doing in all these different places then.

SPEAKER_00: 36:43

Yeah. So YouTube is my main thing. If I've made it, it's probably going to be on YouTube. So that's just YouTube. My channel is Jillian Eve, one word. And then after that, I am always trying to get more consistent with Instagram because I like the visual aspect of it. I can show things up close that you can stop and really look at and see more so than what I can linger on with an up close shot for video. So I think that they kind of go hand in hand. They pair well together for what I do. And then I have Patreon and that is sort of like the entry to the extras. And then I also have a website where I have a shop. My shop is not, not huge, but I have some fiber there. I have some spinning wheels there. Um, Um, I have some little cute branded things there if you want some Jillian Eve merch and I, I enjoy it, but making video is my favorite thing. So if you want to see the best of Jillian Eve, YouTube is the place to go.

SPEAKER_01: 37:51

Fantastic. Fantastic. And sort of like what is, um, sort of like where, where I think that you're also teaching as well. Is that right? You're teaching online then? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 38:04

Yes. I've, I've had people approach me who are in the area. A lot of times people are stuck. And then once you help them get past being stuck, they're good to go. So I don't, I have some students that have been with me for years that, you know, keep coming back and they, and they love our, our, you know, creative journey with them growing as spinners. And that's a lot of fun, but I also have people who kind of dip in and out and that's fine too, you know, get what you need.

SPEAKER_01: 38:33

We've

SPEAKER_00: 38:34

got it all.

SPEAKER_01: 38:37

That's awesome. So like you're saying that you love making the videos. Are you editing all your own videos? Are you... You're doing everything from top to bottom, making all the things, filming all the things, editing all the things. This is such an incredible amount of work. I just so appreciate everything that you're putting out into the world and that you are like capturing a lot of this knowledge and sharing this knowledge with everyone. I think it is... I know it is a huge amount of work. I can't even imagine from your side how much work it is. So thank you so much for doing that and, yeah, providing this for everyone. I'm

SPEAKER_00: 39:12

going to turn that back around on you. I think you do more than you realize. I follow your stuff, too. I have some of your Sweet Georgia yarn. I've got the tough sock, you know, and I actually, I also just got a sock knitting machine. That's... coming it's antique yeah and then I realized you had one and I was like oh my gosh because you know when I get something new I have to watch everything about it and read everything about it and learn everything about it but um You put so much out there too. So we inspire each other. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01: 39:47

That's amazing. I'm so excited for you, but thank you so much. Those are very, very kind words. Thank you. But I'm so excited for your circular sock knitting machine. I'd love to hear how that all goes. That's going to be very exciting. What did you get or what is coming for you?

SPEAKER_00: 40:03

It's over there in a pile because I just took it out of the box and there it is. It's been in use. It does run. I'm going to have to reassemble it because it was shipped to me, which is always nerve wracking, but they did a great job. They put it in a box, kind of like crated it up. It's from 1908, I think. And it's cast iron. Yeah. And it has its parts. So we'll see what it can do.

SPEAKER_01: 40:28

Fantastic. We are coming out with a new circular sock knitting machine course in the school this fall. I'm filming it on Monday. I'm very, very excited about this.

SPEAKER_00: 40:40

Okay. I'll be looking forward to that because I might jump in and get some tips.

SPEAKER_01: 40:44

Yes. And then I dove into the history a bit about those machines as well because it was super fun to do. I'm inspired by a lot of your historical videos and things like that. I encourage everybody to look more into the history of all the things that we're making because I think Thank you so much. don't necessarily need to be making them to make all of the textiles and all of the clothes for our home and our families and you know like some of these circular sock knitting machines they came from companies that also made machines to crank your own underwear and things like that and just imagine if you had to make every single piece of clothing in your wardrobe for your entire family that amount of work is just unbelievable and we do this now because we It's fun and we can enjoy it and we love it and the texture and the colors and all the things that we can get out of it. Yeah, I think we're really, really lucky. So thanks for sharing all those things with the community. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 41:56

Yeah. And thank you as well. I think even if it's the same history, even if it's the same year, the same place, the same people that we're talking about, I think the stories need to be told by different people because we each come to it with a lens that's different from each other and we'll pick up on different things, make different connections. And I think all of that is really important. So just like more spinners, more spinning teachers, more history storytellers as well. I love that you're getting into that. I really look forward to seeing more of your historical deep dives.

SPEAKER_01: 42:28

Thank you. Same, same. Thank you so much for being here today, Evie. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 42:32

Thank you for having me.