In this episode of the Women in Wool series, I take a trip to the beautiful Essex countryside to visit knitwear designer Genevieve Sweeney in her micro factory, where she designs, programmes, knits, and finishes her collection in house.
We talk about the realities of owning your own industrial knitting machine – from learning to keep the yarn and machine happy, to breaking needles in tears and coming out the other side.
We also hear about Genevieve’s mission to revive the almost forgotten art of hand Intarsia, a knitting technique synonymous with Scottish knitwear.
In this episode we cover:
- How Genevieve went from spending her holidays visiting Scottish cottage knitters to setting up her own micro factory in Essex
- The real learning curve of owning an industrial knitting machine
- Why hand Intarsia is on the verge of disappearing and Genevieve’s plan to bring it back
- And what really goes into knitting a pair of gloves!
If you care about British farming, UK manufacturing and using fibres that actually grow on our hillsides, this episode will give you a practical look at how it can be done.
About Genevieve Sweeney
Genevieve Sweeney is a knitwear designer and maker based in Essex. Known for her distinctive use of colour, texture and geometric patterning, Genevieve works with natural fibres including Lambswool and naturally-dyed Merino.
You can find Genevieve and Genevieve Sweeney at:
Website: genevievesweeney.com
Instagram: @genevievesweeney
Genevieve forst appeared on the Make it British Podcast in Episode 39 in March 2019.
You can listen to that episode here
