We all have that one t-shirt that lives in our dresser that is beloved and the thought of getting rid of it is too sad to bear… so it just stays in its spot in the back of our drawer untouched and unworn. What if we said you could knit new life into it with some stash yarn and your needles?!

On November 18th at 10:30 AM (PST) you can join us on Zoom for Upcycling with Yarn with Afifa Sayeed! Afifa debuted this class last month at our Biggest Little Getaway and it was such a hit we decided to open it up to ALL of our customers! Ahead of this thrifty and free event, we sat down with Afifa to ask her some questions about this class!

Our co-founder, Laura (a.k.a Jimmy!), sat down with Kayleigh Moncey on her podcast, New To Knitting, to chat about all things knitting and crochet! Laura shares her story of how she got into the fiber arts, growing Jimmy Beans Wool into multiple brands, and how Hedgehog Fibres x Madelinetosh Tweedy came to be. In the spirit of getting to know our founder and CEO, we reached out to Kayleigh with a few questions to get to know the woman behind the microphone! 

Where are you located?

I am located in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri.

How did you learn to knit or crochet?

I learned to crochet from a library book when I was 17. I learned to knit from watching YouTube tutorials and a lot of trial and error. I first found success when I bought a pair of circular needles and made a very slouchy alpaca hat.

What motivated you to start this podcast?

When I successfully knit my first hat, I was all in. I knew I had found a new love in my life, knitting! I wanted to know everything about it! I checked out books from the library and looked up some knitting podcasts. Though these were both great resources, I found that they were a little over my head. It took me a few years to understand everything that was said in these podcasts and written in the books. I really needed a commentator to explain all the short-hand and knitting slang everyone was using. I thought maybe I could be that resource for new knitters! My husband had all the technology to make a podcast and I suggested we try to do this together. He was excited to share one of his techy passions with me and I was excited to share my knitting passion with him! He keeps me from using all the knitting industry lingo, and I have to use layman's terms so he can understand what I'm talking about. That keeps the podcast accessible to new knitters and hopefully entertaining to the more experienced knitters! 

If you could teach any celebrity how to knit or crochet, who would it be and why?

I don't really care to follow current celebrities and their fashion, I'm too busy for that! But I'm always intrigued when I do happen to see a picture of celebrities who knit. I know Audrey Hepburn would knit while waiting around on sets. I'd LOVE to see a book of finished items and WIPs (works in progress) that she may have had!

What random household items have you used when you're crafting in a pinch?

I've probably used everything that's close by at the time. But I'm often using little hairbands for stitch markers and sometimes I use those same hairbands to wrap around the ends of my needles if I think any stitches might fall off!