Fiber Nation
Join host Allison Korleski as she brings you stories from all corners of the yarniverse. From Victorian murder mysteries to the trenches of the Western Front, from deadly dyes to futuristic fabric, each episode explores the connections between fiber, history, and humanity.
Episodes
April 1, 2022 • 10 mins
What does it take to disappear? So-called cloaking technology is common on things like fighter jets, but recent advances at MIT have created flexible "fabric" surfaces capable of bending light. It might sound like Harry Potter hocus pocus, but it’s quite possible, in the next decade, to have clothing that makes the wearer invisible.
Find Show Notes here: https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/cloak-of-invisibility/
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March 17, 2022 • 29 mins
You go on a trip, and stuff happens. You lose your luggage or miss your plane. But what if the stuff that happens is a little more epic? Like war zone, poisonous snakes, engines-falling-out-of-your-plane kind of epic? Could you roll with that?
Find Show Notes here: https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/twisted-tales-of-travel/
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February 17, 2022 • 36 mins
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire lasted fewer than 30 minutes and killed 146 people, most of them young women. The disaster’s aftermath would lead to sweeping labor reforms and workplace safety regulations we still have today. It would transform Democrats into a progressive party. And it would, more than 20 years down the road, help elect Franklin D Roosevelt president, paving the way for the New Deal.
Show Notes here: https://...
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December 16, 2021 • 30 mins
On a warm spring day in 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York. Within minutes it engulfed the top three stories of the factory building. 146 people died in the blaze; 123 of them young women who worked there. It was one of the worst industrial disasters in the United States.
The fire and its aftermath would transform US politics and shape the growing labor movement for decades. But to really understa...
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December 1, 2021 • 1 min
We’re excited to announce another Fiber Nation Live Knit Night! Bring your knitting, and join us Wednesday, December 8 at 6 pm EST for a talk with Danielle Dreilinger, featured on the “Home Economics vs. Hitler” episode.
Since it’s the holiday season, we thought we’d change things up and talk about food, festive or otherwise. (Quite possibly otherwise.) Danielle will introduce us to some wonderful cookbooks and recipes from the Bur...
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November 18, 2021 • 27 mins
We look at the evolution of men’s fashion, and how it helped turn an obscure ethnic costume into one of history’s most famous garments. We talk about how tartan patterns became a marketing scheme in the 1800s, and, scandalously, we discover that the Scottish kilt we know today…may have been created by an Englishman.
Find our Show Notes here: https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/scottish-kilts/
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October 28, 2021 • 33 mins
The American West is this mythic place…the land of Wyatt Earp and Calamity Jane, cattle drives, and cowboys. Myths aside, it's also the land of the western range wars, where cattlemen and sheepmen battled over access to grass and water. Dozens of sheepherders were killed and 100,000 sheep were slaughtered, all before a Colorado congressman ended the violence in 1934. But a mere generation later, it's the sheep owners who had the la...
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September 30, 2021 • 31 mins
In this episode, we dive into a place where art, ecology, science, and math come together into something extraordinary. And we learn how a 2300-year-old geometric system was blown out of the water by a woman crocheting blobby things. Welcome to the Crochet Coral Reef.
Link to show notes: https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/crochet-coral-reef/
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August 26, 2021 • 29 mins
Today’s episode is all about artificial intelligence—AI. What it is, what it ISN’T, what it can and can’t do. What happens when you try to teach a computer how to knit? Can a neural network match the creativity of a human? And what might happen if the Terminator became a knitwear designer?
Find Show Notes links here.
https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/ai-knitting-im-sorry-dave-i-cant-knit-that/
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June 24, 2021 • 34 mins
On today’s episode, we explore the radical origins behind home economics. Hear how it became important enough to have its own federal agency. And learn how one particular sewing magazine became a game-changer during WWII.
Find Show Notes here.
https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/home-economics-vs-hitler-sewing-wwii/
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April 29, 2021 • 32 mins
We travel to the Isle of Man and hear the story of one of its oldest inhabitants: the Manx Loaghtan sheep. A sheep that’s been on the brink of extinction not once or twice, but THREE times. And we’ll talk about not just how it was saved, but why some things are worth saving in the first place.
Find Show Notes here.
www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/next-up-in-fiber-nation-manx-for-the-memories/
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April 1, 2021 • 16 mins
Up to now, our daily dose of fiber has always focused on the woolly natural stuff. However, even the best diet has to succumb to a bag of Cheetos now and then. Consider this episode, about the crotch-hugging antics of spandex, as our cheat day.
Show notes are here: www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/spandex-fabric-of-our-lives/
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February 25, 2021 • 32 mins
Eliza Hardy Jones was a professional musician and an amateur quilter. Until a once-in-a-lifetime offer made her change her tune. Find out how she turns traditional folk music, sung by women, into a craft traditionally done by women.
Show notes: www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/song-quilts/
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January 28, 2021 • 32 mins
In today’s episode, we talk to a shearer of sheep. And while there are all kinds of cool things to learn about wool and economics and how to make a sheep sit on its butt, there’s a larger story here, about how people with the weirdest career path ever helped rescue their communities from calamity.
Show notes: www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/sheep-wind-and-fire/
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December 17, 2020 • 30 mins
From its roots in Asia to its importance in the colonial US, from WW2 to the war on drugs, hemp has a curious and complicated history. Plus, we talk a lot about smoking pot.
Show Notes: www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/hemp-forbidden-fiber-episode-15/
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November 11, 2020 • 13 mins
In 1859, a small island off the coast of Washington state was the site of a war almost no one has heard of. It lasted 12 years, involved 5 British warships, 14 American cannons, 34 uncooperative sheep tossed into rowboats, and General George Pickett. And in the end, it sustained only a single causality: a pig.
Show Notes: https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/fiber-nation-the-pig-war/
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October 16, 2020 • 29 mins
In today's episode, we hear a tale of two radically different sweaters. But while we begin by exploring the world of luxury knitwear, we end up discovering something completely different…and completely new.
Read the show notes: https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/tale-two-sweaters/
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October 7, 2020 • 1 min
Did you know Oct 10 is I Love Yarn Day? Neither did we. but no matter. Listen to hear how you can win a box of fluffy goodness.
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September 16, 2020 • 35 mins
On the eve of the Civil War, Godey’s Lady’s Book was the most successful fashion and literary magazine in the US. That is, until its editor destroyed it, along with her own place in history.
Show notes: https://www.interweave.com/fiber-nation/godeys/
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August 20, 2020 • 34 mins
Almost one year ago we released this episode, but its story of disaster and resilience has even more relevance today. As we prepare Season 3, we hope you (re)discover the story of Patty Reed and her doll.
In 1846 an 8-year-old girl named Patty Reed headed west on the Oregon Trail, along with her family. Among Patty’s few toys was a tiny wooden doll. This doll is maybe 4 inches in height, and there is nothing particularly remarkable...
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