Angela Tong is a lifelong crafter with a soft spot for the fiber arts, but she’s never met a craft she didn’t like. A certified instructor through the Craft Yarn Council of America, she leads workshops all over the New Jersey area and teaches classes online at Craftsy.com. You can find Angela’s knitwear and crochet designs in magazines such as Knitscene and Knit Simple and in the book Knit Noro Accessories. You can also browse her work on her blog, Angela Tong Designs.
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Today on the show, Felicia talks to Angela about being passionate about multiple crafts, from knitwear design to crochet design to weaving and more. Learn how participating in one online “design your own lace shawl” class taught by Stefanie Japel changed Angela’s life and gave her this brand new career path. And join us as we chat about different strategies for managing and enjoying so many different crafts.
In this episode, we talk about:
- 3:45 Angela’s story of how she got started in crafts
- 7:00 Her transition from metals, ceramics, and jewelry design to the fibre arts
- 17:00 How she started weaving and all about her first loom
- 20:00 Felicia waxes poetic about Netflix and weaving with her new Ashford Knitters loom
- 21:45 Angela’s tips for using knitting and sock yarns on a rigid heddle loom
- 23:30 Saori weaving
- 27:00 Angela on time management and productivity for multiple crafts
- 33:00 On learning quilting, hand piecing, and long-arm quilting
- 34:00 Doing tapestry weaving on small looms, frame looms, rigid heddle looms, and pin looms!
- 35:00 Bullet Journaling with the Hobonichi planner and trackers for your crafts
Where to find Angela Tong:
- Instagram: ATongDesigns
- Facebook: AngelaTongDesigns
- Twitter: ATongDesigns
- website: angelatong.blogspot.com
- Craftsy: https://craftsy.me/2iU5qKv
Craftsy Class Giveaway
Angela would like to give one of our lucky listeners a chance to choose one of her Craftsy classes to own. The lucky winner will be able to choose between her Rigid Heddle Weaving class and her “My First Mittens & Gloves” class. To give as many listeners as possible a chance to enter, we will keep this giveaway open until the end of March and then draw a winner after that date. Simply enter your info below and we’ll enter you in the giveaway and also subscribe you to our SweetGeorgia updates, so you won’t miss a thing.
Thanks for Listening!
Thank you so much for joining me this episode! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your fellow yarny friends. And if you like what I’m doing here, please leave a rating and review on iTunes for the show. I read each and every email and bit of feedback, whether it’s on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, so I welcome your comments.
I would love to hear from you guys. Leave me a comment and tell me if you are also a multi-craftual person and which crafts you most enjoy. And also I’m interested in hearing how YOU juggle your love of multiple crafts.
Music Credits:
The Young and Beautiful – by Ivory Hours
Sparks – by Fleurie (on NoiseTrade)
I knit, do some basic crochet and quilt. I tend to binge craft. In a two year period I made 18 queen sized quilts, now I’m knitting a lot. When I’m really into doing one type of craft I might do a little of others but tend to focus mostly on one.
I was excited to see that Angela Tong was your guest on this episode and listened to it right away. I learned rigid heddle weaving techniques from her Craftsy class and found her teaching style very clear and easy to follow. Nice to get to know her and hear about her crafting and a little of her personal life. I used to weave on floor looms several decades ago and as much as I love the tiny footprint of the rigid heddle, like you, I’m missing the foot pedals and satisfying thwack of the beater.
Great interview. I’ve followed Angela on instagram for a while now, and it’s nice to hear her story. I am multi-craftual, although these days I tend to just knit. But my other main crafts are quilting and cross stitch. I’ve dabbled in weaving as well. I find finding the time for all crafts very difficult. There’s just not enough time in the day!
Love the podcast – and so happy to hear about other multi-craftual folks! Angela Tong is so enthusiastic, and how lucky to live in the NYC area and take all those classes she mentioned.
How to make time for everything – oh boy, that’s what I try to do all the time. I do a lot of stuff, but I think right now knitting is number one for me. I am a plein air painter, lampworker (I make glass beads on a torch in my garage), knitter, quilter, gardener, avid reader, and travel for work so I get to be a “craft tourist.”
For me, the journey includes just accepting whatever my desire is at any moment – and being open to experience everything else as the time allows.
I started listening to your podcast in January this year – and enjoy hearing from so many creative individuals each time.
It was great to learn about Angela Tong and her crafting adventures.
I can so relate with Angela! I often think of myself as an ADD knitter. I do memory keeping (Project Life), bullet journaling, knitting, crochet, sewing, photography, book/journal making, mixed media art/drawing! Unfortunately I’ve been so obsessed with knitting that my other projects have been neglected the past year, but the desire is still 100% there to do these other things. I really don’t understand when people say they are bored!