Q. Show us a little of your work space – what’s your typical day in the studio like?
A. I work part time at another job, so when I get home at 3:30 p.m the first task of my Papaver Vert workday is to start a small pot of coffee! Then I spend the next hour or so on e-mails and once I’m done, start on the list I usually write the night before. This can include working on orders and I’ll usually have some crocheted items ready to be wet felted. I’ll do small batches at a time and stay close to the washing machine so I can monitor the felting process. In between, I may be drawing designs, ordering supplies, re-listing items in my Etsy shop, editing my photos or working on the next stages of the items that were left to dry the night before – trimming, steaming, sewing on labels etc. It changes daily depending on what kind of orders I have. Once the items are wet felted I may start another batch while I tend to the ones that just came out.  By the end of the evening, my whole work area can be filled with wet felted vessels with no room left to work, since my workspace is pretty small. I try to leave all the crocheting for late at night and I’m usually huddled up on the couch until 1 a.m or so. I really love to crochet and never tire of it so I always like ending my day in this way, if possible. I make sure to write my to-do list for the next day and then head to bed.

Q. I’d love to learn a little more about the yarn you use, too. Can you share a little about where it comes from and why you look for exclusively USA-sourced wool?
A. The yarn that I use is from an American family owned company that uses domestic wool to make their yarns. To be honest, when I started looking for the kinds of yarns that I wanted, I was just trying to find ones that felted well and gave the kind of sturdiness I needed. I tried yarns from Peru and Uruguay with success but there were other factors involved, such as who would be willing to sell their yarns wholesale to a small company like me! Once I found out that the U.S had a lot of wool and yarn to offer, it was my goal to try and stick to something homegrown.  I feel really lucky that in using wool as my main medium, I have a lot of choices available to me from the U.S. There is quite a lot of wool production still going on here which seems so rare these days what with everything coming from China. The wool I use to stuff my pinpods  comes from a small farm in Pennsylvania that doesn’t have a website. I have to call to order my wool – I love that!

Q. What can you absolutely not live without?
A. I would say my husband. Is that too cheesy? Well, even if it is, it’s really true. He’s my best friend, my greatest supporter and he puts up with an unhealthy amount of wool floating around the air in our small apartment.
Other than him, I would say my Burt’s Bee lip balm!

To read more from Patty’s interview, please see Part One. And don’t forget to check out her website (www.papaververt.com) or Velocity for information on her beautiful work. Thank you again, Patty!