We're kicking off summer with a super fun event: The Totally 90's Nostalgia Trunk Show and Stitch Night! This event features two amazing fiber folks, Emily O'Brien (she/they) of Kitty with a Cupcake, and Kemper Wray (she/they) of Junk Yarn. Emily and I first connected a couple of years ago when she visited Salem and showed us her adorable witchy progress keepers, then I met both of them in person at Wool & Folk last year. I'm super excited to host this amazing duo at the shop! Keep reading to learn more about their work.
Emily, I'm always super excited to connect with another fellow witch in the fiber industry. You describe yourself as a Craft Witch, and you are a practicing witch as well. Can you share a bit about your practice, and how craft intersects with it?
Emily: Being a crafter is actually what got me into witchcraft! Taking a ball of yarn and turning that into an actual wearable garment has always felt like magic to me! The special feeling of wearing a handmade garment that was made by someone you love, it’s like the yarn is imbued with coziness. Talking about these feelings with some crafting friends made made me curious and start reading into actual magical practice. I have always loved and been drawn to tarot decks just because I’m a slut for cool art cards. As far as my practice goes, I do love taking the time to do a really intentional planned out ritual, but my daily practices include tarot, color magic, and what I affectionately call “pocket rocks” (small crystals I choose with intention for the day that make great pocket fiddle objects!)
In terms of crafting and witchcraft, I choose colors for projects with specific intentions. I also will think about imbuing gift projects with special protection, calming, good vibes, or whatever I wish for the person. I also am working on a very long term project of cross stitching my own tarot deck design. I’m the slowest cross stitcher ever though so it will seriously take me like 10 years to finish this and release it unto the world!
Your designs are witchy, but with a much more pop culture aesthetic than what folks might usually associate with witchiness. I'm so curious to know how you arrived at this super unique intersection. What was your first pop-witch (not sure if that's a real term, but now it is) design and how did it come to be?
Emily: A lot of people looking at witchcraft from the outside associate it with various dark and spooky aesthetics because of media and various churches yelling about how “evil” witchcraft is. I think that magical practice flexes your imagination and is actually just an aspect of play. I try to make my designs play on nostalgic colors and imagery from my childhood to make them more friendly and show that magic doesn’t have to be scary, it can be joyful. As a result my designs resonate with out and practicing witches, witches in the broom closet, and people who just love pop culture fictional witchy things! My first “pop-witch” design was actually the Basic Witch Magical Merit Badge. I was noodling around with the idea of Girl Scout Badges but for witches. The rest of that line kind of designed itself because it just worked!
Kemper, can you tell us a bit about what witchcraft means to you, and how it ties into your fiber work?
I haven’t identified as a witch until very recently because I grew up Catholic, so I had quite a bit of residual religious guilt and trauma to sort through. But I’ve found so much to love in witchcraft, especially tarot. I’ve always loved learning about witches and magick, so seeing the number of witchy fiberistas out there has been super encouraging. I also dye plenty of witchy colorways, too! Color and magick are inextricably linked! I wear clothes that bring me joy and draw energy to me in ways I need for that day, so I like to think of my yarn and knitting as doing the same thing.
How long have you been dyeing yarn, and what inspired you to get started?
Kemper: I’ve been dyeing yarn for about seven years, but it’s so hard to believe it’s been that long. I didn’t expect it to become my career!
I’ve always been an “artsy” person; I even have an MFA in Creative Writing. I started dyeing yarn after two attempts at more traditional office jobs in editing and marketing. But in dyeing I found a job that would allow me the time to pursue my creative goals, like writing a novel and painting more.
I have ADHD, so I usually have about five active hobbies at any given time, but my longtime loves are writing and knitting. Dyeing allows me to do both!
What is something you wish more people knew about you and your work?
Kemper: I dye yarn that makes me happy. I used to try to keep up with the color trends more closely, putting out collections every season, etc. But now, I put out collections based on what’s inspiring me. I love to make moodboards and capture aesthetics that bring me joy! I also keep my dyeing more of an artistic process rather than manufacturing.
Yes, I so resonate with this! I don’t dye very much these days (the shop keeps me busy), but I have never been able to keep up with trends. Speaking of which, I have no idea what this year’s Pantone colors are. Or what last year’s were.
So, how did you two first meet?
Emily: I actually knew who Kemper was even before I knew who Kemper was? I started knitting their Coziest Memories pattern back in 2016. I then saw the Junkyarn booth at a Vogue Knitting Live back in 2018, it was so crowded I didn’t get a chance to chat but I did follow Junkyarn on Instagram. I’ve been a fan of Kemper’s work since! I was super excited when Kemper backed my Magical Merit Badges Kickstarter campaign in 2021. We started chatting about our similar aesthetics and the Totally 90’s Witch collab we worked on in 2022 was born via Instagram DM.
We met for the first time in person actually setting up for our Wool & Folk booth in 2022. We are now legit real life friends in addition to internet friends. Which is, the best kind of friend.
Kemper: I can’t remember when I first saw Emily’s work, but I loved her use of color right away. At the time (and still!) there wasn’t anything else in the knitting swag world like her designs, so I knew I wanted to work with her. Becoming friends wasn’t necessarily the goal in working together, but I couldn’t help myself! She’s the best!
I love this story! It reminds me so much of how Rochelle, one of my all-time fave fiber witches, and I met. I am so excited that you two are joining me here in the Witch City! What is the concept behind your Totally 90s Nostalgia Tour, and how did the idea for this project come about?
E & K: We really loved hanging together in person during our Wool & Folk booth last year so we were basically brainstorming different schemes to be able to hang out together more. We chatted about how much we love Salem and how fun it would be to get to explore it together and here we are! Also in terms of our colorways and designs our Totally 90’s Witch Collab was super popular for both of us so we expanded upon that for the theme of this tour!
What are you both most excited about sharing with folks at our upcoming trunk show?
E & K: We both make things that we truly love and enjoy wearing and using, so when we see those things give people joy it’s really the reason we do what what do! Also it means that fans of our work are generally our kind of people, so they’re so fun to meet in person! Kemper is super excited to see how people enjoy the new cotton base in its ice creamy color palette. It’s so perfect for summer. Emily can’t wait to hear the squeals of intense cuteness overload when people witness the new Mermaid Pocket Set. Also it’s always rad to see pictures of my progress keeper designs on projects so seeing Kemper’s new colors with the new progress keepers will warm her heart when they pop up on Instagram.
I can’t wait! For our local folks, come meet these wonderful witches on Thursday, June 1st from 4 pm to 9 pm! Their trunk show will kick off at 4 pm, and from 6:30 pm onwards we are having a stitch night so we can hang out with Emily and Kemper. Yay! And don’t worry, you can shop their trunk show until 9 pm!
If you’re not local, don’t worry! You can shop the trunk show online here. You can browse now, but everything will show as sold out until 4 pm Eastern on June 1st, so bookmark this link and set yourself a reminder! You can also sign in to our virtual Stitching Hour between 7 pm and 9 pm and meet Emily and Kemper virtually.
xo, Ana
