Kristy Glass Knits: Brooklyn Boy Knits

it's okay stop hiding your projects on your bag on the train on the on on the bus that's what I was doing stop hiding your projects and don't be ashamed of what you're doing okay hey Kristy glass here I'm in Brooklyn and this is Bushwick right this is actually banners so I invested hers with Luis boria right is that right yes you did it you're good yeah and also aka so I think is this your first like sit-down interview on camera oh gone viral I know I've done I've done a few interviews I've been looking forward to this anybody's but I've done a few interviews and you know first I was a little nervous about it and I think I'm getting okay with him out from the beginning yes some of your story so about almost 11 years ago I had a dream one night woke up in the morning and in my dream I was knitting and I tell the story over and over and I know I sound repetitive he's never told her so learn it I um I had this dream that I was knitting an amazing watch over my hands and the needles and the yarn and that's it and it was one of those dudes it seemed so real and I was just like I woke up I sleep on my back so I woke up literally with my hands and in the air as if I was knitting and I woke up laughing I said what is this so I'm getting ready for work and I just couldn't take that image out of my mind and I was like I'm gonna work I get to work at tell the girls I'm the guy had this crazy and they all start laughing at me look what you're gonna learn how to knit house I may be the so I took it as a sign and I went to Michael that very same day what a book what some needles had no idea when I was buying at the time and what I think it's ten and a half yeah you buy the wrong you know the wrong yarn totally well now I can tell Louis is gonna be a little active I gotta I gotta widen my frame here I can see here a little bit you can move around over here I like it yeah but I totally know that moment at Michaels where you're like I don't know I like this color I like these needles yes uneducated purchases and and it's so funny because I remember there was a woman there and she looked at me she's like honey you look lost I said yeah I am now what's funny is that even at that very moment I felt a little ashamed because I wasn't doing well I was gonna say she meant you look lost like you're in the wrong aisle yeah that's a g-man probably and I just like yeah and I lied and I said yeah I'm looking I'm doing a project for school and I need to do something that I've always thought of and knitting was one of those things it's kind of like a bucket list why do people why do we socially like why do we do that because you know what it doesn't so this there's a stigma attached to crafting and dudes and it's just something that guys don't do it doesn't matter what do you paint yeah it's a socially acceptable maybe yeah but when it comes to things that are traditionally done by women it's kind of frowned upon yeah so I had that in my mind and I was like I don't want to be judged and I don't want people looking at me and pointing fingers and making fun of me and even at that very moment that very first moment in my life of being introduced to knitting but to the yarn and all that and I just realized that I didn't want to be associated with that because of what society has yeah betrayed us to be yeah and what we're supposed to be so even though you did lie you immediately regretted it yeah totally it took about a year later but it was it was at that moment was a coup you know and it's it's it's something that you know was brought upon me because growing up is a boys play with trucks and girls play with dolls and you know boys don't knit yeah girls knit so it's it was something that I growing up I saw you know both personally my in some of my family members and then with friends and it was just something that I knew okay I won't touch that you had a knee-jerk reaction in that story we've all had it yeah it really was when you're presented with something and you have this immediate like social reaction something I can't think of an example right now but I know the feeling you're talking about and I know I've socially lied before just to say face or whatever to say face whatever it is and it happens to all of us usually but now it's okay so you're have yes so maybe that year you learn to knit yes I learned how to knit and I basically taught myself to YouTube I watched tons and tons of YouTube videos on how to knit Mexico from the very beginning on how to cast on and the beautiful part about about YouTube is you hit the pause button and you just start doing those techniques and it took about a year to become an okay knitter and as a years came by I just went by I just got I got better at it and I just this has not been a single day that I have nothing even if it's a couple stitches I'll put it down and do what I got it yeah so it's been a lifestyle since that first day Michael absolutely yes and aren't we glad now that YouTube is a little bit easier to use because 11 years ago I mean now we can sort of go fast forward in it's not exact and I mean 11 years ago YouTube was still so new it was it was probably a little trickier to find those videos and even the quality yes the quality was horrible I guess I remember looking back at one of the videos that I'm going to and oh how did I manage to do this and so but now quality so much for something you know how you search like m1l or you know a number secret language there's a pattern and so whatever it was I searched and what came up with was a woman showing me how to do it blurry with TV in the background and I'm like did she just publish this like for a friend or something it was a circle how bad it was I know I know and it's that's the thing it's just like even though the style of how people are doing videos it's amazing yeah it's just like and I see like I watch your videos and I see how creative you get with these videos and it's just it's awesome not teaching you're just having fun but it's engaging you that's what I love it's like you know you see there's a lot of you know people putting up videos and it's just everyone has to separate us at different angle and I love that you know especially as it enters in this community it's it's pretty awesome to see who's doing what and who's putting out those stories I love it I love it so you touched on gender yes is being from Brooklyn does that make it ultimate gender do you know what I mean yeah I mean you know it's so funny cuz cuz Brooklyn I always tell people Brooklyn has a soul there's a soul to Brooklyn that I I can't really put into words just the feeling that I have about Brooklyn I've tried moving to Queens and I've tried the Bronx and I always come back to Brooklyn and it's just something about here that I love but it is it is a borough where where it's very you know we talk about you know like the guys in Brooklyn and the attitude that they have and tough attitude that they have and like a lot of my friends you know good that's how they grew up they grew up south and they're you know a lot of the guys hang out on the streets and you know and I separated myself from all that because I I knew I was different there was something about me that I said you know I'm not gonna associate myself with that so so growing up I grew up in a couple of rough neighborhood growing up in Brooklyn especially in East New York back in the day I'm not gonna tell you how old I am but it was it was when I was a kid growing up that I wasn't even allowed to go outside and play you know we were so that's that's where my mom came in and started introducing arts and crafts to us as kids it was my mother my mother draws she's an illustrator and my mother you know would sit down we'd watch her pain and watch her draw and she would show us how to draw Mickey Mouse characters and that was groped my growing up so it was like we weren't allowed to go outside and then as I got older and junior high and I started hanging out with guys that weren't doing much that weren't supposed to be doing what they're supposed to be doing and I realized at that moment I was like well I can't be a part of this and I can't associate me something yeah even at that age so how do you just attribute that to being oriented to your mother yeah Marley are you were close with her I was very close with my mom so so I you know she would always and she would talk to us in a way where I was it wasn't like you know you can't do that it was more like look sit down strong a lot yes and she explained everything to me she told me why she felt I shouldn't she never said no so we always like she always left us left us with that decision to make and I love that about my mother and even to this day I'm 43 she's so so you've got 43 it's you know I I still go call my mom and I call a friend face and I'm like mom I need help what should I do and you know she's always there and she's always talking what do you think about this let's paint the picture this way and so I try to parent like that too so I hope it turns out it seems like it might seems like my guys you talk to your children in this in a certain way where you know you're not they don't feel to shrink in and just kind of talk to them on that level yeah respect yeah I think things usually make the right choice I think at least by the end hopefully maybe Iraqis five no nyet sisters brothers yes I have an older sister my name is Lena and then I have my my sister Lissette and then my brother Ricky all four of you were crafting together for the most part for the most part my brother was into his video games it's it was more me and my sister Lissette that um and she's awesome we got to see her apartment like she's just this interior designer and she's always coming up with some awesome stuff so it was always her and I and we always came together and I'm a little close to her more because of that I guess um so when she comes here she's like they live out in 10 cities she comes to you and she's like oh she's like I love your space and let's get crazy and let's start designing yes she starts going crazy yeah now why does your background is your mom from American yeah so my mother my mother's Puerto Rican my father is Italian importer okay so how did that play into the influence of craft in your life did you did it at all so she said your mom was crocheting my grandmother yeah yeah my grandmother crocheted so a lot of that the fiber arts was introduced to me even though I wasn't paying attention to it at the time when I was younger and then my mom was drawing and painting and you know we had me and my sister though just sit there and just start playing with with crayons and paint and you know my mother always had something there first initially she'd come home from work and we have coding books she'd bring his coloring books and crayons and markers and it was just like hair go crazy so we didn't grow up in that era of let's play video games yeah my sister my younger brother on the other hand that was his era and how is that was his thing so you know my mom would tried tearing him away from that but it was like okay I can't force him to do something he doesn't want to do yeah I'll have given his hour here there to play his video games but for us we've always latched on yeah so it was a big part of my life and so because grandma kind of started it with her yes her question and she would make everything from doilies yeah and she'd just be so proud to give me these gifts as I got older they don't think oh it's an orange and purple seat cover and I'm like yeah but yeah she passed away about three about three years ago and so she I work I'm on site there so I would come up to see her and I mention that she was that cyanide in her last days and I remember I need a knitted her blankie uh-huh and when I brought her the blanket she looked at me and she says this is the first time anybody's ever did anything so she imagined this she's been making baby sets all her life because that was her thing it was baby sense and she would give them she would sell them this is her little side gig thing and no one's ever given her anything so I had no idea at the time so when I come on the ground I got a blanket finger and I thought his blanket on her and she starts crying she's like this is the first time anybody's ever made anything for me I've made stuff for people all these years and this is and I so I still have a blanket because after she passed away and why can't I just keep it wrapped up and tucked away but I still have all her Afghans I still have yeah beautiful stuff like it's amazing the woman was just crazy crazy about her it's so interesting when people are makers like that I think people feel intimidated give them something that they know they could already make right right and I'm a friend who's really talented at designing and she is the best person to give something handmade to because she understands what went into it food if it's not her thing and she doesn't love it she's just like I just love it so much and you know so funny you bring up you brought up an interesting point um even before I started knitting I never lights up for granted what she would make and it wasn't until I realized the hours and the dedication and the love that we put into our pieces that I had such a profound respect for it I said oh my god like where are those pieces now and like when I was a kid and had I known at that time I mean I would have saved all that stuff so I I was able to salvage what she gave me as I got older and I have everything and I cherish everything I everything in plastic bags and they're - they're heirlooms and I just said I'm never getting rid of this whenever I go to a thrift store you'll see on my interests of stories I go to the blanket section and I always find my hand knitted or mostly and crocheted items and I just put on an insta story just just to give him one more life because they're all for sale for 399 yeah full blankets and I'll just say someone crocheted this you know just I just feel compelled ya know and it's it's important it's important because you people don't realize even like those that don't knit or crochet they don't they don't understand why you know crafters you know which hard to start a fee for your art pieces right of course so that's always been it's always been this thing like why is this so much and you know and as a well you know there's a price point for everything but but my time it's the time s-pen education and it's right here yeah and um Andy Andy you cannot compare that to anything bought in the store half the stuff that they sell in the store is not to mention any names but they're done by machine yeah I'm not taking away from that but there's there's this beauty that comes with stuff that's handy you just ripped off I tend to they are okay so let's fast forward we got through our first year of knitting with you we got off track you carry on so we the first year you were just learning the basics and sort of finding your voice in this industry like I am a guy minutes I am Brooklyn I am male I am a knitter right Brooklyn witness and not being ashamed of that standing up for that so when did it start becoming a business because you do still work full-time still work full-time so still work full-time in a a day job so this is your sidekick but a side gig that has changed completely jeans so talk about the origins of it and then we'll get to the change so um I want to say year three um I started making pieces now and I started giving them to my co-workers and family and friends and I started posting my work on social media and that's when people started like oh can you send me a picture of this and I realized that it was creating a lot of work and me taking photos and sending them individually to people were emailing them that I said I need a platform where I can just put everything on and like here go that's where Brooklyn when its website came up so and it's the first phase of the website was a lookbook it was just a lookbook for you people to go and see what I what I make and if they're interested then send me a message and we'll I'll make something for you or custom something for you so that was the first phase of it and then as time went on and I realized how much how busier things we're getting I realized that there are seasons to the business so yeah so um my I I've been and this has been going for now for 70 years now where the trend is from September all the way through April I'm busy I'm busy I'm getting orders coming in and this you know custom pieces I'm because it's still cold so here's the funny part so when I when I started making all these pieces I realized like oh my god that's more than six months if I'm not mistaken of knitting and I realized that it's you know well what am I doing this summer does it end so in the summer comes it's like now you're designing for and and creating inventory for the season to come so that's I love the summer simply put not because it's a break form because it's never a break yeah it's more of now I need to start designing yeah and this is my time to start really focusing on design for yeah so it's like you always have to think ahead and even tie even now I I fall behind especially with everything that I'm doing and events and teaching kids how to knit and all that um it's taken that's taking more of my time so the whole design aspect is there and I and I have projects all over the place like that I'm constantly working on before to find different projects I knit I put it down but the business started picking up shortly after I won mine okay so before you went viral though it was you are knitting things to order you're selling them like that's all Brooklyn boy units was that's all of us it was and it was I was focusing on my hats I mean I'm known for my hats and I started designing towels and then I started doing more chunky of things so that's that was my thing at the time where I was like I'm making these big bulky Cowell's and these big hats and people were loving my pieces because of that Ike oh my god this is so cool it's so big so out there and the colors that you're using love so I started it started picking up speed and I realize like oh my god what's gonna so my friends would joke with me they're really what's gonna happen when one day you have all these orders coming in my dad's not gonna happen because you know what Kristi I never looked at this as oh I want this Empire that's not what this is about and even to this day like I'm not to say that I'm gonna you know should it ever turn into something bigger than what I am by all means yes but it's not what I'm looking ahead my goal is completely different so it's for me it's all about our agents all about community it's all about giving back and my grandma yeah absolutely and for me that's more important that's to me that's what the Brooklyn boy needs brain is it's not so much yeah it is about knitting obviously but it's about it's about bringing this craft into the community and really getting people involved and just giving back and that's what I try to do I try to get the community involved I get all nine knitters involved and every time I have projects I'm always throwing it out there anybody who wants to come and volunteer let's do this yeah so I'm always yeah and and it's and it's working because it's bringing a community together and it's making people realize like hey we all have something in common you know and it's to do something good do something good and and be able to give back so for me that's more important and that's that that is what I want the bread to be I want it to be about community focused projects about giving back and so when you were keeping up with these orders for those six months you were probably knitting on the train a lot all the time that's when you did it yes you have a bit of a commute to work awesome yeah so my my commute is about an hour and 15 minutes to and from so and then I I get home quick bite to eat and it's back to midnight sometimes I get to like tweet so I'll be knitting to 2:00 in the morning and then I really oh it's two o'clock I need to go to bed yeah but I get so wrapped up into my work that so it's it's something that that I love it's not something never felt like work yeah it never feels like work and I get that question all the time people ask me does it ever feel like your work like it's work you know with everything that's going on but no even when I mean I'm doing these outreach programs with the kids and never feeling like I might get stressed out here and there yeah but it's not even because it's it's it's the actual middle part of it it's because there's so much going on and I have I have my hands in so many different areas that I need to learn how to organize that better so yes absolutely okay so you're on the train every ready for the morrow breaks are we there yes we are you've been doing this for seven eight years now nine yep so I up until the point ten years so about your tenure in averse yes yes you're on the train I'm on the train what are you wearing so I'm wearing army green sweats I'm wearing a baseball cap I littered so I just came out the gym so I had a tank top on it oh I wasn't asking when you work out Louis works out yes it's it's hard trying to find the time in balance no I want to ask me that and I'm like I should try when you're just running on the treadmill and then II I'm gonna do it okay so I I come out the gym and you know when I get on the train first thing I do is I look for them to see I sit down I put my bag down and I open that bag up right away I'm like I always need something I'm not gonna do and so this particular night come on the train I sit down and right in front of me this Frenchie Davis did you know this no I had no idea she was in fritz sitting in front of me I don't look at people when I'm on the train because I'm too focused on what I'm doing and my project so this particular day she's sitting in front of me it had no idea now we all know Frenchie Davis was an American I know the boys she was on Broadway and had I seen her I would have been like oh my god do you think you would organize although I know the name and I know yes so she she's sitting in front of me I put on the project that I'm knitting it wasn't until the next morning my friend Jason hood sends me a text message I'm at work he's a dude you're all over Facebook what the hell's going on I'm like what are you talking about and he's like he's a care he sends me a screenshot of Frenchie's post of me knitting on the train and the caption read this brother here is my hero of the day and I said so I'm not even realizing who it was that something who took my picture this is creepy I'm like I'm like on day that was last night I'm telling he's like no silly look at who posted it and when I looked at his friend she Davis oh my god this is insane I was like she was sitting if I had no idea and I immediately jumped on her Facebook page and I wrote a message to her on that post of me and I said hey Frenchie my name is Luis boria that's me in the picture oh my god it's just made my day and she wrote back to me she DM to me and she says here's my number so we are going back and forth text messaging each other and she's she's asking me about Who I am and Mike do I have a business I'm like yeah my name is Luis also known as Brooklyn boy Nick because that's my that's my company name and I have a website so she calls ten minutes later back onto Facebook and she writes the second post and she tells all her followers so that guy that I took a picture of us a name is Luis boria he has a business called Brooklyn boy Nets this is his website go following that's when things just exploded and it just I started getting tons and tons of her followers following me and messaging me and orders are coming in and I'm like oh my god what's going on she offered you yes and I she started over me and I'm going crazy because I'm like where do I begin laughs I wasn't prepared for this yeah anyway well it gets even crazier right now so so then a week later so now I'm dealing with all these orders and I'm saying okay well luckily have these these orders I can knit up like within hours and I can do this really quickly and knock them out um there were other pieces that I was like okay so I had to put a little disclaimer saying hey guys is gonna take three to four weeks yeah at least yeah give me some time so people are really cool about that now a week later um I get a message from the Daily News and the Daily News two messages me and tells me I don't know why this story keeps popping up on my feeds and this was from a reporter Christina and she's like but I need to find out more about the story about you and Frenchy Davis and this picture that keeps going viral Faceman so we set up an interview date and do the interview take photos um we must spend two and a half hours just doing the interview in my home at the time and she tells me that same night she says right before she leaves she's like by the way she said get ready what do you mean she's like because your life is about to change and I was like what do you mean it is she like no no no no you don't understand she's like when we released this article she's like it's gonna hit it's gonna bake people are gonna gravitate to your story and I said I don't understand this so um they were supposed to release the article on a Friday so come Thursday night she says I can watch I can go online I can see the articles I'm online there's a no I don't see the articles right unless you show me hey Christina where's this article when she's like oh I have something to tell you she's like the editor loved the story so much that he didn't want to put it in the Friday edition he wanted to put it in the Sunday edition to get more viewers and said hello readers and it was in color and I was like this is crazy I was like so they ran the article on and all the editions of the Sunday paper and from after the next day I get calls from New York one windows 12 I got a call from the Detroit News I'm not only in Detroit I'm like this is crazy so like all these news outlets started reaching out to me Telemundo and you knew this you long and like from the Spanish people in the Spanish side all wanting to interview me and I'm like this is crazy so at that very moment I realized I have a unique opportunity to take this and do something good you didn't know that was your first time is my first there's the thing Christie you're so good so I at that moment I realized I said I just got the opportunity to get on a platform yeah you didn't really do something good I think this is your moment and my first thing was gender breaking down that jump oh of course good and that was my focus so when when these people started coming to me and I made sure that I put that message out there to not be afraid not be afraid whether it's a guy it doesn't matter whether you're a female in you you know I talk about this all the time a female who's an electrician or a construction worker it's okay if that's what you love to do then by all means go do it and do it well and I do the night and I practice this message all the time and they spread this message and that's how I started doing I started taking that opportunity and letting people know what this was really about and where I'm coming from not just a bunny sitting on a subway knitting it's it's more than that it's it's about showing people that it's okay for guys to do this it's okay to do makeup if you're a guy it's okay to do here it's okay to play with dolls if you want to play with dolls who cares at the end of the day society puts us in a box and says you're supposed to do this and you're supposed to do that you're not supposed to do this I think it's so so fascinating that that was your initial thought I mean it speaks so much to your character who you are and that photo if you only see the photo you don't meet you you you assume so much about that person I mean the Knitting helps to assume something different like if you didn't have the knitting in your hands like what would you been like your phone on one of your phone and we took a picture of you what would we have said about that person like just societal norms stereotypes right like what would we have said about that person compared to the person holding the knitting no idea and it gets that was the pin and that's why that photo it's still circulating and it's and I laugh because I look at that photo and if you look at my face I'm so engrossed in what I'm doing you have that cause it's just like how did that knitter concentration business like right and you know I it spoke it spoke to a lot of people and it started circulating and people started messaging me from around the world around the world and I was getting messages from men just saying Wow your story is inspiring and it wasn't until I did the interview with CBS that and I mean I did I I was doing these interviews with you know the Daily News and and and and New York one and I went on the morning show in New York one at one point and you know and even at that moment I was still trying to figure out all of this and when CBS reached out to me and they said we want to do a special and it's called snapshot New York and they focus on artists here in New York that are doing something good for the community so when they reached out to me I said this is going to this is gonna be the the interview that is is really gonna focus on what this is about and Steve Overmyer who does sports for CBS he was the guy that interviewed oh cool it's very cool I was like that's right right so when we knew him are you into sports I'm really into sports so I know I know of him and I watched the news all the time so I always see him yeah so when I when he called me he's like hey this is steve-o and I'm like oh hi Steve I'm like this is awesome but he was such a great guy and the interview I iced I was very specific and I said here's what I wanted I said I had an agenda and he looked at me and he says I love it let's go so interesting enough the the interview was all focused on breaking down the gender walls and just the love of the crowd isn't it and what it meant to me and what it means to so many of us you know and I talked about that in that interview and he just reached out to me two weeks ago they're gonna rerun the story again so right before the holidays I got a call and it's gonna be in a couple of weeks they're gonna do a special on the top three stories that he ran throughout the entire season so they're gonna highlight my story and then do an update so it's really interesting and I'm really excited about that because you know he's like what's what have you been doing ever since we've been since the interview and I told him I was like just give him back to the kids and you know I spoke at collegiate yeah that was a huge thing for me Wow collegiate was really big and it's an all-boys school it's so prestigious it's not almost I think it's like the number two in the in the nation it was the first all-boys school in the u.s. so when they reached out to me it was like this this is he yeah this is huge and it was a true blessing for me because I got to speak to him there was like 200 boys the junior high school I spoke tonight and I spoke to them about my story and like after I gave my speech I open the floor up to these kids and the questions that came out of these kids it was like they were so they were so focused on what I was saying to them and questions like what do you do when when you're confronted with someone that mocks you you know that tells you oh you shouldn't be doing that because that's for girls you know and I I got emotional at that moment because I realized wow these these boys really they're at a delicate age where they're still trying to figure out who they are so you have to be careful with what you say and what you put out there so at anytime I'm speaking to a crowd I constantly think of if that was me in that crowd how would I speak to me at that age and that's that's that's my focus so I when I delivered that and just answering their questions and the questions that was coming out and like you know what do you do when you get frustrated and you know like do you just give up cuz you know a lot of us feel like we you know we wouldn't be able to pick this up and I said you have to have one you know if you want to do something you could do anything I want as you teach yourself on YouTube out a name is anything you could do anything on music have you been locked I have that was um there was an incident one incident in my knitting journey where and this was maybe four years into the into it when I started knitting um I'm on the train one day and these two young guys come in like 17 18 years old they come in I'm knitting off to my side is a gentleman an older african-american sitting next to me and then I have these two guys sitting in front of me and they're staring at me I didn't look at them at the time because I'm knitting and I listen I hear and giggling so and actually gotta get up to see what people are laughing at and they're looking right at me so the guy that's sitting next to music what's so funny like he start sticking up for me and he's like what's so funny you see a guy knitting and you think it's it's it's it's funny and so he turns to me he's like he's like he's like let me ask you something he's like he's like you said you look like you know what you're doing he's like he's like do you make a living off of that I'm like yeah so he turns to the boys and he says when you can do what he does and make money off of it then you have the right then maybe you can laugh the guy's count up when they walk to the other side they show you yeah but that was the only that was the only time that I've you know most most of it was me yeah growing you know growing into this craft I had to stick em up yeah is your thought and it wasn't people were looking at me because they were intrigued so now I get men women kids coming up to me on trains and the like oh my god that's so cool he making and and I tell them and I starts a conversation and I've got some amazing people on the train because of my baby I'm struck by your inherent PR skills like you have taken every opportunity that's come your way and understood that you needed to be specific that you needed a point of view that it was a platform where does that come from um so I don't think the everyday Joe has that skill I mean just from the little I've been I've had job I had a job where I worked on ABC News one so that was probably my most high-profile job it was short-lived but they were going to give me media training and even as someone on blueprint Embassy's blueprint now they give me media training so it's the average person doesn't know you know what to say what not to say what you know what in you have on this particular opportunity so how does that come so naturally to you or did you learn it somewhere so it's a really good question thank you Thank You Luis okay I have to tell you that no one ever asked me that before and I'm glad you asked me that so here's the thing when you have a passion because I think that's something we have a comment yeah no and and it's in and I couldn't relate to them because I see how you deliver your interviews and how natural you are um from me it's about it's it's two things having a purpose and having a passion behind that the two have to come together and they have to marry each other otherwise it's not it's not gonna work you know yeah you can love knitting but how passionate are you about that knitting and where's the message behind them are you doing it for a purpose or you just knitted and it's okay if you just knit I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it that we all love to knit but I was able to find a meaning behind what I do and being able to give that to somebody else and that's I think that's what's so important is that you know taking your craft and doing something with it and I stress that all the time and tell people like it's great that you're you're you're designing and you but what what are you doing with that what are you really doing with that and you know as a person in their 30s who came to this craft what did you do before that what were you passionately you know actually I wasn't I was just going to work and I was coming home and I was I was I was trying to find that and I'm glad to bring in this oh yeah I was really trying to find find what I was good at and for years I you know I doubled and dabbled in acting I did a little bit of acne before and I had fun with that but it wasn't with something I was passionate about I was up there and I was doing it because I felt at that time that this my thing and so I had my hands in so many different things throughout my life but it wasn't until I found it in that I said ah this is it yes and it just it's like when you find that one right when you find that one it's like this is it this is it for me and I until this day I never looked back I never said no yes 11 years now and it's just did your joy chipped did your did your amount of joy or your peace of mind shift from before God you just put a good question about this yes so I'm listening what you're saying yeah so you know i when my story went viral I started getting stories and people started sharing their stories with me there was a there was a woman from Australia and I every time I talk about this I get I get goosebumps and I I love this story so much there was a woman in Australia who had lost her father and she wrote to me and she tells me I lost my father about two years ago and I've been struggling with the loss of my father and she's like he was an avid knitter he would make these beautiful sweaters she took jumpers these beautiful jumpers and beautiful hats and she's like and I've been so sold to down and out for the past two years because I was very close to my father she says when I read your story on social media she's like for the first time it made me happy she's there's so much that now I want to learn how to she said yes she thanked me and I just said to myself Wow yeah it's stories like yeah your impact really really strike supported me and then I said I can't stop I don't want to if this is gonna help people through whatever they're going through by all means I've had men who have with married men email me say you know what you're making Nitin go you know I see you on this train and you're in sweats and you're knitting and you don't care you don't care who's around you you have this look like you're so focused and I commend you and I want to learn how to knit I have women telling me you know FEMEN that are just saying look what I'm doing for the community is awesome and you know at the end of the day it's I'm not looking for the place I'm just looking for my next outlet and and I'm I'm thanking people along my journey and just saying you know what thank you how about you help me get you involved and you know people are just like you know I get people that like oh my god you followed me on socially I'm like why wouldn't I why drama everybody poops yeah so I knew when I get those you know people create stories and like look who follow you Circle Brooklyn magnet I'm like no no no and I don't want as much as as flattered as I am about that I just want people to understand I'm just like you you know and you know people ask me all the time like Lois like you know how do you keep up and I'm like it takes time but I try to get back to everybody as much yeah it is hard it's very much more it grows the harder it is so we're sorry yes I apologize to everybody I haven't messaged you back I promise I will get to you yeah it's just really hard I but I try to I try to get back to and follow as many people there's so much that he gets lost but I just I love how the community has especially our fiber arts company has come together and they've embraced me they've embraced me and I'm so thankful for that and I'm so blessed and I met some amazing people I was in this bubble before all this I wasn't going to any men's in any groups I wasn't going I wasn't involved in any Ravelry or anything like that until this happened and I'm like what was I loved these years what why was i living under a rock and I felt like there was and I didn't realize how beautiful this community is how helping and how loving they're willing to be and I'm just like this is amazing that's another interesting aspect of your story is that even though you found knitting on YouTube and and learn to knit that way this other social media aspect of it didn't really come into play except for you know that you were selling your items through social media but it's like it was only about the Commerce and not about the community right and so that's seem to be a big shift also thanks to French cheese yes thank you friend she's right absolutely and that's what I said that's what yeah and that's why when I talked about that I thought I was given that opportunity to jump on this platform this is it this is your time to really do something good and and be heard so I you know I was able to give a voice to our community especially for men to say it's okay it's okay stop hiding your projects on your bag on the train on the on on the bus that's what I was doing stop hiding your projects and don't be ashamed of what you're doing just come out and show everybody what you're doing I think another reason people are drawn to you so it's not just about the juxtaposition of the knitting and your particular look that day I mean you still look like that right now but that's something about that hoodie just made it extra and I think it's because you are so authentic and that is what people want no matter what they're into you know knitting or otherwise and I remember when I learned that lesson it's pretty early on maybe 13 14 I just spent so many years trying to be like everybody else and be cool or be accepted and even as an actor I I didn't want to take a risk on stage because I didn't want to be judged but then I somehow learned that taking the risks makes everyone so so excited yes whoa because she's brave enough to do that and I'm not and I'm gonna just watch her do that and see what happens next and and and then I took that skill and applied it to life and relationships and and I feel like you really discovered that that year after that Michaels seen like why am i trying to be like everyone else why don't I just take that risk and see what happens it's really paid off for you thank you yes and and you're right and it was I was scared I was scared when I did have to make that decision but I said I'm not gonna I'm not gonna keep myself in that box anymore it's not it's not and I just realized that there was this anxiety I'm like why am I feeling so nervous about this like this something wrong with this picture anyways me yeah yeah yeah yes and about anybody else nobody else was pointing the fingers it was pointing that I was putting the finger at myself so what happened after all these interviews and things talk about some of it because so I'm looking around your craft room and I feel as if you've been given some items yes so let's talk about this so hard yes so I I partnered one of my biggest partnerships is with Lion Brand so Lion Brand I'm one of the brand and I'm one of the brand ambassadors for Lion Brand uhm they started a campaign as you all know had not he no for the anti-bullying campaign and they signed me up for this campaign and had not hate us and it's it's it's bringing awareness to bullying especially in the schools so when they reached out to me and they said Lewis I have this idea you know sure a blue Nathon reached out to me says we I want to do this thing where we make hats and we just give them to a school and have our community make these hats and I said you know what I'm all about community and happy yes hats so we decided to make blue the official color represents solidarity and and just focus on making plans so we started I started promoting this thing and then I had the opportunity to go to making festival up in Woodstock a few months ago and really talk to the communities out there about this and it was it was awesome it was awesome we had a great turnout got to share you know the project to people and we had a goal of fifteen hundred hats and so this is anyone in there anybody who crochets minute but we were having all these hats sentence to the lion brands in the video and the goal was fifteen hundred we had over three thousand hats and the hats are still coming into the day so not only were they was lying weren't able to outfit one school but they were able to talk to two schools Wow so you know thank you to everybody out there who who made those hats and then and set them into Lion Brand we we're still getting back to everybody and we're we're thanking everybody for what you know what they did they made a goal we had to go and you guys surpassed that so thank you thank you so much it was it was probably the best project I've ever worked on and you've also partnered with them for elementary respect yes in our name entry yeah let's talk about your end of entry so you're on a ministry so PS 145 was the school that reached out to me dr. Natale Russo who's the principal at the school saw a post that I was looking for a space to teach classes there the easy Anisa there on the west side 100 and around 115 Amsterdam Columbus um so she reached out to me through social media says I know you're looking for a space to teach your kid you're your students how to knit why don't we do this why don't you come into my school and teach my students how to knit and I'll offer you a space at my school on the weekends wow this is perfect so I said great so we set up a meeting come to find out she wants to teach 250 kids out of it easy so I'm like okay so now I have to find knitters and be sure to teach yeah that's a teach so that's what I had reached up slime Brad and say hey we need a sponsor we need yarn we have knitting needles and Lion Brand didn't even think twice about it they said yes we're on this so that's when I had to reach out to social media and get my knitter instructors involved and the amount of instructors that we had I mean you know you were there amazing it was everybody and everyone was there so that you know thankfully you know at that even at that time I didn't know half these people that yeah volunteer their time to lend the hand and teach these kids how to knit and now I've gotten to know each and every one of these people individually on a more personal level and you guys are my friends and and it's just an amazing turnout the way everything happens we got to teach these kids not everybody picked it up right away as you as you know but these kids will come out with swatches and that's all that was my goal come on with a little pieces they called the bookmarks yes but respond and what about clock coming so yes so I've been working with knit at night I work with Josh Bennett and Bernie Mac's they've invited me a few times it's a club coming to do you know co-hosts with their shows and it's been a lot of fun it's been a lot of fun and it's a great opportunity to get up there and get more volunteers so there's a project that I'm currently working on yeah so everybody knows a latrine oh so yes yes Alex creates um him and I are partnering up with PS 145 so behind the school there's a huge construction site happening it's an eyesore but there's this gate that separates the school from the construction site and behind this gay is this green part that's drop in the back there's 22 sections and the principal wants to yarn bomb the game so hi Brent jumped in again and they're donating all the yarn for this project I'm currently looking for volunteers so didn't get me looking for them in March yeah so it's a whole year project oh that's that it's yeah so the installation is gonna be year-round that we're gonna be working on this project and the good news is I'm getting New York one involved and getting the Daily News involved and we're gonna give it press and we're gonna give it the attention that it means and this is gonna be an outdoor gallery from the school so each section and then yeah yes and we'd love to have you come and all of us so it's gonna be great I'm really excited cuz so the gate has 21 sections there's 22 classes in the school so each class gets a square and each square will be a different animal so it's gonna be really cool yes Alex went in last week and he already started spray-painting the back tarp as a template for the students and then the adults will come up and we're gonna run a crocheted and knitted rainbow on the top connecting all the panels okay so I'm really excited about this so that's the that's the next big big thing so I'm just having everybody email me Brooklyn brunettes at gmail.com that's my that's my I'm sorry Brooklyn point it's at gmail.com yeah okay I will yes yes so I'm looking for volunteers and we already have all the materials we just need the time we're gonna be look doing this on a Saturday Sunday I'll get more details as and another way to keep abreast of that is what Instagram yes it's a grand minor yeah I'm on I'm on Instagram is Brooklyn witness and Facebook also I do have a newsletter come soon I'm working on a newsletter and the website's gonna be rude so brooklyn-born its website will be revamped and I'm working on getting some some cool stuff I do have some stuff coming by the way that's true as us today but we're taping this it's not out when you're seeing it it is it out what you want to say yeah so I have any nav opinion that I'm dropping I'm super excited in the pen game yes so Lady Anne reached out I reached out to Lady Anne yes choose to you and I said hey I wanted to spin people have been asking me you should do a pin you should do a pin I'm like leave your so the collaboration is so with the cooperation of Lady Anne and a good friend of mine by the name of Moses Roberto he's a graphic designer I and they came up with the most amazing but I love it and I started your picture okay um I will be releasing that today on as a pre-order on my website so when he says today or in November yeah sorry yes but they're out no they're out now hopefully you can get one yeah yeah and and I'm hoping it's gonna do well I'll give up so I'm really excited about that I also have my own colorway by the way to have a gift for you yay hold on wait is this a transitional statement I'm sorry thank you so I have a gift for you so I'll let you open up the good and then I'll explain wait wait wait there's more than wait first of all you asked me my t-shirt size if I totally forgot that [Music] Louis's Louis's no bully blues exclusive color we know Blu's who did this for you so let me talk about so his name is Barry VanDerveer Barry bat Vander is from Canada and he has a company called Knitting wolf luxury yarns and he hand eyes on beautiful stuff and he reached out to me on social media and says Lewis I love what you're doing with this anti-bullying campaign I want to do something let me create a color way for you and in a blue here's a cat she's like I only have one thing that I'm asking for is that you take the yarn make a hat and donate all the proceeds to the organization that you represent so I was like done and when I got the package of the yarn he just sent me so much beautiful yarn and I said Barry I want this on a website yeah so now it's available on my website and a worsted weight and fingering weight and this is where Sid right that's it yes yes I had to give you my exclusive colorway and so people can buy all of this on your website yes they can buy it on my website I have the t-shirts up I have the yarn and like I said in worsted weight and fingering we are affect yes yeah I love it now and I had to as you know there's so many different weights and fiber content I was like oh my god what choice am I going to choose yeah I I love worsted that's my go-to yeah and fingering because there's a lot of people other than love for green man so I was really specific as to which one is I wanted and some really interesting I'll be working with two other indie dyers on my website I'm not gonna mention that just yet but we are working on two other indie dieters that I want to fit you because one of the things that I love to do is support other artists and I wish I could I could do that with every product on my website but um I focused on three indeed iers knitting wolf luxury being one of them and the other two I will mention secret but they both the other two will also be creating an exclusive colorway that can only be bought on my website so I'm really excited about that so we got the pin we got the yarn t-shirts up there my my designs are up there obviously um you still hand anything and I'm still handing out knitting every day I'm gonna probably way to work I'm gonna way back to work during my lunch hour at work and when I get home so I'm knitting constantly and people like where do you find the time I make the time yeah you make the time so yeah so I'm I'm really excited about that and I can't wait I can't wait I know that I have a lot of things coming up yeah how this this month so November marks my one-year anniversary since I that's a charity from the viral photo so I'm really excited about that and it's you know I'm having somewhat of a celebration about that and you'll be seeing a post coming up in November wine Jack's we're in the future and I'll be putting up some posts about that and and it's been a great year it's been an awesome year for me I you know I've had the unique opportunity a to get on a platform and really express myself and to really put out a positive message out there and to really get our community involved but more so the community that that embraced me and the friends that I've made and you know it couldn't have come at a more perfect tongue about it really couldn't because you know we all get so engulfed in life sometimes and we take for granted opportunities sometimes but when this opportunity came I realized that I had to do something something that that was gonna resonate in people's hearts and souls and yeah and I'm so glad well even meeting you and when you came out to to yharnam entry to just offer your help you know I I was just it was such a crazy day and I I didn't even have the time to really sit with you and talk to you the way I wanted to but this is our time yeah and I want to thank you I want to thank you for what you're doing for the community as well because you know we have to recognize that even at the most artists and then say hey good job good job what you're doing yes and and you know what you and and thank that person sometime that Simon say you know what we need more people like you know so so I want to thank you for what you do for our community and and giving this opportunity just to share thank you thank you and by the way lewis's wearing sheep earrings yeah oh my god yes oh no I have a mine Julie laughs awesome she reached out to me also she's like Louis yeah I noticed that you're wearing black earrings and your photos we got to get you one of my and I love them so I swapped out my old studs for these bad boys and I'm working with her as well so like it's just you know being able to work with these amazing people is just so awesome well we loved having you and comment below I know you're gonna get flooded with all the love done during this little screen because that's how my people are in my community and they Serena man thank you so much for having me and look forward to hearing from all of you guys thank you so much and let's do it again yes [Music]

Channel: kristyglassknits

Views: 11,718

Keywords: fiber arts, knitting with kristy glass, kristyglassknits, beginning knitting, knitting lessons, knitting, purling, yarn, knitting 101, how to knit, how to purl, learn to knit

Id: MqKvTvo_Ng4

Length: 60min 4sec (3604 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 11 2019