Margo is joined by Louie, better known as Louie's Loops, a self-taught crochet artist, designer, game creator, and founder of Club Crochet. For nearly 20 years, Louie has been turning his love of crochet into an ever-expanding creative world of amigurumi, tutorials, games, characters, and stories—all rooted in curiosity, play, and community.

Margo and Louie discuss:

• Following curiosity and asking "what if?" as a creative practice.

• Turning a self-taught crochet hobby into a career and creative business.

• Challenging the idea of crochet as simply a "craft" rather than an art form.

• Using play and experimentation to stay inspired and avoid burnout.

• Building community through tutorials, storytelling, and shared creativity.

• Expanding ideas beyond one medium into games, characters, animation, and more.

• Creativity and handmade art in an increasingly digital and AI-driven world.

• Bringing 20 years of ideas together through Crochet Goomis and Battle Goomis.

Connect with Louie:

www.TheGoomis.com

www.ClubCrochet.com

www.instagram.com/LouiesLoops

I'm bringing you a preview of the new series of Death of An Artist. In February 2024, celebrated children's book author and illustrator Petra Mathers and her husband, photographer Michael Mathers, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Petra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they choose to die together? And what did that decision do to the people left to mourn them? Journalists Leon Neyfakh and Alice Gregory set out to interview everyone who got one of Petra and Michael's letters—as one married couple trying to understand another. Through intimate conversations with Petra and Michael's friends and family about their own relationships to aging, grief, death, and the friends they thought they knew, Death of an Artist weaves together a portrait of a community grappling with the Mathers' deaths and the final words they left behind. Done entirely in recordings, Death of an Artist is as much a love story as one about death. Listen to Death of An Artist wherever you get podcasts. And if you want to hear the full story right now, ad-free, you can binge the entire season with a Pushkin+ subscription—sign up on the Death of an Artist show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.

Margo sits down with Daniel Boettcher, founder of The Intrepid Wendell, to explore the intersection of storytelling, craftsmanship, and legacy—and how the most meaningful creative paths are rarely the most straightforward ones. Daniel's journey has taken him through music, law, aspirations of diplomacy, and ultimately, bespoke jewelry design. After a life-changing experience shifted the trajectory of his career, he found his way toward work that allowed him to combine creativity with something he has always been drawn to: people and their stories.

• Daniel's unexpected journey from music and law to diplomacy aspirations and, ultimately, bespoke jewelry design.
• How a life-changing experience redirected his career.
• Why deep listening and personal connection are at the heart of Daniel's design process.
• The stories behind a few deeply personal pieces.
• The idea of an "instant heirloom" and how jewelry can carry family history, memory, love, and meaning across generations.
• Daniel's move from Washington, D.C. to Puerto Rico and how the community and culture of Old San Juan have influenced his creativity.
• What happens when a client feels truly seen and understood by the person creating for them.
• The charming story behind The Intrepid Wendell

Connect with Daniel:
www.theintrepidwendell.com
www.instagram.com/theintrepidwendell