The Old Knitting Factory

01/06/2026

Friday Tea is a tradition I wrote about a lot in Ring of Salt: a ritual from my college days where we would gather for tea and share the best and worst parts of our week. Our online alum spaces have continued this tradition through a couple different “Tea in the Cloud” groups over the years. Now, I’d like to start sharing my Friday Tea with you, and I’d love for you to take a quiet moment with your own cup of something nice and tell me about your week in the comments too, if you’d like.

Tea: coffee

Best: my friend .b.hill is here to paint a mural at the knitting factory — she is a professional muralist and her work is amazing. She’s also done other incredible things since she arrived last week like:

1. roast a chicken while I took my kid to play therapy and then

2. feed it to him and read him books while I do a two-hour copyediting meeting for my next book (I will be able to reveal all so soon but there's a hint linked in the post) and

3. put on fresh bedsheets with me (one of the most annoying tasks to do alone)

It has been a dream. It actually was a dream of mine pretty much since I bought the knitting factory to ask Amanda to come do a mural here someday, and then last year she wrote to me out of the blue asking if she could come paint one here. Well, sold.

Read the rest of the post and share your Friday Tea here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-198806271

01/06/2026

It is always such a pleasure getting to speak with Martina Curtin at ! We talked about the knitting factory, Ring of Salt, and the beautiful mural that Boston-based artist .b.hill is creating at the knitting factory right now. Podcast episode coming soon!

31/05/2026

Single parents: today is the last day to apply for a funded residency and cash childcare stipend! There are so many single parents who apply each year, and I really wish I could say yes to all of them. You can help TOKF say yes to way more single parents with a small monthly or annual subscription - details are on our website. 🧶

27/05/2026

.b.hill has been doing just stunning work. (And she got the lift going again!!)

23/05/2026

The most important sign in the village

22/05/2026

Since 2020, I’ve been building this space from the ground up, while single-parenting my own child and working multiple other jobs. I really want to be able to support as many of my fellow single parents as possible — that’s brought home to me many times a day when applications are open, as they are now. Every single parent deserves rest and support. Can you help me give it to them?

Ways to support the knitting factory:
Subscribe from €5 per month and get stickers and lots of other fun perks
Apply for a paid residency (any artist, not just single parents, can apply!) or book accommodation with us
Read my book about the project, Ring of Salt: A Memoir of Finding Home and Hope on the Wild Coast of Ireland (or listen to me read the audiobook!)
Tell other people about the project: share our posts or make your own. I founded The Old Knitting Factory to be the kind of space and support I wished I had access to as a single parent artist, and I’d love to see spaces like this all over the world!

18/05/2026

"The book reads like a long, lyrical poem: part survival narrative, part love letter to Ireland, part reckoning with the ways emotional abuse distorts a woman’s sense of self. It is a story of leaving, of coming home to one’s own body, and of discovering that single motherhood, though terrifying, can also be expansive and sacred. Betsy writes with a steadiness that tells the truth without flinching, and a tenderness that reminds every survivor to inhale, to rest, to trust that life can love you again.

What emerges from our conversation is a portrait of a woman who has turned pain into offering. Betsy talks about the fear of publishing her own wounds, the responsibility of writing for other survivors, and the hope she pours into the residency space she is building for single mothers in Ireland. Ring of Salt matters because it names what so many live but cannot articulate. It matters because it says: you are not imagining it, you are not weak, and you are not alone. And for anyone standing at the edge of a life transition—unsure, afraid, half-dreaming of something freer—this is the book you reach for in the middle of the night."

There are books that feel like confession and books that feel like prayer—and then there are books like Ring of Salt (https://amzn.to/3XH8QpG) , which feel l...

16/05/2026

Well I recorded the video and then realised my hair looks crazy, I’m squinting, and I fumbled some of the things I was trying to say BUT I think it was a better decision to go play with my kid than to re-record? Anyway thank you so much for your help in providing more fully funded residencies for single parents at the knitting factory!

16/05/2026

My friend and amazing muralist .b.hill is here to donate a mural to the knitting factory (it’s a beautiful design with a mother and child, wild strawberries, and the Irish language) but the lift she rented has stopped working due to the path around the house being a tiny bit unlevel. Do you know someone we could rent scaffolding from as soon as possible? Thank you for your help!

15/05/2026

https://substack.com/home/post/p-197815762

This is the first thing my kid has ever asked me to write. He knows I write for a living, and he loves reading, but he’s not old enough to read my books yet and in fact he’s never asked to — which is fine with me!

But a month ago he saw something that upset him so much he’s been talking about it every day since, and he asked me to write about it. Honestly, it upset me too. So here I am.

What is this scourge that moved my child to tell me how to do my job?

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Link in comments!