...the fishermen's blues of Magasin Duett, that is!
The new collection under that name by the quality oriented Swedish yarn company is out as by today - and I had the luck and honour to be asked to participate with a garment pattern.

You can check out the whole gorgeous collection in the complete video at this link.
(The perfect aesthetics of these images are effortlessly transporting us to a tiny, picturesque Swedish fishermen's village - it is all made possible by Jesper Orrbeck's filmmaking with the special soundtrack by Thomas Hagby)
​
I am truly very happy to have been part of this wonderful collaboration.
​Thank you so much, Petra!

Find more info about the pattern itself on the site's La GeKka shop page or directly on ravelry.
​And take a look at the complete Fishermen's Blues collection at this link.

The last couple of months have been quite busy here and I thought that an update on what is happening on the La Maison Rililie front is overdue!

First things first: You might have noticed that my new cardigan pattern (Diane) has been published a fortnight ago!
​If you want to take a closer look, here is the link to my own pattern page on the site + to the ravelry pattern page. There is also a KAL happening on my group, for anybody that is in the mood to work this cardigan together with others in a fun and cozy knit-along.

But... In the above picture you might also have noticed the new hat that is in the works... Mitsouko shall be in test phase soon and... she is not as tame as one might think!
There is more to her than meets the eye....
(and yes, this lady definitely likes some mystery!)

Not only that, but Rachel from YarnLoop is having aBlack Friday giveaway for all NoShowSock-Kits (don't miss the chance to win this giveaway until the 27th of November 2017! Just click on the link above.)
And if you missed this opportunity, don't worry... she is providing everybody for the duration of the next 6 months with a generous kit discount coupon code: 
Simply write MAISONCOUTURE15 for 15% off the NoShowSock-Kits at check out when shopping at Yarn Loop.

Oh! I also had the honour to be featured in Rachel's Designer-Spotlight interview, where I talk a bit about my work and myself.
Thank you so much, Rachel for the article!

Let's see, what else? There is a new shawl in the works as also a sock... and some workshop preparations!
And I have to publish so many blog posts that are still in Draft modus - Tutorials, tips and tricks mostly, but also other stuff... it shall all unfold in the upcoming weeks, if all goes well!

The year will end and start with lots of inspiration and creativity - at least this is what we hope!
...here in the La Maison Rililie headquarters!

There is a new bug in town and it's a fun little cardigan with lots of special details!

I have been working on this design since last fall and I am so happy that finally I can share it here with you. There was a lot of thought put into the whole coordination of all the different aspects, and if you like I can tell you some things about them:
We have a prominent textured bottom half that features a fairly easy stitch pattern to give an effect that is reminiscent of old brocade, which I absolutely love. 
Then there are the folds of course - two smaller ones at the front and one that draws all the attention at the back side. These are held in place without distortion by a contrast coloured slip-stitch band right above them and they are responsible for the quirky shape, since they drape at all the right places and counterbalance the fitted top section with instant ample volume.

It was the shape of the lower part of the body that made me think of colourful scaraboid wings and surprisingly I found that they looked good on human bodies, too!
Of course there were some knitters that were a little afraid that it might not look as good on their larger sized projects, but since I like to take these differences in body shapes in account for the larger sizes (as far as this is possible in standard sizing and pattern writing), I was able to reassure most of them. We discussed that a darker colour at the bottom part (or a single colour at both top and bottom sections) can result in a slimmer looking version. Further the length of the cardigan would be crucial to achieve a different style, as also the choice of the yarn quality of course, since a drapier yarn falls differently than a stiffer one.

​Shetland is a rustic and matt yarn, that will soften after washing and bloom nicely to fill any possible gaps in your knitting. This makes it quite suitable for stranded knitting, fair isle or other colour-work.
It is available in 22 beautiful colours. Most of them do have a subtle heathered quality that looks great in simple stocking stitch, too.

There is a new cardigan pattern out and about - The BeauB, an ample piece which showcases subtle and understated features with it’s textured striping where the material itself becomes the focus, a simple stitch pattern on neckband, hem and pockets and lots of small decorative finishing details.

Although he is more of a men's wear fashion icon, he still fascinates me in regards to attitude and design-philosophy (and also because of his wit, but that's a totally different subject), so that I wanted to make him "my" hero for one of my own designs.

In my cardigan, the sloped raglan shoulder was meant to give a natural looking and well fitting shape to the yoke, while a neckband with a fuller volume at the top allows for generous draping at the patterned, reversible neckline and thus following Beau's spirit of enhancing this area. The subtle stitch pattern is repeated at hem, pockets and cuffs, which feature a twisted i-cord edging that is easy to make but with more visual interest than a simple edging.

The extra long sleeves gradually become transparent and flow into a delicate repetition of the stitch pattern in their lower part. As the neckband, they can be worn folded up too, to show the reverse side of the simple knit/purl stitch pattern.
The whole cardigan is worked seamlessly from the top down in subtle striping, by knitting with two strands of yarn (held together or alone) in sequence to form the stripes, so that we get more of a discreet textured striping than a coloured one. This can of course be worked with a bigger visual impact, if the thinner yarn is knitted in a contrasting colour and not in the same as in my own project shown here.

This simple cowl has an elongated front piece to keep the décolleté warm and cozy without adding bulk to the back side of the neck. It is a perfect accessory for collarless jackets and open front cardigans: like a turtle neck that can be taken off indoors.

You can buy both the BeauB and MissBrummell here on this site, or go over to ravelry to check them out and take a look at the lovely projects of other knitters.

I hope you like them and I wish you all a wonderful and inspiring New Year!!!

Today, the 13th of October I will be officially older (and hopefully wiser)! 
To celebrate, every La Maison Rililie pattern will be sold at a 20% discount! 
No coupon needed... 
(The sale starts the 13th at 00:01 CEST and ends October, 14th at midnight CEST.)

Today is the day!!
The day a new yarn-baby has been pushed out into this great big world for us to caress and to love.... the Maai Yarn of Shibui has just been released!!!!

I am considering myself extremely lucky to be one of the few that had the opportunity to try this baby out before... I got a very generous sample by post and couldn't resist in casting on immediately for a new project (the hat from my last post), leaving my overflowing to-do list completely untouched.
It is this soft and beautiful!

In the same generous bag I got some other beautiful samples... Here you can see an array of different yarn bases in the same gorgeous colour "mineral" - I really want to use them all together in a project to showcase their differences and subtle variations. 
The idea of mixing yarn bases is very popular with Shibui and by looking at all the different hues and textures that one gets in the same colour, I totally understand why!

...Of course I had to order some yarn for my next dream projects, too! I am afraid that only by looking at the incredible pictures on the Shibui site one can't help but wanting all of the lovely beauties they have on offer...

But back to the main idea for this post... I wanted you guys to see and feel for yourself the beauty that is called Maai and I thought that a give-away of a skein of this little wonder is in order: 3 persons that comment on this post will get one skein send to them by post.
A little present from me and Shibui!

To make the whole thing a little more fun I thought of a little game: You just need to continue the sentence of the one person that commented before you. It can be completely irrelevant or stupid, whatever you like. Hopefully we get one extra long ridiculous sentence written by all of us in the end...
... and 2 skeins in the colour "Poppy" and one skein in the colour "Blueprint" will be sent out to three different destinations each, when the time is up.

The winners will be drawn by a random generator 2 days after this post goes live and I will announce the winner at the bottom of this little article when the moment has come!
(I will also write an email to the winners to ask about postal addresses - which can be anywhere in the world - no restrictions!).

So... let's start the game!
Who will be the first to start the sentence???

Update on 17th September:
The three winners have been drawn!!!!
(I used a random generator for this difficult task... )

CONGRATS to the lucky winners!!!
Thank you everybody for playing!!!
The long sentence you guys wrote is really fun, sometimes very poetic and quite dreamy... with unicorns and elephants making unexpected appearances!
I loved reading through it and every new comment made me smile!!!!
I couldn't wish for more inspired readers!!!!!
:)
I will write an email to each of the winners right now, to ask about where to send the yarn!!!

...is finally published!!!

I have been working on this baby since April! But with the workshop and my stay in Berlin for the whole of May and some other things that kept popping up, this pattern really took a long time to get finally out there!

I have to admit that I am very pleased with the SpliTTop! It has so many elements that make it quite unique (at least in my book). A lot of new stuff in terms of seamless techniques, that I discovered while experimenting with yarn & needles in my living-room (all of which are shown step by step in photo-tutorials as usual) and an unusual construction that allows for a (hopefully) very fun project and beautiful finished garment!

But I thought that it'll be the perfect time to make some smaller updates to 2 of my older tutorials, that you guys know already from older posts:
The first update is another, quicker way to work my LK2tog left leaning decrease. 
A couple of months ago Steffi (a very nice member of my Ravelry-Group) told me about this variation and I was very happy with her excellent idea and thought I'll share it with you...
It's technically the exact same technique as before, only that Steffi's way made it quicker by eliminating some of the last steps. This version might work better for tight knitters than for looser ones, but tell me how it works for you.
Click on the images below to read the whole tutorial in higher resolution.

The second update is a photo-tutorial for the Purled CO with twist (until now only a video-tutorial was made about this method). Nothing has really changed at all with this technique... it's just that the new PDF format allows you to download it and to look at it offline or also print it and keep it as a reference (if you like it, of course).

Both of these updated PDFs can be found on the tutorial page of this site, here

Well, summer continues and we are testing out my new lightweight top at the moment. The very helpful and fun team of Testers work really hard on Ravelry so that I will be able to make the pattern available about mid of July!

Here is a sneak-peek of the new SpliTTop!
I hope you'll like it as much as I do....

So... what are you up to for summer? Do you knit at all?
And if yes... what is your favourite knitting project for the hot season???

Here it is: A new shawl pattern! Reminiscent of a vintage, granny-style mixed with a contemporary colour-work and a simple border with a little twist.

It's a long time I wanted to make a shawl, one that is big enough to actually wear over the shoulders on a chilly summer evening. But it had to be in a retro half-circle shape with a little bit of texture in it (just enough to keep things interesting without getting too much in the way of some effortless beach knitting) and it had to have stripes of course - it wouldn't be me if it wouldn't feature at least some stripes! To cut up the horizontal bands of the stripes and colour-work I also added some dramatic vertical lines of eyelets.... 
...and voilà, my new shawl was born!