How about meeting up - you and me and other friends - and having a long and nice chat, while knitting together in a cozy shop full of wool......?????

Sounds nice, doesn't it?
Well... if you are in Berlin this month - we can definitely do something about that!

On two Saturdays (the 17th and the 24th of May) we will have 4 hours to meet, discuss, learn, chat and knit together! You will get my e-book "Shaken, Not Stirred!" and we can work through the pattern, start the project and mix and match our own cocktail side by side and needle by needle...

There will be new, detailed material and tutorials on the different techniques used in the pattern and we will work everything out together in German (or English or both... whatever you guys prefer).

The whole event will take place in lovely Berlin (at the bouclé shop) in the Nassauische Strasse 11-12, 10717. You can call Gabriele to book a space or to get more information about the whole workshop (Phone: 030-81853014) or you can write to [email protected].

I am so excited to actually meet (like really physically meet) you guys.... there are so many ravelry connections and cyber-friends that I have made over the last couple of years - and now I will be able to see and talk with some of you!
This fact alone makes me EXTREMELY happy... 
but anxious, too.... I am feeling a little bit like an adolescent on a first date with a pen-pal!
haha...

..."Draw me a sheep!", these were the first words uttered by the little prince to the narrator in Saint-Exupéry's magnificent book!

I was listening to the audiobook when I was knitting up my design and was totally carried away to the fragile universe of this lovely character, when I noticed that the colours I chose for my project bore an uncanny resemblance to the colours of the beautiful illustrations that the author had sketched up himself! Even without having seen any of them for a long time (since audiobooks don't come with illustrations... yet!), I subconsciously adapted my choice to the little prince's taste - thus I just had to give my new pattern a name that was borrowed from a quote of the little highness himself!

The fine and sensitive book must have further inspired me to make a delicate little garment, worked out of fingering weight (and therefore being extra light) and with a simple texture that breaks up the striping with a playful repetition.

The boxy form of the pullover keeps it comfortable while a very slight waist-shaping allows for a flowing, feminine drape. To balance the larger body out the neckline is wide and rounded and more reminiscent of a ballet-neck, while fitted sleeves make the whole look more refined.

I had fun experimenting with the lower part of the sleeves: they are supposed to be a new take on the fancy renaissance cuffs. Less floppy and much more discreet, they add a nice feature and keep the whole jumper in accordance with the little prince's sensitive attention to detail.

This project also makes quite good use of rests in fingering weight yarn (that everybody of us seems to have lying around in abundance)! These can be used for the 7 different contrast-colours. 
The main concept that was followed in my own sample for combining cool and warm hues, as also low and high contrast colours, are explained in the pattern itself.

You can buy the pattern on my website here, or directly at ravelry
Dessine-moi un mouton - Le monde est triste sans imagination

We all have our little methods and preferences when working on a project, that become second nature when knitting: from simple little things that help us remember repeating occurrences up to complicated systems that are the fruit of years of experience...

... well, today I thought to share a homely, unsophisticated but vital preference of mine - an item that is always to be found in my dotty "knitting-tool-box": one I always use when knitting a garment and which helps me keeping track of repetitions or points of reference without the need to note things down on bits and pieces of paper (that I am too likely to loose anyway)!

By pinning my tiny friends on every row in question, it is immediately visible how many repetitions have been worked already and when the next one is due...
... even if the project is pulled out of a neglected corner, after many months of hibernation!

I am sure that you all have some similar small devices and methods to keep track of your work, don't you? What are your favorite little helpers hidden in your tool box?

By the way, the project you see here is my next summer top (hopefully) that I am working out of Holst Coast in Redcurrant and Fairy.

Edit June 2014: I finally found these coil-less or bulb safety pins here at Fringe Supply & CO, which has the most gorgeous knitting tools and accessories you can find!
You might also like to take a look at the Fringe Association Blog, where Karen posts many interesting things related to knitting!

I can see me using this social-media-platform much more than twitter (which I never really understood, never knew why I should write anything in the first place and which left me feeling quite stupid more than once) - instagram is more "me" as a purely visual + creative form of communication.... 

Good news is that I will be able to forward any posts on twitter, so that any followers there without an instagram account can still find out what I am up to (and I can feel much more productive when using my twitter account)!

... when I work top down and seamless and I arrive to the point of having to cast on for the underarms, when separating the sleeves from the body at the end of the yoke.
(Phew... that was a long sentence now, wasn't it?)

It's actually a very simple method and not at all novel: it's the purled cast-on (but with a twist to the stitch) that in my opinion gives nice and sturdy stitches for the underarm area and is extremely easy and quick to make.
Although I find it a common method and I always use it in my patterns, many knitters have written to me because they don't understand it completely... strangely I couldn't find any visual aid about this cast on on the internet and that's why I thought a tutorial would be in order.

I tried to make a photo tutorial, as I usually do, but it wasn't so easy to show the position of the right hand needle while I twisted the loop of the stitch before putting it on the other needle... so I thought "what the heck" I'll try my hand on a video-tutorial!
(Update: I ended up making a photo-tutorial, too... you can find it here and download it)

It's my first video... so there are many problems still unsolved. I also beginn to understand all the knitters in the videos that lament the fact that one can't knit properly while having a camera in between body and hands - and it's true that it's very cumbersome to keep an eye on the screen, so that the action stays where it should be and nothing gets out of focus (or, even worse, out of frame).

So... beginning of today I find myself lamenting about new things in my life!! 
How wonderful!!!!

I hope that you'll like the vid, and that more of them are going to come...
And I even made my very own "channel" on vimeo: it's here.

I found some new indy-yarn that really does make a difference:

The lovely squishy and incredibly soft yarn that you see here is called Rosy Green Wool.
It's guaranteed 100% organic merino wool, sourced in Patagonia, then spun & environmentally friendly dyed at a small family business in the UK.

But it's not only the great quality that makes this yarn different!
It is one of the rare merino wools that is certified by the independent, international Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) for it's organic quality, it is machine washable (!) and the colours are not only gorgeous, but also made out of organic dyes that are not harmful: neither to the person that wears the finished object nor to the environment.

On a much more serious note though: Rosy did tell me something else, that I have never heard of before and that disturbed me immensely... As every other industry today, mass yarn production has quite some horrible secrets that are hidden from the consumer, too!

On her website Rosy explains:
"During my research I discovered many interesting but also alarming facts, from the painful mulesing that Merino sheep have to suffer to the large quantities of chemicals and pesticides which are normally used for yarn production. But unfortunately I could not find any organic wool which offers a verifiable guarantee that such things do not occur during the production and which is also really soft and not only available undyed. After what I had found out, it was simply impossible for me to continue knitting with such yarns and feeling good at the same time. The only solution: to produce a yarn myself which would meet all of these criteria."
Read more about how Rosy felt compelled to make her own organic yarn line on her site (in English) or on her blog (in German).

I have revisited two of my older patterns and updated them:

... and also added a long-sleeved version to the existing pattern (which has ¾length sleeves).
It's so practical that I have already worn it tons of times... something that you can actually even see in some of the pictures, especially the sleeves show some pilling...!
Oh well...

You can find this pattern either here on my site or on ravelry.

The second pattern that got a little face-lifting is my free Cocoon hat:

I have waited quite a long time to write this post, but finally I can say it: the pattern I have been working on since last summer is published!

It all started out as many of my patterns do.. I wanted to do some experiments on yoke/shoulder/sleeve construction and was determined to find a solution that allows for a top-down construction with a tailored, well fitting look and feel!

Especially the contiguous shoulder construction (an ingenious idea developed by Suzie Myers) intrigued me... I have done some garments with it and I liked the clean and well-cut shoulder it produced, but I had some issues with the way the fabric accumulated next to the sleeve and the narrow sleeve-cap that did not really adapt to the natural shape of the shoulder in my opinion (and I didn't find it as comfortable when worn as with a raglan for example).

I thought about all the other construction methods I knew for top-down knitting and I tried to combine all of the parts I liked about them... and I before I knew it I got a yoke that was something like a mesh up of contiguous, raglan, saddle and set-in sleeve... all in one! 
This sounds actually quite horrible, but I was very pleased with the "combination" yoke construction that I finally ended up with!

So I started to write this pattern and I can tell you that it is not easy to grade a pattern in different sizes when you have just thrown together different construction-parts, since there are no complete references to consult....
... I almost gave up on it, but I got so many lovely comments on my project page on ravelry that encouraged me to give it another try!

The pattern I ended up with was quite advanced naturally - so I wrote a completely different yoke construction (this time a saddled raglan yoke) for a separate version of the same cardigan, so as to make this pattern accessible to intermediate knitters, too.

After almost 6 months, 2 pattern PDF's, 2 tech-editors (that I almost killed with my constant emails) and around 20 marvellous testers this huge project found it's way into the ravelry data-base today!!!

With all this talk about the yoke construction I forgot to add that I had a blast designing the rest of the cardigan! It features a rounded, longer back, slip stitch patterns on the hem and on the top of the sleeves ...and POCKETS! 

You can find the pattern for this cardigan (both yoke versions are included in the download in separate PDFs) on ravelry or you can buy it directly from my site here.

Have you tried all left-leaning decreases known to man and just resigned to the strange and floppy look that they have in comparison to the one right-leaning decrease we all love: 
the K2tog?

Well... me too: The SSK, the PSSO, the K2tog through back loop, and many more... they all end up with a huge loop underneath the left leaning stitch that bunches everything up and makes a strange zig-zag instead of a clean, smooth line of decreases, like the k2tog does....

But I now "found" a way to work a decrease that has nothing to be embarrassed about...

This decrease needs some practice to get used to. I found it quite cumbersome at the beginning, but was too delighted with the result to just let go - and I can confirm, that after some happily executed LK2tog-decreases they now are really quick and easy to make!!!!

To see a larger version of the tutorial, you can click here.
... and you can also check out some other tutorials  here, if you like .

Update: we have started a discussion on the subject of this decrease-technique on my group on ravelry here (since it is easier to exchange ideas there than in the comments) and I wanted to invite everybody to come to the ravelry forum to post questions, remarks or impressions on the LK2tog. 
Tell me if you like it or hate it or whatever you think about it...
...everything interests me!!!
:)

Do you know this sensation? When it's cold and grey outside and you step into a warm and beautiful shop full of soft, cozy, beautifully coloured yarn... the moment when the door behind you shuts and you stop in utter wonder and amazement - feeling like a kid in a candy shop!

I was blown away by the sheer amount of luxurious yarn on display! Even the tiniest corner of this sunny shop had something wondrous to see, touch and admire....

... the little shop is filled with loveliness displayed in the most beautiful way ....

"Die Mercerie" has so much to offer: not only the gorgeous choice of famous yarns from every corner of the world, cute buttons and tools, but it also serves the best Latte Macchiato and tasty cakes here in Munich....

... and that's the best idea ever: a beautiful  yarn shop with a friendly and convivial atmosphere, where you not only buy the most gorgeous tools of the trade but also have lots of fun using them. Right there on the spot!!!!