Who is in the mood for drawing and painting?
Who wants to play with yarn and colour?
Imagine a fun and yarny colouring book experience: But with absolute freedom of abstraction.

If, like me, you are a bit bored of the usual motifs used in Fair Isle knitting, Norwegian colour-work or traditional embroidery throughout the world and want something you created by yourself, you can get inspiration from any shape or form around you - try to see the lines and surfaces in an abstract design.
There are so many different ways that colours can interact with each other that go beyond what we already see in knitting..
​..but I digress...
​let me start at the beginning:

​Now, by looking at the early 20th century perfume bottle, I had my answer:
​I allowed myself to get influenced by the delicate scrollwork pattern from the label design and played with it to create an interesting motif that also provided a gradient of colour, deliberately set up to go from light to dark. I'd like to think that you can still see a bit the influences of Art Deco and Japonesque elements that were the rage when the perfume was launched!

This pattern tries to explore stranded knitting by tackling the subject with a different approach:
Mitsouko wants to explore something a bit more experimental, large-scale and conceptual.
The idea is mostly influenced from abstract large scale paintings in general, while only the specific interpretation is drawn from the famous scrollwork pattern. 

You can knit this Mitsouko pattern as is and I have prepared charts that match three standard sizes to create these colour interactions with your yarn and colours of choice.
But if you’d like to go a bit further and be a bit experimental and unleash the abstract designer or graphic artist inside, I have also provided empty charts in three sizes for you to play with, without having to bother to do all the math or think about construction.

​This could be a design or drawing of your very own. You can customise this hat while getting an excuse to doodle… and get to unleash your (inner?) kid!

So how would this work? Well you can choose something you want to make as a pattern. Like me, you can allow yourself to be inspired by any form you find intriguing. You could blow up and digitise a photograph that has interesting colour interactions. You could take up crayons and have some fun. You can blow up a segment of a design you like or even a lace design and transform it into colour-work. You can also give the provided charts to your friend, child or loved one and have them come up with a colour design for a unique custom knit they have put their own creativity into.
And then you can knit their custom-motif up for the perfect gift... a project that came out of your very own creative collaboration.
You can use this as a fun experimental place to try out something new. Take a walk on the design side, or the fashion side and come up with a fresh take on your knit-work for a truly one-off hat nobody else has – this way, you are the master of your project.

...If on the other hand you prefer taking the safe route and also don't like the spirals of the original Mitsouko? Then, well... then Mitsouko's Lover is for you...  

Mitsouko's Lover is the cheeky name of the "minimal and simple" striped version which is probably more unisex and easy to wear than Mitsouko, although this all depends on personal style anyway. For this version I tried the Ovelha Negra Victoria yarn for the first time and it really is an absolute joy to work with!

The longer ribbing and slightly larger body of the actual shape of all versions can be worn slouchy or tucked in for a more elegant beanie effect. You get a dense and warm hat, that is still light and easy to wear and to take with you, since it is knitted in fingering weight yarn.

Find the pattern on this site or go to ravelry.
(Until midnight of 23 of January 2018 (CEST), you automatically get a 20% discount)​
Also stay tuned to find out about some news out of Italy.... a surprise collaboration with Unfilodi knit house that will interest all Italian speaking friends and many more...

Since the whole hat pattern is so adjustable and open to personalisation, it is the perfect project to have a fun and interactive KAL together with other colour-drawing-exploring knitters - or to get some help in deciding on how to combine one's own ideas of design, motif and colour - or to just show off different versions from clean-cut minimalism to totally out there, baroque styling!
Check out the ColourOutsideTheLines knit-along (or KAL in knitter's terminology) to find out more...

Click on the Banner above to open up the KAL page and participate in this fun game!

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.

I am totally late for this post - but I wanted to share with you the lovely amirisu winter 2015 issue that arrived early January in my mail. 
I had the incredible honour to participate with a cardigan pattern of mine, called MarlOn. 

In this lovely issue 6 you can find six other beautiful patterns, from talented designers like Hiroko Fukatsu, Bristol Ivy, Thea Colman, Amy Christoffers, Rie and Claudia Eisenkolb.
And there are great articles to read too: like a very interesting interview with Madeline Tosh's Amy Hendrix, an other one about a technique called "Weaving with Nature", a "Report" of Germany and an ongoing series explaining Japanese Patterns!

For my own cardigan I had fun playing around with the combination of two strands in sligthly different hues, to achieve something like a hand-dyed effect and to be able to gradually change the colours of the stripes, so as to enhance the different sized striping in some sections.
What interested me most while designing this piece was to try to emulate the female body shape with the use of horizontal striping and slight colour-changes.
It’s a top down seamless knit (as I like them most) and I am especially happy with how the short rows at the very top of the yoke produce larger stripes at the back while keeping them small and delicate at the front of the shoulder.

You can find the magazine here on ravelry to download digitally - or here on the amirisu shop for a “real” physical copy of the magazine (and together with this magazine version you even get a coupon for the digital one, too).
And there is a KAL just starting in the amirisu-ravelry group here! So, if you would like to have some company while knitting this pattern you can post there. I will pop in from time to time myself to answer questions and to see what everybody is knitting up.

I also have gotten quite a lot of yarn in the last month! So I would like to share some pictures of my goodies: Take a look at the beautiful hand-dyed 100% merino wool I got from Nice & Knit!!!
The small family business is producing high quality yarn for some years now and the two sisters, Kara and Katie are really passionate about everything that has to do with fibre and colour. 
Something that is immediately visible upon opening the parcel...

The yarn is incredibly soft and bouncy (just like one would expect from a perfect pure merino) and the sport weight that I have chosen, is really showing the stitches wonderfully when knitted up. Even before blocking they looked even and firm.
What I like most with this yarn is the range of hues it has: from very light and faded to extremely saturated… it’s all there in the same skein! Especially the blue colourway (Nantucket) reminds me of a loved pair of denim, that you just don’t want to take off - ever! 
The brown (Nutmeg) on the other hand is it's perfect partner, since it strengthens the blue/purple nuances and makes them even more vivid.

First of all: since we are talking New, we need to talk new yarn a bit!
I think it is always a happy moment to introduce the new friends we recently brought home to live with us... So, meet my new pals:

These guys up here are from Schoppel's Cat Print Hand Dye Collection: 6 Karat (80% wool and 20% silk) and have a lovely sheen that must look really gorgeous when knitted up! 
I especially love the green with the blue hues (colourway: Froschkönig - King of Frogs!!!). 
Well, it definitely feels and looks like it is something a royal amphibian would be happy to be clad in.

And I got some summery yarn, too: Leinen Los (70% wool & 30% linen) is a sport weight yarn that knits up with a nice hand and will be gorgeous in a draped garment. One can feel the linen much more in the grey yarn, which has more of a papery feel than the cream one. 

The last I got was this different, natural sock yarn called Alb Socke. The wool is locally sourced from Swabian Jura in Germany and it also has 15% linen in it - So there is no synthetic fibre in this sock yarn: The main reason I wanted to try it out, since I was keen on finding an alternative to the nylon that is usually mixed into sock yarn, to give it durability and longevity.

I can't really say that I am convinced, though.... they are so tiny that one needs to hold them very differently. After knitting about 20 minutes with these little fellows I felt a slight pain in my fingers, for the first time ever since I knit! Either I am getting old or It might very well be that I am not at all used to holding the needles like that and that my hands are not relaxed at all while knitting...  I definitely need to give them a chance though and see how it goes.

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!!!