Our interview guest on the Episode 30 of the Fruity Knitting Podcast is Sidsel Hoivik from Oslo, Norway. Sidsel’s designs have been published in many of the Norwegian and Swedish knitwear magazines since the 1990s. Typically she combines two colour stranded knitting with added crochet, embroidery and sequences which made her gorgeous garments colourful, unique and very charming. On Knitters of the World we meet Rachel from Georgia whose knitting is very much inspired by the fashions of the 40s and 50s. There is a tutorial on the beauty of twisted stitch cables and Andrew is starting to Fair Isle.

Norwegian Knitting – Sidsel Høivik

After pestering her mother and grandmother at the age of 4 years, Sidsel was finally taught to knit. As long as she has a ball of yarn and a set of needles in her hands she hasn’t been bored since. Sidsel also learnt to crochet, embroider and sew as a child and her designs are a clever combination of all these techniques which create very beautiful and ornate fabrics.

Her designs are well known in Norway and Sweden and thanks to some keen Dutch fans she also has a strong following in the Netherlands. Her popular designs are all translated in English and Dutch. They can be bought as kits from her website using 100% Norwegian yarn produced by the family run woolen spinning mill Hillesvag.

Finding Sidsel Høivik

• sidselhoivik.no
• Ravelry: sidselhoivik
• Instagram: sidselhoivik.no
• Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk

Photo Credits

Photos for Sidsel Høivik are copyright 2017 and used with permission:

• Anne Helene Gjelstad Photography
• Hillesvag Ullvarefabrikk

Rachel – AchtungKitten – Knitters of the World

Many of you would have first seen Rachel’s impressive knitting in our cable garment Kal a couple of months ago where she actively took part in the thread. Rachel plans her knits with such care and love and is a great source of inspiration. She knits amazing patterned socks, very cute and clever toys for her little cat and incredible garments.

This is her first attempt at fair isle, the colours she chose were inspired by the movie Back to the Future.

Finding Rachel

• Instagram: achtungkitten
• Ravelry: achtungkitten

Zoé Dress for Madeleine

Finding the Zoé Dress

• Tutorial on YouTube
• The Zoé Kleid pattern at Lillestoff

A Pleated Skirt

Andrea is trying for crisp knife edge pleats in her newly sewn skirt. The material is very reluctant to retain pressed creases and the pattern isn’t really telling her how to achieve the finish she wants. After a bit of You Tube research Andrea is going to stitch along the inner and outer fold lines of the pleat matching up the edge stitching as best she can.  The pattern is the McCalls M7022.

The Beauty of Twisted Stitch Cables Tutorial

Two of Andrea’s favourite designers Alice Starmore and Marie Wallin use twisted stitch cables a lot in their designs creating very different effects. The stitches are very easy to execute and Andrea shows you how.

Andrew’s first Fair Isle Project – The Bousta Beanie

Andrea is pushing my skills further, I’m a bit intimidated but also excited. The Bousta Beanie by  Gudrun Johnson is an ideal first Fair Isle project because chart is only a 4 stitch repeat. That means there are no floats to weave in and it’s easy to memorize. I’m using left over yarn from the Firebirds jumper by Jade Starmore that Andrea knitted me. The colours match my woven wool scarf (a present from Madeleine).

If you haven’t tried Fair Isle yet, why don’t you grab three contrasting colours and join me with the Bousta Beanie. The Bousta Beanie pattern is available now for free if you sign up for the 2017 Shetland Wool Week newsletter.

Lace KAL Prizes

Vicki, our Australian guest for Knitters of the World in Episode 13 has donated this lovely package. Included is a beautiful project bag and a selection of high quality skincare products made from natural ingredients for sensitive skin. Thank you Vicki for donating such a high quality gift.  You can find Vicki’s soaps and other beautiful creations at Redgum Soaps.

We are donating the book, New Lace Knitting by Romi (Rosemary) Hill, full of beautiful lace designs with patterns for all levels of knitters. The layout of the book is very thoughtful, the charts are clear and well-presented and there are a lot of extra technique tips through the book to really increase your skills. The projects include Scarves, tams, shawls, cardigans and jumpers.

Music Credits

• J. S. Bach, The Well Tempered Klavier, Prelude No. 3 in C-Sharp major, BWV 848, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka, used under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
• Franz Schubert, Impromtu Number 3 in G Flat Major, from 4 Impromptus, performed by Chiara Bertoglio, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
• Canyon Breeze by Montana Skies, used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.