In Episode 32 of the Fruity Knitting Podcast we interview a very talented designer Romi Hill who is well known for her  beautiful lace designs as well as her knitted and crocheted jewelry. We go to one of the most exotic places on earth to meet Christie our guest on Knitters of the World. New Releases and #Extremeknitting features as well as an indepth look at one of Tilly and the Buttons sewing patterns ( a new dress for Madeleine). Andrew is decreasing while staying in pattern on his Fair Isle hat.

Romi Hill – Lace Knitting and more

Romi’s work has been published in Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Knitscene and Twist Collective. Romi’s latest book is:

New Lace Knitting: Designs for Wide Open Spaces

New Lace Knitting: Designs for Wide Open Spaces is organised by themes, with each of the six chapters looking at a different traditional lace stitch or pattern. By mixing up motives, yarns and styling details Romi shows the versatility of these stitch patterns.  The book contains 19 patterns in all, covering both garments and accessories.

Romi is a multi-talented designer and connoisseur of beautiful things. She is well known and respected for her lace garments and shawl designs but also for her crochet and knitted Jewelry making skills, which resulted in the book Elements of Style, published by Interweave Press.

Finding Romi Hill

• Designer Rosemary Hill on Ravelry
• romidesigns on Instagram

Anne & Co by Monique Boonstra – New Releases

The recommended yarn for Monique’s latest design Anne & Co is the Rowan Kidsilk Haze.  The standard patterns requires a single skein, but the design can be extended if a longer cowl is wanted.

Finding Anne & Co, and Monique Boonstra

Find the pattern at:

• Anne & Co on Ravelry
• A Passion for Lace on Ravelry
• apassionforlace on Instagram
• kandewerk.nl

Christie Wareham-Norfolk, Exmouth, Western Australia – Knitters of the World

Christie moved 9 years ago from the UK with her husband to one of the most remote places on Earth, Exmouth in northern West Australia.

Her nearest LYS is 1300 km north of the state capital Perth and the next town is a 3.5 hour drive away. Winter temperatures average mid 20° c ( 70/80° f) and maximums in summer go over 45°c (114°f) but this doesn’t stop Christie from knitting!

Christie has organised  a local project which is knitting and crocheting a coral reef for public display. There are no patterns for this so much of the work is free form knitting and crocheting inspired by photographs of the World Heritage Ningaloo reef near by.

Finding Christie

• christiewn on Ravelry
• christiewn on Instagram

Zadie Dress from Tilly and the Buttons

The Zadie dress is a super cute dress designed by Tilly and the Buttons for medium weight stretch knit fabrics.

The dress has very striking Z shaped seams going from the neckline to the armpits as a raglan sleeve, then back to the waist and out again to the side seams forming a neat triangular point. This makes the dress suitable for using different colour blocks.

Andrea fell in love with a black and white print and decided to combine it with a simple black double knit for the side panels, sleeves and neckband. She did take a risk because the black and white fabric stretches in only one direction (length ways). (Didn’t we just have something about using the wrong fabric..??)  Andrea counteracted this by cutting out the bodice and skirt pieces in the opposite direction as stated in the pattern. This meant that the bodice piece would stretch width ways. She thinks she has got away with this. Madeleine looks great in it and loves the dress, so it has been declared a success! (Phew.)

Finding the Zadie Dress

• Meet the Zadie Dress at Tilly and the Buttons

Bousta Beanie by Gudrun Johnson

We have had to make some decisions here and modify the pattern. It seems I have an unusual shaped head, not very long when you measure from the crown to my earlobe. There are a few comments on ravelry saying the Bousta Beanie was too long for people so they cut out repeats. I am taking a risk here because I’m not up to following a modified chart while decreasing and I need to shorten the length a lot, I want it to be 19 cm long and the hat says 25cm so I am cutting out 3 repeats. Wish me luck!

You can get the Bousta Beanie pattern for free by signing up for the  Shetland Wool Week newsletter.

Lace Garment and Hap KAL

Our Lace garment and Hap Knitalong is coming to an end on the 3oth of June. This has been a wonderful KAL, lots of people have taken part in it both very experienced knitters and less experienced and it has been wonderful to follow every bodies progress. We will announce the prize winners of the KAL in our next episode. We would really love to showcase your work on our podcast so we want to encourage you to submit a 20 sec selfie. We will make a Lace garment and Hap KAL selfie collage for you. We have done this before with previous KALs so many of you will know how it works.

The Fruity Lace Garment or Hap KAL Final Video Selfies – woo hoo !!!

Get your videos up to the Fruity Lace Garment/Hap KAL Dropbox by 16th July

It goes something like this:

• Wear your garment! (Did anyone knit a garment for anyone but themselves???)
• Say, “Hi, I’m (your name) and this is my (your pattern’s name).”
• Say “I knitted it with (yarn name) yarn.” Then you have a few options.
• “Lace knitting has changed my life.”
• “I have neglected my work / husband / children to get this finished.”
• “(something short of your own choice)”

And look at the camera and smile!!!

But you only get twenty seconds!!! (And please be nice to the sound man. No trucks or aeroplanes nearby.)

Thank you for taking part in the KAL. We are looking forward to presenting the videos, and the big prize draw!!

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
• J. S. Bach, The Well Tempered Klavier, Prelude No. 4 in C-Sharp minor, BWV 849, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka, used under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
• J. S. Bach, The Well Tempered Klavier, Prelude No. 5 in D major, BWV 850, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka, used under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
• J. S. Bach, Goldberg Variations, Aria, BWV 988, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka, used under Creative Commons Zero License
• Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, SouvenirDeFlorence, Op. 70, 1 – AllegroModerato, performed by the US Army Strings, Public Domain
• Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in E Flat Major Eroica, Op. 55 – IV. Finale Allegro molto, Public Domain
• Claude Debussy, Rêverie, performed by Simone Renzi, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License
• Gabriel Fauré, Berceuse, Op. 16, performed by Jean-Claude Féret, Christine Féret, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License