Episode 37 – The Fibre Co

In Episode 37 of the Fruity Knitting Podcast we are joined by Daphne Marinopoulos, founder of The Fibre Co. Daphne started The Fibre Co in 2003 in Maine, US, with a “mini-mill”, which allowed her to experiment and create yarns with fibre blends that were unknown at the time. Daphne’s passion for fibre and color has helped the company grow to become a worldwide supplier of luxury yarns. We are going behind the scenes in a German opera house to meet (and hear) Stephanie Hackhausen, opera singer and our guest on Knitters of the World. Extreme Knitting takes us to Gaierlay, where we venture onto Germany’s longest cable suspension bridge. There’s Brioche, Backstitch and Bach, and a review of our beautiful Fruity You and Me Kal. We would love to have your company.

The Fibre Co – Daphne Marinopoulos Interview

Daphne had a very successful corporate career but in spite of this success she had a long-time dream to work creatively with her hands. In 2003 she took the plunge and bought a mini mill in Portland, Maine U.S. and she started on a very small scale, spinning and hand dying unique fibre blends herself. Since then she has moved her company to be based in the U.K. and is working with a variety of producers and artists to create very exquisite and beautiful yarns which are now known worldwide.

Daphne has gained a lot of knowledge on a variety of fibres. In the interview she talks about some of the more unusual fibres that she uses in her blends; their individual properties, what they are good for and how they behave when mixed together with other fibres. This knowledge definitely helps knitters match yarn to their projects better. Daphne also shares some of her thoughts on the relationship between feminism and handcrafting.

Finding The Fibre Co

• The Fibre Co yarns are available in Yarn Stores around the world. Look under “Stockists” at The Fibre Co.
• Instagram

Stephanie Hackhausen – Knitters of the World

Stephanie works as an opera singer in the beautiful city of Dresden. Along side her singing, knitting as been a favourite activity since she was a child. Kaffe Fassett and Stephen West are her inspiration for colourwork and unconventional garments.

Stephanie gives us a glimpse of herself backstage in her costume and makeup, knitting while she waits to go on and perform. We also get to hear her beautiful voice singing part of the famous aria ‘Song to the moon’ from Rusalka by Dvorak.

Finding Stephanie

• Find Stephanie as hacki on Ravelry.

Fruity You and Me Kal

The #FruityYouandMeKal has come to a close.

The idea behind the Kal was to knit two garments or large shawls one for yourself and one for a loved one. The garments have to be connected somehow so that when you are both wearing them you think of each other and celebrate your relationship. There have been some lovely stories behind peoples projects, so we decided to share some with you.

Rosie knitted a sonic hedgehog jumper for herself and one for her unborn baby. It based on a favourite childhood jumper knitted by her gran for her and her brothers. She tracked down the original pattern and her husband helped her make a chart for the little version.

Justyna from Poland entred the kal a few times. First she knitted two little cardigans for her two boys, she designed the pattern herself and then she combined the left over yarns with a tweedy yarn and knitted herself a matching shawl. For her next entry Justyna knitted three matching vests. One for herself and one for her daughter and one for her daughters little doll, all in her own hand dyed yarn which she dyed based on the colours of all the berries she picked over summer. How great is that!!

Stephanie’s granddad passed away earlier this year and she wanted to create something that would connect her grandma, her aunt and her mother – the three woman her grandad left behind. So she knitted them each a Drachenfells in their favourite colours.

The winners of the kal are Jajuska , Buckaroo and Bistoboy1. Congratulations and thanks for participating!! If you can personal message Andrea on Ravelry with your postal addresses we can get your lovely prizes to you.

Rowan eNewsletter feature

We are very excited and honored to have our podcast featured in the Rowan September  electronic newsletter. There is a little interview about our podcast. If you would like to read it, it is free. We think it is a great little magazine type newsletter. There are always a couple of free patterns in the newsletter and a lot of really informative articles. In the September edition right before our feature there is a great instructive article on Fair Isle, including how to do it on the purl side. You can read about us here!

Manzanita Tee

Andrea has finally finished her Manzanita Tee by Romi Hill  using Road to China Light . It is probably the most luxurious yarn she has used to date. It’s a blend of baby alpaca, silk, camel and cashmere. (We spoke to Romi Hill in Episode 32.)

We included a short tutorial on some of the finishing techniques that Romi uses on this very elegant design. Hopefully that will encourage you, it you like the pattern, to give it a go. (So it seems that there are many different varieties of Christmas Beetle, or Anoplognathus. The ones that I grew up with, in Melbourne, had the colors of Andrea’s earrings here. Someone in Melbourne made this video which will show you what I meant.)

Lantic – Sarah Hatton

We have yet another finished object to put in our Bring and Brag section. This is a rare occurrence! Madeleine has finally finished her jumper using the Rowan Softyak DK .

Andrew’s Brioche

My next project is Paris’s Brioche Scarf by Nancy Marchant, using the special 12th birthday limited edition yarn Brushwork from Blacker Yarns. This yarn is a combination of Scottish Bowmont, Castlemilk Moorit and British Alpaca.

Music Credits

• Sláinte, Album: Cup of Tea
  • Lake of Pontchartrain
  • Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0
• Song to the Moon, from the Opera Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák, performed by our guest Stephanie Hackhausen, Dresden. Used with permission.
• 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 Goldberg Variations, Aria, BWV 988, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka, Creative Commons Zero Attribution 3.0 License
• Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 in E Flat Major Eroica, Op. 55 – IV. Finale Allegro molto, Public Domain
• Beethoven, Violin sonata no. 5 in F ”Spring”, Op. 24 – I. Allegro, performed by Corey Cerovsek, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0
• Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70, 1 – Allegro Moderato, US Army Strings, Public Domain