Episode 76 – Yarnitecture – Jillian Moreno

Jillian Moreno is our feature interview guest in Episode 76. Jillian’s passion is in spinning and yarn construction, and she is a teacher, a regular contributor to Mason Dixon Knitting and is also the author of the book, Yarnitecture. The success of our projects depend on the yarns that we use, and in this two part interview Jillian takes us into the details of fiber, spinning, plying and grist. We also feature an upcoming talented polish designer Asja Janeczek in our segment ‘Knitters of the World’. We show off some great projects from the 3 KALs that are presently running and we have 4 more mini interviews with vendors from the Edinburgh Yarn Festival which we attended back in March.

Yarnitecture – Jillian Moreno

Jillian Moreno – Author of Yarn-i-tec-ture: A Knitter’s Guide to Spinning

If you want to understand your yarn better e.g. how it’s constructed, how to pick the best yarn for any given project, how much twist different fibres need to behave well in a yarn or even how many plies to look for when you have a particular project in mind, you will love this interview. Jillian is very passionate about the topic of yarn construction and she covers all these topics and much more.

Jillian with her samples – as fleece, and spun into yarn

Finding Jillian Moreno

Asja Janeczek

Asja Janeczek of Asja Knits
Shanel Shawl by Asja Janeczek

Asja started off blogging about machine knitting before delving into designing for hand knitters. Asja grew up in Poland, but has been living here in Germany for many years. She is fascinated by intricate constructions and in her patterns, she strives for an enjoyable knitting process ending with a spectacular effect. Viewers are very lucky to get an early look at two of Asja’s designs that aren’t yet published – the No Rules Sweater and the particularly beautiful Rosette cardigan. The patterns for those designs should come out sometime over the summer months.

Below are two versions of her Wild Grass Sweater.

Wild Grass by Asja Janeczek

Patron Discount – Asja Janeczek

Asja Janeczek is offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 30 percent discount off all self-published patterns available via her Ravelry store. This offer is valid until 21 May 2019, full details here.

Asja Janeczek – Patron Discount

Finding Asja Janeczek

Patron Discount – The Little Grey Sheep

Emma Boyle, who was our interview guest on Episode 52, is offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 15 percent discount on all yarns in her online shop. This offer is valid until 21 May 2019, full details here.

The Little Grey Sheep – Patron Discount

Vendor mini Interviews – EYF 2019

Garthenor

Jonny of Garthenor

Garthenor is a family business run by Jonny and his mum Sally. They started producing organic yarn from their own flock of sheep in south west Wales and were the first to produce a fully certified organic yarn. They now source wool from organic flocks all around the UK providing a market for many sheep breeds.

Wensleydale Longwool

Kathy of Wensleydale Longwool

Wensleydale Longwool is a business that started 30 years ago by a local lady who had a flock of Wenselydales. In our interview with Kathy (present owner), she shares some history on the Wensleydale sheep breed and the special qualities of their sort after fleece.

Biches et Buches

Astrid of Biches et Bûches

Astrid is the designer behind the company Biches et Buches, which is named after and influenced by her love of nature and her Scandiavian background. Astrid is so happy to have her daughters helping her out, one is the model and the other takes the photos. In our mini interview Astrid talks about her special yarn blends and their beautiful soft and muted colours which enhance her simple and elegant designs.

The Border Tart

The Border Tart – Indigo Dyer and Textile Artist

Lindsay’s indigo dyeing was greatly inspired by her travels to India where she also learnt about the Indian practice of wearing spices next to the skin for health benefits. The beautiful yellow mitt above is made from turmeric dyed yarn with a little stripe of indigo.

We were wearing

Music Credits

5 thoughts on “Episode 76 – Yarnitecture – Jillian Moreno”

  1. How do I find you on Ravelry Ive put Fruity Knitting into all the searches and it can’t find you. Do you have a link? thanks.

  2. What is the name of the pattern for Martin Storey with the tiger intarsia that Andrew is knitting in Episode 76? I have looked on Ravelry and can not find the pattern.

    Thanks,
    Sylvia

  3. Barbara Altman

    I loved hearing all about yarn design and the characteristics of different yarn constructions. I think I need a copy of Jillian’s book.

    Andrea: I foresee a wheel in your future. I was one of those people who said “I’ll never get into spinning,” but now I have a wheel and take enormous pleasure in creating unique yarns and then knitting with them.

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