Episode 81 – Deborah Newton

Our feature guest in Episode 81 is Deborah Newton who has been designing for major magazines and yarn companies for over 25 years. We can guarantee that you will want to watch her interview a couple of times because it really is jam packed with so many great ideas and tips. Then there is Stephanie Earp, our guest in Knitters of the World, who is a very vibrant designer from Montreal and we take you to a medieval festival held in a nearby medieval castle. This is a lot of fun, you’re transported back in time and you’ll see a Knights tournament with some really great horse riding. Of course there is also our update on our own projects.

Deborah Newton – Finishing School

We featured Deborah Newton two years ago back in Episode 19 and since then, a second edition of her book ‘Finishing School’ has come out. Because of the depth of knowledge that Deborah has, I knew there was too much material for us to cover in just one interview, so we are very privileged to have her as a guest on the show for a second time. This time we are going to explore more intensely some of the advanced chapters of her excellent book ‘Finishing School’.

During the interview we delve into some of the more advanced aspects of finishing garments, where you use quite radical solutions to solve difficult knitting problems. Deborah is also a great believer of having an open mind and combining skills from different crafts to find new solutions. She has a keen desire to really help knitters loosen up and improvise with their knitting. We also talk about combining knitted fabric with woven fabric, so it’s a super interview.

Finding Deborah Newton

• We spoke to Deborah Newton way back in Episode 19.
• Deborah Newton on Facebook
• Knitwear Design Retreat with Deborah Newton, via North Light Fibers
• Ravelry
• Instagram

Stephanie Earp

Stephanie Earp, our guest on Knitters of the World, is a very vibrant knitwear designer, teacher and consultant at the well known Espace Tricot yarn shop in Montrèal, Canada. Each of her designs are unique and stylish and incorporate interesting techniques. Above is the beautiful Sweet Vicious top which uses a variation on a smock stitch to create a luxurious and elegant fabric. This design definitely fits into our new KAL the #ScaryNewTechniqueKAL

Stephanie also really enjoys designing knitwear that’s fit for ‘best occasions’ so we can show off our knitting on those special days as well. Above is her glamour cap – Vionnet which would make a wonderful winter bride’s cap if knitted in light colours. Below is her beautiful stranded yolk jumper – Baccarat, which uses easily sourced and affordable yarns, something that Stephanie is also passionate about.

Finding Stephanie Earp

• stephanieearp.com
• Ravelry
• Instagram

Patron Discount – Stephanie Earp

Stephanie is offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 25% discount off her self published patterns in her Ravelry store. Stephanie talks about her garments during the show but she also has some lovely designs that include cowls, hats, mitts, shawls and wraps. Enjoy browsing.

Medieval Festival

We take you to a medieval festival which was held in a castle about one hour away from Frankfurt. Back in 1989 – 90 in my first year at University, I joined the Adelaide Uni Medieval Society also know as the Society for Creative Anachronism. It’s an international living history group that selectively recreates cultural parts of the Middle ages. Basically, as a student, it was just a very interesting and fun way to party.

We would choose a historical persona and dress up in the appropriate clothing and go to a banquet. During the banquet you couldn’t wear watches or talk about anything related to modern technology (back then we didn’t have mobile phones, so that wasn’t an issue). You behaved roughly according to your persona’s social rank but as the evening wore on that all changed. You ate medieval specialty dishes and danced medieval dances accompanied by medieval music. That was where I came in, singing in a medieval quartet.

In Australia we don’t have any castles, so when I came to Germany I always had it in my mind to go to a medieval festival that was held in a castle. We finally planned to do it this year so that we could share the footage with you.

We put together a short film showing you some of the activities which include a Knights tournament where you will see some great equestrians.

Celyn Cardigan by Michelle Wang

Andrew has started his project for the #ScaryNewTechniqueKAL and as he says, we hope you like the colour because it will probably take him a while to finish. The yellow is his swatch and the rusty red/brown is the start of the back piece of the cardigan.

• Celyn at Brooklyn Tweed
• Devonia DK at John Arbon Textiles
• Full interview with Norah Gaughen in Episode 61.
• We spoke to Jen and Jim Arnall-Culliford in Episode 46.

Saint Lunaire Griquet – Jennifer Beale

Sleeves are done and joined to the body. There’s lots of talk about changing the contrast colour on the yolk but looking at the photo above and seeing how perfectly it matches the rose, I’m having second thoughts again. Oh dear!!!!!

• Saint Lunarie Griquet

We were wearing

• In the interview with Deborah Newton, Andrea was wearing Sculpted Frost by Linda Marveng.

Music Credits

• J. S. Bach, The Well Tempered Klavier, Prelude No. 3 in C-Sharp major, BWV 848, performed by Kimiko Ishizaka, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
• Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, SouvenirDeFlorence, Op. 70, 1 – AllegroModerato, performed by the US Army Strings, Public Domain
• Friedrich Bedrich Smetana, The Moldau, Public Domain, APM Music – Sonoton Recorded Music Library – Sonoton Classical, Licensed to YouTube by AdRev Masters Admin (on behalf of Sonoton Classical)
• Ella Fitzgerald, Darktown Strutters Ball, Performers Ella Fitzgerald and The Chick Webb Orchestra, Writer Shelton Brooks, Licensed to YouTube by The Orchard Music, UMG (on behalf of Blaricum CD Company (B.C.D.) B.V.); EMI Music Publishing, Sony ATV Publishing, CMRRA, Public Domain Compositions, and 3 Music Rights Societies
• Medieval Music – Bertran De Born / Riquier, G. / Alfonso X / Folquet De Marseille (The Last of the Troubadours)
  Licensed to YouTube by Naxos of America (on behalf of Nimbus)
• John Dowland, Come Again Sweet Love, from the Album The Last of Old England, Performers Chris Goodwin & Jeni Melia, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 Generic