Episode 84 – Melanie Berg

Melanie Berg is our interview guest in Episode 84.

There is one type of project that I haven’t yet knitted on the show and that is a shawl. However I do really appreciate that shawl knitting is very popular for many reasons. It’s a great way to use up single skeins of luxury blends that have either been given to you or that you’ve bought spontaneously. You can be much less accurate with your gauge without having big problems with the fit when the shawl is finished and shawls are a great, flat canvas to learn new stitch patterns and techniques on. So I thought it was about time that we had a shawl specialist on the show. Melanie Berg is probably the most prolific shawl designer there currently is and we are very happy to include a two part interview with her in the program.

The very popular ‘Meet the Shepherdess’ segment is also featuring  and this time we have a 19th century farmer called Suzy. Suzy has worked in living history museums for over thirty years and she will take us back in time as she talks about her 19th century sheep farming methods and the yarn she produces. We also announce the Woolly Wormhead KAL winners, we start a new KAL and Andrea shares some of her thought on skin colour.

Melanie Berg

A few weeks ago Andrew and I drove up to Bonn, which is about 2 1/2 hours from where we live in Offenbach, to interview Melanie Berg. Melanie has specialized in designing shawls and is constantly bringing out stunning, eve-catching variations. During the interview, Melanie shows us a good selection of her designs and talks about the inherent advantages and disadvantages of the various shawl shapes and how she uses colour to produce dramatic design effects.

Melanie also shows us her favourite ways to wear shawls and gives some tips on finishing.

Patron Discount – Melanie Berg

Melanie is offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 20% discount off all her self published patterns. There are around 130 designs to choose from, nearly all of them are shawl designs. It’s a shawl knitters dream. If you are ready for a relaxing knit, a shawl could be the right project for you. This offer is valid until 10 September 2019, full details here.

Finding Melanie Berg

• Melanie Berg on Ravelry
• mairlynd.de
• Instagram

Suzy the Shepherdess

Suzy is a knitter and a historian who has worked in living history museums for over thirty years. When she wanted to start a little farm, it was only natural for her to raise historic breeds of sheep using 19th century farming techniques. During this segment Suzy explains how she raises her sheep (mostly merino, with a few cheviot-merino crosses) and how that differs from many modern sheep operations.

Many of Suzy’s customers are living history interpreters or reenactors portraying the 18th, 19th or early 20th century. Knitting with Suzy’s yarn gives their projects that extra historical authenticity.

All of the wool comes from Suzy’s own flock of sheep. She keeps her yarn in the natural colours which range from white through the greys to a dark chocolate brown. It’s  exciting for her to see the final colour of the yarn when it comes back from the mill, every year it’s different. Her yarn is available in a medium (worsted) weight and fingering weight.

Patron Discount – Suzy the Shepherdess

Suzy is offering her beautiful yarn at a 15% discount to Fruity Knitting Patrons. That dark rich chocolate looks stunning! Her yarns come in natural colours in a fingering weight and a medium weight. The medium weight knits up to around 6 stitches to the inch. This offer is valid until 10 September 2019, full details here. Thank you Suzy!

Finding Suzy the Shepherdess

• suzy-the-shepherdess.com

Dove – Louisa Harding

My latest project is this beautiful timeless design Dove by Louisa Harding and I’m knitting it in her Cashmere Lace yarn with is 100% cashmere. My version is going to be more dramatic than the original which is quite delicate because I’m using a very bright orange colour for my contrasting stripes. During the EYF, Louisa helped me pick out the colours. I was in love with the orange/red called Rowan and Louisa suggested the Lilac to go with it. I’m thrilled and can’t wait to finish it!

You can see our interview with Louisa Harding in Episode 59. Andrea talks about her Aquila, also by Louisa Harding, in Episode 67.

 

Andrea’s yarn drape test.

We have a bit of fun as I tell you my secret test for finding out how much drape a skein of yarn has.

Fruity Wood House Knits KAL

You can find the thread for our new Fruity Wood House Knits KAL on Ravelry. You can enter any design by Jennifer Wood, and the KAL runs until the end of November. We’d love to see you there!

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
• Keep the Home Fires Burning, performed by John McCormack, written by Ivor Novello, lyrics by Lena Guilberg Ford. From the album John McCormack, Vol. 7: The Acoustic Recordings (1916 – 1918). Licensed to YouTube by Naxos of America (on behalf of Nax1-ThNx-0000); PEDL; Warner Chappell.
• Locomotion Commotion Potion by Montana Skies, Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0.
• Sláinte, Album: Cup of Tea, Mairi’s Wedding, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0