Episode 147 has a full program with lesser-known but exciting and talented guests. Our featured interview is with the German designer Sandra Archut, the designer behind Wollmuschi. Sandra is an artist who has changed her medium from oil and paintbrushes to wool and knitting needles. Unsurprisingly, her designs remind you of paintings, both due to the motifs they feature and her way of making colours melt into each other. On top of that, we’re featuring a shorter interview with the founders of Pamir Fine Fibers, who collaborate with nomads in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to produce beautiful cashmere yarns. This interview inspired Madeleine to travel to Kyrgyzstan during her summer holiday. She brought back some fun footage and memories of this trip to share with us! And, of course, we have projects in Bring and Brag and Under Construction to share with you!
Sandra Archut - Wollmuschi
Sandra Archut, the German designer behind Wollmuschi, is foremost an artist who has changed her medium from oil and paintbrushes to wool and knitting needles. Sandra approaches her designs from the perspective of an artist, and I found this very refreshing. Her first knitwear designs were literally knitted paintings.
They are extremely impressive, stranded workpieces. Above is Sandra’s Herzblut (German for heart and soul) shawl and below you see her stunning Swans, Love and Fibres scarf.
As an artist, Sandra is naturally very knowledgeable about color, but at the same time, she talks very openly about her own journey with color, including the mistakes she’s made and how she learned from them, which I really appreciated, so during the interview, we end up having a mini-workshop on the importance of value in colorwork.
Finding Wollmuschi
- Website: www.wollmuschi.com
- Instagram: @wollmuschi
- Ravelry: Wollmuschi
Patron Discount - Wollmuschi
Sandra is offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 25% discount on all her self-published patterns in her Ravelry store and on her website. During the interview, you will see some absolutely stunning stranded colorwork masterpieces which come in a kit. Sandra is also offering a 10% discount off these kits, including all the yarn with really stunning colors. Thank you very much, Sandra! Fruity Knitting Patrons can find all discount details here.
Pamir Fine Fibers
Back in April, during the SYF, Madeleine interviewed the founders of Pamir Fine Fibers. They are a Swiss yarn company that collaborates with nomads and farmers in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to produce beautiful cashmere yarns.
During the interview they talk about their production chain which starts in the mountains of South Kyrgyzstan where they buy the cashmere hairs from the farmers, paying at least 50% more than local market prices. In addition, 20% of their annual profit go into a social fund, which is managed by the farmers themselves. The fund’s resources must be used for improvements in pasture management, veterinary care and the promotion of animal welfare.
The fiber is then transported up north to be cleaned and sorted near Kyrgyzstan’s capital city, Bishkek. After that, it is shipped to the UK to be spun by an experienced, fourth-generation family-run spinning mill, as well as dyed. Thus far, Pamir Fine Fibers offers 2 yarn ranges with 15 colours each: An 8-ply and 6-ply. The company’s long-term goal is to relocate the entire yarn production to Kyrgyzstan to help local economy.
Finding Pamir Fine Fibers
- Website: www.pamirfinefibers.ch
- Instagram: @pamirfinefibers
Patron Discount - Pamir Fine Fibers
We are happy to announce that Pamir Fine Fibers are offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 15% discount off all their beautiful cashmere yarns from their online store. Thank you very much to Fabian and Markus! Fruity Knitting Patrons can find all discount details here.
Madeleine's trip to Kyrgyzstan
Inspired by her interview with Pamir Fine Fibers, Madeleine decided to spend her two week holiday in Kyrgyzstan with her boyfriend. They spent 6 days hiking in the mountains in the East of Kyrgyzstan near Karakol, setting up camp in a different spot every night.
After that, they travelled westward to Son Kul lake to spend three days on horse back. At night they slept in yurts that also provided them with delicious Kyrgyz food. Madeleine shares some impressions of her time in Kyrgyzstan in a short travel vlog that’s included in this episode.
Support the Show! - Become a Fruity Knitting Patron
As you might imagine, creating this show takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, making it far more than just a hobby for us. In fact, both Madeleine and I work full time to produce Fruity Knitting. If you enjoy watching Fruity Knitting and want it to continue, we would be deeply grateful for you support. Just go to patreon.com/fruityknitting and select your preferred level of financial support.
Patreon is our only source of income for producing this show and it’s thanks to our patrons that we have been able to grow this channel for the past 8 years now. So, thank you very much for your support!
Bring & Brag
May Top by Asita Krebs
Madeleine finally gets to wear her finished May Top by Asita Krebs, knitted in the Baby Yak Silk blend by mYak! The colourway is called Dakini and we both think this yarn works perfectly with the design. Last episode, Madeleine explained that she had to add some additional rows to the shoulder straps and the body to make up for her tighter row gauge.
Under Construction
Do Ewe Yoke by Zanete Knits
After Madeleine interviewed Pamir Fine Fibers, I decided to take some of their 6 ply sport weight (Superior) with me. The colour is called Dark Orchid. Each ball is 25g and I have 12 balls which is enough to make a jumper. I wanted to use this yarn to knit something very different to what I’ve done in the past and I found the perfect design! It’s called the Do Ewe Yoke by the UK designer Zanete Knits.
Zanete is originally from Latvia, and many of her designs feature creative interpretations of traditional motifs from Latvian folklore. The jumper is a top-down round yoke sweater with deep running colorwork that surpasses the sleeve separation. My Dark Orchid yarn will be the base, and I’m using Spincycle’s Dyed in the Wool (also a sport-weight) for the colorwork. The color is called Midsummer, and it’s variegated. I think this combination will look stunning, and I’m excited to get started on the design!
Jenny Jacket by PetiteKnit
Madeleine is still working on her Jenny Jacket by PetiteKnit. She didn’t take it with her on holiday, as it’s too heavy to carry up and down mountains, and she was also scared to lose or damage it. Consequently, Madeleine is a little behind and has been picking up her needles every spare moment to catch up! She is close to finishing the second sleeve; after that, all that’s left are the button band and collar!
Madeleine is making this cardigan for her best friend, Antonia, who has returned home from her travels through Latin America. Antonia has tried the Jenny Jacket on, and it looks like it will fit her perfectly! Madeleine is thrilled about this.
Instant Crush by Joji Locatelli
Prince Edward Island Fiber Festival 2024!
We are flying to Canada in two weeks to cover the PEI Fibre Festival. The festival is covering our flights so we can film the festival, including conducting interviews with some of the instructors and vendors. In addition to this, we’ve also been asked to give a presentation at the festival. There will be a big breakfast buffet, and after the presentation, we’ll take questions and hang out with the audience before we get back to work. You can buy tickets for this event here.
This presentation will be 50 minutes long and will include lots of photos and some video clips. It covers our journey behind creating Fruity Knitting. You’ll hear about my knitting journey going back to her early childhood and what moved me to start this YouTube channel in the first place. We will also talk about how my husband, Andrew, joined Fruity Knitting, his unique contribution to the show, and what it’s like working with family.
Since we’ve had the opportunity to meet many interesting and knowledgeable people from the fiber community, we will also reflect on some of our past guests who we featured on the show. We put a lot of effort into preparing this presentation and are pretty excited about it. We hope to meet some of you there!
What we are wearing
Madeleine is wearing her May Top by Asita Krebs on the couch and her Indie by Kim Hargreaves during the interview with Pamir Fine Fibers. Andrea is wearing her April Cardigan by PetiteKnit on the couch and her Manzanita Tee by Rosemary (Romi) Hill during the interview with Sandra Archut from Wollmuschi.
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
- Goody goody by Peggy Lee, from the album “The Capitol Transcriptions 1946-1949,” ℗ 2000 Capitol Records, LLC
- Chopo cho’or (Small clay flute) by the Kambarkan Folk Ensemble, from the album “Kambarkan Folk Ensembe: The Music of Kyrgyzstan,” ℗ 2001 ARC
- Jolughabuz az kundo (We will meet soon) by the Kambarkan Folk Ensemble, from the album “Kambarkan Folk Ensembe: The Music of Kyrgyzstan,” ℗ 2001 ARC
- Aware from the album Forzisimo, composed and produced by Adrian Berenguer Pastor, released on 01.05.2023, published by Artlist Original Music, ℗ 2023 Artlist Original, Provided to YouTube by Artlist Original
- Mare milking Suusamyr, Firespeaker, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
