Episode 149 – Melanie Berg & Tanja Steinbach – Knit is for Power

A colorful program awaits you in Episode 149 with a two-part interview featuring Melanie Berg, the German knitwear designer behind Mairlynd! In the first half, we discuss Melanie’s latest book “Sweaters,” ending with a fun fashion video showcasing a selection of her new sweater collection. Later, Melanie and I are joined by fellow German knitwear designer Tanja Steinbach to talk about the recently published book “Knit is for Power.” “Knit is for Power” is a collaboration between 14 knitters, ourselves included, with each of us sharing our personal story of how knitting has given us strength and comfort during challenging life experiences. On top of that, we have two finished objects in Bring & Brag, one ongoing project in Under Construction and Madeleine prepared a short tutorial on how to create vertical buttonholes in double knitting without breaking the yarn!

Melanie Berg - Sweaters

Melanie is a prolific shawl designer with over 100 designs to her name, including two books dedicated to shawls. By now, she has authored five knitting books and we covered her latest, “Sweaters,” in this interview.

Originally from the IT sector, Melanie started knitting as a hobby. But over the years, she naturally transitioned to knitwear design and became well known under her designer name Mairlynd. Melanie’s aesthetic is simple yet stylish emphasizing comfort. So as to not overload a design with too many features, she likes to focus on one design element per piece. 

This is her “Running up that Hill” sweater based on the fabulous 80s song by Kate Bush. Although it’s covered in simple stripes, the construction is more unusual featuring bat wings in an almost triangular construction.

Below is her “Cinnamon Daydream” also featuring batwing-arms as well as an elegant lace panel down the front body and on the sleeves. This is definitely one of my favourites! The Opus yarn by Walcot Yarns lends a very crisp definition to the lace.

Knit is For Power - Melanie Berg & Tanja Steinbach

One of Melanie’s latest books, “Knit is for Power”, is a collaboration featuring contributions from 14 different knitters, myself included. The book explores how knitting has provided strength and comfort to each of us in different ways during challenging times. Also among the contributors is Tanja Steinbach, a well-known knitwear designer and yarn developer here in Germany. She is also a familiar face on German television. In this second half of our 2-part interview, Melanie, Tanja, and myself talked about our personal experiences and how we came to participate as co-authors of this book.

Knit is for Power was published in September this year and has made it onto the best-seller list of a few categories, including the craft section, breast cancer section, and women’s health. Melanie first contacted me about contributing to this book in 2023. She had recently survived breast cancer, and this personal experience gave her the idea: A book by women who’ve faced tough times, written for other women who might be going through challenges of their own.

Every story in this book shares a common thread: facing some kind of hardship. And I think that’s something everyone can connect with, because sooner or later, we all go through tough times. Each author was also allowed to include one or two knitting patterns. Melanie contributed her “Pink is for Power” sweater which features a lace panel that resembles the pink ribbons from Pink Ribbon Germany. This organization works to raise breast cancer awareness. Every year, Melanie donates her income from selling this pattern in the month of April to Pink Ribbon Germany.

Tanja Steinbach, who regularly appears on German afternoon television (ARD Buffet and SWR Kaffee oder Tee), writes about her experience of first losing her friend, Frauke, and later her mother to cancer. The loss of her mother was especially sudden and Tanja feels it could have been prevented, had her mother gone to the doctor regularly for check-ups.

These losses moved Tanja to cooperate with cancer awareness charities. In her annual “Socktober” Tanja publishes a free sock pattern. Knitters can follow it and send in their finished projects to be gifted to women fighting cancer. This is all part of the “Green Socks Campaign” (Aktion: Grüne Socken) which follows the motto “with us, you won’t get cold feet, but plenty of help and information around ovarian cancer!” 

Finding Tanja Steinbach & Knit is For Power

Finding Knit is For Power

Cancer awareness organizations mentioned in Knit is for Power

Patron Discount - Mairlynd

Melanie Berg is generously offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 25% discount on all her self-published patterns from her Ravelry store. Melanie has over 100 shawl designs and 30 sweater designs, so there’s plenty to choose from! She’s also offering a 10% discount on all yarns and kits from her online shop at Mairlyn.de, where she stocks a stunning selection of Pascuali yarns, which are perfectly suited to her designs. The details of the discount can be found on our Patreon page.

Fashion Show at the Frankfurt Kleinmarkthalle

After the interview, Melanie lent us her designs for Madeleine to model them in a little fashion video. For the music, we chose the song “Du bist mein Salz in der Suppe” (which translates to “You are the salt in my soup”) performed by the famous German singer Hildegard Knef. We thought this song would pair beautifully with a fashion shoot in the local Kleinmarkthalle – Frankfurt’s gourmet food hall!

The pink sweater above is called “Pink is for Power,” and is featured in the “Knit is for Power” book. Below is Melanie’s “Quiet city”

Bring & Brag!

Jenny Jacket with v-neck by PetiteKnit

Madeleine has finally completed the Jenny Jacket (v-neck version) by PetiteKnit and now it’s ready to hand over to her best friend Antonia! To her surprise, Madeleine learned quite a few new techniques on this cardigan.

The first technique was the horizontal couching stitch in which you wrap the yarn around multiple stitches in a single row to create what looks like a smocked fabric. The second technique was the Italian Bind-Off (also known as Tubular Bind Off) which uses an embroidery needles and creates a neat, stretchy edge. It’s idea for areas like cuffs, hems, necklines, socks and hat brims.

In case you don’t know this technique or need a little refresher, Fruity Knitting patrons can watch my in-depth tutorial on the Tubular Bind-Off here.

The final technique was how to create a vertical buttonhole in double knitting without breaking the yarn. This technique was new to both of us and Madeleine was so impressed by it that she prepared a short tutorial on how it works.

I'm Batty for Halloween - Socks by Stone Knits

Madeleine finished her Batty for Halloween socks by Stone Knits in the nick of time! She cast off on the 31st of October and wore them for her Halloween-themed birthday party. The socks are knitted on 2.25mm needles. But because Madeleine’s gauge was tighter than recommended, she switched from 2.25mm to 2.5mm before reaching the heel.

This worked out well, and the socks fit her beautifully. Madeleine is thrilled with the end result. The socks are super groovy and warm. Although Halloween-themed, she’s decided they’re too fun to retire with the Christmas season and will instead continue wearing them for the rest of the Winter months.

Under Construction

Do Ewe Yoke - Zanete Knits

I have almost finished my Do Ewe Yoke sweater by Zanete Knits, and I find myself falling more in love with it as I progress. Initially, I was unsure about the color combination, thinking it might be too bright for me. But my mind has changed. The purple doesn’t look so bright in the plain stocking stitch sections, which significantly tones down the overall design.

There was some talk about giving the design to Madeleine because initially when I tried it on, it was a bit too loose across my upper chest. Instead of sitting flat, it had some folds of material. But when I tried it on again more recently, I was relieved to find that, although it is looser than how I usually wear my jumpers, it still looks good on me. Thankfully, Madeleine is also quite happy for me to keep it, although she too has fallen in love with this design! Poor Madeleine.

After I finished the body and sleeves, I picked up the collar stitches around the neckline, and worked a 2×2 ribbing to double height. Then I folded it over and attached it to the base on the inside. During the episode, I give a quick demonstration of how easy it is to do!

What we are wearing

Andrea is wearing her Ariel Pullover by Claudia Quintanilla on the couch and her Instant Crush by Joji Locatelli during the interview. Madeleine is wearing the Jenny Jacket by PetiteKnit on the couch.

Credits

5 thoughts on “Episode 149 – Melanie Berg & Tanja Steinbach – Knit is for Power”

  1. As a fairly new viewer and Patreon, I am so hoping this podcast will be able to be continued. I was shocked that not more than 4% of the viewers become Patreons. Is having some commercials on the show a possibility to provide you with more income?
    I would certainly continue to view and donate monthly if commercials were inserted into the program. Fruity Knitting so enhances my knitting world. Nothing else compares to your program. Thank you so much!

    1. Dear Susan, Thank you very much for supporting the show and for your question! We can only monetize our videos if we stop using copyrighted music. Because we use copyrighted music, YouTube puts the occasional advertisement on our videos. All YouTube Ad Revenues go to the copyright holders of the music we use.

      We believe that the music we pair with our interviews, fashion shows etc. greatly enhances the quality of the show and therefore do not wish to give up on this. You also need to have a much larger audience to make a decent living off YouTube revenues. Warmly, Madeleine

  2. Lovely podcast! I love the Do Ewe Yoke sweater.
    I found a photo of the Northern Lights in Norway – VERY close to the purple yarn. 😊

  3. Pingback: Believe In Your Knitting Ability – Knit Like Granny

  4. Andrea and Madeleine,
    I have been following your adventures for a while now and believe that this episode is one of my very favorites! I appreciated hearing the stories, learning about the solace knitting provides and seeing the book. I will be the first to order an English version! Thank you so much for your meaningful and expansive programs–you are each a force for creativity and good in the world.

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