Our Christmas Special, Ep. 160, features a bright and colourful 50-minute collage of the Munich Knits Yarn Festival 2025! Now in its third year, the festival has already grown into a big, sophisticated event. On top of that, Madeleine and I have been test-knitting our yarns, and each of us has a new project to share in Bring & Brag!
Munich Knits 2025
Claudia Finlay - Founder of Munich Knits
There’s no better time to celebrate knitting than nearing Christmas! Munich Knits takes place in the last week of November when the Christmas markets begin. Munich has over a dozen Christmas markets – the largest being the Münchner Christkindlmarkt located on the famous Marienplatz with the beautiful, neo-Gothic “New Town Hall” built in the late 19th century.
Vendor interviews
Mominoki Yarn - Chihiro
Originally from Hokkaido in Japan, Chihiro moved to Germany and eventually started Mominoki yarn, a hand-dyeing studio based in Berlin. During the interview, we talk about two of their yarn bases which are both “grown” and spun within Europe. Then, Chihiro shows off a few designs knitted up in unexpected, yet classy colour combinations.
Finding Mominoki Yarns
- Website: www.mominokiyarn.com
- Instagram: @mominokiyarn
Elenor Mortensen
Elenor Mortensen is a German knitwear designer who draws inspiration from traditional Nordic motifs, nature, childhood memories and fairytales. In this interview, Elenor shares the inspiration and techniques behind some of her designs.
Finding Elenor Mortensen
- Ravelry: Elenor Mortensen
- Instagram: @elenormortensen
Vildspire - Cecilie
Cecilie, the natural hand-dyer behind Vildspire, is from Denmark and has a background in ladies’ tailoring and clothing design. After her children were born, she grew interested in intuitive hand-dyeing with natural ingredients. Unlike most dyers, she doesn’t just create solid colours but has developed a method to create speckles using natural dyes. In the interview, Cecilie explains this method and shows us some of her yarn bases and beautiful colourways.
Finding Vildspire
- Website: vildspire.dk/en
- Instagram: @vildspire
Claudia Eisenkolb - Maßgestrickt (Custom Knit: Achieve a perfect fit)
Claudia Eisenkolb is a German knitwear designer and the author behind “Maßgestrickt: Der Weg zur perfekten Passform”, a German knitting book that breaks down sweater construction and empowers knitters to customize their sweaters for a perfect fit.
During the interview, Claudia points out which shoulder constructions suit rectangular vs. rounded shoulders better. She goes on to explain how she uses short rows and different types of waist shaping to create a cleaner fit tailored around your personal body shape.
Finding Claudia Eisenkolb
- Website: claudiaeisenkolb.com/en
- Ravelry: Claudia Eisenkolb
- Instagram: @claudia.eisenkolb
Support the Show
From the outside, it’s easy to underestimate how much time and effort go into creating even the shortest segment in our episodes. For example, each vendor interview makes up only 8-10 minutes of the episode, but takes around 6.5 hours to prepare, film and edit. And that’s for only 9% of the entire episode. This is why producing Fruity Knitting is both of our full-time occupation.
Therefore, please support the show with a small monthly donation starting at 5 USD. You can join our patron community by visiting patreon.com/fruityknitting and signing up as a Hebridean, Merino or Shetland patron. Thank you for your support and Merry Christmas!
Patron Discount - Elenor Mortensen
Elenor is generously offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 25% discount on all self-published designs in her online store! Fruity Knitting Patrons can find all discount details here.
Patron Discount - Vildspire
Cecilie is kindly offering Fruity Knitting Patrons 10% off everything in her online store! Our patrons can find all discount details here.
Norah Gaughan - Austrian Alps Knitting Retreat 14-19 June 2026
Our Austrian Alps Knitting Retreat with knitwear designer Norah Gaughan takes place 14-19 June 2026 and a small number of spots are still available! If you would like to join, you can find more details here:
During our retreat Norah will be leading three workshops. The first will focus on her favourite techniques for working with cables. In the following sessions, she’ll guide us through designing our own cable patterns. We’ll learn about repeats, mirroring, and cable variations along with how to chart our ideas on paper and replace an existing cable motif with our own design. It’s going to be very exciting!
Bring & Brag
Madeleine and I have been test-knitting our new yarn range, spun for us by John Arbon Textiles in the UK. For our first projects, both of us chose simple stocking-stitch designs to which show the subtle heathered effect within the colours we chose. Our yarn is a blend of 90% Corriedale and 10% Silk making it so soft, you can comfortably wear it against your skin. It’s also a 4-ply sport-weight making it smooth and round which gives great stitch definition (ideal for cable designs!).
Insight by Kim Hargreaves
I wanted a simple, grandpa-style cardigan in our own yarn, and our sport weight knits up beautifully at about 23–24 stitches per 10 cm. This works well with Insight by Kim Hargreaves, from her book Adore.
This design is worked traditionally: Bottom up, in pieces, then sewn together. That means the sleeves are knitted from the cuff up, making it easy to adjust their width: just cast on the cuff size you want, then increase gradually to your desired upper-arm width.
The only tricky part is making sure your adjusted stitch count for the sleeve cap still matches the armhole shaping on the body. Because my row gauge didn’t match the recommended row gauge of the pattern, I ended up making some modifications to the sleeve cap. So that you can do the same, I will prepare a short tutorial on modifying the sleeve cap. So, keep your eyes out for that in one of our upcoming episodes.
Elizabeth Blouse by Petite Knit
Madeleine chose to knit the Elizabeth Blouse by PetiteKnit in our Lilly Pilly, named after the bright pink berries on the Australian Lilly Pilly bush. This design is knit top-down, in the round with a double knit neckline and collar, while the hem and cuffs feature a 1×1 rib. Madeleine chose to double-knit the hem as well. But this didn’t turn out the way she’d hoped…
Instead, her hem curled up and out like a hula hoop! A time consuming mistake.
To stay positive, she moved on to the sleeves and came back to the hem, once everything else was completed and she felt like she had accomplished something. Now, her Elizabeth Top is completed and looks much improved with the original 1×1 rib! 😉
What we are wearing
Andrea is wearing her Nightingale by Norah Gaughan on the couch and her Instant Crush by Joji Locatelli during the interview with Claudia Finlay from Munich Knits. Madeleine is wearing her Elizabeth Blouse by PetiteKnit on the couch and her Laya by Kim Hargreaves and her Do Ewe Yoke Sweater by Zanete Knits during the Munich Knits vendor interviews.
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
- West Side Story: Act I: Something’s Coming , from the album West Side Story (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), released on 07.06.2004, ℗ 1961 Sony Music Entertainment, Provided to YouTube by Masterworks Broadway
- Du bist mein Salz in der Suppe · Hildegard Knef
from the album Schlagerjuwelen: Ihre großen Erfolge, ℗ 1977 Universal Music GmbH, Released on: 2008-01-01, Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group - In the Mood, performed by Glenn Miller, from the album “I Could Have Danced All Night and More Hits,” ℗ 2012 SVM, Provided to YouTube by Xelon Entertainment
- I’ve Got You Under My Skin by Frank Sinatra, from the album Songs For Swingin’ Lovers!, ℗ 1998 Capitol Records, LLC
- Arabesque no. 1, L.66, Claude Debussy, performed by Simone Renzi, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial
- Carol of the Bells by Peter Wilhousky, from the album “Christmas Extravaganza” performed by the Avalon Pops Orchestra, ℗ 2013 Reflections, Released on: 2013-10-30, Auto-generated by YouTube.
- Locomotion Commotion Potion by Montana Skies, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License
- Lisa Stoll, Stärnschnuppe, from the album “Gipfelstürmer,” released on 16.08.2018, ℗ 2018 CB Music
