In Ep. 163, we have a more unusual interview that will delight all of the handspinners amongst you, and hopefully entice some non-spinners to give handspinning a go! You’ll be meeting the highly knowledgeable handspinner and German YouTuber Chantal-Manou Müller, who goes by Chantimanou. On top of that, Madeleine shares a new cablework project in Under Construction. She’s also prepared a short grafting and mending demonstration and, invited a special guest on to the couch for Bring and Brag! To put the cherry on top, we present to you the eight final colourways in our Artisan Fibres yarn range!
Chantimanou - The Wonders of Handspinning
During the interview, Chanti shows us the tools that humans used historically to make thread. We learn the basics of using a hand spindle as well as how to prepare raw sheep’s fleece for spinning. Chanti then brings out her spinning wheel to demonstrate the difference between worsted and woollen spun threads. And finally, we deep dive into colour theory by blending various pre-dyed rovings to create new colours. And this is particularly interesting! Chanti shows how some colours on the colour wheel tend to cancel each other out producing murky or muted tones, while others complement each other to create rich, vibrant colours.
Above, you see a stunning shawl that Chanti knitted with a lace-weight yarn that she spun herself!
Finding Chantimanou
- Website: chantimanou.de
- YouTube: @chantimanou
- Patreon: patreon.com/chantimanou
Patron Discount - Chantimanou
Chanti is kindly offering our Fruity Knitting Patrons 25% off her Relationships shawl pattern on Ravelry. It’s a beautiful lace pattern written in German but includes detailed charts which makes it quite accessible to non-German speakers as well.
On top of that, Chanti is offering an incredibly generous 50% discount off the first month of her Patreon membership. The videos and materials on her Patreon page are in German. Members receive access to 10 spinning video courses, an extensive collection of downloadle learning material, livestream recordings from 2018 to 2023, a PDF guide and 22 videos for her Köpermustertuch as well as access to her Discord Channel. Fruity Knitting Patrons can find all discount details here.
Support Fruity Knitting - Become a Patron!
For every episode we put together an educational and varied program which is the result of months of accumulative work. If you enjoy Fruity Knitting, please help us continue by making a small monthly donation starting at just 5 USD. Visit https://www.patreon.com/fruityknitting to sign up as a Hebridean, Merino or Shetland patron. Thank you very much for your support!
Share your opinion here!
We recently hired a professional photographer to take pictures of our final colourways! Our website is still under construction, but we’re planning to launch Artisan Fibres sometime between mid March and early April.
As this is our first time developing and selling yarns, we need your help to decide which quantities to stock for each colourway. See our yarns up close, learn about the inspiration behind each of them and tell us which colours have won your heart?
Bring & Brag - Varde Rundfelt (Husband) Sweater
After 1.5 years, Madeleine has finally completed the Varde Rundfelt Sweater by Rauma Designs! To celebrate this moment, she invited her husband, Ryan, onto the couch so he could model it for you in person.
Madeleine explains how she cut open the body of this sweater a few rows above the ribbed hem in order to add some extra length to the body. She also gives a short demonstration of the grafting technique she used to join the body back to the hem.
Before she could hand Ryan his first ever handknit jumper, Madeleine discovered a small hole in the colourwork section. She decided to film a little tutorial on how she fixed this hole as well. It wasn’t difficult and, in fact, the technique is based on the same grafting method she explains earlier!
Under Construction - Alcoves by Unwind Knitwear
After featuring Rachel Illsley from Unwind Knitwear as our Knitter of the World in Ep. 157, we were so impressed by Rachel’s designs. So, we asked if she would like to design something in our new yarn range, Artisan Fibres. Rachel said yes and went on to design the beautiful Alcoves sweater.
Now, Alcoves is in the test-knitting stage and Madeleine has joined in for her first test-knitting experience! She’s using White Opal, which is marled. One ply is pure white and the other three are a blend of white, red, turquoise, yellow, and blue, which keeps the yarn bright and luminous.
An alcove is a small recess into the wall, often shaped like an arch. Sometimes they can only hold a decorative vase or statue, other times they’re large enough to sit inside. The more expensive alcoves from the past were often framed with ornate geometric patterns or flowers made from wood, stone or plaster. Rachel’s design reflects this style of ornamentation by featuring lots of beautiful delicate cables. There are three vertical cablework panels on the front and back, along with cables on the sleeves.
What we are wearing
Andrea is wearing her Lola Sweater by Claudia Quintanilla during the interview. Madeleine is wearing her Elizabeth Blouse by Petite Knit on the couch. Ryan is wearing his Varde Rundfelt Sweater by Rauma Designs on the couch.
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
- Golden Brown, The Stranglers, from the album Singles (The UA Years), ℗ 1981 Parlophone Records Ltd, a Warner Music Group Company, Provided to YouTube by Parlophone UK
