Ep.168 – Type Knitting: Add words to your knitting!

Ep.168 is a treat for the knitting nerds out there! Our feature interview is with Rüdiger Schlömer, a graphic designer, knitter and the author behind Type Knitting. In this interview we explore the techniques and methods Rüdiger uses to knit letters, symbols and other effects like shadows and all of this in different fonts!  In New Releases, we’re joined by Inbal Gross from Knit of the Dragon who presents her matching Rhythmic Pulse Vest and Mitts. And on the couch, Madeleine and I share our own projects in Under Construction and Bring and Brag. On top of that, we have two new kits in our Fruity Knitting Sport yarn range!

Typographic Knitting - Rüdiger Schlömer

At the Swiss Yarn Festival last year, Madeleine sat down with Rüdiger Schlömer, author of Typographic Knitting. Rüdiger is both a knitter and a graphic designer, and he combines the principles of typography with machine and hand knitting. At the festival, he taught workshops on how to handknit letters, words, and sentences into fabric using techniques such as patchwork and mosaic knitting.
During the interview, Rüdiger walks us through the possibilities and limitations of knitting letters, and shows us some of the typefaces he developed to match fonts we all know from our computers. He’s also reversed the process entirely, designing a unique typeface specifically for knitting, which he calls Knit Grotesk.

Combining typography and knitting sounds unexpected, almost bizarre, but Rüdiger is so passionate and knowledgeable that as he explains it, you start to see why it can become quite addictive. This is a fun interview for the knitting nerds out there!

Finding Rüdiger Schlömer

Alcoves by Unwind Knitwear - Bring & Brag

Madeleine has finally finished her beautiful Alcoves sweater by Rachel from Unwind Knitwear, knitted in our Fruity Knitting Sport yarn. It’s an all over cabled design, worked top down and in the round with short row shaping for a better fit through the shoulders and sleeves.

Since her pregnancy bump ruled out modelling it herself, Mum stepped in for the photos, as the two share the same upper body measurements. Madeleine’s version turned out more fitted than the original, thanks to a smaller size and a slightly tighter gauge, and she loves both looks. 

Since our last update, she finished the sleeves, the waistband, and a simple 2×2 rib collar, adding an extra pattern repeat for her longer arms before starting the cuffs. Knitting this sweater has been a pleasure, and Rachel’s clear, easy to follow patterns come highly recommended for anyone after a new cable project.

Join our Patron Community to support the show!

The Fruity Knitting Podcast is entirely crowd-funded, meaning it’s fully financed by the small monthly donations of our wonderful patrons, who collectively make it possible for us to continue creating new episodes. We believe Fruity Knitting brings something very unique and enriching to the online knitting community. We feature a wide variety of talented guests, include knitting tutorials, cover yarn festivals in depth, and share lots of other knitting inspiration.

We would therefore like to ask for your support in helping us continue this work by becoming a Fruity Knitting patron starting at only 5 USD a month.

Patron Discount - Norderney Shawl by Melanie Berg

Melanie Berg from Mairlynd is kindly offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 20% discount on the Norderney Shawl pattern. Fruity Knitting Patrons can find all discount details here. 

Norderney Shawl Kits - Fruity Knitting Sport

Since launching our Fruity Knitting Sport yarn range, we’ve been steadily building our kit collection, and this time we’ve added our first shawl: the Norderney Shawl by Melanie Berg. It’s an asymmetrical triangular shawl named after the German island of Norderney, featuring bold, colourful circles alongside subtler dotted panels, all worked using slipped stitches for a striking, textured effect.

Our friend Dolores knitted our sample and generously gifted it to us, using Silver Lining as her main colour with Wild Mint, Kingfisher, and Black Opal as contrasts, a combination that reads as surprisingly subtle thanks to the grey framing it all. Kits are now available on artisanfibres.com, with two colour combinations to choose from, or you can pick your own quantities to build a custom palette.

Ooey Gooey Sweater by Andrea Mowry - Under Construction

My next project is Andrea Mowry’s Ooey Gooey Sweater, her 2025 Rhinebeck design. Somehow, I missed entirely this fun design entirely when it was first published. The colourwork sweater was inspired by a modern rug with undulating curves, with polka dots and a “drippy” motif added along the way, giving the design its playful name.

I am knitting it in our Fruity Knitting Sport Mulberry Dusk with Wild Mint as the contrast. So far, I’ve cast on and knitted the ribbed neckline. I worked in a few extra short rows along the way, something I always like to do for a better fit when knitting a circular yoke.

We now have permission from Andrea Mowry to offer kits of the design in our own yarn! You can find the Ooey Gooey kit for this and other fun colour combinations on our website artisanfibres.com 

New Releases: Rhythmic Pulse Vest & Mittens

Knitwear designer Inbal Gross of Knit of the Dragon joins us in New Releases to share her Rhythmic Pulse Vest and matching mittens, both released earlier this year. We first featured Inbal back in Episode 140 as a Knitter of the World, and since then she’s taken part in several design along competitions, with one of her designs, the Floral Wave Jacket, published in Vogue Knitting Fall 2022.

Earlier this year, Inbal set out to design something simple using our yarn, but an idea she couldn’t let go of turned the vest into a more complex project for advanced knitters, while the mittens stayed simple. Inspired by the ebb and flow of life, this vest is covered in wavy columns of ribbing that flow both vertically and horizontally, weaving in and out of each other. Inbal talks through the inspiration and construction in detail. You can find the matching kits on our website artisanfibres.com .

Finding Inbal - Knit of the Dragon

Patron Discount - Knit of the Dragon

Inbal from Knit of the Dragon is generously offering Fruity Knitting Patrons a 30% discount on all patterns in her online store. Thank you very much to Inbal! Fruity Knitting patrons can find all discount details here. 

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