I have become a member of The Danish Yarn Purchasing Association, established 1998 by a group of Danish Textile designers, and have received a folder of their shade cards of yarns available for sale to all their members, including a price list, and information about their latest exhibition. “The Yarn Purchasing Association is aimed at textile designers, craftspersons, textile artists, and institutions offering textile courses. It buys quality yarns which is impossible to get hold of in the Danish retail trade and distributes these to the members of the Association.”

“It is the purpose of the Association to give members an influence on the selection of textile materials available for unique works and for industrial product development. The aim is thus to improve the foundation on which textile art and design may be created. Members are therefore most welcome to suggest which yarns should be available for sale through the Association.”

I am delighted to admire yarns made by a mixture of horsehair and cotton, wool and paper, dissolvable yarn, ‘rubbery’ yarns made of polyurethane – ideal for jewellery making, silks and wools! Some of which are sold at Handweavers in London, a long time member, see www.handweavers.co.uk.

There is no need to apply for membership any more even though their website requires a ‘adgangskode’ access code read password – chose your own. The one time fee is 1 000 DKK (around 100 GBP) if you live outside of Denmark while the annual fee is 125 DKK.  For more information see www.yarn.dk. I love my shade cards so the membership is a source of inspiration for me.

Dusty pink yarn, one of spring’s trend colours, tempted me. A summerly shawl jacket knitted sideways in a dewdrop pattern where both sides are equally stunning, one is elegant, the other more relaxed. Drape it with a shawl pin or use it upside down giving it a longer back and a smaller collar. Designed for Thomas Kvist Yarns.

Knitted in Colina, a mixture of cotton and linen giving the jacket substance. The yarn is soft and comfortable to wear in addition it is of a slubby nature giving it an exciting uneven finish.

It requires 9 hanks of 100g Colina, by Thomas Kvist Yarns, shade 12 (70% cotton, 30% linen, 160m/175 yds). The tension is 17sts and 24 rows in patt = 10cm/4’’ square using 3mm/US 2-3. See selection of shades and retailers on www.thomaskvist.se. Below is a close-up of the swatch, unfortunately photographed upside down.

I look forward to seeing the professional photos and will show you those when they are done.

My new knitted, actually a knit print, raincoat given to me by the yarn shop Nøstet Mitt after a successful knit café fashion show & presentation. It makes my rainy day! Yes, it is photographed in the mirror – due to lack of assistants. The pattern chosen is a variation of the traditional Fana pattern from Fana outside of Bergen, Western Norway, from the 1850’s. Annemor Sundbø claims, correctly, the pattern is a Setesdal pattern and not Fana.

It is designed by Grete Marchmann-Jensen, manager of Søs Jensen, søs is an abbreviation of ‘søstrene’ Norwegian for sisters, see the reflector image on fabric swatch at the back in the middle of the shoulders.

“The idea to make raincoats for women came from one of the sisters, who looked around and said, “What about cool outdoor clothing for women in the city, “it doesn’t exist in the market.” The idea and research started autumn 2006. 3. July 2007 SØS Jensen was established.” See www.sosjensen.no.

Freddy, co-owner of Nøstet Mitt, discovered the collection and knew that most knitters would be intrigued. So it is available to buy from them. See www.nostetmitt.no.

“Our PU Raincoats have welded seams and supersoft qualities that fits you great with a high waterproof and breathability rating.

The raincoats are feminine and contain raffined details. Our technical raincoats/parkas have taped 3M seams for great comfort. The parkas looks like a regular parkas, but has all the qualities of a raincoat. Our clothes also have reflective elements for your safety.”

My new raincoat and this photo, a different colour way, makes me happy!

Copyright: Søs Jensen

For all of you that could not make it to the Knit Café on last Wednesday at Lille Persille at Lambertseter Centre, organised by Nøstet Mitt, here is a report.

61 knitters (including my mum) + my brother, designated driver for the evening, made it to the knit café where I was to present my newly released book ‘To rett en vrang. Designstrikk’. I was chuffed that Thomas Kvist, owner of Thomas Kvist Yarns, came from Sweden to see the complete collection, shown for the very first time. 3 of the garments in the book are made using his yarn. Below you can see Thomas studying the snood & Blackberry sweater.

I had requested 5 models (since I had 2 on the book launch) which meant that one of the owners of Nøstet Mitt, one of their managers, one of their employees, their daughter and a friend, all had to take part. They were all pleased that I had not brought the Camilla Skovgaard shoes with the 11cm heels and had decided that since Katrine is a dancer she had to wear the highest heels.

As I presented the garments and talked about my knitting experiences, I am pleased to tell you that nearly everyone was multi-tasking by knitting or pattern checking the book simultaneously.

All the models posed on a stand like a live sculpture while I talked about each garment before they walked a round so everyone could feel the texture and study details close up.

After the presentation of all garments, Nøstet Mitt offered 25% discount on everything in the shop which was ever so tempting and most of the knitters present took the opportunity to increase their stash. I was ready and where happy to sign books, as you can see below.

In addition there was a draw for a gift voucher worth 500 NOK, valid in all 3 shops, which everyone, excluding my brother would like to win. Glenn was actually happy he did not win.

Just before leaving, more than 3 hours later – the knit café was from 18.00 to 21.00 – I was photographed together with Anne Grethe (owner) and Vibeke (manager.)

I was given a stunning rain coat with a knitting print by Anne Grethe and Freddy (co-owner and photographer for the evening – more photos on Nøstet Mitt’s Facebook page)! It is unbelivable and you have to see a photograph of it – try imaging a knitted raincoat in a traditional Norwegian knitting pattern. To be continued…

Please find errata on the book page, me on Ravelry (I am lindamarveng) and on Facebook.

Inspired by Balenciaga’s asymmetrical colour blocking tunics I have designed an oversized sweater with a snood in shades of grey with a beautiful lilac as contrast. Three different stitch patterns from the same family complete the look. The seed sweater and snood is knitted in Amoretto, a lovely soft and warm mixture of alpaca and cotton, with a stunning stitch definition. Here is the professionally photographed Oversized Seed Sweater and Snood.

Copyright: Thomas Kvist Yarns

Amoretto is a mixture of 45 % alpaca and 50% cotton with a small percentage of polyamide 5%, 100 g/3.5 oz hank, 250 m/273 yds. Tension/guage is 27 sts in pattern equals 10cm/4″ square using 3 mm/ US 2-3.

Copyright: Thomas Kvist Yarns

The sleeves and the snood is knitted in Seeded Rib Check, see swatch below, using col A, Lilac, while the body of the sweater is knitted in 2 identical middle sections in Moss/Seed Stitch using col C, Pale Grey, and 2 identical side sections in Seeded Rib Pattern using col B, Dark Grey. The collar band is knitted in the round.

The pattern will shortly be available as a downloadable PDF in English and Norwegian, due to be translated into German soon, through selected yarn shops see www.thomaskvist.se

My 3  first designs for Thomas Kvist Yarns have now been photographed professionally and the thrill of seeing them is hard to describe in words. The first one I want to present is the Loose Woven Shrug and Wrist-warmers.

Copyright: Thomas Kvist

A Japanese inspired shrug that can be used several ways with a shawl pin. Make a laced polo neck and fasten the pin at the back creating a hood, or fold in a Japanese triangle at the front and fasten. You can also use it as a traditional shrug, fastened if you wish, or wear it across one shoulder. Or why not use it double as a cowl? The wrist-warmers can be tied with a cord onto the shrug, so that they stay in place. They are knitted in Amoretto, a lovely soft and warm mixture of alpaca and cotton, with a stunning stitch definition.

Copyright: Thomas Kvist Yarns

Amoretto is made of 45 % alpaca and 50% cotton with a small percentage of polyamide 5%, 100 g/3.5 oz hank, 250 m/273 yds. Tension/guage is 27 sts in pattern equals 10cm/4″ square using 3 mm/ US 2-3. More details are given in my post dated 15th February. The pattern will shortly be available as a downloadable PDF in English and Norwegian, due to be translated into German soon, through selected yarn shops see www.thomaskvist.se

I am chuffed to be the designer of the month at Stickskolan, a knitting school for knitfreaks & newbies by Muchis.se run by Swedish designer Maria Jäger, see www.stickskolan.se

‘I began experimenting with my own patterns, during my time at Loop. When editor Inger Margrethe Karlsen from Norwegian publisher Cappelen Damm asked if I wanted to design a knitting book for them, I was ready.’

 ‘My hope is that my designs will inspire you to knit. I encourage you to create your own personal expression by choosing color or make your own melange colour, when knitting in double yarn. That is one of the advantages of working with two strands of yarn and a reason for my love of yarn on cones, whether it is intended for machine knitting, weaving or lace knitting.

I have continued to design using Thomas Kvist Yarns, in my new favourite beautiful yarns such as Colina and Amoretto. The patterns will be available in Norwegian and English, awaiting professional photography. My book will be published in Finland in January 2013 and I live in hope that several other countries will follow their lead.’

Stickskolan has tips, ideas, videos, a forum and a designer of the month. Most of the text is in Swedish but you will find my feature and others in English.

I was very intrigued by the article on sticklingo/ knit-lingo by Johanna, here are a few, only some I knew from beforehand:

• UFO – Unfinished Object.
• KIP – Knit in Public.
• YAS – Yarn Acquisition Syndrome.
• STASH – unknown number of kilos of yarn taking over the home…
• SABLE – Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.
• SSS – Second Sock Syndrome, what tends to happen when the first sock is knitted; a strong resentment to having to make another.
• TOAD – Trashed Project Abandoned in Disgust.

For the full list go to www.stickskolan.se/2012/01/sticksnack-pa-natet/

All photographs: Copyright Kim Müller.