8/8/2023 0 Comments Loopy discount![]() Martina: I love playing with geometric shapes, sketching and figuring out what would be the easiest way to achieve a certain effect. Loopy: What is your favorite part of designing? And your not-so-favorite part? The shawlettes I wear most are my striped “Ecken + Kanten” (“Corners + Edges”) and “Miss Winkle”. Usually it is the one I have just worked on, and right now it is the next design for my Strickmich! Club, which turned out beautifully! The one I like most construction-wise is my Matchmaker, which is a big, triangular cowl knit entirely in garter stitch. Loopy: That’s where your innovative streak comes from! Do you have a favorite pattern that you’ve designed? And at some point, I started making up my own. And she was really innovative in constructing knitted items. At the same time, I started reading Elizabeth Zimmermann’s “Knitting Without Tears” that tells you that yes, you can knit anything you want as long as you know how to calculate a few things. (In the 50’s, apparently they knit everything on size 0 needles). So I learnt how to do that and also how to adapt those patterns to heavier yarns. Often you were asked to shape something according to a schematic, without it telling you exactly how many stitches to decrease. It was from the 1950’s and the patterns were not really patterns, but rough guidelines. Martina: When I had my first child, I knit some children’s garments from an old eastern German pattern book that I had found on e-bay. ![]() Lucky for your mom! When did you first start designing, and what spurred that interest? It almost looks like cobblestones going up the front of the sock. I knit them as a birthday gift for my mom a couple of years ago and she still treasures them and wears them on special occasions. But they were surely worth the effort, they turned out very beautifully. They have a very pretty, delicate lace pattern on the top of the foot that I was unable to memorize, so I had to look at the chart all the time. Martina: That would be the “ Tabi Socks” by Veronik Avery from her book “Knitting Classic Style”. What is the most challenging thing that you have knit to date? ![]() Loopy: You always seem to be so innovative in your designs. Martina: Triangular shawlettes, obviously, and anything that has an interesting construction or geometrical shape, and as few purl stitches as possible! I have a very inefficient method of purling, and I guess that is the reason why I like to knit and design purl-free patterns. What is your favorite type of item to knit? Easy to make but unique and fun at the same time. I think that’s one reason so many people love your patterns. Loopy: I guessed that garter stitch might be your favorite, as so many of your patterns use that stitch. Martina: I learned how to knit when I was 8 years old – that’s more than 30 years ago – phew! My grandma Lisa taught me (she will be 90 next year), and my first little project was a light blue garter stitch scarf for my doll. Loopy: Thanks for being in the Spotlight today, Martina! So how long have you been a knitter, and who taught you to knit? ![]() Here’s a little peek into Martina’s life and her designing. And the Nuvem that I made continues to be one of my favorite wrap-arounds in the winter and on airplanes. If you’re one of our regular blog readers, I know you’re all familiar with Martina’s patterns, as I think I have linked to her fun and popular patterns more than anyone else’s here in the blog! She has so many popular designs that work beautifully for multi-colored skeins of yarn (the ones you buy because you love the color combination, but then you’re not sure what you’re going to do with it?).
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