Karnickel
Angora fiber is delicate, light and warm at the same time – wonderful for a beautiful handknit shawl! The yarn I used is from
Seidenhase in Germany: Claire keeps her beloved Angora rabbits in spacious hutches and carefully shears them several times a year – much like sheep. On her website seidenhase.de, Claire has put up pictures of the lovely bunnies before and after the shearing. So cute!
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- … and after!
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- Much faster without the fur…
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- Proud rabbit lady named “Uschi”
For this shawl, I have combined an undyed light gray with a slightly variegated handdyed pink from Claire’s dyeing studio. Only 100 g of yarn make a shawl of generous dimensions that is an easy but interesting knit.
“Karnickel” is the northern German colloquial pet name for a rabbit, just like “Bunny”.
The pattern is available on Ravelry and in Strickmich! Shop (also as a printed pattern). We have a limited number of kits containing the yarn and the printed pattern in stock.
Strickplaner 2019 for Retailers and Sponsors
The year 2018 has started and for many, many knitters it’s the first year with our little Strickplaner – a paper planner for knitters that will help you focus on the important things in life (knitting, of course!) and keep everything that has to do with it neatly organized. Strickplaner 2018 has been a new, fresh endeavour for us which we brought to life win cooperation with our partners at weekview and our lovely sponsors. We were kind of overwhelmed by the response to Strickplaner (and our post lady, too!): renowned yarn stores in many countries wanted to stock it and sold it with great success, and knitters from all over the world ordered it from our online shop. The English Edition sold out by the end of 2017 (we only have a couple of books with minor flaws left in our store).
We got tremendously useful feedback in our online survey (if you have not yet, you can still participate!), and we will do our best to incorporate it in the new edition of Strickplaner 2019: More pages for knitting ideas and projects, more room to write in the weekly layout and much more. We cooperate closely with Christian Schumacher, graphic designer at weekview, who has tweaked the layout to be even more user-friendly and pretty. The vast majority of people who took our survey is planning to use Strickplaner in 2019 as well – we are glad to hear that!
All of this has led us to the decision to have a larger print run for 2019. And we would like to have everything ready to be printed even sooner, so we can provide our retailers earlier and have a bit of time reserved for unexpected events. So we are starting right away to allocate sponsoring spots for 2019: Weekly inspirations, banners and whole pages in full color are available. Please contact us if you are interested in becoming a sponsor or retailer: planner (at) strickmich.de and we will send you our sponsoring info sheet.
Looking forward to having you on board!
Let’s go to Scotland
Every March, Mica and Jo welcome knitters and yarn lovers from all over the world to their gorgeous city to take part in Edinburgh Yarn Festival. It is truly the most beautiful and best-organized yarn festival I have visited so far: There are knit nights, get-togethers and meet-ups — far-flung old and new friends meeting for a celebration of what they love: knitting! And crochet too: “Anything to do with yarn is all right with us!”
The festival began back in 2013, when knitting friends Mica and Jo realised that all the lovely yarn available was passing them by in Edinburgh. They knew so many people who were dedicated knitters, designers and yarn collectors, but who didn’t have much access to the international array of yarns they could see on Ravelry: “You need to see and touch yarn, right?” So they decided they would shake things up a bit locally and put on a one-day show in a local hall. The response was astounding: “We were really heartened by how many people shared our love of great yarn!”, Mica says.
The marketplace, which will be held over 3 days this year (15th to 17th March) is without a doubt one of the very best and most inspiring in Europe. It showcases some of the finest hand-dyers at the top of their game: you’ll find luxury fibres in a huge range of styles and colours. They also feature amazing British yarns from small producers: people who perhaps raise the sheep and shear them, process the wool and turn it into a gorgeous product that is becoming ever more popular. If you’re looking for something interesting and original in the world of yarn, this is the place to come to. The full, amazing, vendor list can be found here.
One of the great businesses in our line-up is Blacker Yarns, who sponsor Edinyarnfest’s popular Podcast Lounge. It’s an area where you can come and relax, meet podcasters, and talk WOOL with the lovely Louise Scollay of the KnitBritish podcast as your host. A Photo Booth with a fabulous sponsor will be available all weekend to capture moments of our happy get-together.
Since those early days Edinburgh has gone from strength to strength in terms of its yarn profile: The city has some brilliant local yarn stores and no shortage of inspiration. Mica & Jo moved the Festival to the best exhibition venue in town, where each year we’ve grown in size and stature. In 2018 they will be building a marquee extension to the Corn Exchange venue, and will have a huge area for people to socialise, meet old and new friends, and admire the beautiful hand-knits. With the extension they will have around 800 spaces to socialise and meet fellow yarn enthusiasts from all over the world. And in the evening, there will be dancing!
Tickets for EYF2018 will be going on sale on 15th January at 7 pm. Be sure to sign up to our mailing list if you don’t want to miss any details about tickets and opening times! EYF is a really welcoming event, and the joy and enthusiasm from the visitors and the exhibitors alike is wonderful to be part of!
On Instagram you will find Mica and Jo as @edinyarnfest.
Breaking in my Strickplaner 2018
Finally! The end of 2017 has arrived and it is time to break in our Strickplaners. In this video I show which accessories I use and what I have already written in my planner. How do you use yours? Show me, I am curious :))
(Vimeo-Link)
Tough & Toasty
Wearing little fingerless mittens like these somehow makes me feel a little tougher – maybe that’s because leather versions of this are frequently worn by bikers, cyclists or people operating some kind of heavy machinery. Well, the only machinery I tend to operate is my keyboard, but these mitts do a fabulous job keeping my hands toasty! They are made of a luxurious, but resistant blend of wool and alpaca, so they are cozy and warm but will wear well, no matter what task is at hand.
One pair uses up only half a ball (25 g) of yarn and can be finished in one or two nights of knitting – great if you need a last-minute gift. The unusual construction works (almost) without purl stitches and can be adapted to the recipient’s hand size during the knitting, so you can substitute yarns and knit them at a different gauge if desired.
The yarn used for the samples is Brushwork by Blacker Yarns, colorway Wash.
Now available in Strickmich! Shop and on Ravelry.
Strickmich! Club Cast-on Event No 4
With a little delay but lots of enthusiasm nevertheless: Here’s the fourth virtual cast-on event of Strickmich! Club 2017. Enjoy!<Fourth virtual Cast-on Event of Strickmich! Club 2017.
Strickmich! Club – Sign up now!
Sign-ups for Strickmich! Club are open! Secure your spot on our sign-up page: www.strickmich-club.de
Rockin’ Rows
This pattern took me a little longer than usual – I wanted the stripes to line up perfectly in the decrease sections, and I wanted a perfect triangle! The result is called “Rockin’ Rows”, because it will rock your rows as you knit them! Choose high-contrast colors or a more subtle combination – everything is possible. You will need 50 grams of fingering weight yarn in each of the four colors.
I made my samples out of lovely Rosy Green Wool Heb & Manx Merino fine and Amano Ayni (both available in Strickmich! Shop), but you will most certainly find something suitable in your stash.
Find the pattern on Ravelry.
Kits and printed patterns are available at Strickmich! Shop.
Keeping Track
… is not that easy! Luckily I switched back to planning my weeks on paper at the beginning of 2017. Nothing gets lost, I have an overview of the current week with a to do list that makes me prioritise my tasks. In this video you can watch my planning process (in German!)