Annelie Verbrugge
Meet the knitting podcaster and designer @powerofwool whose real name is Annelie Verbrugge and is from Glanshammar outside Örebro. Together with @Fiberdrama (Marie Östling) she talks about knitting in the podcast Hemstickat Podcast.
The love for the craft, materials and above all wool is striking when Annelie describes her relationship with knitting.
– I must have learned to knit when I was very young, but I have no particular memory of when I learned. On the other hand, I have many fond memories of knitting together with my mother and grandmother as a child and teenager, says Annelie.
Annelie has a penchant for texture and she believes that some of her grandmother’s binders with instructions for different knitting techniques and structures are behind this.
– It was probably a joint effort by my mother and my grandmother that made me learn to knit, it was those who were close to me who knitted and did needlework.
It’s always interesting to talk knitting needles and yarn with a knitter.
Annelie says she has a constant shortage of 3.5 and 4.0 mm needles. In other words, they seem to be the sizes I use the most. For socks in thin yarn, I always use knitting needles 2.25 mm, you can find your favourites.
Annelie, like many knitters, has pure wool yarn as her absolute favorite yarn.
– I like to knit in sport and fingering weight (editor’s note 300 m/100g and 400 m/100g).
The yarn weight are best suited to sweaters and socks, I never use any other than my home-knitted ones so it takes a lot, says Annelie.
We asked Annelie to give us a glimpse of her first design for the Nordic Knitting Society
– My contribution consists of a set of matching hat, collar and half mittens that I have knitted in Gotland wool and Falkland merino. A free-standing border of leaves in lace stitch runs down the side of the hat, and on the collar and half mittens the leaves develop into a sceptre. The edge of the hat, the cuff of the half-quarter and the bottom of the collar are double-folded with a lace lap creating a row of picots.
– I have a weakness for mixing texture into my knitting, I think it makes the garment much more interesting if something happens along the way. Muscher and lace knitting are clear favorites but I think a lot
about multicolor knitting too. Often it is the yarn that inspires me, it is exciting to try different techniques and color combinations to find what works best.
Annelie is one of the few designers we asked who uses both cable needles and double pointed needles.
– Most of the time it’s a magic loop, but I’m just as happy using sock knitting needles,” she says.
Little tips can be very valuable, we asked Annelie for her very best knitting tips that she wished she had known about long before?
– You can do more than you think! If you really want to knit something, there is always help available.
Basically, it’s just knit and purl stitches and there are so many sources of knowledge; knitting cafes, instructional videos on Youtube and courses.
A really good tip that we at Nordic Knitting Society really want to emphasize the importance of.
And yes, it has happened that Annelie has lost her stickmoon
– If my knitting mojo disappears, it’s usually because I’m more eager to do something else.
This could be embroidery, spinning or sewing.
One tip is to dye your own yarn, it usually gets the desire to knit going again!