an allover star

Today I want to celebrate the work of the knitter who was the all-over winner of our recent club knitalong – Karin, or as many of you will know her on Ravelry, blaushorty. A talented spinner and stitcher as well as a knitter, Karin has been a KDD club and Ravelry group member for many years. As everyone in our group would tell you, Karin is not only a brilliant knitter, but a cheering and uplifting presence, super-supportive of others, and very generous with her expertise (which really is considerable)! Karin is just one of those knitters whose work is immediately recognisable: a lover of greens and blues, the harmonious palettes she selects for her projects are always interesting and inspiring.

During the Allover club, Karin really surpassed herself, knitting every accessory pattern as it appeared, and completing several different garments, each of them a large project in allover colourwork, and some of which she even knitted twice!

Karin’s allover achievements were so considerable that we felt she deserved several awards: as well as being named our Allover SUPERKNITTER, she won our style guru prize for the glorious Solas Biorach she created, with its accompanying home-sewn dress, while her son Daniel was awarded our Allover ‘top model’ prize for his sterling work modelling Karin’s second Yomp.

I asked Karin about her favourite club projects, and her distinctive palette. Here’s what she had to say:

“My favorite club project ? that’s a difficult question, I enjoyed them all very much. With Starnkeeker I was thrilled by painting with wool, and combining the flowing blending background with the nice rhythmic pattern.”

. . . “Schene has a very traditional structure and surprises with rather fresh new color combinations . . .”

. . . “and last but not least Solas Biorach , a dream cardigan with a very unusual cut, an extraordinary piece . . . “

“My element is water, although I live and grew up near the mountains, which is probably where my preference for water tones comes from. The element of life comes in so many different ways.  Colors and shapes fascinates me again and again, the vastness of the sea, the distant horizon, the turquoise of a mountain lake, or even stormy waves that come and go in constant powerful rhythm. Nature is so overwhelming.”

“Although I have been working in these colors for a time, the club of colors was still very instructive for me.”

“I use colors mostly intuitively, and therefore it was a great enrichment to learn much more about the background,  historical, cultural, artistic or even chemical!”

“I am always grateful that the patterns are designed in such a way that my own color combinations are possible, and that I can make the different patterns entirely my own.”

“Club time is always something very special for me, on the one hand there are beautiful patterns, the camaraderie of the group and also accompanying very extensively researched background information, for me a very harmonious combination. In addition, the club has the perfect timing for me personally – I often miss the light, the warmth and the colors – and it helps me a lot over the long winter days, which are usually difficult for me towards the end.”

Congratulations, dear Karin, and thank you for your fabulous projects, for the inspiration and joy you bring to the KDD Ravelry group, and for knitting along with us, through each club and every season.