Maker of the Week #1: Madeleine @knit.one.purl.one

Welcome to the new series here at Abbie Knits! Every week, a maker of the week will be featured with the aim of growing our community and celebrating all the lovely crafters who we share our cosy corner of the internet with.

The first maker of the week is Madeleine from @knit.one.purl.one who I’ve had the pleasure of following for some time and along with @maisie.knits, introduced me to the LAD Chunky Merino (for which I will be forever grateful!

I love everything she makes and her work encourages me to try different yarn weights and after seeing her cabled sweater she designed herself, I knew it was something I needed to learn!

Madeleine’s first knitting pattern The Oldenburg Sweater is being released to the world on 03.07.2021 so if you’re looking for a lovely and classic raglan sweater, this could be the perfect project for you! Enjoy getting to know Madeleine, and make sure to give her a follow @knit.one.purl.one ❤

The Oldenburg Sweater - designed by @knit.one.purl.one made with The RE:TREAT yarn by West Yorkshire Spinners.

Hi, I'm Madeleine a knitting obsessed human living in West London, but originally from Wiltshire. By day I'm an accountant, which funds my many evenings of knitting! When I'm not knitting I love to get outside in the countryside for walks, read a good book (oh how I wish I could read AND knit at the same time!) and explore new cities, countries and cultures.

How do you like to craft?

I've tried my hand at most fiber arts going: crochet, weaving, macramé, embroidery, needlepoint, cross stitch and punch needle, but knitting is the one that's really stuck with me since I picked up the needles. I just find it so relaxing once you get into the rhythm of it and love spending hours finding beautiful patterns to knit and deciding which yarn to make them with (I rarely seem to use the suggested one!)

Where did your knitting adventures begin?

Not counting a teddy bear sized scarf my grandma taught me to knit when I was much much younger, my first project was the chunky scarf from Lauren Aston Designs. I had been following her for a while on instagram, just in love with the chunky knits (and her!) and when she launched the beginners scarf kit in April 2018 I snapped one up and gave it a whirl. I was absolutely terrible to start with, it took me at least four attempts to cast on and my tension was all over the place. But I still have and wear the scarf and it just reminds me of how far I've come.

Where do you look for inspiration?

love following loads of different knitters on IG, everyone has such individual and cool styles and there's always elements of people's projects that I love and find inspiring. My most recent jumper was inspired by seeing blue and white striped knits everywhere. The only reason I designed my own pattern for it was because I had some blue yarn already in my stash, but couldn't find an existing pattern that I could use it on and wanted to make.

Favourite ever project?

Do I have to choose?! It's probably a tie between the Clotilde Jumper and the Christmas jumper. Both were challenging pieces where I learnt lots of new techniques. I'm never that scared to try new techniques with knitting as if it goes wrong, it's rarely the end of the world as you can just frog it back (painful but worth it).

Favourite yarn?

It has to be the LAD super chunky merino, it's just so soft and squishy. It was probably all I knitted with for a solid year when I first started, although it means I now have way too many chunky knit jumpers/cardigans (11 at last count), so don't use it as often now!

Favourite accounts?

There are so many, but some that pop to mind are:

@Hive_Kints - she was the one who inspired me to start my knitstagram page
@oshenknits - she has some gorgeous and super original chunky knit patterns
@knitsandbobsbyeve - a mixture of knits and crochets, she seems to be able to make any crochet requests she gets (which really makes me wish I was better at crochet)
@minimalistknitting - for when you feel that your addiction to yarn is getting out of control