I have to begin somewhere with my first blog post. So why not start exactly there: the beginning.
My name is Johanna, I'm 29 years old and I'm originally from Erlangen in Bavaria. Currently I live in Berlin with my husband and two cats. After studying education and sociology, we moved here so that I could train as a hair and make-up artist. Yes - something completely different than before. Now I have finished my training and am working, but we will soon be packing up again and move back south towards our bavarian home, where we will live in the countryside.
I think I was born with a fondness for the arts and crafts in many respects. My great-grandparents, Gertraud, concert pianist and Wolfgang, oil painter, passed at least some of it down to me. Did they already have such a great love for handicrafts as I do now? Unfortunately I can not answer that. In any case, I have had a passion for creativity for as long as I can remember.
I still remember my first attempts at knitting. It's been a long 21 years since knitting was actually still on the timtable in elementary school. At least it was in Germany! There I first knitted a miniature rug, which definitely had a lot of character. I kept asking myself why it was getting narrower and narrower. Well no wonder if you drop basically every second stitch instead of knitting it. So after I was able to eliminate these sources of error (blessed be the patience of every elementary school teacher), the next monster was on the curriculum: a knitted cuddly lion. Even if unfortunately there is no photo proof anymore - I still know exactly what the knitted animal looked like. Well at least my little brother was very happy about the (obviously) self-made gift from me.
And there it was born ... my love for knitting.
Even if in the years that followed my activity with the craft was not quite as intensive as it is now, it never completely broke off! Various pairs of socks, hats and other little trinkets followed until I finally moved to London for a year after my graduation. There I was lucky enough to be the au pair of two wonderful children, which rekindled my dedication and really got the ball rolling for me. Because one thing is clear: children's items are knitted much faster thank knitwear for adults!
It was also at this point in time that I tried crocheting for the first time. I went through various tutorials, blogs, videos, and more blogs to finally create a pair of slippers that were really, really bulky and only fit on one foot as they formed a cylindrical shape with an opening. And again, the incredibly great project found a new owner who was undoubtedly incredibly grateful: my little sister. Yes, those slippers are still thrown at me today... Nevertheless, that didn't stop me from continuing. With a little practice and skill, this craft can also be learned very quickly and you can actually see a swift progress. So when I got back home to Germany, my mother and stepmother each got a colorful crocheted Grannysquare blanket. As for now, I mostly only crochet to add accents to my knitwear or simply to connect and close edges.
So how did I end up here now? Well, you must know, I have an urge to knit as many pieces as possible for as many people as possible. After a while this becomes a bit difficulty, because your social environment for this is limited, as long as you don't ask every reasonably strange acquaintance whether they want to have something knitted. Of course I did that too. But in the end I've been toying with the idea of offering my knitwear online in for of an Etsy shop for a long time now. And in such a way that I just do it and whoever wants to can enjoy it. What a business plan - I know.
In 2021 I dared to take this step, set up a shop on Etsy and founded Yarn Me Up. Very exciting, all of it. And of course a lot more work thank imagined. Despite it all, I have not regrets! Quite the reverse: I love it! So much so that after all my individual orders I decided to expand my range a bit more. That is knitting patterns.
My opinion on writing knitting patterns was always: 'whoa that's complicated, I can never do that!' Not a food attitude, I can tell you. And I hadn't even tried it yet. But after a few items in my shop, I realized that I'm quite capable of doing that, I've been writing them for myself all that time. Yes, there's the catch - for myself. I'd say there is a big difference in making notes on a tablet for yourself, which you may not be able to understand yourself afterwards, compared to patterns that everyone can understand. So I kept that in the back of my mind and continued to work on orders and my small assortment.
But the it didn't really let me go. So in 2022 the time has come: I wrote my own pattern. Not without overcomplicating it in my head and with a lot of proofreading and checking from friends and family, it was born after all - my first simple knitting pattern, the OSCAR-Beanie. I've been told it's even understandable.
A new beginning has been made and I dare to venture further into new waters, write more patterns and would like to take you on my journey with me.
On my blog I invite you to immerse yourself in a world full of yarn and patterns, which should give you an insight into another side of my antiquated - but yet so wonderful - hobby. I would like to give you as many tips and tricks as I can so that you too can make your wooly dreams come true. I wish to share as much of my knowledge with you as I can write here! Maybe you will feel inspired to pick up knitting as your new hobby too and maybe even find a Yarn Me Up knitting pattern for yourself...
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