Friday 22 January 2010

millamia baby and children's knitting patterns


Recently I have discovered this exciting new knitwear company MillaMia, who produce wonderful knitting patterns and yarns ideal for beginners, but which even the most experienced knitter will love. I urge you to go take a look at their website and search out the yarns in a store near you - they have started to stock in many local yarn shops in the UK including the new shop Yarn Gathering in Staffordshire.


MillaMia is run by two Swedish sisters Katarina and Helena, who live and work in the UK. The Scandinavian influence of fresh and contemporary style is easy to see in their beautiful designs. Their design ethic, especially when it comes to knitting for children, matches mine completely and was exactly what I tried to achieve with my books:

'As knitters we were not that inspired by the patterns on offer for baby and children's wear in the market today, and realising that there was a knitting renaissance underway, we saw a gap for stylish, modern baby and children's hand knitting patterns. Patterns that had a real design edge but still easy to knit and practical to use.'


I actually first came into contact with Katarina at Loop in Islington, where she asked for my opinion on the yarn she and Helena were developing. The yarn was beautiful, but I also suggested that injecting a dose of bright colour would be a good idea, as I find it so hard to obtain gloriously clean and bright shades, especially in wool yarns. While I am in no way suggesting I had anything to do with the final results, I am so glad they decided to really go for it with colour, as their designs are so joyous and I for one am going to enjoy using some of them. I will also be using the yarn for future classes, so if you want to try it out, come and join me!

The images on the website are so fresh and cute; they show so much joy, movement and laughter. One of my favourites is this Carlota dress - won't somebody make me one now?! It has all of my favourite things - stripes, colour and pockets; I think I have mentioned here before how all my favourite dresses have pockets!

I shall definitely be using MillaMia yarns in my future projects, and you will be the first to see them here!

5 comments:

Ginger Knits said...

Oooh, I want to be little so I can wear those. I agree, I love that dress too. Looking forward to seeing what you create.

claire montgomerie said...

will have to design something similar for adults then we can both make one! :)

YarnGatherer said...

They are beautiful, I love the little coat. Thank you for mentioning my new shop YarnGathering.

Alison said...

Monty! I have awarded you the sunshine award for creative and inspiring bloggery! (and oh, goodness, if anything was ever going to make me broody, it would be cute and colourful kid's clothes!)

Details are at http://yarninmypocket.typepad.com/yarn_in_my_pocket/2010/01/6-sunshine-on-a-rainy-day.html

Anna said...

Wonderful collection!