S3 E7: A Blind Date with Your Yarn, with Melanie Berg

This week, I’m joined by Melanie Berg, the knitwear designer behind Mairlynd.

I first met Melanie when I accidentally attended one of her shawl-design classes entirely in German. Thanks to Google Translate, I managed to follow the class and came away inspired to create my Tide Path shawl.

In this conversation, we explore the relationship between creativity and practicality. Melanie talks about knowing when a design has become too complicated, the difference between designing and writing a usable pattern, and why she thinks of swatching as going on a blind date with your yarn.

She also shares the deeply personal story behind her row maps. The idea grew from her own experience of breast cancer and her connection with Chad Lewis, who helped people continue knitting while undergoing cancer treatment. Their row maps now help knitters keep their place when illness, grief or life itself makes concentration difficult.

We also talk about colour, variegated yarn, left-handed knitting, sustainability, the realities of earning a living as a designer and the difficulty of switching off when creative work is also your hobby.

Melanie turns the tables on me too, asking about humour, social media and what I would do if Instagram disappeared tomorrow.

It’s a warm and wide-ranging conversation about making, teaching and creating patterns that are not only beautiful, but genuinely enjoyable to knit.

Find Melanie at https://mairlynd.de, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mairlynd/, or discover The Knit Class at https://www.knitclass.com/.