NatCroMo 2016, March 26: Tanja Osswald

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The Crochet Express National Crochet Month Blog Tour

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Welcome to Crochetville’s fourth annual National Crochet Month (NatCroMo) blog tour, taking place each day of March 2016. Join us as we take a virtual tour on our passenger steam train, The Crochet Express, visiting crochet designers, crochet-friendly local yarn stores, and yarn companies, and offer some fun giveaways.

Want to Chat about the Tour?

Part of the fun of taking a passenger steam train trip is talking with your fellow passengers. This year, we’re providing two locations where our passengers can get to know each other. We’d love to hear about your favorite things you’ve discovered on the tour and see photos of your current crochet projects. You’re invited to join us daily for virtual cocktails/appetizers and dinner. (We’ll be sharing links to some fabulous recipes!)

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Tanja Osswald, Osswald Design

Tanja Osswald

Crochetville is very proud to have designer Tanja Osswald with us today, March 26, as one of the featured designers on our 2016 Designer Blog Tour in honor of National Crochet Month (NatCroMo).

About Tanja:

When I was six years old, I learned to crochet. I cannot remember a time when I was not happy about that. I like to make things that have a use (including the use of prettifying my life), and I like to push the borders of the established. For example, I invented horizontal cables.

One of my big loves in crochet is slip stitches. They can be stretchy, drapey, lacy — and most of all, they are fun!

1. Tell us about your favorite travel destination:

I love going to Bonn, visiting friends. Bonn is Cologne’s smaller sister on the Rhine, the former German capital. It is a friendly, open city, with lots of beautiful old architecture, a great museum collection, and nice cafes and restaurants. There are quite nice yarn stores, too, including one carrying Zitron yarns (Schafgabe) and one with Wollmeise (Edelweiss).

2. Tell us about a “dream” travel location that you’d like to visit one day:

I’d love to tour New Zealand and Australia one day, on a real “Tour de Fleece,” visiting all the sheep farms.

3. Do you visit yarn stores when traveling? If so, tell us about one of your favorite finds.

Oh yes! I love checking out new yarn stores! When I was in Amsterdam last year, I found the perfect yarn store in the Jordaan: It’s name is “de Afstap” (Oude Leliestraat 12). It was stuffed full of yarns, hooks, needles, other craft tools, had a big but well-chosen collection of books, and a very friendly owner. If I ever get back, I’ll make sure to pay it another visit.

4. Packing: Tell us about any crochet clothing or accessories you pack when traveling. Do you have any cool packing tips to share?

My secret is to have a project bag for each project, so it is easy to access in your handbag during travel.

5. Tell us about any crochet projects you take with you when traveling: How many projects do you take? How do you decide which ones to take?

How many projects I pack for travel depends on the time I’m traveling. Usually, it is way more than I could finish in that time. I like to pack projects that don’t need several skeins or complicated charts — things I can work on in the train and pack at a moment’s notice when the train arrives. And I always pack a little extra yarn for experiments.

6. Do you have any stories or anything else travel-related that you’d like to share with our blog tour readers?

For years, I had a commute of 45 minutes on the train which was crochet time for me. During that time, I developed the habit of taking yarn for experiments along (plus a notebook to keep track). There’s no better way of winding down after a long workday than toying with ideas! Somehow, my mind kept the connection between train rides and designing: Last spring, when I was on the train to Berlin, I came up with a way to incorporate a Möbius band in a fingerless glove, using the twist as a decorative thumb element.

Visit Tanja’s Site: NatCroMo Specials

National Crochet Month is raffle month! Tell me (on my blog) about your favorite pattern of mine and what you like about it and win it!

Or: Show me a project you made from one of my patterns (link to your Ravelry project page, including a photo) and win a pattern of your choice!

During March, I will draw weekly winners from everyone participating.

Tanja’s Designs:

If you’re not familiar with my work already, I’d like to share three of my designs with you.

Midwinter Morning |Tanja Osswald

1. Midwinter Morning, 4.50 Euro

Due to the nature of crochet stitches, slip stitches in continuous rounds are not stacked right on top of each other. Instead, a spiral is formed. In this pattern the spiral is enhanced by the addition of new ridges to each section.

Promise Me a Rose Garden | Tanja Osswald

2. Promise Me a Rose Garden, 6 Euro

This slip stitch crochet shawl is a result of playing with techniques and textures: It is worked in a raised zigzag pattern, interspersed with single entrelac blocks.

Comet | Tanja Osswald

3. Comet, 4 Euro

Like a comet trails a tail of light behind it, the biggest cable in the mittens trails a succession of smaller cables behind. The cable is worked horizontally – a technique that I invented. The pattern won the Crochet Award 2015 for Best Fingerless Mitts Design.