Who am I?

Hello!

My name is Yvonne, I’m 47 and live in Germany with my teenage son. I’ve always been a single mom, so things aren’t always easy. But we have made it this far, we’ll manage the rest too.

My mother taught me how to knit, crochet and sew when I was little, but I lost interest as a teenager and gave completely up on it. Then, about a dozen years later, I was pregnant, and kept seeing cute, handmade things for babies everywhere. So I went out, bought myself a beginner’s book for knitting and one for crochet. Added some cheap yarn and needles, and then I sat down with them.

It all came back to me rather effortlessly, despite the long time I hadn’t done it – some things just felt right. As most people, I began with simple scarves, but quickly branched out to baby hats, baby sweaters, socks for myself and many more things. I tried patterns and techniques and realised that it came easy to me to work without a pattern.

Though I didn’t realise that this meant I was a designer – I just made things the way I liked them, explored stitch patterns and techniques. But then, people began to ask about the patterns for things had made. So I started writing them up.

Still, I didn’t feel like a designer. I was just knitting, right? Then I began to see that there are lots of people who don’t just see in their head how something should work. We all are different, and not everyone’s brain works the same way mine does.

So I put more effort into making up my own designs, even stretched my feelers into Ravelry, started offering my patterns there.

It took me another few years, and the encouragement of a lot of wonderful people in my community, to find me and my style as a designer. Now here we are, with a new brand, that fits me and my style: Red and the Wolf Designs.

What is Red and the Wolf Designs?

Red and the Wolf Designs is me, and I am Red and the Wolf Designs.

Lots of my inspiration comes from stories – fairy tales, books, movies, mythology. I am a bit of a goth, and my favourite colour is red. Throw that together, give it a good stir, and the result is Red and the Wolf Designs.

Under that label you will find fun designs, often inspired by stories and fantasy, that still are quite straightforward to make. Most of them are practical and can be used both in everyday wear or when dressing up. The occasional extra fancy item or mostly comfortable item will be thrown into the mix – because who doesn’t want to dress up for a special occasion or just lounge around on the sofa sometimes?

I generally design for women, as I love to design what I love to wear. But you will find designs for small kids, for boys or for men as well as unisex items too. If an idea sneaks up on me, I have to grab my knitting needles or crochet hooks and start creating. I’m still amazed about what you can do with just a bit of yarn, and how different the results can be.

Knitting is my main craft, but I have plans to add more crochet designs to my portfolio.

You can find my designs on Payhip, Ko-Fi and Ravelry.