Hi there,
welcome to my brand-new newsletter!
This is the first issue of the Urban Yarning Newsletter so you didn’t miss anything.
I want to talk a bit about Urban Yarning and how it came about to ease us into it. I have a whole list of themes for the next months but if you want me to talk about anything in particular just let me know.
Let’s start with the name, shall we?
My name is Frauke Urban as I am sure you already know. When I was looking for a name for my business, I knew I wanted to use my family name because it is too good to let it go unused. Because I have a lot of ideas what I could include in this business and I wanted a name which could work with all these ideas, I decided to use a more general name and have a second line with the specific description of the hat I’d be wearing in that part of the business.
One of the things I like a lot is language and words and playing with that. So it didn’t take me long to come up with yarning. And actually, I didn’t really. To quote Elizabeth Zimmerman, I think I unvented it. I know the term urban yarning is used as a synonym for yarn bombing in some countries. And I don’t object to that connotation so I claimed the name.
And then I stumbled upon this quote:
”To Elsie”, it said, “with love and yarning.”
And it was signed, in mauve ink, by the author: Oliver Inchbald.
Elsie? Who on earth was Elsie? And what could yarning mean? Storytelling? Yearning? Or did Oliver Inchbald and Elsie used to knit together?
Alan Bradley: Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d, a Flavia de Luce Novel
Isn’t it perfect? I mean, we do tell stories with our knitting and designs as well as knit together :-) And a bit of yearning for yarn and knitting is always present in our lives, isn’t it?
From the knitter’s point of view, there is always a story we want to tell about ourselves, about circumstances, about our life. This informs the designs we choose to knit.
As a designer, you are even more involved with the stories you want to tell. You are creative and can translate these stories into knitting and design stories with yarn.
As a tech editor, I am here to help make your story shine in your pattern. I can give you a hand and my brainpower to make your pattern clear, concise and easy to understand so that every knitter can follow the story of the design.
My background is in science. I wrote my dissertation about how to use historical data for the prediction of agronomical traits for breeding purposes in winter barley. Don’t panic, there are about two or three people (including me, excluding my supervisor) who know exactly what I did and why :-) I will tell you that much: It involved a lot of numbers, statistical modeling and no plants at all. I only mention this to show you that I can - and even like to - work with numbers. I am thorough and work methodically. I am well organised and know how to write a clear text. I would link to my thesis but it is in German (except the summary) so that wouldn’t help much for most of you. (Search for Frauke Urban, Gießen, Dissertation and you’ll find it, if you’re interested.)
All this helps me in making your work easier. I can make sure knitters from all countries enjoy working from your pattern, that they’ll see the story you want to tell. I think it is actually an advantage to work with a non-native English speaker on your patterns. I can make sure that everybody will understand your story. And since the knitting world is, like the science world, international, it is a smart move to make sure your stories are understandable everywhere.
If you want the both of us starting to tell the stories of your designs together, please contact me and ask for an estimate.
Since my story is on the first pages, meaning my business is still growing, I have spots for new clients.
Talk soon,
Frauke x