Introducing Lolly of "The Giving Flower"!

Remember when I made that adorable Mr. SockFish Bag? (So cute and it's the perfect size to fit all of your sock projects...with two side fin pockets...oh, and I was wrong...here's where the pockets are...)



Well, the creator of this sweet pattern (and writer of a wonderful blog) is Kimberly (Lolly) Gintar of The Giving Flower. Hi Kimberly! According to her blog, she is "A dislocated American mama in Berlin sharing a little international inspiration: knit, sew, and be happy."

Not only are her patterns fantastic (very clear and well written with lots of detail and pictures) and her knitting awe-inspiring, but she is super friendly and has graciously accepted my invitation to answer some of my questions for today's blog.

So, without further ado...here she is!

1. What is your favorite dessert? Anything sweet is good for me. I'm partial to chocolate and just love brownies. My favourite home-made brownie recipe came from a great blogger-Nikki Shell who makes great things-both food and crafts.

2. What has been your best accomplishment in knitting/sewing/crafts so far? Oh this is a tough one because I feel I have so much to learn and with every new project I take on I learn so much. I have yet to accomplish this-I would love to design something for knitty.com I just love what they do and the patterns that are published there that I'd love to be a part of it.
I guess if I had to pick one thing so far it would be my sockfish pattern that really went well and I was quite surprised at how many I sold.

3. Whom do you admire and/or who inspires your work? Oh there is not just one person that I admire, rather many. The blogs I read inspire me so much. If I had to pick my favourite designer I would say Nancy Bush. I so adore the patterns that I've made from Nancy Bush. She's amazing.

4. What is the most enjoyable thing about living in Berlin? What is
the most difficult? I would say the most difficult is the mentality of the people-they are very blunt and quite rude. Of course, this is not true about everyone but it’s enough to make you a bit aggressive sometimes. The best thing about living in Berlin are the friends I’ve met. And of course, my husband and family.

5. How are the yarn stores there compared to the US? I have to admit, I'm not a big expert on the subject-I have 3 yarn stores in the area I love and have yet to drive across town to visit the other 3 stores that are supposed to be great. I do see that we have tons and tons of sock yarn. Because of this I love anything you can knit with sock yarn. I do miss the inexpensive yarn that’s found in the States though.

6. Can you explain to everyone the title of your blog? I have a page on my blog which explains why I chose this title. I think that explains it the best. Look in the sidebar under Hence the Name.

7. What is your favorite yarn? I don't really have a favourite yarn brand-yet. I do adore alpaca and can't wait to get a friendly Llama for the balcony so I can shave him once a year to spin into yarn. ;) I’m also waiting for a spinning wheel to land on my doorstep. ;)I guess I’ll be waiting for a while.

8. What is your favorite brand needles? To be honest, I don't have a favourite needle-Every yarn is different and I think you need to use different needles for different yarn. I do love my Addi double points though-for knitting socks, no less.

9. Where do you find you knit the most? At night when the kids are in bed I love to watch ER, Sex in the City, Friends or Little House on the Prairie re-runs while knitting in bed.

10. What is a future project that you'd like to but haven't had the guts to try yet? It's never really a question of guts, because I'm willing and ready to give just about anything a try, rather it's a question of having the right yarn. I would absolutely love to knit the Peacock Feathers Shawl from Fiddlesticks knitting. It can’t take that long, can it?

Thank you so much for sharing with us, Kimberly!

If you would like to visit Kimberly's "Aquarium", featuring photos of Mr. SockFish bags, click here.

Please visit her blog, check out her patterns and knits...then, make a Mr. SockFish of your own!