My name is Jessica Ba and I am a keen knitter. Or at least Jessica Ba is the pseudonym I have chosen for this blog. What is authentic here is how passionate I am about my knitting. I have been knitting for about 20 years, on and off. Mostly on for the last 5 years. I knit as a hobby. I am not a knitwear designer, nor am I a professional blogger.
I live in Switzerland, a tiny country in central Europe. I live near lake Geneva where I go winter swimming there. When you get out of the water, you need some 100% wool garments to put on ASAP. This is where my love for traditional Scandinavian colourwork knitting tradition comes in.
The climate is Switzerland is warming up at a tremendous place. Because of this I have become increasingly interested in sustainable knitting and experimenting knitting with plan fibres such as cotton and linen.. I want to keep my carbon footprint as low as possible, so I mostly favour European yarn brands and European sheep breeds.
My native language is French. I am half British and my level of English is near-native (but not my spelling level !). Everyone in Switzerland has to learn at least one other national language. I learned German. From time to time, you will see me referencing to stuff that is in German. In Switzerland, the knitting tradition is almost inexistent, especially in the French-speaking part where I live. Or more accurately, the knitting tradition has slowly died out. When I travel to the German-speaking part of Switzerland, I always go and see what new knitting books have been published. (Stauffacher in Bern is my budget’s doom – highly recommend it – they’ve got a large selection of books in English too). The knitting books I have access to in French are mostly for beginners and quite a few are very low quality.
In short, both my knowledge and sources of inspirations come almost exclusively from contents that are published/posted/filmed in English or German. There is nothing specifically Swiss about what I write in this blog. Sadly, we have hardly no sheep and the few sheep we have are reared for milk and meat.
For the time being, I think this is the extent of private information I am willing to share with you people. But if you have questions about me or wish to contact me, I suggest you email me at jessica[at]unsolicitedknittingadvice.com. I also respond to any (polite) comment you leave on my posts.
I don’t do affiliate links and have no interest in using them. I am also not interested in receiving superwash wool, indie-dyed yarn, or any knitting gadgets. If you wish to send me something for review, you can contact me via email—but be aware that this is not a safe place. My primary responsibility is to my readers, and I believe the best way to serve them is to keep my blog as it is: outspoken and evidence-based. If I choose to review your product, I will disclose that it was sent to me, and there is no guarantee that my review will be positive.
I am a member of The Knitting Guild Assocation, which is an American-based knitting association. This gives me access to a wealth of content and some very well written knitting patterns. This guild is for me an endless source of inspiration and I wish I had found out about its existence earlier on.
October 2023, Jessica Ba
updated in March 2025
Unsolicited Knitting Advice 